Achara (rituals) are only Dharma. The Acharas followed by holy people is Sadachara and Aacharas followed by eminent followers of the religion is Sishtachara. Though we generally tell Achara as Dharma , the rules which help practice Dharma is Sadachara. In some places Dharma is the dress and Achara are the limbs. For example performing Sandhyavandana is a Dharma, but performing it after taking bath, after marking the forehead with sacred marks and wearing a Panchakacha is the aacharas. Even Vedas do not support a person who does not have aacharas. By following Achara we can get a long span of life and also become wealthy . So many Dharma Sasthras say that Dharma is born out of aacharas and anyone who leaves aacharas has a very short span of life.
Karma or Dharma is a medicine that removes sins. Achara is the discipline that we have to follow in taking the medicine . When you do not follow the disciplines, in spite of taking medicine , the disease is not cured. Sometimes even the discipline only cures the diseases. One Purana says that a hunter who only followed Achara , got a Brahmin birth. Any religious without following the aacharas does not give results.
2.We should go round Brahmins , Sumangalis , temple , gods . Peepal tree and cow in a clock wise manner(Pradakshina). Dhileepa who Went round a cow in an anti clock wise direction and so did not get a child.
3.We should not blow air with our mouth on fire. We should not cross fire with our feet and We should not touch it with hand. We should not put out fire by pouring water on it, We should not dry our feet by showing our feet to the fire.
4.When We reach the sacred waters, We should not keep our feet on it first.We should take the water first and sprinkle on our head and then only wash our feet .We should not spit on water. We should not bathe without cloth in sacred waters. We should not do ablations in sacred water. We should take water in a vessel and do ablations. We should not ansWer natures calls inside the water. We should not put a stone in a lake or pond for Bhīma who kept his feet first in sacred waters suffered.
5.Cooking food only for ourselves, making garland out of floWer for our use and cooking kheer (Payasam) are all sinful activities. We should first offer everything to god and guests and take it ourselves.
6.Before going to bed, We have to wash our feet, dry it with a cloth , meditate on God and then only go to sleep. We should not sleep with our head pointing to northern direction. We should not sleep on a broken cot. We should not sleep in a dilapidated house, We should not wake up a person who is sleeping. Waking up elderly people is a great sin. While We sleep, all our sense organs are within our mind. If We wake up a person in half sleep, the organs instead of returning to proper places may go to places of other organs .(Eg mouth may go to nose),Because of this a person can become blind or deaf.
7. Periods of a woman is a penance for Brahma Hathi. WE should not go near them during those three days. While We are eating We should not hear their voice. We should not use water and food after they have used it. On fourth day after bath , if she cooks by going near fire, she would get sick, The one who eats the food she prepares would get tainted. She would get pure only on fifth day.
8. All gods reside on a cow. Going round it in clock wise direction, comforting it, offering grass , rice bran, water and oil cake to it are blessed deeds. We would be blessed with children because of that. Kicking a cow with leg, hitting it with a stick, eating food without feeding it, informing the owner when it grazes in his field are sins. We would born as an out caste by doing any of these. One Brahmin threw away food because the dust raised by cow's feet fell on it. Due to it , he was born as an outcaste called Kaisika, By serving a cow, King Dileepa got a great son called Raghu, We should try to protect the cow as much as possible. At least We should not trouble it.
9.We should not use cloths, slipper , garland , water pot , seat and bed that Were used by others. It would be a sin and bring diseases.
10.The smoke from a corpse , early sun light , shadow of a lamp , shadow of a human being and shadow of an outcaste should not fall on us. It would cause health problems and reduce our life span.
11,Nails and hair are like the lifeless feather on our body.. A married householder should cut /shave his hair only once a month , that too after seeing for auspicious time. We should not cut our hair or shave ourselves. Our forefathers used to see proper Nakshatra and thithi. It is essential to see thithi only. If We do shaving on CHhathurthi day, our mother will be affected and doing it in Chathurdasi would lead to bad effects to the sister, Sashti is not good to the brother, Amavasya, Pournami , Ekadasi and Dwadasi are not good to father. Doing it in Prathma would lead to loss of Wealth, doing it in navami would cause loss of grains, in ashtami it would destroy our family . Wednesday is a good day for hair cutting /shaving, We should not get it done on Tuesdays , Fridays and Saturdays. After the death taint of a clan member , We should cut our hair and do Tharpana. If that day falls on a Friday, shaving can be got done on Thursday itself, During taint and before the annual death ceremony (Sradham), it is essential to shave off all hairs of our body.
12. We should not nip our nails. If we do it, immediately we have to take a bath. You should not draw a line on floor using the nail. You should throw the cut nails outside our house, We should not bite the nails with our teeth,. Moodehevi (jyeshta devi ) says that such persons are the place of her personal residence.
13.We should not nip grass, durba or flower with our nails., Nails should not touch the water that , we are drinking. Introducing finger to see whether water is hot is wrong.We should pour water in our hands and test it. If we sprinkle water using nails on other person, our nail would get infected.(Nakha chuthi. We should not nip with nail the banana fruit before offering it to God. We whould remove the skin at the tip by our fingers. We should not remove sandal paste meant for God by using the nail. We should do it by our inner finger.
14. Without reason We should not powder mud balls ,tiles and bricks.
15. We should not Wear a flower which has not been offered to God. We should not Wear it in such a way, that it is visible outside our hair. If those who do not comb their hair , tie flowers with hair, the scent of the flower will not go out. Ladies should not Wear flowers without scent, We should not stamp used flowers with our feet.
16, We should not travel in a cart drawn by a single bullock,. If We go on a pilgrimage on such a cart , it would even destroy the blessed deeds which We have done earlier. Single bullock is the steed of Lord Shiva. The Goddess of Dharma assumes the form of a single bullock and carries Lord Shiva. Climbing on a single bullock or travelling in a cart being drawn by it , is an insult to Dharma.
18. At night We should not stay below a tree .If pregnant women sleeps there , her pregnancy would get affected. At night , birds stay on the tree and their poop may fall on us. At night ghosts and devils approach the trees. Also trees leave out carbon dioxide at night, So We may get sick. It has been told that in Kali age after 5000 years , the ghosts are but the diseases.
19.We should not gamble. Playing cards with money wager is gambling. Even Yudhishtra who knew all Dharmas lost everything due to gambling. Since gambling leads to lie , avarice and treachery , it is one of those great sins.
20. Crossing a river swimming with hand and leg is a sin. Our Sasthras want to protect us. Lot of dangers may happen , when we cross the river due to nature's fury, So cross the river in a boat and as soon as you reach the other shore, do Aachamana. This is to expatiate ourselves from the sin of crossing the river.
21.Please do not tell about Dharma or penance without request from others. It definitely should not be told to people who are lower in birth status than ourselves. Food should only be given to hungry people . If we tell Dharma to people who do not want it, they will not believe in it. So initially create a desire to hear Dharma in them and after their request teach them.
22. We should not stamp by our feet the shadow of God's idol, Guru, Father , mother , elders and cow. We should not cross their shadows also. We should not stamp the shadows of sinners also nor cross it. We believe that a little of a person's power is there on his shadow also. So stamping or crossing would be disrespecting them. Ravana tried to cross Kailasa mountain and got in to trouble.
24.We should not call any one as a sinner. If he had not committed a sin, the bad effect of committing the sin would reach the man who called him a sinner, Suppose he has done the sin, half its bad effect will come and reach us. Three brothers Were going separately on celestial vehicles to heaven. All the three of them saw a Garuda killing a serpent. The first one said it is a sin. His vehicle fell down on earth. The second one told Garuda "Please kill ". His vehicle also fell down. The third one kept silent and reached heaven.
26. A householder should not grow hair, beard and nails for more than one month. But after thedeath of his parents, he should not cut them for one year. He should not also cut them when his wife is in the family way.
27.Fearing that the beggar will come, We should not close the main door during the morning and evening.
28. Finding fault of Gods , Vedas and elders should not be done. When Brahma found fault with Shiva, Veerabhadra punished him by nipping off one of his heads. Once when devas requested Lord Vishnu to talk ill of Lord Shiva , he refused. It is also wrong to find fault with those who worship God.
29. A lamp should not be put out by blowing air by the mouth, A male should never put off a lamp.
30.We should not see our shadow in water or oil.
31. We should not gnash our teeth making sound. This is a symbol of a Rakshasa.
32. When We yawn , We should keep our hand just above the mouth. Yawn is the messenger to disease, laziness and sleep. At the time the bad air in our body escapes through our mouth. Suppose this air touches others, they would become sick.
33.If the shadow of a lamp, shadow of human beings , water from cloth , water from our hair , the dust raised by a goat , dust raised by donkey , dust raised by ladies , the air made by a winnow , the dust that comes up while sweeping falls on our body , even if We have Wealth equal to Indra it would be lost. It would take away the effect of good deeds done by us.
34. Man should not take food in the row of females or children. They should not take food sitting in the same row as their wives. But they can do so, after the marriage ceremony or during travel .
35.Only if we take clean food, our mind would be clean. The cook , the people who eat and those who serve it should all be clean.
36. We should not sleep during day time We should not make love during day time . Milk should not be drunk during day time After noon, We should not go round that Peepal tree.
37.Jyeshta devi (moodhevi) lives with people who do Wear cloth, who do not Wear Pancha Kacham or only Wear Loin cloth. So except during times of need , We should Wear Pancha kacham. In north India even children are habituated to Wear this. "Those who do not have Kacha, those who leave a tail and tie Kacha,, Those who tie Kacha on the waist thread and those who do not tie Kacha are like people without cloth." They should not be seen during performance of any ritual. If we happen to see them , We have take bath along with the dress We Wear. The edges of a cloth should not hang while we Wear the Kacha. Through that our strength will go away. Even Muslims Wear cloth without the edge hanging about.
39. We should not wash our Dhothi at night. We should not sweep the floor at night nor throw trash outside our home. At night We should not stay in the shadow of any tree. We should not dig or plough earth at night. We should not talk about secrets at night.
40. We should not enter in between cows or in between the Brahmins , between fire and a Brahmin , in between husband and wife , in between teacher and student, In between brothers or sisters or in between children , If We go in between Nandi, and Shiva, , Shiva and Parvathi , Lord Vishnu and Garuda or Vishnu and his consorts, If We go in between them, the effect of all good deeds done by us earlier will be lost, If We go round them in clock wise direction, We would get good effect.
41. If We stub against a stone while walking , then We should take some mud from that place and Wear it on our forehead. That is called Muruthika and it will protect us from wicked spirits.
42.Those who have father or elder brother should not Wear a ring made of silver (called Tharjani) in our pointer finger. Others can Wear it. That finger is supposed to be defiled because lord Shiva nipped the head of Brahma by that finger, For worship or Tharpana, the pointer finger should not be used. Silver represents Rudra and if We Wear silver on that finger and touch other fingers with that finger the others would not be defiled.
43.During Sandhya Vandhana on Chathurthi, Ashtami and Chaturdasi days, We should chant Gayathri 54 times. On Sapthami day We have to chant 37 times and on Amavasya, Pournavasya , and Prathama 26 times.
44. Daily in morning We have to chant Gayathrei 108 times. Gayathri should be chanted after the hands are covered by a cloth and kept in front of us. When We get death or birth taint We should chant Gayathri ten times.
45.Even if the sacred threads gets not broken, it should be changed once in four months. When thread is cut or when the taint comes and goes away and in Sravana , We have to Wear a new sacred thread. If We happen to touch a sinner , bad person , barber or ladies in periods, We have to take bath and change the sacred thread.
46.On Ashtami , Chathurthi, Amavasya (new moon), Pournavasya (full moon) , Sankramana (first of a month , First of a year (manvathi or Yugadhi) , Previous day of Sradha, Sradha and on the last day of the taint, We should not take food at night.
47.People who are above eight years of age or below 80 years should not take any food on Ekadasi day. Those who are sick or Weak can take milk and fruits for one time. Those who are not able to live that way, can take boiled rice along with water but without any spices or vegetables for one time. There is no parihara(redemption) for taking food on Ekadasi day. It is a great sin. Even if Ekadasi comes during taint, We should not take food. The penance of Ekadasi would give pleasures in life on earth and later salvation.
48. Those answering calls of nature at night , it is necessary for them to wash their legs and hands, It is not necessary to do Aachamana.
49.Except on the days of eclipse, We should not take bath at mid of the night. If there is a need, We can show a lamp to the water and then take bath.
50.After bidding farewell to friends and relatives or after doing worship or after marriage or any sacred function, We should not take bath.
51.On Sundays or on Sapthami days We should not eat gooseberry (nellikkai) . This should not be eaten at night. But if Dwadasi comes on Sunday, by the special rule , We can take it along with Agathi leaf and Chundaikkai.
52.On no day at night We should eat gooseberry , or ginger or curds , paddy or fried flour.
53. For turmeric , ghee , salt , parboiled rice , Betelnut and jaggery There is no taint of cooking(Paka Dosha) .That is they can be brought from shop and be used.
54.Penance of Upavasa is taking no food at all. During that time if We suffer too much We can take water, root vegetables, Ghee, milk , Rice boiled with water without removing water , medicine and fruits. If We take any one of these , the fast is not considered broken. At the time of a fast penance, if in any ones house the Sradha cannot be performed for non availability of a Brahmin , We can help them by participating in Sradha.
56.After taking food We have to gargle 12 times. Then wash leg and hands and do aachamanam. Only then We would be clean. By that time if We touch some one else, both the persons should take bath. After urinating We have to gargle four times, after stools 8 times, after cleaning the teeth 18 times. After these We have to do Aachamana. If We do not get good water , instead of Aachamanam We can touch the ear three times by right hand. This is called Srothrachamana.
57.When new water comes in the river , for ten days We are not supposed to take bath in it..They say that river enters in to her periods that time. Some people do not take bath from one to third day of Aadi month(July 15-August 15th)But if eclipse , upakama or Sankramana(first of the month) occurs during the period, We are permitted to take bath in the river.
58.Some people do evening Sandhya Vandana facing the West. Only Japa and Arghya(offering water) should be done facing the West. All other rituals including Aachamana should be done facing east or north.
2.But for lunar eclipse food can be taken before two yamams also.
3. If the moon sets before the eclipse is over(Grahanasthamanam) then for the entire day , We should not take food and take food only after We see the moon.
4.If sun sets before the eclipse is over, We should not take any food during night and take food only after We see the Sun and take bath.
6.Even woman in her periods should take bath after the eclipse , in water poured by other women.
7.During eclipse all water is ganges and all Brahmins are sage Vasishta.
8.Till end of eclipse We should chant manthras and should not sleep.
9.Pregnant women should not come out during eclipse.
10.Food cooked before eclipse should not be eaten and it should be thrown away.
11.In case of curd or pickles , a piece of Durba should be put in them.
12.The charity and chanting of Manthras done during eclipse gives large returns.
13.In case of solar eclipse Tharpana should be done as soon as eclipse begins and in case of lunar eclipse, it should be done , when the eclipse is ending.
14.In ocean water Pithru Tharpanam should be done but for Aachamana We have to take water from home after bathing.
15.Sun and moon are lords of plants and so when the eclipse comes, our stomach should be empty.
16.Those whose Nakshtras fall at the eclipse time , should write the following Sloka on a dried leaf and Wear it on their forehead till the eclipse gets over.
Let Indra , Agni , Yama, Niryathi , Varuna , vayu , Khubera, eesaana remove the sufferings due to lunar/solar eclipse.
60.Drinking tender coconut water in a bell metal vessel is equivalent to drinking of toddy. If needed use silver vessel.
61. We should not keep milk , Sandal paste and flowers in a copper vessel.
62.Ellurundai(sweet made of Gingelly) and Thilannam (Rice made of Gingelly) should be made only for offering to manes and devas . We should not cook it for ourselves. If We make Ellurundai or mix of jaggery and gingelly and offer it to the Peepal tree , then We would get cured of diseases. If We distribute thilanna on Saturdays , sins would go away.
63.Sravana Dwadasi (Dwadasi with Sravana star(thiruonam)) is greater than Ekadasi. If Sravana Dwadasi comes, it is better to fast on Dwadasi day , than on Ekadasi day.
64.Madhyahnika time is at 12 noon. Gouna time is from 8.30 AM.On Dwdasi day before Madhyahnika time comes, in Gouna Kala We would do Madhyahnikam , Vaisva devam etc.This is because Dwadasi Paranai(Taking food) should be done before Madhyahnika time. But Dwadasi sradha cannot be done in the morning.
65.If Dwadasi is only for a very little time, all rituals should be finished before Dwadasi ends and food for Dwadasi should be taken. But if it ends in very early morning , Dwadasi can be observed by taking Thulasi water,. King Ambareesha did like that.
66.Whatever taint may come , the Ekadasi Vrutha should be observed. It is as important as Sandhya vandana,But worship and dhana (charity to Brahmins) should be got done by someone who does not have the taint.
67.Upavasa (fasting) is a ritual meant for cleaning of the body and the mind as Well as to get blessings of gods. So without religious need, fasting should not be done.
68.Fast is an important method to achieve concentration of mind..Because body is the most important requirement for doing Dharma , you should not do fast till the body becomes sick. Because body depends on food for health, you should not undertake unnecessary fasting. You should not unnecessarily take food also.
69.Drinking too much and eating too much are sinful acts. Once when Bheema asked Yudhishtra how he will fall , he told him he would fall due to over eating and over drinking.
70. Those who cannot fast completely , can fast eating fruits and drinking milk. This is called Phalahara(Palaharam in tamil) .Eating hard to digest breakfast items like Uppma, Dosa, Adai etc is not fasting. Elders say that even one time fasting is good. Once Bheema told Vyasa, "I cannot fast on all Ekadasis. I will take food once in all but one ekadasis but fast on one Ekadasi,", Sage Vyasa agreed to this proposal. That Ekadasi is called Bheema Ekadasi.
71.After breaking fast on Dwadasi day take a leaf of Thulasi after offering it to God. This would remove all problems of body and mind.. Actually this should be done daily as Thulasi protects our mind and body.
72.During fast you should not drink water often. You should not clean the teeth in such a way that water in the gums is squeezed out. We should not use Thamboola and sleep during day time. Walking , fighting , talking loudly and loose talk would destroy the good effect of fasting. Talking passionately and company of women should be avoided.
73.What is Nithyopavasam (Daily fasting )? Daily taking food only twice , not taking food in between and taking every handful of food after saying "Govinda" is Nithyopavasam.
74.During Dwadasi We have to eat gooseberry, Chundaikai and Agathi keerai . These are special items. Taking all of them is very good. But at least one of them should be taken.
75. Food that should be avoided during Dwadasi. Snake gourd , Brinjal , onion, honey , garlic , food from house of unknown people , sleeping in day time , Eating food twice , Love making , oil bath should be avoided. They would remove the good effects of Ekadasi fast.
76.Why this Paaranai in the morning? The one eighth portion of the Dwadasi thithi on that day is called Harivasaram. We should complete worship, vaisvadeva and food and later offer food to God. King Ambareesha knew about it and took Thulasi water during that time. Doing Paranai without fasting on Ekadasi day is useless.
77.Why should Garlic and onion be avoided? These take away the Brahmanyam within us , which was built by rituals. People who eat these without knowing it , should once more celebrate Upanayana(Sacred thread ceremony). Then only they are eligible to do daily rituals like Sandhyavandana and ceremonies like Sradha. Though medicinally they cure some diseases, they give extra wrong energy(Madham) to people and spoil the mind. If We have to take it for medicinal purposes, We can take it but later do redemption. For ladies , drinking of Pancha Gavya is sufficient. So people who chant Gayathri should not take these just for taste or for strength.
78.Things which are equivalent to Alcohol. Water touched by nail, water drunk using left hand in times other than food time, water drunk standing up, Drinking left over water drunk by some body else , Tender coconut water kept in bell metal , hot water and milk kept in copper vessel are equivalent to alcoholic drinks.
79.What should be avoided: Taking bath in Dhobhi ghat , water in an iron vessel, taking gooseberry on Sundays, Sapthami and at night , Buttermilk churned by hand , milk in the day time, curd at night and Sathuma (multi grain flour) should be avoided.
80.Month based on Sun entering a particular Rasi is called Souramana and months based on next day of amavasya to the next Amavasya as a month is called Chandramana. Sasthras prescribe certain rituals should be based on Souramana montha and others on Chandramana month.
81.Thula snana, Dheepavali , Karthigai dheepa , Dhanurmasa pooja and Shivarathri should celebrated on the soura mana month.
82.Chandra Darsanam: We should not see Moon on Chathurthi day. If We see some one will find fault with us , with no basis. Since Lord Krishna saw the Chathurthi moon, Sathrajit told that he has stolen the Syamanthaka gem.If We think about the story of how he fought with Jambavan and brought back the gem, The problem due to seeing moon will not occur.
83.Things which reduce our life span: Drying ourselves in morning sun, Being touched by the smoke from the corpse , making love to a lady elder than us, drinking water without filtering it and Eating curd at night would reduce our life span every day. Not performing Oupasana , eating food meant for some body else and eating food not supposed to be eaten, would reduce the life span according to Lord Yama himself.
84,Drying in the evening sun, The homa smoke touching us , making love to woman younger than us, drinking pure water and eating milk and rice at night would daily increase the life span. Following rules of food, Doing Oupasanam , daily saluting elderly people would also increase life span. If We do not feed a guest, Nachikethas says that the Wealth of our progeny would be destroyed.
85.If We make guests wait outside and take food inside the house, that food is like the Cow's meat and the water is equal to toddy.
86.Never taking loan is the best .If there is need , We can take it and return it speedily. We should pay the full loan taken at that time. Suppose We take loan from someone and if We die without returning it, in the next birth, we will be born as his child and after taking that amount , that child will die.
87.We should never spend more than our income .Respectability is much greater than life We should never do anything by which We loose our respectability,. The life without respect is no life at all.
89.Paste should not kept on the sandal stone or on a stick. The sandal paste kept on the stone, the remaining food after a cat ate it and seeing our own shadow in water can even remove Indra's Wealth.
90. If the dust raised by hooves of a goat or that one raised by donkey ,or the dust raised by broom or the dust raised by feet of ladies falls on us our Wealth would be destroyed.
91.With this body having six senses, We should get salvation which is the ever living joy. The devotees who carry god in their mind are mobile temples Any help that We do them is worship to God. Even though We are not great devotees , some part of God is in every one of us. So We should help others, There is no blessed deed better than this. We should help others by our body and Wealth.
92.When We are in our native place We should follow all rituals prescribed by Sastras. When We go outside our place , it is sufficient if We do half the rituals. In towns, quarter is sufficient. While travelling as much as possible can be done.
93.When We do Sandhyavandhana, after We give Arghya, We should do Pradakshia. That is what is called Athma Pradakshina . We should not do athma Pradakshina in temples , river banks and near a peepal tree. If We do We will be affected by Brahma hathya sin. Showing God our back side is a sin.
94.Keeping flower over the top of the ears, man applying sandal paste only on chest and keeping Thulasi on the hair are sins. You should keep flower on hair , Thulasi over the ear and apply sandal paste on chest and arms. Ladies can Wear sandal paste on their neck and arms.
95. We have to keep as secret our age , Wealth , quarrels in our family , the Manthra which has been taught to us by a Guru, our love, our charity , the prizes given to us by others, the insults We have to bear and the loans that We have taken. If others ask, We should give some approximate figure. We should not hide anything from our Guru and close friend.
96. The sorrow We cause to others is sorrow caused to God by us. We would suffer for doing that. The one who does help to others is helping himself. One who causes sorrow to others causes sorrow to himself, Sasthra says Paropakara punyaya , papaya para peedanam (helping others is blessed, causing hurt to others is a sin.).
97.Veda says that all gods stay inside the body of a person who knows Vedas. So worship done to him is like worship of all gods. Like that the hurt We cause to them is like hurting all gods. We should not trouble anyone .Specially We should not trouble Brahmins. Playfully Samba put on a makeup of a lady and asked Saptha Rishis , what type of child would be born to him. Because of that the axe that will destroy his entire clan was born to him., A emperor called Nruga troubled Brahmins and was born as a chameleon.
98.We should not stand in street junction at mid night or after eating in a Sradha or at dawn or dusk.
99.Jyeshta devi would stay permanently with a Brahmin who does not Wear cloth or one who does not Wear Pancha Kacham or one who Wears only loin cloth or one who is desirous of quarrel.
100. We should stand beyond two hand distance when a cart comes , beyond ten hand distance in case of a horse and 1000 hand distance in case of an elephant. In case of a bad man We should be far far away. These are actions which give results immediately.(Drushta) . This shows that Sasthra is very much bothered about the safety of our body.
101.The scorpion has poison in its horn, For flies and mosquitoes it is on their head and snake has poison on its fangs. But for a bad man poison is everywhere.
102.The father who dies leaving loans to be repaid by the son is like his enemy. The father who does not give us knowledge or teach us humility is his enemy. An ugly or very pretty wife is a man's enemy.
103.When We visit a place where Fire sacrifice is being performed, We should not go empty handed but carry Samith. Similarly when We visit a farm, home, temple , lady in a family way , senior citizens , Guru and king We should not go empty handed but should carry some fertilizer , something which is of use in the house , a plate of fruits, flowers ,coconut Camphor etc to the temple and food offering to others. Kuchela who took Avil (beaten rice) to see Krishna became rich.
104 Helping an extremely poor man, making arrangements for worship in temples which cannot afford it and cremation of an orphan corpse are equivalent to performance of Aswamedha.
105.While gargling or cleaning our teeth, We should not use the pointer finger. If We do , We will go to hell.
106.Till our daughter gets a child, We should not take food in our daughter's married home.
107. At the of time of taking food, We should wash our hand and leg , perform Aachamana and eat food facing North.
108.We should not take food with single cloth, Wet cloth , Wearing silk , without chanting god's names , without putting marks on our forehead or with untied hair.
109. We should not eat the cooked rice for which Vaiswadevam has not been done or which is not offered to god. This applies even to food offered by our Guru.
110.Only after setting apart the rice meant for Vaiswadevam and offering it to God , We should start taking it.
111. Without doing Pranagnihothram( the manthras We say before taking food) you should not eat the food. As soon as rice is served, We should hold the leaf with our hand.
112. We should do aabochanam( taking a sip of water telling Manthras) only with water poured by others. When We are taking food in a group all people should do it together, No water should remain in our hand and We should not make any sound while taking that water.
113. After food is served , till Pranagni hothram is complete We should not talk with anyone. It is better that we should not talk while taking food. But when we eat with a guest, we should talk to him and be hospitable. This does not go against the rule of being silent. During aabochanam, when We take rice one by one, each should not be chewed by the teeth but should be swallowed.
114.We should take only that much rice in our hand, which will fill our mouth. We should take food in such a way that the food along with five fingers just enters the mouth. We should not take large quantity, and then take it out and keep it on the leaf. If we keep it and take it again, it would be like a dog eating what it has vomited.
115.We should not sit in a row with lot of people and eat food. We should not eat facing others also. If you happen to sit in a row, we have to chant a mantra called Trisuparna. If you do not know it, chant names of god.
116.Every time We put a handful of food in our mouth, We have to say , "Govinda, Govinda" .If We do this , it is as if We are observing fast.
117. While eating have to take , one part of food, one part water and leave other part with air, to be healthy.
118. Except while eating, we have to keep the water glass on our right. Water kept on the left , Water drunk with left hand , water drunk while standing , drinking of remaining water after another one has drunk it ,are equal to drinking toddy.
119. Serving food other than fried food, fruits and sweets , should not be served by Hand or iron ladle or by left hand , it is equal to beef.
120.When people are eating in a row, if one man gets up , all the leaves would get tainted.(Yechil) . In emergency cases draw a line with water on both sides and get up. This makes you different from the row.
121The water to be taken after food with Manthra 'Amthuthabhidhanamasi "(Uthara Abochanam) should also be poured in our hands by somebody else. It can be immediately taken. There is no rule that all people should finish eating food together. Half the water has to be taken and the other half after taking it round the leaf should be poured below the leaf on the right side through the space in between thumb and first finger(Pithru theertham).
122. The water poured from the tip of fingers is Deva Theertham, What is poured by the bottom of the hand is Brahma Theertham,. What is poured to the left side by the middle of the palm is Rishi Theertham. What is poured in between the thumb and first finger is pithru Theertham.
123. That Uchishta Theertham which We pour on the right side below the leaf after taking food, is supposed to quench the thirst of people in the rourava hell.
124. "Rourave apunye nilaye Padma arpudha nivaasinaam .
Arthinaam udakam datham akshayyam upathishtathu" is the manthra that We have to tell when We pour the Uchishtya Theertham below the leaf.
125.When the cooked rice is brought , We have to say "asmakam nithyam asthu yethath,(Let me get like this daily)" When We finish and get up We are supposed to say "Annadatha Sukhibhava(Let him who gives the food live happily)".
126.Till We wash our hand after food and do Aachamana, another man who has not washed his hand is not supposed to touch us. If he does , both of us have to take bath. With hand used to take food, We are not supposed to take water in a vessel. Similarly suppose someone gives water with unwashed hand, We should not use it. We are supposed to give water for washing some one's hand only after We do Aachamana.
127.After food and after sitting and doing Aachamana telling the following prayer if We wipe our eyes. The eye sight will never fade.
Bukthamathre smareth yasthu chakshu thasya na heeyathe.
If immediately after We take the word , We remember Charyatha and other sages , Sukanya , Chyavana , Indra and Aswini devas , then our eye sight will never fade.
128.We should move our hands over our stomach saying the following Manthra, then all the food We have taken would be properly digested.
Let Agasthya . fire god and Padapagni digest all the food that I have taken .Let my body be healthy.
129.Immediately after taking food We have to walk one hundred steps . If We sit or lie down immediately after taking food , there would be diseases of the stomach. If We walk fast or run, our life span would reduce. We will have fear of Yama.
130,. Before Uthrabochana the housewife or those who serve food should enquire whether more food is required , If We do not do that, the blessings which We would have got by giving food will vanish and also We will get sin. It is a practice to do like this to the Sradha Brahmin.
131. To the guest after he eats the food , along with Thmboola We should give at least a small Dakshina(cash present.) Otherwise we would get the good effect of feeding.
132.As soon as We see an elder, we have to stand and then salute him. For men, We have to chant "Abhivadaye" and then salute . Some people say "Chathusagara paryantham Gobrahmanebhya subham bhavathu (Let good happen to all Brahmins for a width of four oceans .) and then tell Abhivadaye. Some people do Namaskaram and then tell Abhivadaye . These should be done as per the practice of our family.
133.If We are permitted to touch the elder, then after saluting the elder We should touch his feet by keeping our hand in a cross fashion. That is We should touch his right feet by our right hand and left feet by left hand. If We are not permitted to touch the elder after saluting him, We should do crisscross touching on floor in front of him.
Is a sample Abhivaadaye manthra,You have to fill it up with your pravara, Gothra, Suthra, Veda and name You should not tell pravaranvitha but Pravaraan vitha.
135.Pravara saints are the important saints born in the family of Gothra sage. In some gothras, there are 7 pravara rishis , in some 5, in some 3 and in some only one.Accordingly We have to say saptha rishaya(7) , Panchaarsheya(5) tryaarsheya(3)Yekarsheya(1) .Abhivadahye means, I am introducing my self.
136.In the beginning all gothras originated from 9 rishis and then they grew to hundreds. The rishi to whose clan We blong to is called Gothra rishi. People having same gothra are referred to as Sagothra and people having the same rishi in their pravara is called SApravara. We should not marry from our Gothra or our Pravara.
137.Asmi means," I am as indicated", Bho is the form of address to elderly people.
138.There are many Suthras like AAsvalaayana, Kousheedhaka. Bodhayana,Bharadwaja , Sathyaashada, Vaikhanasa, Kathyayana, drahyayana, Jaiminiya etc.Each of those sages have given the method of performing the rituals in a man's life. Those before death are termed as Poorva prayoga and those after death are called Apara prayoga.
139.The famous suthras are Aswalayana for Rig Veda, Bodhayana, Aapasthambha, Baradwaaja, Sathyaashaada and Vaikanasa for Krishna Yajurveda, Kathyayana for Shukla Yajurveda anD drahyayana and Jaimineeya for Sama Veda.
140. For the same Veda , many sages have created Suthras. We have to follow that Suthra which was followed by our forefathers. In case of shika(Hair style),. Pundra(what We put on our forehead) , Sutha and aacharas of our family has and our forefathers have to be followed by us. If We change according to will, We would be committing sin. If We do not get a priest who knows our Suthra , We cannot follow some other Suthra. Suppose without any option , if We are forced to do it, later the same ritual should be performed according to our Suthra.
141.We should without forgetting tell our Veda –Rik shakha Adhyayi, Yaju Shakha adhyayi or sama Shaka adhyayi.
142.Suppose somebody is named as Sharma, he should tell "Sharma naamaham" .
143.The room where delivery has taken place, if it is a mud floor, it should be floored again and if it is any other type of floor, We have to first burn straw in the room and bring a cow inside the room and then sprinkle Punyaaha water. Unless this is done that room cannot be used for any purpose.
144.The Lady who has delivered , on the day she does Panda sparsam(Touching of vessels) , she should Wear a new Mangala Suthra and take Pancha gavya Then only she is eligible to participate in religious and Pithru rituals.
145. On the day when death taint and birth taints go away, the men should take bath in the morning, do all morning rituals and after 8.30 AM , should take bath again, preferably in a pond or river.
146.When death occurs, till SApindikarana, a stone is kept in a pit in home(Graha Kunda) and another one in the river bank(Nadhi kunda) . The stones represent the pretha(dead body) of the expired person. The house where Graha kunda is kept is fully tainted till sapindikarana is over.
147.If Graha kundam is kept in some other place , then by cleaning with cow dung and after sprinkling Punyaha, the house will become pure. People who are living for rent can stay in such a house.
148.When we get tainted, if we are doing Agnihothra(ceremony of fire), We can take bath, finish the agnihothra rituals. But Oupasana and worship should not be done by us. Since they have to be definitely done, we can get them done by someone who does not have taint.
149.Except Sandhya vandhana , no other daily ritual should be done during the taint period . But Grahana Tharpana, Yekadasi , Sravana Dwadasi and Shiva Rathri should be observed during taint period.
150. If a panchama enters our home , We should throw away all earthen vessels, and all others should be washed by cow dung and Punyaha water. We should throw away all cooked food. Only after bringing a cow inside the home and the dust from its feet falls inside, the house would become clean.
151.A pond where a cow enters and is washed is a pure pond . By any one's touch it will not get tainted.
152. In water source used by many, if a cat or a dog falls and dies, We have to remove 100 pots of water from it and then it can be used. If a man dies, the entire water has to be emptied and it should be cleaned by Pancha gavyam and Punyaaham.
153.The feet of a Brahmin is holy. So the house where the dust from their feet falls is pure. Since Jyeshta Devi lives on the back side of a Brahmin , We should never make them sit on a floor but either on a mat or a plank.
154.The back side and legs of a cow are pure. So they have to be seen. Goddess Lakshmi lives there. The face of a cow and what is smelled by the face or dirty . The cow licked the flesh from the body of sage Dadichi and because of that got a portion in the fire sacrifice. So he cursed that front portion of a cow will be dirty and cursed.
155. There was a sage called Behnabha who used to grow cows and live by licking the foam on the calve's mouth after it has drunk milk . In the fire sacrifice conducted by king Ranthideva , they wanted to leave their body and become cows with pretty horns. When he refused they killed him by their horn. Kamadhenu got angry and cursed that their face will become dirty and cursed.
156.We can worship the back side of a cow, and decorate it. Kalidasa says King Dileepa worshipped the middle portion between the horns where lord Shiva dances. But the place for worship is the back side. After worshipping the back side , the front side can be worshipped.
157.Worship of cow, service to cow offering grass and paddy straw to cow, scratching the neck of the cow , Constructing a stone pillar so that the cow can rub itself on that and offering grazing land to the cow are blessed deeds and gets us reward.
158.Once the husband knows clearly that his wife is in the family way, he has to do penance. During that penance he should not take Dhanam. He should neither shave nor cut his hair, He should not go as a Brahmin in a Sradham. He should not take bath in the sea,. He should not go on a pilgrimage. He should not go the cremation ground nor should he carry a corpse If he does not observe these, he would accumulate sins and growth of baby would be affected.
159.To get rid of sins We should do Kruchram. It means give punishment to the body. That is We should punish the body by starving and also repent.
160.Those who cannot fast , instead of one Prajapathya kruchra should chant Gayathri ten thousand times. If even that is not possible, he should do 200 Pranayama., If even that is not possible he should do 1000 homams. If even that is not possible, he should read from the Vedas thirty times and people who cannot even do that should feed 60 or 24 or 12 Brahmins and people who cannot even do that, should give Gomoolya (Rs3 and 15 paise). In Tamil Nadu a Kruchra is about 40 paisa.
161. Suppose We have to become eligible to perform a Karma(ritual) We should give as gift 7 or 6 or 3 Kruchras.
162.Suppose a person dies , We have to remove the body only after one Yaamam (About 3 hours).We should not keep it more than 3 Yaamams(Nine hours) If We keep it , it would become paryushitham that is old.
163. If a person dies in day time , his body should be cremated within 3 yamams(9 hours) but if it is night, the body can be cremated within nine Nazhigai(Nazhigai-24 minutes) , It is believed that the soul of the dead man is being taken with great speed by the assistants of God yama.
164. If we keep the body for a long time either in the day time or night , The parayooshitha dosha will set in. To remove this , We have to give away three Kruchrams and wash the body with Panchagavyam and then again wash it with pure water and then cremate it.
165.It is believed that , while cremating , We are doing Homa of the body in fire, Since it is not possible to lift it and do Homa, We set up a pyre, place the body on it and set fire to it.
166.Dying in Dakshinayayana , Krishna Paksha , at night and on the cot are each a dosha. We have to give one kruchram each for each of these doshas and then only cremate the body. .Once a person's soul was taken by mistake to Yama loka by the assistants of Yama since they brought the wrong soul, Yama , the lord asked them to take back the soul and return it to its body.They have the power to do that and so we should not cremate the body in a hurry.
167. What all things need to be done before a person dies? .Death would come definitely to every one. Suppose We know that our death is nearing , We should do Prayachitha(redemption) . That would remove the sins committed till then and make death occur without much pain. This is an important ritual and should be done.
168.If the man is about to die and has sufficient strength , he should take bath, do Sankalpa and do various Dhanas. If he does not have strength, he can instruct his son to do it.
169.If after doing this, suppose he lives for another 3 more days , he has to do this Prayaschitha again.It is possible that he might have sinned again by his mind or body. Even if We do not do any fresh sin, since he was not performing daily rituals like SandhyaVandhana due to his health, he would be committing some sin.
170.The Dhanam that We do ourselves before our death is our great friend and so We have to do such rituals which would help us in the other world.
171. If We are not able to do it , then We can get it done by our sons .We should make the dying man see Thulasi leaves, great Brahmins, We should murmur in the dying person's ear "Rama, Rama". If possible . We can ask them to make us chant "Rama, Rama". We should sprinkle Ganga water on our body and also drink it.
172.,Once We know that the person is about to die soon, We should not make him lie on a cot or bed. .In the hall We can spread Durba and make that person lie down on that. King Parikshtith attained hell because he died on a cot. Devi Bhagwatha says that Janamejaya made Devi Bhagawatha Navaha (Reading Devi Bhagwatham in 9 days) and sent his father to heaven.
173.If you have done only Punya (blessed deeds) then our soul will leave our body easily. The soul will leave by the holes in the mouth. The soul of sinners would leave the body very slowly after troubling them a lot. The soul would leave the body through the hole for stools and urine..For realized souls, the soul will break their heads and go out via Sushumna Nadi. Mahabharatha says that Drona's soul left that way.
174. What is the going of the Soul? Soul , which is the complete mingling of mind ,5 jnanedriyas , 5 karmendriyas, and five airs of the body(called Prana) and the past karma that We have done becomes like a spark of fire and goes from our body to other worlds. For those who have got salvation , it will all get mixed here itself. In case of Those who learn Vedas, it will go to the world of Brahma, read Vedas there and at last merge with Brahma. Those for whom all the 48 samsakaras are done or those who give as charity things like earth, gold , cow etc you can go to Brahma Loka but because they do not have knowledge of Vedantha they have to return back.
175.Whi is The labored breath with effort at the time of death? .Normally The udana at the neck will prevent other Vayus (airs) from going out of the body..Till he gives way the other airs of the body try to come out and when prevented, make one more trial, till Udana allows it to go out. People understand from this that the person is about to die.
177.When will milk not go inside the body? When Udana opens the way to Prana to go out, if We pour milk or water in the mouth, it will not go in but come out. Before and after that the milk will go in. Since all the powers of the organs go and merge in the mind, We will not be able see or hear or smell and the skin will be without any feeling.
178.Since soul is a shining entity, till it is there in the body the chest would be warm. Right from the beginning of vyana going and other airs going out, , those areas would lose their warmth. Even if heart beat is not there and even if none of the senses are working, we cannot conclude that a person is dead. Pouring milk in the mouth , Keeping cotton in the nose are the normal tests. Again these are not the ultimate symptoms of death. Some people grind pepper or clove and apply on that persons eye .If there is no soul, water will not come out of the eye. This is not a good method of testing.
179.Is there any other body? Some people believe that the soul catches hold of another body and then only leaves our body. They believe that the soul does not go to any other world and there is no need to observe Sradham(Death anniversary) for them . It is like a person does not like to leave the house where he have lived for long , the soul also does not like to leave the body. So the assistants of Yama show the picture of another body and then attracted by it , the soul leaves the body. And that soul is taken to the world of Yama.
180.Soul never dies. Only body dies, When We are alive, youth goes and middle age sets in and later old age sets in and each of these changes is like throwing out the old dress and Wearing a new dress. Death also is like that. It is only a change, of new cloths discarding old ones. This is mentioned in Gita.
181. There are modes for the soul to go. They are called , the northern way and the southern way, These are also called The way of devas or way of manes or also called the way of devotees and the way of bad souls. Those who go by northern way are blessed as per the good deeds done by them and they will go via world of Yama , to Heaven or mahar lokam Jana lokam , thapo lokam or Brahma lokam. Sinners only go to Yama loka.
182.Those who go to Brahma loka will die in Utharayana (January 15th to july 15th) , in the waxing period of moon in day time . It will take one to God of Utharayana or god of the year and from there he will go to Brahma loka. This is the path to those who become experts in the knowledge of Upanishads.
183 Those who die in the southern way will die at night and the god of night will take them to the god of the waning moon, who will take him to God of Dakshinayana and further to the God of the year and further to land of Yama or to heaven. This also is called the dhooma marga .
184.Does it mean that all those who die in Dakshinayana and in Krishna Paksha will go to Yama Loka and swarga? Suppose a person is a great devotee of god, or has done innumerable charities, will he not go to Brahmaloka . This is not true that all of them go to the heaven as your placement depends only on the sins and blessed deeds that you have done.
185.Mahabharatha says that Bhishma wanted to die only in Utharayana and postponed his death.Because of this We should not assume that only those who die in Uttarayana would go to heaven .It is a holy time and his father had given him a boon that he can choose his time of death. So he did this to use that boon.
186.Cleanliness is a divine concept. We should keep our body, words, mind, the cloths that we Wear, the food We eat and the articles that We handle as clean. Achara means all these aspects being clean. If they are unclean then it is anachara.
187. If a woman in her periods or a chandala comes near us, we have to take bath along with the cloths that we wear. Then only we will become clean. If Sudras , tainted Brahmins,, Brahmins who had hair cut, dog or crow touches us then We have to take bath along with cloths.
188.If women in periods or Chandalas touches us or if We touch a dead body or if We carry a dead body, We have to take bath with our cloths .Males should then change their sacred thread. Then only they would become fit to do their rituals.
189. If our stool or urine or somebody else's stool or urine falls upon us, We have to take bath along with the cloth that We Wear.
191.Great people believe that even though silk is got by troubling a worm , it is clean..They also say that the milk we get after the calf feeds on the cow is again clean.
192.Like that the honey got after it is drunk by the bees is also considered as pure. It is fit for anointing of God.
193.Though a peepal tree is grown from the seeds which are eaten by the crow, it is also considered as clean.
194.If We wash silk cloths or get it washed by washer man then it loses its purity. To remove dirt from it it has to be washed using the gruel of green gram dhal on Amavasya or Dwadasi days.
195.Doing Sradha Wearing a white silk or giving white silk to a Brahmin on a Sradha day, is considered as great.
196.Pancha gavya is made of mixing five things got out of a cow. A woman after delivery becomes pure only after she takes Pancha Gavya after the taint period is over.
197. Pancha Gavya is the mixture of Cows urine(one palam(60 gm) ) , half thumb equivalent of cow dung, about half a liter of milk , 60 gms of ghee(clarified butter) , 60 gms of Durba water. There is a mantra to mix them.
Let the sin adhering to my skin and bones or my body be burnt by Pancha Gavya like a fire wood is burnt by you fire.
199.Some information about Sradham. Sradham means that which We perform with sincerity and belief. Some people call it thidhi and divasam . Calling it Thevasam or srardham is wrong. It should be called as divasam or Sradham.
200.This has to be done in the month that a person died , in the paksha that he died and on the thidhi that he died. Because of this it is termed as Prathyabdhika Sradham.
201.One day is divided into 60 Nazhigas(24 minutes), The thirty Nazhigai of day time is divided in to 5 portions of 6 nazhigai each. Each of these division has a name.
5.25th to 30th Nazhigai Sayanna.
202. The thidhi of death for sradha should be there up to Aparahna .Suppose two days in a month the thidhi comes in Aparannaha, sradha should be performed on the day when it is more in Aparanha.
203.If the thidi comes twice in a month, normally Sradha should be done on the later date. But if the later thidhi has Sankramana dosha, then it should be done on the former thidhi. If in both cases, such dosha is there, it should be performed only on the later date.
204.In the months of Chithirai, Vaikasi , Aadi, Aavani , Iypasi , Karthigai and masi , if the mon th begins in the Madhyahnika kala, Sankaramana dosha is there. In the months of AAni , purattasi , margazhi thai and Panguni this dosham is not there.
205.If there is only one thidhi in the month, We need not bother about Sankramana dosham. Sradha can be done on that day.
206.In the night if Sankramana is there within 15 Nazhikais , then thidhi has Sankramana dosha. If Sankramana at night is after that , then there is no dosham.
207.Apranna kaala is further divided in to three equal parts called Gandahrva period, Kuthaba period and Rouhineeya period. If the thithi occurs on two days and if it is not fully in Aparanna kaala , it would be there in the kuthabha kala of the next day. So Sradha should be done only on next day.
208.If the thidhi does not occur in a month , In the previous Chandramana month n if there is the proper Thidhi , We should perform the Sradha on that day. If Thidhi is not there in Chandramana also, Sradha should be performed in the next month.
209.If the mother's and father's Sradha comes on the same day or both get postponed due to death or birth taint, then on same day father's Sradha should be performed first and next mother's Sradha should be done. The same cooked food can be used for both.
210.If Mother's or father's Sradha is postponed due to death or birth taint , then they can be performed on the day that the taint leaves.
211.If Lunar of solar eclipse comes on the Sradha day, you should observe fast on that day and perform Sradha the next day only.
212.If for some reason you forget to perform the Sradha, from the day you realize it, you should observe fast, observe Krucharacharanam and then perform Sradha the next day. This is the opinion of some saints.
213. For some other reason , We are not able to perform Sradha or suppose We do not know which thidhi it has to be performed, it can be done on the Krishna Paksha Ekadasi or Amavasya.
214.Those who perform Sradha should not eat food of outsiders , should not shave or have a haircut , should not take oil bath and should not make love for one month(some say 15days) before the Sradham.
215.If there are other problems these should not be done at least for one Week before the Sradha. These should never be done for three days prior of Sradha.
216.Whatever may be the circumstance or reason they should not be indulged on the day before the sradha. If you do it , our Pithrus(manes) will curse us and We will lose our wife , children and Wealth.
217.A householder is supposed to do Sradha in Oupasanagni. Only if your wife is there Oupasanagni can be maintained So Sradha should be performed only in the place where wife is there. If wife dies Vidura Oupasanam can be maintained.
218.Atleast in the Paksha when the Sradha falls or at least three days before Sradha Oupasana should be started and on both times of the day. At least it should be done in the morning of the Sradha.
219.It is good, if We can do Koosmanda homa before the Sradha. It removes sins like abortion , eating in unknown places etc. The pithrus will accept the Sradha only if We get rid of our sins before doing Sradha.
220.Even if We are not able to koosmanda Homan, We can keep ourselves pure by Drinking Panchagavya, bath in the sea(If it is parva kala) bathe in sacred rivers and then do Sradha.
221.The day before Sradha, on Sradha day and the day after Sradha We should not clean our teeth using stick or brush. We can clean it by rubbing softly by our fingers and gargling. This is because if you take out the water from the gums , We will immediately feel hungry .
222.Before Sradha, worship of Gods, worship of guests, special bathing and Dhanam should not be done, Dhanam should also not taken .Even those who do not take early morning bath or Oupasanam should take bath early , do Sandhyavandanam and perform Oupasanam and take bath on the sradha day morning. Only sick people are permitted to do only one bath. Not adhering to this will invite curses from Pitrhrus.
223.The man who does the Sradha should personally invite the Brahmins participating on the night before after they have taken their food. If We do not do it, several sorrows will befall us. Normally We invite three Brahmins-one representing VisWedeva , one representing pithru, pithamaha prapithamaha or mathru, pithamaha , prapithamaha, and third one representing Lord Vishnu. Some people do not call a Brahmin to represent Vishnu but only put a leaf and serve all items there. We should always follow our forefathers in any such issues.
223. The qualification for a Brahmin to participate in a Sradha.
One who has read Vedas , Vedanthi , Yogi, one who performs Agni Hothra (the best), SAma Vedhi , Shukla Yajurvedi , one who does not go against one's Dharma. One who knows Dharma Sasthras, One who is peaceful , even if one does not chant Veda one who is born in a family of Vedic pundits and one who does Gayathri Japa without fail.Only these can participate in Sradha .
225.If you do not get Brahmins, Father in law, uncle , Guru, , Daughter's son and the priest who helps us in performing Sradha can represent in the Sradha, Some Rishis say that daughter's son has a special place in this.
226.Who should not represent? Those who do not know Vedas, those who do not have wife or son, one who works under people lower than him, One who works in government, The priests of Sudras, People who do not observe Vruthas, People affected by leucoderma, leprosy , people with Damaged nails or damaged teeth The people who steal , atheists, eunuchs , those who drink alcohol, People who earn money by singing or playing musical instruments, People who have extra limbs like fingers, People who want to be recommended for eating in Sradha, People who hate Vedas and Brahmins, People who find fault with Vedas and Brahmins, Those who do not do Sradha of their parents, People who have returned after crossing the sea, People who have taken food in a Sradha in the previous day, People who accept sinful Dhanas should not take part in the Sradha as Brahmins.
227.If We accept wrong type of people in Sradha , what We give will not reach the pithrus. If a man who has not learnt Vedas eats in a Sradha, when that Brahmin and the performer reaches hell they will be asked to take as many iron balls as much as the number of hands of food taken by that Brahmin.
228.If We do not get those who have learnt Vedas , atleast We should take those who chant Gayathri , the mother of Vedas properly. It is a sin to employ Brahmins who are not Brahmins any more.
229.We have to first show hospitality to Visve devas first and then only to the one who represents the Pithrus. Like that when We send them after the Sradham , first We have to bid farewell to Brahmin who represented Visve devas.
230. When We are washing the feet of Sradha Brahmins , on the northern side We have to make a square of 12" with cow dung.
231.On its southern side We have to make a circle of 12" diameter for washing feet of the Brahmin representing Pithrus again by cow dung.
232. In between these there should be at least a distance of 6" . We have to take care that the water used to wash the feet of one Brahmin should not touch the water used to wash the feet of the other Brahmin. Some people either put a Wet cloth or rice husk in between them.
233. Wearing the Pavithra, you have to worship with rice the deva Mandala(Square) and with Yellu(gingelly) the Pithru mandala with Gingelly . While We are washing the feet of the Brahmin, We should remove the pavithra and keep it on our ears. In Deva Kunda put the Durba on the eastern side and in Pithru Kunda Durba should be put on the southern side.
234.We have to apply ghee on the sole of the feet and thumb of the Brahmin chanting "Shukramasi."After washing our hand saying "Kandathvaaram" We have to apply cow dung.
235.Brahmana should face the east and the one who does Sradha should stand facing the West. The water should be poured by the wife and using both hands starting from the south We have to wash both the feet.
This means that let the dust of the feet of the Brahmin, which can give me all Wealth , which removes all the dangers faced by me and which is like a bridge helping me to cross the bankless sea of SAmsara make me pure.
I salute the lotus like feet of the Brahm in, which removes the diseases of the mind and body and which grants me Wealth , health and fame.
Vandanath mangalavaapthi , archanath achyutham padam.
Seeing a crowd of Brahmins the crowd of sins would fly away And if We salute them auspiciousness will come and if We worship them We will get salvation.
239.After We Propitiate the Viswe deva in the sradha, after telling the manthra We should put the rice from his right leg to head, from bottom to top. We should Wear the sacred thread over the left shoulder.
240. When We do the same thing for Pithrus, We should put the sacred thread on right shoulder(Pracheena vidhi) and put the gingelly from head to his left leg from top to bottom.
241. People who are rich should buy white silk dhothi every year and give to the Brahmins or atleast give a dhothi with silk Zari border. We have to either give three or two or at least one Vasthra to the Brahmin, Giving a cloth without border is not that good.
243.If We are not able to get suitable cloth, We can give its cost ,If we cannot afford it , we can give a new sacred thread instead of cloth along with some cash present.
244. If we give the sacred thread before the start of the Sradha and they Wear it, that sacred thread can be retained , But if we give after they are propitiated then they will have to change it the next day.
245. Before We start the Sradha, We have to give the Brahmins oil. It is a hospitality shown to the manes and for the stool to go out easily for the Brahmana . After he takes bath and Wears the madi (Untainted cloth) , the Sradham starts.
246. Similarly for cleaning the mind of Brahmin Ellurundai( Sesame Jaggery balls) is to be given and to make his language pure, Thamboola is offered .Some people do not offer this because they think that nothing should be eaten before the Sradha. The general rule is follow the customs followed by our family.
247. Aachamana should be done only after removing the Pavithram from hand , Similarly the feet of the Brahmins should not be washed Wearing the Pavithram. We should not apply sandal paste Wearing Pavithram. At those times Pavithram should be kept above left ear.
248. The feet of the Brahmin should be washed only up to the ankle.
249. The cooking for Sradha should be done using ghee . Some sages say that we should not use Gingelly oil and coconut oil. But since pure cow ghee is not easily available and since We use Gingelly in the Sradha , learned people say that cooking can be done in good Gingelly oil.
250. Since some sages say that coconut can be used in Sradha, some people say that coconut oil also can be used. We should not add anything new to the family usage.
251. The food ritually offered to the pithrus can be taken only by those clan members who have ten day taint from events in our family. Even those who have three day taint should not eat it. Some people say that those fried in oil is Ok to be taken by any one. Others if they take the food offered to Pithrus should do redemption before doing their usual rituals.
252. The remains of food offered during Yekodishta should not be even eaten by ten day taint clan members.
253.Black gram, black Gingelly . wheat , green gram dhal , jaggery , Khandasari sugar, Cumin, pepper and Samba rice can be used for cooking in Sradha.
254. Some people say coconut, mustard, snake gourd , wood apple and cucumber can also be used for cooking. Some people do not add these. So do according to family custom.
255. Ash gourds , chilles and asafetida are banned from being used during Sradha . Ash gourd grew out of an asura called Kooshmanda , Chillies came from outside the country and Asafetida is a resin from a tree and is supposed to be the result of the sin of Indra.
256.Perandai (Cissus) , curry leaf, bitter gourd , plantain , mango , Jamun fruit , lemon , colacasia, elephant foot yam , lime , sweet potato , cluster beans , lab lab beans and jack fruit can be used during Sradha. Among these black gram, honey and jack fruit are greatly liked by Pithrus.
257.The following should not be used for Sradha: cow pea , horse gram , Bengal gram , tur dhal (Thuvarai paruppu) , ash gourd , bottle gourd , drum stick, buffalo milk curd made of it , asafetida, pomegranate should not be used.
258.Pithrus are peace loving people and so We should use all material which are Sathvika in nature only.
259. On Sradha day no one except those born in our caste can take food in our house. Some people due to pity or due to their affection offer food for the Panchamas and Shudras on that day, That is wrong and Pithrus will curse us if We do it.
260. It is known that the great savant Sridhara Ayyaval fed a Panchama on the Sradha day and that ganges water came in the Well of his house to purify him.
261.He was not one who used to go against shastras, On all days he used to feed every body . God who wanted to test him and prove his greatness to the world came as guest in his house. If you can make ganges come in your Well, you can also do it.
262.That day washed vessels by us , the place washed by us on that day , , washed and dried cloths on that day , cooking by us without drinking coffee and so many other rules should be observed on a Sradha day. If these are all not observed performing Sradha is a waste.
263.In the Sradha , maternal grandfather, uncle , disciple, daughter's son, nephew and son in law should not represent as Brahmins in a Sradha.
264. Due to certain sages permitting and due to practice daughter's son can be permitted.
265.On Sradha day and previous day, the one who does Sradha should not clean his teeth with stick or brush, should not walk a distance and should not carry a burden .We should not fix and invite a Brahmin and later cancel it. We should not keep sandal paste on vessels made of mud.
267.In the Parvana Sradha , Viswedevas called Puroorava and Aardrava should be worshipped, In Mahalaya Sradha Viswe devas called thuru and ruche should be worshipped In Nandhi sradha Viswedevas Sathya and Vasu should be worshipped. In Spindikarana Viswedevas called Kala Kamuka should be worshipped.
268.In Yekodishta , Masika , Sapindikarana , Nandi sradha and Gaya Sradha, Abisravana (Manthras when Brahmins are taking food) should not be there.
269.The one who is selected as Viswedeva should wash his hand only after the one who represents Pithrus washes his hand. The same thing is true of Aachamana.
270. When the Brahmins are eating, if the food being eaten by one falls on other man's leaf, the Brahmins should touch the leaf further. After removing the leaf and cleaning that place with cow dung , fresh leaf should be again put in another place and food should be served again.
271.If By the time We send away the Brahmins after taking food, Fire is put out , That day We have to starve and redo the Sradha next day.
272.If the pinda meant for the crow is eaten by some other animal before crow touches it or if is eaten by a dog or if Sudras see it, We have to starve that day and do the Sradha gain the next day.
273. The rice and other preparations should be served to the Brahmins without favoritism. But Dakshina can be given according to the capacity of those Brahmins. But Good people do not do that .
274.After Pinda pradhana, few rice that is remaining , should be eaten after saying Manthra. After eating it , worship of Viswedevas can be done. Some people only smell it. Do according to your family custom.
275.People who do not have sons , if they give the center Pinda to their wife saying the Manthra abhandhava , then they will get a son. Other Pindas should be put in fire or water.
276. The vessels used to prepare food for sradha should not be cleaned by Sudras,. The leaf used by Brahmins to take food should be buried in the soil. If Sudras touch that leaf or Dog eats from it, then the entire Sradha is a waste .
277. The leaf used by Brahmins to take food should be removed before they start to tell the blessing Manthras(Swasthi vachana) . The area should be cleaned after Pinda Pradhana.
278.The Brahmins should not touch each other till the Sradha is over. They should eat silently. While eating food, suppose they say the food is good, The Pithrus will not eat that food.
282.. Asamskrutha prameethaa ye thaginyoya, kula sthriya dasayami thebhyo vikirannam thabayaschu paithrukam" is the mantha which means that I offer this to Pithrus for whom death ritual has not been done and those Kula sthree(women) who sacrifice.
283.After keeping the Vikiranna, We have to keep our Pavithram on our ears and then do two aachamanams , keep Dhurba facing south and over that keep Vayasa Pinda (Pinda for crow) Since this Pinda is offered to the crows , it is called Vayasa Pinda.
285.The vayasa pindam should be kept on earth , in a place where dogs would not come and should not be visible to other caste people. First We have to pour water , put the sacred thread on the right shoulder and then call the crow. Once it seems lord Yama took the form of a crow and then he told his devotee that if Pinda is given to the crow, then Yama will not trouble our ancestors. And so offering Vayasa pindam in Sradha and daily offering cooked rice to crow before We eat is a must.
286.When Bhishma and Sri Rama Were offering Sradha Pindam ,it seems their manes came and received it. But they said since the Mantra says We are keeping on earth, We would not receive from you, but take it from earth. So we also should follow rules and believe that our Pithrus are present during the Sradha.
287. If the crow takes the Pinda facing east, our Wealth will increase, If it faces south , We would get ill .If it takes facing West, We would go to some other town, If it takes facing north, our life span will increase. If it does not take it at all sorrows will increase.
288.We should address the Pithrus and ask them, "Anna seshai kim Kareyatham?(What to do with the food that is remaining?)",They will say "Ishtais saha bhojyatham((eat it with people who love you)" , Because of this mantra some people say that the food can be shared with friends. This is wrong.
289. Since Sastra says that only our clan members who have ten day taint, can eat that food and learned people also follow that custom, We also should do like that. We should not interpret that We are disobeying the order of Pithrus, but take it that the order is forever and refers all the food that remains , which should be shared with friends.
290.Anna sesham indicates only cooked food and Ishta are those clan members with ten day taint whom We like. This should be strictly followed.
291. If Sradha comes on Ekadasi day , the one who performs Sradha , his wife and children should definitely take food on that day. Sradha which comes only yearly once is much more important than Ekadasi which comes twice a month. Pithru sesha will bless us and also give us the effect of observing Ekadasi.
292. If widows perform Sradha for their husband on Ekadasi day, they have to eat the Sradha sesham. If they think that Ekadasi is more important and do not take food , Pithrus would be made to eat dirty food.
293. If Sradha for father or brother comes on Ekadasi day, ladies with husbands living (Sumangali) can eat the Pithru sesham but a widow should not eat it.
294.The Sradha sesha of father in law and uncle can be eaten by son in law and nephew respectively.
296.If a Brahmin eats Brahmanartham , immediately he should wash his feet , do Aachamana and chant Gayathri ten times and then drink water. If he does not do it, he is not eligible for performing Sandhyavandana that evening.
297. Even if he does that, he is not eligible to perform Oupasana that evening. He can get it done by his disciple or wife. He cannot go to the temple that day.
"Oh Pithrus, Let my Wealth children and Vedas grow. Let Sradha (sincerity) not go away from me . Let me get sufficient Wealth to do Dhana.
Let me get lot of material fit to be eaten ,. Let lot of guests come to my house, Let beggars come to me. Do not make me beg with other people.
300. The Brahmins who represent Viswedevas and Pithrus, slightly modify these slokas and bless us using them.
301.When Brahmanas after food take leave of us We should go round them, talk some hospitable words and also greet them in their mother toungue.
I troubled you fit for great hospitality by offering you leafy vegetables, please do not keep that in mind, forget it and pardon me.
303.Paraheni Tharpanam This should be done the next day of Sradha in the early morning and not immediately after Sradha on the same day.
304.Some people do it after Pinda pradhanam. This is not correct. If someone takes food offering them water after some time is only proper. After feeding them on Sradha day We should offer water in the form of Paraheni tharpanam only on next day. If you do it on the same day, it looks like We are giving food to Pithrus and ordering them to immediately take water as We do not have time.
305.Sasthra are the orders of God and We have to follow it. We should not find fault with it. In some type of Sradhas there is no Partaheni Tharpanam. In some Sastras ask us to immediately do it and in some cases it asks us to do it the next day.
306.What are those Sradhas where Paraheni Tharpanam is not there?
If father is alive and mother is no more, in the Sradha done to mother, there is no Paraheni Tharpanam. In case of Sapindikarana Sradham , anumasika Sradham and Nandhi sradham, there is no Paraheni tharpanam.
307.What are those occasions where Paraheni Tharpana, should be done immediately? Except in case of Sradha for mother and father and in case of Sakrunmalaya Sradham, in all other cases Paraheni tharpanam should be done immediately. We should get up at 4 Am of the next ay (Brahma muhurtham) , wash our hands and legs , gargle , take bath and then do Paraheni Tharpanam. Then We have to clean our teeth, take bath again and do the morning ablations.
308. If We do not get up at proper time and the dawn is over, then only after finishing Sandhya vandanam, the tharpanam shuld be done. By that time if We are not clean, then We have to take bath and do the Tharpanam.
309. Can We clean our teeth on Sradha day? Sasthra says that without washing teeth, without answering calls of nature and without taking bath , no ritual should be performed . Same Sasthra says that We should not clean our teeth on Sradha day. Is this not contradictory.
310.But if We massage the gums and teeth gently and gargle , our mouth would become clean. If We do it hard, due to the gums getting dry , We will feel immediately hungry.
311.Normally in Amavasya and other Tharpanas, Tharpana is done to mothers side also (Maternal grand parents , maternal great grand parents and one more generation.) But in Parheni Tharpanam it is given to only our clan and not to mother's clan.
312. Apart from the Tharpana We do on Sradha days , Tharpana done during ardhodhaya and Mahodaya periods and Tharpana done in sacred rivers, a house holder is supposed to do 96 tharpanas in a year,. It is termed as Shannavathi sradha/Tharpana.
313.In the Shannavathi Tharpanas 12 month beginnings , 12 Amavasyas, and 16 mahalaya days are included.
314.On a single day We are not supposed to do two Tharpanas. When people do on all 16 days of Mahalaya on the Amavasys day in Mahalaya Paksha , they have to do two Tharpanas.
315.If Sankaramana, Amavasya Ardhodhaya and Mahodhaya come together on the same day We have to only do Ardhodhaya or Mahodhaya tharpanams.
316. Those who do Tharpana on all 12 Sankramana days, , if Sankramana comes along with Amavasya, on the two Ayana days, and two Vishu days , First sankaramana Tharpana should be performed and then Amavasya Tharpana should be performed. In all other 8 sankramana days , if Amavasya comes, We need to do only one Tharpana.
317.After the property is divided between brothers each of them have to do Sradha separately.
318.After Property is divided Sradha should be done separately but if father is no more and mother is alive, The Sradha has to be done in the place she lives. If mother and children live separately, the mother should feed two Brahmins.
319. If there is no property to divide, if the brothers are living separately then also they should do Sradha separately. If they happen to be in the same place ,they should employ different set of Brahmins, separately cook rice and Payasam and using all other cooked things commonly and do the Sradha. They have to do Homa separately.
320. Like this Tharpana also has to be done separately by the brothers. When many people individually do Tharpana and Sradha, The pithrus become very happy and bless them all.
321. Sasthra says that Nandhi sradha should be performed in case of Samskaras like Nama Karanam , Yagnopaveetha dharanam etc.
322. Special aacharas for ladies.
1. You should not be without the thilakam on forehead even for a minute.
2..You should not scratch your head with both hands.
3.You should not break ash gourd.
4.Pregnant women should not break coconuts. They should not be in the place where coconut is broken.
5. It is a great sin to prevent husband and wife from joining together. If somebody prevents their being together, they will become widows for 21 generations.
6.We should not clean the home with a broom stick at night. Even if We sweep, that trash should not be put in the street at night. We should not gather and heap trash. If We do it god will prevent us from being with our near and dear ones on important days like marriage.
7. You should get up very early morning , sprinkle cow dung water in the courtyard and draw Rangoli. If They do not it , in the next birth they will be born as very poor people.
8.As soon as leaf is spread to eat, the ladies should draw a square below the leaf with cow dung water.
9. Cooked vegetables or cooked rice should not be served with hand. If done it is equivalent to beef.
10. Any charity without permission of the husband , will not lead to any result.. If you undertake fast without his permission , his lifespan would be reduced by one day.
11.Never say any particular item is not there but say , please buy that.
12.You should not cry and shed tears for anything. Wealth will not stay in house a woman sheds tears.
13. While serving food , after serving one person, the remaining should not be served to the next person. If you serve with a ladle this problem is not there. i.e this rule is not applicable to food being served with ladle.
14. After curd rice is eaten, We have to enquire once more whether more rice is needed by any one.
15 Ladies should not sit or walk without tying their hair.
16.If they get angry they should not use harsh words.
17.Putting Kumkumam would give long life to husband.
18. Protecting of virtue and behavior according to rituals would increase life span of husband.
Respected sir, we have twin sons. We want to perform upanayanam For both of them. Somebody say that father cannot give brahmopadesam for both. His brother has to do for one.
But our vadhyar said in case of twins father should perform Brahmopadesam for both together. Kindly advice whether my husband can give brahmopadesam for my twins together.
Also advise whether upanayana can be performed in August.
Well written and an informative post! I have a keen interest in this topic and have written several blogs on Amavasya Dates and Mangal Dosha, as well. You can check them at mPhanchang.
Thank you sharing information. Wonderful blog & good post. Its really helpful for me, awaiting for more new post. Keep Blogging!


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Welcome to the premier public golf facility in Central Virginia. Become a member for a full 12 months or pay monthly See our membership page for more details.
Mill Quarter Plantation Golf Course is a local destination that features an 18-hole championship course with modern practice facilities. Our public golf course in Powhatan, VA, is an ideal destination for your next corporate outing or special event as we have a beautiful restaurant and an expansive clubhouse available to use for any occasion. Whether you're hosting a large party during the day, or looking to slip away for a few holes of golf each weekend, you'll feel right at home at Mill Quarter.
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Through careful planning and innovative landscaping, our 18-hole golf course offers a challenge to even the most experienced golfers. But don't worry: any beginners in your group will enjoy their time on the fairway as well. The course accentuates the natural surroundings, being touched on all sides by tall pines, peaceful meadows, and the lazy rural ponds of this historic Southern countryside.
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Over the years I've been asked why I enrolled in Yoga Teacher Training (YTT). From where I stand now, the answer is obvious - fate, kismet, destiny. Or as yogis say, dharma. However at the time and even months after graduating, I had no answer. I just felt pulled. With no intention other than to learn about this thing that made me feel so good. Every so often after someone asks that question, they follow it with their own curiosities about YTT. For some, YTT is purely educational and never about teaching. For others it's an investment in self-exploration and growth. And others still, it's a healing modality to infuse into their current profession. If you've ever felt that pull, keep reading as a few of Humble Haven's teachers share their own thoughts on their YTT journey (all taken at different times throughout the world).
Why did you decide to enroll in your 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training (YTT)?
How long had you been practicing before your YTT?
Was YTT what you expected it to be?
Has your practice changed since completing YTT? If so, how?
Have YOU changed since completing YTT? If so, how?
What was the best part of your YTT experience?
Do you have any regrets about your YTT?


text:
Ivan Vladislavić
Ivan Vladislavić was born in Pretoria in 1957 and lives in Johannesburg. His books include the novels The Restless Supermarket, The Exploded View and Double Negative, and the story collections 101 Detectives and Flashback Hotel.
In 2006, he published Portrait with Keys, a sequence of documentary texts on Johannesburg. He has edited books on architecture and art, and sometimes works with artists and photographers. TJ/Double Negative, a joint project with photographer David Goldblatt, received the 2011 Kraszna-Krausz Award for best photography book.
His work has also won the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the Alan Paton Award, the University of Johannesburg Prize, the English Academy's Thomas Pringle Award, the Olive Schreiner Prize, the CNA Literary Award and Yale University's Windham-Campbell Prize for fiction. He is a Distinguished Professor in the Creative Writing Department at Wits University.
Short Stories/Novellas
Missing Persons (David Philip Publishers, 1989)
Propaganda by Monuments (David Philip Publishers, 1996)
Flashback Hotel: Early Stories (Umuzi, 2010)
A Labour of Moles (designed by Ornan Rotem) (Centre for Writers & Translators, American University of Paris/Sylph Editions, 2011)
101 Detectives (Umuzi, 2015)
Willem Boshoff (David Krut Publishing, 2004)
Fiction/Essays
The Loss Library (Umuzi, 2012)
The Model Men (with Joachim Schönfeldt and Andries Walter Oliphant) (Wits Art Galleries, 2004)
The Folly (Umuzi, 2014 [1993]/Archipelago Books, 2015 [1993]/And Other Stories, 2015 [1993])
The Restless Supermarket (Umuzi, 2001/And Other Stories, 2014)
The Exploded View (Random House, 2004)
Portrait with Keys (Umuzi, 2006)
TJ & Double Negative (with David Goldblatt) (Contrasto, 2010/Umuzi 2010)
Double Negative (Umuzi, 2011/And Other Stories, 2013)
Ten Years of Staffrider, 1978–1988 (with Andries Walter Oliphant) (Ravan Press, 1988)
blank_Architecture, apartheid and after (with Hilton Judin) (Netherlands Architecture Institute, 1998)
T'kama-Adamastor: Inventions of Africa in a South African Painting (University of the Witwatersrand, 2000)
Jennifer Malec

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Experts will come together in the heart of Michigan for a one-day conference and food show in mid-November. The Making It In Michigan Conference and Premier Specialty Food Show will feature over 160 Michigan-made food and agricultural products from across the state to learn more about entrepreneurship and growing their business.
The Michigan State University Product Center is hosting the seventh annual event, which will be held on November 12 from 7:30am-4:00pm in the Lansing Center. The MSU Product Center has helped launch 396 new businesses and expansions since its founding in 2003. The Center aims to develop and commercialize high-value, consumer-responsive products for Michigan entrepreneurs in the agriculture and natural resources sectors.
Making It In Michigan conference-goers can attend a wide array of educational sessions hosted by leading Michigan experts. These sessions include helping to make products shelf-stable, growing a specialty food business, finding the right packaging product and protecting a growing business. In addition, Garden Fresh Gourmet founder Jack Aronson and Co-CEO John J. Latella will speak on developing an iconic brand and building engagement.
The food show will feature both new and existing businesses showcasing their Michigan-made food and products to the public and buyers.
While the trade show is free to the general public, there is a conference fee, which includes breakfast, lunch, any and all educational sessions, digital copies of presentations, reference materials and entrance to the trade show.


Pedestrian areas like the one in New York City's Times Square reduce speeding and traffic crashes. Photo by City Clock Magazine, Flickr.
Traffic crashes kill more than 1.2 million people every year, nearly the same amount that die from HIV/AIDS. But there's an undervalued approach to making the world's roads safer—good urban design.
Cities that are connected and compact are generally safer than cities that are spread out over a large area. Compact Stockholm and Tokyo have the lowest traffic fatality rates in the world—fewer than 1.5 deaths per 100,000 residents. Sprawling Atlanta, on the other hand, has a death rate six times that, at nine fatalities per 100,000 residents.
2) Slow down road traffic.
Cities can implement low-speed zones and "area-wide traffic calming," including speed humps, curves in the road called "chicanes," curb extensions and raised pedestrian crossings. Research shows that speed humps can reduce vehicle speeds from more than 22 mph (36 kph) to less than 15 mph (25 kph). Paris, for example, has been using this kind of tool to design roads citywide to meet 30 kph (19 mph) speed limits.
3) Ensure main streets are safe for everyone, not just cars.
4) Create dedicated spaces for pedestrians.
5) Provide a safe, connected network for cyclists.
Bogota, Colombia found that adding more than 100 km (62 miles) of bikeways helped reduce bicyclist deaths by 47.2 percent between 2003 and 2013, and increased bicycle use from just over 3 percent of all daily trips to more than 6 percent.
6) Ensure safe access to high-quality public transport.
7) Use data to detect problem areas.
Cities can use data analysis to identify key streets where all the above solutions can be integrated. This means having good traffic crash data that can be mapped and analyzed, seen below in Eskisehir, Turkey, using PTV Visum Safety software to create heat maps of crash locations.
London also used data analysis and mapping to analyze its crash data. City officials learned that a rise in cyclist deaths came from crashes with large trucks delivering goods into the city center. The city has since developed a pilot program to reschedule deliveries for low-cyclist hours.
We live in a rapidly urbanizing world, with cities expected to hold 70 percent of the global population by 2030. Designing safe cities now can protect current residents, as well as those to come.


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Guadalajara [MX] - Acquisition of new DINA trolleybuses and temporary service suspension
After failed attempts to modernize old equipment in 2011, the local bus operator Sistecozome decided to purchase new, modern vehicles. Following trials with a prototype, 25 low-floor trolleybuses of the DINA type Ridder E were ordered. The first 20 buses of this series have already been delivered and were presented to the press in late January 2015. These single units are 12 m long, 2.55 m wide and entirely in red. Inside they offer 40 seats plus 70 standing places.
The launch of the new vehicles into revenue service, however, will only take place in August or September 2015, after the local power supply system has also been modernized and adapted for greater reliability and stability. As part of this temporary service suspension, all of the 31 old trolleybuses were withdrawn as of 30 January. Initially, they have been stored at the depot, but their fate is uncertain at this point. After 30 years of active use, the vehicles are not only in poor condition but also well beyond their expected life-cycle. Until the overhaul of the power system is completed, borrowed diesel buses will run all of the public transport services.
The two electrified lines 400 and 500 are all that remain from a once much more expansive trolleybus network. They have a length of 9.1 km (line 400) and 10.2 km (500) respectively. Each year about 5 million passengers use the trolleybus service in the city.
The first new trolleybus in Gudalajara. Press photo: DINA


China Value Added Tax (VAT) on export goods may be refundable when VAT is incurred on materials purchased domestically. The refund rates range from 0% to 17%. There is a prescribed formula for determining the refund value, under which many products do not obtain the full refund of input VAT credit and suffer a different degree of export VAT costs. It can be difficult for companies to navigate through the required documentation for China VAT and Customs Duty Clearance.
The general VAT rate in China levied on the sale or import of goods and the provision of processing, repair and installation services is 17%. A lower rate of 13% applies to goods such as books, newspapers, magazines, cereals, edible vegetable oils, tap water, heaters, coal products for residential use and other goods as prescribed by the State Council.
In the case of goods sold by certain small-scale taxpayers, a special VAT rate of 3% is applied.
Before completing the delivery of exported goods, all the required documentations for the local customs offices in China are required and sometimes related certifications for the products are also necessary. Not all export goods need documentation, however, some require documents such as the CCC, CEL, CFDA, CRCC and HAF 604. With our years of experience, LehmanBrown can assist you through all the steps and documentation of customs duty clearance in China.
To make an enquiry, please contact us at enquiries@lehmanbrown.com. For information about VAT & Customs Duty Clearance Services that LehmanBrown can offer, please see the relevant webpages.


I really enjoy the refreshing quality of short dry meads. When I was in Nova Scotia early in 2017 I went to a farmers market where a farmer was selling honey and said that she only kept a few lives on their wild blue berry, wild cherry, and apple farm. I bought a 6 pound bucket and make this wonderful traditional short mead. I bottled some as is and split the batch and did five variations. This included a gallon each of 1 pound of whole frozen blackberries and currents in secondary. I also made a mojito mead, a dry hopped mead with 1oz each of Amarillo and Cascade, and a lemon basil mead. I only made a half-gallon of the basil and mojito meads, so four 12 oz bottles. The berry meads were jammy/ fruit skin flavor that overpowered the delightful honey character. They also needed acid, and I found myself adding acid blend to the glass to brighten them up. This was not what I was looking for and I won't do fruit in secondary again for short meads. The metheglin's on the other hand were amazing! For both the basil lemon and mint lime meads, the herbal flavors and citric acids accentuated the honey character. Here is the recipe for the traditional short mead and the basil lemon metheglin variation.
6 lbs of wild flower honey from Nova Scotia, wild blue berry, wild cherry, and apple.
+3 days – degassed, foamed up but not over.
+3 weeks – degassed, no big foam up. Still quite hazy. 0.994!! Clean but really dry.
+3.5 weeks – Transferred to secondary. Got five gallons. Filled two in 1.9 liter glass mason jar with dregs.
+3.75 week – Added juice of one lemon and four basil sprigs to the 1.9 liter glass mason jar. Sprayed the basil leaves with star-san, gave them a good spanking.
+3.75 weeks+24 hours – removed basil which as all brown and gross.
+7 weeks – Tasted bottled traditional and most of the ale yeast flavour is gone. Little honey coming through, thin and watery.
+9 weeks – Traditional tastes great. Fruity and light, but still not fully carbonated.
Won silver at the Winnipeg 2017 Pro/ Am Brew Challenge (at three months). Rated 40/50 and 45/50 by the two judges. Scoresheets.
In retrospect, should have added a tad more lemon juice and some rind. Either that or some citric acid, just to help it pop a bit more. The mead finished with a really low gravity, 0.994, so even though I gave it 2.5 volume, the mead only slightly carbonated and I suspect it conked out around 0.998. I would of preferred using honey to prime next time. It would also be more accessible if I was to backsweeten with a sweet mead to say 1.002, to appease those who are dry snobs. Sometimes its hard to tell how to finish a short mead at bottling, since I expect to get more acid from the carbonation. Now, I almost always add some citric or acid blend to my short meads to help them pop a bit.