Suma and I never even in our weirdest dreams, thought of celebrating our 36th wedding anniversary in such a style, when I decided to join her in Chennai at Nisha's residence. The weather was of course oppressively sultry and hot but Nisha, Lakshmi and Parvathy ditermined to give the idea a big heave and a push so that everyone enjoyed the little function. I wanted my old friends Danny, Dinesh and Prakash attend the celebration with their families, so I rang them up well in advance to ensure their presence. They were only too glad to agree to come. So on 12th evening despite the weather, all of us assembled in Nisha's living room. Danny came with Prema, Prakash with Syamala and Dinesh besides Ajita brought His lovely daughter Lakshmi to our great delight.
We hoped Danny's son Prithvi and Prakash's Vijay also to attend but they had other engagements.
One unexpected guest was Sujatha, Suma's sister whose Her presence added more mirth and laughter.
The celebrations started with the traditional cake cutting by Suma, myself, Ammu and Krishna! Danny undoubtedly occupied the centrestage. He rose up to his reputation guzzling more'fuel' to help him to energize himself to dance, sing, crack jokes and find time to play with Krishna and Ammu! He became instant hit with dear Kichu who refused to release his new friend to take his much needed sips!
When the ladies started to drown us with their chatter and laughter, we moved a bit away and huddled ourselves with our glasses and bottle in front of us. Our memories travelled past with supersonic speed towards the 70s. Nostalgia flooded our minds and out came the stories of recklessness which we might have discussed hundreds of times earlier. We missed Anup, Dev and Indru but Prakash who shot our wedding photos in color ( color photos were a rarity and luxury those days, but Prakash was a sailor who used to go around the globe several times and for him it was not a big deal!) was with us. When I told Prakash I preserved those photos, everyone screamed at me why I didn't bring them . I know, I should have done it but I simply forgot. I promised Prakash I'd show it to him sometime later.
What followed was a delicious dinner and the crowd dispersed after that. Krishna was very reluctant to part with 'Danny uncle' but Danny assured him that he'd again visit him next day!
Suma and I were simply overwhelmed by the love and affection bestowed upon us by our friends and of course, Nisha, Lakshmi and Parvathy. We certainly missed Vinod who was away in Nairobi on official duty.
So it was a memorable day in our life as important as 12th sept 1973, because of the participation of my friends who were with me on that day at Palakkad!
Murali
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Bhagavat Geeta's role in moulding one's life
Hi Friends!
Of late I have become an ardent fan of Bhagavat Geeta. Certainly, it's not because it is a holy book of Hindus. If anyone brands it an ancestral property of a religion alone he hasn't understood the basic tenets of it. I have gone through some of the versions of its interpretations but the most simple and easily understood one is by C. Radhakrisnan, a scholar and author, who runs a regular column in the Malayalam daily, 'Mathrubhoomi'.
A redeeming feature of his writing is that he combines the present day scientific wisdom in his explanations to substantiate the fact that what Geeta advises is about a change of life rather than simply worshipping 1001 Gods. In fact, one may not find much space devoted to rituals and modes of worship in Geetha. Assuming that Geeta was written in 3000 or 3500 BC, a student of Geeta can find that a decay had already set in in the social fabric of the communities which prompted the Sage Vyasa to make Lord Krishna to address this basic defects and also to isolate the 'middle men' who utilyzed the gullibility of the masses to enrich themselves.
Through Yoga, and undergoing a well disciplined life, dedicating own life to search for truth, love and concentrating on 'Parabrahma,' Geeta says one can become dear to God. Appparently this sounds very very difficult. Yes, it is because, before seeking the God Almighty, you must discover the God in you and others. According to Geeta, God is not in any form as it is a great 'phenomenon' existing in everything surrounding us. It was a great revelation to me as I always had a narrow way of thinking that praying very privately and chanting all slokas, God will bless me or lighting a lamp and performing pujas and making special offerings He'll be mightily pleased in me. What I failed to recognise is the Supreme nature of divinity engulfing the universe as a whole. I also failed to see the existence of God in other living beings and the divinity surrounding them. I expected favourable results out of my actions right or wrong they may be. But Gita taught me to be neutral in reaction after performing my duty which will eliminate any possible anxiety arising out of my actions. Today, I'm free of tensions because I believe, if what I'm doing the right thing, the results will follow; I shouldn't feel tense about it. If all this load is removed from our mind, it helps us to concentrate on anything to meditate. When we meditate, our mind should be like a flame of a candle burning in stillness without flickering so much so that, the flame is the 'parabrahma' the divine basis of existence of life.
I am aware of the limitation of my knowledge. I have no spiritual virtue and I within myself, I harbour all ill feelings, jealousy, lust and a giant size ego which nullify whatever rudiments of good thoughts I claim to have.
But I can try to train myself into carving new dimension of a person with ceretain good qualities like lesser ego, a comparitively clear conscience and a mind full of love and compassion. What Gita advocates, as I understand it, is that man shall uphold all his virtues and live like a fine human being with his faultless concience guiding him as God Almighty. This is purely my understanding and I'm no exponent of ancient scriptures. As God is omnipresent, we can worship Him from wherever we are. We need not make Him a prisoner within the four walls of a temple, church or mosque. I may not realize my goal within the available time I have but at least I can try. And I would.
Murali
Of late I have become an ardent fan of Bhagavat Geeta. Certainly, it's not because it is a holy book of Hindus. If anyone brands it an ancestral property of a religion alone he hasn't understood the basic tenets of it. I have gone through some of the versions of its interpretations but the most simple and easily understood one is by C. Radhakrisnan, a scholar and author, who runs a regular column in the Malayalam daily, 'Mathrubhoomi'.
A redeeming feature of his writing is that he combines the present day scientific wisdom in his explanations to substantiate the fact that what Geeta advises is about a change of life rather than simply worshipping 1001 Gods. In fact, one may not find much space devoted to rituals and modes of worship in Geetha. Assuming that Geeta was written in 3000 or 3500 BC, a student of Geeta can find that a decay had already set in in the social fabric of the communities which prompted the Sage Vyasa to make Lord Krishna to address this basic defects and also to isolate the 'middle men' who utilyzed the gullibility of the masses to enrich themselves.
Through Yoga, and undergoing a well disciplined life, dedicating own life to search for truth, love and concentrating on 'Parabrahma,' Geeta says one can become dear to God. Appparently this sounds very very difficult. Yes, it is because, before seeking the God Almighty, you must discover the God in you and others. According to Geeta, God is not in any form as it is a great 'phenomenon' existing in everything surrounding us. It was a great revelation to me as I always had a narrow way of thinking that praying very privately and chanting all slokas, God will bless me or lighting a lamp and performing pujas and making special offerings He'll be mightily pleased in me. What I failed to recognise is the Supreme nature of divinity engulfing the universe as a whole. I also failed to see the existence of God in other living beings and the divinity surrounding them. I expected favourable results out of my actions right or wrong they may be. But Gita taught me to be neutral in reaction after performing my duty which will eliminate any possible anxiety arising out of my actions. Today, I'm free of tensions because I believe, if what I'm doing the right thing, the results will follow; I shouldn't feel tense about it. If all this load is removed from our mind, it helps us to concentrate on anything to meditate. When we meditate, our mind should be like a flame of a candle burning in stillness without flickering so much so that, the flame is the 'parabrahma' the divine basis of existence of life.
I am aware of the limitation of my knowledge. I have no spiritual virtue and I within myself, I harbour all ill feelings, jealousy, lust and a giant size ego which nullify whatever rudiments of good thoughts I claim to have.
But I can try to train myself into carving new dimension of a person with ceretain good qualities like lesser ego, a comparitively clear conscience and a mind full of love and compassion. What Gita advocates, as I understand it, is that man shall uphold all his virtues and live like a fine human being with his faultless concience guiding him as God Almighty. This is purely my understanding and I'm no exponent of ancient scriptures. As God is omnipresent, we can worship Him from wherever we are. We need not make Him a prisoner within the four walls of a temple, church or mosque. I may not realize my goal within the available time I have but at least I can try. And I would.
Murali
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
