Friday, August 29, 2014

Internet helps for Ganesha pooja


I went to this site and found the entire Ganesha pooja procedure. 
http://hindusphere.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Vinayaka-Vrata-Kalpam.pdf


While doing this, my father suddenly asked me to chant the matrapushpam. This was not there. I immediately googled it and found the entire mantrapushpam here.

So, if anyone needs it, they can use this. :)

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Mothers and children

Most often we find that those who are in the thick of it,hardly notice anything about it. Those who are outside a group notice what is happening in the group, of course, assuming they are 'observant observers' as pg Wodehouse would put it!

I have found people from my generation becoming mothers and fathers. Whatever we have been taught while we were children, we learnt together. How come, when it came to putting it into practice, only some have succeeded?

I realize that the answer to this question is very subjective and hence wouldn't expect any one else to corroborate with me.

I grew up learning about the avatars and Puranas through small stories- in the lap of my mother! How many mothers are well-versed or interested or even, have time to do that? Next best thing.... They can teach their children what they lack in knowledge, through technology. How many of them bring them up to date about the stories that depict our culture through cartoons or even, games?

There is no interest and hence there is no effort. I find no fault with the parents... I only am striving to understand what is it that they despised In our culture that they refuse to share it with their next generation, their own offspring, that has come into the world to glorify their name ?

I don't look favourably at chota bheem stories. But, they are an effort in the direction. Imagination is the best preserver of memory. If today we remember, it is because while they were being told, we had created our own imageries. They live with us till date, cherished! When a video is presented, the imagination is curtailed but the message is channelized. So, the memory goes along with it. The caricatures will live on, for them, in that format only. 

I am still not against that. I feel sorry when kids go visiting, they are asked about their studies and games they play. No one evinces interest in their knowledge of our culture....(May be  I am already losing the meager readers that visit this site... ;) ) however, it is we, who value our culture, who should promote. By not doing this, we are doing wrong to our next gen.

Let every parent take the kid in his / her lap and tell a story from the Puranas or from the ancient lore which they have inherited. If not, at least, take the matter seriously and start doing your googling. This helps in :

   Quality time between parents and children
   
    Knowledge sharing and enhancement of our own knowledge. The questions kids can ask are the most sincere and fundamental. If we are able to answer them, we have understood our religion well and if not, well, we still have google to support us and enhance our knowledge.

   The most important thing about this is the bonding. Tomorrow they will respect your word over their friends' or their acquaintances'.

The objective is to express my feelings and understand the feelings of those who are on the 'other side'. If this can help someone to be stimulated, I shall feel that I am doing right. 

Psst. Waiting for opinions and comments. ;)

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Can love end hate

Ram leela is the movie.

The villain is always depicted to be capable of utmost heinous crimes. That way , when the hero vanquishes the villain, the greatness of the hero gets magnified. The love of the two warring clans is depicted to the zenith. 

However, the love that is the under current of the movie is not carnal but that of the heart. The love that is sustained in heart never has a defeat. The world for the bodies may end... But the effect of the love transforms the world....

In a more mundane terminology, the bomb may blast itself... But the path is made in the  heart of the mountain for the safe passage of the millaenium afterwards.

Fate plays a vital role in creating 'misfortunes' that bring out the best in the people for eons to emulate. In Romeo and Juliet, the fate of the lovers was not to spend a life of togetherness. But, what happened after that? No message... In Indian backdrop, the message is crystal clear. The love has no defeat. It has a goal that has a far reach than what meets the eye. 

Come to think of it, how many of us are treated by fate to its choicest dish of 'sufferings'? Not all. We assume more than what is doled out to us. Only those who can bear the pain, the wound is caused by fate. Those who endure, have a place in the drama called life! They are the chosen ones to spread the message of love! 

Their life had no 'joys' as we perceive. But, they had joys that sustained their grit. Even when the decision is doled out to annihilate the opposite clan, the lovers believe in the goodness of each other and can not bear to see the hatred triumph.  Fate Goaded them on to live a life of meaning, not for posterity..but, for themselves. They believed in the concept of love and have not deterred inspite of the vagaries that abound around them. A lesser mortal would have succumbed to the ordinary pattern deemed life. 

To see a pattern where there is none, it takes a visionary, nay, a lover!, for, he believes that the world was made in love and not of hatred. If so, how can, then, there be anything but love in this world?

Behind every admonishing that we receive by fate, there is an anguished lord pining for us to see HIS love and love the situation and through that, The Lord and HIS ways.