State of Fear

Our being is roiled with so many fears, day in and day out
big fears and small fears - from fears of one's job, status, even life to trivial ones like fear of approaching an annoyed friend or lover, fear of speaking to someone about something, fear of doing something new. Why do we have to fear so much? What are all these fears for? Can we not be rid of these fears for good!

The concept of God is to help man's ascent from the depths of fear, where he is bound by a tangled web of morbid feelings. The atheists must definitely be a courageous lot for they risk living without a belief in God...for most others such lack of faith will surely turn their heads to madness (I don't know of other types, but definitely a Scorpio man or woman who is an atheist definitely risks a lot for Scorpios have such intense feelings of all types including fear and they are such a suspicious, fearful lot!)

The first thing about fear one should realize is that it is but a reactive mental process - a feeling aimed to ensure an organism's survival, but conversely an organism which spends most of its lifetime in fear, be it externally or internally induced, only manages to diminish its lifespan considerably. The key to a long-lasting, healthy and fulfilling life (and all these three are inter-related) is to live a joyful life with very minimal and only necessary fear, only when absolutely required. Its like a bitter pill one takes when sick and if one has to take a bitter pill every other day, then it just goes on to show that one leads a sickly life and no pill can help such a person.

One should understand that fear, at its basic level is just an interplay of chemicals in our brain ensuring a certain mapping or linkages between neurons - it is not something very big or insurmountable - its in your brain and it can be surmounted.

Whenever you are fearful and you know consciously that it is just one of those irritating, irrational fears (most fears are like that only) - then just tell yourself -

Do not be fearful, Do not struggle
Let it go, let it leave out as you exhale breath
Calm down, relax, close your eyes
Stretch your lips as if you are smiling
Mentally imagine yourself smiling.
You inhale fresh air and smile grows more prominent
Now there's a shine on your face, you are positively beaming
Feel the joy as you inhale the fresh air
Feel the relaxation as you exhale
Its wonderful, its serene
Be joyful, be calm, be at peace

Some thoughts

A cell is an autopoetic system - it has its individuality, which it maintains by its internal processes relating its various parts and this defines life. Existence is life. According to Franciso Varela - this is a necessary and sufficient condition - but a stone or inanimate object exists and continues to exist without having any flow of matter or energy. The answer to this is that if you break a stone into small parts, the individual parts of the stone still exist, but if you break a cell, its individual parts cease to exist because their existence was dependent on their mutual relationship - their organization. Hence the struggle for life - the various parts of a cell form a set of operational processes between them, which is information, which helps them to operate together to keep their organization alive.

If we look at a macro level, in business world organizations behave similarly to the cell organization - they have departments (akin to organs) which have their specific function and each employee (akin to a cell) who have their specific roles all related to each other through processes. Life is a team game - our groupings at a macro level mimic what they are at a cellular level, which constitutes us.

The individual cells or even the organelles within a cell, may not be conscious of the life of the system which they constitute and may want to exploit each other for their own sustenance, but in the process they put the existence of the entire system at risk.

Madana Maligaiyil

My latest favorite - This song keeps buzzing in my mind every now and then - really the love the nostalgic yoodling.

* Album: Rajapart Rangadurai
* Song: Madhana Maaligayil
* Artists: T M Sounderarajan,P Susheela
* Composer: M S Viswanathan
* Lyricist: Kanadasan

madhana maaLigaiyil manthira maalaigaLaam
udhaya kaalam varai unnadha lilaigaLaam

azhagu maaNikkamaam kattil aNaikka malaraNaiyaam
azhagu maaNikkamaam kattil aNaikka malaraNaiyaam
vaasalil thOraNam unnai varassollum thOzhigaLaam
madhana maaLigaiyil madhana maaLigaiyil
manthira maalaigaLaam manthira maalaigaLaam
udhaya kaalam varai udhaya kaalam varai
unnadha lilaigaLaam unnadha lilaigaLaam
anbae anbae anbae anbae

ahhaa ahhaa...oh ho...
mOgam munnaaga raagam pinnaaga
muzhanggum sanggeethak kuyilgaL
maegam minnaamal idiyum illaamal
mazhaiyil nanaiginRa kiLigaL
dhEgam ponnenRum paadham pUvenRum
thazhuvum sallaaba rasanggaL
vaegam kunRaamal viLakkam sollaamal
virumbum aanantha ragangaL
thalai
idai
kadai
ena
dhinam
varum
sugam

ahhaa ahhaa...oh ho...

pacchai mUkkuththi manjaL neeraadi
padhikkum paNpaattu kavidhai
kachai maelaaga kaniyum noolaadai
kavidhai koNdaadum rasigai
pon maan ippOdhu ammaan un kaiyil
peNmaan ennOdu pazhagu
kaN vaay meyyOdu kanivaay koNdaadi
mudinthaal neeraada vilagu
pudhu
madhu
idhu
idhan
rasam
tharum
sugam

madhana maaLigaiyil madhana maaLigaiyil
manthira maalaigaLaam manthira maalaigaLaam
udhaya kaalam varai udhaya kaalam varai
unnadha lilaigaLaam unnadha lilaigaLaam
anbae anbae anbae anbae

http://www.hummaa.com/music/song/Madhana+Maaligayil/37017#

Verses from Vivekachudamani

Beautiful verses from Vivekachudamani of Adi Shankara 

Translation of Swami Madhavananda 

 Verse 5 

वदन्तु शास्त्राणि यज्ञन्तु देवान 

कुर्वन्तु कर्माणि भजन्तु देवताः 

अत्मैक्यबोधेना विनापि 

मुक्ति र्न सिध्यते ब्रह्मशातान्तारेपी 

vadantu shAstrANi yagyantu devAn kurvantu karmANi bhajantu devatAhA 

Atmaikyabodhen vinApi Muktirna sidhyate brahmashatAntarEpi 

Let people quote the scriptures and sacrifice to the gods, 

Let them perform rituals and worship the dieties, 

(Yet) there is no Liberation for anyone without the realization of one's identity with the Atma. 

No, not even in the lifetime of a hundred Brahmas* put together. 

* Lifetime of a Brahma - is an extremely long period of time. One day of Brahma is equivalent to 432 million human years. 

Another Verse: Verse 26 

sarvadA sthApanam buddheha shuddhe brahmANi sarvadA tat samAdhAna mityuktam na tu chitasya lAlanam 

Not** the mere indulgence of thought in curiosity, but the constant concentration of the intellect on the ever pure Brahman is what is called samAdhAna or self-settledness. 

** Not the... - That is, not the mere thinking or intellectual or philosophical satisfaction in thinking of or studying the Truth. The intellect must be sought to be resolved into the higher activity of concentration on the Truth

About Chinna Kannan Azhaikiraan

I don't what is it about this song - every time I hear it, its as if a thrill courses through my nerves - what is it about the music, its delectable notes, about its lyrics, the imagery, Srivedi expressing a pathos which shall pierce the heart of a rock - dunno what it is. Certainly being an illiterate in music, I can't express what it is about the music that affects me so. Hence it was great to come across this article, which explains in some detail what is special about the music composition of this song.

http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-articles/movies-08/ilayaraja-28-01-09.html

From the wiki article on this film - Kavikkuyil, I came to know that the lyricist of this film is Panchu Arunachalam.

I wish I knew who played the flute - he is as great for this song as the maestros Balamuralikrishna and Illayaraja.

Chinna Kannan Azhaikiran

After a long time, very accidentally found this rare elusive video of one of my most favorite songs - Chinna Kannan Azhaikiran from the film "Kavi Kuyil" (1976)...music composed by the maestro Ilayaraja and sung in a sweet ethereal voice by Balamuralikrishnan...the lyrics are the most touching, i feel they touch my soul - I dont understand them fully, yet I am so fascinated by them!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xei5wj_chinna-kannan-azhaikiraan_creation

"Nenjil ulaadhum raagam
Idhu daana kanmani raadha
Un punnagai soladha adhisayamaa
Azhagae Ilamai rathamey
Andha mayana leelayil mayangadhu ulagam"

Somebody please help me understand these lines.

My understanding:

Is this the melody of my heart
Tell me ye apple of my eye.
Ye youthful, beauteous nymph
Even the world is swayed by your charms.

Some Thoughts

The unreal never existed
The reality never ceases to exist
- The Gita and the Upanishads

The Absolute is about "realizing the unreality of the determinable and reality of the indeterminable"
- From "The Conceptual Framework of Indian Philosophy" by Balbir Singh, Ch2, Pg 31


"Nasato vidyate bhavo
nabhavo vidyate satah"

"The unreal never is,
The reality never ceases to be"
Gita Ch 2, verse 16