Worshipping the Mother - Navaratri

Navaratri is the auspicious time for Hindus to worship the Mother. Not only are the northern and eastern parts buzzing with Durga Puja and Chandi Homa, the south is equally busy with beautiful temple rituals for Devi. Many great Carnatic songs celebrate the Devi, and Swati Tirunal and Dikshitar are famous. The Vibhakti (correction: Kamalamba Navavarana) kritis of Muthuswami Dikshitar are extremely popular during Navaratri festivities.

Meditating on these aspects, I was struck by some thoughts. The western civilization since the Greeks has extolled the pursuit of beauty, goodness and truth as the goals of human existence. We Hindus on the other hand speak of Purusha and Prakriti, as the Father Creator and Mother Creation, by whose grace man pursues the four goals of life: right living (Dharma), economic prosperity (Artha), emotional well being (Kama) and finally Liberation (Moksha or Nirvana). Creator and Creation, the male and female principles, somewhat combine into the Mother Worship idiom, where the Mother is everything.

Let's even concede that the Mother principle is just a spiritual idiom, for an aspirant intent on a path of devotion and aesthetic appreciation of all creation's bountifulness and beauty. Almost immediately we also think of the fearsome aspect of Durga, vanquishing evil. So Mother has a corrective power too. So how is this relevant in a basic sense, devoid of ritual and legend?

I think man is essentially waking up to the connectedness of the universe, and how there is a harmony woven by Mother Nature such that man will prosper through harmony rather than conquest. By elevating Nature to Motherhood, we seek to approach life with love and grace. We also accept its fury, be it a tsunami or an earthquake or a flood, as an Omnipotent will that corrects man's course in ways that cannot be understood. Such an attitude removes tension and allows us to enjoy and partake of life's plenty without rancour. And then we can also become inventive and creative, to make this world even more beautiful and comfortable, fully aware that what we accomplish is much less important than just the attitude of creativity. So all this becomes an art, like music and dance, which cannot be measured in terms of money but more in terms of its inner joy. By cooperating with Nature, we also accomplish better utilisation of its generosity, rather than a plunder that lays low everything in ravage and ruin.

Don't you agree that this seems to be the core of our Mother worship? Come, let us enjoy the famous Dikshitar Dhyana kriti in Todi, with wonderful thoughts and even better music. Over to Smt. Seetha Rajan. Kamalambike


rAga: toDi (8) tALa: rUpaka
muttusvAmi dIkshita viracitam (source Carnatica.net)

pallavi

kamalAmbike Ashritakalpalatike caNDike kamanIyAruNAMshuke karavidh.rtashuke mAmava

anupallavi

kamalAsanAdipUjitakamalapade bahuvarade kamalAlayatIrthavaibhave shive karuNArNave

caraNam

sakalalokanAyike saN^gItarasike sukavitvapradAyike sundari gatamAyike
vikaLebaramuktidAnanipuNe aghaharaNe viyadAdibhUtakiraNe vinodacaraNe aruNe
sakale guruguhakaraNe sadAshivAntaHkaraNe akacaTatapAdivarNe akhaNDaikarasapUrNe

Word by word meaning:

Oh Goddess kamaAlmbika (the Lotus mother) who is like a Kalpaka tree (that grants all boons) to those who seek refuge in you; fierce one, one of the ten aspects of shakti, attractive wearing the red robe, holding a parrot in the hand, protect me!

Worshipped by Brahma and other gods, possessing lotus feet, showering plenty of boons (to devotees), imparting greatness to the tank KamalAlaya, auspicious one, ocean of mercy, ruler of all the worlds, delighting in music, granting the boon of poetic genius, beautiful one, who has transcended the illusion, adept in granting salvation, one who dispels all sins, who emanates the five elements, space, air, fire, water and earth, with enchanting feet, reddish full, complete, mother of Guruguha, inhabiting bespoke godliness of Lord Shiva, the embodiment of all letters, a, ka, ca, Ta, ta, pa etc, one filled with matchless bliss!

The demanding rasika in Carnatic music

These thoughts have been crowding my mind ever since I attended a concert featuring an upcoming youngster, with a good friend. On the way back home we both remarked how demanding we are as rasikas and therefore are not easily pleased even when the musicians seem to put in a very sincere attempt.

The icon shown above is the (welded?) mural on the wall of Madras Music Academy. That hoary institution symbolizes power and influence in Carnatic music and getting their Sangeetha Kalanidhi award is commonly taken to be the peak of a musician's journey to success. I think the thousands of music concerts held every December in Madras, or Chennai if you prefer, demonstrate how Carnatic music is actively appreciated in our land. The musicians work very hard in the season and make or break their reputations. The enthusiasm of the musicians or rasikas is the same whether they are old or young. By the way rasika is the Sanskrit word for a listener=audience=appreciator=aesthete in Indian art. Rasa means originally juice and implies the aesthetic mood in performing arts. Rasika is the one who enjoys the art form, in a live or broadcast or recorded performance.

Now why do I think we rasikas are too demanding in Carnatic music? I merely give a summary list because I could go on ad infinitum on each point:

1. We like good, robust, pleasant voices. We want a full range of three octaves. We want the singer to perform with full throated ease, but with the perfect sruthi alignment of a pitch pipe.
2. We want good diction. Our music is made up 80% of compositions of "saint composers". We want the musician to enunciate all the words, especially in our own languages, to perfection. By the way we expect a minimum of three or four languages to be covered in a concert. The more versatile performers today cover Telugu, Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi and if possible Hindi.
3. We want everything in the right measure. We don't want hour-long alapanas, we don't want concerts packed with 25 numbers delivered at break-neck speed.
4. We want the performers to be well groomed and well presented. We prefer them to look like gods and goddesses. Or at least like well-groomed cine stars in mythological extravaganzas of the '50s and '60s.
5. We want good accompaniments. The violinist should show anticipation, innovation, moderation, subordination, restoration (when the main performer is off-colour) and good preparation. We don't care if the vocalist is spinning a googly. We want the violinist to bat like a Tendulkar facing Warne. At the same time we don't want the main vocalist to have nightmares like Warne did thinking of Tendulkar.
6. We want sonorous, soft, soothing, superlative mridangam. We want a good tani, full of fireworks, but it should be short and sweet. And the mridangam artiste should not grimace if we walk off for a short break during the tani. He can be sure we will be back to applaud at the end.
7. We actually don't care for ghatam or khanjira etc. except for some delightful skirmishes during the tani. The ghatam makes an impact when the artiste launches it into the air at the end of the tani.
8. We want good mikes. The mike should not be too loud, for heaven's sake.
9. We want no mosquitoes or screeching chairs. We don't mind loud banners selling bank FDs and stainless utensils or even divine pooja materials. But we don't want speeches.
10. We want the concert to start before we walk in (this is a common practice for Carnatic rasikas) and still want prime seats. We may exercise the right to walk off any time. By the way, please note we prefer free concerts.
11. We will bring children, and some of them will do home work, some will sleep, and sometimes some will make loud sounds. All like baby Krishna.
12. We like to sing a bit during our favourite songs. We will keep (or destroy) the tala. It is not for nothing that I have passed a Diploma in music.
13. We hold the right to constantly compare the present performers to our old favourites, whom we refer to by initials only like MMI, SSI, GNB, BMK, DKP, MLV, MSS, MDR, KVN, LGJ, TNK, MSG, VVS, PMI, UKS.....

Music: finding the big invisible pieces inside

In Venice, 2005 (where else!?)

Music makes me breathe. I also could say music wrenches my innards, crunches my guts, makes me feel like dying. And my great friend Prabhakar led me to the piece below.

At last I know:

Karl Paulnack to the Boston Conservatory Freshman Class

Posted on March 11, 2009 by fttgreenroom

Dr. Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at The Boston Conservatory, gave this fantastic welcome address to the  parents of incoming students at The Boston Conservatory on September 1, 2004:

Karl Paulnack
“One of my parents’ deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn’t be appreciated. I had very good grades in high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I would be as a musician. I still remember my mother’s remark when I announced my decision to apply to music school-she said, “you’re wasting your SAT scores!” On some level, I think, my parents were not sure themselves what the value of music was, what its purpose was. And they loved music: they listened to classical music all the time. They just weren’t really clear about its function. So let me talk about that a little bit, because we live in a society that puts music in the “arts and entertainment” section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it’s the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works.
One of the first cultures to articulate how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you: the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us. Let me give you some examples of how this works.
One of the most profound musical compositions of all time is the Quartet for the End of Time written by French composer Olivier Messiaen in 1940. Messiaen was 31 years old when France entered the war against Nazi Germany. He was captured by the Germans in June of 1940 and imprisoned in a prisoner-of-war camp..................................... 

You can read the rest of the piece by clicking on this link. And if you want some fabulous music, watch this.

Better than Edison's Bulb

A wonderful story sent by a good friend lit up my morning. I later found out more details from Mainichi News: this technology was used in the past variously in skylights in the Middle East and in walls in Mexico. It has been recently adapted in Philippines, and has made much impact.

Here's more information http://isanglitrongliwanag.org/

Why pluck flowers?

 It's the twilight hour. There is a fragrance in the air, the birds are atwitter, the mosquitoes are just getting their first (or last, at dawn) bites of the day. Those busy commuting are grappling with ground realities. Some lucky ones are stealing a few quiet moments of contemplation and solitude. But many, believe me, many even today, are busy surruptiously sneaking around streets, plucking flowers. Roadside flowers or home garden flowers peeking over the compound wall. This is a frequent sight in my parts.

Some are doing it with obvious relish, looking and hunting down the best flowers, much like a fastidious lady chooses her ladies fingers (okras) at the vegetable shop. Some men hurry along, muttering the holy name, clad in prayer attire, with the efficiency of the worshipper, hardly looking at the flowers as they pluck and dump them into their sachets. Some are simply making the rounds of their favourite street corners and houses, and getting the daily quota, glad of their divine routine.

Now, for heaven's sake, why pluck flowers?

I think flowers don't like to be plucked. They are there to please, and essentially want to be pollinated. They have their own agenda. They want to become lovely fruits and then seeds. It is the turn of fruits and seeds to be plucked, and dispersed. Have you noticed Nature doesn't pluck flowers, but only fruits? But man heard God's voice saying 'offer Me a (mere) leaf, a flower, a fruit or a drop of water, and thou shalt have pleased Me' (Bhagavadgita IX.26) The key words, 'with devotion', have been ignored, as we think that offering flowers or adorning the deity with flowers is important as an aesthetic or fiduciary task and will reap its due reward.

I love flowers, alas it is their fate that they are here to serve man. They shalt be plucked, trimmed, dressed, arranged, bunched, bouqueted, vased, strung into a garland, decked into hair, stuck on the ear, smelled, touched, admired, and finally thrown away. The Sanskrit word for a flower being removed from God's adornment is 'nirmaalya'. Here is the meaning from Sir Monier Williams' dictionary:

nirmAlya mfn. cast out or left from a garland , useless; worn the day before; n. the remains of an offering to a deity , flowers left at a sacrificial ceremony; stainlessness , purity; a garland made of flowers left at a sacrifice.

FDA - or my fight against Dalda and such

Forbid Dalda Additives/Alternatives or

FDA

I have just inherited an allergy from my grand children. They are allergic to Dalda and such. I did a quick check and found to my horror that MOST BAKERY PRODUCTS ARE LOADED WITH DALDA OR VANASPATI. Also ADIGAS USE DALDA.

And this thing is deadly dangerous. It is better to eat asli ghee and get clogged arteries rather than eat these alternatives called Transfats and be run over by disease. This is my educated view. Please read below. Both McDonald's and Burger King advertised in 2007 that they would eschew Transfat. Some comfort for some of us.

Can you think of adulteration in this thing? Read about the Jain Shudh Vanaspati story. Their Vanaspati was adulterated apparently with Beef Tallow. So no salvation here or hereafter!

Another Shudh Adulteration story.


FDA Information Sheet ( this FDA is another body called Food and Drug Administration, US of A)

Quote from the Times of India:

Difference between margarine and butter:Both Margarine and butter contain the same amount of calories present in them. On the contrary butter contains natural fats, which are essential for the strengthening the bones and has many nutritional benefits.
Ill-effects of margarine:Excess intake of margarine can worsen illnesses such as colitis and arthritis. The hardening agents used in the production of margarine include nickel and cadmium. Nickel is a toxic metal that when consumed in excess, causes lung and kidney problems. Cadmium is among the most toxic of the heavy metals. It may contribute to serious diseases such as arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure and malignancy. The study conducted at Harvard University, found that a diet high in trans-fat, which doubles the chance for heart attack and decreases life expectancy.