The Lingaraja temple, the largest temple in Bhubaneswar. It is regarded as one of the best archaeological monument of the east reflecting Kalinga type of architect. The temple was built by the kings of Somavamsi Dynasty in the 11th century.

#DoYouKnow -The place where
Lalitha Sahasranamam -1000 names of Devi originated.

It is in Lalithambigai temple -Thirumeeyachur,Near Mayiladuthurai,TN

There is a Legend #story & it is related to this beautiful #sculpture of Kshetrapuraneswarar & Ambal Lalithambigai #Thread 👇

#Legend #story
It is believed that this is birth place of Kashyapa Maharishi’s sons, Arunan& Garudan. Arunan(charioteer of Surya)was physically handicapped.He was a Shiva devotee.Arunan wanted to visit Kailash to have Shiva Darshan,but Surya Dev denied permission.

So Arunan disguised as a girl & was on his way to Kailash.On the way Surya Dev saw this girl & outraged her modesty.Shiva was very angry with Suryan for misbehaviour & cursed him to get darkened. Whole world plunged into darkness.Surya Dev pleaded to Bhagwan Shiv to forgive him.

Shiva Bhagwan asked him to go to Thirumiyachur & worship him there. As advised, Surya Dev performed rigorous penance, placed murthi of Shiva& Parvathy on an elephant & took them to the clouds.Shiva in this temple is known as Meganathaswamy,Devi is known as Lalithambigai

Even after severe penance,Shiva does appear,so Surya Dev cries out in agony.Disturbed by his call, Parvathy protests.Siva pacifies her & offers relief to Surya Dev.The sculpture of Shiva pacifying Ambal shows her sullen from one angle &smiling from another.

STORY OF PURANAS AND SUB PURANA (उप पुराण).

We have already gone through the series on importance & characteristics of all the eighteen Purans. We also know that originally there were hundred crore shlokas but were divided by Vyas in each Kalp and was compiled as eighteen Purans

for the common people to understand it properly and now their total is about four lakhs.

In Brahm Puran, Brahma preached this to Marichi. So this Puran of ten thousand shlokas is called Brahm Puran.

In Padma Puran, the base of the story is the appearance of Brahma on a lotus(Padm) from Vishnu' s navel.This has fifty five thousand shlokas.

Vishnu Puran is primarily based in Varah kalp. This book is on Vishnu and this book has twenty three thousand shlokas.

Vaayu Puran is written in Shwet Kalp and has twenty four thousand shlokas. Here Vayudev preaches about Dharma.

In Bhagwat Puran, which is written with the base of Gayatri mantra describes Dharma extensively. It has 18000 shlokas. It also mentions the story of Vritrasur.

In Narad Puran, which has twenty five thousand shlokas, is a sermon on Dharma by Narad based in Brihad Kalp.

Markandeya Puran has nine thousand shlokas and here it is through the birds that Dharma is described.

NĀRADA & HIS BHAKTI-SŪTRAS :
Bhakti – Love Divine :-
Of Love Divine (Sūtra 1 to 6)

All our philosophical textbooks are written out by the great 'rishis' and 'thinkers' in the form of sūtras.
The term, ‘sūtra’, means ‘string’ – the string on which the arguments &
#Thread

thoughts are strung together to become an enchanting garland of ideas.
This is the philosophy of devotion, of love for 'Paramatma' stands today attributed to the Devarṣi Nārada.
He works everywhere as friend, philosopher and guide, to all devotees.
Let's begin the journey !

NĀRADA & HIS BHAKTI-SŪTRAS :
Bhakti – Love Divine :-
Of Love Divine (Sūtra 1 to 6)

Sūtra 1
अथातो भक्तिं व्याख्यास्यामः॥ १॥
Now, the doctrine of devotion we shall expound.
After having developed all the qualifications necessary for the practice of devotion (atha), the student

feels no spiritual satisfaction, and therefore (ataḥ), he must now diligently walk the path of devotion. According to Rāmānuja, the teacher of viśiṣṭādvaita, there are seven qualifications necessary in a seeker who plans to pursue devotion. They are:

(1) Discrimination in food (viveka), (2) Freedom from desire (vimukha), (3) Practice (abhyāsa), (4) Habit of doing good to others (kriyā), (5) Purity in thought, word and deed, non-violence, charity, and such other virtues (kalyāṇa), (6) Cheerfulness (anavasāda), and (7) Absence

It has long been a custom in the Islamic world to compose collections of 40 Hadith (sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad) for believers to memorize. Thread for the the era of Covid.

The most famous perhaps that of the thirteenth century Shafi’i jurist al-Nawawi, which I use in teaching.

Collections of Prophetic traditions also exist for specific subjects or according to specific transmitters. And, separately, since the beginning of Covid, Muslim jurists the world over have been handing down legal opinions (fatwa/fatawa) on how best to respond.

Most recently, and the first such collection I have seen since the spread of Covid, the South African Shafi’i mufti Taha Karaan published a collection of hadith dealing with epidemics along with his own extensive comments.

The collection is fascinating for various reasons, both for the degree that it builds on premodern hadith commentaries and that which it presents a new synthesis of premodern views. If you’re interested in the premodern stuff, check out my book.