The Snake Gods of Hinduism

The Snake Gods are adorned and celebrated in all the Hindu temples of the world. From many centuries the Snake Gods have been given prominence in the life of most of the Hindu people. The Female Snake God is called as Nagarani and the Male God as Nagarajan.and idols of both Gods are placed in all the major Hindu temples of India. In some villages of South India, they have been adorned in the live form and their shelter, termite nest, is also kept in many temples of the country. Pariticularly on Fridays they are given raw eggs and milk. The devotees of them put the raw eggs and the cup of milk nearby their shelter and if the snakes are really living there, they will come out in night times to drink the eggs and milk.

Lord Shiva , The Great God of Hinduism, is wearing the God Nagarajan on his neck and Lord Krishna has made the Snake God Adhisheshan as His bed in His home.

The Hindu people are believing that Snake Gods are associated with wealth and healthy life and they will act as great securities when the people meet difficulties in their life. It is also believed that Snake Gods are having separate world and Shri Nagarajan and Shri Nagarani are ruling that world. However The Snake Gods and other Holy Snakes are under the control of major Gods like Lord Shiva and Lord Krishna.

Lord Rahu

Lord Ketu

Shri Rahu and Shri Ketu are also the Great Snake Gods as well as planetry deities of Hinduism. They both get prominence next to Lord Vinayaka in all the Hindu temples. They are described as malefic planets as they are giving great tribulations to the people in case of unfavorable horoscopic positions. They are also associated with many misevents and accidents in the life of Hindu people. This is believed by the devotees that Shri Rahu is the both averter and creator of misevents and accidents in a life. So the people are fearing to face His associated time period of Rahu Kalam, Kalam means certain hours of a day. Faithful worshipping of Shri Rahu would avert any obstacle and accident in the life of the Hindu people. Shri Ketu is associated with Gnan ( Knowledge ) and gives extreme tribulations to whom found lack of Gnan and sense. It is believed in Hindu's life that Shri Rahu is immediately killing by creating undesirable misevents and accidents and whereas the Ketu is giving great difficulties when He is not in favorable horoscopic position. But both Shri Rahu and Ketu are giving all the desirable things and events in ones life when they are in a favorable horoscopic positions.

Though these Gods are wicked and giving tribulations to the people, they are given significance and celebrated by the Hindu people as almost equal to Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva. To get peaceful and happy life the most of the Hindu people adorn them with great bhakthi. But some people are blaming that these Gods are the root causes for their difficulties in their life. The main thing to understand here is that these Gods are not mere responsible for the ill fate of the people. Lack of knowledge and lack of carefulness are the big reasons to the most of misevents and accidents. We have to make correct decisions in each and every part of our life to lead a happy life. When we lead a proper life, we need not blame the Gods to our misfortunes. Faithful worshipping of Shri Rahu and Shri Ketuand well planned life are showing success in all parts of our life.

Nāgas form an important part of Hindu mythology. They play prominent roles in various legends:

1. Shesha (Adisesha, Sheshnaga, or the 1,000 headed snake) upholds the world on his many heads and is said to be used by Lord Vishnu to rest. Shesha also shelteredLord Krishna from a thunderstorm during his birth.
2. Vasuki allowed himself to be coiled around Mount Mandara by the Devas and Asurasto churn the milky ocean creating the ambrosia of immortality.
3. Kaliya poisoned the Yamuna / Jamuna river where he lived. Krishna (Balakrishna / infant Krishna) subdued Kaliya by dancing on him and compelled him to leave the river.
4. Manasa is the queen of the snakes. She is also referred to as Manasha or "Ma Manasha". "Ma" being the universal mother.
5. Ananta is the endless snake who circles the world.
6. Padmanabha (or Padmaka) is the guardian snake of the south.
7. Astika is half Brahmin and half naga.
8. Kulika

Lord Shiva also wears a snake around his neck

Nag panchami is an important Hindu festival associated with snake worship which takes place of the fifth day of Shravana. Snake idols are offered gifts of milk and incense to help the worshipper to gain knowledge, wealth, and fame.

Different districts of Bengal celebrated the serpent in various ways. In the Bengal districts of East Mymensing, West Syhlet, and North Tippera, serpent-worship rituals were very similar, however (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 5). On the very last day of the Bengali month Sravana (July–August), all of these districts celebrated serpent-worship each year (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 5). Regardless of their class and station, every family during this time created a clay model of the serpent-deity – usually the serpent-goddess with two snakes spreading their hoods on her shoulders. The people worshipped this model at their homes and sacrificed a goat or a pigeon for the deity’s honor (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 5). Before the clay goddess was submerged in water at the end of the festival, the clay snakes were taken from her shoulders. The people believed that the earth these snakes were made from cured illnesses, especially children’s diseases (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6).

These districts also worshipped an object known as a Karandi (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6).Resembling a small house made of cork, the Karandi is decorated with images of snakes, the snake goddess, and snake legends on its walls and roof (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6). The blood of the sacrificed animals was sprinkled on the Karandi and it also was submerged in the river at the end of the festival (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6).There are several more interesting examples of serpent-worship in India, see "The Serpent as the Folk-Deity in Bengal" for more information.

Hindus in India celebratd "Nagpanchami" on 30th of July as dated by Hindu religious calendar, enthusiastically with great significance. In this auspicious day they celebrate and perform religious ritual for Snake God specially "King Cobra" as this particular reptile in the Hindu mythology is the king of all snakes. King Cobra, or Snake God, symbolises our relation with eternal circle of life and death. His vicious toxin reminds us the silence of danger and deepens in our soul the avoidance of dark.

We pray to him for our protection from all wilderness around. Hindus believe that our souls take several times birth on this earth or we can say re-incarnated several times unless and until we are all truthfully perform our worldly duties and our soul becomes as pure as the holy water of the river Ganga, then only we can leave this physical world forever to meet in heaven our God almighty. So, in this whole process, the first life we get in this world is in the form of snakes and after that a human life and then it goes on. But,the life in the form of human is the precious of all. So, it is obvious that we don`t want to get in the circulation of re-birth again and for that we pray to God to take our souls after death to heaven and promises that the beautiful human life he had given to us will be away from all sins. But,this human life is so hypnotic that our souls got entangled in the worst only in this precious span of life.
King Cobra also symbolises an association as a soul mate with Lord Shiva, the creator of this world in Hindu religion, reminds us that Death is also one face of God almighty and his eternal power and we should be very afraid of his anger. With the spreading of beautiful monsoon, thus started the celebration of Lord Shiva also. In the big temples of Lord Shiva,we can worship both of them,The God and his soul mate. Also,the snake charmers roam about in every street of every city, especially this day, and also throughout this month, goes door-to-door with one or two King Cobras with each of them. So, if not in big temples, in our homes with our prayer for protection offers the snake God fruits,milk and many gifts to the charmers as they wait the whole year for this only day and by offering all these,we make our soul satisfaction.
Religious rituals including bathing of Lord Shiva with his soul mate King Cobra around his neck or the Shivlinga which also resembles Lord Shiva, with milk and pure holy water of the river Ganga by the devotees from all over India in different temples, especially "The Kawaridias" who are a special group of devotees who gather in the temples from all over India, mostly from the rural areas as they come from their places only by walking or sometimes run for days with pure water for Ganga in big earthen pots hanging from thier shoulders with a help of a rope and a small bamboo stick and, thus, making the event spectacular and magical with a feeling that this time the Creator will be really pleased and change something in this world for our good. So,in India, the celebration of "Nagpanchami," the worship of Lord Shiva and the spreading of monsoon brings a start forward to a marvalous and relgious living.

Sri Shivakumara Swamy

Sri Shivakumara Swamy

India has one of the most ancient and rich cultures in the world and there have been many great religious and social reformers who have impacted the population. Even today no matter how far India advances in science and technology the strong personal sense and spiritual base of the Indian people is very strong.

On his 102nd birthday, Sri Shivakumara Swamiji of the Siddaganga Mutt is greeted by seers from different mutts in Tumkur on Wednesday.

Some Indian people are truly worshipped as gods - people who have solved the sorrows of the people. Although all the science and technology is still unable to firmly prove whether there is a real God there or not, Indians in general believe that God will send somebody as humans to solve the problems of people… we can name many names in this list….

I am here by introducing one such human being, known in India as “Walking God,” a man who has reached his 100th year on the 1st of April of this year living a life relentlessly serving needy people and humanity.

He chose a special path to serve & uplift humankind. Children were his target group and he believed that providing food and education to poor children who otherwise would have nothing and making them self-reliant and helping them realize that they too own society would prove to them that that they too have a duty and obligation to uplift the other poor and underprivileged children, and finally transforming the whole society a better place to live. What a great Vision………. What a great Idea….. to serve mankind.

His name is SRI SHIVAKUMARA SWAMY of SREE SIDDAGANGA MUTT. The “Mutt” is a place where religious heads live and from where they operate. Like Churches or monasteries, it also includes, educational Institutes under it, hostels, and all the facilities under it. The Siddaganga Mutt is situated in Tumkur District, of Karnataka State, India.

EARLY CHILDHOOD

He was born on April 1, 1908, in Veerapura, a tiny Village in Magadi Taluk, Bangalore District, Karnataka, India. The village in fact is surrounded by all holy places, full of sacred hills & caves - an enchanting environment. Born to very religiously-minded, devotional parents, Sree Honnappa and Gangamma, they had 13 children - 8 male and 5 female. He was the youngest among the males, named Shivanna who later became, Sree Sivakumara Swamiji and took reins of the Sree Siddaganga Mutt.

He imbibed his father's qualities and always desired to follow them with devotion. His mother in fact had identified in his childhood the characteristics of a shining persona and a human being who would be a cause for total change and would one day be considered a deity.

EDUCATION

He had his primary schooling in his village and from 7^th grade to 10^th grade in Tumkur, now a district headquarter. In 1926 he passed the entrance examination and joined Central College in Bangalore and completed his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1930, with Physics and Mathematics as Optional Subjects. This was especially noted because at that time India was ruled by the British, and very few had the opportunity to achieve higher education like this.

But this boy, even though not from a very rich and prominent family, has known the importance of education and since his childhood days was very attracted to religious theme and Sanyasa (Sanyasa means leaving all worldly comforts and living like a sage He will not get marry he will not have any bonding with any body) and knew from early on that he wanted to do something to better society….

VIRAKTHASHRAM (ADOPTING A Monk’s LIFE)

A defining moments of his life that made him a Seer (head) of SREE SIDDAGANGA MUTT by adopting Sanyasa are two occasion during his college life…

In 1926, when he completed his 12^th grade, for a short period of 4 months he was a resident student of Sree Siddaganga Mutt, and received spiritual blessings of Sree Uddana Shivayogigalu (His Guru) who was head of the Mutt then.

While he was studying at the Central College, Bangalore, a tragedy struck. On January 16th, 1930, he heard the heartbreaking news of death of his close friend Sri Marularadhya at Siddaganga Mutt, who would have been the next head of the Mutt. With a heavy heart, he completed the last rites of Sree Marularadhya.

When Sri Shivanna was attending the last rites to be performed at the Samadhi (tomb) of Sri Marularadhya, Sree Uddana Shivayogigalu announced that Sri Shivanna will going shoulder the responsibility by becoming the successor to the Mutt and Sri Shivanna was told to be a representative of Sree Siddalingeshwara (The God) to carry forward the work of the this Sacred place. He blessed him by touching his head. Sri Shivanna accepted the divine role offered to him by his Guru, attiring himself in the Saffron costume of a Virakta (monk/Arch Bishop) in the true spirit and tradition of Veerasaivism (a sub sect of Hindu religion). He was renamed as "Sree Sivakumara Swamiji". Swamiji is a title given to those who take up monk. Like bishop in Christianity

He was formally initiated into the holy order as a successor on March 3rd 1930 and thus he joined the generation of sages.

SHOCK TO HIS PARENTS

On hearing this sacred news, of his being made as the successor to head Sree Siddaganga Mutt, his teachers and mates showered their wishes upon Sree Sivakumara Swamiji to wish him success in his chosen path. However, it was a rude shock to his father, who had chalked out a life of a high ranked official. But destiny had something in store for Sree Sivakumara Swamiji, and this son would never return to that subjective world, which every parent wishes for their children. He tried to persuade his son to change his decision, but he was rock solid in his decision and he would never change the Almighty's wish that he enter into a life of a sage towards a new path that is not for one family, but to serve the entire world as his family as in Sanskrit it is said: "Vasudaiva Kutumbakam".

HIS LONG JOURNEY OF SERVING HUMANITY.

Thus it began in the year 1937. First He upgraded a small Sanskrit School of the Mutt into a Sanskrit College. It began offering degree courses in Logic and Grammar, Linguistics and Literatures and admitted students from all castes and communities.

By providing "Dasoha" (free food), the school continued to grow with his student wealth increasing day in day out.

Then he had another shock when his GURU Sree Uddana Shivayogi, who was the inspiration and support for all his deeds, breathed his last breath on January 11, 1941.

Now that he was the sole head of the Mutt, his responsibilities increased vastly. There was a serious dearth of financial resources, and what he had in hand was just Rs. 300/- , But he didn’t lose heart; he continued his mission. His motto of work is worship, love and compassion started increasing in him day by day. It started spreading throughout the length and breadth of the state like a miracle, and donations started pouring in, the balance sheet of income and expenditures started bulging.

He expanded the Dasoha (free food), Sanskrit College, and the construction of new hostels for the students. There are hundreds of incidents that have been narrated about how poor and rich alike thronged to the Mutt and made their contributions without any return expectations.

Now this is what I was telling you in the beginning, the God will come in the form of Man…… many feel this situation has been realized here…. once depleting financing conditions and dire circumstances bean improving, Sree Sivakumara Swamiji found that his inner self confidence was his great treasure.

His journey continued persistently - it marched forward against all odds.

At present the number of children who are given the facility of food, shelter and schooling is around 8000. The Mutt takes in about 2000 visitors per day.

Now Mutt runs following educational institutions under his supervision:

1 Institute of Technology 01 2 Institute of Business Management 01 3 Polytechnic 01 4 College of Pharmacy 01 5 College of Nursing 01 6 Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) 03 7 College of Education (B.Ed.) 01 8 Teachers Training Institutions (D.Ed.) 03 9 First Grade Colleges 04 10 Pre-University Colleges 08 11 Composite Junior Colleges 04 12 High Schools 55 13 Sanskrit College 01 14 Veda and Sanskrit Schools 20 15 Kannada Pandit Training Centre 01 16 Higher Primary School 07 17 Primary and Pre-primary Schools (Nursery) 07 18 Blind Children School 02 19 Handicapped Cooperative Education Centre 01 20 College of Physical Education 01 Total Institutions 123

These institutions are imparting a free education to those who can’t afford the same.

REALIZATION OF HIS DREAM

As he visualized, the students who have studied under the benevolent shelter of the Mutt have now occupy respectable and high profile positions in Government, Public, Private Sectors and Educational Institutions. To get themselves actively involved in all the functions and activities the Old Students of the Mutt, with the gracious consent of their Guru, formed an "Old Students' Association" in the year 1954. At the request of the students, Sree Sivakumara Swamiji has been its guiding spirit as its President. The Association volunteers to take up the entire responsibility to organize any program at the Mutt, and they are in turn giving back to society what they themselves received in kind from it - and this was the main concept of Sree Sivakumara Swamiji

HIS LIFE AT 100 YEARS

Sree Sivakumara Swamiji is now 100 years of age. People say that although he has shed tears for the world, they have not affected his eyes, which are bright and with sharp with vision. He meticulously maintains his routine and attends programs on schedule.

He attributes his good health to his food and his life style.

His meal intake is very scientific. Foods with sourness, spices or with hot chili powder, and fried items are not to his liking. He keeps them away from his pan. He takes his curry made out of Green Gram dal (Pulses) with a pinch of salt.

He walks without support, and very agile and brisk in his steps.

He climbs stairs without an iota of tiredness in his body or legs. His hearing is sharp and he talks in low tones. People are accustomed to his exceedingly poised gestures.

For him the day begins in the early morning at 2:30 am. Sree Sivakumara Swamiji maintains a diary and records his appointments and work himself. After completing morning chores and taking bath he sits for performing pooja (kind of prayer with some rituals which every Hindu does) which finishes by 5:30 or 6 am. Immediately he then attends to his office and receives visitors and devotees. He goes through his diary to look at which programs to attend for the day, and finishes pending files. If the newspapers have already arrived he will also go through them.

Sree Sivakumara Swamiji still engages classes for SSLC and PUC students, teaching the subjects of English and Sanskrit. He has been in this routine of teaching classes for the last 60-65 years.  

Then he returns to his office, then to the kitchen to confer with the workers, and then back to office to see to the day's mail and give dictations and distributes the mail to different sections and offices. He works without break from 2.00 am until 2.30pm. He’ll take his lunch and then make trips to the buildings around the Mutt or go to fields and gardens. By evening around 6pm he gets ready to be present for the mass prayer conducted every day with all the guests of the Mutt Hostels, and that is a site to watch. He still makes visits to dining halls to make inquiries of the students. Returning to his office, he does more paperwork until 9 pm. He finally goes to bed around 11 pm, and the very next day the routine begins again at 2:00am.

Amazing isn’t it?

AWARDS & REWARDS

As a sage, he does not expect anything from anybody, but it is the satisfaction of the people who love him and who worship him that rewards him just by acknowledging his effort.

In the year 1965, he was granted an Honorary "Doctor of Letters" Degree byKarnataka University.

The prestigious "Karnataka Ratna" award for 2006 was conferred upon His Holiness Dr. Sree Sivakumara Swamiji in recognition of his yeoman services for promoting education in the state.

The state Govt. has proposed his name for ‘BHARAT RATNA” award also.

Now he has lit the candle of educating poor rural children and making them asset to this nation. His one remaining dream is that this effort and vision should be carried forward to further distances.

If anyone who reads this story has any intention of contributing in his efforts, please let the writer of this story know….

Thank you Dr. Sree Sivakumara Swamiji , for sharing your Story with us

from :- http://www.storyofmylife.com