Significance of Sankashti Chaturthi

!!!!!!!Important dates in the month of June are listed.!Page 2

Why do we apply Sindoor to Lord Hanuman? Curiously Hanuman asked mata, what was the red powder that she was wearing. Sita mata replied "Hanuman! This is sindoor. Sindoor makes Lord Rama happy and would bless him with a long and prosperous life."!Page 4

Vedanshi

Mantras,Shlokas & Stotras!

Goddess Lakshmi!Om Lakshmyai namah!

Lakshmi or Shri is the Goddess of wealth and fortune, power and beauty. According to the Bhaagavata puraana, during the churning of the milk ocean by the Devas and the Asuras for nectar, one of the auspicious gifts they got was Sri Lakshmi Devi.!

Lakshmi is usually described as enchantingly beautiful and standing on a lotus and holding lotuses in each of Her two hands.!

Padmaanane padmavipadmapatre!

padmapriye padmadalaayataakshi!

vivhvapriye vishnumanonukuule!

tvatpaada padmam mayi sannidhatsva!

(O Lakshmi), lotus is your seat. Your limbs are delightful like the lotus creepers of earthly and

heavenly regions. You love to abide in lotus, fond of the world you are and the world also is fond of you, you are always agreeable to the wishes of Vishnu, (be pleased to) place your lotus foot in me; make my house your abode.!

Padmaanane padma-ooru!

padmaakshi padmasambhave!

tanme bhajasi padmaakshi!

yena saukhyam labhaamyaham!

Oh lotus-eye Lakshmi! You are born of lotus. Your face is lovely like lotus. Your limbs are tender and smooth like lotus. (I entreat) you to bless me so that I will obtain happiness.!

Namastestu mahaamaaye!

shree peethe surapoojite!

shanka chakra gadaa haste!

mahaalakshmi namostu te!

Sarvajne sarvavarade!

sarva dushta bhayankari!

sarva dukhahare devi!

mahaalakshmi namostu te!

Prostrations to you Goddess Mahaalakshmi, who is the great deluder, who is seated on the Shri Chakra, who is worshipped by the celestials and who sports in Her four hands the conch, the discus, the mace and the lotus.!

Prostrations again to you, who are omniscient, who shower boons on the good and are a terror to all the wicked, and who remove all sorrows of devotees.!

- A prayer book for children!

Enthusiasm has great strength. There is no greater strength than enthusiasm. There is nothing which is not attainable in this world for the enthusiastic.!

4.1.121; Valmiki Ramayana

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The Sanctity of Banyan Tree in Hinduism Banyan is the soul – never dying, never renewing itself. Banana is the botanical equivalent of the householder while Banyan is the botanical equivalent of the hermit.!

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Sub-Committee Nominations • Financial planning

committee!• Fundraising committee!• Temple building

committee!• Event planning

committee!Page 2

A Monthly Newsletter Issue No 7: June 2014

The part of the sacred knowledge

S A N A T A N H I N D U S A N S K A R K E N D R A

Issue No 7: June 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana " 1

June Important Dates!

For more details please refer DrikPanchang.com!!

Sanatan Hindu Sanskar Kendra!PO Box 80362, Lafayette, Louisiana - 70598!

Email: shskendra@gmail.com, Website: sanatanlft.org!Tax Id: 46-2580905

Durga Sita Ram Ganesh Krishna Shiva

4th Waning Moon: Sankashti Chaturthi !

Spiritual Technology to Smash Through Obstacles - Coconut Smashing Ritual!

The Moon moves quickly through its phases. Our days are based on the joint relationship of the Moon and the Sun.!

Where as the Sun represents our outward personality and how we present in the world, the Moon is the bearer of the soul's energy and indicates our emotional and psychological patterns and tendencies.!

The Moon is associated with a person's emotional make-up, unconscious habits, rhythms, memories and moods. It is associated with the past.!

In general, if the Moon is in its Waxing phase, mean 'growing' into being Full, it is time to seek the limelight, to explore new things, and concentrate on the outward, more material things.!

When the Moon is Waning, or on its way from Full to New or dark, then this is the time in which to be more inward and reflective of the soul. It is a good time to complete work and rest.!

Obstacle Smashing Technology!Shattering coconuts is a spiritual technology that manifests in both your material and spiritual worlds. !

The coconut energetically absorbs our lower vibrations. When it is smashed, the energy holding back our progress is forcefully disseminated. When done on Lord Ganesha's 4th Waning Moon, the obstacle removing power is amplified manifold.!

If Sankashti Chaturthi falls on Tuesday it is called Angarki Chaturthi and it is considered highly auspicious.!

-Bhalchandra Jaykumar Swadia

Based on Lafayette, Louisiana, US Time!

07 Saturday! Ganga Dussehra!

08 Sunday! Nirjala Ekadashi!

09 Monday! Nirjala Ekadashi!

12 Thursday! Vat Purnima Vrat!

14 Saturday! Mithuna Sankranti!

22 Sunday! Yogini Ekadashi!

28 Saturday ! Jagannath !! ! Rathayatra

Best Compliments from!Ashima and Mohit

Srivastava !

Estimated Cost Breakdown!Land Purchase - $200,000 (under contract)!

Temple Construction - $700,000 ± 20%!

Moorties (Deities) – By Sponsorship!

Parking lot and landscape - $150,000 ± 20%!

Priest Quarters - $100,000 ± 20%!

Auditorium and class rooms - $500,000 ± 20%!

Sankashti Chaturthi!Based on Lafayette, Louisiana, US Time!!

14 July !! (Monday)!

13 August ! (Wednesday)!

11 September ! (Thursday)!

11 October ! (Saturday)!

09 November ! (Sunday)!

09 December ! (Tuesday)

Sub-Committee Nominations!Executive Committee is looking to form the following sub-committees:!

• Financial planning committee!

• Fundraising committee!

• Temple building committee!

• Event planning committee!

If you are interested in one of the committees please email to shskendra@gmail.com

S A N A T A N H I N D U S A N S K A R K E N D R A

" Issue No 7: June 2014, Lafayette, Louisiana2

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The Sanctity of the Banyan Tree in Hinduism Trees are sacred in India, and often associated with a god or a goddess. Some scholars believe that it is the tree that was worshipped first, maybe for its medicinal or symbolic purpose, and that the gods and goddesses came later. That may be the case but today trees are an integral part of a deity’s symbolism. The mango tree, for example, is associated with the love-god Kama, the Tulsi plant is

dear to Vishnu, Bilva is associated with Shiva worship, blades of Dhurva grass is offered to Ganesha, Neem or Margosa is sacred to the mother goddess, coconut and banana is associated with Lakshmi.!

The Banyan tree is associated with Yama, the god of death and the tree is often planted outside the village near crematoriums. It is believed to be the abode of ghosts. Vetals and Pisachas are supposed to hang from its many branches.!

Indians knew the Banyan tree as the Vata-vriksha. When the British came to India, they noticed that members of the trading or Bania community used to gather under a large shady fig tree, which they named the Banyan, from Bania. Technically, Ficus benghalensis, the Banyan belongs to the Fig family. There are various types of fig trees all over the world, some of these are sacred. The most popular one is the Ficus religiosa or the Pipal which became especially popular in Buddhist times because it was under this tree that Gautama Siddhartha of the Sakya clan attained enlightenment. It was the leaves of a fig tree that Adam and Eve used to cover their nakedness in Eden after they were tempted to eat the Forbidden Fruit by Satan.!

The Banyan tree does not let a blade of grass grow under it. Thus Banyan tree does not allow for any rebirth and renewal. While Banyan offers shade from the sun, it offers no food. That is why it is not part of fertility ceremonies like marriage and childbirth where food-giving, rapidly renewing, plants with short lifespan such as Banana, Mango, Coconut, Betel, Rice and even grass, are included.!

Marriage and childbirth are rites of passage; they represent major shifts in life. They are all about instability and flux; Banyan tree is the very opposite. It is stable and constant. It has a long lifespan and hence seems immortal. Its roots descend from the branches and then anchor the tree to the ground,

transforming into trunks eventually, so that decades later it is difficult to distinguish root from stem.!

Things that evoke the notion of immortality become auspicious in India, for example the immortal mountain, the immortal sea, the immortal diamond, and the indestructible ash. This is because since ancient times, Indian seers were acutely aware of the transitory nature of things around us. Everything dies – every plant, every animal, even moments die, the present becomes the past in an instant. In an ever changing world, we seek constancy, permanence. The Banyan tree is therefore worthy of veneration; it is evergreen and shady, hence an eternal refuge for all creatures unable to bear the vagaries of life.!

Thus, it emerges that in Indian thought, there are two types of sacredness – one that is associated with impermanent material reality and the other which is associated with permanent spiritual reality. The Banana and the Coconut fit into the previous category; the Banyan fits into the latter. Banana is the symbol of the flesh, constantly dying and renewing itself. Banyan is the soul – never dying, never renewing itself. Banana is the botanical equivalent of the householder while Banyan is the botanical equivalent of the hermit.!

The Banyan tree can be seen as a hermit amongst trees; just as hermit cannot raise a family, a Banyan tree cannot support a household. Banyan tree represents not the material aspiration of a people; it represents the spiritual aspiration of a people. The Banyan tree is said to be immortal: it is Akshaya, that which survives Pralaya, the destruction of the whole world.!

Mahabharata tells the story of a woman called Savitri who lost her husband as destined, one year after her marriage, near a Banyan tree. She followed Yama to the land of the dead and through determination and intelligence managed to secure back her husband’s life. In memory of that event, Hindu women go around the Banyan tree, tying seven strings around it. This is imitative magic: by symbolically going around the immortal tree, the women are binding immortality into their married life. They are securing the lives of their husband, the pillar of their household. They are protecting themselves from widowhood which is believed by most Hindus to be the worst fate for a woman.!

Under the Banyan tree sat the sages of India – those who rejected the flesh and the material world and aspired for the soul alone. This was the favorite tree of the sadhu, the wandering hermit. The greatest of

hermits, Shiva, was often represented in its shade as a stone called the Lingam. Being an ascetic, Shiva was not part of the village; he was a hermit not a householder; he did not fear ghosts and so was comfortable staying in the shade of this immortal, never dying, never renewing plant.!

In iconography, Shiva i s v i sua l ized as Dakshinamurti, he who faces the south, south be ing the direction of death and change. He sits under the Banyan tree, the botanical embodiment of the universal soul, facing the terror of death and change stoically, unafraid

because of his profound understanding of the world. At his feet sit sages who are recipients of Shiva’s wisdom. In South Indian temples, Shiva’s south facing form, under the Banyan tree, is placed on the south facing wall of the temple.!

Like Shiva, Vishnu is also a form of God. But Vishnu is not associated with the Banyan tree, perhaps because Vishnu is that aspect of God who is more associated with change. He goes with the flow – this attitude is called leela or playfulness; he does not fear change. Vishnu is therefore associated with the fragrant Tulsi plant or with flowering plants like Champa and Kadamba.!

But there is one time when Vishnu is associated with the Banyan tree – it is during the end of the world when flood waters rise and dissolve all things. Sage Markandeya who had a terrifying vision of this event, saw Vishnu as a baby lying on the leaf of a Banyan tree, cradled by the deadly waves. This form of Vishnu is called Vata-patra-shayin, he who rests on the Banyan leaf. The image is rich in symbols – the whole world may seem transitory like the waves of the ocean but all life can renew itself as a baby replaces the older generation because divine grace represented by Vishnu is eternal like a Banyan leaf.!

-Devdutt Patanaik

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Short Story Why do we apply Sindoor to Lord Hanuman?!We see in almost all Hanuman temples that the deity of Hanumanji is covered or coated with orange colour sindoor. What is the story associated with applying sindoor to Lord Hanuman and what is the importance of sindoor in Hanuman puja?!

One day Sita mata was wearing a red powder in the parting of her hair. Curiously Hanuman asked mata, what was the red powder that she was wearing. Sita mata replied "Hanuman! This is sindoor. Sindoor makes Lord Rama happy and would bless him with a long and prosperous life."!

Listening to this Hanuman disappeared from the place. Hanuman came back with his body fully covered with red sindoor. He covered his entire body, even his clothes and hair with sindoor.!

Lord Rama saw Hanuman covered with sindoor and asked the reason. Hanuman replied "Sita mata told me that by applying just a small pinch of sindoor on her head every day it will make you have a long and happy life. I thought if just a pinch will do so much, what will happen if I cover my entire body with sindoor."!

Thus, Lord Ram gave a boon to all his devotees that those who apply sindoor to Hanuman and observe hanuman puja with sindoor would be blessed with a long, happy life and have their wishes fulfilled.!

For this reason sindoor is mixed in til (sesame) oil and applied to the entire body of Lord Hanuman. This is also called as Chola Chandana. People take back a little sindoor from Lord Hanuman as prasada and wear it on their foreheads.!

Author's Name: Naveen Sanagala!

Author's Website: http://www.hindupad.com/!

!We would like to get your comments, feedback or suggestions on SHSK activities. Please email us or talk to us when we meet together next time.!

Thank you for your support and blessings.!Srinivasan Ambatipati

Sanatan Hindu Temple

Lafayette, Louisiana, USA

S A N A T A N H I N D U S A N S K A R K E N D R A

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