Disclaimer:
This is purely my line of thought and is by any means not against the philosophy of ‘life is beautiful’ preached by people who are above my intellectual level. I would for formality feel sorry, if anyone is offended.
I know I am a bit pessimistic in my claim but everything is relative. What is pessimistic approach to you might be realistic for someone and hence I am going forward with my thoughts. The above topic is related to today’s life that is seen in this fast growing world. Without an iorta of doubt, the world today is fast shrinking and the sad part is that it’s becoming uglier in geometric progression. The world is full of violence, hatred, crime, sex, rape, murder, genocide, terrorism, fraud, cheat, whores, gays, humbug and what and what not. When you put all the good things that are happening in this world in one side of a balance and then put all the bad things on the other side of the balance, then which side is the balance going to fall or already fallen???
What do I call this episode of life, wherein there are more questions than answers? I am too old for a ‘teen age crisis’ and too young for a ‘middle age crisis’. But still lots of unanswered questions arise seeing life everyday. Why is this world degrading day by day? Why is there not even an element of ethics followed? Why is there no place for peace on earth? Why are people fighting in the name of God? Why is there political mileage gained on every single episode? Why is money the only target for most of this 6 sensed life on earth?
Some old saying goes like Violence begets violence begets violence. Now, the situation is somewhat different. Money begets greed begets sex begets violence begets loss of life. ‘Kali kalam’ is what we say… but the saddest part is that it has just started. I do agree that without Money, there is no life. But Money is not the ONLY thing in life. There are lots of things which has to be placed above in the ‘to get’ ladder of any individual. Of all things, why Money??
Why at all there is something called ‘sex’; why there is something ‘pleasure’ in it. Why is it that this cosmos seems to been deluged with semen and vaginal fluid? Why is that no human being escapes the arrow of Kama. Why atall is this mode of procreation necessary? Why not asexual procreation be in for human too? There is more of Lust than love. Some one put it so beautifully, when stressing their point of argument against the celebration of Valentine’s Day that ‘Kadalin anaagareegamana velipadu kamam; kamathin athi-anaagareegamana velipadu kadalar dinam’ which I would translate it thus. ‘An indecent expression of love is lust; a more indecent expression of lust is the celebration of Valentine’s Day’. I still am not able to digest the funda of celebrating something in public, when it’s to be done in the confinement of 4 walls. This is leading to more violence and law and order situation in urban places. Spots such as beaches become places of filth. ‘Public Brothel’ should be an understatement. Sex, in today’s youth has received more importance than that it deserves. For all good things, man claims to be six sensed and civilized and what and what not? But if it comes to sex, why does he stoop down under the level of dogs. Even dogs follow some order within the groups. Disagree? Dogs don't gang rape. Huh.
In one of the public discussion forums, some youngster said it precisely… if you make a man starve for food for 10 days and then feed him food; he will barge into the food and eat it like anything. Now, consider the same situation, when you offer him food along with women, he doesn’t even want food. He goes straight to women! Huh… Is that not true? So, sex for the man is not something which is same as food, water or air. It’s something beyond that. It’s something sillier than that. It’s something cheaper than that. It’s something uglier than that. It’s something insane. It’s something to do with the upbringing. It’s something to do with culture.
This is predominantly what that makes me cry foul. One main factor for my point of argument in ‘Life is Ugly’ is this God forbidden sex. Men are 6 sensed beasts. The extra sense is that of a sense that the beast is previlaged enough not to have. Why not be an Ekpathni Virathan? Why not be loyal to your better half both mentally and physically? Why trade on flesh, of all things? Huh. Men stink bigger when they live than when the mortal remains decay. Ovaiyar said, ‘Arithu arithu maanidarai pirathal arithu!’… See what man does with his life? He goes around naked looking for the slightest smell of flesh.
Oh God! Take care atleast when you create the next world. Let there not be lust but love. Let there not be money but wealth. Let there not be Mankind but 5 sensed animals. Man does not bring glory to your creation. He only brings in filth to the glory.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Bhakthi Paravasam
Ah ! Aaah ! One more beautiful trip! ‘Bakthi Paravasam???!!!” is what my sis replies when I message her about my whereabouts amidst our yet another trip on a weekend. Marvellous would be an understatement.
4 of us in 2 bikes started off as usual after a cup of coffee at around half past 3 on a bright and sunny day. Mission - Sriperumbudur. It's a small town or perhaps a small village in the suburbs of Chennai, now gaining huge popularity and deemed to be one of the many satellite centres of this great city of Chennai. Oops, are we going to have a SCR as like in NCR…. Wondering what an SCR is? Huh. State Capital Region. Haha. I am told that real estate business has started furnishing here if not sky rocketing. Hyundai started off here almost 10 years back but the real boom happened once the Electronic Giants of todays’ business world in Nokia, Motorola, Flextronics and their suppliers started their exploitation.
Hmm… but our mission was not to do a case study of the economic activity in that place. Our good form of 2006 continued and we were in search for symbols of Ancient Bhakthi movement. Sriperumbudur is the birth place of Ramanuja, an ikon who proposed the Vishitadvaitam philosophy. Wiki refers this philosophy as ‘One of the classical interpretations of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy’. A good 45 kms from the heart of Chennai on the Chennai – Bangalore highway, this village has a very serene atmosphere. At around 4.45 pm we reached the Aathi Kesava Perumal Koil which houses a separate sannadhi for Ramanujar.
Ramanujar, christened as Ilaya Perumal is also called Ilayalwar. The presiding deity of this temple is Aathi Kesava Perumal with Ethiraja Nathavalli thayar as his consort. The priest in this temple explains that Ethirajar is Ramanujar and that Ethiraja Nathar is Aathi Kesava Perumal. Hence, the name Ethiraja Nathavalli thayar. Even though this is not part of 108 Divya desams for reasons unknown, this temple is worth a visit.
On the way back to Chennai, we also visited Thirumazhisai, which is on the highway connecting Poonamalee and Thiruttani. Thirumazhisai is the birth place of Thirumazhisai Alwar, one among the twelve Alwars who sung the praise of the Lord. This is also a small village with narrow roads leading to the temple. One of the temples which house the Thirumazhisai Alwar Sannadhi is the Jagannatha Perumal temple. Thirumazhisai is the ‘Madhya Jagannathar Shrine’. The Jagannathar avatar of Shri Krishna are in 3 places, one in Puri, one in Thirumazhisai and one in Thiruppulaani near Rameswaram. Thirumangaivalli thayar is the consort for Jagannath Perumal. One another temple in Thirumazhisai, very close to that of the Jagannathar temple is the veetriruntha perumal koil. Senbagavalli thayar is his consort.
We then decided to go to Kundrathoor on our way back home. My friend had once told that the place was just around 5 kms from Porur. I indeed, wanted to take this opportunity to have a darshan of Shri Valli Devasena Sametha Shir Subramanya Swamy in Kundrathoor. It was dark already and the roads were worst of its kind. It took more than half an hour to travel the distance from Porur. This temple was in the midst of a construction, expansion project and hence we entered the temple from one of the smaller entrances. The Lord was decorated with ‘Viboothi Kaapu’ and was very beautiful. It only reminds me of Vayaloor Murugan where I had seen a ‘Viboothi Kaapu’. We four, spent nice moments atop the 40 footstep hill recollecting sweet memories of our college.
It was time to pack up for dinner and still our hunger for riding did not stop, so we went all the way to T Nagar, filled up our tummy and bid good night…
Should I not say, ‘One more feather in our Cap!’ Huh. We are still waiting for the one full day program of kancheepuram. No doubt, there is a saying ‘Nagareshu Kanchee’ meaning ‘Of all towns, Kancheepuram is IT!’ As Sivapuranam puts it right ‘Avan arulaalae avan thall vanangi’ meaning ‘Only if you are blessed, will you be having his Darshan!’ I do understand that we have got to wait to get blessed.
4 of us in 2 bikes started off as usual after a cup of coffee at around half past 3 on a bright and sunny day. Mission - Sriperumbudur. It's a small town or perhaps a small village in the suburbs of Chennai, now gaining huge popularity and deemed to be one of the many satellite centres of this great city of Chennai. Oops, are we going to have a SCR as like in NCR…. Wondering what an SCR is? Huh. State Capital Region. Haha. I am told that real estate business has started furnishing here if not sky rocketing. Hyundai started off here almost 10 years back but the real boom happened once the Electronic Giants of todays’ business world in Nokia, Motorola, Flextronics and their suppliers started their exploitation.
Hmm… but our mission was not to do a case study of the economic activity in that place. Our good form of 2006 continued and we were in search for symbols of Ancient Bhakthi movement. Sriperumbudur is the birth place of Ramanuja, an ikon who proposed the Vishitadvaitam philosophy. Wiki refers this philosophy as ‘One of the classical interpretations of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy’. A good 45 kms from the heart of Chennai on the Chennai – Bangalore highway, this village has a very serene atmosphere. At around 4.45 pm we reached the Aathi Kesava Perumal Koil which houses a separate sannadhi for Ramanujar.
Ramanujar, christened as Ilaya Perumal is also called Ilayalwar. The presiding deity of this temple is Aathi Kesava Perumal with Ethiraja Nathavalli thayar as his consort. The priest in this temple explains that Ethirajar is Ramanujar and that Ethiraja Nathar is Aathi Kesava Perumal. Hence, the name Ethiraja Nathavalli thayar. Even though this is not part of 108 Divya desams for reasons unknown, this temple is worth a visit.
On the way back to Chennai, we also visited Thirumazhisai, which is on the highway connecting Poonamalee and Thiruttani. Thirumazhisai is the birth place of Thirumazhisai Alwar, one among the twelve Alwars who sung the praise of the Lord. This is also a small village with narrow roads leading to the temple. One of the temples which house the Thirumazhisai Alwar Sannadhi is the Jagannatha Perumal temple. Thirumazhisai is the ‘Madhya Jagannathar Shrine’. The Jagannathar avatar of Shri Krishna are in 3 places, one in Puri, one in Thirumazhisai and one in Thiruppulaani near Rameswaram. Thirumangaivalli thayar is the consort for Jagannath Perumal. One another temple in Thirumazhisai, very close to that of the Jagannathar temple is the veetriruntha perumal koil. Senbagavalli thayar is his consort.
We then decided to go to Kundrathoor on our way back home. My friend had once told that the place was just around 5 kms from Porur. I indeed, wanted to take this opportunity to have a darshan of Shri Valli Devasena Sametha Shir Subramanya Swamy in Kundrathoor. It was dark already and the roads were worst of its kind. It took more than half an hour to travel the distance from Porur. This temple was in the midst of a construction, expansion project and hence we entered the temple from one of the smaller entrances. The Lord was decorated with ‘Viboothi Kaapu’ and was very beautiful. It only reminds me of Vayaloor Murugan where I had seen a ‘Viboothi Kaapu’. We four, spent nice moments atop the 40 footstep hill recollecting sweet memories of our college.
It was time to pack up for dinner and still our hunger for riding did not stop, so we went all the way to T Nagar, filled up our tummy and bid good night…
Should I not say, ‘One more feather in our Cap!’ Huh. We are still waiting for the one full day program of kancheepuram. No doubt, there is a saying ‘Nagareshu Kanchee’ meaning ‘Of all towns, Kancheepuram is IT!’ As Sivapuranam puts it right ‘Avan arulaalae avan thall vanangi’ meaning ‘Only if you are blessed, will you be having his Darshan!’ I do understand that we have got to wait to get blessed.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
A Typical day
4.30 am: peep.peep. alarm from my mobile. the only thing my Nokia 3230 does to perfection.
soft start to yet another day of unlimited (lost) opportunities ! snooze !
4.35 am: 'Karthik! Karthik!' voice of my pa.
hmm. ya.. ezhundutten...
4.40 am: why is this nature not calling. shit !
4.50 am: do i need to shave? as though i will be handsome if i get my beard shaved ! who the hell cares ! lets do it on Monday next.
4.55 am: hmm... hot bath, what else is required in life!
5.10 am: Let me start of with Sashti kavasam in the CD player while i do my sandhya vandanam
5.25 am: hmm... start the never successful attempt to beautify myself. 5 mins is hell of a time
5.30 am: 'Karthik, paala tea-a?'... Paal.
5.45 am: pani koranchiruchu illa? hmm, january aayiduthu... anyways, its a pleasure to be on the bike so early
6.00 am: 15 mins more for the bus to pick me up...Solomon paapayya thamizh varalaru solrar.. enna than solararu-nu keppomae... inniku nichayama bus la thoonga maatten
7.15 am: in office for the humpteenth time to be mostly vetti... my company should have been in debt, huge debt, to me in my last janmah.... or else will someone ever pay me for what i do??? ok. let me work today (atleast) for the pay i receive.
8.30 am: cha... no interesting mails! let me atleast fill up my tummy...
9.00 am: kalaaichify, sight adichify (as though they are worth it) and vambu adichify (what else on earth!)
My typical windows task bar will contain Outlook, 4 to 5 sessions in SAP (just pretending to work), a couple of intranet pages, orkut, wikipedia, gtalk, a couple of working folders, some spread sheets
01.45 pm: lunch? is it damn necessary? ok...lets spend time at canteen...
04.45 pm: really a tired day at work. lets sleep in the bus... it will take atleast 1.5 hrs to reach!
06.20 pm: am i hungry? should i have a bite? nope, go home and have tea
06.45 pm: what to do? read books? chat? take my nephew out for a walk?definitely cannot sit in the hall watching 'kasthuri' and 'Anantham' and the rubbish news that follows....
08.00 pm: dinner time... eat anything that is available
08.30 pm: Now, the remote is mine and i can watch anything. huh
08.35 pm: huh... how many times should i say, lets go for a 'Tata Sky' connection.... ''Sun TV varaathu'' ppl near me would kick me out at that statement.
09.00 pm: check sun music for divya or hemasinha.... view only the compering ! songs??, i would rather commit suicide to see the songs.
10.00 pm: Senthil in Mirchi! ragasiya snehidi in Big! and the mesmerising yaazh sudhakaran in Suryan FM lulluby me to a sleep (thookam onnu than korachal!!!)
10.10 pm: hmm... what did i do better today? Million $ question. Let me atleast make tomorrow an inspiring day full of enthu.... and i know for sure that tomorrow does not come at all!
Deep in my sleep, i hear some voice, "Karthik! vaazhkaila when are u going to chase your dreams???"
by the way, what's my dream? oops... should i now sit and wait for one???
soft start to yet another day of unlimited (lost) opportunities ! snooze !
4.35 am: 'Karthik! Karthik!' voice of my pa.
hmm. ya.. ezhundutten...
4.40 am: why is this nature not calling. shit !
4.50 am: do i need to shave? as though i will be handsome if i get my beard shaved ! who the hell cares ! lets do it on Monday next.
4.55 am: hmm... hot bath, what else is required in life!
5.10 am: Let me start of with Sashti kavasam in the CD player while i do my sandhya vandanam
5.25 am: hmm... start the never successful attempt to beautify myself. 5 mins is hell of a time
5.30 am: 'Karthik, paala tea-a?'... Paal.
5.45 am: pani koranchiruchu illa? hmm, january aayiduthu... anyways, its a pleasure to be on the bike so early
6.00 am: 15 mins more for the bus to pick me up...Solomon paapayya thamizh varalaru solrar.. enna than solararu-nu keppomae... inniku nichayama bus la thoonga maatten
7.15 am: in office for the humpteenth time to be mostly vetti... my company should have been in debt, huge debt, to me in my last janmah.... or else will someone ever pay me for what i do??? ok. let me work today (atleast) for the pay i receive.
8.30 am: cha... no interesting mails! let me atleast fill up my tummy...
9.00 am: kalaaichify, sight adichify (as though they are worth it) and vambu adichify (what else on earth!)
My typical windows task bar will contain Outlook, 4 to 5 sessions in SAP (just pretending to work), a couple of intranet pages, orkut, wikipedia, gtalk, a couple of working folders, some spread sheets
01.45 pm: lunch? is it damn necessary? ok...lets spend time at canteen...
04.45 pm: really a tired day at work. lets sleep in the bus... it will take atleast 1.5 hrs to reach!
06.20 pm: am i hungry? should i have a bite? nope, go home and have tea
06.45 pm: what to do? read books? chat? take my nephew out for a walk?definitely cannot sit in the hall watching 'kasthuri' and 'Anantham' and the rubbish news that follows....
08.00 pm: dinner time... eat anything that is available
08.30 pm: Now, the remote is mine and i can watch anything. huh
08.35 pm: huh... how many times should i say, lets go for a 'Tata Sky' connection.... ''Sun TV varaathu'' ppl near me would kick me out at that statement.
09.00 pm: check sun music for divya or hemasinha.... view only the compering ! songs??, i would rather commit suicide to see the songs.
10.00 pm: Senthil in Mirchi! ragasiya snehidi in Big! and the mesmerising yaazh sudhakaran in Suryan FM lulluby me to a sleep (thookam onnu than korachal!!!)
10.10 pm: hmm... what did i do better today? Million $ question. Let me atleast make tomorrow an inspiring day full of enthu.... and i know for sure that tomorrow does not come at all!
Deep in my sleep, i hear some voice, "Karthik! vaazhkaila when are u going to chase your dreams???"
by the way, what's my dream? oops... should i now sit and wait for one???
Monday, February 5, 2007
Thiruneermalai
hmm, 4th of feb 2007, sunday afternoon, after a cup of coffee, my friend and i set up to visit a long planned destination, Thiruneermalai, a suburb in chennai.
The name 'Thiruneermalai' arises from the fact that there was a pool of water surrounding the hill when Thirumangai Alwar visited this abode. He had to wait for 6 long months before the water receded and the Alwar was able to sing in praise of the Lord.
Thiruneermalai is famous for the 4 postures of Lord Vishnu:
a) Ninran (Standing Posture): Neervanna Perumal with Animaamalar mangai Thayar as his consort in the 'Ninran' kolam is a separate temple at the foot hill
b) Irunthan (Sitting Posture): Shantha Narasimha Perumal is one of the deities in the praharam of the hill temple
c) Nadanthan (Walking Posture): Ulagalantha Perumal is one another deity in the praharam of the hill temple with one of his legs in the 'Aakash' symbolising the ThiruVikrama incarnation
d) Kidanthan (Sleeping Posture): Ranganatha Perumal is the presiding deity in the hill temple. He is seen with the 4 faced Bramha originating from the placenta 'thoppurkodi'. Shri Devi and Boo Devi are also seen. Legend has it that Valmiki offered his prayers to Lord Vishnu here and hence Valmiki is also seen. Ranganayaki Thayar, the consort of Rangantha Perumal has a separate sannadi in the hill temple.
Thiruneermalai is one among the 108 Divya Desams of Shri MahaVishnu and a place ought to visit. You get the nearest darshan to the lord with not much of crowd pullings. A personal vehicle will be the best for a comfortable travel.
The name 'Thiruneermalai' arises from the fact that there was a pool of water surrounding the hill when Thirumangai Alwar visited this abode. He had to wait for 6 long months before the water receded and the Alwar was able to sing in praise of the Lord.
Thiruneermalai is famous for the 4 postures of Lord Vishnu:
a) Ninran (Standing Posture): Neervanna Perumal with Animaamalar mangai Thayar as his consort in the 'Ninran' kolam is a separate temple at the foot hill
b) Irunthan (Sitting Posture): Shantha Narasimha Perumal is one of the deities in the praharam of the hill temple
c) Nadanthan (Walking Posture): Ulagalantha Perumal is one another deity in the praharam of the hill temple with one of his legs in the 'Aakash' symbolising the ThiruVikrama incarnation
d) Kidanthan (Sleeping Posture): Ranganatha Perumal is the presiding deity in the hill temple. He is seen with the 4 faced Bramha originating from the placenta 'thoppurkodi'. Shri Devi and Boo Devi are also seen. Legend has it that Valmiki offered his prayers to Lord Vishnu here and hence Valmiki is also seen. Ranganayaki Thayar, the consort of Rangantha Perumal has a separate sannadi in the hill temple.
Thiruneermalai is one among the 108 Divya Desams of Shri MahaVishnu and a place ought to visit. You get the nearest darshan to the lord with not much of crowd pullings. A personal vehicle will be the best for a comfortable travel.
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