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Thiruvanaikkaval, Srirangam:
We walked into the temple, the thick stone walls beat out the heat. The cool dark interiors were most welcoming for any tired traveler seeking the blessings of the Lord. Its a small temple but here we witnessed tradition in full swing. It was the time for the Uchyakala puja, at the stroke of 12.00pm
It was not a Cinderella we saw, but quite something else. Having completed the worship and abhishekam of the Mother goddess at the Amman shrine, a priest came dressed in a maroon silk saree with rudraksha beads round his neck. Two beaded necklaces hung down from a well covered chest and a benign look on his face made him look very close to the Goddess Herself.
He walked in gracefully, his calm face adding to the charm. He wore a crown on his head, a brilliant maroon velveted crown with semi precious stones depicting Lord Shiva Jambukeshwara on it. He carried a pot with water almost making it appear like Parvati, the consort of the Lord who had descended to bathe Him with her very hands. He looked divine, straight out of the 11th century walking into the temple today.
The thick wooden doors creaked open, and he slipped through while the crowd savored the spectacle they had just witnessed. We waited for a few moments more, understanding why he was dressed that way when the doors were thrown open to all.
The very incarnate of the Goddess who had bathed the Lord now held the flame up to Him. The Arti started and each lamp with a million tiny flames was served up in circular motion to the Lord who stayed behind a grill window. The fire rose into the air, the smoke clouding the interiors, a figure raised his hands, adorned with a crown on his head that was taken straight out of Krishnadeva Raya's closet. I wondered what else there was hidden within these small towns that boast more of our living culture than the cities.
Minutes after the flames rose, and the bells rang, the crowd was allowed to visit the sacred shrine of the Lord representing water. We all moved in, taking our respective queues but no where could we set eyes on that Goddess again. She was just gone.
P.S. This is just my rough attempt to capture that moment to you. Please excuse lack of proportion in the sketch.
28 comments:
Kavitha, We have seen earlier also how physical forms could well just be thoughts within the one and only Formless Creator’s head, or His dream, such that ‘India’ once upon a time believably was an island called Jambudweep (Jambukeshwar), which the present day Sri Lanka might help us in visualizing as the symbolic representation of ‘India’ at a certain believable given point of time till the Himalayas believably evolved from within the bed of the sea on the north side of Jambudweep.
Maybe, the above could be visualized to have happened at the same time when moon, the source of water on earth, evolved from our earth as a result of some explosive eruption of a volcano, as is depicted in the mythological story of Shiva-Parvati’s marriage consequent upon death of Ardhanarishwar Shiva’s original better half Sati, whose evolved form Parvati Herself believably was.
The mythological stories indicate how Shiva was androgynous God or ‘Ardhanarishawara’, represented by land and water the two of the ’panchabhoota’ or the five ‘ghosts’ or ‘panchatatva’ that is ‘five elements’ that believably go into the formation of all innumerable physical forms in the believably illusory universe/ ‘mitha jagat’ that is the world considered as a market where only lies are sold as the different ‘truths’!
The various ‘truths’ have apparently been preserved and presented in ancient Hindu temples in India, like specimens in man-made museums, providing an opportunity for in-depth studies by seekers to reach at the essence or ‘satva’ that is ‘Absolute Truth’, zero time and space related with the Creator that believably requires reaching a zero thought state to reach Him – the omnipotent and the omnipresent!
Kavitha,
As I have earlier also commented elsewhere, time is reportedly moving backwards, thus reflecting perfection in human life too only at the beginning of Satyuga, that is, existence of Yogeshwar Shiva as the model of ever perfect Earth. And, His reflections increasing with time to become infinite (like the base of a pyramid) at the end of Brahma’s day - at the end of Kaliyuga - that believably is equal to over 4 billion terrestrial years to cover the entire space in 1080 cycles, (although rounded off to 1000 by ancients, but correctly reflected proportionately in 108 beads used in ‘rudraksha mala’, that is, garland made from the seeds of Rudraksha trees, or 108 shivalingas at remote rocky places in hill streams since time immemorial by the ancients, as you too have indicated elsewhere), to cover the three aspects of 360 degrees of space/ globe.
The ancients also indicated fish as the first evolved animal form of Vishnu. This should logically mean that the last one to be seen undergoing deterioration when time moving backwards reaches the end of Kaliyuga.
Therefore, in view of the above, my attention was naturally attracted to the news reported from Boise, Idaho, USA, that about 250,000 rainbow trout had died in a sudden disease outbreak January this year at a southwestern Idaho fish hatchery in Nampa. It was reportedly a loss of about 8 percent of Idaho's annual output of catchable-sized trout.
Also it was intimated that in addition to the outbreaks in Nampa, a sudden thunderstorm last year washed debris-laden runoff into Idaho's Sawtooth hatchery near Stanley, weakening chinook salmon and making them more susceptible to the parasite, ichthyophthirius multifilis, or 'ich' in short.
The present day astronomers are excited as they apparently, believably, saw the brightest-ever supernova when a star - perhaps more than 150 times the mass of our sun – exploded in a galaxy close to our Milky Way galaxy long ago and detected only last year when the bright light was seen through NASA’s orbiting Chandra X-ray observatory as well as ‘earthbound’ optical telescopes as it reached their eyes after traveling many trillions of kilometers.
The ancient Hindus, realizing the ‘Truth’ of human being as model of the universe (or ‘image of God’ in the west - stated as such perhaps by the Euro Aryans), for common man’s sake called ‘Krishna’ ‘the light of thousand suns’. And, the present day ‘scientists’ also believe a ‘Black Hole’ to be housed at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy.
Thanks to the Hindu mythological stories/ ‘Krishnaleela’, a lay Hindu even today is aware of powerful and yet lovable personality called Krishna in human form to have believably lived in the region close to present day Mathura/ Brindavan on the banks of the River Yamuna, during Dwaperyuga. And, one could also learn that Krishna in the Gita indicated formless or Nirakar Vishnu/ Shiva represented by Earth as its best model, or his Supreme form that was attained through evolutionary processes in the long lost past at the end of an era called Satyuga, having started from Nadbindu or the formless point source of supreme energy at the beginning of Kaliyuga.
They also realized apparent physical forms in the universe to be symbolic representation of different forms of the one and only energy, a phenomenon that is also understood only to a limited extent by the present day ‘scientists’, (with Einstein indicating through an equation the relationship between Energy produced as equal to product of the mass and the square of the speed of light), who are yet to reach the advanced stage believably reached by the ancients because of ‘Time’ or ‘Mahakal Shiva’ that is ‘controller of Time’ or Bhootnath the Lord of the Past whose 'Maya' or illusion is beyond average human being - and realize the 'Absolute Truth' or only the existence of Formless Being in the whole universe!
After having indicated that all characters are sysmbolic, like Kali representing the destructive force at the centre of earth, Durga the eight-handed Goddess as the creative force represented by Moon, Ganesha representing a character that represents planet Mars and also reflects a combination of both the ‘Mothers’, or forces, ‘Kali’ as well as ‘Durga’, a fort-like protective force/ Parvati, and so on, Kavitha, I would like to add that your beautiful line sketch symbolocally helps in visualizing a typical ‘Pujari’, who believably is supposed to act as a medium, or an agent of Ganesha, that is a Gana, to help the devotees reach the concerned God/ deity. It’s like a job performed by a telephone operator in aiding communication between two individuals separated by large distances in space.
Similarly perhaps, one could visualize all human beings, considered together, to get reflected by the eight planets believed to be actively participating in the drama in human life, with Saturn as the witness/ juggler. Thus there would be about one billion human beings on an average related with each planet today, out of the selected eight, to reflect the different aspects of the characteristic properties to truly represent each of the concerned planet.
Accepting earth/ human body as model of the universe, one could then imagine lying on the back with the head towards the west and feet towards the east as Hindu thoughts indicate Vishnu/ Shiva likewise reclining. One would realize the right hand side (physically powerful ‘Somaskandha’ or Kartikeya represented by blue colour through peacock as his vehicle/ Neelamber Krishna, the mischievous one who wore peacock feather in his crown) and the sympathetic nervous system on the right to represent (River) Yamuna nadi. And, similarly, the left hand side, where heart is located, to represent (River) Brahmaputra ‘nadi’ related with Sun (Brahma/ Rama/ Arjuna) & Moon (Parvati/ Sita, (meaning cold)/ Draupadi in different Yugas) and also Peetamber Krishna, the one who wore yellow garments also.
The above could also further indicate the left and right eyes to be related with Moon and Sun respectively, both believably illuminated by Krishna Himself (Vide the Gita). These two heavenly bodies believably identified Rahu as a demon, though a bit late as the brain (the ‘third eye’ of Shiva) naturally takes some time to analyse perceptions from different angles received through the two different eyes in human body, even though he was dressed to appear like a devta or demi-god (Vide the story regarding churning of the milky ocean/ knowledge about our Milky Way galaxy)! And, hence, he lost his lower body - being cut by Vishnu with His 'sudershanchakra' - that hadn’t yet received the ‘amrit’ or the drink (somrus, that is sunlight, perhaps) that made the demi-gods, or the members of the solar system, immortal or permanent.
The story of Mahabharata, pertaining to Dwaperyuga, depicts the basic design of human behaviour - as it is correlated with heavenly bodies - as understood by the ancients. That is to say, seggregation of members of the solar system into three basic groups, associated either with hot colours or cold colours, the ‘good’/ positive, the ‘bad’/ negative, and the ‘indifferent’/ neutral. Krishna or (River) Ganga or Susumna nadi acted as a neutral ambassador. And, to elongate the drama, He preferred to act thus, as long as He wasn’t obliged to join either of the two groups, that is, He waited for the ‘right time’, perhaps as it was destined or designed in resect of the concerned individual in the natural hierarchy/ human society as a whole towards the end of the concerned Yuga.
Generally speaking, Sun and Mars are indicated as neutral. For, Sun is associated with Ultra-violet as well as Infra-red rays, and Ganesha/ Hanuman representing Mars is depicted as related with both destructive (Kali/ Anjani) as well as (Parvati/ Sita) the creative force.
Maybe with a view to keeping the knowledge confined between ‘brahmins’, the ‘wise’ ancient 'Hindus' used a code language, and conveyed through cryptical clues - for the benefit of anyone who could understand the language, for Krishna says that anyone can reach Him - Ganesha as ‘vighnaharta’, related with Satyuga, and Hanuman as ‘sankata mochan’, related with Trtayuga, as the links between man and God, or the two ‘trouble shooters’ that are assigned the charge of ridding humans of the ‘sins’ of the ‘past’, or driving the ‘ghosts’ away!
The ‘wise’ Yogis, advanced in cosmoslogy related with human structure, after in-depth analysis, perhaps realized the essence of planet Mars housed at the ‘Mooladhar bandha’, or the basic lock (crocodile’s jaw –like), to hold the overall universal knowledge, which is under the control of the Formless Creator, Vishnu, represented by planet Saturn the holder of beautiful rings or the ‘sudershanchakradhari’ at the beginning of the eternal drama in the Kaliyuga through Krishna that is the centre of our Milky Way galaxy/ planet Jupiter as its model (for it too has rings like Saturn although smaller and dirtier) with essence housed at teh navel level in humans. And, the overall knowledge believably is also held in the head that houses the essence of Moon in the ‘Sahasrara bandha’ at the end of the Satyuga. And, at any other time, the inelligence of individual is judged by the information/ energy that reach the head, up from the ‘mooladhar’ as it is released thanks to 'Om' (the 'beej mantra' or the sound energy that represents Nadbindu the Formless Creator, Vishnu/ Shiva the ‘Mahakal’ or controller of time who has an hour-glass shaped percussion instrument, called ‘dumroo’ (referring to earth/ human form)!
Kavitha, your desire to read all about Hindu mythology brings to my mind that when we were young, it was common for us to blame our ‘wise ancients’ not to have passed on to our generation all that they knew. But, now when I am old perhaps I can appreciate that they had in fact done so, but it was our own faulty eyes (mischievous Krishna's symbolic forms) that weren’t able to realize that they had in fact communicated the ‘Truth’ even in three words, “Satyam Shivam Sunderam”, the essence, and also in innumerable mythological stories, that first needed in-depth overall knowledge to appreciate them, like the ancients, the ‘siddhas’, would perhaps have done writing those.
Even when we are too far from the ultimate and presently appear to be heading towards dissolution of the entire human race due to lack of knowledge about the environment vis-à-vis human purpose, whatever knowledge we humans apparently have amassed about the ‘Nature’ till date is found recorded in different languages in different forms of writings: in manuscripts, books, hard discs of PCs, Cds, DVDs, ipods, microfilms, and so on that we are finding hard even to preserve, leave aside making it available to all and sundry free of cost as one would have liked it. And, besides those one could visualize that a lot of it might lie within the heads/ bodies of the innumerable species of animals, including man, such as some of the ‘Munis’, as unpublished works, which if also known could have thrown some more light and thus man could have learnt how to live peacefully like ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ or one earth’s family that the ‘wise’ ancients apparently realized animal life on earth to be...that is, the common soul reflecting innumerable forms - of the one and only Formless Creator - that look different from one another!
Difficult for an average human to believe! Isn't it?
The story of Mahabharata in a code language indicates Formless Shiva to be represented by the apparent inert ‘Mrityulok’ or illusory Earth - that has ‘mouths and eyes’ everywhere as reportedly seen by Arjuna through ‘divya chakshu’ or ‘divine eyes’ made available to him by Krishna! And, He also said that anybody and everybody; male or female, belonging to any caste or creed; could reach Him, if only they ‘surrendered in Him’!
Every mature human being comes to learn in due course that all life forms on earth are temporary, and that all apparent physical forms ‘die’ and eventually turn into dust (held in a grave for some time, like being stuck up between His teeth!) or ash (on being cremated) and merge naturally with the top-soil of Earth, or Shiva, as the supreme form of Krishna.
This phenomenon occurs over a life span that is variable from one person to another and also from one form to another, with the average life expentancy of humans beings apparently lying between zero and a maximum of 100 plus/ minus some years in the present, despite all out efforts made by ‘experts’ to increase it.
During one life term on earth, if one were to pause for a moment and use one’s mind’s eyes’, that is, analyse the observed data collected day after day based only on one’s own experience even, each individual could realize that one, in reality, surrenders every moment of one’s life to someone or something, be it a boss/ family member/ friend/ hunger/ sleep/ and so on and so forth. But, the ‘rebel unborn’ within each doesn’t permit one to ‘surrender in God’ as one is naturally ‘outward bound’, like the innumerable pieces of papers that fly high up and land on earth at different locations after an explosion of, say, a cracker that perhaps acts as a model of ‘Black Hole’ or Krishna, but to a limited extent only. It demonstrates only an imperfect stage of Krishna, with energy distributed over eight energy centres within the human body – needing the process of implosion or concentration of total energy at one point by the ‘seeker’ within one’s head to reach the ‘Absolute Truth’!
Kavitha, in one of your earlier posts you had written about Bharata Natyam the art of classical dance perfected at some stage in South India that is believably related with Ardhanarishwar Shiva. And, the commonly known ‘Tandava Nritya’, believably related with Shiva’s lovable male component because of His simple nature despite His spiritual strength and being considered as the ‘destroyer’, is popular all over India as it fills an average man’s heart with fear of ‘pralaya’ or ‘doom’s day’, although a truth of human life on earth, and conveys the thought behind the saying, “Beware of the fury of a patient man”!
In the north, however, stories related with the character of Krishna, depicting day to day incidents in His life vis-à-vis that of common cowboys and milk-maids of Brindaban, and presented in the dance form of Kathak, are found more appealing by an average man even today in the North. For, one sees interaction of common man with God in one’s day to day apparently boring life, thus filling one with the hope of ‘avataras’ or reincarnations of God appearing on earth again and again amidst common man of ‘India’.
Mirabai, a historical figure, symbolically represented by a woman associated with her one-stringed instrument, ‘ektara’, is one of the many characters who were virtually considered mad for public expression of their devoted love for the Creator.
Perhaps a reflection of the above was seen recently in a report on TV about Soni Chaurasia, a 12-year-old girl in Varanasi (the original abode of Lord Shiva!), who performs Kathak dance on roller skates! Presently, she can do it non-stop for 8 hours, and desires to set a world record of 72 hours!
We have earlier also seen how perhaps ‘Ardhanarishwar’, (as it reflects in the early stages in the human infant’s development in its mother’s womb also), represents earth and water the two 'bhootas' or 'ghosts'. Or, when the bigger of the two, i.e, water that compared to land mass covers a larger percentage of earth’s surface, if it is considered alone as it also appears in all the three - solid, liquid and gaseous – forms, like Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesha, the three-in-one form of the believable Creator, then river and sea could respectively be considered as the female and male forms of teh Formless Creator.
In India, perhaps therefore, rivers generally bear female names from time immemorial, except Brahmaputra that alone bears a male name - perhaps as depiction of an ‘avatara’ or reincarnation of the ‘Mother’ that is Sea that sustains innumerable aquatic life forms out of which fish is considered as the first evolved form of Lord Vishnu.
A large percentage of the aquatic life still remains to be seen even, leave aside in-depth knowledge about them, by the believable superior most form of Creator, man! Perhaps, it is attributable to the characteristic property of ‘Time’ that reflects degeneration of material with its passage as Bhootnath is believably viewing its past!
A common word in everyone’s tongue in north India since long is ‘Maya’, that is, illusion, such that the earth was referred as ‘mithya jagat’, that is, a lie or an illusory world. It was considered as a market where only lies were sold!
The story of child Krishna believing the moon to be a toy and demanding to play with it only, and the ‘wise’ King Nanda arranging a basin of water to be placed on the floor such that child Krishna failed to catch its reflection on the surface of water, which acts as a mirror, again and again, communicates the thought how an average man generally continues to chase images only throughout one’s life!
And, it’s a fact that human brain apparently is an analogous computer that recognizes languages that utilize various symbols to each individual based on the training received by one starting from the time and also from one’s spatial location on earth at the time of one's birth.
The ‘wise’ ancient Hindus apparently understood the phenomenon of ‘creation’ of the infinite universe as the apparent thoughts or dreams within the Formless Creator’s, or a point source of energy Nadbindu’s, mind. The dreams, although believably, are related with zero time as well as space, and yet those appear to be related with time that is reckoned related with illusory heavenly bodies and their inter-related movements - as believably realized by its best creation, i.e. the human beings - as ‘His Own images’ at the beginning of Satyuga only, or the age of acheving ‘perfection’ by Nadbindu.
However, the human form is believably designed to symbolically similarly reflect the all round advancement of the Creator - starting from an absolutely ‘imperfect’ or ‘zero’ stage to an infinite or ‘perfect’ stage, generally seen by terrestrials within apparently unending time as a witness only although appearing to be also participating in the drama oneself (as a part of the 'Maya'!)!
The time is apparently divided into two phases, the ‘shukla paksha’, or bright phase, and the ‘krishna paksha’, or the dark phase, as these are related with Moon as it reflects sunrays falling over its surface, which always shows only the same face to the earth, over a total period of one month or a little over 29 days, and as day/ night as it is related with the Sun over 24 hours or one revolution of the earth around its own axis, on an average 12 hours each, or 43,200 seconds (each hour being divided into 60 minutes and each minute into 60 seconds, just as one degree space also is similarly divided into smaller units that too are called minutes and seconds!).
It, therefore, doesn’t appear coincidental that the ancients came to realize the duration of Kaliyuga to be 432,000 terrestrial years,and a Mahayuga (a set of four Yugas) ten times the duration of Kaliyuga as 4.32 million years, and such over 1000, perhaps 1080, cycles to cover the total 360 degrees of space, multiplied by 3 to cover the three aspects of creation, sustenance and trnsformation of physical forms, thus leading to around 4.6 billion years in one day in the life of immortal Brahma the creator of physical form that is our Sun, the source of energy or the creator of forms who also believably goes to sleep during a night of an equal duration as His day!
What a grand illusion it must be!
The sources of natural energy on planets, stars as the heavenly bodies that are 'naturally' found in perhaps the biggest number in the innumerable galaxies in our universe, including our Milky Way galaxy, are formed of a gas called Hydrogen, literally the generator or mother of water, a liquid compound formed of two gases, Hydrogen and Oxygen.
And, crudely speaking, the invisible ‘air’ that 'naturally' exists in earth’s atmosphere and also contains life giving Oxygen in it can only be felt, although, essentially inhaled regularly as a part of a reflex or involuntary action for sustenance of ‘life’.
Besides stars (sources of ‘fire’) and ‘air’, and also the supplier of all material resources, ‘earth’, that one normally takes for granted, water could perhaps be considered as the most important item for existence of ‘life’ on earth and therefore all civilizations have apparently moved from place to place in search of perennial sources of clean water. And, the ones that apparently prospered in the past did so thanks to some perennial river(s) on the banks of which their forerunners apparently settled themselves, most of the time forcibly, of course.
In view of the above, water could perhaps be seen as the most important driving force or an agent around which human activity ever revolves, just as a child’s revolves around its mother (like Earth & Moon relationship, and Hindus believed the mysterious Moon or 'Indu' to be the source of life-giving Ganga, and perhaps as the Creator of Maya too believably having its essence in human head as teh driving force!)!
Happy Mother's day!
Maybe, a ‘seeker’ of significance of ‘Maya’ or illusion could perhaps find ‘Mother Nature’s’ hint in Ms Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) again emerging victorious, but this time with absolute majority in the recent Uttar Pradesh State Assembly elections as its ‘dalit’ or ‘low caste’ leader, with the support of the ’upper castes’ as she matured with time and had gained knowledge about the generally disillusioned mind of the Indian voters in the present, or rather the remote past at the beginning of Kaliyuga!
Interestingly the BSP had elephant as its symbol that during election campaign was projected as representing Ganesha! Also, it is noteworthy that Late Shri Kanshi Ram (misnomer of ‘Kashi’ Ram that is Shiva) was Mayawati’s mentor in the beginning of her political career in the early nineties when she had apparently emerged as the ‘angry young woman’ and number one enemy of ‘Tilak’, ‘Talwar’ or sword, and ‘Taraju’ or a balance, as symbols representing Brahmins, Kshtriyas and the Traders, respectively, believably responsible for suppression of the ‘dalits’ for thousands of years (thus also reflecting the truth of human brain as an analogous computer)!
Krishna, in the Gita, however, said that all wrong actions result from lack of (overall) knowledge. Sant Tulsidas, in Ramayana, said that one saw God in the form according to one’s belief. And, in the Gita, Krishna says to the effect that as all forms are his own images, therefore one could receive whatever one desired through any of the various forms that act only as different media, however, unless He was approached directly one wouldn’t reach Him (that is the absolute truth of the existence of one and only Formless Creator)!
I give below another reaction to an article in 'my' mewspaper, on the subject.
In the ‘Mind Opener’ article, Rewrite Alphabet by Jug Suraiya (May 12), is reflected the overall chaotic condition that existed in almost the remotest past or the near beginning of ‘Kaliyuga’ when perhaps there existed many languages and dialects as means of communication between life forms of innumerable kinds – using signs, or ‘body language’, and phonetic sounds initially (as communicated through original ‘beej mantra’ OM, used by the Creator, Nadbindu for creation of the physical forms in the universe) , which would have evolved as written symbols and would have come into use - nearly 50% perfected by the beginning of Dwaperyuga.
Unfortunately, as per communication in Hindu Mythology since time immemorial, when human race had apparently reached the peak of overall knowledge or ‘Siddhi’ at some stage, the whole universe/ earth, and therefore life on it also believably are illusory, or a result of Formless Creator’s ‘Maya’!
It is perhaps reflected in Mayawati’s BSP of ‘low caste’ people or ‘dalits’, with ‘upper caste’ votes, gaining absolute majority in the UP elections using elephant or Ganesha as Party’s symbol! It is believably because of the chaotic conditions in the country apparently created by the politicians due to maladministration (meaning Duhshashan, the brother of Duryodhan the ‘bad soldier’, in Sanskrit, during Dwaperyuga!)!
Maybe, the ‘Creation’ needs to be visualized with the help of an example, that of production of the best saree, say, irrespective of the cost involved in reaching it, for the human brain apparently is an analogous computer that recognizes only symbols adopted for communication of a thought, as the graphic or alphanumeric symbols, as codes, adopted in any language that first need to be understood by individuals trained to decipher those. Obviously, one would start with innumerable alternative designs, and over perhaps some long period of time might eventually come up with the best saree as judged by the ‘decision maker’ and not the saree maker herself.
I cited the example of the ‘saree’ inspired by ‘Krishna’ who, in the Gita, compares the human body with the garment that one uses to cover the physical body, to cryptically communicate similarly the behaviour of the unborn and unending energy form, or soul, the VIP, as one of the infinite parts of the Formless Creator, Nadbindu, that resides within each different appearing exterior body.
It could be easily appreciated that when the garment is new and also few, one feels relatively more attachment with it. However, when and if one had many new ones in the wardrobe, one could afford to be a bit detached and feel no pain when one is torn or worn out with time. However, ‘slavery of time’, or the ‘fire of desire’, increases more one’s desire to have more and still many more wardrobes, although, those might be felt unnecessary through the eyes of the ‘have-nots’ or ‘siddhas’. The ‘wise’ Hindus, therefore, advised one to remain detached under all circumstances. However, it was also realized that it is the the ‘natural inclination of one’s mind’ - perhaps as part of a grand design of 'Mother Nature' - that governs the behaviour of all physical forms!
The Hindu mythological story of the original consort of (Ardhanarishwar) Shiva, that is, Sati, committing suicide in the ‘sacred fire’ arranged by Her father in connection with a religious ritual to which he didn’t invite Shiva, further narrates how He lifted Her dead body from the fire on to His shoulder and performed ‘Tandava Nritya’ in anger, such that the demi-gods in their selfish interest prayed to Lord Vishnu, for they were afraid that it would result in destruction of earth, the believable centre of the whole universe.
The Lord decided to remove the cause of Shiva’s anger, and therefore with His ‘sudershan-chakra’, He cut away the dead body into 52 pieces, each of which fell at different locations all over the length of the Himalayas. Jwalamukhi, literally ‘flaming mouth’, is the location where her mouth believably fell. And, Nainadevi Temple marks the location where her eyes believably fell. Both places are located in the State of the present day Himachal Pradesh. These symbolically conform to the description of Ma Kali/ Sati who lived in the heart of Shiva.
And, Parvati the daughter of Himalaya believably was Sati's Own form. Parvati’s prayer with a desire to marry Shiva was duly fulfilled at the appropriate time.
Also Shiva is believed to apply crematoriums’ ashes on His body, which could indicate the various animal life forms perhaps getting reflected by dust particles that roll on earth’s surface, (as reflected in the story of the girl in Varanasi who performs Kathak dance on roller skates), freely with air, or in river bodies as sediments (reflected by swimmers/ scuba divers) while Earth-Moon represent prototypes of Shiva-Parvati of the Hindu Mythology in ‘perfect’ human form in Satyuga responsible for the eternal drama.
‘i’ could perhaps be considered the best graphical or symbolic representation of the human form, or 'Ardhanarishwar' Shiva, made up with the help of a number of points.
The dot over the line represents the head that believably houses the essence of moon and stands for the Formless or ‘nirakar’ Creator. And, the line - which is made up of a number of points that individually, believably, house each of the essences of seven other members of our solar system that are placed together - represents the lower body!
And continuing further, Krishna is represented by the numeral '8' (eight) that is two zeros - with the points lying on the line, indicated in the comment above, fused into a single point, or 'Yoga' performed by the 'Yogiraja' Krishna, such that the number now appears like two vessels, one kept over the other.
Also, the numeral '8' when written horizontally, symbolically represents infinity or reclining Krishna/ Vishnu as it is depicted in the Hindu Mythological stories!
The Hindu mythological stories indicate Krishna to have had over 16,000 wives. However, Rukmini and Satyabhama were considered His favourite, in that order.
From the stories, one might guess ‘Satyabhama’ refer to earth and Rukmini to Moon.
The Gita, anyway, indicates all apparent physical forms to be His Own images and, therefore, perhaps as each physical form believably in the words of the ‘wise’ ancients consists of two independent entities, the soul and the body, united or married to each other, every human form therefore could be considered ‘Ardhanarishwar’ Shiva, the Supreme form of Krishna (who is 50% perfect, as He is related with Dwaperyuga) in which the immortal soul is depicted as the male, and 'Sati' the mortal depicts the female part, the believably ‘mayavi’ or illusory form! However, 'Vedanta' indicates all physical forms, male or female, to be illusory!
Another reaction to an article in 'my' newspaper is given below.
“Jahan na pahunche Ravi/ Wahan pahunche Kavi”, is rightly said, for the human brain, being an analogous computer, can teleport man to great heights just with an alphabet!
‘C’, the letter phonetically communicates to me a larger body (of water) that surrounds the land mass the animals inhabit since time immemorial, despite being virtually wiped off it from time to time.
‘C’ also happens to be the first letter of the root of the universe, the believable ‘Creator’ or ‘Nadbindu’, the point source of unlimited energy that exists at the ‘Centre’ of our taken for granted earth, and not EARTH, that it believably created as His Own perfect image with sound energy represented by the symbol ‘OM’ or numeral ‘3’ (three) with certain attachments using alphanumeric symbols!
The present day ‘scientists’ recorded sounds that emanate from the planet Saturn a few decades ago that sounded like a mix, or ‘cocktail’, of beating of drums, tinkling of bells and ‘chirping’ of birds. And, recently they have recorded the stringed musical instrument guitar-like sounds emitted by our own Sun! And, Goddess Saraswati, the consort of Brahma the creator, of Hindu Mythology believably played Veena, a stringed musical instrument!
Present day ‘Hindus’, the name derived from ‘Indu’ the moon, believably the cause of lunacy in men, apparently take special precaution to see that there is no mention of Her in their writings! The ‘Creator’ must be ‘Clever’ as well as mischievous or ‘Natkhat’, like Krishna the Nandlal!
Although the whole universe/ earth might just be ‘Maya’ or illusion, but still it is great! Once one were to accept it that life is illusion created by a Supreme Being, one could appreciate how the whole nation was taken by Saturn (related with blue colour) for a ride through the ‘blue-eyed’ actress of Bollywood, and the symbolic Big ‘B’ (Brahma, the creator's hand?)!
Today one appreciates illusion created by man-made films lot more than God’s creation of ‘perfect illusion’ as it is presented in ‘Nature’. Man is consciously or unconsciously always attempting to copy the perfection that one believably appreciates in ‘Nature’, although its attempt to project 3-D films, in order to make them look more real and closer to Nature, those didn’t produce the desired impact on the spectators and the project was shelved. However, man is always apparently attempting to make ‘advancement’ in IT with the apparent passage of time while on one hand feeling proud of whatever negligible he has been able to achieve, and frustrated on the other hand, with the knowledge that there still remains lot more to be achieved!
We have earlier also seen how the south-west coast of India was realized by the ancient Hindus to be playing an important role in the eternal life-giving water cycle, as reflected in the Elephanta caves, wherein the ‘panchabhoota’, or literally the ‘five ghosts’, (that together are considered Bhootnath Shiva the Lord of the Past), that is, sky, earth (including river Ganga’s water); fire, or energy; air; and Yamuna water (even though it is relatively is more polluted), were represented in the saying, “Na-mah Shi-va-ya”.
Wheras, Dwarka, on the west coast of Gujarat, on the shore of the Arabian Sea, features in most of the legends surrounding Lord Krishna as the reincarnation of Vishnu in Dwaperyuga, who believably eventually ruled his kingdom from here.
With the background information, as indicated in the story of the battle of Mahabharata, that Krishna’s conch-shell, or ‘Shankha’, was known as ‘Panchajanya’, that is, the source of sound that produced the ‘Panchatatva’ or ‘Panchabhoota’ that go into the formation of all physical forms, it is interesting to read in the popular mythological stories that Dwarka believably is the place where Krishna slew the demon ‘Shankhasura’!
Also, the Puranas mention 12 Jyotirlingas, (that represent Lord Shiva), which believably manifested in different parts of the country. One of these, known as the Nageshwar Mahadev, is believably located in Dwarka.
The stories related with Krishna, literally ‘Black’, as a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, (from whose navel Brahma the sun as the source of white light evolved), in Dwaperyuga when human efficiency of a maximum of only 50% of the potential in Satyuga believably is possible, depict him as the mischievous or ‘natkhat’ Nandlal the son of King Nanda (and Mother Yashoda) who brought him up, although, he was believably born of Ma Devaki and father Vasudeva inside a prison in Mathura. They were confined there by Devaki’s powerful brother and King of Mathura, Kansa, because of “akashvani” or a prediction made - on the very day their marriage was apparently happily performed - that their eighth son would kill him!
And, as it was believably destined, Kansa was killed by young Krishna, he having escaped from the prison immediately after his birth, as luck would have it, perhaps thus indicating that human life events are possible to be predicted at any time, for they believably are following certain rules the ancients Yogis realized through meditation or Yoga and computations based on the believable interaction between 'Krishna' and 'Radha', the mysterious girl in the life of Krishna, that is, black and white colour that further gets divided into seven other visible colours, that were correlated further with different members of the solar system…
And, in fact, certain Yogis are believed capable of viewing at any time the events related with any given individual in their mind’s eye, referred as ‘Shiva’s third eye’, depending on how much their soul was elevated based on their past, for it was realized that each human form is a working model of the Formless Creator and the drama is being viewed in the reverse order of time - from Satyuga to Kaliyuga!
I had earlier indicated certain events that occurred in my life for which I couldn’t find any ‘rational’ explanations based on the present day ‘scientific knowledge’, although I am myself a graduate of ‘science’ and 'applied science', that is, engineering too.
One such was related with my daughter, aged around 10 years then, telling me at Guwahati - almost at the same time it was scheduled to take off from New Delhi - that my fight to Imphal was cancelled! The plane did arrive there, but late due to some technical problem and returned to New Delhi!
It set me thinking why the message wasn’t delivered to me directly? Why through my daughter? Did my late mother have anything to do with it? For, only then I recalled that it happened to be her third death anniversary as per the calendar date, about which I wasn’t conscious as the concerned annual rites, according to the lunar calendar, were her eldest son’s, my elder brother’s, responsibility as per the accepted Hindu customs.
I now believe that it had something to do with Moon, ‘Jagadamba’ or the mother of Earth that is Shiva, whose models all human beings believably are!
Hi Joshi Uncle,
Its overwhelming to see your comments and responses and i will need sometime to go through all of it. Unfortunately i have been paralyzed lately with no internet connection at home,hence office is the only way to read and I am trying to fish out time for that.
I should be making my next post in a hurry.
:)
Rgds
Kavitha
Hi Kavitha, it is with the knowledge that one isn't allowed much spare time these days by 'Mahakal' the controller of time that I have been going on emptying the contents of my garbage-bin-like brain!
I recall in my school days we had a matheamatics teacher who never punished any student for not doing the home-work. He would simply ask how many students had completed all questions. Naturaly, there would be some hands raised. Then he would ask how many had done only four, out of five, say, and then he would solve the fifth one on the black-board. So, everyone copied it. Like this, he would solve almost all the questions by the end of the period. The solution to those questions got duly transferred by each student in their respective note-books!
In this manner, every student had useful material in his possession to refer before the exams, and therefore not get panicky and run from pillar to post!
Best wishes!
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