इन दिनों ......

मुझे अपने "ब्लॉग" देखे बहुत दिन हो गए है! पिछले दो महीने मैंने अपने आप को खोजने में लगाया है - "जानकी : एक खोज"

अपने बारे में लिखना बहुत ही कठिन है। मुझे यह नही पता मुझमे ऐसा क्या अद्भुत है ..... मुझमे लोगों को साथ ले चलने की शक्ति है की नही ...मुझे यह भी नही पता मैं जो कर रही हूँ वोह क्यूँ कर रही हूँ...फिर भी मैं सूखे पत्ते की तरह हवा के साथ चली जा रही हूँ.....शायद यह भागवान की इच्छा है... इस सफर के लक्ष्य पर पहुँचने पर मैं अपना यह "ब्लॉग -पोस्ट अपडेट" करुँगी।

Kurai Onrum Illai

Titbits : This song was composed my Rajaji. It was sung by MS Subbulakshmi at her United Nations concert in 1969 arranged by the then UN Undersecretary-general C V Narasimhan.

Dedication: This song is dedicated my dear Arjun who wants this song sung at 4am and that too in my voice!

kurai onrum illai marai moortthi kannaa

kurai onrum illai kannaa

kurai onrum illai govindaa

kannukku theriyaamal nirkinraay kannaa kannukku theriyaamal ninraalum enakku kurai onrum illai marai moortthi kannaa

vendiyathai thannthida venkatesan enrirukka vendiyathu verillai marai moortthi kannaa manivannaa malayappa govindaa govindaa

thiraiyin pin nirkinraay kannaa, kanna thiraiyin pin nirkinraay kannaa, unnai marai odum nyaaniyar mattume kaanpaar thiraiyin pin nirkinraay kannaa, unnai marai odum nyaaniyar mattume kaanpaar enraalum kurai onrum enakkillai kannaa enraalum kurai onrum enakkillai kannaa

kunrin mel kallaaki nirkinra varadaa kunrin mel kallaaki nirkinra varadaa kurai onrum illai marai moortthi kannaa kurai onrum illai marai moortthi kannaa manivannaa malaiappaa govindaa govindaa

kali naalukkirangi kallile irangi nilaiyaaga kovilil nirkinraay kesavaa kali naalukkirangi kallile irangi nilaiyaaga kovilil nirkinraay kesavaa kurai onrum illai marai moortthi kannaa

yaathum marukkaatha malaiyappaa - un maarbil edum thara nirkum karunai kadal annai enrum irunthida edu kurai enakku enrum irunthida edu kurai enakku onrum kurai illai marai moortthi kannaa manivannaa malaiappaa govindaa govindaa govindaa govindaa

Cursing

How often have you cursed something or somebody when something has not gone your way? Knowingly or unknowingly we curse. There are times when it comes so naturally that you will not realise that you are actually cursing.

We are still humans, even great sages with lot of self control curse. But for them by the grace of God the curse becomes a blessing!

Even Sage Narada, the mind born son of Brahma once cursed Lord Vishnu. It so happened that once Sage Narada was in deep meditation. The king of Gods, Lord Indra got worried and sent his retinue of Kamadeva and celestial damsels to disturb Sage Narada. But Sage Narada did not move a bit. When Narada awoke from his meditation he noticed Kamadeva standing in front of him. Sage Narada understood what happened and was immediately filled with pride. The sage went to Mount Kailash and told Lord Shiva that he was greater than Lord Shiva because he had conquered Kamadeva. Lord Shiva smiled and asked the sage not to tell Lord Vishnu about it. But as he was filled with pride, Sage Narada went directly to Vaikuntha and reported it to Lord Vishnu.

Lord Vishnu was naturally sad that his devotee was filled with pride so decided to teach him a lesson. He asked Goddess Lakshmi to incarnate as the beautiful princess, Srimati, of Ayodhaya.

Once as Sage Narada was moving about the three worlds, he reached Ayodhaya. He saw princess Srimati and fell in love with her. He wanted to marry her and approached her father. The king told the sage that he had arranged a Swayamvara for his daughter for the next day and invited the sage.

Now, the sage wanted to look irrestitible to the princess. He went to Lord Vishnu and asked for a face that would make the princess pick him in the Swayamvara. Lord Vishnu used the oppurtunity to curb the sage's pride. He gave him a face of a monkey. Sage Narada didn't realise this. He went happily to Ayodhaya and was sure of being the chosen suitor. When the princess came towards him with a garland she burst into laughter. Sage Narada was confused. Just then, Lord Vishnu appeared in the Swayamvara hall, and the princess chose him as her husband. Sage Narada went to the pool of water and saw his monkey face. He was furious that he had been tricked by Lord Vishnu. In his anger he cursed Lord Vishnu that the Lord will be born on Earth, will have to bear the pangs of his wife’s imposed separation from him and only a monkey will be able to relieve him of his sufferings.

This curse caused Lord Vishnu to be born as Lord Rama and the rest of the story forms the Ramayana.

Sage Narada was spirutally advanced, but even he in anger cursed. This reduced his spirutual merit. Each time we curse somebody our spiritual merit goes down. The sage's spirutual merit was so much that he was an immortal. But, we mortals, have so little spiritual merit. Can we afford to waste it in cursing???!

SALE! Everything is Free!

Some of life's best things come free. Have we ever stopped breathing for a moment and thought we are taking in too much air? Well we care little about free things that have been eternally free...but jump on something that says SALE!!

So here are a few things that come/came free -
1. Air - Since we take air for granted and dont bother about keeping it clean, we will soon end up thinking about how much air we are breathing. Pay for a cylinder of clean air and get excited about "Sale" on a can of air.
2. Water - When God made the earth he gave majority of the space on the surface of the earth to water. As per Wikipedia -"about 1.460 petatonnes (Pt) of water covers 71% of the Earth's surface". You may agrue that only about 0.6% is portable. But, we humans arent able to look after even this small amount so we end up paying money for even water!
3. Happiness - Happiness is meant to be free...but with our everchanging lives we have changed the condition for happiness. It no longer comes for free :) The more money you pay the happier you get.
4. Peace - Mental peace is free but again the conditions for it have changed. Everything is money - Am I making more than them? How do I secure my money? etc etc.
5. Thoughts - All our thoughts are free. Only great people - like Nobel laurettes and rich people like Bill Gates get paid for their thoughts ...for now! :)
6. Gossip - Interesting right? Yes it comes free. Wanted or unwanted all gossip is free.
7. Advice - This was an after thought...something people love to give free

There may be more things...but I can think only so much for the day...free thoughts are limited !!! ;)

Guru

Don't get excited I am not writing about the Mani Ratnam film. Its about a real Guru. I am reading this book titled "Divine Discourses". It is a collection of discourses give by H.H Abhinava Vidhyatheertha Swamigal of Sringeri, as interpretted by a disciple. Most of the book is about the importance of a Guru in our lives.

I have friends who have their family Guru, and have often wondered why my family does not have one. More often it appears as tough, if we want something, a Guru is our direct contact with God. We are all believers in God, but no Guru to direct us. How will we reach God? But is it really true that we dont have any Guru?

Well, when I come to think of it, our first Guru is invariently our mother. She is the one who teaches us most of our formative lessons. She teaches us to walk, talk, read, write and pray, to name a few. So, our first Guru in our path to reach closer to God, is our mother.

Then as life goes on we learn a few things about God from our father and teachers. After a few years when we venture out on our own, its something inside us that directs us. But at this stage we are more concerned about wordly things. Still no physical Guru in sight. Personally, I am at this stage.

I don't know if I will find a Guru. Can I not reach God without a Guru? I don't know, but right now there is God who is guiding me on the right path. Its the same God that guided Arjuna on the right path. So for now why do I need a physical Guru, when I have the greatest Guru guiding me, the one Guru trascending time and space????

I wish.....

Have you ever wondered what would be the one boon you would ask God if he appeared before you? But first, lets be clear on a couple of things.....if God appeared before everyone so easily then he would not be God, he would be a genie! Then I need to understand that I am not a very evolved human being....I still have all those "bad" qualities and a busy mind!

But what would I ask? I wish.... No not this, its too low....may be this.....naah! too little for God to give....and soon I find myself testing God's giving power. Then this story comes to mind...the story of young Dhruva...and interesting one...may be it will teach me what to ask for???

There was a prince named Dhruva, he was the son of King Uttanapada and his wife Suniti. The king had another wife Suruchi and a son Uttama through her. Suruchi and Uttama were the king's "favorites". One day, while playing the two princes raced towards their father to sit on his lap. Suruchi chided Dhruva and told him he had no place on his father's lap. She further told him to seek Lord Vishnu and ask him the boon of being born as her son in the next birth.

Dhruva started crying and went to his mother. Suniti consoled young Dhruva and asked him to pray to Lord Vishnu to end his misery. Dhruva then undertook a severe penance as directed by Sage Narada.

After several hundreds of years of penance, Lord Narayana appeared before Dhurva to grant a boon. By this time Dhruva had forgotten the reason for his penance. So, he asked Lord for a life dedicated to singing praises of the Lord. Dhurva could have asked for anything including moksha. But Dhurva had no personal desires. This made the Lord very happy and gave him the highest seat in heaven...a seat that will never move. To this day you can see it in the sky...its the Pole Star or the "Dhruva-tara".

Ok so the highest place in the Universe is taken...what do I ask for....well I still dont have an answer...sorry God! I wish... you could give me a hint. Oooops!!

Support System

Yesterday, I finally managed to finish watching this movie called "Arai En 305il Kadavul". It simply traslates to "God in Room 305 of the lodge".

Its a story of God coming down from the heavens to teach the important lessons of life to mortals in a poor neighbourhood. Most of the lessons seemed cliche`d. But the one discussion on who God is and why he should exist was interesting.

As humans who have a wide range of the so called emotions, we constantly need support - "emotional support". When we are sad, angry, happy...we need someone to listen to us..someone who will give us a shoulder to cry on if we need. Most of us find our support system in our family.

But sometimes there is something lacking....I wouldn't say lacking.....may be we need more support....a support that is not corpereal ... that I believe gives rise to the concept of God. Some people would call it internal strength. Something our heart tells our mind and our troubled mind becomes stable again....that voice from our heart is God. The form that we give God is the form given by our mind. So no matter who we are God, I think is the same... the voice of our hearts....the rest of it is a world created by our minds!!