Shri Satyanarayana Vrata and Pooja

Last week we attended a “Satyanarayana Vrata pooja” at a friend’s place. The host did an awesome job of arranging everything fabulously and had invited quite a few people to participate with them in the rituals. I have attended this pooja a few times in the past as well. Usually the ritual also involves reading the story of Lord Satyanarayana that is expected to absolve the listeners from all their sins and set them on the path of salvation. I listened to the entire story dutifully trying to understand a few questions –

1. Who is Lord Satyanarayana?
2. What is so important in the story that can lead to one’s absolvation?
3. Who can perform this ritual, when and where?

Unfortunately, the prevalent story and the ritual did not help me in my quest. Either I was too ignorant to have understood the deep rooted messages, or I was not eligible enough to listen to the voice of God hidden in the story. To help myself with the understanding and preparing myself for the “Satyanarayana Katha and Vrat”, I decided to write this article. Please forgive me if you feel I have crossed the lines somewhere. My only intention is to know what we do and why!

Lord Satyanarayana is supposed to be another form of God Vishnu. His name actually is a combination of two words – Satya (Truth) and Narayana (God). Lord Satyanarayana is also viewed as an incarnation of Vishnu in the current epoch of time where we ae all mired by the illusion or God’s maya. Truth is the only path that can lead us to salvation in this world. Believing in the truth and following the path of truth can help us keep away from losing our focus. This shall help one to become one with the God and attain salvation from the cycle of rebirth. The path of truth is important for one’s spiritual and material growth in the time of Kaliyuga. This is also what is read in the story in the first few lines when Narad muni requests Lord Vishnu to tell him the easy way for the welfare of humans.

The ritual Satyanarayana pooja is usually performed by householders who seek for an easy way to please the God and seek his blessings in return for worshipping him. The ritual is thus recommended to be performed in the open space in house and in the presence of the family and friends. The benefits are supposed to be extended not only to the performer, but also to those who attend the ritual. The ritual emphasizes on one’s remembering the mother earth, Ganesha, the family deity, parents, the seven sages and all your teachers.

The Satyanarayana pooja is conducted with the idols of Rama and Sita or Lakshmi and Vishnu. The way the idols and all the gods are arranged can be seen in the figure below (the legend is provided below the figure) –

Figure - Organization of Peetha

Legend –

During the ritual, every god is invoked and is worshipped. In the last Lord SatyaNarayana is invoked and is worshipped. When the story recital is completed, all the gods are then requested to go back to their respective abodes.

The “Satyanarayana Vrata and Katha” ritual was designed in an easy format for its wide acceptance. As per the norms attached to the ritual, it can be performed on any day, at any time of the day and by anyone. Though there is no specified time, it is recommended to perform the ritual after the sunset. The 11th day of the moon, full moon day and the Sankranti are recommended as the best days for the ritual. Also, men and women can equally participate in this ritual with or without their spouses. This flexibility of time, place and person made the ritual very popular. It amazed me on listening to the story from the priest. The story had 4 sections, and each section focused on the 4 varnas of people as per the Hindu belief – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. A common story or a ritual that binds the four pillars of the society has to be popular and powerful. The popularity of the ritual was also fuelled by the renditions offered today – express, short or regular!

Let’s look at the renditions so that we can understand the ritual better –

1. Regular procedure – Elaborate external procedure replete with vedic mantras – Involves Shodashopchara pooja (16 service worship) for every god invoked
2. Short procedure – Slightly elaborate ritual for those comfortable with the Sanskrit language – Involves pachopchara pooja (5 service worship) for every god invoked
3. Express procedure – Extremely short procedure for those who are not comfortable with Sanskrit language, those who are short on time and those who are not attracted to external rituals and want to spend more time in internal meditation than in an external ritual. – Involves 1 service worship for every god involved 

Chaand

चाँद 

काली अमावस्या गई,

और चाँद फिर निकला। 

रोज नयी छटा बिखेरता,

चांदनी की शीतलता लिए,

देखो चाँद फिर निकला। 

बढ़ता ही रहा,

हमारे संबंधों की तरह,

विशाल अजगर की तरह,

आज की महंगाई की तरह,

देखो चाँद बहता ही रहा। 

अचानक चाँद रुक गया,

हमारा रिश्ता भी बदल गया। 

चाँद अब घट रहा था,

तुम भी तो दूर जा रहे थे,

जब तुम न थे, चाँद पूरा निकला था। 

अँधेरा फिर से छा रहा है,

हम तुम बिछड़ चुके हैं। 

पुनः चाँद का इंतज़ार कर रहे हैं,

पुनः मिलन की आस जोट रहे हैं। 

अमावस फिर से छा रही है। 

पर अब अमावस भयावह नहीं,

हम तुम अकेले भी नहीं। 

परिपक्व संबंधों की आड़ में,

सुन्दर यादों की छाँव में,

चाँद फिर से निकलेगा। 

Vedic story about the birth of animals

The vedas and puranas are not the scriptures that talk about the religion, but the knowledge that our ancient Indians had. They talk about the existence of life and its purpose. They talk about a framework that defines the life and the actions during one’s lifecycle. We may have seen many frameworks succeeding or failing with time. However, the vedic framework of life has stood tall over time and provides a great explanation for the facts we see often.

I shall be trying to narrate stories / incidents from different scriptures that revolve around the closes siblings to the humans – animals. As the western concept – the evolution of humans theory of Charles Darwin – we were once animals. I will be referring to many great scriptures and notable writers in my quest for stories. Please bear with me even if you feel plagiarism. I am just lamenting upon knowledge that I am gathering – not producing.

We all know Brahma as the creator of the universe. The vedas tell us that Brahma started the creation to understand his own being. In his quest to understand the purpose of himself, Brahma created the universe and the organisms that inhabit the world. In order to progress his creation he created his sons. These were known to be born from his thoughts hence are known as “Manas Putra”. Narada muni is one of the most famous manas putra of Brahma. Brahma’s sons played an important role in the creation and also in providing for the creation to survive. The sons who helped in the providing are well known as “Prajapati”.

Brahma’s son Kashyap is said to be the father of all living creatures.  He had many wives. Each of them gave birth to a different set of creatures. The names of his wives and the children are as follows –

Kashyap’s Wife	Their children	Characteristics
Aditi	Devas or gods	Live in the sky
Diti	Asuras or demons	Live under the earth
Kadru	Nagas, slithering snakes and worms	Crawl on trees and on the earth
Vinata	Garuda, birds and insects	Fly in the air
Sarama	Wild creatures	Have claws
Surabhi	Gentle animals	Have hooves
Timi	Fishes	Live in water
Suarasa	Monsters

At the same time, vedas also talk about the gods travelling from one place to the other. For this movement, they require a vehicle. The vehicles for the gods were none other than animals, thus giving a new shape and name to the animals. Some of the well known vehicles or ‘vahans’ are –

God	Animal used as vehicle
Vishnu	Eagle (Garuda)
Brahma	Swan (Hamsa)
Saraswati	Swan (Hamsa)
Maheswara or Shiv or Shankara	Bull (Nandi)
Vinayaka or Ganesha or Ganapati	Rat (Mooshika)
Subramanyam or Shanmuga or Katikeya	Peacock (Mayura)
Yamraja or Dharmaraja	Buffalo (Bhainsa)
Dattatreya	Dog (Sunaka)
Durga or Amba or Parvati	Lion (Singh)
Indra	White Elephant (Airavata)
Surya	Horses (Ashva)
Shani	Vulture (Giddha)
Mangal	Lion
Agni	Male sheep
Chandra	Male sheep
Bhairava	Dog
Khandoba	Dog
Ganga – Since she is seen as a bubbly fast flowing	Makar
Yamuna – since she is darker and sluggish	Turtle
Lakshmi	Owl
Kama	Parrot
Kaalratri or Kaali	Donkey
Alakshmi	Crow
Shukra	Crocodile

The common folklore stories may have many more vahanas.

During the nine days of the Brahmotsavam at Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam, Sri Venkateswara is taken in procession with different animals as his vahans on each day.

Day	Sri Venkateshwara’s Vahan
1	Shesha (Serpent)
2	Shesha (Sepent)
3	Hansa (Swan)
4	Singha (Lion)
5	Garuda (Eagle)
6	Hanuman (Monkey)
7	Gaja (Elephant)
8	Ashwa (Horse)

To add to the list, God Vishnu is known to have taken different forms of animals marking his incarnation upon earth. Some of the very well known forms are –

1.     Matsya

2.     Kurma

3.     Varaha

4.     Narsimha

Brahma, in the process of creation created Shatrupa – the first woman. He fell in love with his own creation and took forms to follow her and express his love for her. Shatrupa kept changing her form into many animals, and Brahma kept following her. This went on till the extent when Shiva had to cut off Brahma’s fifth head.

God Shiva, also known as a yogi, took many postures or asanas to be one with his form. This pleased him and kept him at peace with himself. Many of these asanas look similar to the forms of the animals. It is believed that when Shiva took this posture, the corresponding animals came to life.

Asana	Animal
Ushtra-asna	Camel
Matsya-asana	Fish
Bhujanga-asana	Snakes
Shalabh-asana	Locusts
Go-mukh-asana	Cows

The yogis shall be able to tell much more of these names.

The collection of stars or constellations were named after animals, as they resembled their forms. What we do not understand is that the animals were formed based on the forms of the constellations, or because we know the animals that we see the constellations in this form?

The hindu belief also says that the human form is obtained after the soul passess through 8,40,000 animal wombs or ‘yonis’. Each form is known as the yoni of the soul. Depending upon the deeds of the soul in the previous yoni shall define the next yoni and the personality of the soul’s form. The cow yoni is supposed to be preceding the human yoni. Yet, which is the first – human or animal – is up for debate!

Precursor to my new series

I was going through my previous blog posts and thinking over them again and again. One of the most prominent themes that come across is the importance of storytelling and its impacts in defining one's character. Be it personality, appearance or the mannerisms – all are affected by the way the person thinks. Most of the stories that we relate to are the ones that we have heard while growing up and have a message hidden within them. Many of these stories have a character best described as an animal yet able to converse with humans, gods and demons with equal ease. The animal character in these stories holds immense significance as it bears the central idea that the story has to offer.
Many years ago, a very learned man – Pt Vishnu Sharma authored an entire book of stories with only animals as the characters – Panchtantra. The vedas and puranas are filled with scriptures wherein the animals talk sense to the humans. All these stories and symbols tell us of that despite the looks and habitat, animals and humans are not much different from each other. The only difference between the two species comes from the advanced brain of the humans. Charles Darwin actually proposed a theory of evolution which made him immortal.
Starting today from this article, I plan to write the stories from colloquial beliefs that have one or more elements related to animals. I request you all to share your ideas with me so that I do not miss out on the stories.

Why should I learn my language?

The popular management theories revolve around measurements, corrections and rewards. You measure everything through the eyes of meeting success, correcting what doesn’t and reward what does.

A great thinker and a philosopher has remarked – “As is your belief, so is your behavior and hence so is your business.” In a nutshell, it means that to understand one’s business, it is important to understand what the person believes in. Looking through his glass, one finds a paradox – measurable business, but immeasurable belief. Yet, it’s the belief that leads to the business. How did it happen?

Belief is the truth or the ideas that shape up the persona – identity, thought and the aura around the person. The beliefs make the person’s opinions. The beliefs are made out of the subjective truth the person lives by. They may not mean the same to others but mean the world to the person concerned.

Hence, they are not the objective truth or absolute but subjective truth or relative given the circumstances. Belief is made and enhanced through the stories, symbols and signs around oneself. The stories that have a meaning in a context, yet meaningless to others. This is also same as mythology.

Charles Darwin, a well renowned scientist, explained the evolution of humans from monkeys. The fact that remains is that the humans are still animals with an enlarged brain. It’s the brain or the mind that distinguishes the humans from animals. It’s the mind that gives the limitless power to the humans through imagination. And it’s the mind and the power of imagination that turns the humans fearful. The fear is a result of the thought that emanates from the unfavorable imagination or something beyond imagination.

The humans deal with their fear everyday and every moment. This defines their behavior. Since everyone’s fear is different, their behavioral pattern differs. The person living in the poverty fears about his food for the next day, while a well-to-do person fears for the food and the luxury for his future generations. An even better-to-do person fears for his name and fame. Thus comes the Maslow’s pyramid of needs.

To deal with their fears and the need for a better future, humans created boundaries across everything – event the thoughts in their mind are contained. The boundaries create a structure – a measurable fundamentalist unit called society or a culture. The Indian society leans heavily on the brahmanical society revolving around the pinnacle – Brahmin. Unfortunately, in the quest to get to the highest form, we have forgotten the true meaning of the Brahmin – “Greater Mind” (Brah + Man). A mind expanded to infinity is attaining divinity!

The best way to understand a person and his behavior is to understand his beliefs. And the beliefs are created through the stories and symbols shared with them since their childhood. Just like the same rice and pulses cooked in every house has a different taste to itself, the stories told in every household differs in the point they make.

The Indian mindset has been trained or cultivated with the stories of Rama and Krishna as separate identities yet forgetting the point that they are different incarnations of the same Vishnu. One most important learning from the Indian Philosophy is that nothing lasts forever. And everything happens in a context. Without the context, anything is meaningless.

To understand the Indian philosophy, we must understand what our scriptures tell us. The stories, symbols, signs and messages that each of them have for us. The best way to understand them would be to read them in the language they are written to understand the true meaning and the context. This is where I believe the true value of “Vedic Vidyalaya” lies.

DISCLAIMER - I wrote this article for the annual magazine for "Vedic Vidyalaya" 2015. Most of my thoughts and writing are inspired from Dr Devdutt Pattnaik. I make no claim that my thoughts are original, but I am proud that I am starting to understand the purpose. My earnest request to all of my readers is to share your views and stories with me to keep me going. 

Yet another look at generosity

We recently completed the fundraiser for Nepal earthquake victims. Thank you all for all your support to us for this great event. It was a well attended program and very well organized. My wife has done a great job for a noble cause and has collected amazing amount of funds to be given to the Red Cross. I am so proud of having a partner who is passionate and keeps me on my toes in the quest for good deeds. While we were working our way with the fund raiser, we met with a person who is to go to Nepal and help rebuild homes. We hope that our small contribution makes an impact in someone’s life.

At the time when left out grey cells in the right hemisphere of the thing called brain were working on the event, the whitish grey cells in the left hemisphere were busy thinking of another story.

Let me retell it for you.

When the armies of Kauravas and Pandavas met each other face to face, ready to fight, there was a moment of stillness. A surprising quietness filled the atmosphere. The soldiers, captains, commanders and generals were sizing their counterpart in the other side. Suddenly a chariot came in between the two armies. The flag of the chariot sported a monkey, the charioteer was Sri Krishna and the owner was none other than Arjuna. Arjuna had requested Sri Krishna to steer him to the middle ground between the armies so that he can have a look at all the people who have come to fight this war on either sides. After giving a thorough look, he spoke to Sr Krishna – “Hey lord, what is the point of fighting this war? I am going to be fighting my own sons, nephews, brothers, uncles, teachers and in-laws? What is the point of winning this war, when I would have to set the throne on their corpses? Looking at all this, I do not wish to fight this war. I will give up my weapons and declare defeat. Let Kauravas take whatever they want!”. Sri Krishna laughed at hearing this. And asked “What a noble thought Parth! But let me ask you, where is this generosity coming from? Fear or Kindness? Are you letting go of your pride because you are afraid of loosing your loved ones? Or Are you letting go of your pride that you realize that it is meaningless?”

Bottom line of this conversation was – “Where does generosity comes from?”

The human mind is capable of imagination. Unfortunately, the imagination also gives rise to feeling of fear. The fear could be for anything, most prominent being failure and social pressure. Many times, we perform act not out f free will, but because of the social pressure. Fearing that non performance shall result in non compliance with the society.

Any charity done because of the fear is not generosity! It is neither charity. I am yet to find a suitable word to define the act. Please let me know if you have one.