ब्रह्मा-विष्णु-शिवः – creation-maintenance-recycling
Posted: April 10, 2022 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentHindu philosophy is based on this trinity.
- brahma is the divine aspect of creation based on rajo guNa
- viShNu is the divine aspect of maintenance based on sattva guNa and
- Siva/rudra/shankara is the divine aspect of recylcing based on tamo guNa.
To create something, you need passion. rajo guNa is attribute of passion. Whereas to maintain what is created so it can last long, it needs discipline, commitment, devotion, calm. And finally, to recycle, destroy and transform from matter to dormant energy which after a period of time blasts back into material.
This is the Hindu philosophy of the existence/reality. These three aspects together or beyond them is what is called as supreme being, param-aatmaa, param-shaktiH, paraatparaH and several other defining names for the same one supreme being.
Passion and Destruction (rajas and tamas guNas) are implusive and adhoc.
But to maintain what is created, it needs love and care for long term commitment. Look at our own selves. We are born and we don’t even know. Mother takes care of us while we are infants and with parent’s financial and goals support, they maintain us till we graduate or so. But, after that our self maintenance requirements start. Most of us don’t maintain our health – being fit, consuming healthy intake (not just for stomach, but by eyes, ears and other senses too) for the heart, mind and aatmaa. Our smRtis define paapa as violation of code of conduct, discipline and Veda prescribed daily activities. anuShThaanam instructs us for early to bed and early to rise; Eat at right times; do some physical exercises, yoga-aasanas, meditation, japam etc; help others; be contented. But, most of us violate these and papa starts accumulating in our body as toxins and health deteriorates; we get one by one health complications.
Now look at the society, civilization of Bharat itself.
For a few decades since 80s we have been building cities by building sky scrapers, high rise buildings. Whether architected/designed by foreigners or our own architects/engineers, every building is almost unique and new. We put in lot of efforts in creativity and corresponding execution in building it.
However, Just within a very few years after they are inaugurated and are functional, they start deforming, with scars of stained water from terrace, water leaks, and especially in Hyderabad, stains from pan-spits, stained dirty glasses and over used or abused toilets/urinals both inside buildings and outside in public too. The reason is lack of interest, consciousness, knowledge to maintain or greed in expending resources in maintaining it.
Solution being to invest into maintenance. It needs money to maintain just as to create/purchase.
Look at the vehicles; especially government buses : APSRTC or TSRTC, or KSRTC or any of these state owned public road transportation corporations. Every year or periodically, they keep buying newer and newer volvo, benz buses. But just in a few years, they become so dirty; glass window frames start shaking loose; seat covers strip lose or torn with cuts, silencer pipes fuming out dense thick smoke causing material carbon pollution. Of course, our own passengers are also irresponsible and add to the ugliness of those buses. But you get it.
Take my own home. it’s hard water coming from the society. We remodeled all our bathrooms with latest tiles, rough granite flooring for showers and high end automatic flush toilets. We also installed a salt-based water softener plant on the terrace. But, since buying the salt, replacing it periodically and cleaning the tanks and toilets is cumbersome and expensive, we gave up and after returning back home from USA after three years, we realize all our toilets are leaking and wasting so much of water. Reason being hard water scaling that happens which hardens the levers, screws and pipes and hence they don’t operate smoothly or cease to operate.
Same with our air coolers, because of so much of rusty brown hard-water-scales at the bottom of the air-cooler tanks, the air from it stinks and the water level levers stopped working at all.
Even at the government administration level, every government and its leaders promise and put forth several schemes every time yet another new one, with a new name. Good passion and creation. But, maintenance of those schemes, ensuring that the benefits are properly reaching the end consumer, is where most of them fail, either due to lack of sincerity or inability or inefficiency.
Same with Legislature. Punishment for a crime based on the degree of the crime is the fundamental penal code. But, for every other new criminal case, there is a new law/act legislated. Great Passion and creation. But, in the very first place, if the original laws were properly enforced, there would not be any or much need for so many laws, which coincidentally brings about lot of confusion or loop holes to further exploit defense of culprits against delivering justice to the real victims.
Anticipating all this, as claimed by MaharShi vyaasa in mahaabhaaratam,
ऊर्ध्वबाहुर्विरोम्येतत् न हि कश्चित् श्रुणोति माम्।
धर्मादर्थश्च कामश्च स किमर्थं न सेव्यते॥
With hands raised, I am shouting at the top of my voice, to which nobody is listening, that desires and wealth should be fulfilled based on dharma alone.
Hence, our Rshis laid so much importance on viShNu related stories, built temples to worship, provided so many stotras and names to chant to keep reminding us to build sattva-guNa, in order to learn to maintain everything that we create/obtain/purchase/receive.
We also forgot the aspects of repair, maintain, fix, reuse. I remember till 80s, there were repair shops for all devices, appliances, vehicles etc. It required different, focused debugging and diagnosing skills. This repair and reuse can also be grouped as a part of maintenance.
Even in IT services industry, every engineer aspires to do new projects, new code development, and look down upon maintenance. But remember, if we don’t maintain them, it’s huge expense of installing new software and integrating it with the running business processes.
Slowly, due to the thrust on constant creation of new products and newer releases/models of those products, and that too pushed very frequently into the market with tempting marketing, spare parts are not being manufactured so much as much more of production of new products. Hence, slowly repair and reuse habit is lost and in its place, dump a non-working product and buy a new product culture came in the recent couple decades.
Every few years, we change our phones, laptops, watches, glasses, dresses, shoes and nowadays cars too.
As a result of this, there is a huge waste/trash/anti-nature dump is being generated. Nobody knows what happens to all this trash that we generate.
Hence, let’s become vaiShNavas, not necessarily as religious followers, but in true spirit of maintenance worshippers. Let’s derive the spirit, motivation, enthusiasm and energy from viShNu, the sattva-pradhaana-devataa especially in charge of the maintenance and start to maintain our own physical body, aatmaa, our family, house, neighborhood and in turn enable governments, businesses and nation to continue to maintain everything that is created, received or consumed.
dharmasya jayo’stu; adharmasya naasho’stu.
now november, 2019
Posted: December 4, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentnow november, 2019 i.e. 9th of November 2019, is a historical day for all Hindus across the world. The Supreme court gave unanimous decision in favor of Ram Lalla to build our own magnificent temple there.
This blog is for those of us Hindus who don’t know the history of the struggle of the Ram Janmabhoomi. Some innocent (should I say ignorant?) people say “why struggle to build a temple? Why not a hospital there or an orphanage there? Answer is two fold: 1) Yes Sure, let’s build a hospital in your home. The response will immediately be defensive. because for them their own home is theirs but Ramjanma bhoomi, bhaarat the nation or rest of the world is not theirs and so don’t care about it. 2) Yes, we have been building so many hospitals, orphanages, schools, single-teacher-schools etc.
Timeline
To understand it better, especially for children and young adults, this year is 2019. i.e. 2019 years since A.D. (Anno Domini,) i.e. since Julian/Gregorian calendar was established, while we also know B.C. is Before Christ.
Having said that, there are several other major regionally and culturally relevant historical events for bhaarat, India. Some of the recent bhaaratiya calendars are vikram-samvat, shaka calendars. Another major calendar is called the Hindu panchangam which treats current era as kali-yuga, after a major event when bhagawaan SrI kRShNa passed away after fulfulling his responsibilities of mahabharata yuddha and restoring dharma. According to that calendar, we are currently in year 5121.
But, long long before Sri Krishna, we also know, Sri Rama existed and ruled the nation and set all ideals, as a role model, of a son, brother, friend, student, lover, husband, leader, ruler etc. Hence, he is called ‘Maryaadaa purushottam’ (uttam = best; purusha=men; purushottam=best of men; maryaadaa=protocol/formality…) So he is the best of the men in executing the set standards/agreeements/formalities etc.
Of such a great man, Sri Raama, who is not surpassed by another man so far in the world, we had a great temple in his memory, in Ayodhya. That place in the city of Ayodhya, in the current state of Uttar Pradesh, where the temple is, is called Rama-janmabhoomi.
Two types of people
In the world, whenever a beautiful, magnificent thing or a person is seen, different people respond differently.
One group of people are amazed and awe-struck in admiration of the beauty and grand work that went behind it. These are, normally, what we call as, Good people.
On the other hand, we have some who when they see such a great thing that they didn’t see before or didn’t have it with them before, they want to take it away as their own. These are abductors, kidnappers, thieves …
On the extreme, we have a few of these bad guys who are yet jealous, envious and can’t stand the beauty. They are the ones who want to destroy it because they can’t possess it. Examples are shoorpanakha of Ramayan times, who wanted to kill sita, to gain Raama. To understand in contemporary times, goons who burn the face/body of the lady whom he could not get, with acid. Unlike these individuals, there are some others who misled by religious beliefs, went ahead and destroyed anything that looked magnificent in sculpture, architecture. That’s how several muslim invaders destroyed several temples and forts of bhaarat into ruins. Another example is Osama Bin Laden, under whose leadership, they went ahead and ruined the tallest wonder of the world, the Twin Towers of NY.
One such vandalizer, was called Babur, who destroyed the Sri Raama temple in Ayodhya in the 16th century and built a structure like mosque in its place, which got the name ‘Babri maszid’.
Since then for near 500 years, various Hindu leaders, Kings and rulers fought to claim Rama janmabhuumi back. Guru Nanak visited in 1574; Guru Gobind Singh, Chatrapati Shivaji, Peshwas, Holkars, and several swamijis have fought to get it back.
At last, after over 70 years of political fight in the Independent India, through constitutional means, people of India have obtained the legal rights over the land to build the grand, magnificent temple for Sri Raama and let all Hindus from all over the world visit that place as tourists, devotees, workers.
This is a victory of truth, time, peace and perseverance of the principles of Hindu dharma, its leaders and followers proving the age old sentence of Vedas सत्यमेव जयते – Truth alone succeeds.
Jai Sriram
dhanya-gRhasthASramam
Posted: November 12, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentThis post is essentially recorded notes of Sri. Subrahmanyam Bhat, akhila bhArateeya kuTumba prabodhan pramukh of RSS, addressing Balagokulam and IT Milan families on the evening of 2nd August 2014 @club house of RV avanIndra apartments, Miyapur, Hyderabad. It was an interactive session concluded with a bouddhik. He covered several important issues by posing questions to the audience and had them answer candidly.
dhanya-gRhasthASramam
ghar ek mandir : gRhasthASramam is about home and not house. now a days the focus is on house and not so much on home. we discuss about how many bedrooms house we are buying and how spacious the rooms are. how many bedrooms! bedrooms are for sleeping. but, our elders used to say home is a temple. which means, the focus should be on the God’s room and activities done there to work around God.
ghar ek vidyAlaya : home is the first school for children. they learn most of the things from parents. home should be a learning center.
maa prathama guru : mother is the first teacher. he learns speaking, samskAr, builds up his basic fundamentals and personality from mother by listening to her stories and her corrections. Instead, current generation of parents, because both of them are working outside, are offloading the educating and guru reponsibilities to pre-school and day-care centers.
emotional touch : In the old times, the entire family used to sleep together. Parents laying their hands on the child’s body next them gives so much warmth, confidence and emotional bonding. This is missing nowadays, because we give crib, then bunk beds in separate bedrooms. Hence, the child develops and independent and an individualistic mentality.
family together : there was one Mr. Mukherjee, an officer in the erstwhile british government in India. The viceroy has called for him and told him that he will be transferred to London on promotion. He should leave as soon as possible. Mr. Mukherjee asked for a day’s time to consult his family members. When he asked his mother about this opportunity, her first reaction after a deep, silent emotional pondering was “will you leave me in this old age of mine and in these circumstances and go away?”. That was sufficient for Mr. Mukherjee to make up his mind. He met the viceroy the next day and rejected his offer.
Now, the questions is, how many mothers today would do the same in rejecting a foreign assignment and wanting the children to be with them. In author’s experience, a few of his friends’ parents, who were still farmers in the villages of Ongole and couple other places only have asked them children to come back to village and live with them. Majority in the society today, as we know, would jump in joy to know that their child got an F1, H1 or any other visa to go abroad and work there, only to realize later that they may not like to return back.
On the contrary, many retired parents now feel old-age homes are better options for two reasons: 1) they get all the required services while their children, are living happily abroad and are able to take care of the expenses of these services and 2) they have company of similar senior citizens in the same campus.
sampatti versus bhoj (burden) : In the olden ages, children were considered to be sampatti. The question posed by Sri. Bhat was ‘do you really believe that children are sampatti or burden?’ The intent with respect to burden is liability/responsiblity related to expenses in taking care of them. The answer was yes, sampatti. Then, he asked ‘Does a wise man want more sampatti or limited sampatti?’ The intent was now clear to the audience. Why do we limit the number of children to one or two? One recommendation/prescription comes later as part of ‘sutaaH cha sudheeyaH’ explained later in this post.
10 qualities of dhanya-gRhasthASramam:
The following shloka lists ten qualities which make the gRhasthASramam a well-meaning phase of life:
सानंदसदनं सुताश्चसुधीयः कांता मनोहारिणी
सन्मित्रं सुधनं स्वयोषितिरतिः आज्ञापरासेवकाः
आतिथ्यं शिवपूजनंच प्रतिदिनं मृष्टान्नपानं गृहे
साधोस्संगमुपासते हि सततं धन्यः गृहस्थाश्रमः
saananda sadanam sutaashcha sudheeyaH, kaantaa manohaariNee,
sanmitraM sudhanaM, swayoshiti ratiH, aajnaaparaa-sevakaaH,
aatithyam, shivapoojanam pratidinaM, mRShTaanna-paanam gRhe,
saadho-sangam-upaasate hi satataM, dhanyo gRhasthaaSramaH
- saananda sadanam : the home should be full of happiness. always smiling family members in the house. greeting neighbors and guests with a smile.
- sutaaH cha sudheeyaH : intelligent and smart children. Please note that in all other languages in the world, there is only singular number for one person and plural number for two or more. Only in samskRtam, we have eka-vachanam (singular) and dvi-vachanam (dual number) for two entities and bahu-vachanam (plural) for three or more entities. word suta takes following forms for these three numbers: sutaH, sutou, sutaaH. so, technically, in this shloka, when they say sutaaH, it is three or more. So, (on a lighter note) recommendation for current generation of gRhasthas is to have three or more children.
- kaantaa manohaariNee :the lady (wife) is described to be heart-winner and not just sensually beautiful. But nowadays, the qualifications of looking for a lady to be brought into the family are: ‘beauty, employment and hence salary, dowry etc.’ But shaastram is describing the lady/wife to be able to win the heart of the husband and other members of the family, and not create problems in the family driving them towards separate living from the family.
A young girl once asked a prachArak who visited her home, “What is the difference between arranged marriage and love marriage?” Pracharak said he doesn’t know because he is not even married. The girl replied by saying “In case of arranged marriage, the man and women live separate before marriage and together after the marriage, whereas, in case of love marriage, they live together before the marriage and then live separate after the marriage.” The prachArak was shocked to hear this in knowing that how come such a young child has understood and grasped current state of marriage affairs in the society.
- sanmitram sudhanam : A friend in need is a friend in deed. Having good friends who will help us in getting good samskAras is a fortune.
- swayoshiti ratiH : yoshitaa is patni (wife.) love and interest in his own wife and none else. All other women are to be realized as mothers and sisters. Similarly, for a woman, all other men except her pati (husband) are like fathers and brothers.
- aajnaaparaa-sevakaaH : helpers and workers who are beyond orders, i.e. workers and helpers, though they are by profession, are treated like members in the family. Wishing them and seeking their help to the extent they can and not abusing them. The symptom of such workers is where you see them proactively doing them job and in time and in best quality. And the gRhastha is taking care of all their needs.
- aatithyam : aatithyam is about managing the home in such a way that, one is able to give anytime to the atithi. atithi is one who visits without an appointment for a tithi (date.) Atithyam is about giving/offering.
There is real-life story in this context. There was one poor, young boy in a village. He was stuyig in a school. He was hungry and didn’t have anyone to feed him. He went for bhikshA from door to door. No one treated him well. He almost wanted to commit suicide. But he thought he will try one last door and if fails there, will go commit suicide. He knocked the door. The woman of that house opened the door and asked him “what do you want child?” The boy wiped sweat from his face. Though he is hungry and wanted to ask for some food, he decided to ask just for a glass of water. The woman went inside and after a while came back with a tumbler of milk for the child. The boy was amazed, drank milk and was so motivated to continue living and study. He later becomes a doctor. When he was busy practicing in a hospital, there was one old lady who came for treatment. The doctor treats her and writes on the file “The bill has been paid 20 years back in the form of a glass of milk.”
- Siva-poojanam pratidinam : As discussed in the beginning, ‘घर एक मंदिर’, another important activity is to daily worship God with spiritual and yoga practices at home. Daily worship with family together. Chant some shlokas together and memorize one by one a day or a week, at a frequency comfortable to the family. Teach shlokas, stotras to the children at home.
When a beloved, favorite, respected person is going to visit our home, don’t we get ready, keep things in order and the home neat and wait for the guest? Yes, we do. If so, that being which is nourishing life for all beings on earth, giving us warmth from cold darkness and letting whole nature relish and enjoy His rise, can’t we too wake up before him and get ready to welcome Him?
- mRShTaanna-paanam gRhe : having delicious food and drinks at home. All family members to sit together at home and have atleast one meal a day.
- sAdhoH sangam upaasate satatam : always having the company of sAdhus, i.e. maintaining good friends, working with swayamsevaks, Balagokulam KKs and anybody who is a self-less person working in an organization for a noble cause.
The above ten qualities describe a successful family and a home (gRhasthASrama.)
Homework
- gRha-milan : at least once a day or in a week, all family members should sit together and do some chintan on planning things till the next milan such as:
- Which shloka/stotra/mantra to chant and learn by heart for next week?
- When to get up every day? Can we get up before sunrise, as explained in #8 above? If not all the family members, can some of them attempt to get up before sunrise?
- Eat meals together
- Nirnimitta-sampark : choose 3 or 4 families in your apartment/neighborhood and visit them. The first time you may not be welcome. Never mind. Try again. The second time, they may let you in (if you are in the same apartment, then you may be let in the first time itself.) Introduce yourselves and tell them that you have because they are your neighbors and you want to make friendship. Keep visiting them over and over till they decide that it’s their turn now to come visit them. When they visit you, tell them that “I am not going to come to your house anymore. Instead, you too find some more like I did and make sure they keep coming to your place.” Build a network like this where we are meeting each other with no agenda.
- Poojan/utsav : celebrate some utsavs in your home and invite your neighbors (like the one above.) Perform bhArat mAtA poojaa, do some activities like indoor games and end with some discussion on the state of families, our culture, our nation and what can we do to it? Can we conduct more such gRha-milans?
vedAnta conversation in one shloka
Posted: November 12, 2019 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: atma, hindu Leave a commentCan you imagine a thorough but crisp conversation between a guru and shiShya in just one shloka, concluding with shiShya realizing that he is the ultimate? It is called eka-shloki, and said to have been composed by none other than the great Adi SankarAchArya. it goes as follows:
॥ आत्मस्वरुप कथनम् ॥
किं ज्योतिस्तव? भानुमानहनि मे रात्रौ प्रदीपादिकं
स्यादेवं रविदीपदर्शनविधौ किं ज्योतिराख्याहि? मे ।
चक्षुस्तस्य निमिलनादिसमये किं धीर्धियोदर्शने
किं तत्राहमतो भवान्परमकं ज्योतिस्तदस्मि प्रभो ॥
-श्री शङ्कराचार्य कृतम्
This is a beautiful shloka in shaarduula-vikriiDitam ChandaH. Let’s split the sholka into normal conversation and understand how the guru directs the shishya towards self-realization
- guru asks किं ज्योतिः तव? What is your light?
- shishya replies भानुमान् अहनि मे रात्रौ प्रदीपादिकम् For me (मे) Sun (भानुमान्) during the day (अहनि) and during night (रात्रौ) lamps etc. (प्रदीपादिकम्)
- guru continues to ask स्यात् एवं रविदीपदर्शनविधौ If so sun and lamps are showing the objects, किं ज्योतिः which is the light? अख्याहि? Tell me? (If sun and lamps are the sources, then which one is light?
- shishya replies मे चक्षुः my eyes. Even though sun and lamps are the illumination sources, for a blind man both are immaterial. So, it’s our eyes which are conscious to see the object illuminated by the eyes.
- guru continues to ask तस्य निमिलनादिसमये? when they are closed? किं धी:? who is the observer?
- shishya replies धियः दर्शने (intellect in observation.) That is, even when our eyes are closed, we recognize that someone walked in, some dog or cat or some other thing is moving or that something fell off from the table. Hence, vision is not just visual process. It’s the ability to get the required knowledge though any sensory organ.
- guru continues किं तत्र? What is that intellect?
- shishya replies, without doubt, अहम् it’s me, myself. So, the intellect is also in existence only if I am existing. So, who is that aham? It’s the aatmaa.
- guru hence concludes अतः भवान् परमकं ज्योतिः. Hence, You are the ultimate light.
- shishya acknowledges in agreement: तत् अस्मि प्रभो That I am Sir.
The question of (निमीलनादिसमये?) has emphasis on आदि, i.e. etc, so on. What about when you close your eyes for rest, sleep or even momentary close of eyelids? That is when, the understanding of knowledge acquisition through other and all senses (sources) is realized. Knowledge is gained whether eyes are open or not.
The next question is if intellect is the reason for that acquisition, Who is that intellect? The answer obviously is ‘myself‘; Nyaaya shaastra quotes in layman terms that which knows and thinks who is I am is aatmaa. so, my consciousness called ‘I am Bhoga; I am writing this blog; i understood it etc.’ is Bhoga’s aatmaa.
grandeur of avadhAnam
Posted: February 19, 2016 Filed under: Hindu, sanskrit Leave a commentI was listening to pravachanams on Andhra mahAbharatam by Sri. Dr. garikapATi narasimhA rao gAru. In one of the episodes on vishNu-sahasra-nAma of apaamnidhi, he mentioned the grandeur of pANDityam that too in avadhAnam, i.e. realtime expression of one’s excellence.
Sri. pisupATi chidambara SAStry is an erstwhile legend in samskRtAvadhAnam. In one of his programs, one of the pRchchakAs gave him a line for samasyA pooraNam. The line was: “अम्भोधिः जलधिः पयोधिः उदधिः वारान्निधिः वारिधिः ” This line has 6 words, which are all synonyms of samudra (sea). Now see how well he composed the poem keeping this line, and showing his excellence in pANDityam, purANam and common sense.
And if you don’t know avadhAnam, here is a brief explanation of the prakriya. there are various real-time questions posed by each prichchaka (participant) and the avadhAni has to answer them composing one line at a time for each one of them in sequence and come back and continue with composition of second line in sequence for all of them and so on. Meanwhile, there are other distractions such as: 1) one rings a bell once in a while and the avadhAni should keep counting them and tell the count while he is busy composing poems for all others one line at a time for each participant. 2) aprastuta-prasangi is one who brings up some irrelevant question in trying to distract him and the avadhAni can’t disregard him; he should be engaged with him as well in answering his irrelevant questions while continuing with his real-time compostion of peoms. samasyA-pUraNam is one of the multiple challenges posed to an avadhAni, where in he is given one line or phrase or a few irrelevant or often contradictory words and asked to compose a poem using those words.
So, the context of his poem composition is pArvati’s envy of Siva keeping gangA on his head even after repeated complaints by her. So, she asks her son, ShaNmukha who is a vidwAn to convince his father to get rid of gangA. In this context, this poem is a conversation between shaNmukha and Siva. The poem is as follows:
prajA – children of the ruler
Posted: May 19, 2014 Filed under: Hindu, India, Uncategorized | Tags: cleanliness, hindu, Modi, raghuvamSam Leave a commentप्रजानां विनयाधानाद् रक्षणाद्भरणादपि।
स पिता पितरस्तासां केवलं जन्महेतवः॥ १-२४
This is the 24th shloka of the first sarga of raghuvamSam by mahAkavi kALidAsa. In this, he is describing various qualities of King Dileep in the shlokas before and after this. In this he says, “Orienting his subjects in good conduct, protecting them from fears or dangers, according succour with welfare facilities, king dilIpa became their de facto father while their actual parents remained parents de jure.”
The first part of the three qualities of a father is orienting his children in good conduct. Citizens are like children for the ruler, according to Hindu/bhArateeya traditions. How can such a father like ruler license liquor, pubs etc? Alright, even if you can’t stop them, atleast orient your subjects on what to do, what is good to do. Don’t shy based on western thought of secular democracy where the government need not interfere in personal lives of people.
Here is our new PM, who upon winning elections, the very next day, goes to Varanasi from where he contested, and addresses public. He says “I want to make Varanasi the ‘Spiritual Capital’ of the world.” For that, he says, “I have a dream and I want to start it from Kashi. But government can’t do it. You have to do it. By 2019, it will the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi, however never compromised on one thing. And that is cleanliness. While we praise Singapore for cleanliness, did any one of you see anyone littering out in Singapore? But, the same guy, even after offering worship in the temple, comes out and spits out, like a piston. Can we not start this project of cleaning up from Kashi?”
This is pitA. who is orienting his citizens to keep the city, premises and the country clean. He is a mentor.
This country is now blessed that it has chosen such a Leader, who, forget giving any freebies, is now shouldering the responsibility of keeping the country clean on the citizens. And he is also assuring them that such small steps only lead to big change and development.
jaya ho Sreemaan narendra-bhai. Fellow citizens, let’s live for the country and be responsible participants in the collective development of this nation.
chopping nose just because she sought love?
Posted: April 10, 2014 Filed under: Hindu, Ramayana Leave a commentJust couple days back, on the 8th April 2014, it was Sree rAma navami, the festival celebrated as birthday of Sree rAma.
It’s usual during discussions with youngsters, not so knowledgeable about vAlmIkI’s rAmAyaNam, often form wrong opinions about Sree rAma analyzing wrongly about his actions. Two questions were asked. I will take up the first one in this post, and follow up with the second one in another post.
Chopping woman’s nose just because she sought love?
No conclusion should be made without considering the context of the event. To understand this context, we need to go to sarga 17 and 18 of vAlmIki-rAmAyaNam.
In the panchavaTI-Ashram, Sree rAma is narrating different stories to sItA and lakshmaNa, very much enjoying it and involved in.
तदा आसीनस्य रामस्य कथा संसक्त चेतसः | तम् देशम् राक्षसी काचिद् आजगाम यदृच्छ्हया || ३-१७-५
At that time when rAma is sitting and heartily absorbed in telling stories, some demonness arrived at that place coincidentally.
सा तु शूर्पणखा नाम दशग्रीवस्य रक्षसः | भगिनी रामम् आसाद्य ददर्श त्रिदश उपमम् || ३-१७-६
She is but the sister of ten-faced demon rAvaNa, named SUrpanakha upon reaching rAma who looked like a deva (paradisical.)
दीप्तास्यम् च महाबाहुम् पद्म पत्रायत ईक्षणम् | गज विक्रांत गमनम् जटा मण्दल धारिणम् || ३-१७-७
सुकुमारम् महा सत्त्वम् पार्थिव व्यंजन अन्वितम् | रामम् इन्दीवर श्यामम् कन्दर्प सदृश प्रभम् || ३-१७-८
बभूव इन्द्रोपमम् दृष्ट्वा राक्षसी काम मोहिता |
“He whose face is radiant, arms lengthy, eyes like large lotus petals, stride like that of an elephant, wearing bunches of hair-tufts, delicate yet greatly vigorous, posessor of Kingly aspects, complexion deep-blue like blue lotus, brilliance like Love-God, and similie to Indra,” the demoness has seen such a rAma and got enamored by lust.
सुमुखम् दुर्मुखी रामम् वृत्त मध्यम् महोदरी || ३-१७-९
विशालाक्षम् विरूपाक्षी सुकेशम् ताम्र मूर्धजा | प्रियरूपम् विरूपा सा सुस्वरम् भैरव स्वना || ३-१७-१०
तरुणम् दारुणा वृद्धा दक्षिणम् वाम भाषिणी | न्याय वृत्तम् सुदुर्वृत्ता प्रियम् अप्रिय दर्शना || ३-१७-११
शरीरज समाविष्टा राक्षसी रामम् अब्रवीत् |
Just to appreciate the poetic description of the two opposing qualities of Sree rAma and Soorpanakha, I have put them in a table format below:
| सुमुखम् (good faced) | दुर्मुखी (ugly faced) |
| वृत्त मध्यम् (slim waisted) | महोदरी (big bellied) |
| विशालाक्षम् (broad-eyed) | विरूपाक्षी (wry-eyed) |
| सुकेशम् (neatly tressed) | ताम्र मूर्धजा (hair in copper color) |
| प्रियरूपम् (pleasing featured) | विरूपा (ugly featured) |
| सुस्वरम् (gentle voiced) | भैरव स्वना (brassy voiced) |
| तरुणम् (youngish) | दारुणा वृद्धा (deplorably oldish) |
| दक्षिणम् (pleasant speaking) | वाम भाषिणी (crooked talker) |
| न्याय वृत्तम् (well mannered) | सुदुर्वृत्ता (ill mannered) |
| प्रियम् (pleasant) | अप्रिय दर्शना (unpleasant looking) |
The left column describes the qualities of Sree rAma and the right one that of Soorpanakha. Such demoness besieged by Love-God asks rAma to introduce himself and then introduces herslef in response.
तान् अहम् समतिक्रान्ता राम त्वा पूर्व दर्शनात् | समुपेता अस्मि भावेन भर्तारम् पुरुषोत्तमम् || ३-१७-२४
अहम् प्रभाव संपन्ना स्वच्छ्हंद बल गामिनी | चिराय भव भर्ता मे सीतया किम् करिष्यसि || ३-१७-२५
“Just by first sight (poorva-darshanaat) I have approached you, the best of men, to be my husband. I am very influential, and go with my independent might. Be my husband for long. What do you bring off with seetA.” She continues to say:
विकृता च विरूपा च न सा इयम् सदृशी तव | अहम् एव अनुरूपा ते भार्या रूपेण पश्य माम् || ३-१७-२६
“awkward and unshapely is this one, such as she is, this Seetha is unworthy to be your wife, and I am the lone one worthy to be your wife, hence treat me as your wife.” See how jealous she is that she finds seetaa ugly, 🙂 Notice her culture; she declares that she will be the best wife and asks Sree rAma to treat her like a wife.
इमाम् विरूपाम् असतीम् करालाम् निर्णत उदरीम् | अनेन सह ते भ्रात्रा भक्षयिष्यामि मानुषीम् || ३-१७-२७
“Shall I eat up this disfigured, dishonest, diabolical human female with a hallow stomach along with him, that brother of yours to make you free.” Now she realizes that the two rAma’s beloved seetaa and lakshMana are hindrances to her lust; hence she says (could it be cheap comedy?) shall I eat them up? Note that she is a barbarian.
sarga 18:
ताम् तु शूर्पणखाम् रामः काम पाश अवपाशिताम् | स्वच्छ्या श्लक्ष्णया वाचा स्मित पूर्वम् अथ अब्रवीत् || ३-१८-१
If you happen to listen to a woman speaking like above, you too would chuckle and smile up and can’t be angry with her immediately. So, also Sree rAma answered her with a smile first: “Rama then voicing clearly and softly spoke to her, whom the noose of lust has tethered down, with a smile preceding his words.”
कृत दारो अस्मि भवति भार्या इयम् दयिता मम | त्वत् विधानाम् तु नारीणाम् सुदुःखा ससपत्नता || ३-१८-२
He gives logical explanation saying “Oh, honourable one, I am married and this is my dear wife, thus it will be distressing for your sort of females to live with a co-wife.”
अनुजः तु एष मे भ्राता शीलवान् प्रिय दर्शनः | श्रीमान् अकृत दारः च लक्ष्मणो नाम वीर्यवान् || ३-१८-३
He continues, “He is my younger brother named Lakshmana, he is with a good conduct, good looking, a promising and valiant one, and he is without a wife (here.)”
In this and the next two shlokas, rAma sounds talking in a jovial manner and making fun with her, thining she will take it easy and go away. Smart people talk with ease.
इति रामेण सा प्रोक्ता राक्षसी काम मोहिता | विसृज्य रामम् सहसा ततो लक्ष्मणम् अब्रवीत् || ३-१८-६
अस्य रूपस्य ते युक्ता भार्या अहम् वरवर्णिनी | मया सह सुखम् सर्वान् दण्डकान् विचरिष्यसि || ३-१८-७
She must be shameless, or as mentioned, she is ‘kAma-mOhitA’, taken over by lust. so, anyone looking good is ok for her. “When Rama clearly told that way to that demoness dazed in lust, discarding Rama quickly then she spoke to Lakshmana. I with my best complexion will be your deserving wife meetly to you charm, you can happily take a jaunt all over Dandaka forest along with me.”
Having heard her, lakshmaNa ‘smitvA=with a smile’ says reasonable words as below. In the next few shlokas, lakshmaNa suggests SUrpaNakhA to try rAmA. essentially,rAma and lakshmaNa were trying to avoid her in a gentle, cultured manner.
कथम् दासस्य मे दासी भार्या भवितुम् इच्छ्हसि | सो अहम् आर्येण परवान् भ्रात्रा कमल वर्णिनी || ३-१८-९
“How you wish to become a female servant, oh, [black] lotus-coloured one, by becoming the wife of a servant like me? I am just a vassal of my adorable brother.”
एनाम् विरूपाम् असतीम् करालाम् निर्णत उदरीम् | भार्याम् वृद्धाम् परित्यज्य त्वाम् एव एष भजिष्यति || ३-१८-११
“On discarding her who is disfigured, dishonest, diabolically deleterious old wife with a hallow stomach that Rama will adore you alone.” LakshmaNa now repeats all the bad adjectives that she described seetaa by. We know that he doesn’t find seetaa bad, and hence this is a subtle teasing conversation. Unfortunately, SurpanakhA is not smart enough to understand the intent (she is believing the content of their speech) and go back realizing her mistake.
को हि रूपम् इदम् श्रेष्ठम् संत्यज्य वरवर्णिनि | मानुषेषु वरारोहे कुर्यात् भावम् विचक्षणः || ३-१८-१२
“Oh, best complexioned one with best waist, is there any wiseacre to simply discard your kind of best personality, indeed, in preference to human females?” Lakshmana said so to Shuurpanakha, obviously teasing her.
इति सा लक्ष्मणेन उक्ता कराला निर्णतोदरी | मन्यते तत् वचः सत्यम् परिहास अविचक्षणा || ३-१८-१३
Thus said by Lakshmana that despicable one with slouching stomach Shuurpanakha presumed those words to be truthful, for she is equivocal of that equivoque.” She is obviously dumb and can’t understand pun.
सा रामम् पर्णशालायाम् उपविष्टम् परंतपम् | सीतया सह दुर्धर्षम् अब्रवीत् काम मोहिता || ३-१८-१४
She who is fuddle by lust said to that unassailable enemy scorcher Rama who is sitting in the cottage along with Seetha.
इमाम् विरूपाम् असतीम् करालाम् निर्णतोदरीम् | वृद्धाम् भार्याम् अवष्टभ्य न माम् त्वम् बहु मन्यसे || ३-१८-१५
अद्य इमाम् भक्षयिष्यामि पश्यतः तव मानुषीम् | त्वया सह चरिष्यामि निःसपत्ना यथा सुखम् || ३-१८-१६
“Tenacious of her who is disfigured, dishonest, diabolical, hallow-stomached old wife of yours you are not regarding me high. Now I wish to eat up this human female right before your very eyes, and then I can blithely make merry along with you, without the botheration of a co-wife.” Said Shuurpanakha to Rama.
Speaking that way she that torch-eyed Shuurpanakha dashed towards the deer-eyed Seetha in high exasperation as a great meteor would dash towards Rohini, the brightest star in the sky.
By that the great-energetic Rama took umbrage and checking her who is like the noose of death swooping down on Seetha said to Lakshmana.
क्रूरैः अनार्यैः सौमित्रे परिहासः कथंचन | न कार्यः पश्य वैदेहीम् कथंचित् सौम्य जीवतीम् || ३-१८-१९
“Punning in any way with the base and brutish is inapposite, oh, gentle Saumitri, mark note of Vaidehi, somehow surviving.”
इमाम् विरूपाम् असतीम् अतिमत्ताम् महोदरीम् | राक्षसीम् पुरुषव्याघ्र विरूपयितुम् अर्हसि || ३-१८-२०
“She is freakish, knavish and overtly ruttish, oh, tigerly man, it will be apt of you to deface this paunchy demoness ” Thus Rama said to Lakshmana.
इति उक्तो लक्ष्मणः तस्याः क्रुद्धो रामस्य पश्यतः | उद्धृत्य खड्गम् चिच्छ्हेद कर्ण नासम् महाबलः || ३-१८-२१
Thus said to that mighty Lakshmana he infuriately drew sword and chopped off her ears and nose before the very eyes of Rama.
So, this sets the complete context. The point is two fold: 1) She is a barbarian, uncivilized and insensitive to other’s feelings. 2) Rama in defense to protecting seetaa from the wild SurpanakhA pouncing on her, asks lakshmaNa to punish her, but ofcourse not to kill her.
rAkhasas then and now are the same
Posted: December 30, 2013 Filed under: Hindu Leave a commentsamudra-vasane-devi, pAda-sparSam kshamasva me
Posted: December 30, 2013 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentLong time back, I posted this article, but didn’t go out of my Drafts. Reposting it now.
I just saw another good initiative, http://www.paperwaste.in.
Heights of ignorance of the individuals in the society. With more and more processed and packaged food, we are generating lot of dry waste, but unfortunately mixing it up with wet-waste as well.
- Try not to generate any wastage. don’t buy bottled/canned items. buy lose that you can carry in your own vessels/bags.
- Be very cautious before you throw anything on the ground.
- Diapers is one big wastage that can be avoided, unlike sanitary napkins of women. when the child is at home, he may not need a diaper. so, atleast, the diaper consumption can be reduced.
For the rest, separate out, as suggested into :
1. bio-waste, which can be composted;
2. recyclable waste
3. rest of the waste;
the city authorities should levy significant amount of fees/taxes on the third item to discourage people from generating/producing that waste.
Most of all, be a good Hindu which teaches:
1. everything belongs to God, so use it with care and caution as a trustee would expend the funds of a Trust.
2. samudravasane devi parvatastana-manDale, vishNupatnee namastubhyam paada-sparsham kshamasvame. A society which prays this daily begging pardon for just putting the feet on the earth, seeing her as Mother earth and Goddess earth; how can one dump trash into her? so, such conscious society will abuse/consume less and hence produce less trash.
Jogulaamba devi temple, alampuram
Posted: November 25, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentHistory of Jogulamba devi temple
Jogulaamba devi temple is one of the prominent Ashtadasha Sakti-peethas in our country. It is located in the Alampuram village of Paalamooru (Mahaboob Nagar) district of Andhra Pradesh.
Sati-devi immolated herself up in the Daksha prajapati’s yajna, because she felt insulted that she was not invited and Daksha was vilifying Her husband, Siva. Siva kills Daksha prajapati and does tandava with the body of Sati, called Daakshaayani (daughter of Daksha.) He later brings Daksha back to life, upon Gods’ prayers. To keep the universe from vilaya tandava destruction, Sudarshana chakra is fired which cuts the body of Sati-devi into pieces and different parts of her body are thrown across Bhaarat. It is said that the upper teeth of Sati-devi fell in Alampur, where Jogulaamba devi temple is constructed.
In this kshetra, Siva is called by the name Sri Baala-Brahmeshwara swamy. Jogulaamba devi is a very furious manifestation. The prarthana shloka here is:
लम्बस्तनीं विकृताक्षीं घोररूपां महाबलां | प्रेतासन-समारूढां, जोगुलाम्बां नमाम्यहं ||
This is one of the ancient temples. It was constructed by Baadaami Chaalukyas. Several other kings have contributed to the enhancements of the temples here. But in 1390 CE, the Bahamani-sultans have started destroying these temples. The local leaders gave tough fight. As part of that, the devotees there have taken away the deity of Jogulaamba and hidden it in the Paataaleshwara temple of the Baala-Brahmeshwara temple premises. After independence, ASI (Archaeological Society of India) has declared it as a protected monument and didn’t allow reconstruction of Jogulaamba temple. Several local leaders including Sri Gadiyaram Ramakrishna Sarma have worked to force the authorities to initiate construction of the temple, which was completed and opened for public darsan in 2005. This is was consecrated by the Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti peetham.
The new temple is surrounded by a water pool, beautifully constructed with sandstone sculptures. Alampur is a place of temples, all constructed along the bank of river tunga-bhadra. In addition to Jogulaamba and Baala-Brahmeshwara temples, there are nava Brahma, yoga Naarasimha swamy, Kanchi Kaamaakshi, Veeraanjaneya swamy, Paapa-vinaashaneshwara swamy temples.
Some unique features
- This is the third kshetra for Soorya Naaraayana swamy, next to Konark and Arasavalli
- All temples are sculpted out of sand-stone, unlike granite which is popular in all other south Indian temples
- The only Sakti peetha which is situated on the banks of a running river, tunga-bhadra
- In the premises of Baala-Brahmeshwara swamy temple, there are several named lingas around the parikrama of the temple. One with the base (panavaTTam) is the linga worshipped by Sri Raama, and the other one, plain linga, was worshipped by LakshmaNa, when they were here during their aranya vaasa.
Renuka devi temple
It is told that Rishi Jamadagni lived here with his wife Renuka and four sons. Upon a mistake done by Renuka-devi, Jamadagni asks his sons to kill her. The elder three sons dare not and refuse. Parashurama kills her with his axe. Pleased, Jamadagni then gives him a boon to ask for. Parashurama in return asks for his mother. Jamadagni brings her back to life.
Muslim invasion
It is said that Jogulaamba devi is a very powerful, ferocious deity. During the fight of invasion and destruction by Bahmani sultans, one of their leaders was killed there. So, they constructed a tomb for him and built a compound wall around one of our temples there. The temple captured inside their compound is an unfortunate and a rare event. In all other temples in the country like Varanasi, Mathura, ayodhya, vemulavada etc, the current muslim structures are adjacent to, or inside our temples. Whereas, in this city, they have occupied our land, and constructed a darga around our temple.
When the author visited Jogulaamba recently, the muslims from the darga were pleading the visitors and devotees to visit their darga and do dharma (donate money.) It’s very sad to see a muslim structure arund every prominent, ancient Hindu temple, which is a symbol of the terrorism they exerted on Hindus, the society, their temples, culture and civilization.
It seems, there is no historical muslim structure in India which is not built on the ruins of, or after attempting to ruin Hindu temples. In this context, Bhagyalakshmi temple of Hyderabad, is another instance of an existing temple, which was ruined as part of the constructions of Charminar and Jama Masjid. The city got the name ‘Bhagyanagar’ from this temple. Late Chief Minister Sri N.T. Rama Rao also used to refer Hyderabad as ‘Bhagyanagar’. He didn’t invent this name. He only popularized the original name of the city, which existed for long, before him.
Refernces:
- http://www.jogulamba.org
- http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakti_Peethas
- http://http://www.shaktipeethas.org/ashtadasa/topic5.html
- http://indiabackpacker.blogspot.in/2009/01/chalukyan-art-exposed-at-alampur.html
uttiShThataaM 