Iyya

Gatecrashing a burial can be tricky. These are usually standalone affairs where everyone knows everyone else either intimately or at least as an acquaintance, with the result that an uninvitee can raise some pretty serious eyebrows. Barging into a big bustling crematorium on the other hand is child’s play. There are simply too many different disposals happening simultaneously at various ritualistic stages of performance for anyone to bother to ask for karmic IDs. So no matter which group you tag along with, to whatever they’re about to do next, no one gives a damn. In any case they’re way too busy grieving, in a hurry to get back home, or hassled by hundreds of funerary details.

But it’s a great way to observe the third state of human existence. For the record, the first state which we all experience is living. This is the one we’re most fond of currently as it has the potential to deliver almost anything we can dream of and about half of us generally end up getting around 10% of that.

The second state which we’re going to experience any minute or decade now is death. Depending on one’s beliefs this can be about eternal nothingness or some form of comeuppance. The third state is an in-between that the deceased’s beloved go through which is neither living nor dead. It’s what you too feel in crematoriums.

Bengalis (as must other people also) have a word for it. They call it shoshaan bairagyo. Roughly translated it means a kind of spiritual stoicism towards worldly interests that a person tends to develop when in a graveyard or burning ghaat. Kind of like that old rhetorical feeling of, “Does anything matter if it all comes down to this in the end?”

Unfortunately the feeling doesn’t last long enough for one to even try to strive towards an answer. Once you exit those gates and merge again with the machinery of the ordinary world going on outside, the third state of existence begins to rapidly dissipate into daily life. However, if it didn’t; if by some fluke one could somehow hold on to it for a longer period like some enlightened beings have, one would intimately come to know that the answer is “Yes”. It’s the same answer Krishna gave to Arjuna when the poor guy was blathering on and on beside him in the battlefield. “Yes,” he told him. “Yes, you have to go out and kill your cousins even though they’re dead.”

Source: The Economic Times dated AUGUST 30, 2005

Iyya Comments:
Iyya inline with the prev post, asked to read this and said killing the deadna saving them. which means soul is always there. people perform funeral only to bless that, avanga nalla irukattum..

Krishna said to Arjuna, “Kill the dead” showing to arjuna his cousins who were already dead. Iyya asked wht does this mean and said, it means avangalai pozhaikka veiyunga.

This all means soul and gave the following reading from economic times citings:

On the Soul - Aristotle

The primary form of sense is touch, which belongs to all animals.
just as the power of self-nutrition can be isolated from touch and
sensation generally, so touch can be isolated from all other forms
of sense. Soul is the source of these phenomena and
is characterized by them, viz. by the powers of self-nutrition, sensation,
thinking, and motivity.

Is each of these a soul or a part of a soul? And if a part, a part
in what sense? A part merely distinguishable by definition or a part
distinct in local situation as well? In the case of certain of these
powers, the answers to these questions are easy, in the case of others
we are puzzled what to say. just as in the case of plants which when
divided are observed to continue to live though removed to a distance
from one another (thus showing that in their case the soul of each
individual plant before division was actually one, potentially many),
so we notice a similar result in other varieties of soul, i.e. in
insects which have been cut in two; each of the segments possesses
both sensation and local movement; and if sensation, necessarily also
imagination and appetition; for, where there is sensation, there is
also pleasure and pain, and, where these, necessarily also desire.

We have no evidence as yet about mind or the power to think; it seems
to be a widely different kind of soul, differing as what is eternal
from what is perishable; it alone is capable of existence in isolation
from all other psychic powers.

Iyya said - romba mukiyamnga. paarunga yaaru ezhudeerukaanu, ivara thavira yaarum ezhudha mudiyaadhu. Some other comments inline with this are:
Lizard kellam vaal cut aana, thirumbi varudhu illeenga, epdi? adhu maari thol urincha thaan varudhilla, yean sandhgapadareenga? when one is dead, their eyes are taken and placed for others and it functions, how? How moon disappears after 16 days and comes full in another 15 days? moon enga pochu and epdi vandhuchu?
“Doctor Dissects - God Heals”
mindnu onnu illenga, peru illadhadhukku peru kuduthu thaan kashtapadarom

Nandrum theedhum pirar thara vaara. idha purinjitta podhumnga. enna vandhaalaum adhai aapadiyae ethukkannum, adhanaala namma baadhikka pada koodadhu.

Serving the society with a smile - Sandhosama service pannalamae, aana adhu ellam veetula irundhu thaanga start pannanum, veeta uttutu poi panni ennanga prayojanam.

Iyya appreciated George Bernard Shaw today and blessed maharishi

Classical yoga is a doctrine that emphasises purification through meditation and a practitioner meditates in order to achieve true bliss. The spiritual aims are peace of mind, wisdom and, ultimately, a state of enlightenment or self-realisation. This is a value whose therapeutic benefit, both mental and physical, has now been recognised by people all over, from high-powered executives to homemakers. However, there is an insidious element to the whole contemplative process which tends to subvert this very value by appending a totally unnecessary paranormal component to it.

At one end of the spectrum we have Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his school of transcendental meditation ™ which at one point seriously went about promoting levitation, or “yogic flying”, as a part of its Sidhi Program. According to TM during the first stage of yogic flying, the body lifts up and moves forward in short hops, and hundreds of TV programmes and magazines featured clips and photos of TMers hopping around in the lotus position over huge springy beds claiming to be flying. When the daftness of the situation became increasingly apparent and the discipline too difficult to digest, the programme was quietly downsized and few TMers these days say they can fly.

At the other end are the extremely serious claims of developing psychic powers while delving deeper and deeper into advanced forms of meditation. These usually come with the warning that such powers, for instance, clairvoyance, telepathy or precognition, must not be allowed to distract practitioners from their avowed path. Nor are they to be lingered over or dallied along with. But the warning is given with the tacit understanding that only true adepts are in a position to make use of them.

Never mind that such so-called mental abilities reside in the limbo of pseudoscience, the question still remains as to what they might have to do with yogic meditation or its ultimate goal which is the receipt of spiritual insights and new understanding. Surely this doesn’t require the ability to fly and bend spoons by using thought waves or be able to communicate with the dead and foretell the future? Also why would the truly enlightened use the props of parlour tricks and stage magic? It’s time the mumbo-jumbo was detoxed from the system and the doctrine returned to is pristine form.

Source: The Economic Times dated AUGUST 23, 2005

Iyya Comments:
paarunga romba thamaasa ezhudeerukaanga.
Then he discussed about samyamam, what is it, how to do it. ‘idhellam neenga purijukka mudiyaadhunga, andha nilaiiku ponavanga thaan panna mudiyum’, then he said, ‘neenga medhuva appuram idhellam pannunga’

paarunga annaikku thaana “Don’t Pray for Status Quo” article a ego va pathi padicheenga, thirumoolarum solleerukaarunga…

Reading goes like, when one lives, he strives for name & fame, when he dies, people would call that body only as ‘ponam’, not even by name.
Iyya had written the following kural next to the thirumoolar one.

ego va vittuta ellathaiyum paakalaam.
Inline with the earlier yadhenin yadhenin kural, thirumoolar had also written the following verse:

udambu is a koyil that holds kadavul in it. nadamaadum aalayam.
reading went like uyirai naalu nilaiyil etri meyyai unara vaendum, aana udambu illama idhai panna mudiyadhu. so adhukkana udambai paena vaendum.
Iyya comments: aamaanga, udambu vera, uyir vera illeenga. udambu illama epdi uyir irrukum?

the blow kural also singifies this:

crux of this is - aram seidhal vendum, adhai seivadharkku udambu vendum, udambai penudhalaum aramthaan.
Thaan, thanadhu agiyavatrai viitu meyyai unarum karuviyae udambu. aana udambae thaan thanadhu endra paturkku karanamaga irruka koodadhu…

Iyya asked, Iyyamna ennanga? we said Iyyamnga sandhegam. (Refer to Iyyam neengi thelindaarku kural iyya referred earlier).

Iyya sollreengila, Iyya na sandhegam illadhavar, sandhegathai theerppavar….

Iyya has written the following kural in the article given yday- nethi indha article padicheenga, innaikku indha kuralaiyum padinga…

meaning as said by Iyya:
udan paadu illadhavan vaazhkkai, paambu irrukkum putril irupavan ponradhu. paambu putril irrumkumbodhu epdi irrupaan oruthan, eppo enna nadakumnu theriyaadhu, bayandhuttae irrupaan. adhu maari udan-paduthal, oththu podhal illaena edpi irrukkum nenaichu paarunga…

Iyya said this adhisayam story:
once yama asked somebody, what is the most adhiyasam in this world. the reply he got was, people know that they will die, yet they think and live like they dont have death at all. this is the adhisayam.

Referring to an article in hindu about walking, Iyya says:
Gravitational pull and push - during walking, when one keeps the foot grounded, it is the gravitational pull that holds you to ground and when one lifts his leg, its the gravitational push. neenga nenaikareenga, neenga kalai thookareegannu, neenga thooka mudiyadhu, its the push sakthi. adhaan maram, neenga elllam uyarama valara veikkudhu.

ivanga edho calorie spent. burntnu pesuvaanga, during this energy is preserved.

u cannot learn anything by reading books. (yaettu surakkai vazhkaikku udhavaadhu),
realization, truth velichamnu edho sonnaar

ullathaal ulluvadhum theedhae. edhavadhu kaettadu pannanumnu nenaichalae adhu theemai thaan.

sooriyan epdi malargalai malara vekiraan, adhu maari nammalaiyum malara vaippaan. adhaan god is great, god is grace sollrom. sooriyan thaan pranan.

thanni kaathu
thanni= hydrogen+oxygen, thannila kaathu irukilleenga. thanni keela irrukku, pasikudhunnu solludu, so seri mela vaanu sooriyan koopida, adhu mela pogudhu. anga poi saaptuttu, seri keela polamnu keela varudhu. neenga paakareengilla, thanni mela poyittu keela varudhilla.
edhu sapadroma, adhaan veliyae varum.

knoi here is piravith thunbam. reason for this piravi thunbam is karma. reason ennanu identify panni adhu nadakaama irrukara vazhiyai seyal paduthanum. adhukuththaan piravi. adhu thaan yogamnu sollraanga.

vandhaachu illeenga vazhndhu thaanae aganum. neenga varum bodhu ungallukku thunbam illai, ammaku thaan thunbam. neega appa thunmbamna ennanu theriyada nilalila irundheenga, adhanaala thunbam illai. refer ‘yaadhenin yaadhenin kural’. thunmathai vitta thunbam illeenga…

referring to prev artcile and combining with this,
namma arivukku enna pannanumo adhai pannalam. namma arivukku enna paananumna, ‘live life’. matha aaraichi ellam vaendaanga, adhellam namma arivukku illai.

Kiran Bedi gives management students a lesson in facing challenges and owning responsibility, writes A. A. MICHAEL RAJ

She may not have acted in movies. But, for many young women students of management Kiran Bedi was clearly a heroine.

Among the girls who clamoured to get answers from her was one who asked, “What have you to say to us as a heroine?”

Bedi paused for a few seconds, perhaps wondering whether she had heard right. “Heroine or heroin? Heroines are for Bollywood!” she said, but her questioner was not to be sidetracked so easily. She rephrased her question .

The woman, who made waves with her uncompromising stand on professional issues in district policing, traffic control, police administration, narcotics control, anti-terrorist operations and prison reform, said, “If you think I am a heroine, that’s your perception.”

She gave a few insights into what had given her the “tough cop” image .

Thwarting challenges

“As long as you get discouraged by others, others will try to discourage you. Once you are strongly empowered you can see what you want to do on your own. It is a challenge when you are alone, but I just wanted to perform and do my duty. Everyone was looking at me and I was looking at my work.” She was one of the speakers at the “Shaping Young Minds - Managing career expectations” interactive event organised by the All India Management Association and the Coimbatore Management Association. PSG Institute of Management was the knowledge partner and The Hindu Business Line, the media partner.

Touching on some of the challenging moments of her life, the Ramon Magsaysay Award winner said that when not given a posting, she spent her time writing a book instead of worrying about what would happen to her.

Attitude matters

“What others may see as adversity, you should see as opportunity. It is the attitude of finding the silver lining in every cloud. Look for the silver lining and you will see it ,” she said.

Bedi is currently working on a book on leadership and management, to be released next year. “It is all about the mistakes that leaders make and how they reflect on juniors and the organisation. You will minimise mistakes through holistic living,” she noted.

Just as a potter uses his hands to shape the mound of earth upon his wheel and a gardener wields the shears to trim hedges and prune saplings, those who want to be leaders would have to develop their personal, professional, spiritual and social sides.

“Shape your mind when young, then your mind will shape you. Otherwise you may be leaders in the profession but failures in your personal lives or become spiritually bankrupt,” she observed, as the audience of 2000 management students and corporate leaders listened .

Live your life

“Study to earn a life, not earn a living. Ninety-six percent of students study only to pass examinations. We individuals make up society. Please take charge of your individual selves. Clean canals make clean rivers and clean rivers make clean oceans,” she declared.

Having represented India in the United Nations, and in American, European and Asian forums on drug trafficking, prison reform and women’s issues, Bedi knows what the country needs: “India needs laws, resources, vision, leaders, knowledge management and technical support.”

She said women were losing out to men when it came to careers, despite being equally well-educated. “Our educational system is still partial and it is not teaching men and women to manage the home together,” she said.

Women have a higher emotional quotient, compassion and love. That is a source of strength. Men and women must recognize the strengths of each other and complement rather than compete,” she added.

Source: The hindu dated Aug 18, 2005

Iyya Comments:

by Karen Armstrong

HUMAN BEINGS, in nearly all cultures, have long engaged in a rather strange activity. They have taken a literary text, given it special status and attempted to live according to its precepts. These texts are usually of considerable antiquity yet they are expected to throw light on situations that their authors could not have imagined. In times of crisis, people turn to their scriptures with renewed zest and, with much creative ingenuity, compel them to speak to their current predicament. We are seeing a great deal of scriptural activity at the moment.

This is ironic, because the concept of scripture has become problematic in the modern period. The Scopes trial of 1925, when Christian fundamentalists in the United States tried to ban the teaching of evolution in the public schools, and the more recent affair of The Satanic Verses, both reveal deep-rooted anxiety about the nature of revelation and the integrity of sacred texts. People talk confidently about scripture, but it is not clear that even the most ardent religious practitioners really know what it is.

Protestant fundamentalists, for example, claim that they read the Bible in the same way as the early Christians, but their belief that it is literally true in every detail is a recent innovation, formulated for the first time in the late 19th century.

Before the modern period, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all relished highly allegorical interpretations of scripture. The word of God was infinite and could not be tied down to a single interpretation. Preoccupation with literal truth is a product of the scientific revolution, when reason achieved such spectacular results that mythology was no longer regarded as a valid path to knowledge.

We tend now to read our scriptures for accurate information, so that the Bible, for example, becomes a holy encyclopaedia, in which the faithful look up facts about God. Many assume that if the scriptures are not historically and scientifically correct, they cannot be true at all. But this was not how scripture was originally conceived. All the verses of the Qur’an, for example, are called “parables” (ayat); its images of paradise, hell, and the last judgment are also ayat, pointers to transcendent realities that we can only glimpse through signs and symbols.

We distort our scriptures if we read them in an exclusively literal sense. There has recently been much discussion about the way Muslim terrorists interpret the Qur’an. Does the Qur’an really instruct Muslims to slay unbelievers wherever they find them? Does it promise the suicide bomber instant paradise and 70 virgins? If so, Islam is clearly chronically prone to terrorism. These debates have often been confused by an inadequate understanding of the way scripture works.

People do not robotically obey every single edict of their sacred texts. If they did, the world would be full of Christians who love their enemies and turn the other cheek when attacked. There are political reasons why a tiny minority of Muslims are turning to terrorism, which have nothing to do with Islam. But because of the way people read their scriptures these days, once a terrorist has decided to blow up a London bus, he can probably find scriptural texts that seem to endorse his action.

Part of the problem is that we are now reading our scriptures instead of listening to them. When, for example, Christian fundamentalists argue about the Bible, they hurl texts back and forth competitively, citing chapter and verse in a kind of spiritual tennis match. But this detailed familiarity with the Bible was impossible before the modern invention of printing made it feasible for everybody to own a copy and before widespread literacy — an essentially modern phenomenon — enabled them to read it for themselves.

Hitherto the scriptures had always been transmitted orally, in a ritual context that, like a great theatrical production, put them in a special frame of mind. Christians heard extracts of the Bible chanted during the mass; they could not pick and choose their favourite texts. In India, young Hindu men studied the Vedas for years with their guru, adopting a self-effacing and non-violent lifestyle that was meant to influence their understanding of the texts. In Judaism, the process of studying Torah and Talmud with a rabbi was itself a transformative experience that was just as important as the content.

The last thing anyone should attempt is to read the Qur’an straight through from cover to cover, because it was designed to be recited aloud. Indeed, the word qur’an means “recitation.” Much of the meaning is derived from sound patterns that link one passage with another, so that Muslims who hear extracts chanted aloud thousands of times in the course of a lifetime acquire a tacit understanding that one teaching is always qualified and supplemented by other texts, and cannot be seen in isolation. The words that they hear again and again are not “holy war,” but “kindness,” “courtesy,” “peace,” “justice,” and “compassion.”

Historians have noted that the shift from oral to written scripture often results in strident, misplaced certainty. Reading gives people the impression that they have an immediate grasp of their scripture; they are not compelled by a teacher to appreciate its complexity. Without the aesthetic and ethical disciplines of ritual, they can approach a text in a purely cerebral fashion, missing the emotive and therapeutic aspects of its stories and instructions.

Solitary reading also enables people to read their scriptures too selectively, focussing on isolated texts that they read out of context, and ignoring others that do not chime with their own predilections. Religious militants who read their scriptures in this way often distort the tradition they are trying to defend. Christian fundamentalists concentrate on the aggressive Book of Revelation and pay no attention to the Sermon on the Mount, while Muslim extremists rely on the more belligerent passages of the Qur’an and overlook its oft-repeated instructions to leave vengeance to God and make peace with the enemy.

We cannot turn the clock back. Most of us are accustomed to acquiring information instantly at the click of a mouse, and have neither the talent nor the patience for the disciplines that characterised pre-modern interpretation. But we can counter the dangerous tendency to selective reading of sacred texts. The Qur’an insists that its teaching must be understood “in full” (20:114), an important principle that religious teachers must impart to the disaffected young.

Muslim extremists have given the jihad (which they interpret reductively as “holy war”) a centrality that it never had before and have thus redefined the meaning of Islam for many non-Muslims. But in this they are often unwittingly aided by the media, who also concentrate obsessively on the more aggressive verses of the Qur’an, without fully appreciating how these are qualified by the text as a whole. We must all — the religious and the sceptics alike — become aware that there is more to scripture than meets the cursory eye. —

Source : The Hindu, Dated 12 August 2005

Aram, porul, inbam, veedu naaliyum pathi idhula solleerukaanga…

Naan sollradhu thaanga solleerukkaanga, aana idha yaarum padikka mudiyadhu, yaarukkum puriyadhu.

naan ungallukku puriyara maari sollittu irrukaen…

In teh same book, Iyya had highlighted madhamna kollgai, neenga nenaikara madham illa….

Talking to someone, Iyya says, Pongal vechha pongi thaananga aganum, yaen sandhegapadareenga?

Ulagathula ovvorutharum ovvoru maari thaanga irupaanga, avangala maathaa mudiyadhu. oththu poradhu thaanga vaazhkai vera ennanga, adhaan indha kuralyum irrukku. ‘poruthaar bhoomi azhvar’nu sollraangilla….

We pray for status quo. But, remember status quo is not progression but regression. It is being static, in the same state forever, being on the same level forever. For example, if a child who plays with his toys prays that he will always be able to play with his toys, he prays for status quo. This means that if the child gets what he wants he’ll be playing with toys for the rest of his life and that is regarded as retardation. So, be careful when you pray for status quo; it is implicitly asking for retardation.

We are always moving from one level to another and the ensuing level is always supposed to be higher than the present level. The new level that emerges might bring new problems and new challenges but that does not mean it is of a lower level. Rather than staying in the less problematic level changing means preferring progress.

To expedite progress we should be ready to quit the current level in order to reduce the pain of going into the next level. Most of the pain in this regard is caused by unwillingness to say goodbye to the present level. In fact, death is painful to us because we want to remain on the present level and remain attached.

There is no harm in attachments but during the course of time they should accompany detachments. Delaying the corresponding detachment could be harmful because it slows down progress, which will be problematic and more painful in the subsequent higher level.

So, in short, the next time that you pray for status quo think twice, make sure it is what you really want. Even if you sincerely want status quo, in not granting it to you God is wiser than you. He knows very well that it is a mistake on your part and that your request is not a wise one so he may decide not to give what you ask for. Besides, when God grants your wishes, something will surely be lost. In other words, when a higher level emerges, something from the previous level is lost.

This is exactly the reason why successful spiritual life is often regarded as failure in life. This is an indication that we have to move beyond the ego, which dominates life, as we know it, and in turn we have to grow greater than the ego. Finally we’ll arrive at a place higher than the ego, and in the usual way it will be regarded as failure or as loss. Nevertheless, have the solid knowledge that you are on your path to progress.

Source : The Economic Times, Dated August 15, 2005

What is a full and complete life? What is used to measure this and how does one recognise that?

A: Your lives will not attain fulfilment by some action. In every stage of your life you thought, “If this happens, my life will become complete.” This thought may have come up within you. When you were a child you thought, “ If I get this toy, my life will be complete.” You got that.

After three days you took it and threw it into the dustbin. Life did not attain fulfilment. When you were in school, you thought that if you passed your examination, life would be complete. That happened, and nothing happened. Then you thought if you complete your education, your life would be complete. That too happened. Then you thought, what is the use of all this education if you are not able to stand on your own two feet? That happened. After three months you began to think, what is the use of working like a donkey? If you get married to that man or woman who is in your heart, your life would become complete. That happened and then you know what happened!

It has been going on like this. For slightly older people, they believe that their lives would become complete if they get their daughters married. Only when you get your daughter married all your problems will start, isn’t it? It has been going on like this. Whatever action you may perform, life has not attained any fulfilment. Fulfilment will not come because of some action that you perform. Only if your inner nature is complete, your lives will attain fulfilment.

If your inner nature is unbounded, your life is also unbounded. You can either sit with your eyes closed and your life is complete or you perform different actions and your life can be complete. When man has reached a state where within himself he does not have the need to perform any action and his actions are only to the extent required for the external situation, then that man has become complete.

Once a man has reached the state where he does not have the need within himself to perform any action, then that man is a complete person. Why have you been performing one action after another? It is towards fulfilment, isn’t it?.

If within you, your inner nature has attained fulfilment, there will be no need for action.

SADHGURU JAGGI VASUDEV

Source: The Economic Times dated August 10, 2005

Iyya Comments:
Life la idehallam varunga, aana namma badhikapadama irrukanum, varadhai apdiyae edhuthuttu….

Updated Iyya Comments:
actually there were negative comments he too was blessed by Iyya, in fact Iyya started with that - “paarunga avorada kashtatha avaru ezhudeerukaaru…” (paavamnu censor paneerundhadhu)

SPIRITUAL QUOTIENT:

Since the inception of civilisation man has known the significance of leading a moral life by embarking on the path of truth and justice. Wise as he is called, man has been trying to pass on these practices from generation to generation to retain the humanism. However, in recent times the quest for power and money and the temptations of the modern life are slowly driving mankind away from the age-old, proven path.

There is a race to acquire more and more power and processions via fair or unfair means.

As predicted for Kalyuga, Maya is at its peak with mankind craving for whatever is mortal, and is drifting away from the basic purpose of human evolution — attainment of salvation. Though fully aware of the ultimate goal, one tends to get more attracted towards the so-called world of Maya where one enjoys monetary, social and material comforts.

It is believed that God created positive and negative together as he made day and night, black and white, etc. As perceived by Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, a drama has been staged by the almighty and we are part and parcel of it, but have the freedom to choose either path. While it is easier to fall for temptations, a life of fair means is not a bed of roses and may require constant struggle and self control. To deal with the challenges of leading a moral life, it is important to have confidence in your way of life.

A person needs to be very sure that this is the path for him and not get deterred by social and family pressures. One must have a very positive attitude towards life and people. Though not easy, a thought process has to be developed to train one’s mind to think in a positive way. The biggest lessons of life are learnt during the hard times of our life. So one needs to recognise the significance of both the seasons of life and treat them with calm and balance.

The human weaknesses of jealousy, criticism, dislike and hatred have to be controlled by trying to look at the positivities of a person or situation. Another important aid in this path could be developing hobbies to keep your mind from wandering in undesireable directions. There are no set rules of the game as everyone embarking on this path has to evolve his own way to deal with the situation, but more vital is to sail through the ocean of uncertainty and depression which sometimes try to engulf one self.

Poonam Varshney

Source : The Economic Times dated August 1, 2005

Iyya Comments:
paarunga epdi ezhudeerukaanga, innaiku ellorum epdi irrukaangannu…

Unarvu:
Referring to Thirumoolar’s composition,
“Yaan petra inbam peruga ivvaiyagam
Vaan patri ninra maraip porul uraithidin
Oon patri ninra unarvu manthiram
Thaan patrap patra thalaip padumthaane”
Iyya said, andha Unarvu thaanga mukiyam. Alwaarum adhaithaan, “Unarvenum perumbhadham” nu solleerukkaar.

Ellam Onnuthaan:

Ellamae onnu thaanga. Ellam oru cell la irundhu thaananga vandhadhu, sakthi ella edhathulaiyum irrukku. kaiya thotta vera, kala thotta vera va, illeenga, ellam onnu thaan. kadavulum onnum, avar thaan ellamaavum irrukkaar. idhai thaan thirumoolarum solleerukkaar.

patanjali thaanga unmaiya solleerukkar. edpi 8 siddhis adaiyarudhunnu sollerukkar. he gave specificallythe following excerpts (from the 18 siddhas book):

The following english meaning aiyaa had highlighted in the book and asked to read the same:
“Those who realize donot speak. Those who are enlightened donot suffer”

Next verse starts with “Puruva mathi”. It goes like, the prana and apana meet at agnai. (Aiyaa has wrote a comment in english in CAPS as FLASHES.) It goes like it should go up to sahasrara. he said ‘athudhaanga jyothi. Dheepamnu sollrangilla. Kovil la velila garuda kambam (a tall thing erected outside the temple that holds light at the top) irrukardhu signifies this - mela etri jyotthiyai paakaradhu….’

He said teh following story abt patanjali:
Pathanjali was powerful, his disciples would be burnt when they come near his breath. Hence, he arranged for a partition between himself and his disciples. He taught his disciples sitting behind the partition. Sixty students (disciples) were learning under him. The students were very much impressed with their master and were anxious to see his face.

Once, a student got very apprehensive and pulled the partition to see the face of the master. All the students were burnt at the same instant…

Inline with this, Aiyaa also said, Paambaati sithar has written a verse like, “Kilai keela, vaer maela”. ‘vaerna mooladharaminga. modhala adhu groundeda irruka keela irrukku, adhai mela kondu poganum. vaer mela pona andha nilai epdi irrukumnga, he is present everywhere. idhai thaanga keelaenna material apdinnu solluvaanga….’

The sharp trill of the school bell at lunch break sees hordes of uniformed kids rush towards Pizza Haven, a tuck shop on Richmond Road, Bangalore. Amidst the jostle at the counter, squeaky voices scream out their orders even as tiny hands grab scrumptious pizzas doled out by two smiling women — Jayalaxmi Srinivasan and Padma Sreenivasan — or the `Pizza Grannies’ as the kids have affectionately christened them.

But make no mistake. These are no savvy entrepreneurs out to make a fast buck selling fast food. Driven by a cherished dream to build Vishranthi (restful place), an old-age home on the outskirts of Bangalore, the duo funnel all profits to this venture.

“I’ve always had this vision about doing something for senior citizens,” explains the elegant Padma, 70, who lost her husband in an accident when she was 22. With two young children to look after and no financial or professional backing, Padma’s world came crashing down. She was given her husband’s job at Indian Telephone Industries, Bangalore, but it came with a rider: she would have to study cost accountancy for it.

While Padma tackled the intricacies of her job, her parents chipped in to raise her kids. “My parents helped me through that extremely tough phase of my life,” she says. “So I was determined to do something in their memory. In today’s complex modern life, the elderly don’t have devoted young people to take care of them.”

Her daughter married the son of family friend and homemaker Jayalaxmi, who too shared Padma’s passion for the old-age home. “I thought an old-age home would be a marvellous tribute to the memory of our elderly and make a great contribution towards society too,” explains Jayalaxmi, 72. And soon, the two were excitedly thinking up ways to mobilise funds for their cherished project. Even as they were exploring various ideas, butter conglomerate Amul floated ads in national dailies asking for pizza franchisees. “We couldn’t even spell the word `pizza’ let alone make it, but we went ahead to bag the coveted franchise as it was a means to an end,” says Jayalaxmi. And Pizza Haven was born in 2003 inside Jayalaxmi’s minuscule garage with an investment of Rs 5,000.

The pizzas were a huge hit from the word go. The product’s pure ingredients, rich, homemade sauces, generous cheesy toppings and an affordable price — Rs 20 per pizza — soon had people eating out of the septuagenarians’ hands. Moreover, Pizza Haven already had a captive clientele in the boys’ school next door and eager neighbours whose palates were craving a change from the staple south Indian fare dished out by local eateries. As business boomed, Padma and Jayalaxmi hired help for the kitchen — half a dozen women from a local destitute home, Little Sisters. Apart from paying them salaries, the duo also agreed to sponsor their children’s education.

Things were going smoothly except for one hiccup — with a moderately priced product the two were just about breaking even. It was time to rev up profits, especially if they had to fulfil their old-age home dream.

Interestingly, what finally galvanised them was a huge electricity bill slapped on them by the Bangalore State Electricity Board. The Board argued that since they were operating a business, they had to pay double the charges as applicable to commercial ventures.

With increased expenses, the duo had no choice but to think big. They decided to expand base by tapping the rich minefield of MNCs in Bangalore. Padma approached the MNCs and succeeded in striking a deal with them to supply pizzas. Pizza Haven was offered counter space at about a dozen MNC canteens for teatime (4-7 p.m.) snacks. Soon, the sizzling hot pizzas had the MNC staff asking for more. The duo had to increase supplies and introduce a wider range — Hawaiian Pizza, Mexican Pizza and even a fiery Bombay Masala Pizza — by adding exotic flavourings and toppings. When business boomed, Padma’s daughter, Sarasa, donated a van for Pizza Haven’s scaled-up operations.

Today, with working systems firmly in place, daily operations at Pizza Haven are conducted seamlessly. Although they have delinked from Amul, their business has not been affected. The grannies’ modus operandi is quite simple. As they good-humouredly put it, Jayalaxmi is the `Works Manager’ who orchestrates the kitchen-work — making of sauces, pizza bases and grating of cheeses.

Padma, with her cheery, outgoing nature, is the `Accounts & Public Relations Executive’ who deals with prospective clients and chalks out business plans. She also loads the pizzas in the van at around 2.30 p.m. (after shutting down the garage tuck shop) and does the rounds of MNC cafeterias till late evening. “We sell around 150 pizzas per day and are able to contribute Rs 15,000 per month from our profits towards the old-age home,” discloses Padma.

Generous donations have also flowed in from several MNCs and good Samaritans impressed by their commitment to the cause. And helped by bank loans, in June 2005 the two were finally able to buy 22,000 sq ft of land for Rs 50 lakh in suburban Bangalore. A registered trust has been established and incoming donations are tax-exempt.

“This is just the beginning,” says Padma. “We’re now hiring architects to draw up a cost-effective plan to build Vishranthi. People often suggest that we hand over our project to a charitable institute because supervising such construction — at 70 years plus — can be quite challenging. But what’s the joy in life without challenges? God willing, we should be able to make our old-age home a reality very soon.”

Source : Business Line Dated Aug 5, 2005

Referring to a tamil news article that some lawyer in chennai is taking current out of water, Iyya said, “Aamanga current ellathulayum irrukunga, unga kittayum irrukku. raththathulayum irrukku. epdi rendu kai thaecheenganna soodu aagudhila, current illama epdi aagum”. he also referred to some book we studied earlier - annikki padicheengila, epdi things after going inside body change from one state to another, adhellam current illama epdi nadakkum…”

Referring to some excerpts fromTirumoolar villakam book, Iyya said the following:

Arasa Maram:
Buddharukku inga thaan gnanam kedaichadhu, ellorukkum gnanam kedaikumga. neeng root ayirunga and bring the root upwards, mela root pona enna aagumnga, it can take everything that it requires - kaathu, thaneer,…
so ellorukkum gnanam kidaikkum (buddhar) maari edhaiyum vittu poga vendiyadhu illai. vaazhkaiya vaazhunga, appuram poi arasa marathukku adiyila ukkaralaam….

Yagam:
Veliya yagam panadheenga, ulla pannunga, neruppu ulla irukkunga, adhai mela kondu vaanga, uyir sakthi mela varanumnga, ellorum adhai thaan sollraanga, adhu thaan kayakalpam….

Thirumoolar has written around 3300 verses in thirumanthiram, 3300 irrukaradhum 33 verse la irrukunga. 33 la irrakaradhum onnu thaanga. adhu ennana, ‘ungalai purijukonga’, know thyself.

In Tamil:

The spiritual tradition asserts that the Lord’s most important vow is to fulfil the word of His devotees because they are dear to Him. God does not expect anything from them except unalloyed love and devotion to Him. He is satisfied with whatever His devotee offers to Him with love and hence it is the attitude with which anything is offered to God, which is important and not ostentatious display of devotion. But, a devotee should offer the very best to the Lord because whatever he enjoys in life is His blessing. There are many incidents in the lives of devotees to substantiate that God submits to true devotion.

In his musical discourse, Sri Jayakrishna Dikshitar said the case of Pundalika who asked Lord Krishna to wait standing on a brick till he finished serving his parents was a paradigmatic example cited to corroborate this truth. He did not offer this distinguished guest who had sought him a jewel-studded seat or a lavish spread. The Lord had come to bless him for his exemplary service to his aged parents and he was so engrossed in attending to them that without a second thought he threw a brick to stand on and asked his guest to wait. And wait the Lord did till he finished his routine and then enabled him to envision His divine form.

Pundalika was granted boons and this sterling devotee asked the Lord to stay there permanently. This hallowed place where Pundalika received divine grace is named after him as Pundalikapuram, which in course of time came to called as Pandharpur. Lord Panduranga is popularly known as Vitthala as the deity, along with His consort Rukmini, stands on a brick. Pundalika sought another boon from the Lord for the welfare of humanity in this Kali age when it will not be possible to undertake penance or strenuous austerities for realising God. He told the Lord that among those who would come to Him would be sinners and ignorant ones, and he beseeched that He should without discrimination grace them too just as He would devotees.

It is this promise of the Lord that sustains the Warkari tradition in which laypeople from all walks of life undertake pilgrimage on foot chanting His glory to receive Vitthala’s benediction. Saint Tukaram has also attested that liberation is certain for those who go on this pilgrimage with faith.

Source: The Hindu dated Aug 04, 2005

Iyya Comments:
Manickavasagar kadvulai vazhthi paadittu thaan irundhaar, ivar paarunga velaiya paathuttu irundhaar. kadavulluku velai paakum bodhu kadavul vandhaar, nikka sollittaar, rendum kadavul thaananga, yaen vithyaasapadhuthareenga? (”"Annaiyum pidhavum munnari Deivam”)

Maatha, Pitha, Guru appuram, thaananga Deivam, idhai purinjavam deivam thaan.
Service thaananga, adhu seiyum bodhu vandhanala nikka sollitaar….

vaendaadhadhai panna vaendiyadhu, appuram vandu nikka vaendiyadhu, idhai paaka vaendaamnu thaan avar kannai moodi irukkaar.

He who chooses God, has already been chosen by Him, is an oft-quoted adage in the spiritual tradition. A scriptural statement reiterates that the Supreme Being can be experienced only by His grace while the Upanishadic tradition elaborates how important it is to undertake study of the scripture by following the three-step method of listening to the preceptor, committing it to memory and then reflecting on the truth. Why does the scripture make such self-contradictory statements? The spiritual path is a maze through which a seeker has to find his way with the help of others who have trodden it before him, and conflicting statements such as these only add to the confusion. Preceptors throw light on such paradoxes.

In his discourse, Sri M.A.Venkatakrishnan said the life of Tiruppanazhwar testified to the fact that it was possible to envision the Almighty only if He wished to reveal Himself. He was a gifted child belonging to the Panars (folk singers). The tradition goes that one day when he was in deep contemplation by the river, the temple retinue came to fetch water from the river and a stone was cast to make way for the Lord, which hit his forehead. On returning to the temple, the priest saw the deity bleeding and realised his folly.

The priest, Lokasaranga Muni, in consternation, rushed to the lad’s house and to atone for his sin carried him on his shoulders to the sanctum of the Lord when he was granted His beatific vision. Enraptured by His divine splendour Panar glorified His form from His feet to His head in the hymn, Amalanadipiran, in 10 verses, declaring that His eyes, which had feasted on His bewitching form would not see anything else and merged into Him. Thus did Panan come to be hailed as Tiruppanazhwar.

In a verse of this hymn, Tiruppanazhwar attests that the Lord claimed him as His own, “Relieving me of my load of misdeeds, the Lord of Arangam made me His devotee; and what is more, He entered into me. What great penance did I do, I do not know!” The doubt still remains as to why man should strive for liberation if it is God who redeems the soul when He wills. Ramanuja clarifies in his Sribhashya and Gitabhashya that all spiritual practices are intended to make oneself worthy of divine grace and thus not means to salvation.

Source : The Hindu dated Aug 02, 2005.

Iyya Comments:
Paarunga azhwar epdi indha maadhiri paada mudinjadhunnu. azhwarkal ellam Avaraiyae thaananga nenaichuttu irundhaanga, adhann avanga velai. Highlighted, ‘Supreme Being can be experienced only by His grace’.

LONG BEFORE human beings began to map the earth scientifically they created a sacred geography. Certain features of the landscape — a rock or river that was particularly arresting — stood out from their surroundings and spoke of something else: people experienced a richer, more potent reality there. Men and women have formulated the perception of sacred space in different ways over the centuries, but certain themes tend to recur, suggesting that they speak to some fundamental human need.

People tend to identify deeply with their holy places, because the sacred is not simply a reality “out there” but is also immanent, within the self. Their sacred spaces help them to find their place in the world.

Holy places have been in the news recently. Last week, plans for a new visitor centre at Stonehenge were quashed amid indignant complaints that the present facilities were a “national disgrace,” a slur on the reputation of the country. And yet again crowds of pilgrims have congregated in Glastonbury, a site associated with the numinous origins of our nation, sitting caked in mud — as if in some arcane ritual — and listening to music that gives them intimations of transcendence.

Explosive political issue

Sacred space has also become an explosive political issue. The final status of Jerusalem, for example, is now one of the most intractable problems in the Middle East. Unless a solution can be found that satisfies everybody — Jews, Christians and Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians — we cannot hope to achieve a lasting peace.

In such conflicts, everybody insists the site is “holy” to them, so essential to their identity that they can experience its violation as a rape. But the cult of a holy place, properly understood, always has a strong ethical component. From the beginning the cult of Jerusalem was inseparable from the ideal of social justice. Psalmists, priests and prophets all insisted that it could not be a holy city of shalom (peace, completion and wholeness) unless it was also a city of tzedek (justice); Jerusalem must be a refuge for the poor and the oppressed.

Similarly, violence of any sort has always been forbidden in Mecca. To this day, a pilgrim may not even kill an insect or speak an irritable word during the hajj, a discipline designed to teach Muslims, at a level deeper than the purely rational, that hatred and aggression are incompatible with the sacred. It is not enough simply to have a warm glow when visiting a holy site. Instead of becoming a major obstacle to world peace, the cult of sacred space should contribute to harmonious coexistence.

Part of the problem is that people feel so at one with their shrines that the integrity of their holy places comes to symbolise their own survival.

The cult of sacred space often involves a ritual separation of the site from its profane surroundings, which can make the cult exclusive. Gentiles were barred from the Jewish temple, while non-Muslims are still forbidden to enter Mecca. But Muslims had a more inclusive vision of Jerusalem’s holiness.

Under the Christian Byzantines, Jews had never been allowed to reside permanently in the city, but when Caliph Omar conquered it in 638 he invited them to return. He also ordered that Christian shrines in the city must not be expropriated or attacked. In contrast, when the Crusaders arrived in Jerusalem in July 1099 they slaughtered 20,000 Jews and Muslims in two days, clearing them out of the holy city like vermin.

Religion is often misunderstood in our secular society. Like art, it is difficult to do well. It is not about private ecstasy or self-affirmation. While it can endorse our sense of identity, the chief aim of religion at its best is to introduce us to transcendence by curbing the destructive forms of egotism, hatred and greed. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

(Karen Armstrong is the author of A History of Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths.)

Source : The Hindu dated Aug 02, 2005

Iyya Comments:
Paarunga evlo correcta varudhu, nethu night thaanga nenaichaen, innaikku kalaila paperla varudhu…
Romba aaraichi panni correcta ezhudirukaanga. see how they created religion seeing to map earth scientifically (aaru, stones paathu). He highlighted the excerpt “the chief aim of religion at its best is to introduce us to transcendence by curbing the destructive forms of egotism, hatred and greed.” Nethu padicheengilla, the religion of humanity adhaanga religion…
(Gandhi pathiyum oru comment sonnaaru, “gandhikooda irundhavanga ennai paaka vandhaanga, avar ennana paaninaarnu ennakku theriyumga, kadavaul kaamichuruvaar, ellarum manusanga thaananga, namma adhai pathi aaraichi panna koodhadhu, apdi paani thaan innaikku naasam panraanga”……)

It is a mix of conventional design and an architect’s touch, mostly using indigenous materials, giving a feeling of “one with nature” and the most important - easy on the purse.

Welcome to the cost-effective house. We are talking of structures built on the concept of “no-frills-no-waste”.

This would mean cutting down on materials such as cement and wood without compromising on quality and aesthetics.

The former director of SACON (Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History), V.S. Vijayan will vouch for it.

His 2,088 sq ft house in BSA Nagar, Vadavalli, built six years ago, cost him a mere Rs. 10 lakhs despite getting raw materials and labour from Kerala.

This includes the cost of marble, granite and tiles used in kitchen, staircase and bathrooms. Plus compound wall and borewell!

An eco friendly house

“I wanted an eco-friendly house,” says Mr. Vijayan. Little wonder that the use of wood is bare minimum, so is the use of concrete. Walls are made of hollow bricks and flooring of terracotta tiles. Huge windows with iron grills make the room airy and well-lit.

The best part is savings made on recurring costs. “For our son’s wedding, we just washed the entire house. There was no need for painting,” says Lalitha Vijayan.

A success story

Cost-effective construction, kick-started by Dr. Laurie Baker and now a success story in Kerala, is yet to catch up in Coimbatore.

“Awareness on cost-effective housing is low here. It again depends on individual preferences. And, durability is a major concern. Those who build houses to rent it out probably will think twice before building such a house,” says S. Balasubramanian, former chairman, Association of Consulting Civil Engineers, Coimbatore Chapter. However, it is possible to bring down the total volume of materials by adopting suitable technologies, he says.

“Cost-effective houses are as long-lasting as any other building,” says G. Shankar, founder and chief architect of Habitat Technology Group, Thiruvananthapuram (0471-2344877).

In Kerala, country-burnt or semi-mechanised bricks are used for these structures.

These are not affected by climatic changes.

In Pollachi too

Bricks are available in Pollachi also, says T.K. Skandakumar, project engineer with Costford (Centre of Science and Technology for Rural Development Ph: 0487-2366388).

Since skilled workers are needed for red-oxide flooring, consumers can opt for terracotta tiles and the cost works up to Rs. 14 per sq.ft plus laying charge. What holds you back?

Though for most of the cost-effective buildings in Coimbatore workers are from Kerala, C.C. Joy, Project Engineer of Costford, points out that since material costs are controlled, bringing workers from Kerala along with use of local labour does not escalate cost.

These buildings cost 25 per cent to 30 per cent less than the conventional buildings, he says. So, what holds back those interested in an eco-friendly, cost-effective house from building one?

Source : The Hindu, Date July 31, 2005