I knew I was right, but I LOST THE FRIEND

I faced a funny situation.. 

I had quoted  from Mahabharathm, and quoted the Parvam, adhyayam and number of slokam. 

I have translated the slokam in my own words, giving full meaning and giving my own interpretation, however good or bad it is.. 

The person was asking for the book from which I had extracted the commentary. 

The tone was challenging .

In such situations what can a person do.? 

There is no rule that one should not do anything original.. 

I am of the view that  the process of forming views and opinions  should be that  the author  should think and form his views and opinions according to his own thoughts and convictions and then present them in a cogent fashion.

Then, and then alone, he can go for references, references in  favour of his views as also references  that opposed  his views. If he finds and quotes any  such references he can acknowledge them and quote with citation.

In the situation I faced  where I was trying to form an independent  view  on the basis of a raw couplet I asked my friend whether there is any rule that I should not write something myself. 

I knew I was right, but I LOST THE FRIEND.

Ignorance is bliss.. trained capacity to ignore is greater than that

Our eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue.. 

and of course the mind too.. 

are 

created primarily to embrace everythig.. 

be it good or bad

Actually they do not have any idea as to what is good or bad..

But if we have to survive, we should know more about what not to embrace.. than what to embrce..

Ignorance is bliss..

but the trained capacity to ignore is greater than that.

Status of the Guru..

 

Status of the Guru..

Age is not essentially a yardstick for guru-shishya relationship..

Just think of the the young guru sitting under the peepul tree in silence and the aged disciples sitting in front of him.. 

The silence of the Guru gets communicated to the disciples as explanation for everything and the disciples are relieved from all doubts.

chitram vata tarormooley vridha shishyaaH gurur yuvaa, guroshtu mounam vyakyaanam shisyaastu chchinna samasayaaH..

चित्रं वततरोर्मूले वृद्ध शिष्याः गुरुर्युवा गुरोस्तु मौनं व्याख्यानं शिष्यास्तु च्छिन्न संशयाः

this would tell everything..

In fact such a situation is said to have arisen in the life of Kalidasa.. 

 He married the princess before whom  he was presented by deceit  through the nasty tricks of some failed lovers of hers who ensured that the princess got married to the doubly distilled idiot. 

 When she came to know of the trick and the misfortune that had befallen her because of that, she advised the unlettered cowherd that was her husband to approach Mother Kali, and when the Divine mother, in Her infinite mercy, gave him enlightenment, the first thing he remembered was that his wife had assumed  the role of his guru who guided him to divinity.. 

He could not treat her as a wife anymore..

To avoid such situations, in our tradition, all factors including age, relationship etc., were considered  very seriously before accepting the guru-shishya relationship..

Getting a very bad and undeserving guru can be considered only as the result of sins we would have incurred in this life and earlier lives.. Mahaapaapashakthi.. 

What to do?

But once we have chosen the  the guru, we cannot brand the reverse learning process as taboo or impossible and cannot  treat the guru irreverently. Anyhow  our old social norms over the years  viewed such reversals in age or education  as odd. 

In the long history of a society like ours the rules sometimes tend to get biased, sometimes straitjacketed even, and grain and chaff get mixed up. 

 We have to use our good sense, and avoid the chaff.

Moreover, any action taken in good faith should not be considered  as sinful..

 The principle shaastraaya cha sukhaaya cha (शास्त्राय च सुखाय च ) always worked. Whoever or whatever is the guru, he has to be accorded great respect .

Learning under a pratiloma ( lesser in age, status etc ) Guru was not envisaged in our Varna based rigid system. I can cite an example. You might have heard of Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri, the scholar and author of Narayaneeyam.. He was a man of loose morals up to a particular stage in his life and good sense was driven home on him by one Achyutha Pisharodi, a great astrologer and scholar. Melpathur wanted to study vedas too but insisted that he should get the training  from Achyutha pisharodi, who was ineligible to learn or teach vedas.. 

However  on Bhattathiris insistence one scholar rendered Vedas to Pisharody and Pisharody in turn taught Bhattathiri.. 

Consequently sin overtook Pisharody and he was afflicted with Vataroga.. 

Bhattathiri is said to have taken over the disease and by worshipping Guruvayurappan through Narayaneeyam got relief for himself form Vatarogam. 

Here apart from the Bhakti line, the lesson is that an ineligible person teaching someone does not deprive the former of his status as a guru, but only deposits durithams to his own account. 

 By the same logic, Vidya, whether spiritual or temporal is accepted by us from someone, we have to accept him as our guru.. 

Definitely Einstein and Newton are our gurus just as Vyasa and Shankara.. 

I believe so.. 

Views and opinions can vary..

Lalithasahasranamam 2

Lalithasahasranamam 2

There is some substantial ground to be covered before discussing the sacred names of the Mother. But the first name “Sreematha” fascinates me.

A few reasons that comes to the mind

1. Everywhere in this earth where human beings live, whatever religion, region, or language is followed, a child born, the living human being’s first introduction to this earth, first feels its connection with the human being from whose body it got separated. At the same moment it feels the pang of separation from that body too. So the child celebrates its birth and at the same moment laments its severance from the umbilical connection, sharing both jubilation and the pangs of separation with its mother. The first word that voluntarily erupts out of the Childs’s vocal chords and forms by the simple joining of the upper lip with the lower one is “Ma” and we find to our surprise that in almost all languages, that “Ma” is the basic component of the word denoting mother.. maatha, mother, mater, amma, amba, ammai, maa, mam, mammy, mom, mommy, mamen, everything is mother..

Sure it is the first word that erupted first from the lips of every human being that took birth on this earth..

2 There was a stage in the growth of human beings, where there was no religion, language, no idea of human relations, no idea about God. The man of that age looked at everything around him with fear, with awe, with uncertainty and even with suspicion. He was baffled by the unpredictability of all things that happened around him. Nothing could be said for sure. If he had met an animal which he could expect to kill next day for food and somehow marked its location, and went back to the same spot next day and could not find the prey any more, he did not know whether he should feel sorry, or whether he should cry in desperation. He did not know what to do. But his first lesson in life was that the behavior of nature around him was beyond his control. Clouds gathered, lightning struck the earth, rains poured in torrents, all beyond his control. He saw the sun rise and set. He saw the moon wax and wane. He did not have any say in the behavior of the cloud or rain or the sun or the moon. He saw plants grow, flower, bear fruits, and die or got burnt in wildfire as summer season came. He saw plants grow again with rains. He saw his own fellow beings die without any predictability, and he also saw his own images emerging from the womb of his womenfolk. All these happening made him believe that there was some power completely beyond his knowledge and control which regulated the rhythm of nature and also caused the birth and creation of all things animate and inanimate and also the destruction of living things. ..

He did not have any knowledge even about the process as to how he was born. He was not perhaps aware that human foetus formed in the womb of a woman through the male-female interaction. He saw that the abdomen of the females of his group started swelling, and was afraid that it was a disease. But when after some time, the womb expanded and a little living being in the same shape but in miniature form as the human being was thrown out and that small one started breathing and suckling by itself he was filled with awe and a lot of respect for the apparent source of the little being..

The human being in his innocence connected a great power in nature with the growth of trees and animals and other living beings. He saw the same creation process replicated from the belly of a female. So the natural inference for him was that the female being represented the supreme power which represented the creation, maintenance, and destruction.. srushti, sthithi and samhaaram of all that is present in the universe.

So he identified the Divine being with the females. The women, all the women in this world. That alone can be the first interpretation for calling the Supreme being as Maatha.. The mother.. This definition is proved without any reference to any creed or scripture. It is simply the product of innocent reasoning.. And therefore it is truth, and absolute truth.

Someone called me a self-proclaimed scholar.. Am I?

 

Someone called me a self-proclaimed scholar.. Am I?

I have never proclaimed myself as a scholar of any eminence..

but in academic parlance -anyone who goes to school.. even a primary school student is a scholar..

the word has evolved only from school..

I am still a student, a schoolboy. no doubt..

Regarding culinary skill, I have to confess that I have cooked rice for the pleasure of Mahaganapathy( in our temple) whom I have served as a priest or archaka even as a very small boy..

I have made even Payasam..

Of course, at home I have helped my mother and later my wife too, by giving expert comments on the lack of taste in the food they prepare..

I learnt from my father that his granfather was a Seenu Pattar (official Name is Narayana I know from tarpanam) and that he was a busy cook..

My periyappa who was a bachelor, went to Colombo as a butler.. in effect a Cook..

And I have some friends from all ages, who are great cooks..

I remember an elderly mama, who is as good as a blood relation to me was an excellent Charakku master and prepared nice Jaangris all the day..

The body changes, the physical strength wanes, but the mind of a mother remains the same

 

True, Nature takes extra care to sustain females even without any special medical attention as long as they are in their childbearing stage..

It is the selfishness of nature..

However the same nature plays very funny tricks and all health problems cascade upon the ladies after that stage..

That happns too quickly and can pose challenges..

The body changes, the physical strength wanes, but the mind of a mother remains the same..

We have to understand the danger signals...

The departure of a lady is more traumatic to her male relations..

A man losing his wife just lives on, but a major part of him is already dead.

Many hind heads of bald people resemble the moon too,, moon never waning but growing in concentric circles of greater radii.

When life becomes empty we just leave... it is as simple as that.

 

When life becomes empty we just leave... it is as simple as that.

All..you and me included.. will leave sooner or later.

Yes. .life is just happening whether we plan it or not.

We face tension only when we plan.

If you are a believer you can leave the planning to god.

If not just let future unfurl itself in its own way.

crocodile population in social media must be outnumbering the real life count of living reptiles of that species..

So many torrential rivers of tears are flowing..without interruption..