RADHA KRISHNA

Radha - Krishna

What is Radha-Krishna ?

The word "Krishna" means "the one who attracts all". So, Krishna is that aspect of God that represents all bliss (Ananda) in the universe. In His fullness He lends joy. He is also known by other names, such as Venkateshwara, Srinivasa, Panduranga, Vittala, Vasudeva, Hari, Kesava, Purusottama, Narayana and Badrinarayana

The sky blue color (Shyam varna) of Krishna's appearance signifies His infiniteness. Krishna is the embodiment of intellectual and spiritual glory. When God is invoked as Krishna, devotees are blessed with joy and knowledge. Radha is Krishna's mystic or divine lover who yearns to be close to Him. She symbolizes the human desire, which is to unite with God.
The sound of Krishna's flute represents the call of the divine for the individual souls. By having intense devotion to Krishna (God), the emotional life of a man is fulfilled in all its richness and lifted onto the plane of the spiritual life. As is the case in all real love, the individual forgets himself utterly and entirely; only the object of love-- the divine Krishna (God) -- the inner Self of man, remainshe village-maids' (gopis') love for Krishna signifies the ethereal love or attraction between the individual soul and the Supreme soul (paramatma). The dance of the village-maids and Krishna (Rasa Leela) signifies the union of the human and Divine, the dance of the souls. In the forest, the village-maids dance with Krishna and are absorbed in their love for Him. This illustrates that when an individual soul responds to the call of the Divine, the soul enjoys union with God and becomes absorbed in the divine ecstasy.

RADHA KRISHNA

LORD BALAJI

LORD BALAJI

What is Balaji ?

Balaji is no other than God as Vishnu which means "the pervader" or who spreads in all directions. He is that aspect of God that represents sustenance and preservation of the universe. To protect good and destroy evil from the earth, Vishnu appears on earth in a variety of forms, called incarnations (Avataras). As an incarnation, His divine form can be in the form of an animal, a human being or a combination of human body with an animal face.
He is also known by other names, such as Venkateshwara, Srinivasa, Panduranga, Vittala, Vasudeva, Hari, Kesava, Purusottama, Narayana and Badrinarayana

RAMA - SITHA INFO

What is Rama-Lakshmana-Seeta?

Rama is one of the incarnations of God. As Rama, God represents the ideal human being. In the human form, He teaches us how to lead a righteous life by setting examples. He shows that every human being should have strength, tenderness, firm resolution and mental capacity to sacrifice material pleasure, ego and jealousy. The word Rama comes from the Sanskrit word "Raumya" meaning "beautiful".

Rama Sita

God , when invoked as Rama, blesses devotees with protection, compassion and commitment to righteousness
His brother Lakshmana and His consort Seeta --who also represents Lakshmi -- and Hanumana, accompany Rama.
Lakshmana personifies brotherly love and self-effacement. He represents the ideal qualities of a younger brother. He symbolizes the ideal of sacrifice. He leaves his young wife behind in the palace and chooses to accompany his brother (Rama) in exile. He sacrifices the amenities of his personal life to serve his elder brother,

Rama.Seeta symbolizes an ideal daughter, wife, mother, and queen. Whereas Rama symbolizes standards of perfection that can be conceived in all the facets of a man's life, Seeta represents all that is great and noble in womanhood. She is revered as an incarnation of Lakshmi, the divine consort of Vishnu.

GANESH INFO

What is Ganesha?
Ganesha (Gana = all beings or celestial bodies; Isha = king) literally means king of all beings. He represents that aspect of God that provides wisdom and removes all obstacles in life to be successful in any pursuit.

Lord Ganesha (Vijaya Ganapati)
Ganesha is also called Gajaanana (elephant-faced) as His face is that of an elephant - the largest land animal. The combination of a human body with an animal head is a symbolic representationof a perfect human being, as conceived by Hindu sages. In fact, God also hadincarnated as a combination of a human body and a lion's head as Narasimha (Nara = human being; Simha = lion). Ganesha's elephant head symbolizes wisdom, understanding, and a discriminating intellect that one must possess to attain perfection in life. To receive God's blessings for achieving success in any activity, Ganesha is worshipped first.
Ganesha is also addressed as Ganapati (king of ganas ), Vinayaka (special leader), Vighneshwara (remover of all obstacles), Gajaanana (elephant-faced), Lambodara (large stomach), and Ekdanta (having one tusk). The deity in our temple is named "Vijaya Ganapati"

(Ganesha-the victor).....

LAKSHMI INFO

What is Lakshmi ? ? ?
"Lakshmi" comes from the Sanskrit word, "Lakshya" meaning objective or goal. So, "Lakshmi" means "the goal of life" which is to unite or merge with God.

Sri Mahalakshmi
Lakshmi is that aspect of God, which represents the sources of all wealth, fortune, power, beauty and prosperity in the universe. Wealth not only includes materials but also spiritual knowledge, nobler values of life, power of mind and intellect, moral, and ethical qualities of a human being. We all need these qualities (artha= wealth, kama=sensuous pleasure and dharma = adherence to rules that a human being is supposed to follow) to achieve Moksha (salvation) or freedom from the cycle of births and deaths.
As Lakshmi, God is worshipped in the female form representing Shakti or energy for the whole universe. There are eight forms of Lakshmi (although the names vary), signifying eight aspects of wealth, called Ashta-Lakshmi. They are:
1. Aadilakshmi (all wealth - material and spiritual), 2. Dhaanyalakshmi (wealth of food grains), 3. Dhairyalakshmi (wealth of patience), 4. Gajalakshmi (wealth of animals), 5. Santanalakshmi (wealth of progeny), 6. Vijayalakshmi (wealth of victories and success), 7. Vidyalakshmi (wealth of knowledge), 8. Dhanalakshmi (wealth of gold and other materials)....

LAKSHMI PICS

Mahalakshmi is the presiding Goddess of the Middle episode of Devi Mahatmya. Here she is depicted as Devi in her universal form as Shakti. The manifestation of the Devi to kill Mahishasura is formed by the effulgences of all the gods. The Goddess is described as eighteen armed bearing string of beads, battle axe, maze, arrow, thunderbolt, lotus, bow, water-pot, cudgel, lance, sword, shield, conch, bell, wine-cup, trident, noose and the discuss sudarsana. She has a complexion of coral and is seated on a lotus. [4] She is known as Ashta Dasa Bhuja In some places like in Tirumala, She is seen in two forms, Bhudevi and Sridevi, both either side of Sri Venkateshwara or Vishnu. Bhudevi is the representation and totally of the Material world or energy called the aparam Prakriti, in which She is called Mother Earth. Sridevi is the Spiritual world or energy called the Param Prakriti. Most people are mistaken that they are separate beings although they are one, Lakshmi. All the different goddesses in the Hindu pantheon are manifestations, or different forms of Lakshmi.
Mahalakshmi's presence is also found on Lord Sri Venkateswara (at Tirumala) or Vishnu's chest, at the Heart. Lakshmi is the embodiment of Love, from which devotion to God or Bhakti flows from. It is through Love/Bhakti or Lakshmi that the atma or soul is able to reach God or Vishnu. She is also the personification of the Spiritual energy within us and universe called Kundalini. Also, She embodies the Spiritual World or Vaikunta; the abode of Lakshmi-Narayana or Vishnu, or what would be considered Heaven in Hinduism. She is also the Divine qualities of God and the soul. Lakshmi is the embodiment of God's superior spiritual feminine energy or the Param Prakriti, which purifies, empowers and uplifts the individual. Hence, She is called the Goddess of

TEMPLE

LAKSHMI TEMPLE

The appearance of goddess Lakshmi is related to an ancient story. Durvasa the short-tempered sage once presented Indra, the king of the gods (devas) with a garland of flowers which would never wilt. Indra gave this garland to his elephant Airavata. Sage Durvasa saw the elephant trampling the divine garland and cursed Indra, for he had shown disrespect to the sage. The sage cursed Indra that he and all the gods would lose their power because it had made them so proud and vain. Due to the curse, the demons (asura) vanquished the devas and drove them out of The defeated gods then went to seek refuge to the Creator Lord Brahma who asked them to churn the 'Ocean of Milk', Ksheersagar, to obtain the 'nectar' (amrita) of immortality. The gods then went to Lord Vishnu, to seek his assistance. Lord Vishnu took the Avatar Kurma (Tortoise) and supported the Manthara Parvata (mountain) as a churning rod, while the king of the Nāga, Vasuki, became the churning rope. The deva and the asuras (under the leadership of the pious and wise King Bali Chakravarti) both helped each other in churning the Ocean of Milk.
Amongst the host of divine gifts which appeared from the ocean, goddess Lakshmi appeared and then chose Shri Vishnu as her consort, as only He had the power to control Maya or 'illusion'. Because of this, Lakshmi is also called the daughter of the sea; since the moon also appeared from the ocean during the churning, the 'moon' (chandra) is called her brother. Alakshmi, the goddess of misfortune, is Lakshmi's older sister. She is said to have also arisen from the Ocean of Milk.
According to the Vishnu Purana, Lakshmi is the daughter of Bhrigu and Khyaati and resided in Swarga but due to the curse of Durvasa, she left Swarga and made Ksheersagara her home. The reappearance of Lakshmi after Samudra manthan and her marriage to Vishnu thereafter, remain the same. Lakshmi is the power and Maya of Lord Vishnu. This is consonant with the basic philosophy of "Sri Vaishnavism" which honours Sri (Lakshmi) as the "Iswarigm sarva bhootanam" i.e. the Supreme goddess and not just the goddess of wealth....