Photo of Sri Dhanvantari

Drawn by Sri.K.K.Raman, Mumbai

Sri Dhanvantari is the presiding deity of Ayurveda

Fight between Yama and the rest of devas

Krishna Yajurveda Kanda 2, prasna 1, anuvaka 4

devashcha vai yamaschsminlolespardhanta sa yamo devanamindriyam veeryamyuvata tadyamasya yamatvam te deva amanyanta yamo idamabhoodyadvayagum sma iti te prajapatimupadhavntsa etou prajapatiratmana ukshavashou niramimeeta te deva vaishnavaruneem vashaamaalabhantaindramukshanam tam varunaenaiva grahayitva vishnuna yajnena pranudantaindrenaivaasyendriyamavrunjata

The devas and Yama fought over this world; Yama is the power and strength of the devas. That is why he is called Yama. The gods realized that 'Yama has captured their position.They approached Prajapati. Pajapati created from his body the bull and the barren cow. Devas sacrificed the barren cow to Vishnu and Varuna, and the bull to Indra. This caused Yama to be seized by Varuna and Vishnu. Thus he was driven away.

God's own ways

God takes care of everything. He provides to everyone. However, he has his own ingenious ways of doing it. He would create an ego in you ( don't confuse with pride, ego is self awareness, the "I" in you )and make you think that you are responsible for your own upkeep and you are the one responsible to run the family / society etc.etc.

This will make you to work earn and acquire the means to this end. God delegates. He doesn't distribute food packets to everyone. Ego is the mechanism with which he keeps the world running. Ego is the engine that drives the world. But for ego, there wouldn't be breadwinners, protectors, creators, leaders, followers, performers or saviors. Don't try to fight or destroy ego. It is useless. It will exist in some form or the other till the time the body lasts. The hunger and thirst are ego in physical form. The raw ego can not be done away with.

Just understand its ways. It could be a mad world. That's the way God wants to run it ( run himself ? ) as of now for his own reasons. Understand and accept everything.

Importance of sraadha during pitrupaksha or mahalayapaksha

Atrismruti says -

surye kanyagate kuryaacchraadham yo na gruhashramee

dhanam putrankulam tasya pitrunisvasapeedaya

kanyagate savitari pitaro yanti satsutaan

shunya pretapri sarvaa yavadvrushchikadarsanam

tato vrishchikasampraptou nirashaah pitaro gataaha

punah svabhavanam yanti shaapam datvaa sudaarunam

putram va bhrataram vapi douhitram poutrakam tatha

The pitrupaksha is the period from the krishna pratipada to amavasya when sun is transiting kanya rasi. At the commencement of this period the pitrus leave pitruloka and reach their descendants. The pitruloka becomes empty then. They remain on earth till sun enters vrsichika rasi. They come with great expectation. If they are not propitiated by the performance of sraadha in the pitrupaksha, they get greatly disappointed and their sigh of grief will destroy the wealth, children and kula of the descendants. They return after issuing terrible curse upon the non performing relatives such as sons, brothers and grandchildren.

What is the ideal time to perform sraadha

Vasishtasmruti says -
divasasyashtame bhage mandeebhavati bhaskraha
sa kaalah kutapo nama pitrunaam dattamakshayam

The day duration from sunrise to sunset should be divided into 15 equal portions. The 8th portion called the kutapa kala is ideal for offering to pitrus.

Nakshatras for karnavedha (piercing the ear)

Asvini, Mrigasirsha, Punarvasu, Hasta, Chitra, Anuradha, Shravana, Dhanishta and Revati

Daana materials for the nine planets

The following danas are performed for propitiating the nine planets.

Surya - Surya pratima in copper or gold, brown cow with calf, wheat, copper, gold, ruby, red sandal, saffron clothes

Chandra - White rice, pearl, white silk clothe, vessel with milk, vessel with ghee, Chandra pratima in silver, camphor, sugarcane

Angaraka - Red bull, Tur dal, red clothes, gold, copper, pratima in gold or copper

Budha - Moong dal, gold, emerald, green silk clothes, sugar, ghee, artifacts made of ivory (illegal ?), pratima

Guru - Chana, Yellow silk clothes, yellow sapphire, turmeric, jute, lemon, gold, salt, sugar, pratima made of gold

Sukra - Sukra pratima in silver, rajamasha, white silver clothes, diamond, white cow with calf, perfumes

Sani - Sani pratima in iron, til, black cow with calf, blue sapphire, black clothes, black grains, annadaanam to the poor

Rahu - Iron, Black gram, Gomedaka, Horse, Blue clothes, Til, Gingelly oil in iron vessel

Ketu - Horsegram, goat, weapons, vaidoorya, red or black silk clothes, Ketu pratima in gold, silver or pancha loha

Samits of the nine planets

Samits are the sticks with which ahutis are given during the yajnas. It is one of the homadrvyas.

The respective samits for the navagrahas are



Surya - arka - Calotropis gigantea

Chandra - palasa - Butea monosperma

Angaraka - khadira - Acacia catechu

Budha - apamarga - Achyranthes aspera

Guru - asvatha - Ficus religiosa

Sukra - oudumbara - Ficus racemosa

Sani - samee - Polygonatum verticillatum

Rahu - Durva - Cynodone dactylone

Ketu - kusa - Desmostachya bipinnata

Propitiation of planets causing affliction

Sage Parasara says all good and bad experiences of living beings are under the control of the nine planets. Therefore one desirous of peace, prosperity, knowledge, longevity, health, power and the like should perform yajnas to propitiate these planets.

The general procedure involves chanting of the respective mantras of the planets for a particular number of times and ahutis amounting to one tenth of the number of chantings done. The ritual also involves daanam and brahmanabhojanam.

The number of chanting and the mantras are :

Planet	Mantra	Number of chanting
Surya	Aa krishnena / Aa satyena	7000
Chandra	Imam deva asapatnam / Apyaayasavasametu te	11000
Kuja	Agnirmoordhaa divah	10000
Budha	Udbudhyasva	19000
Brihaspati	Brihaspate adiyadaryo	19000
Sukra	Annat parisruto / prava sukraya	16000
Sani	Sanno deveerabhishtaya	23000
Rahu	Kayanaschitra	18000
Ketu	Ketum krinnanva ketave	17000

Pleasure & Pain

Are you able to ward off that pain and suffering? If you ever get the feeling that you have successfully manged to avoid it, it was never meant for you. Similarly the pleasures also can not be avoided. They will simply happen if they are meant for you. There is no fear of losing them.