nine summer nights

A bird sits on her eggs and hatches them by body warmth.

A fish swims around her nest; and hatches her eggs by looking at them.

A turtle paddles far away in the waters.
And suddenly remembers her nest at the beach.
Memory cracks shells; and hatch-lings clamber out.

Visalakshi of Varanasi gives Sparsh Diksha - Initiation by touch.
Meenakshi of Madurai gives Nayana Diksha - Initiation by vision.
Kamakshi of Kanchi is known to give Kamata Diksha - Initiation by thought.

- Shri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Kanchi

Pollux Crescent

Fearlessness,
purity of heart,
steadfastness of knowledge, .
datta,
daamyata,
sacrifices,
scriptural study,
austere and
upright human qualities
are indexes of Divine destines.


Greater is their difficulty who seek the unmanifest- a difficult journey it is.

- Battlefield Counsel - Ch. 16,  Verse 1 &  Ch.12, V.5

flower moon

Kaari, Paari, Ori and the seven last givers are still celebrated in memories of the Tamizh people.

Adiyaman giving away the gooseberry of lasting youth to Avvai seems intelligent. For, Avvai roamed the lands to awaken people's consciousness, with her words and deeds.

But Paari and Peykan?

King Paari giving away his chariot to a jasmine that trailed the bare ground and walking home.

Peykan spontaneously shrouding a shivering, wayside peacock, with his royal shawl.

These actions may seem unintelligent.
But they spring from their love, for another life.

-Shri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati

Maundy Thursday

Haa wu Haa wu Haa wu
Aham annam aham annam aham annam
Aham annadho aham annadho aham annada ha
Aham Sloka krt aham sloka krt aham sloka krt


How awesome!  how awesome!  how awesome!
I am food   I am food   I am food
I the eater   I the eater   I the eater
I the discerner    I the discerner    I the discerner

Aham asmi pratamaja rt asya
Poorvan Devebhyo amrtasya na ba ee hi
Yo ma dadaati sa idewa ma vaa haa
Aham annam annamadantamaadmi

I am the first born of this sense of order
prior to all gods and eternal
who ever gives me not in this sense
I devour.

- Vine of Bhrgu, Partridge Upanishad, of the black Yajus

Dewi Damanam

Food, wine, merry making -  the Gods partied, reveled

A tenuous war with the demons had just been won.

And the gods seemed unaware of alien presence, that had aided them in battle.

Uma looked concerned.
And accosted the king of gods.
She lead them to the edge of woods, where they sighted the alien.

The yaksha threw at them a challenge - a dried blade of grass.

Wind could move it not, nor water wash it away.
Untouched by fire and the rumbling thunderbolt, the humble hay stood its ground.

Emptied Indra asked, 'Who the hell are you?'

The alien vanished.
Uma became a column of light.
The Gods transcended.

Chronicled in the Kena Upanishad, this ninth day of spring is listed in almanacs as 'Dewi Damanam'.

-Shri Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Kanchi.

lenten mandala

Without the perfume of  true religion, life has very little meaning.

One must work furiously to find out what is truly religious.

It may be that we have come to the very edge - the precipice of everything we have known.

The cessation of all endeavor -  and the mind is no longer seeking anything. That is all the conscious mind can do.
To see this truth may be all that it can do.

-Vasantha Vihar
Newsletter Nov 2013 - Feb 2014

Yuletide

The Lord lives in the core of all beings, O Arjuna, 

And by His Maya causes them to revolve as though mounted on a machine.

- Battlefield Counsel, 18.61

Na Kamaye aham Gathim Ishwarath Paraam
Ashtaarthi Yuktam apunarbhavaam waa
Aarthim Prapatye Akila deha Bhaajaam
Aptastitho yena Palavantyadukha ha,

- Raanti Deva, Bhaagavatam