Million Gods

Hindus have one God. They also have 330 million Gods. Male Gods, Female Gods, Family Gods, Household Gods, Personal God, Village God, Fertility God, Forest God, Sun God, Moon God and what not. You name it, there is a God for it. For Hindus, everything is divine and there is nothing that can be ignored. There is freedom to choose any form that you can relate to as God and also to reject all the forms. As a hindu progresses spiritually, there is a gradual rejection of forms to realize the Divine without form that is within.

I thought I should share this interesting framework of hierarchy of Gods in Hindu mythology that I found in a book - Myth=Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology by Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik. The book is also very interesting and deals with apparent paradoxes and unravels an inherited truth about life and death, nature and culture, perfection and possibility from Hindu Mythological perspective. It also retells numerous stories and decodes Hindu symbols and rituals, using a unique style of commentary, illustrations and diagrams.

A Fortunate Student, I am !

I am very fortunate to have been in a boarding school for 8 long years with teachers who opened up our young minds, showing them the wonders of the intellect and the miracle of being able to think for ourselves. They exercised our mental muscles, stretching and strengthening, so that we can make challenging decisions, find our way in the world, and become independent. They were our parents, guide and friend with an overflowing heart. When I woke up, I realized that, it is Teacher’s Day in India and thought I should extend my gratitude.

Nirmala Sam Babu: My first teacher was Nirmala madam. It was when I joined a pre-school and I left the school after a year. The last time I met her, she told me I was her first student. She is a highly inspiring and a friendly person. Now that she runs her own school, St.Peters at Kodaikanal, one of the prestigious institutions in Kodaikanal.

Sheela Cherian – She is the first teacher anyone who joins Sainik School, Amaravathinagar would encounter. She taught table manners to all the students, on the day of induction. Things like, How to eat using a spoon and a fork… How to spread butter and jam with the knife… How to eat boiled egg… and most importantly, how to eat with our mouth closed. These lessons will stay with any of her students till the grave. Owing to her motherly attitude and love, she preferred to teach English to the sub-juniors classes. For certain, everyone in her class will develop an excellent hand-writing skills and the flow of language.

P.T.Cherian (PTC) - P.T. Cherian and Sheela Cherian are kind of made for each other couples. They joined the school when it was started in 1962 and after a few years, fell (rose) in love and got married. He taught Physics for the senior classes. Mostly, he treated everyone as adults and that earned him reverence amongst the students of all classes. Though he is no longer with us, the majestic way he carried himself as the longest served senior master, makes him an indisputable icon in hearts of the Amaravian family.

George Joseph (GJ) – He was heavily built, tall, high energetic and full of fun. When he used to teach Gulliver in Lilliput, we would be exactly like poor Lilliputians and he like the gigantic Gulliver. Be it prose or poem, he used to perform all sorts of animation to enact the scene and make it lively. It will be hilarious, when he enacts the baby in a poem like “Trot trot the baby goes; Trot trot to town….

Devanasamy (ADS) – The delight of watching The Story of India or History Channel or the pleasure of reading historical books, I owe to him. His many ways like pinching the arm in varied degrees of excruciating pain, would put any history lesson into the core of our heads. We have always admired the way he carried himself. The gleam of his shoes and belt, the whiteness of his shirts and the perfect folding of the pants are things I get reminded of when I wear a formal.

R Sreenivasan (RSV) – We can learn sophistication from RSV. He taught us geography and he was also my house master when I was a prefect. He left the school after he was appointed as the principal of Navodya Vidhyalaya

I.L.Fernandez (ILF) – A care-free and a simple person, who never carried the book to the class room. He taught us physics when we were in senior classes. Rarely writes on the board, but he will ensure that the lessons are written on our heads. Apart from Physics, we learnt mutual respect from ILF.

P.Chandran (PC) – A rare teacher and a genius who sometimes contemplates in his own world. If I were given a chance go back to the school, I love to sit in his class. He taught us Quantum Mechanics and always emphasized relating the theories to the real-world and the relative world. He is the first person who revealed the harmony of physics and meta-physics to us. Even today, when I am stuck grasping some complex relations, I think of him. He was my house master during the last 2 years of my school and made me the house captain too. In spite all the pranks I played and the difficult situations I created for him, he was very understanding and helpful.

A.Santiago Jayaraj Kumar (ASJK) – An idealistic, versatile and dynamic teacher. He taught us English. Though he treated all the students as equals, he always knew where and how to draw the thin line. I owe him, my voracious reading habits and my appetite for books. Be it poem or prose, the books never limited him from extending to the origional text and the contemporary writings too. For example, we had a lesson which was the condensed form of the book "To Sir, With Love" by E.R. Braithwaite. He used the origional book and also ensured that the school screened the 1967 classic "To Sir, With Love". On another occassion, there was a lesson called "The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag" by Jim Corbett. Apart from teaching from the original book, he introduced Kenneth Anderson, who has written similar books. Had I not been in his class, the passion to read Saki, Ruskin Bond, James Herriot, Leo Lolstoy, Anton Chekov... and a numerous authors wouldn't have occured to me.

KR M Karuppaiah (KRMK) – He was my guardian angel :) He taught us Organic Chemistry. Though many guys scored well in the subject, for some reason, I could never understand it except for one formula C2H5OH.

V Govid Samy (VGS): A jovial and a carefree person, who always go by the books. He always bridges the student-teacher relationship to ensure comfort and was like a friend to us. He taught us Chemistry and was also our NCC master for the Naval Wing. I still remember my first day at the Naval Wing, when a guy banged his foot to make a halt while marching, he shouted “ Hey.. what happened and why are you getting tensed man? You will be standing on a ship and if you bang like this, the ship will sink”. He ordered that no one should behave over-smart and do fast actions during the drill. From that day, every drill will be fun-filled slow-motion gestures. He was also our ship modelling instructor.

King Kristo Kumar (KKK): A highly energetic and a loving person. He taught us Math with such an ease that, it would be like learning some poem.

D Mariarajan (DMR): A bold, rebellious and aggressive teacher. He was more than a friend to me. We had similar taste for songs and I got the habit of collecting sings from him. He taught us Math in junior classes.

S Saradhamani (SSM) - She was a very loving and a next generation teacher. She taught us english in junior classes and my passion for English as a language can be attributed to her. I still remember how we were almost in tears during her last class, when she left the school. To this day, I have not seen a hand-writing that is as beautiful as hers. It's perfect calligraphy. The 5 page autograph she wrote to me is a treasured possession. She is a singer too :)

M N Santhanakrishnan (MNSK): A perfectionist and the keeper of the morality. MNSK taught us Tamil and he had a peculiar way of blending humor and complex grammatical theories. Recently, he was awarded the best teacher award by the President of India.

V Charles (VC): An always smiling personality, who replaced CSG as the Biology Master when we were in 9th . Though I was not comfortable with biology as a subject, I loved attending his classes. It will be one class where we can sleep on the desk without being bothered or skip and go to the library without being questioned. We had enough freedom while he is in the class. We were supposed to do a project in 12th class and I planned to do “Fermentation of grapes by yeast”. When I told this with apprehension, he was genuinely happy for coming up with a novel idea. I was brewing black and white wines under the cot, one day he surprised me with the jamoon wine. He always taught us in our own way.

After the school, though life taught me all things, great and small, the lessons I learnt from these revered souls during the formative years laid the foundation for all that is good in me. All my good deeds I owe to them; all the short-comings are mine.

Courage

There is so much lusting for loftiness. There are so many convulsions of the ambitions. There are numerous ways to be crooked, deceptive, corrupt, treacherous, perfidious and all this and more for a menial living. Alas! This coarsely malignant greed is misunderstood as courage in this corporate world. The true courage really is, to be out of this rabble, from all those bawlers and scribe-blowflies, from the trader-stench, the ambition-fidgeting, the bad breath. It doesn’t take courage to be successful. It takes courage to be ourselves, to be unambitious, to smile at our defeat, to accept ourselves, to appreciate and acknowledge others, to commit mistakes, to surrender and to move on with an indifference to success and failure. It is fear that creates ambition, success, strength, power, aggression etc.

I am reminded of a beautiful parable.

A sannyasin by the name of Dandani existed in the days when Alexander was invading India. Alexander had be requested by his friends to bring a sannyasin when he returned from India..

They said, “Bring a sannyasin. You will bring many things but don't forget to bring a sannyasin; we would like to see the phenomenon of sannyas, what it is, what exactly a sannyasin is”

Alexander was so engaged in war and struggle and fight that he almost forgot about it, but when he was going back, just on the boundary of India, he suddenly remembered. He was leaving the last village so he asked his soldiers to go into the village and inquire if there was a Sannyasin around there somewhere. By accident Dandani was there in the village, by the riverside.

The villagers told, “You have asked at the right time and you have come at the right time. There are many sannyasins but a real sannyasin is always rare, but he is here now. You can have darshan, you can go and visit him.”

Alexander laughed and said, “I'm not here to have darshan, my soldiers will go and fetch him. I will take him back to my capital, to my country.”

The villagers said, “It won't be so easy.”

Alexander could not believe it -- what difficulty could there be? He had conquered emperors, great kings, so with a beggar, a sannyasin, what difficulty could there be? His soldiers went to see Dandani who was standing naked on the bank of the river.

They said, “Alexander, the Great, invites you to accompany him to his country. All comforts will be provided, whatsoever you need, will be provided. You will be a royal guest.”

The naked fakir laughed and said, “You go and tell your master that a man who calls himself great cannot be great. And nobody can take me anywhere -- a sannyasin moves like a cloud, in total freedom. I am not enslaved to anybody.”

They said. “You must have heard about Alexander, he is a dangerous man. If you say no to him, he won’t listen, he will simply cut your head off.”

The sannyasin said, “You had better bring your master here, maybe he can understand what I am saying”

The soldiers went back and told Alexander, “He is a rare man, luminous; there is something of the unknown around him. He is naked, but you don't feel in his presence that he is naked -- later on you remember. He is so powerful that in his presence you simply forget the whole world. He is magnetic, and a great silence surrounds him and the whole area feels as if it is delighting in the man. He is worth seeing, but there seems to be trouble ahead for him, the poor man, because he says that nobody can take him anywhere, that he is nobody's slave”

Alexander came to see him with a naked sword in his hand.

The sannyasin laughed and said, “Put down your sword, it is useless here. Put it back in the sheath, it is useless here because you can cut only my body, and that I left long ago. Your sword cannot cut me, so put it back, don't be childish.”

And it is said that that was the first time that Alexander followed somebody else's order; just because of the very presence of the man he couldn't remember who he was.

Dandani had actually said, “This is my head, you can cut it off. When the head falls, you will see it falling on the sand and I will also see it falling on the sand, because I am not my body. I am a witness.”

He put his sword back in the sheath and said, “I have never come across such a beautiful man.”

Alexander had to report to his friends saying, “There were sannyasins that I could have brought but they were not sannyasins. Then, I came across a man who was really something rare, and you have heard rightly, this flower is rare, but nobody can force him, because he is not afraid of death. When a person is not afraid of death how can you force him to do anything?”

“It is difficult to kill a man who is ready to die, it is meaningless to kill him. You can kill a person who fights, then there is some meaning in killing, but you can't kill a man who is ready and who is saying: This is my head, you can cut it off.”

Whom do you think is courageous? Alexander or Dandani?

Missing and Dreaming

Yet another pending tag. This time, from Meenu. She has done a wonderful tag and after going through it, I had my own doubts if I'll be able to do justice to the tag.

The tag was to write the 10 things I miss in my life right now , and the 10 things I want to achieve in 10 years !

I doubted because, this is the most easiest and the toughest tag I can ever do. The first part is easy. With in seconds we can list out the things we miss, not just 10, it can run to infinity. Mind always makes a deal with the greed and all that cannot be possessed forever adds up subconsciously to the list of things we miss. It is very easy to miss something too and hence to list it is almost effortless. Here is the list of 10 things I miss now and may be forever:)


1. My Dad

2. My Granny

3. First Love? May be all the episodes of love :)

4. Everything about Kodaikanal

5. Proximity with my friends and all those pranks, big and small

6. Days at Amaravathi

7. The first year of my son - I was traveling most of the time

8. Frequent travels - backpack kind:)

9. Innocence

10. Aloneness

On the other hand, things I dream of doing in the next 10 years.....is the most toughest thing I could think of. To be frank, I don't really know. I am sure that the next 10 years will definitely add more things to the list of I will be missing. But, I couldn't predict all that now and set them as my objectives. Well, I'm not doing the last part of the tag:)

Similarities shared

It’s time to do the tag from Vishesh pending for a long time. I am supposed to write:

A. List 5-10 things of commonality that I have in common with the human race and/or nature.

B. List 5-10 things that I might have in common with the human race and/or nature.

I don’t see a lot of difference between what I have and what I might have. If I might have something in similar, it just means that I already have that similarity. How else could the very thought arise? Is it not the projection of what I already possess? There might be a difference in degree, but what I think as what I might have in similar is just what I already have in similar. May be, this is how I have interpreted the questions …

This is a highly introspective exercise. Though, the greatest and the smallest of human are all too similar to each others and human all too human, it is always difficult to accept and reveal the similarities. On the hand, it’s very easy to identify the differences. If you ask me, how different I am from the human being and all the natural laws, I would have more points to quote than how I would relate myself to the similarities that exist. Finding similarities requires stripping ourselves naked of all that we have accumulated as an individual over these years while finding differences means reinforcing all that we have accumulated to be come an individual with all the uniqueness. Do you remember enjoying while identifying 6 differences between 2 pictures in some magazine? Yes. It’s easy and pleasurable to compare and differentiate things. But it is very difficult to see the similarities unless there is necessity to be under the umbrella of a group. Let me stop this here and do the tag…

Here are 10 similarities I have/might have with human race and/or nature.

1. An upright ego with its contradictions and perplexity

2. A rope stretched between animal and divine

3. An intoxicating joy in the dream and diction of God

4. All facets of love projected in varied degrees at different times

5. A poor ignorant weariness wanting to attain the ultimate in a single giant leap

6. The itch to discover – to circumnavigate every domain

7. A burning conscience

8. Can do! – Lately changed to “Can do it!”

9. Amoral when morality is questioned

10. The illusion of being the center of the universe

Let’s share our similarities and celebrate our differences – Scott Peck

Recommend reading - “The Road Less Traveled” by Scott Peck

It was fun doing this. Thanks Vishesh! Whoever wants to do it, please go ahead and do it..

Grace turns 100

I and me which was once one, on the long run is no longer one, as I have been able to be a witness and watch from outside the shell. Not that, I have become an anchorite or a victim of MPD (multiple personality disorder). But, I have been indulging too much in aloneness and solitude. When I and me are too involved in a conversation and someone joins the conversation, it continues only when the person who joined substitutes the Me of me. How could it be endured, if it is otherwise? It will only be a cork which prevents the conversation sinking into the depth. Sometimes there are too many depths in these conversations. However, to be a little sociable or atleast agreeable to the society, there is much longing for a friend to make him/her as a substitute. This longing for a friend sometimes turns into a betrayal.

Mark Antrobus, has been a perfect substitute when it comes to company. I think, he is more than a substitute. My I and Me disappears in his company as it becomes a party of his conversation. In his presence, a day disappears into a millisecond and time exists not. Last month, Elango, a friend of Mark called me to tell that Mark is in Chennai for a day and gave the phone number of the hotel where he was staying. The next moment, I was knocking his door. There was no response. Then I dialled the hotel number and the call was transferred to the room. After a few rings, he picked up and immediately opened the door. A beaming smile and a hug of radiance and warmth was enough to take me in. He said, “Shiva, you have just proved the existence of ether. Moments before you called, may be as you were calling, I was just meditating and was feeling that you had entered my room and watching me meditating. And there comes a call and you are here!” The conversation continued on and on and on……

It was time for lunch. When I suggested that we should go out for lunch, he said that he has stopped eating rice, wheat or any form of carbohydrate and offered some oranges he had for lunch. I insisted that we go out for lunch where we can have his kind of food. We went to aiwo, a chain of restaurant that boasts itself as offering the food for life. As regular visitor, I always get some extra care from Napoleon, the waiter who always stares at me if I ask for chilled water, a forbidden as it reduced the metabolism rate. We thoroughly enjoyed the conveyer meal which consisted mainly of pulses, vegetables, soya and all that is health. Perfectly in sync with food combining that Mark propounds. Thanks to my friend Shankar for introducing me to aiwo.

Then we went around the city looking for some coconut buttons and it was funny to see the shop keepers attempting to speak in broken English while Mark speaking to them in fluent tamil. The day just went by and it was time to part.

Mark invited me for Grace’s (his mom) Centenary Birthday celebrations scheduled on the 23rd March 2008 at The Kodai Club. Though I said, I will make it, relocation again is the excuse for not having been in Kodaikanal to pay my respects and be blessed by Grace. I’m sure she will have many more healthy years ahead and continue doing the great things she has always been doing.

Happy Centenary Birthday Wishes Mom!

I know Mark was intending to write something about himself, may be an autobiography for a long time. Now that, the occasion has come. He has just started writing and hosted the website. If you want to know, what is like being the Dionysus Junior, a wandering ascetic hedonist, an autodidact and a polymath, read Mark Antrobus at http://www.dionysusjunior.com/

The Move

So much has changed; So much remains the same. We moved from Chennai to New Delhi for a change. Yes. Only for a change! I don’t see a better reason than this. Relocation activities have been a great weapon of excuse for all that I had failed to do in the recent months, including my absence in the blog. Though there was only little I had to personally do, mind was fully occupied with something or the other like ticketing, packing, moving, house hunting, house warming, school admission and what not. This post by itself is an indication that we have settled in.

As in any relocation, moving and packing household articles and personal things I thought, would be the biggest challenge. When we arrived at the endless list of things to take, I realized how complicated life has turned. There used to be a time when life was not more than a backpack with no sense of attachment to it. I was surprised, when I was reluctant even to leave behind some trivial things. Everything had a background, a history and somehow bandaged to me as bondage. Mind kept reminding that, this was bought in this trip and that was a gift from that friend and somehow everything found a reason to move along with us.

Recently, I happened to read worst stories about movers and packers and it panicked me more when I read Kavi’s post about his relocation to Mumbai. To add to the fire, Anand, my school buddy sent me this IBN Live link – Couple takes on corporate. However, these information really helped us in cautiously evaluating different options. Thank You Guys!

Request for quote was sent to many Movers and Packers with the list of items to be moved. Most of them replied by email with a ballpark estimate, while Hariom Mishra from Goel Movers & Packers insisted on visiting the house and to do an evaluation of the goods to be moved. The same day he visited, scanned through the things thoroughly and gave the quote. Though it was little higher, I decided to use their service as the approach was professional, service oriented and reassuring. The decision was taken, but had to wait till we find a house in Delhi.

House hunting was more confusing and time-consuming than we had expected, as there were too many localities to choose from and too many vacant houses in each locality. The first day ended with a long list of houses seen with pros and cons. We realized that, most north Indian landlords preferred to have south Indian tenants. On one occasion, the Landlord was willing to reduce the rent significantly as we are South Indians. Moreover, the property dealers while marketing our credibility to the landlords always mentioned that we are Madrasis as key criteria for bringing in a good tenant for them. Not sure if it was a compliment:)

With too many houses to choose from, it was time organize. Then, we prepared a matrix with the key attributes in a house we are looking for with some weight assigned to each of the attribute. From then on, it took very little time to scan the house to arrive at the rating for each of the parameter. At the end of a week of searching, the matrix had 40 houses with the very first house we saw topping the list. It was decided and the same day the papers were signed.

Back in Chennai, we finalized the deal with Goel Movers & Packers. In 5 hours the house was naked and I was just sitting and watching the way the card-board was bound, the polythene films were wrapped and the huge crates were filled. I was asked not to even touch a spec. It was really effortless.

I reached Delhi, a day before the things were scheduled to arrive and did some preliminary cleaning before the things are placed. Though Hariom was giving the daily status of the vehicle, I had my own apprehensions about the safety and care in which the things would be handled. As scheduled, the things arrived on the fifth day. The unloading, unpacking and the cleaning was done in 5 hours, again with no effort from our end. I could see the transformation of my apprehensions and doubts to surprise and wonder when each item being unpacked intact. It was an excellent service offered by Goel Movers and Packers and I was exceedingly happy with the way they carried-out the entire moving and packing. Sadhique and Senthil, my school buddies helped us with setting up of things initially. The rest of the house was settled, whenever we could grab some time. With almost most of things done, we feel at home!

Everything has happened as it should have happened. We have moved for a change? May be a temporal change from a narrow perspective, on the periphery. Deep within, it’s all the same, even in the flowing river and even when the river runs through it.

The Flowering within

The flower blooms and the fragrance spreads on the winds in all directions, to be carried to the very ends of earth. But the crux here is the blooming of the flower. The flower is limited but not the fragrance. The flower has limitations. It is rooted somewhere in the earth. But the fragrance is not tied up. It simply moves, rides on the winds; it has no moorings in the earth.

The flowering happens within. It has roots. It happens and exists within. The flowering happens and the compassion spreads. The flower will die sooner or later - it is part of earth and the dust will return unto dust - but the fragrance that has been released will remain forever and forever!

A rejuvenating Trip

Here I sit, shriveled in the heat of the laptop, fretting on account of my idle legs, world-weary, will-weary, and one day I would be suffocated of my all-too-great self-pity. In a conversation I had with one of my friends, I was talking too much of the nature, streams, waterfalls, rivers, springs, cascades…..I realized the need, yearning, urge, itch and thirst to taste the sweetness of Virgin Nature and share some divine moments in the cradle of Mother Nature. Sensing that the Thanksgiving holiday in US would give me some bandwidth, I planned a day’s trip to Coimbatore with Shakthi.

Coimbatore is the gateway to various nature trails like Top Slip, Valpaarai, Athirampalli, Ooty, Munnar and the whole of Kerala. We reached Coimbatore on Thursday Morning and checked into Lord’s Park, the only hotel where the accommodation was available, owing to the marriages and function as the day was an auspicious one. After a quick wash and change, we along with headed towards, Siruvani Waterfall which is 40 kms from Coimbatore. This waterfall is also popularly known as Kovai Cuttralam. We reached the forest check-post at the entrance of the waterfall and I was happy to note that a thorough inspection being conducted by the forest guard for inflammable, plastic, polythene and other pollutants, before the entry. After passing the check post, we had to drive further to reach the parking lot. Then it was an enchanting 2 km walk through the thick forest of teak and various shoal trees.

The alluring fragrance of champak sprinkled on the dewy moistly breeze accompanied us through this tree caved path which lead us to the waterfalls. As it was a weekday, there were only a few visitors and we felt as if the entire place is reserved for us today. We bathed around the waterfall, stream, casecade and the pools for the next 4 hours. It was a natural spa, with water as sweet as the nectar, as scented as geranium, as cold as rose water, as clear as the crystal and as lively as a masseuse.

Everything flows,
Everything retains,
Eternally rejuvenates the water of existence.
Everything falls,
Everything returns,
Eternally resurrects water of existence
Everything drops,
Everything blossoms forth again;
Eternally manifests the water of existence.
Everything separates,
Everything integrates;
Eternally true to itself remains the water of existence.

In every drop begins existence,
In every dip is an orgasm
The center is everywhere.
For she is the pool of eternity.

We had to leave the place with a heavy heart owing to the pricking hunger and we headed towards the Dyanalinga Yogic Foundation set amidst a thick forest on the foot of Velliangiri Hills. It was a 13 kms drive en route Coimbatore from the Siruvani Waterfall. As soon as we reached, we had some hot dosas with herbal chutney and the hunger was settled. We were roaming around the beautiful garden around the facility meant for guest accomodation and I was happy to spot a couple of peacocks. Then we entered the Theerthakund, which is a tank built underground with a solidified mercury lingam in its center. We spent 20 minutes submerged in the tank hugging the lingam and I could feel that whole body was being transformed into .

Then we went to the dome, the sanctum sanctorum where the dhyanalingam is seated. One of the outer wall of the dome had a sculpture depicting Shiva in three states - Rudra, Hara and Sadhasiva. We entered the dome and found ourselves into a duct to be lost in meditation, just to be in a state of nothingness. No prayers told, No chanting uttered, No wishes thought of…. But I could sense that the nothingness also did not settle. May be, it was too short to expect it and there was expectation which would be great barrier to achieve it…achieve is not the right word though. May be attain… it wouldn’t suite as well. Achievement, attainment and all these objective terms would only be hindrance to nothingness. May be I should stay here for a few weeks to experience it myself. With a hope of returning soon, we left Dyanalinga Yogic Foundation. It was a memorable day!

A tag from Dawn

Thanks to Dawn for passing this tag to me and making the possibility of a post in my blog after a long gap.

As in every tag, the rules first!

1. One has to post these rules before one gives out the facts.

2. One must list one fact that is somehow relevant to their life for each letter of their middle name. If one doesn’t have a middle name, they can use the middle name that they would have liked to have

3. At the end of there post, they will have to choose one person for each letter of their middle name to tag. And make sure that each tagged person is notified about this via commenting on there blogs.

An interesting, yet difficult tag, at least for me. It is difficult because there is so much confusion with my name. The First Name, Middle Name and the Last Name - naming convention is of western origin and it becomes really difficult to apply it in the east (at least in India). Babies to inherit their father’s first name as their last name and married women to inherit their husband’s first name as their last name, babies inheriting their Surname from the family name or caste name or clan name and finally, all these chaos only results in the significance of the orgional name getting lost. The irony is, my TC (Transfer Certificate) has my name as M.Sivakumar, my passport has it as Sivakumar Manoharan, my voter id has it as Sivakumar, PAN Card (Permanent Account Number for Income Tax) has it as Sivakumar M. When I produce any of these 2 as proof (one as Photo Identification and the other as proof for Date of Birth or proof of Address) there is always a contradiction. To add to this confusion, there exists 3 more cousins with Sivakumar as their name and my name was prefixed with my native place and so to be called as Kodaikanal Siva. In spite of so many Sivakumars at school, there was less confusion as the Roll numbers were predominantly used for identification. However, during some competition, when it came to have the names printed in the t-shirts, I got my name printed in the reverse order as AVIS, to sound like a brand that existing in those times. Coming to work there was yet another Siva and hence, I am to be called as Kumar.

What is a Name? A means to identify an individual? I don’t think so! There are more individuals than the names under the sun. RFID Tags would be most appropriate to identify the uniqueness than the names. I believe, Name is a bridge to relate a person with another and hence is a form of Ego. A name is for others to call us by, where as the ego is for us to call ourselves. Name is the first sheath that is imposed on a person born into this world and we start relating the person with the name, its meaning, its numerology, its popularity, and finally inculcate the qualities of these factors and imitate them.The Kids are named with the assumption that, they would like the way they are called by and hence, if it is not meeting their expectations, they should be allowed to change their names at will. This tag especially gives me an opportunity to think as to how I would want myself to be called as and to add some significance to the name.

A tag extended from Dawn should start with a quote! As Gandhiji quoted “Be the change you want to see”, let me deduce the attributes that I want to see in me from the letters of the name I wish to be called as – SHIVA.

S – Saatvic – To attain the noblest of the three gunas
H – Himalayas – To live in the abode of Shiva, even when in a market place
I – Ishta – To and to be loved
V – Vairagya - To be able Discriminate, Detach and Renounce
A – AUM – To live in the Truth

Rules are rules!

Let me pass on this Tag to

Shirsha

H ---?????? -
Ideasnet – Meenu
Vijay Mithra
Aaizwaikcha – Princess

Hear! See!, Only the Auspicious

Mundaka Upanishad has always been considered as a treasure of knowledge. I present here, the following invocation stanza from Mundaka Upanishad that I feel is very significant, profound and beautiful and which represents the entire nectar of this upanishad.

"May we hear the auspicous things

with our ears;

May we see the auspicious things

with our eyes."

You may wonder, what significance this stanza has! I have heard in a discourse, a story that helped me comprehend the stanza. There lived an old king, who wanted to renunciate and enthrone the Prince as the King. Unfortunately, the prince was naughty, irresponsible and callous and hence was not worthy to be a king. The King took the Prince to his Master (Guru) who lived in a hermitage in the forest and told the master, "Master, Make him a good King".

The Master said, " Don't worry my dear King. I'll take care". Then, the King left to his capital.

The master told the Prince, " My dear Prince, Just go and wander around the forest and come to me after one year and then, answer the question, "What is the sound of the forest all about?"

The prince wanders around the forest hearing all sorts of sounds and wondering why he has been asked such a simple question. Exactly after one year, the Prince goes to the hermitage and tells the master, " Master, here is the answer. The sound of the forest is the chirping of the birds, roaring of the elephats and the lions, buzzing of the beetles, creaking of the trees, rustling of dry leaves, splashing of the water falls and so on."

The master says, " My dear prince, you have not found it. Wander around for another year and tell me the sound of the forest. Confused, the prince wanders around the forest, hearing exactly the same set of sounds he had heard the previous year. One year passed and the prinns to the returns to the hermitage and answers the master with the same set of sounds. The master again, asked the prince wander for another year to find the sound of the forest.

The prince started to wander again. The Prince thought that, as long as I keep hearing the same things and tell the same answer, I am just going to wandering around this forest all my life and hence, I should hear something new. One day, tired and exhausted, he lay down on a bed of grass below a tree and went into a state of complete relaxation. His mind was placid, the body was relaxed, eyes closed and was almost in a sleepy, but conscious. Suddenly, he hears the sound of a seed sprouting into a small plant, the sound of a bud blossoming into a flower, the sound a spider projecting and sucking its threads, the sound of a honeybee sucking nectar from a flower and a lot more unheard sounds.

After one year, he goes to the master and says, " Master, I have found the answer, The sound of the forest is, "the sound of a seed sprouting into a small plant, the sound of a bud blossoming into a flower, the sound of spider projecting forth and sucking back its threads, the sound of a honeybee sucking nectar from a flower and so on". The master said, " Prince, now that, you are ready to be a worthy king".

Lessons Learnt -

1. In order to be a leader, it is essential to hear the unheard voices and to listen to the heart of your people.

2. Elevate the art of seeing and listening. I need to mention that, we as human beings have only two faculties to learn. One is seeing and the other is hearing. Speaking cannot be considered as a learning faculty as, the moment we start speaking, the process of learning is blocked.

3. Leadership is in being subtle.

Feel free to add if you have discovered more from the stanza and the story.

Picture : Shot at a garden in Tirumala last month

Faux Fox - Lessons Learnt

I got reminded of a parable, when I realized the frequency with which I post now a days. Here goes the story...

A fox gets up early in the morning as the sun is rising. He comes out of the cave looking for some breakfast. But then as he comes out, he looks at his shadow. In the early morning sun the shadow is very long.

He says, “My God! I am this big! Even a camel will not be enough for breakfast.” He starts searching for a camel – it will be even better if he can get an elephant.

But time passes and he does not come across any elephant or any camel, and it is getting hot, and in fact the time for breakfast has passed. It is time for lunch and he is feeling really hungry. The sun has come just above his head. He looks another time at his shadow. It has shrunken completely, it is just under him.

He says, “My God, I have never thought that hunger can do that much. I have shrunken. I used to be so long – just in the morning – so huge and just missing one breakfast... Now even if I can get a rat, that will do – even for lunch"

Mind in its randomness and chaos, thinks with no limits; while the best of those thoughts crystallize and only the best of the best (as rated by the chaotic mind) is sent to be actioned. Most times, the period between the conception of the thought and its translation into action turns out to be so wide that, it is never materialized. I notice this phenomena happening in me time and again, even while blogging. I wait for translating a thought into a post till it attains perfection in the mind. However, it never attain perfection, as the mind is always greedy and looks for more and more satiation. The lapse time becomes, so long that, the posts get deprioritized and is ultimately lost in the void.

Lessons Learnt - Be spontaneous; Never postpone ; There is nothing like perfection; Be here and now!

Though, the parable can be interpreted in many ways, I have just related it to one phenomena.

What would be your interpretation?

The bird on the tree

A friend asked me the meaning of the picture I have posted in my profile. It is strange that, we, as human beings have grown used to look for reason, rationale and logic in understanding anything and our mind has become so calculative that, even a thing of beauty is measured using some quantitative method. We fail to accept things that are beyond human understanding and brand them as irrational, illogical, abstract and what not. For some reason, I had a reason while posting that picture and the answer was handy when I heard the question.

Mundaka Upanishad depicts its very essence through a parable narrated in verse of 4 lines.

A bird is sitting on an immense tree having innumerable branches and huge foliage. The branches were laden with fruits of different sizes, shapes and stages of ripening. The lone bird chirped and jumped from one branch to another. The sweet taste of fruits made him happy, and his eyes sparkled with contentment and joy. His breast swelled up with the pride of having discovered and enjoyed the sweet fruits.

But soon, the bird tasted a bitter fruit and his joy turned sour; his ego deflated. Again it tasted some sweet fruits and rejoiced with happiness and pride. Again, some fruits turned out to be bitter and the bird was feeling miserable and helpless. Cursing the whole tree, the bird pondered, “All this is useless; there is no happiness or joy in these fruits. I don't want any of them.' Ah! The glorious feeling of discrimination and renunciation occupied his heart.

He looked hither and thither, and his eyes caught sight of a calm and serene looking bird sitting at the top of the tree. That Bird appeared to be in state of meditation, golden effulgence radiating from His countenance that illumined the whole tree including our little bird. Later, the bird realized that, the bird sitting on the top branch is just the reflection of himself in the divine form.

The picture is just the representation of my aspiring soul. My friend was convinced. May be this story would fit into the lives of most of us. How about you? Can you fit yourself as this bird?

The Path

Where darkness is the darkest,
Where wilderness is the wildest,
Where forest is the densest,
Lone stands a calf in loss .

In the hope of finding its herd,
Wades through the mounting darkness,
Across the Uphill and down dale,
Forging a tortuous path.


Perchance, a dog spots the path,
Treads to where it leads,
Only to stop where it ends,
At the shattered bones of the calf.

Forges that path farther hill,
Hobbles through the curves and crooks,
Wrecked, Weary and wounded,
Crosses the forest intact.

A ram with his flock of sheep,
On seeing the path wide open,
Leads its flock across the hill,
Paving the pathway wide.

The man treads across the same path,
Turing right and left along,
Croucing down and burshing the obatscles,
Ever cursing the tedious path.

Though rational in blaming ways,
Never thought of an alternate way,
Turing right and left all day,
When straight in-line is the shortest.

The path passed through the years,
To a main street of a avenue;
To a highway of a town;
To a expressway of a city.

The traffic swallowed the path,
Fuming and fretting as always,
At the worst possible alignment,
Hopeless, man remained.

The forest laughed at the man,
Who blindly follows any path,
Never caring to reason himself,
To see if it suites him the best.


Note: Adopted from a parable I have read.

Insomnia

I've had enough
Of sleepless nights,
Of the clinging past,
Of the uncertain tomorrow,
Of the demanding work,
Of the overwhelming remorse,
Of my unspoken grief,
Of the preception of defects,
Of my rebellious self,
Of my tired wisdom.
Come my Mother,
Breath of the universe -
Veil of Maya-
Reveal yourself-
Come and dress my wounds
And be my cure.

An encounter with God

Beloved Lord!

No prayers are heard.
Do you want me to conceive that you are deaf?
For I know, you understand only the language of silence;
In silence, I hear your voice.

No deeds are seen.
Do you want me to believe that you are blind?
For I know, you see only the light;
In light, I see your vision.

No warmth is felt.
Do you want me to conclude that you are a stone?
For I know, you feel only the fire;
In fire, I feel your warmth.

I breathe no long.
Do you want me to trust that you are just a void?
For I know, you breath only the life;
In life, I breathe your air.

Thirsty, I remain.
Do you want me to imbibe that you are deserted?
For I know, you drink only consciousness;
In consciousness, I’m drunk.

My five senses make no sense;
The world I live cease to live;
Just fill me with what you are,
For me to, live in you.

Shivoham! Shivoham!

Added on 17-Feb-2007 - Shared more pcitues of Shiva, as the post received 2 comments stating the picture is good.

To Lord, with Love

Oh Lord,
Take my mind off my soul.
Liberate my poor soul.
Fill me with nothing and
release me from my dreams.
If I hurt anyone, even by chance,
let fire burn me from inside.


Oh Lord,Take away what I want.
Take away what I do.
Take away what I need.
Take away everything
that makes me vice.

The Starry Night

Silencing the glitter

of the stars —

night rain

Confined at home because of the freezing cold, I could think of nothing but this beautiful haiku of Uko. Haiku are meant to be interpreted and comprehended according to each one’s understanding. They are like pebbles in the ocean, reflecting the nuances of the surrounding. When he wrote this haiku, Uko must have been sitting in his small hut looking at the night stars glittering, and then suddenly...it starts raining.

The stars are there, they are shining; the rain comes, the clouds come and the stars disappear, but they are still there. The clouds or the rain cannot take them away. Your divinity is just your inner glitter, your inner luminosity. Rain comes and clouds come, but they all pass away: your interiority remains untouched. Your glitter is not the glitter of the stars that can be taken away or that can be erased even for a moment. Your glitter and your silence is so deeply rooted in you that there is no way to avoid it.

We have been avoiding, everybody has been trying to avoid our Inner Self. Sooner or later we will get tired of hiding, of running away from ourselves. Sooner or later we will sit down — silently and peacefully, and suddenly: it explodes! Then there is only a showering without the cloud in a starry night.

Attempting to relate the painting, Starry Nights, a masterpiece of Vincent Van Gogh with this haiku.

Hope you enjoyed this :)

A pure form of greeting

During my stay at Dakshineswar in Kolkata, I used to spend most of my evenings listening to the bajans. People from the neighborhood gather carrying their own muscial instruments to sing and dance in praise of Kali, Shiva, Radha, Krishna and Ramakrishna. On one such evenings, there was no singing, no dance and only silence prevailed is spite of the large gathering. I was told that, a women sanyaasini, who is from the order of Sarada Math is going to deliver a discourse and I noticed that she was sitting among the people. She had a radiant smiling face with a glow in her eyes; her shaved head covered with a shawl and her crystal clear compassionate words were captivating the gathering. My memory fails to remember her name.

One gentle man asked, “Why do we pray to god with the hands clasped and also greet a fellow human being in the same way.”

She said, “The five fingers represent the five sheaths or the shells that envelope the real self of a person. In Sanskrit, the five sheaths are called as

• Annamayakosha – The Physical sheath – It is the gross physical body that is sustained by food
• Pranamayakosha – The Energy sheath – It is the subtle body that is sustained by pranic force.
• Manomayakoshsa – The sheath of mind – This is the perceptual body, a covering which is the result of the mind where all the impression and knowledge obtained from the external factors reside.
• Vigyanamayakosha – The sheath of consciousness – This is the covering which is finer than the mind, where intelligence, instinct and intuition are dominant
• Anandhamayakosha – The sheath of bliss – This is the transcendental body which is beyond reason and logic. This is where the subtle ego resides, on breaking which the self is realized.
  

Through the five fingers that represent the five sheaths, we reach the palm which represents the Self. When we clasp both the hands and greet, we say that I greet your real self from with my real self. Beyond these sheaths all of us are Gods and hence, we greet our fellow beings just as we greet our Gods.”

This purest for of greeting had however lost its significance with all these politicians blindly greeting the rising their clasped hands at the vote banks. This traditional way of greeting only exists during the marriages and at other domestic functions. The mere understanding will help us appreciate the divinity of our being, the profoundness and virtue of these practices and save them as treasures for the generations to come.

Dream for a better world

Recently, there was a question posted in Yahoo Answers and the answers were supposed to be shared with Paulo Coelho. It is a question that all of us ask ourselves time and again.

Here is the question –

How would the world be different if people began to follow their own dreams?

Can following your dreams make the world a better place?

My answer to it was “Depends on what we dream of. Dream is the reflection of the impressions and inhibitions of an individual. The ultimate goal of life is to shed these impressions, so that the soul is purified. Then the individual will know his/her Self is just a microcosm of the whole existence and the whole existence is the macrocosm of the self. At this state, if the individual dreams, it is as if he/she is dreaming for the world and if it materializes, then would make this world a better place. In the relative plane of existence, we as individuals cannot have a shared vision and a common goal. But, in the real plane, which is beyond all the sheaths covering us, we are all one and the same pure existence and the dream would be an orchestration towards materializing a symphony that would make this world a better place.” When I read it now, it looks like a weird answer!

What would be yours?

Click the below link to download a best collection of parables and short stories from around the world. These were selected and compiled by Paulo Coelho so that it can be circulated to everyone as a gift. So, here is a gift for you from Paulo – Click Here