We must realise that our birth has been gifted by the god, and hence, we have to frequently worship the almighty. We have to utilise our birth properly by doing good acts, and our each and every moment of life must be utilised cheerfully, usefully and productively. For being born as a human in this earth, we must always thank the god, and must offer our sincere prayers to him. Our life is in our hands only. We can live a life as we like, and god has given the full freedom for living our own life. In general, god would never interfere in our freedom, and he would act as a mere spectator by watching our acts. If we do good things in our life, then we would be blessed with all prosperity and our good karmas would be added into our life account, whereas, if we do bad acts, then lot of bad karmas would be included in our life account. Hence, it is our sole decision to take, whether to lead a good or a bad life.
Our human life is like a cat on the wall, since, a cat may jump at any direction. Likewise, even a disciplined person may be changed into an indecent person within a fraction of seconds, since it all depends on how we carefully face our life. Some good people may become bad ones, due to their interaction with the company of their bad friends. Some people may be easily tempted with money and due to that, they may try to earn money by adopting bad methods. As per sayings, the three main desires of the man are: gold, land and woman. Those who like to acquire these three things immediately would try to follow the wrong route, and finally they would be punished in the hands of the law.
Females are the precious gifts given by the god, since only through them, we have been born in this earth, and we are able to live our life in this earth. Instead of considering the females as the fulfillers of sexual desires, we must have to consider them as the holy incarnations of Ma Durga Devi, and it is the duty of the males to protect the females from dangers and difficulties, and must act like a best guardian to them. All the women contain the attitude of a mother, and hence, they are to be honoured properly, and we must have to lend our helping hands to them whenever they need it from us.
As per an ancient saying, “Whoever gives respect to the women would prosper in their lives, and they would be permanently blessed and protected by Ma Shakti Devi”.
At least once in a year, we must have to compulsorily visit and worship the holy rivers such as the Ganges, Narmada, Cauvery, Yamuna, Godavari and Ma Thungabhadra in order to wash away our sins. Great sages and saints used to construct Ashrams near the banks of the holy Rivers in order to perform their meditation peacefully. Holy Rivers have been dwelling in the earth only for the sake of removing our sins, and to protect us through their divine powers throughout our lives. There are few Mantras and songs associated with these holy rivers and by reciting those Mantras and by singing songs in praise of the holy River mother goddesses, we would get great spiritual enlightenment.
Among the holy Rivers, River Ganges is considered as the most auspicious one, since she was previously residing on the matted hair of Lord Shiva. It was the great Bhagiratha, who had made her to dwell in the earth, in order to grant salvation to his ancestors. Some old aged Hindu women used to reside at Varanasi, in order to attain death at that holy place. And still we can find lot of dead bodies floating in the Holy Ganges River, with the belief, that the departed souls would attain salvation by doing like that.
All the rivers are considered as holy and worshipful mother goddesses, since each and every river contains the features of Ma Shakti Devi. These divine mothers would show great mercy even to the wicked and cruel ones, and would try to find out ways to correct their nature. Those who are unable to visit the holy rivers can at least get their darshan by watching the YouTube Videos, and they can also worship them regularly in their soul.
Though all these rivers have been controlled by Lord Varuna, yet they contain great powers similar to Varuna, and they are having enough powers to float the entire earth itself through their supreme powers, but they would never do like that, since they contains lot of patience similar to the holy earth mother, Ma Bhudevi. Those who take bath in the holy Rivers would be freed from their sins, and they would become pure and pious.
Mauna Vrata means observance of strict silence by the people for a few hours, few days and even for a few months. Famous spiritual personalities like Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal used to observe Mauna Vrata for several weeks.The great Shaivite Saint Sri Sadasiva Brahmendra had observed strict silence for several months, and as a result, he has attained great spiritual enlightenment.
Some Devi Upasakas and Dattatreya Upasakas also used to observe silence for a few years, in order to acquire more spiritual powers. It is also believed, that those who talk less and work more would be blessed by the almighty, and all of their reasonable wishes would also be granted by the god. In his Bhagavat Gita, Lord Krishna has asked us to remain silent in order to gain more spiritual energy. By remaining silent, our energy levels would not go waste, and it would be saved in our body. By talking loudly, we might get affected with throat problems like throat infections and throat irritations. The common cold mostly occurs in the body of a person when he talks loudly for several hours in a day. When the great saint Sri Ramakrishna had suffered from throat cancer, doctors had advised him not to perform spiritual speeches. But due to his selfless nature, he ignored the advice given by the doctors, and continued his spiritual speech for several hours in a day, and as a result, his throat condition had become very worst, and finally his health condition began to deteriorate day by day, and he has died due to his severe throat ailment.
We could see that some roadside vendors used to shout loudly in order to sell their products which would be mostly perishable in nature. They are shouting a lot in order to earn something for their daily bread. If we also try to shout like that, then we would become permanently dumb, since the loud voice is gifted by the god to those poor vendors, since they mainly depends on their voice only, in order to survive in their life.
Observing Mauna Vrata also gives lot of spiritual powers, since the significance of Mauna Vrata is mentioned in our holy texts like Bhagavat Gita and Chanakya Neeti. It is also mentioned in the Shiva Purana, that only after observing Mauna Vrata and after doing meditation for several years, Lord Shiva has obtained lot of powers.
Some women used to observe Mauna Vrata for the well-being of their consorts. It is very difficult to observe Mauna Vrata for us, since most of us depends only on our speech for our earning purpose. But at least we can observe fasting on Sundays and other holidays, by the way of doing peaceful meditation on the almighty.
“OM MA DURGA DEVIYE NAMAHA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR