Who am I -- a nice story

_*Who am I?*_

_Once, a beggar while begging in a train, noticed a well-dressed businessman wearing a suit and boots. He thought that this man must be very rich, so he will surely give good money if I ask him. So he went and asked that man for alms._ 

_The man looked at the beggar and said, *"You always beg and keep asking from people, do you ever give anything to anyone?"*

_The beggar said, *"Sir, I am a beggar, I can only keep asking people for money. How will I be able to give anything to anyone?"*

_The man replied, "When you can't give anything to anyone, then you don’t have any right to ask as well. I am a businessman and believe in transactions only - if you have something to give me, then I can also give you something in return.”_

_Just then, the train arrived at a station, and the businessman got down and left._

_The beggar started thinking about what the man had said. His words somehow reached the beggar’s heart._

_He started thinking that maybe I do not get much money in alms because I am not able to give anything to anyone in return. But I am a beggar, I am not even worth giving anything to anyone. But for how long will I keep asking people without giving anything._

*After thinking deeply, the beggar decided that whenever he gets something on begging, he will definitely give something back to that person in return.*

_But now the question was, what could he give others in return for begging? The whole day had passed thinking about this but he could not find any answer to his question._

_The next day while he was sitting near the station, his eyes fell on some flowers blooming on the plants around the station. *He thought, why not give some flowers to the people in return for alms.*

_He liked this idea and plucked some flowers from there and went to the train to beg._

*Whenever someone gave alms to him, he would give some flowers to them in return. People used to keep those flowers happily with them.*

_Now the beggar used to pluck flowers everyday and distribute those flowers among the people in return for the alms._

_Within a few days he realized that now a lot of people have started giving him alms. He used to pluck all the flowers near the station._

 _As long as he had flowers, many people used to give him alms. But when no more flowers were left with him, he wouldn’t get much. And this continued every day._

_One day when he was begging, he saw that the same businessman was sitting in the train, because of whom he was inspired to distribute flowers._

_The beggar immediately reached out to him and said, *"Today I have some flowers to give you in return for alms.*

_The man gave him some money and the beggar gave him some flowers in return. The man liked his idea very much and was quite impressed._

_He said, *"Wow! Today you too have become a businessman like me."*

_Taking flowers from the beggar, he got down at the station._

_But once again, his words had reached deep into the beggar’s heart._

 _He kept thinking again and again about what the man had said and started becoming happy._

_His eyes started shining now, he felt that he had now got the key to success by which he could change his life._

_He immediately got down from the train and excitedly looked up at the sky and in a very loud voice said, *“I am not a beggar anymore, I am a businessman now, I can also become like that gentleman, I can also become rich.”*

_When people saw him, they thought that maybe this beggar has gone mad. From the next day that beggar never appeared at that station again._

_Four years later, two men dressed in suits were traveling from the same station. When both of them looked at each other, one of them bowed to the other with joined hands and asked, *"Do you recognize me?"*

_The other replied, *"No! Maybe we're meeting for the first time."*

_The first one again said, "Sir, try to remember, we are not meeting for the first time but for the third time"._

_Second person, "Well, I can't remember. When was it that we met before?"_

_Now the first person smiled and said, *"We have met twice in the same train before. I am the same beggar whom you had told in the first meeting what I should do in life, and in the second meeting you told me who I really am."*

_"As a result, today I am a very big flower merchant and I am going to another city in respect of the same business."_

*"You told me the law of nature in the first meeting... according to which we get something only when we give something.*

_This rule of transaction really works, I've felt it very well, but I always thought of myself as a beggar, I never thought to rise above it._

*When I met you for the second time, you told me that I have become a businessman. Thanks to you, from that day onwards, my perspective changed and now I have become a businessman, I’m not a beggar anymore.”*

_Indian sages probably put the most emphasis on *‘knowing yourself’.*

_As long as the beggar considered himself a beggar, he remained a beggar and when he considered himself as a businessman, he became one._

*Similarly, the day we will understand our true nature, then what will be left to know and understand?_*

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

The beginning of Mahalaya ....Pitru Paksha

The beginning of Mahalaya ....Pitru Paksha .....the days to offer homage and perform rituals to our departed ancestors and time to make amends ....starting September  21 and ends with Mahalaya Amavasai   on October 6 2021 and heralds the beginning of Navarathri the descent of Godess Durga to earth ....this period  is  also callled the fortnight of  our ancestors or pitrs .

Pitru Paksha is a dark fortnight period in the lunar month of Bhadrapad which is dedicated to deceased ancestors. During this period deceased ancestors or family members are believed to transcend from Pitru Loka and visit their family homes. Just as a duty we serve our parents and relatives, similarly certain duties are also prescribed for them after their death. Shradh, Tarpan, Pind Daan and other rituals related to Pitru paksha makes a great opportunity to fulfill these duties, especially during the Pitru Paksha period. These rites are also important because they help ancestors to get satisfied, gain momentum in their onwards journey to higher regions and provides them relief if they are stuck in inferior regions, cursed or stuck due to unfulfilled desire. ( source Times of India  )

Mahalaya or Pitru paksha is a 15 days Lunar period when Hindus perform shradh rituals for their departed ancestors parents and relatives by offering food  and performing tarpan or shradh ritual on river banks if possible Food is the main offering . 

Our parents leave the world leaving behind the body which is made of five elements. They obtain a watery body and become PITRUS and also become the citizens of the kingdom Vaivasvata Aadi. There they will not be in a position to get the things they need for their very existence. Only under such circumstances they expect the assistance of their children. Yamadharma out of compassion for the PITRU DEVATAS, sends them to earth with an instruction to take food from their children. The period when Yamadharma allows them to this world is called MAHALAYA PAKSHA. Either to cleanse the place where PITRUS lived once or to consume the food offered by the children, PITRUS are sent to this world. The PITRUS fond of getting the six type of food eagerly come down. During the sixteen days the children would perform MAHALAYA SHRADDHA ceremony. The PITRUS feel as if they are part of a festival with their children. That is why this period is called MAHA AALAYAM i.e. Meaning great temple.

 

 Mahalaya  Amavasai and most important day and also called the  sarva pitru shradh when the Shradh can be performed without looking at  thithi  or nakshatra 

Mahalaya is also the beginning of the the advent of Godess Durga and as a countdown to Durga Pooja . It is believed that the Goddess Durga   descends to earth with her family during this period hence most auspicious and pious.

 Legend behind Mahalaya 

It is believed that after the battle of Mahabharata Karna died and his soul transcended to heaven . 

He was offered gold and jewellery as food . Karna was surprised and asked Indra the reason for this strange offering . 

Lord Indra told Karna that as he had never offered food to his ancestors during his lifetime on earth he was receiving this treatment .

Karna said that he was not aware of his ancestors and asked to make amends for his actions . and so Indra sent him back to earth to make amends

Karna returned to earth for a 16 day period and this is the Pitru paksha month to perform shradh rituals and offer food to his ancestors . 

This period is also called the first day of Devi paksha when the Godess begins her descent to earth and marks the beginning of the festival days ahead .

Mahalaya Amavasya marks the beginning of Navratri festivity, It is a special day dedicated to making an offering to express our gratitude to all the previous generations of people who have contributed to our life.

The Mahalaya Amavasya is the day that marks the culmination of the Pitru Paksha period and the beginning of the Devi Paksha. On this day, Shradh and Tarpan rituals are performed for those who breathed their last on the Purnima Tithi, Chaturdashi Tithi and Amavasya Tithi.

Moreover, it is also considered an ideal day for paying obeisance to all the departed souls in the family. People begin preparations to welcome the Goddess on the day of Mahalaya Amavasya although the Durga Puja celebrations last for days. It is believed that the Goddess arrives with her children, Kartikeya, Ganesha and Goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati .

The purpose of the Shraddha ceremony performed during the Pitri Paksha is two fold: i) to offer food and water to the departed souls, ii) to help them get released from the hellish or ghostly realms that they may be stuck in.

It is obligatory for the descendants to perform the Shraddha ceremony, because, it is highly likely that out ancestors may be suffering in some hellish condition of life after departing from their previous body.

 when we offer food and water to our ancestors once every year here on earth, for them it is like getting to eat everyday. 

. During this period deceased ancestors or family members are believed to transcend from Pitru Loka and visit their family homes. Just as a duty we serve our parents and relatives, similarly certain duties are also prescribed for them after their death. Shradh, Tarpan, Pind Daan and other rituals related to Pitru paksha makes a great opportunity to fulfill these duties, especially during the Pitru Paksha period. These rites are also important because they help ancestors to get satisfied, gain momentum in their onwards journey to higher regions and provides them relief if they are stuck in inferior regions, cursed or stuck due to unfulfilled desire.

But if an ancestor takes rebirth, the Shradh, Tarpan and other rituals do not go in vain but certainly reach them even in their new birth. Because the baggage of previous birth accompanies an individual even in his/her new birth. So, when the rituals are performed for the ancestors who have taken new birth, the fruits of rituals are experienced by them in form of internal satisfaction.

The human life is indebted to 5 loans and it's duty of a grihasth or householder to repay these.

These 5 loans are

Dev rina

Pitru rina

Rishi rina

Vanaspati rina

Pashu rina

Each of the five groups we are indebted have provided us essentially of leading this life happily and even a chance which only few can utilise to attain nirvana. The ancestors gave us this body, gods have made earth favourable through balance of elements, sages have shared their knowledge with us , plants nourish us, and animals are used for dairy, manure, ploughing etc. Thus each has a contribute and deserve back the respect.

Thus the case of ancestral worship arises. We call and Revere our ancestors and express our gratitude.

on the day of AMAVASYA, TARPANA shall be done for two sides of the family (ie) PITRUS from the father’s side and PITRUS from the mother’s side.  During the MAHALAYA PAKSHA TARPANA ought to be done to KARUNIKA PITRUS too.

KARUNIKA PITRU DEVATAS

The following are called KARUKINA PITRU DEVATAS:

Younger brother of the father

Elder brother of the father

Elder brother

 Younger brother

Sisters

Ones own sons

Aunt (Sisters of father)

Aunt’s son (Amman)

Wife of father’s elder brother

Wife of father’s younger brother

Daughters and sons of father’s brothers

Wife

Father in law

Mother in law

Daughter in law

Wife’s brothers

Guru

Master under whom one serves

Friends

source.Kanchi Mutt

11th September, 1893- Swami Vivekananda gave his historic speech

On the same day (11th September, 1893) Swami Vivekananda gave his historic speech at the Parliament of religons, Chicago, USA. Below are the details as to how many hardships and obstacles he had to undergo for this grand event, that gave a new identity to India and Hinduism in the West.

Part 1

Swami Vivekananda walked through the spacious grounds of the World's Fair and was speechless with amazement. Never before had the Swami seen such an accumulation of wealth, power, and inventive genius in a nation. In the fair-grounds he attracted people's notice. Lads ran after him, fascinated by his orange robe and turban. Shopkeepers and porters regarded him as a Maharaja from India and tried to impose upon him. 

Soon after his arrival in Chicago, he went one day to the information bureau of the Exposition to ask about the forthcoming Parliament of Religions. He was told that it had been put off until the first week of September (it was then only the end of July), and that no one without credentials from a bona fide organization would be accepted as a delegate. He was told also that it was then too late for him to be registered as a delegate. All this had been unexpected by the Swami. … In the meantime, the purse, that the Swami had carried from India, was dwindling; for things were much more expensive in America than he or his friends had thought. In a frantic mood he asked help from the Theosophical Society, which professed warm friendship for India. He was told that he would have to subscribe to the creed of the Society; but this he refused to do, because he did not believe in most of the Theosophical doctrines. Thereupon the leader declined to give him any help. The Swami became desperate and cabled to his friends in Madras for money.

Finally, however, someone advised him to go to Boston, where the cost of living was cheaper, and in the train his picturesque dress, no less than his regal appearance, attracted a wealthy lady, who resided in the suburbs of the city. She cordially invited him to be her guest, and he accepted, to save his dwindling purse. …

The Swami met a number of people, most of whom annoyed him by asking queer questions regarding Hinduism and the social customs of India, about which they had read in the tracts of Christian missionaries and sensational writers. However, there came to him a few serious-minded people, and among these were Mrs. Johnson, the lady superintendent of a women's prison, and J.H. Wright, a professor of Greek at Harvard University. 

The Swami was encouraged by Professor Wright to represent Hinduism in the Parliament of Religions, since that was the only way he could be introduced to thenation at large. When he announced, however, that he had no credentials, the professor replied: “To ask you, Swami, for your credentials is like asking the sun about its right to shine”. He wrote about the Swami to a number of important people connected with the Parliament, especially to the chairman of the committee on selection of delegates, who was one of his friends, and said: “Here is a man more learned than all our learned professors put together”. Professor Wright bought the Swami railroad ticket for Chicago.

The train bearing Vivekananda to Chicago arrived late in the evening, and he had mislaid, unfortunately, the address of the committee in charge of the delegates. He did not know where to turn for help, and no one bothered to give information to this foreigner of strange appearance. Moreover the station was located in a part of the city inhabited mostly by Germans, who could hardly understand his language. He knew he was stranded there, and looking around saw a huge empty wagon in the railroad freightyard.

In this he spent the night without food or a bed.

In the morning he woke up “smelling fresh water”, to quote his own words, and he walked along the fashionable Lake Shore Drive, which was lined with the mansions of the wealthy, asking people the way to the Parliament grounds. But he was met with indifference. Hungry and weary, he knocked at several doors for food and was rudely treated by the servants. His soiled clothes and unshaven face gave him the appearance of a tramp. He sat down exhausted on the sidewalk and was noticed from an opposite window. The mistress of the house sent for him and asked the Swami if he was a delegate to the Parliament of Religions. He told her of his difficulties. The lady, Mrs. George W. Hale, a society woman of Chicago, gave him breakfast and looked after his needs. When he had rested, she accompanied him to the offices of the Parliament and presented him to Dr. J.H. Barrows, the President of the Parliament, who was one of her personal friends. The Swami was thereupon cordially accepted as a representative of Hinduism and lodged in the house of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Lyons. Mr. and Mrs. Hale and their children as well as the Lyons, became his lifelong friends. Once again the Swami had been strengthened in his conviction that the Lord was guiding his footsteps, and he prayed incessantly to be a worthy instrument of His will.

(Swami Nikhilananda “Swami Vivekananda – A Biography”, Trip To America)