Sri Venkataramana temple --Mangalore.

The 300 year old temple dedicated to Vishnu is a dazzling place of worship.This kerala type wood worked and tiled  temple has exquisite carvings all round the sanctum that gleam in freshly applied wood polish.
Shining silver plating of pillars ,doorways and every sannidhi --Hanuman, Ganesha, Lakshmi, Garuda and Vishnu /Venakataramana is highly polished and exudes a richness , wealth and 'care' that i have not seen in any other temple i have visited so far.

Beautiful to the eyes is the subtle but rich ornamentation that is totally other wordily.

Would Vaikuntum be like this? Or is it but a fraction of what it would actually be? Only Narayana/vishnu and muktas can tell.

To Karkala, VenkataramanaTemple and Udipi.Sri Krishna temple

Reached Karkala in noon [19.2.13] .The 42 feet statue of Bahubali /Gomateshwar  consecrated in 15 th cent overlooks the town of Karakala benignly from a rocky hill top ,with awe inspiring view of lakes ,fronds,and rolling hills of Western Ghats.
Another ancient ascetic who according to the official guiding us was the brother of 'Bharata' from whom India derives that ancient name Bharat.

He is the first and most revered of all Jain sanyasi's .I remember having seen his statue at Saravanabelagola  near Mysore in my childhood. That idol is much earlier--10 th cent and taller.
The idols of 24 thirthankaras unearthed a decade ago whilst renovating the compound wall ,line the back.
On the whole an excellent place for calm introspection. 

Then visited Sri Venkataramana temple at Karkala .
Darshan was closed for the day and lunch was being served to devotees and were invited to join .
The food had all hallmark of the famous Udipi cuisine. This prasadam compensated us for the disappointment .

Evening reached Udipi. Sri Krishna the deity we were thirsting to have a view presented a charming vision with a silver churner held in the hand through the spaces between the closed gates [the usual mode] in a near empty temple and had a fill yet his beauty is such that it created a craving to have more and more.
The marble hall right at the sanctums  front facilitated a quiet meditation and  to seek  blessings   from the dissolver of dilemmas and guide to truth in a individual.

Sloka from Gita for the day.

Sreyan svadharmo vigunah para dharmat svanushitat/
Svadharme nidhanam sreyah para dharmo bhayavahah//

Meaning:One's own Dharma even though not glamorous is better than duty alien to one's growth ,however well performed
For even death in doing one's duty leads to one's good ,while a duty alien to one's growth is burdened with the fear of down fall.

To Sringeri.Temple

The purpose of this visit was mainly to have a darshan of Sri Krishna at Udipi,yet more place of historical and religious importance was added to the itinerary with the  reasoning that this could be once in a lifetime visit so why miss out on others .
So early morning on 19 .2.13 we set off to Sringeri mutt 100 kms away from our place of halt Mangalore .Sringeri is the very first place that Adi Shankara launched and established mutts to revive and propagate Hinduism.
Roads need no comment as they are all good and traffic not as heavy or intolerable as is on T Nadu highways.

Like Kerala there are houses and only houses everywhere half  hidden under green clumps of coconut trees.Barely any fields.The houses merge beautifully in the greenery .All are  tiled houses that looks authentic with layers of dust and dried fungus gathered over the years dimming the glare of the red colour.In kerala the red tiles glinted with the brilliance of wealth.

We had to cut across Kudremukh national park for 20 kms on the way.
The dense forest has only river Thunga flowing quietly by as its companion with ruckus created by cicadas or tree crickets singing in unison at places where the trees grow densely.

The eerie forest ,cooler than the AC of the car,that sputtered out enabling me to hear the racket and feel the wind set me wondering at the determination of Adi Shankara to walk through such a thick forest that must have been thicker 1200 years earlier in his quest to organise Hinduism and to revive and spread it  within Bharat .What inspired him to do so? The concept of monastery  never existed in Vedic times .Was he influenced by Buddhism  or did the winds of Christianity in distant shores  as a organised religion carry the information here as well?
What ever the inspiration behind his remarkable endeavour and contribution to stabilise Hinduism in this sub continent is unmatched and unrivalled since then.Yes there were equally inspired and determined acharyas like Sri Ramanuja -12 th cent,SriMadhavacharya of 15 th cent Ad  who is credited with consecrating Sri Krishna temple at Udupi along with establishment of  8 mutts,  who strove hard to further widen the scope of Hinduism by subsuming caste to devotion .Yet it is to Adi Shankara 's credit to have thrown the first stone that may have caused the ripples in form of later acharyas and the philosophies and organisational capacities associated with them.

At Sringeri mutt had a splendid darshan of Saradambal that was originally consecrated by Adi Shankara himself .According to a famous caranatic vocalist we met on our return journey the deity personifying knowledge and wisdom was actually in memory of Sarada the wife of Misra ,who.[Sarada ]arbitrated the debate between her husband's mimasa belief against shankara;s advaita belief's  ,as a reverential and sincere acknowledgement of her deep knowledge and sense of fair play.

The temple was quiet and made me pause and meditate saluting the ascetic and seeking his support and protection. from over there.

The asi protected monument by its side is a painstakingly intricate and  beautifully sculpted temple with panels on Dasavatar along with family pantheon of Siva ,commissioned  by .Harri hara and Bukka the founders of Vijayanagar empire , over the jeevan samadhi of the 10 th guru --Vidya shankar of shanakaracharya order .
River Thunga flows nearby as it has done for 1000's of years in surroundings in remarkably well preserved pristinity as it would have been when Adi Shankara sat on its banks meditating ,  is cool to touch and  refreshing .

Mangalore.

The city reminds me of Mysore but as a newer and modern version.The main roads are in concrete..It also reminds of Varkala with its winding inner streets with a lot of ups and downs.
The temples are just like the one's i visited at Kerala .The construction and layout with broad tiled roof's, the tiles known as Mangalore tiles that once denoted prosperity when it was laid on roof's of dwellings in Tamilnadu and Andra  in lieu of the locally made small sized tiles.

The tiles have stuck on forming the roof of several houses  side by side with spanking new multi storeyed buildings and  flat roofs.What struck me was the abundance of banyan trees  on the road side exuding solidity and continuity.

At night however the city took a altogether new look as we took another route,with blazing lights over shops , malls and gym's that looks out on to the traffic laden road with the exercisers visible to every passerby through the transparent huge glass windows ,exactly like some of those gym's at Chennai.A country wide phenomena of gyming in confines but visible to the public, a deliberate design?

Mangalore is a mini modern metro like those dotting South and Gujarat --my recent visits being confined to these places so are my observations.

Took a  trip to nearest beach that was 15 kms away to watch the locally famed sunset.The beach is clean and the sun set dramatically as a  delicious orange candy within a wink of the eye.Like signal most of the shops -eateries closed and nearly all the visitors emptied the the sands walking towards their parked vehicles!
The beach reminded me of Elliot's beach as it was a couple of decades back, forlorn and empty.Now one has to jostle for even an inch of space ,especially after sun down!

The auto driver was bent on pointing out the manufacturing units like that of fertilisers, cement, iron and it companies  lining the way to our bleary eyes begging for sleep  from the tiring, long train journey.

I noticed earlier in the day that  a lot of women  were on the street on their own from middle class .I found a kindred spirit with all those carrying a parasol --many of them as a protection from the heat to their fair and sensitive skins.
Side by side with tip to toe black bhurka clad gils a sizable number are those In jeans , 3/4 th leggings  and mini shorts!

 Earlier we could not have darshan of Sri Venkataramana since a local holi festival  as  a part of Rath yatra was in full swing with crowds of youth and kids  milling around having a whale of a time splashing water and smearing colours.But had  a peaceful darshan of Mangala devi the deity of an ancient temple from whom the city derives its name. 

T he beach near Mangalore.

To Udipi Sri Krishna temple --east to west coast.

Since childhood i always associated Udupi with Udipi hotels that dotted South India and were famous or their delicious cuisine ,of tasty meals and tiffins made tastier by generous garnishing with desicated coconuts.
The connection between Udupi and Sri Krishna was always there but somewhat hazy and distant  but its importance to our religious psyche was as concrete and equivalent to that of Krishna's temple at Guruvayoor.

It was my long cherished desire to visit Udupi that had reached fruition only now after harboring it within fir several decades and here i was walking down the Railway platform at Chennai searching for our coach, in the night express.
A slender man lay stretched out languidly on a sheet of paper in a corner of the platform ,with a cement bag for a pillow .He was unperturbed by  all the characteristic bustles of a busy rly station . His eyes fixed dreamily on the sky visible through a slit in the covering .
A sigh escaped me .How lucky he was to stare moodily and meditatively without anyone finding it ridiculous or insane  or abnormal.Some people even those lowly placed have all the fun effortlessly  that is bent on eluding those specially those who set a time frame to have it like me who has the additional burden of artificially  manufactured status  that is either out of genuine  respect or mere scorn ,unceremoniously thrust upon

The red shirted coolies have dwindled in numbers what with 90 % of the passengers be it a small boy clutching his mothers hand or a old lady bent with age pulling their travel bags ,all with wheels ,with ease.

The golden rays of the morning sun poured over the landscape the next day that was no longer  arid or cultivated fields as it was in Tamilnadu but that of dense foliage ,clumps of coconut trees ,whose dark shadow was reflected by innumerable ponds,way side ditches [ i recollected the heavy rains that lashed the train on its journey the night before] and backwaters  along the way. .
We had entered Kerala and were soon thereafter in Karnataka .The spacious red tiled houses occupying every available space in Kerala continued to do so as we neared Mangalore .The sea sky blue and restful beckoned us at a distance.

17.2.13--18.2.13

Thirupavai ---28.

**Karavaigal pinsendru ganamserthu unnbom!
Arivondrum illadha aayarkulathu unthannai piravi perunthanai punniyam yamudaiyom,
Kurai ondrum illadha Govinda!
unnthanodu uravel namakking khozhika ozhiyadhu!
Arriyadha pillaigalom anbhinaal un thannai siru per azhaithanaiyumm seeri aruladhe Irraiva!
Nee thaarai paraiye lorembpavai.

Meaning:
             **   We eat and nourish ourselves by merely grazing our cattle's in forests,
We the cattle herders are a clan that is devoid of knowledge and wisdom.
How ever by your birth in our clan we are greatly blessed and are thereforedeeply grateful!
O Govinda the flawless One !
The relationship between yourself and ourselves is such that it cannot be destroyed by neither of us!
O bhagwan ,we the ignorant children must be forgiven for calling you with utmost  familiarity  with common names , we do so ,out of sheer love and devotion!
Grant us boons as you think is worthy of conferment upon us!

Strands of Hindu faith and philosophy in Neitzsche's thoughts.

Friedrich Nietzsche was a 19 th cent German philosopher, poet and cultural critic.

I find a similarity of thoughts between some of his later day observations  and those of our ancient seers, Hindu faith and philosophy.
His view on cause and effect is as follows---

Such a duality probably never exists, in truth we are confronted by a continuum ,out of which we isolate a couple of pieces .The suddenness with which many effects stand out mislead us ,actually it is sudden only for us .In this moment of suddenness there are infinite number of processes that eludes us.An intellect would see causes and effects as a continuum and a flux and not as we do in terms of an arbitrary division and dismemberment.---------------[Gay science]

In Gita Lord Krishna says something similar when he advises Arjuna to give up his diffidence and despair on the enormity of having to confront and slay his near dear ones in a clearly drawn battle and meet them head on in the following verse

Sri Bhagwan uvaca,

Kalomi loka ksaya krt pravrddho lokan samahartum iha pravrattah\
Rhitepi tvam na bhavisyanthi sarve ye vashtitah pratyanikesu yodah|

meaning: Bhagwan said

I am the mighty world destroying Time, engaged here in annihilating all beings.Even without you not one of all the warriors arrayed in these rival armies shall survive.-----------chap 11,  sloka32.

Brithrahari, 1 cent AD grammarian, poet and king philosopher has this to say about the power of fate.

"It is not sun's fault that an owl cannot see at day!Who can interfere with what is written on the forehead of us all?"

Further in his plan for an unfinished book Nietzsche says,
"My philosophy brings triumphant idea of which all other modes of thought will ultimately perish.It is the greatest cultivating idea : the races that cannot bear it ,stand condemned, those who find the greatest benefit ,are chosen to rule."
"I want to teach this idea ---Everything becomes and recurs eternally.Escape is impossible!" ---The recurring  and inescapable cycle of birth and death that Hindu's staunchly believe in.

He then proceeds " To endure this idea of recurrence one needs --Freedom from morality, new means against the fact of pain [pain conceived as a tool , as a father of pleasure] the enjoyment of all kinds of uncertainty. experimentalism."

Gita has already stated this in ancient times.in chap 12 slokas 18 & 19.

Samah satrau ca mitre ca tatha man apamanayaoh |
Sitosna sukha duhkhesu samah sanga vavarjitah|

Tulya ninda stutir mauni samtusto yena kenacit |
aniketah sthira matir bhakthiman me priyo narah

Meaning:  Alike to friend alike to foe, alike in honour and insult, alike in heat and cold ,alike in praise and blame--unattached , contented , homeless and steady in mind --dear to Me is a man who is thus devoted  [Path to Moksha-- that is freedom from the recurring cycle of birth and death]

Then he concludes thus " Greatest elevation of the consciousness of strength in man , as he creates 'Over man'-from will to power. '

 In Gita Bhagvan says

Aham atma gudakesa sarva bhutasaya sthita|
aham adis ca madhyam ca bhutanam anta eve ca|

meaning: 'O' Arjuna. I am the self residing in the heart of every being .Iam their beginning, their life span and their end.

And the Upanishads state Aham bramhasyami  meaning-- I am [each self]" Brahmam" [the ultimate power]

Root of pure politics.

Two topmost fear of ppt's over my blogs are--

1.That something in it would inspire the scam specialist to seek a microphone post haste and relay specific details of such and such scam to the world at large ,which either causes deep hurt to some one scarred emotionally or make ppts view aap as potential vote splitter or both.

2.The something in it inspires mandir margi's to get into a frenzy of temple building with chants Ram , Ram rending the air ,sending shivers down those ppts  trying hard for a secular makeover away from the basics.

Frankly i have no inner motives  when i write what i see or feel.Those who read them seem to have including ppt's whose fear for political survival causes me an innocent bystander  who wouldn't harm a fly, headaches in the form of relentless psychological pressure tactics in  a  bid to make me bow and toe the line.

scapegoat.

Call me delusional and write me off.[What a relief that would be from constant male gaze and stares and all round barely concealed hostility and ridicule] but i have this sinking feeling quite a strong one , that ruling ppt's mantra as and when it suits them is to either reverse  my thinking and views  expressed verbally  or in writing and apply it to further their political fortunes or find hidden meanings in the  my plain writings ,that are glaringly visible only to their microscopic eyes and code breaking brains and apply it gleefully to score over their counterparts  ie ppt's in the opposition.
Eg waiver of loans to weavers in up elections , the selection of a  brahmin house wife to contest in Guj elections[ eveas droping],and recently so very Macbethen ,the final call on the execution of the 2 terrorists--my posts  on Jan 21 st --the advise to RG and the one on Sri rangam --of description  and invasion from north in a historical perspective on Jan 26th  has hidden directions galore for those lost and trying to get a grip.

To hand ppt's i am the personification , the Syambhu [risen on my own accord]of all that the opposing ppt's stand for and whatever i babble in my drawing room or bedroom or anything i scribble even in my diary[ it is no longer personal as it has been forcibly acquired for public purposes in furtherance of politico's and journo's --even those who agitate against forcible land acquisitions and vociferously guard the right to freedom of expression ,privacy etc ,the marginalised and moralise,without any compensation] has to be carefully examined like diamond merchants do [ there i have given yet another unwitting lead ] sifting through the tiny glittering pieces with forceps and then on finding a sizable  and seizable one let out a whoop of joy Eureka ,we have discovered as to what makes the lotus ppts tick and the secret arsenal in their camp and proceed stomping around like a elephant in rut.

If you ppt's donot believe this then you should stop reading clandestinely with such obvious interest what ever i am rambling   and as observed in beginning of first para ,just write me off and pull out all those clowns hovering around me and dancing to your tunes.I have no concrete information as to who they actually are , so shadowy and secretive is there tangible presence .If they are govt servants i withdraw my epithet, only if]

I donot for one moment want to  be mistaken for a bleeding heart pseudo intellectual [ a true intellectual will never stoop to read my views clandestinely before i publish them] shedding copious tears over felons, rapists, murderers, terrorists ,etc,etc ,or psuedo commies  but actual fascists since a true commie is incorruptible and will not surreptiously snoop into others writings  for a few rupees and is a actual fascisit since he has no guilt to snoop since he thinks what he is doing is right though to world at large it is considered as wrong or a psuedo Hindu who shockingly as in my case took the adharmic step of humiliating a hindu woman whom they swear to protect from minorities a true Manuwadi would have first taken the permission of male members of the family and never act this shadily and despicably,  happily abetted by psuedo constitutionalists who so loftily gave it and  swear by the fundamental rights  but break it without any compunction and their co psuedo dravidians whose hate is only for brahmins only in here ,but as one revolted by the politics , the cat and mouse  game over decisions duly arrived at by the Supreme court, the ditherings with selfish motives by poking the political nose after the completion of the due process of law and to make my writings the inspiration or the touch stone , a scape goat for a bloody decision--execution.That  is nauseating.

Jyothi.--the light that lit a million lights before flickering out

The other day i was watching Justice Verma's interview on TV about his recommendations on the overhaul of laws relating to rape.
He said that he did not touch the Juvenile act because when way back in 1974 when he had read in entirety all the laws ,research papers etc on juveniles, the act is justified in  age limit prescribed by it.He further added that due consideration must be given to socio economic background of juveniles and must show leniency if he or she is from the low strata of society.and that it was the widely accepted modern thinking and view to do away with capital punishment.I have no views or quarrel on the modern thinking of shutting off convicts all their life's in a jail.

His honour is definitely very well versed and highly experienced , to use his own reasoning regarding modernity and modern thinking , his understanding of a juvenile is based on papers produced nearly 40 years back roughly when i was a adolescent myself and i remember that even in the capitol city of India, Delhi there were TVs only in very few households with single channel ,for a limited period of time,sanitised suitably by the govt.And that cinema halls, the only way to see films admitted only adults to view adult films  and affordability of video tape recorders was still a few decades away.

Now with multitude of channels on tvs' available at every nook and corner of our country one needn't be an adult to watch adult contents nor is it forbidden on the net or on watching it on Cd's,that are available dime a dozen .Hence teenagers of modern --current times have much more information and exposure whether straight forward or perverted, to facts of life than all those under privileged as well as many of the privileged one's had access 40 years back.

I have no idea as to how an juvenile mind works but i think the age of innocence has been quite swiftly bypassed for many in this new age.

Another wretched thing taxing my mind is ,if the accused 's socio economic conditions have to be taken into account to deal with him leniently what about that of the victim's?

In here Jyoti is also from the same strata .She chose to put in  hard work to pull out of poverty with dreams of a good life and not to have her intestines ripped away with a rod on a ordinary bus trip by a person similarly placed but  who chose an easy  and sadistic way to satisfy his cravings for his view of good life.  .

Photo's of Nam perumal - ranganathar at the rath yatra performed on 26.1.13 on ocurrence of punarvasu star.in Srirangam temple

Photo's of Rath Yatra at Srirangam temple on 26 th Jan ,2013

 Elephant preceding the yatra.

 A section of the devotees.

 The rath carrying  Sri ranganathar in  the outer circumbulatory passage of the temple temple.

 Ranganathar in calm repose in the central niche of the Raja gopuram

The raja gopuram

Photo's of river Kaveri at Kallannai dam Trichy.

Visit my earlier post To koiladi Feb 2011 to see Kaveri in full flow.

Photo's of Koiladi temple.

Workers renovating the walls

The  way leading to  river Kaveri  from the temple

Visit my earlier bolg post Koiladi Appala Ranganathar  Feb 2011to view the. dilapidated state of this temple on my last visit