HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY & PROSPOROUS NEW YEAR

1st Jan 2009

Team HARImation

'Begining of the Universe'

In the 'Begining of the Universe' Membrane theory how could there have always been something when everything has a beginning?

Imagine your are observing a ring of people holding hands and dancing in a circular motion. You then join in the ring of people by entering at a certain point. Once you become part of the moving circle of dancers you can no longer pick out the exact point of your entry into the circle. once something has entered and is within the membrane of the universe it has no consciousness of its creation because all of creation is created outside of the membrane. Creativity is sub-atomic - Creation is atomic. All that is within the universal membrane is subject to atomic decay and is therefore part of the the destructive force. The creative force, which was recognised by Anaxagoras, the ancient Greek scientist, as the 'nous' is the multiliversal balancing principle that allows the universal life force to go to infinity.
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Another take:
If you look at your question carefully, you will notice that you are setting down an inviolable condition, or paradigm, before one has a chance to answer. Your question, ages in the future, may very well sound like this question today: "How can the world be a globe when the world is flat?" Because we have no practical experience of things without beginnings, in our human pride we conclude that no such thing can possibly exist.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

The man we know as Santa Claus has a history all his own. Explore the articles here to find information about the history of Santa Claus, his earliest origins, and how he became the jolly man in red that we know today.

The legend of Santa Claus can be traced back hundreds of years to a monk named St. Nicholas. It is believed that Nicholas was born sometime around 280 A.D. in Patara, near Myra in modern-day Turkey. Much admired for his piety and kindness, St. Nicholas became the subject of many legends. It is said that he gave away all of his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. One of the best known of the St. Nicholas stories is that he saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution by their father by providing them with a dowry so that they could be married. Over the course of many years, Nicholas's popularity spread and he became known as the protector of children and sailors. His feast day is celebrated on the anniversary of his death, December 6. This was traditionally considered a lucky day to make large purchases or to get married. By the Renaissance, St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. Even after the Protestant Reformation, when the veneration of saints began to be discouraged, St. Nicholas maintained a positive reputation, especially in Holland.

Some Fast Facts:
Each year, 30-35 million real Christmas trees are sold in the United States alone. There are 21,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States, and trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold.
Today, in the Greek and Russian orthodox churches, Christmas is celebrated 13 days after the 25th, which is also referred to as the Epiphany or Three Kings Day. This is the day it is believed that the three wise men finally found Jesus in the manger.
In the Middle Ages, Christmas celebrations were rowdy and raucous—a lot like today's Mardi Gras parties.
From 1659 to 1681, the celebration of Christmas was outlawed in Boston, and law-breakers were fined five shillings.
Christmas wasn't a holiday in early America—in fact Congress was in session on December 25, 1789, the country's first Christmas under the new constitution.
Christmas was declared a federal holiday in the United States on June 26, 1870.
The first eggnog made in the United States was consumed in Captain John Smith's 1607 Jamestown settlement.
Poinsettia plants are named after Joel R. Poinsett, an American minister to Mexico, who brought the red-and-green plant from Mexico to America in 1828.
The Salvation Army has been sending Santa Claus-clad donation collectors into the streets since the 1890s.
Rudolph, "the most famous reindeer of all," was the product of Robert L. May's imagination in 1939. The copywriter wrote a poem about the reindeer to help lure customers into the Montgomery Ward department store.
Construction workers started the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree tradition in 1931.

Wishing you a happy new year

Team HARImation

Comeon Terror we will show you the doors of hell

Mumbai, India Under ATTACK

26th Nov 2008

26th Nov 2008 evening...another buzy day from office for many of us earning a bread in mumbai, unknown of the fact that terror is ready to strike back. Soon people will find that they have lost there near and dear ones irrespective of the fact that the ones who will suffer the concequences have nothing to do with it at all, soon they will know that mumbai is again under attack...

26th Nov 2008 Night (around 915 PM IST) First thing we got to know when were closing our days in office was that it was a gang war broke off in Mumbai CST so were asked by our PM (Project Managers) to leave early as to avoid more conciquences...but all in vein.........as we knew it later that it was a Terror Attack, initially people thought it to be more or less common as mumbai peoples are very strong when comes to face terror may be this land has that magic to bring out baghat sings every time when asked for...10 PM by the time it was clear that it was a pre planned attack on mumbai.

The November 2008 Mumbai attacks were a series of ten coordinated terrorist attacks across Mumbai, India's financial capital and its largest city. The attacks, carried out by armed men using automatic weapons and grenades, began on 26 November 2008 and ended on 29 November 2008. At least 173 people were killed and at least 308 were injured in the attacks.
Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, the Orthodox Jewish-owned Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building behind St. Xavier's College.There was also an explosion at the Mazagaon docks in Mumbai's port area, and a taxi blast at Vile Parle.
By the early morning of 28 November, all sites except for the Taj Mahal Palace had been secured by Mumbai Police and security forces. An action by India's National Security Guards on 29 November resulted in the conclusion of the Taj Mahal Palace encounter, ending all fighting in the attacks.
Ajmal Amir, the only terrorist who was captured alive, disclosed that the attackers were members of Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Pakistan-based militant organization, considered a terrorist organization by India, the United States, and the United Kingdom, among others.The Indian Government said that the attackers came from Pakistan, and their controllers were in Pakistan. The attacks drew widespread condemnation across the world.

It was so weared that even walking on those roads can call out the hearts from the cage. Blood spread every where, People running with pain and stress but still trying to help each other when there own house was on fire. people who were not close in prefered to lock them selves in there rooms for the next few days untill every thing was in control.

Will the Earth meet its end by 2012

Will the Earth meet its end by 2012 ?

Read these facts and decide by yourself...Scientific experts from around the world are genuinely predicting that five years from now, all life on Earth could well finish. Some are saying it'll be humans that set it off. Others believe that a natural phenomenon will be the cause. And the religious folks are saying it'll be God himself who presses the stop button...
1. Mayan Calendar

The first mob to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a bloodthirsty race that were good at two things:Building highly accurate astrological equipment out of stone andSacrificing Virgins.

Thousands of years ago they managed to calculate the length of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days, only 34 seconds out. The Mayan calendar predicts that the Earth will end on December 21, 2012. Given that they were pretty close to the mark with the lunar cycle, it's likely they've got the end of the world right as well.
2. Sun Storms

Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made a startling discovery: our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic, and it's supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the Earth with so much radiation energy, it's been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse, and calculations suggest it'll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012.
3. The Atom Smasher
Scientists in Europe have been building the world's largest particle accelerator. Basically its a 27km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the Universe tick. However, the mega-gadget has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it's properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They're predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.

4. The Bible says...

If having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn't bad enough,religious folks are getting in on the act aswell. Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between Good an Evil, has been set down for 2012. The I Ching, also known as the Chinese book of Changes, says the same thing, as do various sections of the Hindu teachings.

5. Super Volcano

Yellowstone National Park in the United States is famous for its thermal springs and Old Faithful geyser. The reason for this is simple - it's sitting on top of the world's biggest volcano, and geological experts are beginning to get nervous sweats. The Yellowstone volcano has a pattern of erupting every 650,000 years or so, and we're many years overdue for an explosion that will fill the atmosphere with ash, blocking the sun and plunging the Earth into a frozen winter that could last up to 15,000 years. The pressure under the Yellowstone is building steadily, and geologists have set 2012 as a likely date for the big bang.

6. The Physicists

This one's case of bog-simple maths mathematics. Physicists at Berekely Uni have been crunching the numbers. and they've determined that the Earth is well overdue for a major catastrophic event. Even worse, they're claiming their calculations prove, that we're all going to die, very soon - while also saying their prediction comes with a certainty of 99 percent- and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it occurs.

7. Slip-Slop-Slap-BANG!

We all know the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that sheilds us from most of the sun's radiation. What you might not know is that the magnetic poles we call north and south have a nasty habit of swapping places every 750,000 years or so - and right now we're about 30,000 years overdue. Scientists have noted that the poles are drifting apart roughly 20-30kms each year, much faster than ever before, which points to a pole-shift being right around the corner. While the pole shift is underway, the magnetic field is disrupted and will eventually disappear, sometimes for up to 100 years. The result is enough UV outdoors to crisp your skin in seconds, killing everything it touches.

Indus Script

Ancient Indian Scripts
The Indus Valley Civilization was the first major urban culture of South Asia. It reached its peak from 2600 BC to 1900 BC roughly, a period called by some archaeologists "Mature Harappan" as distinguished from the earlier Neolithic "Early Harappan" regional cultures. Spatially, it is huge, comprising of about 1000 settlements of varying sizes, and geographically includes almost all of modern Pakistan, parts of India as far east as Delhi and as far south as Bombay, and parts of Afghanistan.

The main corpus of writing dated from the Indus Civilization is in the form of some two thousand inscribed seals in good, legible conditions. (In case you don't know what seals are, they are used to make impressions on malleable material like clay.)

Although these seals and samples of Indus writing have been floating around the scholastic world for close to 70 years, little progress has been made on deciphering this elegant script. However, we should not blame scholars for their lack of progress, for there are some major impediments to decipherment:

Very short and brief texts. The average number of symbols on the seals is 5, and the longest is only 26.
The language underneath is unknown.
Lack of bilingual texts.
For instance, consider Champollion, who deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs with all of these 3 important clues: there were very long Egyptian texts; he knew Coptic, a descendant of Egyptian; and the Rosetta Stone, a bilingual text between Greek and two written forms of Egyptian.

But the script isn't as bad as undecipherable. For one, even though scholars don't have long texts and bilingual texts, they can still theorize about the language underneath the writing system. There are several competing theories about the language that the Indus script represent:

The language is completely unrelated to anything else, meaning an isolate. Well, this doesn't get us anywhere.

The language is "Aryan" (some form of Indian-Iranian Indo-European). The historical languages spoken in Northern India and Pakistan all belong to the Indic branch of Indo-European, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi, etc., so maybe the people of the Indus valley spoke a very old Indo-European language?
The major problem with this model is the fact that horses played a very important role in all Indo-European cultures, being a people constantly on the move. "There is no escape from the fact that the horse played a central role in the Vedic and Iranian cultures..." (Parpola, 1986) Sidenote: "Vedic" means from the time of the Vedas, the earliest text in India, and the Vedic culture is from around 1500 to 500 BC. However, no depiction of horses on seals nor any remains of horses have been found so far before 2000 BC. They only appear after 2000 BC. Very likely there were no Aryan speakers present before 2000 BC in the Indus Valley.


The language belongs to the Munda family of languages. The Munda family is spoken largely in eastern India, and related to some Southeast Asian languages. Like Aryan, the reconstructed vocabulary of early Munda does not reflect the Harappan culture. So its candidacy for being the language of the Indus Civilization is dim.

The language is Dravidian. The Dravidian family of languages is spoken in Southern Indian, but Brahui is spoken in modern Pakistan. So far this is the most promising model, as in the following points:
There are many Dravidian influences visible in the Vedic texts. If the Aryan language gradually replaced the Dravidian, features from Dravidian would form a "substratum" in Aryan. One of these features is the appearance of retroflex consonants in Indian languages, both Indo-European and Dravidian. In contrast, retroflex consonants do not appear in any other Indo-European language, not even Iranian ones which are closest to Indic. (For more information on retroflex consonants please visit my Phonetics page).
Another possible indication of Dravidian in the Indus texts is from structural analysis of the texts which suggests that the language underneath is possibly agglutinative, from the fact that sign groups often have the same initial signs but different final signs. The number of these final signs range between 1 to 3. The final signs possibly represent grammatical suffixes that modify the word (represented by the initial signs). Each suffix would represent one specific modification, and the entire cluster of suffixes would therefore put the word through a series of modifications. This suffix system can be found in Dravidian, but not Indo-European. Indo-European tongues tend to change the final sounds to modify the meaning of a word (a process called inflection), but repeated addition of sounds to the end of word is extremely rare. Often many suffixes in an agglutinative language correspond to a single inflectional ending in an inflectional language.
The Dravidian model isn't just an unapplicable theory...But first we have to know what kind of writing system is the Indus script.

A count of the number of signs reveal a lot about the type of system being used. Alphabetic systems rarely have more than 40 symbols. Syllabic systems like Linear B or Cherokee typically have 40 to 100 or so symbols. The third ranges from logophonetic to logographic, running upwards of hundreds of signs (like 500 signs in Hieroglyphic Luwian, and 5000 symbols in modern Chinese).

It appears that the maximum number of Indus script symbols is 400, although there are 200 basic signs (ie signs that are not combined from others). This means that the Indus script is probably logophonetic, in that it has both signs used for their meanings, and signs used for their phonetic values.

Many signs start off as pictorial representation of a physical object, often misleadingly called pictograms. They really are should be called logograms because they represent words in the language. However, it's next to impossible to write out a word with abstract meaning pictorially. What all early writers figured out was to use a logogram not for the object or idea it was originally supposed to stand for, but for all words sounding similar to the original word for that object or idea. For example, in English to write "leave" we can use a picture of a "leaf". This is called rebus writing, and is a tremendously common pattern in all early writing systems. We could also then use the same "leaf" symbol to stand for the sound in "relief", adding another symbol in front of the "leaf" symbol in order to indicate the "re" sound. So the logogram gained a phonetic value as well.

Deepawali

DEEPWALI

Diwali, or Deepawali, is a major Indian festival, and a significant festival in Hinduism , Sikhism and Jainism. Many legends are associated with Diwali. Today it is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the "Festival of Light," where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being . The festival is also celebrated by Buddhists of Nepal, particularly the Newar Buddhists.
According to one theory Diwali may have originated as a harvest festival, marking the last harvest of the year before winter. In an agrarian society this results in businessmen closing accounts, and beginning a new accounting year. The deity of wealth in Hinduism, goddess Lakshmi is therefore thanked on this day and everyone prays for a good year ahead. This is the common factor in Diwali celebrations all over the Indian subcontinent.
In North India, it is the homecoming of King Rama of Ayodhya after a 14-year exile in the forest.The people of Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) welcomed Rama by lighting rows (avali) of lamps (deepa), thus its name, Deepawali, or simply shortened as Diwali. Southern India marks it as the day Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. In western India it is also in honor of the day King Bali went to rule the nether-world by the order of Vishnu. (There is another festival 'Onam' which is celebrated in Kerala around the month of August to mark this legend)
Diwali comes in the month of October or November.
In Jainism it marks the nirvana of Lord Mahavira, which occurred on Oct. 15, 527 B.C. The Sikhs celebrate Diwali for a different reason;, on this day, the Sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind Ji, was freed from imprisonment along with 52 Hindu Kings (political prisoners) whom he had arranged to be released as well. after his release he went to Darbar Sahib (golden temple) in the holy city of Amritsar. There, he was greeted by sikhs and many other people. In happiness they lit candles and diyas to greet the Guru. In India, Diwali is now considered to be a national festival, and the aesthetic aspect of the festival is enjoyed by most Indians regardless of faith.
Stories related to Dipawali
Hindus have several significant mythological events associated with it:
Return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya: Diwali also celebrates the return of Lord Rama, King of Ayodhya, with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana to Ayodhya after a 14 year exile, and a war in which he killed the demon king Ravana. It is believed that the people of Ayodhya lit oil lamps along the way to light their path in the darkness. Since Lord Rama traveled from South India to his kingdom in North India, he passed through the south earlier. This is the reason why the festival is celebrated a day earlier in South India.
The Killing of Narakasura: Celebrated as Naraka Chaturdasi, two days before Diwali day, it commemorates the killing of Narakasura, an evil demon who created havoc, by Lord Krishna's wife Satyabhama. This happened in the Dwapar Yuga during this time of Lord Krishna's avatar. In another version, the demon was killed by Lord Krishna (Lord krishna provokes his wife Satyabhama to kill Narakasura by pretending to be injured by the demon. Narakasura can only be killed by his mother, Satyabhama) himself. Before Narakasura's death, he requested a boon from his mother, Satyabhama (believed to be an Avatar of Bhudevi - Narakasura' mother), that everyone should celebrate his death with colorful light.
Austerities of Shakti: According to the Skanda Purana, the goddess Shakti observed 21 days of austerity starting from ashtami of shukla paksha (eighth day of the waxing period of moon) to get half of the body of Lord Shiva. This vrata (austerity) is known as kedhara vrata. Deepavali is the completion day of this austerity. This is the day Lord Shiva accepted Shakti into the left half of the form and appeared as Ardhanarishvara. The ardent devotees observe this 21 days vrata by making a kalasha with 21 threads on it and 21 types of offerings for 35 days. The final day is celebrated as kedhara gauri vrata.
Krishna defeating Indra: Govardhan Puja is celebrated the day after Diwali. It is the day Lord Krishna defeated Indra, the deity of thunder and rain. As per the story, Krishna saw huge preparations for the annual offering to Lord Indra and questions his father Nanda about it. He debated with the villagers about what their 'dharma' truly was. They were farmers, they should do their duty and concentrate on farming and protection of their cattle. He continued to say that all human beings should merely do their 'karma', to the best of their ability and not pray for natural phenomenon. The villagers were convinced by Krishna, and did not proceed with the special puja (prayer). Indra was then angered, and flooded the village. Krishna then lifted Mt Govardhan and held it up as protection to his people and cattle from the rain. Indra finally accepted defeat and recognized Krishna as supreme. This aspect of Krishna's life is mostly glossed over - but it actually set up the basis of the 'karma' philosophy later detailed in the Bhagavat Gita.
Bali's return to the nether world: In Bhavishyottara and Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Diwali is associated with the Daitya king Bali, who is allowed to return to earth once a year.

On the behalf of all the members, participents, well wishers & Team HARImation...

We WISH You ALL A HAPPY DEEPAWALI

May God enlightens our way to acchive him

Radhay Krishna

MAA DURGA

MAA DURGA

Durga Durgoti Nasini

Goddess Durga

Durga, in Sanskrit means "She who is incomprehensible or difficult to reach." Goddess Durga is a form of Sakti worshiped for her gracious as well as terrifying aspect. Mother of the Universe, she represents the infinite power of the universe and is a symbol of a female dynamism. The manifestation of Goddess Durga is said to emerge from Her formless essence and the two are inseparable. She is also called by many other names, such as Parvati, Ambika, and Kali. In the form of Parvati, She is known as the divine spouse of Lord Shiva and is the mother of Her two sons, Ganesha and Karttikeya, and daughter Jyoti. Destroyer of demons, she is worshiped during an annual festival called Durga puja, especially popular among Bengalis.

Her Appearance

There are endless aspects of Durga described in the Puranas and Agamas and the iconography is consequently very varied. She is usually pictured as having ten arms holding Sword, Conch, Discus, Rosary, Bell, Winecup, Shielf, Bow, Arrow, and Spear. She is most often shown riding a lion from which comes Her august name, Simhavahini, "She who stands astride the king of beasts". She is gorgeously dressed in royal red cloth and has several ornaments decorating Her personage. Her hair is dressed up in a crown (karandamukuta) which then flows out in long luxuriant tresses that are darkly luminous and soothing to the eye. The various tools reflects the eminent supremacy that helps in controling the universe and obey Her will.

Weilding Energy

Goddess Durga exists eternally, always abiding in her own sweet nature and inhabits the hearts and minds of her ecstatic devotees. As Shakti power, she shapes, nurtures, and dissolves names and forms, while as subtle spiritual energy called Kundalini, She lights the lotuses fo the seven centres of awareness in the sacred human body. Goddess Durga killed the powerful demon Mahish and all his great commanders. When demonic forces create imbalance all god unite becoming one divine force called Shakti or Durga.

Durga Chalisa

Namo Namo Durge Sukh karani,Namo Namo ambe Dukh harani.Nirakar hai jyoti tumhari,Tihun lok pheli ujayari.Shashi lalat mukh mahavishala,Netra lal bhrikutee vikarala.Roop Matu ko adhika suhave,Daras karat jan ati sukh pave.Tum sansar shakti laya kina,Palan hetu anna dhan dina.Annapurna hui jag pala,Tumhi adi sundari Bala.Pralaya kala sab nashan hari,Tum gauri Shiv-Shankar pyari.Shiv yogi tumhre guna gaven,Brahma Vishnu tumhen nit dhyaven.Roop Saraswati ko tum dhara,De subuddhi rishi munina ubara.Dharyo roop Narsimha ko amba,Pragat bhayin phar kar khamba.Raksha kari Prahlaad bachayo,Hiranakush ko swarga pathayo.Lakshmi roop dharo jag mahin,Shree Narayan anga samihahin.Ksheer sindhu men karat vilasa,Daya Sindhu, deeje man asa.Hingalaja men tumhin Bhavani,Mahima amit na jet bakhani.Matangi Dhoomavati Mata,Bhuvneshwari bagala sukhdata.Shree Bhairav lara jog tarani, Chhinna Bhala bhav dukh nivarani.Kehari Vahan soh Bhavani,Langur Veer Chalat agavani.Kar men khappar khadag viraje,Jako dekh kal dan bhaje.Sohe astra aur trishoola,Jase uthata shatru hiya shoola.Nagarkot men tumhi virajat,Tihun lok men danka bajat.Shumbhu Nishumbhu Danuja tum mare,Rakta-beeja shankhan samhare.Mahishasur nripa ati abhimani,Jehi agha bhar mahi akulani.Roop karal Kalika dhara,Sen Sahita tum tin samhara.Pan garha Santan par jab jab,Bhayi sahaya Matu tum tab tab.Amarpuni aru basava loka,Tava Mahirna sab rahen asoka.Jwala men hai jyoti tumhari,Tumhen sada poojen nar nari.Prem bhakti se Jo yash gave,Dukh-daridra nikat nahin ave.Dhyave tumhen jo nar man laee,Janam-maran tako chuti jaee.Jogi sur-muni kahat pukari,Jog na ho bin shakti tumhari.Shankar Aacharaj tap keenhon,Kam, krodha jeet sab leenhon.Nisidin dhyan dharo Shankar ko,Kahu kal nahini sumiro tum ko.Shakti roop ko maran na payo,Shakti gayi tab man pachitayo.Sharnagat hui keerti bakhani,Jai jai jai Jagdamb Bhavani.Bhayi prasanna Aadi Jagdamba,Dayi shakti nahin keen vilamba.Mokon Matu kashta ati ghero,Tum bin kaun hare dukh mero.Aasha trishna nipat sataven,Moh madadik sab binsaven.Shatru nash keeje Maharani,Sumiron ekachita tumhen Bhavani.Karo kripa Hey Matu dayala,Riddhi-Siddhi de karahu nihala.Jab lagi jiyoon daya phal paoon,Tumhro yash men sada sunaoon.Durga Chalisa jo gave,Sab sukh bhog parampad pave.

For 108 names of Godesses Durga: http://www.durga-puja.org/108-durga-names.html

For more please click on the below link: http://www.durga-puja.org/

Jai Ganesh

JAY GANESH
Hindu mythology has rich abundance of legends that are told and retold so many times that one forgets which is the original, which is myth and which a mere figment of fantasy. But the flavour of hearing them narrated by elders and ardent devotees continues to hold folks spellbound in its permeating aroma of divinity. The Gods, Goddesses, smaller Deities and Demigods worshipped by the Hindus, is awesome just in sheer number, and each one of the Divinity has His or Her prowess extolled in basic simmple foklore. A child in a Hindu family grows up amidst such folklore and delights in the eternal victory of the good over evil. No wonder that as one grows up, one goes to town on the religious bandwagon.

Hindu mythology would be bereft of all its charm if we do not bring Lord Ganesha into any discourse. Is it not true that begining of any activity auspicious, and of worship, is essentially with the invocation of the Elephant headed Lord Ganesha? The Lord who is the remover of all obstacles. The Lord who paves way to success. Ganesha Chaturthi always brings in its wake the aura of festivity and joy. Of commencing new businesses, and ventures, and a spate of new activities.

Born out of the dirt of Parvathi's body, Ganesha as an fine lad is said to have gaurded His house upon instruction from His mother, from anyone entering. The boy, not recognizing Shiva as His father refused Him entry. An enraged Shiva who did not recognize. His own child started fierce battle with the support of Deva Ganas, and ultimately Nandi beheaded the beautiful lad. Hearing Parvathi's lamentations Shiva realized His mistake and tried His best to locate the head of the boy, but in vain. The Lord then decided to put the first head He came across which happened to be that of an elephant, and thus restored the boy's life. The anguished mother sought and was assuaged through a boon that Ganesha should be considered by all as the eternal remover of obtstacles, and hence the first worship should be made to Him before it is made to any other manifestation of divinity. Thus Ganesha is also known as Vigneswara, the remover of all obtacles.

In India there are hundreds of temples for Vigneswara and every Shivite temple would invariable have a shrine for Vigneswara. Ganesha the elephant faced God is one of the most popularly worshipped forms of divinity - as a remover of obstacles and the embodiment of good luck, in the Indian system of beliefs and practices. How we wish we could gain His Grace and by a virtual flourish of an invisible magic wand wish our fears and worries away! May Vigneswara the remover of all impediments, bestow on us the ability to overcome our difficulties, the compassion to understand others.

GANESHA SHLOKA

Samukaschiaka Danthascha Kipilo Gajakarnakam
Lambodarascha vikatoah vignarajo ganaadhipam

Dhoomakethurganaadhyaksham Faalchandro Gajananam
Vakrakunda Shoorpakarno Herambam Skandapurvajam
shodasaitani namamiyam pateth Shrunuyaadapi
Vidyarambhe Vivaahecha Pravesha Nirgameih Thadaa
Sangrame Sarvakaryeshu Vignasthasya Na Jayatheih.

Exam Fever

Exam fever

Now that the examinations are here many students must be under tremendous stress. But it is not just the students who are stressed as teachers and parents too face the same situation. Why do people get stressed? Adolescents are faced with the demands of their developmental tasks and that of a complex society. They need to acquire skills of adjustment to emerge into adulthood unaffected by these demands. If they lack these skills or if too many demands are made on them, they fail.

Students are anxious as they are worried about whether they would be able to live up to the expectations of their peers, parents and teachers. Optimal anxiety motivates and keeps them ahead but over-anxiety disables. Anxiety is contagious and passes to other students, teachers and parents. Adolescents, when stressed out, tend to perceive everything as an emergency. Some of the reasons for increase in stress level are identity crisis, the need to make career oriented decisions, teachers/parents attitude and peer pressure. The inability to communicate with parents also plays a major role.

Good memory depends upon a good brain. The brain needs a good supply of oxygen, glucose, calcium, phosphorus and iron. So make sure you sit in a well- ventilated place when studying. Your diet should include milk, cheese, walnuts, wheat germs, green leafy vegetables, ragi and dates. Do not forget that "breakfast is the brain food". Fatty meals, sugar and acids take away calcium from the system. Diets rich in fibre like fruits and vegetables help to reduce stress.

Good concentration is important to improve the memory. Learning and memorising by understanding and recalling what one has learnt is helpful. Organising and framing a logical relationship is important. Master not just the content of the subject, but also the process of answering.

Anxiety and fear hamper recall and result in a mental block during examination.

Watching television for a long time could lower academic performance. It `steals' away the reading time. Time management is about self-discipline. Time must be managed between filled and unfilled time. Filled time is the time spent sleeping, bathing, eating, dressing and attending school. A student has 10 hours of unfilled time. How best is the student going to utilise this? Make a timetable for the 10 hours.

Seven to eight hours of sleep is necessary for optimal physical rest and brain functioning. A positive thought is the seed of a positive result. Always feel positive. This will help to lessen stress.

If a student has symptoms of anxiety or depression, seek medical help immediately.

When stressed out:


Go for a walk or do some stretching exercises.

Talk to your friends for a while.

Do some deep breathing/breathing exercises.

Listen to music.

Practise Transcendental Meditation, yoga, relaxation exercises, aroma therapy.
Academic performance during exams is affected by:


Study Habits

Family environment

Watching television

Distraction/attentiveness

Ambition

Attitude towards study

Medical problems

Anxiety, depression
Recommended study habits:


Study regularly

Set a time table for all subjects

Sit in a place with no distraction

Use a dictionary

Read and think

If you do not understand, ask teachers/parents/friends.

Read subjects you like in between subjects you do not like.

DIET CHART

Diet chart:( For Therapeutic Yoga Practitioner)..

Breakfast (7 to 9A.M.):

1. Orange juice or any fruit juice, - 1 cup.
2. Fresh apple or any fresh fruit. – 1.
3. Germinated grams.- ¼Th cup.
4. Wheat bread or Roti & vegetables
or Dalia & vegetables or corn flacks
with milk.
5.Horlicks. – 1 cup.

Lunch:

1. Salad ( a mixture of tomato, cucumber, - 1 cup.
Radish, lettuce, carrot, etc..
With salt, pepper and lemon juice or
Salad dressing ).
2. Vegetable soup - 1 cup.
3. Rice or wheat bread or roti
4. Pulse.- 1 cup
5. Cooked green leafy vegetables (sabji)
6. Cooked green fresh vegetables of any kind (sabji)
7. Curd .

Afternoon Refreshments (3 to 5 P.M).

1. Fresh fruit of any type.
2. Salted biscuits or any light food.
(Easily digestible).
3. Cheese. – 1 slice.
4. Horlicks - 1 cup.


Dinner:

1. Salad. – 1 cup.
2. vegetable soup. - 1 cup.
3. Wheat bread or Roti - 2 or 3.
4. Pulse.
5. Cooked green vegetables

* * * * * * *

Eat balanced diet which include salad, fresh green vegetables and fresh fruits along with other dishes of the day. Eat at least two hours before going to bed at night. Eat not more than about eighty five percent of your capacity. Eat slowly after chewing the food very thoroughly. Do not drink water during meals, but only about after half an hour of finishing your meals.

Take ten to twelve glasses of water everyday.

Avoid fried, roasted and spicy food. Exclude red pepper, pickles, hot spices, chutney and arhar dal from your menu. Non vegetarians should avoid meat.

Do not take more than two cups of tea or coffee, do not take coke and other aerated drinks. If possible stop drinking tea and coffee. Avoid taking bed-tea or drinking water as you get up in the morning.

Diabetic patients must avoid fried, fatty, spicy, starchy and sugar-containing food, for a period of four to five months from the date of starting yoga practice; the diabetic patient should not take rice, potato, banana, orange, mangoes and such fruits in which the percentage of sugar is high.
They can take an apple a day. Non vegetarians can add small quantities of fish, liver and eggs in their diet but should avoid meat or chicken for a few months..

THERAPETIC YOGA

THERAPETIC YOGA and ITS ESSENTIALS

Therapeutic yoga is basically a system of self treatment. According to yogic view, diseases, disorders and ailments are the result of faulty ways of living, bad habits, lack of proper knowledge of things related to individual’s life, and improper food. The diseases are thus the resultants state of a short or prolonged malfunctioning of the body system. This malfunctioning is caused by an imbalanced internal condition, created due to certain errors of the individuals.

Since the root cause of disease lies in the mistakes of the individual, its cure also lies in correcting those mistakes by the same individual. Thus, it is the individual himself who is responsible in both the cases, that is, for causing as well as for curing the disease.

This being the basic assumption in this system about the nature of the trouble and its remedy, there is total reliance on the effort of the patient himself. The yoga expert shows only the path and works no more than as a counselor to the patient.

The yogic process of treatment comprises three steps:

Proper diet.
Proper yoga practice, and
Proper knowledge of things which concern the life of an individual.

Proper Diet:

The diet is recommended according to his disease and his bodily condition of patient.
The most common items of diet for almost all patients of therapeutic yoga are: fruits, salad, leafy vegetables, green vegetables, wheat bread and pulse (selected). For non-vegetarians, fish and lever are allowed in certain cases but meat and chicken are generally forbidden.
Basic principles of eating: eat slowly, to eat only 85% of capacity, to eat at least two hours before their retiring time at night, to avoid drinking water while eating, not to eat to hot, spicy, fried and roasted food, not to take more than one or two cups o coffee or tea in a day and if possible to stop these completely, to give up the use of tobacco in any form, and to avoid the use of alcohol.

Yoga Practice:

The patient is asked to practice yoga according to his disease and his bodily conditions.
In a majority of the cases, a regular practice of only few asanas is enough for curing the diseases. In some of the diseases the practice of pranayama together with the asanas becomes essential of good results. In certain cases, specific KRIYAS such as BANDHAS, MUDRAS and certain yogic techniques are used for desired result.
Besides these, practice of concentration and mediation is also necessary in certain cases.

A large number of diseases are cured within two months of yoga practice. In certain cases, it takes about four months or even more. Diseases that take a longer time are Juvenile diabetes, Polio, Paralysis, Parkinsonism, Obesity, Ulcer, mental health cases, etc.

The patient of particular disease is advised to practice only as much of an asana as is possible for him. By doing only what is physically performable, the patient gains in strength as the kriyas begin to condition the body and diminished the disease. When the disease is cured, physical ability improves and the same asanas are performed better even by those who were unable to do them at the beginning.

Proper Knowledge:

A lot of things need to be told to the patient which are informative, conceptual theoretical and also philosophical. Yogic literature is very rich in this respect and is divided into two main categories: (1) Spiritual interpretation of things, and (2) Scientific interpretation of things. Depending upon the nature of the disease, a patient is counseled and informed in detail about the various concerned aspects of life.

Yoga Vs Medical System:

In any medical system the primary reliance is on medicine. It is assumed that a particular medicine will cure a particular disease. That means in the medical system an external agent is needed. But here, it is the patient himself who’s personal understanding, practice and care cures his disease in yogic system.
The patient’s suffering from various chronic diseases, which had lost their faith in the medical system because in spite of year’s treatment they had not a lasting cure. On the other hand, a great number of such patients achieved permanent cure through therapeutic yoga within a period of two to four months. This has specially been so in cases of diabetes, arthritis, asthma, gastro-intestinal disorders, nervous tension and various other cases.

This limitation of the medical system should not mean that it is inferior to the yoga system; rather it is only a matter of limitation and scope of a given system. There are areas where only the medical science and not yoga can come to the rescue of the patient. Similarly, there are certain diseases, which though regarded incurable though medical system, are definitely cured through yoga. This shows that every system of treatment has certain unique points as well as limitations.

Further, the medical treatment has now become so expensive that millions of people all over world cannot afford it. Yoga on other hand does not involve any expenses.

The therapeutic yoga is now scientifically established, it can be used as a ‘self-cure method’ by people suffering from various disorders in any part of the world.

Essentials of Yoga practice:

Self-treatment though yoga needs suitability of time, place, body condition, dress and similar other matters. In order to drive full benefit of therapeutic yoga it is necessary to understand the following requirements and principles related to its practice.

Time:

Though the morning time before breakfast, is regarded best for practicing yoga, one can also do in the evening or at any other time, provided the stomach is empty and not heavy with food. The general principle is to give an interval of three to four hours after eating and then do yoga. Also a gap of half an hour or so should be given after drinking water, tea or any juice. The body should be in a restful and normal condition at time of practicing yoga. One should do yoga at the same time every day. A practice for at least five to six days in a week should be enough to show improvement.

Palace:

Practice yoga on floor. Avoid bed. Use a carpet, rug, blanket or mat on the floor. The place of yoga should be neat, clean and well ventilated. There should be constant supply of fresh air at the place. During summer a fan can be used. If the place is air-conditioned, make sure that there is sufficient supply of air.

Silence:

One should maintain silence while doing yoga. Any conversation, mental activity and even listening to music should be avoided. Silence helps in preserving energy as well as in being attentive during practice.

Rest:

There are two types of rest in yoga:
Short rest and,
Long rest.
The short rest should be for about six to eight seconds only. This is taken in between two rounds of the asana, or between one and the other asana.
The long rest comes at the end of all the asanas, pranayamas and other kriyas which one does at a stretch. The general principle is to devote one forth of the actual practicing time for this rest. For example, if one has done yoga for twenty minutes, the rest at the end should be for five minutes. The rest is better done in SHAVA SANA.

Dress:

There should be minimum clothes on the body while doing yoga.
Male practitioners can wear half-pants or pajamas.
Ladies can wear sari, slacks or stretch-pants with blouse.

Bath:

It depends on the convenience and personal choice of the practitioner to bathe either before or after the practice. It should be better to take bath before yoga. There are certain asanas which are done after bath and it creates feeling of neatness and purity.

Female Problems:

Female practitioners should avoid yoga practice during menstrual period and during advanced stage of pregnancy. Under such conditions, yoga practice should be generally discontinued. Yoga for pregnant women (after 4 month) has to be performed on a selective basis under proper care and instruction of a yoga expert. Proper practice of yoga during early stages of pregnancy enhances the health of the child in womb and it also helps to make the delivery painless.

How Much Yoga:

Maximum time devoted for actually practicing yoga should not exceed forty-five minutes in a single day of winter. In summer, the maximum time for actual practice should be thirty minutes. This difference in practicing time has to be maintained because of variation in impact of weather on the body.
Though there should be only one session of yoga practice in a day, those who would like to divide their in two sessions should allow a gap of eight hours between the first and the second session. A minimum practice of fifteen minutes per day should be quite satisfactory for maintaining good health.

Proper Diet:

Diet occupies a dominant place in the yoga system. It is said that ‘as you eat, so you become’. This is because the kind and quantity of food affects the physical and mental condition of the individual.
In yoga, all foods have been divided into three categories; Rajasi, Tamasi and Sathvik.

Satvik food is good for yoga practitioners. In this type, the food is cooked with the least amount of spices and without much seasoning. The food is fresh and nutritive, and is cooked in a simple way.

The most important principle is to eat a balanced diet. Balanced diet contains salad, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits and raw nuts.

The ideal time to eat salad is to make it the first item of lunch and dinner.
Eat not more than about 85% of your capacity. Do not overeat or even to your full capacity. The proper method of eating is to eat slowly and swallow the food after thoroughly crushing and chewing it. One common error which the overweight people generally make is that they eat too fast.

Yoga practitioner should drink Ten to twelve glasses (5Ibs) of water every day. Water should not take at the time of eating, but after half an hour of eating it is recommended.
According to yoga literature, several skin diseases and disorders are corrected if water is not taken while eating. The drinking of plenty water is highly recommended.

Avtars.

Avtarhood would have little meaning if it were not connected with evoloution.
The Hindu proccession of Ten avtars is itself,as it were,a parable of evoloution.
First the Fish Avtaar,
then the amphibious animal between land and water,
then the land animal,
then the Man-Lion Avtaar,briding man and animal ,
then man as dwarf,small and underdeveloped and physical but containing in himself the godhead and taking possession of existence,
then the rajsic,satwik,nirguna Avtars,
leading the human devoulpment from vital rajsic to the satwik mentel man and agagin the overmental superman.
Krishna, Buddha and Kalki depict the last three stages,the stages of spiritual development--Krishna opens the posibility of overmind,
Buddha tries to shoot beyond to the supereme liberation but that liberation is still negtive,not returning upon earth to complete positivly the evoloution;
Kalki is to correct this by brigning the Kingdom of the Hevean(Divine) upon earth ,destroying the opposing asura forces.The progression is stiriking and unmistakable.
As for the lives in between the avtars lives,it must be remembered that Krishna speaks of many lives in the past,not only a few supereme ones,and secondy that while he speaks of himself as the Divine,in one passage he describes himself as a Vibhuti,vrsninam vasudevah.We may therefore fairly assume that in many lives he menifested as the Vibhuti veiling the fuller Divine Consciousness.If we admit that the objevct of avtarhood is to lead the evoloution,this is quite reasonable,the Divine appearing as Avtar in the great transtional stages and as Vibhutis aid the lesser transtions.

Sri Aurobindo...

Jyot and Kalash !

Jyot ! That serene little fire in a little lamp..... I have often wondered what might be its significance ! Of all the elements , fire is the one which is absolutely invisible as if it did not exist unless one really makes an effort to bring it on. Stones are just stones. But when they are struck against each other , it produces fire. That is so much close to what God is . He is everywhere but it needs some effort to actually see Him , feel Him. When we have a little flame before us , it really symbolises what God is and inspires us to make that effort to ignite the cosmic spark in us.

If we look closely , the flame has many parts , blue flame in the middle which is surrounded by two or three more layers. The last layer is invisible but immensely potent and hot.Every layer is at a different temperature and has different attributes. Is it not similar to what our body is supposed to be -physical body , ethereal body , causal body and many kinds of layers with fancy names ? And there is another factor common to both. A little whiff of air and it is gone. It is there one moment and gone the other. Our bodies die but the soul lives on. The flame dies out but the element of fire lives everywhere. Flame is nothing but a body , a physical attribute of heat and light. That is so close to what we are as humans and as souls.

And then we also keep a 'kalash' (pitcher)of water nearby. Flame and water both signify the Infinite. And we are all part of that Infinite. But we live in ignorance and these two elements are a means to inspire us , awaken us and be respectful to the powers of Nature. These two symbols talk to us and not only refer to our ignorance but also show us the right path. How is our ignorance signified ? The flame tells us that there is fire in all the things in this world but we can't see it. The Water tells us that it has many drops in it but the drops don't know it. A drop can not feel the sea but the sea feels all the drops. And this is also the path that these symbols show us. Don't be the drop . Be the Sea. The secret of life and eternity lies latent in all of us. Just ignite it !

Jyot also tells us . Be pure like me ! Burn your harmful thoughts and purify the ambience around you. The water in the pitcher tells us to be calm and serene and tto stay so while facing the vicissitudes of life. This reminds me of what Swami Kripananda had said once . Turn your heart into a pond of crystal clear water. Very peaceful and very tranquill. Then many creatures would be drawn towards it to quench their thirst. The deers would come and so would the lions. They all would see their own reflection in it and would be mesmerised... And one day LOVE itself would come . It will stoop to have some water , will see its own shadow in it and will stay there for ever...

Ten Avtaars.

It begins with the fish(Matasya) respresenting the first menifestation of life-force in water.The next.,tortise(kurma),indicates the extension of the scope of this new mode of life to the land.The third decent ,the boar(Varah),stands for fresh release of force>then comes the man-lion(Narsimha) symbolising the transition from animal to a man.Next is dwarf(Vamana),the primeal man,his size standing for the infancy o the species.Then comes Parshuram.He is not only the fully devolped man,but also who can mould externel events to his advantage,Thismastery is symbolised in his holding the parsue.we see the next decent .Rama,taking place,while earlier incarnations still exists.What is remarkable is Parsuram surrendering hispowers to Rama,the event esteblishing the superiorty of ethical power over mere physical and vitalistic powers.The eighth Avtar Krishna,stands for spiritual wisdom.So far the avtars have helped the proccess of devolpment along the evoloutinery line..Then comes Budha,to show the Path of liberation to such souls who,in their conscious choice ,decide to withdraaw fronm the proccess of evoloution.Finally the age of Kalki is to come--the only parable in world mythology with aclear futuristic proposition.he is to put an end to semo barbric elements persisting in the human consciousness and pave the way for the advent of gnostic humanity.
from the writings of Manoj Das.

HARImation

Hanuman

When Ram with his army reached the outskirts of Lanka , they camped near the ocean and spent the night admiring the night sky. Lord Ram wondered why does the Moon have dark spots in the centre. Almost everybody was ready with the answer. Some said that the dark spot is the cauldron of poison that the moon hides in its bossom. The others said that Rahu affected the moon and that is why the moon looks kind of dark. This theory and that ...But all this while Hanuman was silent . Then Lord Ram turned to him and asked , " Hanuman , what do you think about it?" And he said , " Prabhu , that is Moon's heart . Since the moon always has your 'saanwali murti' in it, therefore ,we see a dark spot there".

Such was the devotion of Hanuman. Overwhelming ! He was intelligent , a great warrior, an astrologer, a musician , an immensely talented person and reached the pinnacles of spirituality. But he never took pride in it. His common retort was that it was all the grace of Lord Ram. Can such a character be ever paralleled ? No . He performed all the important stuff in the story of Ram but never took credit for it. He was extremely grateful when he was able to do his duty well. And the Universe likes grateful people. These qualities and the Grace of God made a devotee attain the stature of God. No wonder till this day , this exceptional devotee himself has throngs of devotees. No other 'bhakt' has attained such heights.

Giridhar Gopal

Giridhar Gopal

Gowardhan Girdharai

One fine day bal gopal and dau, when roaming on vrindavan gullies (lanes) saw, villagers & Nandababa (krishnas father) arranging for some special puja. When they asked for whom was this puja organized, they were answered that this puja was to amuse INDRA , so that he will send clouds of rain & if they don’t give offerings to him his anger will perish every thing.

Shri Krishna was annoyed by the answer, it confirmed him that devendra was in the claws of ahankara (pride) & then what ? Shree krshna’s leela started, he convinced all the villagers to worship GOVARDHANPARVATA because it’s the mountain who, without any querries always fullfill their needs, gopala told them to worship govardhana as their “ISHTA”

By this annoying deed of the villagers,Indra was pulled off from his exalt position, he became mad with anger & ordered his clouds of doom to destroy Gokul.

To save Gokul from Indra’s kop (anger) the adbhut maya dhari expanded his miraculous maya & lifted up GOVARDHANPARVATA just by his little finger in order to make its shed, the clouds rained for seven days & nights but failed to drown gokul. Then indra himself came to challenge shree Krishna & was stunned by his powers, then guru brihaspati aware indra about anant & achyut narayana. Indra immediately refuged to shree Krishna for pardon chanting

“Aditya Hridaya Stotra”

“Aaksharam paramam brahma, jyoti rupam sanatanam,
gunatitam nirakaram rakshamayam
mananantakam ……”

Since shree Krishna saved all the cows from Indra’s kop hence by param pita’s(Brahma) order Mata Surabhi (mother of all cows) felicitated gopala by the name “GOVINDA”

“SHRIKRISHNA GOVINDA HARAMURARA JAY NATH NARAYAN VASUDEVA”

Cultural Dance Forms of India

Cultural Dance Forms of India

BHARATNATYAM

{ BHARATNATYAM=BHA + RA + T + NATYAM }.

"BHA" means Bhawa that is Emotions.

"RA" means Raga that is Dorame (Sargam).

"T" means Tal that is Rythm.

NAYTAM means Natak/Abinay that is Drama.

Bharatanatyam is a classical dance form originating from Tamil Nadu, a state in Southern India. This popular South Indian dance form is a 20th century reconstruction of Cathir, the art of temple dancers. Cathir in turn, is derived from ancient dance forms. The word Bharata, some believe, signifies the author of the famous Sanskrit treatise on stagecraft, called NatyaShastra.Bharata refers to the author of the Natya Shastra, and natya is Sanskrit for the art of sacred dance-drama brought to the stage at the beginning of the 20th century.

Traditional roots

Bharatanatyam traces its origins to the Natya Shastra written by Bharata Muni, a Hindu sage. In ancient times it was performed as dasiattam by temple Devadasis. Many of the ancient sculptures in Hindu temples are based on Bharata Natyam dance postures karanas. In fact, it is the celestial dancers, apsaras, who are depicted in many scriptures dancing the heavenly version of what is known on earth as Bharatanatyam. In the most essential sense, a Hindu deity is a revered royal guest in his temple/abode, to be offered a standard set of religious services called Sodasa Upacharas ("sixteen hospitalities") among which are music and dance, pleasing to the senses. Thus, many Hindu temples traditionally maintained complements of trained musicians and dancers, as did Indian rulers.
Bharata Natyam as a dance form and carnatic music set to it are deeply grounded in Bhakti. Bharata Natyam, it is said, is the embodiment of music in visual form, a ceremony, and an act of devotion. Dance and music are inseparable forms; only with Sangeetam (words or syllables set to raga or melody) can dance be conceptualized.

STAGES OF BHARATNATYAM

Typically a contemporary performance includes:
Ganapati Vandana - A traditional opening prayer to the Hindu god Ganesh, who removes obstacles.
Alarippu - A presentation of the Tala punctuated by simple syllables spoken by the dancer. This really is sort of an invocation to the gods to bless the performance.
Jatiswaram - An abstract dance where the drums set the beat. Here the dancer displays her versatility in elaborate footwork and graceful movements of the body.
Shabdam - The dancing is accompanied by a poem or song with a devotional or amorous theme.
Varnam - The center piece of the performance. It is the longest section of the dance punctuated with the most complex and difficult movements. Positions of the hands and body tell a story, usually of love and the longing for the lover.
Padam - Probably the most lyrical section where the dancer "speaks" of some aspect of love: devotion to the Supreme Being; or of love of mother for child; or the love of lovers separated and reunited.

Thillana - The final section is a pure dance (nritta) when the virtuosity of the music is reflected in the complex footwork and captivating poses of the dancer.
Apart from these relatively modern items, there are more ancient items such as Kautuvam, Koothu, Shlokam, Swarajathi, Krithi etc. The performance concludes with the chanting of a few religious verses as a form of benediction. Certain styles include more advanced items, such as Tharanga Nritham and Suddha Nritham. When a dancer has mastered all the elements of dance, as a coming out performance, he or she generally performs an Arangetram (debut).
Angikam - This is a devotional song on Lord Shiva and an item dance in bharatnatyam. It can also be performed in byapti slow motion.

Other aspects of the dance form
Costume - From the ancient texts and sculptures, one can see that the original costume did not cover most of the dancers' bodies. The medieval times, with the puritanistic drive, caused the devadasis to wear a special, heavy saree that severely restricted the dance movements. There are several varieties of Bharatanatyam costumes, some of which do not restrict the dancer's movements, while the others do. The modern costumes are deeply symbolic, as their purpose is to project the dancer's sukshma sharira , in the material world.

Music - The accompanying music is in the Carnatic style of South India.

Ensemble - Mostly, South Indian instruments are used in the ensemble. These include, the mridangam (drum), nagaswaram (long pipe horn made from a black wood), the flute, violin and veena (stringed instrument traditionally associated with Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of the arts and learning).

Languages - Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada are traditionally used in Bharatanatyam.

A classical dance posture of Bharatnatyam

BACK TO FUTURE

TELESCOPES:
Before 1957, we were limited to exploring space from Earth with telescope.
A telescope is a like a time machine. When you look through it into space, you not only get a close-up pictures of objects that ma be hundreds of millions of miles away-you
Also see deep into the past. That’s because light takes a long time to travel these huge distances-even though it’s whipping along at about 186,000 miles (300,00) per second! The sun light takes about eight minutes to make the 93 million mile (150 million km)
Trip to Earth. So you actually always see the Sun the way it looked eight minutes ago!
It works the same way with other stars-except now you’re talking years, not minutes.
Light from Proxima Centauri, the second closest star to us in our galaxy, takes four years to reach us.
Some of our telescopes are incredibly powerful. They see energy that was given off over 12 billion years ago! That’s when the universe was very young. Telescopes are helping us solve the mysteries of our universe-how it formed, if there are other life forms in it, and what’s going to happen to it-and to us-in the future.
Stonehenge:



Ancient peoples didn’t have telescopes, so they relied on their eyesight to study the sky.
They observed a lot this way. They picked out constellations among the stars and figured out the motion of the Sun and Moon. They also built stone structures that lined up with the different positions of the Sun, moon, and some times the stars. This is Stonehenge, built in England nearly 5,000 years ago.
Galileo Telescope



The Four biggest moons of Jupiter are called “Galilean” moons in honor of the first person to see them: The Italian scientist Galileo. Galileo spied these moons in 1610 using
A telescope he built himself. I t contained two lenses that focused light and made the things he looked at appear 32 times larger. It was called a refracting telescope. Galileo was also the first person to see the Moon’s mountains and craters.

Galileo’s discoveries made him famous, but they also got him into serious trouble.
Leaders of the catholic Church banned his books because they contradicted the church’s
teachings. The church taught that Earth revolves round the Sun. He was put under “house arrest” and had to stay inside his home until he died.

Newton’s Telescope:



Even though Galileo was not allowed to leave his house because of his ideas, he conducted to write. It’s a good thing he did, too. His books were read years later by the English mathematician Sir Isaac Newton and others. Newton is most famous for figuring out the law of gravity and what makes things move. In 1668, he invented a new kind of telescope, and it paved the way for the big reflecting telescope we use today.

Keck’s telescope:



Galileo and Newton would probably gasp at the size of our current telescopes, but these ‘scopes can probe very deep into space. The keck telescope and its twin, Keck II, are
gigantic. Each has a big mirror made up of 36 small mirrors and measures about 33 feet (10 meters) wide. They sit near each other a top an unlikely place: the volcano Mauna Kea in Hawaii. But the volcano is not active. An electronic link between the telescopes lets them function together as one giant telescope that sees light 14 billion years away.

Hard to believe, but there’s an even bigger telescope. It’s the Very Large Telescope (VTL) Chile. This humongous ‘scope includes four big telescopes and three smaller ones.
The mirror in each in one is 27 feet (8.2m) wide. In 2002, the telescopes will begin working together as one.

Telescopes in Space:



Big telescopes on Earth are great but they can see only so far. Their view is affected by Earth’s atmosphere , artificial light, and air pollution. To get really clear views of what’s out there, scientist are sending telescopes into space.
The most famous space telescope is the Hubble, which was launched from the space shuttle Discovery in 1990. It orbits Earth at a height of 370 miles (596) km. The Hubble has sent back amazing pictures – of Mars and other planets, exploding stars, nebulae, and
Galaxies as they appeared 10 to 12 billion years ago.

In July 1999, the Hubble was joined in space by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This telescope “sees” x-rays given off by space objects that are billions of light years away. Photographic equipment and computers turn the x-rays into pictures for us. In fact, if your sight were as keen as Chandra’s, you could read a news paper headline just one-half-inch high from one-half mile away!!!!!!

Consciousness

Consciousness

--- The Inner Sense ---

Consciousness is a state of the nervous systems of humans and other animals that defies definition, but which may involve thoughts, sensations, perceptions, moods, emotions, dreams, and an awareness of self, although not necessarily all of these.

"Consciousness" derives from Latin conscientia which primarily means moral conscience. In the literal sense, "conscientia" (or "con scientia") means knowledge-with, that is, shared knowledge.

There are five main parts of our total psyche: Higher consciousness - that which is aware of being aware; Normal consciousness - awareness in the everyday world - being, perceiving, relating; and of the inner world - of thoughts, concepts, attitudes, decisions, images, memories emotions, sensations and feelings. And the domains which lie below normal consciousness: the Pre-conscious - an interface of the conscious mind which, when it is evoked by interest and emotional commitment, goes searching for relevant data in the sub-conscious; the Sub-conscious - contains the powerful drives of love and fear, and the programmes by which motives are decided and actions are carried out; and the Unconscious - the core Self which contains a record of everything one has felt and sensed since conception and of the evolutionary genetic-line before that. It also consists of genetic programming, which empowers the deepest drives for survival, attachment and expression common to mankind, which transmits the energy of emotions, which controls the stream of libido energies and the efforts involved in moving and perceiving with the physical body.
Higher consciousness is the essential self, the Higher Self. It is our personal centre of awareness, which is developed through self-knowledge. The Higher Self is the "awareness of awareness" of which the mental (ego) "I" is a pale reflection. There has been an acknowledgement throughout human history that a higher awareness, beyond the normal conscious experience, is possible for the individual, recognised through dreams, religious and psychic experience, insights and creativity of every kind. It is usually frustratingly brief and infrequent but it is clear that with appropriate efforts and study, people can change and grow in awareness, whereby the field of consciousness becomes more and more observed by the Higher Self who is no longer asleep; then behaviour is no longer determined only by conditioning. The Being is aware of the difference between his own motivation and that which is learned, acquired or installed in him, genetically or by conditioning; he knows what he is doing as he does it. The energy and attention tied up in the knots of unconsciousness becomes conscious and freely available, as truth is validated and the false discarded.
The second aspect of the psyche, Normal consciousness, is our everyday reality, internally and externally - the incessant flow of sensations, images, thoughts, feelings, desires and impulses which we can observe, analyse and judge. The less aware a person is, the smaller this field of awareness will be and the more automatic his functioning. The majority of people drift on the surface of this "mind stream" and identify themselves with its successive waves, with the changing contents of their consciousness. So consciousness is often unreflective, not consciously noticed, determined by the many personal and social forces which have formed us, the cultural programming that moulds us into a "consensus trance" of automatic, robotised behaviour. In this hypnotised, half-asleep state, possessed by the conditioning of our background, we seem almost entirely the product of our genetic heritage, our personal environment and the society we live in - in the grip of forces stronger than ourselves and which we don't understand, be they biological, psychological or social.
The conscious mind contains all that one knows that is readily accessible. This information is well organised and interconnected on a logical basis. The characteristics of this "analytical" mind are invaluable for learning, putting things in order and testing ideas. On the other hand the conscious mind tends to be inhibited by the very quality that makes it so powerfully useful: it seeks to be right.
This part of the personality, the subject of cognitive and behavioural psychology, could easily, without reflection, be regarded as the whole, but the development of depth-psychology and the rediscovery of transpersonal psychology in this century has made it clear that this level of consciousness is only a part of the whole.
The third part, the Pre-conscious, is the ante-room of consciousness, where our various experiences are assimilated, our mental and imaginative activities are elaborated and developed in a sort of psychological gestation and interaction, before their birth into the light of consciousness. If consciousness is likened to a spotlight, the pre-conscious is everything within its range, but not illuminated at this moment. It is real to the person and accessible. It includes material from the sub-conscious that has been restimulated (made active due to a similarity or relevance of present circumstances or thoughts). The pre-conscious mind is like a problem-oriented and independent file-clerk. It looks over the shoulder of the conscious mind: when a problem is being considered, it conducts a search into the sub-conscious mind for clues that it considers relevant.
Its criteria for relevance do not always seem logical to the conscious mind, and therefore the ego learns to censor certain kinds of information from the sub-conscious, preventing them from rising higher into full consciousness. This is the mechanism of repression and the "censor" then functions below consciousness; consequently you cannot open-up your mind to the sub-conscious simply by resolving not to block its signals; the defences have first to be recognised, the reasons for them discovered and the pre-conscious censor re-programmed, before this is possible. This requires a procedure of concentrated introspection.
Interest, emotional commitment and the desire to solve a problem, cause the pre-conscious to work with the contents of the sub-conscious (and also through the sub-conscious to the unconscious) and the results eventually filter back into consciousness, if they are not censored. Intuition is an early recognition, below the conscious level, that one is on the right track - this causes a felt signal or increase of arousal which causes the conscious mind to pay attention to its periphery of consciousness, to dig a little and pull out the information. Because of the energy of this signal, it may also be registered on biofeedback devices such as a held pendulum or skin resistance galvanometer, which can be used to help the person recognise his intuition.
The Sub-conscious is that part of his mind a person is unaware of, or which is out of his control -The subconscious functions include vital background psychological activities such as the integration of new data and re-programming where necessary - a function which dreaming reflects - and this co-ordinates the carrying out of set patterns of behaviour which can be safely left "on automatic" by the conscious mind, freeing it to concentrate on the task in hand.
The sub-conscious contains all of the emotional and cognitive experience of a lifetime, whether pleasurable, ordinary or traumatic. Its contents are drawn upon by the pre-conscious when they seem relevant. It is a reservoir of information so vast and rich that it seems quite incredible to the conscious mind. Its contents are nevertheless consciously reachable by methods of psychological analysis (especially with the aid of biofeedback devices) which serves to resolve the defensive censorship of the preconscious.
The "Shadow" aspect of the sub-conscious mind includes the roots of phobias, obsessions, compulsions and delusions and many complexes charged with intense emotion. These are developed in response to circumstances in the past and used in present time when re-stimulated by a similarity of circumstances; this occurs without conscious control, irrationally and without inspection - a "reactive" mental process. Memory of the original, often dramatic circumstance and the accompanying fears and decisions is normally repressed, as it is unconfrontable and too painful to re-examine.
The Unconscious contains the fundamental survival drives and primitive urges (including genetic and race memories) that empower the functioning of the mind as a whole. It contains the entire kinaesthetic recordings of the body (all of its feelings, sensations and pains) and is integrally linked with the body (which it co-ordinates and controls) - it is the "body-mind". It also contains the deepest level of Self: the fundamental (primal) experiences, imprints and decisions of this lifetime, from the womb onwards. These only normally surface consciously in symbolic form, in the context of dreams and behaviour patterns recognised in retrospect. The deepest forms of psycho-analytic work aim to uncover their content to the light of consciousness. Jung's work on dreams and mythological symbology was instrumental in opening up the incredible world of the unconscious, and the existence of "archetypes" - ways of being that are inherently programmed in the unconscious, making up the substance of the core Self - all the aspects of living that the individual works throughout his life to "actualise," or bring into existence at their fullest potential. His work also exposed the transpersonal dimension which lays beyond the racial stereotypes, but also the necessity of working through the primal and archetypal material, to differentiate and individuate the Higher Self - the spiritual, non-genetic, meta-self.
Both the primary-trauma of the unconscious and the secondary-trauma of the sub-conscious are connected with the "body-mind", whereby defensive "armour" in the form of chronic muscular tension, holds the bodily stress-reaction of "fight or flight", continually in place. This occurs when an experience becomes too painful to view or is too uncomfortably repeated and then awareness of it is repressed - thoughts, emotions and bodily tensions. Unviewed, it then festers and persists. Though the tension may once have been appropriate, it is now a hindrance, and its perpetual nature holds the original trauma in re-stimulation (though the feeling or awareness of it may be repressed).
And though the repressed cognitive and emotional reactions may have been rational in the past circumstance (in the effort to survive or overcome), if they are reactively dramatised in the present situation, and if they are not accompanied by a fresh appraisal of the current reality, they are the underlying cause of irrational or aberrated behaviour, negative emotion and illness, and therefore have been a primary target of psychotherapy.
Because the body-mind functions inter-actively, work in Transformational Psychology may sometimes require a range of techniques to handle the problems. Physical symptoms (high blood pressure, ulcers, lack of energy, etc.) arise from stress, muscular tension, restimulated trauma, over-work, anxiety about social competence, threat or insecurity at work, rigid attitudes of perfectionism and fears of failure - based on low self-esteem, due to not having been "good enough" for parents and other dominant figures. Such neurotic dependencies on others conflict with the drive for independency and self-fulfilment. Psycotherapeutic massage may be prescribed, to develop awareness of faulty attitudes and repressed feelings, and to help relax and de-traumatise the body.

Help directed at one level will affect the other levels of functioning - the powerful fears and drives of the sub-conscious affect physical health, feelings, beliefs and behaviours - an holistic approach is therefore most effective. The Transformational Psychology procedures take account of this structure; the techniques progressively cut deeper and deeper both through to the core Self and into the Transpersonal realm, that are the essence of Mankind.

OOM

OOMAH

The Sound of the Galaxy

The word Om (aum, ओम) derives from the Sanskrit. The Om is the primordial sound by which the earth was created. It symbolizes unfolding or expansion- when pronounced, it begins in the lungs, and ends on the lips through nose.
The symbol representing Om is called the omkar (ओमकार), and has four parts, representing the four states of human awareness:

The ordinary waking, or material state:

The state of deep sleep:

The dream state:

Absolute conscience, or the awakened state:

The origin of the syllable OM is lost in the misty past. Its not being specific to any one country or civilization is indicative of its being an universally perceptible sound for the human race. This reason for this universal perceptibility possibly lies in the fact that AAAH is the most natural sound that issues from the human larynx. This is evident when a man cries out naturally in extreme pain, anger or fear. When emotions reach an extreme pitch the articulate sounds evolved by man are not the ones that are heard, but the syllable natural to man which is AAAH.

As a we normally do not go into the meaning and interpretation of our many beliefs. It is sufficient for most of us to know that they are part of the heritage handed down to us by our ancestors and in deference to tradition it becomes our duty to scrupulously and meticulously adhere to them. But by doing things without knowing the meaning behind them do we not deprive ourselves of an insight into our heritage?
Culture can be well appreciated and adapted to changing times if the meaning behind its different constituents is well understood. To develop this understanding one has to look upon all human actions as having originated in human society. While answers to all questions cannot be obtained, the acceptance of this approach at least opens the door to inquiry into the circumstances which gave rise to our revered traditions.
An attempt to interpret our religious beliefs and symbols is a challenging task. Many of these issues defy analysis and call for a judicious combination of the study of the social environment, etymology, aesthetics and philosophy. As far as aesthetics and philosophy go there exists a good deal of subjectivism and value judgement. While talking about etymology and the social environment we are on relatively firmer ground. In this chapter we have taken a set of symbols, beliefs and rituals and have attempted to examine the possible meaning behind them and the reasons which could lie behind their origin. The first religious symbol we take up is that of Om or Omkar.
OM or Omkar (ओमकार)
The syllable OM is quite familiar to a Hindu. It occurs in every prayer. Invocation to most gods begin with this syllable. For instance we have Om Namaha Shivaya, Hari Om, Om Shanti etc. OM is also pronounced as AUM.
Is OM present in Christianity as 'Amen' and in Islam as 'Amin'?
This term occurs in various ancient and modern civilizations. It exists Hinduism, Christianity and Islam.
In Arabic the first alphabet is pronounced as aliph. In Greek it is alpha, in the Roman script it is A. Thus in many languages the first letter in the alphabet has the syllable A, with which the word AUM or OM begins. In the Greek alphabet the last letter is Omega which comes very close to OM. Thus the significance of the syllable OM as the beginning and end finds a parallel in many of the scripts associated with ancient languages.

The different ways in which Omkar is depicted. The syllable OM is not specific to Indian culture. It has religious significance in other religions also. The word Amen used among Christians at the end of a prayer is also said to be derived from the the syllable OM. Although OM is not given any specific definition and is considered to be a cosmic sound, a primordial sound, the totality of all sounds etc., Amen is said to mean 'May it be so'.

Omkar as described in our granthas

OM In Ancient Indian Text
According to the ancient Indian philosophical text i.e. BHAGAWAD GITA it is said that the AUM is the representation of the "Brahma" which is the origin and the energy source of the whole universe. In other words AUM represents God.
Another text called "Mandukya Upanishad" says that AUM is the Atma or Soul who is the owner and controller of each human being and residing in the heart .Further Mandukya Upanishad explains that the three components of OM viz. AUM are representing three states i.e. wakeful, (conscious), dream (subconscious) and dreamless sleep (unconscious).The fourth component as explained stands for "Turiya", a state which is beyond the above three states.
Many Upanishads had explained the detail procedure of meditating AUM, the immediate stages, the experiences and the ultimate spiritual benefits.
It is explained in Kathopanishad as follows.The upanishad claims that goal which all the Vedas equivocally proclaim, which all the austerities speak and write, for which people practice brahmacharya it is this "AUM". AUM is a root of all mantras."Mantras"(also read earlier postings in the blog related to Power of Mantra) is a typical combination of words which affects the surrounding and human being through the vibrations. These mantras are to be chanted for enormous number of times to get the results. The results are miraculous. AUM is a mantra with only one syllable but is the basic mantra. Each and every mantra starts with AUM and mostly ends with AUM.

OM In Yoga
Patanjali had designed and caste the Science Of Yoga about 2400 years ago (i.e. 400 year BC) in the form of Yoga Sutras, he had explained AUM in Sanskrit verses (sutras).
Patanjali had explained the definition of God and he explains in the sutra that "AUM represents God".He further explains that you can go nearer to God by repeatedly chanting it . The relation between the name and the form is a subject of research and is the subject of great discussions in philosophy and all its branches including spiritual, philosophical.
In yogic practices the relation is of immediate and practical value. Patanjali could see that the relation between a form and the name is closest in AUM and has made use of this quality in his method of meditation.

OM As Perceived By Science
Normally anatomy is studied first and then the physiology. So first we will study the structure of AUM and then its functions.
AUM is composed of 3 elements, 'a', 'u' and 'm'. The fusion of these 3 elements is AUM or OM. The 3 alphabets are pronounced in series.
The air is driven out from lungs through the vocal cords. The cords vibrate and vibrations in the form of airwaves reach to the mouth. The mouth acts as resonator and deepens the vibrations. These vibrations are shaped to form alphabets, which in turn form the words. These vibrations in the form of airwaves travel through air to the ears of listeners. These are converted to nerve impulses and carried to the brain cells. Brain understands the meaning at the end.
These sound waves have certain frequency. We can listen to sounds with the frequency range between 20 to 2000 Hz i.e. cycles per second. The sound below 20 Hz and sound above 2000 Hz is not audible to human ears.

OM As Object of Meditation (it's for u :pji)
We have 5 sense organs through which we get the knowledge. These sense organs need the presence of mind to acquire this knowledge.
The process of meditation requires the concentration of mind on a particular object. But the control of mind is very difficult. This difficulty can be solved if we select "AUM" as an object or target for the concentration in meditation.
AUM can be seen through the eyes, heard by the ears and chanted via tongue. It is somewhat simpler to concentrate on the above 3 sense organs, so it is easy to concentrate the mind directly on the object. This is achieved by fixing AUM as a target for meditation on which 3 sense organs are focused. In addition to this the chanting of AUM has tranquilizing effect on the mind, which helps concentrate easily.