Two names struck me at a shot, both of whom were a perfectionist when it came to self expression of their love to the Lord and towards their Guru. A Guru that even I admire and respect deeply within my heart but I am not really sure whether I made it to His list of favorite children. A simple man, who commanded respect as well as kept alive this fantastic faith that is slowly dying its natural death thanks to the “modern” questions we pose to try and understand something quite out of reach through reason and beyond probably even metaphysics. The then Mahaperivar of Kanchipuram was an epitome of divinity and peace, a human nature we have somewhere quite given up to even try and attain.
I have come to admiring two of his favorite children and yes, they have set me an example of at least hoping to make it to His list. To be a favorite child of Kanchi Mahaperivar Chandrashekhar Swamigal mean pure devotion, complete surrender, love and adoration for the Lord and maybe orthodoxy too. I have not made it too well in any of these areas, but the Mahaperivar is always there deep down to guide me when I lose my way. He has been the fire to perform for both His favorite children.
One of His children did it through her music. She is probably the only person who brought soul into Carnatic music and gave it the additional touch of devotion that overpowered technique, for when one listens to her song, there is so much life and humility that you can almost hear the Lord wake up to her notes. And what is music without soul? What is music without devotion? M. S. Subhalakshmi makes the heart melt to the Lord when she dives into her ocean of music and takes our souls with her.Another of Mahaperivar’s favorite children is a unique man. A person I would call India’s unknown Michaelangelo. I had the opportunity to visit his house and come across his works of perfection. And perfection simply seems to be an understatement. What lay around me was not raw talent or patience of practice of expression. What lay in front of my eyes was just one original picture that made my heart skip a beat, and transform my world to feel miserable and small in front of such a great man. Artist Shilpi as he is known was an illustrator for the Ananda Vighatan(Tamil magazine), who gave up his illustrative career to be blessed by the Mahaperivar of Kanchipuram, Sri Chandrasekhar Swamigal, to begin painting deities within temples across the country. I do not have words to express the beauty he has captured in every deity of the North and South of India.
There is something more that is common to these two people, and that is purity in their minds and detachment to the world and complete surrender to the Lord when they performed. We need to realize that music is found everywhere but that with devotion which can melt your heart and make you emotionally breakdown in front of the Lord are few. The same with visual art, talent is plenty but that which religiously follows one goal and is perseverant to bring the Lord to your home are few to find. And of course that additional something, that makes the heart look within itself, searching furiously for the promised Lord hiding within ourselves. These people are inspirations, to the material world of people that we are missing something far more fundamental in our lives and that is a spiritual high that is rare to find but needs to be patiently worked upon.
Having said this, here is a league of people, who have walked the same earth we have, during our times and are definitely not mythological and have no tales to make us believe they were supernatural. They all lived next door, around us, and lived a life that was once celebrated on Indian soils. I can only hope Mahaperivar blesses me as I seek inspiration from His favorite children, that the very Incarnate of Lord Shiva teaches me as I move on. I am indeed blessed to have set eyes on this divine incarnation of Lord Shiva.
Om Namo Bhagavate Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Sharanam Prabhadyey
20 comments:
The essence of human life is expressed in the saying, “Hari Ananta Hari katha ananta…etc.” There are as many views as there are life forms, out of which every being comes to know a few only during the insignificant period that a particular soul finds itself on the earth entrapped in some one of the innumerable animal forms out of which human form appears as ‘the best’ or the superior most. But, at any given period of ‘time’, again there is apparent hierarchy, in the apparent outward behaviour from one person to the other, although believably realized by the ‘wise advanced Hindus’ each soul is part of the same SHIVA, i.e., the Supreme Soul, who alone in the physical form also is capable of consuming VISHA the poison and remain immortal, just like Bhootnath Shiva
But, a human being whose ‘mind’s eye’, like Shiva’s believable ‘Third eye”. Isn’t shut comes to learn gradually that each life form is ‘naturally’ miraculous. One can believably spend whatever time is apparently allotted to one - in whatever human form that one finds itself to be - in the study of just one subject out of innumerable ones In this ever changing universe/ earth, and perhaps feel satisfied to have ‘mastered’ that particular subject. But, like advocate Mohandas K Gandhi, say, one might find oneself one day reach a ‘turning point’ in life that might, like a tornado, dump one into an altogether different field of activity, which one couldn’t ever have anticipated before that time!
A debutant Yogi, or asoul that isn’t satisfied with ‘expertise’ in just one field (like a caged bird, liberated thanks to some medium of the one and only God) might find each life form is important and doing some useful work naturally and is thus naturally capable of communicating with the life of its own kind in innumerable languages – with some purpose known only to the Bhootnath, who therefore like a Supreme Guru/ Judge similarly perhaps seeks some ‘good student’ to whom he can reveal Supreme Knowledge…
As per the wisdom of ‘advanced ancient Yogis’, human eyes - as apparatuses for vision - are essences (white and yellow colours) of Sun & Moon the ‘graha’ or literally the ‘planets’.
In a normal human being with passage of time these grow weaker, and it is likely that at a young age itself these might need correction for sighting properly the distant objects/ persons and thus life-long need spectacles...However, at an old age, bi-focal lenses might be needed to enable one to see objects or read written words at a close distance also due to weakening of muscles, which according to Yogis or ‘advanced ancient scientists’ is attributable to Earth (green colour as its essence) that was realized as the mind’s eye, at ‘Ajna Chakra’ that is linked to ‘Sahasrara Chakra’ or the point where nose meets the fore-head, and generally senility also was associated with weakening of muscles…However, the Ajna Chakra being in a dormant appearing but super-conscious state, it is believed to get activated only with Orange-Red located at the Mooldhar Chakra…Thus essences of Jupiter-Sun, Earth-Moon, Mars-Asteroids, and Mercury-Venus all (the four arms of the symbol of ‘Swastika’ that has Nadbindu at the crossing, acting like a traffic policeman, as also ‘Christ’s cross’) are needed to be ‘controlled’ by Yogis to activate the Super conscious being…
Mischievous Yogiraja Krishna who eventually became Shiva, however, says that it is possible only if the concerned subject approaches him with firm faith…
However, still higher or elevated souls realized the events to be incorporated in the grand design related with ‘Time’!
Kavitha, here is another reaction to a newspaper article...
Moditva Unbound by Jug Suraiya is an excellent view-point, if life were to be seen only through Venus’s eye.
For general information, Venus is called Shukra, the planet that has a poisonous atmosphere and ‘Hindus’ - who considered Indu, coincidentally or by design the pet name of Indira Gandhi, the moon as the most evolved member of the solar system - believed Shukracharya to be the Guru of the Rakshashas or demons.
The planet believably ruled during Kaliyuga, literally the‘dark age’ when ‘halahal’ the deadliest poison, Potassium Cyanide, KCn, had initially emerged during the first stage in the churning of the ‘Milky Ocean’ by the ‘selfless’ and the ‘selfish’ humans that were created by ‘Krishna’ (the name that by accident of by design sounds so close to KCn!).
Venus is believably concerned only with the ‘material’ aspect of life, as a reflection of one of the properties of the double-colour planet Saturn (metals: copper and iron/ steel; and colours; lustrous copper in the middle with thick icy blue rings), the all rounder that is believed to rule the direction ‘West’, through Venus because of the authority vested upon it.
However, both properties, that is ‘material’ as well as ‘spiritual’, Saturn-like, believably gets reflected by planet Mars only, which is believed to be the basic essence in human form/ solar system, that in Satyuga found representation in the form of Ganesha the favourite son of Shiva-Parvati (reflecting characteristic properties of Earth-Moon)…while Venus is typically represented by Kartikeya their elder son who rides a peacock that is selected as our ‘National Bird’. And interestingly, Chakor, the bird that naturally shows affection for moon, is Pakistan’s National Bird!
In short, ‘Hindus’ believed that one gets to see the story of different Yugas, and presently the fag-end of Kaliyuga, in reverse order and therefore it appears as an enigma for the ‘uneducated souls’ – that cannot believe the universe to be a museum of the Formless Creator, called Bhootnath Shiva who alone can consume Visha the poison!
Merry Christmas!!!
JC Joshi
Kavutha,I have heard a lot about MS Subbalaxmi but am not aware about the work of artist Shilpi.Would like to know more about him.
“A man is known by the company he keeps” & “Birds of the same feather flock together”.
‘Hindus by thought’ only know that all physical forms always have the company of the Formless Creator. And, that it is one’s ‘inclination of mind’ that connects one with others who have the same frequency in the hierarchical order!
In view of the above, they sought the ‘best’ of the lot - the Formless, or Bhootnath the Mother of mothers. Therefore, the first Guru or the primary source of inspiration in human form is one’s MOTHER!
The problem with us ‘born Hindus’ is that we don’t believe our ‘wise advanced Hindus’ when they said that human form is attained by the soul for the first time after it has already passed through minimum 8.4 million animal wombs. Thus my soul believbly has attained a minimum of that many physical animal forms and thus already have had 8.4 million mothers. Thus, my mother in human form in this life - believably being the image of God Himself – is the essence of all my mothers in the past, ane thus a reflection of Bhootnath Shiva itself.
The above find reflection in mythological stories also, in a few examples of ‘elevated souls’, viz. Mother Mary-Jesus Christ; Parvati-Ganesha; and so on. In Dwaper-yuga, however, when evolution had believably reached the half-stage only, the example of the foster mother, Yashoda, is related with child Krishna…who is indicated to eventually evolve into Shiva, the ‘swayambhu’ or the one who represented the Formless Creator, the believable unborn and unending Supreme one that appeared on its own…
Of course, they also didn’t put the blame directly on individual souls for it. For they realized it to be part of a drama, they called ‘Krishna-leela’, ‘Ram-leela’, etc. created as part of a grand design related with time - with deficient sense organs given to human beings by Bhootnath…
I will soon me starting a blog separately on the works of artist shilpi. He lived from 1918 to 1983. He was blessed by the Paramacharya of Kanchipuram and was told to paint the picture of various deities within the garbha griha inside all temples across the country. He has done a fantastic job. His family wanted to bring awareness to his works through a blog and hence contacted me. I met them, they are a very simple family. I will soon be coming out with a another blog relating to his works early next year.
Regds
Kavitha
Wish you all the best in your project!
Thank you for your blessings Joshi uncle.
Kavitha, I think I should wind up by writing the essence of Hindu realization...
“Twameva mata cha pita twameva/ Twameva bandhu cha sakha twameva/ Twameva vidya cha dravinam twameva/ Twameva sarvam mam deva devah.” – A Hindu prayer, in Sanskrit, based on realization of Yogis or ‘elevated souls’.
In simple words, that is, as the essential realization, the ‘advanced Hindus’ acted as medium for conveying the ‘Truth’ of the ‘Absolute Truth’, i.e., the fact that there exists only one ‘unborn and unending’ Supreme Soul, or ‘Paramatma’ who is ‘perfect’.
And, therefore, He alone is capable of projecting the apparent ‘imperfection’ through innumerable ‘temporary physical forms’ that includes ‘we the people’ or ‘souls’ that is ‘atma’ that apparently inhabit the illusory composite globe as an essence of the infinite space - apparently overall perfect creations whose constituents are all temporary, or of a transient nature and therefore called ‘bhootas’, or ‘ghosts’, or apparitions...and Him as Bhootnath the ‘Lord of ghosts or past’ who appeared on His Own and therefore called ‘Swayambhu’…
God was, therefore, called Mother, Father, Brother, Friend, and Material Wealth etc, all rolled into one…
In the apparent ‘man-made drama’ being performed on a stage/ screen that one witnesses even ‘today’, the spectator apparently surrenders to whatever performance one sees. Only when it ends, one analyses it in brief by expressing it as either ‘good’, or ‘so-so’ or ‘bad’…
As per the advanced Hindus, in Kaliyuga, the ‘dark age’, when during the evolutionary process, in the physical world, there emerged poison it is only those souls who could withstand poison or ‘visha’ - and continued pursuing the ‘middle path’ throughout the cycle - apparently at the end of Satyuga could once again merge with the Supreme Soul, i.e., attained ‘moksha’…And, Bhootnath continues to review the drama in His Third Eye in the reverse order – from Satyuga (S) to Tretayuga (T), From T to Dwaperyuga (D), from D to Kaliyuga and back to S again in order to repeat the cycle 1080 times in order to cover the entire 360 degrees of space…to finally sleep for a similar duration and repeat the process once again from the stage where He was last so that each and every soul experienced prefection!
Kavitha
Your views about Kanchi maha periavar and the devine MS, are simply mind blowing.
Eagerly awaiting the blog about artist SHILPI. i remember his pictures in Ananda Vikatan
Prema
All said and done, it was well understood by the apparently ‘ancient Hindus’ (who, in reality, were ‘relatively much more advanced’) that MAN is a result of a well planned design that was executed also in the ‘long lost past’ by a ‘perfect being’ who initially - to start with - itself was ‘imperfect’.
They symbolically represented HIM in human form as having 18 hands, while originally SHE was realized as a destructive force, represented symbolically by Ma Kali: Also graphically represented by Earth-Moon!
Krishna is depicted in Bhagavadagita, that is, ‘the song of (the representative of) Lord Vishnu’ (the Formless Creator), say that man is an inverted tree.
And, ‘betal’, the imperfect man (which is translated by the modern man as ‘vampire’), is depicted in popular stories as attached to the tree - head down - like a (blind) bat (and Dhritrashtra the king towards the end of Dwaperyuga with their capital in Indraprastha that is New Dwlhi was naturally blind, while his wife was artificially blind as she kept her cyes closed covered by a piece of cloth!)!
And all life forms, including man, are called ‘bhootas’ with Bhootnath Shiva as their ‘boss’!
Maybe, with the ‘present day’ knowledge that man, in reality, is suspended head down from the earth by gravitational force (like a wet garment attached to the clothes-line with the help of a clip - and Krishna says that physical form is only a garment of teh soul!), a ‘seeker’ could read better between lines to reach the ‘Truth’ expressed in “Satyam Shivam Sunderam”, that is, Shiva alone is beautiful and He alone is the truth – with the knowledge that Shiva is called ‘Gangadhara', that is, the 'one who holds the sacred River Ganga’ and also ‘Chandrashekhara', that is, the one who receives moonlight’!
Krishna says one should enjoy the drama as a spectator. So, another reaction to a newspaper article…
Reference the ‘Second Opinion article’, Jug Suraiya - with the chaotic background conditions apparent in ‘present day Pakistan’ - like a patient of Amnesia, that is an Apsmara Purush under the foot of Natraja Shiva (in the words of ‘advanced Hindus’) coolly forgets, , that if it isn’t a part of ‘truncated India today’ it continues to remain a part of the natural ‘Indian sub-continent’, as one of the vital organs of the Third planet, called earth by those very “Cosmologists”, who believe that it has remained in existence for over 4 billion years till date, as one of the most beautiful members of the Solar System!
He is able to realise ‘optical illusion’ of whosoever apparently is at the helms of political affairs in ‘India’, in the Centre and also in its border states, but fails to himself read between lines that the globe, that is Shiva, is preparing to take bath – His tub is getting filled rapidly with snow-melt!
Best Wishes for a Happy New Year bath to all - in the TOI too!
(In his own vein!): Coming from Kutchch, maybe he could refer to the story of the ass whose burden was lightened, and thus he was saved from drowning, when he was almost sunk while crossing a river because of being loaded with a heavy sack of salt. Thus ‘educated’, he applied the same ‘trick’ when another day he carried cotton-wool!
Coincidentally for the Editors, and the ‘people’ in general, who fail to see their own optical illusion, Natkhat Nandlal, the advisor of Pandavas in ‘Indraprastha’, that is, New Delhi, also believably ruled his empire from Gujarat – like Narendra Modi dreams one day to do so in ‘future’ – perhaps from ‘Patal’ or ‘Dwarka’!
JC Joshi
Perhaps some people themselves might not be able to deduce the connection between cotton wool in the story cited and the present day administration.
For their information, man-made garments from cotton, the ‘khadi’ for example, got associated with Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Party that had the spinning wheel in the middle strip of the tricolour in its flag.
It inspired the ‘common man’ in the ‘post Independence India’ and thereafter for some time even in the ‘truncated India’ after partition when the spinning wheel got replaced by a simple wheel or ‘chakra’ in BLUE colour in the National Flag after ‘Independence’ (that could further be linked with Saturn’s rings and also thereby with metal – iron/ steel with which the planet is believably associated besides being related with blue colour; or Vishnu’s ‘sudershan chakra’’; or to the gears in a watch; or wheels of transport vehicles; or just as a symbol of ‘industrialisation’; etc. And, also the eight ‘chakras’ believably present within each human form, and so on).
And it was a strip of cotton cloth perhaps that was used by Gandhari, the wife of Dhritrshtra to cover up her eyes.
Incidentally, in my childhood I saw Magician PC Sorcar perform on stage in the Constitution Club Hall, apparently wearing many cotton bags etc over his head, besides cotton wools over bother eyes and tied with a strip of cloth – like Gandhari – and yet apparently see and make sketches on the black board!
And, Krishna compares garments with human bodies. That is to say, that the souls change bodies just as 'we' wear new garments in place of worn out ones without any painful thoughts!
Kavitha, enjoy another reaction to newspaper articles from a Hindus point of view…
When an Assamese speaks frankly, he starts with, "Beya na pabo de"! That is "please don't mnd'!
The end of a long, enlightening journey by Shashi Tharoor (STOI) was wonderful - from his own and similar view-points perhaps, because of the inevitable ‘western’ influence in the 'present'! All Bollywood Hindi Film Actors also have their eyes trained on Hollywood – because of ‘papi pate’, like Gulshan Grover the 'villain'!
Also, going through Jug Suraiya's head in his ‘Jugular Vein’ article, Fly, baby, fly, similarly confirms that both of them haven’t heard of the ‘ZERO’, called the Nadbindu, the unique infinite point source of energy that created - at the beginning of a Kaliyuga/ Kalyuga the ‘dark or machine age’ - our ‘Milky Way Galaxy’, for 'white light' and energy for sustenance of life on earth, with Black Bal Krishna, 'the Agent of death' as the ‘churner’ placed at its centre, realized as 'Black Hole' today…
But - unlike the ‘wise’ ancient Hindus who in reality were supremely advanced models of the perfect creator by the end of Satyuga – a typical ‘imperfect model’, representing the status of evolution as it stood during different stages of a Kaliyuga of 4,32,000 years, obviously fails to appreciate that it had taken him over 4 billion years to achieve ‘perfection’ that everyone feels as seen in hte desire to have the 'best'...
It is thanks to the perfect design that the instruments called ‘we the people’ - who find ourselves upon the globe for a negligible period of time - are able to enjoy the Supreme drama created by Him as Peetamber Krishna who started as an imperfect model, in so far material only is concered, only 50% advanced model as 'Neelamber Krishna' from ‘ZERO’ or ‘shunya’ of the universal void or dark space at the beginning of the churning…to return to it again in unending cycles…for “what goes up must come down”…
JC
Another aspect of Sanskrit as an advanced ‘divine language’ that might find appreciation by the ‘seeker’ could perhaps be observed in usage of certain particular words, for example take the word ‘dwar’, which means ‘entry’ or ‘hole’, a ‘medium’, etc., whereas ‘dwarika’ means ‘sentry’. And, Krishna therefore was also addressed as ‘Dwarikadhish’ that is the ‘Lord of Sentries’.
The above gets reflected in the story related with ‘Gaja-Graha’, that is, two physically powerful animals ‘Elephant and Crocodile’, where Krishna in the form of a crocodile holds the leg of an elephant that relatively being the weaker of the two needs Krishna’s boss, Vishnu, Himself to come to the assistance of the elephant…
With the above as background, a ‘genuine seeker’ who, based on personal experiences, is conversant with Yogiraja Krishna’s mysterious and miraculous ways could perhaps realize the ‘mooladhar’ in human form to represent the Centre of earth located underground in ‘patal’…reflected via the Centre of our galaxy/ essence of planet Mars…essence of which contains teh vital information locked up without which man is incomplete...
'Advanced Hindus' or Yogis were apparently used as media to communicate the sole purpose of the soul in human form - apparently realized by them and stated in the Gita also: To realize the Creator, or Supreme Soul, within the various innumerable temporary physical forms that apparently fill the ever changing universe since eternity. That is, the real Formless one that resides within all forms, which individually appear to reflect hierarchy in various aspects of behavioiur outwardly; as well as His Own True Images, or like Him the immortal ones in physical forms, such as the members of our Solar System, expressed as Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh...
The above realization was further simplified, by apparently still higher ‘elevated souls’, who indicated that the Supreme Soul, or ‘Paramatma’ alone exists since time immemorial while it continues to project its recorded past in its ‘Third Eye’!
They, therefore, apparently realized that each human form being its own image gets to similarly see its own ‘past’, but as per the grand design, due to ‘attachment’ with some ‘imperfect character’, an average soul isn’t able to realize it as its own history, the events of the ‘past’ that appear as if happening in the ‘present’!
'Advanced Hindus' or Yogis were apparently used as media to communicate the sole purpose of the soul in human form - apparently realized by them and stated in the Gita also: To realize the Creator, or Supreme Soul, within the various innumerable temporary physical forms that apparently fill the ever changing universe since eternity. That is, the real Formless one that resides within all forms, which individually appear to reflect hierarchy in various aspects of behavioiur outwardly; as well as His Own True Images, or like Him the immortal ones in physical forms, such as the members of our Solar System, expressed as Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh...
The above realization was further simplified, by apparently still higher ‘elevated souls’, who indicated that the Supreme Soul, or ‘Paramatma’ alone exists since time immemorial while it continues to project its recorded past in its ‘Third Eye’!
They, therefore, apparently realized that each human form being its own image gets to similarly see its own ‘past’, but as per the grand design, due to ‘attachment’ with some ‘imperfect character’, an average soul isn’t able to realize it as its own history, the events of the ‘past’ that appear as if happening in the ‘present’!
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