The Meaning of Diwali

 Today begins the real Diwali as it is the Narak Chaturdashi today. Yes, Aai used to wake up at 4.30 sharp. The very first item on her ageda used to be playing the LP record of Bismilla Khan's shehnai. Believe me, the morning thus used to sound divine.

The Narak Chaturdashi special bath used to be heavenly, too. The slightly cold morning, the warm water, the game of the light and shadow that the wicks of the panati's would play, and Aai's kind gentle eyes while applying the fragrant oil, the utne/the special scrub and batheing us, it truly  used to appear as if all could only be well with, and in, the world. 

I suppose that is the real meaning of Diwali, this feel of goodness encompassing the whole world. Is not that the meaning of Narak Chaturdashi? Does not the death of Narakasura signify the end of evil, and the victory of the good?

In my opinion, all of us love Diwali because year after year, the festival makes us re-live this feel central to our philosophy. What is the Vaidic prayer? From darkness, lead us to light, from falsehood to truth, and from death to immortality. This triune prayer shows us the path to a better world each year during Diwali, and, I suppose, we therefore love the festival.

Pratima @Diwali literally means a row, an 'awali', of diya's. The gentle light of the small little panati illuminates and thus diminishes darkness. That is the power of goodness, and thus ends the evil, which is the real meaning of Diwali!

What is there in a name?

 Yes, we all know that Shakespeare's Juliet asked this famous question, given her lovelorn state. Such metaphysics of 'i-dentity' apart, in humdrum life, names do matter, and not only for people, believe me. Okay, let us not right now get in to the changing of the names of a city/region/country. It is a huge topic that we shall deal with some other time.

Right now, let us look at the nomenclature of the second day of the Diwali festival. Yes, it is Dhantrayodashi alias Dhanteras. Actually, however, it has less to do with 'dhan', 'wealth', though, of course, 'health is wealth', and the day is actually more a celebration thereof.

Look at the rituals associated with the day, for example. Only on this day,  or rather, only during this evening, it is allowed to put a diya with its wick southwards. Generally, the flame of the diya is supposed to be easter-ly, that is, towards the east, and never towards the south. The logic is that the South is supposedly the direction of Yama, the master of death. 

May be, this mythology can be scientifically explained through the polar power. Generally, hence, in good families, you are not even allowed to sleep with feet pointing southwards, forget the diya getting lit southwards.

On this particular day, the diya is consciously lighted in a such way that the wick, the flame would be southwards as a token of the blessings that there would not be any untimely death in the family. Instead there would always be the wealth of health. Interesting is the legend associated with the practice.

There is this young bride/wife whose newly married husband is predicted to die on the fourth day of their marriage. The feisty girl is determined to fight against the destiny. On this very day, evening onwards, she puts her newly wedded husband atop a pile of gold, silver and diamonds, and she lits up the entire room truly brightly. 

When Yama, the lord of death, enters the room, his eyes are blinded by the glittering mound. So he assumes the form of a serpent to see clearly. He cannot, however, slither up the mound. All along, she sings, tells stories to her husband so that he does not fall asleep.

Her dedication and genuineness win over even Yama, and he blesses her that there would not be any untimely death. To celebrate her victory over death, there is this puja of wealth at home (its glitter matters as in the story) to which one is supposed to add a little each year. The offering of the coriander seeds in the puja is closely related to health, too, given its calming effect on the body.

In my opinion, the 'love'ly story seems to suggest that health is the real wealth. It is hence a puja of 'Dhanwantary', the divine man of medicine, emerging out of the churning of the "ksheersagar" with the "amrut kalash". 'Amrit' is life-ascertaining as well. All the dispensaries, most doctors, host hence a puja this evening.

In other words, the very nomenclature and the myths/the legends associated with this second day prove very strongly that the real wealth IS health!

Pratima@Each and every part of our body is beautifully fitted in and has a perfect function. What a great design we are! We must hence use it best and to the advantage of our own selves, of all who deeply bond with us, and for the greater good!

Celebrations begin!

 Yes, it is that time of the year yet again, the beginning of the Diwali festival. Diwali IS special. Actually, these days, all the activities associated with the festival are performed year long. People are forever buying clothes, are eating chuckli's everyday, activities whole and soul (not sole, please!) considered to be unique to Diwali once upon a time not so very long long ago.

Yet  Diwali is special. It is a feel that consists of the early morning warm water bath with the advt famous Moti (or Mysore Sandal) soap bar, with the fragrant oil and the rough "ubtan" all over your face and body, of the unique smell of the fire crackers, of the gentle light of the earthen diya's, of the special breakfasts and lunches, basically of that most impotant feel of togetherness, so rare these days. 

Look at Wasu Baras, for example. It is the day that formally declares the arrival of Diwali. On this day, we celebrate the togetherness of human and the non-human, of  man and animal. In brief, we celebrate this special togetherness during Diwali, the unique festival of togetherness.

Pratima@ Together are we wiser!

Reading: A few musings

 Who reads these days? No, that is not a complaint. Rather it is the statement of a fact. Indeed very few people read currently. Let us not get in to what people tend to read because it would then be obvious that mostly it would be the DIY, that is, 'do it yourself', books of very many types. In brief, both as an activity and its content, reading seems to have taken a beating!

What made me make this observation? Well, there is a group online which consists of encouraging the devotees to listen to the Dnyaneshwari. Incidentally, the Dnyaneshwari is not at all a simplistic religious stotra kind of treatise. It is a great explanation of the Geeta, and the entire Vaidic philosophy.

This simply superb philosophical discussion, incidentally,  is contained in the most wonderful poetry. Very few people realise it, but Sant Dnyaneshwar was both, a superb poet and a great communicator. The kind of language he uses, the simple but profound images he provides to explain extremely complex philosophical ideas are absolutely  unbelievable.

Reading the Dnyaneshwari time and again is an enriching experience. Now this group has a good idea. If recited nicely, at least people would hear it. The question is if it would 'reach' the listeners. When we listen, our mind inevitably wanders.

When we read, on the contrary, we have to pay more attention. There is more a symbiosis and a synergy of perception and cognition on our part. Naturally, more of our sense organs, eyes, of course, touch of the page/the book, the unique fragrance of the book inspire our brain better, right?

Yes, reading is superior. Anyways, however, something is better than nothing. There would, moreover, be a sense of regularity which is wonderful. If you cannot read it, at least listen to it, is the mantra!

Pratima@Reading makes one wise! 

The dirtiest place

 With Diwali just around the corner, all of us are busy cleaning up the home in our own way, right? Obviously that adds to the dirt in the city where anyways there would be  mounds, if not mountains, of all the refuse of the city.

That made me wonder, and hence I tried to find out which the dirtiest city could be in the whole world. Surprise of surprises, in the top five, you have New York. In fact, in one of the surveys, it is the dirtiest! Oh, yes, Bejing is there, too, not to forget London!

No, New Delhi is not there in the top ten. But Lahore shares the dubious honours. How can we forget our very own Mumbai? Can we arrive at some generalizations on the basis of these possibly dirtiest cities?

Mostly, it is the metros, be it New York, London, Mumbai that are the dirtiest. Understandable is the fact, given the fast and furious life style of the metros which induces the use-n-throw mentality, I suppose!?!

Yet another likely candidate appears to be the capital cities, Bejing, Lahore, London. Well, in the capital, there would be lot of refuse, both the political refuse which leads us to the other typical refuse, right?

No need to feel proud that only Mumbai figures in this dubious list because in the list entitled 'the most polluted cities', in  the five  most polluted cities, four are from India. Be it Kanpur, Gaya, Faridabad, Delhi, the causes for pollution are absolutely man-made, right? The dirt, the pollution, are man-made, but nature bears its brunt!

Pratima@What about the mental refuse, jealousy, viciousness, harassment, cruelty, crookedness, vindictiveness, shamelessness? Such junk dirties only one possible place, the human mind, full of lies, boasts and hypocrisies, the source of all that is crooked and cruel! The human mind, in brief, is the truly dirtiest space!

Intelligence (or the lack thereof)

 World Population Review recently had a survey to find out the countries with the lowest/least intelligence quotient. The 2024 listing has Nepal, Ghana, Gambia,Gaban, Guatemala, Guinea, for example, at the lowest rung.

I was not surprised at all. Sure our films find it funny to laugh at "han, Shabji, pronam, Shabji" kind of depiction of the Nepalese, and especially their typical "Gurkha", that is, the guard profession. Personally I am dead against such generalizations.

How many amongst us, for example, would have the physical fortitude and strength to survive in such difficult terrains and such tough climate conditions? Remember that all the Himalayan climbs, be it up to the Base Camp or the Everest expedition itself, are possible at all because of the Nepalese Sherpa's!

Well, I do have a problem with the very definition of the notion of the 'intelligence quotient'. No, no personal worries at all! I have nearly always been a university topper with very many scholarly and literary publications, not to forget films, radio talks et al, to my credit. I am rather good at singing and drawing/painting. No personal axe to grind, in brief!

Even then I find such castigation sick. Well, in my opinion, intelligence is multi-faceted. It is physical, auditory, visual, spatial, kinetic, and so on. I can never consider anyone dumb hence!

Nevertheless, as per the survey, certain countries are the dumbest. Why? Well, have you noticed that the lowest ten are all from Asia, Africa and America of the South variety! In other words, in my opinion, colonisation is the biggest culprit. The remaining possible causes, poverty, malnutrition, lack of educational facilities, all follow as the fall-out of the fact of the colonising cruelties, right?

I would not consider the rural residence as one of the causes because there exist in villages citizens who may not know how to read or write, but they are indeed very sharp. Literacy, in my opinion, does not have much to do with intelligence, right? 

I hence find such a survey reprehensible, an academic ivory tower research far away from lived realities! What say?

Pratima@Against such so-called surveys, look at where India is. At the cusp of a very interesting mo(ve)ment of being into a developed nation with a developing country tag! No wonder, I am both, a very proud Indian, and a 'doubting Thomas' who questions the veracity and validity of such 'loaded' surveys!

A unique day

 October 24 is a unique day indeed. Want to know why? Well, it was on the day, back in 1945, there was this recognition that war hardly helps. Hence the founding of the United Nations on this very day.

Well, such are the present conditions that this unique day appears both relevant and irrelevant, rather like the date itself. Look at the world realities right now. The Russia-Ukraine is now a two years old wound, oozing not merely blood, but rotten pus as well! If that is not enough, the West-Asian operation is successfully unsuccessful. The patient is refusing to emerge from the self-induced coma! What all new developments happen every day on that front!

The U.N., however, has been both present and absent, rather like a ghost during the daytime, there and yet nowhere! It has such a wonderful framework, and yet it is completely lacking in any efficacy.  In brief, on October 24, yet again we feel Intensely that the world has not really understood that tragedy called war in which the only entity that wins is the war itself!

The date is important because it marks the world mental awareness day as well. They say that even in an ever ebullient, aspirational India, three in every ten citizens, suffer from depression. It is a new warfare, staged at the mindscape. Unfortunately, however, in this territory, there is no mediator, however inefficient, like the U.N. 

It is a battle one fights with oneself, wherein one is all-in-one, the enemy, the occupied territory, the devastating minefield, the innocent citizens dying by dozens or taken hostage. In brief, it is a tunnel with no light at the end!

Pratima@The fight with oneself, with self as the only mediator, is a scarring war. But it has yet, inbuilt within, its unique moments of sheer lucid trek one can attain despite all the muddied paths full of troubles and travails!