Food For Thought

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Significance of Vada mala aaradhanai for Anjaneya Swamy

Why Vadamala aaradhana for Anjaneya Swamy ?

यत्र यत्र रघुनाथ कीर्तनम् तत्र तत्र क्रित मस्तक अन्जलिं बष्पावरी परीपूर्ण लोचनम् मारुतिं नमश्च राक्षस अंतकम्।

That wherever the deeds of Sri Rama are sung,
At all such places does Hanuman cry tears of devotion and joy,
At all such places does his presence remove the fear of demons.



Once a person hailing from North India was among the many who came to have darshan of Paramacharya of Kanchi Mutt. He was seen in hesitancy and Maha Periyava invited him to ask his doubt. The Northerner cleared his throat and said that Anjeneya Swamy is worshiped all over India but he was not able to understand why in South the people adorn Anjaneya with 'Vada-mala' made of Urud dhal mixed with pepper where as in North India they do with sweet Jangiri. He also added that he had not received a convincing answer from anybody.

Paramacharya
- was pleased to talk about Hanumanji. He began to explain first that children when they make some fuss to eat, the mother coaxes them to see the Moon outside and the child enjoys seeing the bright Moon and the cool breeze outside and finishes eating.

Similarly when Hanuman was a child, he took a liking to look at the Sun blazing in the Sky. He didn't stop with that. He went on to catch the Sun with his hand.
At the same time, 'Rahu Devatha' was also racing to catch the Sun God to eclipse the Sun. In the race between Hanuman and Rahu, Hanuman, being the son of Vayu, the Wind God (Vayuputhra) won with ease. In appreciation of Hanuman's valor, Rahu Deva sanctioned a boon in whoever worshiped Hanumanji with a food item made of urud dhal, will get relieved from 'Rahu Dosha' or that Rahu Graha will not trouble them anymore. Further the item offered to Hanumanji should be in the form of a garland or bent like a serpent which is how 'Rahu God' appears. Rahu also admitted that Urudh Dhal is his favorite cereal and food item prepared with Urudh Dhal is to his immense liking.

Paramacharya, having explained the significance of Vadamala aaradhana to Anjaneya Swamy went on to bring out the background for the differences in the culture between the people in the South and North. South India is famous for salt cultivation as North is for sugarcane. Vada is a food item made of urud dhal mainy with salt, also some pepper added for improving the taste. So people in South offer vadamala aaradhana to Anjaneya Swamy.

But the Northerners prefer sweet to salt. However Jangiri is made of mainly urud dhal only which condition satisfies the rule imposed by Rahu God.


Sugarcane grows in plenty in North only. Hence the people have developed it as a custom to worship Anjeneya Swamy with the garland of Jangiris.

The mass of people who had gathered to listen to Paramacharya, let lone the Northerner, went rapturous and fell at the feet of the Jagad Guru and the then Paramacharya of Kanchi Peetam.

pn

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Pictures of Navarathri Golu in Canton MI and Denver CO

Golu @ Ajay's place


Nurturing the Needs is your Nature
Akilandeshwari as we call you heart of hearts
Visalakshi we pray to have your vision
All in one as you are to us
Raksha Raksha Oh Ranganayakiye
Amba Parameswari Aadhi Parasakthium as you are
Taejovathi, Trinayana, Tiripura - these names belong to you
Himagirithanaye Hemalathe we hail you so

Golu @ Aparna's place



Remembering you by prayers is the only way for salvation
Ishwari Kamakshi- you fulfill desires by sight !!

Happy Dasara Greetings To All Of You !!

pn(s)

Navarathri Special !

Nurturing the Needs is your Nature
Akilandeshwari as we call you heart of hearts
Visalakshi we pray to have your vision
All in one as you are to us
Raksha Raksha Oh Ranganayakiye
Amba Parameswari Aadhi Parasakthium Neeye
Taejovathi, Thrinayana, Thiripura - these names belong to you
Himagirithanaye Hemalathe we hail you so
Remembering you by prayers is the only way in this world
Ishwari Kamakshi- She who fulfills desires by sight !!

Happy Dasara Greetings To All Of You !!

Visiting the most famous 'Windy City' in the world !

I suppose you may be aware that Chicago, the largest city in Illinois and the third most populous city in US, carry a nick name the 'Windy City'. The origin for this name emerged when Chicago was rebuilt after the great Chicago Fire in 1871 when the streets were modeled on a grid system where the wind is sucked down the 'Skyline' along the columns and rows at an average speed of 10.30 mph,'Chicago loop' what it is known as, is dense and windy and stands as a man made tunnel.

We hired a Dodge vehicle to accommodate all of us for the journey. We left Canton MI in the afternoon of July 21, 2010 and our daughter Aparna was at the wheels. The journey was smooth and we reached Chicago in little less than 6 hours and parked the vehicle in the parking lot near Navy Pier.

We first made our decision to finish dinner as we feared a long ques in "Capi's" which is a tourists' choice for its Italian cuisines. It proved to be an unique dining experience for us.

Navy Pier is 3300 ft. long on the shore of Lake Michigan. It may cost anywhere near $90 million today. It was built in 1916 @ a cost of $4.5million.
We walked along the Navy Pier relaxing the sound of waves quietly lapping on the lake shore. We rode the splendor of the giant Ferry Wheel. Next we hopped into a merry go round and Vignesh and Karthik our grand sons enjoyed the wide & speeding swing. We were in time for the fire works. Navy Pier's award winning fire works light up the sky every Wednesday and Saturday at 9.30p.m - a stunning spectacle over Lake Michigan.

We returned to Comfort Inn where we were lodged. The Inn is an unit of Choice Hotel chain in US and known for the comfort it provides.

Next day morning we had a sumptuous buffet complimentary break fast in the Inn before taking the architecture cruises from Navy Pier- a sight seeing extravaganza in Shoreline boat. The cruiser highlight more than 40 of the city's architectural masterpieces including the world's iconic skyscraper 'Sears Tower' and the tallest building in US. Incidentally it had been renamed as Willis Tower in July 2009, houses 110 story and 1450ft high.



The next important assignment on the second day was the visit to Johnshedd Indoor Aquarium. The 80 year old unit exhibits and was for sometimes the largest with 25000 fish, 5,00,000 US gallons of water and has a record of 2 million annual visitors. The Shedd features marine mammals, Pacific white-sided dolphins, belugas, green sea turtle, birds, snakes, amphibians, insects, sea otters. The aquarium boasts for different exhibits like Amazon Rising, Caribbean Reef, Waters of the World, The Occeanarium and Wild Reef. The Amazon Rising recreates a flooded forest of its river and the surrounding jungle.

'Fantasea' is a multiple animal show at the Shedd Aquarium featuring Sea-Lions, Beluga Whales, Penguins, Hawks,& Dolphins. We enjoyed watching the show. We spent the entire afternoon in the Shedd. We then drove a long distance to call on one of our close relatives who had invited us for the dinner. By the time we returned to Comfort Inn, it was nearing 11p.m.

The next day, being the last lap, we scheduled to visit the Millennium Park which trails only Navy Pier as a Chicago tourist attraction. The principal signature of Millennium Park is Jay Pritzker Pavilion, a band shell. It hosts the Cloud Gate sculpture. It is dubbed by the Chicagoans as " THE BEAN" because of its shape. The piece which is widely popular is a highly polished reflective steel sculpture that is inspired by the liquid mercury. The Bean reflects and distorts the City's Skyline. We saw again and again our reflections in the cloud like surface of the Bean. The place is a popular center for photography.



We then moved to another spot namely the Crown Fountain. The fountain is composed of a black granite reflecting pool placed between a pair of transparent glass brick towers. LEDs are used behind the brick to display videos on their inward faces. Water sprouts from the mouth of the figures when stream of water cascades over the images.

We went all the way to Mysore Woodlands for lunch and enjoyed the Indian delicacies for a change. We also searched for the 'supari' and got it packed to eat it on the way. We said 'bye bye Chicago' and started our return journey at about 4p.m. There was heavy rains on the way all along and the road became icy and slippery with low visibility. Besides there was a considerable stretch where repair works were going on. Compliments to our daughter who managed well the situations and drove safely till we reached Canton and Ajay's home at 10.30p.m. The rains did not stop even then and was continuing.

A heavy and delicious dinner awaited us which our son and daughter in law had prepared with zeal and enthusiasm.

This is all for the present. The attach files figure salient snaps and descriptions in the essay and I suppose you will enjoy viewing them in the zoom.

pn

Monday, October 11, 2010

'Things are not the same as they seem to be'

Sunday, January 17, 2010

P.Natarajan.

( The essay is in three parts and please have patience to read all the thre'Things are not the same as they seem to be'e parts -)

I) We think of life in one way and it turns out to be something quite different.
Adi Sankara advocates not to get caught in this cob-web and for this he propagates a doctrine which underlines, " All things in this world are part of 'Brahmam".

Adi Sankara goes step by step to explain this philosophy. He cites some simple examples. A carpenter carves an elephant in wood.
A child views it as an elephant whereas the carpenter identifies it as a kind of wood. He will not think of it as a mere elephant.

Likewise, an ordinary man will not be able to see ' Brahmam' as he is able to see only the visual things viz. the five basic elements like Earth, Wind, Water, Fire and Akasa. In other words, 'Brahmam' gets concealed by 'Pancha - Bhoothas' for an average person.

Toys may have the shapes like vegetables, fruits, animals and so on where as the man who had made the toys knows them to be 'mud' only. We think of sugar when we taste sweets. In a similar manner, visual appearances though many in this world, it is 'Brahmam' alone that occupies what ever we behold or come in contact.

Adi Sankara has experienced the aspect of ' Brahmam' in his real life.
'Kasi Viswanatha' (Lord Siva) appeared before Adi Sankara as a 'Chandala' with four dogs. Adi Sankara commanded the 'Chandala' to make way for him to have darshan of the 'Sanctum Sanctorum'. The 'Chandala' in turn questioned Adi Sankara : " Who is to make way, is it my body or Atman ?" Adi Sankara immediately shed his ego and realised the presence of 'Brahmam' standing in front of him. He concluded that it was Lord Kasi Viswanatha Himself who appeared before him as a "Chandala".

Adi Sankara went on to compose the celebrated treatise ' Manisha Panchakam'. The last sloka of ' Manisha Panchakam' brings out the aspect of 'Brahmam' vividly. It says that Devas including Indra do enjoy the part of 'Brahmam' but it is a decimal portion of 'Brahmam' only. A true 'gnani' alone
who is in deep meditation with 'Brahmam' and who shuns his ego will be able to become one with 'Brahmam'. Adi Sankara hopes that by reading again and again this last sloka of ' Manisha Panchakam' it may dawn on ordinary person to get some awareness of his self.

II) In a lighter vein, some more examples are taken up to elaborate how words and appearances are not always the same what they seem to be:-

1) A lead pencil does not contain lead.
2) A Silk worm is not a worm.
3) India Ink is not made in India.
4) A shooting star is not a star.
5) A Turkish bath is not Turkish.

A rope lying on the floor is sometimes seen as serpent and in a mixed shades of twinkling light, it appears to be moving to convince the on looker as a real snake itself. Similarly when one sees the Sun's reflection in the water kept in a pot, can he mistake it for the real Sun ? Now the pot is broken and the water scatters and still the Sun is seen in the portion of water in every part of the broken pot. A stick when partly immersed in a jug of water appears half bent due to refraction . These are examples for illusion.

In Ramayana we know the appearance of 'Maya Sita' who appeared like Sita. Twins look alike and it is difficult to differentiate between the two. A kilogram of apples may contain 5 or 6 apples of average size and we may not be able to distinguish one from the other. We can cite many such cases which all sing in tune with the central theme of this essay.

A man goes disguised as a King or plays the role of a thief in a drama.
Does this mean the man has changed in real life too? It is not uncommon for a person to see something, perceive it as some other thing, but inform yet another thing to others about what he had seen. What we see sometimes or hear may not be true. Appearances are evasive. All these illustrations stress that it is necessary to look for the truth before accepting any version.

III) A story comes to my mind in this connection:-
Two Angels who were traveling knocked the door of a wealthy man and sought a place in his house to spend the night. There the people behaved rudely before showing at last the basement of the building for the Angels to sleep. The first Angel saw a hole in the wall at the basement and immediately started closing the hole. The other Angel looked at it strangely. She was not able to guess the reason for the first Angel's action.

The next day, the Angels knocked at the door of a person who was not so rich and asked for a place to spend the night. The people here showed due courtesy to the Angels, made inquiries about their welfare, gave them food to eat and shelter to rest with all the warmth they knew. The next day when the Angels were about to take leave, the head of the family was seen in tears. He informed that his cow which was yielding good amount of milk was dead.

Now the second Angel questioned the first for the happening. She asked why in the first case, where the people behaved with disrespect, the first Angel did good by way of closing the hole. In contrast, in the second house, where the inmates showed a lot of courtesy to them, the first Angel had caused the death of the cow. 'Why"- the second Angel insisted the first Angel for an answer.

The first Angel replied that ' THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS SAME AS THEY SEEM TO BE' !

She further clarified that she closed the hole in the wall in the first house because she was able to see a lot of gold was concealed behind the wall. She closed the hole with a purpose so that the people could never be able to locate and make use of it. They would come to know and repent for their wrong actions in due course.

In the second house, the Angel saw the messenger of Death entering the house to take away the life of the lady of the house.The first Angel saved the lady by allowing the life of the cow to be taken away. Thus she could help the man and woman to live long and bless them continued happiness in their life.

The first Angel brought out the moral from the above two episodes by saying "Things are always not the same as they seem to be ".

pn