Ashwini - the moon of thanksgiving

Cherukunnam is an Annapoorna Kshetra in Kerala.

Devotees and visitors are fed in the temple.

And from a branch of a tree close to the temple, a bag of cooked rice is hung - every night.

So, even thieves, and anti-social elements can satiate their hunger - after dark.

That no one be tormented by hunger, near this shrine - is the intent.

- Shri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Kanchi.

first quarter at Uttara Phalguna

Chittiraiyil Onam mudar seer Aani Uthiramaam
sathu dhanu Adiraiyum saarwagum 
Buddhi walar Maasi Ari Kanni maruvu chaturdashi min 
reesarabisheka dinamam
iwai Nakshtiram udayathilum tithi - maalaiyilumam.

- Shri Natarajar Abisheka Wenbaa

At Shrawana in earth's transit of sidereal Libra; 

at Uttara Phalguna in earth's transit of Mula,
in Sun's transit of the arching bow, at Aardra
in Sun's transit of Aquarius, Leo & Virgo on the fourteenth gibbous of waxing

 
are six days of Abisheka rituals for the dancing Lord.

( Dawn abishekas during Sun's northern run; Dusk abishekas on waxing moon nights.)

 - Shri Nataraja abisheka quatraine

festive autumn nights

Dewi as Annapoorna bestows anna bhiksha and gnana bhiksha upon us.
Her body is gnana or mere knowing.

She is the origin of all alphabets, sounds and transcendental mantras, says Adi Sancara - Aadi Kshaantha samastha warnananakari -

And Thayumanawar addresses the Divine as 'intelligence' - Ariwaana Deiwamey - 

And from this universality people from north and south, travelled to southern sea town of Rameswaram and northern Waranasi.
Now, in the name of a secular world view, we have buried religion.

Amid intellectuals, Samskrit language was a common thread.
Today, Samskrit has been somewhat  'finished'.
And hindi speaking people now seek to finish off  the English language, that has provided the much needed common ground.

- Shri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Kanchi 

first quarter at jyeshta

In the shadow of happiness, lurks unhappiness.

Because, inauspicious-ness and auspicious-ness are siblings - they are conjoined Siamese twins.

For auspicious-ness to happen, one needs the inauspicious.

If there were no black, there would be no white.

In reality, there is nothing auspicious or inauspicious.

To one who abides in totality, what is auspicious, is auspicious.
And what is inauspicious, also becomes auspicious.

When living becomes choiceless, then life becomes genuine.

Diwali greetings,
Rishi Chaitanya Ashram.

moon, earth, shadow at Shrawana

pAkAri widhi hari prANamaya kOSA nilAkASa bhUmi salilAgni praKASa Siva

Pranic cache of Indra, Brahma and Vishnu
Auspiciousness that illumines wind, space, earth, water and fire

SUna Sara sUdanajnAna hara paSupatE
jnAna guruguha satchitAnanda maya mUrtE
hIna jAti kirAta kEna pUjita kIrtE

Queller of the flower arrowed archer, annihilator of shadowy untruths,
Lord beyond food, pleasure, fear and sleep
Knower at cave of one's heart,
icon of truth - consciousness - bliss
Cared for by the tribal huntsman

Sri KALa hastiSa - Muthuswamy Dikshitar, Raga - Huseni

naga panchami

Body and mind are not two things -  but two ends of one.

Body, the outermost shell; consciousness, the innermost core.

So, when knowing becomes non-wavering, body is still.

Non-wavering knowing resides in a non-wavering body – but the converse is not true.

If mind becomes still, body becomes still.

Then a mysterious phenomenon happens.

If your mind is totally still, then even if you are dancing, you will feel - from inside -  that the body is still.

A Buddha is still, even while walking.
A non-Buddha is not still, even when he is dead.

Still mind, dancing body, the speaking tree, Bengaluru, May 7, 2017

9 summer nights

Amara Simha agreed to debate with Sancara - but from behind a curtain.

And countered queries with flourish and elan.

Sancara divined the situation - and appealed to Dewi as Saraswati who was enshrined in a pitcher, veiled by the curtain.

She vacated the pitcher of AwAhan, and the curtain fell down to reveal Amara's upasana secrets to the assembly.

Soon Amara accepted defeat.

Saraswati means, one who resides in Saras or still waters. Still water is metaphor for knowing.

In the time of Sancara, waters of knowing were stagnant.
His work was to address the stagnation, and usher in clarity and stillness.

A sloka speaks of Sancara as, one who purged Saraswati to restore Saraswati.

- Shri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Kanchi.