Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Essence of Vedas

At the place called as Naimisharanya, the sages were learning the vedas. They wanted to know the essence of vedas. So they started to Madurai. There is a Dakshinamoorthi at the temple. He is called as guru or the one who teaches and guides. He will be seated facing the south. He has 4 arms.

His upper right hand holds the rudraksha mala. Rudraksha bead got created from the tears that fell from Shiva's (Rudra's) eyes. His left eye is the moon (soma), right eye is the sun (surya) and the third eye is the fire (Agni). From his left eye 12 drops flowed, from his right eye 10 drops flowed and from his third eye 8 more drops flowed. So together there was 30 drops which formed the 30 beads of the rudraksha japa mala that is held in the upper right hand of guru. Rudra + aksham (from rudra's eye).

His lower right hand shows the chin mudra. In this mudra the index finger will be touching the thumb and the other three will be separated from the index finger. The thumb is paramatma, index finger is jivatma. The other three are Jealousy, Pride and Karma. This symbolises if jivatma leaves behind the three impurities jealousy, pride and karma, it reaches the paramatma.

His upper left hand holds the amrutha kalasa that stores the nectar which grants immortality. This symbolises that the guru will grant immortality to all those who completely surrender to him.

His lower left hand holds the knowledgeable books. Those books contain the essence of vedas. The sivagnana bodham. The ultimate reality is the brahmman alone.

Just by seeing the young guru, the sages were satisfied that Shiva (Paramatma) is the essence of vedas.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Beyond the yugas

In hinduism (Sanathan Dharma) it is considered that vedas existence is beyond the yugas. There are 4 yugas. Krita yuga which lasted for 17 lakh years, Thretha yuga which lasted for 11 lakh years, dwapara yuga which lasted for 8 lakh years and the present kaliyuga whose span is 4 lakh years. Lord Maha Vishnu is worshipped in all vedas. It was he who took the Matsya avataram in the krita yugam for saving the vedas from the asuras. This incident proves as an evidence that vedas were there in existence even before the krita yuga. So one can say the vedas are approximately 36 lakh years old (summing up the span of all 4 yugas).

We also say that 4 yugas form one maha yuga. Also 1 Maha yuga is Brahmman's day time in his 1 day. Yet another maha yuga is his night time of a day. Like this we dont know how many days were happened before the present maha yuga. So the age of vedas cannot be computed. Its really a great thing that this vedas are in existence still. The 4 yugas keeps on rotating in an order.

Like the vedas existence being beyond yugas, Veda Purusha Narayana's existence and his worship is also beyond yugas. The tirumala that we see today is headed by Srinivasa Perumal. In the before yugas it was Sri Varaha moorthi who was the presiding deity. This varaha moorthi's incarnation dates back to krita yuga.

Peyazhwar in one of his paasuram (divya prabandam) states that Lord Narayana is everyone's antaryamin (inner soul). He alone resides in his heart too.

Boodhathazhwar states that even the monkeys which use to behave so naughty in other places, will be so disciplined and will offer flowers and worship the varaha moorthi there at tirumala.

Such a fantastic place is Tirumala and so is our India. Even in the sankalpa mantra that forms the important part of all hindu rituals, we use to say baaratha varshe, bharatha kande, jambu dvipe (in the indian sub continent). Such an importance is being given to the nation. So the vedas, sri man narayana and of course our nation India has been there for many yugas.

Humour to Relax - 1

1. Ant and elephant were travelling in their bike and car respectively. Both met with an accident. Ant escaped with minor injuries. Elephant is badly hurt. Ant went to elephant and said something. On hearing that, the elephant collapsed. What could it be?

Ant said, "Dont worry about the blood loss. I shall donate blood to you!!!". :)

2. Four ducks were walking though watery pond. These are all the statements:

Duck 1: I have 3 ducks following me.
Duck 2: I have 2 ducks following me.
Duck 3: I have 1 duck following me.
Duck 4: I have 3 ducks following me.??

How is that possible??

Its possible because the 4th duck has lied!!!

Then in another pond they made the following set of statements. But all the statements are true. How?

Duck 1: I have 3 ducks following me.
Duck 2: I have 3 ducks following me.
Duck 3: I have 3 ducks following me.
Duck 4: I have 3 ducks following me.

Because they are moving around the same place in a circle. :)

3. How will you lift an elephant with one hand?
It is easy. You cant find an elephant with one hand!!!

4. How can you make two elephants to sit in an auto rickshaw??
With much difficulty we can make. (Just for joke)

5. e^x and c (constant) are walking on the road. Suddenly e^x chuckles that in few second you will be destroyed (set to zero) as differentiation is coming.
(as dc/dx = 0 and d(e^x)/dx = x log e i.e. x). Suddenly c started laughing. The differentiation is with respect to y and not with respect to x. So both of us are gone. (dc/dy = 0 and d(e^x)/dy = 0 [partial differentiation].

Softsmith Free Webinars for November 2009

Here is the list of webinars of Softsmit for November 2009.

1) Programming - Python, C, JSP, Java, Struts,
2) Testing - QTP Interview, OpenSTA, TestComplete, IBM Rational
Functional Tester
3) OS Related - Linux, Tomcat, Virus scan, proxy, firewall
4) MBA Topics - Training Management, Mathematics in management,
choosing software for business
5) Tools - Excel, Visual Source Safe, Google collaboration tools,
6) Domain - Securities
7) Case study - How does a project work? Complete SDLC example

For more details visit Softsmith Website. For registration visit OpenMentor Portal

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Abhirami andhaadhi translation

Abhirami - the presiding deity of thirukkadavoor. She is the consort of shri AmrithakadEswara. She is known for the grace that she bestows on her devotees. Strong bhakti on her has saved the life of a man - Shri Abhirami bhattar who was about to lose his life as he uttered a lie to the king. To find out more interesting facts about Abhirami and this story, visit Abhirami Andhaadhi translation page. This great work was done by one of my friend Shri Rajagopal who is also a motivating factor for me to write more in this blog.

A glimpse of Mother Abhirami's attention when it falls on us, it will grant wealth, knowledge, courage, good relatives, god hood and all good things. Abhirami is light red complexioned. Light red is usually connected with grace. In the lalitha sahasranama dhyana slOkA there will be a phrase "arunaam karunaantharangithAksheem". Arunan is the charioteer of Surya. He comes before suryOdhayam. The light red that one could see before the dawn - how beautiful it is? So is Abhirami.

I had been following this translation work from the day shri rajagopal contacted me through this blog. Due to official and personal commitments I got very small time to surf through net. So I didn't write on this for these days. It was really a nice work. May goddess Abhirami and Lord Amrithakadeswara grant all good things to rajagopal and his family.

sree mAthA sree mahArAgnee sree madh simhAsanEswari
sree chakrarAjAnilayA sree madh tripurasundari
sree sivA sivasakthi aikya roopini lalithAmbikA

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Lord Shiva and the number 5

The number 5 is very much associated with Lord Shiva.

Five Faces:
Shiva is 5 faced. His faces are Satyojatham, thathpurusham, eesaanam, vaamadevam and aghoram. It was from this five faces the five variable swaras ri, ga, ma, dha and ni of carnatic music evolved. Lord Muruga, the son of Lord Shiva has 6 faces. 5 of his faces are created from shiva's five faces.

Five Syllable Mantra:
Na ma shi vaa ya - popularly called as panchAkshara mantram. This is shiva's mantra. This has five syllables as shown above.

Five bhutas:
Shiva is said to be the embodiment of the five elements or pancha bhuta. Sky(Akash), Wind(Vayu), Fire(Agni), Water(Jhalam), Land(Prithvi) are five in numbers. They are the five indriyas of Shiva. Sky is his ears, Wind is his body or skin, Fire is his eyes, Water is his tongue, Land is his nose. If we closely analyse these elements are associated with the 5 senses.

Akash - Sabda(Hear), Wind - Sparsha(Feel), Fire - Roopa(See), Water - Rasa(Taste) and Land - Gandha(Smell).
The sky is space where only sound is present.
Wind can be felt.
Fire can be seen.
Water can be tasted.
Land can be smelt.

To co-memorate this we have the pancha bhuta sthala.

1. Akash - Chidambaram
2. Wind - Kaalahasti
3. Fire - Tiruvannamalai
4. Water - Tiruvaanaikka
5. Land - Kanchipuram

Five Sabhas:
Sabha is a place where the ruler or the judge is seated and hears to the prayers or petitions. Lord Shiva sits on 5 different sabhas at 5 different places.

1. Kanaka sabhai - golden throne - Chidambaram
2. Velli sabhai - silver throne - Madurai
3. Ratna sabhai - gem throne - Tiruvalangadu
4. Taamira sabhai - copper throne - Tirunelveli
5. Chitra sabhai - Artistic throne - Tirukkuttralam

Monday, October 05, 2009

Monsoon festival by Balaganamrutham - Shyam Prakash and Party Concert

Amidst the heavy winds on October 4, 2009 (sunday) I went to Ragasudha hall for the monsoon festival concert. Shyam Prakash was the singer. Vijayaraghavan was on the violin and young Bharadwaj played on the mridangam. All the three were a promising combo. Especially the vocalist and the mridangist were highly talented.

The concert started with the brisk alapana in the rAgA nAttai. Shyam sung saraseeruhasanapriye. There were quick kalpana swaras that proved the profieciency of the singer. It was a good start. Aarabhi ragam follwed naatti. Tyagaraja's Nadha sudha rasam added beauty to the concert. The alapana was very soothing. Violinist reproduced it well on his solo. Kalpana swaras were also scintillating. Though few were taken from tyagaraja's pancharatna kritis like pa-pa-ma-ga-ri-- da-da-pa-ma-ga-ri-ma, it was nice.

The third was papanasam sivan's kaanavEndaamo in the raga sri ranjani. The ending of the song was delivered innovatively in high pitch with the words kaana vendaamo repeated few number of times. The next was the first slOka of annapoorna ashtakam of Adi sankara - nityanandahari in the raga sama. This was followed by the steady annapoorne visalakshi of Sri Muthuswami dikshitar.

Then was the evergreen sankarabharanam. Shyam took Mahalakshmi jaganmatha of Papanasam Sivan. I should appreciate the young mridangam star for his perfect support. The niraval, svarams, tani for this song was highly commendable. Then came a quick javali in kamas Ragam. Jagadodharana in the raga kapi was so divine. The artiste captured the exact mood of purandaradasa in this song. It was with so much bhakti. The popular abhang bhaktha jana vatsale in the raga brindavani was a good conclusion for this 1:15 hour concert.

Though this was a short duration concert the outcome was utmost satisfaction that one will get after hearing 3 hour concert.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Softsmith Free Webinars for October 2009

Softsmith Infotech presents the following webinars for the month of October 2009.
1) Programming - ASP.Net, HTML-XML-CSS, MySQL, Oracle andPLSQL
2) Testing - Interview on Load Runner, SilkPerformer, TestManagement using SPCG, QTP, Security and Usability Testing
3) Management - Interview on team leading, Customer Service
4)Tools - MS Powerpoint, MS Outlook, Visio Modeler, Subversion

Kindly log on to OpenMentor website and Softsmith's website for registration and more information.