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Apeetha-kuchalaamba
The Godess enshrined at Thiruvannaamalai (famous for the Ramana Ashram) is called thus, meaning Mother with undrunk-from breasts. The women I had the honor of meeting during the course of the Art of Living stress-management program (as mentioned in an earlier post) were mothers, but for several, some of their breasts were missing, not just undrunk-from. By the penultimate day- actually by the 4th day, these very women, who were so emotional about the loss of a significant part of their womanhood, were laughing and joking about the very same issue! The shift was simple- They had recognised their power- their Shakti Roopa that went beyond the presence or absence of breasts. The gratitude and love experienced and expressed by these women made me a puddle.

I salute you, Woman-Mother-Shakti-Love.
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Posted by Meenakshi at 09:04 PM | Permalink

GPS- a Cardinal Sin
I was giving directions to a friend when she interrupted me and said, just give me your address, I have a GPS. And this is not the first time this has happened either. I guess I am one of those fortunates in the world who have a strong sense of latitudes and longitudes who find it hard to get lost in solitude and crowds.

For over a year now I have been doing a "research" of my own to find out more about this "dependance" on a Geo-Positioning System in the car. I wondered how these work if there was an untoward diversion in the road owing to an accident or roadwork. What part of the brain ensures the ability of a body to navigate itself from point A to B and its ability to retrace its path? What prevents another brain from deriving its "place in the sun" without the fear of getting lost?

I read sometime back that there is some kind of receptor in the brain that aligns itself to the magnetic north and that is the reason why such "compassed brains" find their way around. Again when this experiment is done with people blindfolded and turned around in the dark, they stumble and end up with a lower success rate.

Extending this idea of a GPS, today in our vehicles, tomorrow- grafted into our brains?, would imply that the brain did not have that ability before. But that is not true either- Humans have found their way around this planet without all these aids for millenia. So what is the truth about direction?

While I am not against calculators, computers or GPS, I find that more and more we are getting bound to these gadgets, our brain is not exercised enough to enrich itself in learning- making mistakes and, thus, learn from them. We are moving into a realm of perfection that has no room for imperfection.

Wonder if this is what Shri Aurobindo meant by the "supramental" human?!
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Posted by Meenakshi at 05:19 PM | Permalink

Love and Ramayana
Eleven days ago, I finally got my hands on the first four books of The Ramayana by Ashok Banker. I started to read the Prince of Ayodhya and had to stay uptil 2am finishing it, earning the ire of all members of the family. Then I had to sleep and wait for the weekend to begin The Seige of Mithila owing to my commitment to my marriage and family! My eyes couldnt take in the words fast enough to get to The Demons of Chitrakoot. Then it was time for me to stop all the reading and go on an amazing "vacation" to get back to my self. I willed myself to write this post before I finish reading The Armies of Hanuman as I want to save some bit to relish while awaiting the last few volumes. Ashok, if you are reading this, let me tell you that I LOVE your style and speed. It was so fast-paced. And guess what, after reading about Rama doing his Sandhyavandan, my son has become more regular with it!! He feels so connected with a character like Rama who wears Indian clothes, does Indian stuff and eats Indian food. No pizza and coke, no jeans and Tees but with all the "cool" stuff like in the Lord of the Rings or even Harry Potter, couldnt have it better! And what a story, as old as time and yet as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.

The Ramayana has always symbolized Love in all its shades to me. It was intriguing to read a narrative where there is absolutely no overt expression of "love" but is simply experienced as a life fully expressed and lived at every turn of the page. The fantasia of an epic that has created more connections in my brain than anything else made me look within to see the enthusiasm and joy welling up.

To top this I was in an amazing experience of a "training"(?) and just let the love flow through and out of me. I can just summarise that experience with language that cannot truly convey everything but here I go: Once there was a heart (am giving you a graphic representation as words are sort of hard to come by to explain!) and around the age of 5, I put it in a box. As the years rolled by, I made this box bigger by letting in all the situations and people in along with the lessons and knowledge they brought in. This included books, music and all my various interests and hobbies. Then, a decade ago I did the Art of Living course and during one of the processes, this box vanished on me. It was beautiful, I looked beautiful too after that course and soon, the box came right back with the course inside. Meeting with the Guru, being in the presence of truth (satsangh), meditating, giving of myself to a friend or my child or even doing dishes (rarely though!), the box would vanish and the heart would flow. This Friday, that box vanished after an intense expereince of letting go that went on for more than 5 hours.

Ra (light) m (within me) had vanquished Ravana (the ego- the box). It is now Deepavali. Love.
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Posted by Meenakshi at 09:48 PM | Permalink

That "C" Word
I dont know if it was the effect of Lady Katrina, but the C word: Corruption found itself being frequently used in several blogs the past couple of days. Do-gooders sitting in the haloes US of A worry about the corruption situations in India. Now, dowry has also joined the list of corruption, according to a brilliant journalist from Mumbai. I wonder why these blokes dont add insurance premiums, gratuities, sales commissions and other commissions too to that haloed list?

How can anyone justify a CEO of a company here, in the haloed US of A to earn a salary of a few millions of $? How can anyone justify the cost of a $100,000 shower head that will give u a "hydrotherapeutic massage"? How can anyone justify the existence of gas guzzlers like the HUMMER on the roads when internationally, there are countries whose very economic existence is determined by the price of gasoline and its availability? How can anyone justify the cost of a "Ralph Lauren" shirt that costs $120 when not on sale when the actual material/labor/transportaion cost of it would not top $5?

If all the above can be justified, so can corruption as it is but a phenomenon that balances these.
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Posted by Meenakshi at 03:28 PM | Permalink