10.21.2007

Ravan Dahan and Dussehra



Ranchi, 1984 Ravan Dahan


The day came to a close with the rising moon and I shut out the lights for a good night sleep. But sleep, there was none, not even a wink, for the Ramlila next door ran right into the night. Folk
music clouded the atmosphere and left little room for anyone to try sleeping. It was a couple of years later that I went with my father to witness one such Ramlila and watched Hanuman running around the stage, performing to an enthralled audience.

Those days were exciting, as we prepared the next day to go to see the Ravan Dahan which was planned to start at Sunset. The puja vacation had been good so far, with Durga Maa pandals dotting the Ranchi landscape, each pandal profusely decorated with new found creativity.


We reached early, and my father made it a point that my sister and I get the best view. Ranchi is a small little town, we just have one big Ravan back there standing in all his finery with
Kumbhakaran and Meghnath on either side. All three stood center ground as the crowds began to gather around them. Ravan had his heads dominating the skyline and as I watched him, perched on the roof of one of the apartments, my childish heart sat back watching him loaded effigy wondering why he was so evil - a big bad evil king, loaded with paper and fire crackers, ready to be burnt.

As the sun set, three huge trucks drove into the maidaan(ground) with the great Lord Ram and his vaanar(monkey) army zooming around the effigies of the three evil kings. A much much smaller army and smaller men, displayed their might against these static effigies representing evil. And then it happened, Ram shot the first burning arrow right into the stomach of Kumbhakaran while Lakshman took Meghnath. Two fiery arrows flew into the air from the truck below and lit the anxiety in every one's heart. Will it reach the effigy?

Sure it did, and Kumbhakaran and Meghnath ran into flames, spreading light and color into the air as they burnt down. Then Ram struck again from the truck, and it hit Ravan straight in the
heart and the crowds cheered! The most evil king had been hit on this day, and he fell into flames as the rising fire burnt into him sending sparks and crackers into the air. It was just beautiful, living the Ramayan a top a roof as the smoke rose into the air.

And here I sit, looking at the same Ravan, who is also one of the greatest devotees of Lord Shiva. He excelled in playing the veena, such was his devotion that he played the tunes from the veins of his hand. Such was his greatness, that the Ravana Anugrahamurthi describes him to have had the will power and strength enough to shake mount Kailasa, because he wanted to take Kailasa back to Lanka, but Lord Shiva pressed down the mountain with His toe. Its strange Ravan has been unsuccessful in uprooting Kailasa, and in bringing back one of the Jyothir Lingas. Much as Lord Shiva appreciated his worship, He never went to Lanka with Ravan. My question is, was Ravan really all that evil?

Courtesy: Glossary of Indian art.

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Kavitha, It’s a narration of an interesting ‘travel in time’ – to the relatively ‘recent past’ in the life of the over 4 billion years old immortal earth, the believable centre of the universe by ancient ‘Hindu’ astronomers, in Satyuga the age of ‘Truth’, while the present day ‘western’ astronomers are believably seen in research of the ‘Truth’ in Kaliyuga the dark age as it was in the beginning when ‘churning’ had just begun resulting in appearance of ‘Brahma on the lotus’ from Vishnu’s navel, that is, appearance of Sun, followed by other members of the solar system that were dependent on solar energy as they guzzle it for their ‘selfish interest’, and therefore perhaps described as demons, as the story further describes evolution of demons from Vishnu’s ears who grew in size!

Brahma, or the sun, as ‘scientists’ tell us, know and believe it to have a limited span of life depending on its stock of Hydrogen in its core. And, also that it is getting depleted as Hydrogen gas is getting consumed in production of the nuclear energy!

Although it believably still has sufficient stock of Hydrogen to last for billions of years, as per ancient Hindus, it (Brahma) is designed to continue indefinitely by going to sleep after 1080 cycles of Mahayugas and restart the 'Ramleela' that is the drama of Suryavanshi Kings, during one more day, and so on, day after day till eternity!

Anonymous said...

cmbffKavitha, 'I' give below an essence of some Hindu thoughts.

Shiva the Natraj is shown to have a man lying under His foot that is called 'Apsmara Purush' indicating an average man as the one who isn't able to recall memory of 'Satyuga' or the 'Truth', described in three words, "Satyam Shivam Sunderam," although the whole information is believably recorded in one's chakras, literally 'wheels', that the word 'ashtachakra', or 'Ashtabhujadhari Durga' indicates to be eight in numbers within the human body also there are models in the forms of web-spinner spider (the spinner of stories, Katyayini-like), octopus and so on. Or bandhas, literally 'locks', which the 'Yogiraja Krishna' in the Gita links with 'Graha', literally the crocodile, (that can hold the powerful 'gaja' the elephant in its powerful jaws), and also the word applies to the members of the solar system - which fascinates the Palmists and Astrologers too!!!!

A 'born Hindu' might believe in Ma Durga in a ritualistic way because of one's birth in a 'Hindu' family and therefore being subjected to a certain environment right from one's birth...

However, every literate today perhaps knows that 50% of the IQ is achieved in the first 4-5 years of one's birth, while the rest is attained over the remaining part of one's life...and there may be 'turning points' in one's life such that a 'dacoit' might appear to turn into a 'sage' (like iron is turned into gold by alchemists), or vice-vesa...

A few however might know that Hindus represented universal energy or Shakti (Sati) by female forms of 'Mother', as the formless creator of tehphysical universe, after having realized man as 'a model of the universe' or 'image of God'. And, different colours hidden in it, (say Ma Gouri the white sunlight), as its different essences (such as Red indicated as the tongue of Ma Kali, the black or dark one reflected by the space that holds all physical forms within it) that could be seen through the apparatus called an 'eye', and in the vision apparently there is no confusion, for 'Green Colour' is green for everyone (unless one is colour blind - for there are exceptions to all rules!)...

However, energy remained as an entity that could be felt to varying intensities by different individuals - or not felt at all: example Prahlad and Holika in the stories, and 'believers' and 'non believers' at any time irrespective of the Yuga concerned: example Ravana in Tretayuga, like many today, didn't believe in Rama as a reincarnation of 'Durga' or by whatever name you might like to call it, viz. Nirakar Vishnu/ Shiva, and so on, depending on the exposure in your 'present life form' of a short duration - although Hindus believed 'you' also to have transformed from a pure energy state through 8.4 million 'animal forms' to have eventually reached the most evolved form of MAN thereby becoming eligible to participate in the race (and not racism!) to realize first Her existence and then the purpose for which the Formless Creator has taken the trouble to create you too!

Anonymous said...

Kavithaji, I am surprised to see how the letters ‘cmbff’ appeared in the above comment, perhaps on account of load-shedding just at the time ‘I’ was getting ready to post it. Sorry!

And, Krishna - the believable mischievous representative of Vishnu - put the blame on lack of overall knowledge for all ‘wrong’ doings while, on the other hand, making it absolutely clear that it was all His drama in which His Own, various illusory forms, or images participated to apparently generate a hierarchy – in both, amongst the various apparent opposites in ‘Nature’, the ‘good’ as well as ‘bad’ characters...

Perhaps, the saying, “One man’s meat is another man’s poison”, explains the basis of the design…and perhaps it is the ‘i’, for inferiority complex, that is responsible for various emotions, viz. hatred, jealousy, and so on, and also all misunderstandings…

It is perhaps due to lack of knowledge that an Urdu language poet said, “Agar nasha hota sharab mein/ Tow nachti botal.” That is, if alcohol was intoxicating, the bottle (in which it was contained) should have danced! And, there are umpteen numbers of stories regarding ‘djinns’, or generally ‘evil spirits’, confined in corked bottles, like ‘Hindu belief’ of the soul imprisoned within each human body and practices related with tantriks for control of inferior souls for certain purposes – good or bad...

And, Shiva is famous for His dance, intoxicated with ‘somrus’ that is 'moonlight' itself! And, an average human being dances at all times when he is happy and, for example, even when a bowler in the game of cricket claims the wicket of a ‘good and well set’ batsman in T-20/ ODI/ 5-day matches, and create a controversy!

Anonymous said...

Kavitha, To an observant person, it might look ominous that before Dussehra day, when ‘Vanar Sena’ of the ‘flying monkey’, Hanuman, in support of Lord rama, was believably engaged in fight with Meghnad/ Ravana’s army in Tretayuga, the Deputy Mayor of Delhi - while he was reportedly chasing away monkeys - fell from the roof-top and succumbed to the head injuries! And, the state Govt. is blaming the centre for its inability to overcome the monkey menace in Delhi!

And also, during this year in Delhi, the ‘blue-line’ buses - (blue colour is associated with Krishna, as ‘Neelamber’ and also with physically powerful Kartikeya, Shiva-Parvati’s, or Skandhamata’s son, who rides the blue peacock, as his vehicle, and so also with Neelkantha Shiva/ Saturn, which is also associated with steel and nerves in human body) - have already crushed almost one hundred ‘innocent’ persons on the NCR roads…And, it is well known how the muscle-men or ‘bahubali’ in many states rule even from inside the prisons these days, availing full regal comforts while they are there!

And, Krishna, born inside a prison, reportedly is mischievous, although His most evolved form Mahesha is called Bholenath or simple God!

Anonymous said...

Kavithaji, With the background knowledge that ‘India’ once was ‘Jambudweep’, or an island perhaps similar to Sri Lanka in the present, as a hint from the Creator, serving the purpose of mute communication by ‘Nature’ through a model - just as the ancients believed the ‘truth’ communicated through man as a model of the universe or image of God…

And, it is a well known geological fact that the Himalayas rose up from under the seabed due to tectonic movements that are continuously going on resulting in continental drift etc… and also changes in the outward appearances of the globe or the composite earth, that is virtually immortal…

Kailash-Mansarovar, the mount, enveloped with frozen ice, and the lake, together as one unit is considered since long as the changed abode of Shiva - who originally had His abode at Kashi that is Varanasi - after His marriage with Parvati, the daughter of the Himalayas…

It’s well known that Lake Mansarovar acts as the source of waters in perennial Rivers Yamuna, Ganga, and Brahmaputra that eventually join together in the present day ‘Bangladesh’ drain into the Bay of Bengal - as River Padma, literally the ‘Lotus Flower’, which immediately associates it with Brahma, (or Sun), who believably evolved from the navel of Vishnu, (to form the Trimurty with Shiva the Gangadhara that is Earth!)...

The story thus could also be linked with the story of ‘Krishna’ acting as the charioteer of Arjuna, in Dwaperyuga, in the battlefield of Mahabharata, that is, Krishna or ‘Black Hole at the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy making our Sun go around the centre – besides innumerable other stars and other Heavenly Bodies – or the milk-maids and cowboys, of Mathura (on the banks of River Yamuna)!

And, in Tretayuga, Bharat could be imagined as playing the role of Krishna, as expressed in the statement that he ruled over Ayodhya by proxy, keeping the footwear of Rama on the throne, which could perhaps help linking the wooden slippers and its wearer with sunrays and Lord Rama, who is associated with Sun also as the 'Suryavanshi King' that is belonging to the family of Sun!

The relatively smaller mounts that serve as sources of perennial rivers, like Mount Kailash, could perhaps be visualized as Shivalingas. We know that 'Ganga' flows in Sri Lanka also, and could be imagined as 'Ravana, the ardent devotee of Shiva carrying Shivalinga to Lanka' as a model of the original Mt. Kailash!

In fact recently some recent TV coverage in some channel showed video of findings in Sri Lanka, of idols etc related with the Ramayana!

Anonymous said...

Kavitha, And Ganga continues to flow within 'my' head!

The ancient ‘Hindus’ considered that as the ‘Truth’ that remained unchanged and unaffected with the passage of time.

With this background, ‘Delhi’ of Kaliyuga, the apparent capital city of the ever-changing physical ‘India’ now appearing to be shrinking with passage of time - during the reins of many empires - acted as the ‘accepted truth’, where many eventful acts were performed by a variety of characters in its history from time to time...

The mythological stories indicate that in Dwaperyuga when the Milky Way Galaxy had reached the midway stage of ‘perfection’ in the process of evolution by ‘Krishna’ (the centre of our galaxy) the representative of Vishnu - who Himself appeared in human form in Mathura - the present day Delhi had come to be known as ‘Indraprastha’. That is, a part of the land rendered fertile by Indra (viz. Sonepat, Panipat, Bagpat etc), the king of ‘devtas’ represented by Arjuna the ‘expert archer’ amongst the five Pandava brothers as its ‘true model’, when ‘India’ that was Mahabharata the entire globe came to be ruled by naturally blind Dhritrashtra, whose wife Gandhari, from Kandhar in the present day Afghanistan also acted as a blind, or maybe, she ignored the faults of her husband…

In short, the battle of Mahabharata ensued, because the Kauravas, cousins of the Pandavas, couldn’t realize the Pandavas as the rightful owner of the throne – because of ‘Time’ and its inherent characteristic property, understood by the ‘wise Hindus’, or Yogis, who knew the ‘Absolute Truth’ even, that is , it is only a drama on an illusory earth or ‘mithya jagat’ meant to be ‘enjoyed’ – like a Bollywood film! Alas! Maya doesn't permit one to enjoy it to reach 'eternal bliss' that is liberation, or 'moksha:-{
The 'ruling parties', all over 'India' appear to be just marking time!

Anonymous said...

Kavithaji, Talking of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’/ ‘good’ or ‘bad’, in respect of apparent mythological ‘characters’, such as Ravana and Rama, it can be guaranteed that the human society would be divided into three broad groups: one in agreement (that Ravana was good), the other in opposition and the third of indifference!

It could be anybody’s guess if, say, a historical figure, Mirabai’s act (who, although a queen, was a poet cum ardent devotee of a mythological character, ‘Krishna’, and as advised in the Gita, ‘surrendered in Him’, foolishly in the eyes/ and to the utter disappointment and displeasure, of her relatives), is to be judged in the ‘present’. Say whether it was right or not, when addressing Krishna on 'political administration', she said, “Moorakh ko tum raj diyat ho/ Pandit phirat bhikari”. That is to say that God (Krishna) appears to be foolish, for He has put fools on the throne while the Pundits remain beggars!

The ‘wise Hindus’, with the background belief of “Satyam Shivam Sunderam”, that is, reading between the lines ‘earth alone is the ‘truth’ and it alone is beautiful’ , said ‘Satyameva jayate’ that is earth alone is immortal! And, they also called the inhabitants as “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” that is, the family of earth!

Rama's father was Dashrath while his enemy was Dashanan - bot intelligent and powerful!

Anonymous said...

‘Dasha’, that is, number 10, like in school examinations, signifies the maximum marks/ degree (the word also means ‘condition’ or ‘state’) possible to be achieved by a student/ king. Perhaps by whatever means, fair or foul, that is, on one’s own fair efforts, or by ‘cheating’ and not getting caught (Based on the accepted norms of the society at any point of time and at the particular given location in space, for example, it’s considered right today in ‘India’ for a ‘Muslim’ to legally keep four wives while a ‘Hindu’ cannot (although stealthily he might have many!)!

Varanasi has a 'Dashashvamedha ghat' on the Ganga, signifying a 'suryavanshi' king to have performed ten 'ashvamedha yagya' to expand his empire, like the influence range of Sun to have expanded to reach the evolved stage, or dasha, starting from 'zero' when churnng was stated in Kaliyuga!

Anonymous said...

Kavithaji, Although the Number 10 is associated with a cheat in the IPC, the wearer of this number on his shirt in the game of football feels proud as it is associated with Pele, literally the ‘black pearl’ of Brazil’s football team at one time...

Krishna, meaning ‘black’ is also associated with Hindu Mythology as ‘superman’, while it is said that wherever oil, or ‘black gold’ that is petroleum is, there are Americans!

In the game of cricket also, an innings gets over when all 10 batsmen get out. And similarly, Hindu Mythology tell stories about ‘dashavatar’ or ten reincarnations of Lord Vishnu!

The scale of ten (10) is the commonly adopted decimal system, the numbers varying from 'Arabic Numerals' 0 to 10, which believably had their origin in India and in the present times got disseminated all over the world from the Arabic countries (like Shiva, '0', believably had His original 'root' at Kashi, while the present root of the Homo sapiens is believed to be in the African Continent – like the growth of a Banyan tree that is related with spread of Buddhism at the end of the ‘Vedic Era’, in the 6th century B.C.)…

Shiva's 'Tandava Nritya', that is, the rapic earth movement or earthquake is today measured in the Richter Scale, in which earthquakes measuring more than 5 in the scale of 10, that is, 6 and above are generally observed to be destructive in terms of loss to property and/ or human life...

Earthquakes sometimes also result in ‘fire’ due to short circuit and cooking gases etc, which cause additional damages, just as caused by ‘water’, in case of floods resulting from Tsunami waves, if the epicenter happens to be under the seabed...

Anonymous said...

Kavithaji, We have of course earlier also seen elsewhere how the composite earth has molten rocks or magma in the core followed by hard rocks over it, formed due to its solidification on account of cooling by air and water, and finally the softer top-soil...

And, it is because of the faulting and folding of the strata of different rocks, due to tectonic movements on different plates, which resulted in formation of mounds, hills and mountains etc. seen on the surface of earth.

And, the high Himalayas also were the outcome of collision of Indian sub-continental plate with Euro-Asian plate and resultant emergence of the range from under the seabed in the North of Jambudweep, the island that India once upon a time was…

The earth, through Himalaya like mountains, thus gained its strength from the physically powerful rocks, Kartikeya of the mythology in Satyuga, the believably physically powerful son of Shiva, that is responsible for the material wealth, such as all precious metals etc.

Shiva Himself - as the Simple God - is represented by the top-soil that supports the majority of animal life over land with the assistance of water and air (representing Parvati and Ganesha respectively) – a phenomenon which was perhaps expressed by the ‘wise’ - for the benefit of a layman - as ‘Ravana’ the ardent devotee of Shiva (representing Venus that is close to earth in space, just as Mars also is but on hte opposite side - in Tretayuga) lifting Mount Kailash the believable abode of Shiva-Parvati, the original beings responsible for life on earth!

In the west, Shiva-Parvati were replaced by Adam & Eve (Eve being formed from the rib of Adam himself – like Parvati the second wife was believably another form of Sati the original consort of Ardhanarishwar Shiva!)

Anonymous said...

Emergence of west-east trending Himalayan ranges of about 3,000 Km length from under the seabed north of the then existing island, called Jambudweep, perhaps cannot be visualized easily by an average man today – although, perhaps this happened over a long duration...

The Hindu mythological stories for the layman at a certain point of time, which appear still more confusing and unbelievable to us but accepted as it is by the ‘believers’ for they were cautioned not to question the wisdom of the sages/ Vedas…

Sage Agastya is believed to have consumed the entire (displaced) water for Lord Vishnu to kill some demon who had gone hiding under seawater! And, traveling over the Vindhyas - and advising them that he would return later – he released it back into the ocean in the south of India!

And, many other versions also perhaps exist to describe the water rushing down south, even over the Vindhyas Range of hills to finally drain into the sea in the south…

This phenomenon would have transformed the water cycle, and with the modified Southwest monsoon, that would have turned ‘India’ into the ‘golden bird’, that it believably was once in the ‘past’ (which perhaps is ‘future’ though - for what we believably getting to see is the past, almost the fag-end of Kaliyuga!)

Dr.Anil Joshi said...

Joshi uncle,An offbeat perhaps irrelevent comment!Why you call Kavitha "Kavithaji" sometimes,

Anonymous said...

Hi Anilji, A good question!

Perhaps the answer can be seen in the saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Thus there is risk of contempt developing over time, for one might feel ‘I’ am repeating the same words for over 2 years now – just like we have virtually got fed up with reading in the newspaper early morning reporting on, say, murder, death, rape and so on, and yet do not stop reading newspaper!

And, the word ‘Kavitha’ means a poem that generally resides in the mind and bursts forth sometimes while ‘Kavithaji’ indicates a person within whom ‘Kavitha’ resides!

Anonymous said...

Anilji, ‘I’ am sure you have seen the outcome of children knowingly or unknowingly poking at a bee’s hive :-), and also when a stone is thrown onto the still surface of water, say in a lake or pond...

Life is also at different times like that – a single question might result in more thoughts.
For example, everyone perhaps knows rivers originating in ‘Mansarovar’: Yamuna, Ganga, Brahmaputra, as Padma that is lotus (on which Brahma sat after evolving from Vishnu's navel – and got panicky after seeing demons that too evolved like Him from Vishnu - but from His ears and thus his own brothers or maybe ‘cousins’ - growing bigger and bigger and likely to eat Him one day) meets the Bay of Bengal that is the sea called by apparently an arbitrary name that could one day maybe called Bay of Buddhadeb, say - and Yogis indicate three 'nadis' flowing within human form, between 'mooladhar' and 'sahasrara'! And, Mansarovar could also be interpreted as the ‘lake that is housed within the mind’ as the source of the fountain or ‘Kavitha’ that is ‘poem’!

Anonymous said...

The apparent ‘Truth’ is, human life-span is limited and there are infinite fields of human activities, recordings of which all are apparently available to the 'literates' but not 'educated' - in libraries/ internet and so on – and, therefore, 'essence' or 'satva' is more important then going into details of each field for which one life span is insufficient...

The apparent fact of life is that a mature person needed teachers at all steps, in school, college, work places, and so on to make one a 'man', believably different from 'animals', and one perhaps already feels in the ‘present’, it appears to be like living in a ‘fools paradise’! For animals in general appear happy from birth itself (observe the koel, how every nightingale naturally sings melodiously and one finds just one Lata tai!), and they are not evolving now (while we apparently still are!) - and maybe they already are in a state of 'eternal bliss', teh goal 'Hindus' had in mind! For example, a buffalo chewing cud, sitting on muddy place, unconcerned, (unlike man contemplating whether it is ‘good’ or ‘bad’; ‘noisy’ or ‘quiet’; colour of skin - black or white; and so on), it appears to meditate without any ‘murty’ or idol, ‘agarbatti’ or scented sticks, ‘ghanti’ or bell, and so on - perhaps not about his purpose, but the purpose of God!
The 'wise ancients' also appear to have gone into the depth of that question - and perhaps failed...

Anonymous said...

Kavitha, With the above as background and the apparent communication in mythological stories that Bhootnath Shiva is ever looking at the whole universe through animal eyes - however with highlight on the ‘apparent present’ at any give point of time - in Dwaperyuga, the ‘Mooladhar’ or the ‘basic support’ - in the fashion of cul-de-sac (closed bottom of a bag) - is represented by Bhima the ‘mace holder’, symbolic of physical strength in human form as one of the five Pandava brothers (representing ‘panchbhoota') – as a typical model of planet Mars (representing ‘air’, without which life on earth can’t be imagined), one of the members of the solar system while Arjuna typically represented the ‘fire’ that is sun, the hero or the central figure!

Kaliyuga believably was the age of 'Kali', meaning black, that is darkness (or ignorance), the period at the start when evolutionary processes were believable started by Krishna (also meaning black) with characters in spiritual forms, devtas and rakshashas. And, efficiency of their performance believably gradually increased from 0 to 25% in material forms as relatively ‘imperfect’ humans compared to 100% at the end of Satyuga, of human efficiency increasing from 75% at its beginning…till Shiva alone achieved 100% efficincy. The whole story virtually describing evolution through elimination process through 'trial and error'.

Anonymous said...

The 'Hindu' mythological stories narrated by some ‘wise ancients’ - which appear to relate to ‘past’, in fact, as the ‘future’ of the apparent highlighted ‘present’ - indicate that the range of human efficiency, as instruments or robots, (the apparent mechanical devices made by man today) reached 50% efficiency by the end of Dwaperyuga (that is of two times the duration of Kaliyug), from 25% believably achieved by the end of Kaliyuga (that believably has a duration of 4,32,000 years)...

However, during the Tretayuga (of three times the duration of Kaliyuga) of achievable efficiency range 50% to 75%, the ‘mooladhar’ is indicated to house essence of Mars in the form of mace-holder Hanuman – a monkey!

It conveys that the soul in animal form, which we generally consider as ‘inferior life’, in the eyes of the ancients, was realized as a much more efficient system, compared to human form in the intermediate stages! For, elephant-headed Ganesha the mace-holder, indicates a transitory stage in evolution (for ultimately reaching 'Shiva' in ‘human form as the true image of God’) at the beginning of Satyuga is, similarly, indicated as the essence of Mars, housed in the animal form at the ‘mooladhar’!

For a 'Hindu', man apparently ever remains the 'true image of God', but the leela or drama reflects hierarchy and variety ovver long durations of Yugas...

Anonymous said...

Man as a medium carries within it a large variety of microbes - particularly in its large intestine that reflects the ‘mooladhar’ region or the ‘basic support’...

It is also now known that there are bacteria that are ‘helpful’ and also there are some that are ‘harmful’ to man. If a man is healthy, it is because of the balance between the two types. Any abnormal increase of some particular type gets reflected in some particular ailment in the body…and there, therefore, can be seen existence of a variety of systems for treatment for correction of the malfunctioning system, that in a way reflect different periods of time and location on the globe…

It is a common observation that in the night, when some electrical bulb is switched on, or a candle etc, as different sources of artificial light is ignited for illumination of the interior of a house, moths and insects get attracted towards those. Thus some physicians, considering the phenomenon to be analogous to increase in some particular bacteria in human body, with the background knowledge that man is an electrochemical system that has overall control in the brain, suggest ‘wrong thoughts’ as the basic cause of ailment, and therefore control of brain. And, this is what could be seen as the basic thought of the Yogis or ancient ‘scientists’ who realized human being as the most evolved instrument of the Nirakar Nadbindu or Formless Creator that was capable of reflecting characteristics of the various components of the entire physical universe…

‘Ravan dahan’ or burning of the selfish, or demon, Ravan of Tretayuga (the then model of Venus), the rival of the selfless, or devta, Ram (model of Sun) could also be seen analogous to the ‘Son et lumiere’/ ‘Sound and light’ spectacle in the ‘present’, that is, the drama of ‘fire’ (symbolic representation of sun), ‘air’ (symbolic representation of Mars/ Hanuman the son of ’pavan’ that is ‘air’ without which no fire can be lighted…

And, of course, the loud sound produced by crackers symbolically represents Nadbindu, the point source of infinite energy, who believably created the entire physical universe with the primordial sound represented by ‘OM’…which is once again repeated during ‘Diwali’, literally ‘the row of lights’, which in West Bengal is called ‘Kali Puja’ or the ‘worship of Ma Kali’ by the believers of Creator as Mother…

And the Vaishnavites indicated Krishna, as representative of Vishnu, as the one who was assigned the responsibility for creation of physical model of Nadbindu itself, and he apparently placed the entire universe for Nadbindu that is Bhootnath the ‘decision maker’ to make the final decision...

The ‘ancient Hindus’, however appear to have voted for Shiva/ Gangadhar Earth to be perhaps the ‘True image’ while the majority appears to be undecided and hence perhaps the unending drama!

Anonymous said...

With the above as background, and Mars being considered as the Lord of Fire by astrologers, a ‘Hindu’ conscious of India as Mahabharat could perhaps see the Californian fire that has been raging in Malibou Hills for some days, during the present ‘Hindu festival season’, as a reflection of Hanuman’s believable burning of Ravan’s ‘Golden Lanka’, that is, an example of History repeating itself…

In 'India', of course, fires in 'patakha shops' and chemical factories, etc. is a routine affair!

Anonymous said...

The concept of three aspects even with the ‘evil’ perhaps gets unnoticed by the majority, although reflected in ‘Ravan dahan’ ritually by born ‘Hindus’ in the ‘present’. That is to say that Ravan the symbol of selfishness is not burnt alone -he has by his side his powerful son Meghnad, literally the ‘cloud’s thunder’, the negative image of Krishna, who too gets burnt on the tenth night of Dussehra.

[Meghnad is associated with Indra, as ‘Indrajeet’ that is the one who at some time in the past had been victorious over Indra the king of devtas, that is, Sun. Whereas, in Dwaperyuga, now Arjun is indicated as the model of Sun the selfless supported by Krishna, the ‘superman’.]

And there also is Ravan’s brother Kumbhakarna, literally the one who has ‘pot-shaped ears’, although powerful he was lazy by nature and a glutton too. He, therefore, apparently had desired and received a boon from Vishnu to sleep for half the year and eat for the next six (perhaps in the Arctic region where nights and days both are six-month long in a year)! And thus he couldn’t be of much help to his brother when his help was needed…Just as even Arjun couldn’t help his young inexperienced son Abhimanyu from the clutches of the ‘Maharathis’ when he was caught in the’chakravyuha’ in the battle of Mahabharat because Arjun was engaged in the battle at another location!

Anonymous said...

With the Hindu belief of “churning of the milky ocean in mind” at the beginning of Kaliyuga when ‘poison emerged, ‘I’ would like to give an essence of how the English who have lived in ‘India’ see the problems faced by ‘present day India’ that appeared in ‘my’ newspaper on 24/10, credited to one Timothy Riley who visited the country and also discussed the problems with some friend here.

“The problems faced by India: unmanaged urban growth, deep-rooted corruption, crushing poverty, rampant disease, and awful public services. The most troubling aspect he saw were the fissures in Indian society. Similarly, one was struck by the desire of so many in the Indian middle class to leave India. America in particular is seen as a land of milk and honey, where good jobs awaited, if only one could get visa. I met a young boy less than 10, whose face lit up at the mention of America, despite having never been there, he explained to me how wonderful America is: wide-eyed he told me that even the streets were clean in America! This at a time when many of my English friends feel India is the place to move to!”

Anonymous said...

“The grass is greener on the other side”, and in Hindi, “Door kay dhol suhavane”, that is, ‘drums played at a distance sound sweeter’ perhaps had already been the conclusion of human life drawn by the ancients.

And, the same is expressed by different people at different, or the same time in different languages and locations, which ancient ’wiser Hindus’ expressed with, “Hari anant/ Hari katha ananta…”, that is, ‘God is unending and (therefore) His stories are unending.’

The ‘Truth’ or the basic format of the stories through the different Yugas revolves around three characters, a hero, a heroine and a villain. In Satyuga these three characters respectively are Shiva, Parvati and Bhasmasur, say; in Treta, Rama, Sita and Ravana; In Dwaperyuga Arjuna, Draupadi and Duryodhana; and in Kaliyuga most of the films have different variations of the above plots for the youth to choose as their 'role models'!

The Hindu mythology however indicates as the ‘Absolute Truth’ an immortal formless super being, Nadbindu, at the absolute beginning of a Kaliyuga who reached ‘prefection’ in physical form as the unique, apparently composite beautiful and immortal, Heavenly Body Earth at the end of a Satyuga, in four stages...

In view of the above-said, what humans get to see all through eternity could perhaps be visualized analogous to the phenomenon of everyone ordering some dish in a roadside ‘dhaba’, that is, a restaurant, and watching these dishes being prepared by the cooks/ chefs right in front of their eyes while everyone waits for it to be served.

But, due to progressive increase in the number and therefore size/ number of the restaurant, the time to get served is getting prolonged from one generation to another, thus leading to ‘road-rage-like’ phenomenon, as it perhaps happened in the beginning of Kaliyuga when there were innumerable hungry impatient clients, that forced some to become Yogis and withdraw to isolated locations and who eventually learnt to overcome ‘hunger’ - and 'Gangadhar Shiva', teh cool dude, (who consumed/ tolerated the opposites, expressed as 'Visha' the poison) alone won the race!

Anonymous said...

Kavitha, With ‘Ravan dahan’ in mind, apparently today when the ‘festival season’ is being celebrated by ‘Hindus’, the news-media is full of some ‘sting operation’ that claims Narendra Modi, the present incumbent to the post of CM of Gujarat, representing (Hindu) BJP, to have given permission (in 2002) to the ‘Bajrang dal’, who go by the name associating them with the ‘Vanar sena of Hanuman’, to take revenge of ‘Burning of Ram sevaks in a train at Godhra Railway Station’, to go ahead with riots in the capital of the state, Ahmedabad, burning innocent Muslims and their properties – till the ‘Indian’ army arrived on the scene after about 3 days...

Despite what ‘mischievous Krishna’ says in the Gita, maybe due to lack of overall knowledge about the ‘Absolute truth’ as claimed by Krishna, although all deaths are painful, any ‘untimely death’ to an average man is much more painful and believably ‘leaves a permanent mark in the mind’ of the close relatives…

It might be a coincidence, however, that it was on 31st October, 23 years ago, when Hindu-Sikh riots had broken out because of assassination of the then PM of India, Smt Indira Gandhi by her own Sikh guard…and ‘today’ the ruling party has a Sikh as the PM.

And, it is perhaps fresh in the minds of ‘present day Indians’, the manner in which Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law, being a ‘foreigner’, couldn’t grace the chair herself and had, therefore, nominated, as Chairman of the Party, the present incumbent to the chair of the PM!

And also, his name happens to be same as one of the names of ‘Krishna’, that is, Manmohan and what a coincidence it is that he wears a blue turban while ‘Neelamber Krishna’ wore a peacock feather in his crown and Peacock is associated with Kartikeya the physically powerful Somaskandha or the 'right shoulder' of Parvati the 'skandhmata'!

And our earth (Immortal Shiva the Neelkantha - thanks to His consort Parvati) is called a ‘Blue Planet’ and Saturn also has ‘Blue Rings’ and the ‘blue sky’ as one of the ‘panchbhoota’ virtually rules the day! And, the yogis indicate human throat to house the essence of Shukra or planet Venus while Shukracharya is indicated as the Guru of Rakshashas!

It is only Ganesha the left shoulder of Parvati, as the 'vighna-harta' or trouble shooter who alone could help his mother Parvati to ovecome even the Bhootnath Shiva!

Anonymous said...

Talking of ‘fire’ as one of the ‘panchbhoota’ of Bhootnath Shiva, if it is Neelamber Krishna that rules the day with Sun (symbol of ‘fire’) as the source of white coloured sunlight in the foreground and the pale blue sky in the background all through a normal day, it is Peetamber Krishna, that is, the dark ‘sky’ in the background that rules the night with Golden coloured Moon in the foreground, which is relatively more mysterious of the two Heavenly Bodies…

Krishna in the Gita tells Arjuna (the model of Sun) that He illuminates both Sun & Moon...and, in fact, the stories indicate these two to have been responsible for identification of demon Rahu seated in the row of devtas, in disguise, when ‘amrit’ was being distributed to devtas only! And this resulted in Vishnu to cut Rahu’s head with his sudershanchakra, separating his head from his lower body, which resulted in the lower body to exist independently as Ketu!

Of course, once you get familiar with the terminology used by the ‘wise Hindus’, that is, for example, Blue colour is associated with demons or ‘Rakshashas’, it becomes more or less obvious that demon Rahu refers to the powerful Ultraviolet rays (that are believed to cause skin cancer) and Ketu refers to Infrared rays, which are realized to exist as pure heat energy and is exchanged between galaxies – the two energy forms also partly enter earth’s atmosphere besides the normal seven other colours that are virtually contained within the white sunlight...that has Green colour (Shiva/ Earth) in the middle, sandwiched between Blue (Kartikeya/ Venus) and Yellow (Parvati/ Moon), which further, with Red (Kali’s tongue/ centre of earth or ‘heart of Shiva’) at the end has Orange colour (that is adopted to paint Ganesha’s body/ Mars) sandwiched between them!

The ancients thus appear to have fused ‘religion’ with ‘science’, like two Hydrogen atoms are fused to make the Hydrogen bomb, trillions of which have already been exploding per second in our Sun since at least almost 4.6 billion years – (and fission of one results in Atom Bomb two of which were enough to kill over one hundred thousand Japanese in Hisroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 - perhaps cautioning us that Bhootnath's Tandava Nritya would take no time to wipe out the entire life on earth!)

Anonymous said...

The ‘Hindus’ irrespective of their material status even in the ‘present’, after publicly celebrating in open ‘air’, in temporary ‘pandals’ (virtually under the ‘sky’) for around 10 days of festivities - the dates determined by lunar calendar - related with Mother Durga or Lord Ganesha, are seen immersing in ‘water’ the idols made from ‘earth’ the community concerned had worshipped over those days ritually.

Whereas, idols of Mother Kali aren’t included in these festivities for immersin and are therefore not immersed although those too are made from earth and duly installed in Kali Baris or temples dedicated to Mother Kali!

However, three effigies of Rakshashas or 'demons', Ravana, Meghnad and Kumbhkarna are burnt by ‘fire’ during the same period as 'Durga Puja', and are not immersed in ‘water’!

Now, Brahma, or the Sun as one aspect of Trimurty, or Mahesha, that is, composite Earth, represents ‘fire’, and is understood as having lower status in the hierarchy among the ‘panchabhoota’ as it analogously gets reflected in the phenomenon that ‘fire’ can be quenched by ‘water’, and also by ‘air’ by cutting off its supply, but not vice versa thus indicating higher status of life-giving air (Ganesha/ Mars, more clearly indicated by referring trouble shooter Hanuman in Tretayuga as ‘son of air’) and water (Parvati/ Moon, the believable source of water)…

Anonymous said...

With the above as background, it therefore becomes easy to visualize why the ‘wise ancient Hindus’ or Yogis, or the ‘elevated souls’ associated hour-glass shaped percussion instrument, dumroo’ – generally made of wood that has animal skins at both ends, which can tear or wear out depending on how one handles it to produce sound, and contains life-giving air within it - with Shiva the Mahakal, that is, the earth as the controller of time…and human body as model of earth, (with a certain quota of breath made available to all, that last for periods that vary from one person to another depending on how one uses it), to believably have ‘essence of Moon’ in the ‘sahasrara or thousand-channel lock’ located at the head and ‘essence of Mars’ in the ‘mooladhar or basic channel lock’ located at the region of the human seat…and other six essences of selected members of the Solar system, including Sun, located within the two predominant locks…

Anonymous said...

One knows that white sunlight as 'fire', after passing through a prism, apparently gets refracted to result in a visible spectrum of seven different colours - each of which have different wave lengths and frequencies.

With ‘asht-chakra’ or ‘eight wheels of Yogiraja Krishna’ in mind, and reading between the lines, the ancients appear to have believed the human body also to have similarly been formed by utilizing only five out of the seven colours, plus the original white colour, while eliminating both indigo (that reflects a gone case of poisoning) and Violet (freezing cold), and introducing in their place ultra-violet attached to blue and infra-red attached to red...

The order of their appearance was also believably modified, different from the spectrum of white light...

They appear to suggest Yellow (Guru or Superior) at ‘Sahasrara’ Lock, the top of head, attached to Green at the ‘Ajna Bandha’ at eye level, and having blue at the throat level that acted like a ‘check-post’ in the to and fro flow of energy between the top and the base...

Red was believed at the bottom attached to Orange that formed the seat level that formed the base , that is, the ‘tail end’, which also had fused to it a component of ‘Kali’/ ‘Krishna’ the energy that normally remained dormant locked up, and released only when it was activated by ‘Yogic exercises’…As the name itself suggests, ‘Solar plexus’ suggests the location of essence of white light, having infra-red attached to it and located at the navel level, while the blue at the throat level is attached to the ultra-violet located at chest level attached to Sun below it…

Astrologers appear to have asociated each colour/ energy with some particular planet and have attempted to determine typical human behaviours with various permutations and combinations of planets associated with different time of birth and related passage of time...as a variety of instruments or mediums of communication...

Anonymous said...

With the background knowledge as contained in the Bhagavadagita regarding ‘Dhritarashtra’ the naturally blind Kuru king during Dwaperyuga getting to see and also hear through the blessed character of ‘Sanjaya’ the whole story of the different episodes including discussions between Krishna and Arjuna during the 16-day battle of Mahabharata, what one needs to digest as the ‘Truth’ of human life understood by 'wise ancients' is that Bhootnath Shiva is getting to know different points of view on projections of various specimens that fill the void of the universe through each human being’s eyes - over a period of about a little over a century maximum – various viewpoints from different locations on the globe and for varying duration since their birth,..

Perhaps every ‘Hindu’ accepts 'Dhritarashtra' to reflect a selfish character and an enemy of Krishna, who therefore underwent great suffering as he lost his over 100 sons in the battle... Whereas naturally blind Surdas, an ardent devotee of Krishna, is understood as a selfless person, and the songs he apparently sang, describing Krishnaleela as seen by him in his ‘mind’s eye’, are repeated since long by various singers! He is considered number one, or the Sun, in the field of poetry!

Anonymous said...

Kavitha, When a person is spectator-like/ your blog-visitors-like detached, one is in a better position to judge different characters in the leela or drama...

For our convenience, the human society divides the myhtological characters broadly in three different categories: ‘good’, ‘so-so’, and ‘bad’, although in order to express their degrees, that is, ‘dasha’, one might use ‘better’ and ‘best’, or ‘worse’ and ‘worst’ too...

Thus, the ancient expressed Krishna and Rama as the best characters, that is, ‘Purushottam’, during Dwaperyuga and Tretayuga respectively… while during these periods the ‘worst’ characters respectively were Ravana and Dryodhan…However, Shiva or ‘beautiful earth’ appears to have been accepted as the ‘BEST’ at all times – in Dwaperyuga as Yudhister, and in Tretayuga as Lakshmana, the one who literally had ‘lakshya’ that is the goal in mind (‘man’) – that is achieving perfection!

Difficulty arises only when one is asked to judge oneself - and analogously ‘I’ have to depend externally on ‘my’ ‘images’ or photographs from my birth, if available or whatever available to ‘my’ remotest possible past, to the ‘present’, and the memories associated with those - recorded therein not by me though!

Anonymous said...

Talking of judgment of characters, a reaction to an article in 'my' newspaper is given below.

Should we be proud of Bobby Jindal, reflecting a viewpoint out of possible trillions about an event seen in isolation, without going into the background of ‘Gold rush’ by the original 'gun-toting/ dalit brawns’ America (and not ‘Hindu spiritual brains’ who were then virtually lost in the Himalayan caves) by Shriman Shashi Tharoor, from a psychiatrist’s point of view, could perhaps be considered as a reaction due to ‘inferiority complex’ – “He made it while I couldn’t”, a statement reportedly made by the ghost of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto one night in the premises of the Guest House in Shimla when meeting, that lead to the “Shimla Agreement”, was going to be held, believably alluding to comparison with Indira Gandhi!

For JS' s infor, Hindu Mythology is apparently 'funny' for the pig who loves 'goo' is believed to be Varahavtar the third reincanation of Lord Vishnu!

Happy Diwali:-)

Anonymous said...

Karnataka has always been understood, and also publicized, as the geographical and cultural meeting point of North India (believably ruled by ‘Guru’ the Superior that is Moon/ Yellow) & South India (ruled by Sun the apparent source of heat & light/ White)…And, in the ‘present’ that, in fact, is the believable ‘past’ of Bhootnath Shiva, one could perhaps notice the apparent’Turning Point’ in the history – by ‘Janata Dal Secular’ (JDS) party having an understanding of sharing the ‘rule’ by turn and, therefore, joining hands with the apparently ‘communal BJP’, (with the experience in Gujarat, located in 'west India' (ruled by mischivous Saturn) , in mind where last ‘communal riots’, in 2002, are judged by all, and particularly by the news-media, as ‘state supported/ by ‘Hindu CM’), and then having a change of mind and apparently breaking the relations – and once again showing inclination to carry on as per the earlier agreement - pending decision!

On the other hand, at the centre, the ‘Left’ that had agreed to support the ‘ruling UPA’ led by the Congress from outside after last general elections, has virtually withdrawn its support, apparently on account of the still unfinished ‘Nuke deal’ between India & the USA proposed personally by the PM, (conforming to the saying, “There are many a slips between the cup and the lips”), and is now apparently seeking greener pastures elsewhere for the farmers of ‘India’ – the country after all is an ‘agricultural country’ and apparently farmers materially are by far the worst lot, although in he ‘past’ that, in fact, is ‘future’ of Bhootnath they were spiritually much better off!

Anonymous said...

Hindu mythological stories generally have some moral. Ravan dahan every year, due to forgetful nature of man, conveys need for development of consciousness of literally burning away of the desire for accumulating material wealth foolishly, even when it was not needed by the individual, for it was understood essentially that “Excess of everything is bad”...

Even Shiva is famous for ‘Bhasmasur’/ ‘Kamdeva’ dahan that is, burning of the devta responsible for human being’s selfish desire to accumulate material (like the story of King Midas who foolishly desired and received the boon to turn into gold whatever he touched, and realized his mistake only later when his own daughter turned into gold when he took her on his lap).

However, Krishna blames lack of overall knowledge for all ‘wrong acts’, and therefore Yogis stressed need for Yoga the exercise of development of humans around the three different axes - physical, mental and spiritual...

Anonymous said...

Just as a small arrow fired by the character playing the role of Rama or Lakshamana in Ramleela results in Ravan dahan, a ‘black’ dry charcoal piece ignited by a spark, created say by rubbing of two stones even by the ‘primitive man’, and supported by full flow of ‘air’ – slowly (like a ‘mouse’ that believably acts as Ganesha’s vehicle) but surely - within some time could result in a big ‘fire’, just as a burning cigarette butt perhaps deliberately dropped there by an ‘arsonist’, or accidentally even by an ‘innocent’, become the cause of bush big fires in the (up above) USA or down under Australia…
resulting in losses of human lives and properties worth billions of years at times...

This could perhaps be called the basic principle of ‘activation’ of the stored energy at the ‘mooladhar’, or the essence of ‘planet Mars’ representing ‘pran vayu’ or life-giving air by the much publicized step(s) of ‘controlled breathing’ in Yoga, called ‘pran-ayam’…and It’s well known that the blood vessels carry life-giving Oxygen gas contained in blood received through each deep breath, for maximum efficiency…

The Yogis in the 'past' that is 'future' would study the breaths taken by all animals in one minute and find the longest living Turtles to have only four breaths per minute while man do around 8-10 or so. And hence the advice to regulate breath!

Anonymous said...

‘Pancha-tatva’ that is the ‘five elements’, used as a synonym of ‘pancha-bhoot’ that is literally the ‘five ghosts’, but meaning the five individuals continuing from past since time immemorial, are believed by the ancients to have gone into the formation of all physical forms during the evolutionary processes – started from ‘churning of the milky-ocean by the unseen formless supreme being represented now by the centre of our galaxy in physical form...at teh start of a 'Kaliyuga' the 'dark age'...

Cyclones could be cited as one of the examples of a physical form that takes the form on account of interaction between ‘fire’ (contained in sunlight), ‘water’ (in water bodies – mainly in the seas), wind or ‘air’, ‘earth’ (that is land mass), and the ‘sky’ (that is earth’s atmosphere)...

Small and big Cyclones/ Hurricanes that contain a huge quantity of water are born over the surface of the seas and are carried over the land by the current (or ‘churning’), set up by the characteristic properties of the hot air to move up and relatively cold air to replace it, and thereby cause damage to property and life on earth…

Similarly, the churning of molten magma in the core of earth reflects in the form of an activation-of-kundalini-like phenomenon whereby an active volcano erupts raging havoc in its wake, a symbolic ‘natural’ destruction of Kamdev/ Ravana…

Anonymous said...

Man - being a model - is just copying! A refined ape – ‘Treta’s Hanuman’ evolving to ‘Satyuga’s elephant-headed Ganesha’, and appearing Bholanath the ‘Simple God’ by the end of the Yuga that Formless Creator in reality is – ‘Karunanidhi’, the ocean of kindness!

The process is analogous to an un-hatched egg ending in an OMelet by various mediums over a period of time – for appeasing the hunger of a ‘seeker’, but letting an average man remain 'zero' like the original egg adn acting as fuel and consuming omelets after omelets...

'Fire' consumes 'garbage' as well as 'valuables'!

Anonymous said...

In the model of Shiva that is human being, the ‘third eye’ is realized by Yogis to be housed at the ‘Ajna Chakra’, or Bandha (that is lock)’ - located at the meeting point of the nose and the forehead - which needs to be unlocked such that the kindled ‘fire’ burns away the ‘garbage’ only (like ozone layer, if opened, could result in the Sun burning everything on earth) and leave behind ‘gold’ that becomes purified after ‘tapasya’ that is, literally, ‘heating in fire’...

However, in reality, with reference to humans, it is understood as ‘valiant efforts’ by one – like Bhagirath who led the Holy River Ganga from west India (Bue colour or ‘Right’, the side where Lord Vishnu’s head believably rests, with respect to Kashi as the centre) to the east (Kali’s-tongue-like Red colour or ‘Left’, or the location of His Mooladhar - that is, along the central nervous system) to revive the 60,000 sons of King Sagar, who foolishly interpreted it to be the job of Sage Kapil, based on circumstantial evidence of finding ‘the white horse of the Ashwamedha Yagya’ in his Ashram’s premises, left there mischievously by Vishwamitra! And, therefore, turned into ashes by Sage Kapil for disturbing him when he was in deep meditation!

And, Krishna says all ‘wrong actions result from lack of knowledge’!

Kavitha Kalyan said...

Joshi uncle,

Thanks for the time and trouble you take to make my blog far more active!

Your enthusiasm to post comments and share knowledge is indeed very inspiring.

Regds
Kavitha

Anonymous said...

Kavitha, Like a (good!) teacher, I love to pass on knowledge, in ‘spiritual field’ particularly, that I have gained, to all those who might be interested and might gain from it…It is particularly difficult when you write and don’t get any reactions – so you need more words!

My daughter complains that I go tangentially - in great details – like her daughter!

Perhaps it runs in the family to some extent. We, as children, used to laugh at our father for describing some event in exactly the same words even if he did it for the 10th time for the benefit of yet another person.

At a later date, I was introduced to computer programming for some time - and also wrote some programs in ‘Fortran Language’ - where it was stressed how one needed to write each and every step clearly as laid down, for although computers act fast, they must first be made to understand what you really want them to do!

Subsequently, it became a habit, and I used to give directions, say, even to the driver what all jobs he was supposed to do, describing in details, step by step. Those colleagues of mine, who didn’t have patience, would ask me why I went to such minute details? I would then tell them that otherwise they were likely to create some mistake when and if they were required to use their own ‘pea brains’! I know all people do not have the same capacity…and one learns from past experiences...

Anonymous said...

Kavitha, As I said earlier also, once you understand the terminology and the style of a particular writer, only then you start comprehending properly and therefore enjoying what the particular writer wants to convey, that is, what were the thoughts on top of his mind when he wrote it irrespective of the period, of course, also only if you were interested in that particular subject…

For, example, maybe you can appreciate better if you had understood that all humans were realized as various 'inferior' models of Shiva when He had not achieved perfection, and that’s why He is generally seen in all writings described as a typical ‘bad character’, or number 10 as in the ‘present’! He is shown in the company of bhootas that is ghosts, indulging in alcoholic drinks and drugs etc. And, on the other hand, Parvati is painted as a ‘foolish’ girl in the eyes of others, who despite the knowledge wanted to marry Shiva only! And, eventually succeeded in getting her desire to mary Shiva fulfilled - to live happily thereafter, in 'eternal bliss'!

Krishna teh representative of Vishnu, not Shiva, is described as 'natkhat' or mischievous, perhaps to keep one guessing about 'Truth' of Bholanath and Absolute Truth' of the Nadbindu!

Anonymous said...

In the ‘present day’ context, with the given apparent relatively speedier ‘churning’ in the political field in ‘India’, and Karnataka particularly, one look at the World Atlas could perhaps, (with the Hindu belief of shifting of Shiva’s residence from Varanasi to Kailash, both more or less at the same Longitude in mind), indicate it as too much of a coincidence that the Longitude of the ‘summer Capital’ of ‘British India’, Simla, in the erstwhile Punjab and present day Himachal Pradesh; and New Delhi the Capital of the country since the year 1911, respectively, are East 77.13 & 77.12 degrees, while that of Bangalore the Capital of Karnataka the state that is the meeting point of North & South, the state that once upon a time boasted of its gold mines at Kolar, is more or less the same, that is, 77.38 degrees (gold being related with the notorious ‘golden-deer chase’ and Sita, the typical model in Tretayuga of Moon, that rules North, while ‘Tapasvi Rama’ reflected typically the properties of Sun, the source of nuclear energy that is seen reflected through Thorium ore’s existence in Kerala state. Sun believably rules the South)!