February 2015 – Important Dates

Important dates in February 2015 are as such:

February Important Dates

• Ekadashi Upavasa – 15-Feb Sunday

• Mahashivarathri – 17-Feb Tuesday

• Shri Raghavendra Jayanthi(Birthday) – 25-Feb Wednesday
  • Check this post for details.

As always, please check your local calendar for exact dates.

420th Vardanthi Utsava at Mantralaya

I hope you all prayed to our beloved Rayaru on his birthday or Vardanthi as it is called. I am in Texas for work, and will be able to hopefully do seva when I get home for the weekend.
I did pray to our beloved Rayaru digitally. Will eat just fruits and nuts today and tomorrow.

An amazing picture of our beloved Rayaru from mantralaya web site, all credit to http://www.raghavendramutt.org/

Please check all pictures here:

• http://www.raghavendramutt.org/stories/420th-vardanthi-utsava-sri-guru-rayaru

Sri Rayaru’s Pattabhisheka Pictures

Amazing pictures of Sri Rayaru’s Pattabhisheka at Mantralaya. Please take a look.

http://www.raghavendramutt.org/stories/guru-vaibhavotsava-paduka-pattabhisheka

ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ ಪಾಯಸ – Moong Dal Payasa – Variation 2

Today being Dwadashi and a holiday due to President’s day, and to top that a very cold windy and snowy day, my Husband asked me to make ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ ಪಾಯಸ – Moong Dal Payasa.

There was literally no milk at home, and I didn’t want to drive to the store. Opened the pantry and saw Coconut milk. So, replaced milk with coconut milk, added almost 1/2 cup chopped nuts. The ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ ಪಾಯಸ – Moong Dal Payasa was out of this world.

ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ ಪಾಯಸ – Moong Dal Payasa with coconut milk recipe below.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ  – Moong Dal
• 1 and 1/2 cup ಬೆಲ್ಲ  – Jaggery
• 4-5 tsp Fresh or Dry Coconut
• 1/ 2 cup Nuts of your choice
• Raisins, and Cardamom
• Oil or Ghee
• 1 can Coconut Milk
• 4-5 Cloves (optional)

Method:

• Fry the ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ  – Moong Dal in oil or ghee.
• I also fried the Raisins, cloves along with the ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ  – Moong Dal.
• Add enough water and pressure cool for 2 whistles.
• The ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ  – Moong Dal should still hold its shape and not be completely mushy.
• Once the pressure cools down, add Jaggery, coconut milk.
• Let it boil for a few minutes.
• Fry chopped nuts and add to the ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ ಪಾಯಸ – Moong Dal Payasa
• Finally, add cardamom.
• Serve hot or cold.

The usual recipe is posted here:

• ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ ಪಾಯಸ – Moong Dal Payasa

Easy Ways to Eat 5 Fruits/Vegetables Everyday

Today being holiday for President’s Day here in USA, I was looking at cleaning the refrigerator and the pantry. It might have been years since I have discarded any fruit or vegetable for not being able to cook. Thought of posting some useful tips for eating more fruits and vegetables.

We hear it day in and day out that we need to incorporate 5 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday. I follow this rule religiously everyday except for Ekadashi day. So, here is some easy ways to incorporate lots of fruits and vegetables.

• If you make Upma for breakfast, use two cups of vegetables to 1 cup of Sooji/Rava. I use 2-3 kinds of vegetables together while making Upma. Green pepper, Peas, cabbage, potatoes.
• While making Poha/Avalakki, use again green pepper, peas, carrots and potatoes.
• Sambar – With spinach use carrot, and beans. Use Chayote, beans and carrots another variation. Spinach, sprouted beans, potatoes, carrot and beans. Mix and match 3-4 vegetables to make sambar.
• Serve fruit salad in the night with several fruits. We usually eat 3-4 times a night – Banana, Apple, Pineapple, Peach, Plum. Use pomegranate, orange as optional fruits when available.
• At least 2-3 times a month, I make Moong Dal Kosambari with carrot and cucumber.
• Every time I make chapathi and vegetable bath, I make Raita. Raita almost includes carrot, tomato, cucumber and sometimes onion. Make Saagu, it has several vegetables you can use.
• When you make vegetable bath I use several vegetables like  all color capsicum, beans, peas, potatoes, methi leaves, carrot.
• What better way to eat more fruits than Smoothie. Many variations possible here also, Banana, apple, strawberries, blue berries, pineapple, peach, and many more. ( updated based on comment from Mithra Bindu)

If you have a creative mind, you can definitely include 4-5 fruits and vegetable in a day.

Look at the food section on the right for many more ideas:

• Food

Share your thoughts on how you incorporate more fruits and vegetables in your day to day cooking.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy valentines day  everyone!! There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than an amazing family and true friends.

Have a great day, and wish your loved ones. Tell them you love them!!!

And in case you are wondering, I will wish our Beloved Rayaru also.

Don’t Measure Ones Faith/Devotion/Bhakthi

Can anyone in this world measure by seeing a person or the way they pray or the way they look, the way they recite all stotras how much faith/devotion or faith they have in God? I don’t think so.

We have seen great devotees who were turned down just because of their cast or color or religion, right? Remember Kanaka Dasa? Remember the story of Shabari? Our most beloved kid Prahalada? Almighty Lord didn’t see if they were Brahmins, or a man or a woman or a kid. He saw their devotion and just blessed them all.

We learn so many things from our Parents, right? The faith/devotion/bhakthi I have towards our Beloved Rayaru is all due to what I saw as a kid from my Parents. I don’t even remember when I started fasting Thursday evenings. As a kid, I always thought of Rayaru as my Great Great Grandfather. As I grew up, Rayaru was my Guru, my Friend, everything to me. However, there was an incident which took place during which my entire Faith/Devotion/Bhakthi was tested.

I will not go into specifics, and do not want to hurt anyone. Read on….

2009 was the year, as many of you who follow me from a long time, you all know I suffered with severe foot pain. It had been almost 5 years, and no medical intervention helped me. We spent thousands of dollars and did all sorts of tests, from MRI, Bone Scan, Nerve Conduction Study to all other tests. Nothing helped.

I traveled to India, and was told that one of these Swamiji was able to cure many things and would be able to help. So, we traveled to this place. After the initial set of questions, this Swamiji asked what the problem was. He was told the problem and that I was a great devotee of Rayaru. He looked at my face and said “All of us have 100% Faith/Devotion/Bhakthi in Rayaru. However, you have 40% Faith/Devotion/Bhakthi and 60% doubt on Rayaru. If we all travel to Mantralaya and ask for a wish to be granted, it will be fulfilled immediately. However, since you have 60% doubt on Rayaru, you will have to travel 10 times for your wishes to be fulfilled.”As soon as I heard these sentences, my jaw dropped, eyes filled with tears. This Swamiji kept saying many other things, nothing went into my head. My head was reeling. Tears were rolling down my eyes.

We came back to Bangalore. The whole journey back, I cried. How could Rayaru let this happen? Why did he give this Swamiji the mind to speak so badly to me? I went on and on and on, and for days kept crying. We finally visited Mantralaya, and when I saw our Beloved Rayaru completely broke down. That night was when Mantralaya completely submerged in water. Read the post here:

• Mantralaya Visit

Once I came back here to USA, I had nightmares of the day. I used to wake up crying asking why this had happened to me. My foot pain was the same. So, one Thursday, I sat in my pooja room, and prayed to Rayaru. “Gurugale, this is it. I have been doing everything possible in this world to cure my foot pain. I will continue praying until March which is your birthday, if you don’t cure my foot during that period, I am never ever going to pray to you and will believe what the Swamiji said about 40% Faith/Devotion/Bhakthi and 60% doubt on you. Please please help me”. I burst into tears. I kept praying until his birthday, a year after that, two years, three, four and now it is 2015 and the foot pain never came back.

I know how much I am devoted to my beloved Rayaru, the change in my nature, my attitude, my behavior  everything I owe to Rayaru. If I think anything bad, do something bad, speak a bad word, have negative thoughts, I immediately think what would Rayaru think of me. Does he like this behavior of mine? Does he approve of what I am thinking? I immediately change my thoughts. This has helped me change many things in my life.

Even now, I have nightmares of this incident. 2009 was when I vowed I would never ever judge anyone about their Faith/Devotion/Bhakthi. You never know who God is going to bless. You never know where the ultimate devotee is? You never know if he is a Madhwa, or a Smartha, some other caste, a Man or a woman or a child?

Never ever judge a person and assume he/she is a great devotee because they are performing all the rituals.  Never ever judge a person and assume he/she is a great devotee because they are able to recite all and every stotras. Never ever judge a person and assume he/she is a great devotee because they know all the scriptures.

Never ever judge a person and assume he/she is less of a devotee because they do not pray. Never ever judge a person and assume he/she is less of a devotee because they are not from our caste. Never ever judge a person and assume he/she is less of a devotee because they do not follow our rituals.

There are many people who constantly tell me” Meera, can you please pray for my Son/Daughter/in-laws, Rayaru listens to you”. I am humbled by these words and at the same time tell them” If you yourself pray to him sincerely why will he not listen to your prayers. And I say one or two small lyrics in praise of our Beloved Rayaru”.

Moral of today’s post ” We as human beings do not have the ability to measure Faith/Devotion/Bhakthi one has.”

 

Uttaradi Matha Panchanga 2015-2016

The Uttaradi Matha Panchanga 2015-2016 for Manmatha Nama Samvatsara is available to download in Languages such as Sanskrit, Kannada, Marathi and Telugu.

Attached below is the link:

• Manmatha Nama Samvatsara  Panchanga