Ode to the poet

The famous poet Dr. H. S. Venkatesha Murthy has passed on. Here is one of his famous poems :

As my tribute to the poet, I will render the poem into Sanskrit:

यथातथं स्थातव्यम्

यथा भविता तथा भूयात् ।

चिन्ताचयनम् निवारयेत् ॥ 

घनसमूहकवारिविसृजने

खं भविष्यति निर्मलम् । 

ताराश्च रात्रिस्सञ्चयति रवौ

उषसि सा उत्सीदति ॥

कुरु गुरो मामपि तथा लघुं 

रिक्तनिर्मलजीवनम् ॥

***

॥ हरिः ॐ तत् सत् ॥

#CarnaticJihadi

#CarnaticJihadi

Early this morning, a wise angel came and told me to write this. 

Do you know who is a #CarnaticJihadi!? 

First of all, Carnatic music is a global phenomenon, like ChatGPT, Insta, rocket science, GM food, rock music and cricket. It is not immune to terrorism either. So the time has come to define the #CarnaticJihadi. 

1. The #CarnaticJihadi comes from a well-to-do background, and has learnt music from the masters.
2. The #CarnaticJihadi is an accomplished performer and builds a good fan following.
3. The #CarnaticJihadi gladly accepts all medals, honours, titles, speaking opportunities and invitations to write books, as this gives a ready platform to do his work.
4. The #CarnaticJihadi is an iconoclast, badmouthing the tradition and the masters from whom he has benefited greatly. He does not hesitate to hit dead people below the belt.
5. The catch words are 'Tradition", "Orthodoxy", "Parochialism", "This corruption called Bhakti" and such. They pepper all his communications that ask the people to rise in arms.
6. The #CarnaticJihadi is singing the same old songs of the masters, delivering the same tradition, even though he prefaces every song and performance with the preaching he is well known for. 
7. The key leverage for the #CarnaticJihadi is A. Tradition B. The audience that loves this tradition. It is the height of hypocrisy that he is trying to subvert the same two things as a #CarnaticJihadi!
8. If we take away the tradition and the traditional audience that the #CarnaticJihadi is leveraging, he will be nothing. Those wokeist audiences who relish badmouthing tradition have many other avenues for entertainment and would consider the #CarnaticJihadi without his music as worth nothing.

Note: I have used "he" for the #CarnaticJihadi. However, this would apply equally to any "she" who also fits these criteria.

Steady like a lamp

Bhagavān Śrīkṛṣṇa in the Gīta says one should steady the mind in meditation like a lamp burning brightly unflickeringly in a windless space...

यथा दीपो निवातस्थो नेङ्गते सोपमा स्मृता ।

योगिनो यतचित्तस्य युञ्जतो योगमात्मनः ॥ ६-१९॥ The Yogi in meditation is advised to steady his mind like this lamp...  What a great analogy. Every time I see a lamp that burns bright and unflickering, I realise that the mind with no ambition, no craving, no restlessness, no thought of, "What next?!" naturally experiences light and is filled with a calm bliss like nothing else. There is no need for any external stimuli for that experience! This is truly

Nirvana. The Sanskrit word निर्वाण means the going out or blowing out of a lamp. It is a negative state. I mean here Nirvana in a positive, bliss-filled state. It is the lamp burning brightly and unflickeringly! 

So what if the moment does not last? That single moment is perhaps the connect we are all seeking within, right?