RATHA SAPTAMI: TODAY

Ratha/Arogya Saptami is dedicated to Bhagwan Surya who was born to Rishi Kashyapa and Aditi on the Saptami Tithi of Magha Shukla Paksha. So Ratha Saptami is also known as Surya Jayanti.
Today, we worship Surya for sustaining life on Earth.
@RatanSharda55

SRI BANASHANKARI AMMAN, BANGALORE
#bharatmandir

Located in Southern Bangalore, this is one of the most popular places of worship in Bangalore City.
Devoted to Devi Banashankari, this shrine is visited specially during Rahukala which is believed to be an unfavorable time.

Somanna Shetty, a great devotee of Devi, brought this murti from Badami’s Banshankari Amma Kshetram.
It is said that many years ago, three ladies visited this shrine and requested the pujari to conduct puja for them. Since it was the inauspicious rahu kaal, the pujari refused.

However, upon their insistence, he conducted the puja. When he returned with prasadam, the ladies vanished. This made the people believe that they were none other than the Devi herself. Since then, the people perform poojas here during the Rahukaal.
@GunduHuDuGa

People use lemons as a diya. Lemons are cut from the centre and their pulps are removed, for pouring oil in them.
It is strongly believed that Devi removes all the troubles from the life of her devotees during the Rahukala although it is considered inauspicious for any pooja.

HORANADU ANNAPOORNESHWARI, CHIKMAGALUR (KAR)
#bharatmandir

Annapoorneshwari is the Devi of nutrition and food. The literal meaning of Annapoorneshwari is “Feeding one and all”. Anyone who comes here is offered meals and shelter within the premises.
@LostTemple7

Maharshi Agastya is believed to have done pratishtha here.

Once, Shiva and Parvati had an argument. Shiva declared everything in the world including food to be Maya or illusion. To prove him wrong, Devi Parvati disappeared resulting in entire Earth becoming still.

Taking pity, Devi appeared as Annapoorna and relieved everyone.
Another belief is that once Shiva beheaded Brahma and his skull got stuck in Shiva’s hand. He was cursed that till the skull is not full of food or grains, it will remain stuck to his hands.

Shiva went everywhere and asked for food but the skull was never full. He finally came here and Maa Annapoorna filled the skull with grains and reversed Shiva’s curse.

It is believed that who ever visits Devi Annapoorna here will never be without food in their lives.

SRI BANKEY BIHARI JI, VRINDAVAN (UP)

Very famous Krishna Mandir where Bankey Bihari Ji is worshipped and looked after as a child.
Bankey means “Bent at three places”.
Thakur Ji was worshipped in Nidhivan till 1863. This mandir was constructed in 1864 by Goswamis.
@LostTemple7

Legend says that Swami Haridas used to worship Krishna in Nidhivan.
Once, his curious disciples entered the forest but they were almost blinded by bright, intense light. Upon knowing this, Swamiji himself went there and after his requests, Krishna appeared with his consort.

Krishna, then, left back this black charming murti,which we see now, before disappearing.
A curtain is drawn before the murti after every 15-30 second. It is said that if one stares long enough into the eyes of Shri Banke Bihari, the person would lose his self consciousness.

Bankey Bihari Ji sports a flute only once a year on the eve of Sharad Purnima.
Darshan of His lotus feet can be done only on Akshay Tritiya every year.
There are no loud bells here and
no early morning Darshan can be done so that child Krishna’s sleep is not disturbed.

WHY IS GREEN CAMPHOR APPLIED TO CHIN OF SRI VENKATESWARA: STORY

Although called Green Camphor, it is actually white (Pachcha Karpooram).
This is applied daily to Sri Venkateswara’s chin.

Sri Ramanujacharya once asked a Bhakta Ananthalwar to build a flower garden on Tirumala.

As this was a divine task assigned to him by Acharya,Anantalwar decided on not seeking the services of any outsider except his wife who was pregnant at that time.
His wife started carrying soil from one place to another everyday but used to get exhausted soon.

Sri Venkateswara took the form of a 12-year old boy and started assisting Ananthalwar’s wife.
One day, Ananthalwar saw the boy and could not control his anger. He threw his crowbar at the boy which hit him on the chin.
The boy disappeared and Ananthalwar realised his mistake.

He ran to the mandir and saw Sri Venkateswara with a bleeding chin.
Ananthalwar immediately applied green camphor to Sri Hari’s chin and begged to be forgiven.
The kind Prabhu forgave him and asked him to ensure that the cooling camphor was applied to his chin daily.

So the practice continues till today.
The flower garden built by Ananthalwar is on the right side of the Mandir.
The crowbar with which Ananthalwar had hit Sri Venkateswara’s chin hangs to the right side of the main entrance to the Garbha Griha of the Tirumala Mandir.

इस सनातन नियम को याद रखो –
यदि तुम प्राप्त करना चाहते हो तो अर्पित करना सीखो

WHY DO PEOPLE OFFER THEIR HAIR AT SRI VENKATESWARA MANDIR, TIRUPATI

(THALA NEELALU)

Once Sri Venkateswara was resting on Neeladri hills.

Devi Neeladri appeared there and as she was admiring Prabhu’s beauty, she noticed a bald patch on his head.

Immediately, she pulled out her hair and attached them to his head to complete his beauty.

Prabhu offered back her hair but she refused.

Prabhu declared that in future, his Bhaktas would get rid of their sins by donating their hair.

The custom of donating hair is symbolic of surrendering ego before Hari.
People also donate hair to gain Prabhu’s affection.

How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):

Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy.

Understand that ethical wealth creation is possible. If you secretly despise wealth, it will elude you.

Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth creation games.

You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity - a piece of a business - to gain your financial freedom.

'Treasure Gods' - Sangha Nidhi' and 'Padma Nidhi', Tirumala, Tirupati.

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These are the two guards guarding the Wealth and Treasure of Lord Sri Venkateswara.

They are representatives of two treasures of Kubera, the God of Wealth.

One guard who is holding shangam (conch) on both the hands is known as Shanka Nidhi ('nidhi' means wealth).

On the other side, the guard who is holding Lotus flowers on both the hands is known as Padma nidhi.

Shangu is from the ocean which includes all types of wealth like pearls and corals.

Why shagam in his hand? Because shangam only gives the sound of 'omkaram'.

'Padmam' is the symbol of water sources in land like river, lakes, tanks etc. which is very important for all living beings.

As per the tradition, these guards are installed at the third entrance of the temple.

One enters the holy shrine after saluting the first protection threshold - Sankha Nidhi and Padma Nidhi.

I worked in bank liquidity and treasury for the better part of the last decade, and there is one very interesting risk factor from the SVB collapse that I do not think we have ever witnessed before in modern finance, a 🧵:

First, some context. Following the 2008 financial crisis where a massive driver of stress was caused by low quality assets littering the balance sheets of massive institutions, the regulators sought to create a framework to ensure all banks were verifiably sound.

This meant forcing Federally registered banks to conform to capital and liquidity ratios. If they did not comply, they would not be allowed to issue dividends or buy back stocks, hurting the value of their enterprise.

There was the introduction of the concept of RWA, or risk weighted assets. A simple way to think of these ratios is, the riskier your asset base on a weighted basis, the more high quality capital (think cash) you would need to hold to stay in compliance.

Not only were banks required to regularly be in compliance with these ratios as a going concern, but needed to prove they could maintain certain limits when met with a time of stress across a number of incrementally adverse scenarios.