Ganesha Festival Celebrations

Hi, Friends! We recently celebrated the Ganesha Festival.

The Ganesha Festival known as Ganesh Chaturthi was from the evening of 06/09/2024 to the pre-evening hours of 07/09/2024 as per IST time zone.

In my home, we installed the idol at 6 pm on 06/09/2024 and worshiped the Ganesha with flowers, kumkuma, akshata, etc. chanting stotrams and the 108 names of worship.

We made the wooden frame known as Paalavelli and decorated it with some mango leaves, to hang it over the idol before starting the puja. Some years before, we used to decorate it on a grand scale with flowers, leaves, and fruits.

After the worship, I read the story of Ganesha Chaturthi’s significance to my family members. It is believed that one should not see the Moon without hearing/reading the story on this Chaturthi tithi due to a curse on the Moon by Goddess Parvati. After completing the story, we put some grains of the Akshata on our heads.

I performed the complete puja again the next morning also and offered naivedyam. After that, I moved the idol towards the North-Eastern direction for visarjan purposes.

I am sharing some photos of our Ganesha and the large Ganesha from our community also.

Hello, Friends!

Hi, everybody. I have been recently suffering from knee pain for one full month. During that time, I had to curtail my walking errands and do some quadriceps exercises after having medicines for two weeks and doing hot bag/ice bag treatments.

Gradually I started stepping out into the corridors and then onto the ground floor to take a few steps of walk.

Now, I feel completely recovered, though some swelling of my feet is still there. I am doing my routine walks of around 3 rounds inside our spacial compound area measuring 800 steps in one round. I am walking both times, mornings and evenings. I feel glad whenever I do the walks admiring the beauty of the clouds and the blue sky above me, and the green flowering plants and other tall trees greeting me with smiles. I adore the creator of all this wonderful world.

Life Lessons

Today, I came across a wonderful post which is in the form of a letter written by some parent to his children. In that letter, the parent gives some very important guidance to his children so that they can prepare for their struggle in life. He advises them to be very careful in their moves and at the same time be aware that they have to mold themselves to be ready to face any kind of circumstances which could be either comfortable or even adverse to their life.

I am providing the essence of those advices that needs to be taught to every growing child or grown-up young man.

1. Do not grudge against your surrounding people. Nobody bears the responsibility to treat you nicely, except your father and mother.
2. No one is indispensable in this world. The world will move on without you. In the same manner, you can move on without anybody to support you.
3. Be cautious with people. Even though they may be very good to you, you should not blindly trust them. In this world, everybody acts with some motive or intention to receive something back. So, you need to be cautious of their intentions in being around you.
4. Life is very short. A day wasted is a life wasted. So, grab every moment of your life and try to better yourselves.
5. Love is nothing but a feeling that can fade away with time or dependent on one’s own moods. So, don’t feel sad or fret when one deserts you. Be patient, and time will erase your pains.
6. All successful people need not be well-educated. But it doesn’t mean that you can become successful without being educated. Whatever knowledge you gain through education can be of some help always.

I think all these tips are of great value to us. We can follow these for the betterment of our lives.

Exploring Nature

Recently I have shifted to a new place to live with my son. So, my son hired a new flat in a big posh residential complex in East Bangalore, located near his office.

It is a big residential gated community with 5 towers containing 20 floors each. And, each floor is of seven flats. A very comfortable place with greenery all around inside the boundary walls, with fountains, playgrounds, and small parks. There is a grocery shop also inside.

I started exploring the premises recently and decoding the information available.

Here is a decoding of the names of the 5 towers.

Back to Blogging

Hi, Friends!

I have been absent here for more than 18 months due to many circumstances and unexplainable reasons. But, I kept reading some of the posts from our friends here though occasionally.

My life has become very busy due to self cooking and absence of any house-maid. Further more, I began devoting extra time towards prayers and worship during these pandemic periods.

I myself got diagnosed with COVID positive in the later week of April, 2021. I recovered very quickly within 10 days by God’s grace on taking self medications that were prescribed to some of my relatives.

I am reading books of different natures including The Upanishads besides other historical or fictional genres.

I wish to keep contact with all of you from now on and hope will be able to do so. Wish you all the best.

An Optimistic Attitude With Faith

I liked this post by a blogger “God Promised A Rainbow”

It is a very inspiring attitude to keep faith on God and carry on your business without any fears or doubts. Be positive and keep loving life as it comes. The almighty is there to help you in all your moments of life.

Life During Corona Virus Disease Environment

Hi, Friends,

I hope all of you are safe and healthy during this scary, hard times.

Please be positive and strong. No need to panic at the devastating news pumped out every day with new figures.

Keep indoors and enjoy your life adhering to the safety precautions provided by your administrations.

All official work is nowadays done from home through the internet, phone, and laptops. So, I hope the work and time passes peacefully (better than when you were required to be at office at a particular time). Now, you can choose your own time for work, leisure, and entertainment, etc. So, through a blend of all these things, you can enjoy more spare time spending with your family. You can actively participate with your children in their education and games, thereby boosting their spirits.

So, stay blessed.

My Mornings Start Like This

I get up early in the morning (my wake-up alarm is set at 6:15 am) on all days. But, it becomes 10:30 by the time I have my breakfast.

It goes like this. I get up, offer thanks and salutations to God for another day. Then head to the toilet to fresh-up and after drinking water, go to the front hall. Open the balcony doors and the front door of the hall. Pick up the paper lying there and place it on the diwan (it’s the wooden bed found in our Indian homes) to be read later after lunch.

Next, I enter the kitchen, open the other door towards the small and long room-like wash place that is intended for the use of the maid (that comes at 12 noon) for washing the kitchenware. I prepare my tea for two people (my self and my unmarried son). Thereafter, having brushed my teeth, I take the tea in two cups and enter my son’s bedroom. Sit there and have our tea.

Thereafter, I clean my kitchen and make it ready for the day. First, wash and clean the stove and burners (it’s the LPG 2-burner stove). Then clean the kitchen platform and sink. It takes more than 30 minutes. And, one small cooker that is for cooking the puja offerings only is cleaned. The clock strikes 8am by now.

I will sweep the puja room and thereafter enter the bathroom. I emerge out by 8:45 or so. And, change into my puja dress (the silk dhoti and towel). Change the cotton wicks and the oil before lighting the oil lamps. If any flowers were offered the previous day, I will remove them too before lighting the diya. After lighting, I play the prayer cassettes (but I recite my own prayer slokas or hymns while they play their own set routine-verses). Now, I enter the kitchen and wash the copper hollow-deep plate and the two small copper-mugs. Fill water into the plate, go to my balcony and facing my self towards the east, offer the water to the Sun God with my cupped hands chanting the Gayatri Mantra 10 times. The water gets poured into the tulasi plant there from my hands.

Thereafter, I return to the kitchen and washing some rice put into the cooker and place it on flame for cooking. Taking water into the two mugs and the empty plate, I return to my puja room and start worship. First, sprinkle water around the Gods and then offer 3 times with the spoon in the mug as Parisheshan. The water, after shown to God each time, will be dropped into the plate. The water in the other mug is for washing God’s mouth or hands after the naivedyam is offered to him (it is also poured into the plate). Thereafter, recite all the stotras and slokas. In between, when the rice gets cooked, I will put off the flame and return again for puja. It takes around one-hour time.

Then, offer agarbatti incense, deepam darshan, and the naivedyam to Gods. You can view the whole procedure of doing my daily puja at this link: How to Do Puja or Worship at Home

Now, changing the clothes, I prepare breakfast and eat along with my son.

That’s how my day starts daily.

Happy Holidays

Wish you all Happy Holidays, my Dear Friends. And, a Merry Christmas in advance.

I hope all of you celebrating Christmas must be right now engaged in the preparation of the Christmas Tree, collecting various types of unique items for decorating it. In my apartment above my own flat, there are friends joyfully enjoying this occasion by engaging in the singing of carols and cheerful celebrations.

I have been viewing and reading some of your articles all these days regarding Thanksgiving and other, spiritual as well as all other, articles.

Wish you all my thanks and blessings.

Shayana Ekadashi – Toli Ekadashi

Today (July 12, 2019, this year) is an auspicious occasion for us. It is the Sleeping Ekadashi on which day, God Vishnu starts his sleep and keeps sleeping for the entire period of 4 months.

It is believed that Vishnu sleeps from the eleventh day of the month of Ashada till the eleventh day of the month of Kartik which is a four-month period. One year for human beings is equal to one day for celestial beings. As per that calculation, 8 hours of sleep comes to a 4 month period. So, God is taking his 8-hour sleep during this period.

People observe this occasion by worshiping Lord Narayan and Devi Lakshmi every day with special austerity and by keeping fast on each first Ekadashi of all the four months during this period.

The devotees throng the temples of God Vishnu and his other forms. Special pujas take place in those temples. In Maharashtra, Pandharpur Vithal Swamy is famous where people of all creeds get together and participate in processions during these days.

So, wish you all Lord Narayan and Goddess Lakshmi’s blessings.