Many times it is difficult for us to trace our historical records. We do however are able to bring together a view using the scriptures or literature from that era. The composition Venkateshayanam is one such piece of literature containing 74 shlokas composed 400 years ago which traces the history behind how the current vigraha … Read more
How many times have we entered a temple with complete focus on God and his form and with total concentration in conveying our love and devotion to him? Very often or shall I say almost always, we enter the temple with ten things on our mind, we add a few as we sit … Read more
As a child, Betal for me meant the pale scary ghost hosted on the back of King Vikramaditya in the programme ‘Vikram and Betal’. One day we cousins gathered around our Ajja for a story. His stories weren’t about Gods or morals. They were more about occurrences in his life. Sitting next to my Ajja … Read more
This story is adapted from the ‘Vaishnavism of the Gowd Saraswat Brahmins and a Few Konkani Folklore Tales‘ by V.P. Chavan which can be purchased here This is the second story I have come across with references to things constructed out of wax versus things made out of cow-dung. One of them is ‘Kak Mam … Read more
व्यासम् वसिष्ठ नप्तारम् सक्तेपौत्रमकल्मषम् पराशरात्मजम् वंदे शुकतातम् तपोनिधिम् I salute him, the great sage Vyasa, the pure and the holy one who is the very embodiment of Taposhakti, who is the great-grandson of Sage Shakti, the son of sage Parashara and the father of sage Shuka. व्यासाय विष्णुरूपाय व्यासरूपाय विष्णवे नमोवे ब्रह्मनिधये वासिष्ठाय नमो नम: … Read more
Gosripuram is another name for present day Kochi (erstwhile Cochin) and Gosripuresha is the Lord of Gosripuram – Shree Venkataramana. According to one version Gosripuram was a name given to the place by Keshavendra Teertha Swami of Kashinath and it is derived from three words “Gomanthak”, “Srimanth” and “Puram” ie., the settlement (Puram) of the … Read more