such wonderful incidents did happen..Iti ha aasa

Mahabharatam is an Itihasam.. meaning "Iti ha aasa" "इति हा आस " " such wonderful incidents did happen" (Wonderful does not mean the incident was right or wrong in itself..)..

It is a chronicle.. the incidents have been recorded by the author ( believed to be Vyasa the Krishnadvaipaayana who is also seen as a character in the epic)..

If you read Bharatham without any prejudices or pre-conceived notions, it can be seen that various incidents have been recorded as faithfully as possible keeping in view the huge canvass that had to be covered.. 

Each character would have said something to justify his own action, but one cannot see or feel that the author or anyone has asked us to accept that some actions are right and some are wrong..

In a report all things would be recorded, as faithfully as possible..

The original text may be treated as the most reliable chronology of events..

The choice to treat any act of commission or omission by any of the characters, be it Krishna, Pandavas, Kauravas and so many others .. is the prerogative of any reader or interpreter who chooses to read the epic with fair intelligence and if possible, with an open mind..

The opinions mouthed by the characters as recorded in the epic need not be accepted as right or wrong.. The things just happened.

And evaluation of virtues or vices contained in any action by a person, even if it is a puranic or Aitihasic character, can vary with the social ethos as well as the personal mental make up of the reader..

Nothing is right or wrong in absolute terms

contrast makes things brighter

I was reading from Aurobindo.. 

The sage is a very practical and Independent thinker who would never subscribe to any spiritual rules without first analysing the issue threadbare.. 

He was saying in one of his treatises that ultimately the real nature of the world and its constituents is something, some unknown, but eminently knowable mean or central point exactly between Materialism on one side and Spiritualism on a diametrically opposite point.. 

If a person is to make an attempt at knowing that unknown but knowable core, he could sneak into the centre and look for it.. but then even though the sneaking in may not be much difficult, he would not know that knowable in the proper sense..

But a person who traverses the extremes of spiritualism, and also the extremes of materialism would finally reach the golden mean through trials,, and even errors..

The rough edges of that person would be rounded by the hits he receives from materialism as well as spiritualism, as he oscillates, and gradually the oscillation attenuates and he stops at the right place.

Judging by this logic, Vishada is definitely a nice trigger or indirectly a facilitator for the bliss to take the central stage.

One poet said.. One's realization will be valued in its proper perspective only if a lot of grief and toil goes into achieving the bliss, It is like the ecstasy of a person who is mired in darkness is provided with the sudden brightness of a lamp..

सुखं हि दुखान्यनुभूय शोभते घनान्धकारेषु इव दीपदर्शनम्

Radhakalyanamahotsavam of Narayana namasankeerthanamandali Sekharipuram

to be human....

to be human....

Happened to read a quote from a respected speaker and spiritual leader extolling the importance of being "Human" and concluding that to be human was almost the be all and end all for us..

There is a different angle to this

To be human is also in fact to imbibe a bundle of tendencies, habits, prejudices which are natural to human beings.. 

Just recall the saying "to err is human",, 

Perhaps the guru meant by human only the good things in a human being.. 

But then is that not too much of a presumption?..

Every quote, even if it is from Vedas or Socrates or Chanakya, when read in isolation can convey meanings which were never intended,

silence

silence

the most elegant language one can speak is the language of silence

the most potent weapon one can wield is the weapon of silence 

the most honest words one can utter are words conveyed in silence 

because silence can never be lost on the one who keeps quiet and also the one who follows

new year musings

A very empathetic message of new year quoted by a good friend made be respond with a tinge of sadness..
I wrote like this.. and perhaps it is my response to the new year too.

A very nice summing up, an ideal wish-list of good-will for the nubile year ready to be born..
The great man has seen eighty or more new years...

I have seen now a score of new years less..
Maybe there were some occasions to celebrate afresh, or may be there were some losses to mourn in the leaving year for almost every one of my friends in their individual or family life , and the same may be expected in the year to be ushered in ..
After all life is a balance-sheet which reflects pleasures and pains critically tallied..

But if we look at the way we human beings as a class are moving ahead, more and more reasons for being anxious, worried or even feeling desperate and helpless, are appearing and our wish-list as a society does not hold many happy entries..

Jealousy, Intolerance, lack of empathy, eagerness to cut or demolish our fellow beings with nasty tongue or deadly weapons, punishing all including innocents for some minor fault or no fault at all on the part of a few, or killing for ideology.. all this is craziness.. and the craziness is getting stronger and its growth is exponential..

I have mental reservations to wish anyone a Happy New year..



Still I do hope Krishna will bless all and correct the wrongs..

glib tongue

Those who talk nicely need not be really nice people.. Just like the nice people who control their tongue and their anger too just not to give hurt to others, some people not only control their tongue, but manipulate it too to give outputs that are sweet for the ears and minds of others, event though they will be simmering or seething with hate and jealousy for the victims.. And an average human being in carried away with sweet words and take them at face value and fail to notice the tons of vitriol and gall stocked up at the source..
But then the artificial sweetness will fade in crunch situations..
Meaningless to cuddle a golden Cobra just for its beautiful colour..

(Of course some who are irritable at first sight may turn out to be more tolerable later on.. But that does not mean one should bark at everyone at first sight.. It is the duty of a dog and not that of a man.)