I took a lane to nostalgia and was browsing through my old blog posts and landed upon this post on Mahabharata and Perspectives. It’s quite amusing to find that the perspective as mentioned earlier has changed, indeed (developed, rather!) into another form. Given the path that I had to travel over the years after the post, it’s no wonder that perspectives change.
Reblogging! And new post in draft. To be posted at the earliest!
Mahabharata is one of my all time favourite ‘experience’. I term it an experience because, quite often when I get to read/hear/watch retellings of the great epic, a thought process occurs, which gives rise to new perspectives, new vistas, new ideas, which are experiences that need to be savoured deeply! I had grown up listening to Mahabharata […]
Eeetttssss Pride Month. We have LGBTQIA+ everywhere around us, they’re either not visible to us or we unintentionally deny their existence. So, here is a go-to reference for anyone who wants to know, or create a safe space for their queer friends and fam but just haven’t been exposed to these terms. 🌈💖
LGBTQIA+ is a collective phrase for: Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders, Queers, Intersex and Asexuals. The plus sign denotes the scope of inclusion of anyone who does not identify with any of these labels.
Sex: Biological, assigned at birth, based on genitals, chromosomes and secondary sex characteristics.
Gender: Social Construct, a performance based on norms set by a community or culture. It is not a binary, where you have a male, a female and the third or neuter gender. It is a fluid concept and can be independent of what reproductive organs we carry.
Our next destination, in the pilgrimage of Temple Tales would be Chidambaram. Being quite famous, Chidambaram doesn’t need any specific introduction at all!
The Thillai Nataraja Temple situated here, is one of the holiest shrines in Shaivite tradition. The generic term kovil (meaning temple) refers to this temple, in Shaivite tradition. Such is the importance and reverence attributed to this divine destination!
This temple, where Lord Vishnu resides as Govindaraja, is equally celebrated in the Vaishnavite tradition, with this place also referred to as Thiruchitrakoodam.
The mighty Kollidam, as viewed while approaching Chidambaram
Chidambaram is an ancient town, situated on the northern bank of the mighty Kollidam river, which is a tributary of the river Kaveri.
This place is said to have been covered with Thillai (a variety of mangrove) trees, from which the name, Thillai Nataraja is derived.
The Thillai Nataraja Temple complex, is one of the largest temple complex in the world! The main shrine is dedicated to Lord Shiva, in his dancing form, Nataraja. Adjacent to this shrine, is that of Lord Vishnu, as Govindaraja. Goddess Parvathi is present here as Shivakamasundari, with a huge dedicated shrine. There are several other shrines within the temple complex for various other deities, and several mandapams (processional halls) where the several rituals are conducted.
The way leading to the Temple
Lord Shiva is worshiped here as the Lord of the Nether, among the Panchabootha (Five Elements of Nature – Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Nether) Shiva Temples. Attributing to this reason, there are vast open spaces in the temple complex.
Plaque of Lord Nataraja and Shivakamasundari
The sanctum shrines of Nataraja and Govindaraja are constructed in the way of a high rise stage. Hence we are blessed with the vision of the Lordships from a distance. This set up is a unique beauty of this temple.
Paintings on the roof of the temple
Speaking about the most important feature of this temple, there is an empty space next to Lord Nataraja in His sanctum. This space is referred to as Chidambara Ragasiyam (Secret of Chidambaram) As mentioned earlier, Shiva is worshiped as the Nether Lord in this shrine, and hence he is represented in this nether form.
Is it the Lord, who is present in every form, in our vision and apart? Or is it none, whom we refer to as God, present in the sanctum of the grandest of shrines? What do we see? What do we unsee? Whom do we see or unsee?………
The Chidambara Ragasiyam is quite elusive, which makes us rise more questions, that ultimately lead us to the answers, even for the questions unasked! No wonder, Chidambaram gets its name from the term Chit-Ambalam (Hall of Consciousness)
The enormous Sivaganga pond within the temple premises
Resting over the strong stone pillars that support the equally strong columns, and pondering over the thoughts, take us to a trance, that cannot be described by words!
Sculpture of Nandi, the mount of Shiva, overlooking the pond
A few kilometers away from Chidambaram, is the mangrove forest of Pichavaram. This is the place, where the mighty Kollidam river pours into the Bay of Bengal. The mouth of the river is interspersed by several sand bars, with a dense mangrove forest, which is one of the largest mangrove sanctuary in the world. The sojourn at Pichavaram to be continued in the next post.
I had been away for a long while, as my personal and professional commitments had taken a higher priority. And I’m back to my good world of blogging, which sadly had to take a backseat.
Writer’s block, I should say, is one which anyone would hate, when trying to type out a good post, and that too after an exile. And I keep thinking, observing, little bit of rolling too, to come out with something worth posting about, to celebrate my return to Words and Lines. And there, I get a sudden flash from a block of memory.
The holy nights and celebrations of Navaratri have started and it’s supposed to be the time for spiritual ‘reconciliation’. Well, if one is ready to explore the unknown and is ready accept the outcome, any time would be a good period of celebration, for such reconciliations and realizations that follow.
The Navaratri celebrations signify the victory of Goddess Durga over the tyrant Mahishasura, the victory of Sri Rama over Ravana, or more precisely the victory of ‘good’ over ‘bad’
The concept of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ has always been and should always be debatable. What’s seemingly good to one is bad to another and the vice versa holds good too. What’s good in a situation might be a bad one in a different situation, from the same point of view that held it as good, earlier!
Mahishasura, a strong willed, tough devout, noble enough to receive boons of greater strength and power, turned into an arrogant bundle of vile, to unleash his powers over the unparalleled. Well, the neurons inside Mahisha’s brain would justify how being a ruthless tyrant, would be for a noble cause! That’s how perspectives work! But rising over good, bad, right, or wrong, one level headed cause must create a balance from every known and unknown relativity, which is denoted here by Durga, who adorns a third eye over her forehead, that could see the unseen and foresee the not to be seen.
Anyway, the twenty eyed Ravana couldn’t view the better horizons as seen by the ‘dual’ eyed Rama, and it paved way for his victory, or more aptly, the balance as denoted by the bow he carries! A similarly different perspective, with a differently similar example!
So, in my ways, Navaratri can more aptly be put as a celebration of the restoration of the erstwhile fallen balance, than the victory of ‘good’ over ‘bad’
Such realizations, celebrations culminate in on the eve of Vijayadasami, the last day of the Navaratri, and the day for new beginnings.
Preparations under way for celebration of Dasara/Navaratri at Mysore.
Festivals are about celebrations, relationships, realizations, knowledge, colour, food, pomp, splendour, sharing, giving, receiving, and so many other things, abstract. And for a long festival, the preparations for which begin even long before, there is so much to do within.
I wish a Happy Navaratri. I also seek blessings for more knowledge, and time, and to blog regularly.
This work of words comes from my level of knowledge and understanding. I’m always ready for any correction or discussion.
Life is all about movements and moments. We keep moving from place to place, from situations to situations, from people to people, from this to that, creating moments. The moments that we create could be good, bad, or something else, depending on how we perceive it.
Movement of the earth creates the nights, movements of the body creates travels, movements of the mind creates journeys, movements of the soul creates experiences, movements of the word create a blog!
There are moments when we have made some silly movements, moments where we make great movements, moments when we have to make some harsh movements. These moments, whether good or bad, are memorable, at times.
Just sharing a speck of the moment caused by the movements of neurons!
I woke up today, as usual, to a lazy morning. And then struck a sudden poetic thought, “..the demons of darkness have slept, as the spirits of light are waking up..” These lines were echoing in my mind, all day, only to realize that we tend to associate ‘darkness’ with demon, and ‘light’ with spirit. And deepening further, that demon must mean something bad though spirit should mean good, and dark is bad while light is good! The prejudices, mental setups cheat and mock us on a narrow lane, though we claim to be broad minded. Now this should make a quite serious post. But i wanted to write something different and came my attempt in poetry (after a long time) Dawn!
Dawn and Dusk follow each other, and in way to represent them, I wished to repeat the first words of every line of the poem, in a symmetrical fashion. And here is my Dawn (literally, as i’m waking up from a stint from blogging!)
The spirits of dark, are to rest. And then woke up, those of light, warm and bright. Their warriors shining, upon the world, as we know. The chants of song, of the lore, by the priests, to the light, rendering charm and glory, rendering beauty, to the faith, by the folk, of the soul. The wind blows, as light rises, upon every tower, their spire, warm with the ray, those reaching and shining, are who, The spirits of light.
Spring season is loved by everyone. And more by those, for whom, the springs blows away the harsh and cold winds of winter, literally and metaphorically!
It could be the truth, or psychological effect, or a beautiful imagination, the onset of this period of time (last final weeks and February, and the beginning weeks of March) brings a sudden gush of energy and happiness into me, every year, right from childhood.
Probably it could be, because of the anticipation of completing the annual exams (I’ve never feared exams 😉 ) and enjoying the long summer holidays, the happiness of playing on streets without fear of rains disrupting (actually I loved rain, but the fact that I’d be pulled into home, by grandma, made me detest it slightly) the excitement of family tours, the joy of watching TV without any restrictions, the happiness of relishing pulpy, sweet-tangy mangoes, and the reasons could go on and on, in the days of childhood.
Meanwhile, semester holidays which arrived during spring/summer gave me uninterrupted time to read books, start blogging 🙂 , occasionally go out and play (I stopped playing out, once getting into college, unlike my friends. Not sure if a good or bad thing 😀 ) and few to name, to happen in the later days of my life.
Now spring/summer doesn’t make a difference in the routine or ‘timetable’ of the day. Yet the spirit of spring remains intact and brings in a fresh wave of energy, from nowhere.
Well, on a second thought, if we make and take the best of any situation, and derive happiness from it, everyday of life is spring, with flowers blooming around and butterflies abounding everywhere!
Sharing an all time favourite song of mine..that matches the situation here!
P.S..the title for this post was inspired by one of the chapters in my 6th standard English Literary textbook – Songbird in Spring Time – a short biography on M.S.Subbulakshmi. One of the few chapters from my school textbooks that I can never forget!
As the prayers, rituals, celebrations of the holy month of Maargazhi are on in full swing, and as one melts to the recitations of the divine Thirupaavai, we come across this line – Ongi Ulagalandha Uthaman Paer Paadi.. (Singing the name of the Lord, who grew and, who conquered the worlds..), which is in reference to Lord Vamana, who measured with his feet, earth, heaven and King Mahabali‘s head!
The beauty of these lines gave rise to the sprouting of an astounding meaning of the references, hidden in the fields of divinity.
Body, Mind and Soul comprise a trio. The Soul, whom we are; the Body, in which we reside; and the Mind, a bridge which guides, and misguides, balances and unbalances as well, the connection between the Body and the Soul.
The Body can be considered as the earth. Tough, physically sense-able, measurable, easier to understand, and conquerable. And Mind, the sky or the heavens. Undefinable, difficult to perceive, immeasurable, and not that easy to understand, and yet not unconquerable. And finally, the Soul, totally beyond any definitions (Mind, though had adjectives such as undefinable, immeasurable, etc)
King Mahabali had conquered the earth and the heavens. It was then that Lord Vishnu came in the form of a dwarf and asked for three feet of land as alms, from the King who was ruling the earth and the sky! When the King agreed, Lord Vamana grew to a gigantic size and measured the entire conquest of Mahabali‘s earth in a foot, and the sky in another. When nothing was left over, He asked the King for the third foot, when he offered his head, to be ‘conquered’. And the Lord obliged.
It is no wonder, for the comparisons are so obvious. One can rule over one’s body and mind. But conquering our soul, conquering ourselves, might seem easy, but not so; might seem tough, but not so, again! Definitely confusing, and that’s the beauty (or ugliness) of it! We think that we are our body and we are our mind. What we fail to recognize most of the times, is that we are the souls. We reside in a mind, and within a body.
King Mahabali had conquered the body and was owning it, to offer it to the Lord. He was ruling the mind, and was made into a good offering too! But conquest of the soul remained uncomplete. Once he gave up the so called possessions, the light of knowledge dawned and he offered himself (read soul; read head) to the Lord, which was the best of all offerings!
This conclusion is definitely, not immune from defects or debates. And view is always different and unique too. A lotus on a pond doesn’t look the same from different viewpoints, and so is a thought.
So much of thoughts from a single line of the thirty stanza long Thirupaavai. No wonder, it is referred to as the seed which contains the gigantic tree of the Veda!
It’s a while, and it seems like I’m on an exile. And when I decided to return back to post, what can be better than one of my favourite topics, rather the favourite of many – Food, Glorious Food!
Food is the basic necessity, for survival for any organism. For some organisms, food is a matter of life and death, for some it is a luxury, for some a celebration or a fantasy, or happiness, or divine, or something beyond.
I was always taught from childhood that food (any food) is divine, and should always be treated with respect. Food must never be wasted, but at the same time, our body must not be overloaded. This is perhaps the only lesson I’ve religiously followed until now!
At this moment I recollect a conversation from one of my favourite books – The Pregnant King. //And I run to fetch the book, to type the lines as they are, from the book//
– – Once, while wandering in the woods, they came upon the carcass of a wild buffalo teeming with maggots. ‘How disgusting’, cringed Shilavati.
‘I don’t think the maggots will agree with you’, said Prasenajit. Shilavati realized the wisdom in her husband’s simple words. The human way is not the only way in this world. – –
One’s disgust is someone else’s food, someone’s waste could be one’s food, and that’s the way our beautiful universe is meant to be.
Let’s stop with philosophy and move to the fun part. Did miss saying food could be fun? Yes food must be respected and not wasted, yet there can be a lot of fun over food. Trying out new cuisines to eat, or cook, trying new recipes, spending a calm afternoon with only food for company, a romantic time with beloved and food! And wading through the tough times, or celebrating happiness, or nothing for that matter, food always and should come in, to be a part of that moment to complete it, in my honest opinion!
When it comes to food, one habit of mine seems to be a boon as well a curse. I’m still to determine, from where I’ve acquired this habit of eating slow. I have no idea of when, or how it started, but I’ve always eaten slowly. This comes as a great boon because, eating slowly come with a lot of benefits, as discussed everywhere. And it becomes a nightmare while having a formal lunch with team members!
I’ve got several advises too, to speed up the process of my eating. But why would I give up the temptation to relish the moment, slowly 😀
Mahabharata is one of my all time favourite ‘experience’. I term it an experience because, quite often when I get to read/hear/watch retellings of the great epic, a thought process occurs, which gives rise to new perspectives, new vistas, new ideas, which are experiences that need to be savoured deeply!
I had grown up listening to Mahabharata stories from my grandma, watching the B.R.Chopra teleseries (the re-telecast actually! i’m not that old 😉 ) – Mahabharat (1988 TV Series), reading the English translation of Mahabharata by Rajaji – Mahabharata and an illustrated modern retelling by Devdutt Pattanaik – Jaya. In an earlier post, I had written about this modern retelling – Perspectives. There are various anecdotes associated with Mahabharata, which also provide varied insights and knowledge on it. Take off the religious angle, and it can beat a story of any genre, hands down!
It is generally said that, if something isn’t mentioned in the Mahabharata, then it doesn’t exist at all! And that’s because there are numerous retellings, abridgements, expansions, addition of ideas, commentaries, exclusion of ideas, folklores, corrosions, misunderstandings, etc on this already grand epic!
There are episodes in this narration that tease the logical part of our mind, and then there are portions that tease our illogical parts. And it is up to us to judge if a character in this epic is good or bad, or neutral, and that depends on how we view the scenario. This is the reason that there are many flows in the Mahabharata. Now this should explain the title – Changing Perspectives.
In my younger days, I preferred the action and grandeur of the narration, to the philosophical arguments. The fighting sequences, the grand palaces were more fascinating than the Bhagavad Gita and the other tenets. But now, I yearn for more of philosophical tenets, the varied perspectives that they provide, the various commentaries that have been written pondering over the realms known and unknown. The action and grandeur just seem normal and do not excite me anymore. This gives another meaning to the title – Changing Perspectives.
Mahabharata was nothing more than a religious story, for me in childhood. Only to realize later, that it is a lesson on how to lead life, and also how not to lead life. Probably I might realize something else, in future. Changing perspectives again!
In a significant judgement, the Supreme Court of the US has recognized the equal status of its LGBT citizens. It’s nice to see people offering their support by various means. There is so much positivity, hope, warmth shown all around in the social media. But how much of it is genuine? Is India ready for such a change? Are Indians willing to accept such a reform wholeheartedly? All I had to say about this were 5 things, as tweets.
Status updates, profile pic changes, etc are good and give a positive feel, but how many actually support LGBT wholeheartedly? (1)
Constitutions, courts can give mandates, but it’s up to the people to overcome prejudices! (2)
Talking about India, when just tweeting about gay things can fetch rude, ‘well-wisher warning’ messages, miles to go ahead! (3)
Anyway, people judge, hate, love, accept according to their capabilities but one leads their own lives 🙂 Smile and cheers! (4)
Finally, plant rights didn’t make me a plant, hence gay rights won’t make me gay! Thanks and sorry for the ranting-tweeting spree! (5)
Hope i’m clear headed and have summarized my thoughts.
Again emphasizing that there is so much positivity, love and warmth all around. Wishing and praying that it lasts genuinely forever and Love Wins always. Union of souls is beyond the spectrum of gender, orientation, religion, caste, creed, *whatever differences have been created by humans* and we have a long way to reach there!
P.S. Supporting gayness doesn’t make me gay (if i’m not already, actually 😉 ) And the term gay actually means happiness (if you don’t know already) Special cheers!
The previous Shiva Trilogy series by Amish Tripathi caught the interest of many into reading alternate mythology. I’m not a big fan of alternate mythology, yet the beginning of the Shiva Trilogy was very interesting, though I felt the ending was mediocre. Now the author has come up with the Ram Chandra Series and first book of the series, Scion Of Ikshvaku was released on 22nd June. I had preordered my copy and received it right yesterday. Received with a metallic bookmark. Happy!
‘Kaushik’ is an important character in the series 😉
Coming to the book, the story is an alternate mythology (or can be said a fictional story too), based on the Ramayana. This book elaborates on the beginning part of the Ramayana. It can be loosely said that this book covers Bala Kanda, Ayodhya Kanda and Aranya Kanda. As it is an alternate mythology, there are twists, characters, drama, sub-plots added by the author. Some of these are very interesting and some not-so.
There are some philosophical conversations that are present in this book, which are highly thought provoking and interesting. One for example…
‘Exactly!’, said Ram. ‘If He is my God, if He picks my side over someone else’s, He is not the One God. The only true One God is the one who picks no sides, who belongs to everything, who doesn’t demand loyalty or fear; in fact, who doesn’t demand anything at all. Because the Ekam just exists; and His existence allows for the existence of all else.’
Those who have interest in philosophy, mythology would find this book interesting, though those who follow orthodox way may not. Taking apart the ‘religious’ angle, the book can also be a good fictional read. Waiting for the next book in the series.
Words & Lines 