Qualified(?) Opinion

ஒரு கனவில் அரைகுறையாகக் கண்டது :

மாமி : "ஸ்ரீராமா! ஜோசியத்த பத்தி உன்னோட அபிப்ப்ராயாத சொல்லு"

நான் : "என்ன கேள்வி மாமி இது?"

மாமி : "என்னடா நார்மல் கேள்விதானே!"

நான் : "சரி. எனக்கு ஜோசியத்த பத்தி என்ன தெரியும் னு கொஞ்சம் சொல்லுங்கோளேன் "

மாமி : "எனக்கு பெருசா ஒண்ணும் தெரியாது. ஏதோ பத்திரிக்கைல படிச்சதுதான்."

நான் : "நான் அதக் கேக்கல. 'எனக்கு' ஜோசியத்த பத்தி என்ன தெரியும் னு உங்களுக்கு தெரியுமோ அத கொஞ்சம் சொல்லுங்கோ னு கேட்டேன்"

மாமி : "அது எப்படிடா எனக்கு தெரியும்? இப்படி அர்த்தாம் இல்லாத கேள்வியா கேக்கார!"

நான் : "ஒருத்தனுக்கு ஒரு விஷயத்த பத்தி தெரியுமா? தெரியாதா? தெரியும்னா எவ்வளவு தெரியும்? அபிப்பிராயம் சொல்லர அளவுக்கு தெரியுமா? னு எல்லாம் தெரிஞ்சுக்காம அபிப்பிராயம் கேக்கறது அர்த்தமான கேள்வியா?"

srIjayanti nirNayam

It is a privilege to share a really useful posting on srIjayanti nirNayam by NS Parthasarathy Bhattachar of Triplicane.

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Sriramajayam

All sampradayas are correct in their view. So, one should follow any one of these which is in his ancestors' way. Janmashtami is on sunday. Smarthas north indians and almost all south indians perform Srijayanthi on sunday. Main Criteria is ashtami should prevail during midnight. So, as on sunday at midnight ashtami is there so janmashtami is on sunday. at Mathura and through out India Janmashtami (Srikrishna's birth day) is on sunday.

Regarding Srivaishnava culture, there are three types All are correct in their way.

1. Srivaikhansasrijayanthi:- There are two vachanams in sasthra. 

 a. one is Ashtami should prevail during midnight and srivaikhanasa sampradayam favours ashtami vyapthi as janmashtami.

b. and srivaikhanasas' second is If sapthami is there during early morning or prevails through out the day b4 evening, night or midnight and if ashtami comes b4 evening, night or 12 midnight and 12 midnight enters with ashtami, then that day is not favoured as that day has sapthami vedhai dhosham. so, if we perform on monday thats also correct acc. to srivaikhanasasastras.

c. but as sampradaya favours ashtami in midnight (thithipradhanyam) sunday is more apt.

At tirumala and other vaikhanasa shrines and vaikhanasa households, this year srijayanthi is on sunday 21.08.11 night.

2. Munithrayasrijayanthi:- If sapthami is there during early morning or prevails through out the day b4 evening, night or midnight and if ashtami comes b4 evening, night or 12 midnight and 12 midnight enters with ashtami, then that day is not favoured as that day has sapthami vedhai dhosham. so, this munitraya sampradaya is also correct. we cannot underestimate this. This is also to be hailed.

Munithrayasrijayanthi is on 22.8.11 monday.

3. Pancharathrasrijayanthi:- If Kruthika is there during early morning or prevails through out the day b4 evening, night or midnight and if Rohini comes b4 evening, night or 12 midnight and 12 midnight enters with Rohini, then that day is not favoured as that day has Kruthika vedhai dhosham. so, this Pancharathra sampradaya is correct in their view.(Nakshathrapradhanyam) This is also to be hailed. At srirangam and other Pancharathra shrines, Srijayanthi is followed on tuesday 23.8.11 this year acc. to above lines.

Comments / suggestions / questions are welcome.

-- 

SriVaikhanasaBhagawatSastraBhaskara,  

 SriVaikhanasaAgamaRathnakara, 

SriVaikhanasaSevaRathnam, 

  SriVaikhanasaKulapati

N.S.Parthasarathy Bhattacharyar

Vice president, South Indian Vaikhanasa Archakas' Association

Secretary, SriVaikhanasa Archaka Seva Sangam

Archakar, SriParthasarathySwamyTemple, Thiruvallikeni

PradhanaAdhyapaka, SriVaikhanasa Bhagawat Sasthra Patasala

Editor, 'Srivaikhanasam' Monthly magazine.


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Added later: A more general and elaborate reading on the comparison between mannAr swAmi's and maNapAkkam kidAmbi tOzhappar's jayanti nirNayam
SriJayanthi-Janmasthami


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Note: These details are for those who fast(atleast attempt at fasting) in the day-time and bathe in the evening and perform SriJayanthi araadhanam in the night (vrashaba lagnam), following it with their respective practise of taking pAraNai.

On What Avani-Avittam is and is NOT!

It has been a while since I had to only 'e-live' in India, and all these years I get to see greetings like "Happy Avani Avittam". But this backdates even further, during my days in India where I get to see neighbours and relatives asking "Poonal maathiyaacha?". Don't take me wrong, but it is really depressing to be in know of facts when all around you prefer being shallow about it.

A brahmachari is not just an unwed boy with upaveetham (poonal i.e., post upanayanam). He is (assumed to be) a learner of the specific shAkai of vEdam prescribed for his gOtram; TaitrIya-shAkai of krsnayajurvEdam in my case. His vEdArambam is on his upanayanam day for the first year, and from the subsequent years, the adyayanam (learning) period starts on Pournami day of Kataka mAsam and ends on Ammavasai of Makara mAsam. There are days of Ammavasai, grahanam and some other miscelleneous occassions when the adyayanam is prohibited, within the learning period.

But in the quest to finish his quota for the year, the boy may jump the limits and continue learning a bit further than the stipulated end-date, and there may be a few lapses in-between. Before starting his term the following year, he is expected to perform upAkarma, when he chants a mantra a good number of times as a prAyaschittam for the above lapses. To perform the prAyaschitta japam, he needs to change his upaveetham, mounji and deerskin.

[During the anadyayana period (Makara Ammavasai till Kataka Pournami), the boy is expected to devote himself to learning of the vEdAngAs : sikshA, vyAkaranam, niruktam, chandas, jyotisham and kalpam]

In the sankalpam for upAkarma, the main sankalpam will be to the adyAyOtsar~jana akaraNa prAyaschitta japam and adyAyOpakarma (starting a new term), for which, the changing of upaveetham (with mounji, etc.) is an angam, an angam for which is shaving and bathing. Since the changing of upaveetham on this day has a special karma attached to it, one may choose to mark the day with it. But in general sense, asking a brahmin male, whether he has changed(see note: 4) his upaveetham, is only as good as asking if he has bathed!

To Girls : If you really have the guts, greet your male relatives and friends who have had upanayanam done : "may your Sandyavandanam be in routine without lapses for the next year". Let's see how many would actually pick up the habit, to save themselves from this (otherwise) embarrassing greet, the next year :-)

Note:

1) Performing daily sandyavandanam is a part and essential requirement of the daily learning in the adayayana and anadyayana period. Even lapses in performance of sandayavandanam is covered in the upAkarma.

2) For one who has finished learning, it becomes a duty to recite atleast one full prasna, from the learned shAkai, everyday as brahma-yagnam without fail. Due to time constriants, the (required)one full prasna may get reduced to one sUktam or one mantram, which still are accounted as lapses that are to be compensated (begged pardon for), for such sins not to hinder one's further quests in vaidIka-karma.

3) The point 1 & 2 extends to gruhastAs.

4) Upaveetham can be changed at will, any day, depending on the need. It needs to be changed everytime one has sarvAnga shave on the face and head from a barber. Also, changing may be of need if there is a special karma like homam or srAddam is performed by the kartA.

Passenger - THE Story and then THE Movie (Malayalam, 2009)

I am not drawn into any kind of sibling bug*, but, this indeed is a movie review.

Passenger is a kind of story that gets overshadowed by a larger-than-life flick like A Wednesday. We all will certainly agree that A Wednesday cannot come, is not going to come and will never come. But we can be a Passenger every day, or atleast a day every week - say every Wednesday.

I remember when Director Shankar was asked the question, soon after the release of Anniyan (##), if he was playing it safe with his usual "Cleansing of the Society" story after the Boys debacle?. He replied saying Anniyan was his biggest risk, for all his previous films had a Macro issue to counter coupled with personal vengence, while Anniyan targeted seemingly trivial issues that reflected lack of personal integrity** and responsibility in the individuals, which has eventually lead the society they form, into an irresponsible society with practically lost integrity.

Our story has two heros. One, hero of the story - Advocate Nanthan Menon, who actually is a Hero. Such Heros do exist even today, but we can't get close to them. Let them better stay where they belong. His wife is a TV journalist who is covering a special story that was rocking the state politics at that time, while Nanthan was fighting a related litigation in Court.

The second one is our Passenger Mr. Sathyanathan, who is the running character of the plot. Sathyanathan is a guy-next-seat salaried-middle-class person who is among million daily commuters by train, whose biological clock is rooted to his daily routine. He is a person with integrity and social responsibility, but not by any means an-activist kind, but with a motivation to do his might to do something about a problem that irks his eyes.

One day, he decides to break his routine to work over-time at office for having applied to take leave on the next day, manages to catch a later train home. His bio-clock fails him as he misses his station and happens to meet Advocate Menon, his fellow passenger. They part close to midnight, when Sathyanathan witnesses something Big. What our Passenger does for the next 16 hours, from what he thinks is the best for the situation, forms the story.

All of us, who are grateful to have had good parenting and been braught up with values, are expected in the society to be like Sathyanathan. But we all need a push to become one at some point of time. We do face situations, situations that brings out an urge to do something, but more often that not we try to supress the rush-of-blood with the word 'fear', like the Station Master in this story. In most cases, like the Taxi Driver, it is the lack of self-belief and a feeling that we are trivial entities to contribute anything significant to this large society, that stops one from doing what is right. We all are caught between this Station Master and the Taxi driver. It is when one manages to cross these two barriers, a Sathyanathan comes out.

The story is about evolution of character of a person in a matter of hours. Sathyanathan who still hasn't conquered fear, dares risking his life, when he gets a stimulus upon understanding the gravity of the situation after meeting Anuradha Menon, and the Taxi driver steps out of his shackles on seeing his Passenger's motivation.

The movie, runs for about 115 mins, is well scripted and filmed with a gripping pace in narration. The director has done his work in including subtleties in a middle-class household and camarderie between cummuter friends to keep the script tight and natural. The parting words from the Taxi Driver took me back to Rashomon's Monk. And, for one negative point in the film - The courtroom scene was too shallow and was not essential. The director could have done with a corridor conversation after the hearing.

Sreenivasan and Dileep, as the lead artists, are brilliant, Sreenivasan in particular, after having witnessed his annoying performance in Bhargava Charitram, was relieved to watch him in this one and Oru naaL Varum. His latest flick Traffic is supposedly good; equally good. Dileep, I fear is on the verge of becoming another Suresh Gopi when it comes to playing stereotypical roles, but this was very well underplayed. If you need a frowning worried old-man, you have Nedumudi Venu, as the Taxi Driver. In my opinion, only Prakash Raj has a wider variety and ease in acting than Venu. It was heartening to see Mamta Mohandas cast in a worthy role, but disheartening that she had King and Kedi releasing after this :P. Jagathy was adequate and I am happy that Tilakan was not slotted in his place.

* The Author's kid-brother is a guest reviewer at Claps&Boos ;-)

** Integrity may find many meanings in different readings, but my personal definition would be the inwardly-honesty in a person. Every person will have his own framework for rights & wrongs. It is when a person commits something he conciously believes is wrong, and has a twinge in his heart in doing so, he is still a person with integrity, but not brazen to stand by his values.

## I am not a big fan of Anniyan. To me, it was a Painting made on the canvas called Vidathu Karuppu, by brushing Primal Fear paint over SE7EN sketch.

Worship?

This is a small reflection on one of the posts by my friend.

Questions in the minds of most of the young Hindus today, about God and allied practises, are rather fundamental and need immediate attention.

Addressing these questions are simple and yet they look more daunting than what they really are.

Why Worship? How? and more so... What is Worship?

His key statement was (not verbatim) "God created the universe and all of us, the beings in the universe and expects us to spend a significant time in our short life praising Him"

Well, analogies are pretty simple - take for example, one's parents. It is written in Sastras that a basic duty of man (read human) is to respect, support and worship his parents. Every parent would expect their son to honour the sastra. In that case will that mean that they gave birth to the child to get themselves served or to subject the child to their servitude?

Continuing with the same example, I am not sure if Sriman Narayanan has actually been able to design a hell for Sin against one's mother. I am still to find a hell mentioned in Garudapuranam for abusing the parents, mother in particular. But if someone is really thrilled to try it out, then consider doing this - Go to your mother, and say, "Mom!, I have cleaned the garden, I will also sweep the floor and dust the windows. But I am also hungry, will you feed me in exchange to all the chores I do/did today ?".

I am not sure what hell I will get to, for even typing that down, but on the flip side, every other Hindu today is committing this very sin. It is understandable that people do body-paining penances to all Demi-Gods to seek their blessings to achieve some material gains, which are again well permitted in Sastras, but to even getting that, the "Super-Motive" should be to walk closer to the Ultimate Goal (Purushartha). For example, even Andal worshipped Lord Manmadhan to bless her with love towards Kannan, the ultimate purpose in life. But doing the same to the Jagath Karanam is rather insulting, and is the sorry state of affairs today. Even more painful is this.

Enough of cribbing; Coming back to the question - Why Worship ?

Well.. He is the Creator, you are the created. So love, respect and worship Him as you mother.

He is the Lord, you are his servant(slave acc. to vishishtadvaita). Respect Him as your master

He is the Protector, and you are the protected. show your gratitude towards Him.

He did not prefer high scholars to mingle with. He chose to hug a hunter, a monkey and a demon in a birth and playing around and sharing food with a bunch of cowherds in the next. Treat Him as your friend, He is more reachable than you could have ever imagined.

You will not gain any (tangible)benifits by Worshipping Him, but it is our duty as a part of the rulebook (Sastra) and following the instruction manual will help you get through the process of living and more so - to get out of it peacefully. Else, from today, start driving your vehicle as you please... why worry about rules ?

As I begun, this is only a 'small' reflection, and more serious discussions on how to worship? modes of worship, difference between temple worship, to that at home and meditation, etc., are likely in near future in my other blog .