Why do we offer milk to Lord Shiva?

According to "Shiva Agamas" The Sacred Literature Of Saivism, it is called ABHISHEKAM - Shiva Agamas give lot of importance to abhishekam in Shiva pooja and it makes the ceremonies many times more effective. You may perform Abhishekam by simply using holy water or perform elaborately with milk, curds, honey, ghee, sugar, coconut water, holy ash, sandal paste, fruit juice etc. The Sanskrit word abhisheka means a sprinkling. It is derived from the root sic, to wet, and with the prefix abhi, "around," abhisheka is literally, "wetting around." An abhisheka is the bathing part of a puja that usually is done with sacred water. Abhishekam is the offering of ablutions to an energized deity. Water, being an electrolyte, transmits energy much faster than air. Pouring water upon an energized deity releases powerful vibrations which we can pick up more easily than from the air. Similarly, different substances have the ability to release different vibrations when they come in contact with an energized object or deity. Many of these substances are edible, and each one has a unique quality which heals or energizes a specific body part. For instance, honey used in the abhishekam has the capacity to actually make the voice sweeter! This is the science behind abhishekam.(reminds me of the movie Satayam Shivam Sundaram- all the immortal songs)! This is the science behind abhishekam. It is devotees faith that Shiva will be pleased by the process of bathing with the prescribed eleven ingredients like water, milk, curd, ghee, honey etc. Don't we use all there when we get married and perform many similar rituals..?!

Shiva is the infinitum abstract macrocosmic consciousness. So, as such your water is not going on Shiva literally, but it is just a symbol which is being offered with water and milk. Water and milk are both liquids, surey, and water is connected to our human mind. Now it may sound very intriguing, but that is how it is. When the moon is waxing and waning, it changes the quality of the water. As you know, when the moon is waxing on its full moon night, there are huge waves seen on the ocean. Psychologically , it has been found that this is the time when people who have mind problems go through a very rough time; if moon has such an effect upon water, then what to say about the human body which is 60% of water? When we shower the Shivalingam with water and milk, the reason is that symbolically we are trying to correlate the water and our mind and the symbol of Shivalingam into one. In this ritual, the feeling is “Let my mind be washed away of all dirt and pollutants”. Milk is considered to be the nourishing ingredient, pure and satvik. So, in this ritual, if it is done in a proper way and our eyes are concentrated doing trataka(MEDITATION) on the Shivalingam and when it is bathed in the water actually a prayer is being done that “Let my mind be washed of all impurities”. And when we shower it with milk the feelings are “let my mind be nourished and washed of all impurities with noble thoughts, purity, compassion, satvik, goodness, friendship, etc”. Benefits of Abhishek : Burning away of Karmas collected in many births Awakening of the Kundalini Awakening of the third eye – the Ajna chakra Power of grasping, retention, memory and intelligence take a quantum leap Visible improvement in creativity Clarity in thinking!

This is a matter of FAITH in your GOD and its non-questionable..! Its not a matter of merely Rs 20 or $1 milk......its your faith, trust in GOD and most importantly you are buying milk with your own money and not snatching it away from poor. One can help poor as much as one like as its your KARMA but do not question someone else's faith and ritual if don't understand it..!

For those who want to watch a movie spending Rs300 or $13 justifying the twisted view... they could have spent that ticket-money and served probably 10 time more poor people by simply NOT watching the movie..!!!?   Cheers..!

Har Har Mahadev..!

Cuisines of India

India is a country of unity in diversity. India is known for its spices as well as its different food of different states. lets have a look on different foods of India.

The traditional food of India has been widely appreciated for its fabulous use of herbs and spices. Indian cuisine is known for its large assortment of dishes. The cooking style varies from region to region and is largely divided into South Indian & North Indian cuisine. India is quite famous for its diverse multi cuisine available in a large number of restaurants and hotel resorts, which is reminiscent of unity in diversity. The staple food in India includes wheat, rice and pulses with chana (Bengal Gram) being the most important one. In modern times Indian pallete has undergone a lot of change. In the last decade, as a result of globalisation, a lot of Indians have travelled to different parts of the world and vice versa there has been a massive influx of people of different nationalities in India. This has resulted in Indianisation of various international cuisines. Nowadays, in big metro cities one can find specialised food joints of international cuisines. To know more about the Indian traditional food, read on.

Staple foods of Indian cuisine include pearl millet (bājra), rice, whole-wheat flour (aṭṭa), and a variety of lentils, such as masoor (most often red lentils), toor (pigeon peas), urad (black gram), and mong (mung beans). Lentils may be used whole, dehusked—for example, dhuli moong or dhuli urad—or split. Split lentils, or dal, are used extensively.[19] Some pulses, such as channa or cholae (chickpeas), rajma (kidney beans), and lobiya (black-eyed peas) are very common, especially in the northern regions. Channa and moong are also processed into flour (besan).

Many Indian dishes are cooked in vegetable oil, but peanut oil is popular in northern and western India, mustard oil in eastern India,[18] and coconut oil along the western coast, especially in Kerala.[20] Gingelly (sesame) oil is common in the south since it imparts a fragrant nutty aroma.[21] In recent decades, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, and soybean oils have become popular across India.[22] Hydrogenated vegetable oil, known as Vanaspati ghee, is another popular cooking medium.[23] Butter-based ghee, or deshi ghee, is used frequently, though less than in the past. Many types of meat are used for Indian cooking, but chicken and mutton tend to be the most commonly consumed meats. Fish and beef consumption are prevalent in some parts of India, but they are not widely consumed.

Lentils are a staple ingredient in Indian cuisine

The most important and frequently used spices and flavourings in Indian cuisine are whole or powdered chilli pepper (mirch, introduced by the Portuguese from Mexico in the 16th century), black mustard seed (sarso), cardamom (elaichi), cumin (jeera), turmeric (haldi), asafoetida (hing), ginger (adrak), coriander (dhania), and garlic (lasoon).[24] One popular spice mix is garam masala, a powder that typically includes five or more dried spices, especially cardamom, cinnamon (dalchini), and clove.[25] Each culinary region has a distinctive garam masala blend—individual chefs may also have their own. Goda masala is a comparable, though sweet, spice mix popular in Maharashtra. Some leaves commonly used for flavouring include bay leaves (tejpat), coriander leaves, fenugreek leaves, and mint leaves. The use of curry leaves and roots for flavouring is typical of Gujarati[26] and South Indian cuisine.[27] Sweet dishes are often seasoned with cardamom, saffron, nutmeg and rose petal essences.

EVER WONDERED WHICH ANIMAL THIS IS..?

By looking at this picture a question will arise in your mind that which animal this is? is this really an animal or just work of photoshop? Does such animal exist? 

So, i am here with the answers of all the questions in your mind. Yes this animal exist and its name is leopon.

A leopon  is a hybrid resulting from the crossing of a male leopard with a lioness. The head of the animal is similar to that of a lion while the rest of the body carries similarities to leopards. These hybrids are produced in captivity and are unlikely to occur in the wild.

The first documented leopon was bred at Kolhapur, India in 1910. Its skin was sent to Reginald Innes Pocock by Walter Samuel Millard, the Secretary of the Bombay Natural History Society. It was a cross between a large leopard and a lioness. Two cubs were born, one of which died aged 2.5 months and the other was still living when Pocock described it in 1912. Pocock wrote that it was spotted like a leopard, but that the spots on its sides were smaller and closer set than those of an Indian leopard and were brown and indistinct like the fading spots of a juvenile lion. The spots on the head, spine, belly and legs were black and distinct. The tail was spotted on the topside and striped underneath and had a blackish tip with longer hairs. The underside was dirty white, the ears were fawn and had a broad black bar but did not have the white spot found in leopards. Pocock wrote that the closest he had previously seen to this type of hybrid was the lijagulep (Congolese Spotted Lion) bred in Chicago.

Based on the data from the Japanese cats, leopons are larger than leopards and combine features from the leopard and lion. They have brown, rather than black, spots and tufted tails. They will climb like leopards and seem to enjoy water, also like the leopard. Male leopons may have sparse manes about 20 cm long.

They have been bred in zoos in Japan, Germany, and Italy (the latter was a "reverse leopon" i.e. from a male lion and a leopardess). Karl Hagenbeck, who produced many different hybrids, recorded the birth of leopons at the Hamburg Tierpark in Germany, but none survived to maturity. A leopon skin and skull at the British Museum comes from the animal bred at Kolhapur Zoo in India and was donated by Lt. Col. F.W. Wodehouse of the Junior United Services sometime between 1920 and 1940.

The most successful leopon program was at Koshien Hanshin Park in Nishinomiya City, Japan. A lioness called Sonoko was mated by a leopard called Kaneo. The lioness voluntarily assumed a position on her side to allow the much smaller leopard to mount her. A litter of 2 hybrids was born in 1959 and 3 more were born in 1962. In captivity, the normally solitary male leopard remained with the family (social behavior is sometimes seen in captive specimens of normally solitary big cats). The hybrids proved to be sterile and the last one died in 1985. However, later leopons have successfully fathered cubs with liguars, hybrids between a male lion and a female jaguar. The resulting animal is called a leoliguar. The program of cross-breeding was popular with the public, but it was criticised in zoological and animal welfare circles.

 coutersy: wikipedia