Aham Brahmasmi

Why say "AdiyEn,rAmAnuja dAsan"?

2006-05-31T14:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Just wanted to share what i got 2 know about recently through Sri Sri AnnAs upanyAsam

AChArya RAmAnuja is an ocean of mercy who requested SriRanganAtha to grant mOksham to all the people in kali yugA by reciting his gadya trayA with bhakthi. Sri RanganAtha thought twice about it. He cannot dissapoint such a dear devotee. At the same time, if he grants mOksha to everyone, he can no longer perform his "LeelA". Hence, he said to AChAryA that anyone who performs sharAngathi to him by saying "AdiyEn , rAmanuja DAsan" will be granted mOksha.

Only a very few percentage of the people kali are humble enough to even say that forget about saying it from the heart. That is yet another leelA of God. at least now , O mind, perform sharaNAgathi to this ocean of mercy not because you expect something out of it, but just to surrender under the lOtus feet of such a mahAnubAvar

AaazhwAr anubavams

ThirumangaI AaazhwAr

Thirumangai aazhvaar says that the Lord will raze down
the sorrow of his devotees "adiyaar paduthuyar
aayinavellaam, nilandharam seyyum." He is ever gazing
in the direction of Lanka eagerly awaiting the midnight
visits of his dear devotee Vibeeshnan

nammAzhWar

Namaazhvaar asserts that the Lord is ever contemplating
all the different ways to shower His grace upon the
devotees "unnadiyaarku enseyvan enRE yiriththin^ee.

PeriyAzhwAr

Periyaazhvaar goes to the extent of suggesting that the
Lord will reject charges made against the devotees even if
they were to come from the thaayaar (Lakshmi) Herself,
"thannadiyaar thiRaththakaththu thaamaraiyaaL aakilum
sidhakuraikkumEl, "ennadiyaar adhu seyyaar, seydhaarEl
nanRu seydhaar.""
Why would thaayaar make any such
complaint? The answer is to prove to the masses that the
Lord will not forsake them at all! Such is the love of our
Lord towards His devotees.

Kulasekara Azhvaar

He epitomizes the state of mind of all the aazhvaars when he
declares that he will proudly wear on his forehead the wet
mud from the feet of devotees, "thoNdar sEvadich
sezhuncEr en sennikku aNivanE."

Comments of other bhakThAs
--Quote--
In this kali no one feels and spell it out from their hearts...
unless we make an attempt to get such kind of bakthi , rangan wudnt c us as a even as a person among the crowd...

But such kind of bakthi will grow only thro GURUKATAKSHA hence we shud alwz plead him to pour mercy(though till now its more)...on us

Those things that u've quoted will b xplained very superbly by srisri in RAMANUJA VAIBVAM .i too have heard it so much of times....
--Unquote--

--Quote--

It is the way of vaishnavam,but the word have been forgot my most person.Even Our Namazhwar says "Thondar Thondar Thondar Thondan sadagopan".According to vaishnavam each Vaishnavate is a slave of other Vaishnavate,u can see this from the pasurams of our Azhwars and Aacharyans
--Unquote--

Another Staunch VAishnavites view

Anyone who does "samashranam". Having the sanku charkram in the left arm and right arm by your acharyar. The first lesson taught is whoever you talk you must say adiyen ramanuja dasan. I happened to listen in velukudi's discussion. Those who have done samshranam are only allowed to get srivaikunda moksham and they are the srivaishnavas.

Info on Samashranam (nAma samasakaram)

The AchAryA adds the name 'DAsA' at the end of the disciples name , to indicate that he is forever the servant of
Lord Sriman NArAyanA and Bhagavad RAmAnujA. He becomes a 'RAmAnuja dAsan'.This is highly important.

Eventhough Sri Vaishnavam is eternal , it was Bhagavad RAmAnujA who propagated it with intensity and fervour ,out of his
great compassion for all the living entities. He was a supreme devotee of Sriman NArAyanA and an intellectual genius. He gave
the true imports of Brahma SUtrAs and established the eternal truth vouchsafed in the Upanishads . He made everyone
understand that NArAyanA , the consort of 'Sri' is the Supreme Lord , who has all the sentient beings and insentient things as
His body (ie. NArAyanA is supporter & controller of everything and everything exists for His pleasure ).

He gave the secret doctrine of 'prapatti' ( self -surrender ) to the whole world. PRAPATTI IS THE ONLY WAY IN THIS KALI
YUGA BY WHICH ONE CAN REACH SRI VAIKUNTAM (MOKSHAM). Thus ,it was Bhagavad RAmAnujA who opened the
gates of Sri Vaikuntam for anyone , irrespective of caste , creed or sex. The greatness of Bhagavad RAmAnujA cannot be
expressed in mere words.

Since he was the one who redeemed the whole suffering humanity by propagating the eternal truth and the ultimate good to
everyone , Lord RanganAthA residing at SriRangam became so moved that , the Supreme Lord placed at the disposal of
RAmAnujAchAryA , all His possessions - LIlAvibhUti ( Material World ) and Nitya-VibhUti (Spiritual World ie. Sri Vaikuntam ) -
including Himself.In commemoration of that act , Lord RanganAthA conferred upon Bhagavad RAmAnujA the name of
'Udayavar'( Possesor or Master ) ,to signify that he was thenceforth the Master of All. Thus , to enter the Spiritual Abode of
Sriman NArAyanA , the link with ' Udayavar '( Sri RAmAnujA ) becomes a vital and important criterion.

The sishyA should always identify himself through this 'dAsa ' nAmA . Whenever he speaks to other bhAgavathAs he should
have the servitude attitude which in one way can be cultivated by remembering his 'dAsa ' nAmA. Ladies shall identify
themselves by suffixing "nAmine RAmAnuja dAsi" to their name ( eg: RanganAyaki nAmine RAmAnuja dAsi ).

Courtesy :
1.http://www.salagram.net/sstp-TempleGoersGuide.html#SAMASHRAYANAM

2. "Oppilappan Yahoo Groups"

AdiyEn
thyAgayya and rAmanuja dAsan

Welcome to ramaneeyaRoopams

2006-05-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

I invite you all to visit my new picture blog where I will be sharing pictures that i like the most . Most of the pictures are obtained from elsewhere ( like flickr). I am sharing them so that readers with similar interests can enjoy.

URL:

http://ramaneeyam.blogspot.com

I have named the blog as ramaneeya roopams for it will be a place for simple, pleasing and divine picures like that of srirAmA, the athi-ramaneeya roopam.

with sathguru dhivyapAdha smaranams,
krishna

sarvam seethArAmachandrArpanam

Sathguru LEkha Etuvanti Guniki Theliyaka POdhu

2006-05-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

Dear readers ,

For a long time I haven't been able to frequent to this blog-world of mine, which I do miss a great lot just like a most of you.

There is some bad news and good news I have got to share with you (just like one of those TV ads,Surf Excel i think). The bad news is that , I wont be updating this blog any more (may be once in a blue moon). Now , for the good news. Perhaps a month back I started my new blog-world @

http://saptharathnas.blogspot.com (NAdhAmritha upAsakAs)

The blog is dedicated to my "saptharathnAs" . I am hoping to continue posting more on that blog. I take immense pleasure in inviting the readers of this blog to "NaadhAmrutha upAsakAs". I would like to share my personal experiences with "Naadha UpAsanai" as i enjoy along with the kAtAkshams of the nAdhAmrutha upAsakAs and the nAdhapriyan.

Now, Why did i want to start up a new blog dedicated to nAdhOpAsakAs? I strongly concur with the Sri Vaishnavaite concept of prapatti and sharanAgathi ( I am actually a telugu brahmin born and brought up in tamil country,just like my most favorite mAnasIga guru..I will introduce him very soon). When one surrenders onto bhagawAns dhivya kamala pAdams, one gets closer to the bhagawans dhivya mani pAdukAs(sandals). I said "mani pAdukAs". The pAdukAs are embroided with fabulous rathnAs. The rathnAs represent the bhagawaThAs who sing in praise of the lord in the sweetest nAdhams the sound of which will instantly destroy all the bAdhams(distrubances) of kali. Then,If one practices nAdhOpAsanai wIth shraddhA and bhakthi and other qualites(I will talk about them in a future post), one gets the bhAgayam of getting something superior to mukthi. What is that? Musically mingling with our lord while being on earth (very similar /perhaps even superior to JIvan mukthi)

Am not sayin this . The great sri ranga bhaktha, Swami VEdanTa desikan has beautifully and peerlessly elaborated not in just a few verses but in a garland of exquisite 1008 verses. (sriranga pAdhukA sahasram). My first post in the new blog is on the same. Swami DEsikan has in fact sung in praise of NammAzhvAr. He infact composed those 1008 verses (sanskrit) in a mind-blowing 3 hours.

Though this blog , I would like to share the glory of what swamy dEsikan had composed in thousand verses several hundred years back as I experience and enjoy it ONLY through the katAkshams of the great souls like him.

On the same note ,If there is any of you who would like to contribute/ share your experiences with Carnatic Music (CM) from a bhakthi perspective, I would really like you to start a blog/ joint post in my blog.

Here are some ideas on what you can write on..

1. Write a personal account relating to a particular krithi/ krithis(kirtana) of the "saptharathnAs"

2. Writing interesting anecdotes from the lives of the great souls including that of the saptharathnAs ( it can even be an article that you might have read in some yester-year magazine;/book that the current generation is not aware of)

3. Translating and commenting (appreciative) a book ( something you think is priceless)

All the articles should ultimately focus on the greatness of NaadhOpAsanai / NaadhOpAsakar.

with sathguru dhivyApAda smaranAs,
krishna
sarvam seethAramAchandrArpanm

YEdanunnAdo, bhadrAdri Vaasudu

2006-03-17T16:57:00.000-08:00

srI:

Hay Deva Hay Dayitha , hay jagadheka bandho
hay krishna hay chapala , hay karunaika sindho
hay naatha hay ramana, hay nayanaabhi raaama
haa haa kadhaanu bhavithaasi padham dhrushormeh

(O DEva dEvA, the object of my supreme affection,
O KRishna, the friend of the Universe, O Lord , who melts with compassion for the welfare of your devotees, O OCean of mercy! O , Lord of Mine! O, delight of my eyes,who warms my heart! Alas, I am suffering without your darsanam. When are you going to present yourself before me?)

-KRishna KarnAmrutham of LeelA Sukhar

Hay Raama Hay ramana, hay jagadheka veera
hey naatha, hay raghupathey! KarunAlavAlA
hay jAnakI ramana ! Hay jagadheka bandhO
Maam paahi dheenam anisam krupanam krudhagnam

Sri Raama karnaamrutham of Sadhguru bOdhendrAl

broChevArevaruRA, ninnu vina, raghuvarA
nI charanAmbujamulanE vidajAla karunAlavAla

(O rAmA , who will save me other than you?
O Ocean of Mercy, I can't leave your lotus like feet)

O chathurAna Adi vanditha neeku parAkElanayya
nee charithamu pogadaLEni naa chintha theerchi
varamulIchi vEgamE

(O , the one who is worshipped by the great ones like the brahma and others
You are the one who can save me , If you show this aloofness ,what can I do?
My diction is inadequate even to sing and praise your glories. I am in such helpless state. Please clear my worries, grant my wishes and rescue me)

SeethA pathE nApai neekhabhimAnamu lEdhA
VAdhaathmajArchitha pAdhA nA moralanu vinarAdhA

(O! Lord of SItA , don't you have any affection towards me
O! the one whose feets are always worshipped by hanumAn,
Why don't you listen to my lamentation??)

bhAsuramuga kari rAjuni brOchina vasudEvudavu
neevu kAdhA

(Arent you the Vishnu , who gloriously saved the elephant king?)

nA pAtakamella pOgOtti gattika nA cheyi patti
viduVaka brOchevArevarurA ninnu vinna raghuvarA.

(Cleansing me of all my sins, and without leaving it, holding my hand firmly,
who will save me other than you ???)

Saint tyAgayyA in the kamAs krithi

KarunaCheyvA enthu thAmasam krishna , yaadhava krishnA, yadukula krishnA.
ksheera saagara sayanA ,nannu chintala pettavalEnA,sri rAmA.
krupaya pAlaya ShaurE , karunA rasaVAsA
rakshamAm sharanAgatham , pakshivAhan padhmajA ramana pannaga sayana padmanAbha prabhO
dhuduku gala nannEdhORa, Koduku brOchurA

SITA rAmachandra parabrahmanE nama:

Meenalochani Paasamochani Meenakshi

2006-02-02T15:25:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends ,

Updated

I am pleased to write this post dedicated to naadagamakachoodaamani Sri muthuswami dhikshithar and to kadhambavana vaasini ,meenalochani ,paasamochani meenakshi devi.
As a new way to eliminate long days of null activity, I have planned to build up the post in incremental steps every day. I am sure that , this approach will also be appreciated.

A rare flashback :)

I am indeed very blessed enough to have lived in the holy city of meenakshi sundareshwarar for almost 8 years. Those were my school days when I used to go along with my father to the sundareshwarar temple ( a beautiful and big temple ) with so many prahaarams. I and my dad used to circumambulate the moola sannithi of meenakshi amman and sundareswarar experience that i miss quite a lot after coming to US:(. The vibrations in such temples are so distinct and wonderful despite all the for an unforgettablecrowd. I have wished so many times to be born as a son of a temple purohit/ a bhagawathar/ dikshithar and perform nitya kainkaryams to the temple deity, if i were to have a rebirth:).

I and my father used to walk around the entire temple hopping around the thousand pillar hall ( AyirankAl mandapam) ,the lovely porthaamarai kulam ( the golden lotus pond) , the mighty vennai kaalis (butter kaali vigrahaas). people throng around the before the vigrahaas and throw butter ball at the kaalis by wishing for something. its a belief that the wish will be fulfilled. I can remember the small yet very expressive hanuman vigraha carved on to a pillar. The statue always used to be covered with chendhooram (safron) and butter. It would be a wonderful sight. In rapture , I used to take a big soop from the vigraha and keep it on my forehead. Like this hanuman , at yet another corner of the porthaamarai kulam , there is a vigraha of nandhi covered fully with vibuthi. what lovely sights? shoudn't one be blessed to have gotten a glimpse of such vigrahaas which aren't just carvings made out of stones. As, T.S Balakrishna sastrigal has said in one of his discourses , the speciality in such vigrahas is the chaaitanyam. If you go north of india, you can find lot of temple. You can find very beautiful statues carved out of marbles but what makes the difference. it is the chaitanyam inside the stone. These vigrahas have been worshiped, praised, sung in beautiful raagas by very noble souls depicting their mahaatmyam.

UPDATE 1 :

I mentioned about the krithi Meenakshi Memudum dehi composed by muthuswamy dikshithar yesterday. When i first heard Sri Madurai Mani Iyer(MMI) rendering this krithi, I instantly fell in love with it and y wouldnt i be? My dad used to be a great rasikan of sri mmi so was I. A new cassette on the stands?? Bring it home.That was our spirit. Both I and My father so very liked his baani (style) of singing swara jatis (sarvalaghu style) and shruthi shudhham. For us , he was carnatic music at best. For me, MMI and carnatic music arent different. When he was very young he used to sing at anju kattai ( pitch 5) . Smt M.S. Subbulakshmi is the only other person who can go upto this pitch. Later his health deteriorated. Here are some excerpts taken from other MMI fans at sangeetham.com.

" Every other Musician of his time had the privilege of good health, prosperity and happy life for atleast 40-45 years. MMI at the age of 17 lost his father(who was the only bread winner), had to shoulder big responsibilities of bringing up the family of 3 sisters, mother and grand mother.

He was a budding artiste and he had to face lots of challenges to meet both ends for his family. Only by divine grace he got good name and fame during late 1930s. (GNB/Semmangudi were already a superhit, though MMI started singing since 1924) But during early 1940s he got a major setback in health with that dreadful disease he was just in his late 20s and had to forgo his marriage. With such a kind of physical challenge he fought for almost one full year to comeback (his old style gone and sruthi came down).

It was only thru his devotion to music, strict adherence to Shruthi (no other musician was as perfect as MMI in Shruthi shuddham and swarasthaana shudhham- I am not saying this, shri Lalgudi told this amidst of 1000 rasikas in 1997). All he could give is a simple good music with Sruthi shudham, raaga shudham, swarasthaanashudham and Laya shudham."

"Mani Iyer was a devotee of Navagrahas and upon the advice of Sengalipuram Anantharama Dikshitar he practiced singing them at home. Dikshitar was a great fan of MMI and MMI was a devotee of Dikshitar. Once Dikshitar out of compassion asked shri MMI to be with him for 40 days at Guruvayur to help him get rid of Leprosy (which was incurable those days). Dikshitar himself got that disease cured by a miracle of Shri Guruvayurappan (his photo is to be seen in the temple along with that of Chembai, who also got rid of his voice problem thru the Lord). MMI who was advancing in age, like a Vedanti, denied the chance of curing and said, he wish to fully suffer from his Karma and then get rid of it in the same birth. This incident was told by a witness who was a fan of Dikshithar..."

"His ill health robbed his personal life completely and he had to depend on others for even taking food and basic cleanings. As age advanced his health was still more affected. With these set backs I wonder if even one else could have even sung, leave alone all these shudhdhams."

He had such a deep sangeetha jnaanam. Even pass by rikshavalaas used to stand by to listen to his simple and elegant way of delivering some really intricate music that requires strenuous training and conditioning . One thing that had struck me hard about MMI is that the moment he renders the first 2 raaga alaapanas, one can get a feeling of what raaga it is. You dont have to ponder over and over. Listening to his renditions were instrumental in me cultivating a liking towards this noble form of music. The other aspect is his simplicity especially when it comes to rendering swaraas. He is so very peerless when it comes to rendering swaras. I am a guy that likes saahityams more that raaga alApanas and swaras but with MMI it is an exception because the swaras themselve speak their beautiful divine language. You would never find MMI struggling to render swaras even at very brisk sarvalaghus. They start dancing on his mouth spontaneously. He truly is a mahanubAva when it comes to carnatic music. Like this , i can keep writing on my feelings. That would be for yet another day.

Meenakshi Memudum Dehi

Those were the nights when I and my parents went to sleep listening to MMI rendering in his madhuradhwani this wonderful krithi in pantuvarAli (a.k.a gamakaKriya acc. to Sangeeta Sampradaya Pradarsini of Subbarama Dikshithar). This is the same krithi after listening to which ,dikshithar left his mortal coils. If one has to write about Dikshithar , a separate blog would be required. I wish to start a blog showcasing the mahaatmyams of the krithis and the lives of the trimurthies of carnatic music.

On the same note, let me strongly encourage interested volunteers to spend some dedicated time (at least once in every week) to gather info about their lives and works and more importantly use the info to emphasize the inherent greatness to fellow readers. This should definitely be a great adventure ride into the lands of their wonderful past. The volunteer should consider bhakthi as the driving force.Mere collection of facts wont be of great help. Lots of material are already there on the internet. Many of them fail to affect the reader because of the importance given to facts and figures. Such articles will quench the thirst of the intellect but not the soul. Hence, it becomes highly important for the reader to have high regard for what he/she is going to write about. Aathmaarthama ezhudhanum (words should be nothing but a transformation of the heartfelt feelings). Such volunteer help would be greatly beneficial. I dont know if i am makin any sense or how feasible this project will turn out to be but i just wanted to pen my thots and highly hope to get the katAksham of the trimurthis and their glorious gods to make it happening. Any suggestions/ideas/questions will be welcomed with folded palms:)

Anyways, after a useful digression, let me get back on track with dikshithars gem of krithi. The compositions of dikshithar are full of gamakas.

A gamaka is defined as, "swarasya kambo gamaka: srotra chitta sukhavaha:". That graceful movement of the swara, that fine pull of the string, which brings happiness to the hearer is a gamaka. Different gamakas arouse different emotions. Singing or playing the same kind of gamaka throughout, makes it dull and monotonous. A happy combination and intertwining of the various gamakas is what is wanted. - Sri Parameswara Bhagawathar.

Gamakas are the life-givers of carnatic music. Dikshithar was a master of using gamakas. Most of his krithis are gamaka laden and deep in meaning. Take Meenakshi memudum dehi for eg. The greatness of dikshithar can be easily infered from MMI's rendition where he handles the gamakas in his raagAlApanAs and saahityams to perfection. Talking about gamakas and dikshithar's compositions , one can get from the krithi that Meenakshi Devi is also known as raajamaathangi, identified as one of the forms of Shakthi. Worshipping of this form confers musical skills to the devotee. No wonder the NaadaGamakakriyachoodAmani left his mortal coil by listening to this immortal krithi. He praises the goddess as the creator of the ten gamakas of veena. (VeenA GAna Dasagamakakriiye). (will be continued)

More to come...

i will continue to write on MMI,dikshithar and Meenakshi Memudum Dehi

i will be uploading some krithi renditions.

So, keep an eye on the blog:). Appreciation of the renditions will demand taste in traditional carnatic padhathi. (tradition) but am sure that everyone can enjoy the rasa induced by the pantuvarAli/ gamakakriya raaga. Smt M.S. Subbulakshmi has also rendered the same krithi beautifully but currently i dont have a copy of her rendition. Will upload if i get hold of it some time in the future.

Namo gurguhAya nama:
DEhi meenalochani paasamochani meenaakshi
Sarvam sitAramachandraarpanam

RamabhadrA rArA shri ramachandrA rArA

2006-01-19T22:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends ,

Sri:

It gives me immense pleasure to write up this post after a long long time due to the grace of SitaRama bhakthas by first offering my salutations to the lotus feet of two of the great raama bhakthas/ vakh-geyakaras in this kali yuga, the nadhOpAsana rathnAkarA Tyaga brahmam and Kancharla Bhakta RamadasulaVAru. We are indeed very fortunate enough to know about their lives and their works. These two saints/vakh-Geyakaras are like two brilliant eyes that radiate the glory of Sita Ramachandra swamy to the people suffering from material pangs in this Kali Yuga.

These are the great souls that melted the Naadhapriyan with their beautiful kirtanAs soaked in nectarine love for him. How can the Lord remain unmoved by the devout cryings of his dear ones? Didn't he IMMEDIATELY rush to the help of the mighty Gajendra, the King of Elephants, when he cried for help? Saulabhyam (easy access) and Souseelyam(easy access to all) is one of the anantha kalyana gunas of our sundara raamachandran. One just has to call out his name "Raaamaa" and we have his katAksham already. Just like the mighty gajendra, all we have to do is call out his divya naama to escape from the jaws of the crocodile (material life ) instead of trying hard to do it by ourselves. This is the central idea behind naama sankeerthanam and lots of credit goes to Bhadrachala RamadasulaVaru. If not for him , there will be no prAchina naama sankeerthanam today.

Note: Let me slightly interrupt u. The blog can also be downloaded in rtf format. See Link section below.

BhadraRAAMAAchalam

BhadraAchalam , literally means "on top of Bhadra". Also,Bhadram means anything that is auspicious. Seetha Raama is "atIVa Bhadram". He is the most auspicious of everything.

Who is this Bhadra? and Why should Raama be seated on top of Bhadra? There is a short story behind this.

Once there lived a great sage called Bhadra. He did intense tapas to see SitaRama . Rama was in Dandakaranya forest during the same time. He implored Rama to be seated on his head but Rama was on the look out for his consort SitA Devi. He promised him that he will fulfill his desire after finding SitA and establishing dharma by killing the wicked RAvanA. As RAmA was unable to fulfill his desire during his avatarA , bhadrA was performing intense tapas since then(until end of Thretha Yuga). Without any delay, Lord Vishnu rushed to his devotee by blowing his conch(panchajanya) , accompanying Sita Devi and Lakshmana and manifested as Vaikuntha RAma. Immediately , the sage Bhadra asked his holy feet to be placed on top of his head. What is the significance of this?

On top of our body is our mind. Our mind is fickle. Hence, it is very important to control our mind. This is the task undertaken by the greatest of the sages and seers ultimately to realize the bliss of Aatman. By doing intense tapas, sage Bhadra got a chance to seek the most auspicious feet of SitaRama and have it placed on his head. Let we all yearn for such a thing in this kaliyuga.

^*Pleased with the severe tapas performed by Bhadra, Lord Rama appeared before him and asked, “What is it that you seek?” Bhadra prayed, “Oh! Lord! Please place Your Lotus Feet on my head!” and Lord Rama blessed him with the touch of His Lotus Feet. The hill has thus taken on the name of this Bhakta Bhadra and is known as Bhadrachalam."

Such a manifestation of the lord as vaikuntha Rama is very enchanting, special and all powerful indeed. No wonder lakhs of devotees throng to Bhadrachalam on the SriRaamanavami day for the SitARAmachandraKalyAnam. Sita Rama has 4 hands (chathurbhujam) each having Sankha (conch) , chakra and dhanurbAna(other 2 hands) . The beautiful Sita devi is seated on the left lap of such a handsome RamA (see picture) Lakshmana stands to the left of the Sita and Ramchandra.

Such dazzling self manifested vigrahAs (swayambhu) were revealed to a pious woman belonging to the 'Sabari' kula in a dream. Her name is POkala Dhammaka.

One interesting feature to note is the absence of hanuman. How come? The maruthi anjali sloka goes as follows

"yathra yathra raghunaatha kirthanam, thathra thathra krutham hasthakaanjalim
baashpavaari paripoorna lochanam maaruthim namatha
raakshaasa anthakam "

Translation :

Where all raama's naama is being sung [or told or spoken], there maaruthi [the enemy of raakshasaas] ,stands bowing to raamaaa with folded hands in anjali mudhra, eyes completely filled with tears.

How can such a maaruthi be absent ???? There is another interesting story behind this. It is believed that raama sent his great bhaktha hanumaan to bring KAlaKAlan, who was suffering from pangs of hunger to his own place. KAlAkalan had become a great sinner by desiring his Guru's wife. He was cursed by his Guru to suffer from the dreaded disease of leprosy. With no place to live and no one to support , kAlaKAlan wandered aimlessly. He learnt that even the worst sinner was offered food in Bhadraachalam, he decided to take refuge in the Lords place. [total sharanaagathi]. He somehow manged to reach bhadraachalam but dropped down soon after seeing the temple towers from a distance. Kaarunyaasaagara ,sri raama, immediately said "He who has come into the precincts of Bhadrachalam that is my territory becomes mine and is cleansed of all his sins, however grievous they be. He belongs to none else but me and has no right to be taken elsewhere but to my Kingdom. Let him be brought to me!” and sent hanuman to bring kAlAlkalan to him.

Bhadrachala RaamadasulaVaaru

If we have bhadraachalam today, it can only be because of the great raama bhaktha RamadAsulu GAru. He spent his life just to bring up the temple in bhadraachalam for his hero. He is that noble soul who always had sitaaraama occupying his mind and soul. EVen in his toughest times when he was imprisoned and whipped to death by the nizam for making use of the state funds to construct the temple, , he poured out his love for sita raama, Deenadayalo! Deenadayalo! Deenadayaapara Deva Dayãlo!” -- Oh! Compassionate one! Oh! compassionate One!. He carved out the icon of Sri raama in the prison walls just with his fingers and worshipped. In one of his krithis, he pleads raama to come and save him but with no response he asks teasingly " Rama , Why don't you give your consent to watever i have done ? Say that i havent done anything wrong. Is it because your mouth contains pearls which you fear will spill down if you open your mouth. PalukE BangAraMAyena Kodhandapaani ! PalukE BangAra mayE pilichina palakaVEmi.

Would Raama fail to come to the rescue of such a devotee? Rama and lakshamana took disguise as the assitants of Ramadasa and paid the nizam sacks of gold coins. The pleased nizam immediately set ramadasa free and offered the gold given by rama and lakshmana but ramadasa refused to take. The coins are known today as 'Ram tanka' coins. They have the pattabhishkam scene on one side and the picture of the great raama bhaktha anjaneya on the other side.

One should develop taste for Rama Japa (Rama japa ruchi). One who enquires into the ‘hetu’/ ‘phala’ (fruit) of Rama Nãma japa is not eligible to chant it. When we are offered ‘laddu’ (a kind of sweetmeat) do we try to find what it is made of or what good would eating it bring? We just grab and put it in our mouth and enjoy it! Don’t we? So should the chanting of the Mantra be. Unless you have a taste for the chanting of the Mantra, unless one is deeply attracted to it he cannot be called a Bhakta. He is only aateria ‘kamyan’ - one who seeks ml benefits.

Perhaps one of the superd and well-known kirtana of Bhadrachala ramadas is the kirtana "charanamule nammithi, nee divya charanmuley nammithi. Vaaridhigatina vara bhadrachala varaDA varadA VaradA nee divya " ( It is only in your Divine feet that i Trust , the one who constructed the bridge, bestower of boons of bhadrachala, Bestower of boons, It is your divine feet (I trust). This kirtana has the sharaNagathi (prapathi) trademark written all over it.

TyAgayyA on RamadAsulavAru

The great naadOpAsakA born in the pushya bagula panchami (today) day took bhakta ramadas as his role model. As a baby , he was fed with the nectarine songs of ramAdas by his mother. It seems like tyAgayyA was born to extend ,elevate and decorate the raama bhakthi of ramadas by adding the element of naadham.

In the famous devaGAndhAri krithi, ksheerasagara sayana, he asks rAma,

Dhirudau RamadAsuni bhandhamu dhirchinadhi vinnAnurA, rAmA

Translation : O Rama, I have know how you obtained the release of the bold ramadasu from his prison life

In prahlAda Bhakthi Vijayam, we can find another tribute

Kaliyugamuna vara bhadrachalamuna nelakonna
raamachandruni pAda bhakthula kella varudanandagi
velachina shri raamadaasu vinutintu madin

Translation:
I praise Shri rAmadas, who shrined in the world as the supreme devotee of sri raamachandra,
who shines forth from his seat at bhadrachalam in this kali yuga

As a concluding note, let me share with u a great musical treasure of tyAgayya as he pours forth in kaarunya rasa. The krithi is pAhi rAmachandra rAghava in the yadukula kAmbhodhi rAgA. In the krithi, tyAgayya pleads rAma how he can live this janmA without his kaTAksham. Musiri Subramania Iyer really popularized this krithi with his peerless rendition. Another krithi, Ksheerasaagara sayana in devagAndhAri raaga has also been rendered by musiri so wonderfully. Usually, people recognize musir only by the nagumOmu ganaleni krithi, but he has rendered so many other wonderful krithis like the above mentioned ones. I encourage you guys to check them out in the following link section.

May the great bhakthas like ramadasa and tyAgayya grace upon all of us to get the kaTaksham of SitARAma.

sarvathra raama bhakthulaku vandanam.
jAnakI kAntha smaranam , jai jai rAma rAmA.
gOpikA jeevana Smaranam , Govinda Govinda

External Links and References:

1.Musical Links

2. References

3. Credits

Writely.com
musicindiaonline.com
streamload.com
blogger.com
last but not the least,SeethaRaama bhakthas:)

BREAK

2006-01-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends

Due to different unavoidable reasons, I haven't been able to blog for good over a period of time. I don't know when i would be back to blog-o-sphere but I am hoping to get back in the near future (don't know when exaclty). Only HE knows.

I would like to convey my BIG thanks to all you fellow blggers,well-wishers and friends.

For all regular visitors of this blog, kindly drop in your email ids so that i can inform you guys whenever i resume blogging.

May the great Lord shower his blessings to y'll.

Sarvam sriraaamachandraarpanam

Kainkaryam and ThyAga Brahmam

2005-12-17T20:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Before getting started with this post, I humbly bow before to the greatness of the AzhwArs and in particular to Thiru KulaSEkharAzhwAR , the composer of Mukunda Maalaa ,a nectarine ocean of words and to the mystic saint/peerless raama bhaktha/VAkh-GEyakarA, NaadhaGuru ThyAgaBrahmam of ThiruvaiYaru whose fragrant compositions capable of dissipating all the ill-effects of Kali.

For centuries, Sri TyAgayyAs compositions have been tutored, practised, tasted , enjoyed and respected by different kinds of people ranging from an average carnatic music rasika ,a serious enthusiast to the really blessed ONE that is dear to the Lord. Such a dear person WILL definitely not consider his compostions as mere works that are technical mAster-peices of rAga,bhAva,thAlA that induce aural and metal pleasure but as immortal works capable of lifting up the materially intoxicated mind to Vaikuntha, abode of SriRAmachandra and hence such a person WILL not fail to worship such a great soul and his compostions. With that note , I shall try to express what my little mind was able to understand the reason behind how TyAgaYYA's krithis have become so powerful not very different from the powerful vibrations of the VEdAs or the sound from the panchajanya(the divine conch) of Sriman NArayanA

By performing selfless kainkaryam (service) to the Lord , one can easily obtain his blessings to direct oneself on the track to incessant bhakthi(like that of a continuous flow of oil) and finally mukthi.

What is this Kainkaryam and how to do it ? A short verse from Thiru KulaSekharAzhwAr's Mukunda Maalaa will succinctly answer the question and give us a clue to find the reason behind the greatness of the 'King of Renuniciation' (No prize for guessing:)

A reproduction is given below

"
JihvE Keerthaya KEshavam , MurAripum ChEtho Bhaja ShrIdharam
paaNi dvandva samarcchaya sthOthra AchythA kathA shrOthra dvayA twam Shrunu
Krishnam LokAya LOchana dvaya Hare: Gaccha Anghri Yugma Aalayam
Jighra GhrAna Mukunda pAda thulaseem moordham nAma AdhOkshajam
"

The Azhwar very clearly and beautifully expounds how to do kainkaryam/service. A bit of preface before decoding the sanskrit verses.

Simply put, the Aacharyas and the AazhWArs recommend incessant bhakth where the mind only thinks about Lord Hari. If we can't even think about him for a few minutes, how can we think about him incessantly? What is needed is the control of the IndriyAs(sense organs)?

The AazhwAr says,

"O tongue, ONLY sing in praise of KeshaVa" (jihve Keethaya KEshavam)

Many of the other aazhwars have also emphasized this. Tongue is an important organ to control.

Tyagayya would say , "O tongue ,instead of getting bad odor by gibberish talks, why dont you smell in fragrance by chanting the names of the sri-pathi"

He is the one who has chanted the tAraka NAmA several million times , the fragrance of which is still perceivable through his krithis.

"Oh mind, praise the Lord who killed Mura " says the AazhwAn next.

Of all the organs , mind is the most difficult to control. Even the greatest of the archers, Arjuna failed helplessly when it came to focusing his mind. There is simple no use in singing the great names of lord with/without BhAvA when the mind can't think about him.

TyAgayya is the one who questioned

"What more do you want, O Mind !
Why are you not happy? When the Lord of the Universe has rested in your heart?
what more do you want, O Mind?"

Next comes the hands

The aazhvAr says, Oh hands, serve the Lord Sridhara,

The aazhvArs are those that considered performing archanam and holding garlands of flowers for the God as Bhaagyam (blessing). By holding the garland, one is subjecting it to some physical torture which is perhaps equivalent and perhaps easier to doing some tapas immersed in coldest of waters.

What kainkarya did tyAgayya do with his hands? Thyagayya pleased the naadhapriyan,SitaRama by elegantly plucking the string of tampura immersing himself and his hero in infinite bliss of naadha. If someone has plucked the strings of veena /tanpura continuously for hours , he would know how it hurts to do so. Thus, it is highly recommended to use tanpura if possible instead of using a modern equipment like a shruthi box:)

Aduthu sevigazh....it's time for the ears to do kainkaryam

Of ears , hear the stories extolling Achyutha says the aazhvAr

Ears are those sense organs that dont have lids to close unlike mouth and eyes. Hence ,it is easy for us to hear anything. Thus , one needs to be even more cautious when it comes to hearing . One should always pray god according to the following vedic shAnthi PAtA

"Bhadram karNEbhi: shruNuyAma
dEvA"

i. e ,May the Gods let only good tidings fall on our
ears.

Sri Thyagabrahmam is the master of NAadoPaasana( the practise of NaadA).. What is this naadA? NaadA is nothing but the divine sound , the same sound emanating from the panchajanya(conch) and the vibrations of SAma Veda. Lord krishna declares

"Out of the vedAs, I am SAmA"

That is the reason why even the people that don't even have the slightest bit of bhakthi like the raagas of carnatic music since they are born out of NaadA.

Having looked at the ears, the azhwan heads for the eyes and expounds how they can do kainkaryam

Oh eyes , see always lord Krishna

There is an adage that goes like SarVendriyAAnAAm nayanam pradhAnam. (of all the senses, the eyes are the primary). Similarly , the Rig Veda says

"tad VishNO: paramam padam sadA pasyanti
sooraya:"

i.e suras ( sages ) always see (saDa pasyanti) the highest feet of Lord Vishnu

Thus,it becomes really critical to control our eyes. The eyes should always see the syaamakrishnan.. The eyes should see the kaalinga nardhanana dancing on top of the poison emanating KAliyan. Would such an eyes like to see anything else? No wonder the mystic poet Ooothukaaadu Venkata kavi composed so many wonderful krithis on the kaalinga narthanan in oothukaadu.(www.oothukaadu.org)

One could imagine how tyagayya would have enjoyed the darshan of Sita raama standing so majestically dressed in golden-hued dresses and holding the kothandA while the mightiest of VanarA' , the vaayuputraa and hanuman kneeling below so humbly with such reverence and devotion. He thus ecstatically sings in awe after enjoying the beauty of sitA ramA "Kana Kana RuchirA , Kanaka Vasana Ninnu" (It gives me immense pleasure to see you again and again, the lord with the golden-hued dress)

After the eyes, the feets have to be controlled because out feets will take us to whatever plave the mind says after seeing with the help of eyes. Hence, it is highly important to synchronize all the organs to do the prescribed kainkaryams with bhakthi.

The azhWAr says

"Oh feet, Go to the temples of Hari,"

If at all we are having the cherishable naama sankeerthanams of the great haridAsAs, it us only because our forefathers have WALKED to every nook and corner of the country to collect the kirtanans and abhangs of various haridAsA's. One such person is MaruthAnallur Sathguruswamigal. If not for him , there would be no naama sankeerthanam today in the south. Just like him, there are numerous other great souls who have walked to many divya kshethra and have composed amazing krithis on the temple deities. Muthuswamy dikshithar has toured a great lot on has composed krithis full of tathvam on almost all the temple deities he visited.

Sri tyagayya is perhaps the least travelled. he always believed that , " why do you want to travel from one place to another when the lord of vaikuntham is right here in your madapam as sitA rAma?" but later he was also cajoled by his disciples to visit some of the temples. If not for it, we would't have krithis like "Thera Theeyaga radha".

Finally , the azhWAr turns his attention towards nose

Oh nose , smell the Thulasi

Thulasi, by nature, very gentle when adorning the honey-sweet feet of the Lord will produce a fragrance that would take one directly to VAikuntha. Thulasi is said to be "SaDA KEshava PriyA" . She always thinks about the Lord.

Saint Tyagaaya had such a great reverence for Thulasi devi and he has compose five krithis on Thulasi Devi that include

(1) Devi ! Sri ThuLasammA ---MaayAmALa GouLai
(2)ThuLasi Bilva MallikAdhi-----KedAra GouLai
(3)Sri ThuLasammA ! MaayinDa nelakOnavamma--Deva GhAndhAri
(4)Amma ! Raavamma, ThuLasamma nanu Paalimpu--KalyANi
(5)ThuLasi Jagajjanani! dhurithApahAriNI !--sAvEri

In Thulasi Jagajjanni, he praises godess thulasi as destroyer of sins.

In thulasi bilva, he begs the lord to accepts his worship thru thulasi, bilwa, jasmine, jAji and Lotus.

In Amma ! Raavamma, he kindly addresses thulasi as thulasamma and kindly request her to come to his house with the company of her Lord.

What can one say about such a peerless raamapriyan and naadOpaasanapriyan? Rightly , no simple words can describe his greatness. One has to be blessed in at least one of the births to compose kriths in praise of him and his hero.

Before , I introduce to you about another great person who maintains another website as a kainkaryam let me direct you to a couple of music links

Check out Thulsi Bilwa as rendered by the great flautist Mali

Also, check out Thulasi Vilwa by Jesudas

Here , you can find budding Abhishek raghurAm rendering Sri Thulasamma

Thyagaraja Daasan

I am pleased to introduce Sri TyagarAja DAsan who has been doing a great kainkaryam of translating the krithis of Tyagayya almost on a daily basis. Blessed he is , indeed. I , hereby request the readers of this blog to kindly check his blog and encourage him and also get benefited.

Finally , before wrapping up this post, I would like to stress the importance of prapatti, which is a key vaishavaite pracitse and belief that by totally surrendering to the Lotus feet of SriMan NarAyana , one can steadily progress ones journey towards vaikuntha by following the ways to get that kind of a bhakthi as shown by the great alwArs and other great saints like ThyAgaBrahmam instead of wasting time on futile matters.

Here is the link to ThyagarAja Dasan' blog. Also , i have put up a link to his blog in my blogroll for your convenience.

Credits : Thanks to the Kainkaryam series posted in SriRangaSri yahoo groups maintained by Sri SatagOpan

Nee padhamuley GathiyaNi Nammithi, Sri RaamachandrA
Sriman NarayamA , nin nigarilA kamala pAdhangalukku naan Shaarnam

Om Namo KAalinganardhanaaya Krishnaaya parabrahmaney nama:
Sarvam SitaRaamachandraarpanam

Precious stones on the offering

2005-12-01T22:26:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Devotees,

Shri:

I am very pleased to introduce Shri P.R Ramachander who wants to share some of his precious things with us. Hope you would extend your two arms and grab as much as you can :). First, a brief introduction about him.

Shri Ramachander is a 66 year old retired scientist from Kerala whose passions are history, translations of poems, cartoons and free matching of horoscopes for matrimony through internet.

More than anything else, he has been maintaining a gem of a website. I am sure that reading directly from the horse's mouth will be more appropriate and useful. So, here is Shri Ramachandran wording for the readers of this blog,

Dear Friends,

Over hundreds of millenniums, the people practicing Sanatana Dharma (Perennial faith of justice-called Hinduism) used Sthothras (prayers praising their deities) to pray to their Ishta (pet) devathas. Our Vedas and Puranas were replete with such prayers. Some of them like Rudram and Chamakam from Vedas, Vishnu Sahasranama from Mahabaratha, Lalitha Saharanama, Lalitha Trishathi and Devi Mahatmyam from Markandeya Purana became extremely popular. Then came many great writers of Sthothras like Adhi Shankara, Kali Dasa, Vedantha Desigar, Appayya Deekshithar, Mooka Kavi, Kulasekara Azhwar, Abhirama Bhattar, Andal, Poonthanam etc Since the meaning of Sanskrit words, would change according to the method of pronunciation which involves division of long joined words, our ancestors, insisted that tall these prayers should be learned from the Guru. Things changed. Easily available books with proper guides for splitting the words and proper emphasis were published. Now are the days of revolution of audio recording of the recitation of these Sthothras by learned Gurus. I for one believe that because of all this, it is not necessary to learn these Sthothras from Gurus only. But another development came. We are now having the intelligent, curious generation who not only wants to recite it properly but also know the meaning of what they recite. Unfortunately many of them have lost touch with Sanskrit or even their mother tongue. If such state of affairs continues, a time will soon come, when our Sthothra rathnas will be confined to books and audio/video records.

I am a scientist by profession with a fairly good understanding of more than 5 languages of India, So when I retired from service, I thought, that translation to English of these great Sthothra rathnas would serve the purpose of bringing the majesty of these prayers to the younger generation. I have been at it for the past six years. This is to bring to the notice of those who read this, that all my translations are available in the web site

www.geocities.com/ramya475/

. Please visit this web site and also bring it to the notice of our young and old generation that may be interested.

P.R.Ramachander

I am sure that you will find the above site very informative and useful. I just got one more thing left to say..

Just like the great VAyuputran Hanuman who has Sri Rama ,who is verily SachhidAnanda Rathnam in his heart, May the lord shower us his grace to have these great sthothra rathas lingering in our hearts.

Many Thanks ,Sri P.R Ramachander for maintaining such a wonderful website.

SRI PATTAABHIRAMACHANDRAARRPANAMASTHU
JAI SRI PURANDHRA VITHALA

Time for a few e-pointers

2005-11-24T23:55:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to direct you to a couple of nice websites.

The first one is a dedicated website that propagates Jaya Deva's immortal Gita Govinda.

Site 1:

The website features a nice commentary on Gita govinda, some great paintings , audio and video. Don't miss to check out the video clippings of

1. O.S Sunder, one of the proponents of Naama Sankeerthanam. He follows the maruthanallur padhathi(style). Here ,here and here are his video clips .

UPDATE: Friend Sivakumar actually says that Sri O.S Sundar follows the PudhuKOtai Padhathi.

2. Janardhan Nedungadi, the renowned Sopaana Sangitham artist who has more than five decades of experience in sopaana sangeetham. He has been the ashtapadi bhaagavathar of the famous guravayoor temple. If you are alien to Sopaana Sangeetham, it is a kind of bhakthi music that has its roots in kerala. Shadgala Govinda Marar, the famed musician and devout poet , praised by Tyagaayya in Endaro Mahanubavulu is considered to be the father of Sopanapattu.
Sopana means the stairs leading to the Garba Graha (sanctum sanctorum) . Just like the stairs , the saahhitya are rendered in ascending and descending tones. This kind of music is usually supported by a drum called Edakka (sort of like a Udukkai in tamil:) . In Guruvayur, no offering to the lord is made without the ashtapadi bhavagavathar singing with devout fervor the verses from Ashtapadi. SopAna Sangeetham is a music that emphasizes bhaavam (expressions and feelings). Hence, traditionally , sopana sangeetham was sung to support the dance forms like Kathakali and Mohiniattam but since Swathi Tirunals time, the influence of carnatic music has forced this pracitise extinct. Here is another clip of sri Nedungadi from that site.

3. Dr Leela Omchery , one of the great proponents of Keralite folk and classical music. Here is her clip

You might want to buy the Sri Janaardhanan Nedungaadi's rendition of ashtapadis here>

Site 2 :

Sangeetha Kalanidhi Smt T. Brinda (or Brindammma as she is affectionaly called) who passed away in 1996 ,is a great and highly respected vocalist known for her adherence to tradition(padhathi). She ,and her sister, muktha are very popular for rendering Kshtrayaas padams, which are songs that are laden in shrungara rasam. Hailing from the great Vainika, Veena Dhanammal , they are equally great vainikas too. Their music is very melodious and as they strictly adhered to the tradtion , they were able to bring about the bhaava(the feelings) exquisitely. This is something that is lacking in most of the budding vocalists. Even great musicians including Smt M.S.S Amma and Semmangudi Srinvasa Iyer have learnt compositions from Brindamma.

In this site you can find a couple of video clippings of Brindamma and her daughter in Settle,Washington ,1969

Site 3:

The third site is actually my new audio blog:) . Castpost is a free audio blogging service. So, why wait? g , if you don't have one.

Om Namo NaadaBrahmaaya Nama:
Sri Krishnaarpanamasthu.

Sangita Gnanamu Bhakthivina

2005-11-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends

Whew..it was quite a long hiatus from blogosphere indeed.....

First up, I would like to offer my salutations to the lotus feets of the Sri Tyagayya, the great Vaggeyakara and the sanctum sanctorum in the magnificient temple of "raama bhakthi" . It should be a well known fact to most of us that he is one of the trinities of Carnatic Music. Some of you folks might have known that his music and compositions can be compared to that of "Draaksha Rasa" (taste of grapes), very quickly enabling the listener to get the the taste of the nectarine music. Is that all? May be there is something more.Atthaiyum paarthudalaam. (Let us explore further) and also please be aware of the fact that these are simply the reflections of an amature enthusiast based upon the very liitle i have known and experienced. Kindly let me know the mis-interpretations and other fallacies.

Let me start from ground zero. Music(sangeetham) is something that creates an aural melody. Of course there are so many kinds of music that are melodic. Depending upon individual taste, people acknowledge and enjoy listening to their favorite melodies. Now, how is carnatic music different ? The word carnatic means "hauntigly pleasing to the ears".How is the melody created? Of course, it is because of those wonderful raagas born out of naada(divine sound). Being born out of Naada Brahman, these sounds evoke the ever present divinity in the audible zone of the singer. At this juncture, I should make it clear that care should be taken by the singer to render the krithi in accordance with the prescribed manner.The outcome would defintiely depend upon the efforts and the skill level of the vocalist. Of course, a smooth ,clear and a melodic voice is an added advantage and is perhaps a prerequisite. Without any doubt, it is the RASA (taste) induced by the raaga that creates the melody. Each raaga has got its own lakshana and corresponding rasA. The great vaggeyakaras like tyagayya, dikshithar ,syama sastri et al were masters in the usage of appropriate raasa to express their emotive state to whom ?? to GODS. They didn't create numerous krithis just for their aural pleasure. They never composed songs of mundane passion. Their krithis were all soaked in the pot filled with nectarine bhakthi. If you take out this important BHAKTHI RASA out of their music (which is of course impossible,yet some people are managing to do that OR purposely filter it out:), then the resulting form of music would definitely be like decorating a jada(dead matter) with flowers. Hence , it is pretty clear now that , carnatic music is just not for aural pleasure but for upliftment of the soul lost in the samsaaric ocean and offering it as a neivedhyam (offering) to Shri rama or Shanmuga, shiva or ambAL(Shakthi). Take Tyagayya as an example. He sings in extreme joy "Raama neepai tanaku premaa podu, Sita Rama" (O sita Rama, my mind is always obsessed with you) in the melting Bilahari Raga. Like this, in so many other krithis ,He has very neatly and appropriately made use of naada in constructing and rendering simple yet insightful and wonderful krithis with BHAKTHI. Since , he was able to appreciate the greatness of naada, he himself has composed many krithis on the divine nature of naada and how appropriate use of the naada can take one to infinite bliss This allows us to assume and observe that he had the naada and the raagas springing out of it in a royal status. He worshipped them. He is the one who said in "Sangita Gnanamu Bhakthi Vina" that mere knowledge of music without devotion can never lead to the right path. He only accepted as his discliples those who are disciplined and those who would preserve his invaluable treasure for the future generations.Thanks to them. Hence, it doesn't really matter much if someone is an expert practising carnatic music or an amateur or a carnatic music enthusiast who adores this form of music if none of them take it from the bhakthi point of view. It would eventually end up like tasting a sweet piece of Tirunelveli halwa that won't satiate ones hunger and if you try to eat more of it hoping that eventually your hunger will be fixed, at some point of time you would end up getting saturated, (thegattidum). Athukapparam , konjam "karaama ethavathu saapda thonum"(After that,he will feel like eating some thing crisp and hot). I think that this is the main reason for some carnatic musicians with great skills and voice failing to make use of the great gift they have got. Dear friends, having said about sri tyagayya ,bhakthi and carnatic music, I'd like many of you guys to continue with me in enjoying a very beatiful krithi of tyagayya
.
Let me start with some prefatory cooked up thoughts. It should be a well known fact to most of you folks that if there is something that Tyaggayya craved for, it could only be that of the darshan of his hero, Sita Rama. But his brother was a total contrast. It is also known that Tyagayya had a tough time dealing with his greedy brother who craved for everything but Sitarama. Hence, it is understandable that a person like tyagayya would have preferred to remain silent rather than disputing according to the very popular Tamil saying , Dushtanai KandAL Dhoora Vilagu :). .....Finding his own brother disregarding and ill-treating him, he would have become really upset. Without any doubt, he would have resorted to his Lord. He might have then bursted out with a krithi expressing his sorrowful state and pleading his lord to speak to him.

"Aaada modi Galade " in the wonderful Charukesi raga could well have been such a krithi. For tyagayya, just having a darshan of his hero is brahmaanandam. Why then would he ask him to speak? He says to his lord , " I have sought you as my sole support and shelter and stuck to you steadfastly". These words clearly indicate the need for somebody to console him with kind words and who can that person be? It could only be his SitaRama. Later , in the same krithi, he consoles himself by quoting that when the great Raama bhaktha , Anjaneya wanted to talk to him , His Lord commanded lakshmana to speak to him. How can then he expect his Lord to speak to the frail Tyagaraja. Why do you think he makes such a comparison? Would Sita rama talk only to strong ones like Hanuman and not to frail people like tyagayya? Nope. I think sri tyagayya compares the flawless character(swabhaavam) of Anjaneya with his. hmm...why else would he do such a comparsion ?? What can we say about our characters then? >Do feed back your thoughts. ..

Here , you can find the lyrics and the translation of the krithi

As usual , let me conclude this post with an audio. Let it please your ears and more importantly let it please your souls.

Here you can find Shri Madurai Mani Iyer rendering Sri Tyagayyas 'Aadamodi Galade'. Note: At this point , I would like to inform those that are new to Shri MMI's paddhathi (Style) that it is not quite easy to enjoy his music as you do someone like yesudas. It takes time.But sooner or later, if you really happen to like carnatic music, you will end up adoring his sangita jnana. For me , he is a true maestro:)

UPDATE:
WITHOUT SITA RAMA , THERE IS NO TYAGAYYA and WITHOUT BHAKTHI, THERE IS NO CARNATIC MUSIC and HENCE NO MUKTHI (INFINITE BLISS:)

NAADA BRAHMAAYA NAMO NAMA:
SRIMAN NARAAYANAARPANAM

Using DSB to talk with God

2005-11-08T01:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Lord's Dear Aatmans,

Pranaamams

First, I would like to offer my vandanams to the Supreme guru, Sri Dakshinaamurthy ,who is the representative of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the acharyas, Bhagwad Adi Sankaracharya, Bhagawad Ramanujacharya and Bhagawad Maadhavachaarya and to the lotus feet of all other great Saints and Vaggeyakaras. Blessed indeed we are , the people of Bharatha Varsa, the land made great and fragrant by the presence of those magnificient god-like souls and their fragrant works.

Preface:

In this Kaliyuga, An individuals consciousness has two options .

1. Be aware of the temporal nature of life on earth and seek permanent THE TRUTH.

2. Be ignorant and continue to be bounded by the temporaty nature of life.

Of the two, the wise is the one who eventually makes up his mind to head in the direction of the infinite ocean of knowledge and bliss, which ,of course isn't a smooth ride in a freeeway but rather a bumpy ride in a remote indian village that displaces (or somettimes even throws) the determinant off path. Even more wise is a person who acknowledges the fact that eventually the bumpy village road is going to merge into a smoother and a better highway and takes effort to maintain the vehicle under control. Alas, more problems on the bumpy road. The treacherous road seems to be inviting more traffic (his other peers ). Though wise , the determinant is young and lacks expereince.He acknowledges this fact and decides to seek help from some one. Who can be that someone? Definitely and obviously , that person should have already had a similar experience. Fortunately, the determinant is not alone. He has got a friend or two in his vehicle who have already had such an experience. He seeks the help from one of them and follows his way. Not long time afer, the determinant finds it even more challengin to cling to advice given by that friend. He decides to ask the second friend and finds the second way easier to follow. He might have been wiser by asking both of them about their means to tackle the problem at hand and could have decided to go for the one that seems to suit him. Nonetheless, it is never too late. Thus, he follows the second friends expert advice and eventually reaches the abode of smooth roads.

Thus a spiritual aspirant should always be in SatSangh (the friendly experts) and use their guidance appropriately to reach the abode of Lord , Vaikunta ( abode of smooth roads) .

Keerthanam and Sravanam of the names of Lord are considered to be the easiest means to overcome the effects of Kali. This is the means advocated by greatest of the Sages like Sukha (in Bhagawatha Purana) . Same is the path advocated by Adi Shankaraachaaryaa in Bhaja Govindam. Since the days of adi shankara, there have lived many such great people who have realized the greatness of bhagawan naama and have set examples and protocols for the future generations to follow.

The Birth of Dakshina Sampradaya Bhajana(DSB) and National Integrity

Many of you might be knowing Sri Tyagarajha Brahmam, Muthuswamy Dikshithar and Syama Sastrigal as the trinities of Carnatic Music. Similarly , Bhajana Sampradaya has its own trinites, three noble souls that spread the fragrance and ruchi of bhagawan naama sidhaantha . Let us take a bit of a virtual tour of their glorious past.

The credit of emphasizing the efficacy of Bhagawan naama goes to the 58th Achaarya of Kanchi Mutt, Sri Bhagawan Nama Bhodendra Saraswathi swaamigal who belongs to he 17th century. He was a great Rama Bhaktha. He left his office at Kanchi and went to a town called Govindapuram located in the banks of Veera Sozhan River, a tributary of Cauvery. He perfomed intense meditation on Sri Raama chandra there. He used say

"Raama naamamey Kalkandu, Athan Rasam Theriyaadhavan Kal Gundu" (Raama Naama is sweat candy and the guy who doesn't know its taste is a massive stone :) .

He attained Jeeva Samaadhi when he was covered with the sands of Veera Sozhan river by some of the boys ,who were playing on the river bed. The boys thought that he would come out again but not that time.
Naama Kowmudhi, Rama Karnaamrutham and Naamamrutha Rasaayanam are a few of his immortal works . It is believed that his devotees can hear sound of raama naama near his samaadhi.

Sridhara Venkatesa Aiyaavaal , a contemporary of Bhodendra Swamigal is a great Siva and Krishna Bhaktha. He propagated both Shiva and Krishna Naama Japam. If you are able to hear the beautiful songs like brUhi mukundeti , brUhi mukundeti and piba re rAma-rasam , the credit should go to Venkatesa Aiyaavaal not because he composed them but he was responsible for making another great Shiva Bhaktha, SadaSiva Brahmendra , (a class mate of Aiyyavaal) to sing out during his last days. It would be unfair of me if a don't mention a word or two about Sadasiva Brahmendra and his greatness. Sadasiva became a naked sanyasi and was once seen walking right through a muslim harem of a nawab. Since such a kind of sanyasi would see nothing but Brahman (aatman ) eveywhere, he was not at all affected in that trance state. The nizam got infuriated and had his men cut his hands . His hands fell off and he was walking as if nothing happened. Nawab got scared seeing him unmoved and ran to the sage in remorse. When the sage stopped, the hands became normal.

Next came Sri Maruthanallur Sadguru Swamigal. Sathguru Swamigals task was to go aroud India and collect kirtanas and other works rendered by the innumerous bhakthi poets starting from Jayadeva's Ashtapadis ,Tukaraam Abhangs, meera's songs, Purandaradasas and Kanakadasas vithala songs, Annamaayyas padams,Narayana Theerthars songs , bhadrachala ramadas kirtanas, tyagayyas krithis , Subrahmanya Bharathis songs etc. What an effort to bring out unity in diversity? He collected the songs and laid out the structure for rendering bhajans.
It has already been 300 years since Sathguru Bodhendra Swamigal attained Jeeva Samaashi. Maruthanaalur Swamigal was performing anga prathakshanam in the river bed . Suddenly he heard chantings of Bhagawan Naama. He immediately started digging up the place and lo! , he found the book ,Nama Kowmudhi. He then took the sacred book to his matam and worshipped the book by performing puja and bhajana. It would be interesting to note that Sri Tyagayya took his bhajan lessons from Maruthanallur Swamigal.

The current bhajana sampradya exists only because of the truly outstanding work done by the above mentioned trimurthies especially the maruthanallur swamigal.

The DSB paddhathi

What is this protocol or paddhathi that Maruthaanallur Swamigal drafted out ? or Why need such a structure? Well, take a dinner for example. Even when the food is served, there is an order that we normally follow. We don't mix everything together and eat. DSP perhaps can be thought about to have been formed for similar reasons. For reaching any objective , it is always better to follow an order. Accordingly, one first calls out the name of Lord and worships him ( Thodaya Mangalam). Would he come so easily?? Nope. So , we seek the help of a Guru who is much closer to him ( Guru Keerthanam) . Here kirtanas on the gurus ( inlcuding the trimurthies ) or krithis of the gurus are rendered . Next , the krithis of great dasas and bhakthas of god such as Purandaradasa, Jayadeva, Annamaya are rendered . (Daasarval Keerthanam) After this , we invite god again and perform worship and archana. Hence, a bhatha is steered towards God by following this kind of protocol. Since performing this kind of bhajan requires knowledge in multiple languages and skill in rendering the kirtana with raaga lakshana, rigorous training has to be taken under a guru. More than anything , the bhagwatha should always have and seek bhagawad sankalpam. He should rendered the songs right from his heart (aatmaarthama paadanum).

Udayalur Kalyanaraman

Shri Udayalur Kalyanaraman has been doing a great job in further propagating the dhivya naamas of God beyond asia follwing the footsteps of HH Haridoss Swamigal. He is normally accompanied by Babu Rajasekaran,the disciple of Vellore ramabhadran , Pichumani Bhagavathar, the discliple of HH Haridos Giri Swamigal (vocal support) and the 74 year old Balarama Iyer on the harmonium(also plays violin ,dilruba ,flute) . I was blessed to have gotten a chance attend one of their performances in Maryland not long time back. It was a truly amazing experience. Shri Udayalur himself is gifted with a great voice, and knowledge in raaga lakshanas and more than anything, bhagavan anushtaangam. When he starts out to sings , "daymaado ranga" of purandaradaasa, with "ninna naamva nennathu puneetha naadtheno " it would feel as if that Aranganaathan is already on his way to please his devotee.

One has to actually listen to get the scintiallating experience. So, without any further delay , let me direct you to this website where you can download Shri Udayalurs naama sankeerthanam. I am sure that you ears will enjoy the sounds of the Lords Name ,especially when rendered by a bhagavatha like Shri Udayalur.

I am sure that I have not done enough justice to some of the great people that I have mentioned in the blog post. I am also sure that even numerous words of praise won't do justice to their greatness. Yet, it is only due to time constraints , I had to keep the commentary short. The interested reader will know where to head next to know more. :)

Let me conclude this post with the verses from Raama Karnaamrutham , the work of Shri BodhendraaL

Parjanam Bhava Bheethaanaam
Aarjanam Kula Sampathaam
Dharjanam yama dhoothaanaam
Rama Ramethi Garjanam

(The roar of Rama"s name wards off samsaric ills, Chase away the servants of Yama, Lets one acquire untold wealth.)

RAMA RAMA NAMOHSTHUTHE

SHRIMAN NARAYANAARPANAM

P.S Kindly check out "Mukundaanands" post on the two Great Geniuses in Smt M.S.S Amma's blog and feed in your thoughts.

Karuna Cheyvan Enthu Thamasam Krishna

2005-11-01T02:35:00.000-08:00

My dear blogger aatmans,

Iniya Deepavali Nalvaazhthukkal

Happy Deepavali.

I am sure that I will be an immense pleasure zone at the end of this blog post . I also would like and hope it to be the same for you guys too. Let me first invoke the blessings of Sri Guruvayoorappan and all the great people who have sung in praise of the glorious deity of Guruvayoor. In fact , this post is going to revolve around gurvayoorappan.I offer my salutations to the balakrishna , who is none other than the Supreme being.

Sri Gurpavana puraadeeshaaya Sri Krishnaaya Parabrahmaney Nama:

Gurupavanapuri Mahaatmyam

In a place ,free of any materialistic contamination , housed in a very simple yet elegant and beautifully structured Keralite temple,5000 years old, is the extremely sacred , four-armed divyaroopam of Sriman Narayana, Gurvayoorappan,the bountiful giver fo those who are dear to him. That beautiful HE, made of a precious and rare stone called as Pathala Anjananam (Black Bismuth) is said to have its origin even before the Satya Yuga (approx 4.5 millions years ago) when Sri Vishnu himself is believed to worship. It was later given to Brahma.

Once King Suthapas and Prsni performed penance for twelve thousand divine years in front of that Idol, which was given to them by Brahma. Lord Vishnu , pleased with their devotion , appeared before them and asked for a boon. Very pleased after seing Vishnu, Suthapas prayed thrice and spoke " It would be good if a son equal to Thee is born". Lord Vishnu replied "Only I am equal to Me. Therefore, I shall Myself incarnate as your son, in order to fulfil your desire. Since you have repeated your prayer thrice, I shall be assuming the aspect of your son in three births." Not long after that, Prsni lord himself incarnated in Prsnis womb as Prsni Garbha, who later propagated the greatness of Brahmacharya to the world.

Likewise ,in the next two births of Prsni and Suthapa , the lord incarnated as Vamana through Aditi and Kasyapa and and as Sri Krishna through Devaki and Vasudeva. After slaying Kamsa, Lord Krishna himself installed and consecrated the idol in Dwarakaa. Before swargarohana , Sri Krishna requested his friend Udhava to entrust the job of rescuing the idol from a deluge to Brhaspathi(Guru) and Vayu. The rescued idol was later installed at a location named after Guru and Vayu as Gurupavanapuri , which later became Guruvayoor in Malayalam. Since, the idol was worshipped by Vishnu himself in Vaikunta, Guruvayoor is referred to as 'Bhooloka Vaikuntha".

Some Tid-bits about Gurupavanapuri

The Gurvaayoor Devaswom is one of the richest in India, only next to TTD, Tirupathi

The gurvayoor temple owns and maintains the largest number of captive elephants (about 63)

It is believed that Adi Shankara was made to prostrate before the detiy when he ignoringly wanted to flew past over the place along with Narada Muni.

The great Bhakthas of Gurupavanpuri

It would be of no wonder to find such a divyaroopavigraham of Sri Krishna to have enchanted and still enchanting many devout hearts. It would be my pleasure to write a bit about some of those people whose bhakthi can't be described in words.

There was once a proficient scholar, who accepted a paralytic disease from his guru owing to his guru bhakthi. Not being able to tolerate the disease, he decided to goto the temple at Guruvayoor and composed each day approx 10 verses (decads) in Sanskrit about the greatness of the Guruvayoorappan for 100 days. At the end of 100 days, he got the vision of Sri Krishna of Guruvayoor and he was cured of his disease. The eminent scholar is none other than Narayana Bhattathiri and the work he composed became to be known as the beautiful Narayaneeyam , an abridged version of Srimad Bhagawatham. It is a gem of a work with profound Jnana, bhakthi and vibhakthi ( beauty of language).

Another great devotee of Lord that used to walk every month 100 kms to darshan the Guruvayoorappan. Once , he was attacked by robbers on his way to Guruvayoor. Sensing the approaching danger, he closed his eyes and cried out "Krishna Krishna". Immediately out of nowhere appeared the local king with his sword and fought the robbers away. The bhaktha immediately took out his ring and presented it to the King. The same night, the chied priest of Guruvayoor had a dream where Krishna appeared and told him that the next day he will find a ring on the idol and told him to take and give that ring to the devout bhaktha who will come tommorow.The next morning events happened exactly the same way and the devotee was totally flabbergasted to find that the ring the chief priest gave is the same ring he gave it to the local king who rescued him from the robbers. Then only he reailzed that it was the Lord himself who had rescued him. The devotee is none other than Poothanam,he author of the Malayala Gita or Jnana Pana, who once humbled Narayana bhattathiri in another incident.

Once there was a virtuous and a devout girl who used to bring garlands to the Lord every day. One day she was late and the temple got closed. Disappointed totally, the girls started to weep. Seeing her, Poonthanam gave her some words of comfort by telling her to keep the garland near the banyan tree since god is everywhere. Having convinced , she place the garlend near the banyan tree and left. The next morning , when the chief priest was removing the garlands , one garland alone got stuck to the idol. Seeing that , Poonthanam immediately noticed that the garland is the same as the one placed by the devout girl. The devout girl's name is Manjula and the banyan tree was later named as Manjulal.

Apart from such great bhakthas , the deity at Guruvayoor had always been adored by the elephants. Some of the elephants very simply extra-ordinary devout animals. Padmanabhan and Kesavan are two of the most remebered elephants. Padamanabhan was nick named "VeeraShringala" owing to his kingly, majestic yet humble nature. Kesavan was nicknamed , 'gajarajan' or the 'king of elephants' . Though Kesavan was more aggresive , he never caused any harm to others. Whenever he turned aggressive , he would run straight towards the the temple and circumambulate the temple . He would stop whenever a child or two crosses his way. He died on an Ekadasi day with his trunks stretched towards Gurvayoorappan. A 12 ft statue has been erected near the temple to commemorate him.

Irayimman Thampi

To conclude this post, I have to mention a few words about Iravivarman Thampi (popularly known as Irayimman thampi), the uncle of the great Maharaja of Travancore state, Swathi Thirunal. He is none other than the composer of the very popular lullaby song, "Omana Thingal Kidavo" , which he composed for the new born baby Swathi Thirunal . There is another compostion of his that was highly popularized by a bhagavatha and musician of Kerala, the late Vengalakural (bronze-voiced:)Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagawathar. That composition, "Karuna Cheyvan Enthu Thamasam Krishna" , was composed by Irayimman on the Guruvayoorappan. It is a very beautiful song ,initially set up in Sri Raaga. It is a compostion that has a Karuna rasa inducing saahitya(lyrics) .

Once , during his concert in Sucheendram, Chembai almost lost his voice. He sought the help of numerous medical experts but none of them were able to cure him. Chembai ,immediately sought the help of Guruvaayoorappan, when he sung this soung aloud in the beautiful karuna rasa inducing raaga "Hari kambhoji". He immediately got back his voice with a never before brilliancy. Even now , his voice remains matchless. After that , he always concluded his concerts with that song. To commemorate his devotion for Guruvayoorappan ,each year, as part of Ekadasi celebrations, Chembai Sangetthostsavam is held.

The fun parts starts now..:) I am going to upload the above mentioned song as rendered by Chembai and a couple of others including the great Me;) . My personal favorite is Chembai's. His rendition is peerless. Even my attempt at this song is based on his version. Since the song is in Malayalam , for the sake of Tamil and other Telugu readers, I am aslo going to have the song transliteration and the meaning. My special thanks to Dr P.P Narayanswamy , who had the translation mailed to me on request.

TRANSLITERATION :

karuNa ceyvAn entu tAmasam

iriyamman tampi krti

yadukula kAmbooji (shrI) tALam cApu

pallavi

karuNa ceyvAn entu tAmasam krShNA
kazhalinE kai tozhunnEn

anupallavi

sharaNAgatanmArkkiShTa varadAnam ceytu cemmE
guruvAyUr puram tannil maruvumakhila durita haraNa bhagavan$

caraNam

gurutara bhavasindhau duritasa~ncayamAkum
tiratannil muzhukunna naragatikkavalambam
marakata maNivaNNan hari tannE ennum tava
carita varNNanaN^N^aLil sakala munikaL paravatarivanadhunA

TRANSLATION (Thanks to Dr P.P Narayanswamy)

Why the delay in showing kindness, Lord Krishna,
I worship your feet with my folded palms.

Granting the desires of devotees who seek asylum in you,
You rest in Guruvayoor, oh Lord, remover of all sorrows.

Your chaste feet, lovingly caressed by the Lotus Maiden,
Whether I serve them with reverence from near
Or think of serving them from afar
To you, Whose greatness fills the universe,
This is a matter of indifference.

I have learned from the Sages who have extolled your exploits
That you, Hari, emerald like handsome Lord,
Are the refuge for the teeming humanity
Who live on the surf of the great ocean of suffering called life.

I see you in my heart, handsome as Cupid,
Your hair adorned with peacock feathers,
Your glances, a mixture of compassion and smile
Your chest showing Kousthabham and garlands of wild flowers
Your ankles adorned with jingling golden anklets.

Creator and protector of the worlds
Lord Padmanabha, who resides in Guruvayoor,
May it please you, without delay, with compassion,
To remove my illnesses like rheumatism
And bless me with health and prosperity.

Renditions :

1.KarunaCheyvan - Chembai ( For the carnatic music enthusiast)

2.KarunaCheyvan2 ( soft, cool , Sri ragam)
3.KarunaCheyvan3 ( by Unni Menon)
4.KarunaCheyvan-Me ( great voice ;)

UPDATE:

Here is another rendering of the same song by Sri K.V. Narayana swamy, the disciple of Late Sri Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar. Kindly bear with the quality of sound. Also, the song will actually start in the second half of the first mp3 file.

I would also like to encourage the reader to listen the song by following the lyrics and the meaning provided above for maximum enjoyment.

Karunacheyvan ,Shri KVN -PArt 1:

Karunacheyvan ,Shri KVN -PArt 2:

Let me conclude this Diwali Special post by offering my salutatuons to all the great bhakthas , with a special mention to Irayimman Thampi for composing a wonderful composition and of course , Chembai Bhagavathar. If not for him, I wouldnt have gotten a chance to enjoy this nectarine music. Finally, I meditate on the lotus-feets of Guruvayoorappan, who is none other than the Krishna -Vasudeva , the poornavataara of Sri Man Narayana , the destroyer of Narakaasura and all things that are dark and evil.

Hantha Bhaagyam JanAnAm , (Worderful indeed, is the fortune of the mankind)

SRI GURUPAVANAPURADEESHAAYA KAMALAPAADHA SAMARPANAM
JAI SRIMAN NARAYANA

Temple Darshan of Her Holiness, Kanchi Kamakshi

2005-10-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

Dear magnificient aatmans

Relish the gradeaur of the Kanchi Kamakshi Sthal

Want to see more ??

Click here

Many thanks to Venkata Rangarajan

Victory unto Kadambavana Nilaya Karunaa Kattaakshi , Kancha Lochani Kaamakshi

Also, May I alert you about my previous post :)

SRI KRISHNAARPANAM

Rediscovering India - Some Sad Truths

2005-10-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

Dear magnificient Aatmans,

Time to imbibe more of my amateurish attempts in poetry. For some reason , I seem to have gotten a predilection for using poetry to express my thots. Kindly adjust with this habbit of mine:)

O young men and women of Bharatha Varsa,
the land made pure by the foots of thousand noble souls
Alas,What has become of Thou Intelligence?
Oblivious and Smothered relentlessly
With doses of sweet poison

O young men and women of Bharatha Varsa,
the Vaikunta Of Earth
Alas, What has become of Thou Grace?
Obliviously becomming sub-human
Thou Act, Without the slightest bit of pithy

O young men and women of Bharatha Varsa,
the land of thousand holy rivers
Alas, What has become of Thou holyness?
Thou senses,Willfully imbibing loads of Noise instead of all that is holy
Hapiness, Thou seeketh. (lol)

O teachers and scholars of Bharatha Varsa,
the land of countless spiritual Gurus,
Alas, What has become of Thou Greatness?
Swallowed by an Ocean of Greed, Seeketh thou Wealth and Fame
Character Not , thou instill in young minds

UPDATE

O great young Souls of Bharatha Varsa,
Ressurect from the dark dungeons
Seeketh the Glory Of the Lord and his Aatman
Seeketh SatSang with the great Sages
that glorious Land will take a re-birth

UPDATE 2

A Tamil Song by Sethumadhava Rao on the death of Mahatma Gandhiji

In the song Shanthi Nilava Vendum , he says

"Shaanthi Nilava Vendum, Aatma
Shakthi Onga Vendum
Gaandhi Mahaathma Kattalai Adhuvey"

Translation

"May the world be in Peace
May the power of Aatman be on the high,
That is Mahathma Gandhis' Wish and Order"

When we look at the current state of India as a whole (forget abt the World), one can clearly observe the lack of peace. If the realization of Aatman has been given more importance by the learned (in particular Brahmins) and the literate citizens (forget about others), I'm sure
that India could be in tremendous shape. Alas, it could not be so. People have given up to the power of Kali or should I say Kali has taken over peoples minds. Avan Arivan (HE WILL ONLY KNOW)

The above voiced opinions are to be considerd only in a holistic sense as I have only mentioned "young men and women of ". They don't refer to any particular individual or group.

SRI SRIMANNARAYANAARPANAM
RAMA LAKSHMANA JANAKI , JAI BOLO HANUMAN KI

Aacharya Madhava

2005-10-13T00:54:00.000-07:00

Dear fellow aatmans,

First up, kindly accept my Belated Vijayadashami wishes.

On this wonderful eve ,I Invoke the blessings of the great Vaishnava Saint and philosopher, Acharya Madhava and the Ramabhaktha Vayuputra Hanuman before attempting to write up on this special post on the eve of his jayanthi.

He is one of the three great achaaryas (Adi Sankara and Sri Ramanuja , the other two) that walked Mother India.

Let us take a sneak peak into the life and teachings of Acharya Madhava .

Srimad Ananda Tirtha commonly identified as Acharya Madhava was born in South Kanara (karnataka) in the 1200s as the third incarnation of Mukhya Prana , after Ramabhaktha Hanuman and the strong and loyal fighter in Sri Krishna's Army, Bhimasena.

Even as a child, he was into spirtuality , showing extraordinary intellectual maturity often astounding his teachers. He got ordained into sanyaasa at a tender age of 11 by Achyutapreksha Tirtha, his Guru. Soon he astounded the Guru with his knowledge which fetched him the title, PoornaPrajna (the one with complete wisdom ) .

He defeated several budhists and advaitins in debates and spreaded the Glory of Narayana wherever he went.

Once with his spiritual power rescued a ship battling in the high seas. He was asked to take gifts from the captain but he took only a mound of "gopi chandana " from him and when it broke , he got a Krishna icon . Seeing that , in Bhakthi he composed the famed Dwaadasa Stotra on his way back to Udippi , where he established the temple and the Ashta-Mathas later.

Dwaadasa Stotra is a set of 12 beautiful garlands of pristine bhakthi superimposed on exceptional spiritual wisdom. It is normally recited when naivedya is offered to the Lord. It is supposed to bring wisdom to the reader and the listener as it has anti-venomic properties.:)

In this stotra , the acharya says

" I salute the Lord , who showers the moonlight called happiness on the devotees"

Apart from this, being a Dwaita philosopher, he has written his own commentaries (bhasya) on Gitas , the upanishads and other Vedanta Sutras. His philosophy, TatvaVada , more commonly known as Dvaita , in a nutshell, emphasizes the importance of bhakthi to stay free of the distress caused by Kali. Being a re-incarnate of Hanuman , this is of no surprise at all. He has described the infinitesimal majesty and the glory of the various parts of Narayana just like Hanuman portrayed the appearane of Sri Rama to Sita Devi.

One might want to remember that great poets and saints like Purandara dasa , Kanakadasa , and Sri Raghavendra of Mantralayam were all Tatavavaadists.

All his teachings can be imbibed in a tablet form as given below

Kuru bhumksva ca karma nijam niyatam

Hari-pada-vinambra-dhiya satatam

Harireva paro harireva gurur-

Harireva jagat-pitr-matr-gatih

Tadalam bahu-loka-vichintanaya

Pravanam-kuru-manasa misha pade

Translation :

Do thy duty allotted by God to thee

And eat what comes to thy share !

Hari is God Supreme, Hari the teacher great,

Father and mother too is Hari.

Stop then thy worldly cares endless,

Pin thy mind at the lordâ€™s feet boundless

Let we all follow the royal path of bhatki laid by such great acharyas to transcend ourselves beyond materialistic clutches by permanently getting a visa in the Karaunaa Samudra and experience the glory of that feet of Sriman Narayana. I am very pleased and blessed to have had my birthday in such an auspicious time:)

P.S The interested can know more about him @ www.tatvavada.org

JAI AANJANEYA SWAAMI KI
JAI ACHARYA MADHAVA
SRI SITARAMACHANDRAARPANAM

Ode to find your "Hari"-ness

2005-10-08T22:55:00.000-07:00

Dear fellow aatmans,

Here is me giving a shot at something different. Hope , you would bear with it :)

Please Do let me know your thoughts.

CAVEAT: This is my first ever attempt

Aye young man,
You seeketh that One moment of pride,
You seeketh that fleeting time amidst mansions
Your mind , jumping like a monkey
From One Object to another.

Aye young man,
You give your ears to all kinds of noise.
Your eyes, unaware of the demon veiled by illusion
Your tongue failing to sense the life in food
What do you seeketh after all?

Aye young man,
Let your mind to think about Hari
Your Voice anointing him with the fragrance of the Saptha Swaras
Gifting your ears with the sweetness of NadaBrahmam (Divine Sound)
Casting your mind upon Hari, Before eating the first morsel of Food.
You ask, What else would I seeketh ??

UPDATE :

Tamil Translation:

Adiyen , Oru vaasgarin virupathal , meLirikkum Aangila Kavithayai Mozhipeyarka Muyandrirukkiren. Pizhaigazhai Manithu Karuthezhuthavum :)

Naadinaan, andha oru gana perumaiyai
Thedinaan, andha aranmanai Vaazhkayai
KurangaiPOl , avan manam , Oru poruzhil Oru ganam
Maru Poruzhil Maruganam

Sevikku , pala vidha AravAram
Peyai ariyaa maayayil avanin KanGaL
Unavil Uyir Ariyaa Avan Naaku
Ivaigazhai Naaduvathen?

Kamalakkannanin visayil Nin Manam
Iniya sapthaswarangazhal andha Vaasudevanai abishekhum Nin Kural
naadhabramathAl , madhurathil nin sevigal
Unbatharku mun , nin manam Avan visaiyil
VerEythum Nin Manam Naadumaa?

Sri SitaRamachandraarpanam
Sri Krishnaarpanam

136th Birth Anniversary Remembrance of the Mahatma

2005-10-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends

I am pleased to have the following song rendered for your listening pleasure ;) on the eve of our Mahatma Gandhiji's 136th Birth Anniversary. The song kindles the spirit of love thru Sri Rama and is one of Gandhijis favorite bhajans

Hear a better rendition of the same song by checking this out.

Update 0:

Another rendition of the same song as rendered by Ashit Desai can be gotten by clicking here
Also , check out "Vaishnavajan to " here

"He Ram, He Ram" or "Rama, Rama".- Gandhijis last words

UPDATE 1:

Hinduism & Gandhi

- By Jagmohan, Former Governor of J & K and former Union
Minister (From the Statesman, Calcutta, 2/10/05)

On Gandhiâ€™s birthday, instead of going round the samadhis and attending
prayer meeting ritualistically, the ruling elite will do well to think
how strong and healthy India could be built on it spiritual traditions
and how Hinduism as viewed by Gandhiji could be used to refertilize and
revitalize that tradition. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, in connection with his
study of religion posed three questions to Mahatma Gandhi. What is your
religion? How are you led to it? What is its bearing on social life?

Gandhi answered the first question thus: â€œMy religion is Hinduism
which, for me, is the religion of humanity and includes the best of all
religions known to me.â€ï¿½ In response to the second question, Gandhi
said: â€œI take it that the present tense in this question has been purposely
used, instead of the past. I am led to my religion through truth and
non-violence. I often describe my religion as religion of truth. Of late,
instead of saying God is Truth, I have been saying Truth is God. We are
all sparks of Truth. The sum total of these sparks is indescribable, as
yet unknown Truth, which is God. I am daily led nearer to it by
constant prayerâ€ï¿½.

To the third question, Gandhi replied: â€œthe bearing of this
religion on social life is, or has to be seen in oneâ€™s daily social contact.
To be true to such religion, one has to lose oneself in continuous and
continuing service of all in life. Realization of Truth is impossible
without a complete merging of oneself in and identification with this
limitless ocean of life. Hence for me, there is no escape from social
service; there is no happiness on earth beyond or apart from it. In this
scheme, there is nothing low, nothing high. For all is one, though we
seem to be manyâ€ï¿½.

Gandhi elaborated: â€œThe deeper I study Hinduism, the stronger
becomes the belief in me that Hinduism is as broad as the universe.
Something within me tells me that for all the deep veneration I show to
several religions, I am all the more a Hindu, nonetheless for itâ€ï¿½.

On the Mahatmaâ€™s birthday it seems necessary to bring home these
fundamentals, particularly to those who go on condemning Hinduism without
even studying it and also to those members of the ruling elite whose
attachment to fake and fraudulent â€œgodsâ€ï¿½ have made the country a den of
corruption, callousness, confusion and criminality.

Gandhiâ€™s elucidation makes it clear that true Hinduism is nothing
but spiritual secularism. To relegate such a religion and to follow a
shallow and superficial secularism is one of the worst sins that the
false problems of contemporary India are committing. They call Gandhi the
Father of the Nation. Yet in practice they do everything to negate all
his beliefs.

Throughout human history, religion has remained a potent force despite
all the pounding it has received from thinkers like Marx who called it
â€œopiate of the massesâ€ï¿½, and Freud who termed it as â€œa collective
neurosis of the massesâ€ï¿½. It may be relevant to recall a talk between Cardinal
Gonsalvic and Napoleon. The Cardinal was pleading the case for the
church. Napoleon got annoyed on some point and shouted at the Cardinal
â€œYour Eminence, are you not aware that I have the power to destroy the
Catholic Church?â€ï¿½ The Cardinal smiled and replied, â€œYour Majesty, we the
Catholic Clergy for the last 1800 have done our level best to destroy
the Catholic Church. We did not succeed. You will not succeed either.â€ï¿½
This conversation brings out in a telling manner the staying power of
religion, notwithstanding its internal and external destroyers.

While religion has its influence in every country, it is more so
in India. Swami Vivekananda, with his characteristic clarity and
insight, has observed: â€œEach nation, like each individual, has one theme in
life, which is its centre, the principal note around which every other
note comes to form the harmony. If anyone attempts to throw off this
central note, that is, its national vitality, the direction which has
become its own through the transmission of centuries, that nation dies. In
India, religious life forms the centre, the key-note of the whole music
of national life. Take away region from India nothing would be left.â€ï¿½

Power in present-day India has become an end in itself. Justice is
being buried deeper and deeper. Means however unscrupulous are resorted to
and then rationalized. Corruption in public life has attained alarming
proportions. Most of our institutions have lost their underlying
motivation of service and become effete and venal.

Why has this happened? Why have our state and society become soulless
entities? Why have criminals enlarged their hold on politics? And why
have power and pelf become everything and justice and truth nothing?

The answer to these questions is that the ethical foundation of
Hinduism, as seen by Gandhi, which could provide â€œan awakened conscienceâ€ï¿½ to
an individual and make him an honest, just and compassionate component
of society has been destroyed partly by the stink and slush of our past
degeneration and partly by the type of spurious secularism which has
been exploited in post-independence India.

Hinduism, as made clear by Gandhi, sees all human beings as
â€œsparks of truth/divinityâ€ï¿½. As such, it neither goes against any other
religion nor is it incompatible with the constitutional goals of equality,
fraternity, liberty and justice. If the same divinity constitutes the
core of all individuals, they cannot but be equal. Further, divinity in
one person cannot in any way be unjust to the same divinity in another
person. As the Gita puts it, â€œSeeing the same God equally present in
everything, one does not injure the self by self; and goes to the highest
goalâ€ï¿½.

In Hinduism, Gandhi saw a unique quality: â€œIn it there is room for
the worship of all the prophets of the world. It is not a missionary
religion in the ordinary sense of the worldâ€ï¿½. Gandhi underlined: â€œGod is
not encased in a safe to be approached only through a little hole in
it, but He is open to be approached through billions of openings by those
who are humble and pure of heartâ€ï¿½.

Courtesy : Advaitin Forums on Yahoo

"Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a man in flesh and blood once trod upon this earth"." -Albert Einstein

SRI SITARAMACHANDRAARPANAMASTHU

Joggers Park

2005-09-28T22:56:00.000-07:00

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)

2005-09-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

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:)

2005-09-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

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

2005-09-15T02:32:00.000-07:00

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:)

2005-09-07T23:17:00.000-07:00

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

Falling trap 2 the divine spell

2005-08-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends

Since its been a long time since i posted an audion blog, I thot i shuld give u some shock treatment...:)

Anyways, The following is a Carnatic Krithi composed in the very beautiful raga, Kedaram , by Saint Tyagarja. The krithi is called "Rama Neepai". Before getting to listen, let me express my comments on the beauty of the song..

In this song , Tyagayya expresses how ecstatic he feels about being with SitaRama...he says "Tanaku, Prema Podhu " , which means my love for you will never go..

In the Anupallavi , he mentions that the "lotus-petal eyed " one has casted a spell on him.. What we can infer from this is , we should try to fall trap to the divine spell and not to the unreal maaya..:)

The charnam is even more beautiful. By saying that even though he enjoys worldy pleasure, his mind is always merged with Rama, he is able to enjoy his transcendental bliss. Shouldn't we be more like him???

Having said all that , one can now actually enjoy the song even more...So , without any further delay , I invite you guys to FIRST check out my rendition and then hear the melodic voices of Alathur Brothers..I'm sure that u'll like it..i mean..alathurs..:)

Lyrics and Notation:

http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma/personal/music/ramanipai2.htm

My Rendition:

Alathur Brothers Rendition: (Very Sweet with alapana)

Alathur-Rama Neepai

Hare Krishna Hare Rama

Krishnaarpanam
Shri Krishna Paadha Samarpanam

Jenmaashtami Treat :)

2005-08-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

Dear friends and well-wishers,

While this auspicious day is coming to an end , I'd like to share my Krishna Jeyanthi experiences
with you folks , which eventually turned out to be awesome, only with the grace of Sri Krishna.

Yesterday evening , I and four of my friends were all set to go south ( New Orleans ) to taste some divine nectar... (Coincidentally or not , we later found that fourof us had "krishna" in our names). We were heading for the "ISKCON " temple in NO . What better place could we have been ???

We reached the temple around 8 pm. There were some cultural programmes like bharatnatyam and bhajans for some time. After that , just like any other ISKCON temple, a couple of Hare Krishna's started singing the maha mantra . That was around 9 pm .Folks who have been there would know how blissful it is to sing the mahamantra. This continued till 1 am in the morning.

Check out the pictures below. For people who have been to ISKCON , the images might look hackneyed but I hope ur eyes aren't that dumb to lose another enthralling picture of Radhe Krishna?

I also took a picture of a wonder painting (please bear with the poor quality) of the Narasimha Avatara of Sri Vishnu . One can actually feel the "Ugraha Narasimhar" (angry narasimha) along with the nonchalant young prahlada.

Later next morning after a short nights sleep, we left for another beautiful ISKCON temple located in the Missisipi State . It is called as the new "Talavana" ( if u remember srimad bhagavatham , u might be already be knowing that "Talavana" or the coconut forests as oneof the favorite places of Shri Krishna , his Gopis and his cows). Very true to its name , it was one amazing place right in the middle of nowhere for a temple of the Lord to be located. I also took a picture of one of the beautiful paintings hung up in the walls.

Did you find the effulgent and attractive face of the young born Shri Krishna in the middle of the Lotus flower?:)

Having seen the wonderful krishna being born in 2 different places ..:), we were back to lafayette early this evening.

Finally ,Let me have the final prayers for this Jenmaashtami with you folks.

Hey PankajaLochana, please give our eyes the ability that will let us to fixate on your picture that is ever beautiful . Let our eyes see nothing else when they see you.

Hey Muraari, please give our ears the ability to enjoy and appreciate the sound of your names and qualities .

Hey DayaNidhi, please give us that compassion that won't let us make a selfish person of us by always thinking about your attractive qualities and ignoring others. Let our minds always treat everyone with equal respect seeing the good qualities of you in him and ignoring the bad qualites watever be they.

Hey Maadhava, let our lives always be directed towards reaching you.

HARE KRISHNA
SHRI RAADHAKRISHNA KI , JAI
SHRI KRISHNA PAADHA SAMARPANAM

Who is that MaraPrabhu? :)

2005-08-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

Dear blog-pals,

I wanted to post on this stuff for a long time , but I guess I would have to wait for probably one more year to get such an appropritate time..

On this auspicious eve of Jenmaashtami ( acc to American Time) , I'd like to bring to the attention of the reader about one of the sincere krishna bhakthas. He is the one who said

"While little Krishna is dancing in our hearts, why do we need little ones of our own?."

on the accidental loss of his only child...

The superiority of his bhakthi is often compared with one of his contemporaries that often used to laugh at his poor sanskrit. Once he was laughed at when he wrongly recited "Padmanaabho Maraprabhu" . Maraprabhu means "Lord of trees" in malayalam. His contemporary laughed at him and said it is supposed to be "Ammaraprabhu" (lord of immortals) and not Maraprabhu. Immediately there sounded a celestial voice that said that "I am also Maraprabhu"..

ok, time to break the suspense .The subject of this post is "Shri poonthanam namboodhiri" , a staunch devotee of "guruvaayurappan" and the contemporary is the well versed Sanskrit scholar ,"Shri Melapathur Bhattadhiri" and the famed composer of Naraayaneeyam.

I want to write a bit about his great pieces of work .He has the following works to his credit

1. Karnamritham

2. Kumaraharanam

3. Santhanagopalam Pana

4. JnanaPana (Pot of knowledge)

Jana Pana is popularly known as "Malayala Gita" among keralites. It is known for its simplicity in the explanation of things that are difficult to comprehend.

Here are a few verses translated from his jnana pana (courtesy ,http://www.prd.kerala.gov.in/prd2/mala/lit14.htm)

"Is there scarcity of the Lord's name?
Or has fear of hell declined?
Is there life without use of tongues?
Have we escaped from mortality?
Alas, alas, without reflection
We roast and eat out life in vain.
After how many lifetimes of labour
We happened to be born here by luck!
How many lifetimes spent in water,
How many lifetimes lived like trees,
How many lifetimes as beasts, as cattle
Ere we could be born as men?
After so much hard labour
We fell into our mother's womb,
Ten months have been spent in the womb,
Ten or twelve years spent as a child too
And the rest of the time not knowing ourselves
We spend in self-centred vain glory."

I have left untold lots of other things about this krishna bhaktha , expecting the interested reader to dig with the help of google. :)

I would also like to salute all the gifted true Krishna bhathas on this beautiful Jenmaashtami eve..

B4 i quit , I 'd like to invite the reader to check out the new blog on Smt M.S.S amma

Hare Krishna

P.S : I thank my friend Unni Chandran who informed me about this great Krishna bhaktha

Weird Math

2005-08-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

Can somebody explain the math used here?? ..:)

Yaar andha Mahaa Moodan? ( Who is that dumb fool?)

2005-08-21T00:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Note : Please check out the update

Digressing from my usual musico/philo stuff for a difference , Here am gonna give a shot at some mundane Tamil poetry 2 express my views on something that got me 2 feel bad...Also, be pre-warned that u can expect some out of the world stuff..;) u know wat i mean , rite??

Note : Please bear my Tamizh..:)

Tஹுன்பம், ஆவனுக்கு பிடிக்கத வார்தை
Vஎருதான் அன்ட்ரு, அவனை துன்புருதிய னன்பனை
Vஅளர்ன்தான், அவன் தன்னை முதிர்சி அடைன்தவன் என்ட்ரு பெருமையுடன் கூரினான்
ஆதர்கெர்ப, நன்பன் Tஹுன்புட்ர பொளுது , அவனுடய உதவும் கரன்களாஇ கொடுதான்
Sஅட்டம் பயின்ட்ரு Vஅக்Kஈல் ஆனான்,
Kஒலை Sஎஇத Mஊடனுக்கு தன்டனை Vஅழன்கினான்
ஆனால் ஆவனொ ஆயிரம் Kஒலைகளுக்கு உடன்தை
ஈன்த Mஅஹா Mஊடனை Y ஆர் Dஹன்டிபாது???

ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION
Thunbam, Avanukku pidikkadha vaarthai
Veruthaan andru, avanai thunburuthiya nanbanai
VaLarndhaan, avan thannai mudhirchi adaindhavan endru perumaiyudan koorinaan
Adharkerpa, Nanban Thunbutra poLudhu , avanudaya udhavum karangaLAi koduthaan
Sattam payindru VakKeel Aanaan,
Kolai Seidha Moodanukku dhandanai Vazhanginaan
Anaal Avano Aayiram KolaigaLukku udanthai
Indha Mahaa Moodanai Yaar Dhandipaadhu???

ROUGH ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Distress, He hates the most
He was a young kid, he hated his troubling friend
He grew, He claimed him as a mature dude
Accoringly , He helped his friend in distress
He studied Law and became a lawer
He punished the murderer
But he was actually helping one thousand murders
Who is gonna punish this greatest dumb fool???

Guess u arent wondering who is that greatest fool : )

Anyways, Let me seriously ask all those meat eaters . How do u feel when u lose someone u like/respect ??? U know that all animals have lives and they also communicate in their own ways, share emotions etc
If u are aware of this and still continue to eat meat , arent u the worst of the criminals?

Also , I am sadenned by the increasing no of meat eating folks (in particular, lots of Brahmins) in the US and other videsi countries , without even giving a slightest bit of rational thinking , . The following are some of the common resposes that I get when i ask some one about this eating habit

1 Veggie is 4 the guy who has no taste buds ( dude, then u are the guy that has no brainz)
2. I don't get anything veggie 2 eat ( as if he is living in antartica)
3. I wanna look like Arnold Schwarzenegger/ Brad Pitt/ Tom Cruise or watever and veggie's not gonna get me any closer 2 this life ambition. ( I appreciate ur ambition but wud u kill a fellow human just because his life is gonna bring u fortune/fame..If so, abscond,. Am gonna buzz the cops)

Like this , I get all kinds of totally subhuman answers from guys that do M.S/PhD ? Wat use do u think their erudition will be if they can't simply be HUMAN ??

UPDATE :

Further Recommended Read: http://www.stephen-knapp.com/vegetarianism_recommended_in_Vedic_scripture.htm

by Stephen Knapp

Divine Music 4 Mundane Love : How Pathetic?

2005-08-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

Hi folks..

After a pretty long respite , it feels good to be blogging back again..Hope and wish u guys feel similarly..:)

I have been thinking lately about the usage of Carnatic Music on movies (Tamil)..B4 me spewing out my thots, please do give a thot or two

Ok, Let me try and voice out my thougts with an example from the movie "Anniyan" ..The song "Aiyangaaru Veetu Azhage" will be the song under focus.. The song is very classical in nature , starting with a few lines from one of the beautiful Pancharatna Krithis..Here is a rough translation of the first few lines

The creator of happiness throughout the world ! The beloved of Sita ! Victory be yours !
anupallavi : The inheritor of Suryavamsa ! King of Kings ! You are worshipped by the Devas ! You bestow good things !

Now, the krithi was composed in the auspicious Naata Raga by Sri Tyagaraja to praise Lord Rama, the posseser of all the noble qualities. The Raga Lakshana was effectively used by Sri Tyagarjha . Now, does it really makes much of a sense to use such an auspicious raga to praise the mundane earthly love that happens between a man and a woman , that too with lyrics like

"vaan mazhayil nanainthal payirgal uruvaagum
aan mazhayil nanainthal uyirgal uruvaagum"

By the way, "jagadhanandha karaka" is way too far beautiful when compared to this song.

Anyways, Is the usage of the divinely ragas in films for such purposes justifiable?

The saptha swaras are said to be of divine origin and Carnatic music is best used for the same purpose.I also am saddened by the increasing no of artists (don't want to mention their names as if no one knows:) that have great voices using their skills in the film industry just for the sake of money and for establishing names. Is this what the great singers and composers of the elder days did?? In fact, one of the Trimurthys' of Carnatic Music, Shri Muthuswami Dikshithar , never wanted to sing in praise of the kings. The same is the case with Shri Tyagarajha. I feel that when one has the saptha swaras dancing in his/her tongue (thru saraswathi Kataaksham) , he has got one of the greatest gifts in this kali yuga to reach the abode of god. Let him sing in praise of the infinitely noble qualities of the lord with devotion and refrain to make use of that talent for other purposes that are merely likened by the listener as pleasure simulators. Let it simulate Bhakthi both in the singer and the listener..If a young child gets to hear a Purandaradasa Krithi or a Tyagaraja krithi, would he/she ever like other forms of music??? I doubt.

Also , when the singer attempts to sing the song , he gets to know its meaning and it will definitely leave a negative impression in his/ her mind adding more to the effects caused by maaya. This will definitely have at least a slightest bit of impact on the singer when he actually renders a carnatic krithi and that's exaclty why I find most of the young carnatic musicians lacking the Shradha and the Bhaava that is required barrring a very few.

Thats' the enchilada.. Hoping 2 get at least a few opposing comments..:)

Note : Please dont miss to check out the songs that I post on the "Get tuned to Divine music" section

Unity in Diversity

2005-08-10T23:54:00.000-07:00

Hello blog-pals,

Note : If u are a returning visitor , please check out Update -2 and comment back..

Listed below are a few names by which people refer god (depending upon the religion or time)

Krishna
Rama
Narayana
Shiva
Govinda
Allah
Yeshua (the actual name of Jesus of Nazareth)
Buddha
Mahavira
Venkateshwara
Ra (Sun God, King of Gods for the Egyptians).

Now, Do u find any thing common to all the names???

Yes, all the names end with a syllable that sounds like "aa". Similarly, one can only hope that people get 2 realize and attain the abode of the universal vedantic God, watever be their religious background and refrain from all the pointless debates.

UPDATE1:

I was pondering quite a bit on these striking similarities...Thot , I can share my accruing thots so that they can accrue even more from ur comments..:)

Another thing to be noticed is the names of most of the female gods end with the syllable that sounds like "ii"..Just to name a few ..

Shakthi
Parwathi
Lakshmi
Saraswathi
Akhilaandeshwari
Kamakshi....

It seems like "ii" always follows the "aa"..For example..in tamil, hindi and sanskrit (may be more) , the alphabets start with the A,AA and then immediately followed by ee,eee...:)..

UPDATE2:

This kind of similarity could also be noticed in the Saptha Swaras of Carnatic Music (Sa, ri , ga , ma , pa ,dha, ni ,sa) . This signifies that all the other sounds originate from the root sounds of "a" or "i".

Also , please take a look at the following names of the avathars of the Lords and their consorts.

1. Rama ( Masculine)
2. Sita (Feminine)
3. Krishna (Masculine)
4. Radha ( Feminine)

Here, the names of "Sita" and "Krishna" are composed of similar syllables of "ii" followed by "aa"..And if you take "Rama" and "Radha" , they have the syllables of "aa" followed by another "aa"..This essentially hints that both the male and female aspects of creation are basically the same despite the differing qualities..I guess u folks are able to see the similarity amidst variousness, which arises out of the application of our finite minds..Hence,we are all none but the universal God..:) manifested in different forms..

Now..time for some good news..No more updates..:)

krishnaarpanam

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY en nanban anbaney..:)

2005-08-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

Hi friends...

Today's August 7th ..deemed to be friendship day..a day 2 remember the friendship between friends..

So , what does it take 2 be friends.??

well...instead of cooking up with my own stuff after several minutes of head-scratching and writing up , I think i can do something wiser and easier...:) Am gonna copy and paste a neat stuff that a dude has written about F'ship in this blog ..the ABC's of friendship..

Ganesh, hope u wudn't bother my blog-a-basing..:)

(A)ccepts you as you are
(B)elieves in "you"
(C)alls you just to say "HI"
(D)oesn't give up on you
(E)nvisions the whole of you (even the unfinished parts)
(F)orgives your mistakes
(G)ives unconditionally
(H)elps you
(I)nvites you over
(J)ust "be" with you
(K)eeps you close at heart
(L)oves you for who you are
(M)akes a difference in your life
(N)ever Judges
(O)ffers support
(P)icks you up
(Q)uiets your fears
(R)aises your spirits
(S)ays nice things about you
(T)ells you the truth when you need to hear it
(U)nderstands you
(V)alues you
(W)alks beside you
(X)-plain things you don't understand
(Y)ells when you won't listen and
(Z)aps you back to reality

Now..time 2 cuk sumthin frm my lil' kitchen..

Would u agree with me if i say that very very few ppl have very very few friends that posses all of the ABC qualites??

Am gonna introduce a friend of mine that has most of the ABC qualites..But the poor fellow can't really call me up or speak 2 me coz he seems to have his vocal chords dysfunctioning ...but he always seems to hear my words , watch my actions and always hint me wat wud be the next big thing for me to do.. but dumb me..:(...sometimes i don't really understand him..he seems to be a bit too intelligent 4 me....nonetheless. I always like his company..Having said that, I'd like to wish the gud old friend of mine..HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY.

hmm,,seems like i have missed something out here........oh yeah..i culd see wats missing....i never told u guys whoz this wonderful friend of mine..so..here comes the time ..Guys....am glad 2 introduce Sir Sri Krishna. or in abstract terminology most of u guys might be knowing him as the god..( u shuld be knowing y i have not capitalized the word...don't u??...might be one of my dumb attempts to protect the identity of my friend before u actually read 2 this point..:)...

Now.. i am sure that most of u guys might have forgotten 2 wish this awesome friend of ours ...y wait????? wish him ur heartful (don't worry about the delay).. am sure he wud hear u tho he might not actually wish u back..:)..Trust me ..he WILL listen u..

sari ..sari...naan kazhandukaren..b4 some of u guys might feel like throwing a stone at me..:) ..

Anyways...HAPPY FRIENDSHIP day to .my other human friends that are influenced by maaya just like me...:)

may he let us catch the mail 2 dwaaraka (or heaven) ..:)

Krishnaarpanam

Naama Sankeerthanam

2005-08-05T23:59:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Continuing my previous post on "Constance Remembrance" of the Lord, I am gonna further my thots over the means to THAT divine and most wanted state , where everything else in this world would seem superfluous.

For all these times I have been talking about just one thing . TRUE BHAKTHI ( The only means to get liberated )

Srimad Bhagawatham talks about nine forms of Bhakthi as mentioned below:

sravaNam keerthanam VishNO : smaraNam paadha sevanam
archanam vandanam daasyam sakhyam aathma nivedanam

These are hearing, touching the feet, singing , remembering, worshipping, serving, friendship and offering the self.

According to Kali-SantharaNa Upanishad, singing or naama sankeerthanam is said to be the easiest ways to reach the Lord especially in this Kali yuga :

Hare Raama HarE Raama , Raama Raama HarE HarE
Hare Krishna HarE Krishna , Krishna Krishna HarE HarE
ithi shiodasakam naamAm kali-kalmasha nAsana
naata : paratarEpyeya : Sarva VedEshu drisyathE

TRANSLATION:

The sixteen holy names of the Lord in unison are particularly potent to counteract
the contaminations (dhoshams) of Kali Yuga . All the vEdas consistently declare that
the chanting of the sacred names of the Lord is the only path to cross the ocean of
nescience . There is no other alternative to reach parama padham

Nama sankeerthanam is one of the easiest ways to get rid of egoism. How else can we combat the ever accruing ego ? Our thoughts always have the tendency to revolve around us..or things that are related to us . These thoughts can never fetch us eternal happiness coz these thots are centered in the sense plane and we experience both pain and pleasure thru the senses. ..So, the less we think about ourselves , the less egoism we'll have and we'll show more respect to fellow beings. We'll become kind. U know how effortlessly we can get onto a fight when we get offended . Dont u??:) . The easiest way to get ourselves not 2 think about ourselves is by invoking thougts about the creator of all of us thru chanting and singing about his divine qualities.

Thus, Nama Sankeethanam is a short route 2 become the highest of three types of devotees of the Lord ,BhagavatOtthamA ,who sees the glory of the BahgavAn reflected in all beings , high and low , and also perceives all beings as dwelling in Him

I encourage the interested reader to come up with questions on any of the thoughts presented above if he/she thinks that doing so will be of help .

Krishnaarpanam...

B4 Quitting, sing along with me ..:)

Hare Raama HarE Raama , Raama Raama HarE HarE
Hare Krishna HarE Krishna , Krishna Krishna HarE HarE

Credits to http://sadagopan.org 4 providing excerpts and translations of sanskrit verses.

Are we doing any justice here??

2005-07-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

If u happen to be a responsible father, how many times did u think about ur family today???

If u happen to be a young lad in love, how many times did u think about ur girl/boy friend today???

If u happen to be a bachelor like me, how many times did u think about the next best way to have fun ( watever be it) ?

If u happen to be anywhere far from ur parents , how often do u think about ur parents and how often do u get 2 communicate with them?

Now , raise ur voice if u don't frequent ur thoughts over them at least a few times !

I doubt there wud be any of u guys..

Now, am gonna ask u another question that will make u think more than just twice..:)

If u can think about all of them at least few times a day, how many times wud it be required to justify thinking about the reason for ur thinking and everything ?? U GOT IT..., am talking about the creator of all of 'em..

now, wait .,wait ,wait, b4 telling me that u do, in fact, think about him at least few times...think about y u think him for???

I would't be surprised to find quite a bunch of folks that only exchange signals of requests ,responses and a corresponding acknowledgement (depending upon how u r request was responded )

compare and contrast this with y u think about ur intimate ones..

am sure most of u wud be able to see the difference that we actually think about them coz

1. We are obsessed with the subject (due 2 their qualites)

2. We care for them.

and so, their shadows are visited by our thougts so often..we even pray god for their well-being..
Most of the time, we get a gud response to our prayers when the Karunamurthy (Supreme) showers prosperity ..

Having said all this , How many times do we have to think about the good qualities of the Lord and how many times should we have to praise him ( just like u praise ur wife when she pleases u or thank ur parents when they show u the right way when u are in need of advice) and how many time should we utter his Holy nama (name) (just like u keep repeating the name of the person u love)???

Wud Infinite suffice?????

I see somebody from the FBI /CBI raising a question ....Aye man,, My life is not so great as i want it to be..ave been facing one too many problems..How do u explain this ? ...

A Great Question that deserves to be answered.. Right now , i can think about 2 ways around it

1. If God satisfies the requests of all the people in this world most of the time, wud we ever get 2 realize his importance??? only if something fails 2 happen, we get 2 know about his importance and pray him not 2 bring back the problem. If everything happens fine, wat is the need for God???

2. Before asking a justification , ask urselves truly how many we think we have done or thought something bad?? and how many times we tolerate the troubles of ourfriends/spouse/children??

Forget about the troubles.. u can always blame the God ...But for all the good things that he has offered us, aren't we indebted to chant and think about him for our life time???????

i'll leave my thots right there for ur thougts to imbibe the essence of mine..:)

Also, get urselves geared for my next post on how all we can justify his dhaya showered on us..especially when getting trapped in this world of maaya , which acts like an anti-propellent in an accelerating space-craft...:)

Om tat sat
krishnaarpanam

Musical Musings of a different kind

2005-07-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

Music means different to different people. I have come across the differnt kinds of music listening folks.

Here, I' d like 2 catergorize them into 3 broad categories and also i'd like to take a view point of a purist to say how much they actually like the music they listen to .

1. Some like the words expressed or the thoughts conveyed in the music more than the music..(definitely not music lovers)

2.Some like the proper melange of the music and the words ..in other words they think the music to be fitting the thoughts expressed and the words used..( quasi-music lovers)

3. Some people dont give a damn about the words,, they just want 2 enjoy listening to the music..( true lovers of music)

Having said all that. let me go one step further...y do true music lovers enjoy listening to the music they like,,There can be varied reasons again.Some of them are

1. It drives them crazy..

2. It makes them feel like floating in the air

3 It takes them 2000 miles 2 their home

4. It rocks..

But they alll listen to music primarily because IT SOUNDS GOOD . ( if u are a music lover , u won't say that the music that u like actually sucks and if it does , u wud fend it away)

Now , coming 2 the point that i wanted to convey thru this post ..... the purpose behind the music and its importance...

From the above lines of thought, It has become clear that the primary purpose behind the music they listen to is aural pleasure..So, u dont actually gain nothing by listening to it except sensual pleasure..

This is where i feel carnatic music goes a step beyond. Eventhough it may or may not evoke aural pleasure (depending upon the listeners musical taste) ,it definitely offers something EXTRA to the listener that enjoys and appreciates it ..

The extra thing that's pretty much unique to this form of music is DEVOTION (bhakthi )towards the Supreme , which is one of the 3 ways(jnana and karma being the other 2) to reach the Supreme. and this is priceless. No matter how much wealth or fame u acquire, if u don' get 2 like this form of music , ur path to the Supreme is definitely long-routed.

By uttereing and listening to the name of the Supreme, u are only taken a step closer to him...take this analogy,, the more u listen to and talk about ur friend, the more clearer u are in getting 2 know about him..

This is a remarkable aspect of this form of music, unfortunately perceivable only to a few people.

Guess that explains the few difference of opinions on my last blog post . I can only hope and wish that the ignorant (especially young folks) would understand the importance of listening to music for reaching god over listening to music for mere aural satisfaction.

A quick question b4 i quit , Did I sound pig-latin??? :)

Beauty and the Beast ..How Ugly??

2005-07-26T00:02:00.000-07:00

How can one ever do this???? that 2oo by an indian website! Shocking indeed!

Securing our most valuable asset..it's high time..

2005-07-25T22:38:00.000-07:00

hey folks,

This is quite a long-winded post .. I hope y'all hold ur patience till the end.

Just wondering! Everyone's pretty concerned about security . It's probably the first thing that wud come into mind when someone ventures into some unknown territory, be it a place , an investment , installing a piece of a software or even marriage sometimes..

We want to keep things secure because our mind ,out of experience, knows the importance of it. Now , what if the mind becomes the subject and get's influenced by malicious signals it receives?? (by malicious, i mean any signal that deteriorates the performance of the brain and by performance deterioration , i mean , reduction in our ken and hence productivity, resulting in stupid or thoughtless actions) How can we shield our brain from those signals ??? Obvious and simple answer .don't let the brain to feed on those signals...let's see if this is actually the work around the problem in hand..

In order to stop those signals, first , the mind has to determine if the signal is ,in fact , malicious . Without going to the discussion on how to detect the mailicious signals from the good one ( which is definitely a very difficult question to come up with an answer), let me take an example to show that how we have been influenced by malicious signals (which can never be avoided) and the reaction of our mind to those signals..

Taking Anger as one of the unwanted signals , we can notice that a mother (only for the sake of correcting the child ) scolds a child . It should be noted here that even though scolding is a very mild form anger, it changes the childs' state of mind. Now, the child hates being scolded coz it can't realize that the mother is actually scolding for the sake of its own betterment. ( btw,, do we like if we get a scolding from our parents even now??). But the child's thoughts will later be overridden by good thoughts when the same parents later show more love so that the inherently developed discomfort is removed. It also works the same at least to an extent when it comes to friends..But here there are chances that the contempt developed (mainly due to greed that arises out of lust ) can actually be reverted back on the same person. We do that because we dont like being offended ( as always) and since we've been feeded by the fact that when people get discomfited they usually eventually resort to fighting back (once they start doing that,, it can be said that the person can become as crazy as a mad elephant.).

Now , If u arent the kind of person that i described above , raise ur voice..I'd love to hear such a noble voice.

What does this all have 2 do with ignoring bad signals??

well, just like this we have been subjected to so many signals that can be either treated by our mind to be good or bad depending upon the situation and past experience..watever be the situation , for sure we can't let the signals like anger, greed, lust etc to take control over us.. but from the above example of how most of us manage anger , it can be realized that we certainly are lettin the signals take control on us...

so, what's the whole point ??, u might ask. I think the only way to secure our mind from losing its control to the signals is by seeking help from what is beyond the mind??Now,, that makes sense right??? Hence, The only way out of this world of sense domination is to seek the Supreme god to direct us towards that state of Sidha ( the state where we don't want anything to happen but just see what are all happening without any sensual feelings about the happenings). Y do we have to seek god ??? well, then can u tell me , whom can u ask?????u can't ask nobody,right?..So, let's all pray the Supreme Lord to lead us towards the most important goal in life of attaining sidhi and get moksha..

Hey ,Rama , the Supreme Lord ,please give us the knowledge that'll always let us think about you and reach you..What better prayer can a jeevathma perform????

Ah! Time to hear me...

2005-07-23T00:04:00.000-07:00

hello folks,

Since this is my first audio blogpost , I have decided to dedicate it to Lord Vinayaka ..Here ,u can hear me singing a bit of one of Papanasam Sivan's krithis, popularized by Nadayogi Shri Madurai Mani Iyer. Also be prewarned that this is a Carnatic Music Krithi sung by a person not trained in singing krithis.. I have learnt a little bit of violin (till varnam 1) and have never taken any formal vocal training..

Here is some song related info, courtesy http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Homepages/shivkuma/personal/music/

Ragam: Reethigowlai (22 mela janyam)
ARO: S G R G M N N S || AVA: S N D M G R G M P M G R S ||
Pallavi:
Tatvam Ariya Taramaa Moolaadhaara
Ganapathe- Surapathe Unathu

Anupallavi

Satva Gunamum Jeeva Dayayum Jnanamum
Satrum Illada Keeradhanu Unathu

Charanam

Madhura Paripoorna Modhaka Karanee
Maha Vigna Vana Kootara Varane
Nidhi Yunbhadum Anba Karul Parane
Nitila Charaachara Bheejankurane
Madhishekaran Maghane Sumukhane
Madavaarana Mukhane
Sruti Mudi Unarvarum Chitparane
Guha Shodharane Raamadaasanuku Unathu

Meaning: (approximate)

Can I ("tarama") ever understand ("ariya") your ("unathu") greatness and significance ("tatva"), O Moolaadhara Ganapathi? O lord of celestials ("surapathe")â€ï¿½
I am one who does not have even an iota ("satrum illada") of serene qualities ("satva guna"), kindness ("jeeva daya") or knowledge ("jnaanamum"). How can I understand your greatness?
\You are one full ("paripoorna") of joy ("madhura"). You have a sweetmeat ("modaka") in your hands ("kara"). You can dispel even the mightiest of obstacles ("vigna"). You are justice ("nidhi") and kindness ("anba") personified. You permeate the entire universe ("nitila charaachara") and are the cause of it ("beejaankurane"). You are the son ("maghane") of Madishekhara (Shiva). You have an auspicious ("su") elephant ("madavaarana") face ("mukhane"). You inspire the mind ("chitparane"). You are the brother ("sodharane") of Guruguha (murugan). How can this Ramadasa understand your greatness ?

For all of u guys that are pretty much into this kind of music, I would seriously recommend to check out the original song as sung by Shri Madurai Mani Iyer which got me into learning this song ..I bet he'll leave u spellbound. Check it out over here

anyways,Here is my version of the song which is pretty much MMI's..:)

Let's call the KarunaaMurthy- the distress buster

2005-07-21T22:03:00.000-07:00

Avoding misery is something that is not possible in this life of ours.. Unless u are an atheist , u wud normally pray god whenever u are into troubles..As a temporary relief, it is always handy to have a mantra or sumthing that wud come to our help...The following is a mantra that promises to bring relief in times of distress...

YA thwarA DroupadI thrAnE yA thwarA gajarakshanE

mayyarthE karunAmurthE sA thwarA kwa gathA HarE

The above sloka is asking the Lord why he is not responding to our calls the he did for other devotees.

Credits to : http://www.bhajanasampradaya.com/

UPDATE:

Here is another mantra from Mukundamala

" KRISHNO RAKSHATU NO JAGATRAYA GURU:
KRISHNAM NAMASYAAMYAHAM
KRISHNENAAMARA SHTRAVO VINIHITA:
KRISHNAAYA TASMAI NAMA:
KRISHAADEVA SAMUTTITAM JAGAD IDAM
KRISHNASYA DASOSMYAHAM
KRISHNAE TISHTATHI SARVAM ETAD AKHILAM
HEY KRISHNA RAKSHASVA MAAM!"

Credits to: Anand known thru http://dwaarakavaasin.blogspot.com/

Getting praised by the greatest

2005-07-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

Pancharatna Krithis ,without doubt, are one of the greatest musical compositions from one of the few great composers in carnatic music. Its a well known fact that Saint Tyagarajha, is an exceptional talent that exemplified Rama bhakthi to the core but did you know that the most popular of the pancharatna krithis, "Entharo Mahanubavulu" was dedicated by Tyagarajar to the performance of a simple but an extremely talented musician that took great efforts to bring Saint Tyagarajha to his king's court by performing in front of him??

The musician in picture is the gifted musician and composer from Raja Swathi Thirunal's court, Shadkaala Govinda Marar from Kerala.

Here is a direct extract from an an article at swathithirunal.org about the performance of Marar in front of Tyagarajha,

"During the performance he was strumming the tambura with his right hand, and playing the ganjira with his left hand, holding the latter instrument in postion between the toes of his right leg"

Great he is, indeed.

blogging out ,
krishna

Entharo Mahanubavulu Anthariki Vandanamulu (Salutations to all those great people in the world)

Sudoku -for the Numeromaniac

2005-07-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

Whew, ,,finally I got a chance to solve a rather easy Sudoku puzzle today in just 33 minutes...mind-blowing huh??? Do you think I can do better ? ..oh yeah..I definitely can..

By the way, it was whole lot of fun to fit in the numbers in the 9*9 grid...an .extremely addictive game to play.... if u have nuthin else to do..

Here is my first Sudoku board

Just in case u were ignorant abt this japanese puzzle, Here and Here is Sudoku 4 u.

happy Sudoking..:)

bloggin out
krishna

Rakshamam Sharanaagatham

2005-07-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

Am gonna kick off this blog post with a question to all u Gen-Y...

"How often do we pray god and wat do we pray for?"..

The reason y am questioning is because today I was struck by a very hurtful throat-pain and I am having great difficulty in swallowing any kind of food. At this point of time, like most average humans, I am praying god that it should be a minor problem and it should fade away ASAP.

Basically , am pleading god to give me a free treatment (to take the pain off) ,who would eventually appear as a doc that wud prescribe some medication if it is not a major problem ..but wat if it isnt a minor problem.. at this point of time , I have got no clue abt the reasons behind this pain that appeared just like that. It can even be a serious problem ( but i hope not). Nevertheless, the chances of this pain turning out to be a serious problem can't be ruled out.

For sure,, I am asking a great deal from god . How much more selfish can i be? Does it sound fair to pray god (,,,thinkin abt god for my own physical betterment) just when I am in need? Nothing relly comes in this world for free.. U reap wat u sow or in other words.. ur actions determine wat u are gonna be getting. So ,if i am inflicted by this pain, doesn't it mean I shuld have done somthing negative in my past life???? It surely does. What this essentially means is that if i had done zero or very few negative actions in my past, there is every reason for me to believe that I woundn't have gotten this pain...So, what I shuld be praying at this point of time is to ask god to help me be a better person right from this second so that at least i can avert the chances of this throat pain turning out to be a major problem with the means of some positive thoughts ..... Pray him to guide me to do the right things coz it is way too easier to perform something negative rather than simply asking "Please ,god take the pain off my throat" ..Doesn't that sound more rational?????

So,Wat is the bottom line?? As i inquired u guys upfront, it is very very essential for us to pray god each and every day and so ,...wat should we pray for??? ... health and wealth???????nay....Let us all request him to help us do the right and positive things rather than asking him for materialistic favors that include wealth, health and bla bla bla...Let us all pray god to make us better humans to the world (everything that surrounds us) than to ourselves..Let us pray god not to let us impede the virtuous beauty of life ....

Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavantu (May all live in peace)

blogging out

krishna

Earth Capture of the Day

2005-06-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Blue Lake locked around Barren Land - Australia

Credits to Google Earth

Truly Awesome!

2005-06-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

Today I downloaded a copy of Google Earth (Beta) and tell u wat..I'm truly amazed by this piece of software that lets us to virtually dive in or fly around the globe. That's not all... Well,Instead of me restating wats already been said y dont u check out for urselves wat da makers of this kewl software have gotta say? Also, Be pre-warned that u need to have high-speed internet connection if u aren't one of the folks that's patient enuf to keep staring at the monitor, however , Wait not to jump over here..but do get bak ..:)

I am yet 2 Xplore this tool ,nonetheless, I have already used this tool to capture a neat aerial view of the place where i live in (Lafayette). You might have already noticed that in the sidebar. Ain't it kewl?

Update : Unfortunately, Google has closed this offering of the Beta Software but has promised to come back.

One more quick software update b4 i quit..... :)

Are u one of the many bloggers that have gotten discomfited by the default template editor (Blogger)? Then, Thank w.blogger coz thev' come up with a neat application that offers u different kinds of services to make ur blogging more easier than ever. Basically, it's an interface between u and the blogservice provider such as Blogger...sortaf like a FrontPage HTML editor for blogging...Check out da software and all the related info u wanna know abt this over here...btw, as u might have guessed, this post is partly powered by w.blogger.:)

bloggin out

krishna

A Kick-Ass Winamp Plugin

2005-06-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Just in case u haven't heard of or gotten ur copy of "Dolby-surround" DSP plug-in for Winamp, don't forget 2 check that out over here. It has got some real kewl features like "3D surround" that'll totally re-define the way u listen to music.

bloggin out
krishna

America on Red Alert

2005-06-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

If I say that the lives of more than a quarter of people in the U.S is at stake ,would you believe me?..What if the source of info is Reuters?? U may bet ur head..

What do u think might cause something so dreadful? now,wait wait wait. I can see your thoughts drift towards disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes...but, this time, for a difference, death might show up it ugly face thru its avian messengers.

Surprised U won't be ...had if u remembered this(tried to emulate Yoda,my favorite star wars character..:) ..More abt the news ova here.

Having read that, would u start seriously thinkin' abt heading bak to India if u are in da US currently?;)

bloggin out
krishna

An Escape Into Nature

2005-06-21T23:21:00.000-07:00

It was a lovely saturday morning with clear blue skies when I and my roomies' walked out of our stacked up apartment complex. Our destination..Sabine Wildlife Refuge ..
It was gonna be a 150 mile drive down to the Gulf Coast.

Little did we know (or shuld i say cared to know)abt wat's installed for us when we hit the un-interesting highway to Lake Charles ,a place pretty close to the park. All we wanted was a stress-relieving escape from our daily modus operandi.

As we took LA-27 from Lake Charles and drove like 15 mins from there, we got totally impressed by the country side and the swamps. All of a sudden, the ruthless humdrum of our ride was kicked-off.

I was wondering wat was so different abt the place that made it so pleasing. It was partly because of the absence of any sort of a man-made object. No billboards, no buildings ,very few people,nothing except grasslands, swamps ,flora ,fauna and nature untouched.

Well,,we were already having fun..but there was more to come...We reached Sabine arnd mid-morning.Let me try and put in words the aura of the place..In the center of grass lands and swamps there stood the reserves' office girded by lovely trees that were adorned by Spanish mosses as they hung 5 feet from the branches.

Disappointment Amidst Euphoria

The fauna of the place was a huge disappointment. The place is supposed to be an alligator alley with lots of different kinds of birds. We hoped to see at least a few of 'em as we started the 1.5 mile nature trail but to our ill-luck they preferred to stay away from the hot sun (and from us) that was already taking the mercury up. We managed to spot a baby alligator deep underneath a shrub in the swamp and the mundane Red-Winged Black birds' that seemed to be following us all the way thru' the trail..:(

Towards Blue Waters..

Yeah,,we decided to head towards a beach called as the Rutherford Beach which is like
25 miles from Sabine.From our past knowledge and from the comments of a couple that walked along with us in Sabines' nature trail, we concluded that most beaches in Louisiana are atypical and they shuld SUCK. But hey,,who cares man ...at least for the sake of adventure and for getting to see the blue waves of the ocean, we decided to head towards the gulf.

We had to wait for another irksome half-hour b4 we are let into a barge that would get us us and our car to the other side of the Calcasieu lake that flushes into the Gulf. Apparently disgusted by the setback, I decided to take a walk around. I spotted a cow with horns turned up.Time to take a picture.

Nothing would stop us now from hitting the beach after that and It was not so long b4 that .We got all set to have some Hydrofun but we were thwarted 'gain by a billboard that had an advisory for swimming ,owing to the increasing amounts of bacteria.As we walked over the beach sand, there was even more disappointment..this time not failing to get any worser.The waters were devoid of any blue.In fact, they were murky.We would'nt hang arnd there for long b4 we head back home.

Finally, we would reach bak home after passing thru a heavy thunderstorm.The trip ,tho' lacking much excitement in the latter half was nonetheless relaxing and rejuvenating to our minds

bloggin out
krishna

Speakin abt Generations....and..(ahem)fallacies

2005-06-18T19:36:00.000-07:00

Whom did i refer to whenenver I used the term "Gen-x"?

I was refering to the current generation of folks (people that are pretty much of the same age group as mine) and in particular , folks that don't bother to give a damn ( so easily ) about all the kool stuff that our traditional has got.It's simply uncool for them.They prefer things that are currently in vogue.Well,That was my viewpoint.

But,holy smokes,...Little did i know that I was actually misusing the term and I seek an apology for that :) Sorry Guys!.At least Technically speaking, the term that I should have been using is Gen-Y(or Generation Y). Equally surprised huh?..Jump onto this to know wat am talkin abt..

Credits to Sriram for questioning about my usage that actually got me to know my fallacy.

bloggin' out

krishna

Remembering The Maestro

2005-06-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Being a Music fanatic, I have always had a great passion for Carnatic Music.Understandably,Not everyone can get 2 enjoy the symphonies' of this form of music. Just like any other form of music, carnatic music is also artist driven. For eg. U might like listening to guitar riffs ,it's because u might have been inspired by artists like Pink Floyd and Dire Straits ( just an e.g)

In a similar manner, when i say that I enjoy listening to carnatic music, it's simply because I was inspired by the man in the picture below.Thanks to my parents that did a great job by instilling stuff of this caliber right from my younger days.

Madurai Mani Iyer- The Nada Yogi

Popularly known to his fan group as Madhura Mani , Ganakaladhara Madurai Mani Iyer is not just another Carnatic Musician. Despite his physical ailment, he has captured the hearts of many people by his style of rendering krithis.So,what's so special about the music of this person ,a quality that even forces a pass by rikshawala to stand by and listen to his Kutcheri (concert)?

1. Simplicity

In these days when it is not hard to find even highly trained musicicans struggle a lot to render the simplest of the krithis, U are awe-struck when u listen to Madurai Mani as he non-chalantly renders even the toughest of raagas.

2.Shudham (Purity)

One remarkable quality MMI possesed is his ability to preserve the Raga Lakshanam(Quality of the Raga). U wudnt't find him let go of the swaras' haywire(abaswaram).

3. Swaras

Playing around with the Saptha Swaras(Sa ri ga..) while preserving the quality of the raga is not an easy task. MMI is a master of weaving swaras.His Sarvalaghu style(principal basis of a tala) of rendering swaras is a quality possesed by very few artists like M.S Subbulakshmi.

Some of my favorite songs of MMI include

1.Kana Kan Kodi Vendum ( Kamboji raga)
2.Vallabha Nayakasya (Begada)
3.Yochana Kamala Lochana (Durbar)
4.Meenakshi Memudum Dehi (Purvi Kalyani)
5.Sahasrakara Mandithe (Vachaspathi)
6.Kaa Vaa Vaa (Varali) ...the list keeps going

A note to Gen-X:
Appreciating the value of traditional and pure carnatic music takes some time. Initially, u wudn't like the sounds because ur ears might have got tuned to lots of different adulterated forms of music. Hence, U need to be patient to truly admire the masters like MMI.Try to get the hang of it.

U can read more about MMI here. Don't fail to check out the music downloads. U can also find more downloads over here and here

Have Fun

bloggin out
krishna

Related Artists:

Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagawathar, Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Alathur Brothers, Maharajhapuram Viswanatha Iyer.

A Call to Gen-X

2005-06-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

"Wat do we seek out of this life on Earth?" ....how much more philosophical can a question get? ..despite being aware that such a query will fend off many of the generation X from reading any further, I intend to investigate it hoping that some of u curious folks would reckon such an attempt to be rational.

Simply put, we all seek Peace of mind. So, what is this "Peace of Mind" and How does it influence the way we live our lives?

Am gonna TRY and keep things crisp and clean here. So. Cringe not..and keep reading...:)

At any given point, our mind desires something (can be just about anything) and if we are skilled enuf to meet to its requirement ,we are pacified ,else, we continue our quest to conquer wat it wants. We are not totally certain about the results but we continue our quest hoping that the day will come..Note that this is a continual process.Orite,When does this search end?.. It happens , when we are totally fed up with life ,when we wud seek nothing but everlasting sleep or when we get 2 realize that certain things are pre-destined and are not meant for us (based on our karma) but as humans bound by our actions, the thirst for acquiring it would still remain buried deep inside continuing to bother us in some faintest way or other,which essentially means lack of piece in mind .

Having said that, It's absolutely sane to think that no one cannot always have peace of mind in this world .Of course, we are not meant to have it always as humans. I know,I know,,u ask me.."y are u telling us sumthin that's been preached ova and ova by countless people?"

Oh yeah..despite being preached relentlessly, have we learn't our lessons? We try our best in every possible way from attaining peace by making ourselves slaves of desires.Is there sumthin' that can be done abt it? Yes, there are extremely complex work arounds provided by the vedic scriptures that basically center around realizing (not just the knowledge) the self or the Brahman ,which is more than a gargantuan quest not easily accessible to a normal human but to people who transform themselves to perfect yogis by constantly seeking the true self.

Coming to point,the path to peace of mind (Real Peace of mind) is multifolded

1. Knowledge about it.

2. Preparing ourselves for it by fine-tuning(purifying) our current nature by installing devotion for God in us ,if it is absent, and asking him to show us the right way to reach the Self(or peace of mind or God). This is like asking your teacher about how to become as good as himself or a better person than him.

3. Putting in efforts to reach the pinnacle of the realization and attainment of self (Mukthi or incessant peace of mind).

Of the three phases ,only the last step is really that difficult ..but in order to reach the peak of the mountain of life ,u need to first hit its base camp.

I am often dumbfound by the extent to which the current generation is ignorant about this very knowledge.Practicising Spirituality is something that is on a different and higher plane than just knowing spirituality.

So, my fellow young minds, it is high time we realize the importance of hitting base camp at least before we grow old when we will have hoards of idle time to achieve the real elusive goal. Please note that this wouldn't give u the title of a "Spiritual Person" or a yogi.

So,let's march forward in our quest by seeking to know about it,believe it,trust it and by choosing to perform noble-actions in order to purify ourselves.Compassion for fellow beings (including animals )and helping the needy ones are two such noble actions.

so, the bottom line is , "Let us not befool ourselves by preferring not to know about what is really happening around us and let the world take on over us"

As a final note,Let us always remember the mahavakya from the Upanishads ,"Aham Bramasmi" ( I am the Brahman) and seek to become that true form of ours,a form that has got peace writen all over it.

bloggin out

krishna

Discovering the OpenSource Beauty

2005-06-12T14:14:00.000-07:00

Note: This blog is a bit lengthy and I request ur patience to read this.

Today I did a really wonderful thing or I should say I was tempted to do it.

On my way back to work after having my lunch on a calm afternoon, I thought it would be great if I spent some time in solitude . So, instead of habitually walking pass the lobby and pressing the elevator button to reach my workplace(something that I do zillion times a day), I stopped by the entrance of the lobby and I sat down in one of the wooden benches laid over a raised platform, amidst the trees and right beside the building.

In a few minutes , I was witnessing the beauty of a totally different world, a world that knows nothing about what is happening around it. It knows nothing about wat we(humans) are doing in this world and in fact it is totally nescient:) . It just stays right there and does its job ..the job of standing still and sheltering many other worlds that are not just the same as it is but abuzz with seemingly incessant activity.

As u might have already guessed, I was talking about a mundane tree,something that might get the least attention among students of my age (for that matter, anybody) including myself 'till now . We'd rather prefer ogling at gurlz ( am talkin abt guys..my apologies for being a bit gender sepecific) which, of course ,isn't something supernatural. Probably its because of the absence of them around the campus (as it is spring break .Thanks to their paucity),my attention got redirected to this tree,which ,by then would have felt proud if it had senses that someone is admiring its beauty.

so,,wat was so beautiful about the tree?

1. Firstly, the tree ,by its virtue, was magnificent. It was a giant tree with many branches covered by some sort of a tree climber.

2. As it was a bright afternoon, the tree was shimmering with the glaze of sunlight gracefully descending from the sky.

3. The leaves of the tree were tango-ing around whenever they heard the music of an occasional breeze.

4. Different kinds of birds were making melodic tones as they were hovering around the trees without any protocol defined for them to abide to ( unlike us).

Like this , I can keep on narrating the elegant and subtle beauties as I see them.

At this point, u might me tempted to ask ,"Hang on dude..So, wat are u trying to tell us here??Everybody spends time with nature but its simply because u were jobless and u had time u were able to enjoy it. "

It is very true that we like to hang around in parks and lakes whenever we find time. But do we really enjoy the beauty??? May be some of u guys really do but am pretty sure that there may also be a lot of folks that don't. Going to parks is one thing and really enjoying its beauty is a whole 'nother thing but from my experience today, I really don't find a necessity for us to go to parks and enjoy nature.Nature's beauty is boundless.Its Open Source. So, let's try to find ourselves out of the mundane work we do and get 2 enjoy this timeless beauty whenever possible and not restrict ourselves to hanging arnd in parks ,beaches and bla bla bla

As a final note b4 I quit, this experience of mine triggered some baffling thing in me,something that I'd like to conceal 'till my next few posts for I have already stretched out this blog and because I am on the look out for answers b4 I can write about it.

Also,I am open to both constructive and destructive criticisms from u guys.Please do leave a comment about it below.

blogging out

krishna

Not all Open Source things are meant to be Geeky

Trust me .. U can read this post

2005-06-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

"
i cdnuolt blveiee taht i cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht i was rdanieg.
the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mind is amazanig. aoccdrnig to a rscheearch taem at cmabrigde uinervtisy, it deosnt mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. the rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. amazanig huh? yaeh and yuo awlyas thohgut slpeling was ipmorantt."

Surprised Huh?

This is due to the Primacy and the Recency effect. So, What does this imply? and How does this phenomenon could actually be used? Check that out over here.

Couldn't help myself from blogrobbing..:)

bloggin out

krishna

BioDiesel To The Rescue

2005-06-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

Extracting Diesel from plants..? Aren't you reminded of this scam that turned out to become a spotlight of the media in India sometime around the turn of the century? So was I when I skimmed thru' the title of this article.

As u might have already checked out the article,for heavens sake, there is no school drop out involved in the seemingly exciting prospective of extracting diesel from plants.Thanks to the researchers from the University of Wisconsin.

If the researchers manage to scale up their technique , we would be witnessing an amazing change in trend in the automobile industry for the good of our enviroment.Internal combustion engines in the commercial cars in the US would have to be obviated and replaced with Diesel Engine that would spew out far less pollutants.

It feels great to see something happening that might well be the rescuer (at least to an extent) of the rottening environment.

bloggin' out

krishna

Tym 2 grab som kewl lingo

2005-06-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

som kewl info 4 all u lingo frEkz.

How abt a nifty on9 tool dat cooks ^ hot lingo 4 ur txt msgz??

"Transl8it" iz d tool dat duz aL d cooking .u cn also cvert lingo txt bak 2 normL eng.

Kewl indeed? Ain't it

havN sed aL dat , I relly do Xspec most of u guys wud actually b tempted 2 git DIS post cvertD 2 pln eng by d tool..hmm..Not a bad idea @ aL

bloggin' out
krishna

Credits 2 : Transl8It 4 doin da cookin job and Life Hacker 4 providn d actual info

The Red Tide - Ain't No Martian Phenomenon

2005-06-06T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Red Tide

U might be wondering about the possibilities of such a thing happening on earth and hence i uploaded the pic above to convice u guys about a truly remarkable and bothersome phenomenon.

The Cause -> Excessive growth of red algae that causes exponential bacterial growth,which inturn causes fishes to suffocate and die due to lack of oxygen

The Consequences -> Stench odor all over beaches...imagine,..u are on a fun trip to LA and u are forced to stay indoors.

Click here and here,if u wanna know more abt this tres bizarre stuff

blogging out
krishna

Never venture out when u see the ocean red -Krishna

Nada Brahmam

2005-06-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

I am and have always been a guy with a great zest for music. Despite being attracted to a wide spectrum of music ,I always enjoy listening to carnatic music more than any other form of music .

So, what is so special in carnatic music? Is it because the songs were the works of the great composers like the Saint Tyagarajha, Muthuswami Dikshithar and Syama Sastri?Even there were great composers of Western Music like Mozart and Beethoven.

Is it because they are composed in magnificient ragas? ...Even there are lots of songs ,especially in indian filmi music that are rendered on a plethora of raagas.

or Is it because of the trained musicians that render the songs?? ...Musicians do enhance our listening experience especially if the song is rendered by an ace musician , but thats an additional add-on.

What I think distinguishes and epitomizes Carnatic Music from others is the abundance of devotion. When divine music of this sort is rendered with devotion by a musician, the qualtity of the music is exalted.

Dikshithar's Meenakshi Memudum dehi (especially the one rendered by Madurai Mani Iyer) and Tyagarajha's Jaganadhanandha karaka are two of such innumerous krithis.

The apt medley of devotion , the raga bhava and the musicians' adeptness in rendering the song is the reason behind the experience that takes us to bliss.This experience that kindles the spiritual awakening in us can only be gotten thru' Carnatic Music-The Nada Brahmam.

enjoy the divine music
blogging out
krishna
Is there a sacred path than music and bhakti?". "O Mind, salute the gods of the seven notes" -Saint Tyagarajha

Tath Tvam Asi (Thou Art That)

2005-06-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

hello folks,

U might already be wondering what the title is .Some of u guys might have no clue about it .Some of u might have already known a great deal about it but I guess most of u guys might have heard about it but have no clear picture about what this famous saying tries to convey. So was I 'till now.

O'rite, no more suspense...

Tath Vam Asi is one of the six MahaVakyas that Upanishads of the Vedic System and is perhaps the most popular of them.Other Mahavakyas can be found here. So, What is is so great about this ?

"Thou Art That" implies that we(Jeevathma) are all parts and parcels of the Lord (Paramathma) as it is artistically conveyed as "Paramaathmudu Jeevaathmudu" in Saint Tyagaraja's Krithi, JnanaMosagaradha in the extremely fitting Purvi Kalyani Raga.

u might be already asking "wait a sec ,dude.. u mean to say that we are gods??" Not I,but the Upanishads.

Let me try and explain this briefly. According to two popular school of thoughts of ancient india, VishishtAdvaita dares to explain us the subtle Truth conveyed in the phrase. For conveying some meaningful info to u guy ,I am forced to introduce a few vedic terms.

Brahman: also refered as the Paramaathma ,the ever-lasting reality.
Chit: A pure being that is sensitive
Achit: material world
Karma: Actions

So says the Veda, " Before creation, there existed only the Brahman composing of Chit and Achit.Brahman decides to expand its components and so it expanded chit by giving it form,name etc according to its karma. Then Brahman got into chit and Achit".Hence,the Vedas say that Brahman is the material cause of the universe.hmm,,dont u sense something fishy going on???so, do i.:)..

If the Brahman got into the chit and achit it should also be subjected to the influence of the karma. But the Vedas proclaim that the Brahman is "Untouchable".Sure it is 'coz the Brahman that got into Chit and Achit is not the same as Brahman itself. It is the Brahman with expanded Chit and Achits.Hence what actually expands and contracts is Brahman's forms and not Brahman itself.

Thus,"We(You) are same as the Brahmin expanded" is the actual essence of "Tath Tvam Asi".Having said this, I'm still curious about y brahman wanted to expand in the first place?may be he wanted to see people trying so hard to understand some simple universal truth that has been conveyed in the vedas....just kidding..but I will be certainly be interested in knowing what u guys have to say? do leave me a comment

More detailed explanation can be found here

blogging out
krishna

Great indeed are the Gods who have sprung out of Brahman- Atharva Veda

How sweet can a lullaby get?

2005-05-30T13:55:00.001-07:00

I'd like to forewarn all u guys that don't have ears for classical music.Nonetheless,I highly recommend u to go ahead if u are one of those adventurous types.

A lullaby is a soothing song that lulls a child to sleep.

In this blog, I present u all with one of the sweetest ever lullabies u can get 2 hear.Take my words.

So,b4 wasting 'nymore time,here is the link for the song.

Now for some quick info about the song and its fame.

The song,Omanathinkal Kidavo, is one of the exquisite works of Irayimman Thampi,the maternal uncle and the court artist of the highly esteemed Maharajah Of Travancore, Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma.It is believed that Irayimman

Thampi composed the song for putting the new born baby(Swathi Thirunal) to sleep. No wonder the rajah turned out to become one of the greatest composers and musicians of all time ,composing over 500 songs in Sanskrit,Hindustani and Telugu.

All u technically inclined people , u might wanna know that the song is composed in Kurinji Raga and watch out for the English Translation of the song when visiting the link.U might be fascinated by the lyrical splendor.

Click here to know more about Swathi Thirunal and his compostions. The website has a pleasant surprise for all u classical music aficionados'.

Put the smile up on ur face always
blogging out
krishna

More Company for Spirit and Opportunity

2005-05-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, u guessed right.

The 2 successful martian bots are gonna get another partner in the name of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) by March 2k6. NASA has planned to launch MRO by August 2005 and they believe it is the best time to shoot up another bot to the red planet.

Earth and Mars and getting closer everyday at the rate of 23,500 mph and they gonna get real close by October 31 when we'll be seperated only by a distance of 43 million miles when compared to the average dist of 140 million miles i.e. seperated by more than one third of the usual distance.Can't get any closer ,right?........Hence,NASA believes sending a craft a month or 2 before the closest approach will be the best time. ie by August.

Click Here to read more about this.This official NASA site also offers a podcast if u prefer listening to.Click Here to know more about podcasting

so,,why wait??.go get ur looksticks ready guys..

bloggin' out
krishna

My First Blog

2005-05-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

hello world,,This is me, Krishna.

This is my first time with blogs.

As they have always been,Blogs , are excellent mediums for opening up the thoughts that are burried deep inside

every one of us.

I intend to use this blog of mine as a medium that I can use to share my thoughts and experiences in this god-gifted life(both real and e-life) of mine with every one of u guys.

So, wats the catch 4 me? u might ask ,just like any other rambling blogseeker.. well...all i can tell is...get into

this world-o-mine and u will get 2 know y u shuld'nt have stepped in here,...jus kiddin..btw, feel free to

explore..and have fun..

oops..have i forgotten sumthin??? oh yeah,,,i think i realize that i shuld have said sumthin abt myselves..orite,its

always better to be late that never ever..

once -a- gain ,this is me Krishna( a.k.a krishnamoorthy ramakrishnan a.k.a. kris a.k.a. Pat kris,a seemingly kewl moniker given by one of my friends:)).

I am currently pursuing my masters in good-ol- comp sci at Univ of Louisiana @ Lafayette, USA. Did my undergrads in IT back home in india , at madurai kamaraj university ,to be specific. ny other info abt me that u might wanna know ,just get in tuch wid me, and i'll be more than just happy to letcha know 'til u get bored of the my very name.:)

thats all folks i guess i wished to say in this very first blog-o -mine.. Do keep checkin bak , coz i would be updating my blog often (hopefully:) ),dunno,how often tho'..but 4 sure if there's sumthin that's there in my mind to spew out,am gonna make sure that u guys get 2 eat it ..Hence, for the sake of u wonderful people out there, I pray bhagwan that i shud always get useful thoughts.:)

and

Keep the smile in your face

blogging out
krishna