Tuesday, 10 November 2020

Kamalatmika Jayanti

 

Mei tirupadam mewu endra
podinum

ithiru turandu egu endra podinum

Chithirathin alarnda senthamarai 

Othu irukkum mugathinai unnuwaal

       -  Sundara kaandam - Kamban - kaatchi padalam - 20


Captive Sita rued the memory of his face

Which glowed in stillness - as a resplendent, painted lotus

When he was asked to prepare for coronation, at daybreak

And was banished from kingdom, at nightfall

Friday, 4 September 2020

Pitru paksha - ancestral fortnight

 


Sprinkle of sesame and water flowing down the thumb -  satiate spirits with animal-like Wasanas.

Offerings of cooked rice dumplings - satiate spirits of middling tendencies.

Sandal, as paste is offered - to satiate spirits with divine tendencies. 

- as held, in tradition

Thursday, 7 May 2020

Narada jayanti

I did not know who my father was.
I was a small boy - raised by a single mother.
She worked as house help, and took me to workplace.

It was chaatur-maas -  4 months of rainy weather.
A group of monks had come to stay at the inn.
They would jest and play with me.
Days passed with fun, frolic, wet weather.
As winds waned, the monks prepared to leave.

And their fragrance lingered - even after they left.
I never felt sad or alone. They seemed to have given me, a cloak of immunity, against sorrows of the world.

Some days later, my mother died; and I had none to call, my own.
Strangely, I never felt alone - something lingered.
I grew up, wandered about.
And stumbled into my core - for no apparent reason.
When I came to, much time had elapsed.

"Abide in the memory of your core," advised a voice.
I lived out my life, and in due course, died.
And am reborn as Narada.

- Narada to Wyasa,  Bhagawat Purana. 

Monday, 6 April 2020

Moha - Kshaya: erosion of Moha


One who yearns for Moksha is a Mumukshu.

And Moksha, is kshaya of moha -  erosion of moha.

Moksha is not about freedom from being born.

It is about breaking bonds that tether and enslave.

Tethers of dis-empowerment, desires and the like.

When these are eroded, by flames of discontent, it is moha-kshaya, or  freedom. 

Wedanta simplified - What is moksha?