Sky Awareness Week on April, 2024: Everything is a national something day, What is April 18th, 19th, 20th and July 10th?
Sky Awareness Week 2024. Stargazing Adventures John Mosley media appearances Stargazing Adventures John
You need Chase's Calendar of Events
You might find a copy at your local library.
Apr 18,2009
Zimbabwe: Independence Day
Adult Autism Awareness Day
International Amateur Radio Day
National Auctioneers Day
Record Store Day
Teach Your Daughter To Volunteer Day
National Wildlife Week begins (Apr 18-26).
NAB 2009/National Broadcasters Convention begins at Las Vegas, NV (Apr 18-23). See www.nabshow.com
Apr 19, 2009
Pascha (Orthodox Easter Sunday)
Divine Mercy Sunday (Catholic)
1775: The Battle of Lexington and Concord
1943: Warsaw Ghetto Revolt
1989: Explosion on the USS Iowa
1995: Oklahoma City Bombing
Sierra Leone: National Holiday
Swaziland: King’s Birthday
Uruguay: Landing of the 33 Patriots Day
John Parker Day
National Hanging Out Day
Patriots’ Day in Florida
Administrative Professionals Week begins (Apr 19-25).
National Coin Week begins (Apr 19-25).
National Karaoke Week begins (Apr 19-25).
National Playground Safety Week begins (Apr 19-25).
National Volunteer Week begins (Apr 19-25).
Police Officers Who Gave Their Lives in the Line of Duty Week begins (Apr 19-25).
Sky Awareness Week begins (Apr 19-25).
Week of the Young Child begins (Apr 19-25).
WOC Nurse Week begins (Apr 19-25).
Apr 20, 2009
Boston Marathon—113th running.
London Book Fair begins (Apr 20-22).
World’s Biggest Fish Fry begins at Paris, TN (Apr 20-26).
Birth anniversary of Tito Puente, The King of the Mambo (1923-2000).
Happy Birthday! Carmen Electra, Nina Foch, Crispin Glover, Jessica Lange, Joey Lawrence, Don Mattingly, Shemar Moore, Ryan O’Neal, Pat Roberts, Steve Spurrier, John Paul Stevens
(April 20 is also Hitler's Birthday, Columbine Massacre Day, and Marijuana Day.)
July 10 Clerihew Day
July 10 National Piña Colada Day
And you might find one or two other interesting days here:
Apr 18 Pet Owner's Independence Day
July 10 Don't Step on a Bee Day
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad - Upanishad week - Hinduism - Do you know about this great and primary Upanishad?
The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad is one of the older, "primary" (mukhya) Upanishads. It is contained within the Shatapatha Brahmana, and its status as an independent Upanishad may be considered a secondary extraction of a portion of the Brahmana text. This makes it one of the oldest texts of the Upanishad corpus. It is largely the oldest Upanishad, excluding some parts which were composed after the Chandogya and the largely neglected Jaiminiya Upanisad Brahmana. It is associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It figures as number 10 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads and was notably commented upon by Adi Shankara.
The last five chapters from the fourteen volume of Shatapatha Brahmana is the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. It is supposedly written by Sri Yogeeswara Yagnavalkya.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is as old as the Shukla Yajur Veda, exact time is unknown. Brhat means big and aranya means forest; together put, it means a book that has many chapters and which should be read in a forest, where there is solitude and peace. It contains deep spiritual knowledge and so it better to read it when there is inner and external peace.
In the ancient times, sages would prefer to meditate in forests; it may be with the same motive. Another reason, why it is called as Brihadaranyaka may possibly be because sage Yagnavalkya wrote it in the forests. That era, sages spent lot of their time in the forests.There are stories, which have dual purpose like one about the senses and the soul. It reveals the nature of the senses and the soul within every individual. And at the same time teaches how to be selfless and detached like the soul, to achieve victory against negative forces. Similarly, there are spiritually enlightening stories that if grasped in its correct sense can dissolve the mysteries of the universe. All the Upanishads are to a certain extent similar to each other. The basic wisdom put forth is about how the imperishable soul is actually a fragment of the divine and every human should work towards realizing this truth instead of running after materialistic pleasures.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is not intended for everybody. It is a cosmic meditation. In the Chhandogya Upanishad we have cosmological meditations which are wonderful by themselves. But in the Brihadaranyaka we have the cosmic meditation. The whole thing is transcendent, beyond ourselves. How would we think of anything that is beyond ourselves? Even when we think of self, we place it within ourselves. My self is inside me. But this great admonition of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says the Self is not within us – it is within everybody, within everything, within all the worlds and the universes. In all space and all time, the Self is there. Can anyone close one's eyes and meditate thus? I am present in a far off distance of a world near the skies above! Can you place yourself in the skies and contemplate from there? But, you may say, 'this is an easy thing, I can do that, I can place myself in the skies', but when you place yourself in the skies, again you are bringing a spatial concept, which is not permitted in the case of the awareness of one's Self.
Never should this meditation be attempted by an impure mind. We are happily conversant with the proclamations of all the religions and philosophies that God is everywhere, Brahman is everywhere, but nobody says that the Self is everywhere. This is a new thing that we hear in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. We feel that the Self cannot be everywhere, It cannot be anywhere except in one's own self.
Idam brahma, idam kshatram, ime lokah, ime devah, imani bhutani, idam sarvam yad ayam atma. "This Source of knowledge; this source of power; all these worlds; all these gods; all these beings – All this is just the Self."
This proclamation is like a Brahma Astra that Sage Yajnavalkya is discharging against every kind of attachment one can conceive in this world. It is somewhat easy to accept that God is everywhere. It becomes easy because we always externalise the location of God, however much we may try to universalise Him. The idea of location in space does not leave us so easily. God is everywhere, this is what we generally believe. The everywhereness of God implies that there is space, and inasmuch as our mind is wedded completely to the concept of spatial expansion, we feel a little bit comforted when we are told that God is everywhere.Now, here, a thunderbolt is discharged by Sage Yajnavalkya when he says the Self also is everywhere. Imani bhutani, idam sarvam yad ayam atma. All the fourteen worlds are the Self. Here we will not find it so easy to accept it, because we cannot spatialise the concept of Self. Our Self cannot be somewhere else, it must be within us only.
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Triha
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Gurus and Acharyas week - Dattatreya - Hinduism - Gurus to Swami Dattatreya - How many gurus to Dattatreya?
The earth, Air, The sky, water, fire, the moon, the sun, a Pigeon.a Python, an Ocean, a moth,
a honey-bee, an elephant, one who takes out honey from bee-hives, a deer, a fish, a harlot whose name was Pingala. A bird of name Kurari in Hindi,A child,The unmarried girl ,a person who prepares arrows for archery,a Snake,a Spider,an insect of name Bhringa in sanskrit.
Earth:From the earth, Dattatreya learned the qualities of forgiveness, unselfishness and the strength to bear burdens.
Air:The air to Dattatreya was a symbol of aliveness, prana carried in its garments.
Sky:The atman resides in the body but it is not the body.
Water:His fourth guru was water. In. its very ordinariness water is extraordinary, It supports all life.
Fire:His fifth guru was fire, which destroys all that is gross. Like the inner fire of awareness that reduces everything to its essence (bhasma), purifying ruthlessly whatever is poured into it, fire reminded him of freedom from the defects of avidya.
Moon:The moon seems to wax and wane, yet there is no intrinsic change in it. Likewise the moods and changes in man are qualities of body and mind, not part of the atman.
Sun:From the sun, that takes water from the ocean by evaporating it and returning it as life-giving rain water, Dattatreya realised that through the sense-organs one can take in the essence of the objects of perception without being obsessed with the external form of the object.
Pigeon:From a pigeon that had little fledglings, which when caught in a net by a hunter, cried piteously, luring the mother to her death, Dattatreya realised the dangers of samskara. Too much involvement in samskara re suits in the destruction of spirituality. It was attachment to the family that was responsible for the destruction of spirituality.
Answers here for the next 9 gurus.
Answers here for the final 7 gurus.
