© 1999 VNN
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USA September 7, 1999 VNN4677 Comment on this story Lord Siva's Welcome Back Party BY NISCHINTYA DAS USA, Sep 7 (VNN) — After Mother Gunamai dasi found Lord Siva in the pond containing "1008 Tirtha Jal, " a number of devotees told me stories about how regularly, during the month of Vaisakha, devotees constantly drip milk or Ganges water on Him to cool him down. On another occasion, sevakas had to quickly immerse Him in a lake after he became very ecstatic and began to burn up after hearing the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. To this day, the Deity of Lord Siva remains in the water and only once a year, during Siva Ratri, is he taken out and worshipped. So, from the transcendental point of view, we could easily understand that Lord Siva was hot and wanted to cool down. In addition, the weather had been quite hot and also, he may have been extremely angry at the person(s) who abducted both Him and Lord Narasimhadeva earlier this month. At any rate, I had been contemplating some way of cooling Lord Siva, but after 3 days I still had not made a suitable arrangement. At 2:00 in the morning, I awoke with a burning fever. I was literally burning up. I took this as a sign that Lord Siva definitely wanted to be cooled down -- NOW! I quickly put some water from the refrigerator in a big bowl and added the "1008 Tirtha Jal" to it. I then placed Lord Siva in the very cold water. It seemed to cool Him down a bit, but I decided that what He really needed was a water fountain. In this way, He would always have Ganges water and "1008 Tirtha Jal" splashing over Him. Later that day, I borrowed an unused fountain from the local Temple pujari. However, that proved inadequate. So, along with Mother Gunamai, Advaita prabhu and I went to Home Depot, a giant hardware/home improvement hyperstore, to look at water fountains. After inspecting their entire selection, we finally decided that Lord Siva wanted the biggest one they had in stock. It was a massive, 3-piece, some-assembly-required, concrete construction, and really heavy. Of course it also happened to be the most expensive at $308. At the checkout counter, the Indian attendant, noticing our devotee attire, gave us a transcendental and encouraging "Hare Krsna!" We took that as a sign. Attempting to pay by credit card was a problem, since I did not have any I.D. whatsoever. However, our checker waived this requirement, so we could tackle the next major hurdle: getting this enormous piece of masonry into our little car along with three passengers. Our efforts to load the car did not fail to attract some attention. The cashier and several other workers had followed us outside to watch the show, and were standing on the sidelines, cheering, as we finally figured it out and the last piece of the fountain loaded. However, it was not over yet. Getting it out of the car and up the steps to my apartment would require a lot of brawn. Four strong devotees were finally recruited for this task, but it was the sheer strength and determination of Ratnabusana prabhu that saw Lord Siva's fountain finally arrive. Eagerly, we set it up, added some "1008 Tirtha Jal" and finally installed Lord Siva in His new home. The fountain, painted forest green, stands some feet high and has a wide pond about 3 feet in diameter. The mouth of the waterfall is set about a foot above the pond, so that Lord Siva, sitting in the pond, is splashed by the cooling water. As we contemplated the sublime nature of this vision of Lord Siva receiving the "Ganga" on his head, everyone felt cool and peaceful. Soon, other Siva lingams began to appear. To date, there are 4 other lingams in the pond. I had decided to run the fountain only during the daytime and turn it off at night. So that night I turned the electric motor off before taking rest. Sure enough, that night I awoke burning up again. Naturally, I turned the fountain back on and all was well again. Now you can be sure the fountain runs 24 hours a day! Not taking any more chances! On Monday, August 22, which appears to be a special day for Lord Siva in India, we decided to hold a special "Welcome Home" party for Him. We arranged with Rabindranatha prabhu to do a special abhiseka ceremony, in which He was bathed with panchamrita (milk, yogurt, ghee, sugar water and honey), and coconut water. It was a very ecstatic event. Everyone who attended was eager to bathe Him, while in the background, the Siva sahasra-nama stotra played and a beautiful moon rose in the sky, very bright and very cooling. At the conclusion, maha sweets were distributed. Welcome home, Lord Siva! On sivaya namah! Now, if only Lord Narasimhadeva would show up too! Comment on this story  Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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