Chaturmasa 2018 and Significance of 1 Lakh

During Aadhika Masa, I posted the significance of 33 and all the details. Many of us even did follow them. During Chaturmasa which is coming soon, there are many many vrathas you can follow. In 2018, Chaturmasa starts from July 23rd Monday and ends on November 19th 2018. If you know Sanskrit, Chatur means four and masa means month, Vrata means performing religious activities.  It is 4 months during which it is said Lord Narayana is in deep sleep. Of course, not like us.  These four months are very dear to God and any religious activity or any good deed you do which will be very dear to Lord Narayana.

There are also food restrictions during this 4 month period like you all know.

First month – Saakha Vratha:  Any kind of  vegetable and fruit is prohibited

Second month – Dadhi Vratha: No yogurt, butter milk is allowed

Third month – Ksheera Vratha: No milk

Fourth month – Dwidala Vratha: Any daal or vegetable which when broken splits into two halves. All type of Daals, groundnuts, green peas, any fruit or vegetable that contain multiple seeds is not allowed; apple, orange, grape, pomegranate, cucumber etc etc

Again, not easy to follow, but if you can that’s awesome. Many I know follow this food restriction on dwadashi days.

My eyes brightened when I saw in our Uttaradi mutta panchanga about 1 lakh pradakshina or a few other activities you could do for the next 4 months.

The above text from our panchanga translated in English “1 lakh namaskaras, pradakshina or 1 lakh tulasi, flowers, 1 lakh Deepa vratha. Start during Aashada masa, and finish during Karthika masa. For 1 lakh deepa, karthika, Magha and Vaishakha masa is great. This vratha should be started by doing punyahavachana which is great. Start by recollecting all the bad things you have done, and beg for forgiveness from God. And doing sankalpa recite

” Chaturmasye thu samprapthe keshave shayanam gathe| Aashadasya sithe pakshe ekadashyam samahithe|| Mama lakshanamaskara vrathasya purushothama| Nirvignam thadvratham sangam kugu thvam krupaya hare| papapankanimagnam mam papavaishyasyabhajanam | vrathenanena supreetha samudhara jagathpathe|| “

reciting this do namasakara.

There is also Mauna Vrata, where you can remain silent for a set period of time and focus on God.

There is also Vachika Vrata, where you can spend time reading religious books, donating books and so on.

You can also do 1 Lakh Japa Vrata recite stotras, sahasranamas, saying Shree Raghavendraya Namaha 1 lakh times.

So, based on what you can do, start simple. I thought I could do 1 lakh Namaskaras, but with my broken ankle not sure will be able to do that. I might try doing 1 lakh Japa or something else.

So, remember start this on July 23rd Ekadashi by reciting the above sloka and than continue for the next 4 months.

 

 

SHUCHI- RUCHI kannada ECook Book

Ms. Nanda Ramesh, who left a comment here wanted to share a cook book her grandmother Ms. Seeta Bai had created. Ms. Nanda in her email to me writes as follows:

My granny used to say whatever we do should be to the good of the world. I will be very happy if more and more people make use of it and remember her. Even beginners can cook from her book.

I am truly truly humbled and blessed to see Ms. Nanda share this cook book with me and to share it with you all my extended family. I went through a couple of recipes, it is just awesome. A truly great treasure from a grandmother to her family and to us all.

Again, the cook book is in Kannada, if you know Kannada download the same. Ms. Nanda has mentioned they are working on an English translation.

Download the same and enjoy delicious, Madhwa recipes.

Thanks Nanda and our namaskaras to your Ajji. She will be remembered forever through this blog and the cookbook. Hope to meet you soon, Nanda.

Shuchi_Ruchi_Cookbook

Rayaru Athyantha Dayalu

Technology has brought us so closer, especially phone and WhatsApp. I was forwarded this amazing video of Pravachana in our WhatsApp group about our Beloved Rayaru. It was a video from Shree Vyasaraja Mutta pravachana. I tried finding it on youtube, and Facebook but was unable to locate it. So, providing the details here in the post. All credit to whoever recorded the video.

 

Once a man goes to Mantralaya and does Rayaru seva for 3 days. On the 3rd day, Rayaru himself comes in his dream while sleeping and asks why he is doing seva. The man said ” I have Rs3000 loan, unable to repay the loan so please help me repay the loan. Rayaru tells in his dream ” Don’t worry, look at the person who is sleeping next to you, he has a bag, and it has Rs3000. Take that money and go”. This man was shocked, Rayaru is asking me to take money from the person sleeping next to me and runaway? He had so much faith in Rayaru that he put his hand in the bag, takes the money and started running.

While he was running, the person sleeping got woken up, and realizing that this man is taking away my money he started to run behind him. Finally, he caught him, and asked him why are you stealing my money? This person said ” I didn’t steal your money, Rayaru himself came in my dream and asked me to take money from your bag”. I am not a thief, Rayaru asked me to take the money so I took because He instructed me. I am not a thief”. This other guy was so mad he said” You are lying, does anytime Rayaru ask you to steal, you are lying” So, saying he took back the bag with the money and came back and went to sleep.

Rayaru now came in this man’s dream and asked “why are you doing seva, and what do you want”? Swami my leg is not good, can’t walk properly, I drag it a lot, and someone told me if I do your seva I would be able to walk properly”. Rayaru told him, ” how weird you are, I have already given you what you wanted, if you were not able to walk properly, how would you run all the way for such a long distance to get the money that the other guy took?

He was so shocked, he said” Rayare you have done some much to me, I didn’t even realize that you had given me what I asked for”. Rayaru asked him” I gave you your leg, what are you going to give me”? The man said ” I have Rs3000 I will put that in the hundi”. Rayaru told him ” I had already taken it and given to the other guy, so go give it back to him”

Our beloved Rayaru knows everything even without us asking him. He knows what we need to get and what we need to loose. He blesses us when we pray to him. He comes in our dreams, and provides us answers for so many of our tough situations.

As soon as I heard this short video, I was overwhelmed with emotions. I kept thinking Rayare please help me walk as soon as possible, pease help me do your seva, please help me do your namaskaras. All these days, I never asked anything to Rayaru, but this video was just overwhelming.

As always, I had no clue how to share the video, couldn’t find it, so decided to share the list with you all.

Rayare Gathiyu Namage.

Appi Payasa – Poori Payasa

I was supposed to post this Payasa recipe as soon as I finished the Satsangha I hosted in May. Like I say many times” Man/Woman proposes God disposes”. As I was going through the Satsangha pictures today, I saw the pictures I had taken of the Payasa so I could post here. Also, remember this Payasa is a favorite of our Beloved Rayaru.

During the Satsangha, this payasa was a super hit and everyone had 2-3 servings. It was creamy, crunchy with the poori, with the right balance of sugar and lots of nuts as well.

So, here comes the recipe. Super easy, and super tasty.

For Poori –

1. Fine sooji – Chiroti Rava – 1 cup
2. All purpose Flour- Maida – 4 tsps
3. pinch of salt
4. 2 tsp ghee
5. water

Method:

1. Sieve rava, maida with salt. Make sure it is super fine. I ground mine in mixie since it was not super fine. Mix ghee and make a stiff dough. Just like you do for chapathi.
2. Let the dough rest for 1-2 hours. Take small balls and make super thin pooris. I made some slits with a knife so they don’t puff up.
3. Fry in oil or ghee. I used oil. Make sure they don’t puff up. Make thin pooris so they are crunchy.

For the Payasa Keer:

1. 4 cups milk
2. 2 cups sugar or more based on your taste
3. dried nuts like almonds, cashews, pistachios
4. saffron – soak in 2 tsp milk

Method:

1. Take milk in a heavy pan and boil. Keep stirring. You can also use condensed milk, it is however optional.
2. When it becomes thick or reduces to half, add sugar and keep boiling.
3. When this becomes quite thick add saffron soaked in milk.
4. Fry nuts in ghee and add to the milk.
5. When ready to serve, crush the pooris and add to the payasa.
6. You can serve hot or cold.

Your Prayers are heard

Dear All.

I had my orthopedic surgeon visit today early morning. I was unable to sleep all night. Having no clue how the fracture had healed, was there even more damage, what might the Surgeon say, and thoughts kept coming all night. The Hospital was in Baltimore, so we left early. The entire drive the mind was in a somber mood having no clue what the outcome would be.

We reached before time, filled all the forms and waited to be called. A fellowship Doctor called us, asked lots of questions and said ” we will remove the cast, take an x-ray and see how the fracture has healed will decide what to do next. The way they remove the cast was nerve racking. They asked me to bear my entire weight on the ankle to take x-rays.

We came back and the fellowship Doctor said after he looked at the x-ray the ankle looks like it has healed. Let us wait for the Surgeon to come see you. The surgeon was just awesome. I could see my won Daughter seeing patients when she herself becomes an Orthopedic Surgeon. He looked at the x-ray, asked a few questions, touched my feet and said you ankle has healed. That was the word I was longing to hear, I just cannot explain the feeling. He said ” you don’t need a cast anymore, we will put you on Ankle support, get 6 weeks of Physical therapy and come visit me after 4 weeks.” He also said I would have swelling for the next year or so, but should be my normal in the next 6 months.

It was the word we were waiting to hear. I cannot thank you all for your constant emails, messages and comments. Your prayers were heard. Now to recover and get all the strength into the broken ankle. It was tough days, but it passed. Wanted to keep you all posted, so this short post. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR WISHES, PRAYERS, SUPPORT. RAYARE GATHIYU NAMAGE.