From where it all began

We all know that for every beginning there is an end. So is it for the universe or cosmos. Of course we keep hearing very often 'the end of the world theory' but not very often an end of the universe theory.

An infinite successive cycles of manifestation and dissolution is a thought to think about. Manifestation can also be looked as creation and dissolution as annihilation (extinction). in Sanskrit this is termed as 'Shrishti' and 'Pralaya'. Creation can be of two types, an outermost level like the universe and at an individual level; Macrocosm and Microcosm.

Deep in our knowledgebase of cosmology (Bharatiya or Indian) it said that the universe is cyclically created and destroyed every 8.64 billion years or so^1,2. The destruction or pralaya is the time when all necessary things required to create life (seeds of creation) is collected in an earthern pot. This pot is then kept safely atop Mount Meru (a sacred mountain). However it so happened that during the pralaya, heavy rains and deluge washed away the pot. As the pralaya ended, the pot drifted around and moved southwards, and finally settled down at a place. The gods requested Lord Shiva to break the pot so that life can begin(beginning of Kali Yuga³). Lord Shiva abided and shot an arrow which broke the pot. The pot broke into many pieces and where each piece fell a temple is located. The nectar from the pot is considered to have created the Mahaamaha theertham & Potraamarai kulam. This place is presently known as Kumbakonam.

The whole concept was so interesting that I decided to dig a little deeper and read around. In the process one finds another story(probably it is not a story but fact too early for us to understand) which goes like this. There was once a great king by name Satyavrata who was the son of the Sun God. Before vanaprastha, he handed over the reins of his kingdom to his son Ikshavaku. He then moved to the foothills of Mount Malaya and started meditation. After meditating for thousands of years, Brahma appeared before him and asked Satyavrata what boon he would like to have. Satyavrata replied “Soon there will pralaya (destruction) and the world will cease to exist. Please grant me only one boon that it will be I who will save the save the seeds of creation at the time of the destruction. Brahma accepted and granted the boon." Brahma was pleased and granted the boon. Time passed, one day Satyavrata after his morning bath in the river was performing the morning rituals. While performing Pitru Tarpan he suddenly noticed a small fish in this palms and requested him not to put it back in the river lest it may be eaten by a bigger fish. Satyavrata felt sorry and kept the fish in his kamandala (a vessel that holds water, that can be carried around). Later he transferred the fish to the pond in his ashramam. The fish grew to a larger size and it was transferred to a large lake or sarovaram. However very soon the fish outgrew the lake, then the river and so finally the huge fish was transferred to the ocean where it grew again to be a giant fish. Satyavrata realised that this was no ordinary fish, when the fish revealed that it was an avatar of Lord Vishnu and the pralaya was soon to happen and the world would be submerged in water. The lord also informed that very soon a huge ship constructed by the devas would arrive and Satyavrata was to collect the samples of different living beings(species) like Svedaja(from sweat/heat like lice), Udbhija(from earth/soil like plants), Andaja(born from eggs) and Jaraayuja(embryonic or mammals) and accompanied by the Saptarishis(seven rishis). The lord also suggested that the ship be attached to the horn of the Giant Fish with the help of the great serpent Vasuki. The pralaya came as informed and with it appeared the giant ship and the huge rope. Satyavrata performed the tasks as had been informed to him earlier. The giant ship was thus protected by Matsyavatara and soon the pralaya subsided, Lord Vishnu(matsyavatara) explained to Satyavrata the concept of Shristhi (creation) and Punah Shrishti (loosely termed as re-creation). The concept and philosophy of creation is another vast topic(ref: matsyapurana).

A few words on Kumbakonam. Kumbakonam is a temple town, like Kancheepuram. My recent visit to Kumbakonam took me through Tiruchy or Trichy (Tiruchirappalli) and Thanjavur (or erstwhile Tanjor). The Government Arts College at Kumbakonam also known as the "Cambridge of South India" is one of the oldest colleges in Tamil Nadu, Alma Mater of Srinivasan Ramanujam, the famous Mathematician, U. V. Swaminatha Iyer, Tamil Scholar and Researcher, who contributed greatly in the preservation of Tamil Literature and Language.

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An Evening with the Living Legend

I know what you all must be thinking, which among the 25 Greatest Global Living Legend am I talking about? Surprisingly he does not feature in that list :-( I am talking about none other than Padmashree Dr. K. J. Yesudas. Shri Yesudas was in concert for Cancure Foundation. Words to describe the evening will be limiting. Having heard the magnificent voice from my childhood, it is impossible to describe or pen the feelings and emotions listening to the maestro in a live concert.

Listen to the concert

 

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Banking is all about trust. What a joke!!!

I recently visited a "Nationalised Bank" to get a cheque book. I park my vehicle and get into the lift and was not sure if the branch was located on the 2nd floor or 3rd. I checked with a person who was there in the lift and he informed me that the branch no longer functions here!!!! That was a shocking statement to hear. The person told that it has moved to somewhere close by. I got out of the lift on the 2nd floor and decided to walk down. At the first floor stuck to a closed shutter, written in black ink on a normal piece of paper, I found a small note indicating the new location of the branch.

I finally managed to locate the branch. I walked in and asked the person sitting in the first counter with regard the shifting of the branch and why the customers were not informed, prompt came the reply "I just joined this office 2 days back.." and look on the face "How do you think I can help you?".

I put in my request for the cheque book and was told to wait as the 'concerned person was in the back somewhere'. After waiting for a while, I re-approached the counter to know the status. This time there was a lady helping out this gentleman ('who had joined 2 days back'). I guessed she must have been with this branch for sometime, so put forth the question 'When did the branch move here?' the reply with a grin 'May 27th'. I checked back 'Aren't customers informed of the branch's movement?' the response a bigger grin or smile....

The banks always insist that customer's should update their personal details like address and contact details promptly. I wonder if it is not important for the bank to do so . Here is an excerpt from the “The customer rights policy” of the bank :

Communicate unambiguously the information about -
a. discontinuation of particular products,
b. relocation of their offices
c. changes in working hours
d. change in telephone numbers
e. closure of any office or branch

-with advance notice of at least 30 days.

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Birthday

The day is coming to an end. For most people, today is a Sunday, and as the evening gets darker, it is sign of the end of the weekend and the beginning of the "Monday Blues". In Kerala a birthday was celebrated...... Whose birthday would be the natural question? The answer would be Sree Narayana Guru.. Who is he can be a question one might hear, or maybe not..

Like my previous post on Onam, this short write up is on a Guru. Most people know him as a social reformer, as a Sadhu, as a Hindu Saint, and other ....... Kerala is known as 'God's own Country'. According to the Wikipedia, there are many places around the world that are referred to by this name. Kerala is a small state in the southernmost part of India, named as one of the "ten paradises of the world" by National Geographic's Traveller magazine. One can find many explanations some which are supposedly mythological like the Sage Parasurama threw his battle axe(towards the south) from somewhere near Gokarana and the space between Gokarana and the place where is axe fell turned to land, which is Kerala.  I also had someone tell me that in the cycle of rebirths it is the effect of your past Karma that gives the atma (soul) the privilege to be born as a human. To be reborn as human again in India is considered at a higher plane than the previous and to be born in Kerala the highest.

I was born in Kerala and spend most of life away. Back at my birth place, the on-going years till now, has been a journey of un-learning, questioning the self, introspecting, fighting belief systems of the self and surrounding, getting to understand that the more one walks into the dense forest of belief systems, the more constricted it becomes to express one's own thoughts. However it is only when one goes deeper that answers start to materialize from no-where, and the old belief systems start to crumble just like old paint on the wall to be replaced by beliefs whose foundations are built on experiences of the self, and one starts to believe that the ‘Belief System’ needs to be purified with time, for it to shine bright just like fire purifies gold. It is like the 'join the dots picture'. Anyway there are still many dots left, small bits and pieces of the complete picture has only been revealed.

Sree Narayanan Guru was born in 1856 in the suburbs of present day Thiruvananthapuram. His father Madana Asan, could have been a scholar, the word Asan certainly indicates a person of knowledge. It is said that he learned Malayalam, Tamil and Sanskrit from his Father. It is also said that the young Nanu(as he was fondly called) loved to spend time herding the cows, composing hymns and singing. He also had extensive training in Vedanta Philosophy. The Guru relied a lot on his own experiences, and teachings of the Upanishad. Apart from this he is to have studied Yoga Vasistha of Valmiki Ramayana and Patanjali's Yogasutras.

He was against any forms of community other than the Human Community. A great spiritual Guru, whose thoughts and teachings are yet to percolate into our lives. Thoughts and views that would make living simple and foster a feeling of warmth in mankind, and to look at another human being as human being first. In the words of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore who met the Guru in 1922, "I have never come across one who is spiritually greater than Swami Narayana Guru or a person who is at par with him in spiritual attainment". The meeting of Gandhiji with Narayana Guru is supposed to have triggered a crucial transformation in Gandhiji’s approach to caste and color conflict in India and abroad.

*Biographical references http://www.sreenarayanaguru.in/biographies

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Fear of Exams

Everyone has fears in some form of the other. The 'Fear' of 'exams' somehow lives through one's life time. Off late I find this fear far greater in students, they are simply terrified....

Why should not they be, after all educational institutions actually spend more time in conducting exams and exam related activities than imparting education/knowledge. I am not joking; the schools in Kerala opened in the first week of June, and I am to believe that the FA1 assessments are over and the results published in most schools! What worries me more here is that the exam culture is inducing a results based approach to life, as in 'What will I get if I do this activity? What are my benefits? Will I be able to brag about this to others?' Now, the fear of exams is primarily because of the fear of failure. However in schools one does not have a choice, so everyone goes through the process of exams and ensures that the exam has been cleared by hook or crook. However in real life exams don't come announced.. And the so called failure of exams in life is taken seriously by the folks around. It even goes to the extent of being ridiculed and the individual is considered a LOOSER!

This leads to the most important trait that is observed in individuals today, "Let someone start, I will follow", "just in case there is a failure I will have someone to point fingers at!" Where has all this fear come from? And what is the solution ? Seriously I have no clue. Sometimes I feel life has become too easy these days. The stress to "live" has been replaced by the stress "to live better than my neighbour" The same is the case with children, they are under tremendous stress to perform at school and everywhere else. We as parents never leave a chance to ridicule them or compare someone else with them. I can hear a lot of voices shouting at me, "Come on don't be ridiculous, we never ridicule our child". You are right, I kind of agree, however what we don't realise is that we unconsciously do things, or say things that gets interpreted in the form of a ridicule. The children of this generation are super intelligent, smart, and sensitive. They can sense un-spoken words, they may never challenge you, however the experience gets stored.

Hence it is important for children to experience failure, and accept it as a part of life. As parents we need to allow our child to FAIL, sometimes knowingly, support and guide them through the failure. They need to realise that failure is part of life and it is part and parcel of every individual. Have you bitten your tongue? I am sure each one of us has, now isn't that a failure of the co-ordination system or some aspect of our human body, that allowed this event to happen. But then we don't keep a track of it or make a list. What I trying to say is that there are so many such subtle failures that happen with us or around us, which we don't care, hence let's take the slightly bigger forms of failure also casually.

Something that struck me recently between my childhood and the present is near extinction of Story Telling. Story telling mostly or always happens in the mother tongue. Story telling was always an integral part of our culture, however the invasion of the ’idiot box’ and hordes of cable channels, have eroded into the minds of children, who instead of learning about their own culture live in a bubble formed by the utopian stories of foreign culture. The Jataka Tales, Hitopadesha, Mulla Naseeruddin and the likes of them impart knowledge, bring us closer to nature, teach ahimsa, and above all develop the humane in the human being. All these forms of stories have situations of failures which are never highlighted as failures. Hence right from the tender age these stories formed invisible armour against the negativities of failure, and hence failures were handled better.

The fear of failures evolves into the fear of exams and this evolves into the procrastination to start any activity, for in their minds they have already seen the failure and hence do not want to experience the success.

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Is this our Samskara ?

What do you mean, after all what is Samskara.... Sounds sanskrit and must be something to do with Hinduism!!!! Well you know what, if you google the word, the result displays that it is a noun, it is hinduism, and means purification ceremony or rite marking a major event in one's life; and then it says the origin of the word is sanskrit and means ‘an act of making perfect, preparation’. We can simply define "Samskara" as imprints left on the subconscious mind of the individual by experience. Now you could ask "So is it only experience?" not exactly. Let's look at a sanskrit shloka which describes "Learning" - आचार्यात् पादमादत्ते पादं शिष्यः स्वमेधया । सब्रह्मचारिभ्यः पादं पादं कालक्रमेण च ॥

AchAryAt pAdamAdatte, pAdam shiShyaH swamedhayA |

sa-brahmachAribhyaH pAdam, pAdam kAlakrameNa cha || roughly translates to "one fourth or quarter from the teacher, one fourth from own intelligence, one fourth from classmates, and one fourth only with time." So we can see that the initiators of learning is the teacher which, can be parents, siblings, relatives, social contacts and of course the teacher's at school. This means the foundation years of the individual has a huge part to what happens later. In the early years of civilization life itself was much simpler. The compartmentalization of life in its whole was minimal, arts, science, beliefs, sentiments and social institutions etc were close knitted or rather interwoven. Religion if there was something in the ancient world was used as a binding force to bring some kind of sanctity and stability for different incidents in a person's life. So if we step back a bit " purification ceremony or rites marking a major event in one's life" was a necessity, for e.g. if we take marriage as one of the events, we are all aware that this is an event which has a huge impact in the lives of two individuals, their immediate families, their extended families, friends and to some extent to all the people associated with the event. Hence marriage is a "Samskara"! We can kind of redefine "Samskara" or rather we can say that the aim of "Samskara" was to create the conditions for the development of an integrated personality of an individual, who can adjust himself with the world around him, a world full of human and superhuman forces. If we retrace the life of an individual back to their childhood, a time when the individual started to un-consciously¹ gather information from around both visually and auditory, we can agree upon that the information did get imprinted somewhere in the conscious of the individual or let's put it as stored in the brain(for the scientifically inclined)². This information that has been converted to memories when stimulated at a later age or older age can act positively or negatively for the individual. An individual's naming ceremony is also a 'Samskara' that is common to any individual in the world. We have names for ourselves and everything else. Maybe that's why we have less harmony amongst us than the other worlds of plants, insect, animals or whatever. I am sure when a tiger sees another tiger it must be saying 'Ah, there you are tiger' after all they don't have naming ceremonies to address the other tiger by name ;-) So samskaras are essential for every individual, after all it contributes to the development of the individual. Today most samskara's have tags attached to them in the form of religion or otherwise. Like I said before religion is something that bound a group of people in a certain form and sets of belief. Sounds strange!! Well the word religion has its origin from old French and Latin - 'religare' which means to bind, subsequently 'religio' which means obligation, bond, reverence. From that to today's meaning of 'the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods'. I guess this is why there is a saying 'Time changes everything'!!! I was reading somewhere the other day that religion could also mean realisation. I hope we all realise that there is something called 'Life', and as humans we are accountable (not just responsible) for our own 'Life' and 'Life' around us, that which is visible or not!!! ¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_memory ²http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_loftus_the_fiction_of_memory?language=en

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Back to School

It has been ages since I left school. The last few days I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with school students of different schools. As I had indicated in one of my previous posts, the transition to the Career Profiling area has been an eye opener in an area called 'Education' which churns out thousands who believe that they have the required 'qualifications' and then it slowly dawns on them that they do not have the 'learning' required to endure the pitfalls of everyday life. They often get lost trying to figure out when what went wrong in their life or career and are frantically trying to find ways by which their children would not end up where they are!!! Life gets pulled in all directions..... and then what is left of life is 'Survival'. Today's children needs a strong foundation, where their idea's will occupy their mind in complete and they will be able to transform the idea to a physical or mental. As Swami Vivekananda has said " Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy - by one, or more, or all of these - and be free."

You would not believe if I told you that, interactions with the young minds help relieve stress on one hand and is a great source of knowledge and arouses the thought process. I ask each of you to explore this area at least once....

School life today is mechanical and very stressful. Above all of this is the fear of different forms of examinations. It looks like today schools have more examinations than study!!! I have always wondered, on the knowledge level of the toppers and top scorers and rank holders. There is a stark difference between knowledge and education today. In my professional life, I have had numerous occasions when I lost my cool, conducting interviews. The candidate who had come for the interviews showcases their degree and certifications, however in reality s/he does not even know the fundamentals. How pathetic.

In the last couple of years I have had the strongest desire to bring about a radical change in our education system. I knew that I do not have the wherewithal or right connections or powerful backings or even money to make even a miniscule of change!!!!! However somewhere within me I knew that my desire was too strong to take a back seat. Three years back when I started Career Profiling as part of a Summer Camp, there were many of my so called "well wishers" who said 'great initiative, but you should just do this part time; it is not wise to leave IT. You should join with some tuition centre or coaching institute else how will you survive.' I am happy that I listened to my inner voice and managed(still manage) to hold on against various odds.

The SKIE program a unique initiative by Vivekananda Kendra Vedic Vision Foundation to address the overall development of an individual, focusing on students from Class VIII, started off with the initial assessments being conducted at different schools. All the schools that we visited to introduce the program have welcomed the initiative and the children are excited to see something different from normal tuitions and weekend entrance coaching classes!!!

SKIE is for (S)elf,

SKIE is about gaining (K)nowledge,

SKIE is about being (I)nformed so that the knowledge can be shared with others, and

SKIE is about (E)ssence, the quality in an individual, the character of a person, because we all know that we can earn the love and respect of others only if we are good to them.

Hence the focus of the program will be on Self Discovery, Education, Knowledge, Attitude, and Life Skills.

The yearlong program has been planned to go along with the academics and will focus on simplifying learning of regular school subjects, and to find their usefulness in our day to day living. The purpose of the study is often lost in the rush to finish the curriculum and attain good marks. Along with this the program will have regular sessions on Communication skills, Memory Management, Concentration techniques and Life Skills.

For me to be part of the program from the delivery angle is a dream come true. I cannot even imagine the vast amount of knowledge that I stand to gain from the children, the joy of seeing Children who will write examinations with a smile, the happiness of Parents in seeing their child/children confidently stand on their own legs, ready to face any situation that warrants it. In today's troubled times, it is very depressing to note that "Being Human" is a far-fetched thought. How unfortunate is it that today we identify individuals by their profession, or qualification or lineage or at times it is a social group or otherwise forgetting the fact that we are a 'Human' first.

The SKIE program aims at upholding Swami Vivekananda's famous quote " We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet."

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The Grim face of reality

In the last three years that I moved into the area of Career Profiling, I have had numerous interactions with Parents and children(of different ages), the subject of the discussion mostly centred around what the child would want to do in life. In all these discussion there has always been the emphasis of Career, which used to worry me a lot and continuous to do so. Today a friend shared a post on Facebook, which had some alarming data and raised serious concerns. It also re-enforced my  worry ‘what is the future of the children of this country’. I took the liberty of the visiting the source site of the news and prepared some quick pie charts. Adding them here :

• Only 33% of our Indian population(parents) want our children to be healthy
• Only 49% of our Indian population (parents) want our children to be happy
• Only 22% of our Indian population(parents) want our children to be earn enough to enjoy a comfortable life
• Only 17% of our Indian population(parents) want our children to fulfil their potential
• 51% of our Indian population(parents) want our children to be successful in their career

Where are we headed ? What good is the career without the self ? The self is comprised of good Health and Happiness. What career can an individual have without potential? Parents, do you want your child to have a great career that spans few years/months/days or be a good Human Being for life. If you are only a ‘human’ to pursue a career, how different are you from an animal. Animals do not have a choice, they cannot choose to be different, however as humans we have the choice. Let us live like a human. As Swami Vivekananda says “There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of the universe. Like the silkworm you have built a cocoon around yourself…. Burst your own cocoon and come out aw the beautiful butterfly, as the free soul. Then alone you will see Truth.” As parents don’t bind your child/children in a rat hole called career, Life is far bigger and greater than that.

Couple of weeks back there was an article by Dr. Stephen Hawking, that robots or Artificial intelligence could rule the over mankind in future. The ‘51%’ can contribute to this in a big way.

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Yoga and Mind Management - Part II

National Institutes of Health's (NIH)¹ MedlinePlus says - ' Today, we accept that there is a powerful mind-body connection through which emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and behavioral factors can directly affect our health.' (http://goo.gl/wiLUaB)

The "Mind" decides when I should be happy or sad. We would have always thought that not having something is the primary cause of sadness. However it is not true, having something does not necessarily make you happy :-). It is actually the "Mind's" reaction towards what we have and do not have that gets expressed physically(oe emotionally) as being 'happy' or 'sad'. Now that is complicated and utterly confusing. Let's delve a little bit into details to slightly understand this.

I am not sure if I can define Mind in a single word or sentence; it is not physical for sure, and does not have a form. The mind can be loosely differentiated as conscious, unconscious and subconscious. The conscious mind has it inputs from our five senses - vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Amongst the five senses vision can be said to be most powerful, after all we can things close by and very far away(the stars!), our hearing comes next and is limited to a couple of metres, next 'smell' which can be detected only much closer, taste even closer and finally touch. The conscious mind can fall asleep, which is why when sleeping we are at peace - no inputs ;-) So we can kind of say that the communication from outside to inside happens through the conscious mind.

The subconscious mind is something like the Random Access Memory (RAM) of the computer, keeps our recent memories and also is in touch with the unconscious mind to dig up information. The unconscious mind is a storehouse of everything(all inputs from the five senses are stored continuously!!!). Un-edited data from a time ---- I am not sure. If you ask me, is it from birth? well not necessarily, before that. So from when, I really do not know, I think we have not acquired the skills to find that. It is like the hard disk, I can do a security erase/ wipe disk and believe that data cannot be recovered. I do not know, there may be technology that can retrieve the data!!! Scary stuff!!!

Hence Mind is an important element. What has been thought in the Mind is always more powerful and could have a different purpose, than actions that have been performed as a part of the thought. How is that possible, well let's look at a hypothetical scenario? A man who was a diabetic patient was supposed to have an amputation - 'The right leg, from two inches below the knee.' The operation was scheduled for the coming Monday, and he was to be admitted on Monday morning. On Sunday night a burglary happened at the patient's house. There was a tussle during which the burglar struck the man with a knife, and the man's right leg got severed, exactly from two inches below the knee!!! The man did not sustain any other injury and the burglar was caught. Question :

• Should the burglar be arrested and charged?
• Shouldn't the man pardon the burglar, after all he saved a lot of money as the operation was no longer required and no money or valuable was lost. :-) ?

However morally and as per law, the burglar should be charged with man-slaughter and appropriate punishments meted out. Why, well the burglar's intention was to harm the man!!! It means that there is a moral code of conduct that everyone is expected to follow. In sanskrit it is termed as "Dharma"² and loosely means to keep, to maintain or hold. Something like upholding the law. The only difference is that the exact meaning of 'Dharma' is situationally different. Example : Amassing wealth; There is nothing wrong about it. After all to take care of the needs of the family and for the society to sustain and flourish, wealth is required. So the desire to have wealth is fine, but not greed for wealth!!! So it is important for the individual to have the right means(or righteous means) to acquire wealth, the right moderation in the use of the acquired wealth and the right intentions. This is a very basic understanding of Dharma with regard to wealth.

Okay then back to Mind Management, so now we understand that the mind is not easy to control or rather I have no control over my mind!!! One's intelligence is governed by egotism, instead of being the other way round. Hence there is neither peace nor happiness in one's mind. Govern your mind, lest it govern you.

I was hoping to conclude this topic here, however it looks like it is going to take couple of more paragraphs, hence will stop for now. As indicated in the first part, these writings are my understanding and interpretation of Sri. Girishji's talk on Mind Management. The original talk was in Malayalam, hence with my limited understanding I had to do a lot of additional reading to understand certain areas. I consider myself lucky to have been able to listen to this talk, an din the process rake my own thoughts. I would like to add that I have taken the liberty to add some additional stuff (after some extensive reading) to clarify few areas for the benefit of everyone and self. And as I always believe the force has always been with me and will be....(courtesy Star Wars)

¹ The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a biomedical research facility primarily located in Bethesda, Maryland. An agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, it is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. (https://goo.gl/v6rzUc) ² Dharma ([dʱəɾmə]; Sanskrit: धर्म dharma, Pali: धम्म dhamma) is a key concept with multiple meanings in the Indian religions Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.There is no single word translation for dharma in western languages.   (https://goo.gl/i4qrBT)

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Yoga and Mind Management

Yoga means to join. Join means to connect or link two or more things. Most of us connect Yoga with Asanas or the exercises; however there is more to it. So Yoga basically means a fusion of the mind and body.

Sri. Girishkumar, the founder chairman of Shripuram Trust, presided over the concluding program of Yoga Sapthaham at Anandadham, Kodungallur. His talk on Mind Management put to rest the many doubts in the mind's of the audience and ignited the thought process on all round benefits of Yoga and the subtle but critical importance of Mind Management in the overall wellbeing of the individual. Girishji explained that to live a good life human's require three entities, the body, the mind and intelligence in the right proportion. Else it can be disastrous, for e.g. if an individual is extraordinarily intelligent a genius, it can be a problem as most of the time they are typically misunderstood and underestimated by peers, by society, and usually even by themselves resulting in underutilizing of their potential. The same is true in the case of Mind and Body. Binding the Body, the Mind and Intelligence and ensuring that there is good synchronization between each is what yoga helps an individual achieve.

Yoga for the body helps to ensure that the various components of our body are in a healthy state and are in good co-ordination with each other. The body is the most important instrument to do anything in life.

" शरीरमाद्यं खलु धर्मसाधनम् (sharIramAdyaM khalu dharmasAdhanam) - The body is the foremost instrument for doing good deeds. "

A good body, free of diseases and healthy is important to enjoy the fruits of our hard work. Ghata Yoga an interpretation of asana as described by Patanjali Maharshi's Ashtanga yoga. Ghata means earthen pot. Just as a clay pot must be baked in a kiln for it to serve the purpose, similarly the human body considered akin to the pot needs to undergo the transformation through yoga, to successfully accomplish the goals in life. The asanas also help discipline the various parts of the human body an action that happens consciously. At the same the unconsciously the prana shakti or life force(vitality) is also disciplined. The prana shakti or vitality is a kind of a physical entity, the non-materialistic entity can be described as the mind. So essentially we are slowly moving from a materialistic to a no-materialistic realm. We all know that the mind like our knowledge or intelligence is not something that we can see or touch! Ofcourse this can bring in some confusion, as all the while we have been made to understand about object that we can look and feel. However it is also true that it is not necessary for us to believe that something exists only because we have seen it or felt it. As Sri Ramakrisha says "You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day?"

This essentially means that the path to the non-materialistic realm is through materialistic means, the path to the mind is the body! In this context it is of utmost importance to understand that all asana's are not suitable to everybody and hence needs to be practised under proper guidance.

So much for now, the "Mind" is something that has no boundaries. Will continue in my next post. All that I have penned are my very basic understanding of Sri Girishji's talk.

The description on "Mind" and its definite and impactfull part in our day to day life needs another post :-)

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An evening with the doyen - Mattanur Sankarankutty Marar

Padmashree Mattanur Sankarankutty Marar, the percussionist wizard, who along with his sons and accompanying percussionists performed a scintillating display of triple Thayambaka. Listening to Sri Marar, one wonders how can an Asura Vadhyam, a demonic instrument which the chenda is considered as, literally take the listener from a motionless state to a state of blissful ecstasy. Surely it is clear that goodness dwells in everything including evil!!!

The rendering of the Sopana Sangeetham, until now had helped everyone in and around the Layam Koothambalam to move to a peaceful state of mind, a state in which each of us can experience calm, experience the nature around us and be ready to move the mind to bliss or eternal happiness.

Music is in the Air, yes that is the right statement, Sri Mattanur and team took everyone present on a journey of rhythms, at times like the faint bubbling creek, at times like the gushing river, the gushing river then dropping from above as a giant waterfall. Waterfall where one can listen to different sounds of the water, soft sounds, loud sounds, the cascading sounds, the occasional splash of water and quietness sets in as one moves along with the relaxed flow of the river. A slow hum reverberates and the river meets the ocean with a thunderous roar of waves, the water tossing around whatever it carries, and happy to have reached the destination, enjoying the bliss, floating around. And suddenly you are brought back to reality. The Thrithayambaka (Triple Thayambaka) is over.

The magic is over for now. The facial expression on Sri Mattanur, his sons and team display the immense pleasure and enjoyment they have had, the audience is still speechless, one cannot believe that it is over for the day. Although it is late and past my bedtime, I feel as if the day has just started. I am sure it was the same for everyone, irrespective of age.

Organised as a part of the Poornojwalam by Veda Dhwani Cultural Trust

Personal recording of the event

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A Spiritual Retreat

Are you someone who likes to glance within? Interested to know how equipment's work, what part of the plant is a coconut, how do we grow a banana tree, oops sorry it is not a tree but the largest herbaceous flowering plant. If we take this curiosity a little further, we can ask, who am I. Of course I am a human being. I was born one day and will die one day! Hmmm, so what is the purpose of my life? How am I different from the animals who are born and die. I can think & reason unlike animals. However that seems a very trivial reason! So then what? Hence the simple question "who am I?" which would have popped up within each of us at some time or other of our life is conveniently ignored until it reaches a stage when it is the only question that is un-answered or one with no clue of any kind !

Before I continue let me clarify; Spiritual does not necessarily have to be connected to religion. The word Spirit is derived from the latin word spiritus, which evolved to spiritualis and spirituel(old french). One of the meaning's of "Spiritus" is breath. Another closely related usage is ".... put up a spirited defense", here it is something like vivacity, energy, or liveliness. However in today' world the moment we hear the word "Spiritual" the only thing that pops up is religion, faith and the kind. Religion is all man made..... Hmmm... I am treading into controversial areas..... Well it is my Random Thoughts, you do not have to believe what I say. Like I have said before, a belief lasts until another belief suppresses it. The old belief gets subdued and over time will be replaced by the new belief, if the new belief is a result of one's personal experience else the new belief dies away and the old belief continues. Let's take a basic example; Chillies are hot. True everyone knows that. However once you have experienced the pungency of the different types of chillies, your understanding and belief is different. Until you have experienced, all types of chillies are kind of same, they are hot. Until the individual's first encounter with chilly the taste is not known.

Wikipedia says "A religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence." So religion = beliefs+cultural systems+world views and is related to humanity(?). Let's look at wikipedia for some basic definition of the three components that make up a religion; "Belief is a mental representation of a sentient being's attitude toward the likelihood or truth of something"; "A cultural system is the interaction of different elements of culture"; "World view is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point of view". And all these related to humanity; "The human species".

So we are saying that humans can exist without the animals, plants and ecosystem; now that is interesting. So probably that's why humans show no concern or interest with regard to nature and peaceful co-existence. Now in India since time immemorial we have believed that we need to abide by the eternal laws of nature and learn and respect nature in all its glory. "Mata bhumih putro aham prithivyaha" from Prithvi Sukta says, Mother Earth is adorned with heights, slopes, plains, hills, mountains, forests, plants, herbs and treasures; and She takes care of every creature that breathes and stirs. May She give us joy, wealth, prosperity, good fortune and glory!

Hence Spirituality is at a higher plane than religion and its likes. Spirituality is more of peaceful co-existence with our surroundings. Spirituality is about basic, complete, fruitful living. Spirituality is about contributing back to nature(not just for 100% tax savings!!). Each of us can contribute back in in the best way I as an individual can. So I quote "a re- treat is all about treating yourself to the splendours of nature and living as close to it as possible, no frills, no luxury and synch the functioning of the self with nature as much as possible". Even the death valley can have a full bloom with the environmental conditions perfect. In the same way at least a week or a couple of days at a retreat can if not transform, can bring changes in thinking, perception and beliefs(from the experience). It is also about charging your batteries, discovering hidden potential's, raising the bar of personal competence, learning that your weaknesses are actually your strengths and vice versa, letting go off some ego, be made aware of our everyday luxurious living (% of luxury is as per the individual), learning to look at a person as a HUMAN(throw away all the other addons),............ the list is endless after all no two humans are like!

Spirituality is also about energy levels of individuals. Anything and everything is energy. An individual is a small spec of energy that co-exists with all other forms of energy. Energy that gets tarnished over time, and needs purification to the earlier level or better. All this for the self and our near and dear. Energy and time are the basic components of existence.

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