AUTHOR RIMPLE

Eight Avatar of Goddess Durga – GODDESS MAHAGAURI

September 28, 2016 RimpleSanchla post

Mahagauri is the beautiful manifestation of Goddess Durga in her eighth form. She is worshiped on the eighth day of Navratri, more commonly known as Ashtami. Being a symbol of purity, serenity and tranquility, Mahagauri is said to put an end to all the suffering of her devotees. It is also believed that Mahagauri is the 16-year-old unmarried form of Goddess Parvati.

When the incitement of demons was so much beyond the limit that even celestial beings were tortured by the evil asuras, gods gathered for finding a solution for this menace and a divine energy in the form of light emerged from them and took the form of goddess Durga. She was the one who manifested in different forms and slain the demons over a period of nine days. This was a great welfare of the entire human race and the gods regained their right over the fruits of the yajnas. The eighth form of goddess Durga is known by the name of mother Gauri by devotees. She incarnated on the eighth day (ashtami) of the Navaratri. She is of very fair complexion as the kunda flowers and a bright moon. She attained the divine beauty by performing a great penance and hence she is known as Maha-Gauri. The goddess is four-handed and holds a trident on the upper right hand and holds the boon-granting gesture in the lower right hand. In the upper left hand, she holds the gesture of fearlessness and a damaru in the lower left hand. She is riding a bull which means that a white bull is her vehicle who is very courageous and an emblem of dharma. Goddess gained the wife hood of great Lord Shiva with her extremely difficult penance and hence she is also popularly known by the names like “Bhavaani” and “Shivaa”. By her worship, her devotees can get all their wishes fulfilled. Also, goddess eradicates diseases, fears, pains, obstacles etc. with her divine powers. She constantly blesses her children with happiness.

Mythological story of Goddess Mahagauri

Goddess Mahagauri ensures overall welfare of every devotee. The most famous story about her found in the scriptures is that for getting Lord Shiva as his consort, she performed extreme penance in the deep forest in a very difficult way for many years which was never done by anyone before. As a result, Lord Shiva was pleased with her penance and devotion and asked her to ask for a wish. Goddess immediately expressed her wish to get him as a consort. God said, “be it so”. But because of the difficult penance for several years, her body had become very weak and darker. Lord Shiva took some water from his kamandalu and sprinkled over her and she was transformed to a great radiant fair complexion as per the wish of Lord Shiva. Since then she was known as Mahagauri. She is the ultimate shelter of every devotee and an embodiment of prosperity.

Another tale explains the story that goddess Parvati did a stringent penance for getting lord Shiva as her consort. As a result of her long and difficult penance, she was married to Lord Shiva. Once upon a time, Lord Shiva platonically says something to the goddess which she takes in a wrong way and goes to a secluded place and starts the penance. After a long period, lord Shiva himself starts searching her and reaches the place where she is in a deep penance. While performing the penance, her body was illuminated with a bright aura hence Lord Shiva blesses her with extremely fair complexion. Since then she is better known as Maha-Gauri. She is as radiant as the bright moon. This form of the goddess is extremely auspicious.

Seventh Avatar of Goddess Durga – GODDESS KAALRATRI

September 27, 2016 RimpleSanchla post

Goddess Kalratri, also known as Maa Kaali, is the seventh avatar of Goddess Durga. Devotees worship her on the seventh day of Navratri. They seek her blessings to eliminate all troubles from their lives. This form of Maa Durga is believed to destroy all demons, ghosts and negative energies. She is also believed to be the destroyer of time and death. Although intimidating in appearance, this Devi is benevolent towards all worshipers.

There are many mythological stories that tell us about the transformation of Goddess Durga into Maa Kalratri. According to the most common legend, two demons Shumbha and Nishumbhainvaded and defeated devlok (the realm of demigods). These demigods prayed to Goddess Parvatifor help who readily transformed herself into Goddess Chandika, to battle with demons on behalf of all devtas. Goddess Chandika, also known as Chamunda, transformed herself into Goddess Kalratri and killed both these demons. Maa Kalratri fought another demon called Raktveej and kept drinking his blood till he was completely dead, causing her tongue to appear blood-red.

For the protection of dharma and for the destruction of the demons, whenever sages and noble men have prayed to the god, he has time and again incarnated on the earth as a divine power to save the living beings. In the same way, goddess Durga manifested out of the energies of all the gods for the very same reason. The seventh form of goddess Durga manifested on the seventh day of Navaratri and she is known as “Kaala-raatri”. She manifested for the welfare of devas and human beings of the earth. Because Puranas speak of the legend that in the ancient times, when demons like Mahishasura, Shumbha, Nishumbha etc. after obtaining boons, dominates and tortures the beings of earth and heavens, the religion or dharma starts to get diminished on the earth. Humans on the earth started forgetting their human values and righteousness and demonic energies started spreading everywhere. Noble qualities like yajnas, charity, social service, dharma, kindness, forgiveness etc. started disappearing. When god worship was abandoned and gods, parents, gurus were not respected. During such darkness in the world when the whole of humanity was sinking deep in the demonic qualities, goddess Kalaratri incarnated to save humanity from the oppression of the demons. She is the embodiment of auspiciousness and is the destroyer of demons and evils of the earth. She is the giver of fearlessness to the whole of humanity and celestial beings. Goddess Kali is known by this name due to her powers. Because she is the energy which even transcends the death and time, meaning even death is helpless in front of her. She was known as “Kaala- raatri” by her devotees because she is the end of even the kaala (death). The word “Kaala” literally means time and time is also known with respect to death and hence “kaala” also means death.

Kaala is the destroyer of everything. Kaala engulfs everyone at right time. Goddess Kali is even more fierce and intense than the kaala. In front of her, no demons or even kaala can stand. Thus, Sri Kaali is the savior of this world and heavens. She saves her devotees from ghosts, demons, fears, sorrow, poverty, diseases, pains etc. and grants them fearlessness. She blesses the devotees with peace and prosperity. The seventh form of Durga is known as Kalaratri which is famous since the ancient times. Even though her appearance is very frightening, but she is the source of eternal light and wisdom and takes such fierce form only for the welfare of her devotees. The form of the goddess has four arms and in the upper right hand, she holds the boon gesture as she blesses her devotees with the desired results. In the lower right hand, she holds the fearlessness gesture which ensures the protection of her devotees. She holds the mighty sword in the upper left hand and a trident in the lower left hand. Her hair is dense, black and is scattered which makes her look very fierce. She has three eyes which are round as the shape of the universe and are extremely fearsome. It has the luster of the lightning thunder and also appears like extreme darkness at the same time. She exhales heavy flames of fire as her exhalation. She is having a great garland in her neck and she has a mule as her vehicle. All kinds of troubles and diseases are taken away by her worship and one gets back the peace and happiness in his life.

Mythological tale of goddess Kaalratri

Mother Kalaratri is always compassionate towards all of her devotees. We find several instances in Puranas about goddess Kalaratri. Among the scriptures, Durga Saptashati is the foremost which gives a detailed account of nine forms of Durga in an authentic manner. Apart from this, some portions of the stories are also found in Devi Bhagavata and related Puranas. It is believed that Kalaratri is a form of goddess Kali only. She is the giver of visible results in the age of Kaliyuga. Because Kali, Hanuman, and Bhairava are gods which can be invoked easily and grants the desired fruits to the devotees. There are several names and forms of goddess Kali but by her devotees, she is called by the names like Bhadrakali, Dakshina Kali, Matra Kali, and Maha kali. All these forms are equally powerful and auspicious hence she is also known as Shubhankari which means the one who always does welfare of the people. In Durga Saptashati there is a mention of Goddess Bhadrakali slaying the demon Mahishasura. It is mentioned that during the battle, as the demons approached near the goddess with their mighty army, they showered so many arrows on the goddess as if clouds are pouring the rain drops on the peak of mount Meru. In return, goddess broke these arrows with her giant arrows in an effortless manner and also killed the chariot riders and horses as well. Apart from that, she also destroyed their bows and their military flags. After cutting their bows, she pierced them with her mighty arrows. Then Sri Bhadrakali threw the “shola” weapon which destroyed their weapons and the demons including great Mahishasura lost their lives.

In the same manner, goddess Kali, whose face is very fierce, incarnated for the destruction of demons named Chanda and Munda. Some portion of her story is as follows Sages says that– Meanwhile, after getting the orders from Shumbha, demons like Chanda and Munda departed with their great Chaturangini army and mighty weapons. After reaching the golden peak of the Himalayas, they saw the goddess sitting on the lion. Soon they started struggling to get hold of the devi. During this time, goddess showed anger towards the demons due to which her face got darkened. Her eye brows got frowned and from her kali emerged with a terrifying face and form who was holding pasha and sword. She is holding a strange khatvanga weapon and wearing the garments of leopard’s skin. She was also wearing a garland of skulls as an ornament. Her body was slim with less flesh she was looking horrific due to her body which as nearly a skeleton. Her face was very big and she further looked fearsome due to her moving tongue. She was making a great roaring sound which was resonating in all the directions. By slaying the demons she soon broke up on to the army of demons and destroyed everyone with her mighty power.

Sixth Avatar of Goddess Durga – GODDESS KATYAYANI

September 26, 2016 RimpleSanchla post

Whenever the oppression of the demons starts dominating the earth, whenever sages, saints, and celestial beings get victimized with the torture of the demons, then there is certainly a divine incarnation of supreme energy for the betterment of the world and suppression of the evil. In the same manner, goddess Bhagwati incarnated as Sri Katyayani for the sake of betterment of the world. She is the one who saved the entire universe from one of the greatest demons, Mahishasura by curbing his ego and destroying him along with his army. This divine form of goddess Durga is well known amongst the devotees in the name of Sri Katyayani. She grants fearlessness to the devotees and also blesses them readily by removing diseases, sorrows, obstacles, and guilt. Just by remembering her one attracts her divine blessings. As per the story found in the Durga Saptashati, for the betterment of devas, goddess manifested as Katyayani for saving them from evil demons. She manifested in the hermitage of sage Katyayana who worshiped the goddess as his daughter and hence she is known as Katyayani. She is the slayer of demons like mahisha and she is the manifestation of divine energies of Lord Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwara. The first ever mention of her worship is related to sage katyayana who achieved glory and liberation by the worship of goddess Katyayani. She made the sage famous by adopting his name as a blessing for his penance. Since then she was known as “Katyayani”. Her form is divine and she has four arms in which she holds various weapons. She holds a sword, lotus, fearlessness gesture, and blessing gesture. Goddess blesses one with successful life and also enhances his intellect and skills. She grants any desired fruits when asked with sincerity and purity. With her blessings, her devotees gain excellence in the respective fields to which they belong. They achieve greatest heights in their related areas.

Mythological Tale of goddess Sri Katyayani

For the betterment of the devotees, goddess Katyayani who is the form of Adi shakti manifested as the sixth form for removing the fears of the world due to the evil asuras. As per the legend, the first manifestation of this goddess for the welfare of celestial devas took place in the house of sage Katyayana. Sage accepted her as his daughter and worshiped her with devotion and hence she was known as “Kaatyaaayani”. In the ancient times when the world was suffering from the outrage of demon Mahishasura, the fruits of Vedic sacrifice were snatched from the devatas. All the celestial gods started thinking about some solution for ending this menace of demons and some way to establish righteousness. Finally, they decided to gather and invoke the primordial energy because none of the devas were able to win over this demon. This was because Mahishasur had a boon from the gods that he would be killed only by a female (feminine power) and hence male deities were not able to harm him. Because of pride and ego over his powers, the demon started misusing the power and tortured innocent beings. Gods gather and invoked a goddess from their own energies. She was known as Katyayani. With her divine powers, the goddess completed her mission by destroying mahisha demon on the final day of Navaratri. As per another ancient tale, a sage named Katyayana did heavy penance and asked for a great daughter as a boon as a result, goddess Katyayani took incarnation in his house and blessed him for his penance and rescued the world from the fear and darkness of demons.

Fifth Avatar of Goddess Durga – GODDESS SKANDAMATA

September 25, 2016 RimpleSanchla post

For the welfare of the entire world and for the betterment of the devatas, goddess Durga manifested as nine different forms during the nine days of Navaratri. In this sequence, the incarnation of goddess Skanda-maata takes place exactly on the fifth day for blessing the devotees. In the Vedas and Puranas, various deities are not only equated with the parents, but they are also known as “bhakta-vatsala” meaning affectionate towards their devotees. This shows that they act towards the protection and nourishment of this world in the same manner as the parents are protective and affectionate towards their children. They make best efforts to make their children happy and to remove negativities and obstacles from their life. If children suffer from any pain or sickness; there is a tendency to immediately make best efforts to save the child from these problems. Even when the children have differences with them and even when the children are deeply rooted in ego and pride of youth, position, money etc. Even when the children turn away their faces from the parents when they are in need. Despite all these, parents never forget their children and their affection never ceases for their children until their last breath. Similarly, the divine form of the goddess known as Skandamata is always prepared to bless her children and help them during their distress. She tries to dispel the obstacles with her kind blessings. If a devotee is genuinely devoted towards her and surrenders his ego to the goddess, she is capable of immediately showering her divine grace. As per the Chhandogyashruti, the Sanatkumara born out of the goddess is known as “Skanda”. As she is the mother of Sri Skanda, she is known as “Skanda-mata”. She is the mother of Skanda, who is the commander of the army of devas. She holds Skanda (child form) in her lower right arm. She also holds blessing gesture, lotus flower and rides a lion who is the symbol of bravery. Goddess is the giver of all the desired fruits to her children.

Another story of Origin (this is quite different from the first one)

According to Hindu mythology, when all devtas (deities), manushya (mankind) and rishis (sages) were tired by the atrocities of demon Tarkasur, they sought help from Brahma to help end this demon’s tyranny. Brahma, who was earlier pleased by the hard penance of Tarkasur, granted him with the boon of invincibility from all, except Lord Shiva’s son. Upon being urged by all the devtas, Lord Shiva agreed and got married to Parvati, the daughter of Himalaya and later, their son Skanda (also known as Kartikeya / Murgan / Kumara / Subrahmanya) destroyed the demon. Being the mother of such a valiant son, Goddess Parvati came to be known as Skandamata. This devi became the fifth form of Goddess Durga.

Mythological story of Sri Skandamata

The auspicious form of goddess Skandamata is very divine and effulgent. Her vision and blessings grant wealth, prosperity, and progeny in a miraculous way. In the Durga Saptashati, we find a story regarding the goddess narrated in a very beautiful manner. She is the remover of pain and sorrows from the life of all living beings. She is omnipresent and her worship is capable of granting all the desires and riches. She is the one who is behind the origin of the world and she nourishes this universe with her motherly affection. Even in extremely negative situations and even during the crisis, she never forgets about the welfare of this world. She always removes the fears of the devotees and those on whom the goddess has showered her grace are always respected everywhere, they are blessed with glory and wealth. They never go away from dharma and their spouse and children are always protected and nourished. By receiving her grace, noble men perform righteous and religious actives on a regular basis and finally ascends to the heavens. Hence the goddess is certainly giver of the boons in all the worlds. By merely remembering her, devotees can get rid of any fear or negative emotions. She inspires the devotees with righteous and positive thoughts when remembered with a pure heart. Her worship is capable of saving one from fear and poverty. O, Devi! There is no one like you who is so compassionate and propitious for every living being.

Fourth Avatar of Goddess Durga: GODDESS KUSHMANDA

September 24, 2016 RimpleSanchla post

On this earth, devotees have been regularly blessed by the divine energy since time immemorial. Be it the order of creation, the evolution of living creates, fighting with the evil forces or the establishment of humanity and religion on earth, nothing is possible without the grace of the cosmic goddess. Even though in this materialistic world, we have gone miles away from the core spiritual values and have started forgetting god or divine powers, the cosmic goddess always wishes good for all the beings of the creation. The fourth divine form of goddess Adishakti is famous in this world in the name of “Kooshmaandaa”. She is the creator of this world. Not only this, she is the embodiment of divine light. She not only illuminates the world through her light but also empowers the planets, solar system etc. to sparkle with her cosmic light. She is the ultimate energy who is behind the creation of the world. It is said that she is the origin of various types of heat, she also holds this universe in her womb. Thus she is also known as “Jagat-Janani” or “Adi-shakti”. She is the ever compassionate towards every being of the world. The manifestation of Sri Kushmanda is believed to be on the fourth day of the Navaratri. She has a divine form which is beyond words, she has eight arms. For the welfare of the living beings, she holds in her right hands, kamandalu, bow, arrow, and lotus flower. In the left hand she holds, a pot of nectar, rosary, gadaa, and chakra respectively. She is seated on a giant lion and she is emitting brilliant light which illuminated all the directions. The light and aura of all the living and non-living beings are only because to her energy. With the blessings of the mother, devotees can overcome diseases, fear, sorrows, and obstacles. Further, they are always protected by the known and unknown enemies by the goddess.

Another story:

According to Durga Saptshati, Goddess Durga was very pleased with her avatar of Kushmanda. It is believed that the supreme goddess of power or Adi-Parashakti, appeared in the form of Siddhidatri from the left side of Lord Shiva’s body. After taking the form of Siddhidariti, Goddess Parvati started to live inside the core of the sun and, hence, came to be known as Kushmanda Devi. This implies that Kushmanda Devi is the only goddess who resides in the core of the sun, from where she controls the entire solar system.

The name Kushmanda is a compound word that consists of three Sanskrit words ‘ku’ (meaning-little), ‘ushma’(meaning-warmth) and ‘anda’(meaning-egg); which combined together means a little warm cosmic-egg.

Kushmanda Devi is depicted with eight hands. She has kamandal, dhanush, bada and kamal in the right hands whereas, she is holding an amrit-kalash, jap-mala, gada and chakra in her left hands. Her beautiful female form is seen sitting on a lion that denotes dharma and justice.

Mythological tale of Goddess Kushmanda

The fourth form of the goddess is related to the manifestation of the universe, she holds the universe in the divine (cosmic) womb. In the beginning of the universe, there was no existence of life or any major activities. But the divine form of Kushmanda was very effulgent as that of the several Suns. From the divine light of the goddess, the whole of the universe got illuminated as if an egg is formed into the flower. Due to the bright smile of the goddess, the universe was filled with joy and creativity. Thus her name was known as “Kooshmaandaa”. The creator of the worlds, Maa Kushmanda always illuminates the universe with her light. She always witnesses the good and bad karmas done by the beings of various worlds. She then arranges a system for the fruits of one’s deed based on his karmas by her divine powers. Not only this, she also dispels the darkness (ignorance) from the lives of the beings with her divine light (knowledge). She is the knowledge of wisdom. She is not only the mother of the universe, but also the goddess of wisdom, wealth, intellect, light, and strength and is very auspicious and compassionate.

Third Avatar of Goddess Durga – GODDESS CHANDRAGHANTA

September 23, 2016 RimpleSanchla post

From the very ancient times, people in the great land of India have inspired to realize and witness the divine power of supreme god. A rich and refined culture is a witness that there have been many manifestations of the divine on this land in various forms. It is clear that happiness and prosperity of a nation are not possible without the blessings of the divine. Human birth will time and again get deluded in the darkness of ignorance. Crooked, violent, and evil forces will regularly try to pose dangers of humanity and religion. To stop inhuman and incest forces on earth, goddess Durga has incarnated nine times already to save the world from the danger of evil. The third form of the goddess is known as Chandraghanta who is worshiped as the third manifestation of Durga and who is the dispeller of pain and fear. She fulfills the wishes of devotees with her generous blessings. She had incarnated on the third day of Navratri. She is the giver of desires and boons. She controls the transmission of various sound forms across the world. With her worship, the hearing energy is enriched and one can get connected to the celestial sounds. She is the slayer of demons and savior of devas, humans, and many other living creatures. In her bell (gong) she is holding many astonishing sounds and hence known as “Chandra-ghanta” because she holds the moon on her forehead. Goddess Chandraghanta is famous amongst devotee, she has a golden complexion and is very bright. Many groups of asuras get killed with the horrifying sounds of her gong. She has ten arms, of which, she holds (from upper arm) in her right arms, lotus, arrow, bow, rosary, respectively. In the left arms, trishula, sword, gadaa, kamandalu, and gesture of fight. She rides a lion and saves the world from the demonic beings by killing them. This form of goddess Durga is ever ready to save the world from evil forces and enemies.

Another Story:

According to legends, when Sati burned her body in the yagya agni, she took rebirth as Parvati to Parvatraj Himalaya. Parvati married Lord Shiva. On the day of their marriage, Lord Shiva arrived with all his Aghoris and Ghosts to take Devi Parvati along with him. On seeing this form of Shiva, her parents and all the guests were horrified.

Looking at all this, Parvati transformed herself into Goddess Chandraghanta and approached Lord Shiva. She requested him to reappear in the form of a charming prince. In the mean time, she revived her family from the shock and erased all their unpleasant memories. Since then, Devi Parvati is worshiped in her Chandraghanta avatar as the goddess of peace and forgiveness.

Legend of Goddess Sri Chandraghanta

Goddess Chandraghanta incarnated as the third form of goddess Durga in order to kill the demons. Goddess did justice to devas by destroying the great army of demons in the heavens. As she is a kind goddess for the whole world, she takes care of all devotees and removes their pain. She is the inherent intellect of people which allow them to gain wisdom and understand the scriptures. You are the one and only who saves those drowning in the ocean of samsara. Her face is glowing as a bright moon and she has a smiling expression on her face. But on the contrary, her face became fierce and red in color like the rising moon, her eyebrows frowned when looked at the demon Mahishasura. After seeing such a terrifying face, demons died instantly. None can ever stay in front of such a ferocious energy. O, Devi! Bless us with your affection. Because of your affectionate aspect, the whole world survives, and your terrifying form is the reason of the destruction of many of races/clans. This was evident when the might army of Mahishasura was destroyed in moments due to your fierce aspect. As soon as the goddess took her bow to kill the demons, the whole universe resonated with the might sounds of the bow. At the same time, the great lion of goddess also started roaring loudly. These terrifying sounds weakened the hearts of demons and killed most of them instantly.

Second Avatar of Goddess Durga – GODDESS BRAHMACHARINI

September 22, 2016 RimpleSanchla post

The sacred land of India has time and again experienced divinity of gods and goddesses for the welfare of living beings since time immemorial. In this life which is dominated by Maya, individual experiences sorrow, grief, fear, diseases, etc. Hence, one worships goddess Durga to get rid of these issues from his life. Sri Durga is known as Brahmacharini on earth as her second manifestation. This form of the goddess is full of light, strength, and tapas (penance). Goddess Brahmacharini incarnated on the second day of Navaratri. She destroyed the demons with her penance and strength. She always blesses her devotees generously and fulfills their desires out of kindness. Goddess holds a rosary in the right hand and a kamandalu (vessel) in the left hand. Brahmacharini is related to Sacchidananda. The one who bestows sacred experience of Sacchidananda form of Brahman to the devotees. Hence the goddess which ultimately leads the sadhaka to the divine experience of Parabrahman is Brahma-chaarini. With her worship, one gains control, morality, strength, confidence, and sattvic nature. One gets rid of imprudence, discontent, and greed. There is the enrichment of enthusiasm, courage, and patience in life. One becomes more aware of his deeds. The one who makes life beautiful, happy, prosperous and enriched is goddess Brahmacharini. She is the one who dispels bad qualities like fear, lethargy, ego, and ignorance. She makes the way of life more accessible, makes the individual pure and refined and finally confers all kind of happiness to her children. She is the embodiment of light and hope for those who have deviated from their path and those who have lost patience in the time of crisis. Goddess Brahmacharini is the aspect of the divine which motivates the devotees to achieve the goal of their life and to achieve excellence in their respective paths.

Mythological tale of Goddess Brahmacharini

As per the information in the Puranas, Devi Brahacharini was born in the family of king Himalaya. Her mother was Maina. Once upon a time, while wandering in different places, sage Narada visited the Himalayas. King of Himalayas gladly received him and served him well with utmost respect and welcomed him. After discussing whereabouts with the sage, king Himalaya asked him about the future of his daughter also. After seeing the palm of the girl, Narada told many things about her life. However, he mentioned about obstacles in her marriage also. After the departure of the sage, Maina asked her husband about the wedding of her daughter and expressed her concerns after the prediction of Narada. King Himalaya narrated all the details as said to him by Sri Narada. King also told that Narada had suggested several austerities (vratas) and anushthanas be followed for overcoming marital issues and getting the desired husband. As suggested by the great sage, daughter of Himalaya, Brahmacharini started rigorous penance which continued for thousands of years. Brahmacharini did penance in the forest and consumed minimal food such as fruits or plant products for thousands of years. This is explained by sriGoswamiTulasidas in his RamcharitManas as “kachhu din bhojanvaaribataasa | keenhkachhuk din kathinupavaasa ||” which means that the penance was so deep and intense that even the gods and lord brahma had to acknowledge it and had to visit the place. As a result, Lord Brahma granted her the boon of getting lord Shiva as her consort. Thus, Goddess Brahmacharini married lord Shiva with the power of her penance.

The Rise Of The Guardians – Leadership & Self-discovery

September 21, 2016 RimpleSanchla post

The Rise Of The Guardians – Leadership & Self-discovery

The plot involves five of our childhood make-believe characters that make up The Guardians: Santa, Easter Bunny, Sandman, Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost. While the evil side is represented by the Boogeyman.

Our guardians characterized in movie:

Santa as WONDER
Rabbit as HOPE
Sandy as DREAM
Tooth fairy as CHILD HOOD MEMORY
Jack Frost as FUN

and evil characterized in the movie

Pitch Black as FEAR

(Pitch Black, the Nightmare King, is the Rise of the Guardians’ re-imagining of the Boogeyman, the mythical creature that haunts the closets and dark corners of childhood nightmares).

The movie is about self-discovery (impersonated by Jack Frost), Remember the scene where Santa asks him whats your center?
Discovering one’s purpose (same character), Later in the movie Jack realized that his center is FUN.

As an adult, majority have forgotten about this.

Watch this movie, if you haven’t and ponder on following or allied thoughts…. you may have a different version, but you know you have your own version of it:
1. how you WONDER how it feels to have Superhuman abilities
2. how you HOPE to become like Bill Gates or someone else
3. how you DREAM to be an astronaut or anything else
4. how SILLY you were as a kid?

But as an adult you FEAR a lot of things, job, money, etc and in amidst of this you have forgotten your real version of FUN.

For example, Your way of fun earlier would be reading a book on a couch or a simple maggie party with closed friends in midnight or anything else. Versus, the new version of fun which is mainly to upload on social media, then you have curiosity of how many likes and comments you get? Is this your real fun or something else.

That’s for you to enquire for yourself 🙂

Well, along the wonderful message in the movie, I found several leadership principles to ponder.

1. Passion: Through the character of Jack Frost the movie taught the lesson of discovering what you are truly passionate about. It was not until Jack discovered more about who he was and what made himself tick that he then understand why he had been selected as the newest member of The Guardians. Once he discovered his own individual passion for helping others he became an effective member of the team and became a strong ally in defeating the Boogeyman and his evil forces.

What are you passionate about?
What causes you to be excited about getting up in the morning?

Once you discover the answer to these questions you will be on your way to being a more effective leader and team member for you organization.

2. Teamwork: The Boogeyman had successfully destroyed almost all the happiness and delight in the world by attacking the imaginations of the children of the world. With only one child left to reverse the evil curse brought about by the Boogeyman, the entire team had to unify and use their individual strengths collectively in order to be successful. This movie does a great job of showing the great truth effective teamwork: “Team members must put their individual pride and agendas aside in order to effectively serve the team’s greater objectives.”

Are you a good team member?
Are you willing to put your personal agenda and pride aside to accomplish the greater good of the team?
Do your teams function at a high level by serving one another?

3. Overcoming Fear: The big weapon that the Boogeyman used was “fear”! He used that to wield his power over both the children and The Guardians as well. The fear was paralyzing everyone and The Guardians were not able to stand up to the Boogeyman and his evil forces until they collectively conquered their fears and took positive action to eliminate the obstacles they had been challenged with. Allowing fear to paralyze us cripples our leadership and limits the effectiveness of our organizations.

What fears are holding you back today?
Is fear inhibiting your team in any way?
What positive steps do you need to take to eliminate the power that fear has over you and your organization?

4. Strength Zone: The last lesson we learned from The Guardians was how we are all most effective working within our strength zone. Each team member has his own unique strengths from which to pull from and support the team most effectively. At the climax of the movie we saw each team member excel by using the special gifts they each possess individually to help the team collectively. There is power in unifying behind a mission with each team member contributing their strongest talents to serve the team’s mission.

Are you working within your strength zone in your current role?
Are your team members working in their individual strength zones?
How much more effective could your team be if you were to get all the team members working collectively from their strength zones?

Leadership skills in Whatsapp Group Admin

September 21, 2016 RimpleSanchla Management Mantra post

While we talk about the leadership, the persona having capabilities to transform the vision, in reality, taking all teams along with him, becoming a guiding light, motivator all the time to reach the final goals. We never thought earlier about the comparing and taking an example of leadership qualities before on Whatsapp Group Administrator. The following write-up is inspired by few WhatsApp group where I am an admin as well as my day to day experience of being an Entrepreneur.

Vision: Creating a group on a certain theme and make it successful is a vision of the Group Admin, and he or she makes it happen by having a thought in mind first. Certain people create a group on the theme of School members, college students, certain company members or some industry altogether. Some groups are of special interest or like-minded people who wish to exchange ideas on very prompt medium. Have read somewhere that the first ingredient of success is to dream a great dream and if you can dream it, you can do it. Our leaders are also visionary and they led us to some goals and achievements.

Establishment: People need courage and a strong commitment to establishing something new, on which they are not sure about the clear-cut goals and guidelines. Group admin creates a group by having certain thoughts in mind, like from what will be a theme, first conversation, who will be group members, from where he or she will get those number and etc etc. The small things matter, micro-planning required, even if you are at top level being a leader. The planning while and before establishment makes the leaders confident and makes him aware of the potential problems lie in the path. The foresight will help teams to find a solution.

Selection / Recruitment :
Selection of members in Whatsapp group is also a very important task since the activeness of group and members lies on this criteria. Even in some cases where the count of members increases above 50, Admin needs to select some inactive members to remove and add new aspirants in the group. What exactly the Admin does in this process. Selection of suitable member and add them in a Group, Monitoring of Performance ( Activeness, effectiveness, and Value) of the group members. Take the decision to remove and add new members. Same is happening in the Corporate world. In today’s scenario, the Corporate is totally Performance driven and an employee is rated, graded, awarded and terminated based on the performance.

Policies :
Whatsapp group Admin admin generally makes and helps others to break the rules either way. I have seen certain Admin, who restrict members by posting unwanted material, photos or contents on racism which may not generate a healthy discussion. It is a leader who decides how his group will behave. In certain groups there are only light contents will be forwarded whereas some groups are so active where they discuss technology, job opportunities, current affairs which adds value to your knowledge.

Conflict Resolution :
Many members have a difference of opinion with others still they are active participants and who make the group alive, it is a leader who keeps them alive and encourages them to talk and share their views whereas applicable. In some of the cases, Admin becomes intermediator to resolve the difference of opinion and drive the discussion to some other fruitful directions.

We never notice such leadership skill but it is everywhere in each individual if a person starts looking at that angle.

Note: Not all WhatsApp admin are leaders! Not every admin is successful in managing the group. A success of a WhatsApp group can be measured with the content and discussion happening in the group. You can ask questions like: Is the purpose of the group still intact? Purpose can expand, Vision can get larger, but it cannot dilute! 🙂 Happy Whatsapping.