The Sun shines at Chicago after the chilly winters.

Spring, sunshine and shopping 
or I can say triple S in Chicago City.

This is how I remembered my first visit to Chicago. The winter was practically over, when we landed there. Spring season  had just started, it was the month of April, and with that comes lots of sunshine and blooming flowers.

Downtown view

Every where one can see lots and lots of vegetation or greenery around with plenty of OAK trees, loaded with bunch of flowers, grown around the houses. And one has to see them to believe that how they bloom. OMG!!! They are pink, white and lavender in colors. Last year also, I was visiting Chicago in this month, a "season of flowers,"I should be saying. It can leave one gasping by the sheer beauty of nature. As if the mother earth was waiting for too long, for the spring season to arrive, and as it comes, it starts sprouting ferociously everywhere, and in every nook and corner, then nothing can stop it.

Oak tree 

     Though it was not very hot but comfortably warm weather, when one just wants to pack picnic basket and go out to spend some time leisuring in the garden or by the side of Michigan Lake, overlooking the famous downtown. How much one has seen it in the Hollywood movies, or in pictures and paintings, but you have to see it in real life to believe it. It was quite a surreal experience for me. Those huge buildings and the towering Wills Tower, a gigantic structures of steel and concrete was really an awe inspiring.
We had a chance to have picnic by the side of Michigan lake two years back, My sister, who stays in Chicago had arranged it. Her younger son also jumped into this program, with enthusiasm and arranged everything, from packing a picnic basket and taking us to downtown. I was impressed, how dextrously he arranged every thing. Rajma Chawal (an all time fav. dish for Indians comprising kidney beans with rice) were made for this special occasion, he had not forgotten to pack gas stove to reheat it there. He also managed to squeeze loads of potato chips in the basket to munch, and a  small kettle for fresh cup of tea, every detail had been done with utmost care so as not to miss a cuppa by the lake side.

polar bear.

With all these preparations we started for downtown, it was first a sight seeing tour around land marks buildings, and then we went to Chicago Zoo, where the highlight was polar bear. Zoo was a very interesting place, though not very huge but nicely laid out, so that most of the animals had spacious cabin to roam about.
After having enjoyed every view we got settled down near lake side, and enjoyed sumptuous serving of Rajma/chawal. Everything was too perfect from food to view to gossiping. It was nice to spend quality time with your family. I must mention here that my brother-in-law has amazing sense of humor and is always ready with his one liners. I think one post on my experiences would be little less, I got pampered and totally spoiled in their house. Shopping there was quite an experience for me, Ross, outlet malls and our fav. joint Oak brook mall, where we spend quite a time having subways  meals and chatting intensely and endlessly from religion to philosophy to politics.
It is true, that sometimes you just take things for granted especially your elder siblings to solve your problems, forgetting in the course that they themselves are having hands-full of their own, and forgets that our weak disposition can be irksome to them.
My elder sister, who was always there for me, from mending my wardrobe to strengthen my affairs, wanted to see me as a fighter, strong and practical. My limping physically and mentally was kind of puts her off.
I want to thank her for being there in my life.
Thank you again.






Pic. courtesy web file.

CULMINATING DURGA PUJA

Culminating Durga Puja on the last day of Navratri.

Elaborate kanya pujan in Temple. 

     The word culminating means reaching a climax or point of highest development or to reach a final, climax or pinnacle. This is a very important aspect of Durga Puja, who incarnated in nine different forms to reinstate faith and uplift seekers. As I have mentioned in THE NINE BENEVOLENT FORMS OF MA DURGA. This is either done on the eighth or ninth day according to individual or family traditions. I happened to attend one kanya pujan in south Indian temple couple of years back and was mesmerized by their priests sheer faith and rituals. As shown in the picture on the left, these young girls were made to sit on special place after washing their little feet while chanting mantras. These girls were being treated as if they are incarnation of real goddess and descended from heaven to bless them. The garland were put on them and served with food and given gifts. Lastly before these girls departed, all the priests keeled in front of them, asking them to forgive them for their mistakes and requested them to visit again. But otherwise also, it is celebrated with fervor and enthusiasm across world among "Hindus". This is also known as Kanya Pujan or Kanjak. 

     The nine young girls representing the nine forms of Goddess Durga (Navadurga) are worshiped.  This festival has philosophical meaning also, A girl-child is the symbol of the pure basic creative force. There is also a ritual of purification and chanting of mantras. Her feet are washed and then she is made to sit on a special pedestal. She is worshiped by offering ‘akshat‘ (rice grains) and by burning incense sticks. 

Kanjak 

Women symbolize Mahamaya (The goddess Durga). Even among these a girl child is considered to be the purest, because of her innocence. Hinduism believes in the universal creative forces to be of feminine gender. The very original force is Mahamaya, whose inspiration created the gods and the rest of the cosmos. The inspiration is the life force of the entire creation. All the major and minor energies and forces are represented by various goddesses. Navaratra deity Durga and all her dimensions are believed to be the manifestations of the same basic inspiration Mahamaya. In a kanya (girl child) the great feminine potential is at its peak, having developed into a girl of a certain age and before attaining puberty, a female child is considered the most auspicious, most jagrat, and the most clear minded and clear soul individual. While invoking the parashakti in such a form the purity of mind body and spirits is required and is fulfilled by a girl child of the said age of 8+ before reaching puberty. Such a female child is indeed Devi, who in her later life takes the roles of Parvati as a wife and mother, Lakshmi as a housewife, Saraswati as the first guru of her children, Durga as the destroyer of all obstacles for her family, Annapurna as the food provider through her cooking, Kali as the one, who punishes to bring the members of the family on the right track. A very special feast is prepared of puffed puries, halwa (sweet) and black chick peas. Gifts and token money are also given to these girls.

Prasad on this day.










pics and inputs from web.

MY CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF DIFFERENT KIND.

Rendezvous of a different kind 

An ode to new found friend.

Ode (from Ancient Greek: ᾠδή ōidē) is a type of lyrical stanza. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist. It is an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally, as per by wikipedia.

Strange are the ways of God (I will be using this word only, as it is universal and beyond arguments, whether one is a believer, or an atheist.) As to deny also, one presuppose its existence, but here I am not into any kind of argument, God is a very personal belief or an idea, or whichever way you want to put. If you believe in Him, you can see a divine design in everything and everywhere. Well as I am a staunch believer, and now started seeing His hidden messages also, sometimes gets perplexed by them. Two recent ones are worth mentioning, but I will be taking up the second one first, as it happened today morning only. I wanted to go to Gurudwara (sikh religious place) desperately. Though I do not go there often only once a while but today I just could not stopped myself, as if I had to go. I must mention here the whole ambiance is very serene there, especially in the mornings. Sikhs may be famous for their valor and valiance. But in the vicinity of their religious place they are very humble and soft spoken. Anyways after spending sometime in the main hall, I thought of taking a stroll around the Sarovar (a small pond of holy water). And as I was taking a round of it, there I saw this lady like some Greek Goddess, omg!!! so beautiful, pure and tall. Somehow we started talking and how much and what we talked don't even remember it all now. But as we exchanged our phone no. I realized that she has same bend of mind like me believing in goodness and karmas. She has send me some very the beautiful message which I thought of sharing with you guys.  
After talking about our personal lives, we realized that we have a some parallels. So was it already decided- our meeting there, or a pure matter of chance?
 I do not know for sure. 

Indeed it was a great meeting your soul- sister or friend, who can talk about  spirituality in this hard core materialistic world. And interestingly it is nice, not to talk about jewelry, diamonds or flaunting your status etc etc...
And lastly one thing for sure " how much we talked about being not so greedy" . But who can resist as the picture says:
A box of chocolate and 6 million dollars:) 
                                                Cheers...

 message courtesy:
sukku 
inputs from wikipedia.

Now its time for entertainment.

Dear friends/readers
I have done travelling and virtual travelling, contemplated a lot and then bend towards spirituality.
And became religious and interestingly not the other way round.
 Firstly became spiritual and afterwards religious, I mean prayed and prayed a lot. I tried to understand the esoteric meaning of our prayers and religious text. I literally breathed prayers, with my every my single breath. I was so much involved that my head spurn and I saw stars. A sky full of stars.


Now It is time for entertainment.

 

My another favorite number is yellow from COLD PLAY.
As we all know by now that yellow is the color of prayer, faith, happiness and sunshine. 

credits:

video uploaded from you tube.

Listen to great music- great stress buster.

till we meet again.

bye

THE NINE BENEVOLENT FORMS OF MA DURGA

     The wonderful facts about number nine.   

      Number nine is a very auspicious number in Hindu as well as in most religions. Its influence is evident in astrology and Hindu philosophy. There are nine universal substance or elements: Earth, Water, Air. Fire, Ether, Time, Space, Soul and Mind. According to Yoga, a human body has nine doors- two eyes, two ears, the mouth, two nostrils and the openings for procreation and defection.

      In Indian aesthetics there are nine kind of Rasa. In Christianity no.9 is the Angles Number that is a sign from Angles that your life path and soul mission involve being service to humanity through use of your natural skill and talents. It suggests that you are a god- send worker. It denotes Universal love, eternity, faith, universal spiritual laws, karma, and spiritual enlightenment. It also teaches  empathy, compassion obligation, mysticism, optimism and divine wisdom. 
     Angel Number 9 is indicating that it is time to end a phase, situation or relationship that is no longer serving you in a positive way. Rest assured that ‘new’will enter your life that will enhance and benefit your life and lifestyle in many ways. Prepare yourself today as there is much work for you to do.

     Interestingly Goddess Durga incarnated into nine different forms to reinstate faith and uplift seekers. Navratana means nine jewels just like the nine beautiful merciful benevolent forms of goddess Durga. And Navaratri is a nine day festival dedicated to Goddess Durga, who appeared in different forms, which I have already mentioned in power of prayer-1, 2.

·         

Nine different forms of Goddess Durga.

   
     Power of prayer- 1, 

      Power of prayer in part-2.

      Shailputri: As daughter of the mighty Himalaya, represents the first of nine Durgas (incarnation of cosmic energy). She is beautiful depicted as holding trident and a lotus in each hand and shown mounted on a bull.(signifies rage, again a form of energy.)

      Brahmacharini: She is shown as holding a water pot (Kumbha) in one hand and a rosary in the other. She is considered as a holder of knowledge and wisdom. Rudrakhsa (rosary beads) form her favorite ornamentation.

     Chandraghanta: As Chadraghanta, the goddess is depicted as having golden skin and with a moon-crescent near her forehead. She is shown as having three eyes and ten hands, eight of which carry weapons and two of which form gestures of giving boons and stopping harms. She is shown as sitting on a tiger. She is usually associated with the giver of knowledge, bliss and serenity.

     Kushmanda: The fourth Durga is known as Kushmanda. She is depicted as emanating a cosmic aura and is depicted as having eight hands, seven of which carry weapons while the eighth carries a rosary.

     Skanda Mata: Skanda Mata literally means the mother of Skanda. Skanda was the son of Lord Shiva and Parvati and was the leader of the army of gods.The goddess is shown as having four hands, two of which carry lotuses while two are in defending and granting gestures. She is shown sitting on a lion with her son Skanda in her lap.

    Katyayani: Katyaynai is so named because of her stay at the hermitage of sage Katyayan for the purpose of penance. She is sometimes also said to be the daughter of sage Katyayan. She also is shown astride a lion and has three eyes and four arms. In one hand she holds a lotus and in another a weapon. The third and fourth hands show defending and granting gestures.

     Kaalratri: The seventh Durga, Kaalratri, is depicted as having black skin with bountiful hair, four arms and astride a donkey. In one hand she holds a cleaver and in another a burning torch. With the other two hands she forms gestures of granting and defending. She represents the enemy of darkness and ignorance.

    Maha Gauri: Maha Gauri is depicted as the fairest of the nine Durgas and is often dressed in white or green. She emanates peace and compassion and is shown with three eyes and as riding a bull. She also has four arms, one of which carries a tambourine and another a trident. The other two form defending and granting gestures. It is said that when Parvati, consort of Lord Shiva, became dirty while observing penance, Lord Shiva bathed her with the holy waters of river Ganga. Parvati's body turned lightning bright and thus she came to be known as Maha Gauri (Gauri means fair).

    Siddhidatri: Siddhidatri means the giver of siddhis (magical or spiritual powers for the control of self, others and the forces of nature). It is said in Devipuran that the Supreme God, Lord Shiva received all of these powers by propitiating the Maha Shakti. The Goddess is sometimes shown atop a lion and sometimes atop a lotus. She is shown as having four arms, which hold a club, a conch shell and a lotus. The fourth hand forms a gesture of granting. Siddhidatri is considered to be the most powerful of all the nine forms of Durga.

Wishing you Happy Navaratri, 

pic. and inputs from web.

MY RENDEZVOUS WITH LIFE PART- 2

Colors of my palette. 

Colors of my palette, I am born with.

If my rendezvous with life -1 is the sketch of my life, then there has to be some colors, with which I tried to fill it to make it a painting. If my destiny played an important role in making my sketch, then the colors are also provided by destiny for sure. 

Bragging people

Okay, okay (I do not want to offend people who cried horse over the statement that we are the choosers, and we make our own destiny). Well even they won't disagree, that we can not choose our parents and siblings and place and time of our birth. Our parents can decide it, be the of time and place of our birth (thanks to our modern science) but certainly not we. So one thing is for sure that destiny decide our colors(family and extended families, including place) too. I will be talking about people in my life as colors, as they are the ones, who helped me to paint my picture. We all want our painting to look beautiful but somehow it does not turn that way, over the years our palette, start gathering dust or I can say a few very dark gory colors. And with the result, we happened to be more disappointed with our painting than others. Please, do not misinterpret me colors are colors, there are no good colors or bad colors. Each one has its own significance and no painting would be complete without using them. I have talked about them at length in my post in Journey of Beings of light towards light, that how our disposition can be judged by our particular color aura, which we emit. There is saying also that "people show their true colors after sometime". We cannot hide it, but yes we can certainly improve it, by following certain steps: improvisation of Aura & chakras. I think most of the people are like a flock of colored parrots repeating same things.

Anyways, I have noticed that people can be categorized into a few basic colors according to their traits.

Saffron color of saints

Generally women talk about their beauty, age, and bragging or lamenting about their husbands and kids. (me too, I am not an exception.) And well, if men have little interest in these talks, then money, intelligence, power, and their infallible ego takes toll on their personality or their painting. Precisely colors can make you happy, sad, serene, violent, aggressive, evil, honest and pure. If the "fifty shades of grey" can lure you to sensual pleasure. Then white can show you the way to stay virgin, innocent and pure. Each color has significance, some good and bad virtues. Red is associated with energy, war, danger and strength. Orange combines the energy of red with the happiness of yellow. it is associated with joy, sunshine happiness and creativity. Yellow is the color of happiness, joy, intellect and creativity. Whereas Green denotes growth, harmony freshness and fertility. Blue is often symbolizes with trust, loyalty, wisdom, intelligence, faith, truth and heaven. Purple conveys  wealth, extravagance  wisdom, dignity, independence and creativity. In the end whereas black can make you elegant and powerful but it is also associated with death, evil and mystery. So we have seen every color has a few good and bad points. If Saffron denotes aggression, Green can push you to be jealous and greedy. And no body would love to watch painting absolutely white or black. as it wont be a painting rather a piece of colorless paper. Now I am taking all these colors in the perspective of religions in India. We are multilingual, multi-religious nation. We as its inhabitant has the tremendous responsibility to balance its colors, only then we can paint a beautiful painting of our country.

 Roaring dark clouds with a hint of rainbow.

Cool shade

I have a very strange relationship with colors, they confused (coaxing/pampering) me in Chicago, and became cool shade in Houston and Galveston. And not very long back, I could see the importance of saffron (Guru) in my life. Found the lovely yellow (faith) color in prayers and with the help of red(rage) tried to empower my internal demons. The color green helped me with creativity and blue provided serenity and peace. So dear readers/ friends if roaring black thunderstorms are scary, let it settle down for sometime, you would be seeing a beautiful rainbow peeping through them.   

In the end I would suggest, that if relations are like colors. So in a  way our methods of dealing  or our manners would be like color pencils. All we have to do, is to sharpen them once a while, so that they won't get blunt. It is your canvas, your color palette, let the painting be good, so that, you would feel proud of it. 

Another suggestion:  

DO NOT GIVE YOUR HALF PAINTED SMUDGED PICTURE TO YOUR CHILDREN, IT IS NOT A LEGACY TO PASS OVER YOUR HATE, REVENGE AND YOUR MISDEED TO THEM. YOU HAVE PROVIDED THEM A FRESH BEAUTIFUL CANVAS. LET THEM EXPLORE THEIR OWN LIFE AND MAKE THEIR OWN PAINTING.

Sharpened colors. symbolizing our mending manners.

pics. from web

Extended post on Power of Prayer part-1, 2. Allegory explained.

Allegory has been used widely throughout history in all forms of art, largely because it can illustrate complex ideas and concepts in a way that are comprehensible to its viewers, readers or listeners. They are used typically or as rhetorical device that convey hidden meaning through symbolic figures, actions, imagery and/or events, which together create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wants to convey.  (This is the description by wikipedia.org).
It has also given a beautiful painting as an example.
^Allegory of Music by Filippino Lippi (between 1475 and 1500): The "Allegory of Music" is a popular theme in painting. Lippi uses symbols popular during theHigh Renaissance, many of which refer to Greek mythology.

I have talked about Goddess as cosmic energy in my post:

Power of Prayer part-1.
Power of prayer part-2
I felt the necessity to elaborate on a few terms I used in that posts.

Allegory has been widely used in "Devi Mahatmyam (glory of goddess.) This text is also known as Durga Mahatmyam. to make ideas simpler.
The whole concept has been weaved into a beautiful story of Cosmic energy, with the three central characters.

The Sanskrit word Durga means a fort, or a place that is protected and thus difficult to reach, here it is compared with ourselves. The projection of the stronger and fiercer side of womanhood is but obvious in the tales surrounding Goddess Durga.  

The inner metaphorical significance of the Devi Mahatmyam

The King, the Merchant and the Sage are as allegories to the Body, Mind and Intellect

The cycle of World (samsara) and its inevitable sufferings goes on as long as man does not realize that it is the Self (Atman) that is the rider and not the body or mind or pseudo-self. Unfortunately we continue to suffer till we realize this. It has three main characters smadhi, king and sage Medhas. 

Samadhi, on the other hand is a merchant (vaishya). The word ‘samadhi’ indicates an integrated or concentrated or focused mind, a mind that is absorbed in meditation (‘sam’: together or integrated; ‘a’: towards; and ‘dha’: to hold). In other words the word ‘samadhi’ denotes a focused or concentrated mind, a mind in meditation

The king and the merchant are archetypal characters. We are all a bit like the king and the merchant. We all share their predicament. At some point of time we all experience suffering, hurt and loss. At times our close friends, relatives, and family members fail us. In spite of our deep hurts we still cling on to our old ways and old associations. We fail to discern. We fail to learn from our past. Instead we simply brood over the past constantly reliving our miseries in the present. The king and the merchant find themselves in the hermitage of a great sage in whose hermitage even wild beasts have successfully tamed themselves of their ferocity. Yet the king and the merchant find it hard to awaken their abilities to discern or be dispassionate. Here again we share their plight. Most of us go to a temple or an ashram or a spiritual retreat or a great saint only to find that the mind is still under the conditioning of the past. We worry about our losses and hurts. It would be good if we could reflect rather than brood over our losses and hurts. This is our predicament. Returning back to the merchant Samadhi, though he had the natural inborn ability to engage his mind in meditation, in single minded pursuit, it did not bring him happiness. Instead the end result was unhappiness. Why? He concentrated on wealth alone. The object of his single minded pursuit was only material wealth. You always get what you pursue with a focused mind.

Thus Suratha (a good chariot) and Samadhi (a concentrated or focused mind) cannot serve their true purpose, cannot find true happiness till they meet the sage Medhas (intellect or insight or knowledge), who can lead them to the Goddess, to the Supreme Self. ‘Medhas’ is another word for ‘buddhi’ or ‘intellect’.

The Divine Mother is our own true being, our inherent divinity and wholeness. Her clashes with the demons symbolize the outward and inward struggles we face daily. The Devi, personified simultaneously as the one supreme Goddess and also the many goddesses, confronts the demons of ahamkara or ego (our mistaken notion of who we are or what we identify ourselves. This tale also denotes our constant battle with duality, good or bad, auspicious, and inauspicious.
And in the end one realizes that we are just part of this one cosmic whole. 

pics. and inputs from web.