Life is an illusion

 ಹೆದರಬೇಡಿ. ನಾನು ಓಪನ್ ಆಗಿ ನನ್ನ ದೋಷಗಳನ್ನು ಹೇಳಿಕೊಳ್ತಾ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಶಬ್ದಶಃ ನುಡಿಯ ಅರ್ಥ ಹೇಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ನೀವು ಭಾರತೀಯ ಮಹಿಳೆಯಾದರೆ ಒಮ್ಮೆಯಲ್ಲ ಒಮ್ಮೆ ನಾನು ಈಗ ಹೇಳುವ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟವನ್ನು ಅನುಭವಿಸಿದ್ದೀರಾ. ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ಎದ್ದು ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಹಾಲು ಹೆಪ್ಪಾಗೇ ಇಲ್ಲ. ದಿನದಂತೆ ಹಾಲಿಗೆ ಹುಳಿ ಹಿಂಡಿ - ಅಂದರೆ ಹೆಪ್ಪು ಹಾಕಿ ನಿರಾಳವಾಗಿ ಮಲಗಿದ್ದಿರಿ. ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಈ ಭಾನಗಡೆ. ಈಗೇನು ಮಾಡಬೇಕಪ್ಪಾ. ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ - ಚೂರೇ ಚೂರು ಬಿಸಿ ಮಾಡಿದರೇ ಹಾಲು ಒಡೆಯಬಹುದು. ಬಿಸಿ ನೀರಲ್ಲಿ ಪಾತ್ರೆ ಇಟ್ಟರೆ ಹೆಪ್ಪಾಗದೇ ಉಳಿಯಬಹುದು. ಏನು ಮಾಡಬೇಕಪ್ಪ. ಒಂದು/ಅರ್ಧ ಲೀಟರ್ ಹಾಲು ಹಾಳು ಮಾಡಿದ ಪಶ್ಚಾತ್ತಾಪ ಒಂದು ಕಡೆ, ಇನ್ನು ದಿನವಿಡಿ ಬೇಕಾಗುವ ಮೊಸರಿಗೆ ಏನು ಮಾಡಬೇಕೆಂಬ ಸಂದಿಗ್ಧ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಕಡೆ.  ಅಮ್ಮ ಹೇಳದರು - ರಾತ್ರಿ ಹೆಪ್ಪು ಹಾಕಿದ ಮೇಲೆ, ಆ ಪಾತ್ರೆಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಪಾತ್ರೆ ಮುಚ್ಚಿಡು. ಅದನ್ನು ಪ್ರಯತ್ನಿಸಿದೆ. ನನ್ನದೇ ಅವಿಷ್ಕಾರವಾದ - ಹೆಪ್ಪು ಹಾಕಿದ ಹಾಲಿನ ಬೋಗುಣಿ ಮೇಲೆ ಭಾರ ಹೇರಿ ನೋಡಿದೆ. ಕುಕರ್ ಒಳಗಡೆ ಹಾಲಿನ ಪಾತ್ರೆ ಇಟ್ಟು ನೋಡಿದೆ.  ಉಹುಂ, ಏನು ಮಾಡಿದರೂ ಹಾಲು ಮೊಸರಾಗುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಕೈ ಚೆಲ್ಲಿ ಛಳಿಗಾಲವಿಡೀ ನಂದಿನಿ ಮೊಸರು ಅಂಗಡಿಯಿಂದ ತಂದು ಬಿಟ್ಟೆ. ನಂದಿನಿ ಮೊಸರು ದಪ್ಪಗೇನೋ ಇತ್ತು, ಆದರೆ ಏನೇನು ಹಾಕುತ್ತಾರೋ ದೇವರಿಗೇ ಗೊತ್ತು. ಈ ವರ್ಷ ಒಂದು ಐಡಿಯಾ ಹೊಳೆಯಿತು. ಅಡಿಗೆ ಮನೆ ಮೂಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗುಮ್ಮಣ್ಣನಂತೆ ಕುಳಿತು

We have all heard the classification of religions as monotheistic and polytheistic (and atheistic if you want). But what is henotheism? Max Muller - British orientalist  coined this term to describe Indian religions - particularly Hindu religion. Henotheism is the worship a single God while not denying the existence of other Gods.  He noticed that the scriptures in our religion mention various deities as if they were one ultimate God/Goddess.  The origin is hen (one in Greek ) + theism (theos in Greek = God).  A related word is kathenotheism is the worship of one God at a time. Which we can relate to - Ganesha when starting any task, Shani on saturday, Goddess on Friday and Tuesday etc.  The abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) are all monothiestic. They believe that there is only God and often ridicule other religions for multitude of their Gods.  But again we Hindus always know that the God is one and we just call him by different names and give him different attrib

 What is a slur nowadays in India? One of them is left liberal. Where as right wing is a title of honor almost. So what are these words and what are the origins of these political terms?  A leftist ideology is liberal, rooting for change, for equality and modernism. It advocates the rights of poor people. Right wing ideology gives importance to order, it is conservative and it is on the side of rulers and rich people.  According to wikipedia which is modern day bible -  Generally, the left wing is characterized by an emphasis on "ideas such as freedom , equality, fraternity, rights, progress , reform and internationalism" while the right wing is characterized by an emphasis on "notions such as authority , hierarchy, order, duty , tradition, reaction and nationalism". And these words have their origin in French revolution. Soon after french revolution, in the french assembly, people who were loyal to the church and the king sat to the right of the president and suppo

 I re-watched House of Cards series in Netflix. Is it scary, very much so. But not in a sci-fi or ghost-zombie type of scary? It is real world scary. Looking at the dealings the politicians make, which we will never be aware of, I will re-iterate my previous quote - "आसन्द निमित्तं बहुकृत वेषम्". Asanda in sanskrit means chair - kursi - the throne if you may.  I wonder when ever our politicians take oath on the Holy Gita or other holy scriptures - will be they be imagining this book "the house of cards"? Will the new interns into political parties be taught this book/videos one lesson at a time? In times of crisis, will the 'leaders' lock themselves in their chambers and look into this book for guidance? For those of you who are living under rocks - 'House of cards' is a TV series about a very ambitious couple Frank Underwood and Claire Underwood and all their 'struggles' to become president and then to retain that power.  The struggle involv

 There are too many elections all across the world, that took place this year. And most have the same result - throw out the current government and bring in a new one. It does not matter if it is right wing, left wing, pro-rich, pro-poor. Just kick out the old government.  So people all over, are frustrated with inflation, unemployment, poor infrastructure and lack of accountability of their governments. And they hope (a faint hope)  that the other party they are voting to power may some how be a better one. Even a tiny bit better.  So the winner is not left or right, but anti-incumbency. Then what did happen in our good old country? Why didn't we kick out the incumbent government? But the numbers tell us that people were not happy with incumbent government.  Is this change, the change people want and change people brought in is any good for the society? It is a little bit good - because the governments, and the politicians will have to be more careful. They must have realized that

Some times we write on topics which we need to know, realize and practice. So here it is - yoga poses for various age related ailments.  Currently I am using an app called " Yoga " (concise name, no frills). It has a lot of guided sessions in free version too. Like yoga for back pain, for digestion, for anxiety etc.  I think I have been benefited by that app.  (Well, when you eat, drink and sleep with the app, the least we can do is use the app for some long term benefit.) But when suddenly, you realize you need to know which  poses should be practiced for a particular problem,  or you want to tell your friends and family about the yoga poses which are helping you a simple diagram - either line or normal, will help a lot. Provided you have some idea about these poses already.  And here are the pose-sets for digestion.  Now suppose you suffer from bloating - that feeling when your stomach has swelled with gas and you have lot of uncomfort. Here are the poses for bloating. An

 I have been trying to translate Ashtavakrageeta to Kannada. Is it the effort of my subconscious mind to make me a little bit stoic? Or is it my silly mind just doing the things because it can.      By the way, any one can now. Without much effort. Because apparently google translate can translate from Sanskrit to any language. But at times, I think the words and phrases are repeated so often in this book. For example something like - "you see yourself in all beings. And see all beings in you".(सर्वभूतेषु चात्मानं सर्वभूतानि चात्मनि ).  How many times has it appeared in the book? Ya, ya, repetition makes the concept sink into my thick brain, agreed. But ye to kuch jyada hi ho gaya. And then there is verse which says - "Know that passion and hatred are the nature of the mind. And the mind is not yours"(रागद्वेषौ मनोधर्मौ न मनस्ते कदाचन ). Alright, if the mind is not mine, then whose is it? And why do I feel the feelings of "not my" mind so strongly?  Or is

An old post from an old blog.  It was late in the evening. I was walking on the street to purchase curds. Suddenly it started raining - pouring heavily. I ran and ran with all my might to the near by temple. See! This is dramatization. It was evening but did I say it was dark? Nor was it lonely. It was a busy street.  Nor did I run a kilometer. Temple was just across the street. Then why did I run ? It was raining, right. I did not want to get drenched completely.  Why temple? Why not? Though I have not made up my mind whether to be an atheist or a budhdhist or a plain half-believing  hindu, waiting for the rain to subside in a temple is better than waiting outside a grocery shop for the crab  I am (Less people in the temple you see. If you do not include the multitude of Gods!) I made one circumambulation  of God (pradakshina) or rather Gods. There are 3 of them (I am not a believer of holy-trinity. In that temple, there were three gods). I did one big bowing as well. See Ramdev says

Now Satyavati is married to Shantanu and is living happily ever after. But what happens to her children. She has two children called Chitrangada and Vichitraveerya. The elder son Chitrangada is coronated as the king while Shantanu goes to the forest for his last days. Chitrangada - her elder son. has to fight a war with Gandharva’s - people from Gandhara. And is sadly killed in the war. So the throne comes to her younger son Vichitraveerya. And he, with the guidance of Bheeshma is ruling the country from Hastinapur.   Now the king of Kashi had three daughters of marriageable age. What was the marriageable age in those days - thousands of years ago? Who knows? May be as soon as they hit puberty. Anyway, the king arranged a swayamvar for his daughters.  Swayamvar is a  gathering of suitors - all kings and princes. The suitors will stand in a line and declare their qualifications. And the bride will chose the groom and garland him. This  was called swayamvar - swayam - self, vara - to wed

Ha, isn't it ludicrous? Me writing about kitchen tip is as appropriate as a politician writing about honesty and hard work. Kitchen Tip : If you have a lot of oil left out after frying, store it in a pet bottle and use it for lighting diyas for God. Backstory:    In the initial days of my friendship with net - was it 2000's?, I used to search for kitchen tips and save them in a file ! Imagine that! No, even then I wasn't a kitchen  person. Lack of awareness. I did not know back then, that there are million better ways, to kill time on   use  internet.      The second part of the title, is because mom (may be even my spouse) would be outraged if she reads this tip. Is it not sacrilageous to use used oil for God? Won't he(God),  be unhappy with her daughter and what if something bad happens to her?       But my opinion is, no he will not be outraged. First of all, he won't be bothered. In fact, he will be glad that, at least I did (finally) light some diyas fo

Why is he so helpless? Let me make myself very clear here. I am not talking about any ministers, or governments or even citizens. I am not at all talking about any mortals on this earth. Instead I am talking about mightier than all, the almighty God. We have been told that, he is supposed to help the good and punish the bad. (परित्राणाय साधूनां, ...) But if you look at newspapers everyday, you can very well see,who is being paritranified - saved and who is being vinashified - destroyed. Why, why, why is HE letting all this happen? Now let us look into little bit of physics.  Laws of physics says that matter can not be created , nor it can be destroyed. But the same physics laws state that mass can be converted into energy and vice versa.    Initially there was nothing.- Shunya.  No matter, no earth, no sun, no moon, no nothing. Then HE created it all. How? By conversion!!! He converted his energy to create mass.  And lord, that does need a lot of energy.