Ishwara and Advaita

I have found interpretations of Bhagavadgita shlokas by Advaitin scholars Who display a distinct aversion to the assertion of Bhagavan Krishna as Himself being the Purushottama and His extolling Arjuna to surrender to Him. 

I have posted here a scan of the Mandukya Upanishad translation by Swami Prabhavananda of RK Mission.

The sense I get is that Mandukya Upanishad, the go-to book for Advaitins, clearly states what the three states are - of  Waking (Vaishvanara), Dream (Taijasa) and Dreamless sleep (Prajna) wherein they equate the dreamless sleep as a state of ignorance with what they call Ishwara. This Ishwara is neither here nor there as the Mandukya scholars hold OM as Brahman beyond Maya whereas their Ishwara is admixed with Maya.

The Mandukya neither explains nor reconciles the experience of many in creation except as an erroneous experience . 

It appears that Mandukya neither needs a God nor explains creation. Just move on to OM and be done with it.

Bhagavadgita on the other hand clearly deals with Purushottama=Ishwara, Jiva or Akshara who transmigrates with experiences of doership and enjoyership, and the path to liberation from this relative experiential existence through Sadhana. 

I quote below from Dr. S. Radhakrishnan's The Principal Upanishads. While writing about Mandukya he interestingly invokes Adi Shankara's commentary on the Bhagavadgita. He states as below:

I have always had the same understanding as stated here. There is Narayana (Adi Shankara's own expression) or the Supreme Godhead. He has an absolute aspect we call Brahman which is neither active nor emotive, but is pure consciousness. Then there is Ishwara we can loosely call God to mean the universal dynamic creative intelligence that we can relate to. When I merge into Godhead, I become one with Narayana. I cannot become Ishwara. I can say I have become Brahman but I do not have any active component anymore. 

Sri Ishwar Puri-ji calls the ultimate Home or Totality of Consciousness as Sachkhand. It is both one and many, and EVERYTHING is present in it. 

Silent, within

Beloved Master, this morning bloomed in anticipation of our meeting. 

You're no more outside. 

For me, what's left? 

Going within. Silently. 

When beauty meets strength

The first of the two pieces presented in this video so well is in the raaga Begada, one of my two most favourite raagas. 

The song is in praise of the Guru.

The Guru tattva is intrinsic to our Sanatana Dharma. It is the Guru who gives us the right vision to see the beauty of creation. And awakens the strength in us to rise to our fullness of being. 

The song in raaga Begada made a deep impact on me. Because Begada also combines infinite beauty with infinite strength. I have always imagined the sea shore with the energetic and beautiful waves rising and coming again and again to strike the strong rock on which I am standing. As I hear Begada the waves are making beautiful surf and splash and sprinkle, receding only to come back again. I am on the solid rock witnessing this exquisite beautiful moment.

Begada is not sung so often because it makes demands on the singer. The two - strength and beauty are the warp and woof of this raaga. Especially, I have found lady singers stay away from Begada. But not Kruthi Bhat here. She has such amazing grace in her voice and presentation. Her manodharma and little filigreed touches enhance Begada impeccably. She is singing with obvious devotion to the Swamiji and the sentiment of Gurubhakti. The deft violin touches by Vittal and the deep mridangam strokes of Sumesh add great joy to the experience. Thank the lockdown for making them go the extra length to create such a lovely offering. 

All in all a class act. God bless these musicians. Kruthi Bhat is making rapid progress!

PS: The second piece is by Kruthi's guru and the famous Vittal Ramamurthy a worthy disciple of Lalgudi Jayaraman. The violins, mridangam and voice meld very sweetly. 

Yajnavalkya on the sanctity of veena and classical music

There is a shloka you hear during academic discussions of the sanctity attached to classical music by sages in Sanatana Dharma. 

This shloka is stated by Sage Yajnavalkya in his Smriti, a seminal work covering almost all aspects of the circle of human life. Important ceremonies like Upnayanam, wedding and last rites that we conduct follow the edicts of Yajnavalkya. He is the most famous rishi of Upanishads as the central  preceptor of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. He also features in the all-important Taittariya Upanishad. 

What does Yajnavalkya say about music and veena in particular? The commentator refers to Bharatamuni's Natya Shastra and states what Yajnavalkya proclaims as his own insight:

vīṇāvādana-tattvajñaḥ śruti-jāti-viśāradaḥ ।

tālajñaśca aprayāsena mokṣa-mārgaṃ niyacchati॥

(Shloka 115, 4. Yatidharmaprakaranam, 3. Prayaschittaadhyaayah). 

Translation:

The one adept in the art of playing the veena, who knows the musical notes/microtones (Shruti), raagas (Jaati) and taalas (rhythmic cycle) masters the path to spiritual liberation without much toil. 

No wonder we see veena associated with Shiva, Sarasvati, Narada, Tumburu, even Ravana, and we have developed our classical musical structures by working with the veena. 

Veena is an ancient stringed instrument and takes many forms. The western violin is traced to Ravanastra, a type of veena. Indian variations like sitar, sarod, sarangi, rudra veena, chitra veena, vichitra veena and sarasvati veena are all variants. 

The current form of the south Indian veena (often called Sarasvati Veena) is called Raghunatha Veena. It was developed by Sri. Govinda Dikshita in the Tanjore court of king Raghunatha Nayaka. Govinda Dikshita hailed from the Mysore region and had migrated to Tanjore for better prospects. 

He, his son Venkatamakhi (72 Mela Raga system) and future descendant who later became the Kanchi Paramacharya, spoke Kannada at home. 

Kitchen Wisdom

 

Maybe I am getting a lot of gyan these days from all sides, because this morning something flashed to me. Almost all spiritual wisdom may be there just in front of our eyes in our kitchen and we don't notice it!

So here goes.

1. There may be gas in the cylinder, just like there is a lot of ready insights available around at your finger tips. But unless you have the spark of interest, the fire of knowledge won't light up.
2. Whatever you cook in the kitchen can only be containing all the groceries you have brought in, just like your path is dictated by your collective karma and samskaras.
3. The maturing of wisdom is like cooking in a pressure cooker. It takes time and happens inside, you can't hurry it. The inner transformation causes surely heat and pressure, but you can't release it in a hurry if you want the cooking done. It is an inner experience.
4. Have you ever thought of it? Nobody made a glass pressure cooker. Similarly your spiritual journey is private and not for showing off.
5. All claims of how great the cooking is can be tested by just one bite. That is true for a man's wisdom too... he doesn't have to produce certificates.
6. Cooking from a recipe book is never going to be successful, because you haven't internalised the process.
7. What is the role of the master? The one who taught you the basics of good cooking may not be around to correct you at every step. But you can feel their presence and hear their words if you are sincere inside your head.
8. Kitchen knives should be sharp. Be decisive in all your actions. 
9. You can't put cooking on autopilot except for some basics. Your attention is primary. Same with meditation.
10. Today's induction stoves cook without fire. They work because the vessel is humble - made of basic iron and not fancy. Similarly masters can work silently and without display if I am humble.
11. Spices and salt are only the dressing. It is not the cooking. Wisdom dressed up in different messages can all look different but the inside truth is what matters.
12. Never serve a dish unless you have tasted it. Never dish out wisdom until and unless you have tested it in your own actual experience and life.

Want more?

Govindashtakam

 

from Sringeri.net

गोविन्दाष्टकम्

govindāṣṭakam

सत्यं ज्ञानमनन्तं नित्यमनाकाशं परमाकाशं

गोष्ठप्राङ्गणरिङ्खणलोलमनायासं परमायासम् ।

मायाकल्पितनानाकारमनाकारं भुवनाकारं

क्ष्मामानाथमनाथं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ १ ॥

satyaṃ jñānamanantaṃ nityamanākāśaṃ paramākāśaṃ

goṣṭhaprāṅgaṇariṅkhaṇalolamanāyāsaṃ paramāyāsam ;

māyākalpitanānākāramanākāraṃ bhuvanākāraṃ

kṣmāmānāthamanāthaṃ praṇamata govindaṃ paramānandam . 1 .

मृत्स्नामत्सीहेति यशोदाताडनशैशवसन्त्रासं

व्यादितवक्त्रालोकितलोकालोकचतुर्दशलोकालिम् ।

लोकत्रयपुरमूलस्तम्भं लोकालोकमनालोकं

लोकेशं परमेशं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ २ ॥

mṛtsnāmatsīheti yaśodātāḍanaśaiśavasantrāsaṃ

vyāditavaktrālokitalokālokacaturdaśalokālim ;

lokatrayapuramūlastambhaṃ lokālokamanālokaṃ

lokeśaṃ parameśaṃ praṇamata govindaṃ paramānandam . 2 .

त्रैविष्टपरिपुवीरघ्नं क्षितिभारघ्नं भवरोगघ्नं

कैवल्यं नवनीताहारमनाहारं भुवनाहारम् ।

वैमल्यस्फुटचेतोवृत्तिविशेषाभासमनाभासं

शैवं केवलशान्तं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ ३ ॥

traiviṣṭaparipuvīraghnaṃ kṣitibhāraghnaṃ bhavarogaghnaṃ

kaivalyaṃ navanītāhāramanāhāraṃ bhuvanāhāram ;

vaimalyasphuṭacetovṛttiviśeṣābhāsamanābhāsaṃ

śaivaṃ kevalaśāntaṃ praṇamata govindaṃ paramānandam . 3 .

गोपालं भूलीलाविग्रहगोपालं कुलगोपालं

गोपीखेलनगोवर्धनधृतिलीलालालितगोपालम् ।

गोभिर्निगदितगोविन्दस्फुटनामानं बहुनामानं

गोधीगोचरदूरं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ ४ ॥

gopālaṃ bhūlīlāvigrahagopālaṃ kulagopālaṃ

gopīkhelanagovardhanadhṛtilīlālālitagopālam ;

gobhirnigaditagovindasphuṭanāmānaṃ bahunāmānaṃ

godhīgocaradūraṃ praṇamata govindaṃ paramānandam . 4 .

गोपीमण्डलगोष्टीभेदं भेदावस्थमभेदाभं

शश्वद्गोखुरनिर्धूतोद्गतधूलीधूसरसौभाग्यम् ।

श्रद्धाभक्तिगृहीतानन्दमचिन्त्यं चिन्तितसद्भावं

चिन्तामणिमहिमानं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ ५ ॥

gopīmaṇḍalagoṣṭībhedaṃ bhedāvasthamabhedābhaṃ

śaśvadgokhuranirdhūtodgatadhūlīdhūsarasaubhāgyam ;

śraddhābhaktigṛhītānandamacintyaṃ cintitasadbhāvaṃ

cintāmaṇimahimānaṃ praṇamata govindaṃ paramānandam . 5 .

स्नानव्याकुलयोषिद्वस्त्रमुपादायागमुपारूढं

व्यादित्सन्तीरथ दिग्वस्त्रा दातुमुपाकर्षन्तं ताः ।

निर्धूतद्वयशोकविमोहं बुद्धं बुद्धेरन्तःस्थं

सत्तामात्रशरीरं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ ६ ॥

snānavyākulayoṣidvastramupādāyāgamupārūḍhaṃ

vyāditsantīratha digvastrā dātumupākarṣantaṃ tāḥ ;

nirdhūtadvayaśokavimohaṃ buddhaṃ buddherantaḥsthaṃ

sattāmātraśarīraṃ praṇamata govindaṃ paramānandam . 6 .

कान्तं कारणकारणमादिमनादिं कालघनाभासं

कालिन्दीगतकालियशिरसि सुनृत्यन्तं मुहुरत्यन्तम् ।

कालं कालकलातीतं कलिताशेषं कलिदोषघ्नं

कालत्रयगतिहेतुं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ ७ ॥

kāntaṃ kāraṇakāraṇamādimanādiṃ kālaghanābhāsaṃ

kālindīgatakāliyaśirasi sunṛtyantaṃ muhuratyantam ;

kālaṃ kālakalātītaṃ kalitāśeṣaṃ kalidoṣaghnaṃ

kālatrayagatihetuṃ praṇamata govindaṃ paramānandam . 7 .

बृन्दावनभुवि बृन्दारकगणबृन्दाराधितवन्द्यायां

कुन्दाभामलमन्दस्मेरसुधानन्दं सुमहानन्दम् ।

वन्द्याशेषमहामुनिमानसवन्द्यानन्दपदद्वन्द्वं

नन्द्याशेषगुणाब्धिं प्रणमत गोविन्दं परमानन्दम् ॥ ८ ॥

bṛndāvanabhuvi bṛndārakagaṇabṛndārādhitavandyāyāṃ

kundābhāmalamandasmerasudhānandaṃ sumahānandam ;

vandyāśeṣamahāmunimānasavandyānandapadadvandvaṃ

nandyāśeṣaguṇābdhiṃ praṇamata govindaṃ paramānandam . 8 .

गोविन्दाष्टकमेतदधीते गोविन्दार्पितचेता यो

गोविन्दाच्युत माधव विष्णो गोकुलनायक कृष्णेति ।

गोविन्दाङ्घ्रिसरोजध्यानसुधाजलधौतसमस्ताघो

गोविन्दं परमानन्दामृतमन्तस्स्थं स तमभ्येति ॥ ९ ॥

govindāṣṭakametadadhīte govindārpitacetā yo

govindācyuta mādhava viṣṇo gokulanāyaka kṛṣṇeti ;

govindāṅghrisarojadhyānasudhājaladhautasamastāgho

govindaṃ paramānandāmṛtamantassthaṃ sa tamabhyeti . 9 .

॥ गोविन्दाष्टकं सम्पूर्णम् ॥

. govindāṣṭakaṃ sampūrṇam

Sakhi Prana

A superb rendition by Vid. N. J. Nandini and Vid. Vishnudev Namboodari has prompted this post:

Sakhi Prana - one of the MOST famous javalis in Carnatic music is composed by Dharmapuri Subbaraaya Aiyyar - a 19th century composer. 

Listen to Sakhi Prana here:

https://www.facebook.com/NJNandiniofficial/videos/1049722148872829/

N J Nandini is the grand daughter of Sri. Vechoor  Harihara Sharma of Trivandrum. I know her to be  a gutsy and good singer.

Vishnudev Namboodari is a very good singer and a student of P S Narayanaswamy. Both of them therefore belong to SSI school. But this type of collaboration is not only difficult but also singers often resort to gimmicks and electronics to hide the inadequacies of singing. This lady has done a fabulous job here. The bold moves in her voice are difficult indeed to pull off.

Meaning:

Pallavi:
sakhi prANA sakhuDiTu jEsenE

Oh friend! look what my soul mate has done

C1: idigO vaccedanani hitavugA mATalADi aladAni niDa cErenE

he sweetly told me that he would just come back and then took the other lady's shelter

2: nana vilutuni pOrulaku pilacitE vADu anarAni mATalADanE
he abused me when I invited him for the manmatha's games

3: munu nannu kalasi marmamulerigina dharmapuri vAsuDu maracenE
the dharmapuri vAsa, who was with me earlier and knows all my secrets, has forgotten me.

Dharmapuri Subbarayar hailed from Dharmapuri, Tamilnadu, and composed in Telugu. He is the most notable composer of the Jaavali form, of which he is the universally acclaimed master. Most of the music he composed, therefore, dealt with sringaara rasa, or romantic and even erotic love, and all were of the jaavali form. Many of his compositions were composed in the home of Veena Dhanam, whose music he admired, and who learned around 60 javalis from him. It is said that he may have composed the poignant javali ``Sakhiprana'' at her home, grief-stricken at his inability to save her from bankruptcy. 

The story goes that once Dharmapuri Subbarayar had to go away to his native place to settle certain personal things. He promised Dhanammal that he would be back soon. But it was more than six months before he returned. Meanwhile Dhanammal had to vacate her house because of debts. Subbarayar was saddened by this and in remorse he composed 'sakhi prANa'. In it he says that he had promised to return soon but had not kept his promise. This is the background of this javali.

Smara sundaranguni (paras) was also written out of respect for her. This close contact with Veena Dhanam as well as T. Balasaraswati influenced dance as much as music, especially abhinaya. Subbarayar was also employed by the Yenadi Sisters. T Shankaran, in one of his articles, writes that he kept a notebook at his bedside near the pillow to write down the javalis that came to mind, but his wife is said to have fervently prayed to the diety at Tiruchengodu that her children should not take after their father!

Javalis like Parulanna mata (Kapi), Sakhiprana (Jhunjooti), vaaNi pondu (kaanaDaa), , caarumati (kaanaDaa), Muttavadura Mohananga (saavEri), Ethanaichonalum (saavEri), ni Pondu Chalu (kaanaDaa), Narimani (Khamas), praana sakutitu (chenchurutti), Idi niku (bEgaDa) and Emandune muddu (Saindhavi) are among his compositions.

Sources: various, from the Internet. 

My Gadget Obsession

As long back as I canremember, I have had this Gadget Obsession Syndrome. 

Since 1976 I am buying stuff. Starting with the Olympus half-frame 35  camera (a clever design that took two pics in one 24x36mm frame). That was in Nairobi. In 1978 I bought a Telefunken cassette recorder in London. Wait, my sister bought in Madras in 1969, when I was a student there, a Bush cassette recorder. I remember our going to the shop in Mount Road. 

I think my mother was also into gadgets. She bought a radio and camera in 50s. She showed me the features of her new pendulum clock when she was 80.

I think my fascination with electronics from childhood was all because of my Gadget syndrome! I studied electronics in IIT. I chose to be in techno-marketing. All Gadget obsessions for sure. 

In 80s I started buying loud music systems with LP players. 

Then came the 14 inch BW TV of Philips in Royapettah, Madras. 

Then the Panasonic 3 in 1. 

Cameras - when I went to Germany in 1987 I traded the Olympus half-frame for the Pentax DLR. 

In 90s colour TVs - one after another. The latest is a lovely 4K LG LED 42 incher that fills our eyes with candy. 

I bought a Bose 35-III system after much research during a Singapore stopover enroute Sydney in 2007.

A series of cameras since 1976 the latest being Lumix and  Canon 5D Mk II and a Sony RX III. 

Computers - a Compaq, an assembled disaster, a Mac desktop, a 27 incher HD touchscreen HP All in One with Blue Ray player, a few iPads, a Macbook Pro and the latest being Macbook Pro M1 13 incher within a few days of its global launch. 

Among MP3 players I had the Creative Jukebox, a few more different brands, iPods, and so on. 

Among phones my first one was a Motorola. Then Ericsson. Then Sony Ericsson 900 ( a cult touchscreen multifeatured one, the inspiration for iPhone). 

I got one of the earliest iPhone within weeks of its launch. I ran through a few iPhones over 5 years. Then a series of Androids. HTC, Sony, Samsung, Oneplus, the latest being 7T.

Bose headphones and portable speakers. Bluetooth headsets. 

So I fill my eyes and ears and hands and brain with gadgetry. 

I see a pattern. 

I read about something fancy. (There are print and TV and Youtube media specialists who target freaks like me). Then starts a small opening building up in my mind. There is even a seasonality - spring and autumn almost every year, a craving for some new gadget. The media marketing blitz feeds it. 

Once any Gadget seed is planted it grows up like a bean stalk and I start researching the stuff like crazy. I normally spend several hours reading and drooling. 

I spot shops. And bargains. And get friendly and on first name terms with the sales persons. (I had befriended the lady sales assistant in Bose Store Singapore 4 weeks before I flew from Bangalore to pick it up during the stopover enroute to Sydney). 

I then put up a purchase list. Negotiate. Choose the best payment option. Go for the kill. Get the gadget. And read every word in the manual. Study and preserve the box. Try all accessories. Keep them safe. In other words take as much care of the gadget as one would of a new pet. 

I wander around in the technology malls. I have walked through such malls many times in London, German cities, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, even Nova Scotia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing, Sydney, Melbourne, Bangalore, Bombay, Delhi, Chennai...

I have found in long history of buying tgat the best brands are Canon. Sony. Bose. Apple. 

Apple puts soul into each piece of technology. Their online support is as incredible as their gadgets' build and design. Both Apple and Bose sell on excellence, not price. Sony and Canon are subject experts and create lasting value. Especially in sound and video, Sony is really good but has lost out to cheap Chinese makes. Koreans are copiers. Canon is in an elite space. I like the sound of the shutter in a Canon DSLR.

 

Apple=Self Confidence + Excellence. A whole ecosystem built to last. 

I also trade in and get rid of the old. I have also lost cameras and phones to theft. 

All gadgets I don't trade in die sooner or later. They become reminders to me of the entire fly-try-buy story of each of those gadgets and how I later moved on. I think this is what Bhagavadgita tells us: Vasaamsi JeerNaani...

 

The human body is the ultimate gadget. Can't be upgraded or traded in. We get a new one. For better or worse? 

Kshemam Kuru Gopaala - Raagamaalika

This morning over the radio, I heard this wonderful rendition of the song, "Kshemam Kuru Gopala", played by Flute Shashank. It is such an evocative song. I have heard it so many times sung by the one and only "Mahavidwan KVN". 

I was almost certain this song, with saahityam composed by Sri.Narayana Tirtha, would have been tuned by Sri.KVN himself. I later verified it with Sri. K. N. Vishwanathan, Sri.KVN's son that my surmise was correct. 

The raagamaalika in Mohanam, Kaapi, Behag and Sindu Bhairavi has so many signature phrases and jells so well with the saahityam. I give below the audio as well as the saahityam, copied from Sangeethasudha.org

rsachi · Kshemam Kuru Gopala

Savouring Sangeetam

Recently, we had a few sessions on Carnatic music via Zoom in the IITM 1973 group. I was asked to introduce our music. I made a few slides and talked throrugh them, using playists of music I had created from the public domain. I would like to share the pitches and the playlists here: Whereas the first part spoke of some basics of the history, format and naunces of our music, the second part went into the subject of how to develop a taste for "quality" in Carnatic music. I also shared the results of a survey I had done in 2013: https://bit.ly/2013CarnaticSurvey The Playlist is here> Zoom was not very cooperative and people listened to the music in peace only after the call.

Raaga Rendezvous

We had 3 sessions via Zoom among IITM1973 batchmates about Carnatic music recently. This is the pitch I made in the second session. The session was intended to explain what is a Raaga in Carnatic music, with all its nuances. To keep it simple, I used only one raaga, Mohanam. Arguably the most popular and natural tune all over the world! Here is the playlist we used:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT5COFfoKkzV45CJh15sQJXzjld0EbaQR

Colours of Todi

You have arrived at a magical, rain-forest home, a temple of Nature tended by man. You're welcomed by fragrant creepers, colourful flowers, fruit-laden trees, the cool breeze and and nature's continual song. 

This is the world of the raaga Todi (soft t, hard d). Some spell it as Thodi. It is the heart of Carnatic music. When you listen to Todi, you surrender to it. It takes you in unknown trails, and stops at quiet resting spots. All immersing you in a deep sense of bliss. It is raw and yet majestic. It is graceful and yet solid. You simply have to tune in. Neither singer nor listener bothers about flat notes or equivalent scales while listening to Todi. It all seems childish and not germane to this continuum of a rich dialogue with the Eternal. The best way to experience Todi is to yield to its heavy southern spell. 

Todi is an old raaga. In Karnataka Sangeeta Vishwakosha (by Sampathkumaracharya) they have listed about 110 songs in Todi. I saw another list with 910 songs. I have heard the mridangam maestro Vid. Umayalpuram Sivaraman introduce in an Odakattur Mutt concert the vocalist Vid. T. N. Seshagopalan as someone who knows 300 songs in Todi. In fact TNS even acted in a movie called "Thodi Ragam". 

Here is a scan of the Oxford Encyclopaedia entry on Todi:

Todi is a melakarta raaga (no. 8). It is called Sarvaswara-gamaka-varika rakti raaga. This means that it is a full-fledged and magnificent raaga. That is how it can be elaborated in so many dimensions. Todi  in fact defines many melodic ideas that typify Carnatic music. 

Let me quote Vocalist Vid. K. V. Narayanaswamy, whom I regard as a past master of CM. KVN was the prime disciple of Ariyakudi Ramanuja Aiyengar, who has been accepted as the "Karanataka Sangeeta Shikhamani". KVN once told me that the touchstone of Carnatic music is Todi. A musician who sings Todi well has graduated into this art form. 

I heard as a child the famous Ariyakudi rendition of a Devaranama in Todi. That was my introduction to this raaga. I also learnt the Todi varnam as a teenager. It has got under my skin. 

 Note: The following embedded links work within this post in most browsers. You can also right-click and open in a separate window. 

Let me sing to you some phrases. 

rsachi · Colours Of Todi Intro

It is said that some 220 years ago,  one Vid.Todi Seetarama Aiyar sang Todi for eight days at a stretch. That is still is a record. 

Vid. MLV says she heard Vid. Rajaratnam Pillai once play Todi through the night in a Bombay concert for some 6 hours. And in a quirk of our times, the same nagaswara chakravarthy was asked by M/s. HMV to condense his mastery into a few minutes for a plate. Let's listen to it now! 

There are two good lec-dems on Todi, one by Vid. MLV and one by the young star Ramakrishnan Murthy. The URLs are listed at the end. 

Todi is a multi-contoured raaga. You can do a lot with it, as you gathered from the Nagaswaram plate. Its heavy contours are demonstrated well by Vid. Sriram Parasuram here:

The Alattur Brothers had a trademark on the song Dachukovalena of Saint Tyagaraja in Todi. Recently Vid. Abhishek Raghuram rendered it at the Madras Music Academy and got rave reviews. Here it is. You get to hear the raaga aalaapana, the song, some superb niraval and swaras. Followed some tani aavartanam By the star Vid. Anantha.

Veena is the instrument that can showcase every gamaka of Todi. Here is a wonderful rendition by Vid. Emani Shankara Shastry (guru of Vid. Chitti Babu) accompanied by Vid. Umayalpuram Sivaraman. The soundscape is rich and lasts long in our mind. The tani avartanam actually plays out Todi. No wonder UKS is a Padma Vibhushan.

Here is now a beautiful Kalakshetra dance presentation of the Todi varnam in Telugu composed by Muthuswami Dikshitar. We know that his prime disciples, the Tanjore Quartet, laid down the foundations of what we call Bharatanatyam today.

And finally let me share one of the finest compositions in Todi, rendered by Bharata Ratna M. S. Subbulakshmi. Composed by Sri. Papanasam Sivan, it does full justice to the deity Karttikeya as well as the Raaga Todi. As was Sivan's penchant, the charanams (last few stanzas of the song) render Todi in new moods and colours.             

As you heard in the lec-dem of Vid. Sriram, the Hindustani Todi, a major Thaat in its own right, has no resemblance to Carnatic Todi. 

I do not want to say much more on Todi. Todi brings to me the rich cornucopia of the tastes and colours of Carnatic music. Let us enjoy Todi! 

Other Links: 

1. Ramakrishnan Murthy Todi lec-dem 

2. M.L.Vasanthakumari Todi lec-dem

3. Detailed Playlist

Sanskrit Auto-Translator SAT

The idea of SAT - Sanskrit Auto-Translator has been brewing in my mind ever since our teacher Dr. Sowmya conducted an event to launch the Asthadhyayi Mobile app developed by Sri. Neelesh Bodas and the Vyoma Labs team.

The idea is to develop an app called SAT that instantly translates any English sentence of 12 or fewer words into grammatically correct and idiomatically elegant and easy-to-pronounce Sanskrit.

The second phase will have text-to-speech output in culturally inspiring voices. 

The third phase would have voice recognition so one need not even type the English sentence input as long as one pronounces it correctly 😃

Now how to go about it? I think it involves like any large-scale Sanskrit project:

1. Enlisting a panel of Sanskrit experts who will give authentic inputs. They will be paid for their contribution. 

2. Raising funds. I think we should raise about ₹ 1 crore in 2 phases through crowd-funding. 

3. Enrolling volunteers who will give about 2 hours per week for 12 weeks to input the English sentences for AI engine creation.

4. Setting up a software team for development. This team will own the IP. 

5. Utilising available software development tools. 

6. Attracting project funding from donors who see merit in furthering the knowledge systems in Sanskrit in an English-controlled world order.

How to map the app development? 

My simplistic idea is to collect 108,000 English sentences from about a thousand volunteers. The sentences would reflect our common usage at a personal, professional and social media level. It will also leverage automatic crawler-news-media analysers to acquire English sentences that would be relevant for a typical SAT app user.

This will be then organised into a taxonomy for language analysis and vocabulary data-base. 

The Sanskrit expert panel will translate these 108, 000 sentences into Sanskrit. 

The input for software development will be this English sentence data-base, English vocabulary, mapped Sanskrit sentence data-base, and Sanskrit vocabulary. 

The first version of the SAT app will have a continuous-learning architecture by means of which it learn s new sentences and build its vocabulary and translation algorithm as it is deployed and used. 

Do you think all this makes sense? 

Please let me know. If I get any encouragement, I will make more efforts and start a survey to gather responses. 

I am sufficiently motivated by my Sanskrit gurus to devote a good portion of my time and resources for this project. 

हरिः ॐ तत् सत्! 

Gayatri Mantra in Valmiki Ramayana

Ravana - A Shiva devotee?

It is a misconception that Ravana was a model devotee of Shiva. The nature of Shiva as a God is that asuras and rakshasas pray to him for powers. And his nature is Shiva confers boons instantly in a somewhat innocent way. Then Vishnu has to come and control the damage.The famous story of Bhasmasura is that - Shiva allowed him to burn everything down and then Bhasmasura went after Shiva himself! So Vishnu came as Mohini and lulled the asura into burning himself!

Ravana went to Kailasa to take away Atmalinga from Kailasa to Lanka (which city he had usurped from Kubera). But when he went there he found Shiva meditating so not responsive. He thought he will lift Kailasa and take it away. He got stuck under it when Shiva simply pressed his left big toe down. Then Ravana saw Parvathi and was so besotted he wanted her to be his wife. Shiva agreed and sent her with him! When they halted at Vindhya parvatha, Parvathi rested and Ravana went for a walk. Then he saw Mandodari and went after her and forgot all about Parvathi who smiled and duly returned to Kailasa.

If Ravana was a devotee of Shiva, he would have asked Shiva for guidance before the war, before abducting Sita, after the death of his favourite son Indrajit. Shiva is known to be a devotee of Rama and he would never have liked anyone saying Ravana was his model devotee. 

The various stories of Ravana being a great devotee are spread by "scholars" who want a North - South divide. Ravana was a great scholar, an invincible demon whom only Rama could kill. No one else INCLUDING Shiva. But let us not attribute positive qualities to his devotion. Shiva is a symbol of sacrifice and austerity. No woman-abducting brother-killing and stealer of his own brother Kubera's city kingdom (conferred on Kubera by Brahma because of his trustworthiness as the treaturer of the world) can be called a devotee. 

You think Sita would not have softened to a Shiva devotee? Or Hanuman? They had only contempt for Ravana.

To put it simply: Shiva represents the Universe or God responding to human effort and knowledge - power and ambition driven. Vishnu is the balancing act of the Universe who defeats evil-minded power. It's a bit like the Universe has a plan even against man who has conquered atomic energy which has the power to destroy the world. 

That's is why you have Chernobyl and Fukushima. 

Now Corona virus, which is God's way to tell us that making bio-weapons is a zero-sum game.

For those interested in more information on the true narratives about Ravana, I have scanned from the Puranic Encyclopedia and posted the article on Ravana here:

http://bit.ly/3kuePsO

A Cup of Coffee

Over this lovely cup of coffee this morning, let me present Advaita as I understand it. 

Here I am, sitting and enjoying my coffee. What a delightful experience! 

Every experience requires an experiencer. This is what I call Atma. 

When I experience anything from a sip of coffee, to a beautiful garden view, or the sea breeze and the spectacle of the rising sun, I respond with my life. Atma and life experience are inseparable. 

So to describe this life experience as unreal makes no sense as long as I am around as the Atma! 

But surely the experience keeps changing. It is also multilayered. For example every sunrise on the beach is in its core experience a thing of beauty. It gives an intimation or bliss. These are components of the experience but subjective to the experiencer. In a way the Atma is projecting these subjective experiences we call life. 

However it is easy to see that not only are these moments changing, but my reactions to the experiences are changing. My mind and body respond differently over time. In fact, time,.mind, body, experience are all in a constant flux. That is Prakriti.

Prakriti has both what I like and I dislike. It is also evaporating with time. I react to it from my expectations, past memories, and circumstances. The same great coffee in my favorite eatery on the lovely beach will not taste the same when I realise I am about to miss my train. 

But I keep coming back again and again in search of these same experiences. And when I am not busy running to catch my train or finishing off my coffee, there are a few quiet moments when I am asking myself what I am in fact looking for, in all this activity, with all my plans and actions, and good and bad outcomes. I am reaching out to a sense fulfilment that lasts. And a bliss that is not fleeting. 

But wait. If you ask me, "Are you sure?", I react, "Yes  I know it in my gut". This is something I have as my intuition. In fact this intuition kicks in even before I start thinking about something. In fact I took intuitively to coffee when I was very young. It simply fitted into my Atma, you may say. 

The most blissful feeling I ever felt was when I felt loved. Or I loved someone. 

Now put it all together. My Atma. My intuition, feeling of love, beauty and bliss. And my experiences, which keep changing but all stemming out of my being there in the first place. This vast creation I interact with - for good and bad experiences, seeking something beyond it always, not knowing what.

The whole drama of life is played out around me and I am a part of it. I don't know who set it up in such an infinitely connected, dynamic, colourful, beautiful, blissful, way. I would like to meet Him or Her or It. I have an intuition that creative being is a larger, infinitely larger, version of me. A Paramatma!

Just as I, the Atma, cannot separate myself from my experience, the Paramatma cannot be separated from Creation and Life. It has a constant inside and an ever-changing outside. That's all. 

My IPL Winning Team!

This is the IPL madness season. Great matches played in the desert. With no spectator frenzy or celebrity dance. But cricket none the less! 

I have inside me an IPL team, did you know? It is THE WINNER ALWAYS! 

My opening batsman is my Free Will. 

Other players are

Ego

Anger

Lust

Greed

Attachment

Intuition

Beauty

Bliss

Love

My winning captain is 

The Radiant form of my Master's grace! 

We win every time. 

Because my captain takes care of my weak and troublesome players, gets the most of my top talent always, and we win every contest. 

🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

The Key to Inner Peace

श्रेयो हि ज्ञानमभ्यासाज्ज्ञानाद्ध्यानं विशिष्यते ।

ध्यानात्कर्मफलत्यागस्त्यागाच्छान्तिरनन्तरम् ॥ १२-१२॥

In the Bhagavadgita, Sri Krishna tells Arjuna in the Bhakti Yoga chapter how one can attain to peace. All pursuit of peace begins with doing something about it. Those who look for a higher purpose in life take to ritual and spiritual practices. 

But ritual and practice is a double-edged sword. When I say I have done Vishnusahasranamaparayanam for 60 years, or have gone to Sabarimala 18 times, or done so many mandalas of Puja, or gone to Tirupati or Kailas 25 times, this is a boast. It is an expression of ego. How can this give peace? 

Sometimes we take up ritual because we hear that someone has done it and gained a lot. Mostly we hear they have resolved some domestic issues or family problems, got over financial problems or got relief from legal troubles or disease. The fact that ritual yields external benefits does not directly imply inner peace. It may lead to peace if there is an inner transformation. 

अभ्यास  or practice has to culminate in wisdom. The first step towards wisdom is the realisation that whatever we are trying to do through practice is a way of connecting to something beyond. If ritual and practice binds me to the other world and boosts my ego, no wisdom can come. 

The word ज्ञानम् means knowledge. Knowledge when processed into deep understanding is wisdom. One can be blessed with wisdom even without much knowledge of the external world. In fact knowledge normally boosts ego and causes debate, dispute, and damage. So ritual may lead to ego. But a humble seeking may lead to wisdom.

However, wisdom is also not peace. Wisdom shows where I am. I have yet to attain peace. 

When wisdom matures into a process of going inward through ध्यानम्, into my infinite inner resources, I begin to see what I have missed all my life. ध्यानम् or going inward is the exact opposite of ritual or अभ्यासः. The peace or bliss I seek by arranging my external circumstances is actually already embedded in my infinite inner reality. Every transient echo of peace or bliss outside, at a beautiful beach watching the gorgeous sea and sky, or gazing at the miracle of sunrise, or sitting by a brook in a verdant forest listening to nature's symphony, is all working in the same way. I am connecting with creation by dissolving myself in the moment. I have given up for the moment the engrossment in I-me-myself and my agenda.

The senses are feeding my mind with something beautiful. The mind feels peace and bliss. This momentary bliss is only a ripple in the infinite lake of bliss within me.

When that insight through going inward dawns, what's left?  According to Sri Krishna of Bhagavadgita, when insight dawns, I discover that I am a part of His dynamic drama of creation.  I decide to go about contentedly discharging my role. My activities acquire a new joy and a new beauty unlike anything before when I was striving and seeking for myself. Now I am only joyously serving Existence. This is called कर्मफलत्यागः. 

Once I make my work my worship of creation and its maker, peace dawns. In fact peace has been within always. It is the same as bliss. 

This peace is unlike the uneasy and temporary quality of truce that is brokered by armies between wars, or peace enforced by mutual scare as it happens in this outer world. 

To summarise, inner peace is a placid lake of bliss. Sometimes its ripples are sensed by us in the outer world when we let go. But it is a welcome world for a sensitive and sensible being who is turned inward and open to this inner world. Outer activities will go on peacefully! 

What is नादः (Naada)

I just saw a beautiful discussion on Naada on YouTube between Sri. Rajiv Malhotra and Vid. Vrinda Acharya:

https://youtu.be/QBiDqqXtR-c

I am inspired by their discussion and this shloka from सङ्गीतरत्नाकरः to write my thoughts. 

How do we distinguish Naada in music, particularly Carnatic music, from sound? 

Sound is any vibration caused materially and perceived within our hearing. Therefore musical Naada is also a kind of sound. But all sounds are not Naada. This is because the core of Naada is human consciousness. 

Consciousness in its highest sense is Brahman, the all-pervading creative intelligence. In all creation, it is most completely expressed in human consciousness. And man can strive to attain to the state of experiencing Brahman. The path is shown by rishis and acharyas like Adi Shankara. 

Brahman is also called Naadabrahman, and Omkara Naada, as explained by Dr. Vrinda. So in the Sanatana Dharma, the original source of everything is Naada. 

The instinct for all music comes from this Naadabrahman=consciousness and has an aestheic dimension without which making or experiencing music is impossible. 

Naada is to be first intuited and then expressed aesthetically. And then it has to be experienced aesthetically. If there is no experiencer there is no Naada. In other words all music is a subjective experience - both its creation and its enjoyment. I daresay it goes beyond sensory pleasure because it seems to have a unique effect unlike other sensory experiences. You don't listen to all that you hear if your consciousness is not tuned in. It's a bit like Bhagavan Krishna tells Arjuna that if he has to see Vishvarupa, he needs a special pair of eyes - the inner eye of an elevated consciousness. 

The Indian classical musical system gives us insight into developing a  profound dimension in music by structuring it on the principles of Raaga, Taala, and Bhaava. Whether it is one musician or an ensemble, they all begin by getting inside the infinite canvas of the cosmic Omkara Naada as created by the sonorously tuned Tambura. Once the musician experiences that Omkara within, as it is said in the shloka shown above, he harnesses the combination of Praana and Agni, the two dimensions of his life force, to express the musical idea. In all this, the first listener is the musician himself. Even when birds chirp and machines make harmonious sounds, they become music only when there is a human to experience them. 

What about iPod and You Tube music? Machines can mimic or store and reproduce music made by humans with varying degrees of efficiency. But the starting point of all those sounds is their creation through a subjective human experience. If and when machines can subjectively feel and create music autonomously, even then, the tag of music will be placed on their creation only by a human who can subjectively experience the aesthetics. 

In the Amazon Prime TV series, Mozart in the Jungle, a Japanese robot is shown as being constructed and programmed to conduct a famous orchestral piece. The protagonist, a great and original conductor, is so outraged by the idea that he dashes the robot into a rivulet and destroys it. He considers it the most repulsive piece of technology to outrage all musical sensibilities through a caricaturing of a sublime subjective aesthetic experience. That is the same experience we connect to Naada Brahman. 

No soul, no music. 

These same aspects will apply, to a lesser extent, to other fine arts and performing arts. Remember the centrality of the subjective human experience which we connect to Brahman or the Supreme Soul. 

ldli and You - the Mirror to your Soul

Shashi Tharoor has always a smart turn of phrase to go with his hair and flair. Without going into other aspects, I agree with him on his statement that a man's relationship with idli reveals a lot about his Samskara (cultural evolution).

I have decided, just after a lovely Idli, chutney, and pure coffee (black) breakfast, to categorise men by their Idli predilections. There are nine categories. 

1. "Idli, what's THAT!?" - A caveman abducted and dropped by an unfriendly UFO in East Mada Street Mylapore at breakfast time.

2. " Yes, now what did you call it? Idli, of course, isn't it that round white thing eaten by people who have no taste buds?" - a boring Englishman who thinks meat pie is the be-all and end-all of food. 

3. " Idli, yes, would love to try it, does it go with Ketchup?" - a much-to-be pitied NRI. 

4. " Lekin Yaar, I prefer my Sambhurr with Medu Vadda and not idli." - A Northie who proclaims that Tandoori Chicken defines Indian cuisine. 

5. "Bengaluru Idlis are great but they don't know a thing about Sambar, macha."  A Madrassi who thinks he invented Idli Sambar before God invented man. 

6. "Have you tried Idli with 5 chutneys at Madurai Idli shop? Heavenly! " A Singaporean. 

7. "Here is the winner from Hot Hot Tiruchirapalli, India. Idli with Mutton Kurma!" - Gordon Ramsay. 

8. " Rama Rama! Poor innocent Idli. Why do these vulgar people torture it by mashing it up in hot and spicy sambar?" Saint Thyagaraja.

9. " The pinnacle of Indian civilization, that holds a torch for all mankind in culture and refinement, is its invention, before the Mesopotamian era in history, of the delicacy called the Idli - since perfected over centuries in Kerala's royal kitchens by Malabar's master chefs who steamed it in the finest Ochlandra Travancorica woks. " Shashi Tharoor.

What do you now say about the Idli!? It's a mirror to your Soul! 

The Five Boys and Tapas or Austerity

 Ishwar-ji speaks often about the five boys that throng our mental home. These are 

Lust

Anger

Greed

Attachment

Ego.

If I look at it closely, Lust and Greed ( कामः लोभः) are mentioned clearly as eternal enemies of man in the Bhagavadgita. Similarly, anger and attachment (क्रोधः मोहः) are well known foes of man when it comes to equanimity. The last one, ego, is an inescapable one - the sense of I, me, and myself, which projects oneself as all-important in the scheme of things. Spiritually, of course, the Self or Atman is at the centre of creation, as  परमात्मा. But the limited self identified with body and mind is the problem because it is driven by false perception and false expectations. 

There is a beautiful shloka in the Bhagavadgita which shows what is the way to deal with these five enemies, lovingly called here by Ishwar-ji as the five boys. In fact Ishwar-ji says that when we reach Sachkhand, we go take a dip in the Manas-sarovar lake. The five boys come till there, take the dip with us, and when we rise again, they have disappeared forever!

The shloka in the Bhagavadgita describes what is tapas or austerity of the mind. 

मनःप्रसादः सौम्यत्वं मौनमात्मविनिग्रहः ।

भावसंशुद्धिरित्येतत् तपो मानसमुच्यते   ॥  १७.१६ ॥

A happy disposition (counters anger), kindliness (counters ego), reticence/silence (instils a meditative disposition), self-control (counters lust and greed), purity of heart (counters infatuation and attachment) - these are called the austerity of the mind in the path to realization of the Soul (परमात्मा). 

.

Vishnu Worship

Today my reading of the Vishnu Sahasranamam brought me to the word, कतिथः । I give the scan of Sri Adi Shankara's bhashya in Sanskrit (Kannada script) and its translation in English by Swami Tapasyananda of Ramakrishna Math.

I was born into a Melkote(+Tumkur) Vaishnava family, on Ananta Chaturdashi, in Bhargava gotra, and raised in front of a Narayana temple. No wonder I feel charged to think of Narayana=Vishnu and His avatars, leelas and prayers. 

Sri Shankara's commentary says how Vishnu is the goal in Vedas, in our scriptures like Ramayana and Mahabharata and is the muktipradaata.

हरिः ॐ तत् सत्

The Healer

From the Buddha garden.com:

The Medicine Buddha is depicted in paintings having blue skin, but whether shown in statue or painted form, the right hand is held facing downward with fingers extended toward the ground, palm facing outward toward the viewer, a bowl of herbs rests in the left hand upon the lap.

This cute little icon is a gift from Sundar and Jass. They brought it from Sikkim. 

Buddha the Medicine Man

I have only one illness - unawareness. 

Toil and strive

Grab and thrive

Only to lose it

Mind and body soon. 

The Buddha offers healing. 

Healing my greed, my needless want, 

My idea of incompleteness. 

For desire, the medicine is awareness. 

For sorrow, the medicine is 

disassociation.

For hate, the medicine is oneness. 

For fear, the medicine is now-ness. 

As Ishwar-ji says, 

Sit still. 

Go within. 

And discover my true spirit. 

हरिः ॐ  तत् सत्