Jai Maata di!Om Nama Shivaya!
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh !If for some reason you are not able to see , or download the below pictures or click to the below links and pictures- Plz go to http://debu7370.blogspot.com/You can also have access to all the previous Shirdi Sai speaks mails at the above link.And if any of you would like to receive these messages directly to your mailbox everyday--
Click Here to Subscribe to Sai Picture Gallery via Email
For all the latest breaking news and videos related to Shri Shirdi Sai baba , go to http://sairadio.blogspot.com/
For everything else related to Shri Shirdi Saibaba - Click Here
On a Personal note from Me to You:::There are many many temples in this world but then there are some which really have the power to amaze us. There are temples which teach us the meaning of bliss and then there are temples which have the history that created divinity. Today, let us all visit one such temple which is known by the name of Angkor Wat.
The request to know more about such a temple was made by my Mom this morning- So this mail is dedicated to her today..
With lots of love to my Sweet Mom
Deepa H
Angkor Wat located at Angkor in Northwestern Cambodia, is the largest temple in the world.
Angkor was the Capital of the ancient Khmer Empire. The temple was dedicated to the Hindu God Vishnu by the Khmer king Suryavarman II, who reigned between AD 1131 and 1150.
As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation — first Hindu, dedicated to the god Vishnu, then Buddhist.
The Temple was constructed over a period of 30 years, and illustrates some of the most beautiful examples of Khmer and Hindu art. Covering an area of about 81 hectares, the complex consists of five towers, which are presently shown on the Cambodian national flag.These towers are believed to represent the five peaks of Mount Meru, the Home of Gods and Center of the Hindu Universe.
The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs and for the numerous devatas (guardian spirits) adorning its walls.
The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "City Temple"; Angkor is a vernacular form of the word -nokor which comes from the Sanskrit word नगर nagara meaning capital or city. Wat is the Khmer word for temple. Prior to this time the temple was known as Preah Pisnulok, after the posthumous title of its founder, Suryavarman II
The temples of Angkor, built by the Khmer civilization between 802 and 1220 AD, represent one of humankind's most astonishing and enduring architectural achievements.
The structures one sees at Angkor today, more than 100 stone temples in all, are the surviving remains of a grand religious, social and administrative metropolis whose other buildings - palaces, public buildings, and houses - were built of wood and have long since decayed and disappeared.
Scholars, believe the geographical location of the Angkor complex and the arrangement of its temples was based on a planet-spanning sacred geography from archaic times. Using computer simulations, it has been shown that the ground plan of the Angkor complex – the terrestrial placement of its principal temples - mirrors the stars in the constellation of Draco at the time of spring equinox in 10,500 BC. While the date of this astronomical alignment is far earlier than any known construction at Angkor, it appears that its purpose was to architecturally mirror the heavens in order to assist in the harmonization of the earth and the stars. Both the layout of the Angkor temples and the iconographic nature of much its sculpture, particularly the asuras (‘demons’) and devas (‘deities’) are also intended to indicate the celestial phenomenon of the precession of the equinoxes and the slow transition from one astrological age to another.
Angkor Wat in 1866
At the temple of Phnom Bakheng there are 108 surrounding towers. The number 108, considered sacred in both Hindu and Buddhist cosmologies, is the sum of 72 plus 36 (36 being ½ of 72). The number 72 is a primary number in the sequence of numbers linked to the earth’s axial precession, which causes the apparent alteration in the position of the constellations over the period of 25,920 years, or one degree every 72 years.
Another mysterious fact about the Angkor complex is its location 72 degrees of longitude east of the Pyramids of Giza. The temples of Bakong, Prah Ko and Prei Monli at Roluos, south of the main Angkor complex, are situated in relation to each other in such a way that they mirror the three stars in the Corona Borealis as they appeared at dawn on the spring equinox in 10,500 BC. It is interesting to note that the Corona Borealis would not have been visible from these temples during the 10th and 11th centuries when they were constructed.
During half-millennia of Khmer occupation, the city of Angkor became a pilgrimage destination of importance throughout Southeastern Asia. Sacked by the Thais in 1431 and abandoned in 1432, Angkor was forgotten for a few centuries.
Wandering Buddhist monks, passing through the dense jungles, occasionally came upon the awesome ruins. Recognizing the sacred nature of the temples but ignorant of their origins, they invented fables about the mysterious sanctuaries, saying they had been built by the gods in a far ancient time. Centuries passed, these fables became legends, and pilgrims from the distant reaches of Asia sought out the mystic city of the gods
A few adventurous European travelers knew of the ruins and stories circulated in antiquarian circles of a strange city lost in the jungles. Most people believed the stories to be nothing more than legend, however, until the French explorer Henri Mouhot brought Angkor to the world's attention in 1860. The French people were enchanted with the ancient city and beginning in 1908 funded and superbly managed an extensive restoration project. The restoration has continued to the present day, excepting periods in the 70's and 80's when military fighting prevented archaeologists from living near the ruins.
Orthodox archaeologists sometimes interpret the temples of the Angkor complex as tombs of megalomaniacal kings yet in reality those kings designed and constructed the temples as a form of service to both god and their own subjects. The temples were places not for the worship of the kings but rather for the worship of god. Precisely aligned with the stars, constructed as vast three dimensional yantras and adorned with stunningly beautiful religious art, the Angkor temples were instruments for assisting humans in their realization of the divine.
Ta Phrom Trees taking over the temple
Vishnu Temple - treasure of stone hidden in the jungles (Angkor Wat)
What is most striking about the Temple of Ta Prom, the only one that has not been restored, is that nature has been gaining territory and the trees, their enormous roots have invaded the monuments, forming a part of the sculpture complex. In Angkor
Temple of Ta Prohm, Angkor, Cambodia
The outer wall, 1024 by 802 m and 4.5 m high, is surrounded by a 30 m apron of open ground and a moat 190 m wide.
Gate into Angkor Thom
Each of the 23 towers of Angkor Thom, one of the largest sub-cities inside Angkor Wat, is covered with these faces. Like many of the remaining ruins, this one was built by king Jayavarman VII, whose face has been combined with Buddha's throughout the city to create a combined royal and religious imposing presence that permeates the city.
Stone Heads of Bodhisattva Avilokiteshvara, Bayon temple, Angkor, Cambodia
Faces at Prasat Bayon
Face towers of the Bayon represent the king as the Bodhisattva Lokesvara
Ancient limestone bass-relief of Buddha in Angkor-wat, Cambodia
The main temples temple groups are Angkor Thom, Ta Prom and Angkor Wat. The oldest ones were built with bricks, in the subsequent ones laterite was used, a coloured mud stone, and the most recent are of sandstone.
In 1992 the UNESCO named the entire monumental complex of Angkor as forming the Patrimony of Mankind.
Integrated with the architecture of the building, and one of the causes for its fame is Angkor Wat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief friezes. The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
Higham has called these, "the greatest known linear arrangement of stone carving".
From the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka (from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana) and the Battle of Kurukshetra (from the Mahabharata, showing the mutual annihilation of the Kaurava and Pandava clans.)
On the southern gallery follow the only historical scene, a procession of Suryavarman II, then the 32 hells and 37 heavens of Hindu mythology.
Glaize writes of;
"... those unfortunate souls who are to be thrown down to hell to suffer a refined cruelty which, at times, seems to be a little disproportionate to the severity of the crimes committed. So it is that people who have damaged others' property have their bones broken, that the glutton is cleaved in two, that rice thieves are afflicted with enormous bellies of hot iron, that those who picked the flowers in the garden of Shiva have their heads pierced with nails, and thieves are exposed to cold discomfort."
Click on any of the pictures in this mail to see the larger view
The bas-relief of the Churning of the Sea of Milk shows Vishnu in the centre, his turtle avatar Kurma below, asuras and devas to left and right, and apsaras and Indra above.
Devatas are characteristic of the Angkor Wat style.
Well Preserved Carvings
Despite centuries of wear and tear and invasions from looters and tourists, the bas-reliefs have well stood through the test of time and remain beautiful even today.
While you would find that most of the statues are headless, the result of pillaging and looting, the temple still carries pillars, towers and wall motifs that have been left intact.
Dismembered statues of Buddha-The statues appear to have been intentionally destroyed by religious opponents during ancient times. Broken pieces of heads and arms indicate malicious destruction of the 80 centimeter stone Buddhas.
Sacred feet of Lord Buddha
May Lord buddha save us from our own ego
May Lord Buddha help us to recognize the divine bliss which is present everywhere and in everyone ,we meet and greet.
May Lord Buddha help us to correct our own mistakes instead of counting or pointing at other people's mistakes and errors.
May Lord Buddha help us to meditate on the peace which is with in us.
Local people pray near a Buddha statue in the Bayon, one of the most famous Khmer temples in Angkor Thom in Siem Reap province, Cambodia.
Statues of Buddha at Angkor Wat, dating from between 1113 and 1150 AD 
Lord Vishnu's statue in the temple at Angkor Wat in Cambodia
Stone Heads of Bodhisattva Avilokiteshvara, Bayon temple, Angkor, Cambodia
Faces at Prasat Bayon
Face towers of the Bayon represent the king as the Bodhisattva Lokesvara
Ancient limestone bass-relief of Buddha in Angkor-wat, Cambodia
The main temples temple groups are Angkor Thom, Ta Prom and Angkor Wat. The oldest ones were built with bricks, in the subsequent ones laterite was used, a coloured mud stone, and the most recent are of sandstone.
In 1992 the UNESCO named the entire monumental complex of Angkor as forming the Patrimony of Mankind.
Integrated with the architecture of the building, and one of the causes for its fame is Angkor Wat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief friezes. The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
Higham has called these, "the greatest known linear arrangement of stone carving".
From the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka (from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana) and the Battle of Kurukshetra (from the Mahabharata, showing the mutual annihilation of the Kaurava and Pandava clans.)
On the southern gallery follow the only historical scene, a procession of Suryavarman II, then the 32 hells and 37 heavens of Hindu mythology.
Glaize writes of;"... those unfortunate souls who are to be thrown down to hell to suffer a refined cruelty which, at times, seems to be a little disproportionate to the severity of the crimes committed. So it is that people who have damaged others' property have their bones broken, that the glutton is cleaved in two, that rice thieves are afflicted with enormous bellies of hot iron, that those who picked the flowers in the garden of Shiva have their heads pierced with nails, and thieves are exposed to cold discomfort."
Click on any of the pictures in this mail to see the larger view
The bas-relief of the Churning of the Sea of Milk shows Vishnu in the centre, his turtle avatar Kurma below, asuras and devas to left and right, and apsaras and Indra above.
Devatas are characteristic of the Angkor Wat style.
Well Preserved Carvings
Despite centuries of wear and tear and invasions from looters and tourists, the bas-reliefs have well stood through the test of time and remain beautiful even today.
While you would find that most of the statues are headless, the result of pillaging and looting, the temple still carries pillars, towers and wall motifs that have been left intact.
Dismembered statues of Buddha-The statues appear to have been intentionally destroyed by religious opponents during ancient times. Broken pieces of heads and arms indicate malicious destruction of the 80 centimeter stone Buddhas.
Sacred feet of Lord Buddha
May Lord buddha save us from our own ego
May Lord Buddha help us to recognize the divine bliss which is present everywhere and in everyone ,we meet and greet.
May Lord Buddha help us to correct our own mistakes instead of counting or pointing at other people's mistakes and errors.
May Lord Buddha help us to meditate on the peace which is with in us.
Local people pray near a Buddha statue in the Bayon, one of the most famous Khmer temples in Angkor Thom in Siem Reap province, Cambodia.
Statues of Buddha at Angkor Wat, dating from between 1113 and 1150 AD 
Lord Vishnu's statue in the temple at Angkor Wat in Cambodia Statue of Vishnu / Buddha To the right of the Main Entrance is an imposing stone statue with eight hands. The symbols it carry in those hands indicates that this statue is originally Vishnu. (When Angkor Wat was built, the king was Hindu. However, a few centuries later, the later king was Mahayana Buddhist, and then today, Cambodia is primarily Theravada Buddhist.) However, it has been transformed into the statue of Buddha by being given a new head. This statue is still being worshipped today by modern Cambodians.
Om Namo Narayanaya Namaha
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Namaha
May Lord Vishnu and Lord Buddha of Angkor Wat shower their blessings and grace on all of us and show us the way to the gate of 37 Heavens.
Total Surrender to Sainath
All human beings are the beautiful flowers raised in the garden of God. He is their Protector. Baba used to tell that He incarnated on the Earth to promote our material and spiritual well-being. Hence, whatever actions or duties we perform, they should be offered to Baba in word, spirit and deed. This is known as complete surrender. Every minute we need to meditate on Baba in our heart. If we could put into practice Baba's words, He would definitely make a place for us in His heart. We have to believe in Baba as our everything and live in His Light.On one occasion, a Swami from Alandi approached Baba with a severe ear-ache and sought His blessings. In spite of undergoing an operation, he found no relief. Baba blessed him assuring, "Allah Achha karega", that 'God would cure him'. Keeping faith in Baba's words, he returned to Pune and within a week the pain miraculously cured. It is all due to his complete surrender and faith that his ear -ache vanished by the Grace of Baba. Whatever work we do, we should think of Baba and feel that it is Baba who works through us. There should be no feeling of "I" or "mine", except a conscious feeling that it is done as per His Will. Then, there is no possibility of making a mistake. Moreover, the ego sense that, "I am doing" would get erased. We have to seek His protection by our total surrender to Him.
Quote of BABA:
Humility is not towards all. Severity is needed in dealing with the wicked.
Om Namo Narayanaya Namaha
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya Namaha
May Lord Vishnu and Lord Buddha of Angkor Wat shower their blessings and grace on all of us and show us the way to the gate of 37 Heavens.
Total Surrender to SainathAll human beings are the beautiful flowers raised in the garden of God. He is their Protector. Baba used to tell that He incarnated on the Earth to promote our material and spiritual well-being. Hence, whatever actions or duties we perform, they should be offered to Baba in word, spirit and deed. This is known as complete surrender. Every minute we need to meditate on Baba in our heart. If we could put into practice Baba's words, He would definitely make a place for us in His heart. We have to believe in Baba as our everything and live in His Light.On one occasion, a Swami from Alandi approached Baba with a severe ear-ache and sought His blessings. In spite of undergoing an operation, he found no relief. Baba blessed him assuring, "Allah Achha karega", that 'God would cure him'. Keeping faith in Baba's words, he returned to Pune and within a week the pain miraculously cured. It is all due to his complete surrender and faith that his ear -ache vanished by the Grace of Baba. Whatever work we do, we should think of Baba and feel that it is Baba who works through us. There should be no feeling of "I" or "mine", except a conscious feeling that it is done as per His Will. Then, there is no possibility of making a mistake. Moreover, the ego sense that, "I am doing" would get erased. We have to seek His protection by our total surrender to Him.
Quote of BABA:Humility is not towards all. Severity is needed in dealing with the wicked.
No comments:
Post a Comment