How to celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi

Happy Ganesh Chathurti
A life-like clay model of Lord Ganesha is made 2-3 months prior to the day of Ganesh Chaturthi. The size of this idol may vary from 3/4th of an inch to over 25 feet.On the day of the festival, it is placed on raised platforms in homes or in elaborately decorated outdoor tents for people to view and pay their homage. The priest, usually clad in red silk dhoti and shawl, then invokes life into the idol amidst the chanting of mantras. This ritual is the pranapratishhtha. After this the shhodashopachara (16 ways of paying tribute) follows. Coconut, jaggery, 21 modakas (rice flour preparation) , 21 durva (trefoil) blades and red flowers are offered. The idol is anointed with red unguent (rakta chandan). Throughout the ceremony, Vedic hymns from the Rig Veda and Ganapati Atharva Shirsha Upanishad, and Ganesha stotra from the Narada Purana are chanted.

For 10 days, from Bhadrapad Shudh Chaturthi to the Ananta Chaturdashi, Ganesha is worshipped.

On the 11th day, the image is taken through the streets in a procession accompanied with dancing, singing, to be immersed in a river or the sea symbolizing a ritual see-off of the Lord in his journey towards his abode in Kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of all man. All join in this final procession shouting “Ganapathi Bappa Morya, Purchya Varshi Laukariya” (O father Ganesha, come again early next year). After the final offering of coconuts, flowers and camphor is made, people carry the idol to the river to immerse it.The whole community comes to worship Ganesha in beautifully done tents. These also serve as the venue for free medical checkup, blood donation camps, charity for the poor, dramatic performances, films, devotional songs, etc. During the days of the festival.

Swami Sivananda Recommends

On the Ganesh Chaturthi day, meditate on the stories connected with Lord Ganesha early in the morning, during the Brahmamuhurta period. Then, after taking a bath, go to the temple and do the prayers of Lord Ganesha. Offer Him some coconut and sweet pudding. Pray with faith and devotion that He may remove all the obstacles that you experience on the spiritual path. Worship Him at home, too. You can get the assistance of a pundit. Have and image of Lord Ganesha in your House. Feel His Presence in it.

Don’t forget not to look at the moon on that day; remember that it behaved unbecomingly towards the Lord. This really means avoid the company of all those who have no faith in God, and who deride God, your Guru and religion, from this very day.

Take fresh spiritual resolves and pray to Lord Ganesha for inner spiritual strength to attain success in all your undertakings.

May the blessings of Sri Ganesha be upon you all! May He remove all the obstacles that stand in your spiritual path! May He bestow on you all material prosperity as well as liberation!

Young Green Coconut Water can prevent H1N1

Pls take young green coconut water daily.

Former associate professor of ecology at Universiti Malaya has authored several books on complementary therapy called, 'Ecological Healing System'.Dr Palaniappan said his 33 years of research had shown that high acidity in the body resulted in loss of immunity, thus making people more susceptible to viral diseases like Influenza A (H1N1).Hence, to prevent acidity, it was essential to consume alkaline food and drinks that could neutralise excess acid in the body.

Dr Palaniappan recommends coconut water, which is alkaline, and therefore could be used as a herbal medicine for the prevention of H1N1.For example, he said, those who felt feverish and developed a burning sensation while attending to a call of nature because of extreme acidity, could neutralise it by drinking coconut water, twice a day, for three days. He also recommended orange, lemon and pomelo which, despite containing citric acid, were very rich in potassium and therefore, would not disturb the body's immunity.

According to Dr Palaniappan, excessive physical activity like running a marathon should be avoided as it produced acid due to excessive metabolic activity.Similarly, he said, keeping late nights without adequate sleep and working without proper rest could also increase the body's acidity which in turn, lowered immunity and made the body vulnerable to viral attacks.Dr Palaniappan' s blog: discusses the therapy in more detail.

Did you know ?

1. Coca Cola was originally green.
2. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
3. The name of all the continents ends with the same letter that they start with.
4. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
5. There are two credit cards for every person in the United States .
6. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
7. Women blink nearly twice as much as men!
8. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
9. It is impossible to lick your elbow.
10. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you Sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
11. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky
12. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
13. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to Suppress a sneeze; you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
14. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history. "Spades" King David; "Clubs" Alexander the Great; " Hearts" Charlemagne; "Diamonds" Julius Caesar.
15. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987, 654,321
16. If a statue of a warrior on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has a all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural
    causes.
17. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?
    Ans. All invented by women.
18. Honey This is the only food that doesn't spoil.
19. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
20. A snail can sleep for three years.
21. All polar bears are left handed.
22. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class.
23. Butterflies taste with their feet.
24. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump
25. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated
26. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death
27. Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'
28. Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
29. The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
30. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
31. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
32. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
33. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
34. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
35. Most lipstick contains fish scales.
36. Like fingerprints, everyone's tounge print is different
37. And finally 99% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow

Bank account of Life

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account

Each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every “evening” deletes whatever part of theBalance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course !!!

Each of us has such a “bank” It’s name is TIME. Every morning, It credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, Whatever of this you have failed to Invest to good purpose.It carries over no balance, It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, The loss is yours.

There is no going back. There is no drawing against the “tomorrow.” You must live in the presenton today’s deposits. Invest it so as to getfrom it the utmost inhealth, happiness, and success! The clock is running. Make the most of today.

• To realize the value of ONE YEAR … ask a student who failed a grade.


• To realize the value of ONE MONTH … ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.


• To realize the value of ONE WEEK … ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.


• To realize the value of ONE HOUR … ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.


• To realize the value of ONE MINUTE … ask the person who missed the train.


• To realize the value of ONE SECOND … ask the person who just avoided an accident.


• To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND … ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because time waits for no one.
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called … The Present!!

History behind Independence

Independence Day Also called Swatantrata Divas (Hindi)

The countdown had started much earlier. It was on February 26, 1947, when the British Government made an important announcement of policy. It declared, its intention to quit India by June, 1948, and appointed Lord Mountbatten Viceroy of India to arrange for the transfer of authority from British to Indian hands. This momentous declaration had already evoked hearty enthusiasm all over India. Mountbatten assumed office on 24th March, 1947, and on 3rd June broadcast the famous declaration laying down the method by which the power will be transferred.

Read on ...the History behind India's Independence...

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AUyQGJJK9ID6ZGRnamJ2ZjNfMTcxZHJ3cDc4aHI&hl=en

Who’s the weaker sex ?

There were two news reports in the newspapers today that are interesting reading and makes us sit up and think.

Around 3000 harassed hubbies have come together and formed an association and are going to organize a conference of “Harassed Hubbies”. Wow, we always thought that women were always harassed. Whenever we talk of harassment, physical relationship, abuse, breakaways or morality its always the men who are seen as the “bad boys”. If one were to glance the TV, or browse the newspapers or go through the litigations filed in the Courts of Law, it’s always the men who are allegedly “guilty” and rarely do we point fingers at a women.

The other news report is of a lady filing a complaint of “Rape” against her jilted lover. Understand that the lady was in a “live-in” relationship with a guy for about six months. As long as the going was good, it was a “live-in” relationship and “consensual sex”. When the going got bad and they had to part, it becomes a “rape”. What an irony? One can understand that a “rape” can happen one night, but how can it happen for 6 months. It certainly takes two hands to clap, isn’t it?

Recent reports have indicated that 40% of the marriages in Metro India are heading towards divorce. Interestingly most of them break up within the first year itself. It certainly takes two hands to clap.

With the globalization of the country, influence of the western world, education and financial independence of women and the influence of the media and the daily dose of television serials, women can no longer claim to be “satya savitri - all virtuous”.

The press, the police, the administration and the society at large are quick to pounce on the hapless “man” and pronounce him guilty even before he is heard and the investigation is completed.

The Indian society is heading towards a cultural change and the pressure to remove the artificial mask (that all of us wear) is increasing day by day. Morality and virtue are a thing of the past. It’s all about opportunism and opportunistic relationship in any relationship.

After all this one wonders “who is the weaker sex” !

For once you are right BCCI

For once the BCCI has taken the right stand in opposing the WADA drug testing mandate by the ICC. No one denies that we need to live in a drug free world. That sports has to be competed on a level footing and not on aided performance enhancement drugs.

However it is too much to put someone on a constant, oh no ! permanent surveillance 24/7, 365 days a year. You are right Srinivasan, its an infringement on the civil liberties of an individual and an unconstitutional act. The "whereabouts" clause, invades the privacy of an individual.

Our sportsman may be professional sportsman but they are not the slaves of the administration. Its time the sports administrators treated sportsman as a human being and not a robot, spinning the fortune wheel.

No one is against drug testing and cheating in international sport. Random dope tests are welcome and needs to be enforced strictly. Random tests even during non playing days is also acceptable but to expect a sports person to be on permanent surveillance is not acceptable. More over in a vast country like ours and with such a huge fan following and commercial interests, how can a sportsman predict where he will be each day for the next 90 days. Its impracticable. The penalty to be levied in the event of missing out a drug test is too huge and disproportionate to the acts of ommission.

May be there are 500+ sports federation the world over who have signed this agreement, may be all other cricketing nations have agreed to this unreasonable demand, but BCCI has done the right thing to oppose this draconian and unreasonable rule. We dont need to fear anyone. Let not BCCI cow down in front of ICC. BCCI has done the right thing in backing its players and protecting the interests of its players.

For once let India challenge and lead the rest of the world.

The Rakhi Swayamvar Non Reality Show

What a great Soap Opera it was. The Rakhi swayamvar Realty show. A few clowns went through the motions of a "Swayamvar" and a billion fools watched the show in rapt attention. No wonder NDTV Imagine recorded the highest TRP ratings in recent times. Do we believe that Rakhi is going to marry Elesh ???

In ancient India, Swayamwara was a practice of choosing a life partner among a list of suitors by a girl of marriageable age. In this practice, the girl's father was conducting the Swayamvara. A list of suitors used to arrive at the girl's home and ask for her hand. After evaluating the completion of various heroic tasks assigned, the girl used to identify husband of her choice and garland him.

Oh what an illustrious predecessors Rakhi had in selecting an eligible suitor, Seeta, Draupadi, Damayanti and Sanyogita are a few to name who found their husbands in the Swayamwaras.

It was all a natak, a soap opera put forth by the Television producers cashing in on the gullible public, who are ever so ready to sink into a hollow dream. After all these gruelling days of selection process, after going thro the motions of an engagement and exchange of wedding rings, Elesh informs that he is not yet ready to tie the sacred knot. He needs time to settle his business, marry off his sister, make some money and then marry Rakhi. Meanwhile he will date her from Canada. What a farce this looks like. Do you think he can continue to engage Rakhi from thousands of miles away and keep the Marriage Engagement warm. Its anybody's guess....

Merely offering varmalas and exchanging a ring is not all about marriage. Its much more than that Rakhi & Elesh.

Its time the people of India realised that life is more real than the reel life. The television producers must be laughing their way to the bank to encash their coffers.

Yes "Memsahib"

Its going to be around 62 years since we got our independence from the British Raj, but are we moving towards a "US Raj". Why do we time and again bend backwards to placate the US. Two historical blunders by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently makes one to wonder so.

Where is the need to rush into a dialogue with Pakistan. Time and again they have rubbed salt into our wound. As PM Manmohan Singh agrees to look at the possibility of resumption of the peace process with Pakistan, many in India look at the move as a climbdown. Till July 17, India’s public stand vis-à-vis Pakistan was firm- no talks till terror is tackled and perpetrators of 26/11 are brought to justice. That changed in Sharm el Sheikh.

It is only betrayal and confusion. The government has shattered the hopes and expectations not just of the Mumbai victims’ families but of the whole nation.

The Pakistan Government has been going flip flop on its commitment to prosecute the perpetrators of the Mumbai Terror attack. They recently acquitted JuD chief Hafiz Mohammed Sayeed. And yet the Prime Minister is in a hurry to resume dialogue with Pakistan in the name of composite dialogue.

Where is the need and what are you going to talk on other than terrorism "Mr. Prime Minister". Do we really need trade, cultural exchanges, sports encounters, tourism more than tacking "Terror".

The talks have been resumed to please US, on the eve of the visit of Hillary Clinton. And there is the oft repeated certificate from "Memsahib". The US has not pressurised India to return to the dialogue table with Pakistan, says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and added that she was "very impressed" with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's discussion with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Egypt.

Even a child can read between the lines Prime Minister that we have bent backwards to please "Memsahib" at the cost of the country.

The second incident involves around climate change negotiations.

Has India blinked in the climate change negotiations? This seems to be the case as at the Major Economies Forum meeting in Italy, India has gone back on some of its key principles -- like a refusal to accept emission caps -- that it held to be non-negotiable till just before the G-8 meet in Italy.

In the course of some tough negotiations, India appears to have bent a bit in the face of pressure from industrialized countries, and the biggest compromise at the MEF was to accept that all countries would work to reduce emissions in order to not let global temperatures rise more than 2 degrees above pre-industrialisation levels.

Again, has this has been done to please the "Memsahib", only time will tell.
Our penchant for pleasing "Uncle Sam" is growing day by day. What a climbdown from the lofty Non Aligned Movement of the Iron Lady of India, late Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

Dr. Singh, you have been a disappointment, a let down and seem to be sandwiched between two ladies.

WOW.