Finding Nemo

This weekend all of my family was busy preparing for Diwali – the festival of lights. We started with cleaning up the home, decorating it with lights and other artifacts. At the same time, we took out the Ganesh and Lakshmi idols for cleaning, so that we can perform the Diwali rituals. My daughter asked me the question – why do we worship Ganesh and Lakshmi? They aren't a couple and also didn't we perform Ganesh Chaturthi a few weeks ago? Why do we also have a third goddess – Saraswati in the images related to Diwali? Wonderful questions – I remarked, and got back to study harder. Let's see if I can do justice to her curiosity or arouse more? Ganesh is worshipped by the virtue of the boon he received from Lord Shiva. Lakshmi as we all know is the wife of Vishnu. She is the goddess of wealth and good fortune. We all strive to get her and probably lead our lives in quest for more of her. Remember the post where I talked of how Indra runs after Lakshmi and Lakshmi finds comf...

Tune in into any channel or read any newspaper. You will be looking at innumerable news filled with violence in many forms –political, poverty, castes, racism, domestic and even sex. The first thing I would have thought was disgust and anger for the one who inflicted violence. At the same time, the feeling for sympathy comes in for the victim. I have often asked where does the violence starts? Is it only the result of the social or poverty injustice or is it inbuilt part of the human nature? I guess both. While there has been a great deal of discussion on the former reasoning, I shall work on the later part here! Imagine a forest with a tiger and a deer. The deer is running all over chased by the tiger. Finally when the tiger catches the deer, the tiger rips the deer with it claws and tears the flesh of the deer’s skin with its teeth. The tiger savors the deer and then moves on looking for another prey another day. A violent story, ain’t it? I say NO .  This is th...

The hindu scriptures are full of the mention of a place called "Swarga" or the heaven. The place – highly revered, is the ultimate aim of every human being. The demons fight with the gods all the time to gain access to the heaven. Also, even the gods when banished or exiled from the heaven try their best to get back. What is so special about the place called " Swarga "? Swarga is a place where one goes when they have led their life rightfully and have done enough good deeds to earn their place in the heaven. One goes there to find the most important things – Kalpavriksha or Kalpataru – The tree that showers anything you wish Akshya Patra – The bowl that overflows with gold and food without an end Chintamani – The gem that relieves all your worries Kamadhenu – The cow which gives all you ask for And obviously the ever beautiful apsaras At the same time, we know that the king of swarga is Indra. A strong king but an anxious, nervous, fearful being who gets ...

Ain't that a popular saying? And probably true too. What you eat, reflects on you in various manners. However, I want to share a different perspective on the food and the way it is served. Once again, the thought is borrowed and is being reproduced with my touch below. I would like to give away the credits to Mr Devdutt Pattnaik – a great thinker and a wonderful storyteller. I was watching the Masterchef program and I was amazed at how the participants prepared the four course meal and also how they prepared the regional cuisine thali's. I started thinking the difference in the Thali and the four course meal. When a four course meal is served, the cutlery and the plates are laid out on the table. The chef or the server then brings out one course at a time and you are supposed to eat it using the utensils laid out in the manner from outside working towards in. You are expected to eat the served food with minimum alterations – adding salt or pepper. Every course is brought on aft...

Brahma the creator of the universe is always seen with four heads. All of us must have heard different stories upon the significance of the four heads of Brahma. Some one says that the four heads represent the four "yugas" or the largest measure of time. Some say the heads are in four different directions to be able to see all around and be omniscient and omnipresent. What is lesser known is that Lord Brahma was known to have five heads. There are two propagated stories depicting how the fifth head of Lord Brahma was lost. Story 1 Brahma had the fifth head of a donkey. Once there was a war amongst the gods and the asuras. The gods were in a winning situation and the defeated asuras were fleeing away from the battlefield. Just then the gods realized that the donkey head of Brahma started calling out to the asuras requesting them not flee. The donkey head offered help to the asuras and told them ways to fight and defeat the gods. All the gods were furious at this display and re...

On the occasion of Dussehra, I watched burning Ravana's effigy. The kids were excited and the crowd was enthralled. The entire celebration was construed as a fair. We even joked around that Ravana could never wear a round neck t-shirt or didn't need any one for chorus! Great enjoyment, but then the questions arose. Is there a man with ten heads? How would a man with ten heads look like? What are those ten heads? How would they behave? Do the ten heads speak on their turn or all at the same time? Ravana's heads are best described in Anand Neelkantan's "Asura: Tale of the vanquished". He goes on to explain the ten heads as embodiment of the ten base emotions – Anger Pride Jealousy Happiness Sadness Fear Selfishness Love Ambition Mind (Devoid of all the above factors) Ravana was educated that the nature gave him one head for the purpose of keeping only the tenth quality and not the first nine. A person with only the tenth head is slated to rise and shine. Ravana ...

How many number of times would you have felt frustrated with some rules? And while in the same frustration mode, you would have exasperatedly questioned "who hell made that rule?" This happens to all of us. Different time, and different place but to all of us. Rules represent a manner in which each behavior must happen. Rules define boundaries to every code of conduct and define the parameters. The parameters (or metrics in the management terminology) are the basics to judgment. This classifies whether the conduct on the scales of morality, justness and righteousness. We all follow the rules as they are everywhere. There is a rule for even our basis existence. Rules slowly become the laws, through enforcements. Our rituals are also rules followed by us in view of pleasing the gods. Let's try to understand the origin of the rules. The rules are constructed as guidelines for behavior to uphold the principles. Having said this, I would also stress on the fact that the rules ...