Krishna, Dharma, and the Mahabharata I Thought I Knew

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Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra When I was growing up, I used to listen to so many stories from our epics and mythology—whether it was reading Amar Chitra Katha books or listening to my paati narrate tales of bravery and valor, the purpose of the divine, and the importance of adhering to dharma. Stories of Shiva and Vishnu found their way into my life through various forms. As a child, it was fascinating to see the power wielded by the Gods. And the message I took away was very simple: if you are devoted to the Gods, no harm can befall you. The Mahabharata, Ramayana, Nala-Damayanti, tales of Muruga and Ganesha, Draupadi, the Pandavas, the Kauravas—the army of characters was endless. To say they fascinated me would be a big understatement. I have read the Mahabharata many times, through various authors, and listened to many narrations of it. Every single time, I walk away with a new meaning. Kri...
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Avani Avattam

Hey! Wondering what this mysterious word is? It is nothing but one of the most sacred and religious ceremony of the Brahmins. It is the Upakarma. Belonging to the Yajur veda, the thread changing ceremony ( to be simple) fell today and the three of us in our room were ready with our waishtee ( dhoti ), vivudhi ( sacred ash) on our forehead, dharbe, new poonal ( thread ), pancha pathra ugruni, arisi ( rice) or to be appropriate akshadhai and of course water.

A scanned copy of the Kanchi madam upakarma copy was there on my lap and with great vigor and challenge, I was reciting the Sanskrit words written in Tamil. Never easy to get a good foothold in the subject if you've never read it before. All the time we are involved in science and technology that you realise what you've been missing in the long run. Vedic knowledge has always been a boon not for a particular community but for the whole wordly sphere. It encompasses all that we can think of and a lot more.

Life gets too intricate and complicated if we don't understand the real meaning of our deeds. I think with the advancement of science and technology, the values, morals and ethics are taking a backseat. The competitive edge is so razor sharp that fellow feelings are not anymore being administered in the right sense. Its always a trade off! Do you want to spend more time thinking about your progress or do you want to spend time for the society? Its a tough call considering the kind of circumstances that one has to go through to earn his bread.

Vedas, Upanishads and other religious manuscripts have mesmerised me as well as baffled me. It has so much of content that we pretend not to have time so as not to read them. The content is obviously over the head but the process is worth it. I would consider it a Once in a lifetime experience to come close to reciting the vedas let alone mastering them. I have always had this fancy of learning the miniscule of atleast one of the vedas - Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana veda but then I don't have time!!

It is never easy to change but a change for the better is really worth it whatever maybe the ordeal that one has to undergo for it.

A little too philosophical but I just hope that it does sound a lot pragmatic!!

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