I was watching the story arc detailed in Vighnaharta Ganesh where Bandasura is battling Parashakti and all of the goddesses. In Episode 576, Bandasur evokes the asura (demon) named Rogastrasur who spews all manner of diseases upon the army of goddesses.
The make up and special effects artists took pains to make the young vibrant actresses appear to age and to succumb to fearsomely gruesome diseases. Just when you think all is lost, Mata appears superimposed over the arms of each goddess like a tattoo. Then Sri Ganesh narrates all creatures have the Goddess residing within them. Then he says, that those who invoke the name of the Goddess (alas this part wasn’t properly translated) and chant
ACHYUT ANAND GOVIND SLOKA
will be cured of their diseases. THAT caught my attention and sent me on a search for several hours. The first thing I had to do was figure out if a sloka was the same as a mantra only sung. This article explains that it is.
The next step was to find out if anyone had recorded it and luckily, I found an OUTSTANDING, renowned singer named Jayateerth Mevundi. Better yet I found Mr. Mevundi performing the sloka. However, I could not make out what he was singing except for the words “Achyuth Anantha Govinda”.I did a few more searches and found all of the words but with a “meaning” that did not make sense. I wanted what I think of as a real translation.
For example, this post was very interesting but it did not translate the words.
I literally prayed and switched search engines and found this incredible blogger who used this mantra in one of his lessons on how to learn Sanskrit through slokas. I kid you not! It was his second lesson.
And the words used in the lesson matched up with what I was hearing being sung on the first track of an entire album called Healing Mantras for Arthritis. Since I have osteoarthritis, I couldn’t believe my good luck.
Here are the screen shots from this wonderful blog entry by Rangarajan Parthasarathy because he has formatted this so well, I do not think I should even try to quote it. All of a sudden the strange “meaning” I found on other sites, made sense! The sloka really does state that this is the truth or I speak the truth. The comments on this sloka on various sites were interesting in that there were first hand accounts of how reciting this properly “cured” or at least greatly alleviated ailments.
I highly recommend you check out Rangarajan Parthasarathy‘s blog. He writes that with Thedal, he becomes one with the universe and he is hoping that his search will help him discover the eternal truth. Please join him as he traverses through the universe across temples, philosophies and science!
Apparently, I’m not the only one with the same vision, mission, goals, and objectives for blogging about these topics!
My late mother (1917-2001) loved pixies. She absolutely LOVED telling me stories about pixies painting autumn leaves. We had a fantastic issue of Ideal magazine with a perfect painting of pixies doing just that – painting leaves but in one of the moves, I felt I would never have anyone to share the issue with so I gave it away. Don’t you hate that? Usually a week to a month after throwing something out, you find you really need it back.
But there are so many wonderful websites and Facebook pages about the Fae now that I hope I’ll find that issue online again. No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a faerie, but I have definitely sensed a presence in flower gardens and forests. My whole life I’ve LOVED LOVED LOVED creeks (streams, brooks) – any body of water with stones so you can skip across and not get too wet.
Tinkerbell fascinated me when I first saw it. No! I’m not THAT old to have seen it when it was first released in 1953! But my great love was Peter Pan himself – and there’s the question – WHAT was Peter Pan? Certainly not a human child. If you want to ruin your mood, you can search the literary criticism section in a library but I suggest you avoid that and think of Pan as an elf or nature spirit of some sort. He is, afterall, a literary creation and NOT a REAL faerie!
Which brings me to the AMAZING body of work by Elysia who lives in India. I suppose I should not be surprised that I am typing right now during the Third Quarter Moon in Capricorn when Chandra-dev (if you’re in India) or Luna’s face is illuminated on the left side in the Northern Hemisphere while in shadow in the Southern hemisphere. The MIRROR image of the face in shadow on the right and on the left Down Under might REFLECT the very nature of faeries. Illusive, sometimes seen in broad daylight and sometimes only in shadow!
And who better to describe the many faeries and their worlds (realms) than Elysia who believes whole heartedly that she is a faerie who has incarnated or reincarnated or taken a rebirth as a human. She even has a SCHOOL where she teaches about everything faerie and an online shop. She speaks with the most charming voice and uses background music and illustrations that just lull you into her world. Her most recent video, I am a Fairy, living in a City (India) could, I think, win a short film award for cinematography.
I started my blog and had already announced to the world my intention to write about faeries when lo’ and behold Joshua P. Warren spent an entire hour on his March 23, 2021 I Heart Radio weekly podcast Strange Things to encounters with “Little People” . Josh doesn’t mess around with tales from books. Oh, NO, he reads emails he has received or relates first hand accounts he has been told in person. If you don’t have the time to listen any other podcasts Joshua has done, this one, is a MUST!
12 inch high to two foot high perfectly proportioned humans wearing brown or tan clothing and old fashioned hats! Or the account (notice I am deliberately avoiding the English word “story” as that is often fiction) by a lady who for years was haunted by seeing a little man. Then long after the Harry Potter movies had gone to VHS, she finally decided to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and freaked out during this scene in Gringotts Bank for the goblins created by the team at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop! For there on the screen in front of her was a creature that looked exactly like the one she had seen years and years before IN PERSON in the flesh or at least what we believe is flesh in 3D. But these “creatures” can fade out or blink out or just vanish into thin air as we say. So are they from another realm or dimension or parallel universe or another time?
I first discovered John Curtis Crawford and Bridget Wolfe while searching for something to watch on Amazon Prime. I think this was a suggestion and it was, no pun intended, MAGICAL!Gateways To Faerie – Discover A Hidden Realm of Mystery, Magic and Wonderis beautifully filmed in a forest in Oregon where you walk alongside Curtis as he talks about how he searches for stones and twigs and forest objects to use to build Fairy Houses. Not those cheap ones you can buy at a box store or even the pricey ones online that I bought for my garden and then couldn’t put them outside because I discovered fine print “not for outdoor use” once I got them home. NO NO! These cost hundreds of dollars but are masterpieces of craftmanship. Alas, by the time I found the film, Curtis had retired and was no longer hosting make a house workshops.
BUT you can browse their website and maybe create something like this!
The point is, this couple firmly believe they have seen faeries, live with faeries, and so do many, if not all, of the people who have attended their workshops. These fae are much loved. But what about the ones that have been vilified? Which brings me to an exchange I had during the Moonology Challenge with a lady I met through the comments. Somehow the word Siddhe came up. And a flood of memories came back about the film and the book Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
I watched it on Amazon, I believe, with my two best friends. We were captivated and scared poopless. I sent for the book through Interlibrary loan the following week. The book took forever to get here and then I had to renew it twice. The hardcover is 782 pages and is quite heavy. It is 1,000 times darker than the film version and a lot gorier. In fact, it was a difficult slog at times because Susanna Clarke has a REALLY sadistic streak. The book still haunts me.
But it did not frighten everyone. E.C. Hibbs loved it and delves deep into the tale in the Gentleman and Fairy Folklore!
The Sidhe are portrayed as frightening but are they? This page takes a different view.
And then there is Edmund (Eddie) Lenihan who appears in a fascinating documentary called The Fairy Faith, a John Walker Production. I found a copy of it here if you cannot watch it on Amazon. The most interesting interview was with Eddie whose book, Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland, I do not own YET. However, a preview of the book yielded this list.
Over the years I used to have to hunt for films or even novels that featured the Fae. Now you can literally get lost on YouTube alone! When in one of our lessons, Anheke (Anni) Greystone instructed us to get a tarot deck so we could learn how to use it, I fixated on an out of print deck which I managed to buy brand new on Ebay far above the original price but it is GORGEOUS. You can still find listings like this one. I, luckily, did not pay $200 but it was still pretty expensive.
The deck is, not always, but at times it can provide a scary spot on reading – as in OMG run out of the room scary spot on reading if I ask THEM and not just the usual type of spread.
In Part Two I will leave Ireland behind and jump over to Iceland. See you there!
Dr. Kulreet Chaudharyin her March 2021 new book, Sound Medicine, has a list of mantras inChapter 10. They are:
The Mantra she learned from Amma
Om Gam Ganapatye Namah
Sri Ganesha has many avatars. In the TV series, Vighnaharta Ganesh, the producers appear to belong to what some call the “sect” of Ganapatya. I read an English translation of the Upanishads in college so I think I must have “imprinted” on Sri Ganapatya back in 1973!
Swami Chinmayananda lecture
His Holiness “H.H. Swami Chinmayananda is a world renowned authority of the scriptures of India, especially Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. He was born in 1916 and attained mahasamadhi in 1993. He worked relentlessly for about 40 years to bring about spiritual revival in India and abroad. His unique style and logical approach is appealing to all young and old”. (Vedic Books.Net)Swami Chinamayananda wroteGlory of Ganesh.
Librarians hate to cite secondary sources, especially Wikipedia, but this article about Ganapati Atharvashirsa is very well researched and the footnotes appear to also be properly done. The anonymous writer cites page 125 in Chinmayananda ‘s (1985) Glory of Ganesh
(O Lord Ganapati!) You alone are the visible manifestation of the Essence of the words “That thou art”. You alone are the Doer. You alone are the Creator and the Sustainer (of the universe). You alone are the Destroyer. Verily You alone are all this – “idam sarvam” – in the creation, because You are Brahman. You are the Eternal Atman in bodily form.”
The next mantra Dr. Chaudhary describes is the Saraswati Mantra
OM AIM NAMAHA
The JoyWithin.org website has a nice description with instructions on how to chant the mantra. You can listen to it being chanted 108 times by clicking on Mata Saraswati’s picture.
The next mantra on page 208 is the mantra to Mata Laxmi
OM SRIM NAMAHA
Although I could find Deepak Chopra recommending chanting the mantra with just the three words as in Dr. Chaundhary’s book, most versions are longer. This one is the closest.
Dr. Chaundhary writes that this mantra is believed to increase vigor and vitallity. The Geby Mantra Sounds suggests you “Chant this Devi Laxmi money mantra, use Sphatik mala to chant Laxmi mantra. Use red roses and lotuses while chanting this Devi Laxmi mantra. You can chant the mantra 108 times in the evening and 108 times in the morning. When you are suffering from extreme poverty and want to overcome the situation urgently, chant 5 malas of this Mantra every day. Do this continuously, even after you get your wealth back. BY doing this Devi Laxmi Vedic Mantra, Lakshmi (Money) will be stable in your Life”.
I should also point out that in Vighnaharta Ganesh Lady Laxmi HATES and cannot be around dirt or filth. In a house with a lot of pets, that’s not easy but I believe that she hates dirt and filth in one’s soul but she does serve as a constant reminder to clean the house!
The next mantra (pages 208-209) is the Durga Mantra. Durga is the goddess that defeated Mahishasura. Netflix aired An excellent TV series Maharakshak Devi but,, unforunately, it has expired. It takes place in modern day India. A baby girl is thrown off a bridge into a river by the father as her mother pleads to keep the baby. The babu floats in the river for a short distance and is rescued by the Sage (Guru) Brihaspati (who rules Planet Jupiter). Gauri is raised as a martial artist for the day when she would have to battle all the resurrected asuras (demons). It’s very clever. Gauri is enrolled in a high school where one of the boys takes an unusual interest in her – none other than Mahishasura!I tried to capture a screen shot from Episode 106 of Vighnaharta Ganesh at the moment when Durga kills Mahishasur but the director chose a long distance shot. This “painting” from a Facebook post has all of the motifs from iconography except that Durga usually pierces through the body with a trident.
The Narayani Mantra is explained by Qing Zhou who says she received the mantra directly from the Divine Mother. I assume she received it from Amma. Dr. Chaudhary writes that chanting this mantra helps you to surrender to the divine. It includes all the benefits of chanting the Saraswati, Lakshmi (Laxmi), and Durga mantras combined!
My favorite Gayatri Mantra bijan is sung by Dr.Suresh Wadkar. A compilation of Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings on the mantra can be found by clicking on the mantra.
Vishnu Mantra is described by Haindava TV in their YouTube states that Vishnu known as Narayana is the Supreme God. (including his different avatars. Vishnu is venerated as the Supreme Being in Vaishnavism. He is also known as Vishnu and Hari and is venerated as Purushottama or Supreme Purusha. In Hindu sacred texts such as the Bhagavad Gita the Vedas and the Puranas Narayana is the name of God in his infinite all pervading form. He is the Supreme Purusha of Purusha Sukta.
Another important translation of Narayana is The One who rests on Water. The waters are called narah, [for] the waters are, indeed, produced by Nara-Narayana (the first Being) as they were his first residence [ayana], he is called Narayana. In Sanskrit, “Nara” can also refer to all human beings or living entities (Jivas). Therefore, another meaning of Narayana is Resting place for all living entities. The close association of Narayana with water explains the frequent depiction of Narayana in Hindu art as standing or sitting on an ocean.
In Vighnaharta Ganesh, the CGI effect of being under water when we see Sri Vishnu and his consort, Laxmi is very well done.
The Shiva Mantra connects us to all five elements and harmonizes all the chakras in the body, bringing balance to the entire body and mind. Click on the mantra to hear Sadguru chant the manta 108 times.
I have followed Jaggi Vasudev (born 3 September 1957), known publicly as Sadhguru for a very long time. One because he takes those who can afford to and who can endure the rigors of the trip to Lake Manasarovar at the base of Mount Kailash – something I would love to do but simply cannot and two because he has a very easy going teaching style. Here is is chanting the mantra.
OM SHREE DHANVANTRE NAMAHA
According to Dr. Chaudhary, this mantra to Dhanvanttari is of one of the principle Sanskrit healing mantras. An excellent article about Dhanvantari is written by students of the Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula in Boulder, Colorado. Here is an excerpt:
“Bhagavata Purana states that Dhanvantari emerged from the Ocean of Milk and appeared with the pot of amrita (nectar) during the story of the Samudra (or) Sagara Mathana whilst the ocean was being churned by the Devas and Asuras, using the Mandara mountain and the serpent Vasuki. The pot of Amrita was snatched by the Asuras, and after this event another avatar, Mohini, appears and takes the nectar back from the Asuras.
It is also believed that Dhanvantari promulgated the practise of Ayurveda. According to the Charaka Samhita, the knowledge of Ayurveda is eternal and is revealed in each of the cycles of creation of the universe. When needed, Lord Vishnu himself incarnates as Lord Dhanvantari and reestablishes the tradition of Ayurveda in the world to help relieve some of humanity’s suffering”.
In August 20I6 I was able to obtain 5 yantras. This is Dhanvantari’s. It is made of pure copper and blessed using my full birth name, time of birth, month, day, and year and other information. It resides on my mandir along with the gold yantras. A small Ganesh yantra with a I wear on a chain with a drop shaped moldavite everyday.
Haindava TV chants the mantra as well. The description on the YouTube video reads:
Dhanvantari (Sanskrit: धन्वन्तरि) is an Avatar of Vishnu from the Hindu tradition. He appears in the Vedas and Puranas as the physician of the gods (devas), and the god of Ayurvedic medicine. It is common practice in Hinduism for worshipers to pray to Dhanvantari seeking his blessings for sound health for themselves and/or others, especially on Dhanteras.
Dhanvantari is depicted as Vishnu with four hands, holding Shankh , Sudarshan Chakra, Jalouka (Leech ) and a pot containing rejuvenating nectar called amrita in another. He is often shown with a leech in his hand rather than the scriptures. Bhagavapurana states that Dhanavantari emerged from the Ocean of Milk and appeared with the pot of nectar during the story of the Samudra or Sagar manthan whilst the ocean was being churned by the devas and asuras, using theMandara mountain and the serpent Vasuki. The pot of Amrita was snatched by the Asuras or Demons, and after this event another avatar, Mohini, appears and takes the nectar back from the Asuras. It is also believed that Dhanvantari promulgated the medical science of Ayurveda. His birthday is celebrated by the practitioners of Ayurveda every year, on Dhanteras, two days before Diwali, the Hindu festival of Lights. In the Samudra manthan, Dhanvantari appears with Amrita, Shankha, Chakra and Jalauka(leech), in each of his four hands.
I created a Playlist on YouTube so you do not have to click on each link unless you wish to.
After attending the first six of Yasmin Boland’s March 2021 Moonology Challenge hosted on Facebook and seeing how many participants were getting lost and/or did not have the shared “mystical” background to understand the mantras or astrological charts nor the reading and studying to appreciate references to Sri Ganesha or Mata Laxmi, I finally overrode the late Sufi Idries Shah’s advice and to start my own blog. Taoists and Sufis and maybe others say that if you feel the urge to teach, go back into the forest or climb a mountain or sit yourself back down and wait. It’s not time. But when you are old and wise and are pretty sure you have at least mastered enough to guide others, then and ONLY then can you teach. I think it is now time for me to share what I know with others.
About 5 years ago, I searched image databases for pictures for my husband to go with a medicine bag I put together for hm for his birthday. He LOVES ravens and crows so I searched for a deity who is associated with corvids. I had never heard of Shani before – god of Saturn. But there he was riding on a giant crow.
I kept a glossy copy but really didn’t think much more about it. UNTIL a few things happened.
ONE: After watching Craig Hamilton-Parker’s documentary Mystic Journey to India on Amazon Prime, I finally ordered his book and read it on my back deck during the COVID 19 lockdown in the summer of 2020. Craig writes that one of the remedies that he was supposed to perform according to specific instructions in the NAADI leaves written about him many thousands of years go, was to feed birds.
Oddly enough, I had ONLY just gotten a bird feeder and had it hung in the front garden bed. When we toured our house with the realtor, my husband warned me not to buy it because he saw the neighbors across the street and said they would be a nightmare. Well, they were. Their dogs killed my 4.5 pound Pomeranian in November 2013 after, I found out, killing the rancher’s goat, and biting another neighbor’s dog. No one reported them to the police but we did.
And that’s when the first round of retaliation began. But it wasn’t until October 2018 when their dogs attacked my handyman and we both signed complaints that they got a ticket. As soon as the sheriff left the neighborhood, they called my handyman when he went out to his truck and told him that every time I stepped out of my house they were going to be on my ass. We both went downtown and filed restraining orders which they ignored. The sheriff was stretched thin and the judges here are very lenient but finally the district attorney got the judge to charge them with harassment They were both given suspended sentences in December 2019.
I was FURIOUS and disgusted. But things started to change AFTER I put up the bird feeder in May 2020.
Shani-dev, I learned, is the god of the planet Saturn and when he gazes at you, all hell can break loose. My seven years of being harassed was coming to an end. In fact it all ended on November 14, 2020 when they moved. But let me back up.
Vighnaharta Ganesh has a long story arc about Shani-Dev (Episodes 428-448). In Episode 436, Indra-dev tries to escape Saturn’s gaze and fails miserably.
Sony prevents making clips from even YouTube but here are some screen shots of the incredible CGI. In episode 436, we get to see JUST the shadow of Shani-de with his trident and the outline of a giant crow chasing Indra-dev down one corridor after another as Indra panics in dred fear. Indra, as many of you know, is the KING of the gods and yet he is TERRIFIED of Saturn’s gaze. He teleports into a fortified inner sanctum but when he falls asleep he dreams the crows are attacking him. He then flees back out into the palace and as he passes by an opening in the screen he looks straight into the gaze and he is beset with misery. It was one of the most chilling story arcs in the entire series.
“Questioner: Sadhguru, why are women not being allowed into certain temples? For example, now with the Shani temple. Why this discrimination?
Sadhguru: At Linga Bhairavi, men are not allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum, but they never protest. They are married and domesticated – they have been trained not to protest against anything (laughter).
It needs to be understood that these temples are not places of prayer – they are different types of energies. Since we are aware that the planets in the solar system have an impact upon our physiology, our psychological structure, and the context of our lives, we have created temples for the different planets.
Based on the time and date of your birth, and the latitude and longitude of your place of birth, Indian astrologers make complex calculations to see which planets have the greatest influence on your life. These things are relevant to you to some extent. However, if you have access to inner technology, it will level out these planetary impacts.
Shani or Saturn, which is a faraway planet, takes 30 years to complete one revolution around the sun. Considering the revolutions of Saturn and those of the Earth, and your birth details, they can calculate what impact Saturn has on you at different times of your life”.
And what about feeding birds? Craig was simply told to feed them but he did not go into much detail in his book. But it turns out that
“Feeding the birds helps to remove the graha doshas existing in the Kundali. Not only this, it also pleases Lord Shani Deva. He is said to remove all the hurdles from the person’s life and helps him achieve success”. This excerpt is from Boldsky but you can find much more about how the simple act of keeping a bird feeder filled and remembering to say Shani-dev’s mantra on Saturdays can make a BIG DIFFERENCE in warding off the malefic effects of SATURN.
A glossy print out of Shani-dev now sits atop a wall curio that houses crystals I use for meditation. I often forget to honor him on Saturdays but I hope this blog entry will reinforce my intention to pay close attention to Saturn as he travels through the 12 houses of my chart and to never let the bird feeder go empty!
Librarian's Guide to the Multiverse! 