zindagi na milae

If death defined your life, you are blessed... For, you will always be on your toes trying to give your best. Sounds very philosophical and run of the mill statements. However, let me put it this way... If I were to die now!... Would I be storing passwords, would I be holding some secret possessions which I would have no control, whatsoever, after I have gone?

How sure am I about the span of my life? How sure of am I, of the people I meet everyday?

Zindagi na milae dubara... Make the most of it in a way that you wouldn't be ashamed of it when found out after you have left the stage.

How many times did we not feel the remorse for having got out in the police-thief game, early on? Seeing all others enjoying/expressing sorrow about the game while we are forced to sit on the sidelines! Life is also like that...

Before we realise, those whom we called uncles are no longer in the field and we are being addressed as such.

May be time to store more in the heart and less in the world.... More in spreading joy and less in acquiring it... More in giving rather than in seeking...

Zindagi....

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.

http://www.vignanam.org/veda/lyrics/Mantra_Pushpam_Telugu.pdf

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

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. ;)

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.

Symptomatic treatment? Good or bad

In most of the occasions, we tend to treat the symptom rather than the cause for the symptom. If a person does wrong, we are eager to set it right by punishing the person or through that act, bring awareness or fear of doing the wrong into the community.

While I agree that it is one of the approaches, I do not deny the existence of a more practical and positive approach. Show the person who has defaulted, the merit of adhering to the norms set by the community. This way, the person can choose whether to belong to that community or not. Let us not expel people from system / community just because the system is unable to accept the deviations of people in it. That way, in not a distant future, one would be left with a system bereft of people.

To show the person the norms set by the society, we need people who have adhered to the principles that the society professes to teach.... and appreciate them. We need people who have taken this vocation by choice and not as a last resort. A team of people who are dedicated in their commitment and motivated by their convictions. 

They alone can be the defenders and beacons of light for that community. Counseling, as some people would like to call it, by such people would give motivation to the new entrants and sustenance to the existing. 

While it may be a good idea to instill fear to stop the unwanted acts being perpetrated, it would be a better idea, in the interests of the the community, to start an awareness campaign by the motivated, within the community, simultaneously.

It is only ignorance of the concept behind a rule or law, that promotes deviation from it. Once we comprehend the concept or the fundamental feeling behind the origin of a rule or law, we can express ourselves better and the one listening or watching us would be more convinced to follow.

 Basically, a mode of life is derived by own conviction rather than external convicting.

Ashtadasha Punyakshetras and their location

I came across a very informative document regarding the famous mythological story where the body of Sati is cut asunder by the Sudarshan of Lord Vishnu and the various pieces of the body fell in and around India.

	Part of the body	Name of the deity	Place of Pilgrimage	State / Country
1	Kali gajjalu	Sri Sshnakari Devi	Trinkomali	Srilanka
2	Veepu	Kamakshi Devi	Kanchi	Tamil Nadu
3	Udaram	Shrunkhala Devi	Ganga Sagar	West Bengal
4	Tala Ventrukalu	Chamudeswari Devi	Mysore	Karnataka
5	Danta Pankti	Jogulamba Devi	Alampuram	Andhra Pradesh
6	Meda	Bhramarambika Devi	Sri Sailam	Andhra Pradesh
7	Moodu Kallu	Mahalakshmi Mata	Kolhapur	Maharashtra
8	Kudi Hastam	Eka Veerika Devi	Mahu	Maharashtra
9	Pai Pedavi	Sri Mahakali	Ujjaini	Madhya Pradesh
10	Yedama Hastam	Sri Puruhutika Devi	Pithapuram	Andhra Pradesh
11	Nabhi Bhagam	Sri Girija Devi	Jajipur	Orissa
12	Yedama Chekkili	Manikyamba Devi	Draksharamam	Andhra Pradesh
13	Yoni	Sri Kamaroopi Devi	Guwahati	Assam
14	Hastanguli	Sri Madhaveswari Devi	Prayaga	Uttar Pradesh
15	Sirassu	Sri Vaishnavi	Kangra	Himachal Pradesh
16	Vakshojalu	Sri Sarvamangala Devi	Gaya	Bihar
17	Manikarnika	Sri Visalakshi	Varanasi	Uttar Pradesh
18	Dakshina Hastam	Sri Saraswati	Kashmir	J&K

Cribbers Crib

As the title goes, The Cribbers (TC) have already decided that they are going to crib... mind you, not intentionally! They have it in their sub-conscious to crib.

They believe that anything in the world that comes in contact with them ( in the sense what they see or hear or even imagine!!) has something sinister to spring upon them.

Obviously!, you don't believe me!

If they hear that someone wants them to become good, they want THAT someone to practice first and then preach forgetting all the while icons in Mahatma gandhi, Lal, Bal and Pal! that had actually set a trend for them in the social strata or Ekalavya, Satya Harischandra in the realm of the spirit.

Pausing here can do us some good. Are TC actually interested in getting themselves on the path  (assuming that  there is one!) to goodness? If so, have they made any attempt towards practicing their ideals?

If they are not interested, TC would take the road largely traveled- gossip and slander. This would comfort them and assuage their fear of being the bad egg in the community!

Ultimately, losers are the ones who take TC seriously! Let them be... as the prayerful poem goes- " Lord God made them all.."