Vizag Panorama

Went to Vizag recently. The Tenneti park at the foot of the Kailashagiri mountains is really beautiful. This is where the eastern ghats and the bay of Bengal come face to face. That makes the beach rocky and swimming a no-no! Did a 360 degree photo, by stitching10-12 photos. Watch this panorama here, intentionally left uncropped! Enjoy...

85th birthday of Swami

November 23rd of this year marks the 85th birthday of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, lovingly addressed as Swami by HIS followers. Swami is widely revered as an avatar or incarnation by millions around the globe. The less publicised facts about Swami are the amazing service projects that HE has undertaken, from providing free healthcare in the villages in and around Anatpur district in Andhra Pradesh, to providing clean drinking water to several villages to providing free education to bright students from kindergarten to Ph.D. to providing worldclass free healthcare in the super specialty hospitals in Bangalore and Prasanthinilayam - the service activities are amazing both in magnitude and quality. All this is carried out by highly qualified devout followers with spirituality and love as the undercurrent.

Born as Satyanarayana Raju in 1926 in the remote hamlet of Puttaparthi, Swami left HIS home to make the world HIS home on 20th October 1940 and declared that HE has come for the sake of humanity. HE established an ashram in Puttaparthi and named it Prasanthi Nilayam - the abode of supreme peace. Since then, HE has been as tireless as the earth in planning and executing a mind boggling range of service activities and been a great Teacher. A Teacher with a difference - since HE has always followed what HE has preached and thus been an inspiration for the millions around the globe.

There is an angle of mysticism about HIM in that HE creates things with a movement of hand. While that provides a curiosity which the scientific mind takes to be a mere trick, if one ever travels to Prasanthi Nilayam with an open mind, he will realize that there is much much more to Swami than magnificent materializations. HIS teachings are lucid, to the point and are saturated with love. HE addressed people as Premaswarupa which means embodiment of love.

Our friends at RadioSai have been doing a yeoman's service in spreading the message of LOVE and TEACHINGS of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. As part of the 85th year of the advent they have also created a video series that captures the life and teachings of Swami. I invite you to share the same with all of us. You can see that here: http://media.radiosai.org/www/

As I have figured out in my journey with SAI in the last 30 years or so in which time I have only a few times seen HIM up close, never spoken to HIM in person, yet I love listening to HIS discourses, HIS teachings, I follow HIS work and I have realized that there is something for everyone in HIS teachings - right from a tiny tot to an erudite scholar. Let the debating mind rest, please do open up to the life making teachings of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

SaiRam.

That Man Again...

Such cricket matches as you saw on that Tuesday afternoon demonstrate
the robustness of human heart. Millions of hearts in India as well as
Australia would have had a very tough time responding to the tension
and stress that the last one hour provided. And as we inched closer,
cricinfo servers froze, enhancing the stress levels further. All work
came to a standstill as we fervently hoped, wished, prayed that the
very very superb Mr. Laxman in partnership with Ishant pulls it off
for India. And they did to provide joy to a billion people.
Not for the first time, Laxman not only negated and navigated through
everything Kangaroos threw at him, he also scored at almost run a
ball! Those fantastic pulls, drives through cover and extra cover all
were there despite a dodgy back. The amazing ball by ball commentary
at Cricinfo stretched imagination as I visualized those shots. Later
in the evening when I caught up with the highlights, I was stunned to
see the calm, poise and determination in the face of Laxman. Dhoni ran
himself out. The way he got out also tells you how lost the usually
smart Dhoni was and perhaps low on belief. But Laxman seemed to think
it didn't matter. He seemed to tell his partners, I will do it with
you, without you or in spite of you! Ishant chose to be with him. If
you watched the highlights, you'll know why Dravid says 'nothing calms
you like Laxman'! And yet one of the enduring images of the match will
be Lax giving a mouthful to Ojha when the latter was lost in the
situation and didn't respond to a call for a run. Ojha was fortunate
to be not within striking distance of Laxman! That showed the
intensity which is usually clouded by his smile and ease of
strokeplay. Raina who was running for Laxman through out the innings
would benefit from closely watching the way Laxman dealt with bouncers
and short pitched stuff. There is little doubt that such calmness of
mind to weather a crisis comes also from a lot of discipline in life.
It is here that the Rohit Sharmas, Rainas and Yuvrajs need to learn
from the work ethic of Laxman as also of Sachin and Dravid. What is
common to these three modern greats is that their celebration of a
milestone ends with just raised arms and a look to the sky and kissing
the Indian flag. No pumping of fists, no chestbeating, no screams.
Those are perhaps for lesser mortals for whom achievement is an
accident!
The equal partner in this win was Ishant who looks capable of giving
batting tips to India's young brigade. He increasingly reminds me of
Jason Gillespie. I only hope he doesn't fall in the hands of Greg
Chappell! We can't afford to lose another talent like Irfan Pathan.
Ishant is still young and should work on his fitness.
So that was heart stopper indeed which reminded me the value of
insuring one's life! It was certainly not for the weak hearted -
neither to play, nor watch!
--
Sent from my mobile device
The Prayer of India:
సమస్త లోకా: సుఖినో భవంతు - May all the worlds live in peace.

SriRamayanam-II

There are two ways of looking at the Ramayana. One is to think of it as a story that happened millennia ago, if at all, and feel amused by various 'characters' of the story. And I fear this is the feeling in majority that it either happened long ago or that it was simply conjured up by some clever story tellers. Whatever, the fact is that this epic has penetrated into the Indian souls and Rama is very much a household name. A name that Indians utter in trouble or while sighing almost involuntarily. It has inspired scores of artisans to re-tell the story through every conceivable art form. Sample this, in telugu alone, there are tens of works that have re-told the Rama story. Not all of them follow the original of Valmiki as such. They add their own poetry and Bhakthi Rasa to it.

The second way of looking at Ramayana is internalizing it, relating to the story, the situations, the dharma and putting into practice a little of that and emerge as better human beings.

It is this second aspect that Sri Sathya Sai Baba emphasizes in the matchless book Ramakatha Rasavahini, originally written in Telugu and rendered into English by Late Sri. Kasturi. Baba prefaces the book with a very beautiful insight into the Rama story and says:

Rama is the Indweller in every Body. He is the Atma-Rama, the Rama (Source of Bliss) in every individual. His blessings upsurging from that inner Spring can confer Peace and Bliss. He is the very embodiment of Dharma of all the Codes of Morality that hold mankind together in Love and Unity. 

Baba tells the story of Rama in a concise and clear manner and as you are reading a paragraph from an episode, the undelying moral follows soon enough to make the reader understand and put the Rama story into perspective in our life. I quote the remainder of the preface as it removes the veil of the 'story' and gives the epic a more spiritual meaning. 

The Ramayana, the Rama story, teaches two lessons: the value of detachment and the need to become aware of the Divine in every being. Faith in God and detachment from objective pursuits are the keys for human liberation. Give up sense-objects; you gain Rama. Sita gave up the luxuries of Ayodhya and so, she could be with Rama, in the period of 'exile'. When she cast longing eyes on the golden deer and craved for it, she lost the Presence of Rama. Renunciation leads to joy; attachment brings about grief. Be in the world, but, not of it. 

The brothers, comrades, companions and collaborators of Rama are each of them examples of persons saturated with Dharma. Dasaratha is the representative of the merely physical, with the ten senses. The three Gunas - Sathwa, Rajas and Thamas - are the three Queens. The Four Goals of Life - the Purusharthas - are the four Sons. Lakshmana is the Intellect; Sugriva is Viveka or Discrimination. Vali is Despair. Hanuman is the embodiment of Courage. The Bridge is built over the Ocean of Delusion. The three Rakshasa chiefs are personifications of the Rajasic (Ravana), Thamasic (Kumbhakarna) and the Sathwic qualities (Vibhishana). Sita is Brahmajnana or the Awareness of the Universal Absolute, which the Individual must acquire and regain undergoing travails in the crucible of Life. Make your heart pure and strong, contemplating the grandeur of the Ramayana. Be established in the faith that Rama is the Reality of your existence.

I have tried to see the Rama story from this angle and when viewed thus it unearths lessons galore to be practiced in daily life, in short, how to be and how not to be! More later.

SriRamayanam-I

Sri Ramayanam as it is called reverentially in India is an amazing epic which literally means "the movements of Sri Rama". Sri Rama is celebrated as one of the avatars of MahaVishnu and there by God hood is accorded to Sri Rama. However, in this grand epic, one is unlikely to find many instances where Sri Rama is depicted as an omnipotent God. Instead, SriRama has been celebrated as being the best among humans, with unsullied conduct, extraordinary love and one with such attachment to dharma that centuries on, it still serves as a guiding light to man. After the conquest of Ravana, the Gods come over to the city of Lanka and extol Rama as verily Narayana Himself. He however says,

आत्मानं मानुषं मन्ये, रामं दशरथात्मजम

I think of myself as a man, Rama, the son of Dasaratha.

He wails pitiably when Seetha is kidnapped. He decides to give up is his life when Lakshmana is rendered unconscious in the battlefield. He displays the the most pristine human emotions and yet he weds himself to dharma at all times, at all places. Such was his adherence to dharma that compliments came from even enemy quarters. Maricha, twice bitten umpteen shy warrior hailed Sri Rama as

रामो विग्रहवान धर्मः

Rama is the very embodiment of dharma.

Sri Ramayanam is also a celebration of human relatioships in both their most ideal and most un-ideal states. Details of these another time. Sage Valmiki's rendering of the Sri Ramayanam is at once detailed, rich in poetic beauty and unparalelled in the examples it uses to convey the situations.

Having started to write this on a sacred note, I hope to get a chance to continue soon.

Ramayana

The idea of this pic is two fold.

First is that I've found great inspiration from the Rama story. Recently Bhakthi TV aired Ramayanam discourse by Brahmasri Chaganti Koteswar Ran garu. The amazing command this gentleman has over language and scripture influenced me a lot. I started to appreciate why Valmiki's praise is sung by all poets. So I figured that I need an outlet to express some of my thoughts. I shall start writing here verses that I like from Valmiki Ramayanam and take liberty to express my thoughts on those.

Secondly, due to restrictions at workplace, I'd like to explore the option of blogging from my phone starting with this.

Sree Rama Jayam!

SRT

Let me confess to begin with. I am fan-turned-critic-turned-detractor-turned-fan of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar! And no, my latest transformation didn't happen when the little big man of world cricket took that memorable single to make 200 for the first time in the four decades that one day internationals have existed on this planet! It is rather the little master's work ethic and his insatiable hunger and unquenchable thirst to get runs after playing for 20 long years just leaves me speechless.

India were about to tour Pakistan in 1989 and the team was just anounced. A school-boy cricketer from Mumbai had just made into the hallowed team. The telugu paper read "Udayabhanudu Sachin Tendulkar" which says here is the rising sun! You bet, it met with a sneer and utter contempt from our school friends. But we were not to be blamed. Those were the times when the Indian batsmen used to lord over the bowlers in Ranji and Duleep Trophies and then miserably failed in the international outings. India was desperate to find its next hero. The little man arrived. Although he carted Qadir and co to all parts of the park in that exhibition match, not much notice was taken of. All the same, the school boy look was so endearing that we hoped and prayed he succeeded. We could relate to this little man in some way. And then we arrived in England in 1990. The little man plays a match saving knock in Manchester. We start believing the Hero we were looking for has truly arrived! 1991-92 Australia tour only strengthened our belief and endearment. The sight of Mervin Hughes - almost twice the height and width of Sachin disappearing all over Perth (the bounciest wicket at the time) - is etched in memory of die hard Sachin maniacs. What followed as they say is history. In retrospect I suspect if that telugu paper had a soothsayer on their editorial board!


Thrust with the captaincy at the age of 23 when most sons are still pocket money sons of their fathers, Sachin had a tough time. But not with the bat though. I will leave you to search around in stats guru, but he did as well as a batsman as he did at any other time. India were trounced down under and it was just too much. But then wisdom prevailed. SRT went back what he does best leaving aside captaincy - hit bowlers all over the park! It is a bit of tragedy that only in the latter half of his career, starting with the Saurav-John Wright era, the little man has found able mates who can gel together as a consistently winning team.

Whole world is waiting for a century if centuries to happen. We are also keen to see India win the world cup and SRT contribute to it significantly. After all, place your hand on the heart and tell me, does not this little man deserve this for his insatiable thirst for runs, incessant scoring of runs, exempleray behaviour on and off the field and an exceptional work ethic that has ensured he enthralls us for over two decades? Cricket was waiting for the next Don... and God said, Let there be SRT!

व्यस्त भ्रमर

Small video clip of a busy bee.

Solar Eclipse 2010 from Bangalore

Watched the solar eclipse with the aid of an X-ray film (caution: only the unexposed portion (which is dark) of the film is to be used for watching. Ideal would be an unused x-ray film). Thoughts zoomed away into the solar system and imagined a bird's eye view, nay, God's eye view of the eclipse! As the Sun, Moon and the Earth lined up in a row to treat us to the longest eclipse, we watched it every few minutes and were able to imagine that the shadow was moving away in the north eastern direction. What is more, even my humble canon powershot A510 got behind the x-ray film and I generously clicked away at the rare crescent the Sun was displaying. Enjoy those below:



I was facing south while clicking these pics. So it is clear how the shadow was moving. Of course, not a discovery at all, but just the good feeling that I captured it in my lenses and of course I could kill the duration of the eclipse without feeling hungry (eating/drinking during any eclipse is a strict no no!). It was a nice feeling to see the Sun light dimmed at the max of the eclipse. As per news, the eclipse was 85% full in Bangalore. We missed the annular, but whatever we witnesses was well worth it.

And here is the panel:

weekend trip to puttaparthi

First trip of the year 2010 was to Puttaparthi in Anantpur dist of Andhra pradesh. In case you are wondering, this place doesn't fall in Telengana! This hamlet has been put on the world map by Sri Sathya Sai Baba, God to millions, Guru to others, Guide to yet others, God man to the media and all of the above to many many on this planet across continental borders. Puttaparthi is some 160 KM from Bangalore. We started in the morning by 7AM on my wagon-R. Thanks to the wonderful Hyderabad highway, we did this distance in 2 hrs and 30 min without much of a break in between (on the way I also clocked a career best 140 kmph ;-) for a few minutes).

Puttaparthi is most noted for Prasanthi nilayam, the Ashram in which Swami (as Sri Sathya Sai Baba is lovingly refered to by devotees) stays for the most part of the year. Puttaparthi is also home to the Sri Sathya Sai University and Sri Sathya Sai Superspeciality Hospital among many other institutes of great importance.

This year, there was an alumni meet of the Sri Sathya Sai University from 30th Dec 2009 to 03rd Jan 2010, a period in which the alumni attempted to re-live their days at the university. Among other things, there was grama seva (the students go to the rural folk and offer clothes and food). On 2nd Jan afternoon, there was a session in the Poornachandra auditorium. The alumni were also permitted to bring their family to this session. So there we were! Swami came in by 4:30PM. HE was given a poornakumbha swagatam by the group of alumni dressed in dhotis and chanting vedams. Very aptly they were chanting a hymn from the शीक्षा वल्ली (Shiksha Valli) in which the preceptor tells the students at the time of convocation to always speak truth and follow right conduct (सत्यं वद, धर्मं चर). They led Swami in a procession to the dais. Swami asked two distinguished speakers to speak on the occasion, one was Prof. G. Venkatraman, formerly Vice chancellor of the university and Mr. Srinivasan who is the All India President of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organizations.

Prof. GV, as he is fondly called, started his message by offering his salutations to Swami and took the alumni and their families through an audio visual presentation interspersed with his comments. HE mainly thrust upon the episodes of the super speciality hospital construction at Puttaparthi and construction of 750 houses in folod hit Cuttack, Puri and Kendrapara districts of Orissa in 2008-09. The message that came clear through these two examples was Swami's love for mankind and HIS selfless initiative to eradicate the suffering of the poor and down trodden for whom nobody seems to care! The alumni were called upon not only lead a righteous life worthy of emulation but also take part in doing selfless service. He ended the show by showing a clip in which Swami had said HIS only concern was how the students would conduct themselves after passing out of the university! Very right concern, much like a mother would have for her child when he/she leaves home for studies! But I think very thought provoking concern of a Mother who has given the highest quality education without charging a single penny for the same!

The second speaker Mr. Srinivasan spoke about the role that Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organizations (SSSO) have been playing in many parts of the world. He recounted how pure drinking water has been supllied to many districts in India. The districts that are covered are Anantpur, (parts of) East Godavari, Medak, Mehboobnagar, Chennai among others. He said, the cost of all the service projects of Swami if they were to be valued would be a whopping USD 500 million (~INR 2000 Crores). Quite an amount for an organization which doesn't raise any donations through advertisements! He called the Sai Alumni to take up positions in the SSSO and help realise Swami's mission. He apprised the audience about the various activities being taken up by the SSSO across India and the world.

After the speeches Swami graciously looked at the offerings of the alumni in form of greeting cards, photographs, reports of service activities etc and blessed them profusely. He then came into the rounds briefly and moved to the Kulwanth hall to grant darshan to devotees who were waiting for a long time.

It was a memorable day for the alumni and am sure many of them will go back with a greater dedication to help realise the mission of the MASTER- selfless service to the needy!

We returned to bangalore on 03rd after spending one more day in the hallowed precincts on Prashantinilayam.

happy new year 2010

 

Best wishes for a very happy and propserous new year 2010. May our globe take us on a more peaceful, healthier and funfilled sojourn around the Sun.