FRIDAY EVENING PRAYERS AT THE SRI MAHA MARIAMMAN TEMPLE AT TAMAN RASAH JAYA, SEREMBAN, N. S., MALAYSIA ON 28 JUNE 2024.

Our Payyan family member visited and offered his prayers at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, Taman Rasah Jaya, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan in the evening on 28 June 2024.

The photos of the Friday Evening Prayers :

- photos taken by Mr. C. K. Kannan

PERFECT BHAKTI

 

PERFECT BHAKTI

For Parvati, Namah Shivaye is not just a mantra.

When you do something with your body and mind and also pour your soul into it, when Namah Shivaye becomes Mano Shivaye, Tano Shivaye, Dhano Shivaye, metaphorically speaking, ' Shiva is drenched with your love' , He can no longer resist giving you His Darsana.

When you offer Him everything you have, your body ( Karma) your mind ( Gyana) , and your very soul ( Dhyana) , knowing that all these come from Him, then your worship with the combination of all these blossoms into a great Bhakti bhava, and Shiva ,who is Aashotosh, ( easily pleased ), will come to your very doorstep. His Idol in your heart and mandir both, will begin to shine with a divine luminescence for ever after. Make your will like that of Ma Parvati, or Nandi Gana.

Aum Namah Shivaye.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

THEY BLAZE FORTH

 

THEY BLAZE FORTH

They Blaze forth

the cosmic dance,

Shiva!!

eye of the inner storm.

if ,

perchance

we land at the dancing foot

that tramples at delusions ground,

Fear not!

He then raises a benevolent hand

and returns us to the pristine stance.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

FRIDAY MORNING ALANGARAM AT THE SRI RAJA RAJESWARY TEMPLE, AMPANG, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA ON 28TH JUNE, 2024.

The photos from this morning's prayers:

-photos courtesy of Mr. Subhas Kannan

WELCOME

 

WELCOME

When you finally arrive

O Mahadeva

will i know?

will i be able to welcome Thee

with my fervent chants

folded hands and open heart

into our world?

Or

will you say

it is I who have come, to welcome you

in mine.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

INTERPLAY

 

INTERPLAY

From the very beginning of the world, there was an interplay of Shiva and Shakti. He , a Poet, and She, an Artist. Whatever He sang in divine verse, She painted on the canvas of the world. And life began.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

The ancient Rishi sang a prayer for Enlightenment.

The ancient Rishi sang a prayer for Enlightenment.

The modern man has made even that prayer a chant for longevity.

In the age of "Re-mixes" we need to know some songs are better in their original forms! The next time you chant the Maha Mritunjaya Mantra, know that it is in essence, a petition to Shiva for Enlightenment.

Aum Tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭi-vardhanam

urvārukam iva bandhanān mṛtyor mukṣīya māmṛtāt

Hail the three eyed One! O fragrant (pleasant),

healthy (pleasing to look at) Lord,

sever us from false worldly realm, gently, like a cucumber, whose umbilical cord gets severed without any painful process, just lying on the ground; But O lord, do not divest us from your Amrita, your nectar of Gyan, (gnosis) , which liberates from death itself.

Thus we see that although the Mantra is being used for prolonging life, it is essentially a prayer for enlightenment: A prayer to Shiva, who has the third eye of Viveka, the Gyan chakshu that can destroy all false perception, to raise our level of consciousness.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism

THE TRANCES OF MAHADEVA

 

THE TRANCES OF MAHADEVA

Do not alight

O Mahadeva,

From your mystic session

To watch Sati ablaze;

Followed by the fire in your own eye,

And then

Your frozen silence.

Do not fall asleep

After the venom at Manthana

Leaving Parvati to awaken you from the slumber

Of such chivalry.

Do not awaken O Mahadeva

To see Ganesa victorious

Kartikeya hurt, again,

Not understanding your spiritual lesson at tender age.

Do not awaken O Mahadeva

As Lakshman resuscitated on the battle field,

Chanting feverishly rescue mother Sita, rescue mother Sita

Only having to to desert her,

Again.

Do not awaken Mahadeva, as Mahakala

Witnessing the myriad misery of Kurukshetra,

Listening to your own Krishna speaking in earnest to Arjun,

Teaching the indefiability to TIME,

A vital lesson and introduction to you.

Do not awaken O Mahadeva,

On crucifixion day

Watching Jesus and judas

And the agony of knowing

Your essence was in both.

Do not awaken, O Mahadeva,

In the later forgetfulness,

As ‘SHE’ was being faded away in fervent search of God as HE;

Yet Gorakh the Natha

Running one to another, knowing both,

Divine messenger.

Do not watch O Mahadeva

Her as Lalli

Seeking you desperately in a paradise you named Kashmir

And 107 times more

As named yoginis and unnamed winds

Or forget yourself once, as Viveka

Without her, Ananda?

And yet you smiled at the tears and gently said

O Devi, I pain too, for whose separation was greater?

Know all! Mahadeva!!

Know thyself, by any role, in any time,

But awaken here, with us all,

And take us to the fullness of your Shivohum ,

As us.

~ SShail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

CALL THE OWNER

 

CALL THE OWNER

Paradoxical as it may seem at first glance, those who do not believe there is a God of any sort who can hold them accountable for their acts of unkindness, with a confident impunity, may well be the very people who will make Him manifest.

This is Ati:

The invocation by anarchy, for the owner of the house to turn up and save it from burning.

Does that mean we should all turn unkind? Surely not, it is only a reminder to the true Bhakt, that God always, always shows up.

Aum Namah Shivaye.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

YOUR DAMARU HAS SPOKEN!

 

YOUR DAMARU HAS SPOKEN!

Shiva

Wielder of it all

The Universe your ball

Shiva, announce our call !

Damar damar damar your Damaru has spoken

and from a timeless slumber,

a cosmic team has woken

to play your timeless game.

Shiva, wielder of it all,

announce our call.

~ Shiva poetry by Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.- songs of bhakti and love.

BORN FREE

 

BORN FREE

God gave life for free

yet mankind extracted a huge fee, to let one live,

to let one be.

It's an endless debate, this talk of civilisation, order and technology,

just take a look at those you call jungle folk , and see,

Take a look at the birds springing in the sky,

and know that you breathe, but have lost the space to fly.

Running morning, running night,

running nine to five,

all in the name of life and identity.

Ah! but one look at the thousand windows in your society,

and you are lost again in the maze of globality.

But it's not your fault ,

" You were never shown the alternate reality," He smiles,

and now it is time to connect with your own Divinity,

you were born free, born free.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.

HUMESHA

 

This beautiful Shiva Parvati art immediately brought to mind my own writing from SHIVA, The Ultimate Time Traveller.

“Humesha…” He whispered softly, and lifted Her, bringing Her face near His own.

“Humesha?” She asked.

“Hum, Isha. When the divine finds its plurality as One, it is forever.

A love so perfect, it becomes clear there never were two!

That Shiva and Parvati are eternally together, two bodies , one soul, or two souls in one eternity, is very clear to anyone who is a bhakta of Shiva. Parvati is the very reason Shiva creates the world- To be loved and to love. But in this world that is created by Him, we are also present! So, what about our existence? If Parvati's life finds meaning and fulfillment in finding Shiva and being together with him, what is the purpose of our life ?

And the answer my friends- is that it is the same for us too!

Just like Parvati, we must realise that in this amazing mystery of creation, this creation of immense plurality and manifestation, there is underlying a Divine Singularity. And that is the Shiva Tattva in each of us. Shiva is where we come from and to whom we must go. Make no mistake about it, we must all find our connect with Him, and then we will find the immense love that He had envisioned for all of us. To see a wonderful painting of Shiva Parvati like this must inspire us to seek the same love and joy of being together with God in our own life also, For ever- Humesha.

Throughout time, the wise one's in search of Shiva have known this and acted accordingly.The rishis of Kashmir in particular , did not just treat this as a theory but lived it out in their own life. Thus too the wonderful Shaivagamas- teachings of Shiva , revealed to them by Shiva Himself and then recorded by them for the benefit of later generations are still as potent in their lesson as they were thousands of years back- Shiva's words are eternal. The Siva sutras , can benefit us as much as they helped those rishis to find purpose in their life.

Aum Namah Shivaye.

~ Shail Gulhati: Shiva and Mysticism.