Para festival

 

Among the many rituals and functions of Sri Poornathrayeesa temple one is the Para  utsavam .

The para is a vessel for offering the lord with grain cocnut fronds etc .

Earlier the caprisioned idol on a elephant made a visit to his estates the surrounding housesof devotees .

These days its stopped at certain points instead of individual houses and nearby households would gather to greet the lord .

The idol would be taken to its original temple or moolasthanam which is kottaram krishna temple or puthan kottaram.

The procession from temple would cross the poorna river by a boat instead of using the iron bridge made by the British .

The next day by dusk the lord would return through the road where our apartment is situated through bright clay lamps on road side to reach the river side .

The idol would then be taken from elephant and into the boat to bursting of crackers and fireworks and boat would be glided over by holding a rope tied across .

On other side the waiting elephant would take the lord to his temple .

Today we saw the return 

.

Shiva Sakthi

A forward

Shakti is sagun and Shiva is nirgun because Shiva's gunas were stripped off to let Shakti emerge. The androgynous energy split into two. Shiva became the non-reactive (potential) half while Shakti became the reactive (kinetic) half. This is seen in depiction of Mahakali wherein Shiva is immobile, lying down and Shakti is mobile, in charge. This is shown by her stepping on his chest. It is not an expression of shame but a representation of Prakriti's wild, untameable nature. Since, Shiva and Shakti are two halves of the same Universal energy flux, it is the manifested half of Shiva (Shakti) that steps on the unmanifested half (Shiva).  The Shivlinga is a symbol of firmness, of immobility while Shakti demonstrates mobility. The minute we think we have perceived or understood Shiva, we have converted Shiva into Shakti. Shiva can never be perceived. It is beyond the senses. All that we can capture in our senses is Shakti - Maya. The minute we give a form to the formless, it becomes Shakti and ceases to be Shiva. So, we meet Shakti and not Shiva. Only upon death of the senses can Shiva be unveiled.  Thus, it is said that Shakti is the dynamic Shiva and Shiva is the static Shakti. It is the same energy that is exhibited differently. Therefore, Shiva and Shakti are worshipped as a pair. While he is Shunya, she is everything but Shunya and together they make one complete unit. This is a subtle reminder to the Purush that his way is only through Prakriti.

 

Temples visited by me india and abro

 

My presentation " Temples I visited "

in ISKCON Cochin as a slide collage . last year 

This covers less than a fourth of temples churches or rarely mosques I visited .

British council library

 

To me an user of BCL since my teens ie last 50 years or more this news of winding up of the British council library in Chennai is like a part of my memory being erased .

BCL to me like all the other libraries I had been obsessed about has been a mother to my creativity and passion of written prose .

As words jumble into my finger tips in a fine flow of crystal clear water tumbling from a mountain stream with reason and imagination hidden in its ledges and recesses and as I rejoice in the pleasure of painting with words what I have in my mind like  no AI can ever deliver it or will I even attempt with or need it as a poor sad cousin to my own writing  

My memories are sharp on my days of cycling or going by bus carrying my tome of books borrowed from the library ,

My hours of browsing the books or reading  inhaling the aroma of the word paradise I have been lucky to get into .

I remember the slim tall librarians silently acknowledging or replying to my request of books quietly efficient helpful knowledgable intelligent but firm in thier officialece but to me they were beacons of lights focussed to clear darkness of ignorance by the world of books which I loved more than anything the universe could ever give me .

BCL was not only a library it gave me people to nod and smile as I met them amongst the shelves or in the tiny theater where films were screened or lectures intoned in quiet efficiency or english dramas played .

During my medical college days BCLs Medical sections gave me books I couldnt buy on Anatomy or Biochemistry or marvels of surgery or obfustactions of obstructive  obstetrics .

I had carried  heavy pack of books in crowded buses or pinned to my bicycle carrier or later in my yezdi bike .

My greatest joy in a weekend would be to relax in the AC ambience of an expansive BCL .

Later during my RCC observer days in Trivandrum I was a neighbour to BCL there in YMCA where I stayed and it was my refuge every evening .

BCL to me is nostalgia rolled into gratitude 

BCL gave me  the gift of verbiose an unstoppable and most pleasurable passion in my life .

I would miss you my beloved sweet heart BCL forever and I would preserve your memories for infinity .