The Natural Cries are Praise to God

The Natural Cries are in Praise of God within us

What is a praise to God?  Is it singing any prayer or crying for help or even scolding in despair?

It came to me today that there are a few words that are uttered not as words belonging to any particular language but those that come out from our own within.  These words are very natural for any human being (and perhaps even animals) and across all boundaries of faith or non-faith.

Assume you are totally exhausted for the day, helpless to the core, unable to even stand up on your foot, forget taking even a step forward. In that condition of helplessness, few words emanate naturally from your mouth; repeat 'naturally' and not by the effect of any pre-conditioning of the mind that you might have undergone earlier due to some religion that you follow or have been made to follow. 

These words could be:-

a)     अम्मे    (Ammae / Amen)     [http://penguinbooks]
b)     ॐ          (Aum / Om)          [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om]
c)     अऌः     (Allah)                    [http://allah-in-sanskrit]

All these words are words of elevation that tries to uplift or restore any deficient energy. The initial premise being that our original state of happiness is divinity which reduced within us in due course of our material existence.

These words when uttered in desperation alleviates our grief as well as any bodily discomfort.

अम्मे also means Mother.  Our gratitude to the creator is expressed by this word.  It is quite a natural word and relieving when uttered in grief.  The sigh of relief that this word can give is immense.  It gives more of emotional relief than physical relief.  It also signifies Creation or Srishti (स​ृष्टि). 

ॐ  is also known  as the Pranava mantram.  It is assumed that there are Nine ventilators (नव द्वारं Nava-Dwaaram) for our body.  The word ॐ supports and energizes these nine ventilators that are essential for the proper sustenance of our body and therefore subsequently generates happiness in the mind.  Chanting this word opens up all the entry and exit points in the desired & proper way.  It therefore denotes spiritual relaxation.  The pranavam also signifies preservation and existence or Stithi (स्थिति). 

अऌः generates physical energy so as to relieve pain; especially when it is uttered very softly.  When uttered aloud, it exposes the bottom of the tongue and therefore releases lot of water content along with air.  It also signifies culmination or annihilation or Samhaaram (संहारम्).

These three therefore corresponds to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.  The first may be thought to be similar to Christian faith and the Old Testament and to Brahma in the likeliness of the Commandments and the rules and restriction that are set upon the newly born by the heavenly Mother who is the Creator.  The second is of preservation and belong to the Vaishnava services.  The third is of destruction and culmination of the existence where the Shiva, the Lord of the Lord of Justice (Yama) controls the nature of death.

The commandments are for us to follow told at the time of birth.  What we follow depends upon the factors of humility & peaceful co-existence quotient we obtained during our existence and the way we dealt with others including every creature or thing of this universe.  The death is achieved in that form according to the law of karma that we followed during our existence.   While this could be seen as verily human, the same might be true for any living or non-living object in this world.  (The rules have been framed by Manu in this Kalpa.) 

   x - 0 - o - 0 - x

See also:

http://mickeymathur.blogspot.in/2010/10/in-sanskrit-language-allah-akka-and.html

http://viprayami.blogspot.in/2012/02/hindu-deity-god-shiva-shakti-found-in.html

Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva - the Trinities

Trinity - the Great Division

Let us demarcate our earth into three parts namely, the East, the Middle and the West.  East comprising all those areas that are beyond say Japan  - ie. from say Alaska/Canada upto Europe towards the right-side of the World map;  West comprising the Arab world to the right of Europe and upto and perhaps including Pakistan; and the Middle comprising India to Japan.

The East is where the light is created, the Middle is where it reaches Zenith and the West is where it destroys itself. 

Let us also regard that the Middle belongs to Brahma, East belongs to Vishnu, and West belongs to Shiva.  

Vishnu

Vishnu of the Trinities (Brahma - the Creator, Vishnu the Sustainer and Shiva the Annihilator) is the Lord of the East.  Lakshmi Devi (prosperity) flatters Vishnu, though Vishnu is not so much bothered about her affection, service or love.  Vishnu is on top of eternity and is in sleeping posture unless awakened by the need of any hour when He actually is called to descend down (incarnates) inorder to prevail upon any egoistic culture that tries to scuttle the order of Dharma for he is Omniscient as well as powerful and establisher of Dharma / Order.  He is however postured as self contained, in Yoga-nidra (Sleep that is in a state of awareness though unattached and at the same time, bound to the world - his other wife - Bhoomi Devi).

His followers are better known as Gods / Suras / Devas.  He is also in control of the Aakaasha Ganga (Milky way) and has a purview of the entire world from the skies and space. 

The Suras have good understanding between them and always stand united even if it be at the cost of any of their smallest fellow allies.

Shiva

Shiva lives in the coldest of Regions known as Kailaasa near crematorium near the dead and therefore is considered to be the Annihilator.  He is the lord of the West - the areas governed by the Asuras who worship him not in any form, but only as a symbol.  The equivalent of symbol in Sanskrit is 'Lingam'.  Though Lakshmi Devi (prosperity) is not with Him, He rules Shakti Devi / Parvathi / Nature and therefore is very powerful. He is also known as Lord of Death.

Those who follow him worship him as the lord of Death and therefore, the gurus of this group are more commemorated by their place of death than by their place of birth.  Closely connected to death, the prosperity of Asuras are from the Dead (living and non-living natural elements - fossils, crude oil etc.).  They are found to be more financially powerful and live in echelons of power.  This result in high ego and mostly the Asura rulers end up in losing everything and even face death at the hands of Vishnu who curtails, whenever their Ego touches extremely high levels.

Unfortunately due to their heightened  ego and love for wine and women, and as described in their holy books enshrined by their one-eyed (short-sighted but benevolent) guru Shukra (also means the white / semen in Sanskrit, Venus the lord of Love), who also researched and found the medicine of rejuvenation and restoring one from death, the Asuras always fought not only with the Suras, but also with their fellow Asuras as well.

The Asuras are also called Daanavas as they are very charitable and are generally more philanthropic even at the cost of their own existence if situation warranted. They stick dogmatically to their religion of charity, and to the words of God as they have rightly or wrongly understood etc.

Brahma

Brahma, the creator, is four headed and therefore sees and looks to all the four sides and is knowledgeable and is more non-aligned to both the Suras or the Asuras and tries to therefore please not only the Suras, but also the Asuras.   It is believed that both the Suras and the Asuras were born of the same father - Kashyapa Prajapati (father of living beings) from two of his 13 wives Aditi (Not bright - Dark) and Diti (Bright) respectively who are granddaughters of Brahma (father of Daksha-Prajapati). Thus from Aditi (darkness) were born Sura (Day / Light) and from Diti (Brightness) were born Asura (Night / Darkness). 

Those who followed Brahma were the Brahmanas which later got divided during the course of time into Kshatriyas, Vysyas and Shudras for occupational reasons & their psychological temperaments. (There is a place east of Himalayas called Burma which is known as the land of Brahma).

Offerings are usually made only to the Suras and not to the Asuras because the Asuras are considered to be of upholding lesser moral values - though not necessarily so - except that the Asuras were always demanding and used force for their success whereas the Suras mostly used coercive techniques in peaceful manner for converting the Brahmanas to their fold.

No wonder some of the best Kshatriyas sided with the Suras during fights with Asuras though, the Brahmanas / Manushyas are considered to be neutral and non-aligned. Some of the examples are Dasharatha (father of Sri-Rama) of the Ramayana and Arjuna of the Mahabharata who participated in wars siding the Suras against Asuras.

 However, the Asuras were great Daanavaas (liberal donators) and therefore, the Manushyas hold some of them in good regard.

Psycho-Analysis

If we analyze thus the different great religions of the world in the light of the above, certain religions could be classified belonging or showing adherence to the principles referred above.  For example, due to their benevolence, the East could be classified under Vaishnavaite, the Middle as Brahmanaite and the West as Shaivaite. In this light, the Middle has a concept of God as Impersonal (as in Advaita Philosophy) while the East and the West have a more Personal God.  Where the God is more personal, He has established rules and dogmas for his followers.  In case of the Middle, the laws of nature & rational thought are more prevalent.  The basic mentality of the East is to Create / Conceptualize; that of the Middle is to Preserve / Maintain and that of the West is to Consume / Annihilate.

Conceptualization, Discovery and creation is done in the East; while innovation and betterment of the same is of the Middle and Consumption, Burial, Destruction etc are of the West.

Saraswati - Knowledge that flows

Saraswati - Knowledge that flows

Saraswati is the Goddess of Knowledge.  She is the wife of Brahma from whom the Vedas originated. In olden days, people followed the Gotra system where the gene was supposed to be transferred from the father to the generations through the mother. Therefore, if Brahma was the father of the Vedas, it had to be carried out through the Mother who is his wife called 'Saraswati'. 

Saraswati is flow.  It is masculine characteristic to accumulate while it is feminine characteristic to distribute. If knowledge does not flow down, that knowledge is useless.  In other words, it is not those who have knowledge would be respected; but those who impart the knowledge that is worthy of worship.  That is probably the reason why there are hardly any temples dedicated to Brahma while there are many to Saraswati. 

Without knowledge however, Saraswati wouldn't have been there at all.  That is why it is said that Brahma only created Saraswati.  Thus Brahma the knowledge then became engaged with the flow of knowledge which gave rise to many knowledge branches (Rishis / Maharshis).   Were these Rishis / Maha-Rishis actually human beings?   Or were they reputed Universities where knowledge at different levels were researched?  We probably do not know.  It is said that Maharshi Viswamitra created the rats. Today we know that rats are the best of creations we could use for conducting research on, particularly in those branches of science pertaining to maintaining our health.  Could it be that the King turned Maha-rishi was christened Viswamitra thanks to this great achievement of his, that he became the Mitra (= Friend) of the Viswa (=Universe)?

There is also the story of Vishnu as Lord Hayagriva who restored the Vedas from the asuras Madhu & Kaitabha.  The vedas were then delivered to Saraswati who propagated it. Thus Lord Hayagriva is considered the Guru of Godesss Saraswati.

jñānānanda mayaṃ devaṃ nirmala sphaṭikākṛtiṃ
ādhāraṃ sarvavidyānaṃ hayagrīvaṃ upāsmahe

ज्ञानानन्द मयं देवं निर्मल स्फटिकाकृतिं
आधारं सर्वविद्यानं हयग्रीवं उपास्महे

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References: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayagriva

http://hindumythologybynarin.blogspot.in/2012/11/story-lord-hayagriva-less-known-form-of.html

http://www.apamnapat.com/articles/Devibhagavata010.html

Ganapati & Allah / Yehowah (Yahweh)

Ganapati & Allah

After my earlier post on "Allah is a Sanskrit" mantra, (http://sunambiar.blogspot.in/2015/06/the-sanskrit-word-allah.html) I find another relation of Allah in the Hindu (elephant headed) God Ganapati (Ganesha).

The word अऌः (Allah) is made of the three letters 'अ', 'ऌ' and ':'. The अ stands for Ankusa (and it looks like one too) which is the instrument / stick with a hook - bullhook or goad, that is used to control the mammoth/elephant.  It is as I have already mentioned in my above mentioned post, the Purusha (in Tantric references).  The visargah ':' is the Stree or Shakti / Nature / Prakriti (again in Tantric reference).  It is actually written like the digit 8.  This denotes Paasam - the rope. A rope is wound like the digit 8; (I have seen merchants winding rope like digit 8 on their one hand while the other is used to guide it properly).  The ऌ denotes the elephant head of Lord Ganesha. Observe the twist  of the elephant trunk in the letter itself.  The ऌ according to Tantric references is Neutral (napumsaka). 

पाशाङ्कुश धारम् देवम् वन्देऽहम् गण नायकम् 

Paasaankusa dharam devam vandeham gana naayakam

- Ganesha Ashtakam ::  Sri Adi Shankaraachaarya

Incidentally, Ganesha is denoted holding Paasam (rope) in one hand and Ankusam (bullhook / goad) on the other.

Thus the Sanskrit word अऌः denotes Lord Ganesha with his parents Shiva denoted by Purusha vowel that is Ankusam अ and Shakti denoted by Paasam and the Stree vowel  visargah ':'. 

The Purusha (Shiva) controls while Stree (Shakti) ties / bonds.  They are the two aspects of the brain. That of Logic and that of Emotions.  Emotions cannot be controlled other than by Logic and self control (Yama).  Control can be achieved in Yoga and hence Shiva is the founder of Yoga & therefore the perfect Yogi.  Emotions generate a lot of energy (Shakti) which could be used for creation as well as for destruction. 

Just like the Chicken & Egg, as per the Ganesha Purana all have come from Ganesha. But Shiva and Parvathi are the parents of Lord Ganesha.  Yet Ganesha not born out of Shiva or Parvathi.

Every form of worship starts with Ganesha vandanam. Obeisance to Lord Ganesha. The breaking of the coconut indicates that we should open ourselves and have an open mind if we need to remove all obstacles.  

Many scholars believe that Vikramaditya empire extended upto or even further to the Middle East and Mecca in particular.  There are many similarities between Brahmi script and Aramaic.

The Sanskrit mantra अऌः was adopted by the Arabians to denote God - the creator.  It is said that Prophet Mohammed later adopted it into Islam after weighing a few other options.

The words Kali-ph (Caliph), Ramallah, Ramadaan, Ramzan, Rahim (Ram), the black stone of Mecca, etc.,  Zam-zam (Ganga), Brahmin-style dressing during Haj, circum-ambulation around the black stone, etc., also indicate a strong bond between the Sanskrit language, Hindu culture and the religion of Islam itself.

Coming to Hebrew again of the Christian God Yahweh (Yehowah), which is written as יְהֹוָה , the letters form the Head of Ganesha again with a neatly drawn trunk in between. 

The three prongs of AUM, or Ganesha indicating Iccha (Desire), Jnaana (Knowledge) and Kriyaa (Activity).

The AUM that is Ganesha of the Hindus is therefore Allah of Islam and the Yahweh of the Christians.

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The Sanskrit word : Allah

Allah is Sanskrit

This came without any asking!  I mean, it was like an answer to many things!!

I had some years back proposed through the Orkut medium, that the number 786 was actually Aum (ॐ) by a mere reflection of the numerals in Devanagiri script.  There was great acceptance of that idea and many years later I had seen that some had put presentations and even animated videos explaining the same!

(See my other blog:- http://sunambiar.blogspot.in/2013/06/pranavam-aum.html)

While I have already explained that Aum is that pranava mantra that can be uttered even without a tongue, here is another word that is formed of three letters of the Devanagiri alphabet. Srishti (Brahma), Stithi (Vishnu/Shakti) and Samhaara (Shiva) can be denoted by the vowels A, L, aH.  A is the first  vowel, L is the ninth and aH is the last. 

अ - आ - इ - ई - उ - ऊ - ऋ - ॠ - ऌ - ॡ - ऎ - ए - ऐ - ऒ - ओ -  औ - अं - अः

1  - 2   - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 -  7 -  8 -  9 - 10 -11-12-13-14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18.

(Note :- The original Vedic script has hraswa (short) for ए and ओ and are denoted with backstrokes. (as can be verily seen).

The Malayalam language has maintained them while Hindi & modern day Sanskrit seem to have dropped them. The corresponding Malayalam script is as follows:
അ ആ ഇ ഈ ഉ ഊ ഋ ൠ ഌ ൡ എ ഏ ഐ ഒ ഓ ഔ അം അഃ

It is interesting to note that in Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon the words ilah (god) and Allah occur under the root A-L-H. 

(Interestingly, immediately after the introduction in the Surat 1 Al-Fatihah, containing just 7 lines in which God is praised with his attributes,  the Surat 2 Al-Baqarah (The Cow) starts with the 3 letters before going on to introduce the Qur'aan.  The three letters are Alif-Laam-Meem about which standard commentaries say that "These letters are one of the miracles of the Qur'aan and none but Allaah (Alone) knows their meanings".  Perhaps they accomplish some meaning if interpreted as the first, middle and last letters of the Sanskrit Alphabet viz. अ, ऌ, अः while that of the reference of cow needs to be imagined)

अऌः = AllaH

Giving a tantric touch (see the link given in the bottom), it can be seen that since अ is masculine, ऌ is neuter and अः is feminine, the word is to denote Purusha, Parabrahma and Prakriti - Shiva, Brahman & Shakti as the trinities. That are the running energy - Purusha (He who resides in the body), the creator who is Parabrahma, and the body itself that is Prakruti - Nature.

As an analogy let us take a car for example.  There is a creator who first invented the car and he is the Para-Brahma - the great guy. The car is created in a factory which is Prakruti (Pra - (as) per, Kruti - work = According to Design).  Once on road, it is given the fuel that is energy and once started, the Purusha (Puri - body, sha = shayi = sleeping inside guy) keeps it alive.  Thus the car is alive because of all the three. Here the creator is given 'Royalty' and does not involve in the day to day affairs. The day to day affairs are managed by the Purusha and the Prakriti.  However though the Purusha and the Prakriti are worshipped daily, it is the Parabrahma that is ultimately worshipped. 

Just as we explained ॐ in the other blog, pronouncing अऌः (AllaH) is composed of three steps, touching the energy source Purusha so that the अ starts in the stomach / belly and it goes to the mouth where ऌ makes a communion with the upper palate - Cerebral/Retroflex (symbolically yoga with the Creator / Parabrahma & duly acknowledging) the tongue touching the upper palate of the mouth and then अः as visargah, salutes the Mother Nature.

It is interesting to note that the Aramaic word "El", which is the word for God in the language that Jesus spoke, is certainly more similar in sound to the word "Allah" than the English word "God". This also holds true for the various Hebrew words for God, which are "El" and "Elah", and the plural form "Elohim". The reason for these similarities is that Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic are all Semitic languages with common origins.

(http://www.emuslim.com/whoisallah.asp)

This means that Jesus referred to God as "EL" and that is the same in Aramaic as well as in Hebrew.

See Mathew 27:46 :
"About three o'clock, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eli, eli, lema sabachthani?", which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  (ἐγκατέλιπες)"

 See again that the word Rama appears in many places.  Whether it is Ramadan or Ramzan, Ramallah, ARamaic or AlRahman or for that matter even Rome or Roman.  Oh my, it is there in Aramaic too - the language that Jesus spoke when he died on the cross.

אלה is the representation of EL or Elaha in Aramaic and behold as they are written right to left, can't one see the Swastika and then Aum in it if you looked bottom up? There it is! Yet another one that Establishes that Allah and Aum are the similar.
If we see into the English alphabet, the 'L' (Allah) is the 12th and 'M' (Aum) the 13th. Can we infer anything from this?
Also see that the ऌ is the Aum rotated by 90° clockwise and along with anuswaara!

A point that is to be noted however, is that the  Aum (ॐ) that starts with the Stomach (Creation) and ends in the Mouth (Air / Praana) denotes Sustenance while AllaH (अऌः) that starts with the Stomach/Mouth (Praana) and ends in the upper palate, is about 'after' Death and therefore, while  Aum (ॐ) represents Vishnu, AllaH (अऌः) represents Shiva.  

There is also an interesting discussion on the Sanskrit Alphabet and the Gods associated with it in the following link :- 

http://www.srikanta-sastri.org/download/i/mark_dl/u/4008488728/4594419621/tantric)

There is this one too on the Tantric aspects (Parātrīśikā-Vivaraṇa) of the letters  ऋ - ॠ - ऌ - ॡ.  It is said in this that  ऋ is the seed-letter (bija-akshara) for tejas or fire.  (RgVeda starts with Invocation to Agni).  While  ऋ  is agni-beeja (of seed of fire),   ऌ is prithvi-beeja (of seed of earth)  In the Bible/Quran, God created man from earth (ie. prithvi).
(https://books.google.co.in/books?id=Dv4P88vXwzMC&pg=PA172&lpg=PA172&dq=tantric+letter+lu&source=bl&ots=ehtCIqmJX0&sig=SVp2wfrqtBmXTLmFsmpukd31FfI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAWoVChMI7oiD2vWtxwIVUY6OCh0ZVQ2M#v=onepage&q=tantric%20letter%20lu&f=false)

See Point 24 above :  Au is called Trisula or Sula-beeja ie. trident because all the shaktis, viz. icchaa, jnaana and kriya are present in it in the clearest form. 

The three prongs of trishula (trident) are Soma (moon indicating Icchaa or Desire), Soorya (sun representing Jnaana or Knowledge) and Agni (fire representing Kriyaa or Activity).

Taking the discussion further, let us examine the Sanskrit Language once again. 

The principle of SELF & BODY is primordial to eastern languages, like for example, in one of the oldest languages, namely Tamil or in the most scientific of all languages Sanskrit.

We can see a clearly differentiated classification of Vowels from Consonants in them unlike those that we find in the western languages. 

English	~	Tamil	~	Sanskrit	~	Meaning
Vowels	=	Uyir / உயிர்	=	Praana / प्राण​	=	SELF / LIFE
Consonants	=	Meyyu / மெய்ய்	=	Saroopa / सरूप	=	BODY

It is very typical of the Indian way of relating even the basics of the language to spirituality and science - of life and body, both of which together constitute an organism. Seeing spirit in everything is the universal and eternal way of life, enshrined in Sanatan dharma. Shiva is considered the propounder of Akshara [alphabet], Yoga, and all other sciences including Vedas, Ayurveda, Siddha, etc.

When the 18 vowels and 33 consonants dance, from the 51 such aksharas, we obtain everlasting happiness in words, sentences, and literature. [Note also that the numbers 18, 33, and 51 are all considered sacred numbers because science & knowledge start from them].

“O ye Eleven Gods whose home is heaven, O ye Eleven who make earth your dwelling, Ye who with might, Eleven, live in waters, accept this sacrifice, O Gods, with pleasure” – (Rg.Veda 1.139.11)

The 33 consonants are considered as the 33 devatas. 

AshtaVasu - 8 - [Dyaus, Prithvi, Varuna, Agni, Vayu, Nakshatra, Surya, Chandra]

Aaditya - 12 - [Vishnu, Aryavan, Indra, Svatsva, Varuna, Bhaga, Savistr, Vivatsr, Amsa, Mita, Pusan, Daksha]

Rudra - 11 - [Aananda, Vijnaana, Manas, Praana, Vaakya, Ishaana, Tatpurusha, Aghora, Jatpurya, Satjyota, Aatma]

Aswini - 2 - [Nasatya, Dasra]

When the 51 are gone, there is no life (praana) in the body (saroopa).

The 33 saroopaas are those that start from कः etc. [ka: + aadi = कोदि]

Therefore we call 33 kodi consonants / saroopaas.

The 18 praanaas together are denoted by combining into ॐ ( अ + उ + अं ) or otherwise taking the first, middle, and last vowels making it الله (अ + ऌ + अः) i.e Allah or taking only the middle vowel ऌ it is Elah [אלהא] in Aramaic (note the swastika on both sides of the ॐ written 90deg rotated anti-clockwise) or in biblical Aramaic as ܐܠܗܐ.

As already told, in Tamil, praana is uyir [உயிர்] and saroopa is meyy [மெய்ய்]. There is a possibility that Sanskrit evolved from Tamil as we can find Tamil to be more primitive. 

Kodi in Sanskrit also means crores. Hence it got misinterpreted so.

They are therefore the 33 crores of gods that we usually get to hear and often are made fun of!! 🤣🤣🤣 - though they are the gods who really exist and stand and stare before us every time day in and day out in our daily life.

If one were to examine Paanini's Ashtadyaayi, the most scientific grammar text ever written in the world, we will find that he uses अल् as the single sutra/code to denote all the vowels and the consonants together. Thus Allah becomes the personification of not only the 33 kodi devataas, but also including the 18 praanaas making it 51 in all. 

A bridge & Padmapaada

Recently, I was having a WhatsApp chat with one of my learned elder cousin brothers where a discussion on idol worship came up.

He was mentioning about some 'Learned Lectures' inside temple premises like "the deity worshipped in the temple is an idol or just a stone which is meant to help achieve the ultimate goal of 'Self Realization' and has to be dispensed with thereafter since a self realized person becomes God Himself".

Some questions arise.

If the deities worshipped in the temple were farce,

How could Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa & Jayadeva be divine?

And how at all did Sri Adi-Sankara establish so many temples in Kerala and some in the North like Badrinath, Kedarnath?

That the Bhagavad Gita talks about detachment is well known.  Whether we still require the bridge after we crossed the river is to be pondered.  (Unless of course we plan to return the same route).

Some need the bridge and some not.  Those who don't become the Padmapaada - the one who crossed the river without the bridge.  (Adi-Sankara's disciple Sanandana, crossed a river by walking over it keeping the foot over lotus flowers and hence became known as Padmapaada)

Certainly those who use the bridge also cross the river and reach the same place where the ones who don't use it to cross.  While some get happiness by using the bridge, other 'acrobats' would go without it and they too enjoy the ride to the destination.

Neither is therefore wrong.  One might be more safer though slower; while the other faster but riskier.

Verily, speed is not to be counted in this case of pursuit of moksha.

Maharishi Ramana once asked Sree Narayana Guru: "Isn't it time yet that you shun the stone?"

He replied:"I don't carry it"

Story of Airaavatam - the Multi-tusked White Elephant

Let me tell you a story I heard about 30 years ago (1986) from my Malayalam teacher who was a 'Father' (A Christian priest).  He was explaining us in the class on a poem about 'Airaavatam' - by the famous nature poet Shri P. Kunhiraman Nair.

As a preface, he told that this poem was about a myth of Airaavatam the white multi tusker vehicle of Lord Indra of the Hindu puraanaas.  "The story is about how few apsaras who had prepared a very special fragrant garland wished to give it to an eligible person like Lord Indra.  As they wondered as to who that could be, Sage Durvaasaa known for his short temper passed by them.  The apsaraas felt that it wouldn't be nice if the sage was not offered the garland. Having received the offering from the apsaraas, the sage was confused (what can a sage do with the garland after all) and wished to offer it to the first eligible guy he met.  As he moved on, he saw Indra upon his Airaavata.  Indra paid his respects to the great sage and the sage gifted him the special garland he just received from the apsaraas.

Indra got back on his Airaavata and kept the garland upon the elephant's head and started dressing up his hair so that the garland could look more beautiful.  A swarm of bees surrounded the garland which irritated the elephant who pulled out the garland and swung it to the ground to keep the bees away.  In the meanwhile the garland was crushed under its feet.  Unfortunately Sage Durvaasaa saw this and considered it an insult to him & his valuable gift. He cursed Indra that he and his follower gods would be on accelerated ageing.

Lord Indra rushed to the sage's feet and begged pardon and convinced him that it was not his intention to insult him the least.  The sage gave then the antidote that they should take Amrut to become eternal so as to nullify the accelerated ageing.

Now the problem was that Amrut could be obtained by churning the Milky Way. For which he organised the help of the flying mountain Manthara, with Vaasuki the snake god as the rope, his all time foes - the asuraas on the head side and the devas on the tail side.  As the manthan went on, many things came out viz. the deadly Kaalakooda poison, Mahalakshmi, Jyeshta, Kaamadhenu, Kalpataru, etc.  Shiva drank the poison to rescue the teams from its bad effects.  The poison was very powerful and Vishnu had turned blue instantly.  Finally when the Amrut was delivered, Vishnu saved it from the Asuras and gave it to the Devaas having allured the asuraas by the charming beauty of Mohini avataar.  And Garuda secured it from the Naagas. By the by, one other that came as a by-product was the Airaavata itself that went to become the vehicle to Indra."

He stopped here and said:  "This is now a chicken & egg story!"

"Because the very cause of the Paalaazhi (Milky Way) Manthan was Airaavata while Airaavata itself was the byproduct."

He paused again.  "So what do we conclude?"

He continued: "That the story is false and a myth"

(And the class learned this for the exams).

Few Years passed by until once I saw an interpretation of this very story by Aachaarya Narendra Bhushan, an ardent follower of Maharshi Dayananda Saraswati.
In that he said: "The vapour from the waters go up to form the clouds that shower as water; and that again turns to vapour."

Airaavatam is this cloud on which Indra The Lord of Rains rides on with his Thunderbolt.

Needless to say, this prompted me to take a path of trying to understand the meaning of these stories (that are termed myth), rather than simply listening with emotions.

IRCTC Speed Enhancer

Preface:
A bitter experience recently of getting only wait-listed tickets upon booking railway tickets on IRCTC for trips for self and family and their return for travelling home on account of my brother's wedding in mid May this year, is what created this rage for developing a speed enhancer on IRCTC booking.

Searched the internet and adopted many concepts that entailed this small utility which I would like to call the IRCTC-Speed-Enhancer.

One can open the html file in any browser (other than IE) and fill up the details including the user-id and passwords.  There is no need to worry if you are using your own computer.  Even if it be a public computer (internet cafe or the like), make sure that you delete the shortcut and any saved files from that computer after you are done.

The data that is once filled, could be saved (if you please).  Even if not, the shortcut can be created by a name of your choice and then drag the short to the Bookmarks tab on your browser.  It will neatly be placed if there are not many on the browser.  Still you could re-arrange others to the place of your choice.  (for the sake of understanding, let me name it myIRCTC).

Step-1:
Open the irctc.co.in web-site.
Click on the myIRCTC shortcut-bookmark.
This should have filled up the User name and password in the IRCTC web-site.  Enter the captcha and login.

Step-2:
When the irctc opens the next page, for entering Station details and the date of journey,
Click again on the myIRCTC shortcut-bookmark.
This should have caused all the required details to be filled up w.r.t. the Station and date of journey.

Step-3:
Click on the Find Trains button.
Select the train and the class of travel.
And if you choose, click on Book Now.

Step-4:
When the passenger details form is shown,
Click again on the myIRCTC shortcut-bookmark.
This should have caused all the required passenger details to be filled up.

Step-5:
Enter the Captcha and proceed for payment.
Click again on the myIRCTC shortcut-bookmark.
This should have caused selecting the bank details with proper entries filled up.

Step-6:
If it was netbanking, you would be taken to the Bank site for making the payment.
Click again on the myIRCTC shortcut-bookmark.

This would have caused your transaction user-id and password to be typed on the page. 

Login to the bank website and make the payment. 

It is expected that this would certainly have improved your speed of booking at the IRCTC website. 

Happy Ticket Booking !!!!...

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Click on this link to enjoy:

Dharma, Karma & Kaalam

Dharma, Karma & Kaalam

This is one of my pet topics I always love to discuss and 'discourse' !!.

In my opinion, every object in this universe, animate or inanimate or anything other than those, follow the three principles of 'Dharma', 'Karma'  & 'Kaalam'.


Dharma is a very sensitive word.  (Bhagawan Shri. Veda Vyasa himself describes that it is very difficult to identify clearly to draw a line between dharma and adharma).  However, I would like to discuss it in its down-to-earth meaning.

'Dharma' of an object under consideration is the primary, secondary and any additional objectives of that object for which it has been designed.

'Karma' of the object is the activity that the object conducts. It is assumed that this has to be in line with its 'dharma'.

'Kaalam' is the duration of time of the 'Karma' of that object.

In short, an object with a specific 'Dharma' can perform a specific 'Karma' in a specific 'Kaalam'.

Kaalam has birth and death ie. Start and End.
When the Karma is repeated, it is rebirth and redeath.  Karma gives result or 'Phalam'.  Needless to say that there will certainly be some amount side-effects of 'Karma-Phalam' carried over to the rebirth.

For example, a Wheel is round in shape and is designed to rotate. Therefore, to rotate is its 'Dharma'.
When it is used for doing the work of carrying the chassis of a four-wheeler and taking it forward, it is named as a 'Tyre'.  When the object called  'Wheel', is setup on the steering rod of the four-wheeler, it can still be rotated; though however, it is called a 'Steering Wheel'.  In this case, though the wheel is the object that has 'Dharma' defined as 'Rotate', a derived form of that object called Tyre has Dharma : 'To carry the vehicle forward/backward' and another derived form of that object called the Steering-Wheel has Dharma : 'To steer the four wheels of the vehicle'.

The Karma of Tyre is to rotate on the floor.  This is as a result of many other forces like friction, torque, thrust etc. The result or Phalam is that the vehicle moves (forward or backward) according to the other forces.

The Karma of Steering wheel is to turn about the steering rod only (and not anywhere else). The Phalam (result) is that it causes the other wheels to go in a direction.

All these operate in a Kaalam or Time in tandem, to yield the specific result.

By wear and tear, the tyre could burst after many such births and rebirths.  Thus the effect of Karma can be carried over to another Kaalam of birth or rebirth.

Having said that the Tyre as well as the Steering-wheel are both Wheels, can they change their roles?
Can the Tyre be fitted on the Steering-rod and the Steering wheel on the Axle?
Would that perform the Karma?

Why not? could be an answer - For, both have the primary Dharma of rotating, they can definitely do the assigned Karma.  However, there would be deficiency of performance.  Thus whenever there is intermixing of 'Dharma', there is bound to be chaos (See also Bhagawad Geeta).
Thus though the Tyre and the Steering wheel have both inherited a 'Dharma', they are fine-tuned for a still special 'Dharma' which could result in performance issues in case they are not used at the right place at the right time.

What is the use of turning the 'Steering wheel' without starting the vehicle and accelerating in the right gear? Therefore, timing is also important and that only can yield results.

The right object with the right 'Dharma' for doing the right 'Karma' (work) at the right 'Kaalam' (time) would only yield the required 'Phalam' (result).