Anybody in Bangalore going to Chennai for the First Day of the release ????
Picture Courtesy: www.behindwoods.com
Hindu Marriage and Its Traditions – Part I
MARRIAGE & OTHER IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS IN A MAN’S LIFE A talk delivered at the Hindu Center, SingaporeByE.S.J.Chandran
Sanathana Dharma or ‘Hinduism’ – a crude name by which it is commonly called – attaches sanctity to the institution of marriage. The rituals and Vedic incantations that go with it are extremely significant, designed as they are, to ensure the happy, prosperous and harmonious living of the couple. If the various rituals are performed properly and the Mantras uttered correctly and sincerely, understanding their meanings and significance, they are bound to be effective. What is Marriage
Marriage, according to Sanathana Dharma, is a means to an end, a part of a person’s Dharma. It is not the or utters will explain this: coming together of two persons, a man and a woman; but the unification of two souls. The bride and groom are manifestations of Sakthi and Siva, Lakshmi and Vishnu. It is the culmination of two souls walking hand-in-hand towards the ultimate goal in life that is Moksha. Some of the Manthras during the wedding ceremony which the groom chants “You have become my friend and we shall be friends for ever. You are ‘Sama’ the music and I am ‘Righ’ the lyric. I am heaven and you are the earth. I am the mind and you shall be my voice. Please follow me.”
You see the beautiful concept? Our marriages give prominence and importance to spiritual rather than physical togetherness of the couple. How is it a Dharma
Why do we call marriage a part of Dharma? Our Vedhas and Sruthis have devised four classes or stages of Dharma for men, based on their physical and intellectual capabilities and capacities. They are: (1) Brahmacharyam (2) Grahasthasramam (3) Vanaprastham, (4) Sanyasam. Among the four Grahasthasramam has been singled out as the best by our ancient seers and sages (Rishis). The reason for this are two fold:
(i) It is the Grahasthan or married man who has the responsibility of feeding the Brahmachari and Sanyasins. Brahmacharis and Sanyasis are not allowed to cook on their own. They have to beg for their food.(ii) Those belonging to the other three Ashrams are not conferred with the right to produce children. It is the Grahasthan or married man who is given the responsibility of producing intelligent, morally perfect and useful children and upholds the Dharma of the universe.
When to get married? What is the right age for a man to get married and enter Grahasthasramam? Before coming to that, let us see the various stages of men. Well, our Sastras say that anyone who has lived to a ripe old age of eighty has had “Poorna Ayusu” or a ‘Full Life.’
These eighty years are devided into ten segments of eight years each, through which hour passes. During the first eight years, a child enjoys a carefree life having the affection and love of the parents. At eight the “UpavithaDharanam” or sacred thread ceremony is conducted. From the day he wears a “Upavitham” or commonly called “Poonool” he is called a “Brahmachari”. From eight to sixteen he undergoes a course of study under the tutelage of a Guru (An evolved teacher of the scriptures and Sastras). From sixteen to twenty four he goes for higher studies of the Vedhas, Puranas and the Sastras.
Equipped with knowledge and a proper direction in life, he enters Grahasthasramam” at the age of twenty four. From twenty four to thirty two, together with his wife, he follows the ‘Kula Dharma’ and takes steps to have children to satisfy the ‘Pithrus’ (Fore fathers) and the Devas. From thirty two to forty he spends his time in acquiring material things for his family and to bring up his children. From forty to forty eight he concentrates, with his wife, on acquiring spiritual knowledge and the practice of rituals and meditation for the liberation of bondage and to attain ‘Mokhsha’.
From forty eight to fifty six he prepares himself for the third stage which is ‘Vanaprastham’, when he would have his children who will be settled with their own families, and with the wife lead a secluded life. He would have completed his duties of ‘Grahasthasramam’. From fifty six to sixty four he, with his wife, lives a simple hermetic life of ‘Vanaprastham’.
Between sixty four and seventy two, he leaves the last bondage in life that is his wife, and lives a life like a Sanyasi. If he gets initiation and becomes a full-fledged Sanyasi, he sheds all his possessions, travels from place to place eating whatever is offered as ‘Biksha’ or alms. During this period he is not allowed to stay for more than one night at any village or town. His only duty is to be immersed in God-consciousness and to enlighten people on spiritual matters. From seventy two to eighty he retires to a forest or a cave in a mountain peak and spends the rest of his life time in meditation and ‘Tapas’. He is immersed in super-consciousness and becomes one with ‘Athman’ or ‘Brahman’ waiting for his mortal body to drop off.
So, sixteen to twenty four, according to the scriptures is the right age for a girl or man to get married. Let us look at it scientifically. Biologists say that a man attains mental and physical maturity between the ages of twenty one and twenty four and a girl between thirteen and sixteen. May be, that is why a person is called a ‘Major’ when he attains the age of twenty one. This is also one of the reasons why our forefathers stipulated as a rule a minimum four year difference between a boy and a girl who wanted to get married.
ARR at his best !!!!
Never seen ARR as smart as in this picture !!!
Thalaivar is gonna be the judge for a talent hunt show in Sun TV.
Sivaji Rocks Thalaiva !!!! Can’t stop from listening ATHIRADEE !!!
Picture Courtesy: www.Behindwoods.com
Why not in Second Sleeper Classes?
Yesterday, I came to Chennai from bangalore in Shatabdi Express. The train was neat, the facilitators were cordial and friendly.The washroom can be compared to any corporate environment facility. The last time I travelled in Shatabdi was in August 2005 and there’s a vast difference in the facilities offered, for the better. For the past two years almost, we haven’t seen any hike in railway ticket fares. Every fortnight once, I have been visiting Chennai in the weekends, mostly in Chennai Mail. There’s no visible improvement in the facilities offered in Train no. 2657 and 2658. If they can optimize and provide better facilities and comfort in Shatabdi without any extra charge, why not in other trains. Are those passengers in other trains third grade citizens. Why this partiality?. Next time, if we see less previliged and poor people shout that India is built by the poor, for the rich and to the rich…..LET’S ACCEPT IT.
The Salon
Every man is a child when he sits in the chair of the salon. Entering into the salon shop as a small boy always fantasized me. It’s the one place where even the big boys are treated the same way as the small ones. The hair stylist is the boss and whatever instructions he gives should be abided. When my school teachers visited the same salon where I used to have my hair cut, it was a great feeling altogether where they were made to dance to the tunes of the hair stylist. It was a sense of happiness as there is somebody to instruct them. The interactions with the stylist has always been interesting. You always find them to be the best friend for that span of time, say like a co-passenger. Any guy would hate somebody touching his head(atleast me), but not for the salon guy.
Every time I silp into the salon, the adrelin certainly pumps up with a message ” YOU ARE YOUNG !!!!”
For the Mistakes that I had Committed
for all the mistakes that we had commited in the past, it makes us laugh at it when we think about it after a decent gap. but the instant we commit that, am sure like me, everybody feels too much for it. if we are gonna mock at it after a gap, is pressurizing ourselves too much on our mistakes worth it at that instant?. think yes, as it moulds us and helps to become a better human. but at the same time, we are ending up in paying a cost for the lesson that we learn through the incident. it may be time, money,earning bitterness or even say a relationship(mean in general, not only a man-woman affair) coming to a closure. given a chance, i always fantasize like why cant we go back to the same scenario, let the situation and the incident prop up and we could have acted in a different manner. to put things straight, i could have saved some of my good friends i had. should i have suppressed the ego? should i have put a different word,should i have responded well to my friend who was willing to help me out, should i have asked SORRY when i should have really. EOD, i feel that nothing helps me than the bitter experiences in the past. i never forget them, try to learn as much and nowadays, even for those unintentional mistakes, i don mind for it too much. Sure,I will be laughing at it after 5 years.
ARR launches Music Company !!!
Its named KM Music. Am sure this will help ARR to cross the boundaries laid down by Indian Film Makers. All the best ARR !!!!
Narayana Murthy and National Anthem
While I have huge respect for both Mr. and Mrs. NRN, I was shocked and pained by the statement made by NRN few days back on National Anthem.After the Infosys meet with President of India as the chief guest, he mentioned that “it would embarass” the foreign delegates if we sing the National Anthem while they are blindfolded and so the instrumental version was played. The politicians who were criticised by NRN in the past were waiting for an oppurtunity to take a dig on him. I would prefer to be away from them as these people but at the same time take a strong stand against his comments.
What better oppurtunity can NRN get to introduce our National Anthem, its heritage and value to the foreign delegates. Its surprising that the so-called visionary of Modern India is still in the colonial hangover. Am sure NRN himself would have participated in any of the other countries functions where he would have stood up for their respective National Anthem. He could have compared himself with the delegates and acted upon it. Sadly, he took the other way.
I would like to ignore, forget this as an “one-off” incident. A man of his stature is not expected to let silly comments. After all, its human to commit mistakes !!!!. I am sure he would be very careful next time.
Rajnikanth – The Phenomenon
Picture Source: www.sivajitheboss.com
While I was on a horse ride in the hills of Gulmarg, Kashmir , the horse rider asked me from which place I am from. When I replied ’Madras’ (then Chennai), his immediate query was baffling , “How is Rajnikanth?”. Here is a humble horse rider, lived all through his life in Kashmir, doesn’t know to read or write, have ignorance over the other parts of India and anger over the Indian Government over the attitude shown towards kashmir than other states of India which he mentions one of the reasons for the conflict happening there, can enquire about Rajni. Considering the career graph of Rajnikanth, its quite an achievement as he had worked in minimal North Indian Films.
Born, brought up and lived all my life than the past 18 months in Chennai, I can’t deny the influence of Rajni. Considering the following that film actors have in South India, its not surprising. But the adulation Rajni commands is phenomenal. Film Industry, as its called had never been an Industry in India. Its often used as the best place for biggies to convert their Unaccounted wealth to Accountables and a cushion bed for mafia to work around .Though the scenario is changing, it hasn’t been wiped off. Surviver should not only be fit but also powerful. Talent and Attitude takes back seat while influence and dynasty rules.Born and brought up in Bengaluru from a humble background, this man has risen to the stars. There has always been an argument that he doesnt deserve this as Kamal Haasan, his contempory is better by miles.Though its quite fair, its the sheer screen presence that makes him special.Indian audience doesnt have the luxury to have their own Superman or Spiderman(Though I strongly believe our Lord Hanuman is the benchmark Hollywood had for creating those imaginary heroes) on the big screen and they fill the gap by making few larger than life on screen.
Psychologists have declared few theories on human survival, what achievement means for him and its reasons.They point out few things that man want to conquer for his presence. Fear top the charts, which man feels can be conquered by money, wealth, power, education etc. The next in the list is the ability to make everybody round him accept and love him. The latter is more a tough job to achieve I feel, that too an unconditional acceptance is far from ordinary task, perhaps the greatest of them being Charlie Chaplin, In India apart from Amitabh and Rajni, nobody has that acceptance in film fratenity as these two had crossed linguistic barriers considering the cultural complexities we have in India. Its an achievement on itself considering the humble backgrounds those two have.
Any announcement on his next film creates ripples around South India. His forthcoming film Sivaji has got the attention of even the North Indian audience who are normally reticent watching South Indian films, barring few. He has the ability to keep his fan following and presence intact inspite of an absolute no-no to interviews or selling products. The salary that he commands is many times than that of the biggest stars of Hindi Cinema. Inspite of all this, he is quite humble and simple, which we youngsters have to take a leaf out.Considering all this, he remains the ambassador of South India and the undisputed Super Star of Indian cinema.
Journey to the Land of Eternity – Part III
At the entrance of the temple, you will find all the regular temple shops. One thing I can’t understand is the beggers surrounding the baba temple’s. Its quite natural in any temple but in the entrance of Sai Baba temples, I notice them in a big way. We had to undergo their harassment before entering the temple. The best thing about Shirdi that’s visible(atleast visible) is that there’s no special queue, special sadha queue etc. We have to stand in the single queue that’s going through many rooms before entering into the sanctum sanctorum. All the way through the queue, we could get water tap’s to quench thirst.One glaring thing I need to mention here is the TV’s that they have placed all through the standing queue at the top to enable devotees to see the Sanctum Sanctorum.If we are telecasting live, then why this queue for?, We can telecast in the cable tv direct. We can have the darshan in the homes than waiting in the queue for hours to have the glimpse. The whole purpose is getting diluted. I notice this even in the temples of Tamil Nadu.
Since we came early to the temple, it took us around 1.5 hours to have the darshan. People who come late have to wait for around 5 hours approx, it seems. Plan yourself for an early darshan to make things comfortable. Once you have the darshan, you can go and pray at the samadhi’s of few of the direct disciples of baba. Prasadam is available at the selected counters at a reasonable price. Next in the offing will be the place where Baba used to sit in for dhyana, the hand grind he used to prepare flours, the tree bark on which he sat were preserved. The holy fire which he lit to prepare food for the poor and the needy is glowing till date. Devotees can pour ‘Sambrani’ to add their part in its eternity. The room in which Baba used to stay is adjacent to the temple.
We went all around the landmark points and I was visibly happy that atlast, the pictures on those temple walls were standing true in front of me. As we grow, challenges grow in size and magnitude which requires the support of an external power. No doubt I had an ulterior motive of requests and wishes from Baba, some genuine and many may not that I deserve. But, above all, I had a satisfaction of going through the places that I visualized once through those paintings.It can’t happen for Asterix or Obelix you know !!!!.
