Proponents of TV most often quote channels like Discovery Channel, Animal Planet etc.
While in no way denigrating these channels, I wish to state that all they do is to immerse you in loads of information.
The flip side is, even if you spend the rest of your life, 24 X 7, watching these programs for their information content, the information you acquire would be miniscule when compared to what is on offer. And information is next to nothing, it is the wisdom that you acquire out of your own experiences, that truly matters in life.
I repeat, TV maybe good, in very limited levels, ONLY for an uncultured cannibal who absolutely doesn't have any other means of communication with the rest of the world, and no means of developing his inner qualities.
One suggestion I have for those who selectively watch TV channels is - keep a journal of TV watching habit. Regularly note down for a fortnight the names of programs you have watched and the time you spend on them. After a month or two review your notes. Looking back, Ask yourself - Have any of those programs made a difference in my life?
Had you devoted the time spent on TV, with your families, sharing love, sharing feelings, sharing information with them, wouldn't you have felt more satisfied with your life?
Even For those without families, communion with nature would bring far better profits in the long run - in the form of peace, happiness, wisdom. If you still need information, there are umpteen books available in the market (Good books fire up your imagination - they do just the opposite of what TV does)
For those living within the flat culture, away from other forms of nature, even sitting quiet, communing with oneself would bring tremendous benefits in the long run. Even thinking about your experiences in life, reflecting, would really help, believe me. It would make you far more wiser and capable.
The biggest CRIME that TV commits is, it dulls your senses. It is like slow poison, a silent killer of time, the most precious commodity.
YOU DO NOT WAKE UP IN THE MORNING EVERY DAY LOOKING FORWARD TO A DOSE OF TV CHANNELS.
YOU DO WAKE UP TO THE LOVE OF YOUR FAMILIES, TO THE AFFECTION YOU FEEL INSIDE YOU, TO THE LOVE YOU FEEL FOR YOUR SURROUNDINGS, BOTH ANIMATE AND INANIMATE. THAT WAS HOW OUR FOREFATHERS LIVED, THEY WERE CONSIDERED THE MOST KNOWLEDGEABLE, THE WISEST OF THE SOCIETY.
True, times have changed. But certain things never change.
Thanks to all,
Hari
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
My experience with Kausika Agasthya Nadi Josiyars in Tambaram Chennai
This is a repost of a message I sent to naadiastrology@yahoogroups.com
I guess this particular Nadi Jothida Nilayam is pretty much popular, situated as it is in one of the fast developing hubs in South Chennai. Nevertheless, if anyone wants to know the exact location, it is near Philip's hospital, New State bank colony, West Tambaram, Chennai. I went there, with my parents, around Feb end this year. We had to be there by 8:30 am as that's
when they close the gates and start taking the finger prints. They will take 3 copies of your thumb prints and ask you the place you're coming from and if there is more than one person in your group they will assign numbers 1, 2, 3 etc.
Fees - Rs 325/- per individual for Kandam 1, Rs 300 for reading Kandams 13, 14.
You would be asked to wait in the room in first floor. There is a TV to keep us entertained while the search is going on downstairs for our olachuvadi. If they are unable to find your olachuvadi, you don't have to pay any money. But you would have to come prepared for a long wait until they pick up your olai and call the name of the place you're coming from and your corresponding number.
The nadi readers are mostly young men in their 20's, wearing white shirt and dhoti. They would ask you questions like what's the first letter in your name, what's the last letter in your name (mine, as you can see is a pretty long name) and also ask you questions like whether you're married, was it a love marriage etc. Based on your replies they would sift through various olai leaves until they arrive at your olai. I must admit that I went there with a curious, yet sceptical mind. But it was quite amazing that once they came across the olai which was definitely mine, further statements they made covering my personal details were startlingly accurate. Once they locate your olai chuvadi, they would again tell you to wait and after a while they would call you inside a room to give you your readings. I am not sure what's happening in the intermediate period. It's possible that the first olai list is an index using which they locate the detailed olai readings maintained in the house.
What they normally do is to recite the content of Kandam(Chapter) 1 of your olai which is basically a summary of all the important incidents of your life, actually just a little bit about the past, but a lot more on the present and future. This information is present in the olai in classical Tamil, so even as they read the olai, they would also translate the content in vernacular tamil, and in English(if you don't know Tamil). The readings are recorded in an audio cassette and would be given to you. Chapters 13, 14 relate to doing Pariharams(atonement). The idea is, if you do the pariharams with full spirit and devoted mind, you would go a long way towards reducing your present and future sufferings (caused by bad karma). In Kandams 13 and 14, they would also tell you who you were in your past birth and what all good/bad things you did then to merit a rebirth. They would also give you a note book in which they have written down the predictions - past, present and future.
In my case I found the predictions of the past and present correct. The Pariharams I was asked to do were of 3 categories
1) Visiting Temples near Chennai and doing Archanai there. I was asked to do this at 3 temples, Dhenu Pureeswarar at Madambakkam, Thiruverkadu Amman temple, Marudheeswarar temple at Thiruvanmiyur.
2) Offering Guru Daanam. This involves collecting various articles as Guru Dakshinai (fruits, flowers etc) and pay some money to the person designated as our Guru. If we don't have a Guru, we can offer it to the Naadi reader. He would take you to the pooja room where pictures of Agasthya and other Rishis/ Gods were kept and he would accept the dakshinai on behalf of Rishi Agasthya.
3) Deekshai Kandam. We can get prayers done on our behalf by shelling out a certain amount of money. These prayers if performed well would help us tide over crises in our future life. In my case, the nadi reading was that I need to pay up only one-fourth of the cost of the pooja. The rest would be taken care of by the establishment themselves (as suggested in my nadi leaves). They
would collect our name, nakshatra and contact details, perform pooja on a daily basis and send the prasadam to our address.
As far as I was concerned, I was facing certain problems in my family life as well as in my career. I did the pariharams to the best of my ability and already see some encouraging results. Maybe by end of September, when my astrological bad period gets over, I will be able to give a
full update on the effectiveness of these Pariharams. Irrespective of whether the pariharams work or not, it was an interesting experience, meeting the naadi readers.
Regarding the Deekshai Kandam, personally I believe that doing stotra/mantra japam ourselves is a more effective way of reducing our bad karma, rather than asking some archaka to do it for you. So I am also doing some chanting on a daily basis. But who can say for sure in which way God's will and favour works? Great men have said that ultimately, it's the faith alone that matters, not the means.
I guess this particular Nadi Jothida Nilayam is pretty much popular, situated as it is in one of the fast developing hubs in South Chennai. Nevertheless, if anyone wants to know the exact location, it is near Philip's hospital, New State bank colony, West Tambaram, Chennai. I went there, with my parents, around Feb end this year. We had to be there by 8:30 am as that's
when they close the gates and start taking the finger prints. They will take 3 copies of your thumb prints and ask you the place you're coming from and if there is more than one person in your group they will assign numbers 1, 2, 3 etc.
Fees - Rs 325/- per individual for Kandam 1, Rs 300 for reading Kandams 13, 14.
You would be asked to wait in the room in first floor. There is a TV to keep us entertained while the search is going on downstairs for our olachuvadi. If they are unable to find your olachuvadi, you don't have to pay any money. But you would have to come prepared for a long wait until they pick up your olai and call the name of the place you're coming from and your corresponding number.
The nadi readers are mostly young men in their 20's, wearing white shirt and dhoti. They would ask you questions like what's the first letter in your name, what's the last letter in your name (mine, as you can see is a pretty long name) and also ask you questions like whether you're married, was it a love marriage etc. Based on your replies they would sift through various olai leaves until they arrive at your olai. I must admit that I went there with a curious, yet sceptical mind. But it was quite amazing that once they came across the olai which was definitely mine, further statements they made covering my personal details were startlingly accurate. Once they locate your olai chuvadi, they would again tell you to wait and after a while they would call you inside a room to give you your readings. I am not sure what's happening in the intermediate period. It's possible that the first olai list is an index using which they locate the detailed olai readings maintained in the house.
What they normally do is to recite the content of Kandam(Chapter) 1 of your olai which is basically a summary of all the important incidents of your life, actually just a little bit about the past, but a lot more on the present and future. This information is present in the olai in classical Tamil, so even as they read the olai, they would also translate the content in vernacular tamil, and in English(if you don't know Tamil). The readings are recorded in an audio cassette and would be given to you. Chapters 13, 14 relate to doing Pariharams(atonement). The idea is, if you do the pariharams with full spirit and devoted mind, you would go a long way towards reducing your present and future sufferings (caused by bad karma). In Kandams 13 and 14, they would also tell you who you were in your past birth and what all good/bad things you did then to merit a rebirth. They would also give you a note book in which they have written down the predictions - past, present and future.
In my case I found the predictions of the past and present correct. The Pariharams I was asked to do were of 3 categories
1) Visiting Temples near Chennai and doing Archanai there. I was asked to do this at 3 temples, Dhenu Pureeswarar at Madambakkam, Thiruverkadu Amman temple, Marudheeswarar temple at Thiruvanmiyur.
2) Offering Guru Daanam. This involves collecting various articles as Guru Dakshinai (fruits, flowers etc) and pay some money to the person designated as our Guru. If we don't have a Guru, we can offer it to the Naadi reader. He would take you to the pooja room where pictures of Agasthya and other Rishis/ Gods were kept and he would accept the dakshinai on behalf of Rishi Agasthya.
3) Deekshai Kandam. We can get prayers done on our behalf by shelling out a certain amount of money. These prayers if performed well would help us tide over crises in our future life. In my case, the nadi reading was that I need to pay up only one-fourth of the cost of the pooja. The rest would be taken care of by the establishment themselves (as suggested in my nadi leaves). They
would collect our name, nakshatra and contact details, perform pooja on a daily basis and send the prasadam to our address.
As far as I was concerned, I was facing certain problems in my family life as well as in my career. I did the pariharams to the best of my ability and already see some encouraging results. Maybe by end of September, when my astrological bad period gets over, I will be able to give a
full update on the effectiveness of these Pariharams. Irrespective of whether the pariharams work or not, it was an interesting experience, meeting the naadi readers.
Regarding the Deekshai Kandam, personally I believe that doing stotra/mantra japam ourselves is a more effective way of reducing our bad karma, rather than asking some archaka to do it for you. So I am also doing some chanting on a daily basis. But who can say for sure in which way God's will and favour works? Great men have said that ultimately, it's the faith alone that matters, not the means.
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