Are you ready to face the truth?

Dear readers,

Recently I have been accused of not paying too much attention to my blogs and my yahoo group. Well there is truth to some extent to this but there are justifiable reasons to this too - some personal and some official.

However, in this article I would try to make up for my lack of projected devotion to my "alternative" life.

As I have restated time and again, that to me Shiva is not just a mythological figure and I have time and again tried to delve deeper into Him in cosmological perspective.

2012 has been an extremely intriguing subject for me for long. Recently an episode on the History Channel reignited this interest again.

The below article is completely my research and has absolutely no copyright. Anybody can reproduce it, make copies as many as they like and share it with anyone (even put their names as the author as I don't really care about it). The intention is to bring forth my ideas and the substantial evidence to support my claims. This is my view-point and the reader is absolutely free to disregard it as non-sense. I have tried to stick to references from reliable sources (websites) rather than "personal websites" which may indulge in their biased views (which may or may not be universally accepted).

Shiva as the centre of the galaxy-The Black hole!
We all know the very popular mythological tale of Ganesha winning a contest against his brother Murugan (Kartikeya) by cirumbulating the Shiva and Parvati as the center of the universe.
Was this tale just a mythological lesson of respect to one's parents or was there more to it than this?
(Link from here)
February 29, 2000 -- The core of the Milky Way galaxy is a busy place. It's filled with giant molecular clouds, the remnants of exploding stars, and mysterious filaments hundreds of light years long. At the center of this menagerie lies an object radio astronomers call Sagittarius A*. Sag A* is a radio source that looks like a faint quasar. Scientists have long suspected that it is powered by a supermassive black hole with 2.6 million times the mass of our Sun.

In the diagram above (taken from the NASA website), a few things caught my sight.
The snake, the mouse and the location of the "black hole" in constellation of Saggitarius.
I am sure most readers are well aquainted with the symbolism of Snakes with Shiva and mouse with Ganesha. Was this story of circumbulating Shiva by Ganesha actually trying to project this cosmic phenomenon?

In Hindu astrological system, the Dwi-bhava Rasis (Dual zodiac signs) have been designated to be ruled by Shiva. Pisces, Saggitarius, Gemini and Virgo being the four Dual signs. Out of these four signs, the sign with Agni tattwa (Firy sign) is Saggitarius. Most of us are aware of the association of Shiva with the third eye and fire. Is this just another coincidence?

2012/2013/2014
Extremely intruiging are these three years. Here is the summary of why I belive these three years are quite important.

2012
The Legend: Readers are just requested to google "Mayan + 2012" or any such sensible words and there are tons of websites where the readers would find intelligible material on this calender and this year. The summary is that Mayans along with some other ancient civilizations (mentioned in I-Ching) have predicted the end of the world (as we know of today) on 21st. December, 2012.
The Science: Astronomers believe that on this very day, the Earth, the Sun (our Sun) and the Black hole at the centre of our galaxy would come in perfect alignment. The results are yet unknown. Most scientists believe that the process would cause polar reversals and some claim that the process has already begun. In lay man terms, it could mean a topographical reconstruction of the Earth's outer strata (well not so lay man terms I guess).

2013
The reversal of this date gives an extremely interesting number. If 2013 is mirrored it gives the number 3102. It is believed by most Hindu ancient scholars that Kali Yug began after the "death" of Sri Krishna and the date is speculated to have been 18th. February, 3102 B.C.
A mirror image of the end of Kali yuga but is that the only reason why this year is special, if at all we can say it is. The below analysis of number is my personal observation and if I am lucky you may not have seen this earlier.
3102 B.C. to 0 B.C. (A.D.) = 3102 years
2013 A.D. to 0 A.D. (B.C.) = 2013 years
Total years = 5115 years
This year from again the ZERO B.C. (A.D.) line seems to have a special significance (under margins of error).

The expected birth year of Sri Rama (the avataar of Vishnu ) by most ancient scholars is 10th. January, 5114 B.C.
5114 years is approximately (within an error margin of 1 year ~ 5115) the total of time difference between the beginning of Kali Yuga and its error image year. Another coincidence perhaps!

2014
I have written about this year years ago in many astrological groups I was a member of. This relates to the Srimad Bhagvatam - the appearance of Kalki.
When Sun, Moon and Jupiter together enters Pushya nakshatra then would appear Kalki...it goes to give the description of his birth etc.
This astrological phenomenon happens on 26/27th. July 2014 A.D.

Interested in more...then please await my next article...trust me this is just the tip of the iceberg!

~ Souvik

Ang se Ang lagana-Holi Hay!

In Vaishnava Theology, Hiranyakashipu is the king of demons, and he had been granted a boon by Brahma, which made it almost impossible for him to be killed. The boon was due to his long penance, after which he had demanded that he not be killed "during day or night; inside the home or outside; not on earth or on sky; neither by a man nor an animal; neither by astra nor by shastra". Consequently, he grew arrogant, and attacked the Heavens and the Earth. He demanded that people stop worshipping gods and start praying to him.
Despite this, Hiranyakashipu's own son, Prahlad, was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. In spite of several threats from Hiranyakashipu, Prahlad continued offering prayers to Lord Vishnu. He was poisoned but the poison turned to nectar in his mouth. He was ordered to be trampled by elephants yet remained unharmed. He was put in a room with hungry, poisonous snakes and survived. All of Hiranyakashipu's attempts to kill his son failed. Finally, he ordered young Prahlad to sit on a pyre on the lap of his sister, Holika, who could not die by fire by virtue of a shawl which would prevent fire affecting the person wearing it. Prahlad readily accepted his father's orders, and prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as the shawl flew from Holika, who then was burnt to death, while Prahlad survived unharmed, after the shawl moved to cover him. The burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi.
It is also said that later Lord Vishnu came in the form of a Narasimha (who is half-man and half-lion) and killed Hiranyakashipu at dusk (which was neither day nor night), on the steps of the porch of his house (which was neither inside the house nor outside) by restraining him on his lap (which is neither in the sky nor on the earth) and mauling him with his claws (which are neither astra nor shastra).

In Vrindavan and Mathura, where Lord Krishna grew up, the festival is celebrated for 16 days (until Rangpanchmi in commemoration of the divine love of Radha for Krishna). Lord Krishna is believed to have popularized the festival by playing pranks on the gopis here. Krishna is believed to be complained to his mother about the contrast between his dark colour and his consort Radha's fair colour. Krishna's mother decided to apply colour to Radha's face. The celebrations officially usher in spring, the celebrated season of love.

There is another story about the origin of holi. Kamadeva is a god of love. Kama's body was destroyed when he shot his weapon at Shiva in order to disrupt his penance and help Parvati to marry Shiva. Shiva then opened his third eye, the gaze of which was so powerful that Kama's body was reduced to ashes. For the sake of Kama's wife Rati (passion), Shiva restored him, but only as a mental image, representing the true emotional and mental state of love rather than physical lust. The Holi bonfire is believed to be celebrated in commeration of this event.

~Wish all readers a safe and happy holi!