Monday, April 28, 2008

Lord Shiva said:

WORSHIP me especially by circumambulating me everyday. For I, the Lord of Sonachala am pleased when devotees circumambulate me.

Gautama Rishi: As the Lord commanded I always live here and worship Arunachala.
Upon this Gowri asked the Sage: Knower of all dharmas! Gautama! Kindly describe to me the glory of circumambulating Arunachala. When is it to be done and how? Who are they who have till now circumambulated it and attained their objects? Who has attained the supreme state by doing so?

Gautama replied: ‘Goddess! Hear what the great Siva told me.

He said: While I abide gloriously on earth as Arunachala all the devatas and munis circumambulate Me.

At every step that one takes on the path round Me all the sins committed in one’s past lives are expiated. By circumambulating Me one obtains the merit of performing thousands of horse sacrifices, innumerable Vajapeyas (a particular sacrifice) and bathing in all the tirthas. Even a great sinner who has no good deed to his credit can attain all kinds of powers by circumambulating Me. Merit acquired by bathing in all the tirthas, by performing all the sacrifices, by studying all the scriptures and by following all the dharmas can be easily acquired by merely circumambulating Sonachala.

One attains this world, (i.e. the earth) at the first step, the middle world at the second step and the world of the devas at the third step. At the first step sins committed mentally are destroyed, at the second the sins committed by speech and at the third the sins committed by the body.
There are thousands of ashrams of munis and siddhas and abodes of devas around Me. I myself abide here always in the form of a Siddha worshipped by the devas. Let one imagine a divine abode gloriously existing within Me. What is known as Arunadri is really a Column of Effulgence. Meditating on this great Linga one should circumambulate it slowly. If one does so all sins will be
expiated. One will not be born again and will certainly become eternally one with Sonachala.
The moment one takes a step with the intention of circumambulating Sonagiri the very earth becomes extremely pure by coming into contact with the dust of one’s feet. At every point of the compass one should meditate and bring the palms together in praise and reverence. One should walk carefully, slowly and noiselessly. Before setting out a bath should be taken, clean clothes should be put on, sacred ash applied on the body, and rudraksha beads worn. While circumambulating one should meditate on Siva. Thousands of invisible manus, devatas, siddhapurushas and others accompany a devotee who circumambulates in this manner.
Therefore a wise man should, even amidst a crowd, tread with great care regarding the Hill as divine. One may also walk in the company of devotees singing the sacred names of Siva and dancing. Alms should be given on the way according to one’s means and one should remember Siva in the heart with love and devotion.

This Hill is incomprehensible, being beyond speech and thought. It is unapproachable, being a mass of fire. It is the Absolute and therefore called the Supreme.

A devotee who circumambulates the Hill on a Sunday penetrates the region of the Sun and attains Liberation. He gains the world of Siva. He who circumambulates the Hill on a Monday lives free from the afflictions of old age and death. He who circumambulates the Hill on a Tuesday is released from all debts and becomes an emperor. If pradakshina is done on Wednesday, he becomes omniscient and wise; on Thursday, he is worshipped by all the devas and attains fame as a guru. Circumambulation on a Friday brings prosperity and takes him to the abode of Vishnu; a Saturday pradakshina brings worldly success and averts the ill-effects threatened by the planets in one’s horoscope. If those who suffer from physical and mental ailments, as well as those who are weak and emaciated, circumambulate Me, their ailments are cured.

The nakshatras (stars) and the devatas (deities) presiding over the planets favour those who circumambulate the Hill. Tithi, karana, yoga, muhurta, hora etc., (divisions of time) are also favourably disposed.

The sound pra in the word pradakshina (circumambulation) means rooting out sins, da, granting desires, kshi, obliterating the fruits of karma and na, bestowing Liberation. This is the real meaning of the word pradakshina.

Posted by Anas Z. Talhouni at 15:20:58 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Saturday, April 26, 2008

What would be your three wishes if you find the genie of the lamp?

Posted by Anas Z. Talhouni at 10:19:26 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Strike in Amman ??, ADPTD

 I came across this facebook group/event that is calling for a general strike in Jordan on the 4th of May to protest on the continuous increase of prices.

Their goals as they state in the group are:
1. To force the government to make real actions in order to stop the inflation of prices. (As if the government hasn’t tried, and still trying, all what it can do about it)

2. Keep the prices of Gas and electricity as it is currently. (As if it is in the hand of the government the increase of Oil prices around the globe)

3. Stop selling national’s properties. (A lot of Jordanians are concerned about this issue. It has some advantages and some disadvantage. Requires a long debate here)

4. Forcing private sector to increase the prices of their employees. (How wise that would be? The government did already pushed private sector to do so, but they can’t really force anyone)

They are calling people to stay at their homes on the 4th of May till 11:00 AM, and not go to work. They claim that this is a civilized way for protesting without causing a real trouble altough at the very first of their message they say that this call is for the eyes of Jordan and for the support of those who striked in Egypt!! Why are we striking for the Egyptians??!

I am all for civilized reactions and communication with the government for any cause, but I really wonder how much such strike can cause? If you read the newspaper, you would tell that the government is concerned about the inflation of prices more than anyone and they are trying their best to limit its effect by different means. King Abdulla himself interfered more than once and gave direct orders to the government to take certain actions.

Reality is that what is happening is a global crisis. The inflation of oil prices is affecting everyone. We are not immune to that, and such strikes won’t solve the problem. What we can do is try to decrease our expenses and produce more. Strikes would only make a bad situation worse in this case.

They call the strike, the stike of the honorable men! To me honorable men are the ones who work hard to make a good life for their families, not those who whine for the government to feed them.

What is ironic that this facebook group contains many member of the upper class of society where I doubt such inflation in prices have a major effect on their lives! Some of the members in my own contact friends list do drive mercedes and live at the very riches neighbourhood in West Amman!

I don’t like to use the term ‘faffies’, but if the spoiled youngsters of west amman is calling for a strike for the inflation of prices, what are the other Jordanians living around the country doing to deal with this crisis? Are they working their ass off to meet theirs and their children basic needs?

Posted by Anas Z. Talhouni at 14:07:02 | Permalink | Comments (1) »

Saturday, April 19, 2008

This is what I call it a blog article, King Talal by Anas Talhouni

Thurs. while I was waiting for my friend to come, I saw that old good looking guy, he looks like a typical Jordanian who I was looking for to take a picture of him, so without any hesitation I went and asked him if I can take pics of him, and he told YES…

Then I sat beside him and told him to tell me a story, and without any E A O, he told me the following…

He told me that he want to tell me a story about King Talal of Jordan, I was excited because I never heard any story of him, and I feel like he has a lot of stories, so he started by telling me

“while King Talal was our ruler and king in Jordan, he used to dress up like beggars and go inside Amman streets and evaluate people, one day while he was going to the TAMWEEN, where the Government give Sugar and Rice, “Abu Adeeb” was there with him, the TAMWEEN was in Al- Mesdar beside the Tobacco CO. anyways the policeman there was talking and letting girls go in, neglecting all these old men and women, King Talal then went to the police station, the in charge policeman there was Shaher Abadi, Mr. Abadi said “welcome Hagi how can I help you” and king Talal said: there was a policeman who is chitchatting with girls and is not doing the exact job he should do, Mr. Abadi smelled something wrong and knew that the beggar was King Talal, and Mr. Abadi ran to get that policeman from there, and start asking and investigating, the policeman denied any of this, so Mr. Abadi took him inside and throw that dirty water and told him to stand still, in front of you is King Talal, the policeman was crying for forgiveness, by the way he is from a well known family in Salt, and he promised he wont do this again”

 

My point of mentioning this story, always give the right to the people, and always do what is right, even if you want to do something wrong, do it but know that there is a god up there looking at you…

King Talal was a real man, there were no security police in any of Amman streets, he was there all the time on his horse checking on people, looking after them

All what I can say is May your soul rest in peace King Talal, and may those days come back again… I wish I was there these days (that was my dream)

Posted by Anas Z. Talhouni at 10:40:37 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Amaaaa Of its has been 1 year

who believes that one full year has been pasted hence i first opened my BLOG
indeed days move so fast…

in here i would like to tell you I’m sorry coz i wasnt that good bloger, and wasnt possting everything, i have a lot though to share with you and discuss with you guys out there…

i wish i would be more active for the next up coming years, yet would like to confirm that i wont close this window where i and any of you can share thoughts… :)

Posted by Anas Z. Talhouni at 14:26:01 | Permalink | Comments (2)