Bhagavad Gita in 3 minutes

This song from the tamizh film Karnan attempts to summarize the Bhagavad Gita in 3 mins. The concepts of Atman, Advaitham and Renunciation are all captured beautifully. My fav line is this

Arjuna: Krishna, you know everything, all i know is You....
Krishna: When you know Me, you know that all life forms are Krishna...


If you don't know tamizh here's a gist of whats going on. The background should be known to all. Arjunan does not want to fight against his own grandsire, guru and brethren.

Krishna says (rather sings)

O Vijaya who is confused with the concept of death
Let me explain the character of what is called Death
The atman(soul) cannot be subjected forever to Death
It will be born again
Kill the skin, kill the skin
...
Even if you don't, their bodies are going to die some day

Arjuna is still worried. He knows he is not going to kill the soul but just the flesh that covers it. Still, killing is an act of crime, that too his own brethren.

Krishna, you know everything, all i know is you.
Paranthaama, how come you yourself goad me to committing this sin

Krishna then explains why it is not a sin.

When you know me, you know that all life forms are me/mine
...
All the Kings here are Me. All the people are Me.
All the trees, shrubs and creepers are Me.
The One who said this is Krishna
And the One who is saying this is also Krishna
Stand up and be bold so that Dharma is restored

Arjuna is still confused. He realises its his duty (Dharma) to annihilate evil as a Kshatriya. He also realises all the life forms are Krishna (ie have the divinity in them). He himself is Krishna, so are the ones who are going to be killed. But still, there is the concept of Karma...

Krishna, if i accept your advice and commit this sin
Still the committer of this sin is me
And the Karma will have to be borne by me
O Krishna Tell me
Would you be willing to share the Karma?

When Arjuna asks Krishna if he is willing to share the Karma, he is in fact asking Krishna whether Krishna would have done this if he had been in Arjuna's place?

Krishna replies with a smile

If the world terms this act pious
Let the credit be attributed to Me
The praise from the praisers
And the scorn from the scorners
Let them all be attributed to Me
...
It is but me who is attacking
It is but me who is killing
Pick up your gandivam
And gather your skills
Let redness smear
this battle field

This i think is the concept of renunciation. Renunciation need not necessarily require relinquishing daily life for a life of austerity and penance by the side of a river in a distant forest. Renunciation is not about inaction. Renunciation is all about not wanting to enjoy the fruits of one's actions. Whatever you do, do it for the Lord, the Lord that is in you, the Lord in all of us and the Lord in all the life forms. Basically whatever we do, we do it not for our betterment alone, but for the benefit of the whole world. When we have that perspective of considering how each of our actions affects the universe and its various life forms, our actions will be pure and no longer self-centered. Lust, greed, anger and such will then have no place in our thoughts. I read Gandhi's idea of renunciation was quite similar, if not the same.

Thus ends the beautiful song.

Sivaji Ganesan

Whatever the world might think about him, I like Sivaji Ganesan. I can't see how someone cannot like him, especially the Sivaji of the b&w era. I recently watched his old film 'Manohara'; you get to see an young Sivaji Ganesan as the son of a King who has lost his senses to a court dancer. The son's pain in seeing his mom, the dharmapatni, slighted and his pain on being suppressed by his own mom from alleviating her sufferings endears the character to our hearts. Though words like spell-bound would sound hackneyed, i sure did enjoy his acting from the start to the finish. Of course, given that its an old film, the plot's quite thick with sub-plots as well. Thats the primary difference between today's films and the films of the b&w era. Back then story was seen as the primary strength, now glamour and special effects are seen as the primary strength. I think i will watch Uthama Puthiran next, the tamizh version of 'The man in the iron mask'.

Commenting on comments

Read this

The real fun is in the comments section. So lets head over to there.

One commenter says

"I REALLY hate to clean. If he really loved me, he would make the meal AND clean"

This is obviously a feminist. Poor guy, i mean the man in her life.

A philosophical commenter says

"Every relationship is a compromise. If my wife went the extra distance and slaved over a stove to cook a special meal, I wouldn't have any problem doing the dishes. I know she would do the same for me."

Another person really wants to get screwed (yeah screwed as in screwed)

"I'd say it's win-win because now I really WILL get screwed - as in hot monkey sex all night! Show me the way to sink boys!"

Interrresting facts about me

I got tagged by JK. I didn't expect to find enough stuff to write about me... But somehow managed to unearth a few...

1. In my childhood days, i dreamt of being India's dictator. I even promised my sister half the land.
2. I have a 11 month old son who can say Acha (actually attttaa) meaning Dad. 'Acha' to him is quite overloaded(polymorphic?) though, it has many meanings including Mom, take me from here, iam enjoying it, answer me etc.
3. My friend once remarked that i should probably get wedded to a computer (actually a computer with a h*le).
4. Once i hit a dog when driving on Airport Rd(Blr) on a motorcycle. The impact was such that i made atleast 4-5 somersaults. The guy who helped me get back on my legs shook my hands (congratulated?) saying he has seen such stunts only in movies. The dog was unharmed and in fact had to be stoned to prevent it from jumping onto my limping body.
5. I was supposed to be born with a silver spoon. But i forgot it in my mother's womb. I am that forgetful. Have been to the school without my school bag, been to interview with sneakers, been to the bar without cash, been to client presentations without a belt etc etc.
6. I am highly self critical. I almost always end up with myself to blame.
7. My wife calls me a 'low maintenance husband'. I prefer 'idli + chutney' over 'paratha + panner tikka', 'kuthari (brown rice) + pulissery(yellow curry from diluted curd)' over 'biryani + pepper mushroom'.
8. I have accumulated enough bad karma to be 'reborn' quite a few times. So i am more concerned about global warming than most others are.

This branch of the 'tag-chain' stops here, simply because i don't know anyone who can be tagged.

Lullabies

A good lullaby is undoubtedly your best ally in putting your baby to sleep. Trust me on this, you will automatically devise one when you need one.

If you are from Kerala, then you would have probably heard the 'Omana thingal kidavo' lullaby. You can listen to this lilting lullaby here (use IE). Its one of the hugely popular lullabies and is no doubt elegant, written as it was for putting the prince Swathi Thirunal to sleep. This is what my wife sings to put our baby to sleep.

Given my musical talent, rather the lack of it, i use the much simpler 'Harae raama'. Surprisingly my son likes it a lot. After some experimentation it appears some of the syllables can be stretched for additional impact. So instead of 'Harae raama', i sometimes use 'Haraeaeaeae Raaaaamaa'. So my lullaby is simply

Harae raama harae raama
raama raama harae harae
Harae krishna harae krishna
krishna krishna harae harae

My mom on the other hand uses 'Yaadevi sarvabhudeshu'. You may or may not have heard of it. Its a very nice hymn with a good meaning. All the stanzas look almost the same, one word is replaced to give different meanings to each stanza.

Yaadevi sarvabhudeshu
vidya rupena samsthithaah
namastasyai namastasyai
namastasyai namoh namaah

Here vidya can be replaced for ex with budhi, matru, shraddha, shakti etc.

I think the power of these simpler lullabies is in their words like harae, namastasyai etc which have the right tones for inducing sleep in babies. And when repeated many times, they soothe the baby to sleep (hopefully).

My wife's mom uses some wildly funny lullabies. For ex

Ambili ammaava thaamara kumbilil enthundu
kumbittiruppano maanathe komban aana purathu

And if our son is a bit irritated or is crying his heart out with his eyes closed (often at midnight and probably after some nightmares) a resounding & reverberating 'Om' stops the wailing on its tracks.

Fighting sore throat

After some experimentation i have come up with this what-think-is-a-sure-shot formula for fixing sore throats. The fix is a combination of

1. Gargling with warm (not too warm) salt water as soon as you figure out that you have a sore throat and once before going to bed.
2. A Himalaya koflet, one every 4 hrs (not before gargling)
3. Abstaining from drinking or eating anything cold or anything too hot. Basically sticking to warm food.

I have seen this fix the sore throat in a day. I think following up this with 1 tea spoon of powdered palm sugar every 4 hrs on the day after the sore throat disappears will be beneficial as well.

Coconut and molasses

Ever wondered why sharkara (molasses) always accompanies coconut cuts during festivities, especially in pooja prasadams? That coconut is good for health is quite obvious. But the role of molasses is not. Coconut when consumed in excess can cause worms in our stomach (especially in children) and the anti-dote is molasses ! Alas, without knowing this, sharkara is rapidly being replaced with sugar which does not provide the same benefit.

Government should seriously promote organic farming

Just now saw a programme on Amrita T.V in which a lady farmer by name Sathya Ramaswamy made a unique suggestion to promote organic farming and bring home the truth in a way that rings in our heads. She opines that pesticide farming output products should be labelled 'Pesticide products are injurious to health' just like cigarette packs are labelled. She is damn right.

The "power-packed" tender coconut

I have always wondered why tender coconuts are considered so special in Kerala (and south india in general). Of course it is a good drink to satisfy our thirst but then i never knew it was so power packed. Take for instance the fact that tender coconuts have more amino acids in them than milk does which makes them protein rich and these amino acids are in a quickly assimilatable form, which is one reason why tender coconuts are advised when you are struck down with jaundice, typhoid etc. The stomach does not have to do any digestion, its in a form that is almost ready to be absorbed. Not just amino acids, tender coconut has potassium, phosphate, calcium... and endless list of minerals very useful to the body, especially to those with blood pressure. Plus tender coconuts when consumed regularly can increase the production of insulin in the body, which is what you want when you have diabetes. Plus you get vitamins B and C. As an added bonus, if applied regularly on the face, it can take a few wrinkles away.

Now compare this with the other favorite drinks in the market, coke, pepsi etc. Hahahaha.

How did languages develop?

How did languages come to be (what they are today) ? I heard an expert in TV mention that unlike other languages, Sanskrit was rigorously developed (or defined) first and then put to use. This he explained is the reason behind its precision. But then how did other languages develop?

Padmarajan

If a person asks me which malayalam films i would recommend, the first ones would certainly be Padmarajan's movies. Almost all of his movies have a gripping story which are timeless (i mean, they would not sound old even a 100 years from now) and the screenplay, direction, editing all combined together keep you engrossed all the way through. No, don't expect a masala flick. But don't expect an art movie either. In fact his movies stand out as, well, Padmarajan movies. You can't categorize them any other way, because they are different from the rest in the feel you get after watching the movie.

Usually in 99.9% of the mainstream films there would be at least one scene in which you would question the rationality of the scene and then pardon the irrationality considering its a movie after all. In none of Padmarajan's movies, at least the ones i have seen, did i ever think of questioning a scene. Every scene, every word uttered in the movie, every sound, all seem rational and you would want to notice all that happens on the screen. If you can't you will rewind and watch again. No, not because its a joy to watch, but because its something else i can't put in words right now. And after watching his films, i usually try to abstain from watching something else for the rest of the day, afraid of watching something that would lessen the satisfaction gained from having watched the movie.

Bhagavad Gita

Of all the library thing books i have cataloged, The Bhagavad Gita is the one thats owned by most other users of library thing (1760 odd). When it comes to tech books, UML Distilled by Martin Fowler is at the top (310 odd). Iam surprised Head First Design Patterns is not the most favorite.

Experiments with my 8 month old son

In this post Vemuri blogs about experimenting with his baby.

I too have noticed that my baby boy begins expecting the same thing to happen when there are multiple repetitions. Once when playing with him, i made a sound and then nudged a toy up his toes to tickle him. He burst out in laughter. I did this repeatedly for 4-5 times. After that just the sound itself was enough to make him laugh. It appeared that on hearing the sound he laughed expecting the toy to follow.

Another amazing observation has been his ability to figure out our apartment door from the 10-12 doors in the same alley. There is not much to distinguish the doors and even grown ups get confused. Once the baby sitter forgetfully walked past the door only for him to remind her by making gestures towards the door. The other day he giggled and turned around when he was taken past our door. Its just amazing how he does it because as i said, there is nothing to differentiate the door from the rest, even the apartment number is printed in small sized letters not big enough for him to recognize from a distance.

Baby memory

A few days back we took our baby for his 6 month vaccination shots. Once inside the clinic room he started get fidgety. The moment he was laid on the bed there, he somehow figured out this was the same place he got shots a few months back ! His crying stopped only after he was placed back on his stroller after the shots.

Its amazing how he remembered the place and the bad experience he had.

Feeling good

Bright sunshine, chirping birds, pleasant weather... This was a welcome change from the bouts of cold that was sweeping over Chicago. I am least suited to cold weather and the general darkness that prevails makes it all the more depressing.

Communicating with babies

Its amazing to see how with just a few sounds babies can make us do what they want. One small cry from our 6.5 month old son is all that is needed to get us running to his side.

And recently my wife has noticed that he expresses his desire for breast-milk in a unique manner. He would repeatedly dab on her, gently, with a soft and broken whine as the background score. This is not the same way he asks for solid food. So his sounds are getting more specific these days. To reword that, his way of communication is making more sense to us grown-ups now.

And sometimes he simply bursts uttering so many things, actually blowing out so many things, is how we should put it. He would utter short syllables, pushing out a lot of air in the process.

Grandparents

Grand-parents showering love on their grand-children is a universal phenomenon. So much so that some wonder why their grand kids were not born to them (instead of us poor sons and daughters). And grand children, how much ever old they are, know of ways to attract the attention of their grand parents. My son is just 6 months old but he can make my dad forgo his cup of morning tea only to shower attention on himself (something my mom has failed to do all through her life !, i can still see my dad spreading his newspaper with a cup of chai in his hands while my mom prepares breakfast and lunch). At first a short whine, then a longer whine and if my dad does not respond even then, he simply breaks out loud. My dad quickly puts down anything he is holding on to and rushes to lift my son and konjify him. Anything for 'em, the lucky ones :-)

Hello World !

Hello World !