Happy New Year, 2009

A very peaceful , blissful and divine new year!
step on, its beautiful than beauteous, peaceful than paradise, truer than truth itself. experience the radiance of 2009... wishing thou thy wishes for the best!

Provoking

Long time...no show!!!
i thought my blog was missing me...so i just paid a visit, but then, it really begged n pleaded me to leave footprints for it can remember until i come back again... so, i just thought..."why not"... ! ;)
this is Dhanur masam... and there is no pravachan , neither any sat sang, nor any kind of nama smarana... that this soul is doing.... and the 'deham'... is so uselessly loitering around on this earth!!
i wish, my words, my thoughts, my emotions reach the destined place... and i hope soon, because waiting is a depressing, sorrowful and painful action.
when i stretch my hands i feel Heavens falling over me... but... the feeling disappears quickly because i only feel it not experience it... i hope it happens soon.
the road to the Lord is narrow,long, and full of hurdles... i wish i can pass it n reach the destiny...and i hope soon.
my longing i am afraid will not last long...cause its not that powerful nor that deep neither that great... but i wish it becomes pure and qualified for the Gods to hear me, and i hope soon.
i find myself always stressing on "Discrimination"... one of the first lessons in Bhagavad Gita... i feel its the most difficult. i should admit i can't tell whats good and bad.. whats correct whats wrong... i have been struggling... and i have become a mess now! or have i messed it up....! ??? its always question mark....
i pray... we all reach the abode of the Almighty one day...
Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

A very very merry Christmas!

just like that...

"He is all pervading, unchanging Supreme Being. Is the purest of the pure. He is there in all hearts of holy men.He inspires sacred words like preists at the altar. He is dear like a guest in the household. And manifests throughout the universal life forces - the seas, the earth and the mountains" - Rig veda 4.40.5

india is rich with so may litreture works.... and vedas top all of them.
once in one of the lecture demonstrations, the guru defined "bharath" as to "brahma vidyam thasyam ramathey ithi bharath "
the treasure is so huge that one life is not in the least sufficient to learn them all, then where is the question of practice!?!
many would preach to practice one and excel in that, which will inturn lead to the same "eternal bliss" ... but if one feels so curious to learn all that is given in upnishads, sutras, vedhas, bhagavad gita... life of an ordinary man is not sufficient.
but.... our scared book "bhagavad gita", says in one of its chapters that bhakthi is the most profound path and the most easiest and the most effective. God loves the soul which surrenders to Him.
but again, kali yugam also preaches that along with bhakthi, there should also be gyana (knowledge)....
for every to soul to enlighten, a guru is a must.. a guru might be any other soul or ones own soul. ones own soul will be easy only through means of bhakthi... where ones own soul becomes the God himself because most commonly the bhaktha would picture himself as the Lover.
radha, the gopikas are the best examples for Bhakthi...
" surrender" -- in Bhagavad gita, there is one verse:
" karpanyo dhoshaha pahatha svabhava, prichyami thvam dhrama samkuta cheteha, yescheye stha nischinta, bruhi shisyaste, shadhimam tvam prapanam."
this verse explains the complete surrender of Arjuna to Sri Krishna... a very beautiful verse which basially begins the gita.
gyana and bhakthi.... together brings a soul to the state of bliss, enlightment....

"Maya Ravan" -- modernized dance-drama by Shobhana

A premier in Bangalore, for the "46th Bengaloru Ganesh Utsav" festival. Yesterday was Shobhana's 'Maya Ravan'... where shobhana takes the role of kaykeyi in the start and then Mayavi ravana.
It was held at APS college grounds and the grounds was filled with people all over.
expressions, music, narration by famous film industry persons, visual effects was a beauty to watch and hear!
It first began with Kaykeyi (Shobhana). 'Mantra' laid by the 'spirit of Ravana' was a self made twist in the epic, where Kaykeyi gets influnced to send Lord Rama in excile for 14 yrs. This 'spirit of ravana' entering mantra inturn into kaykeyi took the audience aback!
during the 'Seetha Swayamvaram'...the very well known "break-the- bow -of -lord shiva" was absent. rather only to lift and to shoot it was portrayed! another drawback i should say in showcasing the great epic "Ramayana".
the designer-costumes, visuals effects and the music (though with a lot of box office hits)... were the highlight.
the well publicized show and the famous actress could have been the reason for the mad rush.
one would have to search for bharatanatyam steps in the ballet. a lot of Odissi and mainly semi-classical dance steps were showcased.A good bold try on the stage in India i should say.
the dramatic dialogues (all in English) was a great asset. few scenes were very emotional and effective like the sringar rasa of ravana towards seetha, conversation between ravana and mandodhari and the description of Ravana himself and his lonliness during the night he was to die.
but, i would have appreciated if words such as "you old donkey" describing ravana by seetha would have not been employed.
the scene where Hanuman chalisa was chanted by the Vanaras was fabulous. a very good thought, were all the vanaras chanted it in their own style and voice.
i could find a lot of twists done to the epic by the writers of the play! Like hanuman had to introduce himself to Rama rather that Rama figuring it out by the Chudamani Hanuman wore. and like the agni pariksha of seetha, forced by lakshamana and not by rama!
the drama would have been well appreciated if movie songs were restrained from usage. songs like "Narumgaye", "Chinnamma chilamma", parineeta's song (i dont quite remember the title now), and few old malayalam and tamil songs were used for bharatanatyam dance was inept.
Mandodhari had a played her role very well and seetha suited to her character aptly.
the final war between rakshasas and vanaras was also very well choreographed.
though, the death of Ravana was not that very dramatic as was expected (though i also guess, this might have been purposefully underplayed )
infact selection of all characters has been regarded well and excellent sychronization.
on the whole, "Maya Ravana" was an effort in bringing classical and semi-classical together making it stand somewhere inbetween!
for review from chennai premier:
http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2007/07/09/stories/2007070950230500.htm
can also see:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2008/07/12/stories/2008071251821200.htm http://www.buzz18.com/interviews/movies/ram-was-blue-ravan-was-gold/78961/0

Naalayira Divya Prabandham...

The Nalayira Divya Prabandha (or Nalayira Divya Prabhandham) is a collection of 4,000 verses (Naalayira in Tamil means 'four thousand') composed before 8th century AD, by the 12 Alvars, and was compiled in its present form by Nathamuni during the 9th – 10th centuries. The work is the beginning of the canonization of the 12 Vaishnava poet saints, and these hymns are still sung extensively even today. The works were lost before they were collected and organized in the form of an anthology by Nathamuni.

The Prabandha sings the praise of Narayana (or Vishnu) and his many forms. The Alvars sung these songs at various sacred shrines. These shrines are known as the Divya Desams.

In South India, especially in Tamil Nadu, the Divya Prabhandha is considered as equal to the Vedas, hence the epithet Dravida Veda.^{[citation needed]} In many temples, Srirangam, for example, the chanting of the Divya Prabhandham forms a major part of the daily service. Prominent among the 4,000 verses are the 1,100+ verses known as the Thiru Vaaymozhi, composed by Nammalvar (Kaaril Maaran Sadagopan) of Thiruk Kurugoor.

Compilation

These once thought of being lost were collected and organized in the form of an anthology by Nathamuni.

Nathamuni was born in Veera Naarayanapuram (Veeranam) or present day Kaattu Mannaar Koil. There is a lot of gap in time between Thirumangai Alvar(the last alvar) and Nathamuni. In this dark period, nobody knew what happened to the 4000 verses.

Legend has it that once Nathamuni heard some people reciting the decad of 'Aaraavamude' of Nammaazhvaar at Kumbakonam. Captivated by these paasurams,he wanted to know more about them. One of the verses also mentioned 'aayiraththul ippaththu' (Tamil: these 10 out of the 1000). When Nathamuni enquired about the remaining 990, the people who sang the 10 did not know anything about the other verses. But as the song mentioned the name and place of the alvar (kurugoor satakopan), Nathamuni proceeded to Thirukurugoor and asked the people there about Swami Nammazhwar's 1000 verses.

The people did not know the 1000 that Nathamuni wanted, but they told him about 11 pasurams of Madhurakavi Alvar, who was the disciple of Nammaazhvaar (Kanninun Siruthaambu. They asked him to go to Thiruppuliaazhwar, the place were Nammaazhvaar lived, and recite these 11 pasurams for 12000 times. Nathamuni did as advised, and pleased with his penance, Nammaazhvaar granted him not only his 1000 pasurams, but the entire 4000 parsurams of all the alvars.

Details of Pasurams

The following table shows the details of the 4000 pasurams.

Sl no	Name of the prabandham	Starting from	Ending with	Number of pasurams		Sung by
1	periazhvar thirumozhi	1	473	473		Periyalvar
2	thiruppavai	474	503	30		Aandaal
3	Nachiar Tirumozhi	504	646	143		Aandaal
4	perumal thirumozhi	647	751	105		Kulasekara Alvar
5	thiruchchanda viruththam	752	871	120		Thirumalisai Alvar
6	thirumalai	872	916	45		Thondaradippodi Alvar
7	thiruppalliyezhuchchi	917	926	10		Thondaradippodi Alvar
8	amalanadhi piran	927	936	10		Thiruppaan Alvar
9	kanni nun siruththambu	937	947	11		Madhurakavi Alvar
10	peria thirumozhi	948	2031	1084		Thirumangai Alvar
11	kurun thandagam	2032	2051	20		Thirumangai Alvar
12	nedum thandagam	2052	2081	30		Thirumangai Alvar
13	mudhal thiruvandhadhi	2082	2181	100		Poigai Alvar
14	irandam thiruvandhadhi	2182	2281	100		Bhoothathalvar
15	moonram thiruvandhadhi	2282	2381	100		Peyalvar
16	naanmugan thiruvandhadhi	2382	2477	96		Thirumalisai Alvar
17	thiruviruththam	2478	2577	100		Nammalvar
18	thiruvasiriyam	2578	2584	7		Nammalvar
19	peria thiruvandhadhi	2585	2671	87		Nammalvar
20	thiruvezhukkurrirukkai	2672	2672	1		Thirumangai Alvar
21	siriya thirumadal	2673	2712	40		Thirumangai Alvar
22	peria thiru madal	2713	2790	78		Thirumangai Alvar
23	thiruvay mozhi	2791	3892	1102		Nammalvar
24	ramanusa noorandhadhi	3893	4000	108		Thiruvarangathamudhanar
	total number of pasurams			4000
			for further links : http://www.srivaishnavam.com/prabandham.htm http://www.munitrayam.org/andavanashram/gurupara.htm

elated hearts....

i never knew what was the zenith of elation.... at least i never knew that utmost elation would make the heart very heavy... heaviness not because of the happiness, but rather with a grief of the heart longing for more...and more...
contentment -- this word doesn't ring any bell in the mind...
all the trained discipline, control of emotions, everything just disappears...
its just plain... i want more!
like the three little words which brought Tom Sawyer misery to his life... hope this doesn't bring grief to mine!
but... i want more...