I want friends, not hecklers, self appointed teachers, or liabilities.

I am sharing some write-ups, and friendly notes just to keep myself happy and make others happy too.. 

Definitely my timeline is not for pledged to anyone enabling him to interfere and dominate over me.. and show off his or her smartness.. 

I do not try to be smart with anyone.. I share my views frankly and honestly..

I never want ever to be a liability for anyone, but I expect the same courtesy from others too.. I want friends, not hecklers, self appointed teachers, or liabilities.

I was dragged to the brink

I was just posting something which I thought was worthwhile, and definitely it could not have been offensive or harmful to anyone..

But I found that even a self effacing, harmless being would be poked.

You know, I have also disagreements and I get irritated when there are major errors in some posts.

However I make it a point to indicate such things personally without causing offence or embarrassment to others..

And I take even that liberty with close friends alone.

Here people just raise questions.. for which I may not know the answers, but the person who raised the question thinks he is a know-all and his aim is to lead me into blunders and after I commit errors he comes out with an answer confronting me..

If his intentions were fair, he should have stated that he has an information with him and disclosed it fairly.. If he is trying to keep the idea concealed and prodding to make me commit a blunder so that I will emerge as an idiot to the whole world, and then he can have the last laugh, is it not right on my part to react.. ?

I know I value only certain friends, who would have been my friends anyway, whether social media was there or not, friends whom I really cherish..

But friends appearing from nowhere and showing off,, I really do not want them..

I am sick of blocking people.. My list of blocked persons is quite long now..

all that is sweet just drained out

 

I wonder...

I was so innocent..

Then my psyche appears to have muddled up... 

I read, studied many things, acted in many ways .. mostly against my will.. and just pulled on..

Of course a rudderless and indigent mundane life became somewhat secure physically and materially..

But the beautiful vessel that was my mind which contained ambrosia and sweet honey just developed too many holes.. and became empty and developed cracks too..

And all that is sweet just drained  out

More than everything else I committed the error of I assuming that my timeline was my conscience keeper..

And I just blurted out so many things..

That was a grave mistake..

An action with no use to anyone..

I just want to have my broken mind at least in its empty state..

I know it is easy to shatter,

punch holes..

but not easy to mend..

Powers of Heaven or Hell or Earth.. will you give me back my innocence?

We have the choice to do something or not to do something only up to the moment of action..

Once it has been done, it is meaningless to look back and cry or think that the alternate choice could have been better..

One cannot increase even the length of his mustache after he has already run the scissors on it..

We have the choice to do something or not to do something only up to the moment of action..

Once something  has been done, it is meaningless to look back and cry or think that the alternate choice could have been better. 

One cannot increase even the length of his moustache after he has already run the scissors on it.

I do not claim my beliefs and values are alone perfect.. However, I cannot live without such beliefs

I dont say anyone is wrong...

I do not believe anything is absolutely right...and I do not claim my beliefs and values are alone perfect.. However,  I cannot live without such beliefs. 

Some people are made of copper or gold..they are malleable and ductile... but I am made of very tough rock. 

The rock if hit very hard will break to pieces but it cannot be flattened into a plate or drawn into a chain. 

It is my nature. 

Let the youngsters enjoy, fun and frolic... let me have my own ways. 

Thank you sir.. 

May Krishna bless us all.

let us spend our lives the way the gods ordained

The vedas say "vysema devahitam yadaayu 

 व्यशेम देवहितं यदायुः ..

let us spend our lives the way the gods ordained."

And we should not be biased in our interpretations of divine will.

The rule is for me and for you and all others should be the same as much as possible.

Our mind, lips and fingers should speak in sync and our actions should also conform.

Hypocrisy is the quality which actually separated humans against animals.

They do not have it and it is our abundant possession.

That is all

we cannot have any choice to dissociate from them or to love them less

आचार्यो ब्रह्मणो मुर्तिः पिता मूर्तिः प्रजापतेः।

माता पृथिव्या मुर्तिस्तु भ्राता सो मूर्तिरात्नमनः॥

मनुस्मृत्याम् २-२२६

ācāryo brahmaṇo murtiḥ pitā mūrtiḥ prajāpateḥ|

mātā pṛthivyā murtistu bhrātā so mūrtirātnamanaḥ||

manusmṛtyām 2-226

The preceptor or Guru is Brahma himself in person

Father is Prajapathi in person

Mother is the earth in person

and

The brother is just oneself in a different body..

This quote is found in some versions of Manusmriti.. And there is a claim too that this is not part of Manusmriti, but it is a prakshipta verse.. or interpolated verse..

Whether it is part of any smriti or not, the message conveyed is poignant..

The Guru is supreme like the ultimate deity himself.. We cannot think of challenging or disobeying the guru

Father is the one who made us what we are.. We simply grew from him.. So he is our maker, the Prajapathi.. The idea needs no elucidation

Mother is like earth.. patience, love, and eagerness to help and nurture even at the cost to herself..

And the brother.. he is just a second version of ourselves..

The message is... we cannot have any choice to dissociate from them or to love them less..

people of sterling character would not get affected seriously by the association

विकृतिं नैव गच्छन्ति सङ्गदोषेण साधवः।

अवेष्टितं महासर्पैः चन्दनं न विषायते॥

सुभाषितरत्नभाण्डागारे

vikṛtiṁ naiva gacchanti saṅgadoṣeṇa sādhavaḥ|

aveṣṭitaṁ mahāsarpaiḥ candanaṁ na viṣāyate|

subhāṣitaratnabhāṇḍāgāre

Materials of genuine quality would not get contaminated or eroded easily.

Just like that people of sterling character would not get affected seriously by the company they keep..

I am talking of people of real quality. And such people are indeed rare.. The general idea that a man can be measured by the company he keeps would apply to the majority. and we are the majority..

The subhashitam quoted above deals with exceptionally great and noble people.

The meaning is --

The noble and virtuous people do not veer towards evil tendencies even if they are in the company of people with evil propensities. A venomous serpent may coil around the trunk of a sandalwood tree. But the Sandal extract would never get poisonous.

Analysis

साधवः noble souls

सङ्गदोषेण because of bad or evil association, company

विकृतिं tendency to do wrong things,

न गच्छन्ति एव indeed do not attain, do not proceed to

महासर्पैः by enormously venomous snakes

आवेष्टितं covered, encircles चन्दनं विषायते न sandalwood does not become poisonous

Padma Prabhodaaya

In the celebrated Aditya Hridayam.. mantra in the Yuddhakandam of Valmikiramayanam, an epithet Padma Prabhodaaya is used to praise the Sun,,

There was a discussion on that epithet elsewhere..

I extract my own reply in that discussion

___________________________________________

"it is not पद्मप्रभोदाय but पद्मप्रबोधाय meaning the one who awakens the lotus from its sleep...

Bhagavan Aditya or the Sun, sending his gentle, tepid morning rays, just makes the lotus bloom..

Of course the word may be having hidden meanings like awakening the seven lotuses in our Sushumna.. Mooladhara, Swadhistaana, Manipura, Anaahata, Vishuddhi, Ajna, and Sahasraara padmaas.."

have mercy on readers

Verses and hymns in Sanskrit are usuallyvery simple and elegant..

And in the normal course they are amenable to simple and fine translations..

I think it is easy to present them in very simple words in any otherlanguage too..

Nevertheless it takes a lot, really a lot, of effort and plodding along like a donkey carrying weight for a whole life to transliterate such great pieces even very badly, and to translate them even in an uglier way ,

and present it to all with the sole result that reading such crap would divest the readers of all their love for the language, the verse and maybe the deity in whose honour the verse was composed by the original and now hapless author..

How many times Shankara, Ramanuja and others would have turned in the graves !

Anyway we achieve that very effectively and precisely too..

God bless us and the readers too.

About dedicating everything one does to God

About dedicating everything one does to God

Narayanaaya iti samarpayaami

नारायणायेति समर्पयामि

That idea is multi dimensional.

The physical mental and intellectual faculties that put us in action are provided by Him.. at least the devotee thinks so.

So the finished product created through such acton is just reconveyed in His favour.

It is just repayment of some loan taken.

It is not our gift or benevolence to Him

Nonviolence and Truth or honesty.

द्वावेव कथितौ सद्भिः पन्थानौ वदतां वर।

अहिंसा चैव सत्यं च यत्र धर्मः प्रतिष्ठितः॥

इन्दिश्चे स्प्रूचे ३०१५ ४२२८ रामायणे

dvāveva kathitau sadbhiḥ panthānau vadatāṁ vara|

ahiṁsā caiva satyaṁ ca yatra dharmaḥ pratiṣṭhitaḥ||

indiśce sprūce 3015 (4228) rāmāyaṇe

Kausalya tells Dasaratha.. “Oh my Lord, the best among learned men, There are only two paths or highways leading to the destination where righteousness rules. These are the paths of Nonviolence and Truth or honesty.”

this life material just changes bodies like worn out garments and appear again in new clothes

I am inclined to believe the idea found reiterated in HInduism that our existence is not restricted to the period between the birth and death. even without any direct proof...

Rather, like the blessed lord said in Gita, this life material just changes bodies like worn out garments and appear again in new clothes..

The varied stages of growth and maturity in mind and physique we discover among us cannot be explained in any other way..

वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय

नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।

तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा-

न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ।।२२।।

भगवत् गीता अध्यायः २ साङ्ख्ययोगः

they put such advices in practice in their own lives

When Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

or

Mahatma Gandhi

felt that they should give some advice to the people

the first thing they did, as their biographies reveal,

is that they put such advices in practice in their own lives,

and

convinced themselves about the efficacy of such principles..

What about the social media  shares, social media  pictures, and social media gurus ?

a mass of grass is to be considered more noble and worthy than a man who is of no use to society

 

तृणाञ्चाहं वरं मन्ये नरादनुपकारिणः।

घासो भूत्वा पशून्पाति भीरून्पाति रणाङ्कणे॥

Shargadhara paddhati

tṛṇāñcāhaṁ varaṁ manye narādanupakāriṇaḥ|

ghāso bhūtvā paśūnpāti bhīrūnpāti raṇāṅkaṇe||

Even a mass of grass is to be considered more noble and worthy than a man who is of no use to society and who has no mind to be of any service. The grass being fodder to cattle, keeps the animals alive, and timid soldiers camouflage or hide behind grass and escape from enemies in a battle.

It is another fact that the author in this slokam gives a left handed compliment to soldiers who try to hide from battle..

തൃണാഞ്ചാഹം വരം മന്യേ നരാദനുപകാരിണഃ।

ഘാസോ ഭൂത്വാ പശൂന്‍പാതി ഭീരൂന്‍പാതി രണാങ്കണേ॥

ശാര്‍ന്ഗധരപദ്ധതി

ആര്‍ക്കും ഒരു ഉപയോഗവും ഇല്ലാത്തവരോ ആരെയും ഇത്തിരിയെങ്കിലും സഹായിക്കാന്‍ മനസ്സില്ലാത്തവരോ ആയ മനുഷ്യരേക്കാള്‍ എത്രയോ ശ്രേഷ്ടങ്ങളാണ് പുല്‍കൂട്ടങ്ങള്‍. പുല്ല് കന്നുകാലികള്‍ക്ക് തീറ്റയായി അവയുടെ ജീവന്‍ നിലനിര്‍ത്തി രക്ഷിക്കുന്നു. പുല്‍കൂട്ടങ്ങള്‍ പേടിത്തൊണ്ടന്മാരായ സൈനികര്‍ക്ക് ഒളിഞ്ഞും മറഞ്ഞും യുദ്ധത്തില്‍ നിന്ന് രക്ഷപ്പെടാനുള്ള മാര്‍ഗ്ഗമായും മാറുന്നു.

പട പേടിച്ചു ഓടിയൊളിക്കുന്ന ആളുകള്‍ക്ക് കവി ഒരു ചെറിയ കൊട്ടും കൊടുക്കുന്നുണ്ട് ഈ ശ്ലോകത്തില്‍‍

do not try to correct the two legged cattles with Gunas or virtues

द्विचरणपशुषु भ्रातर्मा दर्शय गुणानेतान्।

पशवोऽन्ये गुणसाध्याः खादन्त्येते गुणान्येव॥

इन्दिश्चे स्प्रूचे ३०१७४२२९ कवितामृतकूपे

dvicaraṇapaśuṣu bhrātarmā darśaya guṇānetān|

paśavo'nye guṇasādhyāḥ khādantyete guṇānyeva||

indiśce sprūce 3017(4229) kavitāmṛtakūpe

This advice from Kavitaamrutha koopam could be understood and appreciated only if we understand that the गुण is used or applied with two meanings, in different context. Guna means the good qualities, merits, advantages etc. Guna means a thick rope that could tie and pack things tightly ( Maybe rope is called Guna because of its utilitarian value.. )

Here, the poet tells the earnest reader that it is a futile attempt to try to convince by bestowing great attention and generosity, and by trying to inclucate good qualities and correct the path of a wayward man who is not much better than a cattle with two legs. Gunas or ropes would work better with other beings in the category of cattles. Cattles other than the two-legged ones could be tied and kept in control using the Gunas or ropes. But men, who happen to be not much better than cattle, if you try to restrain and discipline with the rope of great virtues and qualities, they will just gnaw at the controls, break them and return to their indisciplined ways.

Oh brother, do not try to correct the two legged cattles with Gunas or virtues. They will resisist control and break the rules. Gunas or ropes would work effectively on other cattle with four legs.

Of course the statement is bitterly sarcastic. But cannot disagree entirely.

K V ANANTHANARAYANAN

भ्रात brother द्वि two चरण feet पशुषु cattle ( to cattle with two feet, men) एतान् these गुणान् virtues, good habits मा do not दर्शय show अन्ये other पशवः cattle गुण by virtues, by ropes in the case of cattles… गुण in Sanskrit means good virtue, good conduct and it also means a thick rope that would tie cattles etc. साध्याः capable of being controlled, capable of being put in place, capable of being satisfied एते (द्विचरण पशवः) these two legged cattle गुणानि एव even the ropes खादन्ति would gnaw like a rat and destroy it.

Rama would have no opportunity to give gifts to the same person for the second time

द्विः शरं नैव संधत्ते द्विः स्थापयति नाश्रितान्।

द्विर्ददाति न चार्थिभ्यो रामो द्विर्नैव भाषते॥

इन्दिस्चे स्प्रूचे ३०२४ १२८० महानाटके

dviḥ śaraṁ naiva saṁdhatte dviḥ sthāpayati nāśritān|

dvirdadāti na cārthibhyo rāmo dvirnaiva bhāṣate||

indisce sprūce 3024 (1280) mahānāṭake

Rama would not, and would have no occasion to train his arrows on the same target, because he would have finished off the enemies with the first hit

Rama, would give no chance for those depend on him to have desires and entreaties in their heart because he would have fulfilled them even as such desires arose.

Rama would have no opportunity to give gifts to the same person for the second time because the first munificient gift from the Lord would have fulfilled all that the received would have wanted.

Rama would not utter a word second time because the words uttered by Him for the first time would be so clear, definite, determined and final. No double talks at all.

( A quote from Mahanatakam.. a traditional drama based on Ramayanam… the authorship of this Drama is attributed to Lord Hanuman himself.)

K V ANANTHANARAYANAN