Binding that unbinds

Usually nobody likes binding. There is always an inner urge to have freedom to do what one wishes to do without any binding. Eager wait for Friday – is that not an urge for freedom from routine work? Weekend is the time when we are ourselves and hence we enjoy it most. However, while we enjoy weekend, there is also a hidden consideration to the fact that it is that work that we do on weekdays is what enables us to enjoy weekend. The result of the hard work on those week days entitles us to spend a time with family without any bindings of work.

If we apply weekday weekend analogy to life, the young age can be considered as weekdays whereas old age can be considered as weekend. It is the hard work that is performed during young age entitles one to have leisure time during old age. Old age is not just about enjoying the saved money, but enjoying the respect and love earned throughout life.

That is why though it is important to pay attention to savings for a worry free old age, it is equally important to pay attention to earning respect and love, as without respect and love life cannot be worthwhile. What is the strategy to be adapted to earn respect and love?

 

If one wants to earn respect and love in society, one has to perform acts that are respected by society and discard acts that are disrespected by society. From the ages it is the known fact that people who follow dharma eventually earn respect and love in the society. They earn respect not only from people who follow dharma but even from people who do not follow dharma. Classic example is that of Lord Rama. He earned respect not only among people who were sincere followers of dharma but also from his enemy, Ravana. During war between Rama and Ravana, at a time when Ravana’s ministers objected decision of Ravana to send his daughter-in-law to Rama’s camp to bring his son’s remains, Ravana remained firm on his decision to allow his daughter-in-law to visit Rama’s camp, as he had faith that Rama would not do the same that Ravana himself did and that is abducting woman.

On the contrary Ravana, lost respect even from his own family. His own brother Vibhishana criticized and condemned him for his act of abducting Sita.

To summarize, people who ignore dharma eventually lose respect in society, whereas people who follow dharma eventually earn respect and love in society.

To understand and follow dharma the best way is to surrender to the Guru and act as per His instructions. Where to find Guru? They say one need not go in search of Guru. Rather than disciple searching for Guru, usually Guru is in search of disciples who have sincere urge to know dharma. Developing that sincere urge is what is required to attract Guru. Once one earns respect and love of Guru, one is done, as with Guru’s blessings one gets respect everywhere.

Navagraha Yatra Report

After Pranapratishtha ceremony of Datta and Shiva Temple in Dapoli, under the guidance of Shri Raghupathi Sir we – Sudhakar, Mahesh Bhide and Bhatia Uncle - had a great opportunity to visit places below, accompanied by Shri Sir himself.

• Nava Graha Sthalas near Chennai
• Rameshwaram

Nava Graha Sthalas:

Near Chennai, around Kumbakonam city, in the radius of about 65 km, there are nine temples, each temple dedicated to each graha.  They say whoever visits and worships these navagrahas with utmost devotion and sincerity, not only gets relief from all kinds of suffering but also gets speed in the progress towards higher goals of life.

Here is a list of temples and some details about each temple

Graha	Place	Day	Distance from Kumbakonam
Sun	Suriyanarkoil	Sunday	15 Km
Chandran (Moon)	Thingalur	Monday	43 Km
Sevvai (Mangal, Mars)	Vaitheeswaran Koil	Tuesday	51 Km
Budhan (Budha, Mercury)	Thiruvenkadu	Wednesday	52 Km
Guru	Alangudi	Thursday	17 Km
Sukkiran (Shukra, Venus)	Kanchanur	Friday	21 Km
Sani (Shani, Saturn)	Thirunallar	Saturday	56 Km
Raghu (Rahu)	Thirunageswaram	Sunday	5 Km
Kedhu (Ketu)	Keezha Perumpallam	Sunday	55 Km

Some other facts:

• Almost all temples usually open between 6 to 7 am and close between 12.30 to 1 pm and then again open between 4 to 5 pm and then close between 8 to 9 pm
• If started in the morning all nine temples can be visited in two days by car
• It is not recommended to wear casual clothing when visiting these temples. E.g.one should avoid visiting these temples while wearing half pants like bermudas. Ideally one should wear dhoti or Indian dress. In case it is not possible, normal shirt and pant is fine.   

We stayed in a place called Swamimalai, famous for the temple of Lord Murugan, one of the six most sacred places of Lord Murugan, known as Aarupadai veedu in Tamil. 

Rameshwaram :

Of course there is no need to give information about this famous place, but here are some worth mentioning points.

• It is one of 12 Jyotirlingas
• This place is considered equivalent to Kashi Vishweshwar in its importance of pilgrimage. They say whoever visits this temple with utmost devotion gets rid of all sins.
• Usual practice is
• Take darshan of sfatika linga between 5 to 5.30 AM
• In the morning take a dip in the sea and then with wet clothes on the body go around 22 teerthas and take bath in each teertha and finally take darshan of Jyotirlinga
• It is a practice that after taking bath in all thee teerthas one should not take usual daily bath till next day.

In Rameswaram we also saw following two places:

Kodandaramar Temple: Temple dedicated to Lord Shrirama and Mother Sita

Dhanush Kodi: South most tip of India. It is a belief that this is a place from where Sethu was built between Indian and Shri Lanka by vanaras under the supervision of Lord Shrirama.