Joggers Park

Dear friends, A joggers park seems to be pretty much analogous to our lives. People jog/walk/ run over the track depending upon their fitness and needs just like different kinds of people who live in this world for various needs. Some people who are fat , walk/slow jog because they want to burn the accumulated fat. Some other people jog/run just because they like to do so. Some people jog/run because they are health conscious. Some people concerned with their appearances jog/run say because they simple want to maintain their physique eventhough they don't actually like jogging. Some people are professionals that have olympics as their aim. Similarly , there are different kinds of people living in this world Few people live because they want to burn their bad karmas (karma yogis) Tonnes of people live this world to enjoy its resources to the fullest extent. Some people live this world to reach their intial and the highest state of mukthi. Depending upon the efforts and constant practise , they slowly move towards/steer towards their objectives. One shoud note here that the objectives are different for different people depending upon what they are currently and it would only feasible for them to reach it. Just like a fat person who can only jog to burn the fat , a person with bad karmas can only try his best to negate his accumulated bad karmas. Even though a fat person might have the aspiration to race in the olympics, it is definitely out of his reach . This is just like a person who wants to reach god but has lot of bad karma (dirt) left in his pockets. Hence , it becomes ultra-critical to cleanse ourselve before we can ever get closer to the state where the doubts about god fade away. Only then a person can become truly religious. How can this be done ? Just like a person who aspires to become a marathon runner seeking a help of a guru/ professional to expedite the process , a spiritual aspirant should seek the help of the right guru while constantly having the faith in God. Apart from this , there is yet another class of people who hate/lazy to jog and hence they don't jog. They simply laugh at people (esp fat people) simply because they can't jog. These are like the atheists who don't have faith in god and these folks laugh at people who have the faith. Now, Why and Where are you trotting?? :) GOVINDHAM PARAMAANANDHAM SRI KRISHNAARPANAMASTHU

Aandavaney , Unnai Nambinen ( God ,it is in u I trust)

Fellow blogger souls, One of my dear blogger friends,Arjuna asked me these questions pretty recently " how do we love GOD as we love our mothers? Forcing love is not love..Is there any natural way to love GOD?" I would like to thank him for giving me the chance to express my opinions on the questions raised. Please kindly pardon if I err at any instance..after all I have never been a parent of a child or 2..:) Before attempting to describe the means to develop that natural love for God, who is situated in a higher spiritual plane, I would like to write a bit about the love that one has for his/her parents. Reasoning- 0: On the nature of CHILD-PARENT love Truly, agreeably. Mother - Son/daughter and to an extent Father- Son /daughter can said to be the greatest and most natural forms of love. Any exceptions here???? let's see The following are the different cases under consideration, which are quite common in the current day world. 1. Parents who love their children more than what they do themselves ( a great family, blessed indeed are they) 2. Parents who love themselves more than their children ( like many of those parents in USA , couldn't avoid that:( (more of a disintegrated family) 3. Parents who don't love their children ( no family here). Depending upon the quality of the subject as mentioned above , one can expect the love to be shown back by their children accordingly. ( ref. law of karma) Of course , one might expect things not going the way they are supposed to . For some reason (tho not in many cases) , no matter how much kind the parents are, the child doesnt seem to have an equivalent love for them (or vice versa). Some of the reasons may be 1. Qualities acquired from last birth ( if one believes in re-birth) 2. Influence of Maaya ( this can lead to the child/parent developing a love for unreal/ less noble things like falling for bad company, money, fame etc) The same kind of analysis could be done on love beyond the walls of a familly , which complicates and rarifies the chances of finding a nobler form of love between 2 persons. So, it can be obseved that it is because of our past association and /or experiences with our parents has a lot to do with the kind of love that we have for them today. If suddenly a child is told that he/she is his father/mother, how much would he love his new parent??? Reasoning -1 On the path towards that Divine Love Having established the basis for the parent-child love , let me steer forward into the path towards that mystic and blissful love for God. The first requirement for any kind of relation to exist is having faith . One should be aware of the existence of God. Having established the faith, one should have fewer thoughts like "my life" , "my wife", " my children" , " I like this /that" etc .Those ,thoughts can only delay the thoughts about the more important things ..like " How I became what I am today? He thus becomes a thoughtful enquirer (jignasu). This kind of enquiry allows a person to realize what is true and what is not .thereby re-establishing and re-vitalizing his/her faith in God. Many of the conditioned souls would not normally prefer to do this kind of vichara.They are quite content with their limited life ignorant of this very vital beginning. For aiding those kind of totally ignorant people , it would be interesting to note how mother nature keeps reminding the presence of the great force behind every thing that exists through her forces like wind, water etc. Hurricanes like katrina and other forces seem to symbolically convey this message to the ignorant people and atheists . After becomming totally convinced of the existence of the paramaathma after vichara, it would be quite obvious for that person to crave for the realization of the truth. He comes to know that nothing else would get him closer to his wants. This kind of craving or bhakthi can be traced to as long as 5000 years in the Rig vedas, which say "longing prayers are said to touch Indra who is Longing just as a wife with desires gets her husband"" According to the son of Vyasa, bhakti is attachment to worship of God, etc. According to Garga, bhakthi is fondness for hearing the stories of the various sports of Lord According to Sandilya, bhakti is such attachment to God which is opposed to self According to Narada bhakti consists of offering all activities to God and inducing a feeling of extreme restless ness and misery at the slightest lapse in rememberance of God According to Adi Sankara's commentary on Gita,worship is bhakthi ( bhajanam bhakthi) , and ananya bhakthi is non-experience of anything except vasudeva. According to Sri Ramanuja, bhakthi is dhyana , just likethe un-interupted flow of oil. For some people, because of their previous birth karma , getting to this state wouldnt take much time. They would immediately jump into the bhakthi stream with no or very little enquiry. How to develop that kind of self-less bhakthi , that ananda state ? Having known those ananthakalyanagunas of the lord , one can easily fix the mind upon him . There are 9 types of bhakthi according to Srimad Bhagavatham Shravanam keerthanam vishno: Smaranam Paadhasevanam Archanam Vandhanam Dhaasyam Sackyam Aaathma NivEdhanam Listening , singing, remembering god, serving his holy feet, anointing god with sandalwood paste etc, bowing before god , behaving as a sevant , behaving as friend and uncondtionally offering oneself to him. When Tyagaraja sang in praise of SitaRama , he got trasferred to a differnt world , In his bilahari krithi Inthakaananda memi, he says Whenever I utter your name again and again These worlds seem to shine with your presence Like this, Unconditionally offering oneself to him is one of the deepest forms of bhakthi just like offering oneself selfllessly to the parents/children for their well-being. The residents of Vrindavan were like that. All their activities were offered to Krishna. They lived their lives for him. They didn't have any ego. The gopikas had that kind of madhura bhakthi as narada has said (exteme restelessnes in the the slightest lapse of god). Arent they gifted souls? Of course, only a very few people can have such unconditional love for god in this kali yuga . But should one give up? No. That is the goal that everyone should long for just like the chathaka bird that never gives up its try for getting the slightest bit of water through its hollow throat. At least , our state is not as bad as that of the bird:) To conclude , I guess one should always consider the parents as Gods always trying his/her best to show the self-less love for them and consider God as ones parents so that the love/bhakthi can be easily developed. I am not sure if this post made any sense to the interested reader and my friend . Hence , I encourage the reader to start a related discussion by commenting back:) (What joy could there be beyond this ecstasy?, O Rama O Rama -Sri Tyagayya SRI SITARAMACHANDRAARPANAMASTHU SRI KRISHNAARPANAMASTHU

Nannu paalimpa Nadachi Vacchithivo , O Rama:)

Dear Friends, It is my belief that reading and visualizing the lives of noble souls is one of the easiest ways to remain more sanitized in this materialistic world . By doing so , one can clearly identify what is bliss and what is not. Hence, I have decided to start posting on the lives and the compositions of these mystic poets of the yore. In this post , let us join Sri Tyagayya as he is about to render one of the very popular and beautiful krithis in the Mohana raga. B4 that some background .. If one dives deep into the Life and the krithis of the great Saint , composer , musician and the Rama bhaktha , Sri Tyagayya of Tiruvaiyaaru, for sure one will come back to the surface with at least a million pearls. The kind of bonding that he develops only with SitaRama leaves one spell bound.We can only pray SitaRama to give at least a fraction of the bhakthi he had for SitaRama. Let me come back to the mohana krithi under focus. Before actually going to an interestic anecdote that is attached with this krithi, let me quickly skim over the qualities of Mohana Raga. The name speaks for itself. Technically, Mohanam is a partial derivative of its melakartha(parent) raga , Harikamboji. Being an audava-audava raga( 5 notes in arohanam or ascendency) and 5 notes is avarohanam (or descendancy), it is widely used to depict veera rasa. I would like to write more about this raga and other popular compositions , but I would opt to refrain from digressing. Tyagayya is waiting for someone.. It is said that Tyagayya was waiting for the arrival of his prime and favorite disciple, Walajapet Venkatarama Bhagawathar on the eve of his daughters marriage. As the auspicious time was approaching and there were no signs of his comming , he became restless. But not long time after that he would see a realistic portrait of Sita rama as venkatarama approached him. Tyagayya became so ecstatic seeing his disciple and the life - like portrait of Sita rama , he burst forth with the krithi "Nannu paalimpa Nadachi vachithivo " (Did you walk all the way just to care for me ?) Tyagayyas rendezvous with SitaRama and party:) Here is the krithis' lyrics pallavi nanu pAlimpa naDaci vaccitivO nA prANanAtha anupallavi vanaja nayana mOmunu jUcuTa jIvanamani nenaru nA manasu marmamu telisi caraNam surapati nIla maNinibha tanuvutO nuramuna mutyapu sarula cayamutO karamuna shara kOdaNDa kAntitO dharani tanayatO tyAgarAjArcita Translation Pallavi :Did you come all the way on foot to just to care for me , Oh Lord of my life! Anupallavi:Knowing the secret of my love ladden heart - that I live just to see your face O lotus eyed beloved, Did you come all the way on foot to just to care for me , Oh Lord of my life! Charnam: The veera rasa can be felt here With your body shining like a saphire,With rows of strung pearls on your chest With that lustrous bow and arrow in your hand (Kothanda Rama) With Earths' daughter Sita besides you Did you come all the way on foot to just to care for me , Oh Lord of my life! Tyagayya , if he had craved so bad for something in his life , it would for the darshan of SitaRama.. He has echoed in many of his krithis for his longings to get a darshan of the SitaRama. How ecstatic he would have been when he saw his most favorite discliple walking with a beautiful portrait of his Ishtadeivam? He has outpoured his joy in the song for people like us to understand the joy that results in just casting ones eyes on the Kothanda Rama and Sita devi. JAI SRI TYAGAYYA SRI SITARAMACHANDRAPAADASAMARPANAM

Introducing M.S.S Blog

Dear Fellow Bloggers and Friends, Not many days after the inception of the Cosmic Consciousness blog ,I am pleased to inform you about our new blog on Bharat Ratna Smt M.S.S Subbulakshmi . The blog will be co-authored by my dear blogger friend , Anand. Actually, the blog was started on the eve of Jenmaashtami but we never had the time to formally announce it public, though I did add a footer link to it in one of my previous posts. One of our primal motives behind starting this blog is to project the Bhakti component of Carnatic music by bringing into limelight the contributions of Smt M.S.S Subbulakshmi to Carnatic music so that the readers can be benefited.We seek the grace of the Lord and the support/ contributions of you folks to keep us going in the mission. UPDATE: As per the wishes of you folks to my previous poll, I have decided to archive the songs in a new blog.Hope you folks enjoy:) Also please do cast your vote for the new poll. SARVAM SRI KRISHNAARPANAMSTHU

Lambodhara Lakumikara:)

Dear friends , Finally , Pulled myself back into blog-o-sphere. Thanks for ur support and concerns. B4 continuing any further on this post, I offer my respectful obeisances to the Birthday Boy , the Lord of Obstacles, Sri Vighneshwara. Shuklambaradharam Vishnum Shashivarnam Chaturbhujam Prasannavadanam Dhyaayeth Sarvavighnopashantaye All right folks, let us take a brief look at what the great people in the past have to say about this God of wisdom.. If u had taken carnatic music lessons , ur guru (teacher) might have taught u the geetham , "Shree Gana Naatha" . In this geetham , the great sri vaishnava composer, Sri Purandaradasa says that Sri Ganesa is having all the holy men at his feet (Siddha Charana). The greatest of the impersonalists, Sri Adi Sankara has also 2 works to his credit including the Ganesha Pancharatnam , where he says , he who recites the five gems (pancharatnam) every morning will soon be endowed with a healthy life both in the spiritual and material planes. The Sanskrit scholar and one of the tri murthis par excellence, Sri Muthuswamu Dikshithar has composed 8 krithis on the mooladharamurthy. Out of the 8 , five are in the Ghana Ragas of Nata, Gowla, Arabhi, Varali and Sri. You might remember that the Pancharatna Krithis of Sri Tyagaraja are also use the same ghana raga concept. Maha Ganapathim - Nata Sri Mahaganapthi - Gowla Ganarajena-Arabhi Lambodarya - Varali Mooladhara Chakra - Sri One krithi that needs a special mention is "Vathapi Ganpathim" where he adorns him with the beautiful hamsadwani raga. Most of the carnatic music artists like to begin the concert with this krithi on the lambodhara ( the one with a fat belly:) One of my personal favorites is VallabhaNayakasya in Begada. I particularly like MMI (Madira Mani Iyers) rendition...real feast for the ears.. Sri Tyagarajha has also composed a krithi that goes with the name "giriraaja sutha" . Here he mentions ganesha as one with a feet worshipped by the Indras and the others. Of course , there are many other great works on this Mooshikavaahanan not mentioned here including the Vedas (Ganaanaam twa) and puranas ( ganesa puranas) I have left them out for the sake of brevity. From the above references , one could infer that there is something indeed special about Ganesha. There are so many different kinds of interpretations referring to various parts of his body. I would not want to go to such depths but rather bring to the attention that He symbolizes knowledege and the devout seeker would definitely deserve his grace. Of course out of the all the knowledges, one should always try and seek Ganesha to shower the spiritual knowledge on us. Ganesha, who himself is a great krishna bhaktha (acc to Brahma- samhita) will certainly remove the obstacles and initiate one's spiritual journey towards the Parabrahmam. Having said all that, would it be a surprise to find the people in ISKCON believing in Ganasha worship if it would take them one step closer to Sri Krishna?:) SRI MAHAGANATHIPATHAYE NAMA: HARE KRISHNA SARVAM SRI KRISHNAARPANAMASTHU