Divine Moments...700..!

Puri. November 2009.

My daily dose of the Holy Gita came from Chapter 5 - Karma Sannyasa Yoga yesterday, May 20 2010. The chapter which talks about Action & Renunciation, with a generous sprinkling of tongue-twisters, is pure honey to chant.

Verse 18 puts forth the qualities of a Pandit - a learned person or a person filled with wisdom - who qualifies to attain Eternity or Moksha. Roughly translated, it means "One who has the equality of vision to see the existence of the Supreme Lord in everything and everyone - in a brahmin who is well versed in the Vedas, in a cow, in an elephant, in a dog and in the animal-eating humans".

This verse took me to Puri instantly. During one of my official trips to Orisssa, I was fortunate to have a day at Puri. The moment I heard the schedule, I was all excited about having a darshan of Lord Jagannath. I also had a grim reminder of my previous visit to the Puri Jagannath temple a few years ago in the peak summer of 2002.

During the 2002 trip, I was not grown up enough to be appreciate the vibes of a holy place, even if it was horribly crowded and as a result noticeably unclean. And, Puri - I remembered - was very unclean, what with the path to the sanctum being slippery because of all the prasadam rice spilled generously. I do not remember anything about the beauty of the idol, but only the tricky walk to the sanctum sanctorum.

So, I programmed myself to fix my mind on the Lord's manifestation this time and not to bother about anything else at the temple. I was also contemplating if I could find enough time and peace to chant the Bhagvad Gita at the temple. Considering that a sampoorna paaraayan of the Gita takes a minimum of 3 and a half hours, if done at a decent pace of chanting, the idea in my head seemed to be a tall order. But I let it linger on.

I reached the temple early in the morning and it made me think if I had gone to a different temple in 2002. The temple is very well-kept and being a lean period of tourism, the crowd was so less. I had a wonderful Darshan, unable to take my eyes off the magnificent idols, with no one to shoo me away from standing right in front of the final steps leading into the innermost part of the sanctum sanctorum. But, I had to attend to office work too. Krishna was looking at me with His BIG eyes: 700 verses...mmmm?

A replica of the idols of Puri, ISKCON - Hyderabad.

I resolved to return back to the temple in the evening. But, by the time I finished all the work with a bit of touring, and made it to the temple, it was 8 pm. The temple closes by 10:30 and I had 2.30 hours for 700 verses. Another 30 minutes went by in finishing the circumambulation of all the deities. Finally, I reached the place (an open patio) outside the main sanctum sanctorum, specially marked for paaraayan, at 8:30 having made up my mind to chant as much as possible and as fast-paced as possible.

Though it was cold, not wanting to bundle up in my woollen scarf which lied on my lap, I had my silky duppatta over my head. There were a few others sitting nearby and doing various chants. A kitten was loitering around. Yes, kitten. I was not even 20 verses into His 700, this kitten found me. Trying to concentrate on chanting, my efforts in shooing the kitten away went in vain. The kitten kept climbing in out of my lap, making me wonder if its claws were ripping threads out of my silk-soft dress.

It was getting colder and the crowd inside the temple grew thinner. So, I decided to go inside and sit right in front of Him to continue the chants, free from the distraction offered by the kitten. There were about 50-60 people scattered inside and I sat near a huge pillar. Within a few minutes, the kitten found me among all those people, and continued to play around as before.

No, the kitten wouldnt settle for the woollen scarf I laid out for its sake, on the floor beside me. The smart kitten and me thus reached the 18th verse of the 5th Chapter. The moment I chanted verse 18, divinity dawned on me to appreciate His presence. I stopped chanting for a good long minute. The kitten is His manifestation too and will I be shooing Him away? By the time I finished Chapter 5, the kitten having done its alloted job of teaching me a lesson, pulled my scarf to the floor and settled down into a nap, nuzzling in my feet. Throughout Chapters 6 - 18, it kept shifting its position floor-lap-knee-lap-floor-lap..., but never moved away. The kitten was not distracting anymore but aided my concentration.

The temple doors started closing. It was 10.40pm when I finished Chapter 18. By the time I started my final prayers thanking Him for the day and for the 700 verses, THE KITTEN stretched its luxurious stretch in all glory, and moved away when I finished thanking my Teacher - Shree Gurubhyo Namaha. Harih OM !

No doubt that am going to remember THE KITTEN through out my life, for revealing the profoundness of Verse 5.18. And also the moment of revelation !

Divine Moments #2.

Indian Lady...

My big boss does not like loud music. Which mother does, anyway?

The past weekend had in itself one of those rare evenings which I get for myself। On my own and no chare that can't wait. Rarer is my mood to check on the volume controls of my home theatre.

So, given the time and mood for some blaring music (that's an oxymoron?), I played an old collection of foot-tapping numbers. In fact, I did more than tapping my foot. My heels ached till next afternoon from my dancing-to-glory.

Long after the music and dance and ahces are over, my cranial jukebox is still playing Remo Fernandez's song...

Indian lady, you've come a long way baby...
भारतीय नारी अंडे से बहार तू निकली..
இந்தியப்பெண்மணி இமயம் தொட்டுவிட்ட ராணி நீ...

This song is almost a decade old.

Much ancient is the Lord's Song:

कीर्ती: श्रीर्वाक च नारीणां स्मृतिर्मेधा धृतिः क्षमा

(Bhagvad Gita 10:34)

Keerti - fame, Shree - wealth/beauty, Vak-perfect speech, Smriti-memory, Medha-intellect, Dhriti-patience, Kshama-compassion.

The 10th Chapter as such contains loads of proclamations by Krishna declaring His presence in the best of each thing in this universe - for example - of the rivers He is the Ganges, of the animals He is the lion and so on. In this verse, Krishna lists 7 of the best qualities of womankind.

Women are indeed special. And, Indian lady...let's look at this list:

• Pratiba Patil - President of India


• Meira Kumar - Speaker of the Lok Sabha


• Nirupama Rao - Foreign Secretary


• Mamta Banerjee - Minister of Railways


• Tessy Thomas - Director of Missile Project


• Indira Jaising - Additional Solicitor General

Not bad...At all. But why 20,000 rapes? What is the logic behind the tilt? And that is only the number of reported cases of circa 2008...Why women are looked upon as consumable substance? Why not as women of substance?

Chennai's summer and slang...

I dont remember being a pig. If I did, I would also remember that pigs dont sweat and I wont be saying I sweat like a pig. It's late June and still no signs of the mercury coming down. Well, I am in Chennai after all and I should not be complaining. This place is second only to beloved Calcutta in humidity. Though the evenings - aided by the coastal breeze, are better than those of Calcutta, mornings are ungodly....when you have to tackle the kitchen & laundry and get ready for a long workday.

Once I finally manage to cool off some sweat sitting under the fan for a quick breakfast, I gear up for the 9.5 kilometre ride to my workplace, putting on oversized sunglasses and tying a bandana matching my outfit, as closely as possible. Now comes the fun part of summer.

I must have done something really right in my previous janma (birth) to earn this ride - 4.5 kilometres of completely shaded avenues, with a generous helping of trees in full bloom. 200 metres of hot sun from my house, I enter this avenue and feel greatly blessed. Not a single day passes by without me wondering how people could so heartlessly cut down trees...

For the first 4.5 kilometres I do not mind the bad mad traffic, thanks to the shade of Indian lauburnum, flame of the forest, bougainville....but mostly albizia saman aka thoongu moonji or raintree...and the breeze no airconditioner in this world can simulate. But the next 5 or so kilometres...ooof...hotter than a furnace (if you had been inside one!)

But the end-of-summer-sky presents its own splendour - clouds, clouds, clouds....amazing blue and white and of course, grey. Fabulous patterns, some shining, some not too glossy. Wow ! What I would not give in return, if only I could just roll on a hillside meadow and look at the morning sky, instead of riding to work sandwiched between stupid cars with airconditioners!

And the evening sky, if only am lucky to start from work just in time to see the dusk settling down, is equally, or may be more enchanting than the cloud-filled mornings. What a riot of colours! What is that technical spec of 256 million colours you get on mobile displays and monitors. It wont be nowhere near the number of colours in Nature's palette. Once upon a time, I believed that all the fancy colours like Mauve, Fuschia, Magenta are all some chemical combinations invented experimentally or accidentally by paint factories. I got shocked out of that notion when I went snorkelling in the Andamans. Oh, what splendid colors of fish and corals!

Coming back to Chennai bike ride, how I wish I had one of my friends or my mom riding with me to enjoy the beauty of God Nature...I even look around for a friendly-looking fellow-rider if I could point a finger to the sky and say with a smile - hey look - and get a smile in return. Mmmmm...everybody's tired at the twilight and just about everybody (except a few) is so keen on breaking traffic rules to reach home early. No time for a peek at the skies and its colours.

It's just me looking at the summer skies and yearning for a meadow to roll upon. 5 summers ago, I did exactly that. Roll on a meadow, somewhere in Himachal Pradesh near the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas. So, everyday - morning and evening - I look at the skies and imagine that I am not riding to work in Chennai but rolling on a meadow in Himachal.

What will you do when you see someone looking at the skies and riding a bike, albeit looking at the road ahead now and then? Oh yes, you are right. Bang on target. That's what the auto-drivers do. Use the choicest of Chennai slang at me for my lousy riding. Thankfully, am good at selective hearing. Or you can even call me half deaf.

Being half deaf I dont know much of Madras Tamizh. Now tell me, what's the very common cuss word in Madras Tamizh? :) 'Kasmaalam'? Mind you, its a Sanskrit word, morphed though. 'Kashmalam' meaning impurity or faintheartedness or illusion or confusion. Interestingly, Lord Krishna utters this word in His very first verse to Arjuna. (Ignoring the one line of indirect speech in the First Chapter of The Holy Gita, wherein He said 'Look at the Kauravas who are lined up for battle').

Here are the first two verses of Lord Krishna (Chapter 2. Verses 2 & 3)...
श्रीभगवानुवाच
कुतस्त्वा कश्मलं इदं विषमे समुपस्थितम
अनार्य जुष्टं अस्वर्ग्यम अकीर्तिकरम अर्जुन (२.२)
क्लैब्यं मा स्म गम: पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते
क्षुद्रं ह्रदयदौर्बल्यं त्याक्त्वोत्तिष्ट परन्तप (२.३)

Kutastvaa kashmalam idam vishame samupasthitam. Anaarya jushtam aswargyam akeertikaram arjuna. Lord Krishna said, O Arjuna, where has this illusion of yours appeared in this moment of crisis? This is not befitting an Aryan, nor conducive to attaining heavenly spheres and is a cause of infamy। (2.2)
Klaibyam maa smagama paartha naitatvayyupapadyate. Kshudram hrdaya daurbalyam tyaktvottishta parantapa. O Partha, do not yield to unmanliness. This is not worthy of you. O scorcher of foes, giving up this weakness of heart, rise up! (2.3)

Spoken like a true teacher! Clearly, some of the choicest words of Sanskrit which are indeed harsh, if looked at, literally. For example 'klaibyam' also means impotence. Was Lord Krishna a little too harsh on Arjuna? Just as harsh as the Chennai summer?

Daily dose of The Holy Gita...

Duty is to vote...... Sometimes, some of the verses keep hammering inside the so-called brain and manifest in all possible ways, even in simple and silly ways. Here's one such verse and a visual manifestation. The index finger that voted in E-2009, pointing at the rising market index.

कर्मण्येवाधिकारास्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन
मा कर्मफल्हेतूर्भूर्मा ते संगोस्त्वकर्मणि
(गीता २:४७)

உன்னுடைய உரிமை செய்யும் காரியம் மட்டுமே. காரியத்தின் முடிவும் பயனும் உன்னுடைய உரிமையல்லவே அல்ல. பயனில் ஆசை செலுத்தி எதையும் செய்யாதே. இதை சொன்னேன் என்று செய்ய வேண்டியன செய்யாமல் சும்மா இருப்பதில் கவனம் செலுத்தாதே. (கீதை 2:47)