"Upanayana" and "Samavarthana"

"Upanayana" (literary meaning closeness of sight) and "Samavarthana" are two major rituals that could have a lot of impact on a young boy's mind. The first one introduces Brahman to a young boy and makes him a "Dwija" (born again) which means that he is born with this new knowledge again. Then he has to undergo strict disciplines of puja and penance to reach the end of this period of education which is marked by "Samavarthana". During this period, he is referred to as "Brahmachaari" (one who treads the path of Brahman) and the period might be as long as 7years/3 years/1year or even 4days depending on how fast their parents want to get it done with. My bro had done one year and so did I.

During mine and Bro's "upanayana" almost the whole village came, especially those staying close to temple. I was sad that my Muthassi (maternal grandmother) couldn't come for mine. From all mothers we are supposed to ask Bhiksha (asking alms)that day, the first one being grand mother. It's supposed that we are going to Kashi (Varanasi) and living the life of mendicant while earning knowledge. We are also invested with "ponool" (sacred thread) and "Krishnajina" (an amulet made from skin of krishna deer). The sacred thread stays with us forever and krishnajina is only put when we go to temple, that too till "Samavarthana".

As kids this restricts freedom. You are not allowed to play with your friends as freely as other times. And one is supposed to eat nothing from outside his home, ideally nothing other than what his mother cooks for him. The kid has to do a puja at dawn and dusk which involves chanting and offering twigs of "plashu" tree (locally we call 'chamatha' and this puja itself is known as 'Chamatha') into fire. So every time it needs 4 twigs of this tree to be offered in fire. One of the main activity that I had to do was to collect this twig from wherever this tree stood in our village. Had to go to other people's houses or to temple to get this. Vinod, who is well acquainted with temple pujas and customs used to come with me to climb 'chamatha' and cut those twigs for me.

Once I had to travel to my Ammath (Amma's place at Palakkad for my Ammaman's (Uncle) marriage) in between. Since it was for four days, I took 4*8=32 chamatha twigs with me so that I don't have to go in search of it when I reach there. I went to attend the marriage reception and returned earlier than any others alone to Ammmath to do my evening chamatha. After making everything like Thulasi (basil) leaves and utensils ready, I couldn't locate my twigs. I searched everywhere and unable to find, I started profusely shedding tears thinking that I may not able to do it that evening. Then fortunately my perassiamma (Amma's elder sister) came and figured that she had misplaced that small bag of twigs somewhere and thus I was relieved.

Personally for me it was a period after which I lost my habit of hitting people in my school. The toughest thing that I felt was that I was not given papad (a side snack for rice) for that year since it was usually bought from outside. Usually kids are taught other chants and pujas during this time, but we both were spared since we were going to school and was tough for father to make us sit after his work hours.

"Samavarthana" was fun. Mine coincided with my grandfather's 84th B'day at Illam (ancestral home which is almost 8KMs east of Taliparamba). This B'day was itself a great celebration when many relatives, villagers, eminent people, all came to wish him. 84th B'day coincides with the time when a person would have seen 1000 full moons (if we calculate this, it is approximately correct)and is supposed to be very auspicious. On the eve of Samavarthana day, my eyes were folded with a white cloth which was opened next day showing me simultaneously a calf and then sun (signs of auspiciousness). When I was blind folded I remember my cousins coming after me and doing some mischiefs and having fun.

I was happy that after a year, I could eat a good sadya (a meal with many delicious dishes served in order) which included PAPAD!:-)

PS: For past 10 days, have used a lot of words to express a lot of views/impressions. Now needs some time off.. at least till I finish my exams. As long as the words point one towards silence, they are meaningful.

Inevitable end of "Aniyan"

I used to have vicarious enjoyment on seeing this song;

It depicts the inevitable end of Aniyan (the younger brother) who discovers himself that he will not live past that night. This is from a movie, "Paithrukam" in which I loved this character a lot. He has prayed and propitiated his favorite deity throughout his life till that incidental night. So he asks his close friend to sing a song as and when he is going to meet his death. The song selected make the situation even more sad/joyful. His friend selects a song that describe the auspiciousness of marriage. He had fallen in love with a lady who visited the temple (of which he was a priest) and was thinking of marrying her without knowing his inevitable plight. Guess that would be the only bad thing he did in his life, but since he did not know his fate in advance, it cannot be regarded as a mistake.

Whenever I went to temple as a kid, there were many elderly people who called me Aniyan, because I am the Aniyan of my Ettan (elder brother). I loved being called like that and in my village I was always given much love and affection being the younger one. Even in the "super-five" group I was the youngest one and given more attention than anybody. Every time when we went outside and if it involved riding a vehicle, they always made sure I get in first. Ha ha it's so funny that many times friends who didn't know this had to come back to a bus stop in search of me because I couldn't manage to get into the bus along with them.

Last time when I went for my bro's wedding, there was this one day when I had a lot of fun. To run some errands and to buy a sandal I went outside. One moment when I was little bit in a hurry, muscles played and got stiff. Then I was crossing the highway road and I saw a Autorikhsaw coming (a cute small vehicle which carries pedestrians for short distance travel)and I knew I am going to get hit. Unable to move, inevitably it did and I fell down as a dead log. After my resting state, I got up and found my white Mundu (a plain clothing common to our part of the country) with tinges of blood and mud. I went straight to a store purchased another Mundu and a Sandal and changed my cloth then and there. I am not ashamed to say that I have the keenest ability of hiding such incidents from parents and dear ones. It seems like I have grown in my dispassion and now I am not in a mood of doing that anymore because that doesn't allow me to be free within.

Poor my Amma (mother) got scolded by Achchan (father) before he knew about her situation for not being able to do things like a normal person. I don't want anybody to have such surprises with me. I might even go little further and be selfish that I won't allow anybody to share this burden because I would like to go through it completely, rejoicing without conflict :-). Also, I should not do the same mistake that the character in the movie above has done, if at all that was a mistake. One person in the disease forum in US(in which I am a member of) had this experience of her mother saying that, "I would never have let you be born if I knew that this would be your fate". Very strange! Oh! how much I wish that I am given the freedom to be with myself so that I don't have to say such words to posterity.

Right now, I am in the process of figuring the genetics behind this and the probability of its inheritance. Figuring out this will not be a big deal as my professor under whom I am working now, is an excellent geneticist and he is in the process of making me one too. My prof has graduated from the prestigious MIT and his professor there was the 2002 Nobel Laureate, Dr.Horvitz. He is an excellent Guitarist too playing for a local band and the best part is, he likes me as a student and takes a lot of care. Things now and again falling in place!. WOW! Last time I just missed my chance to meet the 2008 Nobel Laureate, Martin Chalfie. Will be meeting some of those people next year and am already very proud of that (and make other people jealous:-).

Last time Shriram told me these amazing words "God/Guru has given us an easy life".
Yes, I am extremely contented about my performance so far and the happiness within can never fade. So, every minute becomes graceful and grateful, every beautiful breath becomes a bonus.
There is not much time to crib and complain for what we don't have, more pleasure is in giving than getting. And, I am INVINCIBLE, in love, care and affection and no human being dare to challenge that!.;-)

JoyGurudev!


PS: This seems to me like the second part of the post "A life time companion". There will be one more post regarding this just after the summer once I figure out the genetic testing.

About AOL Silver Jubilee and changes within.

"Miracle has become so much a common place thing for us"- that's what a senior AOL teacher told during Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Art of Living held in Bangalore in February 2006. It was a great home coming for me! The first time I visited Ashram, completely bowled out by the serenity and comfort that I felt there. After that whenever I went to India, I always went to Ashram.

The preparations, the journey, and the experience of SJC escapes my understanding as to how all that happened! Till couple of months back, I never thought that I am going to attend this. In 2005 December when Gurudev came to NewYork we all drove 14hrs from Purdue and met HIM. In New Jersey there was a public gathering when I met HIM and things started changing and I felt a deep urge to go to SJC, come what may.

After two years of staying away from my home, I was eager to meet my family at home. If not for SJC, I would have had to wait for one more year to meet them. Everything falls in place when we have a good intention. How I got consent from my prof, how I got money to purchase plane ticket and how I managed to stay at Ashram on last day and how I stopped taking my tablets intended for muscle stiffness, all were nothing less than a miracle.

This post is forthcoming...

His Holiness Swamiji Bodhananda Saraswathi.

My interest in spirituality slowly started striking roots when I was taken for Upanishad classes by my father as early as a school kid. I remember the Kathopanishad series of talks given by Nirmalananda Giri Maharaj at "Kottaram" outside our temple. I remember sitting with awe at the questions raised by "Nachiketha" (an eight year old boy whose queries are being answered in this upanishad) to 'Kala'(God of death). Though I didn't understand much about the meaning of the upanishad, the story was great, and it sparked a lot of questions in me.

I heard about Pujya Swamji from by Ichamma (short form for Chittassiamma- father's sister). She had described about Swamiji in detail before I went and met him. I was eager to meet HIM for a long time, but HIS ashram was in Trivandrum and we were staying at Thrissur at that time. Towards the end of my UG days, I heard that HE is coming to Palakkad at Kunnathoormedu. Thus me and father decided to go and meet HIM there.

This post will also be filled later..

'Super-five" - Case diary.

There were only three cases that "super-five" ever investigated.
One is an assignment from Vinod about a "Chathan Shalyam" (problems with Satan) in his house. The other two were self-assigned cases since nobody came forward to give us any further cases. Those were about the "Sandal wood smuggling at Tipu kotta" and "Ganja business near Chira".
This post will be filled soon..

Temple premises

SriRajaRajeshwara of Taliparamba is the king of all kings and lord of all lords. It's a Maha Shiva Kshethra (Great Shiva Temple) and the greatest of its kind. It's being said that an artist conferred any accolade from any where other than this temple has to take it off in obeisance to the lord, but doesn't have to do the same in any other place if conferred from here. The elegance of the temple comes to its zenith during evening "Niramala" (when all lamps are lit for puja)and anybody can just wonder at the ambiance that will make even the staunchest atheist fold his hands. One story is about Uddanda Shastrikal, a great scholar who came to the temple after defeating all the existing pandits and had the behavior of not folding his hands in any temple he visited till then. Seeing the greatness of Lord RajaRajeshwara, his hands spontaneously folded!

It was Shathasoma Rishi who was credited of founding the Lord and starting Puja. When Lord Rama was returning to Ayodhya after war in Lanka, he came down and paid his respects to Lord entering Thidappali (a raised platform right in front of the Lord where some of the pujas are performed). Since then no one is supposed to enter and prostrate the Lord from Thidappalli.

Three main features outside the temple are "Kottumpuram", "Kottaram", and "Jalawanthi".
Kottumpuram is the place where I have seen people pay initial rites to the Lord before going to temple. Also accolades like 'pattum valayum' and "Veera Shrinkhala" are given to eminent artists from here. It's a small open building close to the pond "Jalawanthi".

"Jalawanthi" ('elondhi' in short) is the pond where priests and other people who are staying around the temple can take bath before going to temple. As kids, we went there to swim and I remember doing all kinds of acrobatics there much to the fury of priests whom we make 'Asudha' (impure)by splashing water on them. When this happens, kids are usually spared but scolded well. During monsoons water level raises a lot and will immerse the steps and KulaKkadavu (building erected for privacy for people who take bath). We used to get excited at this time and go there and play 'spiderman'. We will swim with one hand on the wooden supports and act like spiderman flying in between buildings using his spider web.

"Kottaram" is the palace for the Lord befitting a King. This is a bigger construction where people can take rest and mendicants and saints can spend time inside. It's open place and as kids we used to spend time there planning our little mischiefs. It has a second tier where we can get a view of entirety of the temple from outside.

Just outside the temple. Building on the left side is "Kottaram" (only a part of it is seen), right side, "Kottumpuram" and "Elondhi" is right and down to the "Kottumpuram" (not in this pic).

Our treasure hunt!

It all happened when Shibu had a dream!

He told to "super-five" that he had this dream on three successive days and he woke up hearing 'Kootta Mani' (bell ringing) from temple, which means that it is truth.
In his dream he vividly found the presence of a big pot of gold, jewels and coins in a pit at Tipu kotta (a small hillock towards the back side of our temple which is mostly uninhabited and full of trees- looks like a small jungle). Our earlier expedition to this place revealed 'Enna Kulam', (oil pond) and many small 'Kappanas' (bigger pits in ground from where people take clay for various building purposes) and trunks of sandalwood trees (Sandal wood trees, though illegal to cut, people make money by selling it secretly).

We were made to believe that Tipu Sulthan came to our village on his way to South Kerala before his army had to retrieve owing to bad climate and disease outbreaks (there is a story about Ettumanoor temple that he went back due to the King's prayer which caused torrential rain). On my way to school there were small pits of a foot diameter in the middle of a rocky terrain and we were told that, those pits were created due to cannon fire of Tipu;-D (my favorite past time while going to school was to look at swimming tadpoles in water conserved in those pits till some day they all would be gone as metamorphosed to adult frogs;-). Tipu also wanted to snatch Thazhika kudam (the crown of a temple made of gold) of our village temple but was unable to do it and the proof of that is its slight tilt which happened when he tried to forcefully pull it out using some kind of rope.

So he also had left a portion of his loot in a pot somewhere which we were excited to unearth!

We made all preparations for the trip. Took utensils for digging the pit, some snacks and most importantly, many rubber bands so that we can use it to tie immediately above a snake bite (snakes were very common in those places). We discovered the pit which Shibu confirmed as the same that he saw in his dream and started digging. All of us worked till afternoon and by that time we had dug almost 4-5 foot. We concluded that it might be very deep and will return some day later. Fortunately we didn't encounter any poisonous snakes that day.

Later we figured some inconsistencies in Shibu's description about the whole story and started to lose our interest. We didn't also want to work that hard again and thus our treasure hunt remained a unfruitful endeavor;-(.

PS: Shibu was our friend who used to join us in games, especially for cricket matches.
PPS:So many terms in my local dialect, cannot be translated to English or I don't have enough command in English to do that...

A lifetime companion

"Life is grate'ful"- is that grammatically correct? I don't worry about such petty stuffs anymore..But I should make it clear why I chose such a name for my blog address. A large part of it is due to a friend 'within' me who taught me a lot of discipline through examples that sometimes were painful, but every time made me proud about "going through" it.

Aberration in Chloride Channel gene in the 7th chromosome of a human being, and what will be the outcome?- Myotonia Congenita, a muscular defect characterized by hypertrophy and stiffness of muscles.
It makes all the voluntary muscle by virtue of which you can make movements, from muscles in mouth to muscles at the tip of the toe; STIFF, so that you will not be able to move it at your will. Under some shock conditions you will fall like a dead log unable to move any of your limbs. My mother and two of her sisters has it and that's where, I got it. I have trained myself from my childhood to prepare for any adversity this might cause by warming up my muscles before any physical activity I undertake. But life always brings uncertainties which cannot be anticipated and those times I have fallen like a rag doll and continue to do that even now. Added to the difficulty is that there is no visible symptom and people usually don't understand the difficulty and expect you to act as a normal person. The good part is that body unable to move fast, will be falling in 'slow motion' and this myotonic shock will take some time to recover. So I have to lie down on ground for some time enjoying the rest before I can collect myself and manage to stand firm. As a young kid this was an embarassment that even if comebody comes to help you, you will not be able to accept it. Body remains as light as a feather (at least that's what Venki says) always and seeing all these drama, people might think I am drunk as well, ha ha.

Earliest of my memory of Myo is this question popping in mind that when all my friends can move their hands and legs at their will, why can't I?
I loved to play cricket, can hit six and four, but can’t take singles and doubles since that involves running. I am grateful for my friends who understood this and always let me play with bye-runners;-D
School days went on without much trouble since I could walk without difficulty and except during some of the dreadful physical training classes, I emerged un-harmed.
I remember gasping for breaths when stomach gets empty and then I go so sluggish, and all muscles tend to weaken. I was fortunate to have my school at a walkable distance from my home and could avoid bus travel through out.

Once I didn’t go to eat lunch since I was cramming up portions for an afternoon exam and while I was writing the exam Achchan came by, to inquire. For fear of not able to climb steps again, I stayed in the elevated stage where the exam was being conducted and in front of all others staring at me, I shouted out that I am not hungry and went on to write the exam. I heard criticism from my teachers for this behavior since they thought I was being dis-respectful to my father. Also during exams, every time I had to ask an answer sheet I would have to prepare myself, get up and walk with my abnormal gait. This would always make a scene, and to avoid that, I tried to complete all my answers within the sheet provided initially.

For my pre-degree, going to SS College everyday was an ordeal since I had to get into bus. I remember Amma not allowing me to go to Payyannur college even after they had Sanskrit which I loved to study as my second language since I had difficulty in climbing bus and travel so far. In our parts of state climbing bus would become a difficult task even for a normal person, so not to mention people like me! Since looking at me people cannot make out whether I have some problem, they take it for granted and I have found myself falling from a bus that's moving, many times.
During my UG, how many times I don’t remember, I have fell down climbing steps like that and then my friends will get angry at the bus conductor for his carelessness and later I would explain that it was not his fault.

When I finally got diagnosed after a series of painful shock electrical diagnosis tests, the EMG tests, I was relieved that I would get some medication. Took Dilantin tablets so that muscles get relaxed, for almost a year, as per the neurologist's instruction (Dr.Abdul Majeed at Thrissur, an amazing doctor for whom I have lot of respect). But it got worse and soon I found myself unable to get up from bus seat if I sit for some time. So I avoided sitting in bus even if there were empty seats. I stopped telling this to parents as well so that they don't get sad at my plight. But Amma caught me one early morning while brushing my teeth and falling down near our wash basin and the whole of the basin coming on top of me and then scolded me for not telling her. Then the intensity of medication increased, Eptoin tablets, almost 300mg/day for years after wards so that I could avert such casualties on a daily basis. This tablet was so powerful that when I took it for the first time, I felt giddy and had to lie down immediately. But, afterwards got used to it. What this medications did was not to make muscles fast again, but will avoid it getting further sluggish. So with those, I can work with my muscles taking precautions and warming it up before I make any movement.

Eptoin stayed with me even when I came to US and I had to get many bottles of Eptoin tablets whenever any of my friends went to India since I didn't have prescription to get that in US and I didn't want to change the medicine also.
It stayed with me until I started practicing Sudarshan Kriya! With SK, I could completely avoid taking any tablets and still have a 'normal' life.
About the miracle of SK and AOL Silver Jubilee, 2006, that changed so much within and without, including this disease, will write another post later.

Life outside the country!

Ha ha I have jumped right from my childhood to the "old me" of today. Will write about childhood and arrange those posts as and when it comes..

"Life outside the country" is the last part of the episode after the above two.

This is all about the time from 2004 onwards when I came to Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA for my Masters in Plant Pathology and a brief gap in between for 6 months in home after my Masters and resuming as a PhD student at Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas.

There were so many funny incidents that I can think of during my first trip in plane, that too such a long distance trip to US and afterwards adjusting to the lifestyle, academics and people here.

I have managed to travel to at least 20 different states in US, staying with friends or family or retreat centers, went to at least 10 different universities either for conferences or interviews or friendly visits and the list is getting bigger...

I have made very good friends here, from different parts of the world, learned a great deal about different cultures and ate a lot of different varieties of food!

I remember my first trip ever within US was done all alone, that too in the Greyhound bus and that too through Gary, Indiana, a scary place where I have heard "mugging" is a commonplace thing. This trip was a dream come true for me as it enabled me to meet Swamiji at Kalamazoo, Michigan in June 2004. My tryst with H H Bodhananda Saraswathi happened back home towards the final days of my UG life about that I would write in a separate blog later. After that I really wanted to meet HIM in person which I knew would be able to do only when I am here. I am still amazed how all the words that HE uttered and the email that HE sent, came to pass later in my life!

When I think of HIM, I can visualize a moving glow of light, an ocean of knowledge!

I am blessed with his guidance during those days when I was completely alone, home-sick and thought that there is no point in academics and studying..

HE told me that after two years you will be better placed and lo! after two years so many friends came and better, I became an AOL family member!

The love and affection that Venki, Sriram, Gowri, Heidi (my most beautiful AOL teacher), Raghavan and many other AOLites gave me; supported the bud of spirituality in me. And there is no looking back, this joy is always growing and always giving!

On a different note, fast forwarding to present...

Today a plant in my lab blossomed! I am very happy that after two years of consistent and persistent care, this succulent plant started to produce flowers (will put photo once it completely flowers)! I never thought that it's a flowering plant even, but didn't lose hope.

That's what it takes for a bud or any living being for that matter to blossom.

Care and Share..

;-D

The small succulent plant that gave an inflorescence more than twice its height. This is my lab, see my work bench and microscope (I keep it safely covered by the red cloth:-) also.

On Childhood!

I am starting to write some of my child hood experiences trying as much as to put it in a chronological order. This is just to enable myself re-live those wonderful events/moments that happened before me as a kid and to think about my reaction to all those events. Would like to arrange it into two major parts. The first part of it is "Life in Village" at Taliparambu, Kannur District, Kerala State, India. This will include events as a kid from as much back my memory can get me, then as a school boy, till my Pre-Degree days. Second part starts when my family gets transferred to Thrissur where I did my undergraduate education in BSc Agriculture- "Life away from village".

I have always felt that my childhood has been the best one!!, in a typical village with all the simple joy that innocent people and colorful nature can offer. As any other village kid WE had been part of so many mischiefs, those known to world and those still unknown to public;-D!

WE in the above sentence include the "super-five", the name that we gave to our gang of me, my Bro, Rajesh (affectionately called Raesh), Rajesh (aff''ly called Raju) and Vinod. I rememeber seeing serials of children-detectives in TV those days that made us invent "super-five" badges for ourselves and at times even wearing them!

My childhood friends are my treasure, the people who gave so much love and affection, the people with whom I have shared a lot of pain and pleasure, the people who gave me so much courage and comfort. Their affection has taken me a long way further in my life and I feel their presence whenever I think of them and close my eyes..

I will see if I can post all of our photos here.

Raesh

Raju

Manu (Bro!!:-)

 Vinod is the most enthusisatic among all of us. Any project, any idea, we have, he gets into it fast and is always excited. He was my buddy for long time before the 'Super Five' even formed.

Finally we all are here:-D