Vows of Shiva and Parvati

The Marriage Vows Between Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi

Our lives are filled with relationships, but very few take the necessary steps to seriously commit the totality of themselves to another. Yet, successful relationships require this!

These beautiful vows between Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi will enchant all of you who are seeking a Divine Communion – either with a spouse or a significant other. Take the time to understand these Divine Vows and review your own commitments. By attentively putting your promises into practice, your relationship is destined to blossom in Divinity! 

Parvati: It is my great privilege that, because of my actions in my previous births, you have become my husband and I am your wife. 

Shiva: I will always protect you with my Love. You remain without concern. I will remain with you both in pleasure and in pain.

Parvati: In circumstances of pain, I will maintain patience, and in pleasure I will express my delight.

In both pleasure and in pain I will always be with you. I will protect and nourish our children, my husband, and our family.

Shiva: I will provide all the necessities for life for our family, including food, clothing, and shelter, whatever is needed. I will seek your agreement in all matters of our household life.

Parvati: I will remain contented in any standard you choose to maintain us, and I will always respect and obey your every order. I will always prepare food for you and our family, and assure that you are always satisfied with food.

Shiva: I will always enjoy whatever you give me to eat, and I will never have desires from any other woman. I will not make any other woman my source of nourishment.

Parvati: I will always adorn myself appropriately, and I will act appropriately in every circumstance. I will dedicate my mind, body, and soul to your satisfaction.

Shiva: Without you I will not perform any actions of Dharma, Yajna, or Puja, or even pursue material gain. You will always be present as the motivation for my every action. 

Parvati: In Puja, Yajna, and all acts of dharma, I will always be present to help you. In all acts of dharma, artha, and kama I will always be present to assist you according to the dictates of your mind. Without you I will not contemplate anyone else’s puja, yajna, or acts of dharma.

Shiva: I will always dedicate my mind and renunciation of all selfishness to your greatest delight.

Parvati: Wherever you stay, there I also will stay; wherever you dwell, I also will be by your side. I will never become tired from my beloved or from our love.

Shiva: I will never question your authority to be by my side. I will never leave you or renounce your love. I live with the hope that you will be my source of comfort eternally. 

Parvati: All present here are witness that you are my husband and my Lord, and I have offered myself to you completely and eternally. 

Shiva: I will always give you my respect. Your desires will be the most important goals of my life. I will never consider that you are inferior to me. You will always be with me as my partner, as I with you.

Lord Vishnu: Defining these as the goals of divine marriage, I pronounce this marriage as consummated. 

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Vishnu Sahastranam

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*868. सात्त्विक:.

            sAttvikah.

     ॐ श्री  सात्त्विकाय नम:. 

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sAttvikah = Virtuous, Honest, Good, True, Brave, Energetic, Natural, Courageous, Unaffected, Genuine, Spirited, Pure, etc., 

HE Who dispenses the fruits of Dharma, Knowledge, Non-Attachment, and Riches, is called 'sAttvikah'. 

"One Who is full of sAttvik qualities".

Quietude, Tranquility, Peace - these are some of the sAttvik Qualities. sattva is the creative-pause of the Mind before it launches out in to a burst of creative thoughts and action. Full of inspiration and meditative-poise is the Total-Mind, BhagavAn. 

HE Who is essentially established in sattva guNa;

HE Who confers the fruits of sattva guNa;

One Who makes HIS Devotees possessors of Sacred Divine Knowledge;

HE Who bestows the sattva aspect on people, on the plants, etc., as they deserve;

So BhagavAn is called 'sAttvikah'. 

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*869.  सत्य:

            satyah.

   ॐ श्री  सत्याय नम:. 

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satyah = True, Pure, Intrinsical, Faithful, Actual, Honest, Sincere, Virtuous, Effectual, Authentic, Good, Real, Genuine, Valid, Realism, Peepul, Golden Age,  satyayuga, satyalOka, etc., 

One Who is Well-Disposed towards Pious Souls;

One Who is good in a Supreme Way;

HE Who is established in Truth;

HE Who is Real, and Who alone exists;

HE Who is in the form of prANa, anna, and surya;

One Who is exceptionally good;

One Who is having Infinite Auspicious Qualities;

One Who is truly established in good people;

One Who is Embodied as Virtue of Truth specially;

So BhagavAn is called 'satyah'. 

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870. 

            सत्यधर्मपरायण:.

            satyadharmaparAyaNah.

     ॐ श्री  सत्यधर्मपरायणाय नम:. 

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satyah + dharma + parAyaNah = satyadharmaparAyaNah. 

satya = True, Pure, Intrinsical, Faithful, Actual, Honest, Sincere, Virtuous, Effectual, Authentic, Good, Real, Genuine, Valid, Realism, Peepul, Golden Age,  satyayuga, satyalOka, etc., 

dharma = Virtue, Natural Qualities, Code, System, Tradition, Justice, Duty, Manners, Moral Merit, Attribute, Statute, Usage, Righteousness, Regulation, etc., 

parAyaNah = Devotion, Earnestness, Good Shelter,  Linked, Linkable, The More Diligence, The More Desire, Deeply Interested,  Rapt, Absorbed, Resort, Related, The Main Objective,  Shelter, Refuge, Extract, Principle, Headline, Principal Object,  Final End,  Panacea,  Universal Medicine, Essence, Immersed,  Zenith, etc., 

One Who is present in Truthfulness and Righteousness in its many aspects is called 'satyadharmaparAyaNah'. 

HE Who is pleased with the True dharma practiced by HIS Devotees;

HE Who is ever devoted to, and established in, Truth and in Righteousness;

HE Who provides the support to, and Who shows the path for, those who follow the Superior Path of dharma;

Refuge of Devotees as yadu, turvaSa, etc., who take interest in discharging Virtuous Duties;

So BhagavAn is called 'satyadharmaparAyaNah'. 

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|| सर्वेजना: सुखिनो भवंतु ||

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       🔔ॐ🔔

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86400 in Bank

Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day.

Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?

Each of us has such a bank. It's name is TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.

Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.

It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.

If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against "tomorrow."

You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!

The clock is running!! Make the most of today.

To realise the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.

To realise the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realise the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realise the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realise the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed a train.

To realise the value of ONE SECOND, ask someone who just avoided an accident.

To realise the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with. And remember time waits for no one........Jai Bhagavan......

BG Chapter 2 Verse 57

Srimad Bhagavad Gita Chapter two verse57

य: सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य शुभाशुभम् |

नाभिनन्दति न द्वेष्टि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता || 57||

yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehas tat tat prāpya śhubhāśhubham

nābhinandati na dveṣhṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣhṭhitā

One who remains unattached under all conditions, and is neither delighted by good fortune nor dejected by tribulation, he is a sage with perfect knowledge.

Commentary

Rudyard Kipling, a famous British poet, has captured the essence of this verse on  Sage of steady intelligence in his famous poem

 “If.” Here are a few lines from the poem:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same…

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

See the acceptance of this couplet indicates the usual urge in people to grasp the state of enlightenment, which The Supreme Lord defines to Arjuna. 

One may marvel how an English poet uttered the same state of enlightenment that is narrated by the Supreme Lord. 

The proclamation is that the craving for enlightenment is the inherent nature of the soul. 

Hence, perceptively or unknowingly, everyone craves for it, in all cultures around the world. 

The Supreme Lord is defining it here, in answer to Arjuna’s question.

One saint stated in context to same verse (Swami Mukundananda)

A man should never despise himself, for dazzling success never attends on the man who is condemned by himself.

See Sugar and sand may be mixed together, but the ant rejects the sand and carries away the grains of sugar. 

So the holy Paramahamsas and pious men successfully sift the good from the bad.

The water of a rapid stream moves round and round in eddies and whirlpools in some places; but, passing these, it resumes again a straight and swift course.

 So the heart of the devotee is caught every now and then in the whirlpool of despondency, grief and unbelief; but this is only a momentary aberration and does not last long.

The truly religious man or woman she or he who does not commit any sin even, when he is alone, and when no man observes him, because he feels that God sees him even then.

 He, who finds a bag full of gold in a lonely and uninhabited house, and resists the temptation of appropriating it, he is a truly religious man. But he, who practices religion for the sake of show, through fear of public opinion, cannot be called truly religious. 

The religion of silence and secrecy is the true religion, but it is all sham and mockery when attended with vaunting and vanity.

Patram Pushpam

Do you know , The most misunderstood sloka of Bhagawad Gita is Chapter 9 verse 26. " .

Patram puspam phalam Toyama yomeya bhaktya prayacchati

Tadaham bhaktyupahrtam asnami prayatatmanaha. Check your scriptures and you will find the answer. My findings will be given later. Hari bol

 Y I . Bhagwad Gita chapter 9  verse 26.

Patram - Draupadi gave Bhawan Shri Krishna saag when she        

absolutely had nothing else to give.

Puspam- Gajendra found himself grabbed by an alligator in a lake . He couldn't free himself , he calls for the lord of the universe who came and saved him. Gajendra had absolutely nothing to give but a lone lotus flower which he gave to Bhagwanji.

Phalam- When Shri Rammji came to see Sabri, she gave him some fruits because she had nothing else to give. 

 

Toyam- King Ranti Deva gave Gave Bhagawan ji water because he had absolutely nothing else to give.

To all devotees give in name of God according to your financial standing. Jai ho

Lakshmi and Alakshmi

Why is Goddess Lakshmi always seen sitting next to Lord Vishnu’s feet?

The Indian way is subjective and symbolic while the western way is logical, objective, mathematical and conclusive. If a woman sits next to a man’s feet, we automatically deduce something is wrong there and question. Why? Because we automatically consider “Feet” as “derogatory”.

You have to be “logical”. You have to be “correct”. Things like “Equality” matter.

Lakshmi and Alakhsmi – Two sisters craving for Vishnu

Do you know that Lakshmi has an older sister, her name is Alakhsmi. She is the hindu goddess of misfortune and follows Lakshmi wherever she goes.

She is extremely jealous of Lakshmi because she does not have a husband. Her sole intention in life is to find a way to drive Lakshmi out of any household and capture the Vishnu living in that household. She has a dry shriveled up body, sunken cheeks, thick lips, and beady eyes and that she rides a donkey. She sometimes takes the form of an owl that is portrayed accompanying Lakshmi.

One day Lakshmi went enraged asked Alakhsmi –

“Why do you want my husband? Please leave me alone and let me enjoy his company”.

To this alakhsmi had said –

“I do not have a husband and I am not worshipped. I will follow you wherever you go”.

Lakshmi then said –

“Mrityu, god of death, decay, and degeneration will be your husband and she will dwell wherever there is dirt, ugliness, sloth, gluttony, envy, rage, hypocrisy, greed and lust.”

So it is Lakshmi who is sitting next to Vishnu’s dirty feet, because if it is dirty, Alakshmi will come and drive her out and claim her husband.

The symbolic representation

Like I said, Indian mythology is mostly symbolic and subjective. Here is the subjective truth.

Fortune and misfortune go hand in hand, just like Lakshmi and Alakshmi. When good fortune showers on you, misfortune sits quietly next to the entrance, waiting for an opportunity to come inside. That is Alakshmi, waiting for an opportunity to enter your house and drive out the Lakshmi.

Whenever your house is dirty, there is fight among parents, there is lust, hypocrisy among brothers, gluttony among women,  greed between son and father, women are dressed in dirty clothes, it is a sign of misfortune (Alakshmi) entering the house and driving Lakshmi away.

Hence, the Lakshmi in the house must wake up and prevent Alakshmi from entering. This is why you see the house is cleaned every morning, water is poured next to the main door, Agarbatties are lighted, people wear fresh new clothes in festivals. This is done to prevent misfortune (Alakhsmi) from entering the house.

The picture is just a symbolic representation of preserving order and has nothing to do with the relationship of man/woman. Vishnu is the keeper or lord of the house and Lakshmi is the one who ensures that the keeper is guarded from misfortune 

Shree Guru

Guru Gita : A Commentary by #SwamiSwaroopananda

#GuruGita #ShreeGuru and #HisDisciple

The Shree Guru, the one who has the highest status, is the one who gives us the highest knowledge. He is the one who gives us Shree Vidhya; Vidhya means knowledge.That teacher who gives us The knowledge; where all our ignorance comes to an end, and the one infinite reality is known is Shree Guru. In the knowledge of the infinite reality all limitations and finitude come to an end. And when all finitude comes to an end all our sorrows come to an end. All our bondage and transmigration come to an end. So one who gives us that knowledge is called as Shree Guru. 

Therefore, even the Upanishads say, that those who have observed carefully and have understood that even the heavenly world - gained through karma and through action - is limited; those who having developed detachment even from the heavenly pleasures and heavenly world, having observed that everything is changing and anything gained through action is always limited and want to know the truth and truth alone; those who having practised the various methods - the upasanas, meditations, and having controlled their mind developed qualities of calmness of mind - kshma, dhama, etc., Viveka - vairagya - discrimination and dispassion are ready to gain this knowledge from a Guru. The Mundako Upanishad highlights that such a person should approach a guru. Which Guru should such a person go to? It is here that it clarifies - “Shrotriyam Brahma Nishtam”- the Guru who is well versed in the scriptures. 

In Prasnopanishad and in Kenopanishad,  the Guru clearly says we cannot instruct you because this knowledge is not known by the speech. In Kenopanishad we are being told that which cannot be told. We are asked to experience that which cannot be experienced. The infinite cannot  be conceived by the intellect, you should transcend the intellect to know the infinite. Yet this art of teaching; this art of revealing is there only in the Upanishads. 

Even those who have realised - if they do not have the knowledge from the Upanishads they will not be able to reveal it. Thus Shrotriyam - not a pundit, not a scholar who can quote from the Upanishad from the Gita etc., - but Brahma Nishtam who himself is firm in the knowledge of the infinite, who is rooted in the infinite, one who has realised the infinite, from such a person one should approach and gain the knowledge. 

Gurum ena abi Gacheta. We should go to a teacher and not call the teacher to come to us. Guru Seva - This knowledge cannot be gained by any other means. We should go to the teacher with an attitude of service, with an attitude of readiness to serve; as what else can we offer, but our service. All wood, fruit, etc are only symbolic - of the fact that we are ready to serve. We should be ready to do anything with humility to get this knowledge, because through service comes humility; through service comes detachment; and it is in that humble service is this knowledge gained from the teacher. The Chandokya Upanishad clearly says “Acharyavan Purusho veda” - that one who has a teacher rather, one who has surrendered to the teacher, that person will know the truth.

#GuruPoornima #Salutations to the #GuruParampara #InHisService #AtHisFeet #AnOffering #UntoHim

#GuruGitaCommentary #Part4