Post by Amritha Varshini on Jan 26, 2014 8:13:08 GMT 5.5
Why do we gently hit our forehead while we pray to Lord Ganapathi?
While praying to Lord Ganapati we invoke the Lord with the mantra “Suklam Baradaram” while doing so we hit on both sides of our foreheads with closed fists. This is done to stimulate our brain. That small vibration stimulates the brain to bring focus and concentration to our brain. This you can corroborate as while somebody when they forget any information, by nature, they first hit their forehead to recollect the information. Thus whenever we embark on any rituals we first invoke Lord Ganapathi so that we are at peace and concentrated in carrying out the task such that the activity will be complete without any hindrance.
Why do we do ‘Thoppu Karanam” to Lord Ganapathi?
One can observe that while crossing a Ganesha / Pillayar temple on the road, most people in Tamilnadu, stop, take off their footwear, perform "Thoppukaranam" and then resume their journey. Many people does Thoppu Karanam as part of their prayer in their homes. The word Thoppu Karanam is derived from the sanskrit words “Dhorbi” meaning with two hands and “Karanam” means Ears. The legend behind “Thoppu Karanam” is that Lord Vishnu performed this “Thoppu Karanam” in front of Lord Ganapathi to recover his “Sudarshan Chakra” which was snatched by Ganapathi. Thus, Thoppu Karanam is performed as a prayer before Lord Ganesha by holding the hands crosswise across the chest with the fingers holding the earlobes and bending down and then getting up. Interestingly, the “Thoppu Karanam” has now attained international status thanks to fellow Americans who now call this as “Super Brain Yoga”. They have found through medical research that doing these special kind of sit ups while holding the opposite earlobes stimulates the brain power and increases the memory power. I hope they will not charge us while we perform Thoppu Karanam.
