very rare picture of Vyagra (tiger) Guha (cave) Narasimha deity

this picture is made in a very distant area of karnataka. It is somewhere in the mountains near shimoga, close to udupi. It shows a full animal deity with few aspects of a Tiger, therefore it is named as Vyagra - Tiger cave. The priest is a very old person, and there is not even a lamp inside. but the flash of my camera was engough to get a nice pic of it.

Salagrama silas of Sri Vidyabhushana part4

This one Laxmi Narasimha Salagrama is a very old one, and was presented by the present Jeeyar of the Pejawar Mutt to Sri Vidyabhushana. It is Laxmi Narasimha carved on a Salagrama sila, on the back side one can see a beautiful Sudarshana. See the details on this Vigraha, and the smiling face of Lord Narasimha. Normally it is not in practise to carve out of Salagrama any Murthy, because Sri Salagrama Sila is a direct manifestation (Svayambhu = self manifest of the Supreme Lord) of Para Vasudeva, Sri Vaikuntha, and it is commonly accepted as he is found inside the riverbed of Gandaki, Nepal.
But in rare cases (like this ancient deity) such Forms are lovely worshipped. We have plenty of such examples like Udupi Krsna, Guruvayoor Krsna, Bhuvaraha of sri Mushnam, Badri Narayana and others were carved out of Salagram sila by rishis or demigods. So who knows from where this deity comes from. Enjoy it!

Salagrama silas of Sri Vidyabhushana part3

two wonderful salagram silas, Sudarshana silas...

other silas from Sri Vidyabhushana

This sila has 3 chakras in front, Matsya Sila

Salagrama silas of Sri Vidyabhushana

I made few shots from the rare collection of my friend and famous singer sri Vidyabhushana of his personal Salagrama Silas in his possession. Most of them were given by different friends and supporters, so see and enjoy them. The first one is a Ugra Narasimha Sila, and see the red lines near his mouth.. uaaaahhhh

Funny big size Fossil or Sudarshana Chakra?

In July 1947 geologist Chuck Newmarch and a small field crew working for the British Columbia Geological Survey were busy mapping coal seams in the shales, siltstones and sandstones exposed above Coal Creek in the Rocky Mountains just east of Fernie in the south-east corner of British Columbia. Fossils are few and far between in these rocks and it was not clear which part of these coal measures is Jurassic and which Cretaceous. So, Newmarch was astonished when, on reaching a massive sandstone bed, he literally stepped into a giant ribbed depression the size of a tractor tire. He was no paleontologist, but when he saw the coiled nature of the depression he realized that he was looking at the imprint of an ammonite, but one of truly heroic proportions. The fossil measured almost 1.5 metres across -- by far, the biggest complete ammonite ever found in Canada.
but guess if that would be found in India there would be a big temple around!

Caturmurthy

Have been in the indian museum in Dahlem/Berlin, with a big collection of ancient Forms and murthies of Hindu/Jaina/buddhism. Fond this one here, Catur Murthi - for the four directions, normally found on the Temple Vimana carved and installed. This is made in red sandstone, of Gupta Tradition (3.-5th century AD) were one finds Sri Narasimha (south direction), Sri Vaikuntanatha (standing Vishnu for west direction), Sri Sri Bhu Varaha (North direction) and Sri Hayagriva (east direction). May it was used on top of a Temple instead of Kalasha (pots representing the Vedas).
Scientist speak normally that Narasimha was not worshipped before Gupta, but one finds clear indications that Narasimha was worshipped much before Gupta and Maurya. As the Rig Veda definds Rudram Ganam (vedic recitation) to be the personification of Lord Narasimha, other references like Manyu sukta clearly shows the worship of Lord Narasimha in vedic times.

Kshirabdhi Puja

End of kartika Masa and end of Caturmasya Vrata puja is done to wake up Lord Vishnu from his yoganidra (sleep of 4 month). Also Tulsi Vivaha with Sri Salagrama is performed on that day.
Coconuts are offered and milk are poured into them, while visualise Lord Vishnu in Kshiradhi (milkocean). See the pics from the puja here in Berlin!

new sila arrived

I got one sila from my friend Padmandabha (passau) after he called me "silaKsora" (stealer of salagrama)... but see how nice he looks... like Laxminarasimha sila, as he is not bigger then a rooseberry in size.
enjoy it!

new arrival

In America i got one new sila from my friend Chaitanya presented, a nice Laxmi Narasimha Saligrama. Here are some pictures from the puja. Two weeks ago i got another sila from my other friend Padmanabha from Passau, also a Narasimha. Now i have 12 saligramas, and 4 Narasimhasilas. Enjoy the tour!