Tuesday, October 9, 2018

MAKE RITUALS AND WORSHIPS ATTRACTIVE & APPROPRIATE TO ALL TRADITIONS IN HINDU AMERICAN TEMPLES

MAKE  RITUALS AND WORSHIPS  ATTRACTIVE & APPROPRIATE  TO ALL  TRADITIONS IN HINDU AMERICAN TEMPLES
(Compilation by N.R. Srinivasan, Nashville, TN, USA, October 2018)

Recently we have seen how people of all traditions in Nashville, the city I live pitched into celebrate Jeernoddhara Kumbhabhishekam for the three main deities Siva, Ganesha and Venkateswara climbing to great heights to watch the ritual and raise their voices to heaven expressive of the Vedic wisdom of “sanghacchdvam samvadadvam”   though not realizing the fact that was divine inspired!

Sangacchadhvam sam vadadhvam sam vo manaamsi jaanataam/ devaa bhaagam yathaa purve sanjanaana upaasate // (X-191-20)

Come together! Speak together! Let our minds be all of one accord like the all the celestial beings called devatas or divines that sat together in the past in harmony to worship the Supreme!
[All people should live with one mind without enmity and this can be achieved only by the divine grace says the mantra]

It was also a unique and excellent thought to celebrate the Kalyanotsava marriage ceremony for all the deities as grand finale unusual in our agama traditions of temple worship of modern days. That echoed the spirit of Panguni Uttiram Day on which day all divines got married according to Puranas disregarding horoscope as it was the holiest day of the year. I hope all the multi tradition based temples in USA will focus on this day to bring all traditions together in common worship like Divali and Navaratri.

Hinduism lends more opportunity for all-inclusive concept rather than exclusive concept that seems to be of recent origin forgetting the spirit of Panchayatana puja worship together that Sankara promoted to bring cohesion and all -inclusiveness.

Realizing we are drawn from multi-traditions it would be appropriate to focus on some meaningful festivals and rituals for participation of  all traditions   within the shastric Aagama injunctions:--Winter and Summer Solstice day as per astronomical dates as in Western culture dedicated to Sun, Guru Purnima Day dedicated to Vedavyasa and Guru Parampara, Navaratri dedicated to trinity Devis—Durga, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, Yoga Day dedicated to Siva and Narasimha, Mother’s Day dedicated to Earth, Mother of all Mothers,   Fathers’ day dedicated to Pitamaha,  Labor Day dedicated to Lord Viswakarma, Kamokarsheet Homa on Upakarma Day for all as Prayastichitta (Expiation) day or Repentance Day, Mahalaya Amavasya dedicated to all  Pitrus and as  Annadana Day, International Day of Peace with a Kalyanotsava to   Venkatesvara or Siva or Subhramanya or Radha Krishna, Phalguna Uttara the most auspicious day for wedding without consulting horoscope for auspicious time or day, for all Divines’ Wedding,  Makara Sankranti as New Year Day instead January 1 and making it a Day for Resolution,  Navaratri, Divali,   Kartik Purnima day, Husband’s day --Karva Chauth dedicated to Sitadevi anjd Parvati,  Raksha Bhandan-- Sister’s day  dedicated to Subhadra,   to mention particularly.  Again these need proper collective thinking of all traditional experts and our religious Pundits and making it appealing for all Hindu American crowd drawn globally and to multi-racial groups that is Hindus who have chosen their partners from the major faiths of the country but still attend Hindu temples and take interest in their spiritual education programs having chosen Hindu Wedding to stay united and come to Hindu Temples occasionally. Keeping this special and urgent need of Hindu Americans. I have devoted one complete section M for discourses focused on  “How to celebrate  American religious Holidays in Hindu Temples”. Please go through my classified discourses:


Churches in USA has made some social holidays as religious holidays  and vice versa too for  Mass  Worship in Churches like New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving day, Mother’s day, Father’s day, Valentine’s day etc. In fact Hinduism has more religious reasoning and broader scope than Christianity to make such days more meaningful as Special Religious Worship Days.    Christianity has struggled hard to make them as religious worship days. I will soon explain how Valentine’s   Day could be observed as a Special Religious Worship Day with Puranic, Vedic and Aagama support and could be celebrated with the popular Radha-Krishna Kalyanotsva also appealing to Spiritual groups like ISKCON fitting very well to the theme of religious   Valentine’s Day! Hindu Americans mostly drawn from Hindu Indians feel embarrassed to speak about love openly or to demonstrate it based on their culture with which they have been brought up.  At the same time they do not want to miss this day for worship in temples while churches are busy and may attract their children married to a Christian and their grand-children too! So our Sunday schools dedicate this day to the worship of Siva and Parvati as “jagatahpitarau” universal parents and want children to observe this day dedicated to   Parental Love moving away from the main theme of Valentine’s Day, focused on universal binding force of Love as the true love between husband and wife.  Of course Hindu temples in America are kept open for long hours declaring this day as Special Religious Event Day in order to oblige Holiday crowds from neighboring cities to visit temple!

You may wonder   how   the most popular monthly ritual Pradosham directed to Siva is applicable to both Saivites and Vaihnavites and how we have been kept dark on the Puranic subject by sectarian pundits focused on Siva only.  Recently I brought that subject of Pradosha worship’s importance to Vaishnavites (see below) also to an orthodox Agraharam group of Saivites in India who profusely thanked me for the exposure that surprised them too.  We only have to keep our minds open and think as to how we can implement such plans for bringing cohesion in our worship for equal participation of all,   particularly in multi-traditional Siva-Vishnu-Sakta Temples or Siva-Vishnu Temples. I have talked about the worship   Vinayaka (son of Rukmini and Krishna) and Gajanana as Vishwaksena sentinel of Vishnu worshiped by Vaishanvites based on Puranas only,  that has also made the worship of Ganesha,  Non-Vedic deity most popular and sectarian based on another set of Puranas. I wonder why we need these kind of marketing techniques to boost an image to certain sects and suppress the same to other sects!  Probably it is the out -of –proportion blowing of Ekadanta and the connected mythology and suppressing the Ashtaka of Prabhas Kshera  Somnath Vinayaka (Ekadaantm dvidantam tridantam chaturdntam chatur  bhujam) in Skanda Purana  has made Ekadanta Ganapathi most popular worship deity for Hindus that has also  inspired to come up with  an Upanishad   later for its glorification with a  new Gayatri Mantra glorifying Ekadanta  replacing the one in Vedas.

Pradosha Worship Suits All Traditions

Pradosham literally means the removal of sins. These times (pradosha kaala) are the windows of opportunity to remove karma or karmic energies that limit our potential in this current life. Pradosha, also spelled Pradosh or Pradosham, falls on the 13th lunar day (Trayodashi) during the waxing and waning phase of moon in the Hindu lunar calendar. Occurring between 4.30 pm to 6.00 pm on Trayodashi, the Pradosha time is propitious to pray not only to Lord Shiva and invoke his blessings but also to Vishnu in his Avatar as Lord Narasimha.   It is believed that during Pradosha period all the celestial beings and Gods come down to earth and attend the worship.  Pradosha indicates the meeting of the Sun and the Moon in a horizontal line during their movement on their Axis.

The Pradosha day falling in the Shukla Paksha (the waxing cycle) is considered very auspicious. This day is dedicated to the worship of Lord Narasimha and is considered most auspicious day to perform pujas and offer prayers in His honor. He is honored so on this day, as it is at that time of the month and day that He vanquished the evil Hiranyakashipu.

The Sarabesvara, Ugraha Prathyankira Devi and Narasimha avatars happened during the Pradosham time period. http://agasthiar.org/img/3/1/saraba5aum2.jpgThe Nitya Pradosham time period on the Thrayodasi Tithi (the thirteenth Tithi) is known as Paksha Pradosham; it occurs once in each paksham. http://agasthiar.org/img/3/1/saraba5aum2.jpgIt's one of the most spiritually potent times within each Paksham (fortnight). http://agasthiar.org/img/3/1/saraba5aum2.jpgThe Sarabesvara, Ugraha Prathyankira Devi and Narasimha avatars must be worshipped during this time period. http://agasthiar.org/img/3/1/saraba5aum2.jpgNarasimha Pradosha Pooja. While it's important to worship Lord Sarabesvara during the Nitya Pradosham time period every day, one should at least worship Him during the Paksha Pradosham time period every fortnight.

Mahaa Pradosh Kalam comes yearly during the month of Maagh/Maashi before Mahaa Shiv Raatri.  If the Mahaa Pradosha comes on Saturday, it is called Shani Mahaa Pradosha.  Saturday is the day when Lord Shiva swallowed poison and this is called Shani (Sthira in Samskritam) Pradosha.  

Bhagavan says in Gita “maasaanam maargasheershoham”, of months I am Magha or  Masi (November-December) and hence the Prdosham preceding Mahasivaratri is worshiped as Mahapradosham.

You can thus see how Pradosha worship is very broad based and important to all traditions—Siva, Sakta and Vaishnava.

History of Pradosha Vrat or Why Observing Pradosham?
According to Hindu Puranas, the gods (Devas) and the demons (Asuras) were stirring the milky ocean to extract Amirtam (nectar), with Vasuki (the serpent king) as a rope. As Vasuki underwent severe scratches due to the churning, she emitted a powerful poison which was capable of destroying the world. The helpless celestials pleaded  to Lord Shiva to save them. In order to save them, Lord Shiva swallowed the poison. Goddess Parvati stopped the poison in Lords throat and it is believed that his throat turned to blue. As a result of this, Lord Shiva came to be known as Thiruneelagandan or Neelakanth (the one with Blue Throat).

It is said that on the Trayodhasi (thirteenth moon day) day, the gods and demons (celestial beings) realized that they had committed a sin of not praying to the God and prayed for forgiveness.   

Legend of Narasimha and Pradosham:

One of the greatest incarnations of the universal preserver or maintainer Vishnu, is Lord Narasimha, the Man-Lion Avatar, to save the world from demon Hiranyakashipu. The Siddhas give a metaphorical explanation for this avatar. Hiranya represents the ego at its peak. When your ego is super inflated, you act rashly and with less prudence. Archetypal Being Vishnu decided to teach a lesson to the human beings on the limits that one shouldn't exceed as far as EGO is concerned. So he is depicted as having torn the demon who was an epitome of EGO, in the form of Narasimha. This event happened during Pradosham time.

Cave Temple of Nammakkal is named after Nammagiri, which is the name of the single rock formation at the center of the town. This cave temple has been carved out into the west side of this enormous rock which is 65 meters high and more than a kilometer in circumference. The Narasimha cave consists of a fairly large sanctum sanctorum with elaborate sculptures rendered on either side of the cave walls.

After the Narasimha Avatar, Lord Narasimha was not seen by Mahalakshmi. She wanted to have darshan of Lord Vishnu in the form of Narasimha and undertook severe penance. Pleased with Her prayers, He appeared before Her,  giving darshan here, all calmed down and His anger under control. He thereby became Lakshmi Narasimha, one of the popular   cool and calm form in which he is worshiped.

Legend says that Lord Anjaneya found the Saligrama (into which Lord Narasimha had disappeared at the end of the avatar) in the river Gantaki.   He had been on His way back to Rama, after returning the Sanjeevani Mountain. He carried this stone as far as Nammakkal, where he handed it over to Lakshmi who was under penance there, for safe keeping. In order to fulfill her desire of Lord Narasimha once again made an appearance here.

Followers of Vishnu recalling Vishnu Sahasranama  feel it is Narasimha Deva standing in his divine form as "Venkateswara" in Tirumala as to his devotees as he always gives darshan through his divine Vasudeva form.   Narasimha always gives darshan in form of divine Vasudeva form to his benevolent devotees.  That’s why worshiping Narasimha in the form of Vasudeva, Rama, Krishna,   etc., is much more prevalent than installing and worshiping the deity of Narasimha himself. The avatar of Lord Srinivas is more recent one in Kaliyuga. While Rama and Krishna avatars are   iconized as humans with two hands it is strange that Lord Srinivasa is popularly called as Venkatesvara or Balaji and his icons are always with four hands like Vishnu. Vaishnavites believe it is the descent of Vishnu Himself is search of Lakshmi and so no Avatar concept! But why Padmavati should live separate like Lakshmi in Kohlapur is not understandable! Narasimha icons are also seen with four hands. Probably this makes Vaishnavas to worship him also as Narasimha on Narasimha Jayanti day!

Panchabrahama Mantras Suitable for Worship of Both Siva and Narasimha

The following five Mantras are interpreted by commentators as belonging to Lord Rudra. The five names of Sadyojata, Vaamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Easaana signify the five faces (Panchaanana) of Lord Siva. These prayers are introduced after Medhasookta in Mahanarayana Upanishad, as Medha (Jnaana or Intellect) is to be obtained from Rudra.   Compartmentalization of these Mantras is a later development when fight started between Vaishnavites and Saivites.

These five mantras are called by the name Panchabrahma and so it is appropriate to relate them with Brahman. Sadyoejaata (instant born) is also appropriate to Lord Narasimha who came out of the pillar when Prahlaada prayed. We all know the birth of Lingodbhava Moorti. It is also interesting to note Lord Narasimha is also worshipped in five forms of elements (Pancha Mahaabhootas) as Siva in five famous temples in South India about which we have talked about many a times. These are: Prithvee Narasimha (Earth); Vaayu Narasimha (Air); Aaakaasa Narasimha(Sky), Jwaalaa Narasimha(Agni); and Amrita Narasimha ( Amrita symbolizes liquid Water). Like Isvara is glorified as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, Narasimha is also glorified as Brhama Narasimha, Vishnu Narasimha and Rudra Narasimha. He is also worshipped as Ghora Narasimha (Siva is also meditated upon as Ghora, Aghora and Ghoraa-ghora. In Bhuvanesvar in Orissa in India there are sanctums for Siva and Narasimha side by side and worship is carried out for Salagrama and Linga together.  In Puri worship is carried out to Soorya and Narasimha along with Jagannath. There is sanctum for Narasimha there also.   Thus one school of thought believes Narasimha and Siva are the same both being Vyaahritis of Parabrahman).

 Sadyoejaatam prapadyaami sadyoejaataaya vai namah |
Bhavebhave naatibhave bhajasva maam bhavoed-bhavaaya namah ||

 I surrender unto the Lord who was born at the very moment of His will. Obeisance to that lord who was born at his will instantaneously. May I not have repeated births, Please bless me! My obeisance are to him, from whom all effects emerge (for He is the cause).

 Vaamadevaaya namoe jyeshthaaya namoe rudraaya namah |
Kaalaaya namah kala-vikaranaaya namoe bala-vikaranaaya namoe
bala-pramathanaaya namas-sarvabhoota-damanaaya namoe manoenmanaaya namah ||

 Obeisance to Vaamadeva, the auspicious One; obeisance to the eldest; obeisance to Rudra, who drives away the disease of Samsaara (worldly miseries); obeisance to the destroyer; obeisance to One who is the cause of Time (divisions of moment, good and bad times); obeisance to the One who subdues all living beings; obeisance to One who is the agitator of the mind.

[All the attributes here refer to the Supreme Brahman. They equally apply to Siva and Narasimha the manifested forms of Brahman. Supreme Brahman is the overlord of this universe and is the ruler of all. He punishes the wicked ruthlessly. He saves his devotees from repeated births. None is equal to Him. Both Vishnu and Siva were instantly born in terrific forms as man-lion and column of fire. Rudra means one who protects you from crying (rudraat traayate)]

 Aghoerebhyoe-atha ghoerebhyoe ghoera-ghoeratarebhyas-sarvatas-sarva sarvebhyoe namaste astu rudra-roopebhyah ||

 Oh Paramaatman! Obeisance unto the auspicious forms of yours, that are not terrible, or terrible or terribly terrible. Obeisance to you who has numerous forms that bestows good. (The Lord embodies all characteristics—good and terrible.)

 Tatpurushaaya vidmahe Mahaadevaaya dheemahi tannoe rudrah prachoedayaat ||

We meditate upon that Purusha who is Naraayana. For that we meditate on Mahadeva. May the Lord Rudra fulfill by invigorating us! [In Mahaanaarayana Upanishad Purusha is referred to as Naaraayana or Supreme Brahman or Paramaatman]

 Easaanas-sarva-vidyaanaam-eesvaras-sarva-bhootaanam-brahma-adhipatir-brahmanoe-adhipati-brahmaa sivoe may astu sadaasivom ||

The Lord of all branches of knowledge, the Lord of all animate beings, the Supreme master of the Vedas, the Lord of Brahma the four-faced, the one who has Brahma as his body, the one who is ever free from anything defiling, the one whose name is Pranava, OM, may that Lord be one who bestows all good things on me! [Sadaasiva means ever auspicious]

Hindus of all traditions rush to Saniswara altars on Sani-pradosham day to offer prayers to Saniswara. Sani among Navagrahas is dreaded most and is believed to be the Sun of Soorya. Our astrologers have created a myth and fear around Navagrahas moving away from Vedic astrology. Even wrong concepts in Hinduism can be brought together to unite people in the worships based on myths and beliefs as seen in  Navagraha worship. Recently some awakening has taken place in India to remove such false worships. In Tiruvaiyaru, a holy city, the religious authorities removed the Navagraha altars from the famous Siva temple as redundant and false. Here again our worship of planetary deities should be based on Vedic astrology. That may call for worship of celestial bodies like Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Earth and Venus as the presiding deities of 27 Janama Nakshtras mentioned in Vedic astrology.

October 6, 2018 was Saturday on which day Pradosham was observed by followers of Siva only and being also Sani-Pradosham Day there was a rush to Saniswara altars also as Sani Pradosham Day. No Vaishnavites could be seen in temples on such days. But this is the day on which all traditions should join together and worship together. This day could have also been as great as Divali or  Mahasivaratri.   It is also strange Trayodasi is sacred to Saivites and Chaturdasi to Vaishanvites.  It is left to our priests and religious authorities to focus on such days to make them more meaningful for broader application appealing to all traditions and promote the spirit of wisdom of Vedas within the discipline of Agama Sastras.

Vaikuntha Chaturdashi is a Hindu holy day, which is observed on chaturdashi, the 14th lunar day of the waxing moon fortnight (shukla paksha) of the Hindu month of Kartik (November–December). The day is sacred to Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. They are worshipped individually or together in different temples in Varanasi, Rishikesh, Gaya and Maharashtra. I wonder how such a holy day important to all sects is just ignored by Hindu American Temples of multi tradition?

CAN ST. VALENTINE’S DAY BE   RELIGIOUS WORSHIP KAMADEVA DAY FOR HINDU AMERICANS?

Valentine’s Day is the most commercialized socio-religious festival, next only to Christmas Season, 150 million greeting cards being exchanged, with the blessings of more than one Valentine raised to martyrdom, round the globe.   Valentine’s Day is all about love which many Christians and non–Christians celebrate by special festivals and worships, love being a universal emotional feeling which has no boundaries.  There are more reasons for Hindus to make this day a Special Event Worshipful Day than Christians to justify it as St. Valentine’s worshipful Day based on Vedas and Puranasa! Kama is an important Purushartha in human philosophic goals (Purusharthas) in Hinduism—Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha,   But both     Kama and Artha   should be   based on Dharma.
Generally Hindus feel embarrassed to speak on sex; for describing the love of Krishna towards Gopis (milkmaids) in general and Radha in particular, they use the term Raasa-kreeda. This embarrassment to sex topics is probably the later inheritance from the Western culture where sex is associated with immoral act only or a private affair. Rasa is the alternate word for Kama in religious approach. Upanishads and Puranas are open -minded on the subject. Driven by their culture Hindus always combine Bhakti (devotion) with Love (isvara-prema) which Christians have learnt later.  In Social view it is all about love notes which even school children exchange, heart, candy and even red roses. Originally it was about celebrating bird’s mating season. Mid-February is the time when the bird mating season happens in European countries. This romantic season captivated human minds and so they decided lovers should celebrate love along with birds. If you go through the Holy Bible You can find very many great quotes on love that one can draw morals from.  God’s love is steadfast, unselfish and enduring.  

When I came to USA I had a cultural shock when I saw males walking with roses in their hands offering to ladies and greeting them with Happy Valentine's Day and arranging festival lunch tables and serving them food in temples after worship. Hindu Temple in Albany also conducted special Puja to Lakshmi on that chosen day. Things were not much different when I came to Nashville. I slowly realized how Hindu Americans were also struggling hard to keep their married life happy and so needed divine help. I got used to the changing pattern of Hindu culture and even started feeling there is nothing wrong in celebrating Valentine’s day in Hindu temples and only it needed change of name and proper way  of worship supported by our Sastras  to   suit our culture looking at the practice of church worship on Valentine’s Day.

Hindus do not worship Puranic God of love (Kamadeva and Rati) in temples as he is Ananga bodiless and he is only visible to his beloved Ratidevi. But I do wonder why Lord Krishna as an avatar of Vishnu is not worshiped as Kamadeva or his son Pradyumna who is an Avatar of Kamadeva and also Vishnu himself in his Vyuha form as per Pancharatra Theology?

Are we violating Hindu religious codes by our worship to God of Love on Valentine’s Day? Looking at our Vedic ritual of Kamokarsheet Homa and celebration of Karadiyan Nombu and Vata Savitri Vrat in temples I feel the need for celebrating it is more needed than not, and it is not against our culture even though we feel shy to demonstrate love in public or talk about it.  Garbhadana is a popular and auspicious Samskara in Hindu Culture focused on getting good children. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad contains one whole chapter on the subject prescribing mantras and even mantras how to get a woman divorced religiously when she resorts to illegal connections.

Vedas have deified Kaama (infatuation) and make fire offerings (Homa). Tamils have long  observed Karadiyan Nonbu ritual that is observed as Vata Savitri Vrat in the North celebrating the love of Savitri to her husband Satyavan pleading to Yama for long life and seeking divine intervention to fulfill Pativrata Dharma. Here Satyavan and Savitri   are not any Hindu deities of worship. If Hindu ladies are thus celebrating love, Hindu males also need to fulfill their obligation as she is Sahadharmini.  What better day is well suited to American Hindus to celebrate this day with Radha Kalyanam?  Radha Kalyanotsava is a popular Agama ritual in temples. You are also aware how Geet Govind and Tiruppavai the two lovelorn esoteric compositions are almost equated with holy-scriptures and liberally employed in our daily worship. My discourse Hindu Reflections on Mating Season Festival that inspired St. Valentines Religious Festival would make lot of sense in the above context.  

Of late Valentine’s Day is observed with great enthusiasm in India and it is trying to reach Hindu Temples as in America. This day can be made a worshipful day called Prema-Jeevan Anugraha Divas or simply Kamadeva Day or Manmatha Day as Christianity made this day a religious Valentine's Day, which we all need, more so living in USA.

In MNU we come across 36 short mantras used in worship and oblation. In this rite Supreme Being is worshiped as Vaisvadeva. In this, oblations are offered to God of Love as Kaamaaya Svaha. But in Agama worship we focus on a deity in Murthi form.  In Vishnu Sahasrnama Vishnu (VSN) is worshiped as Ajaaya namah, Kaamaaya  namah, Kaamakritaaya namah and Kaama-pradhaaya namah.    It is stated the entire universe is but a part of Supreme—Naamno bhagah. In Chandogya Upanishad Santkumara advises Narada to worship Naama as Brahman.  Whenever offerings are made to manes, the deities and men, the terms employed are svadha, namah and svaahaa, and hanta respectively. These terms please various devatas.

Sri Adi Sankara in his commentaries on VSN gives the meaning of Ajah as ‘ajaat Vishnoh Ajaayata iti Kaamah Ajah’ – He as Manmatha or God of Love was born of Bhagavan Vishnu hence He is called Ajah’. The letter ‘A’ being the first letter of the primordial Pranava Mantra ‘AUM’ stands for Vishnu and Manmatha was created by Vishnu. Effectively the word Ajah refers to Manmatha or Kama, the God of Love. So ultimately the Nama refers to Bhagavan himself in His aspect as Manmatha.  Pradyumna is the son of Krishna and Rukmini.

Aja is a Sanskrit word the literal meaning of which is unborn or unproduced. In the Rig Veda, Kama or Kamadeva, the God of desire is described as Aja (the unborn), the first manifestation of the One. In later Hinduism, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are also considered aja or unborn. And in its feminine form as ajā, matter (prakriti) and illusion (maaya) are also unborn, i.e., eternal. "ajo nityah SASvato'yam purANah" (Kathopanishad 1.2.18), and  sa vā eṣa mahān ajah ātmā yoyaṃ vijñānamaya prāṇeṣu ya eṣontarhṛdaya ākāśaḥ tasmiñchete-- The mighty, unoriginated Ajah  Ātmā is the impelling force of organs; he pervades the subtle interiors of beings  (Brihadarnyaka 4-4-22).

According to Puranas, in the Krita Yuga, Kamdevaa was burnt by Shiva when he became a barrier to Shiva's meditation. Shiva blessed Kamdev's distraught wife, Rati and promised her that in his next birth Kamdeva will be a part of Krishna and Rati will be the daughter of Bhimkaraya Rukmi and that she will marry him.


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