Sairam All,
Welcome to Mama’s corner ! In this space, our beloved Mama (Pandit B. Rajagopalan) will bring to life his experiences and wisdom that could inspire us, motivate us and give us ways to live our lives in the moment with awareness. Directly answer questions in his voice that could educate us more about spirituality and spread the joy of life, enlighten us on Hinduism, our temple through his lens. Happy Listening!
Positively Yours
Sarada Jammi
How do we inculcate religious habits in kids?
Who is Lord Nrusimha ?
Audio Translation to English
Sairam. When we take the name of Lord Nrusimha, we realize that not many people are fully aware of this particular form. They notice His ugra swaroopa (ferocious form) and have several questions about whether one can have a photo or idol in their home altar and if they can propitiate Him. Lord Nrusimha gives courage and confidence. In today’s world we do not possess these two qualities in required measure, which becomes an impediment when undertaking certain tasks. We are often assailed by doubts and unfounded fears. When we pray to Lord Nrusimha, we will be blessed with confidence, and the blessings of our forefathers (pitrus). Lord Nrusimha is Pitru Swaroopam (a form our forefathers) and came directly from Vaikuntam (abode of Lord Vishnu) and was not born (like Rama or Krishna). On May 14th, we are celebrating an all day Nrusimha Jayanthi with prayers, homam, kalasabhishekam, and abhishekam. It is a very special auspicious day and we request your support in many ways – come and participate on the 14th, sponsor what you are able to, help us celebrate this day in a grand manner and be blessed by Lord Nrusimha.
Importance of Guru and Planets in our Lives
Audio Translation to English
Sarada Jammi: Sairam mama. Recently, we had the Rahu-Ketu peyarchi (transition) and we have Guru peyarchi coming up. We do homams, we do Navagraha abhishekham and a lot of japam. Can you please elaborate on this so that people like me who are not into all these and who don’t understand these details will just get a feel of what it is and why we do it every year.
Mama: Sairam everybody. This year, we are celebrating Guru peyarchi on April 16th. We will start around 3.30-4pm in the afternoon and ending 7pm (3-4 hours). We will be doing the fire worship. Especially transition of Guru (planet Jupiter) is important because in normal, mundane life, we need Guru’s blessings. Normally, it is said one year of Guru has the same power (both good and bad) of seven and half years of Saturn. If Guru has a strong planetary position, we can face anything and be successful. Planets themselves are important in day-to-day life. Surya gives us good health and vision. Chandra gives us happiness and peace. Angaraka cures bloodborne illness as well as help us in property investment. Budha blesses us education and work. Guru blesses with Vamsa vruddhi (pregnancy, progeny). If we want to be successful in finance, Sukra is the answer. Sani gives us long life (no Apamrutyu). Rahu removes all the allergies and Drishti dosham. Ketu gives us satisfaction. That is the planetary worship we do in our day-to-day life. When you come to the temple, you must do a minimum of 9-12 pradakshinams for Navagrahas (planets). That is why this month we are celebrating Guru peyarchi. Please come and pray for anything you need for normal mundane life. Sairam.
Importance of Daily Prayers
Audio Translation to English
Sarada Jammi: Sairam mama. Welcome to Mama’s corner. Mama… I have always wondered about the importance of the routine like doing little prayers every day and how it helps. I feel that it is a very good way to start the day. But sometimes when we force our children, they get very irritated, and they don’t like that. In the morning, in their rush to go to school and in our rush to get ready for office and things like that, I find that I don’t know how to handle this. I was wondering many parents might be facing the same situation like me. I just wanted to listen to your thoughts and your suggestions in this matter. How do we bring this routine into our children’s lives and how do we make it successful and enjoyable? So, please share your thoughts.
Pandit Rajagopalan: Normally, anything you do with especially the children, there are these magic words. YOU DO NOT NEED TO FORCE. Children do not like forcing. Children always observe us. Maybe you come to the temple or at home, you wake up in the morning and light a small deepam (oil lamp). Do a small prayer. There is no need to do longer prayer just one small slokam. Just do little things at home so that the child follows you. For few days, he will feel bored. After that, he will feel “I will also try something”. Amma (mom) is doing something every day, Appa (Dad) is doing something every day. Let me try. The routine will come like that. It cannot be forced. During olden days, in my life, every day my mother woke up and lit deepam and did prayers. I just kept on observing. One day, I also wanted to do
something. When you come to the temple, do not ask your child to pray for good grades or good marks. Prayer is something else. It is not only for marks, but it is universal. We need to pay for everybody. Everyone needs peace and happiness in our normal mundane life. When we study, we get good grades. Prayer is not only for the purpose of grades, but prayer is for everything. That’s what we must teach the kids and we have to make sure that we don’t teach something else. Just come to temple at least once a week if you stay close by. Spend some time with your children. I have observed that it will help us with so many things. These are my thoughts that I want to share.
How does FAITH transform you?
Audio Translation to English
Sarada Jammi: Sairam mama. How will you explain what faith is? We all do so many prayers, we all do Mannat and all. Is that what faith is? Can you share your experiences? You have been with Paramacharya, you have been with Puttaparthi Baba, you have been with Guruji, you have been with so many Masters. You have seen so many different things in your life and in fact, you had so many experiences. Can you share how you would describe faith?
Rajagopalan mama: Faith cannot be explained. Every person’s faith is different, and the feeling is different. I can share only one thing. When we are doing prayers or doing a temple project or even our personal thing, we can face lot of disturbances as well as lot of challenges. Then only we realize that faith and we understand that God in the form of Paramacharya, Guruji and Saibaba are there with us. We feel different things when we travel or take a journey with each one of them. They have all taught me one thing which is “BE STRONG”. If you do anything with love, it will be successful. The end result will be superb, but we should not worry about the struggles and challenges that we face in between. We must be strong as we continue our journey towards our ultimate destination. Our faith cannot be shaken by the challenges we face. Our faith is that God is there with us, and Baba is there with us. On that basis, we must keep doing our work and it will be successful.
If someone comes and tells me that they are facing a problem, I always ask them to do prayers. I ask them to come to the temple regularly. I take their name, nakshatram (star) and gothram from them and pray for them. I tell them not to worry and everything will go well. I do not worry about the depth of the problem, but I have the strong faith that we will get a good result by offering prayers. Faith is something which cannot be explained but must be experienced by everyone. Thank you.
Sarada Jammi: Mama, are you saying that if we pray for anything or if people come to you or Guruji or Baba at the temple, they should drop the fear and have the strong feeling that everything will happen? Are you explaining that kind of feeling?
Rajagopalan Mama: Exactly. That is exactly what I am saying. Our goal is to get to where the journey ends. We will face many unavoidable challenges. But when we have our Master/God/Baba with us, those challenges will be simplified, and we can complete our task. Most of us end up not enjoying the journey because we are under lot of pressure. There is no need to carry that pressure because God is doing everything for us whether it’s good or bad. If we have that feeling, we can do anything. God will grant us the feeling that He is always there with us. We cannot argue or explain this to anyone. Faith must be experienced. Sairam.
Sarada Jammi: I want to add this mama. Whatever you said now brings back memories of my journey with you. As we started the construction of the temple and this organization, I cannot even think how this construction went. The journey has been very smooth. I think your faith and commitment to everything and your love for doing this work is selfless. That is what taught me many things. I hope more and more devotees can imbibe this as they visit the temple and as they feel this energy. So happy to talk about this subject mama. I loved it. Thank you Sravanthi for asking this wonderful question and suggesting that I should ask this question to mama. I hope everybody enjoys this little chat with mama as much as I enjoyed listening to him. Sairam.
New Year Message From Mama
Audio Translation to English
Sairam. Happy New year. Blessings for good health for everyone and good education, good behavior, and good values for children. The pandemic is continuing in 2022 and I am not happy about it. Therefore, I want to do 108 yantra pujas in different places based on the concept of Dhanvantri, Sudarshana and Nrusimha.I have taken such a sankalpam (desire or vow). We are starting in Richmond with a yantra puja at Raji and Bhadri’s house this Friday. The concept of this prayer is to bless everyone with whatever they need in their normal, mundane life. Only if we are successful in our normal mundane life, we can see spirituality, which is the next level. If we are not successful, we cannot attain spirituality. We can also feel the presence of Bhagawan (God) then. My concept of my prayer is for everyone to be successful and have good health and wealth in their normal mundane life as well as enjoy the wealth they have. Many people fail to enjoy it.
Therefore, I have taken the sankalpam to perform 108 yantra pujas which are unique, in different places around the country. I have made this sankalpam on New Year’s Day in the presence of Sri Vriksha Bhairava at our Sai Amruthanarayana temple. I want to go to different places to offer prayers so that people can be blessed with happiness and peace in their normal mundane life. At the same time, we have to listen to whatever the Government says and follow up on that. We have to wear our masks, wash our hands regularly and maintain social distancing. Since the pandemic has restarted and doing Rudra Thandav, we have do our homework. To control this pandemic, we have to hold the feet of God and offer prayers and make a sankalpam. This will help us at this time. At the same time, lot of people are not getting vaccinated. Please get your vaccine and booster shots to follow up. Please do not say that you do not believe in vaccination. This is how we can handle the pandemic. Thank you. Sairam.
About fruits & prasadams at our temple
In conversation with Mama – Why don’t we give fruits back to devotees at our temple? (Listen to Audio recording in English)
Special Thanksgiving Message
In Conversation with Mama – What is the significance of Saffron in Yantra Puja? (Listen to Audio recording in English)
Audio Translation to English
Regarding Sudarshana yantra pooja with saffron
During Thanksgiving, we do the Sudarshana Yantra Pooja. This is the second year we are doing this Yantra Pooja with saffron. Normally, we use saffron for a variety of prayers. Safffron helps in relieving mental depression and helps improve children’s education, peace of mind and prosperity. Praying with saffron will help us get whatever we need in our normal mundane life. We can carry the saffron prasadam (by packing it in small Ziploc bags) in our wallet or even in the backpack that children take to school. The Sudarshana Yantram grants us balance in life, good health and relief from Shatru dosha (protection from enemies). This is the main reason why we are doing Sudarshana Yantra Pooja on Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving is an auspicious time to thank the Lord, the teachers, the parents and the friends. Even though it happens once a year, we thank God every single day.
We will be doing the special Sudarshana Yantra Pooja with Saffron on Thanksgiving Day. Thank you.
In Conversation with Mama – What is faith? (Listen to Audio recording in Tamil)
Audio Translation to English
Sarada: Sairam Mama, Welcome to Mama’s corner! Mama, I always see people saying I have faith in Baba, I have faith in my Master. Mama infact they say they have faith in your prayers. But they keep… they keep… coming back and asking questions like my prayers are still not answered, how long I have to go through this and things like that. They keep crosschecking or do things like that.
Can you please explain what FAITH IN PRAYERS or FAITH IN ONESSELF means?
Mama’s response: Sairam. Good question. Many times, people come and ask me “Mama, I have these problems. What to do?”. Have faith in Perumal (God). Come to the temple, do pradakshinam for a few days and Perumal will always take care. I tell them a few things like doing Japam or lighting a lamp in their house. Come on Thursday to have darshan of Baba. Maybe come on Saturday or Sunday to take darshan of Vriksha Bhairava. But people want everything to happen overnight. Sometimes it will happen but sometimes it won’t happen. But if you come and see Perumal (God) repeatedly and your faith in Perumal keeps multiplying, Perumal will show you the way to handle any situation. Sometimes I get upset when people tell me I want this, and I want that. When given a solution, they go out and cross-check it since they don’t have faith. If you want to follow something, you must follow it 100%. Only then you can enjoy, and your faith can build up. Only then you can enjoy your journey and be happy.
“Faith and prayer are not like something you buy online or in a store. Faith is very different. When the level of faith increases, we will enjoy our prayers more. When we start enjoying our prayers in our normal, mundane life, God takes care of all our needs. God will take us to that level. That is very important. Sairam.”