1. BRIHADEESHWARA (Peruvudaiyar) TEMPLE

Address	BIG TEMPLE, NEAR OLD BUS STAND, THANJAVUR
City	Thanjavur
State	Tamilnadu
Location	South India
Altitude
Year of Construction	1003 and 1010 A.D. (A.D 1009-10) on the 257th day of the year the king handed over the copper pot for the finial at the top of the Vimana". It weighed about 235 lbs., and was overlaid with gold plate of the weight of 292.5 Kalanju or nearly 35 lbs. Troy.
Constructed By	Raja Raja Cholan
Type of Construction	Ancient the Chola architects
Type of Building	Temple
Managed By	Tamilnadu Government
Official Website
Dedicated To
Religion	Hinduism
Famous For	Art, sculpers, monuments (The most striking feature of this temple is its vimana. It is 65 meters high It is a monolithic Nandi weighing about 25 tonnes, and is about 12 feet high and 20 feet long. An engineering skill of the Chola architects who planned its construction in such a way that the shadow of the cupola never falls on the ground.
Festival	SADHAYA THIRUVIZHA, PIRATHOSAM, SITHIRAI THIRUVIZHA
Best Time	All seasons
Opening Schedule	7 a. m to 1. p.m., 3.p.m. to 8.p.m.
Visit Timings	7 a. m to 1. p.m., 4.p.m. to 8.p.m.
Pooja Schedule	7 a. m to 1. p.m., 4.p.m. to 8.p.m.
Main shrine	Sri Brihadisvara, (lord shiva)
Sub Shrines:	Sri Subramanya, Sri Brihannayagi, Sri Chandeeswara(periyanayagi amman), Shrine, Shrine of Ganapathy, Shrine of Nataraja, Nandhi, Shrine of Karuvurar
Entry Formalities	Free
Accomodation	Many hotels and restaurant are there near old bus stand
Accesibility	Thanjavur is accessible by road and train from most cities of Tamil Nadu, which includes of course Madras. Trichy has an airport with flights from Madras and Colombo (Sri Lanka), and is also an important railhead.

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Swami Vivekananda was the disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahansa. He founded the Ramakrishna mission to spread the teachings of his Guru throughout the world. One of the most famous and influential spiritual leaders of India, he sought to promote the philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga. Swami Vivekananda was the first spiritual leader of India who introduced Hinduism, Yoga and Vedanta at the World's Parliament of Religions. Read this biography further to know more about Swami Vivekananda, his teachings and his life history.

Swami Vivekananda Teachings

• 1. Each individual is himself responsible for making or breaking his life. He should concentrate on his goal and should not rest until it is achieved.
• 2. God in Nirankar (formless), with attributes.
• 3. God is one and different religions serve as a path towards the same God.
• 4. God is present in every living being and he, who serves others, serves God.
• 5. Human being should strive towards truth, purity, sincerity, morals and unselfishness.
• 6. The quintessence of every religion is to make people realize the highest spiritual truth.
• 7. To be good and to do good is the main aim of every individual.

Indian Spiritual leader of the Hindu religion (Vedanta), Disciple of the famous mystic-saint Sri Ramakrishna of Calcutta in19th century. Founder of the Ramakrishna Order of Monks. 1863-1902

“POWERS OF POSITIVE ATTITUDE”

THE WAY TO SUCCESS.

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, and every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.

WEAK, OR OTHERS ARE WEAK.

Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin? To say that you are weak, or others are weak.

THOUGHTS

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.

BELIEVE

You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.

CHEERFUL

The first sign of your becoming religious is that you are becoming cheerful.

WORLD

The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.

GOD WILL BE IN THEM:

The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.

THE POWERS:

All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.

MY GUIDE:

GOD of truth, be Thou alone my guide…

FAITH AND LIFE:

If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.

BORN AGAIN:

YOU know, I may have to be born again, you see, I have fallen in love with mankind.

OUR DUTY:

Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

FAITH:

If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished.

MY NATURE:

MY nature is love Him. And therefore I love. I do not pray for any-thing. I do not ask for anything. Let Him place me wherever He likes. I must love Him for love’s sake. I can not trade in love.

TRUTH:

Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.

ONENESS:

All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.

RELIGION:

Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man.

BE AND MAKE:

Infinite power of the spirit, brought to bear upon matter evolves material development, made to act upon thought evolves intellectuality, and made to act upon itself makes of man a GOd. First, let us be Gods, and then help other to be GOds. "Be and Make." Let this be our motto.

LOVE’ UNSELFISHLY FOR LOVE’S SAKE:

IT is good to love God for hope of reward, but it is better to love God for love’s sake; and the prayer goes: O Lord, I do not want wealth nor children nor learning. If it be Thy will, I shall go from birth to birth. But grant me this, that I may love thee without the hope of reward - ’love’ unselfishly for love’s sake.

WORSHIP:

TO worship God even for the sake of salvation or any other reward is equally degenerate. Love knows no reward. Give your love unto to God, but do not ask anything in return even from Him through pray.

IMMORTALITY:

That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.

MONEY:

Money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.

MENTAL ATTITUDE:

It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light. First, believe in this world, that

LIFE AND CULTURE

HE IS CULTURED WITH CONDUCT PURE AND THE WHOLE BUT

LEARNED MISCREANT’S WORSE THAN FOOL.

Conduct shows the man. A bookworm loose in character is worse than a fool. Culture must have a life value; a cultured man must behave wisely and nobly.

The booklore piled in proud

merciless brain is like character box empty and vain.

Mercy, compassion, charming qualities and loving nature are signs of erudition. Service is the expression of scholarship. Practical virtue is the proof of learning. The wise man talks less and acts more. He who indulges in vanity and less self-glory and vain talk is a book made chatterbox empty of practical utility.

Sense –conquest shows the sage of light and truth;

a gossip’s tongue betrays a mind uncouth.

Control the senses and the mind .Be a master of your self. Never revile others out of pride or literary jealousy. Vanity betrays an awkward interior. Be modest in words and manners. Save yourself from excess and exaggeration. This is the sign of sagacity.

Be a sea of booklore;

but what of that?

He is supreme who sees truth in the heart

The press pours out printed books intorreansts! The limited brain cannot read all. Even heaps of books cannot vouchsafe peace. Touch the heart instead of loading the brain. Contemplate more than study. A moment of mediation is worth more than an hour of mugging up. Knowledge must be used for psychic perfection. Physic light easily leads to knowledge and peace.

He is rich in enlightment

who sees LEARNING AND LIFE

unite like art and verse.

The poet must know art and make his poem rich in beauty, deep in thought, sweet and rhythm. Then only his poetry can be a living force. Even so learning must manifest itself in active life. Lore must breathe in life.

HEALTH AND MEDICINE

14.GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES

1. Amaranthus Gangeticus

2. Amaranthus Tristis (Cultivated)
3. Amaranthus Tristis (Wild)
4. Amaranthus Campestris (Cultivated)
5. Amaranthus Campestris (Wild)
6. Kuppai keerai [a wild Aramanth]
7. Chicoria Endivia
8. Veronie Civerea
9. Alternanthera sessiles (cultivated)
10. Alternanthera sessiles (wild)
11. Corander leaf
12. Cabbage
13. Chenopodium
14. Chunnambu keerai
15. Chandi Keerai
16. Indian Spinach
17. Celosia Albida
18. Common India Parselane
19. Brown Indian Hemp
20. Marsh Mint
21. Vurry Leaf

Some food stuffs such as green leafy vegetables, tubers,, and root vegetables and are rich in alkali-producing elements and poor in acid-producing ones, while others, such as meat, dhals, pulses, nuts and cereal grains are rich in acid-producing ones, and poor in alkali-producing ones.

The green leaves of plants are always rich in just those minerals salts in which the seeds such grains and nuts are poor. So it is necessary when our food consists largely of such cereal grains as wheat, rice, cholam, cambu, ratgi, maize or barley, or when we eat flesh or meat, that we should also eat plentifully of the green leaves of plants.'"

The abundance of minerals and vitamins in green vegetables and the special character of protein, although present in small quantities, makes them of great value, specially as supplementary to a diet containing cereals. Just as in pastoral communities, the defects of a cereal diet may be corrected with milk and other dairy products, so under the circumstances correction may be obtained by green vegetables.

The leaf is the site of the synthesis of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats and is rich in actively functioning cells. The cells contain everything which is necessary for the metabolic processes and they supply all the nutrients which an animal requires....

So we see all the unique substances are found in excess only in leaves. As without leaves a plant cannot live, so we cannot live hale and healthy for a long time without eating leaves.

Thus everyone needs not only sattvic food, but also foods rich in organic alkaline salts, vitamins, and cellulose to eliminate disease and to improve, protect, and restore a long-lived health. Such needed food factors in sufficient quantity we can find in leafy vegetables or the leaves of herbs and greens of a sattvic type.

For this reason daily we must take more leaves than all the other food-stuffs.

HEALTH AND MEDICINE

18.Strong body

Make ye the body strong and luminous;

It homes the pure; then make it god conscious.

Yoga is for the body, vital, mental and all other planes; perfection is its aim. So the body must be a pure and strong vessel to receive the great cosmic force.

The human body is a wonderful network of protoplasmic cells, a combination of many elements-

1.water,

2. carbon,

3. hydrogen,

4. oxygen,

5. nitrogen,

6. sulphur,

7. phosphorous, etc.

it is marvelously built of skeleton, muscle, skin, hairs, glands, alimentary canal, blood vessels, heart, brain, nerves, lymphatics, ganglions, and hormones. This wonder home is an empire of a thousand subtleties . its king is the pure spirit. All the systems of the body must be kept pure and sound in order to circulate the cosmic force. By yoga, the body can be made luminous and energetic.

The poses, breath control and six actions,

Keep the body virile for its functions.

These are the processes of hatha yoga. These can clean the body in and out and keep the nerves fit for energy-circulation. The body has 72000 nerves; of these the spinal cord, sensory and motor nerves are the most important. These pass through the backbone from the brain which is the head- office of the spirit.

These are the endocrines secreting hormones which pour directly into the blood and give health and youthhood to the body-hatha asanas stimulate these centers of health and invigorate the whole body. There are ten poses, six methods of inner cleaning, and pranayama. I shall give only the names. The following things must be learnt from genuine masters of yoga.

The ten poses are :

1. padmasan(lotus pose),

2.bhujangasan(snake pose),

3.shalabhasan(locust pose),

4.dhanurasan(bow pose),

5.pashchima uttana asan(the posterior stretching pose),

6.hala asan(plough pose),

7. mayura asan (peacock pose),

8.sarvanga asan (the pan-physical pose),

9.matsyasan(fish pose),

10.shirsha asan (topsy-turvy pose).

Please read my in tune with nature for details of the body, nature cure and hatha yoga and pranayama. I shall only give short notes here can be maintained for five to six seconds. Ten ,minutes exercise will do to keep the body fit. These can be done after bath or before going to bed.

Six action (kriyas ) are :

1. kapala bhati : rhythmic breathing respiration and inspiration vigorously uttering the mantra AUM SHUDDHA SHAKTI AUM. This cleans the brain, cures all lung diseases and controls breathing.

2. neti : nasal cleaning; this is done by drawing water through alternate nostrils and swallowing it. Some do it with a thread too. This will also tone up the stomach.

3. dhauti : this stomach wash. This is done by drinking warm water, then vomiting it back, by introducing the three middle fingers or by gently taking in a narrow piece of cloth and drawing it out gently. Some use a smooth bamboo stick too. This must be done whenever the tongue is coated and smells bad owing to the accumulation of bile in the stomach. This cleans it wonderfully and tones up the digestive system.

4. nauli odyan : this is abdominal suction and rectus rotation. This tones up the intestines and cures constipation.

5. basti or enema : is done by hathayogins by drawing in water through a tube and abdominal suction. But and ordinary enema is better. Luke warm water with afew drops of lemon juice will thoroughly clean the colon. The water must be retained for fifteen minutes and then evacuated at the call of nature. But the enema habit is not good; it is unnatural. Fasting will cure all digestive disorders.

6. tratak or fixity of gaze. The gaze can be fixed on the sun (by interlaced fingers) on the moon, on a flower or any star. This will improve the eyesight and develop concentration.

Pranayama is breath-control; this is explained below.

Along with this, the mind and the vital must be kept pure. No evil thought or passion or lust or envy should disturb the Gnostic equilibrium.