Tag Archives: Krishna

Wearing Tulsi Beads Around The Neck

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Tulsi BeadsTulsi is thought to be the most sacred of woods in India and Indian worship, and the plant of Tulsi is believed to be the incarnation of the Divine itself. The Tulsi Mala is made of the wood or the seeds of Tulsi and is used for name chanting and worship.

Moreover, the Tulsi Mala is said to have incredible spiritual and physical healing powers apart from helping the mind to focus during prayers. Like the Sphatik Mala and the Rudraksh Mala.

The Tulsi Mala is made of Tulsi wood and consists of 108 beads wound around a strong string, with a 109th bead called the Sumeru bead of some other material like a metal or crystal, or a bigger Tulsi bead itself. One starts counting the beads from the bead adjacent to the Sumeru bead of the Tulsi Mala and completes one full round. On second round the Tulsi Mala needs to be counted in the reverse direction again as the Sumeru bead should not be crossed while praying. Depending on the type of the Tulsi plant, the Tulsi Mala is available in various colors like black, brown or sandalwood color.

The Tulsi Mala can be worn on the neck or tied around the fist. The benefits of the leaves of Tulsi is well proven, and owing to its spiritual and physical healing powers, the touch of the Tulsi wood acts as a rejuvenator for the stressed mind and brings the spiritual self of a person closer to God. On top of that, wearing the Tulsi Mala is supposed to bring good luck and fortune to the devoted wearer. It is said to balance the kapha and the vata dosha. Tulsi clears the aura, and its subtle smell fills the heart with sensation of the divine. The Tulsi Mala is used to worship Lord Ram and Krishna, different incarnations of Lord Vishnu who is believed to be the creator and the beloved of the Tulsi.

The Lord says that one who wears the beads made out of the wood of Tulsi in one’s neck, even if he is untidy and ill- charactered, will undoubtedly attain Me only. Sri Krishna will grant the fruit of being the resident of Dvarka immediately to those who wear Tulsi beads around the neck. The sins of the person who wears neck beads made of Tulsi with devotion after offering to Sri Vishnu will get vanquished and Devakinandan Sri Krishna will always remain pleased with him, he does not need to undergo further atonement, no more sins remain in his body. In Kaliyuga, one, who is bedecked with the beads made of Tulsi, performs ritual activities and activities pertaining to ancestors and demigods, obtains crores times more results. The messengers of Yama will flee away by the sight of the Tulsi beads just as leaves are blown off by wind.

In Skanda-puran it is stated :- Those who wear neck beads made of Tulsi after offering it to Sri Hari are definitely foremost among the devotees of Lord. After presenting the mala, it should be purified with panca-gavya; after that the mula -mantra should be recited followed by the recitation of the gayatri mantra for eight times. Touching with incense, worship with this

Sadyojata -mantra with utmost devotion:

Om sadyojatah prapadyami sadyojataya vai namo namah.

Bhave tave nadi bhave bhajeswamam bhavod-bhavaya namah After that, this prayer should be made, “Oh! Mala ! You are made of Tulsi and are dear to Vaisnavas . I wear you around my neck; you make me dear to Sri Krishna. ‘Ma’ means ‘me’, ‘La’ means ‘to give’. Oh Hari-Vallabhe ! You have given me to Vaisnava devotees, hence you are known as mala . Those Vaisnavas who pray in accordance with rituals in this manner and first offer the mala in the neck of Sri Krishna and then puts it to themselves attain the Lotus feet of Sri Vishnu.” It is stated in Padma Purana : either during morning ablutions or bathing or eating or at any state which is clean or unclean, Tulsi mala has to be worn always; that means mala should not be removed under any circumstance.

 

Health Benefits of Tulsi (Sciance)

– It acts as anti bacterial and anti parasitic, therefore is widely used in infectious diseases.- Tulasi act on nervous system providing them strength, relieves stress and helps in relieving
pain.

– It work as appetizer and promotes digestion by helping in secretion of digestive enzymes.

– Tulsi juice when mixed with ginger juice is very effective in abdominal disorder in children.

– It helps in preventing flatulence and avoids constipated stool.

– It is an effective natural cure for upper respiratory tract infection (URTI).

– Tulasi works as good expectorant relieving from wet cough.

– It is very useful in bronchitis and asthmatic conditions.

– It works as antibiotic eliminating the bacteria.

– It is widely used in fever as it act as antipyretic, pain reliever, and provides strength to our body.
Take powder of Tulasi leaves with saunth (dried ginger) and sugar with hot water in fevers.

– It also possesses anti-cancerous properties.

– Tulsi juice drops are very effective in earache.

– Keep powder of tulsi root in water for overnight and take it early morning for diabetes natural cure.

– It works as a powerful antioxidant thereby helps in preventing early aging signs and makes the skin
young.

“Jai Shri Radhe”

Death of Narakasura – the origins of Diwali

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narkasur vadh by krishnaHiranyaksha was a very bad demon. He terrorized all the people in earth and heavens alike. Unable to tolerate him anymore, the people went to Lord Vishnu to protect him from Hiranyaksha. Lord Vishnu promised to help them.
When Hiranyaksha came to know of this, he got about thinking…To protect the earth and its people, Lord Vishnu has to first find the earth…I am going to hide the earth itself so that Lord Vishnu would not be able to find it…Thinking thus, Hiranyaksha using his powers and might pushed the earth itself off its axis!
When Hiranyaksha touched the earth to push her, an asura was created out of the contact between Bhumadevi, the Mother Earth and Hiranyaksha….
The earth plummeted deep inside space. Lord Vishnu incarnated as a boar and held the earth in its horns and pushed her back in her axis. Lord Vishnu fought Hiranyaksha and defeated and killed him.
After he had won against Hirayaksha, Bhumadevi told Lord Vishnu about the asura who was created. Lord Vishnu got about thinking. He told Bhumadevi, ‘He is your son, Bhumadevi! He will be very powerful and strong just like Hiranyaksha.’
Bhumadevi looked at Lord Vishnu and said apprehensively, ‘Would he also be a terrible demon like Hiranyaksha?’
Lord Vishnu sadly nodded his head, ‘There is every chance that he may be like Hiranyaksha….In fact he may be even more powerful than Hiranyaksha. I think you may be the only person who may be able to defeat him…’
Bhumadevi looked at Lord Vishnu without understanding…Lord Vishnu shook his head. ‘Let us not bother about it now. We will worry about it when the time comes.’ Still not satisfied Bhumadevi reluctantly nodded her head, as Lord Vishnu returned to Vaikunta.
Meanwhile the asura who was created, grew up to be strong and powerful. The asura was named Narakasura. Banasura who was a powerful asura saw Narakasura’s strength and decided to use him. Banasura spoke to Naraksura, ‘Naraka! You are already very strong. I think if you meditate on Lord Brahma, he will make you more powerful and then, you can rule the three worlds…not just the earth.’
Narakasura thought that through and decided that he would worship Lord Brahma. He performed severe penance and driven by the power of his penance, Lord Brahma appeared before him.
Lord Brahma spoke, ‘Narakasura! Your powers of meditation are great! For that you can ask me any boon…’ Lord Brahma was not very optimistic about granting Narakasura any boon. He knew that Narakasura was becoming evil and any boon he asked might result on great havoc on the earth…But still Lord Brahma could not turn away from any person who had performed such rigorous penance. He had to grant whatever it is that Narakasura asked for…
Narakasura bowed before Lord Brahma and said, ‘My Lord! I will not ask the boon of immortality, I know you do not grant that boon to anybody…’ Lord Brahma nodded as Narakasura continued, ‘My Lord! I have come to know that Mother Earth – Bhumadevi herself is my mother. So this is my wish. If I have to die it has to be in the hands of my mother and no one else….’
Lord Brahma smiled inwardly. But he looked at Narakasura and spoke, ‘So be it! And try to use your powers for good!’ Lord Brahma vanished from there.
Narakasura burst out laughing as Lord Brahma vanished. Lord Brahma was a fool…No mother would kill her own son…no matter who it is…He had granted me the boon of immortality…Why should he try to use his powers for good…He could literally rule the worlds…People everywhere would bow to him and pray to him…He would make sure of that…
Meanwhile in Gokul, a beautiful, black child grew up among the cowherds there as the son of their chief – Nanda and Yashoda…The child was Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
Narakasura returned to his kingdom – Pragjyotishyapur and made preparations for war. Armed with the boon, Narakasura attacked all the kingdoms on earth. He was so ferocious in his strength and power that the other kings did not even have a chance. All of them went under the rule of Narakasura. Soon Narakasura was the ruler of all the kingdoms on earth.
Narakasura soon eyed the heavens. Indra, the Lord of the Devas was no match for Narakasura. Narakasura fell upon the heavens and Indra and the other Devas crumbled and fled from there. Narakasura became more and more wicked. He became arrogant….He captured 16,000 women in the heavens and imprisoned them in his palace.
Narakasura was so arrogant that he did not even let Aditi, the mother of the Devas alone. Aditi, had some heavenly earrings made for her. The earrings were so precious that they even glowed in the dark. Narakasura without a moment’s hesitation tore the earrings from Aditi, not giving a care in the world….
Narakasura ruled like a despot and people everywhere were afraid of him. They were afraid to stand up against him, because he punished people who stood up against him, very severely…They began to pray for someone to come and protect them from the Asura.
Meanwhile Krishna as he grew up among the cowherds, realized about his own self. He came to know that he was the son of Devaki and Vasudeva. Devaki was the sister of Kamsa, the wicked ruler of Mathura. After Devaki and Vasudeva had got married, there was a heavenly voice, which proclaimed that the eighth child of Devaki would kill Kamsa.
Terrified Kamsa imprisoned Devaki and Vasudeva. Despite all his measures and protections, Krishna was born as the eighth child of Vasudeva and Devaki. Krishna was smuggled to Gokul where he grew up among the cowherds there.
When Krishna came to know about Kamsa and what he had done to his parents, Krishna was furious. He along with his elder brother Balarama killed Kamsa, thereby fulfilling the prophecy. Krishna crowned his grandfather Ugrasena as the king of Mathura and himself ruled Dwaraka. 

The story of Narakasura ends with Krishna and his third wife – Satyabama. 

As Satyabama was alone in the royal palace gardens, thinking of Krishna she was visited by Aditi, the mother of the Devas. She broke down in tears on seeing Satyabama. Satyabama looked at Aditi and calmed her down, ‘What has happened? What is wrong?…’
Aditi burst out into tears and showed Satyabama her ears which were dripping blood. Satyabama gasped as Aditi continued, ‘Narakasura… He came to the palace…he defeated my son and imprisoned….imprisoned all the women there and he grabbed the earrings from my ears….I…’
Satyabama calmed down Aditi, ‘Don’t worry! Please…please don’t cry…’ Satyabama looked at Aditi and was angrily thinking of Narakasura, ‘That man is becoming a menace…I will deal with it myself…’
Satyabama made sure Aditi was comfortable in her palace and ran to see Krishna. ‘Krishna!’ She called as Krishna appeared before her. Krishna looked at her and did not say anything. It was very rare for Satyabama to come to him yelling in the palace. Obviously something very bad had happened. He looked at her waiting for her to continue.
Satyabama spoke with barely concealed fury, ‘Krishna! Aditi has come here…’
Krishna looked at her and asked, ‘Aditi! The mother of the Devas…What does she want…’
Satyabama continued angrily, ‘Narakasura! That asura…look what he has done…’ Satyabama told him everything that Aditi had told him. Krishna became more and more serious as Satyabama continued speaking. He finally held up his hands, ‘Satyabama! I am going to fight with the Narakasura…He has crossed his limits…It is high time he is taught a lesson…’
Satyabama spoke up ‘Krishna! I want to come with you…’ Krishna looked surprised as Satyabama continued, ‘I am going to definitely help you defeat that evil demon…’ She said angrily looking at Krishna. Krishna nodded his head and looked at her. ‘Get your weapons ready! We are going to war! We will go on Garuda! He can take us to Narakasura’s capital in no time…’ Garuda was the vehicle of Lord Krishna and could fly very fast…
Satyabama nodded her head and got ready for battle.
Both of them sat on Garuda. Garuda flew into the kingdom of Pragjyotishyapur. Looking at Garuda approaching his kingdom, Narakasura’s heart missed a beat…The Dark Lord had come for him…But then he slowly shook his head…He had a boon that he could be killed only by his mother…Even Krishna himself could not do anything to him. Narakasura then ordered the division of his army to attack Garuda and Krishna.
The battle between the army of Narakasura and Krishna was ridiculously short. Krishna and Garuda helped with Satyabama destroyed the army in no time at all. Narakasura saw all this from inside his palace and was furious. He called his general Mura. ‘Mura! Take your battalion…Destroy that man…’
Mura attacked the dark Lord with his huge army. But he was also destroyed the same way as the others…[As Lord Krishna had defeated Mura, Krishna is sometimes called as ‘Murari’]
When Narakasura saw Mura die in the battlefield, he yelled and ran out and threw his sataghini [a thunderbolt] at Krishna. Garuda dived and the weapon missed Krishna altogether.
Krishna hurled many of his weapons at Narakasura but he was surprised. Narakasura was easily able to neutralize the weapons which Krishna threw at him! Satyabama on seeing Narakasura, twanged her bow and let the arrows fly fast and furiously.
Looking at the double attack Narakasura furiously pulled out ‘Shakti’ a powerful weapon and hurled it at Krishna.
Satyabama watched in horror as the weapon hit Krishna in the chest. The Dark Lord swooned and fell down!
Satyabama furiously pulled out a powerful weapon of her own and hurled it at Narakasura. Her shock at seeing her Krishna fall gave her the strength to hurl the weapon exactly at Narakasura’s chest, with a speed which was unmatched. Narakasura blinked for a full minute when he saw a weapon in his chest…How could he be defeated…he….He saw Satyabama go towards Krishna, not even bothering to see whether her weapon had hit Narakasura or not…
Narakasura swayed on the spot and looked as the Dark Lord woke up without a single scratch on his body! Satyabama also looked surprised. Krishna smiled as they both got down from Garuda and came towards Narakasura.
Narakasura looked at the two of them. What they had for each other was love…Krishna had so many wives…he loved each one of them fully and respected each one of them…Satyabama loved her husband and was willing to stand up against anybody for him…Narakasura realized suddenly that this was what was missing in his life…He had been powerful…very powerful…but he had never loved anybody…ever…that is what had made him empty…purposeless…Narakasura felt waves of guilt wash over him…He had been so powerful…he could have used the power for good…but he used it for bad purposes…and now …he could not even properly apologize to the people he had wronged…
He lay on the battlefield and looked at the Dark Lord and held his hands together bowing his head, ‘My Lord!’ He breathed sadly, ‘I am sorry…I truly am…It is today that I have seen light…I have lived a life of ignorance…a life of hate…and darkness…I have spread nothing but fear among people…People who go on to terrify others would come to this end only…I have seen the error in my ways…’
Krishna smiled, ‘Narakasura! I am glad you have repented for your actions..’
Narakasura looked around as he saw the body of Dark Lord and Satyabama glowing in the evening light. ‘I have seen light today, my Lord…I wish that people would celebrate this day as the day of victory of light over darkness…’
Satyabama came forward and touched Narakasura. She nodded her head as she looked at his pain filled eyes.
Krishna said. ‘Narakasura! This is Satyabama…She is actually an incarnation of Bhumadevi…’ Both Satyabama and Narakasura looked at Krishna with surprise as Krishna continued, ‘She incarnated with the special purpose of defeating you…I could never have defeated you…Only Satyabama could…so I pretended to fall unconscious and the rest was done by her…’ Krishna said looking at Satyabama with pride.
Satyabama felt a deep understanding within herself. She realized the truth in Krishna’s words. She took Narakasura’s head in her lap and cried out, ‘My son! Why? Why did you have to follow such a dark path…Why did you…’
Narakasura stopped Satyabama, ‘No mother! You are not responsible for my choices…I chose wrongly and you fought me for what you believed as right…You have done the right thing…I am glad to call you my mother…’ Narakasura breathed his last….
Even to this day, Narakasura’s death is celebrated as the victory of light over darkness…It comes on the second day of Diwali as ‘Naraka chaturdasi’. Diwali which is a festival of lights actually celebrates the triumph of right over the wrong…
Satyabama took Aditi’s earrings and handed them over to Aditi…

-From the Bhagawat Purana

Ladoo Gopal ji Sewa as per Temple Standard

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What I know about deity worship at home (and that applies to Laddu Gopal seva also) is that whatever standard of worship you set in your house, you have to maintain. When the lord comes to our house in the form of deity, He adjusts as per the schedule and capacity of the householder. But when the lord appears in the temple, then everything revolves around Him and has to be as per His timings. One more thing I have heard but still to be able to apply fully is – when there are deities in the temple and you are serving in the temple, then the temple deities take precedence over the home deities. One has to give more importance to temple deities (esp on festivals).

Now how to serve Laddu Gopal ji in the house  – you can start by keeping a very minimal standard and increase as and when the desire comes and the buy in is there from all the family members, instead of starting as if its a temple and then the entire routine becomes cumbersome and a drudgery for everyone. We shoudl do whatever we do with love – that is important. There shoudl be minimum one arati a day, min one bhoga a day. You can increase to 2 -3 aratis and bhoga as many times as food is cooked in the house.

Now I will tell you the ideal – do mangalarati (not necessary because the lord is a baby in your house, may need to sleep till 8.00 am like Banke Bihari Lal Ju of Vrindavan), do sandhya arati, do tulsi puja twice a day. Offer whatever you cook or eat to the lord and take only remnants of maha prasad. Keep the lord’s utensils and wiping cloth, cleaning soap/ detergent/ vim bar separate and do not use for any other purpose. Shringar/ abhishek can be done daily, twice a day or once in a fornight – every ekadasi or every alternate weekend, as per convenience. Put the lord to sleep every night (approx same time every night) and you may put some laddoo and water (both covered) for night time snack if He feels hungry at night. Remove the flute and crown when you put Him to sleep. Remove whatever flowers you put during puja at sleep time. You can even get a small bed for Him to sleep in. You can tuck Him in each night and wake Him up (approx same time everday) in the morning. The clothes shoudl be as per the weather – light non jari cotton clothes for summer, grand jari clothes for ocassions, woollens for winters.

Follow your local temple – do chandan seva on akshay tritiya, continue for 21 days, do jhoolan for janmashtami, set up a separate damodar during kartik. If they are doing lotus offering in summer, jal vihar – whatever you can follow in your house, you can do as per interest, time, capacity and cooperation of family members. My firm belief is that if you fight with family members and then do seva, that seva is not accepted. Better to serve internally and with mind, rathar than pick up fights and then serve, telling yourself you are the only devotee.

When you have time, sing kirtans in front of the lord, read Bhagawatam in front of the lord. Keep on looking at Him, admiring Him, sharing with Him what you did the whole day, your thoughts and feelings, laugh with Him, cry with Him. The best part is – everything is service and He accepts everything.

Enjoy serving the lord. Love Him and make Him the centre of your life.

The most important thing I am saying at the end – give up ownership of your house. Mentally, transfer the ownership of your house to Laddu Gopal – stay in your house as if you are His servant. Keep the altar area especially clean.

“Jai Shree Radhe”