Lord reveals the secret of the structure of this world which creates
illusions. An artist paints a variety of pictures on the same type of paper and
with the same brush. A sitarist creates different ragas out of the same seven
notes. In literature, a variety of thoughts, ideas and feelings are expressed
through a few letters of the alphabet. Same is the case with the creation. We
find in it innumerable objects and propensities. But all of them are products
of only two thingsóthe eternal Self and the eight-fold prakriti. : Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts on Gita.
The doctrine of self-surrender, avidly preached by
Vaishnavism, is as old as the Vedas. The scripture eulogises prapatti (self-surrender)
at several places, and the Taittiriya-Narayana Upanishad, in fact, places it on
top of the 12 types of noble and sacrificial deeds such as yaga, agnihotra and
charity.
Aquila is a constellation in the northern sky. Its name is
Latin for 'eagle' representing the bird who carried Zeus/Jupiter's thunderbolts
! In Hindu mythology, Garuda is the vahana of Lord Sriman Narayana.
Elephant is most revered on in our scriptures. Elephant trunks (more formally, cold
molecular pillars, are a type of interstellar matter formations found in
molecular clouds. They are located in the neighborhood of massive O type and B
type stars, which, through their intense radiation, can create expanding
regions of ionized gas known as H II regions. Elephant trunks resemble massive
pillars or columns of gas and dust, but they come in various shapes, lengths,
and colors. Astronomers study elephant trunks because of their unique formation
process and use 2-D and 3-D simulations to try to understand how this
phenomenon occurs.
Every child knows, having heard so many times the puranic legend
of ‘Gajendra moksham [salvation of elephant Gajendra]’ ~ whence Lord Maha Vishnu Himself came down to
earth to protect Gajendra (elephant) from the death clutches of Makara
(Crocodile). It also offers us great learning – the otherwise
mighty elephant too could get into difficulty and in its extreme distress the
elephant after testing its power and understanding its futility, still
had the presence of mind to think of bhatki (devotion) and gnana
(spiritual knowledge) ….. the plea of elephant was immediately answered by Lord
Sriman Narayanan, who came rushing in to protect His devotee – making the
earthly human beings realise that if God does so for an elephant, He sure would
protect all of us too.
கானமர் வேழம் கையெடுத்தலறக் கராவதன் காலினைக் கதுவ,*
ஆனையின் துயரம் தீரப்புள்ளூர்ந்து சென்று நின்றாழி தொட்டானை,*
Gajendra moksham also explains that one who falls under the divine feet
of Lord [prapathi – surrender] seeking salvation will surely be taken care of. Today on day 7 of Theppothsavam it is Lord Varadha Rajar having sarruppadi of
‘Gajendra moksha thirukolam’. In
Thiruvallikkeni divyadesam, Lord Devathirajar (the Moolavar) is giving us
darshan on Garuda vahanam – “aanaiyin thuyaram theera pul oornthu sendru nindru
aazhi thottanai” [the one who transcended on the bird to wipe out the trouble
of elephant] in the words of Thirumangai Mannan.
.. .. .. and as the purappadu of Sri Varadharajaperumal was to start for
theppam – Sri Murali Bagavathar was drawing beautiful kolams. Here is one depicting ‘Gajendra moksham drawn
by him’ – drawn in front of thiruther.
The photo you see here is: Like an illustration in a galactic Just So
Story, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula winds through the emission nebula and young
star cluster complex IC 1396, in the high and far off constellation of Cepheus.
Also known as vdB 142, the cosmic elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long.
This colorful close-up view was recorded through narrow band filters that
transmit the light from ionized hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms in the
region. The resulting composite highlights the bright swept-back ridges that
outline pockets of cool interstellar dust and gas. Such embedded, dark,
tendril-shaped clouds contain the raw material for star formation and hide
protostars within. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint IC
1396 complex covers a large region on the sky, spanning over 5 degrees. The
dramatic scene spans a 1 degree wide field, about the size of 2 Full Moons. Pic source : https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190816.html
Mamandur Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar
19.3.2021
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