Q)  Do all the avatars occur in every manvantara or how often do they occur? For example, Sri Ramachandra occurred in 24th treta Yuga, which I think would be approximately 14 million years ago per Yuga calculations, correct? Does he also descend at any other time in this Vaiwasvata Manvantara or in any other manvantara of this present kalpa? 

 

A)  All avatharas will not descend in each yuga. There is no specific cycle for each avathara, it seems. Whenever there is need then only that particular avathara comes. And those avatharas are also not all what we know.  Same rama avathara will not come. We need to research on this issue.
 
Q)  I would like to know about this year KrishnaAshtami dates. Usually there will be two days one is celebrated in north India and one celebrated in Vaishanva temples in Andhra Pradesh.
 
A)     Krishnashtami or " Sri Jayanthi " as Sri Vaishnavites call it, should be celebrated, in a day when during the sun's stays in simha rasi, and when rohini star or ashtami thitthi, stay without any pollution.  Pollution means, by the time of sun raise, that particular star or thitthi, enjoining with the previous one. They call it as "viddha"     to celebrate the function, out of both thithhi and star, which ever will remain long will only be considered to be the one for function. If that remains in the morning that is enough then it will be there during midnight, but that day can be taken "pure" for performing the function. it is because the Krishna’s janm sloka says "simha ra:sow asithe: pakshe: ro:hinya:m ashtami: thitthow charama:rttha prada:tha:ram krushnam vande: jagad gurum”.

        Now on 15th or 16th of august, simha rasi entrance to sun has not happened at all. He is still in karkataka rasi. He is entering into simha ra:si on 17th in the evening at 6.48 pm. so performing his function in august, is not proper.  During September, on 15th sun is in simha rasi, though pure rohini was on previous day, but ashtami got polluted on 14th, hence that day is not good, whichever will remain till end can be taken, so, ashtami stays on 15h also and that too without any pollution, so "15th September" will be our "sri jayanthi' day.
 
Q)  I would like to find out the procedure to bring a "salagrAma sila" from India to US.
 
A)     First of all, the person who carries should have passport, visa and purchase a ticket and then while carrying bags, some will go in cargo, and some will go in hand. Salagramam should be carried in the hand baggage only. While in the transit, he will not demand from the person carries, of course, even after also he doesn't. but for our satisfaction, we offer everything after offering abhishekam.
 
Q) Respected Bhagavathas, I would like to know the origin composer of Sri Srinivasa Gadyam.
 
A)  It was Sriman " Prathivadi Bhayankaram Annan Swamy Only, We Suppose, Who Composed Srivenkateswara Suprabhatham Etc.,
 
Q) Based on puraanas, do we know the history of prior Kali Yugas in this Vaiwasvata Manvantara. Does Kalki Avatar happen in every Kali Yuga ?
 
A)  It seems kalki avathara comes at the end of each kaliyuga, according to the srimath bhagavatham. how it comes and what it does is described in bhagavatham.  This may happen in each kaliyuga it appears. basing on that only the great sage veda vyasa written about the appearance of kalki avatharam. 71 kali yugas will be repeated in each manvanthra. We are in 28th kaliyuga. so, kalki avathara might have come 27 times already, according to the puranam.
Q) I have a question which has been left unanswered by many religious speakers whom I have asked about conducting the Kalyanam of Radha with Lord Krishna. Is Radha Krishna Kalyanm celebrated
A) No. it is not. according to original srimad bhagavatham, composed by the great sage veda vyasa, there is no character called as "radha" at all. The mention of radha is available in rajasa purana like 'brahma vaivartha puranam'.  We can take 'radha' as a symbol of devotee with selfless devotion. In Sanskrit "radh" means to please. The devotion of one, who pleased lord with his heart, deed and word, will be called as radha. Because the word 'devotion' is in feminine gender, so the word 'radha' also became a feminine gender word. When a character is personified that character became 'lady radha'. How lord loves such a devotee and how such devotee is merged in lord, is seen in radha-Krishna. Hence radha is not really a person, it appears. That is the reason why kalyanam is not performed to them. It is done to those who were really there during his period.
Q) Jeeyar Thiruvadigalle Saranam. My name is Srikant, I am from Visakhapatnam, India. I would be very thankful if anyone can enlighten me in the following doubt: Sri Govinda Raja in tirupati is brought from Chidambaram. But in some books it is said that only Utsava Murthi is brought and the moolavar at chidambaram is destroyed by Chola king, Krimikata. Some believe the moolavar was also brought and is installed by Sri Ramanuja. Others say that as the moolavar was damaged during transit, it was submerged in sea and another idol made of chalk powder is installed, hence the abishekam is only with oil.Pray let me know the real and authentic version.

A)  Krimikantta chola damaged the mulavar, and disposed into the sea. Utsavar was brought to tirupathi. Having known that incident, acharya ramanuja swamy constructed a temple in down-hills to that govindaraja swamy and the mulavar was prepared with lime-mortar (suddha murthy) and consecrated the temple, making every tradition to be observed. The songs of alwars that are allotted to that chidambaram perumal, who was traditionally called as thiru chittarakuta perumal, should be offered to this deity here.
Q) May 14th is mothers' day. For us, every day is mothers' day, for goddess Lakshmi is always taking care of us while interceding between us and god. But for westt is only one day they allot for mothers. Pity for them. Yet we are sending
herewith a prayer that reveals the greatness of the namaskaram offered to the mother.
A) "Thandri kante: kolachu daivammu kante nu Gurula kante sarva surula kanteli pa:damulaku thalavanchi mrokkina Kara hala:malakamu laraya sirulu" meaning "prostrating before mothers divine feet is the result of greater virtues, for it is greater than prostrating before father, before worshipping god, before gurus or before all the devathas. Bowing before mother, showers all the wealth at our doorstep".       
Q)  Why do we get dreams? What do divine visions mean? Because I often get divine visions.  Is there any step to be taken?
A)  dreams are the results of our previous karmas, created by god only. If they are good, remember that God is allowing some good karma to be consumed. If one gets bad dreams, then god is removing some bad karma from the store room. They maylead to some result, on which you need not think much and bother you, but he happy that god allowed you to reduce some load of karmas. In bhagavad githa lord Krishna clearly said 'matthas smruthir jna:nam apo:hanamcha' which means from me alone, new things are known by one, already known things are recollected and something known is also forgotten. All these arezder lord's control only.    For some people god shows certain things just before they might occur. This is what people call as divine vision. Some people are able to guess the future exactly, because of the lord's grace. A few people will remember god behind and will be grateful to him, but many forget god behind and pose as if they are gods. Then the problem starts. Divine vision if given by god, be happy and appreciate the grace of god on you.
Q)  We are from Columbus, OH. We came to know that You are gracing the Hindu temple in Cincinnati and performing the Srinivasa Kalyanam. We are very much interested to participate but we don’t know whether we can participate because my husband's father expired in Nov,2005. We were told last year not to observe any festivals or perform any special pujas like Satyanarayana Vratha for a year. Does this hold good for Kalyanam too? Even if we can’t perform the puja, can we at least watch it and accept Your Blessings? Some told us not to accept "Satari" at the temple and some told there are no such restrictions. We don’t know what to follow and what not to follow. We humbly request you to kindly enlighten us.
A) we are happy for your interest. According to vaishnava sampradayam, after 13 days of the ceremony, it is performed paramapada utsavam". It that is done that departed soul, children of the departed soul, can go to temples and do all simple pujas without any hesitation. Many people won't do that utsavam, they need to observe the restriction of not going to temple and do pujas or any functions etc., for one year. Which they call as "samvatsara su:thakam" we think that rule may be observed up to at least 6 months in other countries by Indians.
Q)  Please enlighten us in this contest what to do and what not do, at the time of either birth or death in a family. please let us know why these are done what they signify.

A) When there is birth or death in a family, the whole family gets "a:soucham" which means it gets polluted. This pollution continues for about 10 days or so. It may change in some cases. We do not want to go to those details. The pollution affects during birth of a new baby is called "ja:tha a:soucham", where as the pollution affects of death is called "mrutha a:soucham". For both of them one should observe. Many people think that mrutha:soucham is to be observed, but not the ja:tha:soucham. But it is said that ja:tha:soucham is more severe than the mrutha:soucham. How and at what level it effects, is not our topic of discussion. As you know well that if a telephone tower is affected all the cell phones in that area get affected. That may be taken as an analogy.  For your information scripture (sa:sthram) never gives explanations why to do. It simply orders what to do and how to do. Giving explanations is only for our satisfaction and in our limited understanding. That may be correct or not. Yet, the dictum should be observed and followed.  Otherwise, it says you receive punishment in some or the other way.
Q)  Dreams : Why do these dreams occur when we are asleep?  Why does the person feel the dream as real?  What is the purpose of dreams created by Lord?  Do dreams foretell the future? Do dreams convey any useful information to us or not? One day I got the dream depicting Sri Ranganatha swami I had seen only his face and I am standing before him and I am looking very small. What does this dream tell me about? Before the day I got dream I read a book about srirangam.

A)  Dreams are the creations of god, to consume our past karmas of certain category. Karmas are divided into 3 categories. Big, mid and small. Big are enjoyed in the external world, whether they are good or bad. All mid will be sent for store room, for next birth. Small will be allowed for dreams to bother and consume. They are not under our control but under God’s control. They are as real as the external world. They will certainly foretell about few things, but not necessarily as we have seen then. You may see something that might appear in some other form in the world. Like, you see the clouds and it rains later. Thus you predict that clouds are the indicators for rain. Like that, some scenes you see during dreams, you experience something, for you have consumed some portion of the karma. As we are not creators of the external world, so also the inner world. As we can manipulate only some portion of the external world, so also by doing some sadhana, we also can manipulate some portions of the karmas and avoid evil effects of dreams. Some dreams are to be cared and some have to be ignored. You are blessed for seeing lord in your dreams. It shows that you are going to get something good. Be happy. When you are seen small, it means that you are unnecessarily feeling that you are great, and he wants you to know that you are really not. Apply it to the events you are going to experience. Ok!
Q)  Another question is about chicken pox which is called as ammavaru,pongu,atlamu in our Andhra Pradesh.  Many people say that this will come to a person if he or she liked by durga Matha is it correct.  Is anything is mentioned about it in Vedas? 

A) No it is a health hazard. Not any godly impact. So taking good care and using proper medicine, will take care. No need to satisfy any god or goddess by unwanted offerings like meat etc.My mother showed my jathakam to a person who is well known in jathakams.  He told that the Lord Shani will affect me for two years and he told some procedures must be done to reduce the effect of Shani by doing shani japas in the temple.Since I had taken vaisnava diksha from gaudiya vaishnavism order My mind is telling to do japa of Hare Krishna mantra and not bother about Lord shani japas.
Q)  I recently found an article(very brief) on Ashta-Mukha-Ganda-Bherunda-NRsimha. With some Google search, I could get some info that there is a temple of this scary form of paramatma in Andhra at Yadagiri-gutta. I am a srivaishnava from karnataka and my knowledge of Andhra and my devotion is limited to Tirumala and its lord. Could someone in the group kindly enlighten me on this aspect of Lord? I also read that this form is more tantric in nature. Is that so? If so, can srivaishnavas learn more about him?

A)  Yadagiri gutta is a 100 km distance temple from Hyderabad. Lord Lakshmi Narasimha is there in five forms. One among them is ganda bherunda Narasimha swamy. This form is not clearly visible to the visiting devotees as this is under a stone. Lord here it says, is a self-incarnated one. There in that temple he is worshipped according to sri pancharatra only not in tantric way of worship.
 

Q) Who said vedic knowledge could not be obtained by women and non-Brahmins?

A)  One whoever is interested can get the vedic essence. The restriction is only to chant vedic manthras from the beginning to end. Because they are involved with intonation i.e. Swaras. Mantra will not add any stress on the uterus of women. That is very un-scientific. As other wont perform Sandhyavandhan three times a day, they asked not to chant the manthras from ve:das. but they can always learn the meaning and other details of the Vedas and practice them. Smruthis are valid for all the ages. But how much you need to take from each that is what one needs to understand. Every Smruthy has its own relevance.
Q) I would like to know about reincarnation of our soul. From my understanding, depending on the good things we do in this birth, we will be reborn in a better form, and when we learn to realize the greatness of GOD, our soul goes back to GOD. I do not understand this correctly, could you please explain this? What should anyone do to end the cycle of rebirth and go back to GOD?

A)   When we say any birth of God, we call it is re-incarnation. But when it comes to us, human beings, it is called re-birth. We take re-birth not by our choice. It is by the force of karma we perform. That karma has been accumulated since so many births, which we never count. Not only we, even God cannot count, it seems. That is why, He said in the 4th chapter of Bhagavad Gita he said "bahu:ni may vyathi:ta:ni janma:ni thava cha Arjuna" That means lot of janmas have been passed to the soul and to God also. He used the word "bahu:ni" is interesting. "so many". Why should He to say like that? It means even He cannot say the number of the births the soul has taken and also the Incarnations He also has taken to save these souls.
Until & unless the karma has been totally exhausted, this soul cannot reach God. Till then, good karmas lead to good births and bad ones, to inferior births, viz., animal, plants, creators, stones and dust etc. Your statement has to be corrected a little. When we learn to realize, we won't go to God. After realization one needs to cross through so many births and should continue the same way by different ways of practices and penances. Then there may be a chance to reach Him. As it is said,

           "janma:nthara sahasre:shu thapo: jna:na sama:dibhihi,
            nara:na:m kshe:na punya:nam  krushne:  bhakthih praja:yathay"

So, good karma leads definitely to good births and that it is not the end of the cycle of birth & death. It continues further ahead. But, when one surrenders totally to the lotus feet of the Lord Lakshmi Na:ra:yana through a right A:cha:rya, then all the previous karmas of that particular soul will be burnt to ashes. Whatever karmas he does, after surrenderance to God, are not going to be attached to him, because, he does with a thought of dedication i.e., krishna:rpana buddhi. So, he need not reap the fruits of the future karmas. Existing karmas, which formed the body viz., pra:rabdha karmas, are necessary to be experienced and soon after, they are finished, the present body will get dropped and the Soul will be taken away by the Lord Himself directly to His Divine Abode. Thus the soul gets Mukthi or ultimate salvation.