What is Kalratri?

 

Kalratri means the dark night or the night of darkness.

Goddess : Hinduism worships Goddess Parvati as Kalratri.

Goddess Parvati , Uma is also adored as the personification of mother nature.

According to sacred texts , Goddess produces, nurtures and also destroys life cycle.

Goddess Kalratri proverbially destroys evil and unwanted elements from mother earth.

Intense : Yogis , tantriks and devotees depict Goddess Kalratri as an intense form of power.

Rituals : Any wonder to anyone, her worship involves specific Vedic and tantric rituals.

In Vedic Upasana , she is offered Satvik food like Kheer -Payasam.

In Tantric Upasana, she is offered Panchamakar (Madya,Mamsa, Matysa, Madira and Maithun)

Chakra : Yogis associate Goddess Kalratri with Sahasrara Chakra (crown chakra)

Time : Her Puja is performed during night

Fact : Devotees adore Goddess Kalratri as the feminine form of Baba Mahakal.

Prayer : Sri Ganesh Ambika Gurbhyo Namah Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram Namo Parvatipataye Har Har Mahadev Jai Jai Jai Hanuman Gosai Kripa Karo Gurudev Ki Nai

Pic Credits : Google Images / Web

Is there any international train in India?

 Yes, India Operates some active International passenger train service connecting with neighbouring countries like Nepal.

Jaynagar–Kurtha / Bijalpura Link (Nepal) Demu Train.

Operates passenger train services connecting Jaynagar in India to Nepal (visa-free for eligible citizens)

It Connects Jaynagar in Bihar, India, to Kurtha and Bhangaha/Bijalpura via Janakpurdham in Nepal, Travel duration is approx 2 hours and 33 km distance. 2 service in a day.

It is operated by the Nepal Railway Company, utilizing Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMUs) supplied by India (Konkan Railway).

It was inaugurated on 2 April 2022 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, and regular commercial passenger runs officially began on 3 April 2022.

Currently this is only international train operating from India and rest of the services towards Bangladesh and Pakistan were discontinued, and those services aren't started yet.

Source:- India-Nepal train services begin today; Here's all you need to know | Today News

What is your favourite South Indian actress’ name?

 Keerthy Suresh because of a traditional and cultural style that she follows consistently right now also in the South Indian film industry such that I have seen Many heroines in the South Indian industry by following the traditions and the cultures according to the South Indian culture but Kirti Suresh is the different and a very unique personality in her own field the swag sea UNS in her style and personality is amazing and her eyes is also very beautiful and I have a seen very less bad scenes in her films as compared to the other South Indian actresses like Sai Pallavi, rashmika mandanna and Rashi Khanna.

Why do we have so few real photos of planet Earth?

 For a very long time, there were very few photos of planet Earth showing a fully illuminated hemisphere. The reason is relatively simple: to get a photo of an entire hemisphere of the Earth, you have to be far enough away from Earth, and you have to be positioned between the Sun and the Earth.

If you are too close to Earth, like the astronauts on board the International Space Station, at an altitude of about 400 km, you do not see the entire globe, but only a portion: it is then impossible to take a picture of the planet Earth.

Earth photographed from the ISS, with a Soyuz spacecraft (foreground) and a Progress cargo ship (background). While the photo is magnificent and the Strait of Gibraltar is clearly visible, Earth is nowhere to be seen. Credits: NASA

Conversely, the majority of satellites located far from Earth are rarely situated exactly between the Sun and the Earth, which results in photos of crescent Earths: these photos are sublime too, but they do not show the Earth in its entirety.

Photograph of an Earthrise taken during the Apollo 8 mission. The Earth is not shown in its entirety, but rather a crescent shape. Credits: NASA

The consequence is simple: for a long time, the vast majority of images of the Earth were composites of different photos, in order to present an illuminated hemisphere of the Earth.

In practical terms, this means that several photographs of the Earth from space were retrieved, each being a crescent of the Earth for example, showing an illuminated area of ​​the globe, and these photographs were cut out and pasted together, then the colors were reworked so that the seams would not be visible.

To have continuity in the clouds, I suppose the photographs came from satellites that photographed the Earth at relatively short intervals, but I'm not sure.

Note: This does not mean that all photos were composed this way. One of the most iconic photographs of the Apollo era is a photograph showing the Earth fully illuminated. This photo, titledBlue MarbleThe Blue Marble, or the 80-degree blue marble, is one of the most reproduced images in the world. And it was possible because the astronauts had the Sun behind them at that moment.

Blue Marble: the famous photo taken by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972, the last mission to the Moon, is not a composite image but a single photograph of our planet Earth. Credits: NASA

Much more recently, NASA launched a climate observation satellite, simply calledClimate Observatory from Deep Space, in EnglishDeep Space Climate Obervatory, abbreviated as DSCOVR. It positioned itself approximately 1 million kilometers from Earth, at the L1 Lagrange point of the Earth-Sun system: in practical terms, this means, among other things, that the satellite is permanently located between the Sun and the Earth. And one of its instruments, the EPIC camera, regularly takes pictures of Earth, thus showing photographs of the fully illuminated Earth.

First image of North and Central America returned by the DSCOVR satellite on July 6, 2015. Credits: NASA/EPIC Team

There are several things to know about these photographs.

First, these are not actual photographs as they were taken. In fact, the EPIC camera has several filters, 10 to be exact. Among these filters, several are used for the photographs of Earth seen here: a red filter, a blue filter, and a green filter. Specifically, EPIC takes three photos with very little time between them.

These images are taken in black and white: with a red filter, for example, a white area will be an area where there is a lot of red light, and a black area is an area where there is no red light reflected by the Earth.

These 3 photos are then changed in color to match what they represent: thus, on a photo taken with a red filter, white areas become red, black areas remain black, and shades of grey become shades of red.

Then the three photographs—red, blue, and green—are stacked to create a color image. Incidentally, this type of process is often used for pixel colors in computers, with RGB components.

This can also be seen in some photos, particularly the incredible photographs of the Moon's transit. By zooming in on the Moon's outline, one can often see either a thin green band or a thin red band, because the Moon has moved slightly between the photos: the Moon was positioned in one place during the photo under the green filter and was slightly off-center in the following two, leaving a thin green band in the area that was only covered by one photo.

Photograph of the Moon's transit taken by the EPIC camera aboard the DSCOVR satellite. Zooming in on the Moon, a very thin blue band can be seen on the left, and on the right, two thin red and green bands, remnants of the three superimposed photographs. Credits: NASA/EPIC Team

And that's not all! The images are also processed to correct some distortions, and the colors are then reworked to achieve a rendering similar to what the human eye would perceive.

The EPIC team is also working on color images.augmentedto account for what would be visible without the attenuation of the atmosphere.

How was Arjuna saved from Bhagdatta in the war?

 After Bhishma Pitamaha fell, Duryodhana appointed Dronacharya commander of his army. With Bhishma's permission, Karna also joined the war. He climbed into the chariot and followed Dronacharya. During the war, Duryodhana asked Dronacharya to capture Dharmaraja and to bring him to him. Dronacharya agreed to this. The Pandavas got to know about this and hence got ready for the war.

Dronacharya then, with his bow, started releasing arrows with mantras and was destroying the army of the Pandavas. Bheemasena immediately roared like a lion and then fought with Ashvatthama, Krupa, and Shalya. He pushed them back and came to face Dronacharya. Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna, also came to fight the enemies. But as Bheemasena was approaching Dronacharya, Shalya came and stopped him. Soon, a fierce battle took place between Bheemasena and Shalya.

Both were very strong warriors and fought with each other with their maces. With Bheemasena’s hit, Shalya was unconscious. But before that, Shalya also attacked Bheemasena, which made him fall to his knees. But he immediately got up. Bheemasena invited Shalya to battle again, but then Krutavarma took Shalya with him. After Bheemasena defeated Shalya, he started releasing arrows and destroyed the armies.

Bheemasena chased away the Kauravas, but here Dronacharya defeated Saatyaki and Abhimanyu and rushed towards Yudhishthira to capture him. But in between, Arjuna came and faced Dronacharya. Krishna was controlling Arjuna’s chariot. He appeared to the world as the one causing the flow of the river of blood due to the destruction of elephants, horses, and chariots using body-damaging, sharp arrows.

That day, Yudhishthira was safe, but after the battle ended, Duryodhana condemned Dronacharya with cruel words because he failed to capture Yudhishthira. Dronacharya said, “First take Arjuna away from the battlefield, and then after that I would be able to capture Dharmaraja Yudhishthira.” After saying this, Duryodhana appointed a warrior named Susharma, along with his sainya named Samshaptakas, who had great warriors within the sainya, to draw Arjuna away from Dronacharya’s way, so that he could capture Yudhishthira.

The next day, when the battle started, Susharma and the Samshaptakas invited Arjuna to the north-eastern side of the Kurukshetra battlefield. Arjuna valorously fought with them. But here, Bheemasena started destroying the elephant army. But as Bheemasena kept on destroying the elephants, many kings, out of fear, fled from the battlefield. But then, at the request of Duryodhana, Bhagadatta, the son of Narakasura, came to fight Bheemasena, riding on his excellent elephant named Suprateeka and holding a bow.

Bheemasena’s horses were scared of the elephant Suprateeka and couldn’t stand in front of it. But then, Abhimanyu, Saatyaki, etc. came there to face the elephant. But then, the elephant lifted their chariots along with them with its trunk and threw them into the sky. They jumped from their chariot and were injured and were rendered chariotless. Bheemasena brought his horses under control and then got ready for the battle.

Here, Krishna noticed it. He thought, “If Bhagadatta is provoked more, then he may invoke the Vaishnavastra on Bheemasena. And it can be borne by nobody else except Lord Vishnu, because of the boon.” Thinking thus, Lord Krishna started to take the chariot towards Bhagadatta. But in between, Krishna and Arjuna were stopped by the Trigartas. These trigartas were also great warriors, but couldn’t stand a chance in front of Arjuna.

Arjuna left Sammohanastra on them, which caused delusion among them. They saw each other as Krishna and Arjuna and hit each other. Here, Krishna brought Arjuna near Bhagadatta. He ran the chariot with the speed of the mind, encircling Bhagadatta’s elephant in a counter-clockwise direction. Now, while this was going on, Bhagadatta's elephant was confused. Arjuna attacked Bhagadatta with sharp arrows and tormented him.

This angered Bhagadatta. He fought with Arjuna bravely. Both fought bravely with each other and were very strong warriors. The valorous Arjuna cut off Bhagadatta’s bow. This angered Bhagadatta again. He invoked the Vaishnavastra in the elephant’s hook itself. Because the astras like Vaishnavastra, Brahmastra, Narayanastra, etc., have a mantra, and with the mantrasiddhi, one can invoke the weapon even in a blade of grass.

So, as Bhagadatta invoked the Vaishnavastra and hurled it towards Arjuna, Krishna stood up and bore the astra on him. The astra hit Krishna, the one with limitless strength, and turned into Vaijayanti maala around His neck, and Krishna was unharmed. On seeing this, Arjuna asked Krishna, “Krishna! Why did you bore the astra upon yourself?” Krishna said, “Isn’t it I who holds the whole universe, at all times? I am the Supreme Bhagavan, and nobody is equal to me. Who can be superior to me?”

Krishna further said, “I take four forms, namely, Vaasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, and through those roopas perform the acts of giving liberation to the liberated souls, destruction, creation and sustenance of the universe respectively, for the welfare of the world. I reside in everyone’s heart in the form of Aniruddha.”

Krishna further said, “Earlier, in my form of Varaha, I had given this astra to Narakasura to please Bhudevi. I had granted Bhagadatta the boon of invincibility and immunity from death until he possessed this Vaishnavastra. Apart from me, nobody can bear this weapon, and if this weapon hits anyone except me, his/her death is for sure. Now, Bhagadatta is devoid of the Vaishnavastra, and now it is the right opportunity. Slay Bhagadatta.”

After discussing this with Lord Vaasudeva, Arjuna released two arrows, which hit Bhagadatta on his chest and the elephant Suprateeka on its forehead, and then Bhagadatta and his elephant fell down as if a mountain had fallen, after being hit by the Vajraayudha of Indra. Arjuna had finally killed Bhagadatta, and then proceeded forward and killed the two brothers of Shakuni named Achala and Vrushaka.

But then, Shakuni created maya to delude Arjuna, but Arjuna released Vigyaanastra, cut off that weapon of Shakuni, and shattered the maayajaala, and after that the sinner Shakuni ran away from the battlefield. Thus, this was the story of how SriKrishna Paramatma saved Arjuna from the Vaishnavastra of Bhagadatta.

Hope this helps!
Jay SriRam!
ShriKrishnarpanamastu!

What are the worst movie title changes in history?

 Imtiaz Ali wanted to make a film about a man who is on the verge of commiting su*c*de. The superstar rejected a depressing script and asked for a happy one. Imtiaz obliged. The superstar produced it. The film was tentatively titled The Ring.

Then they got a beautiful name- Rehnuma. Could have been a beautiful title. But the makers wanted a light hearted title and then they they came up with the worst ever title possible.

Jab Harry Met Sejal

Not only was the title cheesy, it reminded people of When Harry Met Sally. People bashed the makers for their lack of creativity and the curiousity for the film went downhill. It didn’t help that the film was bad and it crashed at the box office. The film wouldn’t have become a hit even with the original title but with Rehnuma atleast people would have come excepting something poetic. With Harry Met Sejal the film was dead on arrival

Why haven't extraterrestrials contacted us?

 Because we don't know where they are.

I'll tell you something that few people understand: the galaxy is fucking enormous.

No, not big, what's coming is six towns and a mountain behind it—"fucking enormous." The true scale is "understood" by few people who think it's some kind of neighborhood and that the stars are right next door.

Let's assume, just for the sake of argument, that there is one extraterrestrial civilization for every 100,000 stars, and to avoid complicating things, only in this galaxy.

The exact number of stars in our galaxy is still unclear; estimates range from 100 billion to 400 billion stars. Let's go somewhere in between and say 250 billion stars, just to pick a figure.

This would give us, again just speculating, 2,500,000 civilizations. That's a lot, man... I'm sure not that many because the stars in the central regions don't look very friendly, but hey, it's just numbers, it doesn't matter.

Now comes the interesting part: even with so many stars, it's still only one star for every 100,000, and stars are incredibly far away. Galaxies in photographs appear to be "full of stars."

Yes, there are many stars, but the space between them is immense. Just think, light takes more than four years to reach the nearest star to the sun. Four years, and that's light!

Now take those 2,500,000 civilizations (an arbitrary number chosen at random, remember. There could be more or much less) and eliminate those with a primitive technological level, those we cannot understand, and then see how you communicate with them.

By radio?… good idea, but how do you know they'll use that method and not something completely different? It could be that highly advanced civilizations use another method, like gravitational waves, and we can't detect them at that level yet. They might use forms of communication unimaginable to us, they might be sending signals and getting confused by other things, many of them might simply not be interested in talking to anyone, and again: the galaxy is enormous.

We won't even talk about communicating with other galaxies; it would take billions of years to say "hello, how are you" and receive a response.

And visiting them with spaceships?

Okay… do ships that can exceed the speed of light exist? As far as we know, that's purely theoretical, and even then, do you know how many stars there are to look at?

Imagine a fleet of 1,000 ships visiting one star per year. You would need roughly 250 million years to visit all the stars in the galaxy.

Even in "Star Trek" there aren't fleets of a thousand ships, so do the math and you'll see that it's not nearly as simple as that.

What are some shocking facts about celebrities?

 I know, at least once in your life, someone has told you that you look like someone they've met before, that's the universe, there are people who look like you, whether you find them or not, they are out there somewhere, so here are some people from history who look like stars.

Jennifer Lawrence and Zubaida Tharwat!

Enzo Ferrari and Mesut Özil! Is that even real?

Peter Dinklage and Diego Velazquez's “Portrait of Sebastian de Morra”

Shahrukh Khan and one of his Indian fans

Judy Zipper et Leonardo DiCaprio !

Ellen DeGeneres and Henry David Thoreau! What?!

Virat Kohli (Indian international cricketer considered one of the best cricketers) and a Domino's Pizza employee

Soldier fromAmerican Civil War and Christian Bale

Ginger Rogers et Christina Aguilera

Andy Murray et Andrew Garfield

Mahir Cayan (leader and chief theorist of the People's Liberation Front of Türkiye) and Jimmy Fallon

Jay-Z and a man in Harlem (a neighborhood in New York) in 1939

A man from 1890 and Eddie Murphy

The Civil War era and Nicolas Cage

Conan O'Brien and Marshall Harvey Twitchell (a Vermont Union Army soldier who became a Republican state senator)

John Travolta and an unknown Victorian-era figure

Bruce Willis and World War II hero Douglas MacArthur

Who is Maa Katyayani? Why is she worshipped on Navratri Day 6?

 Maa Katyayani is the form of Durgadevi. She is one of the Navadurgas. As per the Devi Mahatmya, the devatas, frustrated by the nuisance caused by Mahishasura, approached Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahma, and Lord Shiva; at that time, the trio was very angry. Not only they, but even the other devatas were also angry. From their anger came a light from their bodies and merged into one big light, forming a Devi. Different devatas gave weapons to Devi.

At that time, Shiva gave one trishula from His trishula; Lord Vishnu gave His Chakra; Lord Brahma gave the japamaala and the kamandalu to Devi. Vayudeva gave a bow and arrow to Devi; Yama gave Kaaladanda to Devi; Indra gave His vajra to Devi; Varunadeva gave Paasha to Devi; Kaala gave Her a sword and a shield; Vishvakarma gave Her the axe; and like this all the devatas gave Her their weapons from their own weapons, ornaments, etc.

Actually, these lights which came from the devatas are Devi’s roopas. As we say, ‘Yaa devi sarvabhooteshu shaktiroopena samsthita…’ So, in the devatas She is present in the form of their powers, or Shakti, or even their ability to do work. But within Vishnu, She is not present as Shakti, but that Shakti itself is under Lord Vishnu, as per the Ambhruni Sukta, which says, ‘Aham suve pitaramasya moordhan mama yonirapsvantha samudre…’ which means Devi can do the creation, sustenance, and even the destruction of the universe, and Brahma and Rudra too obtain their positions due to Devi’s blessings, but the source of this immense power of Devi is the one who sleeps in the samudra/ksheerasamudra, which is Lord Vishnu. Plus, She is Vishnumaaya, which means She is Vishnu’s Maya.

Even in the weapons too, it is She who is present as the Shakti within those weapons. That’s why we worship Devi in the tools we use daily during Aayudha Pooja. Now, coming to the point, after all this, Devi goes to Sage Kaatyaayana’s hermitage and accepts His pooja. Another light came from Sage Kaatyayana too, in which Devi was present as Shaktiroopini within him, and merged into the Devi. That’s why, since in one form She came from Sage Kaatyayana, She is known as Kaatyaayani Devi. So, She is Durgadevi only.

Now, coming to why She is worshipped on Navaratri Day 6? The reason is simple. As per the Devi Kavacha, which comes in the Devi Mahatmya of the Markandeya Purana, Lord Brahma tells Narada that there are 9 forms of Durga. First is Shailaputri, second is Brahmacharini, third is Chandraghanta, and fourth is Kushmaanda. The fifth one is Skandamaata, and the sixth one is Kaatyaayani. The seventh one is Kaalaraatri, and the eighth is Mahagouri. The ninth one is Siddhidaatri. Some people even call Siddhidaatri, as Devadooti. Like this, there are nine Durgas. These nine Durgas are worshipped individually in the 9 days of Navaratri. Like that, today is the 6th day of Navaratri, and hence, Maa Kaatyaayani is worshipped today.

Both Lakshmidevi’s Durgaroopa and Umadevi’s Durgaroopa are known by the name Katyayani. The Gopikas also did the Katyayani Vrata to obtain Krishna as their husband. So, tomorrow Kaalaratri Devi is worshipped.

Hope this helps!
Jay SriRam!
ShriMahakaali Mahalakshmi Mahasarasvatyatmike SriChandika Durgaantargata ShriKrishnarpanamastu!

What are some of the south Indian movies which are remade into Bollywood?

 The list below backs my words.

1. Yuva (2004)

‘Yuva’ is technically not a remake of any South Indian movie but it was also concurrently shot in Tamil language as ‘Aaytha Ezhuthu’. ‘Yuva’ clearly got the better deal in the battle of critical accolades, as both the film met with zero enthusiasm at the ticket counters. It also picked up the critics’ choice for best film at the Filmfare awards. The film boasted of a stellar cast that included names like Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor. The film focuses on the lives of three individuals – a goon, a student leader and a spoiled brat – and how one incident brings them together in the course of life. Looking back one wonders why the film was so underappreciated as it clearly was better than most Bollywood movies of its time.

2. Saajan Chale Sasural (1996)

David Dhawan’s comedy flick centered on polygamy and cheekily called ‘Saajan Chale Sasural’ is remake of a Telegu film ‘Allari Mogudu’ (1992). It was the biggest hit of 1996 and there were reasons for it. The golden trio of Govinda, Karisma Kapoor and David Dhawan were at the peak of their careers when the film released. The music by Nadeem-Shravan was a perfect blend of melody and humour. And the source itself was so cinematically profound that the director just had to copy and paste ‘Allari Mogudu’ into a Bollywood setting and he would have got a solid entertainer. However David Dhawan not only borrows but also adds his own insights to the story to make it saleable to a national audience. The film was a laugh riot and even after two decades the statement still holds true.

3. Nayak (2001)

S. Shankar’s ‘Nayak: The Real Hero’ is a Bollywood reinterpretation of his hit Tamil social drama ‘Mudhalvan’ with its core intact. Anil Kapoor was roped in to play Shivaji Rao, a TV reporter who gets a chance to be the Chief Minister of a state for one day and how he uses his position to make a difference in society. Kapoor’s job as an actor was made easy by his on-screen nemesis Amrish Puri, the evil CM whose middle name is corruption. The film is fast paced, very matter-of-fact and most importantly doesn’t test your patience. Director S. Shankar very beautifully uses his technical and storytelling skills to give us a film that is both a solid entertainer and thought-provoking at the same time.

4. Coolie No. 1 (1995)

‘Coolie No. 1’ marks the peak of the golden collaboration between actor Govinda and director David Dhawan. Together they gave many jubilee hits but ‘Coolie No. 1’ is a special one for them and the whole team. Fresh off the success of ‘Raja Babu’ they were eager to extend their golden run at the box office and found their inspiration in the Tamil film ‘Chinna Mapillai’. They made a few minor changes here and there and gave a typical Bollywood makeover to the relatively unknown Tamil comedy about a Coolie who hides his identity to marry the girl of his dreams. The result was a silver jubilee box office success which still draws crowds in its various TV reruns.

5. Ram Aur Shyam (1967)

It won’t be wrong to say that ‘Ram Aur Shyam’ started the twin saga in Bollywood where two siblings with different personalities form the crux of the story. Inherently high on entertainment value this time tested formula has worked wonders for superstars of different generations. However it was in a Telegu film ‘Ramudu Bheemudu’ (1964) that director Tapi Chanakya first experimented with ‘The Corsican Brothers’ theme and encouraged by its success he brought the formula to Hindi films with the Dilip Kumar starrer ‘Ram Aur Shyam’. Both the films are basically the same but the Bollywood version has a more logical approach to the subject than its predecessor and hence a more favourable mention in film history books. The film proved to be a milestone in Dilip Kumar’s career.

6. Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981)

K. Balachander’s ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye’ is a film about two lovers who don’t speak each other’s language but they communicate with the language of love. Parental objection and societal pressure tears them apart and their love story meet with a tragic end; that’s the film in a nutshell. Given the bilingual plot the film naturally demands to be remade in different languages. First came the Telegu version ‘Maro Charitra’ with Kamal Haasan and Saritha in the lead roles. For the Hindi version K.Balachander retained the male lead but cast Rati Agnihotri in the female lead. ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye’ scores over ‘Maro Charitra’ as in the former the linguistic differences become more pronounced in the love story between a South Indian boy and a North Indian girl. Today both the film enjoys cult status among their respective viewers.