Family Experience - Prasnam etc

A few days ago Naresh spoke to me and asked me about my pilgrimage tour , with specific reference to the "prasnam" part. He was of the view, that, for the benefit of the gen-next folks, a short preamble about what prasnam means, and a detailed account of the experience, could be posted in the blog.

In astrology, there is a branch, which deals with a subject called "prasnam". As the word suggests, this deals with "queries"; for instance, lets say, you have lost a precious article, and would like to know if this could be found. Your query time is noted, a horoscope made based on this time and predictions are made . If the astrologer is good, a clue as to the identity of the culprit, is also in the realm of a possibility.

In case of problems relating to spiritual matters, such as say, some undefinable misfortunes, etc, a peep into the past family tree, to see whether, any of the misdeeds, of one's ancestors are visiting you now kind, is made by the astrologer, and suggestions of a remedial purgatory, are made.

It may appear as some kind of mumbo-jumbo/witchcraft kind of stuff, but there is also this huge element of faith involved for a lot of people. Though, I was a votary in favour of this route especially in the context of our family's prolonged unease, I was not able to quite take the next step, by actually going to someone. Another problem was the need to identify a reputable source.

Quite by chance, one of my friends, Natarajan, who had been a manager in Sringeri's Kalady mutt/temple, dropped by at my place one day, and it so happened that we heard of this man "panickar" who according to Nat, was very good at prasnams, and who was in regular demand from temple authouries etc in Kerala ( a place well known for its share of known practitioners).

I referred thru Nat, Umesh's jadagam, to Panickar. To my surprise, I heard from him, that more than my worry about him, I should reflect more on my family of (four) brothers who were according to him under a terrible spell of bad times. It was his suggestion, that we should go closer to our native place and ask a prasnam, where there would be better chances, of getting closer to the causes of our trouble.

While, I was interested, I wanted to make sure, all others were on board; and after due consultations, it was decided, that I will go to Kalady, to meet this man, and take this further. A letter to Acharyal, seeking His blessings, was also sent, along with Bhiksha, on behalf of all four brothers.

The prasnam led to an over-five-hours, kind of a dialogue, between me and Panickar, during which time, he traced our ancestory, to over 200 years, and unraveling facts that were so uncannily true.

Some of these were

1. We were four brothers, but there was one more who was part of our family and grew up as one of brothers ( Papa mama - Naresh's father was with us thru his schooling)

2. There was lady who spent her later years with us, only to leave us in her last days. ( Bala Chithi)

3. Quite a number of unmarried boys and girls/ or married with no children etc are in the family tree.

4. In the vicinity of our Pillayar temple at Arumukhamangalam, existence of temples devoted to Subramanya, Saatha etc, which was later confirmed by our man "vaikuntam" and others.

As to the cause of the present troubles, the major ones pertain to

1. Sarpa dosham, being caused by mistaken killing of a female sarpam, by someone in our family tree, which was fed milk regularly by a female.

2. Dosham arising out of an unkept promise of marrying off a poor girl

3. Inability to sustain the traditional puja regimen of our parents.

The purgatories, were then prescribed, and which are being done by us now.

Having said these, I would like to add, my own feelings that emerge out of this experience, and I hope the young gen-next, would have the patience, to bear with me a little bit more. These are

1. As a legacy, for future generation of our lokanatha kaushika klan, we have to do our bit in completing the prescribed rituals.

2. I do a daily "pancha aayatana puja" . Allow me to digress a bit and tell you the meaning of "aayatana". The word means roughly " Sustainers of our life" ; the 5 aayatanas are "Siva, Shakthi, Ganapathy, Vishnu, and Surya deva."

In my own way, I invoke lords Siva, nrusimha, hayagriva, krishna, rama, our kuladeva yegnyanarayana, durga-lakshmi-saraswati, ganapathy, the navagrahas, and I add subrahmanya, when I do my panchaayatana puja.

The prescribed pujas would appear to address every one of these dieties mentioned above, in an unique way. This can wait for the next blog for posting.

Love to all of you

Vichu