Superstitions - Myth and Reality

India is a beautiful country.  Its culture to too good.  The Westerners admire our culture. But there are also certain superstitions in our society that shadows our superior culture.  We are coming out of them slowly.  I am trying to share a short story that was narrated to me by my father when I was a little girl.

There was a Gurukula, which followed Guru Shishya Parampara of learning.  There were many students in the Ashram who were following religiously the Guru Shishya Parampara as it was the practice in olden days.  The Guru was a very knowledgeable person.  The students adored him.  The Ashram had a few cows with them.  Every night a cat came and drank away all the milk from the ashrams kitchen.  Guru and his shishyas were worried and disturbed about this.  They made a trap and caught hold of the cat.  Guru did not want to punish the cat.  He believed in Jeeva Karunyam.  They tied the cat to a post and kept him as their pet and fed them. 
Days after days and years passed.  Older shishyas left the ashram and new shishyas came to ashram.  The Guru became old.  Then one day the Guru became sick.  He Left his worldly body and travelled away.  The ashram performed his last rights.  The ashram took to their usual procedure and selected their next Guru and the tradition carried on.  The cat was still there tied to the post and was fed and taken care as usual. 

One day the cat died.  The whole ashram felt sad. 

The next day the new Guru ordered his disciples to find and catch hold of another cat to be tied in the post.  The new Guru did not know why the cat was tied to the post in the first place.  As far as he was concern he had to follow his Guru.  In his Guru's period there was a cat tied to the post which used to watch the shishyas learn.  So he wanted to keep up the tradition of tying a cat to the post next to the class room area.
This was a superstition that new Guru followed.

In the same way, our forefathers had some reasons following certain rituals.  It was suitable for their time of life.  We follow them without even thinking.  If we dare to ask questions we are branded as traitors and slashed by the elders in the family and society. 
So Youngistan please think, reason and then follow the superstitions.

Atma Samarpana or Self surrender

Sri Appayya Dikshitar was a follower of Lord Shiva.  He performed Yagnas.  He lived during the period of 1520-1593.  Once he wanted to know what he would talk about in an unconscious mind frame, in an intoxicated mind frame.  For this purpose he ground 'Ummathangai', (a herb which is used intoxicate a person) and drank it.  But before drinking the same, he asked his disciple to note down eveything he said in his intoxicated state of mind.
In the intoxicated mind frame Sri Appayya Dikshitar wrote 50 slokas on the Lord and they are known as 'Unmatha Panchasati' or 'Stutikavya'.  These slokas are refereed to as 'atma samarpana' or complete surrender in 'Bhaki Yoga'.

This story was told to me by my father when I was a child.  My father  was a devote of 'Lord Varadharaja' of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu from his childhood.  He at his last stages suffered from 'Alzheimer's problem.  Alzemeir's disorder makes the person forget almost everything,  To my amazement, my father forgot almost everything, stage by stage and about everybody.  He could not recognise any of his siblings, children, his most loved grand children and he could not recognise his wife or his pet dog.  At that stage all his siblings, their children and his friends used to visit him very frequently.  To everyone's amazement he would talk about 'Lord Varadharaja', recite his slokas and would describe the way he was decorated in the chariot and how he used to look on a specific decoration without a single mistake.  A person who could not recognize or remember anyone around him, would describe his 'Ishta Deivam' as though be could see nothing but his image in his mind.  I have seen people laughing at him becuase he talked about the same thing for days together.  But I feel it was his 'Atma Samarpana' towards 'Lord Varadharaja'.
 I could not stop my tears from flowing down my cheeks as I am writing this blog.  I am proud to be his daughter.
I just wish I am gifted with same kind of end to my life too.
Human mind is a mixture of all kinds of thoughts.  But at the end after we churn our mind its a boon to bring our the nectar of this kind of 'Atma Samarpana' to God.

We and our Environment

Yesterday I saw a film about Apes, laboratories, scientists and their lives.
In that film scientists do research on some medicine which would increase the smartness of the chimpanzees, so that in turn they can use it on human beings to cure some nervous disorders related to brain.  On the testing process they kill a chimpanzee which is pregnant.  That chimpanzee delivers its baby before dying.  
One of the scientist takes the baby chimpanzee to his home and brings him up on his own.  While growing up the scientist finds out that the baby is very very intelligent and as days goes he is forced to send this chimpanzee into an animal care centre for chimpanzees.  At first our chimpanzee is abused by the other chimpanzees and the worker in the centre.  Slowly our chimpanzee gains the confidence of the other chimpanzees, and becomes a leader to whole group.
Then one day the whole group of chimpanzees break the place they live in and release the rest of the chimpanzees from zooz and other places, where they are kept captive and run away to the forest, destroying  everything that comes on their way.
This is a fiction.
But what if this happens in real life?
What if some intelligent being starts exploiting us as we have been doing for the past this many years?
We are exploiting the nature and trespassing it beyond limit. 
Should we not take some strong decisions and stop destroying the forests? 
Where is the world going towards?
What actions are required?
Too many questions and there seems to be to many answers to these questions too?

Gayatri Mantra

Gayatri Mantra is chanted by most of us.  Some of us do not even know the exact meaning and significance of the Mantra.  Gayatri Mantra is based on a verse from Rig Veda which was attributed by Brahmarishi Vishvamitra. 

Upanayanam is an important ritual and ceremony which is performed by Hindus and Budhists.   Gayatri Mantra is a very important part of 'Upanayanam' ceremony. 

The term 'Upanayanam',

' Upa' = added, extra, more etc..

'Nayanam' = eyes.

Through this ritual of 'upanayanam' the boys are given 'vision of knowledge'.  Gayatri Mantra takes us near knowledge and wisdom.

Gayatri Mantra is found in 26th chapter of  'Yajur Veda'.

Gayatri Mantra is preceded by 'om' which is also called as 'Pranava'.

Briefly Gayatri mantra means:

The Supreme God is present in all matters, energy, space and consciousness. 

He is the source of inspiration, most respectful, with purest character.

Our mind should take hold of divine powder.

May that Supreme Being lead us to the path of righteousness. 

Gayatri Mantra is very significant because it describes, in brief, essence of God and his spiritual aspect of God. 

Weird Question

I have neighbour who was doing textile business from home.  Every time my neighbour interacted with my friends at some point of time I have seen people asking her a question,
"How do you spend your time"?
By the way let me tell you she had been an employed woman till September 2010.  After leaving her job I started textile business.  Now she is successful.
So back to the question.  She replies them with a smiling face that she does my houshold courses, shop for her business, watch TV, and most of all read a lot.  And amazingly she always gives the same reply to all of them and most of them give the same reply to her back too. Saying,

"True, you have to keep yourself engaged na".
But sometimes she simply tells them that she spends her time just like everybody else do.  Nothing special.  One day I told my neighbour that she was very lucky to have such people around her who care for he so much.  To this she simply smiled and said that she was lucky alright.  She sounded very funny.

Then suddenly I realised the hidden meaning behind those questions!!

What a shame and pity on our society??
They ask these questions to her because she did not have a husband.  She was a WIDOW.

Oh no!!

What does that mean?
The women in our society does not have anything at all if they don't have a husband?
I never knew I was shocked by this realisation of surprised.  I guess a little of both.
Woman was cooking when my husband was alive, and she cooks even after she looses her husband.
May be for 1 less person.
She was washing clothes earlier and she washes them now also, again clothes of 1 person is less.
She was cleaning and moping my house earlier.  She does it now also.  The house size does not become big or small by the death of a household member.
Then WHY is our society so stupid in their mind set?
What are they trying to convey?
At the end of the day, they are trying to be sympathetic towards, but are they really??

Beauty is in the beholders eyes

Beautiful is in the beholders eyes.  Todays thought of the day was,
  'Love teaches us to speak little, to gaze much – gaze at the Beauty that is God!

After reading this thought I just remembered a story which was narrated to me by my father when I was a little girl, about beauty and its obsession.  I am just trying to blog it.

All must have heard of Sri Ramanujar, the founder of Vishistadwaitham.  He had a disciple who was his most favorite.  His name was "Villidasan". 
Villidasan was a wrestler by profession.  He lived in Srirangam.  Srirangam in a town in interior Tamilnadu.  River Kaveri passes through Srirangam.  While passing through a particular the river formed 2 very beautiful whirlpools.  Our wrestler was very very attracted to those whirlpools.  He used to wake up early in the morning, finish his day to day activities and go the Kaveri river bank and keep gazing at the whirlpools.  People used to wonder what was so beautiful about them, but he would never get tired of looking at its beauty.
There was a dancer living in the same place and she was used to people starring at her all the time for she was a very beautiful women.  She came to river bank one day and say the wrestler gazing at the whirlpools and was surprised.  She was surprised as to how a man could ignore her, and look at something else at her presence.  She went near the wrestler and tried to turn his attention towards her and failed.  The next day she dressed herself especially to attract the wrestler and went to the river bank.  She forcefully turned the wrestlers face and made him look into her eyes.
The wrestler could not believe his eyes.  He was looking at two beautiful eyes of a women which were more beautiful than the whirlpools.  He could not take his eyes off the dancers eyes.
From that day the wrestler woke up early in the morning, finished his day to day activities and started sitting in front of the dancer and started gazing at her beautiful eyes.  When she had to go out on some business he used to walk in front of her, facing her, with his back towards the road.  He became her slave.  One day the dancer and the wrestler were on the river bank.  In the same time Swami Ramanuja came to river bank.  He saw a young handsome wrestler sitting at the foot of a beautiful women and simply gazing at her, and people laughing at him.  Swami Ramanuja asked the people about what it was all about.  He came to know about the wrestlers obsession and was surprised.
He went towards the wrestler and asked him what was so beautiful about the women's eyes?  This question annoyed the wrestler and he told Swami Ramanuja that, if he showed him anything more beautiful than the women's beautiful, he would devote his whole life to that beauty. 
Swami Ramanuja took took the wrestler to Srirangam Sri Ranganatha Temple.
Sri Ranganatha temple is called 'Bhooloka Vaikundam'.  In this temple Lord Ranganatha is lying down in side posture with his rigt arms under his head.  Its called 'Anantha Sayanam'. 
Swami Ramanuja asked the wrestler to look into 'Lord Ranganatha's eyes.  That moment some changes took place in the wrestler.  He became enchanted by the beauty of the Lords eyes. 
He became a disciple of Swami Ramanuja.  He was called as 'Dhanurdasan'.  He did services to Lord Ranganathan without even sleeping at nights.  He was also called 'Uranga Villi', meaning 'Villi who never sleeps'.

Its'nt Beauty in the beholders eyes!!

Determination

John Roebling was an engineer and also a very creative person.  He always dreamed about building a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. But bridge building experts throughout the world thought that it was impossible and asked Roebling to forget the idea. They felt that it was not a practical idea.

But Roebling could not forget his vision he had in his mind about the bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it would be done someday. 
He felt that he had to share the dream with someone else who would make his dream come true.  
After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge could be built.

The father and son started working together, developed concepts.   They discussed about the expected obstacles and how to overcome them. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.
People started talking behind and in front of Washington,

"We told them so."
"Crazy men and their crazy dreams."
"It`s foolish to chase wild visions."

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built, and one was dead and another one disabled. 
In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.  But since he could not talk or move the bridge work could not be continued. 
All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it.  Suddenly an idea hit him. 
By moving his finger, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.  He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was started again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, and the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence.