Update: Concert by Padma Vibhushan Dr. M Balamurali Krishna

Like I mentioned earlier, we had been to the Concert yesterday. Below are some of the songs I could note down which Dr. M Balamurali Krishna sang. He is 82 years old, but his voice was unbelievable. We enjoyed every moment of this concert.

The first invocation song was on Lord Krisna, Ganapthi and Hanuman. It was called Sri Sakala Ganadhipa Palayamam, Aarabhi Raga.

http://music.raag.fm/Carnatic_Movies/songs-19093-Maestro_At_His_Best-Dr_M_Balamuralikrishna

The second song was again his own composition on Lord Hanuman. It was called Hanuma Anuma Oh Mana Ma. This song has just stuck in my mind, and I have been reciting this every since I returned from the concert.

The next two were pure Carnatic songs.

The 5th one was Pibare Rama Rasam. The song can be found here on youtube:

The next song he sung was composed just for the concert the day before. It was again on Lord Hanuman.

It was called ramanamave niku raksha, hanuma ni namave maku raksha. It was just awesome.

I tried noting down the songs, raaga but not knowing Telugu I had a hard time understanding them.

It was just an awesome evening we spent. One of the most memorable nights of my life thus far.

For those of you residing in the DC Area, just wanted to let you all know that next Saturday, there is a concert organized by SBAT.org. Padma Vibhushan Dr. M Balamurali Krishna is going to sing along with others.

It is by on Saturday April 6, 2013 at Greenbelt. This location is near Shiva Vishnu Temple. We just purchased to tickets for the event. The location is:

EleanorRoosevelt High School,

7601 Hanover Pkwy, Greenbelt, MD-20770

For more details check sbat.org.

3 Million(30 Lakh) Visitors to Kalpavriksha Kamadhenu – Thank You

It is with great joy that I am writing this post to inform all of the visitors that this blog has exceeded 3 Million (30 Lakh) visitors.

There are many visitors who are not just visitors, but regular contributors. Thanks to each and every one who contribute regularly to this blog. Also, there are many who regularly comment and bring a smile to my face. And I do thank many of you who write to me personally, and many who don’t comment.

The blog has more than 600 posts with several thousand comments. I am amazed by the wonderful emails I receive from many who are regular visitors. It brings a great sense of satisfaction that I have been able to influence and be a great role model for many of you. Thanks for letting me know that as well. What started as a hobby has become an obsession now. I am really happy that I am able to contribute something useful to our community.

Once again, three million thanks to all the contributors, and to all those who visit and comment, and also to those who visit and don’t comment.

May our Beloved Rayaru who’s B-Day is tomorrow, bless each and every 3 Million Visitor.

2012 Year in Blogging – Amazing Numbers

I received this statistics from wordpress.com yesterday. The report was mind blowing and amazing as well. I thought it would be nice to share it with you all as well and thank a few people who have tirelessly sent many lyrics, recipes and commented as well.

Attached below are some statistics. Very interesting. 910,000 visitors in a year. Oh my god, unbelievable.

Visitors from 181 countries, can you believe that?

• India – 480,801 Visitors
• USA – 180,806
• United Kingdom – 18,634
• Australia – 11,806
• Madagascar – 5 (Haha)

And drum roll please, below is the list of most comments received. Thanks so much to each one of you. This blog wouldn’t have been possible without you all.

Weekly Pooja Rangolis – ವಾರದ ದೇವರ ಪೂಜೆ ರಂಗೋಲಿಗಳು

Ms. Varsha Belgal, had sent me the rangolis in July 2009. Her mother had sent her the rangolis to be drawn each day of the week. I had asked Varsha to send me the significance of these rangolis. I never heard back from Varsha again. This rangolis were in my draft for more than 3 years now. So, finally decided to post it as is.

Thanks so much, Varsha for the rangolis. Click on the image to see a bigger and better quality picture.

An Amazing Comment from Ms.Thamilarasi Venkat

Ms. Thamilarasi Venkat has been following my blog for several years now. I received an email from Ms. Thamilarasi a few weeks back. It was amazing to read her email. Emails such as these make me more and more motivated to share whatever little I know about our religion. I always strive to share whatever I know, be it in my own home, this blog, or my professional career.  So many of you ask me where do I get the time for this blog.

Attached below is the email I received from Ms. Thamilarasi which I thought would be an awesome place to share with you all.

Dear Mam,

I am a great fan of your blog,have been reading every article of yours twice thrice and tried out your receipes too. First I should appeciate the neat look of your blog. It is very friendly to the eyes, the arrangement of topics is excellent, the content crisp and also gives all necessary details. I should also say that the pooja arrangements in your house, the way you lay out the idols,lighting lamps and keep them neat and presentable is a real treat to one’s  eyes.

 I have learnt a lot from you mam,  thanks for being my Dronacharya. I have some pictures of my swarna gowri vrat and varalakshmi pooja. Kindly give your suggestions and comments. The swarna gowri pooja was purely done reading your blog every bit. I made note of every detail and tried to do it exactly as you have mentioned. I also tried the pooja display to be as neat s your, ofcourse it is no way near yours but you have been a great inspiration in my life. Any festival, I refer your blog to see how to worship,what to cook as neivedhya, its like an encyclopedia for me.Thanks is a very small word for what you have done to me but I have only that to tell for now.Thanks for such an excellent blog, please continue the good work.

regards,

Thamilarasi

and below are some details about Ms. Tamilarasi.

About me..I was a teacher, have given up my job now and do online trading for my expenses.  I have a 16 year old daughter, she is in class XI this year. My husband is a mechanical engineer, designs fixtures for CNC machines. He runs a machining unit with two more friends. We live in Hosur.

 I am also a devotee of Rayaru and I keep searching for articles on him That was how I stumbled upon your blog.  From the day I saw your blog, I have been reading all your posts and am so happy that this blog was up since 2007, so much more to read .

 My parents are from deep south where worship of shiva is prominent. Since I’m married to my own cousin, traditions did not change much and there was no way for me  to know of krishna jenmashtami,varalakshmi pooja or any other vaishnavite festivals. But my fav god is krishna. Thanks to ISKCON. We came to hosur 5 years back and thats when I started seeing varalakshmi pooja, swarna gowri pooja . I was so interested  and would ask my neighbours for details. So far I have been observing these festivals only with the help of them. Now seeing your blog I am troubling them less.

For me god, the supreme power is one, we call him by diff names and any number of times to remember him, practice thiyaga and vairagya by way of fasting and adhering to certain rules are means to reach him fast. I fasted the whole day on jenmashtami and woke up alone till midnight after reading your blog. Thanks to you. Your blog and the details you have shared about your family tradition helped to follow a festival in the right way. Earlier i used to see http://www.4thsensecooking.com/ for recipes but that blog only had recipes not much of details, should mention the wonderful photographs there. They are breath taking!! Your blog had detailed write up on how to worship also. So i started reading yours deeply. Please keep up this novel work, it is so helpful.

Thanks for the wonderful blog.

Karnataka Rajyotsava 2012 @ 14619 on Saturday Nov 3rd

We have been celebrating Karnataka Rajyotsava at our home since last year. My parents, my Sister’s family, and several of my colleagues from work visited us last year. We had  Karnataka food as you can see a sample here. We also watched a Kannada movie and enjoyed the day.

The above picture just shows you the starters, we had the following food items:

1. Kosambari
2. Pickle
3. Sambar
4. Rasam
5. Majjige Huli
6. Gulab Jamun
7. Kesari Bath
8. Bisibele Bath
9. Mango Chitranna
10. Raita
11. Bombai Bonda
12. Eggplant Yennegai
13. Shahi Rabdi
14. Yogurt Rice
15. Chapathi
16. Cabbage Palya
17. And last but not the least, Paan to wash it off.

This year, I would like to invite all my online visitors who reside near the DC area on Saturday November 3rd 2012. If you can leave a comment here, I can send you an email about my home address and phone number. We will have a blast. And it will be truly a honor to have you all at my place. We have plenty of food, so just your presence is more than enough.

Please consider this as a personal invitation, and do visit us all. I will be very happy if you can come.

Updated: An Amazing Drawing of Shree Raghavendra Swamy

On Saturday when I visited my Sister’s place, I took a picture of the drawing of our Gurugalu which Little Shwetha had colored. The Drawing is now in my Sister’s pooja room. Attached below are pictures of the Drawing, and also a picture of our Dear Shwetha holding the drawing of our beloved Gurugalu.

 

 

My little niece Shwetha who is 10 years old is an amazing artist. At the age of 10 she has drawn numerous pictures, paintings and sketches. Every time I visit my Sister’s place I am amazed by seeing her collection of art. On Sunday morning, Balaji my brother-in-law showed me an amazing piece of art created by Shwetha. It just blew away my mind. I couldn’t stop praising her and as always couldn’t help but share the amazing piece she has created with you all.

I was surprised by the detail Shwetha has on the picture, including Lord Narashima on the top and Goddess Lakshmi sitting on Lord Narashima’s lap. Just amazing, isn’t it?

Shwetha has a Photo of our beloved Rayaru in her room. She looked at the photo which is shown below here, and started drawing. In just 3 days, she had come up with an amazing picture. I am sure Rayaru is mesmerized seeing the drawing. Shwetha has promised me that she will color the picture and give it to me. I took the picture on my phone. I will upload a better version as soon as I get it colored.

Let us all pray to our Beloved Rayaru to shower his choicest blessings on our Amazing Little Artist Shwetha. Keep it up, Shwetha.

1. Photo in Shwetha’s Room

2. Shwetha’s Drawing of Shree Raghavendra Swamy

ಆಷಾಢ ಮಾಸ – Ashada Masa – June 20th – July 19th 2012

ಆಷಾಢ ಮಾಸ or Ashada Masa starts June 20th and ends on July 19th 2012 in ನಂದನ ನಾಮ ಸಂವತ್ಸರ  Nandana Nama Samvatsara. This entire month is considered inauspicious. Newly wed couple are not allowed to stay in the same house. And in some families I have also seen that Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-law don’t stay in the same house as well. No idea who or how these beliefs came into existence.

During this month, there are no marriages, upanayanas, or any good deeds performed. However, it is during this month that the Chaturmasa Starts, and the last day of ಆಷಾಢ ಮಾಸ or Ashada Masa is Bhimana Amavasya.More about this festival later in the month.

Stay tuned for our most auspicious month – ಶ್ರಾವಣ ಮಾಸ  or Shravana Masa coming soon.

 

Kalpavriksha Kamadhenu on Twitter : @Hindu_Living

It has been 4 great years, with 500 posts, and 2.25 million visitors. I am overwhelmed by this great response to my blog. Finally, I decided to create a twitter account for this blog. I didn’t want it to be specific to my community, and wanted it to be helpful to our entire Hindu community. It is called @Hindu_Living.

I hope it helps each and everyone following our Hindu religion, to share, learn and be better human beings.

If you have a twitter account, you can follow @Hindu_Living.

Hope to see you all there.

2 Million(20 Lakhs) Visitors to Kalpavriksha Kamadhenu

It is with such a joy that I am writing this post to inform all of the visitors that this blog has exceeded 2 Million (20 Lakhs) visitors.

There are many visitors who are not just visitors, but regular contributors. Thanks to each and every one who contribute regularly to this blog. Also, there are many who regularly comment and bring a smile to my face. However, life as we all know is never a bed of roses right? There are occasional comments from visitors who have written nasty things as well. It has many times brought tears in my eyes, which definitely is not acceptable.

The past few weeks I haven’t been adding any new posts, or replying to any comments. Work and travel has become hectic. I am so tired, and have no time to even reply to comments. I really feel sorry. However, work is my priority at this time. I was planning to record many songs and slokas which my parents recite. Hope to do so in the next few weeks, before they travel back to India.

Once again, two million thanks to all the contributors, and to all those who visit and comment, and also to those who visit and don’t comment.