A gesture simple
A face so divine
A form so glorious
A world so new
A hand so firm
A blessing so true
Fear not, The Lord is here
Oh Lord I surrender to Abhaya
A smile enrapturing
Eyes so powerful
A face so handsome
Yet a step so sure
You kill my ego
You kill my ignorance
You reveal the truth
O Lord, crush Apasmara
Hair so wild,
a knot so tight
These wavy locks
Bind the river Goddess herself
A gentle nudge with her feet
Loose they fly,
Releasing her to freedom
She flows down to earth
O Lord, Gangadhara
A chill in the night
Calmness to thy fiery self
Eyes closed in peace
Eyes closed in dhyanam
Just revealed
By a tossing moon
Crescent light glows forth
O Lord, Chandrashekara
A dance so wild
The beat in my heart
The rhythm of the universe
At your feet
Pulsating in every breath
To thy steps, I reveal
My self completely
O Tandava Nataraja, pure beauty within.
21 comments:
Hi Kavitha,
The essence of ‘Hindu Philosophy, as I have understood it, is, “…Guru Devo Mahesh…etc.,” i.e., Earth, as the superior most among the demi-gods or 'physical matter', believably is a teacher or Guru that rests on a dot, i.e., its core or ‘heart’, and because of its ‘Maya’, its influence doesn’t just end on its surface - it extends over the apparently infinite void of the universe to create the illusory physical universe!
Best wishes on the 'Teacher's Day (9/5)'!
For the logic of ‘Maya’, as a model of Shiva, on the human body the ‘dot’ or Nadbindu - the original neutral point source of infinite energy – as realized by the Yogis believably lies at the ‘Third Eye’, the meeting point of the forehead and the nose or the ‘Ajna Chakra’…
They also apparently realized that the original energy/ information is redistributed between ‘chakras’ such that its major chunk remains dormant at the ‘Mooladhar Chakra’. And, therefore, it needs greater efforts or three-in-one Yogic exercises for lifting it up to the more or less empty human head (together with relatively lesser energy/ information stored in the intervening ‘chakras’ also that are mainly related with day-to-day routine functions) for realization of ‘Truth’, believably in stages...It is believably stored concentrated at a point called ‘Mooladhar Chakra’ at the tip of the tail-bone end, as essence of the planet Mars represented outwardly by Ganesha the son of Parvati - the mother being provided the highest pedestal at the top of the human head, as essence of Moon at ‘Sahasrara Chakra’…
The process could perhaps be understood with reference to an initially empty overhead storage tank of water connected to an underground water tank through a pipe (spinal chord) from which water is lifted up with a pump placed at the Ajna chakra, which the Yogis apparently energized by using ‘beej mantra’, ‘OM’ or sound energy…
The use of gemstones since time immemorial indicates that the Yogis must have advised those based on some ‘scientific’ analysis - that is yet to be realized by the present day man, although those might not be as efficient as sound energy - as alternative sources of required energy, which, like air and water in ‘Nature’, is freely available in the cosmic particles, to be exploited properly for the use of common man. For, at all times one normally finds little or no time for ‘meditation’ for reaching the ‘zero’ or thoughtless stage (to realize the ‘Self’, to find answer to the eternal question: Who am I?
It is so because of the obligation to attend to the routine matters of day-to-day life to provide for the basic need of food, clothing and shelter, for sustenance of the physical body alone…
Hi Kavitha,
Although it might all be as per a natural design, however, the mythological stories - such as reflected in the story related to ‘Arjuna’ when he ultimately gets convinced of his being only an instrument with ‘Yogiraj Krishna’s hand’ behind all his apparent actions - indicate that human actions follow the script of a Supreme story writer…and that the formless Creator is virtually fooling itself with a ‘romain fleuve’, a perennial river like story!
However, as there apparently is some purpose behind all human creations/ actions, it too perhaps has a purpose, which the ‘story writer’ indicates in the story of demi-gods, Vishnu (the centre of our galaxy) and Brahma (Sun) both failing to find the beginning and end of Shivalinga made of infinite energy and space that the universe believably is and is represented through the ‘panchbhoota’, Sky, Earth, Fire, Air, Water, and perhaps represented just in two words, “Na-mah Shi-va-ya”, i.e, ‘Nabha’ or sky; ‘mahi’, i.e., earth as ‘Gangadhara’ or the one that holds the river Ganga;’ Shikhi’ or fire that is energy; ‘vayu’ or air; and Yamuna the river that carries relatively more polluted water as compared to Ganga…
Ganga and Yamuna apparently thus represent the two sides of the same coin while 'Shiva' remains ever detached or neutral, like the third side of the coin...
There is a saying that explains the ‘naturally’ ever changing environment, “Old order changes, yielding place to new.”
Of course, perhaps today no one has time to wonder why?
In my childhood, I visited a ‘mela’ or fete with friends. We enjoyed the various items of entertainment presented in different stalls, till towards the exit end we came to the item that impressed me the most. It was a small stall that had a few ‘magical mirrors’. Each person moved one by one in front of those in less than a minute perhaps. Each mirror reflected an image of the same viewer that was altogether different from the one that one was normally used to seeing in plain mirrors in one’s home for long, and had come to believe that image as the real ‘me’! My photo album also shows how I have changed in my outward appearance with the apparent passage of time from childhood to date. But, sometimes I doubt if I have changed inwardly…perhaps I am like, say, earth that believably has remained in existence for over four billion years and is changing outwardly every moment due to various natural forces, including all animals’ creative or destructive activities, spinning as well as being taken around the Sun - eternally perhaps unmindful of pains and pleasures as expected from a true Yogi…
The ‘scientists’ tell us that our sun is the central ‘heavenly body’ that has been making the planetary system function for over 4 billion years, making the grand variety of planets go around it – including the most evolved one, i.e., our earth. And, that it is likey to continue to do so for many billions more... Thus, when even a bacterium apparently is ‘intelligent’, if for a second we were to accept that the instrument earth is as intelligent as the instrument ‘present day man’, if not more, should there be any reason for earth (Shiva) not to have faith on sun (Brahma), and both together on Vishnu (the centre of our galaxy), and all three on the Formless Creator, (the limitless universal space whose physical representation our earth or Shiva apparently is), and relax? If so, why not man compared to other forms in the animal world that he heads as the superior most creation of God?
It is perhaps so because of negative forces - together with the desired positive forces - also generated for balance, viz. the ones understood by the relatively ‘wiser’ ancients as Rahu (ultra violet), Ketu (infra red), etc. that ultimately render transient nature to 'animal life forms', allowing only a limited duration to different forms (in Gita, ‘Krishna’ while accepting all forms as His Own reflections, cites only the positive forms to represent Him)...
The various forms perhaps exist temporarily for the limitless Formless Creator’s purpose to reach its own origin from a wide range to choose from. For, such a desire, in any field of human activity, is also seen reflected in every Tom, Dick and Harry as the decision maker, i.e., one would like to have a large number of similar articles presented from which he could choose the one that suits him the best for the intended purpose…
The earlier-said could perhaps help one realize the truth indicated by the ancients about overall time, in terms of long durations of Yugas, built up from the minutest fraction of a second adding up billions of times - like a small drop of water is made up of billions of droplets, perhaps as an example of the common basic design of forms/ abstract entities in ‘Nature’… And, although one apparently gets to see during one life span a cycle of birth; followed by physical and mental growth to reach a peak performance capability; and deterioration of the faculties thereafter till merger of mortal remains with earth, the ancients indicated the overall maximum achievable potential in human race to decrease with apparent passage of time, which they expressed as 100% in Satyuga, 75% in Tretayuga, 50% in Dwaperyuga, and 25% in Kaliyuga of 432 thousand years, with Dwaperyuga having a duration double that of Kaliyuga, Tretayuga three times and Satyuga four times, with an indication that the present is headed towards the fag-end of Kaliyuga, when human efficiency tends to 0%...
With the above-said, perhaps it would be foolhardy to expect 100% efficiency from man today…thus one finds ‘Krishna the Yogiraj’ in Gita advise lack of knowledge (maximum possible being only in Satyuga) as the cause of 'wrong actions' and ‘surrender in Him’ as the best medicine!
kavita,unable to understand the meaning of the word"Apasmara".
The earlier-said could perhaps help one realize the truth indicated by the ancients about overall apparent time, in terms of long durations of Yugas, built up from the minutest fraction of a second adding up billions of times - like a small drop of water is made up of billions of droplets, perhaps as an example of the basic design of forms/ abstract entities in ‘Nature’…
And, although one apparently gets to see during one life span a cycle - of birth; followed by physical and mental growth to reach a peak performance capability; and deterioration of the faculties thereafter till merger of mortal remains with earth - the ancients indicated the overall maximum achievable potential in human race to decrease with apparent passage of time, which they expressed as 100% in Satyuga, 75% in Tretayuga, 50% in Dwaperyuga, and 25% in Kaliyuga of 432 thousand years, with Dwaperyuga having a duration double, Tretayuga three times and Satyuga four times that of Kaliyuga, with an indication that the present is headed towards the fag-end of Kaliyuga, when human efficiency tends to 0%...
With the above-said, perhaps it would be foolhardy to expect 100% efficiency from average man…thus one finds ‘Krishna the Yogiraj’ in Gita advise ‘surrender in Him’ or ‘sanyas’ (perhaps at least at a suitable stage after start of the downward curve) as the best medicine!
Hi Anilji
The meaning of apasmara is disrespect/ insult/ ignorance etc. In the dance of Lord Nataraja, he stands on the dwarf below his feet, who represents apasmara. Hence the dwarf is called "apasmara purusha".
The main point being that complete surrender to Lord Shiva brings happiness and saves us from disrespect and insult in our lives, does not bring problems of this kind, and enlightens us on our spiritual journey at the same time.
I hope i have made it a little more clearer.
Regds
Kavitha
Hi Anilji, Kavitha…
Let me also try to reach the meaning a bit indirectly. It literally means “poor memory”, with “smar” standing for “smaran’ or memory and the prefix “ap” for “bad” or “poor”...
It therefore perhaps indicates the inability of an average individual to recall information recorded within the body, distributed in the various ‘chakras’, which as per the ancients could only be recalled by ‘siddhas’ through yogic exercises, with the background belief that whatever lies outside lies within the body also as a model or essence of the universe...
In the present day terms it is believed that only that part of information, which lies in the conscious part of the brain, is recalled easily. And, that the information in the sub-conscious part can be recalled with effort but after a time lag. However, the information in the ‘unconscioius part of brain’ remains completely lost and cannot be recalled (unlike the ancients’ belief about need to “activate kundalini” to achieve all round knowledge to achieve with the grace of Shiva, whose essence lies a the 'Ajna Chakra', what is presently believed as impossible)…
Kavita,joshiji,"apsmara" in medical parlance is equivalent to an attacak of epilepsy!as Joshiji has very correctly put it the patient doesn't have a memory of the event.
The beauty of the ‘Nature’ is that whatever has apparently come into existence, (entered ‘kal charka’ or time cycle, the term used by the ancients), continues to remain within the universe at some location or the other, it doesn’t become obsolete – it either just shifts, like dust - removed from the floor - settles at a higher/ lower level, or exist ‘frozen’ in the form of its seed, waiting for the right time for germination (like the possibility of rebirth of Dinosaurs imagined, through human agency, by the story writer of “Juraissic Park”!)
Thus if one was interested, one could find that the planet Jupiter reflects the features of the believable three-in-one creator of physical forms, expressed as Brahma (sun), Vishnu (centre of galaxy) and Mahesha (the now evolved earth at the end of Satyuga in the rising stage). For, even today it has a large store of hydrogen, the element that mainly constitutes any star in gaseous form, but in a liquefied form at a tremendously high pressure; although comparatively smaller, it has Saturn-like rings (‘sudershan chakra’ of Hindu Mythology) ; and the heavenly body Io, its earth-like satellite…the mythological story about Brahma seated on the lotus flower on a plant that had evolved from Vishnu’s navel (also human’s, believably in concentrated essence form, which feeds the unborn child in its mother’s womb) thus could perhaps be an indication of evolution of Sun from Jupiter…
Having attempted afresh, I have apparently seen the likely locations of essences of heavenly bodies on human body, viz. #1 planet Mars at the tip of the tail-bone end (‘Mooladhar chakra’); #2& 3 that of Jupiter at the navel (‘Swa-adisthan chakra’, or the ‘house where He Himself is seated’) and of Sun at the solar plexus (‘Manipuraka chakra’); #4 that of planet Venus at the throat (‘Vishuddhi chakra’); #5& 6 that of Earth-Moon at the-brow& top of the head (‘Ajna’ and ‘Sahasrara chakras’). We are left with #7 Mercury, likely location chest (‘Anahat chakra’), and #8 Asteroids represented by their leader, Ceres, likely location between “mooladhar’ and ‘Swadhistan’… The point below the navel is considered “rejuvenation point” in Acupuncture and in the war between Rama and Ravana, it was Sugriva’s ‘vanar sena’ or the essences of planetoids that helped Rama to retrieve Sita from the clutches of Ravana…
[Jupiter that is Brihaspati is indicated as the Guru of the demi-gods or ‘devtas’, whereas, Venus that is 'Shukracharya' is considered as the Guru of the demons or leader of the negative forces, i.e., the forces that delay reaching the 'Truth'...The mythological story about four stages in the ‘churning of the milky ocean’, about nectar or ‘amrit’ distribution in the end by Vishnu in Mohini form (essence of Moon) to ‘devtas’, indicates demon Rahu also to have received it deceptively and thus rendering him immortal (‘anahat’?) too. Similarly, Kunti’s son born out of her ear, Karna, also joined demon-like Duryodhan against the ‘devta-like’ Pandavas in the story of Mahabharat, thus lending support to the location of Ultra-violet rays as the essence of the planet Mercury at the chest level…]
With the above background, I have tried to relate the eight ‘chakras’ or ‘bandhas’, that is ‘locks’, each with a selected colour of the rainbow including ultra-violet and infra-red rays, as essence of a particular planet with the background knowledge from their usage carried over through time immemorial in India. And, then have attempted to determine the control planet for a given individual, male of female, and the likely gemstones that believably need to be energized from the particulars of their time of birth (IST)…The same could perhaps have also been attempted by someone using musical notes as ‘beej mantras’ related with those planets, as ‘OM’ believably helps in activating the essence of planet Mars…
In the beginning, I tried gemstones based on palmistry. My first successful test was on an allopathic doctor whose gastro-enteritis was diagnosed from his drooping 'head-line' towards the mound of moon, and almost cured by use of a small pearl worn on his sacred thread as a pendant. He earlier needed some injection, when he used to experience acute stomach-ache in the clinic or at home, from his colleagues or his doctor wife. Later he could manage the aches just with tablets as those then had become milder…
At a later stage, inspired by the believable use of ‘tele-therapy’ by the ancients using ‘mantras’ or sound energy, I have instead used certain gemstones over the photograph of the concerned individual at locations I thought would be suitable for the concerned who were willing to act as guinea-pigs. And, I have noticed change in their apparent physical/ mental status irrespective of their location and or distance from the location of application of the gemstones as communicated by them…God being mischievous, the study remains yet to be perfected…
Kavitha,
Your work is mind-boggling and very inspiring at the same time. I wish I had half as commitment to my writing as yours! I never thought that I would be so interested in temples. The credit is to your amazing narrative. Please keep up the good work.
Thank you Kaushalji. Its the inspiration i get from all the responces that keeps me regularly writing to my blog.
I am crazy about temples and i keep digging as much information as i can about them, and when people begin to appreciate these temples i just feel very happy that i accomplished something at the end of the day.
Do keep visiting and thanks again.
Regds
Kavitha
Yes, Kavitha, it is the audience that helps the musician to strive hard to perform better, and still better, with time, i.e, there is an evolutionary process involved in any phenomenon related with ‘fine arts’ too...No one today with one's musical performance is seen to attract deers, or melt stone or light lamps as Tansen reportedly could having been trained by a spiritual personality, Swami Haridas...
Pandit Onkar Nath Thakur in a talk cum singing programme, which I too happened to attend as a young boy, at least could be heard by the last man in the big hall when electric supply had failed for some time - by virtue of his ‘tapasya’ or hours of 'riyaz' or daily practice as explained by him…
It could perhaps be an indication that, Satyuga or Kaliyuga, ‘OM' is relevant even today!
Like Shri Kaushal, I am also interested in music, particularly Hindustani Classical, although as part of an audience only… Also, fortunately I had the opportunity to attend to audio-visual performances by certain top notchers, viz. Pandits Ravi Shankar& Bhim Sen Joshi, Ali Akbar Khan, Vilayat Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, and so many other great ones of their times – a long list…
The advantage of being an innocuous part of the audience - of a performance of, say a drama or a music recital on the stage - is that one gets to appreciate the roles of all the performers related with the presentation as a whole in an itegrated manner, whereas, each performer personally concentrates mainly on its own role. It is the appreciation received from the audience from time to time, say during any musical item in India, that encourages the ‘actors’ to try to perform better even as the item progresses. “East is East…” therefore, Indian musicians, to add to their their suspense, come to know only at the end of a rendition before a ‘western audience’ their reaction from the amplitude and duration of the clapping!
One could perhaps then appreciate the wisdom of the ancients who apparently took care to encourage attainment of ‘siddhi’ or all round knowledge, for integrated development through one’s day-to-day activities…Besides its small and sleepy eyes for concentrated vision, Ganesha has big elephant-ears indicating the importance of audience, and large amount of information locked up at the ‘Mooladahar’ in humans!
its awesome. whole of the blog. its pleasure that i could find this blog. gr8 work kavitha.. keep going..
Splendid, Kavitha, And very true! Thank you so much!
I was looking for an inspirational text in spiritual preparation for the Shravan-month and I found this philosophical/devotional poem of yours of September 6, 2006 as my first hit. And while reading it for the first time I knew by heart it fulfils my bhakti desire entirely!
May the Great Lord & Best God bless you, protect you, guide you and keep going on with inspiring you!
Aum namah Shivaya |||·
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