Death - The end

I could hear the morning hymns,
I could hear the chirping of birds,
I could hear the music of the rivers,
I could hear the air descending from the mountains.

                          I couldn't hear the snake hissing,

                          I could not hear someone creeping,

                          I could see a vulture hovering,

                          I could see an owl staring.

Someone moved ahead with me behind,
I followed with my eyes blind,
A wolf howled, and a dog cried,
The vulture winked eyes and dived.

                          I felt like in a prison,

                          All the eyes turning crimson,

                          I was dying,

                          And no one was crying.

It was the end,
The end of everything,
The end of all dreams,
The end of life.

                          But was it all an end?

                          I was on a  road bend,

                          I had ambitions to fulfill,

                          Yet my spirits were killed.

What I did, could not be undid,
What I had found was better lost,
What I said, was better unsaid,
And now I rest not in peace, but for the savior.

Pitra Paksha - Homage to our ancestors

Just a week after the Ganesha Chaturthi, the Pitra paksha has started as per the hindi calendar. This period of 15 days is associated with our ancestors. This period is meant for us to remember them and all they have done for us. This is the period to pay our homage to them before starting the journey of a whole new year of festivals. A similar concept exists in people across USA, however it has lost its meaning and is today reduced to a scary fancy dress show - Halloween.

I have often wondered the meaning and the reasoning behind the fortnight dedicated to our forefathers. The curiosity piqued as this period is considered inauspicious and starting something new is not advised. I often wondered why shouldn't my forefathers be happy for me if I try to do something new? Its only later I realized that everyone is busy in praying to their ancestors and trying to strengthen their bonds for this life and afterlife, that starting something new is pushed off until later. This fortnight is kind of reserved for the living to tie their bonds with the forefathers and others who have deceased and have still not reached their destination - heaven or hell.

The story of Karna in Mahabharata did not end with his death at the hands of Arjuna. In the continuation of the story, Karna, upon his death, rose directly to the heaven. On his arrival into the heaven, Karna was greeted with great food made of jewels and gold. Karna asked Indra for the real food. He was told that all his life he had donated only gold or jewels. But Karna never donated food or homage to his ancestors. Hence he shall only get the jewels and gold for food. Since Karna was unaware of the rituals and his ancestors, he was granted a 15 days on the earth to make amends. It is said that the 15 days given to Karna are today known as the Pitra Paksha.

The hindu thought is cyclical in nature and emphasizes the Newton's third law of motion in many more ways than even Newton would have described. Per Newton's law - every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The karmic theory in hinduism says that your life is a result of your deeds in the past lives and even in the present life. Thus extending on the story of Karna, he got food to eat, when he provided for his ancestors and many others who were in need. The hindu thought has evolved over the ages and the periods of time. However, the centrality of the thought has remained the same. As per the Hindu thought, the souls of the preceding generations remain in a realm between the earth and the heaven known as the Pitra Loka. When the a soul from the next generation enters this realm, an older generation soul moves unto either the heaven or descends on the earth again based on their deeds. This movement is also based on the rites performed by the living for the dead. If the living pay their homages well and provide for the dead during the fortnight period as Karna, their ancestors gain their passage to heaven rather than returning back to the earth or being stuck in the Pitra Loka forever. Mostly the rites are performed by the sons of the family. The rites are also explained to the living as their debt to the ancestors for everything they left for the living to enjoy. This is why the male child is highly sought after in man hindu families. The Garuda Purana which is read only on the death of someone, speaks "there is no salvation for a man without a son". Though the ever changing Hindu thought about the male child was more prominent in the time period when the wars were fought and many died. To propagate the human race, the offsprings were needed. And, to increase the importance of the offspring, it is said that once a child is born, the ancestors who would have passed on that day have found their reprieve.

In my last post on the homage to the ancestors, I spoke about how the pind is prepared for the pind daan. In the Markandeya Purana, it is said that if the ancestors are content with the Shraddha rites performed for them, they shall bestow health, wealth, knowledge, longevity and salvation on the performer.

The shraddha is performed only at noon, usually on the bank of a river or lake or at one's own house. Families may also make a pilgrimage to places like Varanasi and Gaya to perform Shraddha. The shraddha is performed on the specific lunar day during the Pitru Paksha, when the ancestor—usually a parent or paternal grandparent—died. There are exceptions to the lunar day rule; special days are allotted for people who died in a particular manner or had a certain status in life.

• Chautha Bharani and Bharani Panchami, the fourth and fifth lunar day respectively, are allocated for people deceased in the past year. 
• Avidhava navami ("Unwidowed ninth"), the ninth lunar day, is for married women who died before their husband. Widowers invite Brahmin women as guests for their wife's shraddha. 
• The twelfth lunar day is for children and ascetics who had renounced the worldly pleasures. 
• The fourteenth day is known as Ghata chaturdashi or Ghayala chaturdashi, and is reserved for those people killed by arms, in war or suffered a violent death.
• The fifteenth day, Sarvapitri amavasya (all fathers' new moon day) is intended for all ancestors, irrespective of the lunar day they died. It is the most important day of the Pitru Paksha.

Though the rites of the Shraadha are usually performed by the eldest son in the family, the rites on the Sarvapitri amavasya can be performed by the daughters as well. Not only this describes the inclusion of the females in the Hindu thoughts, but also explains that the ancestral debt is equally shared between the sons and the daughters. However, since the females are associated with the ones who give the birth to the next generation, are considered to have paid their image through bearing the child.

Emotional wealth and its implications

We just concluded with our Discover India 2015 celebration over the weekend. What an event it was? Awesome performances, amazing choreography and wonderful organization. Yes, I am bragging about my wife who pulled off a great event - much beyond anyone's expectations. I am sure she is setoff to a much bigger horizon. I wish her all the luck and promise all the support needed.
One of the highlights in this year's celebration was the epic long drama - History of India. While working through the history, the performers depicted the story of how Chanakya architected the Mauryan empire. Chanakya is worth mentioning for his unparalleled contribution to politics and economics in his book "Arthshastra". He has at one point conveyed that in order to build a honest empire, the king must take care of his officials and keep them well paid and well fed. A well paid, well fed and cared for official is highly unlikely to go corrupt as his needs are completely met.

Consider a lion and a deer in the forest. The lion runs fast to catch the deer and the deer runs faster to escape being the prey to the lion. If the lion catches the deer, he can feed himself and probably his cubs too. When the lion is well fed, he can then sleep peacefully. If he does not catches the deer, the lion shall starve, since he gets nothing to eat. The deer on the other hand lives in green pastures and is surrounded by big patches of grass. Yet, the deer can never eat to his heart's content. He has to keep himself half content to be able to remain alert and run fast. The currency in both the cases that of lion and the deer is their food. However, under the fear of his life, the deer cares nothing for the food. The deer needs security.

Drawing parallels to the organization, an employee or a team member who is struggling to find security, will never be satiated by the money or the position. Even though, the goals of the organization are the utmost, it is human nature to fend for itself when pushed to the wall. It is thus an important task for the leader to understand what his team members are yearning for. the true leader shall try his best to provide for his team so that the team can provide their best.

As we saw in the past, the currency or the material, quantifiable wealth is represented by Lakshmi. And the emotional, unquantifiable, yet perceived wealth is represented by Durga. Both Lakshmi and Durga are important for the survival of oneself, however the third aspect represented by Saraswati enables one to gaze and aim better. Generosity is often referred to as the giving away of the material wealth. But seldom people realize that others might require Durga and not Lakshmi. Transfer of the emotional wealth or empathizing with the others is the exchange of Durga. Interesting point here is that the generosity of Durga requires nothing. All you need is a compassionate vision and ability to show empathy.

Not only the above is true for the humans, the gods are also seen to follow the same principles. While worshipping the gods, we sing hymns in their praise. We remind them of the great deeds they performed. We tell them how nice they are and how great they look? The expectation here is that the gods shall eventually be happy with us for singing their praises and give us what we want - mostly Lakshmi. to add to the point, observe the aarti lamp for each god. They are all different to suit the requirements of the god themselves. You'll find the lamps shaped like elephants, serpents, horses, lions, even sphinxes or half-lion creatures known as Purusha-mriga. Each of these lamps are customizations of beliefs to suit the god whom we want to please at the given instant. Customization and not standardization is key of the Indian Scriptures - why else you'll see a Tulsi leaf offering to Lord Krishna but a Bilva leaf offering to Lord Shiva?

Customization is also done to satiate one's need for the emotional wealth.

Trinity

Just the other day I was walking down the Wall Street in New York, when an amazing building piqued my interest – The Trinity Church. The Trinity church at the intersection of the Wall Street and Broadway has witnessed the history of New York like no one else.  First built in 1698, the church has withstood the changes of times and has also once enjoyed the title of the tallest building in New York. The church is beautiful and the calm inside the church is mesmerizing, contrasting the helm of affairs on the Wall Street.

However, it was not the church itself but the name –“Trinity” – that remained in the thoughts. I believe the name refers to the well-established Christian doctrine of Trinity. The doctrine states that the God is present in the three persons – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.  The three persons are distinct yet are one substance, essence or nature.

The trinity is a concept which is the very essence of the Hinduism as well. Almost all of us have heard the Hindu Trinity – Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. I, just like many of us have grown up listening to stories wherein the supreme trinity upholds the principles of the society and provides a direction to the humans, gods and demons. They play their part in the cosmos in maintaining the balance of power and life. They bless the ones who worship them and are the ultimate problem solvers. When I went to the B-School, my professor pulled me aside and asked me about the Trinity and their importance. I learned a new way of looking at the Trinity from them – Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the manager and Mahesh or Shiva is the destroyer. This was a great definition and helped me to understand the people and organizations from this perspective. More to evangelize on this thought, I would term the entrepreneur involved in startup as the Brahma, the CEO who runs the day-to-day operations as the Vishnu, and the CEO / HR who takes the role of terminating the non-performing businesses as Mahesh.

While listening to the Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, I also listened to the names of the three Goddesses – Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati. I was always amazed as to why the Trinity never referred to the trio – Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga – when they always work in tandem. In fact, many of the devi temples all across India have three shrines in one, depicting the trio as the Female Trinity. Be it Vaishno devi where the shrine actually represents three forms, or a Durga Pandal during Durga pooja, you'' notice three idols of Goddess - Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga. This forms our second trinity. 

As Dr Devdutt Pattnaik observes in his talks, each of these Goddesses have a stron characteristic of their own. They represent power, intelligence and resources. At the same time they represent a different form of wealth - 

• Lakshmi - represents material wealth
• She holds a pot representing collected / abundant resources
• She tells us to meet our goals to be able to achieve; Thus lakshmi originates from laksha or lakshya
• She rides an owl - representing farsightedness and seeking knowledge even when surrounded in darkness
• Saraswati - represents intellectual wealth
• She holds a book in her hand representing knowledge
• She tells us to use imagination to achieve knowledge; Since imagination is fluid - can take any form, Saraswati comes from saris / salil / sarita - all are forms of water
• She rides a swan who has the ability of differentiating between milk and water and is nearsighted
• Durga - represents emotional wealth
• She holds weapons in her hands representing tools
• She tells us to win over hurdles and feel power, giving us a sense of security; People used to build forts to get security and made them powerful, thus from durg comes Durga
• She rides a lion instilling fear in enemies through sight and roar

When the Male and the Female Trinity of the hindu tradition come together, they form an interesting cosmos. While each of the male trinity members associated with those of the female trinity as consorts, they complement each other in many ways. The male trinity represents the doer, while the female trinity represents the action. 

However, there is one more aspect of the trinity as it exists in the Hindu tradition. When we visit the temples of devi, or even other, we often observe the presence of the Goddess along with other male forms. These male forms either represent son or brothers or protectors. Look at Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu & Kashmir and you'll see the goddess with Bhairav Nath and Langur Devata. Look at Jagannath Puri and you'll notice Subhadra with Krishna and Balbhadra. Look at Sri Ram temples and you'll notice Sita with Ram and Lakshmana. In some tales, the goddess is seen as mother nurturing both Shiva and Vishnu. In a different way to look at them, they represent the two different forms of the male mind – one that detaches itself with the materialism and one that engages with the materialism yet defines spiritualism. One of the male mind rejects the engagement suggesting monk like behavior and submission to spirituality within. The other male mind engages to uphold the principles of nature and maintain balance between Maya and Moksha. The Goddess complements both. She is a powerful being who nurtures both the thoughts and helps one find the way that is well suited for the perspective they want to have. 

All my writing is a result of reading various books and listening to Dr Devdutta Pattnaik. Please do forgive me if I have hurt someone's feelings or have stated anything incorrectly. 

Shri SatyaNarayana Pooja and Vrata - Contd

In my last post I talked about organizing the Peetha for the ritual. During the organization of the peetha, we invoke various gods and worship them in an order. The question thus arises, why do we worship them and why the order? Let’s see below the different actions performed in the worship ritual –

1. Achmanam – Purifying with water. This is also offering the water to Vishnu inside one self
2. Remembering Ganesha – Ganesha is personification of our consciousness. Remembering him makes your mind conscious. Being conscious helps avoid and overcome obstacles. Remember Ganesha is also known as “Vighnaharta”.
3. Pranayam – Restraining the life force. A calm and relaxed mind can concentrate and focus better, compared to an agitated or tense mind. Breathing and mental state have a correlation. When mind is agitated, breathing is irregular and labored. When mind is calm, breathing is regular and smooth. Pranaayaama is a method of controlling the breathing and hence regularizing the life force that fuels mental activity. One should calm down mind before any important activity such as praying, eating food, learning, reading, writing etc, for a higher efficiency. That is why praanaayaama is done before any ritual.
4. Sankalp – Taking the vow – Declare your intention for pleasing Shri SatyaNarayan. Every vrata or a yagna is equivalent to a business transaction. You please the god to ask for their blessing in return. If you perform your deeds (ritual) properly, the pleased god shall deliver what you request from him. At the same time, it is important to understand that the return is only and only applicable to those who took the vow or invested themselves. This is why the person taking the vow is referred to as the “Yajman”, the owner of the yajna.
5. Kalasha Shuddhi – Water purification – purification of the vessel and water which shall be the seat of the God / gods
6. Ganapathi Pooja – Invocating Ganesha in an idol or coin or a wet turmeric mound
7. Varuna Pooja – For the perseverance and purity in the rest of the ritual. He represents an aspect of our consciousness that makes us persist and persevere in work. He can be invoked in the water in the kalasha or the vessel.
8. Parivara Devata Pooja - In the field of duality, our consciousness operates due to three aspects:
a.     Astitva or identity – sense of “I exist”, 
b.     Bhoktritva or experiencing – sense of “I experience”, 
c.      Katritva or doership – sense of “I do”.


Thus the order of worship here is –
A.     Lokpalakas - We exist due to the five elements – earth (solid state of existence), water (flexible state of existence), fire (transformatory state of existence), air (expansive state of existence) and ether (existential space behind all existence). These five elements are ruled by Ganapathi, Brahma, Lakshmi & Vishnu, Rudra and Gouri. We pray to them as they control our astitva or identity.


B.     Grahas – follow the order for each graha
                                               i.     Graha
                                              ii.     Adhidevata
                                            iii.     Pratyadhidevata


Literal meaning of “graha” is one that grabs. We experience things as grahas or planets grab our consciousness and make it experience the results (reactions) of various actions performed by us in the past. Grahas are the agents of karma phala (fruits of previous actions). Thus, grahas control our bhoktritva or experiencership. We pray to them with ruling and co-ruling deities.


C.     Dikpalakas – Ten dikpalakas rule the ten directions (eight 2-dimensional directions, up and down). They not only rule the physical directions, but the direction one takes in life with one's work. For example, in Vedic astrology, a chart called dasamsa shows one's work in society and the ten parts of that chart are ruled by dikpalakas showing different kinds of work. Indra, for example, shows work that asserts authority and control over others (e.g. political leaders, managers). Agni, for example, shows work that transforms things (e.g. engineers, designers). Yama shows work related to enforcing rules (e.g. quality assurance, police). Nirriti shows work that breaks barriers (e.g. mafia, cutting edge innovations). And so on. It is dikpalakas who control our kartritva or doership and make us perform different types of actions. We pray to them.
The important thing here is that we invoke life in all the deities together
9. Prana Pratishthapana – Invocation of Shri SatyaNarayana – The main God is now invoked in the kalasha and the idol. We invoke the God in the forms represented during the ritual and pray to him to stay with us during the ritual. A proper ritual would require chanting of the mantras and making the appropriate mudras or gestures with your hands and face.

The pooja now is done in the following manner –

• Shodashaopchara pooja – 1 – Welcome the God, give him a bath, offer him what you may to dress up – Imagine him arriving from a long journey
• Anga pooja – worshipping the limbs of the God
• Main mantra – Chant the mantras for the God
• Katha (Story) – The importance here is to understand the message in the story and follow it in actions and thoughts
• Shodashaopchara pooja – 2 – Offer the God something to eat, perform aarti
• Extra Upchara – Making the God comfortable – be a good host!
• Prarthana
• Poorna phal – Offering a full fruit – symbolize offering one’s head or full surrender to God. By surrendering yourself to God, you are closer to him and start understanding yourself
• Winding up and Meditation – Meditate as long as you can – This is the moment of introspection. After surrendering yourself to the God, you are in his custody. At this moment the introspection brings you even closer to understand the aspects of life with his vision. This is the essence of this entire ritual.
• Udvasana – Bid good bye – Request the God to leave the idol and the Kalasha and reenter your body. 

The essence of this entire ritual is surrendering yourself to the God you invoked, and having a conversation with him. However, do remember that the God is always with you – in yourself. You invoked him from within you into the idol and requested him to re enter your body after the ritual. This ritual was performed to see the God who is actually in you. But due to our worldly activities, we forget his existence. The ritual brings us closer to the Truth – Shri SatyaNarayana.

Shri Satyanarayana Vrata and Pooja

Last week we attended a “Satyanarayana Vrata pooja” at a friend’s place. The host did an awesome job of arranging everything fabulously and had invited quite a few people to participate with them in the rituals. I have attended this pooja a few times in the past as well. Usually the ritual also involves reading the story of Lord Satyanarayana that is expected to absolve the listeners from all their sins and set them on the path of salvation. I listened to the entire story dutifully trying to understand a few questions –

1. Who is Lord Satyanarayana?
2. What is so important in the story that can lead to one’s absolvation?
3. Who can perform this ritual, when and where?

Unfortunately, the prevalent story and the ritual did not help me in my quest. Either I was too ignorant to have understood the deep rooted messages, or I was not eligible enough to listen to the voice of God hidden in the story. To help myself with the understanding and preparing myself for the “Satyanarayana Katha and Vrat”, I decided to write this article. Please forgive me if you feel I have crossed the lines somewhere. My only intention is to know what we do and why!

Lord Satyanarayana is supposed to be another form of God Vishnu. His name actually is a combination of two words – Satya (Truth) and Narayana (God). Lord Satyanarayana is also viewed as an incarnation of Vishnu in the current epoch of time where we ae all mired by the illusion or God’s maya. Truth is the only path that can lead us to salvation in this world. Believing in the truth and following the path of truth can help us keep away from losing our focus. This shall help one to become one with the God and attain salvation from the cycle of rebirth. The path of truth is important for one’s spiritual and material growth in the time of Kaliyuga. This is also what is read in the story in the first few lines when Narad muni requests Lord Vishnu to tell him the easy way for the welfare of humans.

The ritual Satyanarayana pooja is usually performed by householders who seek for an easy way to please the God and seek his blessings in return for worshipping him. The ritual is thus recommended to be performed in the open space in house and in the presence of the family and friends. The benefits are supposed to be extended not only to the performer, but also to those who attend the ritual. The ritual emphasizes on one’s remembering the mother earth, Ganesha, the family deity, parents, the seven sages and all your teachers.

The Satyanarayana pooja is conducted with the idols of Rama and Sita or Lakshmi and Vishnu. The way the idols and all the gods are arranged can be seen in the figure below (the legend is provided below the figure) –

Figure - Organization of Peetha

Legend –

During the ritual, every god is invoked and is worshipped. In the last Lord SatyaNarayana is invoked and is worshipped. When the story recital is completed, all the gods are then requested to go back to their respective abodes.

The “Satyanarayana Vrata and Katha” ritual was designed in an easy format for its wide acceptance. As per the norms attached to the ritual, it can be performed on any day, at any time of the day and by anyone. Though there is no specified time, it is recommended to perform the ritual after the sunset. The 11th day of the moon, full moon day and the Sankranti are recommended as the best days for the ritual. Also, men and women can equally participate in this ritual with or without their spouses. This flexibility of time, place and person made the ritual very popular. It amazed me on listening to the story from the priest. The story had 4 sections, and each section focused on the 4 varnas of people as per the Hindu belief – Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra. A common story or a ritual that binds the four pillars of the society has to be popular and powerful. The popularity of the ritual was also fuelled by the renditions offered today – express, short or regular!

Let’s look at the renditions so that we can understand the ritual better –

1. Regular procedure – Elaborate external procedure replete with vedic mantras – Involves Shodashopchara pooja (16 service worship) for every god invoked
2. Short procedure – Slightly elaborate ritual for those comfortable with the Sanskrit language – Involves pachopchara pooja (5 service worship) for every god invoked
3. Express procedure – Extremely short procedure for those who are not comfortable with Sanskrit language, those who are short on time and those who are not attracted to external rituals and want to spend more time in internal meditation than in an external ritual. – Involves 1 service worship for every god involved 

Chaand

चाँद 

काली अमावस्या गई,

और चाँद फिर निकला। 

रोज नयी छटा बिखेरता,

चांदनी की शीतलता लिए,

देखो चाँद फिर निकला। 

बढ़ता ही रहा,

हमारे संबंधों की तरह,

विशाल अजगर की तरह,

आज की महंगाई की तरह,

देखो चाँद बहता ही रहा। 

अचानक चाँद रुक गया,

हमारा रिश्ता भी बदल गया। 

चाँद अब घट रहा था,

तुम भी तो दूर जा रहे थे,

जब तुम न थे, चाँद पूरा निकला था। 

अँधेरा फिर से छा रहा है,

हम तुम बिछड़ चुके हैं। 

पुनः चाँद का इंतज़ार कर रहे हैं,

पुनः मिलन की आस जोट रहे हैं। 

अमावस फिर से छा रही है। 

पर अब अमावस भयावह नहीं,

हम तुम अकेले भी नहीं। 

परिपक्व संबंधों की आड़ में,

सुन्दर यादों की छाँव में,

चाँद फिर से निकलेगा।