Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa

Swamiye! Saranam Ayyappa!

Sabarimala is a historically sacred & significant place, even referred to in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

The temple of Ayyappa has its praana pratishtta (प्राण प्रतिष्ठा) conceived (संकल्प) as 'Naishttika' brahmachaari as the deity (देव). Naishttika (नैष्ठिक) is about Nishta (निष्ठा) or rigourousness & religiosity of following something  particularly. Brahmacharyam (ब्रह्मचर्यम् ) is moving (चर) along with Brahman (ब्रह्म). 

Therefore as per the idea conceived by the founding fathers (तन्त्रि = he who prescribes on how to liberate or तरति cross over the तनु body) the devotee is supposed to have been practicing  renunciation of all modes, religiously during the 41 day period before he climbs up the 18 steps to realization. However, dwelling immensely in  samsaara (संसार - where whatever one does has a सार meaning! i.e. this network of worlds) of bondages, it may not be possible for everyone to achieve that state of Tattwamasi (तत्त्वमसि = तत् त्वं आसि that thou art) to be able to renounce completely. "Experience makes man perfect." Therefore, to become to that state of Tattwamasi, to turn oneself into the Swami (i.e. the Lord / God / Creator - omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent), is a strife and may be achieved thru repetition of that practice & therefore may require to be continued year on year. It was perhaps thought, that the right time was indeed after Onam, when the granaries have been sufficiently taken care for feeding families & animals for at least a year, thereby after feeling relaxed of the family responsibilities. It also means that renunciation is not about running away from work or responsibilities, but undertaking the duties with renunciation (just as the Gita observes).

Thence, the males observed the strict vows for 41 days, & the women participated thru relaxing, keeping away from men and involving in prayers. The vow also requires self discipline, cooking, vegetarian intake, undertaking the daily chores & individual necessities by oneself. It is also necessary it seems, that when the pilgrimage is completed, getting down the hill and upon reaching the pampa river, there should be just enough food and money left with him, to reach back home!!

Thus, those who could go to Sabarimala are those who are freed (or attempting to free themselves) of bondages. While the men need to observe strict vow, boys and girls less than 10 yrs were exempted, considering that they are generally already free from bondage. Women above 50, who wish to treck to the temple, are also considered to be free from bondage and already in a state of renunciation. (Women generally are considered to be more spiritual by design, as they are for giving (deliver) and not for taking (picking) unlike men who are designed to pick-up (earn) - of course for self and family. The only period when the women are otherwise, is when they bear and rear children). They love to live in their own dynamic  world just as are children. That is perhaps why, most religious texts of the world on the subject of renunciation reflect more upon what men should do!!

Having said that, we find that the three categories of humans satisfying the necessary qualifications to climb up to the sanctum sanctorum of the seat of renunciation (Tattwamasi), are children below 10, women above 50 and boys and men of all ages who follow the prescribed austerities.

On the contrary, in the practical scheme of things, if a woman between 10 & 50 has to go, they generally are accompanied by men who are close relatives. This puts an additional burden of responsibility on those men, which is nothing but attachment (and is counter to renunciation!) - thereby defeating the entire purpose of that man's visit and practice. 

The temple is not open every day. Earlier it used to be open only during the month of Makara (mid-January). When people started visiting without undertaking the prescribed austerities, it was initially decided to open a side entry. When the crowd grew further, it was extended for those without following the austerities, for the first of every Malayalam month (usually the 15/16/17 th of Gregorian calendar) thru the side entry. Now with the women also allowed, it would be better to open throughout the year for side entry. 

Perhaps, it would be good to continue to restrict women between 10-50 yrs to enter thru the main entrance so as to keep up, respect and appreciate the  idea of the original designer and the founding father of that temple. (In other words let them be restricted of irumudikkettu, that is essential for climbing the 18 steps). That would leave for any learned posterity, at least a fine thread about the logic on the concept and meaning of the pilgrimage.

Sabarimala Ayyappa temple is a pilgrimage to self control, detachment and renunciation. It is not about fulfilling of prayers and wishes, rather it is about overcoming wishes and desires. Only those who have no wishes (not even the wish to pray) and those who wish to come out of desires should undertake the prescribed austerities and go there. That is also why, this temple is open to everyone of all faiths and beliefs, because self realization (Tattwamasi) is the ultimate goal of all faiths and beliefs!! The restrictions for women as well as the austerities for men, therefore may have been conceived intentional to societal progress and not discriminatory, and is especially significant when rising trends of atrocities towards women may be on the rise.

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Trimurty of Human Life

Trimurty of Human Life

This seems interesting!!.

Vishnu is Hrishikesh (=the Lord of the 💓 heart).

Rama is red in color. Krishna is blue in color.

During the manthan where the white corpuscles (suras) and the red corpuscles (asuras) participate, the poison that comes out affects Vishnu who turns blue. Vishnu is the sustainer of life.

Shiva is Lord of purification (crematory). He is covered by dust (bhasma) and is lord of nature (Parvati = Shakti). He is clothed on  blood dripping skin (cells). He is lord of Yoga & Prana. He is the Lord of lungs. It is he who pushes the elements (of nature) required to purification for sustaining life. He is the Lord of Samskaaram (purification).  It is when Shiva consumes the poison of the manthan, that Vishnu retains the red. 

The manthan, therefore is a continuous process within each one of us.

Brahma is the Lord of knowledge & consciousness. He is the Lord of brain. The brahma as brain, has four heads. Two parts of the front and two parts of the rear. The four Vedas or knowledge have come out of those four parts. He is the Lord of existence and creation. Creation is connected to the naval stem cell, where the secret of regeneration and codification of cell is available and is also solution to curing most diseases. He therefore is connected as he sits upon the naval stem (cell) supported by Vishnu, the heart.

Hence, if there is any chance of recovery from probable death, it is Brahma who decides, because it is Brahma who decides time of creation and time of cessation.

This is the secret of the Trimurty (Trinity) within us. Don't you think so?

The combination of the Trimurty is Ganesha, or Ganapati who is lord of all, the eka-naayakam (the single leader and the redeemer). Therefore, he is represented by the pranava ॐ

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Guru Poornima

Guru Poornima

This Guru-poornima of today, which coincides with a red lunar eclipse reflects a different full moon (poornima). It is a red moon!!

Amongst the ancient Rishis and gurus of India, the re-affirmation & re-establishment of the essential fundamentals of Vedic knowledge drawn down thru a parampara of saints and gurus, was by Adi-Sankara.  The Vedic way prescribed the four Varna-Aashramaas, namely Brahma-charyam, Gaarhyastyam,  Vana-prastham & Sannyaasam.  Adi-Sankara debated throughout to establish Vedic way of life. However, in his lovely life of 32 years, it seems to me that he transgressed thru the four Aashrams in the opposite order, i.e.,  from Sannyaasam to Vanaprastham, to Gaarhastyam, to Brahmacharyam.

So as to say, that when he was hardly eight years of age, he renounced the world after obtaining permission from his mother for his Sannyaasam, thereby relieving himself from the crocodile that caught him at the now famous crocodile ghat (Mutala-kkadavu = in Malayalam, may be translated also as, three headed/staged transgression!! or in Sanskrit, crocodile is known as a makara; मकरः = म {not} + करः {do / perform} i.e., caught in a river bank, bereft of work, non-performance, or in other words, inertia) at Kaladi in Kerala; thereafter, performed Vanaprastham - travelled the length and breadth of India, not just once, but more than once, debated with the greatest scholars, established study centers at pivotal places; thereafter during the course of debates entered Gaarhastyam,  unconventionally transmigrating into the body of a King and in the end, set in to the path of ultimate devotion, set up and prescribed temples all over India writing & reciting the many haloed poems of his, attributing to Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu & Devi, treading the path of Brahma-charyam and then climbing  up the steps of ultimate knowledge (Sarvajna peethom), before his Samadhi at the age of just 32.

That in short was a progress from renunciation (Sannyasi) to dolls (idols / Vigrahas) - as we may call it.

Whereas, his knowledge and logic was exquisite & without parallels, and confirming to scientific discoveries & truths that even today, there hasn't been any other philosophy capable enough to surpass the depth and universality of the understanding set forth by him, be it thru scientific pursuit or thru interpretations by Orthodox faiths.

The temples that he setup are testimony to the fact that he realized that, though in the abstract level, the concept of universality can be spoken thru Prajnaanam Brahma, Aham brahmaasmi, Tat-twamAsi, &  Ayamaatmaa Brahma, uncovered by the Upanishads of Rg, Yajur, Saama, Atharva Vedas,  in the common parlance, people can be lead more easily to absolute truth, thru Idols of wood or stone, those gullible or otherwise.  And that, just as an architect's presentation,  the 'Saguna' stone model of the Absolute, happens to become easily understandable to majority of humans, than the abstract 'Nirguna' definitions by the Vedas or the Upanishads.  That might seem defying the very ideology that he professed, but in reality, he showed us that he does not, and none should, have any fundamentalistic assertion onto alternate understanding of Brahman or upon the practice or the worship of the same. (While for a mathematician, it may be akin to the assumption of the unknown variable as x, and finally the value of that x is found. Needles to say, that once found, the x loses it's significance)

Therefore those gurus are adorable and respectable, who care for the universal jnaana and understanding.

Hence, my humble salutations to the great gurus!!!

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The Trinity Magic

The Trinity Magic

Three letters of Sanskrit have been instrumental in changing the conveniences of modern human life. That conspicuous manifest, could be found in the development of computing through electronics. The binary system of arithmetic was transformed through symbols and signals and the world was transformed from absolute arithmetic to symbolic computing. Further developments, applied that arithmetic to almost every happening in this world today - from calculators to computers to smart TVs, to washing machines to refrigerators and even to electric fans and lights that obey commands given even through our speech! - not to mention air travel or a launch to outer space in the skies!.

The basic composition of logic based on which the entire computer systems work are formed out of a combination of three logical operations namely:-  OR, AND & NOT.

Those three, are known as 'gates' in modern electronics and they are very fundamental to computer science. In fact, computer science starts with creating a 'truth' table, defining the arithmetic operations of those three.

The language of the Gods, as it is rightly known, Sanskrit has three letters that correspond to these. They are:- Va (व), Cha (च) & Na (न). Together they may be called as Vachana (व + च + न = वचन). 

In the Bible, it is believed that, "in the beginning, there was only the 'Word'". Wasn't hitherto aware that Biblical writers too, like the authors of  the Quran who adopted the  Sanskrit word 'Allah' for God (http://sunambiar.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-sanskrit-word-allah.html?m=1) had in fact, also followed original Sanskrit principles and the Vedic religion per-se giving credentials to and reaffirming that the Sanskrit language is indeed 'DevaNaagari' (language of the Kingdom of Gods & Godesses).

In Sanskrit, 'Vachana' (वचन) means 'Word'. 

How is it that in Sanskrit, Vachana represents OR, AND, NOT?  Let us examine right away. 

Typically, in Sanskrit vocabulary, the letter 'VA' is used as a conjunct with the meaning OR; while the letter 'CHA' is used as a conjunct with the meaning AND; whereas, the letter 'NA' means NOT.

Therefore one could say, that the very foundations of computers is also based on the Trinity letters VA+CHA+NA, together known as VACHANA meaning WORD. 

Isn't it a fact, that a word is nothing but a set of letters? Unlike in many other languages, in Sanskrit, there are a lot of letters that are words themselves. (Very few letters like 'I' & 'a' have corresponding meanings as 'myself' & 'one'/'single' respectively in English language). Right from the vowels in Sanskrit to the consonants, Sanskrit alphabet have corresponding meanings and are used to describe and even denote many attributes of this universe. Many such letters are used extensively in tantric discussions.

Therefore, this relationship, if at all, it is not incidental, whether or not it was accidental, (from a language described worldwide as the language of the computers - Sanskrit), is left to the imagination of common human intelligence.

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Life Principles

 Communication & Networking is the basis of Life

Life is about communication & networking. The millions of cells and other living objects in each of us communicate constantly and therefore there is continuity of life.

Death is, we may say, discontinuity in communication.

Communication is such that a group of cells and some living objects talk to each other and help each other in a particular way so that overall, the organization or the body, displays itself as another type of life.

Therefore life is a conglomerate of many lives. Each cell in our body has a soul within itself which gives life and death at specific cycles of time. New cells are created and those souls jump into new ones (cells), when the old starts debilitating. The time gap between such rebirth according to Vedic scriptures, is almost immediate - just as short a time required for a caterpillar to move from one leaf to another, leaving the former. Thus rebirth is a continuous phenomena that cannot be denied.

When the cells in our body fail in their proper communication; i.e., when there is a probable communication breakdown, so to say, we say, we are unhealthy and there is some disease in us. If we aren't able to bring in consonance so that the communication is restored properly & timely, then we say we decided to choose a new organization or body! (Just as we switch new jobs!!)

 What more to say, our brain itself maintains memory and intelligence thru it's own unique communication network unmatched even today by any modern day computers

Why then, some love to  blame God for such of our incompetence in communication?

Shiva-Shakti ~ Radha-Krishna

 Shiva-Shakti ~ Radha-Krishna

From the static Shiva (Sat-chit-Aananda) came dynamic Shakti (Parvati). Similarly from static Raadhaa came dynamic Krishna.

Both the concepts are  similar.

Raadhaa is obstruction - that is static. Dhaaraa (is the opposite of Raadhaa) is flow and is about dynamics.
Krishna is what attracts and melts down Raadhaa. That is why Raadhaa (static) goes to Krishna (the attractive [force]).

In the former, the dynamic Shakti is attracted to static Shiva. Whereas in the latter, the static Raadhaa is attracted to dynamic Krishna.

In physics, an object brought from (ananta) infinity is enlivened by what is known as potential energy. And there is a continuous tendency to return to its original place. (That is why we die). This infinity stretches like the long serpent Ananta (=infinity) of Vishnu (=omnipresent, that which is filled throughout the Vishwam i.e. universe). SkyBlue is the colour of the universe. It was caused by the Visham (poison) of Vasuki serpent (during churning of the Milky way). Vasu is matter. That's why vasudha in some context also means earth. Visham is what comes out when matter is churned. Energy is that what comes from matter. So Visham is energy. That Visham covered Vishnu (=everywhere) and therefore Vishnu turned SkyBlue. Shiva drank (absorbed) that Visham (energy from matter) to neutralized it. Shakti however caught his throat with both her (electro-magnetic) hands and coagulated that Visham to concentrate and remain passive at a single point.

And the universe was perhaps created thus!!
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(This is symbolic)

Intelligence, Faith & Management of Duty

 Intelligence, Faith & Management of Duty

Intelligence is one among the many things that is distributed unequally amongst creatures of this world (and interestingly, for which no rights activists have ever fought for!!) Others  may be ignorance, stupidity, wisdom, etc. All these are activities of brain. We do not really know whether intelligence is trainable like that of any other physical activity of physiology. That is to say, we could train for physical fitness, but not really with intelligence. Some day, perhaps that method might also be discovered.

Therefore, inorder to contain ill effects of a debilitated intelligence, intelligent people all over the world have devised a temporary solution which we call as 'Faith'.

Because, the amount of intelligence varies in different people (or even animals, birds etc.), communication often becomes a problem. This is because each one tends to understand things in the perspective of vision limited by one's own intelligence. To resolve this differential communication, some or a group of intellectuals have many times in history sat together to scribble such areas of concern in communication and those scripts were later compiled and called as scriptures.  The idea of writing those scriptures were to ask the lesser intelligent to keep away their reasoning and follow the scriptures whenever in doubt. Such an activity is termed as faith. But the problem faced by them was, as to how to inject faith? They found that faith could be injected by stories and that the stories influenced the mind. The mind is a mystery and a good psychiatrist could direct it to everyone's benefit. Hence, we find that most scriptures are backed by stories to add faith.

When a small group of people nowadays assemble to attempt to create such scriptures, they are called cult leaders or godmen. While they essentially derive from the extant scriptures only, they try to adapt and interpret in line with modern terms, as they think they communicate that way better.

To improve the quality of faith, they add extra 'nutrients' with 'salt' and 'pepper' too and create the effect of calling themselves as avatars.

(All these contribute to enhancing the faith. However, being human, they may err on certain other moral values and occasionally end up in captivity by law enforcing agencies!!)

Let us also broadly understand the miseries of humans & the Hierarchy of Human control system.

Taapa-trayam ताप त्रयं  are Tri-dukham त्रिदु:खं which are of three types:-

Aadhi-aatmikam (caused by oneself - birth, death etc),

Aadhi-Bhautikam (those caused by external materials - animals, metals, chemicals etc.),

Aadhi-Daivikam (those caused by the gods - air, wind, storm, water, fire, electricity, lightning, earthquake, etc.)

Is there any means to control these difficulties (dukham दु:खं) ?

Perhaps knowing the organizational hierarchy of our self & body organs might help. Let us ponder a bit about them.

Karma-indriya (5 Nos. Organs of Action) are controlled by Jnana-Indriya (5 Nos.).

Jnana-Indriyas (Organs of Sense/Perception) are controlled by Praana (Praanic Energy).

Praana (life energy) is controlled by Manas (mind).

Manas is controlled by Buddhi (intellect).

Buddhi is controlled by Aatma (soul).

Aatma is controlled by Aham (Self).

Aham is none but Brahma.

In other words, the Chairman of our body is Brahma / Parabrahma.

The lowest in the hierarchy are the Karmendriyas.

Therefore, we could say, that all our actions are actually performed by para-Brahma only. (who might have of course down-delegated to others in the hierarchy - but essentially, the doer is HIM/THAT only).

Therefore inorder to contribute to the requirement of the Isha (controller), faith is necessary and absolutely necessary where individual intelligence tend to fail. Intelligence is necessary to understand the hierarchy and once the hierarchy is properly understood, faith and trust is one of the primary guiding principles of successful living.

For example, a new employee to an organization needs to seek and understand the objectives, mission and vision of the Chairman of that organization.  Once understood, there can be unlimited faith in that Chairman. Otherwise, the limbs of action would lead the organization to hell and not heaven.

This may be the concept of Brahma-jnaanam - that of Jnaana-yoga, Bhakti-yoga as well as Karma/Raaja-Yoga.

The understanding of the hierarchy is Jnaana-yoga, the unconditional faith in the supreme personality is Bhakti-yoga, and the resulting work/karma or duty that is performed in accordance and in synergy with the Jnaana & Bhakti is the Karma/Raaja Yoga. Karma/Raaja yoga may lead one to prosperity (heaven) or otherwise delusion (hell) - based on the balance sheet prepared by none other than Chitra-Gupta (the secret cinematographer)!!.

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