Who said......

"Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever" ? I asked Maya, an pat came the reply - M.K. Gandhi :)

Throughout school history we have lived on a "Gandian" diet. Each page in our 10th class history book had the name "Gandhi". Growing up in India I loved having a holiday on Oct. 2 - Mr. Gandhi's b'day and Jan. 30, Matyr's day - though he did not die fighting for the freedom of India! But thats about the end of it. They (the history books) say that M.K Gandhi was killed by a mad man, Nathuram Godse. Politicians have demonzied Godse. Anyway according to Godse's guilty plea, he said he killed Gandhi because of the latter's policies being anti-Hindu. Which may be true, obviously we wont know all that happened and we cannot trust the history books.

So...back to my post ....I wrote this post about M.K. Gandhi because I wanted to share the photo below that is from a place 8 mins from where I live. Its a statue of Gandhi and it is in the city of Sherborn, Massachusetts!

When I write about Gandhi, I have to write about Godse, because as I said... I don't trust history books written by politicians!

Enlightenment!

It is a well known story that Prince Siddartha left all his duties and sat under the "bodhi tree" and attained enlightenment. So how did he get this enligthenment? The books will say by meditation. What did he meditate on? Hard to say, because the great Buddha himself did not reveal it.

Yoga teaches us one form of meditation. In this form of meditation, you train your mind to concentrate nsomething, like your breathing. But is this kind of meditation enough for enlightenment? I guess not. As human beings our minds constantly work overtime. So many thoughts in such little space! Concentration is difficult and besides once it is gone, we are back to our normal thoughts.

So how should I meditate? Here's my two cents of knowledge on how to meditate:
First find a time when you have absolutely nothing to do.....say a couple of hours. Then find a quite place, the best place may be the restroom. (No offense to the great souls, I am just keeping up with the times!) Take a deep breath and exhale, clear your respiratory system. Close your eyes and try not to sleep. Now summon the first thought. Think about it analyze it, express you opinion to your thought. Once you have dwelled on it enough, dismiss it. Then call on the next thought and do the same thing. A few thoughts a day clears your mind to an extent.

We have so many thoughts. To clear each one of them will take years. So now you know why the great souls spent many years meditating before they became enlightened!

My Grandparents

Since my last post, life has changed permanently! God sent Kriti into our lives. There is a very strange connection between my children and my grandfather. Arjun was born on his English B'day and Kriti on his Tamil B'day! I hope my children have all his good qualities.

Grandparents form an important part of our lives. Sometimes as important as raising a kid without the child's parents being around like our president-elect Barack Obama. In my life grandparents have not played that important a role, because of living in a different city.

I do not remember the time I spent with my maternal g'father. He passed away when I was only 4. Amma says I troubled him a lot when Maya was born. Paati and thatha took care of me entirely when Mwas born. I always had a special bond with paati. I was her first grandchild and she loved me. She used to buy me anything I asked for and also cook all that I liked. I loved her idli and molaha podi. No one can make it like her. Paati also made thertipal and maaladu everytime I visited her house. Paati is my best childhood memory of a grandmother. I thank her for great memories. Now, though I must say, things have changed, she has moved on. She has other grandchildren whom she loves, they are with her. I think I just exist for her, nothing more.

I do not have any childhood memories with my paternal grandparents. We visited them every summer vacation. But thats all I remember. I had cousins who were closer my grandparents. Maya and I were almost insignificant. We were the "outsiders". Anyway as time passed, and we grew older, my cousins moved out and did not have time to spend with thatha and paati. Paati didnt talk much anyway. Till today I have not sat down and had a conversation with her. Till today I dont know if she likes Maya and me. Thatha I guess yearned to talk to his grandchildren and I was the only one who listened to him. He told me many stories from the days of the Raj. He was very happy with my marriage and was there to bless me on my wedding day. After I came to the US is called him, but towards the end, I was not allowed to talk to him, "others" would answer the call and say he couldnt talk. I did not believe them. I believe they never told him I called. He passed away in about 9 months after my wedding.

Anyway, on his last b'day I didnt call him and wish him, because I knew those "others" will not let me talk to my thatha. And I did not want to talk to those "others". I feel bad that I couldnt wish him on his last b'day. So I think thats why Arjun was born his b'day, so that I always celebrate the day for the rest of my life!

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 !!! ;)