Major Restoration Project Cleans Madurai Meenakshi Temple Pillars
Source: http://www.hindu.com/

MADURAI, INDIA: A major effort is under way to restore the centuries-old pillars of the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple to their original state. The pillars will be cleaned scientifically.

Under a restoration process using non-toxic chemicals, technicians have begun to remove multiple coats of limestone, paint and other artificial substances that have accumulated on the pillars.

Initially, 350 pillars would be restored in three months at an estimated cost of US$10,000, K. Rajanayagam, Executive Officer, said. Painting done decades ago has resulted in accumulated coatings over the original pillars. In those days, people wanted the temple to be colorful during big events and painted them, he said. Thankfully, there is more awareness on the need to preserve the original beauty of granite pillars. The natural beauty of the sculptures should be there for all to see," he said.

The chemicals being used would not have any adverse effect on the original structure. An appropriate mix of liquefied ammonia, non-ionic detergent and other stone-friendly materials is initially applied and then washed off by spraying plain water. The process is repeated till all additional layers are removed.

The application of a preservative coating had been proposed to the temple authorities. It would protect the heritage structures from environmental pollution and decay from the application of oil.

Highlighting the difference between sand-blasting, a process prohibited in 2000, and chemical process, specialists said that while the former almost altered the original structure, the latter went to extreme lengths to avoid damage. The water pressure to be used is determined after ascertaining the strength of each pillar (HPI)

Replica of Meenakshi Temple To Arise in Lucknow
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Meenakshi_temple_in_Lucknow/articleshow/3553546.cms

LUCKNOW, INDIA, October 2, 2008: This Durga Puja, people of Lucknow will get a chance to visit the famous Meenakshi temple of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, in the state capital itself.

Large numbers of artisans and laborers, hired by a Durga Puja committee to erect a wooden replica of the enormous temple, are working around the clock in order to complete it by October 5, in time for the three days of Durga Puja celebrations. The replica will be nearly 70 feet high, 90 feet long and 80 feet wide.

The Madurai temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, also known as Sundareshvara, and his consort Parvati or Meenakshi(HPI)

Dark One, hear me, I am mad with visions. Eaten up by separation, I wander from place to place covered in ash and clothed in skins. My body is wasting all because of you. Distraught and desperate, I go from forest to forest. Immortal and Unborn One, visit your beggar. Extinguish her pain with your pleasurable touch. Mira says: "End this coming and going. Let me forever embrace your sweet feet."

-Mirabai

Just as, when we touch a live wire, the electric force infuses itself into our body, when we deeply meditate on God the power of the whole universe seeks entry into our personality.
Swami Krishnananda, General Secretary, Divine Life Society

November 4th is Skanda Sashti. The significance of
this festival has been explained by Sri Swami
Sivanandaji in his book "Hindu Fasts and Festivals".
This article has been posted at:
http://www.dlshq.org/religions/skanda.htm

Kumbha Mela Festival Dates for Next Eight Years
Source: HPI

DELHI, INDIA, October 27, 2008: According to Pandit Ananda Shankar Vyas of Ujjain, a Vedic scholar, astrologer, priest and advisor to the famed Mahakal Temple, the coming dates for the Kumbha Mela are:

Haridwar: March/April, 2010 with the main bathing day on April 14.

Prayag: January 27 to February 25, 2013.

Nashik: August 15 to September 13, 2015.

Ujjain: April 22 to May 25, 2016.

While the Mela occurs at four different places on a twelve year cycle, the dates as calculated astrologically are not evenly spaced out. In the present cycle, all four Melas occur within a space of just six years. The gathering at Prayag, modern Allahabad, is the largest gathering of human being for any purpose on earth. The last Mela held there attracted 40 million devotees.

Alas for me, I cannot rest. This floating bubble, Earth. Its hollow form, its hollow name, its hollow death and birth. For me is nothing. How I long to get beyond the crust of name and form! Ah, open the gates; to me they open must. Open the gates of Light, O Mother to me, Thy tired son. I long, oh, long to return home! Mother, my play is done. My play is done.
 - Swami Vivekananda, 20th century monk who brought Hinduism to the West

Of all the scriptures in the world, it is the Vedas alone that declare that even the study of the Vedas is secondary. The real study is that by which we realize the Unchangeable. And that is neither reading, nor believing, nor reasoning, but superconscious perception, or samadhi.
Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)

Near the wall of a house painted to look like stone,
I saw visions of God.
A sleepless night that gives others a headache gave me flowers
opening beautifully inside my brain.
And he who was lost like a dog will be found like a human being
and brought back home again.
Love is not the last room: there are others
after it, the whole length of the corridor that has no end.

~Yehuda Amichai~

with thanks from: The London Spirituality Network

Even if you have nothing,
It is hard to find that contentment
Which comes from renunciation.

I accept nothing.
I reject nothing.

And I am happy.

-Ashtavakra Gita 13:1

I honor the God and the Goddess,
The eternal parents of the universe.

The Lover, out of boundless love,
takes the form of the Beloved.
What Beauty!
Both are made of the same nectar
and share the same food.

-Jnaneshwar (also known as Jnanadeva)
 

I sit in my own radiance,
And I have no fear.

Walking,
Dreaming,
Sleeping,
What are they to me?

What is far or near,
Outside or inside,
Gross or subtle?

I sit in my own splendor.

-Ashtavakra Gita 19:5-6

It is in the small things we see it.
The child's first step, as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike, wallowing up the sidewalk.
The first spanking when your heart went on a journey all alone.
When they called you crybaby or poor or fatty or crazy
and made you into an alien,
you drank their acid and concealed it.

Later, if you faced the death of bombs and bullets
you did not do it with a banner,
you did it with only a hat to cover your heart.
You did not fondle the weakness inside you though it was there.
Your courage was a small coal that you kept swallowing.
If your buddy saved you and died himself in so doing,
then his courage was not courage,
it was love;
love as simple as shaving soap.

Later, if you have endured a great despair,
then you did it alone,
getting a transfusion from the fire,
picking the scabs off your heart,
then wringing it out like a sock.
Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,
you gave it a back rub
and then you covered it with a blanket
and after it had slept a while
it woke to the wings of the roses and was transformed.

Later, when you face old age and its natural conclusion
your courage will still be shown in the little ways,
each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,
those you love will live in a fever of love,
and you'll bargain with the calendar
and at the last moment
when death opens the back door
you'll put on your carpet slippers and stride out.

~Anne Sexton~
With thanks from:
London Spirituality Network

What is here is also there; what is there,
Also here. Who sees multiplicity
But not the one indivisible Self
Must wander on and on from death to death.

-Katha Upanishad

If one fails to realize Brahman in this life
Before the physical sheath is shed.
He must again put on a body
In the world of embodied creatures.

-Katha Upanishad

Before "Lakshmi Pujan" or Worship of Sri Mahalakshmi, let us understand Her real Nature (Swaroopa). Divine treasure or Real wealth of mankind are fearlessness, purity of heart, steadfastness in the yoga of knowledge, charity, control of the senses, performance of sacrifice, study of the Vedas or holy scriptures, straightforwardness,  non violence, truthfulness, freedom from anger, renunciation, peacefulness, absence of crookedness, compassion for all Living beings, non-covetousness, gentleness, modesty, steady determination, vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, free from envy and absence of pride. All these virtues needs to be cultivated or in other words to have these virtues means to have the possession of the great wealth or real Lakshmi or "Subha Lakshmi." "Subha Lakshmi" brings joy, peace, harmony blessedness, natural love, feeling for fellow beings and upliftment of the mankind. It's full of SATWA. Let us seek the grace of Supreme Blessedness on Lakshmi Poojan day and celebrate Deepavali in real sense.
Om Shanti. -Swami Adhyatmananda
(DLS)(Nov 26, 2008)

You are the endless sea
In whom all the worlds like waves
Naturally rise and fall.

You have nothing to win,
Nothing to lose.
Child,
You are pure awareness,
Nothing less.

You and the world are one.

So who are you to think
You can hold on to it,
Or let it go?

How could you!

-Ashtavakra Gita 15: 11-12

Live in the world like a waterfowl. The water clings to the bird, but the bird shakes it off. Live in the world like a mudfish. The fish lives in the mud, but its skin is always bright and shiny.

-Ramakrishna

O Lord of creatures, Father of all beings,
you alone pervade all that has come to birth.
Grant us our heart's desire for which we pray.
May we become the lords of many treasures!

-Rig Veda

Love your true Self,
Which is naturally happy
And peaceful and bright!

Awaken to your own nature,
And all delusion melts like a dream.

-Ashtavakra Gita 18:1

A man cannot serve God and Mammon, nor be temperate and furious at the same time.

-Mahatma Gandhi

Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.

-Mahatma Gandhi, 1925

Whoever wishes to attain greatness (i.e. wealth for performing sacrificial rites) should act as follows: On an auspicious day of the fortnight in which the moon waxes, under a constellation bearing a masculine name, during the northward journey of the sun, he should undertake for twelve days a vow connected with the Upasads, gather in a cup or a bowl made of fig wood all the herbs and their grains, sweep and plaster the ground, lay the fire, spread the kusa grass, purify the offering (clarified butter)according to the rules, place between himself and the fire the mantha (the paste made of those herbs etc.) and offer oblations with the following mantras: Brihadaranyaka Upanishad VI, III- 1

It is the gift from the god. God is in charge of the world and makes conflicts all over to bring peace after that. Peace always remain in our Hearts, only thing we have to feel it. All the conflicts are connected to the mind. Try to keep the mind in peace and everything will become peace automatically.