A new approach
Taking a from what you are doing
There was this beautiful thing that I read some time back, when something was not happening the way you want it, and it kept getting blocked then the great idea would be to put into a box and leave it for god to solve.
But what things that occupies all our mind and energy?
Actually it would be a good idea to take a break and maybe reboot, or at least reset.
Without realising it we tend to go in circles. Finding it difficult to concentrate on things because we are distracted by the mundane not really achieving much. These are signals that we are getting stagnated. We need to slow down and relax. Since we are so involved in things that external to us, however we may easily overlook what is really going on inside us. It during these themes that we need to step back from the things that occupy our minds and connect with our inner self, giving our minds bodies and spirits the time to heal, rejuvenate and reinvent.
This might feel like a non productive scene. But it is really necessary in the long run. It could be small capsules during the day. Like practising yoga or meditating or even something as simple as concentrating on our breathing. These small acts probably put us back in communication with the universe. The peace of the universe enters us that our everyday troubles get a little diluted.
Sometimes it’s like giving a gift to ourselves, i.e. giving ourselves a respite from our everyday trouble. With weight lightened we are more receptive to wisdom and answers the universe has to offer.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
On Ramayana and Mahabharat
Contributing to a Anthology of Ramayana was an experience.
Presenting something new, or wrapping the old text into a new format was a challenge. While I was at it. So many thoughts, arguments surface and then vanish.
Somewhere along the way I figured, that the two epics that have achieved iconic worship status are so as we have never bothered to contemplate on it. If we were to use one word to sum up the epics then
Ramayana is all about compliance.
Mahabharata is about revolution.
Rama obeys Yadu disobeys
There is no division of kingdom Kingdom gets divided
Monogamy was upheld Both polygamy and polyandry are accepted
Social and war rules were honoured The rules have been bent and broken when the need arises.
Ramayana is greatly revered and worshipped, yet we are talking about destruction of the forest dwellers and their traditions. We venerating the Holocast at Lanka.
Hasyam Shurpanaka prakarnam is the definition of hasya, I fail to understand what is funny of disfiguring a woman. She was more educated than the women of Ayodhya, she came from a civilization that had different values and priorities from the ones of Ayodhya. We are conveniently ignoring the fact that Dasharatha did not even pretend to keep his King Kaikeya, about making Bharat the King, he just went ahead and announced Ram his successor. We are condoning and to a great extent even eulogising Rama’s act of denouncing Sita.
Mahabharat on the other hand tackles issues hands on. We have the necessary changed diagnosed and then dealt using either sama-bheda or danda.
Presenting something new, or wrapping the old text into a new format was a challenge. While I was at it. So many thoughts, arguments surface and then vanish.
Somewhere along the way I figured, that the two epics that have achieved iconic worship status are so as we have never bothered to contemplate on it. If we were to use one word to sum up the epics then
Ramayana is all about compliance.
Mahabharata is about revolution.
Rama obeys Yadu disobeys
There is no division of kingdom Kingdom gets divided
Monogamy was upheld Both polygamy and polyandry are accepted
Social and war rules were honoured The rules have been bent and broken when the need arises.
Ramayana is greatly revered and worshipped, yet we are talking about destruction of the forest dwellers and their traditions. We venerating the Holocast at Lanka.
Hasyam Shurpanaka prakarnam is the definition of hasya, I fail to understand what is funny of disfiguring a woman. She was more educated than the women of Ayodhya, she came from a civilization that had different values and priorities from the ones of Ayodhya. We are conveniently ignoring the fact that Dasharatha did not even pretend to keep his King Kaikeya, about making Bharat the King, he just went ahead and announced Ram his successor. We are condoning and to a great extent even eulogising Rama’s act of denouncing Sita.
Mahabharat on the other hand tackles issues hands on. We have the necessary changed diagnosed and then dealt using either sama-bheda or danda.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Symbolism of the snake God
Satteri worship of goa is the worship of the anthill. The presence of a live anthill is indicative of fertile land. When the anthill is a termite hill it has fertile potential, and tends to go deep.
Folklore believes that the termite hill is the pathway to the Nagaloka or the land of snakes. Again we come to the fertility motif. Usually snakes tend to displace the termites.
Snakes particularly the Nagas i.e. the hooded snakes tend to move slighter and rest in crevice. Hence it is associated with fertility of earth. The shedding of the snake skin is considered parallel to the earth’s recovery of fertility cycle bonding the symbolism even further.
Myths round the world associate snakes with the mysteries of life and death. Mystic powers and healing are also symbolized and associated with snakes. We see this association even today.
Naga’s represent fertile soil, or deep mineral wealth of the earth, so logically they became the guardians of Lakshmi’s grace. The symbolism furthered and they are also worshiped by women seeking children. The Naga worship is also seen in farmers seeking a good harvest.
I find it a very interesting flow of festivals. The Nagapanchami is followed by the ganesha chaturti,
Again a totemic representation of all things that could destroy a crop, the elephant, and a rat, which is contained by a snake
Art uses snakes to represent both the spiritual and the material component. The goddess holds a slithering snake for only then does the shedding of the dead skin and rejuvenation takes place which is a must from natures point of view. The slithering snake represents the flow of rasa or flavour of life, the waxing and waning of the material life. The movement or slithering snake is associated with fertility, pleasure, and a life giving river
The coiled snake the Kundalini, which was brought under control by Krishna is representative of the Yogic or the spiritual energy it is like the raw milk full of potential.
The festival of nagapanchami is on 5th day of Shravan. This year it falls on aug.14th.
Folklore believes that the termite hill is the pathway to the Nagaloka or the land of snakes. Again we come to the fertility motif. Usually snakes tend to displace the termites.
Snakes particularly the Nagas i.e. the hooded snakes tend to move slighter and rest in crevice. Hence it is associated with fertility of earth. The shedding of the snake skin is considered parallel to the earth’s recovery of fertility cycle bonding the symbolism even further.
Myths round the world associate snakes with the mysteries of life and death. Mystic powers and healing are also symbolized and associated with snakes. We see this association even today.
Naga’s represent fertile soil, or deep mineral wealth of the earth, so logically they became the guardians of Lakshmi’s grace. The symbolism furthered and they are also worshiped by women seeking children. The Naga worship is also seen in farmers seeking a good harvest.
I find it a very interesting flow of festivals. The Nagapanchami is followed by the ganesha chaturti,
Again a totemic representation of all things that could destroy a crop, the elephant, and a rat, which is contained by a snake
Art uses snakes to represent both the spiritual and the material component. The goddess holds a slithering snake for only then does the shedding of the dead skin and rejuvenation takes place which is a must from natures point of view. The slithering snake represents the flow of rasa or flavour of life, the waxing and waning of the material life. The movement or slithering snake is associated with fertility, pleasure, and a life giving river
The coiled snake the Kundalini, which was brought under control by Krishna is representative of the Yogic or the spiritual energy it is like the raw milk full of potential.
The festival of nagapanchami is on 5th day of Shravan. This year it falls on aug.14th.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
driving your life
Wake up in the morning, making coffee, then wake the kids, their lunch boxes, dropping them off to school rush to the clinic, market, this and that the entire schedule is like a mad hatters party. It is as though I am sitting in a car and being driven by someone else. It is as though I am driving yet I am not in the drivers seat.
This is not only me, many of us go from one thing to another until we end up back at home in the evening with just enough time to wind up for the day. We seem to just drift without taking stock our bigger picture or doing a single spontaneous thing for the day.
Maybe some time we should grant ourselves the luxury of sitting back figuring what we want and get right back into the driver’s seat. This could be a little uncomfortable at times, maybe we carry the onus of having to be responsible for any crash but the journey might at the end of it all be more worthwhile.
We can spend a little more time with ourselves and our family.
Wishing you a happy journey.
This is not only me, many of us go from one thing to another until we end up back at home in the evening with just enough time to wind up for the day. We seem to just drift without taking stock our bigger picture or doing a single spontaneous thing for the day.
Maybe some time we should grant ourselves the luxury of sitting back figuring what we want and get right back into the driver’s seat. This could be a little uncomfortable at times, maybe we carry the onus of having to be responsible for any crash but the journey might at the end of it all be more worthwhile.
We can spend a little more time with ourselves and our family.
Wishing you a happy journey.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
changing the world
There are times, when we feel acute need to change others.
To get them to think like us, maybe this is the time that we need to look into a mirror. We may not find a wonderland like Alice did, but there would be a message for us.
When I think of snow white I think the beautiful stepmother and her evil mirror is something like our perception of humanity as a whole, i.e. dualistic. With a broad brush we paint pictures of people some like us, who share our opinions and attitudes and others who don’t. We are so caught up with the rightness of our thoughts and values that we are teased and sometimes even frustrated by the different.
Why is that we are unable to realize that we are all individuals.
Maybe because over the time we have learnt to flourish in the richness of lives we have built may come to believe that we are qualified to speak on behalf of the greater source.
Maybe if we pause a while we’ll figure that the sum of what we do not know exceeds the sum of what we know. Individual goals and potentials are different; we do a disservice when we try to make it all uniform.
Maybe we should realize our strength by giving up controlling, and embracing people for what they are. Appreciating their uniqueness,
Perhaps that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day; we respect the right of people to be them.
Maybe we can gaze inwards on to that one person who we can change i.e. ourselves.
To get them to think like us, maybe this is the time that we need to look into a mirror. We may not find a wonderland like Alice did, but there would be a message for us.
When I think of snow white I think the beautiful stepmother and her evil mirror is something like our perception of humanity as a whole, i.e. dualistic. With a broad brush we paint pictures of people some like us, who share our opinions and attitudes and others who don’t. We are so caught up with the rightness of our thoughts and values that we are teased and sometimes even frustrated by the different.
Why is that we are unable to realize that we are all individuals.
Maybe because over the time we have learnt to flourish in the richness of lives we have built may come to believe that we are qualified to speak on behalf of the greater source.
Maybe if we pause a while we’ll figure that the sum of what we do not know exceeds the sum of what we know. Individual goals and potentials are different; we do a disservice when we try to make it all uniform.
Maybe we should realize our strength by giving up controlling, and embracing people for what they are. Appreciating their uniqueness,
Perhaps that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day; we respect the right of people to be them.
Maybe we can gaze inwards on to that one person who we can change i.e. ourselves.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
the unique Indian woman
Art of a country is the document of the philosophy of her people. While theatre is the document of the socio-cultural that era. The values and the day to day existence of the population.
We are persistently talking of a patriarchal society, and oppressed women; we are talking about the Indian women not being emancipated like her western counterpart. But is it really so?
I wonder,
Let’s look at a period were the Rama’s and Krishna’s were not so much of iconic or idolatry the period of Dandin, and Rajashekhara.
The deities referred to these plays which are usually metatheatrical in presentation, have a lot of mythology and mysticism woven into it, the worship of the mother goddess also dominates.
The period of Kalidasa could be 370-450 AD, judging by the subtle clues left behind. Kalidasa unlike other poets does not leave either his lineage or the lineage of his patrons.
Agreeing with scholars that he adorned the court of King Chandragupta, vikramaditya it is interesting to note, that the Queen of Chandragupta Dhruva Devi, was first married to Ramagupta the older son of Samudragupta, but she choose to reject him after the marriage and remarry the younger brother.
The probable biography of Kalidasa is traced in the Avantisundari Katha, by later scholars ie between 6th -7th century Sanskrit scholars of kanchipuram, where the Avanti sundari is not just the kings daughter, but crowned Queen of Avanti and her spouse becomes King consort. She is educated enough to hold discussions on politics, poetics, and social ethics. She is trained in martial arts too. She has the moral strength in her to tell Kalidasa to be worthy to be her spouse. The then social structure does not condemn her for it.
At the later end of the same period we have the Queen of Pulakehsi the second who retorted to scholar’s description of sharada as shweta varna (fair one) “I am the embodiment of sharada in learning and I am Krishna Varna”
Essentially what I am trying to say, is somewhere during the advent of the Bhakti cult from the intellectual reasoning era, it could also be invasions of various other cultures, that lead to the suppression of women.
We are persistently talking of a patriarchal society, and oppressed women; we are talking about the Indian women not being emancipated like her western counterpart. But is it really so?
I wonder,
Let’s look at a period were the Rama’s and Krishna’s were not so much of iconic or idolatry the period of Dandin, and Rajashekhara.
The deities referred to these plays which are usually metatheatrical in presentation, have a lot of mythology and mysticism woven into it, the worship of the mother goddess also dominates.
The period of Kalidasa could be 370-450 AD, judging by the subtle clues left behind. Kalidasa unlike other poets does not leave either his lineage or the lineage of his patrons.
Agreeing with scholars that he adorned the court of King Chandragupta, vikramaditya it is interesting to note, that the Queen of Chandragupta Dhruva Devi, was first married to Ramagupta the older son of Samudragupta, but she choose to reject him after the marriage and remarry the younger brother.
The probable biography of Kalidasa is traced in the Avantisundari Katha, by later scholars ie between 6th -7th century Sanskrit scholars of kanchipuram, where the Avanti sundari is not just the kings daughter, but crowned Queen of Avanti and her spouse becomes King consort. She is educated enough to hold discussions on politics, poetics, and social ethics. She is trained in martial arts too. She has the moral strength in her to tell Kalidasa to be worthy to be her spouse. The then social structure does not condemn her for it.
At the later end of the same period we have the Queen of Pulakehsi the second who retorted to scholar’s description of sharada as shweta varna (fair one) “I am the embodiment of sharada in learning and I am Krishna Varna”
Essentially what I am trying to say, is somewhere during the advent of the Bhakti cult from the intellectual reasoning era, it could also be invasions of various other cultures, that lead to the suppression of women.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
the body in our mind
The body in our minds,
We have such a image of ourselves in our minds that many of us are not able to relate to our pictures.
When I see a picture of myself particularly taken when I am unaware I feel that it is the image of an impostor, she does not match the image I have of myself in my mind.
To me my picture ought to look like a caricature of an inflated colon. So where has woman emerged from, she looks fairly presentable and people are reacting and responding to her.
More than wondering where this woman emerged from I need to be wondering where did the woman in my mind emerge from?
In her book Body Love Ruth Freedman observes most woman nurture negative images of themselves which is very distant from the reality. While in men it is the visaversa.
The conclusion of her research was
“there is hardly any connection between a woman’s physical attractiveness(as rated by others)and her satisfaction with her body image..feelings of self Worth..there is a strong relationship however between body image and self esteem”
We have such a image of ourselves in our minds that many of us are not able to relate to our pictures.
When I see a picture of myself particularly taken when I am unaware I feel that it is the image of an impostor, she does not match the image I have of myself in my mind.
To me my picture ought to look like a caricature of an inflated colon. So where has woman emerged from, she looks fairly presentable and people are reacting and responding to her.
More than wondering where this woman emerged from I need to be wondering where did the woman in my mind emerge from?
In her book Body Love Ruth Freedman observes most woman nurture negative images of themselves which is very distant from the reality. While in men it is the visaversa.
The conclusion of her research was
“there is hardly any connection between a woman’s physical attractiveness(as rated by others)and her satisfaction with her body image..feelings of self Worth..there is a strong relationship however between body image and self esteem”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)