Insurance

A friend of mine is recently looking to purchase an insurance policy for himself and his family. We were debating upon the merits of such a policy and he argued the security for the family. In case of any untoward incident, his family shall be taken care of monetarily. The other day I met the same friend partying hard and later driving. He was lucky to have reached his home unharmed. Later, one day I sat thinking of him and his situation and a story came to my mind.

When the Pandavas formed their kingdom of Indraprastha, representatives from various kingdoms all across India were invited. Many kings and princes came to Indraprastha to pay their regards to the glory of Pandavas and also to satiate their curiosity on what kind of kingdom have Pandavas built, without the support from Hastinapur? Pandavas chose Sri Krishna to be their chief guest. This decision of theirs did not go well with many invited guests. Amongst them was Shishupal – the king of Chedi. Shishupal happened to be a cousin of Sri Krishna but was jealous of him. At the same time, Bheem had killed Jarasandha at the instigation and technique suggested by Krishna. Consumed by his jealousy and the idea to teach Krishna a lesson, Shishupal publicly opposed the decision of Pandavas. He called Krishna names and questioned his lineage. He went on to hurl insults and obscenities at Krishna. Pandavas and a few others got agitated with Shishupal’s behavior, but were calmed down by the ever smiling Krishna. Shishupal, sensing no objection to his insults, kept on with his offenses. 

When he spoke the 100^th abuse, Sri Krishna warned him to watch for his tongue as it could be fatal for him. Ignoring Krishna’s warning, Shishupal’s foul mouth committed the 101^st offense towards Krishna. Just then Sri Krishna used his sudarshana chakra to cut off Shishupal’s head.

When Shishupal was born, bad omens occurred. Some say that he was born with the head of a donkey. It was said that at the sight of Shishupal’s slayer, the donkey head would disappear. So when Krishna visited his aunt and saw the new born baby, the donkey head miraculously gave way to a handsome boy. Knowing the fate, Shishupal’s mother realized that her son would be killed by Krishna. To protect her son, she begged Krishna to forgive 100 sins of Shishupal. Sri Krishna smiled at her request and granted her wish. Assured of her son’s long life, Shishupal’s mother lived happily. So did Shishupal as he knew no one could touch him. However, in the happy days, Shishupal’s mother forgot to warn him of the 100 sins condition. Had he known so, he would have paid heed to Sri Krishna’s advise and would have lived longer. Had he known that he is allowed only 100 sins, he would have been more careful in committing those. Had his mother taught him to be a better human being, he would not have required the 100 sins limit!

In a way we all behave like Shishupal’s mother. Looking for a solution outside without searching for the same inside of ourselves. Be it organizations who look at external factors or latera hires or even consultants to fix their issues. Or be it individuals, who find it easier to blame others for what they could not achieve. To compensate for our own shortcomings, we almost every time blame others who support us or are with us all the time. We forget that even the best of support we have got has an expiry date attached to it. Instead of looking at the external factors, if only we can focus on the internal factors, we may be able to find a self sustaining path that shall lead to success in both – short and long terms.

At the same time, this story draws my thought process towards the parenting and teaching issues we are all grappling with today. We expect our children to do extremely well. We expect our schools to take care of our children. We expect the teachers to teach well and transform our kids into a super genius who is great at everything that he does. What we often forget is the inherent capability of the child and his or hers view of life. We often miss out focusing on the purpose of one’s life and are too busy building the safety nets than to make them better person.

If only we focus upon our strengths and weaknesses instead of looking for externa forces as security, more than half of the issues can be resolved easily.

Ramayana – What do we really know?

Now that the days have become shorter and the darkness prevails most part of the day, I was remembering the dark stories heard in the childhood. I remember my parents telling me Diwali as a festival of lights where brightness wins over darkness. It was then that I started to read Ramayana once again, only to realize how little did I knew of the great epic.

I am sure that when asked the question “Do you know Ramayana?” you shall promptly raise your head and would probably term me as a lunatic for having such a doubt! But trust me, many of us do not know or understand Ramayana! And yes, I shall go to the extremes and say that those who ask of “Ram Rajya” or the “Perfect Ideal Administration” also do not understand Ramayana.

Ramayana was written by Valmiki in Sanskrit and has been adopted in many languages and has spread to countries other than India itself. In fact, there are more than 300 variants of the Ramayana known today. Valmiki composed Ramayana into 2400 verses over 7 sections known as Kandas. Incidentally, the first letter of every 1000 verses makes the Gayatri Mantra. Valmiki dedicated Ramayana to celebrate the life of Lord Rama. The story shows the duties of relationships through portrayal of ideal characters – ideal father, ideal son, ideal brother, ideal wife, ideal servant and the ideal king.

The human mind is highly capable of imagination, yet it is limited by its capability to comprehend the situation through comparisons. It is easier for us to understand and remember the information provided to us in form of tables as compared to a long text. At the same time, to explain some good qualities of in a person, we need to create a character that contrasts the subject. This helps explain and prove the point. If you notice, most of the stories are also written in the same manner so that their message is well conveyed to the reader.  The storyteller plays an important role in depicting the characters in the good light and allow the audience to decipher the meaning of the story that suits their mindset. Valmiki wrote the Ramayana with a similar zeal.

Yes, the Ramayana is as much the story of Ravana as it is of Rama. It is unfortunate that in our quest and retelling of the great epic we have overlooked the qualities that Ravana possessed. Ramayana, just like Mahabharata, depicts the state of affairs at its time. The notions of good, bad and evil are constructs of the society at any point in time. For now, let’s look at a few things that we have overlooked!

Ravana was born to Kaikesi (a Rakshasa Princess) and a great Sage Vishrava (or Vesamuni). If we consider the patriarchal society, Ravana should have been considered a Brahmin just like his father. Yet, he is considered a Rakshasa due to his deed. This point in itself breaks the caste ideology of today. Ravana’s wife – Mandodari was the daughter of Mayasura, who belonged to the Asura clan. Even though, we consider both Asura and  Rakshasa clans as bad and evil, the philosophy classifies the population into multiple clans or Kula – Deva (Sura), Rakshasa, Asura, Manava, Yaksha, Gandharva etc and makes no distinction amongst them. Every clan is known to have individuals with good and not so good qualities. All these clans were spread out into multiple different parts of India. How can we today generalize if a sect of people is good or bad? Shouldn’t it be individualistic?

Interestingly, the word Rakshasa is pronounced as Rakkha in Sri Lanka. The word means “protector” or one who looks after the needs of the stomach. Extrapolating on the same, it meant that Rakshasa is one who protects a population by looking after the needs of their stomach and hence can be termed as a farmer or an agriculturalist! For the forest dwellers in the time of Ramayana, an organized farming is a major step of evolution. If Ravana moved his population towards this, he was a genius! Similarly, the word Asura meant some one who is neither a Sura (deva) or a Manava (human). They were supposed to be strng built people who could use their force to achieve whatever they wanted. Mayasura – the notable Asura is known to be a great engineer to have built the flying machines for Ravana. For the Persians of the Zoroastrian faith, who worship the holy fire, Ahura Mazada is their god. Since ‘Sa’ in Sanskrit is equivalent to ‘Ha’ in Persian, “Ahura” could also be “Asura”. There also happens to be a Babylonian divinity – Ashur.

Many historians considered Ravana a Brahmin and a Kshatriya. He was considered a Brahmin for his knowledge and literary pursuits until he mae a grave mistake of abducting another man’s wife. Him being the ruler of Lanka grants him the Kshatriya qualities. Ravana was  Sanskrit scholar and is known to have authored some of the classic literatures –

• Yuddhisha Tantra
• Prakrurti Kamadhenu
• Shivatandava Stotra

Ravana is known as an exponent of the Sama Veda and is known to have mastered the Pada Patha – the technique of oral recitation that has kept the Vedas alive till they could be written down.

Ravana is also known as a great Ayurveda practitioner. He is known to have pioneered the Naadi Vignana technique of diagnosis in Ayurveda. He is considered to be an Ayurvedic physician and an Ayurvedic pharmacologist. The art of distillink Arka and the preparation of Asava – the two forms of medicines in Ayurveda are acknowledged as his contribution to Ayurveda pharmacology. For the purpose of distilling Arka, he devised a yantra called Varuni. He also authored an Ayurvedic treatise – Arka Prakasha – describing his process and technique. His ayurvedic genius is also seen in his knowledge of vitaminizing rice balls to be used as refreshments during his journey in the various flying machines he had. Ravana’s vitaminized rice balls are known as Ravana Goli. He is known to have given the same to Sita while abducting her. Sita threw them by the wayside and those were known as Sita Goli. The hill tribes of Lanka have found these balls while digging or ploughing and have safeguarded them as part of their family heirloom. These golis are known to have preserved their medicinal value even today.

Ravana was a great administrator. He ruled one of the toughest kingdoms of its times. He displaced Kubera who was known to hoard wealth and managed the relations with Varuna well. His administrative skills were so highly regarded that Rama sent Lakshmana to learn the salient points of administering a kingdom from Ravana when he was mortally wounded. Ravana, though wounded, imparted the knowledge to Lakshmana without malice.

Ravana wasa gifted Veena player and is known to have played for the Lord Shiva’s dance. Combined with his ayurvedic knowledge of Nadi Vigyana, it is often said that Ravana was capable of playing Veena with his own nerves and that of others too!

The 10 heads of Ravana have been a point of curiosity for ages. Different perspectives have led to interesting discussions. One credible explantion found in Valmiki Ramayana and SriLankan Buddhist text – Mahavamsa says – Ravana governed over ten provinces or regions in his kingdom. The crowns of these ten provinces were placed behind his throne. For an onlooker, this would give an appearance of Ravana sporting ten crowns on his head.

Ravana’s kingdom was not limited to present day’s Sri Lanka. It most probably extended to Central India. Ramayana depicts the Dandakaranya forests to be occupied by Rakshasas. It was under Ravana’s control and he had appointed Khar and Dushan to oversee the region.

Ravana was a great king who was adored by his people and had applied his knowledge to great engineering marvels. However, his only fallacy was to abduct another man’s wife. The motive for such an act is again debatable – Ramayana stresses that it was Surpanakha’s jealousy, while Anand Neelkanthan’s “Asura: Tale of the vanquished” suggests it was a father’s love for her daughter!

CREDITS - 

1. Ramayana in Lanka - D.K. Hema Hari & D.K. Hari
2. Asura: Tale of the vanquished - Anand Neelkanthan
3. Ramayana - Valmiki
4. Ram Charit Manas - Tulsidas 

The inherent conflict - is it real?

Just a few days ago, we all worshipped the Goddess as Maa Durga and her other forms. Almost every different community in Indian subcontinent paid their regards to the Goddess in one form or the other. Many were busy feeding young girls and washing their feet – praying for their well being. The young girls are manifestation of the Goddess herself. A few days later, the wives observed fast for their husband’s long life. A wife is a representation of the power of the Goddess working solely for the husband. She represents Sita (in her submissive form) and Lakshmi (by the prosperity she brings).

However, last month a news article from Delhi depicted a shameful act being committed to two-year and five-year old girls. Apart from this highlighted news article, there were many others smaller ones that said the stories of innumerable crimes against women – Domestic violence or public violence.

Why is that we worship the Goddess as the supreme being, yet consider her human form as inferior? Why is that the male always tries to dominate the female, prove his supremacy and many a times hurts her in the process?

Have you ever watched an alpha male lion in the jungle or a zoo? He is usually surrounded with female lionesses. He is seen to be protective of them and roars at anyone who tries to come close to his females. Probably he treats them as his property. But have you tried to ask the lionesses, if they need the protection of the male lion? If you notice with a careful eye, you shall see the similar behavior in other animals too; even humans!

The female form represents the matter as per the Hindu philosophy. It helps us observe, feel or experience. Represented by the earth, the cow, the river and the mother – the female form is seen as a provider for material aspects to everyone without discrimination. Every seed that falls on the earth has an equal chance to germinate. The earth does not discriminate between the seeds as to what plants shall grow. It is the seeds that fight with each other to be able to draw as much resources from the earth to grow. And only the fittest survive – remember the life is a race? Similarly the cow provides the milk without caring who is drinking. The river provides the water to everyone on its way. The mother cares for all her offspring. Isn’t there a famous saying – “the crying baby gets the most milk”?

Ever seen a peacock? It’s beautiful when dancing with all his feathers sprung open. The peacock dances in fear. He displays his beauty to attract female peacock to be able to mate. The female birds and animals often choose their male partners based on their strength, beauty, vocal quality and many other factors. Remember the lessons in botany? The flowers have one ovary but many stamens to sprinkle the pollen through the distributive mechanism. Thus it is the nature that has considered the female form as precious as compared to the male form.

Interesting point is that it’s not just the animals, but even gods in many different philosophies displaying similar behavior. The Greek Mythology speaks of Gaia and how Uranus, Cronus and later Zeus handled her – sidelining her to make sure of their own survival. The Inuit tribe talks of Sedna – who later appears as mermaid – being maltreated by her own father to rescue himself from angry seagulls. The Indian Mythology is filled with stories of Indra and many others lusting after female form to satiate themselves and sustain their glory. In every case, the female form is the provider who creates the life irrespective of the way the life was conceived.

The male form creates the life or experiences the life only through the provisions from the female form. In order for it to sustain the life or enjoy the pleasures, the male form needs the female form. And this is where the fear creeps in. what if the female form is lost tomorrow? Or what if some other male steals the female? The selection of only the best male form by the female form arises anxiety amongst the males. This fear gives way for the males to regenerate themselves into alpha males. This fear gives rise to the need for domesticating the females and tying them into the boundaries created by the society and culture.

While raising the point of the violence against the females, I have had been doing my share of thinking as well. I was raised with the thought that the one who gives the life or sustains it is always greater than the one who snatches it. Still, sometimes I feel lost in deciding who is better – the male or the female? Or they are there to work in harmony? If so, why violate each other? Why can the harmony not prevail? Have we become so insensitive that we continue to ignore our own part that is needed for our survival?

I shall end this with my favorite quote from the movie “3 Idiots” – Be capable, be worthy and success shall follow you.

My other related posts on this topic are - Is India shining?, Violence - where does it all starts?, What happened to us, What happened to us– Contd.

Is India shining?

Call it destiny or design, I have been having the same cab driver for the last couple of trips. Few weeks ago, I caught him listening to Osho while waiting for me. When asked, he said he finds it entertaining. Ever since then, we have converted our 45-minute ride a way into quite a confounding discussion oriented ride. The cabbie comes from a meager background and has never been exposed to the fun of high levels of education. Hence calling his ideas, as intellectual orgasmic explosions would be exuberance for the sophisticated. I find his talks to be fundamendalistic. He has raised the points that many of us would have shied away from – why isn’t India rising?

In the last few years, we have heard many slogans – “India shining”, “Aam Aadmi ko kya mila”, “Acche din aane waley hain”, or “Aam aadmi”. Yet, the commona man in India is still waiting the better days, wondering what did they get or when would they be able to shine? The situation has worsened for the females in India. The rising sex crimes of various capacities have only weakened their position in the society. Can you believe it – 50% of mankind is at the receiving end of what a few called – development? I simply do not get this. If it is development, it has to be for all. How can it be targeted towards a few while walking backwards for others? In such a case, I call it development of one at the expense of the other!

My bringing up the cabbie at the very start was for a reason. The cabbie has had been in the trucking industry and has driven trucks all across India and USA. The truckers have had an reputation of being involved or being a customer of a rather infamous industry – prostitution. They have had been the avid users of the flesh – male or female as the taste may be. Still, I found them respectful of the individuals and the choices they had. My cabbie has expressed his hate towards the female oriented violence and has always questioned the case of developing India. Despite of the words that my cabbie would have spoken about many individuals, I am sure he would never have invaded their privacy or their choices. He would never have enforced himself upon someone to rove his prowess or satiate himself without his or her consent.

To add to the point, I saw yet another dark movie - "Matrubhoomi" - focussed on female foeticide. The movie extrapolated the problems to a level that leads to disgust. I am sure I never wanted this society.

All the development that India has made, has been dwarfed by the setback that the mankind has been through. We may have solved the greatest diplomatic issues, yet we have failed to acknowledge the domestic and the prevalent issues that question the very fabric of Indian society. At this juncture, I am not sure if I feel comfortable raising my daughters in a place that worships Shakti, fasts for nine days to impress Devi, yet rapes her to prove its own supremacy! Whether it is the untamed, illiterate Indian  or highly educated sophisticated Indian businessman or even the God-man who influences the whole society? Every strata has had their own exemplars when it came to the crimes towards women. 

The bewildering thought occurred to me just when we concluded the "Navratri vrat" to appease the Devi. Like many others, me too visited the temple, offered prayers and gifts to the Goddess requesting her blessing. Trust me, I am not a great follower. I am told, that there are many who follow the Goddess. and some follow her like their own mothers. I wonder, how could a society that worships the Goddess, disrobes her or even disreputes her to a level that driver her off to extinction.  

All of this has made me ponder over the reasons behind the dark actions and the though process behind the societal actions that have become a daily news items. What’s even more disturbing is the fact that though these are appearing daily with increased monstrosity, there isn’t enough uproar against these. People rose against an incident a few years back, and then complacency took better of them. Knowing myself, I know I need to get to the bottom of this – in my own way. I must find the reason behind this. Help me, if you will!

Vishnu as Shaligrama Stone

In my last post on Pitra Paksha and another post on the Pind Daan, we spoke about the rites and rituals involved in the offerings made during this time. The Pind Daan ritual is followed by the prayer offering to Lord Vishnu and Yama. While Yama is a god of death and is the caretaker of the souls in the nether world, Vishnu is the God who manages the functions of all the worlds and provides ultimate sanctuary to those who worship him.

Lord Vishnu is worshipped in form of the darbha grass, a gold image or Shaligram stone. The drab grass is known as Desmostachya Bipinnata scientifically. The drabha grass has been considered a sacred grass and has been used in religious rituals since Vedic times.  Darbha is also called Kusha and it is considered perhaps the second most sacred herb in the Vedas after Soma.  Darbha has very unique spiritual properties and is used in all religious rituals in the Hindu tradition.  Darbha helps to protect from toxic radiation and negative energies of all types.  It energetically shields the area around it from curses, ghosts, demons and the negative energies created by negative thoughts.  It simultaneously works to carry and amplify spiritual energies and helps to connect with the higher spiritual realms.  Darbha is not only useful in religious rituals, but also around the home, where it can be used to help shield people from the radiation from electrical appliances.  Darbha also has healing properties and is used in Ayurvedic medicine.

The Shaligram stone is a fossilized stone used to invoke God, and referred as a representation of God. Shaligram is usually collected from sacred river beds or on the banks. Shiva worshipers use nearly round or oval shaped Shaligrams to worship as Shiva Linga. Similarly, Vaishnavas - the Vishnu worshippers, use a  spherical black-colored ammonoid fossil as a representation of Lord Vishnu. The origin of the name is traced to a remote village in Nepal where Vishnu is known by the name of Shaligramam. Shaligram in Hinduism is also known as Salagrama. The name Salagrama refers to the name of the village on the bank of Gandaki where the holy stones are picked up. The name is derived from the hut (sala) of the sage Salankayana, who beheld the form of Vishnu in a tree outside his hut.

Padma Purana says that Vrinda Devi was born on earth to King Kushadvaja. She married Jalhandara, a demon king who had sovereignty over the nether regions and declared war on the Gods. He had a boon that he would be free from death till his wife Vrinda was chaste. Jalhandara drew strength from the chastity and purity of his pious wife, Vrinda. The power of Vrinda`s chastity was so great that Jalhandara could not be defeated by the Gods, even Lord Shiva. Helplessly, the Gods sought refuge in Lord Vishnu.

As a final resort, Lord Vishnu assuming the form of Jalhandara beguiled Vrinda, who mistook the form of Vishnu as Jalhandara. Her chastity was broken as she greeted Vishnu. Taking advantage of the situation, the Gods overpowered Jalhandara and killed him in the battle.
Soon Vishnu appeared in his original form much to the surprise of Vrinda. Understanding the reality, Vrinda became enraged and cursed Vishnu to become a stone for his act of deception. She cursed Vishnu for his stone hearted approach to spoil her chastity that led to the death of her husband. Soon she too burnt herself in the pyre of her husband.

Vishnu accepted the curse hurled upon him and appeared as a shaligram shila in the Gandhaki River in Nepal.

He also blessed Vrinda for her purity and chastity that she will eternally reside in Vaikuntha as his consort. He also transferred her soul into the plant of Tulsi and blessed her to be worshipped as Tulsi. He said that Tulsi will be the most auspicious and dear to him and no prayer is complete without an offering of Tulsi to him. Thus devotees of Krishna never go to him without an offering of Tulsi leaf. He promised to marry her annually on this day in the month of Karthik.

Every year Tulsi Vivah or ceremonial marriage is conducted for Tulsi and Vishnu as shaligram shila on Ekadasi, the eleventh moon of the bright fortnight of Karthik. All devout Hindu women pray to Tulsi and shaligram, on this day and perform a marriage ceremony to Tulsi and shaligram shila for meritorious benefits. By doing this, all sins get burnt away and deep seated desires get fulfilled.
In the Skanda Purana there is a statement praising the Tulsi tree as follows: ‘Let me offer my respectful obeisance unto the Tulsi tree, which can immediately vanquish volumes of sinful activities. Simply by seeing or touching this tree one can become relieved from all distresses and diseases.

The stones are worshipped as manifestations of Vishnu himself, identifiable from other stones by special markings which resemble Vishnu's paraphernalia such as mace, conch, lotus and disc (chakra). They are either black, red, or mixed in colour and are usually kept closed in a box and are only brought out for daily worship (puja). The stones are usually hereditary and are passed down through many generations, never being purchased or sold.

A Shaligrama – which has the marks of a shankha, Chakra, gada and padma arranged in a particular order – is worshiped as Keshava. With the change in the order of the four symbols, the name of the Shaligrama stone is also different and the images of such deities also have similar setting of the four symbols. The various orders and names are given for the twenty four permutations. These are well known names, which are the different names by which Lord Vishnu is known in the Hindu pantheon. The various versions of the Saligrama Shilas or stones vis-a-vis the order of the four symbols are - 

1. Shankha, Chakra, Gada and Padma - Keshava
2. Padma, Gada, Chakra, Shankha - Narayana
3. Chakra, Shankha, Padma and Gada - Madhava
4. Gada, Padma, Shankha and Chakra - Govinda
5. Padma, Shankha, Chakra and Gada – Vishnu
6. Shankha, Padma, Gada, Chakra – Madusudhana
7. Gada, Chakra, Shankha and Padma – Trivikrama
8. Chakra, Gada, Padma, Shankha - Vamana
9. Chakra, Padma, Shankha, Gada - Shridhara
10. Padma, Gada, Shankha, charka - Hrishikesh
11. Padma, Chakra,Gada, Shankha - Padmanabha
12. Shankha, Chakra, Gada, Padma - Damodara
13. Chakra, Shankha, Gada, Padma - Sankarshana
14. Shankha, Chakra, Padma, Gada - Pradyumna
15. Gada, Shankha, Padma, charka - Aniruddha
16. Padma, Shankha, Gada, Chakra - Purushottama
17. Gadha, Shankha, Chakra, Padma - Adokshaja
18. Padma, Gada, Shankha, Chakra - Narasimha
19. Padma, Chakra, Shankha, Gada – Achyuta
20. Shankha, Chakra, Padma, Gada - Janardana
21. Gada, Padma, Shankha, Chakra - Upendra
22. Chakra, Padma, Gada and Shankha – Hari
23. Gada, Padma, Chakra and Shankha - Krishna
24. Shankha, Chakra, Padma, Gada – Vasudeva