To begin with let me congratulate Palghat Shri Raghu for being awarded the Sangeetha Kalanidhi atlast. Something that he should have been given alongside T N Krishnan in the early eighties. But may be his seniority was an issue for Music Academy management. Palghat Raghu, took the music world by storm only during late 50's when he became a regular accompaniment for Shri GNB.
Palghat Raghu is a phenomenon by himself. There are only two kind of rasikas. Ones who love Raghu and ones who don't. And the ones who love him will say he is unparellaled and the others will often have a set of criticisms. Lets take sometime to look back at this great musician. Let me make it clear at this junction that I belong to the first category who feels Raghu Mama is a phenomenon unparellaled. Let it be the Keezhkalam that he plays for rendu kalai chavukka keerthanais or the misra nadai he used to play for some keerthanais anupallavi or the theermanam that he has when he begins a thani avartanam. Raghu Mama's mridangam is something that I have grown up with.
Once a friend of mine commented that Palghat Mani Iyer is Don Bradman (the best right hander) and Palani Subramaniam is David Gower(best left hander). Though I laughed at the comparison, something left me thinking about the whole thing. Raghu mama is the best mix of these two pillars of mridangam. Let it be the weight of the Thoppi or the majesty of his playing. He has made a brilliant blend of the greatness of both the schools which created a niche for himself. He is an artiste who is completely aware of his strengths and weaknesses. He for one understood the fact that he is not someone he is not. He never tried imitating Mani Iyer or Palani blindly (like most others of his generation). And he is also the master strategist in my opinion. When he began his career playing for the likes of GNB he was playing in the resonant Kuchi mridangam. That was the time when Palani died an untimely death and Palghat Mani Iyer was at his best. Palghat Mani iyer of the fifties probably the closest we can find to percussion perfection. So Raghu Mama never tried reminding anyone of his guru. He started playing in the Kuchi Mridangam and started filling the void that palani's demise left. Many accuse raghu mama of not having a great sound. I request all of them to listen to GNB's 1957 Music Academy concert. Raghu mama would have been 29 at that time. He had mastered what is called as the "Idam - valam cherkai" or the balance of the bass and treble of the mridangam. His gumukki was virtually singing Darini thelusu konti along with GNB. For the majority of his career, this had been his forte and he continued playing Kuchi mridangam.When Palghat Mani Iyer slowly started to take the back seat, our man shifted to Kappi Mridangam. And he made the transition unbelievably smooth.
Paatu gyanam was another big strength of Raghu Mama. He knew every varnam and every keerthanai thats sung on a stage. Or atleast he makes it sound like that. Listen to how he plays for the chittai swarams of Seethamma mayamma or thaye thripurasundari. As I am writing this blog, I am listening to him playing for KVN's seethamma mayamma. His skill is at its own class when he plays for keerthanais. And he takes it to another level when he plays for kalpanai swaram. He simply catches the karpanai of the main artist with his brilliant anticipation skills.
KVN and Raghu mama are the Arjuna and Krishna of the modern music era. Such is the aura when KVN sings Endaro Mahanubavulu with Raghu mama playing the keerthanai on the mridangam along. Time and again, this has been repeated for the Srinivasa thava charanams, Samaja Varadas and the ra ra maintis.
As a finishing note, I have a request for the current generation mridangists who admire Raghu mama. Please understand that Raghu mama himself never tried imitating anyone. So try to get the essence of his music in your playing rather than imitating him. Even if you imitate him, please imitate him of the sixties and seventies and not the 90's when he didn't have the luxury of the main artists he had during 60s and 70s.
Hearty Congratulations to Shri Raghu Mama and I am proud to have been associated with this great man musically.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Tamil Brahmins - The best second rate men. Is it True?
I read a lovely blog recently in the following link
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/05/tamil-brahmins-best-second-rate-men-in.html
I completely concur with most things said in that blog. But lets take a minute to look into why they prefer being second rated.
The author had mentioned about the evergreen comparison of Jews and Tamil Brahmins. Hitler, in Mein Kamph, has said Jews are exploiters. They would come to a place developed by someone else and occupy it. Whereas Aryans are Developers. Thet go to a place which is not developed and develop it. Once that place is getting populated by 'Non Aryans', they will move to another place that they can develop. He also said both Jews and Aryans are like a pack of wolves constantly fighting amongst themselves. But when a common pray attracts them or a common threat endangers them, they will unite. Fight the threat or kill the pray and then start fighting amongst them again.
Tamil brahmins are the right fit for hitler's explanation. (though I wouldnt accept on the 'wolf' bit being a tamil brahmin myself..). When Periyar EVR, set out the anti-brahmin movement in Tamilnadu, the TamBrams survived it with some sort of an ease that the jews didnt have when they succumbed to Hitler. Ofcourse there is no comparison between Hitler and Periyar. But both their intent were exactly the same. Hitler's action was much larger. Tambrams had the nack of survival. When government jobs were denied, they excelled in engineering and Accountancy. When that was denied, came the boom of software. Now when that is also being occupied, they have shifted to BPO and KPO.
They prefer being second rated, because they are always under a threat. The fear of survival is always there. The Tambram families are all worried about survival of their lineages. I was lucky to have parents with non tam bram thinking. So I was never pressurised to study hard. But most tambram parents sow the fear of survival deep into the heads of their kids. And the kids respond beautifully by staying atop in the class. But in this process, they have let go of the fabulous Brahminic lifestyle of theirs. Tamil writer Jayakanthan once said (with Periyar on stage) "Even I hate brahmins. Not because they are brahmins. Because they have lost the brahmaneeyam in them".
Now every tambram parent pictures their sons and daughters as potential green carders, or a software professional or some field where they can rake the moolah. How many parents now want their children to learn vedas, or carnatic music or want them to appreciate literature. I am sure every one wants, but no one acts on it. The time that was taken to teach carnatic music is now replaced by tutions. The time I used to get from my dad for reading and appreciating Bharathiyar has been replaced with computer classes and IIT classes. This has resulted in a huge holocaust. the holocast of "class" from brahmins.
I repeatedly feel so bad when I see the younger generation Tamil Brahmins go "gaga" over the brilliance of A.R.Rehman or when they say they don't know how to read tamil. Most tamil brahmin kids now study hindi.
So the bottom line is a curse attached to the community. In karma, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The curseo f Jesus still torments the Jew community. And the curse of suppressed 'other varna' people still torments the Brahmin community and this is just a preview. The main course is yet to come guy..Beware.!!!!!
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/05/tamil-brahmins-best-second-rate-men-in.html
I completely concur with most things said in that blog. But lets take a minute to look into why they prefer being second rated.
The author had mentioned about the evergreen comparison of Jews and Tamil Brahmins. Hitler, in Mein Kamph, has said Jews are exploiters. They would come to a place developed by someone else and occupy it. Whereas Aryans are Developers. Thet go to a place which is not developed and develop it. Once that place is getting populated by 'Non Aryans', they will move to another place that they can develop. He also said both Jews and Aryans are like a pack of wolves constantly fighting amongst themselves. But when a common pray attracts them or a common threat endangers them, they will unite. Fight the threat or kill the pray and then start fighting amongst them again.
Tamil brahmins are the right fit for hitler's explanation. (though I wouldnt accept on the 'wolf' bit being a tamil brahmin myself..). When Periyar EVR, set out the anti-brahmin movement in Tamilnadu, the TamBrams survived it with some sort of an ease that the jews didnt have when they succumbed to Hitler. Ofcourse there is no comparison between Hitler and Periyar. But both their intent were exactly the same. Hitler's action was much larger. Tambrams had the nack of survival. When government jobs were denied, they excelled in engineering and Accountancy. When that was denied, came the boom of software. Now when that is also being occupied, they have shifted to BPO and KPO.
They prefer being second rated, because they are always under a threat. The fear of survival is always there. The Tambram families are all worried about survival of their lineages. I was lucky to have parents with non tam bram thinking. So I was never pressurised to study hard. But most tambram parents sow the fear of survival deep into the heads of their kids. And the kids respond beautifully by staying atop in the class. But in this process, they have let go of the fabulous Brahminic lifestyle of theirs. Tamil writer Jayakanthan once said (with Periyar on stage) "Even I hate brahmins. Not because they are brahmins. Because they have lost the brahmaneeyam in them".
Now every tambram parent pictures their sons and daughters as potential green carders, or a software professional or some field where they can rake the moolah. How many parents now want their children to learn vedas, or carnatic music or want them to appreciate literature. I am sure every one wants, but no one acts on it. The time that was taken to teach carnatic music is now replaced by tutions. The time I used to get from my dad for reading and appreciating Bharathiyar has been replaced with computer classes and IIT classes. This has resulted in a huge holocaust. the holocast of "class" from brahmins.
I repeatedly feel so bad when I see the younger generation Tamil Brahmins go "gaga" over the brilliance of A.R.Rehman or when they say they don't know how to read tamil. Most tamil brahmin kids now study hindi.
So the bottom line is a curse attached to the community. In karma, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The curseo f Jesus still torments the Jew community. And the curse of suppressed 'other varna' people still torments the Brahmin community and this is just a preview. The main course is yet to come guy..Beware.!!!!!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Aaroor Pirandhorku Adiyen
I and my friend drove down to Thiruvaroor on Sunday morning. It was a fabulous morning and surprisingly, not very crowded. We directly ran to the Kamalamba Sannidhi like kids who run behind chocolates and a fabulous painting for Muthuswami Dikshitar welcomed us the HER sannidhi. It was such a pleasurable experience and I wanted to share the little that I understood of the temple.
The vastness of the temple and the kulam are well known to the world. But there a lot of things that might not be very well known to a lot of people. To begin with, Thiruvaroor is considered to be the head quarters of Srividya. The entire temple is nothing but a representation of pranava sadhana. It clearly shows the srividya mantras rituals. There are two famous goddesses in this temple one being Kamalamba and the other being Nilotpalamba. Both their names refer to a flower and both the flowers have tremendous significance in our mythology.
Lets look at Kamalamba now. Mythologically, Kamalamba is Parvati, who is doing Tapas in order to Marry Shiva. She is sitting there in a yogic posture known as kutikasana with her right leg on her left leg. Behind the sannidhi, there is an akshara peetam, which has the 51 letters of sanskrit engraved on it. Sage Durvasha was supposed to have engraved the mathruka beejam on this peetam. And on the left end we can find Adhi saraswathi without a Veenai. So the akshara peetam and akshara devi are next to each other. Kamalamba is facing the north-east which means she is facing the Esanya which itself has a lot of significance. The goddess also has her hip (mudra of a maharani) which is very rare to find. We have the lyrics of the navavarna kritis engraved on the walls out side the temple. The secretive thing about the sannidhi is we have dasa mudra in the sannidhi. I don't know if that could be elaborated but people who know srividya can understand.
Then there is Neelotpalambal. She is standing with a neelotpalam in her hand and he is touching the head of a child. Its symbolically said that its as if she is touching the head of we, the unrefined souls so that we can get gyanam. Kamalamba becomes neelotpalamba after marrying shiva. So the symbolic representation is that, Kamalamba is nothing but the kundalini in our mooladara chakram. (Thiruvaroor itself is nothing but mooladara chakram. Lets get to that later). And once she marry's Shiva, she becomes Neelotpalamba. Neelotpalamba is the representation of the same shakthi once it reaches the sahasrara. And shiva ofcourse is present there as the swaroopam of hamsa mantram.
Though the moolavar is vanmeeka lingam, the main diety is tyagaraja. Its indeed a pleasure to even have a glimpse at him with his full splendour. The 'thirumeni' of the God is a rahasyam there. So they will cover the body with a rose colour cloth. So we can have darshan of the face and feet of the God and his consort Kondi. The sanctum itself is nothing but sree peedam. Since Tyagaraja is supposed to be at the hridaya kamalam of Vishnu, the place behind the sanctum is left empty. (to accomodate the face and head of Vishnu). Even the shodasa ganapathis over there have are significantly 'srividya' here. It begins with Vallaba Ganapathy at the Tyagaraja sannidhi and ends at Kamalamba sannidhi as Uchishta Ganapathi. Tyagaraja here is said to be the swaroopam of Ajapa mantram which is also known as the hamsa mantram.
And now about the massive kamalalayam kulam outside the temple. It occupies a massive 25 acre almost the size of the temple itself. Kamalalayam is on the side of the temple which is supposed to be side where Shiva's head will fall if he lies down as Kamalalayam is nothing but Ganga herself. Once Shiva took the form of a old brahmin and Ambal his wife and went to kamalalayam. The old brahmin slipped and fell into Kamalalayam and is drowning. A lot of people came to save him, but the wife said that my husband is a very pure man, so only who has no sins behind them should save him. No one dared to save him now as everyone obviously have done sins in their life. Then came sundararar who asked whats going on. When the situation was explained, he jumped into the kamalalayam, had three muzhukkus and then lifted the brahmin and saved him. (The message is that if you bathe in Kamalalayam your paavam is supposed to be cleansed). Then Tyagaraja revealed himself and gave his 'thozhamai' to sundarar.
One more spooky thing before I finish this article. There is a 'chaya rahitha lingam"' here. During evenings the sun will be straight opposite to that lingom. So when one does the darshan, he/she's shadow will fall on the lingam. If he can see his own shadow, he is safe. If he could not see his shadow, that means he is gonna die in three months. This is directly connected to the art of chaya purusha lakshanam and hence many mortals dont master chaya purusha lakshanam, this is kinda of a privillege given to them. So in those days, the thalamai priest will come in the evenings and make sure his nizhal is visible. The day it becomes invisible, he will get ready for a hand over to his sucessor. Well, I did try with the available light and no surprises...My nizhal was visible..
And the ending note is that thiruvaroor is nothing but representation of Mooladhara and the slogan "Thiruvaroor pirandhorku ellarkum adiyen" means that we salute the kundalini thats born out of mooladharam.
The vastness of the temple and the kulam are well known to the world. But there a lot of things that might not be very well known to a lot of people. To begin with, Thiruvaroor is considered to be the head quarters of Srividya. The entire temple is nothing but a representation of pranava sadhana. It clearly shows the srividya mantras rituals. There are two famous goddesses in this temple one being Kamalamba and the other being Nilotpalamba. Both their names refer to a flower and both the flowers have tremendous significance in our mythology.
Lets look at Kamalamba now. Mythologically, Kamalamba is Parvati, who is doing Tapas in order to Marry Shiva. She is sitting there in a yogic posture known as kutikasana with her right leg on her left leg. Behind the sannidhi, there is an akshara peetam, which has the 51 letters of sanskrit engraved on it. Sage Durvasha was supposed to have engraved the mathruka beejam on this peetam. And on the left end we can find Adhi saraswathi without a Veenai. So the akshara peetam and akshara devi are next to each other. Kamalamba is facing the north-east which means she is facing the Esanya which itself has a lot of significance. The goddess also has her hip (mudra of a maharani) which is very rare to find. We have the lyrics of the navavarna kritis engraved on the walls out side the temple. The secretive thing about the sannidhi is we have dasa mudra in the sannidhi. I don't know if that could be elaborated but people who know srividya can understand.
Then there is Neelotpalambal. She is standing with a neelotpalam in her hand and he is touching the head of a child. Its symbolically said that its as if she is touching the head of we, the unrefined souls so that we can get gyanam. Kamalamba becomes neelotpalamba after marrying shiva. So the symbolic representation is that, Kamalamba is nothing but the kundalini in our mooladara chakram. (Thiruvaroor itself is nothing but mooladara chakram. Lets get to that later). And once she marry's Shiva, she becomes Neelotpalamba. Neelotpalamba is the representation of the same shakthi once it reaches the sahasrara. And shiva ofcourse is present there as the swaroopam of hamsa mantram.
Though the moolavar is vanmeeka lingam, the main diety is tyagaraja. Its indeed a pleasure to even have a glimpse at him with his full splendour. The 'thirumeni' of the God is a rahasyam there. So they will cover the body with a rose colour cloth. So we can have darshan of the face and feet of the God and his consort Kondi. The sanctum itself is nothing but sree peedam. Since Tyagaraja is supposed to be at the hridaya kamalam of Vishnu, the place behind the sanctum is left empty. (to accomodate the face and head of Vishnu). Even the shodasa ganapathis over there have are significantly 'srividya' here. It begins with Vallaba Ganapathy at the Tyagaraja sannidhi and ends at Kamalamba sannidhi as Uchishta Ganapathi. Tyagaraja here is said to be the swaroopam of Ajapa mantram which is also known as the hamsa mantram.
And now about the massive kamalalayam kulam outside the temple. It occupies a massive 25 acre almost the size of the temple itself. Kamalalayam is on the side of the temple which is supposed to be side where Shiva's head will fall if he lies down as Kamalalayam is nothing but Ganga herself. Once Shiva took the form of a old brahmin and Ambal his wife and went to kamalalayam. The old brahmin slipped and fell into Kamalalayam and is drowning. A lot of people came to save him, but the wife said that my husband is a very pure man, so only who has no sins behind them should save him. No one dared to save him now as everyone obviously have done sins in their life. Then came sundararar who asked whats going on. When the situation was explained, he jumped into the kamalalayam, had three muzhukkus and then lifted the brahmin and saved him. (The message is that if you bathe in Kamalalayam your paavam is supposed to be cleansed). Then Tyagaraja revealed himself and gave his 'thozhamai' to sundarar.
One more spooky thing before I finish this article. There is a 'chaya rahitha lingam"' here. During evenings the sun will be straight opposite to that lingom. So when one does the darshan, he/she's shadow will fall on the lingam. If he can see his own shadow, he is safe. If he could not see his shadow, that means he is gonna die in three months. This is directly connected to the art of chaya purusha lakshanam and hence many mortals dont master chaya purusha lakshanam, this is kinda of a privillege given to them. So in those days, the thalamai priest will come in the evenings and make sure his nizhal is visible. The day it becomes invisible, he will get ready for a hand over to his sucessor. Well, I did try with the available light and no surprises...My nizhal was visible..
And the ending note is that thiruvaroor is nothing but representation of Mooladhara and the slogan "Thiruvaroor pirandhorku ellarkum adiyen" means that we salute the kundalini thats born out of mooladharam.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
An evening with Anand
July 16 2005.
Probably the most memorable date in my life for sporting reasons as my love for chess attained a new moment of glory. 'Vidyasagar' conducted a Simul Exhibition with Vishwanathan Anand for raising funds for their school and I was one of the lucky few to be present there and play with the super GM himself. Reaching that date was quite messy for me as I didnt even have 24 hours notice to prepare. I reached Chennai in a hurry and got ready to meet him. In the process I travelled half way to the hall without my invitation, came back home, picked it up and went back again.
I rehearsed a lot in my mind to talk to Anand because obviously if I get to speak a few sentences I should consider myself lucky. By 7 pm Anand had arrived and to my surprise, he was completely the opposite. He was so unassuming and so approachable. He first came in and began the 10 games he was playing simultaneously on the internet with some strong players(unlike me). And he also answered the PRESS. Meanwhile he started playing with children.
Then there came the chance for the audience to ask questions. As usual the chess illiterate public began with stupid questions such as "whats your most favourite chess piece"(the most irritating question one could ever ask a chess player)...Then one sensible chap asked him about his new academy and Anand explained his plans. A couple of brits had come there as well and one asked him which is his favourite food - Paella or Biriyani (given that Anand lives in Spain)..Anand smiled and said he loves both. Then my turn came and I asked him about the "legend vs Amateur" tourney of 1987 and his experience with the world champions that he beat at such a young age. Anand was thrilled and spoke about the tourney in length. He had defeated Spassky, Tal, Larssen and drew with Smyslov.
By that time, he accepted a draw on the internet to our surprise as me and my colleague could find a win for him. So we reluctantly approached him and asked him if he wouldn't mind, could he explain why he didnt play the winning combo we had spotted. He had a look and called us on stage. I was thinking he is gonna deny that and explain with a few high sounding technical terms and rule out a win. But again to my surprise, he called us on stage and said "I am a bit ashamed to say that I overlooked the win. But anyways, draw is a good result and after all the player would be proud for his life" By then he had completely floored me with his conduct.
Then came my turn to play against him. I played Anand's fav opening, the Petrov. He was kinda anticipating it and reacted with a smile and said "Petrov, Petrov, Petrov everywhere" And played with such unimaginable ease. His pieces were doing a ballet on the board when mine were limping. By move 24, I offered a draw and he smiled and with a Rama like air said "if in another five moves, if you still feel there is a draw, then I will agree". And by the end of those five moves, he had a mate in 8 or 9 moves which he explained but I didn't understand. All I understood was that I am in a bad shape and there is no way I could save my honour. So I resigned but with the satisfaction of lasting 29 moves.
By then it was approaching mid night. Most of them left and a few crazy ones where still around him. He then joined us for dinner and spoke in length about a lot of things. He instantly recalls the moves and analyses any of his games that u recall. For example, when I asked about the Famous Corus 2004 drawn game with Kramnik (it was a masterpiece from Anand pulling of a magnificient repetition draw from a dead lost position), he coolly shrugged off any greatness in that game. He said as Kramnik was closing in on his king, he just started sacrificing his pieces and suddenly the repetition glared at their faces. And during dinner, he told that the right answer for earlier question of "paella or biriyani" would be curd rice. He was eating only curd rice and nothing else. Then he posed with us for some snaps and then left for the day. It was a memorable day with such a great champ, in my humble opinion, the greatest sportsman India has produced. He is the world number one now and he deserves every bit of it. May he win in Mexico and silence his critics. God bless that Anand and this Anand as well.. :)
Probably the most memorable date in my life for sporting reasons as my love for chess attained a new moment of glory. 'Vidyasagar' conducted a Simul Exhibition with Vishwanathan Anand for raising funds for their school and I was one of the lucky few to be present there and play with the super GM himself. Reaching that date was quite messy for me as I didnt even have 24 hours notice to prepare. I reached Chennai in a hurry and got ready to meet him. In the process I travelled half way to the hall without my invitation, came back home, picked it up and went back again.
I rehearsed a lot in my mind to talk to Anand because obviously if I get to speak a few sentences I should consider myself lucky. By 7 pm Anand had arrived and to my surprise, he was completely the opposite. He was so unassuming and so approachable. He first came in and began the 10 games he was playing simultaneously on the internet with some strong players(unlike me). And he also answered the PRESS. Meanwhile he started playing with children.
Then there came the chance for the audience to ask questions. As usual the chess illiterate public began with stupid questions such as "whats your most favourite chess piece"(the most irritating question one could ever ask a chess player)...Then one sensible chap asked him about his new academy and Anand explained his plans. A couple of brits had come there as well and one asked him which is his favourite food - Paella or Biriyani (given that Anand lives in Spain)..Anand smiled and said he loves both. Then my turn came and I asked him about the "legend vs Amateur" tourney of 1987 and his experience with the world champions that he beat at such a young age. Anand was thrilled and spoke about the tourney in length. He had defeated Spassky, Tal, Larssen and drew with Smyslov.
By that time, he accepted a draw on the internet to our surprise as me and my colleague could find a win for him. So we reluctantly approached him and asked him if he wouldn't mind, could he explain why he didnt play the winning combo we had spotted. He had a look and called us on stage. I was thinking he is gonna deny that and explain with a few high sounding technical terms and rule out a win. But again to my surprise, he called us on stage and said "I am a bit ashamed to say that I overlooked the win. But anyways, draw is a good result and after all the player would be proud for his life" By then he had completely floored me with his conduct.
Then came my turn to play against him. I played Anand's fav opening, the Petrov. He was kinda anticipating it and reacted with a smile and said "Petrov, Petrov, Petrov everywhere" And played with such unimaginable ease. His pieces were doing a ballet on the board when mine were limping. By move 24, I offered a draw and he smiled and with a Rama like air said "if in another five moves, if you still feel there is a draw, then I will agree". And by the end of those five moves, he had a mate in 8 or 9 moves which he explained but I didn't understand. All I understood was that I am in a bad shape and there is no way I could save my honour. So I resigned but with the satisfaction of lasting 29 moves.
By then it was approaching mid night. Most of them left and a few crazy ones where still around him. He then joined us for dinner and spoke in length about a lot of things. He instantly recalls the moves and analyses any of his games that u recall. For example, when I asked about the Famous Corus 2004 drawn game with Kramnik (it was a masterpiece from Anand pulling of a magnificient repetition draw from a dead lost position), he coolly shrugged off any greatness in that game. He said as Kramnik was closing in on his king, he just started sacrificing his pieces and suddenly the repetition glared at their faces. And during dinner, he told that the right answer for earlier question of "paella or biriyani" would be curd rice. He was eating only curd rice and nothing else. Then he posed with us for some snaps and then left for the day. It was a memorable day with such a great champ, in my humble opinion, the greatest sportsman India has produced. He is the world number one now and he deserves every bit of it. May he win in Mexico and silence his critics. God bless that Anand and this Anand as well.. :)
Time - Is it a myth or it isn't???
Recently, I read a very funny statement in a blog that "It takes really long to kill time especially when you badly want to"....This statement did trigger a lot of thoughts in me. There is this famous explanation for Einstein's theory of relativity which goes like this: "When you are with a pretty woman, an hour will seem like a minute. And when you are sitting on a hot stove, a minute will seem like an hour". And that seems absolutely true as well.
Time is a relative concept like GOD. Ofcourse, in both the cases, an absolute exists no doubt..But the absolute manifests itself relatively. And GOD, like the great Rishis is supposed to exist beyond time. What does this beyond time mean???
Time in my understanding is like a maze...A maze filled with a lot of concentric circles. And we are all scattered all around the maze. And each of our consciousness of Time is different. (One's consciousness depends on which circle they are in..for example, if dogs live in the innermost circle and we live a couple'a circle beyond the dog's circle, then our time consciousness is different..as in thats why we say something like, one year in our terms is like 8 years for a dog). And everyone without their knowledge, just try to get out of their current circle and come to the next one...and Moksha may be nothing but coming out of the maze. Thats why when we go to a great saint, he can look at once and talk about our present, past and future. (I donno about others but I certainly have met such saints). Which means they are in a different plane that they can see your past,present and future at one shot. Like how a person standing on the first floor can see whats behind and whats in front of the person standing at the ground floor..
And this relationship between human life and time also is pretty interesting. Every desire of a human being is meant to manifest. Whatever one asks to GOD will be granted. But it takes hell a lot of time to manifest. Purely because, the grant for our wish comes from outside TIME, and it slowly enters the maze and finds you. And by the time, it manifests you will not understand it. May be you would be in your next jenma. People believe that if you Karma and Samskara is good, it takes really short time to get your desires manifest. (which gives us another equation, is time equal to Karma..I shall think about it in my next blog) So if I am sitting and typing this blog, I could have desired to do this a few jenmas ago..lol..which complicates the equation even further. The more desires you have, the more it takes for you to get out of the maze as all your desires have to manifest before you get out of the maze. Thats why may be they say, moksha is attained by people who have stopped desiring.
Coming back to the manifestation bit, during performing pujas most of us would have heard the sankalpam, which will start with "vaivaswatha manvantare" followed by the Kalpam, yugam, etc and will boil down to the day, the thithi and nakshatram. So its as if the mantras initiate you to get the desire from beyond time, slowly through all these concentric circles and fix it on par with us.
Oops...Guess I have written too much...But I always stand by the statement which is displayed on my hero's (Vladimir Kramnik) website.."Time is precious when you don't have enough of it"..
Recently, I read a very funny statement in a blog that "It takes really long to kill time especially when you badly want to"....This statement did trigger a lot of thoughts in me. There is this famous explanation for Einstein's theory of relativity which goes like this: "When you are with a pretty woman, an hour will seem like a minute. And when you are sitting on a hot stove, a minute will seem like an hour". And that seems absolutely true as well.
Time is a relative concept like GOD. Ofcourse, in both the cases, an absolute exists no doubt..But the absolute manifests itself relatively. And GOD, like the great Rishis is supposed to exist beyond time. What does this beyond time mean???
Time in my understanding is like a maze...A maze filled with a lot of concentric circles. And we are all scattered all around the maze. And each of our consciousness of Time is different. (One's consciousness depends on which circle they are in..for example, if dogs live in the innermost circle and we live a couple'a circle beyond the dog's circle, then our time consciousness is different..as in thats why we say something like, one year in our terms is like 8 years for a dog). And everyone without their knowledge, just try to get out of their current circle and come to the next one...and Moksha may be nothing but coming out of the maze. Thats why when we go to a great saint, he can look at once and talk about our present, past and future. (I donno about others but I certainly have met such saints). Which means they are in a different plane that they can see your past,present and future at one shot. Like how a person standing on the first floor can see whats behind and whats in front of the person standing at the ground floor..
And this relationship between human life and time also is pretty interesting. Every desire of a human being is meant to manifest. Whatever one asks to GOD will be granted. But it takes hell a lot of time to manifest. Purely because, the grant for our wish comes from outside TIME, and it slowly enters the maze and finds you. And by the time, it manifests you will not understand it. May be you would be in your next jenma. People believe that if you Karma and Samskara is good, it takes really short time to get your desires manifest. (which gives us another equation, is time equal to Karma..I shall think about it in my next blog) So if I am sitting and typing this blog, I could have desired to do this a few jenmas ago..lol..which complicates the equation even further. The more desires you have, the more it takes for you to get out of the maze as all your desires have to manifest before you get out of the maze. Thats why may be they say, moksha is attained by people who have stopped desiring.
Coming back to the manifestation bit, during performing pujas most of us would have heard the sankalpam, which will start with "vaivaswatha manvantare" followed by the Kalpam, yugam, etc and will boil down to the day, the thithi and nakshatram. So its as if the mantras initiate you to get the desire from beyond time, slowly through all these concentric circles and fix it on par with us.
Oops...Guess I have written too much...But I always stand by the statement which is displayed on my hero's (Vladimir Kramnik) website.."Time is precious when you don't have enough of it"..
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
குங்கும பஞ்சதசி
குங்குமமாவது குறைகளைத் தீர்ப்பது
குங்குமமாவது குடியினைக் காப்பது
குங்குமமாவது குணமதளிப்பது
குங்குமமாவது கொல்வினை தீர்ப்பது.
விதி வினை வெல்வது விமலையின் குங்குமம்
நிதிதனை ஈவது நிமலையின் குங்குமம்
பதிதனைக் காப்பது பதிவிரதை குங்குமம்
கதிதனையாள்வதும் குங்குமமாமே
தஞ்சமென்றோரை தடுத்தாண்டு கொள்வதும்
பஞ்ச மாபாதகம் பரிந்துமே தீர்ப்பதும்
அஞ்சின பேர்க்கு அபயமளீப்பதும்
கஞ்சி காமாக்ஷி குங்குமமாமே
நற்பத மீவது நாரணி குங்குமம்
பொற்பினை ஈவது பூரணி குங்குமம்
சிற்பரமாவது சிவகாமி குங்குமம்
கற்பினைக் காப்பதும் குங்குமமாமே
செஞ்சுடர் போல்வது சீரான குங்குமம்
கொஞ்சு மழகைக் கொடுப்பது குங்குமம்
அஞ்சு புலங்களடக்கி யருள்வதும்
கஞ்சி காமாக்ஷியின் குங்குமமாமே
நோயினைத் தீர்ப்பதும் நுண்ணறிவீவதும்
பேயினைத் தீர்ப்பதும் பெரும் புகழீவதும்
சேயினைக் காப்பதும் செல்வம் தருவதும்
தாயினை அர்ச்சித்த குங்குமமாமே
சக்தி கொடுப்பதும் சத்தியம் காப்பதும்
பக்தி யளிப்பதும் பரகதி யீவதும்
முக்தி கொடுப்பதும் மும்மலம் தீர்ப்பதும்
சித்தி தருவதும் குங்குமமாமே
நெஞ்சிற் கவலைகள் நீக்கியருள்வதும்
செஞ்சொற் கவிபாடும் சீரினை யீவதும்
வஞ்ச பகைவரை வாட்டி யருள்வதும்
கஞ்சி காமாக்ஷி குங்குமமாமே
சிவசிவ என்று திருநீறணிந்த பின்
சிவகாமியேயென் சிந்தித்தணிவதும்
தவமான மேலோருந்தரித்துக் களீப்பதும்
பவவினை தீர்ப்பதும் குங்குமமாமே
எவையெவை கருதிடில் அவையவையீவதும்
நவவகை சக்தியின் நலனைக் கொடுப்பதும்
குவிசெய் கரத்துடன் கும்பிட்ட பேர்க்கு
குவிநிதி யீவதும் குங்குமமாமே
அஷ்டலக்ஷ்மி அருளதளிப்பதும்
இஷ்டங்களீவதும் ஈடற்ற குங்குமம்
கஷ்டம் தவிர்ப்பதும் காத்தெனை யாள்வதும்
சிஷ்டராய் செய்வதும் குங்குமமாமே
குஷ்டம் முதலான மாரோகம் தீர்ப்பதும்
நஷ்டம் வாராதொரு நலனைக் கொடுப்பதும்
எட்டும் இரண்டும் அறிவித்தோர் வீடினை
கிட்டவே செய்வதும் குங்குமமாமே
பட்ட காலிலே படுமென கஷ்டங்கள்
விட்டிடாமலே வந்துமே வாட்டினும்
பட்டான பார்வதி பாதம் பணீந்தே
இட்டார் இடர் தவிர் குங்குமமாமே
சித்தம்தனை சுத்தி செய்வதற் கெளியதோர்
எத்துந் தெரியாத ஏமாந்த மாந்தரே
நித்தம் தொழுதென்னை குங்குமந்தன்னை
நித்தம் தரித்துமே வீடடைவீரே
மிஞ்சும் அழகுடன் குங்குமம் தன்னை
செஞ்சுடராகுமோர் கஞ்சி காமாக்ஷியின்
கஞ்ச மலர் முகந்தன்னில் திகழ்வதும்
பஞ்ச நிதி தரும் குங்குமாமே.
குங்குமமாவது குடியினைக் காப்பது
குங்குமமாவது குணமதளிப்பது
குங்குமமாவது கொல்வினை தீர்ப்பது.
விதி வினை வெல்வது விமலையின் குங்குமம்
நிதிதனை ஈவது நிமலையின் குங்குமம்
பதிதனைக் காப்பது பதிவிரதை குங்குமம்
கதிதனையாள்வதும் குங்குமமாமே
தஞ்சமென்றோரை தடுத்தாண்டு கொள்வதும்
பஞ்ச மாபாதகம் பரிந்துமே தீர்ப்பதும்
அஞ்சின பேர்க்கு அபயமளீப்பதும்
கஞ்சி காமாக்ஷி குங்குமமாமே
நற்பத மீவது நாரணி குங்குமம்
பொற்பினை ஈவது பூரணி குங்குமம்
சிற்பரமாவது சிவகாமி குங்குமம்
கற்பினைக் காப்பதும் குங்குமமாமே
செஞ்சுடர் போல்வது சீரான குங்குமம்
கொஞ்சு மழகைக் கொடுப்பது குங்குமம்
அஞ்சு புலங்களடக்கி யருள்வதும்
கஞ்சி காமாக்ஷியின் குங்குமமாமே
நோயினைத் தீர்ப்பதும் நுண்ணறிவீவதும்
பேயினைத் தீர்ப்பதும் பெரும் புகழீவதும்
சேயினைக் காப்பதும் செல்வம் தருவதும்
தாயினை அர்ச்சித்த குங்குமமாமே
சக்தி கொடுப்பதும் சத்தியம் காப்பதும்
பக்தி யளிப்பதும் பரகதி யீவதும்
முக்தி கொடுப்பதும் மும்மலம் தீர்ப்பதும்
சித்தி தருவதும் குங்குமமாமே
நெஞ்சிற் கவலைகள் நீக்கியருள்வதும்
செஞ்சொற் கவிபாடும் சீரினை யீவதும்
வஞ்ச பகைவரை வாட்டி யருள்வதும்
கஞ்சி காமாக்ஷி குங்குமமாமே
சிவசிவ என்று திருநீறணிந்த பின்
சிவகாமியேயென் சிந்தித்தணிவதும்
தவமான மேலோருந்தரித்துக் களீப்பதும்
பவவினை தீர்ப்பதும் குங்குமமாமே
எவையெவை கருதிடில் அவையவையீவதும்
நவவகை சக்தியின் நலனைக் கொடுப்பதும்
குவிசெய் கரத்துடன் கும்பிட்ட பேர்க்கு
குவிநிதி யீவதும் குங்குமமாமே
அஷ்டலக்ஷ்மி அருளதளிப்பதும்
இஷ்டங்களீவதும் ஈடற்ற குங்குமம்
கஷ்டம் தவிர்ப்பதும் காத்தெனை யாள்வதும்
சிஷ்டராய் செய்வதும் குங்குமமாமே
குஷ்டம் முதலான மாரோகம் தீர்ப்பதும்
நஷ்டம் வாராதொரு நலனைக் கொடுப்பதும்
எட்டும் இரண்டும் அறிவித்தோர் வீடினை
கிட்டவே செய்வதும் குங்குமமாமே
பட்ட காலிலே படுமென கஷ்டங்கள்
விட்டிடாமலே வந்துமே வாட்டினும்
பட்டான பார்வதி பாதம் பணீந்தே
இட்டார் இடர் தவிர் குங்குமமாமே
சித்தம்தனை சுத்தி செய்வதற் கெளியதோர்
எத்துந் தெரியாத ஏமாந்த மாந்தரே
நித்தம் தொழுதென்னை குங்குமந்தன்னை
நித்தம் தரித்துமே வீடடைவீரே
மிஞ்சும் அழகுடன் குங்குமம் தன்னை
செஞ்சுடராகுமோர் கஞ்சி காமாக்ஷியின்
கஞ்ச மலர் முகந்தன்னில் திகழ்வதும்
பஞ்ச நிதி தரும் குங்குமாமே.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
All art is quite useless. What about artists..
Oscar Wilde had quoted that "All art is quite useless".
One wonders if that is a cynical statement that we can choose to ignore or did he really mean it.Well...I feel he certainly did mean it and yes..It is a cynical statement. After all, naked truth always sounds cynical. Of course, I wouldn't completely agree with Mr.Wilde. But let’s think about this objectively.
May be he meant that an Albert Einstein was more useful to a society than a Herbert Von Karajan or a Pablo Picasso or a Michael Schumacher. (By art, I don’t know if Oscar Wilde meant only painting, but I include music, sport etc..etc...Everything which is useless but the creator intensely admires...lol...).
Here's my take on this. Artists are a special lot. When Mozart created a mansion of infinite perfection in his "Marriage of Figaro", the society did not receive it well. But it is the same society that hails that Opera as one of the finest yet written. A Tamil author once defined a society as a collection of idiots. By idiots he meant the mortals. The regular 100 IQ guy with emotions running high and living a life for which he doesn't know the beginning or end. But he is yoked with his karma and he carries on. Life of mortals is always verily sorrow.(samsaara saagaram dhukham). So most mortals thrive on the little moment of happiness that they get out of the art that they prefer. Let it be a Christiano Ronaldo goal or bits and pieces of eminem. So in a way, artists are after all not that useless. But since they are a special lot, the regular lot always gives them more attention than they deserve. Which is why Sania Mirza winning at Cincinatti made more headlines than Dr. Kalam's last days as the president. Here is an interesting story which I read of Rabindranath Tagore. I don't remember the entire story but here is the crux of the story.
"There are two heavens that exist abode. One is called the laborer’s heaven and the other called the artist's heaven. All regular mortals go to the laborer’s heaven and the special lot of artists goes to the artist’s heaven. Laborer’s heaven is a place where the souls live as pure karma yogis. They always do their Karma. They don't need any gratification for their deeds. All they do is the karma that is yoked to them without deriving any pleasure or pain out of the work that they do. For example, if gardening is the karma of one person there, he will do gardening day in and day out. He does not get tired of it. He neither hates it nor enjoys it. The artist's heaven is a place where people don't do much of work. The souls there keep thinking about various things and they create art of some kind.
By some admin error, a guy who was supposed to go to the artist's heaven, ended up as an inmate in the laborer’s heaven. He was indeed a perfect mis fit there. He would just sit there all day looking at the robotic people who just work work and work all day and all night. And the laborers used to look at him for a second, surprised to see someone who is jobless there and will ignore him and continue to work. Our artist, will continue to think and pity these people whom he considers to be much lower. And you know how romantic an artist's mind is. An artist is capable of seeing beauty in every calamity and a calamity in every beauty. And our man did see a beauty in this laborious world.
He instantly fell in love with this beautiful woman whose 'karma' was to carry water in a pot. She dutifully comes there, fills water, balances the pot in her hip and walks away. She comes back in a few minutes and does the same again. She never gets distracted or tired. Our man has been admiring her from a distance for a couple of days and he could resist no more. So he just steps forward and blocks this lady while she is going to fetch water. She moves away, and he goes along with her. She, at first was frightened. She quickly fetched water and ran away. And our man's artistic heart broke into pieces. He thought she would never come again as he has frightened her.
But she did come back as usual to do her Karma. This time, he took a more pragmatic approach. He slowly started walking with her and smiled at her. It took a few fetches of water for her to reciprocate his smile. A laborer’s smile is always more valuable than an artist's as the former comes rarely. And the moment she learnt to smile, her heart started fluttering. Then our man slowly built a conversation with her. She immediately asked him "Don't you have any work to do?". "Where will all this work take me or take you. It’s the moments of pleasure that we live for and not for just working. Why should one work at all?" - was his response. The lady unwillingly disapproved his opinion and told him that they are yoked with karma and she lives only for that and quickly ended the conversation. The next day, she came to fetch water and did not find our man waiting for her. For the first time, she is feeling an emotion. She is missing him and she drops the pot of water she fetches back in to the water.
The next day, she comes to fetch water again with wretchedness in her eyes and to her surprise, she found out our man waiting for her with a pot in his hand. There is the forbidden apple bitten as she feels the second emotion. She runs towards him and he gifts her pot in his hand on which he has painted a portrait of her fetching water. She is unbelievable happy that she hugs him. Love...such a fine feeling is also very contagious. Soon, there was a telling change in the laborer’s heaven. A lot of work being left incomplete and the law and order are shaken to its roots. The administrators of the heaven soon began and investigation and found out that most men and women have fell in love with each other and all this began with our man, who was originally supposed to be at the artist's heaven. Then they decide to deport out man back to the artist's heaven and hell broke lose in the laborer’s heaven as every one there wanted to accompany him to the artist's world and the Karma of that great land came to a stand still." Now that was Tag ore for you.
May be we would have all been laborers if we had lived the life that God wanted us to live in Adam and Eve. But the moment, Eve bit the forbidden apple, we all became artists.
Love and art cannot exist without each other. An artist, in my view is verily an anthropomorphism of love. An artist is verily love itself. But is it advisable to bite the forbidden apple of is it better to be as laborers? Now I am as confused as how I was in the beginning. May be Mr.Wilde is right or May be he is not.
One wonders if that is a cynical statement that we can choose to ignore or did he really mean it.Well...I feel he certainly did mean it and yes..It is a cynical statement. After all, naked truth always sounds cynical. Of course, I wouldn't completely agree with Mr.Wilde. But let’s think about this objectively.
May be he meant that an Albert Einstein was more useful to a society than a Herbert Von Karajan or a Pablo Picasso or a Michael Schumacher. (By art, I don’t know if Oscar Wilde meant only painting, but I include music, sport etc..etc...Everything which is useless but the creator intensely admires...lol...).
Here's my take on this. Artists are a special lot. When Mozart created a mansion of infinite perfection in his "Marriage of Figaro", the society did not receive it well. But it is the same society that hails that Opera as one of the finest yet written. A Tamil author once defined a society as a collection of idiots. By idiots he meant the mortals. The regular 100 IQ guy with emotions running high and living a life for which he doesn't know the beginning or end. But he is yoked with his karma and he carries on. Life of mortals is always verily sorrow.(samsaara saagaram dhukham). So most mortals thrive on the little moment of happiness that they get out of the art that they prefer. Let it be a Christiano Ronaldo goal or bits and pieces of eminem. So in a way, artists are after all not that useless. But since they are a special lot, the regular lot always gives them more attention than they deserve. Which is why Sania Mirza winning at Cincinatti made more headlines than Dr. Kalam's last days as the president. Here is an interesting story which I read of Rabindranath Tagore. I don't remember the entire story but here is the crux of the story.
"There are two heavens that exist abode. One is called the laborer’s heaven and the other called the artist's heaven. All regular mortals go to the laborer’s heaven and the special lot of artists goes to the artist’s heaven. Laborer’s heaven is a place where the souls live as pure karma yogis. They always do their Karma. They don't need any gratification for their deeds. All they do is the karma that is yoked to them without deriving any pleasure or pain out of the work that they do. For example, if gardening is the karma of one person there, he will do gardening day in and day out. He does not get tired of it. He neither hates it nor enjoys it. The artist's heaven is a place where people don't do much of work. The souls there keep thinking about various things and they create art of some kind.
By some admin error, a guy who was supposed to go to the artist's heaven, ended up as an inmate in the laborer’s heaven. He was indeed a perfect mis fit there. He would just sit there all day looking at the robotic people who just work work and work all day and all night. And the laborers used to look at him for a second, surprised to see someone who is jobless there and will ignore him and continue to work. Our artist, will continue to think and pity these people whom he considers to be much lower. And you know how romantic an artist's mind is. An artist is capable of seeing beauty in every calamity and a calamity in every beauty. And our man did see a beauty in this laborious world.
He instantly fell in love with this beautiful woman whose 'karma' was to carry water in a pot. She dutifully comes there, fills water, balances the pot in her hip and walks away. She comes back in a few minutes and does the same again. She never gets distracted or tired. Our man has been admiring her from a distance for a couple of days and he could resist no more. So he just steps forward and blocks this lady while she is going to fetch water. She moves away, and he goes along with her. She, at first was frightened. She quickly fetched water and ran away. And our man's artistic heart broke into pieces. He thought she would never come again as he has frightened her.
But she did come back as usual to do her Karma. This time, he took a more pragmatic approach. He slowly started walking with her and smiled at her. It took a few fetches of water for her to reciprocate his smile. A laborer’s smile is always more valuable than an artist's as the former comes rarely. And the moment she learnt to smile, her heart started fluttering. Then our man slowly built a conversation with her. She immediately asked him "Don't you have any work to do?". "Where will all this work take me or take you. It’s the moments of pleasure that we live for and not for just working. Why should one work at all?" - was his response. The lady unwillingly disapproved his opinion and told him that they are yoked with karma and she lives only for that and quickly ended the conversation. The next day, she came to fetch water and did not find our man waiting for her. For the first time, she is feeling an emotion. She is missing him and she drops the pot of water she fetches back in to the water.
The next day, she comes to fetch water again with wretchedness in her eyes and to her surprise, she found out our man waiting for her with a pot in his hand. There is the forbidden apple bitten as she feels the second emotion. She runs towards him and he gifts her pot in his hand on which he has painted a portrait of her fetching water. She is unbelievable happy that she hugs him. Love...such a fine feeling is also very contagious. Soon, there was a telling change in the laborer’s heaven. A lot of work being left incomplete and the law and order are shaken to its roots. The administrators of the heaven soon began and investigation and found out that most men and women have fell in love with each other and all this began with our man, who was originally supposed to be at the artist's heaven. Then they decide to deport out man back to the artist's heaven and hell broke lose in the laborer’s heaven as every one there wanted to accompany him to the artist's world and the Karma of that great land came to a stand still." Now that was Tag ore for you.
May be we would have all been laborers if we had lived the life that God wanted us to live in Adam and Eve. But the moment, Eve bit the forbidden apple, we all became artists.
Love and art cannot exist without each other. An artist, in my view is verily an anthropomorphism of love. An artist is verily love itself. But is it advisable to bite the forbidden apple of is it better to be as laborers? Now I am as confused as how I was in the beginning. May be Mr.Wilde is right or May be he is not.
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