When Shiva gets Beautiful!

Yes! Shiva is getting beautiful, really beautiful.

Back in 2012, as I used to walk from my home to bus-stop, crossing a temple, I used to get to watch Shiva adorned beautifully with garlands of different colours. The temple's main priest is keen towards such special rituals for Shiva. But as the time passed, all the priests of the temple started losing interest in doing any extra rituals that are not part of their normal duty. It seems they were not being paid enough and they started ranting their plight before any devotees who would potentially offer some money. All this saga follows to this day and the temple doesn't seem to be as happening a place, as it was when it was built in 2011.

But suddenly today evening, as I was walking past the temple, I saw that the Shiva Lingam was adorned well. The first thought that came to me was - "నాన్నా ! ఎంత అందంగా ఉన్నారు!" I don't think there are specific words in Telugu to distinguish between the beauty of a man and that of a woman. That sentence when translated to English reads - "Dad! How beautiful you look!" Now, I don't feel like reading it as - "Dad! How handsome you look!" Infact, that just doesn't read right at all, for it is not at all about looks, though that thought was indeed inspired by some outer adornments. I think the aesthetics in the temple only lead us to the inner radiance of God. So yes, some outer adornments don't really harm!

So as those thoughts lingered in my mind, I was thinking how in fact Lord Narayana is famous for being "Alankaara Priyudu" (The one who loves adornments) and how it is often said Lord Shiva can be pleased with just water and bilva patram (Leaf of a Bel tree). There was definitely some deviance...it seemed...

Now tell me, when does Shiva get beautiful? You know when?...When He becomes The Mother!!! Today morning, I happened to tune into Chaganti Koteswara Rao gari pravachanalu on TV. He was talking about why the idol of Devi Meenakshi is often carved with three hands (and not four!) In that context he refers to an interesting story wherein, in the kingdom of Raja Raja Pandiyan, some 12 princes, all arrogant with pride due to their royal birth/upbringing, interrupt the penance of Sage Brihaspathi (not sure, don't remember, maybe it was Sage Brighu) and get "blessed" with a curse that they would be born as pigs. After they realize their mistake, they plead the sage to somehow remit the curse. Then the sage says that Lord Shiva himself would feed milk to them as their mother. Ok the story is a bit long and I don't intend to cover it here, but the bottom line that Chaganti garu tried to emphasize was that Shiva and Shakthi are inseparable and that He is there in Her and She in Him. And that both of them can don each other's roles. In that story, in a moment of astonishment, Devi Meenakshi with a hand on her chin exclaims - "Shivudu thalli ayinaadu!" (and not "Shivudu thalli ayinadhi!" ;-))

It is not just Truth that gets beautiful when Shiva reveals it, even Shiva Himself gets beautiful... :-)

Sound Exercises

After a brief period of some stability and peace, my headaches recurred in the last few days. It was recurring of a past phase. Of course, it must recur because this journey is a 'continuous' one until it culminates in the destined destination. Yes, there is indeed a destination for this 'continuous' journey. There is no end for this w.r.t the Universe, but w.r.t me or for that matter any person in particular, of course there should be an end.

The headaches were not as severe as they were before. Back in 2012 they were way way severe by multi fold. But since I had experienced them after some hiatus, I started complaining about them. Immediately, my father who learnt some yoga exercises for his headache from Nature Cure Hospital recently, suggested me a sound exercise. Listening to that I was also reminded of one more, I came across in "The Hindu" magazine recently. So after some 3 days of suffering and meditating accordingly, I started doing those two sound exercises yesterday afternoon. It did seem like they eased the pain a bit, temporarily. But a proper cure happened only after I transitioned from the phase of "Correction and Convergence" meditation in a (mentally) reverse posture (which started ever since July 16/17) to a phase of meditating on patterns of Infinity (which I practised between May - Sep, this year). I was looking forward to doing the sound exercises today, but miraculously my headaches receded overnight. Yippee, no more headaches for me here on (at least it seems) !!! :-) :-)

Anyway, now coming to those two exercises.....Close your ears with your thumbs. Close your eyes and with your ring and middle fingers gently press your eyes. Now start humming "Hmmmmmmmm". Another one - you can open your eyes, but with your ears still closed, start saying "Eeeeeeeeeeee"...with your mouth in the "Say Cheese" mode!

Desperate Equality

I'm really bored of this Gender Equality (or Inequality), Gender Discrimination, Sexism, Male Chauvinism and such similar phrases, because all this doesn't really matter to me anymore (honestly, it did matter to me once upon a time  in my life, but perhaps not any more) as I face more serious issues that need my action and attention. But this series really gave me some laughs in the otherwise dull life, so I'm sharing it here..hope it would be as much entertaining to you too!

We need to descend, to more certainly ascend!

Since yesterday, I was seeing some signs which were depicting this force-play: A little dose(s) of force in counter-clockwise direction is needed so as to give a permanent clock-wise direction to the rotation of an object. Basically applying counteractive forces! It goes to say that, more often than not, one needs to descend to reach a more certain ascent. And now I see this article on Goddess Durga and Mother India which sums up so aptly, "The Present Crisis" the world is undergoing. Had I come across the same, some 10 years ago, I would not have read it in the same light, as I did now. But now, it perfectly fits my current state of awareness.