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

Cleanliness is Godliness

There is a saying which goes “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. However, in my dictionary  and in my world and in Hinduism it is the other way around Cleanliness is Godliness. There are some basic things we can actually learn from Hinduism and follow them to make sure Cleanliness is indeed Godliness.

Cleanliness #1

The very basic thing we learn as kids from our parents is to take shower as soon as we wake up. That’s cleaning the body as well as the mind since after taking shower we go straight to the prayer room, light the lamp, sit and meditate.

No matter which part of the world I have lived, this morning ritual has been a part and parcel of my life. If I have to travel 2 hours and be at a client at 8.00 AM, I wake up at 4.30- 5.00 AM, take shower, go downstairs to my prayer room, light the lamps, recite all the stotras, do namaskaras and than have coffee.

There are many reasons people give me for not taking shower/bath in the morning. I try to educate them, and if I cannot I always use the phrase ” Where there is a will there is a way, where there is no will, there is a hill“.

Cleanliness #2

The next basic place where I have seen too many arguments going on is cleanliness while cooking food. I have talked a great deal about cooking. If you missed them, below are the links for the same:

• Annadata Sukhibhava – ಅನ್ನದಾತ ಸುಖಿಭವ
• Cook with Love

Keeping your Kitchen, utensils and hands clean while cooking is equally important. Without which you will be creating a bad environment for the whole family. Make sure you clean you Kitchen, the gas stove and utensils after each and every meal. And this is indeed a must in our religion as well.

Cleanliness #3

We as Hindus have many rituals to follow. We follow some, we don’t follow a few others right? I have not seen a single soul in this entire world who is following all the rituals as noted down by the scriptures. Yes, there are religious people in the Muttas and other temples like great Swamijis who follow, but I am talking about people like you and me.

So, when we are ourselves at fault, don’t blame other people who are following a little bit less than what you are doing. I have seen this happens in many places which have caused severe fights between Mother-in-laws and Daughter-in-laws, between brothers, siblings, and even spouses.

Don’t ever criticize other people. Don’t ever point fingers. No one is perfect. This is where we all need Cleanliness of our minds. I have seen ladies performing great festivals like Vara MahaLakshmi Vrata and other festivals, and for few simple reasons criticizing their daughter-in-laws or mother-in-laws. You think Goddess Lakshmi is going to bless you when you hurt others feelings? Take a step back and don’t judge anyone’s faith just because they are not following exactly like you are.

For those of you who missed another post on this, read here:

• Don’t Tolerate Verbal Abuse

Cleanliness #4

Just as important it is to keep your body and soul clean, it is also important to keep our thoughts clean. We all know the famous song by our Purandara Dasaru right? Acharavillada Nalige Ninna Nicha Buddiya Bidu Nalige. If you haven’t listened to it, listen here:

There is one and only one thing I can say here ” STOP GOSSIPING”. If you cannot say good things about a person, stay quiet or change the conversation. This is very important. We all say we believe in God, right? How can you say you are faithful to God, and gossip. The two don’t work together. If by stopping gossiping you have less friends, so be it. That is exactly the logic I follow.

Cleanliness #5

Keep your surroundings clean. I am amazed by how much our Prime Minister Modi is doing for cleaning our country. This is not a job of our Prime Minister, or Sachin Tendulkar or even Amir Khan. This is something which each and every one of us should participate in. So, make sure the surroundings around your house is clean. Talk to the person who is throwing the garbage outside. Make them realize it is wrong.

Let me tell you an incident which happened at my place here in USA. Our neighbor(not Indian or even American, you can guess by knowing that they are India’s neighbor as well :)) was throwing food items which we don’t consume( non-vegetarian) into our backyard. Because of the food, there were several eagles, crows, vultures and hawks surrounding our house everyday.  The person who does the lawn kept complaining that he was scared to go back because of all these birds. Sneha and I saw the lady throwing food every day in the night. I wanted to go talk to the neighbors and told Sneha not to tell her Father because he gets really upset, not realizing that he had already talked to the neighbor 3-4 times and warned them.

As we were walking during the summer, the neighbor couple crossed our path. My Husband stopped them, told them politely that he had given them several warnings not to throw food in our backyard, it was getting ugly day by day, had recorded video of the lady throwing food, and would give the video to the police if she continued throwing food in our backyard. The husband turned to his wife and asked her why she was throwing  food in our backyard, she responded by saying that she wanted the food to be eaten by birds so on and so forth, making many many excuses. That was last, from that day onwards there is no food in our backyard, nor are there dangerous birds.

The point I am making is, sometimes you need to confront people and ask them to clean up. It is our responsibility. And like they say, when nice words aren’t enough, “दण्डं दशगुणं भवेत्” Dandam Dashagunam Bhavet. Doesn’t mean you have to beat up someone ten times,right? In our case talking to them and making them realize we care for our backyard was  helpful in our case. And most importantly telling them we had proof and were willing to give it to the police was the trick.

Cleanliness #6

Last but not the least, teach your kids cleanliness. I owe it all to my parents. My Mom was clean freak. I learned everything from them. So, be a role model for your kids. Don’t just say things, do it and show to your kids. A post about being a role model follows sooon.

Until than, remember “Cleanliness is Godliness”. Share your thoughts about what it means to you about being clean.

Astothra Pooja Paddati Book – By Shri Sethu Rao

Received this amazing book from Shri. Sethu Rao. Thanks sir for such a wonderful gift. There is no words to express my gratitude.

To receive a book on our Beloved Rayaru, which came to me on a Thursday, is a great sign from Rayaru.

As per Shri. Sethu Rao “Happy to announce, Our Astothra  Mandali has completed 13th year with 711 astothras & with great enthusiasm we entered 14th year with Astothra (712).”

I pray to our beloved Rayaru to help him and his Mandali complete many more Ashtotras and reach greater heights. Hopefully, during one of my visits to India, I will be able to take part in one of these programs and get blessings from our Beloved Rayaru.

 

Quick and Easy Instant Dosa

It is sometimes tough to come up with a variety of food to prepare for each and every meal. Some days you just don’t have energy when all day you have been attending meetings and working.

Yesterday was one such day which was crazy busy. At night for dinner, looked at the pantry, and saw urad dal flour and rice flour. I thought to myself, why not make Instant dosa out of this. There was leftover sambar. Had no time to grind, and no matter what I do, it will not ferment in winter.

So, quick instant dosa was a super hit. No soaking, no grinding, no fermenting, and no cleaning the heavy wet grinder.

The dosa was soft, and crispy because of the baking soda. However, it becomes soggy if you don’t eat it immediately. Good to serve hot out of the skillet(tava) and eat immediately. So, make sure someone makes it for you.

I cheated and ate one with Ghee and Sugar today. The dosa batter had fermented as well.  It brought back memories of my childhood. Don’t tell anyone…..

Ingredients:

1. 1 measure urad dal flour (available in all grocery stores)
2. 2 and 1/2 measure rice flour
3. 1 tsp baking powder – Eno salt will also do
4. salt to taste

Method:

1. Mix the rice flour, urad dal flour, salt  with enough water
2. Beat well so there are no lumps
3. If you wish, leave it overnight to ferment
4. If not, add baking powder just before preparing dosas
5. Serve with Chutney and Sambar.