Nama Dwaar Nibbles

Why is there no temple for Brahma?

Lord Brahma is nothing but the very form of the Vedas.  And the Vedas are nothing but Sound.  The best way of worshipping sound is by continuously echoing it and keeping it alive in this world for ever, rather than building a temple and a shrine for the same.    Thus, the true worship of Brahma is verily the recitation of the Vedas.

This is the reason why Lord Brahma has no temples for himself.

In the Tamizh language we often use the adage ‘mookirku mel kopam’  (literally translates as ‘anger over the nose’), a connection is made between one’s quick-temper and the point on top of the nose!
Why so?
The ‘chakra’ just above the nose and between the two eyebrows is called the ‘Ajna Chakra’. It is through this point that a person’s anger comes out as the destructive power and curse. It is well known that Lord Siva burnt ‘Kaama’ (Cupid) through His third eye. This explains the usage of the term linking quick temper with this point above our nose.

What is the greatest ‘phala’ of Sundara kanda ‘parayana’? One receives the ‘phala’ of having performed the ‘parayana’ of the whole Ramayana.

How is this?

In Sundara Kanda (a section in Ramayana), when Hanuman arrives at Asoka vana where Sita has been placed, he finds her preparing to hang herself. Hanuman immediately sings the Ramayana - beginning with Dasarata performing yaga for the birth of a child till his own arrival at Asoka vana. Trijada (one of the demonesses guarding Sita but the only one who was sympathetic to Sita) describes the dream wherein she sees Rama coming there to kill Ravana and subsequently Rama Pattabhisheka taking place. So, a gist of the whole Ramayana is found in Sundara kanda ‘parayana’. The earlier part of Ramayana comes through Hanuman and the latter part through the dream of Trijada.

Thus, the whole Ramayana is contained in a nut shell  in Sundarakanda; therefore, ‘parayana’ of Sundara kanda is akin to doing ‘Parayana’ of the whole Ramayana.

It is astonishing to see how our elders have used the intricacies of the scriptures even in mundane worldly matters such as architecture of a house.

The houses in South India are built in a linear fashion and they have a typical architecture.  The house has steps. (‘padi’ in tamil). ‘Padi’ also means ‘learn’.  It denotes learning of the scriptures.  One first learns the Vedas.  The moment one becomes learned, he becomes heavy-headed because of ego.  One can notice in the houses of yonder times that however huge the house may be, the height of the entrance/door is significantly small.  One has to bow down and enter the house.  This denotes that how ever learned a person might be, he has to learn to be humble.

Beyond the entrance, there is a walkway, (‘nadai’) which one has to cross in order to reach the main part of the house.  (‘nadai’ in Tamil literally means ‘walk’).  It signifies that after one learns the scriptures, he has to walk /live by it.

Once ‘nadai’ is crossed, one gets into the hall (‘koodam’).  ‘koodu’ in Tamil refers to ‘get together’.  Here it signifies that by mere learning one’s goal is not attained.  One has to get together with (the association of) the Sants and Sadhus.

Past the ‘koodam’ one would see the kitchen (‘samaiyal arai’).  ‘samai’ in Tamil also means ‘to become seasoned’/’to mature’/‘to ripen’.

Finally one encounters the ‘muttram’ which is the tail end of the house.  ‘Muttram’ also means the End (Mukti/liberation).

Arunagirinathar sings his experience in ‘Kandar anubhooti’. It was sung while he was in the form of a parrot.He knew the art of moving from one body to another (’koodu vittu koodu payudal’). Dropping his body, he moved into the body of a parrot.

Mistaking for death, his body was cremated and he remained in the form of a parrot! He sang about 50 or 100 (there is a debate on the number) verses in the form of the parrot. This is called ‘Anubhooti’ (the experience).

Inside the Temple of Madurai Meenakshi is the sanctum of Lord Ganesha bearing the name Mukkuruni Pillaiyar. Mukkuruni Ganesha is also found in Nagapattinam and Chidambaram.
Three ‘kurunni’ (a measure) of grains are used to make ‘modaka’ (a dish made of rice flour) for offering to this Ganesha. Hence, he is known as ‘Mukkuruni Pillaiyar’.

In Madurai, this Ganesha is found on the path that lay between Meenakshi Sannidhi and Chokkanãthar Sannidhi. In Chidambaram, he is found at the head of ‘Therkku veedhi’ (South Street). In Nagapattinam, Kanchi Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamiji had a single, huge ‘modaka’ made out of the entire flour and offered it to Lord Ganesha. A sack full of rice was ground into flour and one huge ‘kozhukattai’ was prepared out of it!
Legends have it that everyone teased Ganesha for sitting idle with his pot belly. So, Ganesha decided to find some employment! Ganesha, taking the form of a young boy, approached a devotee of his who was working on the fields and offered to assist him. This man asked, “How much wage do you expect?”
Ganesha in the form of a young boy said, “Three (’moonru’) ‘kurunnai’ grains.”
Thus, he earned the name ‘Mukkuruni Pillaiyar’!

At the end of the work he earned the grains and returned home happily. He went to his mother Parvati and offered the wage earned. Parvati said to her son, “Oh, my child! anything that the son might earn through arduous labour does not make the mother happy. It is only the father who feels pleased when the son earns. So, give the earnings to your Father!”

So, Ganesha went to his father Lord Siva and gave it to him. Lord Siva who behaves like a mad one (‘pithhan’) knows not what He does. He took the grains from Ganesha and emptied the whole sack on his own head!

People use the term ‘do not poke your nose in this matter’ quite commonly. How did this come about? What does  this mean? The source of origin for breath force and mind is the same. One can bring the mind under control through dhyana or vichara. Those who are unable to do this try to control the mind through the control of breath. This is also another means for controlling the mind. Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi, while speaking on controlling the mind through breath control says, ‘a bird confined to a cage tries to fly out. It rises up flapping its wings but on hitting the roof the bird falls down. It tries this repeatedly and returns to the cage floor.’ Similarly, for one who controls the breath, the mind rises but goes back to the place of origin soon after; Just as a caged bird flies up and falls back, if the breath is controlled the mind returns to its place of origin. Some try to control the mind through dhyana or vichara. Yogis control the breath and thus control the mind. Thus, it is possible to control the mind through the control of the breath.  The mind and breath move together.For example, let us say that we receive a telegram. Receiving a telegram always brings in negative thought. But once we open it and read through the contents and find that it only announces the arrival of a relative or a friend we heave a sigh of relief! We say, ‘oh, i am able to breathe freely now!’ All along, from the time of the receipt of the telegram till we learnt its contents, our mind was fixed in it and hence the breath controlled. On learning what it contains the mind leaves the matter and the breath begins to flow freely. The mind and breath move together So, the expression ‘do not poke your nose in this matter’ only means ‘do not fix your mind in this matter.’ Some even use the term ‘I shall cut off your nose’ [ if you poke it in this matter]. This also means that he shall not allow the other person to fix his mind [interfere] in the matter. Breath and mind move closely.  And, we breathe through the nose. Thus the term ‘do not poke your nose’ has come about.[An excerpt from Sri Sri Swamiji in His discourse on ‘Aksharamanamalai’ of Sri Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi]

The country of Greece had many Jnanis (saints), as the people there had such spiritual inclination. Alexander desired to meet such a great Jnani in India. His minister searched and found one such Jnani in a forest. The Jnani was lying idle!

The minister said to him, “Alexander, the great Emperor, is coming to meet you.”

The Jnani remained silent. Alexander arrived after a time and was shoced to find no response from this Jnani. He felt insulted and roared in anger, “You have no respect for a great Emperor that I am. You did not even get up. What are you doing?”

The Jnani, “I am just lying idle. I do not do any work!”

Alexander, “How can you be idling?”

The Jnani asked Alexander, “What do you do?”

Alexander said proudly, “I am going about conquering other countries.”

The Jnani questioned, “What would you do after that?”

Alexander, “I will conquer all the countries in the world.”

The Jnani, “What would you do after conquering the whole world?”

Alexander, “I will rest!”

The Jnani, “This is what I am doing now!”
(I am doing that which you would after so much work!)

Christ is walking in the midst of a huge crowd. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus. Christ turns around and walks up to the man and asks, “Did you call me?”

The blind man says, ‘Yes, Jesus!’

Christ asks him, “What do you want?”

The beggar says, “I am blind since birth. I want to see the entire creation of God. I want to see this beautiful world.”

Christ asks, “Do you want to see this world? Well! See it” and touches the blind man’s eyes with His fingers. Immediately the blind man is blessed with sight. He sees the world and sheds tears. Christ asks him, “Why do you weep?”

The blessed man, in a choked tone, says, “Jesus! You have blessed me with sight. I am now able to see the entire world.”

Christ explains, “Do you think that Jesus has given you sight? You hold the faith. Faith is the greatest wealth and you have it!”

Ref: The New Testament: Mark- 10: 46-52

Mahans can feel the presence of the particular deity in the place even as they feel the ‘deiva sannidhya’. Why should there be ’sannidhya’ in a particular place? A Maharishi must have performed tapas there. Bhagavan must have given him His darshan. Thus, sannidhya is created in two ways - Maharishi’s tapas and the appearance of Bhagavan in that place. When the Mahan who feels the ’sannidhya’ does tapas there, he has visions of all that had taken place there.

Kanchi Mahaswami Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Swamiji (Maha Periyava) during His wanderings in the place that is now called Pazhavanthangal (Nanganallur) lay down in the pyol of a small tile-roofed house. In those days this was a forsaken place outside the city limits. Maha Periyava predicted that innumerable temples would come up there in future as many Maharishis had, in the past, performed yagas there. Now, you do find innumerable temples here. Name the deity and there is a temple for that deity here - Guruvayurappan temple, Rajarajeswari temple, Nrisimha temple, Hayagreeva temple, Karumari Amman temple, a big Anajaneya temple where the deity is about 32′ high, Sri Ragavendra Swami Brindavan, Siva temple, Iyappan temple, Sathyanarayana temple, Venugopalaswamy temple, etc. are all found here.

There is a temple for Sita, too. This is the reason that this place is called Nangai nallur. Nangai refers to Piratti/Sita. Thus, there are Temples for various deities.