This blog aims at bringing out the past glory and history of India, Hinduism and its forgotten values and wisdom. This is not copyrighted so as to reach genuine seekers of these information. Its my prayer that only genuine seekers - and not vandals & plagiarists - come to this site.
In this, I talk about whether there is a connection between climatic changes and the Yuga. Earlier in a movie, it was shown that people saved the essentials to escape on a ship, expecting that the world would be destroyed due to change of Time. This is how Vaivaswata Manu escaped a flood. I explained how Manu had known in advance the coming of a flood by observing the behavior of a fish.
I also explained many details about Time, the changes that occurred with Time, the first flood that brought Manu to the River Saraswati, the place where he reached after being swept away by the flood and the first rains in the Indian sub-continent.
I concluded this series by saying that these details have no connection with Yuga. Yuga is a different genre which I explained in the previous parts of this series.
In this, I have talked about the 24,000-year Yuga calculation given by Yukteshwar Giri. He says that Yuga is based on the precession cycle. This concept is based on the idea that the earth's axis keeps moving backwards; it takes 24,000 years to complete one circle. This is called precession; this cycle of 24,000 years is considered to be divided into four yugas, according to Yukteshwar Giri.
This concept is not mentioned in our scriptures. Based on the astrological texts like Surya Siddhanta, there is no precession; but the sun moves forwards and backwards. That is, the sun does not move in a straight line in the universe. It moves in a winding path like a snake. Everything in the universe moves in a spiral.
To us who travel with the sun, this curved path looks as though the sun is moving forwards and backwards.
Also, the earth's axis does not move. If it is true that it moves, then on the days of equinox (equal day and equal night), the sun will not be visible in the middle of our temple towers. I have explained such details in this part to establish that Yukteshwar Giri's version is not correct and that the Yuga concept is not based on precession.
In this, I explain how the calculation of the beginning of Kali Maha Yuga is different from the calculation of the beginning of Kali Dharma Yuga. The source for this is Srimad Bhagavatam.
The differences are mentioned in 12th chapter of Srimad Bhagavatam. Kali Maha Yuga began when Krishna left this world. That was 3101 B.C. We are now following that as our calendric years.
Kali Dharma Yuga began when the Sapta Rishis entered Magha Nakshatra. At that time, the Nandas were ruling. That was 575 B.C. I explained the cycle of the Sapta Rishis and also why it is said that Kali Dharma began during the time of the Nandas. I also explained how its time was discovered.
Following this, a question was asked whether Sadhguru's version of Yuga cycle is true. He says that currently we are in the Dwapara Yuga. My answer can be watched in this video.
My replies to the following questions can be seen in this video.
# Were people very tall in Krita Yuga and short in Kali Yuga?
# It is said that man lived for 4000 years in Krita Yuga? Is this true?
# Nilesh Oak says that the Ramayana period is 12,209 BC. Is that true?
# He too claims to have based his derivation of the date from Valmiki Ramayana. It is different from the date I have derived. How could the same source (Valmiki Ramayana) give rise to two different dates?
This is the fourth part in a series of my talks about Yuga given to Dheivam Channel.
I have explained that the Maha Yuga, which is a part of the Kalpa called day or night of the life of the creator God Brahma, is different from the Dharma based Yuga in which Rama was born.
The time period of creation and destruction of the entire world and also of the Universe is measured in Maha Yuga scale. But in the case of human life, the twin existence of Dharma and Adharma measure time. In other words, the Yuga Dharma determines a Yuga. Whenever the Dharma of a Yuga decreases, God incarnates. When Treta Yuga Dharma decreased, Rama incarnated.
The existence of Yuga Dharma and avatara-s of God to protect Yuga Dharma happen only in the land of Bharat. To put it in another way, Dharma based Yuga happens only in Bharat. In contrast, the yuga of Brahma's Kalpa, which consists of millions of years, is common to the entire world.
When a Maha yuga changes, disasters occur on cosmic or global scale. 5000 years ago, before the beginning of the Kali Maha Yuga such a disaster was caused by a break-away comet hitting the earth. It caused Amavasya to advance to Trayodasi tithi. Many old-timers would have seen this as a story in the movie 'Karna'. That story was not a figment of imagination but a real event mentioned in the Mahabharata. It caused a change in Time. The unusual Amavasya on Trayodasi resulted in the loss of a tithi, with a new alignment of star-tithi which continues till date.
This loss of tithi when extrapolated to Rama's time (before that catastrophic event in the Mahabharata time) gets reflected in the mismatch of Rama's birth star Punarvasu, with Rama's birth tithi (Shukla Navami) when the Sun is in Mesha.
In the 3rd part of the Yuga series given to Dheivam Channel, I explained how the Treta Yuga in which Rama lived is determined.
The basis is Yuga Dharma in which Dharma and Adharma co-exist in the ratio of 3:1.
In such a Yuga, Rajasa will be high. Since the kings were over-zealous with Rajasa, Parashurama incarnated to subdue the Rajasic kshatriyas.
Rama lived in the same period as an avatara. Avatara-s occur to protect the Yuga Dharma. Shambuka Vadha was done by Rama to restore the balance of Dharma and Adharma in Treta Yuga. Details such as this are given in this video. Please watch and share.
In the first part I explained the meaning of Yuga.
In this section (2nd part), I explained how Yuga described in Vedanga Jyothisha is different from what is described in Jyothisha Siddhanta. In Vedanga Jyothisha, 5-year yuga is given, whereas Jyothisha Siddhanta-s describe Yuga in lakhs of years in the context of Brahma Deva's age. During Rama's time, the 5-year was in vogue. In our current times, we follow the Maha Yuga system which is actually used to measure Time from Creation to Destruction.
I also explained how these two types of yugas are calculated. I have given the details about Krita, Treta, Dvapara and Kali as numbers, by citing the use of them in the dice game in the Mahabharata.
Taking clue from Sathyabhama's story of bringing Parijatha plant from Indra loka and the presence of Dwaravati culture in Myanmar to the south of Mt. Popa, I decoded the story of Krishna killing Narakasura.
I have spoken about it in this video. Please watch and share.
Deepavali is celebrated as Naraka Chaturdasi in Tamilnadu whereas it is a five-day festival in North India. In this interview to Mediyaan News Channel, I explained the genesis of Deepavali as a 3 day festival in memory of Mahabali and how it expanded to a five-day festival during Krishna's time.
I also replied to the questions that are currently circulating.
* Is Diwali an Aryan festival?
* Is Narakasura a Tamilian?
* Is Diwali just about celebrating the killing of a Tamilian?
* Isn't this a northern festival?
* What are the evidences for Deepavali celebrated in Tamil lands?
* Tamilians light lamps only for Karthigai? Isn't that a Tamil festival?
There is a lot of confusion about Yuga particularly in the context of Avatara-s.
To clarify, I have given a series of interviews to Dheivam Channel replying to various doubts and questions on Yuga.
Here is the first part wherein I explain the meaning of Yuga.
You will be surprised to know that Yugas are many and sage Agastya had mentioned 18 different types of yugas including the popularly known Krita, Treta, Dvapara and Kali yuga.
Like a piece of junk food, the talk of 'Dravidam' keeps raising its head from time to time. When it was the talk of the town during Karunanidhi's rule, some 13 years ago, I started a website named "Thamizhan Dravidana" to study the Dravidian concept and had written more than a hundred research articles. Read a sample article here.
The recently released movie 'Vettaiyan' starring with super hero-s like Rajinikanth and Amitabh Bachchan created a stir by the opening verse on Lord Macauley that he was responsible for bringing education for all which was denied until then. I was asked about the veracity of this observation and my replies were telecast by Janam TV (Tamil) channel.
I bring out the facts about the existence of a national universal education throughout India for ages which was uprooted by Macaulay. It resulted in closure of traditional schools and impoverished the masses. This also gave rise to child labour for the first time in India. How that happened can be learnt from my interview here:
Due to pre-occupations, I couldn't post some of my videos in the past few weeks.
Let me start uploading here one by one starting with my interview in Mediyaan News Channel on Ayudha puja.
In this interview I am answering questions such as
# Is Ayudha Puja an Arya festival?
# Why should we celebrate it?
# Does celebration of Ayudha Puja mean celebration of violence?
I also pointed out the details of the Vettuva Vari in Silappadhikaram as the earliest evidence of Ayudha Puja.
Apart from that, the 'TuRai" called VaaN Mangalam mentioned in Tolkappiyam shows that there was a practice of worshiping weapons. In connection with that, there is a Purananuru verse about Avvaiyar talking to Tondaimaan.
In Pari Paadal there is also a description of Mallars decorating their weapons.
All these are not pujas done just for the sake of preparing for the war.
It is a pooja performed every year on Maha Navami which is the day of Ayudha Puja.
In this connection, I discussed the epigraphical evidence and literary evidence found in Periya Puranam.
A comet is going to appear in our skies after 80,000 years.
Named as C/2023/A3(Tsuchinshan- ATLAS), this comet is making a brief but spectacular appearance in October for about 9 days. The appearance of this comet coinciding with the month of Purattasi (Virgo) which is auspicious for the worship of Bhagavan Venkateshwara, a question arises whether this comes as a fore-warning or a signal to us in the wake of adulteration of ghee with animal fats in the preparation of Laddu Prasada in Thirumala.
Since such kind of mundane results are indicated by the ancient rishis and recorded in Brihat Samhita by Varahamihira, I picked out such kind of results indicated for this comet when I was asked in a brief interview in Thanthi TV. It can be watched below:
Following this interview in Tamil, I received requests from viewers to give detailed information about this comet and the Sanatan views on comets. The videos I created as a result in Tamil and English are given below.
Recently a controversy was raised by the Samajwadi Party MP, Mr. RK. Chaudhary that the Sengol represents monarchy and therefore must be removed from the Parliament. In this connection I gave an interview to Pesu Thamizha Pesu Channel on how it is not a symbol of monarchy. It was not Tamilnadu centric either because the steatites found in the Harappan contain images that resemble the Sengol. I also explained for the 'Soma' vessel in front of the animal figures in the Harappan seals could have been the miniature version of the Sengol. More arguments were put forth by me from Tamil sources too.
Watch and share my interview given to @ChanakyaaTv about
the beginnings of Nalanda University, the Buddha and Mahavira connection, the
people who studied there and the subjects taught there.
Its vihara-s and archaeological findings are also
explained.Also spoken about how Nalanda served as an
international University by attracting students from SE Asian countries who had
taken a course in Sanskrit in Srivijaya (Sumatra) before coming to Nalanda. The
probability of people from Tamil speaking regions attending this University is
discussed based on inputs from Silappadhikaram and Manimekalai. Kumarila
Bhatta's case is cited to show how Brahmins could never be implicated with
destroying places of learning such as Nalanda.
Nalanda suffered raids in the 6th and the 7th century
which were contained well in time. However, the 3rd raid in the 12th century
was a result of bigotry by Bakthiyar Khilji who killed all the persons in the
university seen with a shaven head. This is an obvious reference to the
Bhikshus of the Buddhist order which was erroneously recorded by the
contemporary historian of Persian origin as Brahmins. The 3 buildings of the Dharmaganja
containing libraries, of which Ratnodadhi, a 9-storeyed building, housing lakhs
of manuscripts were all reduced to ashes by Khilji setting fire to them.
The escape of a few Bhikshus with some manuscripts to
Tibet could save only a fraction of the manuscripts stored in Nalanda. What
happened to Khilji after that is discussed further. In the course of the talk,
I have given the probability of Vedic deities becoming part of Tantric Buddhism
and taken to East Asian countries upto Japan in modified iconography. The
astronomy /astrology of Vedic society also was taken to East Asian countries, a
visage of which is seen in the 60-year cycle of Barhaspatyamana found in Tibet
and China in their language. I also talked about the background of the revival
of Nalanda University, the issues in restoring its past glory and the probable
ways in which the University can be developed in the coming decades.
The talk is in Tamil. English version will be released
soon with more info.
Today is International Yoga Day. Watch the video where
I talk about it.
I have given evidence from Tholkappiyam and temple
architecture that Tamil people were practicing yoga from an undated past. The
Siddha-s practiced yoga. The origins of Yoga can be traced to Valakhilya-s and
to Dhruva even before them. By the prevalence of an asana by name
Valakhilyasana, we understand the description about them in the Mahabharata on
how they did tapas by hanging from tree-branches. With one leg bent around a
branch, they stretched their body upside down and balanced with their hands
holding the other leg.
Yoga, as part of Astika darshana-s is attributed to rishi
Patanjali and practiced as Ashtanga yoga in a comfortable asana for the sake of
Realisation of the Ultimate Reality. Today we have adopted the asana feature alone
as a means of bettering our health. In his maiden speech in the UN Assembly in
2014, our PM, Modi suggested Yoga to overcome many a life-style problems of the
current times. It was welcomed by a record number of countries and resulted in
observing International Yoga Day every year on 21st June. This date happens
to be the day of summer solstice when daytime is the longest in the northern
hemisphere.
Though our country had released coins and stamps in connection
with this day, the UN also released 10 stamps with pictures of asanas and OM
next to them.
Though certain communities resisted the use of OM and Namaskar in
the poses, it must be remembered that the upper echelons of those communities
have no problem in learning and practising Yoga in its original form. Even the Gulf
countries have added Yoga in their school curriculum.
In the current times, Yogasana was popularised by
Thirumalai Krishnamachari who received the knowledge from his remote ancestor,
Sriman Nadamunigal, through trance. Nadamunigal himself was a beneficiary of
Yogic practice that he received 4000 Divya Prabhandam-s of Azhwars by focusing
on the verses of Madhurakavi Azhwar in praise of Nammazhwar. Nammazhwar himself
was a yogi seated in Padmasana in which state he could see Vishnu in different
kshetras.
With such amazing events seen in our country, it is
surprising to see archaeological finds in Mexico in yogic postures. I talk
about these poses in Olmec and Tlatilco cultures that thrived 3000 years ago.
The Indus region in Bharat has much older evidence of seals with images in Yogic
asanas and even a skeleton unearthed in Yogic samadhi.
The Mexican evidence
perhaps can be traced to Mayan who built the city and palace for the Pandavas
in the Mahabharata 5000 years ago before he moved out of Bharat.
I wind up this talk with an appeal to learn yoga from
a trained teacher and practice it regularly for a healthy life. Please watch
this talk which is in Tamil and share.
