Of all the living religious traditions in the world today, it is only in Hinduism that we find extensive worship of Divinity in the feminine form-” Devi. Hinduism believes in the universal creative forces to be feminine gender. God is looked upon as Shakti – the Divine Mother, the feminine par excellence. She is worshipped as the Goddess of strength, valor and power. All male power is said to be derived from this universal power and strength of the feminine principle, Shakti, which literally means “power”. Each male deity of the Divine Trinity- Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, has his female counterpart- Saraswati, Lakshmi, and Parvati. We invoke Durga’s help to surmount all obstacles, pray to Lakshmi for peace and prosperity then upon Saraswati to gain knowledge. Worship of Shakti in innumerable names and forms, like the Kali, Parvati, Bhavani, Kamakshi etc often reflect local customs and legends.

Yaa Devi sarvabhuteshu buddhi rupena samsthitaa

Namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namo namaha

To that goddess, who dwells within all beings in the form of intellect, I bow again and again and again

All women and men are considered to be the manifestations of God. We are all created in the image of the Supreme Being and the supreme being reside in each and every one of us.

A woman was supposed to be the manifestation of Goddess. Women have been offered worship at every stage of life — as virgins, as married women and as mothers. Wife or mother commanded more honour and reverence than husband or father. According to Manu ‘the daughter is the highest object of tenderness’ and the mother is revered’ a thousand times more than the father’

How can the extraordinary crime of eliminating daughters through sex determination be perpetrated in a society where little girls are revered as Devi’s kanya roop? Dishonour to women was tantamount to dishonour of the Almighty. And yet, today we find that the graph of violent crime against women is rising. Have we, as a society, forgotten what our scriptures enjoined? The blessings of the Almighty can be sought only by those who respect and revere women in their lives.

Yatra naariyastu poojyate, ramante tatra devata

As Swami Vivekananda says, “It is impossible to think about the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is impossible for a bird to fly on only one wing.

For the real invocation and adoration of the Divine Mother, we should try and realize the presence of the Goddess within our own minds and bodies,. We can learn to respect and revere the feminine as well as masculine qualities, and to see Devi in all women. Such an attitude will heal and uplift our world. We pray to Devi that the social status of Hindu women will continue to improve in future through internal reforms in the society

May the Divine Mother guide us in the right direction!

“““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`

This is really a sad day for the music fraternity. The gazals,  refreshingly rendered by the mastreo in his lilting voice, are forever etched in my memory.  Who can blame me if I find the current music largely intolerable?! Afterall, this is the stuff I grew up with. And boy, am I glad that I did!

Passing away of Jagjit Singh is not a demise of just one person.

To me it feels like the veritablel end of the Gazal genre.

During his lifetime, he was  a head and shoulder above his contemporaries. But now I can see not a single person who is even remotely capable of carrying his baton forward.

Jagjit Ji…We’ll miss you… R.I.P

Lyrics

मुह  की  बात  सुने  हर  कोई, दिल  के  दर्द  को  जाने  कौन  !!
आवाजों  के  बाजारों  में  ख़ामोशी  पहचाने  कौन!!

मुह  की  बात  सुने  हर  कोई !!

सदियों  सदियों   वही  तमाशा , रस्ता  रस्ता  लम्बी  खोज  !!
लेकिन  जब  हम  मिल  जाते  हैं , खो  जाता  है  जाने  कौन !! 

आवाजों  के  बाजारों  में  ख़ामोशी  पहचाने  कौन!!
मुह  की  बात  सुने  हर  कोई  !!

वोह  मेरा  आएना  है  और  मैं  उस  की  पर्र्छई  हूँ 

मेरे  ही  घर  में  रहता  है, मुझ  जैसा  ही  जाने  कौन  !!

आवाजों  के  बाजारों  में  ख़ामोशी  पहचाने  कौन  !!
मुह  की  बात  सुने  हर  कोई  !!

किरण  किरण  अलसाता  सूरज , पलक  पलक  खुलती  नींद 
धीमे  धीमे  बिखर  रहा  है , ज़र्रा -ज़र्रा  जाने  कौन  !!

मुह  की  बात  सुने  हर  कोई, दिल  के  दर्द  को  जाने  कौन  !!
आवाजों  के  बाजारों  में  ख़ामोशी  पहचाने  कौन !!
मुह  की  बात  सुने  हर  कोई !!

Via

Happiness is fleeting; it somehow evades us and escapes from our grasp.

Stated simply, in every situation we have two choices - either accept the situation as it is and stop resisting it, or take action. Those are our two choices, always.

Thats seems simple enough, but is it?   

What I like about this poster is that it highlights that WE are ourselves responsible for our state of happiness. In case we wish to shift your position from “Unhappy” to “Happy” all  we have to do is change something…Fair enough!

Happiness is a do-it-yourself proposition. Life hands each of us a personalized kit with everything we need, and we put it together, one piece at a time. Happiness comes in many flavors. Explore your options, try different strategies, and be open to change.

But, the moot question is  ”Change what??? and how???”

I came across the Serenity Prayer few years ago and I think it contains so much of what we need to know about life:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

I believe that when it comes to ourselves, we can change anything we want to. We CAN change just about anything about our own selves in our lives; we cannot, however, make changes “in” or “for” others. And sometimes we just might find happiness by simply accepting our selves as powerless 

From Daily Serenity Prayer-Inspirations for a peaceful life

The other day they were replacing power lines on my street. I was working at home, and I was without electricity for the whole day. Powerless. No computer. No laundry. No cordless phone. Lit the stove with a match. Wrote longhand. Walked the dog in the middle of the day. 

 

Felt free. 

 

In this case my powerlessness was obvious. But there are plenty of other times when it takes me a while to realize it.

 

Like when I’m trying to solve a problem again and again in a way that isn’t working.

Or trying to change another person’s behavior.

Or letting a thought or feeling get the best of me.

 

In those cases accepting powerlessness means giving myself permission to stop.

Just stop.

 Stop trying to control, fix, think, rethink, do, redo what can’t be fixed, controlled, done by me alone. I say “enough”… “when”… “I’m done.” And I do something more productive. Read a book. Journal. Take a walk. Breathe.

 

Powerlessness gives me space to start over, to detach, to get out of a rut, change my perspective, get free.

 

 I embrace the blessing of powerlessness.

 

I would like to share with you today, a video that I found at which is “an eye-opening reflection on how we view children and how we teach children in our current education system.”

 

 

 

 

Via  Pratham Books blog

 

The secret of living in peace with all people lies in the art of understanding each one by his own individuality.
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn

भारतीय संस्कृति में गुरु का स्थान ईश्वर से भी ऊपर माना गया है.

 “गुरुर ब्रह्मा गुरुर विष्णु गुरुर देवो महेश्वर:

गुरुर साक्षात् परम ब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरुवे नमः”

कबीर दास जी भी कहा है-

“गुरु गोविन्द दोउ खड़े, काके लागूँ पांय

बलिहारी गुरु आपने, गोविन्द दियो बताय”

 प्राचीन काल में गुरु और शिष्य के संबंधों का आधार था, गुरु का ज्ञान, मौलिकता और नैतिक बल, उनका शिष्यों के प्रति स्नेह भाव, तथा ज्ञान बांटने का निःस्वार्थ भाव.

शिष्य में होती थी, गुरु के प्रति पूर्ण श्रद्धा, गुरु की क्षमता में पूर्ण विश्वास तथा गुरु के प्रति पूर्ण समर्पण एवं आज्ञाकारिता.  अनुशासन शिष्य का सबसे महत्वपूर्ण गुण माना गया है. 

आचार्य चाणक्य ने एक आदर्श विद्यार्थी के गुण एस प्रकार बताये हैं-

“काकचेष्टा बकुल ध्यानं श्वान  निद्रा तथेव च

अल्पहारी गृहत्यागी विद्यार्थीनाम पंचलक्षणं”

गुरु और शिष्य के बीच में केवल शाब्दिक ज्ञान का ही आदान प्रदान नहीं होता था, बल्कि गुरु अपने शिष्य के संरक्षक के रूप में कार्य करता था . उनका  उद्देश्य होता था शिष्य का समग्र विकास. शिष्य को भी यह विश्वास रहता था कि गुरु उसका कभी अहित सोच भी नहीं सकते. यही विश्वास गुरु के प्रति  उसकी अगाध श्रद्धा और समर्पण का कारण रहा है.

 राम- वशिष्ठ, कृष्ण-संदीपनी से ले कर चन्द्रगुप्त मौर्य-चाणक्य और  विवेकानंदा- परमहंस तक शिष्य-गुरु की एक आदर्श और लम्बी परम्पर  रही है. पर इस  पवन परम्परा के कुछ गंभीर अपवाद भी रहे हैं. उस एकलव्य को भला कौन भुला सकता है, जिसने द्रोणाचार्य  की मूर्ति बना कर धनुर्विद्या स्वयं सीखी लेकिन  अन्यायी गुरु द्रोणाचार्य ने  गुरु दक्षिणा के रूप में उसके दाहिने हाथ का अंगूठा ही मांग लिया!

आज का समाज अधिक जागरूक है. किसी गुरु के द्वारा किसी शिष्य के प्रति आज ऐसा अन्याय हो जाये और समाज उसका विरोध न करे, आज यह संभव नहीं है.

 आज ज्ञान के प्रसार के साधन बहुत बढ़ गए हैं. इससे छात्रों का औसत बौधिक स्तर भी बढ़ गया है. लेकिन आजकल अधिकतर मेधावी छात्र अपनी शिक्षा पूरी करने के बाद अध्यापन के क्षेत्र में कार्य करने के बजाय किसी अन्य व्यवसाय में जाना अधिक पसंद  करते हैं. विशेषकर उच्च शिक्षा के क्षेत्र में योग्य शिक्षकों का काफी अभाव है. शिक्षा के शेत्र में हो  रहे तेज़ परिवर्तनों के  कारण,  यह  आवश्यक  हो गया है कि शिक्षक भी अपनी क्षमता के स्तर को निरंतर विकसित करते रहें. आदर और श्रद्धा मांगने से नहीं मिलते, बल्कि उन्हें अपनी योग्यता के बल पर हासिल किया जाता है. आज का छात्र जागरूक  है. यदि शिक्षक छात्र की जिज्ञासा का उचित समाधान नहीं कर पाता तो छात्र का आदर खो देता है.

 आज के भौतिकतावादी  समाज में  ज्ञान से अधिक धन को महत्व दिया जाने  लगा है.  अतः आज  अध्यापन  भी निस्वार्थ नहीं रह कर, एक व्यवसाय के रूप में  नज़र   आता  है. छात्र और शिक्षक  का  सबंध भी एक उपभोक्ता और सेवा प्रदाता का होता जा रहा है. छात्रों के शिक्षा  लिए  गुरुओं  से  प्राप्त  होने वाले ज्ञान के बजाय, धन से खरीदी जाने वाली वस्तु  मात्र बन कर रह गयी है. इससे शिष्य की गुरु के प्रति अगाध श्रद्धा और गुरु का छात्रों के प्रति स्नेह और संरक्षक भाव लुप्त होता जा रहा है.

आज ज़रुरत है कि गुरु और शिष्य दोनों अपनी अंतरात्मा में झांकें और विचार करें कि गुरु और शिष्य के संबंधों में आ रही इस गिरावट को कैसे रोका जाए.

If we are peaceful inside, humble inside and sincere inside, then nothing outside can take away our peace. So if we could calm our pose we will never need to take Calmpose.

Usually, though, we do the opposite.

We pose our calm.

We put on airs of being wise, aware, centred and peaceful.

We want others to look at us and think that that we are calm and serene.

However, inside we are steaming…our anger, greed and envy have grabbed the reins of our lives and are steering us in violent, corrupt, dishonest, and anxiety-ridden direction.

Let us, therefore, really and deeply calm our pose …instead of posing our calm!

Yes, I am pretty much alive. I hadn’t planned on falling off the face of the Earth, otherwise I might have warned you about my absence from the blogosphere

I am sorry that this blog had gone into hibernation.  Anyway, I am back now and I wish  to try and revive this blog  by being  more regular here and spending more time in  my little corner on the web.    I am not sure how successful I am going to be in this intention though. But like it is said-

वादे अक्सर टूट जाते है, पर कोशिशें कामयाब हो जाती हैं

So hang in tight, keep your fingers crossed and let’s see where this goes

 Blogging is very very close to my heart. Blogging may go out of my sight, due to various reasons, but  it won’t go out of my mind. OccasionallyMore often than not, I might get distracted by my myriads of other interests,  but let me assure you, that I always intend to get back to blogging at the soonest

It was Jim Croce that sang,

“There never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do once you find ‘em.”  

Isn’t that the truth? 

 My being away does not imply that my interest in blogging has dwindled or waned. Infact, I have experienced that it actually intensifies if I have been away too long. These are the moments which draw me back once again to my computer, and you and I  celebrate the joy of getting reacquainted, picking up like two old friends-right where we left off      :)    :)

Time In A Bottle lyrics
Songwriter: Croce, Jim;

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I’d like to do
Is to save every day ’til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I’d save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do once you find them
I’ve looked around enough to know
That you’re the one I want to go through time with

If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do once you find them
I’ve looked around enough to know
That you’re the one I want to go through time with

I wish I could rejoice at the news of the death of the world’s most wanted terrorist and feel a sense of closure and peace at the fact that finally justice has prevailed and the loss of countless lives to terrorism has been avenged.

I wish I could feel the smug “I-told-you-so” satisfaction now that India’s claim has been confirmed  that Pakistan is not just a “Terror Heaven” but the epicentre of worldwide terrorism.

I feel none of these.

The dominant feeling right now is that of bewiderment at Pakistan’s doublespeak. Osama was found hiding deep inside Pakistan and not in the impenetrable Hindu Kush mountains as the world was earlier made to believe.  Pakistan’s feigned ignorance of the hideout is a blatant lie, hard to stomach.

For quite some time now, Pakistan has been  pretending to be commited to fighting against Islamist militancy when actually it was busy providing shelter to terrorism???

I am stupified at the thought that how could Pakistan believe that it could continue this double game and get away!! It not only looses face in the international community but why is it so difficult for Pakistan to realise that it is on a path to self destruction!!!

This not only defies logic, it is totally devoid of even the basic common sense .

The scenic natural splendor of Khurpatal, near Nainital in Uttarakhand.

 Thursday Challange: “GREEN” (Plants, Cloths, Cars, Toys, Houses,…)

The Imperial Metal embroidery

 Since time immemorial Gold has been seen as a symbol of purity, prosperity and good fortune in India. Even today we continue to be quite obssessive about accumulating gold in every form. In fact, we Indians are passionate about Gold. No wonder then that we can even <em>wear<em/> this precious metal not just s jewellery, but they went ahead and <em>created<em/> dresses out of gold and silver threads.  

As Zari, gold and silver threads were woven into the fabric. And Zardozi- involves the use of gold and silver thread to emboider three dimensional motifs on rich fabric.

This dress here, of course, is not embroidered using real gold thread and thats the reason, I could afford it

EDITED TO ADD

METAL WIRE USED IN ZARI AND ZARDOSI WORK:
How it is made?

From
http://appareldesigns.blogspot.com/2007/01/zarizardosi-embroidery.html

The method is called ‘Kalabatune’.

The process starts with the melting of metal ingot to make into bars known as ‘paras’, which is drawn to a length by gently beating it after heating.

The metal is then pulled through perforated steel plates to turn into a long wire after which comes the ‘Tarkashi’ process.

This is to reduce the wire to the required thinness like a whisp of hair using rubber/ diamond dyes (moulds). The last stage is called ‘Budla’ when the wire is finally flattened, now done by machines and then wound on silk/ cotton thread which when twisted becomes Kasab/ Kalabatune.

MORE DETAILS ON THE PROCESS OF ZARDOSI CAN BE FOUND ON THIS WEBSITE

http://appareldesigns.blogspot.com/2007/01/zarizardosi-embroidery.html

THURSDAY CHALLANGE

“METAL” (Metallic, Steel, Bronze, Gold, Iron, Shinny,…)