my God, I am Kanfused...

God.. the idea of God was the subject matter of numerous conflicts and controversies.. 

Some say there is a God, 

some say there is no God. 

Some say we should have a God.. 

Some say it is superstition to have God, 

The very concept of God appear to have emerged from yearnings of the shaky and indecisive human mind

Man always knew that he is not perfect, and then imagined that there would be something really perfect.

Such a being was man's hero, 

and every man or a group around him defined God in the shape of the best hero they could created in their mind in their own way.

For a warrior group, a spear, or a brave man was the God. maybe with minor variations in details.

For a peaceful family, the father and mother became Gods..

For a happy family.. a united and loving set of members showed up as Divinity.. 

( One example is the Shiva family).. 

In reality , God is a fond hope 

God is an evasive presence of the best among the best 

God is a yearning 

God is a dream.. yet to be fulfilled.

But man was never sure whether God is there or if He is there what exactly is He 

.Some may make claims that they have seen or felt Divine presence but no one is able to demonstrate such presence in any convincing way..applying the tools of logic. 

Even the best of the believers cannot say for sure that they have realized God beyond any sort of uncertainty 

And even the worst atheists cannot say honestly that they have succeeded in proving that God is not there.

So the debate goes on.. and will go on as long as we humans live 

But the definition and visualization of God which is very intricate and much hyped can undergo complete change as a person or a society grows in time, physique and intellect..

. यावान अर्थ उदपाने सर्वतः संप्लुतोदके तावान सर्वेषु वेदेषु ब्राह्मणस्य विजानतः..

When the whole landscape is deluged with floods, a puddle loses its significance..

Similarly for a man who has seen things happen, minor details do not count at all..

Musings 25

Every sentence, every phrase. we utter or write . need not and should be a bone of contention or casus belli
.They need not be ever sugarcoated too.

Many statements are basically true and could be understood well within our peer groups.


If one sees a thing called cow, and says 'this is a cow.". someone cannot just say.. I disagree..

But if he disagreesbecause the cow shown to him does not possess the usual shape and capacity to give milk , we can understand it and agree too.
.
But if someone says.
." Who gave it the name of cow?
The biological mass with life having four legs, a body, two horns, female sex, with udders, which could give a white drinkable liquid, which excretes a stinking biomass and eats a lot of leaves and hay
which the society in its ignorance addressed to as a cow
is according to my considered opinion is a crow."..

For most others, other than the one who holds the view and also to people of comparable idiocy such statements would either look funny or at least silly.

Of course,a psychiatrist or a doctor treating a lunatic in an asylum
or a government servant of subordinate cadre listening to a boss may have to bear with such statements and agree too because they have no choices..

I just quote this example demonstrate that we should learn to see plain facts of life realistically, and should not complicate things.

But we in social media tend to give skewed and topsy turvy views just for winning an argument simply to canvas a point rightly or wrongly ..

Our tendency to reach the peak of stupidity is at its maximum when our audience happens to be members of the fairer sex or when we are attempting to parade our own glory..

Dissent for dissents sake is foolish, but we dissent on that point too often

I think if most of us should choose express disagreement only when it is necessary for maintaining reasonable order and sanity.

We can avoid giving and getting headaches that way..

But that spirit is absent in our excahanges in social meida

When the satan of vanity catches hold of us, the angel of friendship just takes leave of us without any notice

so devoted...

यत्र रामकथागानम् तत्र आस्ते हनुमान् यथा

संस्कृताध्ययनम् यत्र तत्र संस्कृतिदर्शनम्॥

yatra rāmakathāgānam tatra āste hanumān yathā

saṁskṛtādhyayanam yatra tatra saṁskṛtidarśanam||

Wherever the glorious story of Rama is sung, present there would be Hanuman the Aanjaneya 

Just like that, wherever teaching of the language Sanskrit is in progress, exemplary culture and behaviour are sure to be present..

Mouthful of betel leaves

Mouthful of betel leaves 

--------------------------------

Name 559 of Lalitha Mahatripura sundari  Mother Rajarajeshwari
 in lalitha sahasranamam ..
is

ताम्बूलपूरितमुखी 

Thaamboola pooritha mukhee

She whose mouth is filled with betel leaves and additions which she is chewing...

a very affectionate imagery of the Divine mother

even if she is the most beautiful woman chewing must be giving her a funny face..

and yes, the adorindg devotee who sees Her as the mother will have no difficulty in loving that funny face..

If a devotee is having reverence alone for the divine he would have found it difficult to call her by such an unorthodox name..

And mind you it was lord Hayagreeva describing

Her by this name to sage Markandeya..

Even the great souls forget themselves when they are overcome with affection..

Or was it that Lord Hayagreeva who is Narayana himself having a poke at his little sister.?

Anyway it isour fortune that we can approach and get things done easily as the mother is in a relaxed mood chewing pan..

It is another story that she spat a little of this tamboolam into the gaping mouth of an idiot Mooka and he sang the Mookapanchaasati ..

He comes to us the way we want....

The blessed Lord declared in Gita..

Yo yadaa maam prapadyante taan tadaiva bhajaamyaham.. in whatever way people try to reach me, I approach them the same way..

यो यदा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तान्स्तदैव भजाम्याहं

That is one comfort..

Bhakthi can be so funny..

In the story of Dhruva in Bhagavatam.. Dhruva the child is doing penance..

very hard penance..

The lord Narayana is pleased..

The child had fixed the form of the Lord as described by sage Narada in his mind and is ever contemplating on it..

So when the Lord appears before the child in person, Dhruva is not aware of it..

And he is not even ready to take off his mind from the form fixed in his heart.

The lord had to use his Maya to take of the form in the mind to make the boy open his eyes and see the Lord present in person in all His glory..

That is bhakti..

Thondar Adipodi azhwar it is who said..

" You the fellow who resides in Arangam city..

 with a body like a green mountain with coral red lips and lotus eyes..

you the faultless one, the first among the deathless, 

you the darling of the cowherds.. 

to see you and chant your glory here, 

is all that I want. 

I will not take it even if the lordship of heaven is offered to me in place of this beauty.. " 

(பச்சைமாமலை போல் மேனி

பவளவாய் கமலச் செங்கண்

அச்சுதா அமரரேறே ஆயர்தம்

கொழுந்தே என்னும்

இச்சுவை தவிர யான்போய்

இந்திரலோகமாளும்

அச்சுவை பெறினும் வேண்டேன்

அரங்கமா நகருளானே.)

കടും പച്ചനിറംപൂണ്ട മാമല പോലെ മേനിയുമായ് കിടന്നു 

പവിഴത്തെ വെല്ലുന്ന ചെഞ്ചുണ്ടു കാട്ടി 

താമര ഇതള്‍ പോലെ വിടര്‍ന്ന കണ്ണുകളാല്‍ എന്നെ നോക്കുന്ന അച്യുതാ, വാനോര്‍ക്കെല്ലാം മുമ്പനായവനെ 

ആയര്‍കുടിയിലെ അമ്മമാരുടെ കണ്മണിയെ 

നിന്നെ എന്റെ കണ്ണുകളാല്‍ കൊതിതീരും വരെ കണ്ടു നില്‍ക്കുന്നതിന്റെ സ്വാദ് എനിക്ക് കിട്ടിക്കഴിഞ്ഞു.. 

ഇത് മാത്രം തുടരട്ടെ . 

എനിക്ക് ഇത് മാത്രം മതി..

സ്വര്‍ഗ്ഗവും ഇന്ദ്രപദവിയും എനിക്ക് തന്നാലും അത് വേണ്ടേ വേണ്ട.. 

തിരുവരങ്കത്തില്‍ നീണ്ടു നിവര്‍ന്നു കിടക്കുന്നവനെ.. 

നീ മാത്രം മതി എനിക്ക് 

തൊണ്ടരടിപൊടി ആഴ്വാര്‍....

That is bhakthi in the shape of love..

What are we to say..!

adversity bringing together all sorts of people,

my take on adversity bringing together all sorts of people,,,

There is a story in Panchatantram..
a cat and rat are acquaintances..

And are natural enemies too 

and the latter  is the natural dinner and suuper for the former..

But the story tells that when the cat is trapped in the net of a hunter, the rat saves him..
but waiting till the hunter was just about to reach so that the cat would run away instead of waiting to try to enjoy his food..

This story has many dimensions..

When a fellow living being was facing threat to his life, the arch enemy just comes to his rescue, and even saves him, but the enemy know that such gesture of kindness and altruism is not going to save his own neck.

Mahabharatham in the Ghoshayatra episode makes the eldest Pandava say the the Pandavs and Kauravas are bitter enemies but when their common clan is attacked, they are hundred and five
..
It is all sense of self preservation..

 but we have to admit that there is a small percentage of people who grow really beyond selfishness .. 

maybe the God in them just wakes up..

Gita says, whenever adharmam raises its head, and dharmam is obliterated He just manifests Himself.. 

We interpret that the God incarnates Himself when evil takes over and brings about the balancing act..

Here adharmam can a different dimension too..

 it is the disastrous tilt in the natural and happy balance of the conditions of existence.. 

Dharmam then is the order in the society.. 

When that order receives a hard blow, if we are to survive, God has to come.. 

but that God need not be some prince or cowherd or a carpenter.. 

He may be personification the collective goodness inherent in ourselves.. which comes out , does its duty, and becomes dormant once the purpose is served..

Man is a mixture of good and bad..

In physics and thermodynamics we have learnt about the Kinetic theory of gases..

Even though we find order and apparent quietness in fluid mass especially, the particles therein are moving in random directions at some velocity, and each particle collides with one another and neutralizes the speed to reach a sort of equilibrium which is dynamic.. 

The pressure, Volume and temperature. just affect the matter to bring about the equilibrium.. 

Pressure multiplied by volume and the product divided by the temperature in Kelvin scale gives a constant value, although the three Individual parameters are always varying.. 

The sum and substance of the theory is that when one of the three variables, pressure, volume and temperature undergoes a variation, the other two individually or in combination act to nullify the variation and to bring about the dynamic equilibrium..

We can perhaps understand things better if the behaviour of cetain systems which can be understood through observation, can be projected to even abstract phenomena..

tampering with scripts...is that right?

Ramayana and Mahabharatha and Puranas were derived from Vedas or at least were never in conflict with Vedic ideas..
And the description of the story line as well as the spiritual details in various itihasas, puranas and upapuranas followed identical story-lines faithfully, and the descriptions did not have major variations..
And these have evolved over a few millenniums and all institutions of Hindus, and rituals followed over centuries have evolved from those texts..
You can note that there were many literary creations like Raghuvamsam, Shakunthalam, Kirataarjuneeyam, Naishadham, Shishupalavadham and so on which also relied on puranic and Itihasic themes.. and, but for some poetic liberties of minor nature, they did not deviate much from the scriptures.. Still the works of Kalidasa, Bharavi, Magha and Sreeharsha are never accepted as authoritative texts of Hinduism/
Whether the scriptures Vedas and puranas were true or false can be a matter of conjecture.. Then Hinduism can be also called a big farce..
But those texts and tenets contained therein were followed by us and our forefathers for centuries..
How can the brainchild of some fiction writer of today be ever compared to that?
Many books analyzing various characters in our lore have been written by many Indians and foreigners.. Are they accepted as final words in Hinduism.?. Tagore wrote about Urmila, for example. that is considere as his view alone..
Hinduism has its basic texts..For some it may be Vedas and Puranas and for some it may be the local lore developed over centuries.. But to call Shiva Trilogy which challenges almost all precedents as seen from the hoary traditions, is called as a standard text of reference for Hinduism , I cannot help calling it ridiculous..
Who will accept a new Bible or a new Koran at deviation from the originals..?
I just repeat, the catholicity and flexibility of Hinduism, and lack of reverence to a great extent on the part of followers gives rise to such queries and ideas..
And every religion is based on Faith evolved over years,, and the standard texts followed as authentic are sacrosanct..
Religion need not be always rational..
In fact every religion has evolved from situations where the rational approach did not really work and man felt helpless.
If anyone wants, he can establish Shaivism on the basis of the trilogy..
Who can oppose it.?.
It is a free country..

kalidasa and the nameless finger....

kalidasa and the nameless finger....

In fact, the episode is very famous..

In the court of a great king, animated discussion was in progress and the issue was .".Who is the greatest poet (of India)...?"

The courtiers were preparing to count the names using their fingers, and all were unanimous in accepting that Kalidasa was the first, and they counted him on the little finger.. or Kanishtikaa ( in Sanskrit)..

The next finger in pririty was the ring finger which is called "Anamikaa" in sanskrit.

When the scholars assembled tried to find a name more or less comparable to Kalidasa, so that such name could be assigned to "Anamika" (the ring finger), they had to admit in unison that there was no name of a poet that could be equated or compared to Kalidasa in greatness..

So, Anamika could not be assigned any name ..

In fact, Anamika... means.. Na naamikaa.. without name or nameless, And the absence of any name to compare with Kalidasa who occupied the little finger or Kanishtikaa.. reinforced the name of the ring finger as anaamilka.. the nameless finger..

Puraa Kaveenaam Gananaaprasange Kanisthikaadhistitha kalidaasaH

adhyaapi tattulya kaveH abhaavaat anaamikaa saarthavatee babhoova..

पुरा कवीनाम् गणनाप्रसङ्गे कनिष्ठिकाधिष्ठितकालिदासः।

अद्यापि तत्तुल्य कवेरभावात् अनामिका सार्थवती बभूव॥

purā kavīnām gaṇanāprasaṅge kaniṣṭikādhiṣṭitakālidāsaḥ|

adyāpi tattulya kaverabhāvāt anāmikā sārthavatī babhūva||

Dandi , Kalidasa, Bhoja

We just mention some free slokas.. called Chaatu slokas..

for occasions to drive home certain points in Shastras and lifestyle..

the ideas are appealing but can never say for sure that the source is authentic..

The fruit is sweet but we do not know from which tree it is plucked,

however, we tend to name the tree according to our limited data or even our convenience..

There is a sloka in circulation comparing the greatness of Dandi and Kalidasa..

that too umpired by Bhoja..

nice to read but without any authenticity..

Once the matter as to who was great as a poet between Dandi and Kalidasa was taken to the doors of Devi Kali..

king Bhoja was also a witness to the proceedings.

The three were assembled before the doors of the Devi which was just getting opened in the morning..

Seeing Dandi, Kali is reported to have said,

kavir dandiH kavir dandiH kavir Dandirna SashayaH

कविर्द्दण्डिः कविर्द्दण्डिः कविर्द्दण्डिर्न संशयः

kavirddaṇḍiḥ kavirddaṇḍiḥ kavirddaṇḍirna saṁśayaḥ

meaning three times I say, Dandi is the greatest poet.

Kalidasa was very sad.. but looking at his sad face, Mother Kali said.

Twamevaaham Twamevaaham Twamevaahama na samshayaH

त्वमेवाहं त्वमेवाहं त्वमेवाहं न संशयः

tvamevāhaṁ tvamevāhaṁ tvamevāhaṁ na saṁśayaḥ

meaning I declare thrice without any room for doubt that you are myself

who is greater?

So many such stories are there, with so many local variations in description and content..

So each can say things in the way he has learnt it..

Like perhaps the ten blind men who visited an elephant and described its form and qualities according to their perception..

IMPORTANT NOTE....

ACCORDING TO LEARNED HISTORIANS OF SANSKRIT LITERATURE AND SCHOLARS IT IS CLARIFIED THAT KALIDAS AND DANDI WERE NOT CONTEMPORARIES.. But I think that does not take away the enjoyability of the above chatuslokam..