LAHARI - A progress flow

Progress report of LAHARI in 2014-15

LAHARI shuts down for summer. 2014-15. It has been an eventful year for LAHARI Cultural Learning. 

LAHARI is in its 10th since inception. We started it in November, 2005. It has been a great blessing  that we could reach out to children and help them increase their spirituality quotient (SQ). The number of students was an all- time high of nearly 30 children learning slokas and stories. The reason for this elation is this: Parents enrol their children in dance or music or any fine arts with the expectation that their child will reach the zenith, reach certain milestones and would be able to perform for the general public as a result of which they gain name, fame and money. They have something to look forward to. But a sloka class has no such thing. These days, competitions are conducted for sloka recitation. But most of the times it stops at that. Have we ever seen anyone reciting slokas for two hours like a music or dance concert. That is the beauty of all children and parents in LAHARI. The expectation of a material success is absent here. The intention is to learn slokas, to know our great Hindu culture and its various aspects. People coming to a class for the sole reason of knowing it is very rare. That's why I say children of LAHARI are special.

We do not teach only slokas here. We disscuss the ramayana, mahabharatha, moral stories, about different aspects of the GITA and so on. We encourage them to participate in many competitions that involve religion and spirituality. The following pictures are of LAHARI kids receiving the prizes for a quiz competition.

 

2014 saw the beginning of activities like “anna danam”. Children collected rice, dal in their homes. These were cooked and delicious items were made which were distributed to the maintenance and security staff of White House. We intend to make this an annual event. Donations to various vedic organisations and temple constructions were done. LAHARI also has its own blog and facebook related to spirituality and its activities. The readership on the blog touched 15000 while the facebook page has crossed 300 likes. For those who would like to have a look, here is the address of the blog: http://lahariguru.blogspot.in/

Our children also participated in chanting programs organised by Chinmaya mission. Children of LAHARI rocked the dasara celebraation in White House apartments through their fluent chanting , and mythological skits. They have also participated in many occasions pertaining to temple activities.

One of the biggest milestones was that the senior batch of students completed learning Vishnu Sahasranama. With breaks in the middle and holidays seasons coming, it took us nearly 2 years to complete. Nevertheless, these children can chant the sahasranamam effortlessly. Life is a vicious circle. So,  also is the Sahasranama. If we don't concentrate, we tend to go round and round the same lines in the chant. These children can chant this hymn in one straight go without any hiccups. I must thank them for their patience and applaud their parents for being extremely supportive. Netra, Siyani, Shalini, Vishnu, Varshini, Sukitha, Shriram and shrihari form the senior batch. Few of them are in their teens. Yet the teen fever has not caught them. They are as humble and disciplined as their parents.

The junior batch is a bubbling lot. Be it reciting the slokas or telling a story or answering questions, they are always on the edge of their seat. I always get to see a high voltage atmosphere in my house with the kids of the junior batch step in for the class. Aditya, Harish Krishna, Shri hari, saakshara, Arun, Ram Arya, Srushti, Kanika, Anvitha, Ayush, Aanya,  Ishita, Girish are all shining stars of my class.

Coming to the sub-junior class where children are as small as 6 years, these kids are fun loving and make the class very lively. Apart from chanting, they make the class merrier with the child-like talk and stories.  Nishta, Naisha, Tvisha, Vasudha, Aryaman, Arjun, Mrinal, Gunin, Amartya  are all little heroes of LAHARI.

Personally, I have been greatly benefited by teaching children. I consider it to be great blessing that GOD chose me to teach children. I don’t say this with a sense of pride for any achievement but with whole hearted gratitude. When I go out, children recognise me “Sloka” aunty, “ram ram” aunty and so on. Getting recognised by innocent ones through such names is a fulfilling experience. I get to hear about children feeling bad when they miss a class, when children do not want to compromise sloka class for another class which would probably give them more material benefit. These are very heartening to hear. It only shows the commitment and the interest that children have in knowing our culture and tradition.

Last but not the least, I must thank my husband and children for being extremely supportive and encouraging. My children also have shown equal interest in learning the slokas and the stories.

My prayer to the almighty is to give me the vigour and strength to teach these children what I know and to learn from them what I don’t know. Let me never get the sense of pride or arrogance. Help me to impart what is right without fear or favour.

May god bless all children of LAHARI with a bright and prosperous future. May they live their life with bhakti and knowledge. It is only then can one balance life through ups and downs

Looking forward for yet another eventful year…..

RAM RAM

RAM RAM   

Stories Less Told - Dasa as a Saint

Purandara Dasa - The Saint

In my last post, we read about Srinivasa nayaka transformed into a great saint as Purandara Dasa. Can we even in our wildest dreams imagine such a blessing??. But that's what grace is. By his own sankalpa, the Lord can change lives instantly. But we have to accumulate good karma for that. Purandara dasa was considered to be an avataram of Sage Narada. In this post, I would like to narrate two incidences that shows Dasa's highest philosophical thought.

Purandara dasa had surrendered to the feet of his Guru Shri. Vyasaraya. Being immersed in the bhakti towards Lord krishna, he knew not any emotions as jealousy, selfishness, lies etc. As a result of this, he was a natural favourite of his Guru. Few disciples, however, were jealous of him and wanted to put him down in the eyes of his guru. The guru came to know of this and decided to teach the disciples a lesson. He called all of them and gave them each a banana. He told them to eat it in a place where no one could see them and in absolute secrecy. The students thought that it was too easy a test and was unfit to be called a challenge. The banana was given to Dasa also.

After an hour, all the students assembled and the Guru asked them if they had eaten the banana. The students gleefully answered in an affirmative. When each one was asked as to where he ate the fruit, they had funny answers. While one ate it near the kitchen, the other ate it inside the toilet. While one ate in the darkness, the other ate in in the garden hiding in a bush. However, Dasa had not eaten the fruit. The students ridiculed Dasa. The guru then silenced the students and asked Dasa as to why he didn't eat the fruit. Dasa smilingly said that he could not find any place where no one saw his action. He always had one person monitoring him. On further enquiry, Dasa said that the Lord was omnipresent. HE was present everywhere and was always watching our actions. Hence he could not eat the fruit. There was pin drop silence. The silence that prevailed was a proof that the students had understood their lesson for the day

On another occasion, the students challenged dasa for a debate. He gracefully agreed. One of them asked "Nanu swargakke Hogabahude" (in kannada), meaning "Can i go to the heaven". Dasa replied in negation "mmmhmmm..Neevu swargakke hogalu sadhyavilla". The student was taken aback. Another one asked him. "Naanu swargakke hogabahude"? Dasa again answered in negation. He negated each student and said that none of them could go to heaven. Then one intelligent student asked, "Neevu swargakke hogabahude" meaning "Can YOU go to heaven. for which Dasa replied."Hmm, nannu hodare hogabahudu" meaning "If I go, I can go". This indeed angered the students. They now had a sound proof of arrogance and over confidence. They went to the teacher and narrated the incident. The guru again called Dasa and enquired. Dasa answered in a calm and composed manner, "Guruve, Nanu emba ahankara hodare naanu swargakke hogabahudu" meaning "If "I", the ego vanishes, I can go to the heaven." The students were again dumb founded.

Such was the knowledge and bhakti of the Dasa. He saw Krishna in everything. He had unconditional love and bhakti for his Krishna. We are all fortunate that we are born in a holy land of such great saints. May a small percentage of his bhakti be showered upon us.

RAM RAM

  

Stories Less Told: Sangeetha Pitamaha

Purandara dasa

We often say that everyone has a turning point in life. Many of them change for the better while some change for the worse. It could be an incident or a sudden realisation of a new idea that changes one’s life completely. Here, I would like to narrate the story of Purandara Dasa whose life took a drastic turn due to an incident that took place in his life.

Purandara Dasa is one of the greatest devotees of Lord Vishnu and has composed thousands of songs in praise of the lord and about the philosophy of Dwaita.  He is also considered to be the “father of Carnatic Music”. If you do not know this, then it would be heartening to know that the beginners lessons of  sarali varisai, janti, tharasthayi, geetham, etc. are all laid down my this great Saint.

Do you know that this great saint was a stinking rich money lender?? His father had left a whole property which Dasa was taking care of. His initial name was Srinivasa nayaka. Though he was very rich, he was extremely stingy. He would not donate a pie to any poor. He was called “Navakoti Narayana” because of his riches but would not part with a single morsel of food to the needy. He has a pious wife by name Saraswati.

He thought he was the richest man in that village and was very proud. But destiny had other plans for him. He was not meant to enjoy the riches of his own wealth but to become a servant of the lord. When the destined time came, Lord Narayana came in the form of a poor Brahmin to Srinivasa’s shop. He requested Srinivasa to give some money as he wanted to conduct his son’s thread ceremony (Upanayana). Srinivasa flatly refused. But this poor Brahmin would not give up. He would repeatedly come to Srinivasa’s shop every day and beg for help. Srinivasa also would negate him and send him away. This went on for 6 months.

The poor Brahmin then learnt about Saraswati and went to Srinivasa’s house. He pleaded for some money to complete his son’s thread ceremony. The wife was overcome with compassion but was helpless. She told the Brahmin that she could not give anything without the consent of her husband. The Brahmin in return asked to give him anything which she got from her father’s house over which she had a right. Sarawati  thought for a while and removed her diamong-studded nose ring and gave it to brahmin. The poor man was very happy. HE went straight to Srinivasa Naik’s shop and pledged the ring. Srinivasa saw the nose ring and immediately recognized that it belonged to his wife. He asked the Brahmin to come the next day, locked the ring in a box and hurried home.

On reaching home, he saw that his wife’s nose ring was missing. He asked her about it. She gave weird answers, but he insisted that he would like to see the ring at that very moment. Saraswati was overcome by guilt and grief. She fervently prayed to Lord Vishnu. When she realised that she could not escape, she decided to end her life. She filled poison in a cup and intensely prayed to the Lord. And Lo!!!  While she took the poison to the lips, she heard a tingling sound inside the bowl. She looked and to her pleasant surprise, she found the ring in the bowl. She was surprised and astounded. She ran and showed the ring to her husband. Srinivasa still did not believe and pressed her to narrate what had happened. Saraswati told him the entire story. Srinivasa hurried to the shop to check for the ring. He was aghast to see that it was missing from there.

His mind was full of confusion and delusion. He calmed down and introspected as to what had happened. It then dawned on him that it was lord Narayana who come as a brahmin to give him true knowledge and remove him from the vagaries of this world. This incident in Srinivasa’s life changed him completely.

The hands that were laden with golden bangles, was holding the tanpura and jingle bells. The rich clothing which he adorned was all donated. He wore a simple dhoti below his waist, tied a turban around his head and renounced life. His wife also followed him as a devotee. He was completely transformed. Songs in praise of the lord just started flowing from his lips. He forgot the world and completely surrendered to the Lord Narayana’s feet. Such is the grace of the Lord. 

More stories of Purandara Dasa in my next post….

RAM RAM 

Stories Less Told - Janaka

JANAKA, the Great

In our mythological stories, we come across many rishis were brahma gnanis. Among kings too, there were many who attained moksha. Janaka, is one such king, whom even Krishna mentions in the Bagavadgita (3.20). The Upanishads too mention his name with reverence. If Mahalakshmi Thayar herself chose King Janaka as her foster father, we can imagine the what a great king Janaka was. He was a karma yogi to the core. He went beyond the realms of the body and its attachment and realised that the soul is only eternal. He knew that one has to work for the realisation of the brahman.

I would like to quote an interesting story of the monarch by which he proves himself to be a realised soul.

Yagnavalkya was GURU to King janaka. Janaka was an extremely humble student and never showed a pomp when he came for his lessons. He sat along with other students for his lessons. As he was a very sharp, interested student and a student who put to practise what he learnt, he was the guru’s  favourite. This obviously made the other disciples jealous. They thought that the GURU is partial because Janaka was the king and would receive favours from him. But the GURU was undisturbed and knew that a day would come when his disciples would know as to who was the sun and who was the lamp.

One day, when the King and other disciples were listening to the lesson about BRAHMAN, they saw a sudden fire flaring up and the entire city of Mithila was in flames. There was chaos everywhere. People were running hither and tither to save themselves. The disciples also got perplexed. They all ran to their cottages. What for? They were Brahmin boys who did have any property. The cottages were given to them by the king. Why then did they run to their cottages?? Just to save their clothes and loin cloth. But King Janaka did not move from his place. He and the guru were intently discussing the Brahman. When people approached the king, the king gave a sharp reply: “Mithilayam pradagdhayam namekincit pranasyati".. “Nothing do I lose even though Mithila may be consumed to ashes.”  Here was a king who never bothered for his kingdom when it was in fire while there were the disciples who were running to save their clothes. The students realised the greatness of King Janaka.

All of us are always within the limits and illusion of the body. We think that the body is eternal, Many a times we perceive that the body and soul are one. But this is wrong. The soul and body are NOT the same. The souls is eternal and is not affected by the sun, cold, rain or wind, happiness, sorrow, etc. All pain and pleasure is only for the body and not the soul. The soul in in eternal bliss. Because of its association with the body and its karma, it feels pain or pleasure. It is only the soul that carries our karma to our next birth. 

In order to reach to this state of mind where we realise that the body and soul are different and understand the nature of the soul, we must first accept this fact and have an urge within ourselves to get redeem from this samsara. The first step that all philosophies prescribe towards the end goal is karma yoga. We have to follow the rules laid down by our shastras and vedas. If we are going to believe that these are just books of superstitious belief, then it is our folly. We will always be in the vicious cycle of birth and death. Moksha may remain only a dream.

RAM RAM

Anna Danam Maha Danam

Anna Danam

We are all blessed with all comforts in life. A house to live, a vehicle to travel, sumptuous  food to eat, clothes to wear, money to save for the future and the ability to spend for any cause. Whatever we have, we have it in excess. And when we have something in excess, it is always good to share with our fellow human beings – the less privileged. Hinduism is a champion when it comes to charity. The charity or Danam can be through vidya danam (sharing knowledge), sampatti danam (donating money), vastra danam (donating clothes) or anna danam (donating food).

Man is never satisfied with money. The more we get, the more we want. This leads to more greed and fear. On the other hand, knowledge obtained gives more satisfaction. Like money, the more we get, the more we want. But this process of acquiring more Vidya is not termed as greed. We call it “thirst”. By giving away knowledge, we get more knowledge. Knowledge cannot be robbed unlike money or wealth. Any kind of charity always increase the thirst. Man always wants more and more. But there is only one thing in this world which man forces himself to say “enough” and that is food. Luckily GOD has given a limited size of stomach so that however greedy the tongue gets, the stomach forbids the greed. Food or annam is the only charity where people get completely satisfied. There are no chances of any complaint or comparison with anyone when it comes to giving food. And it is considered to be one of the greatest danams. Man can live without clothes, house, education but food is an everyday need and a man without food goes to the extent of even begging in order to fill his hunger. Our Vedas have extolled anna danam as: Annadānam Samam Dānam Trilokeshu Na Vidhathe. There is no greater charity than donating food.

Our Kanchi paramacharya Shri. Shri. Chandrashekarendra Saraswati Swamigal was a champion of this anna danam. He devised a wonderful way or feeding the poor. This was called a “pidi arisi “ scheme where every householder would drop a handful of rice in a vessel on a daily basis. The rice collected at the end of a certain period would be used to cook food and serve the poor.

LAHARI also tried following this initiative for the first time. All the children of LAHARI were asked to drop a handful of rice and a spoon of dal on a daily basis. This was done for 15 days. We were able to collect 15 Kgs of rice and 5 Kgs of dal for this purpose. The rice and dal thus collected were delivered to a cook who cooked bisibele bath and curd rice. We don’t need any auspicious day to donate. However, our plan coincided with Dussera. The cooked food was given as a day’s lunch to the maintenance staff and security of our White House Apartment.   

The intention was to generate a social awareness among children towards charity. When there is a conscious effort in executing a good cause, it stays with us for long. It actually motivates us to repeat the act.  This initiative was well received by parents and children. It was an effortless exercise for all of them. The diligence and discipline that the children followed was remarkable. The annam danam was successfully done on 27^th September, 2014.By the undiminishing grace of Paramacharya, we hope to make this an annual event. Thanks to all parents and children who participated and made it a success. May the Guru’s blessings be with you all. 

RAM RAM

Stories less told

VISHWAMITRA AND PARASHURAMA

Vishwamitra and parashurama are different in their own ways. Vishwamitra was born as a king but went on to become the most venerable sage or a Brahmin. On the other hand, parashurama was born as a Brahmin but went on to become a terror to all kshatriyas as he was possessing the physical strength and the pride of a kshatriya. Quiet contrasting!!! A little insight into their parentage will open up an interesting story.

There was a king named Gadhi. He had a daughter by name Satyavati (not to be confused with the Satyavati of the mahabharatha) . Satyavati was a very beautiful and dutiful daughter. Once a rishi by names Richikar, a Brahmin, happened to meet her and asked if he could marry her. Satyavati’s father agreed and both of them were married. When Satyavati was planning to have a child, her husband Richikar was preparing a special dish that would give her a highly knowledgeable and sattvic Brahmana as their son. At the same time, Satyavati’s mother also wanted to have a son. She requested Richikar to make the special dish for her too. Richikar made a dish for the mother too. The dish he made for satyavati’s mother  would give her a son who was great in valour and be a kshatirya befitting his clan. The mother of satyavati was indeed very calculative. She thought that the dish which Richikar made for his wife would definitely be the best and she exchanged it with her daughter. Both of them had the dish.

Richikar came to know of this, only after the dish was consumed by both the prospective mothers. As a result of this, he said that Satyavati’s mother  whoud give birth to a son who would be a  kshatriya by birth but a brahmana by choice. While his own wife, Satyavati, would give birth to a brahmana boy but the child would have the qualities of a kshtriya – angry, powerful and ferocious. Satyavati repented for her actions and pleased for mercy. Richkar replied that nothing could be done but the birth of this child could be postponed.

Hence, since Satyavati’s mother  ate the dish which was static in nature, she gave birth to vishwamitra. Though vishwamitra was born as a kshatriya, he aimed at becoming a brahma rishi and lived up to the brahminical way of living.

Satyavati gave birth to a son who was called jamadagni.  Jamadagni married Renuka devi and their son was Parashurama. Though parashurama was born as  a Brahmin, he had the valour and ferocity of a kshatriya.

Thus, the exchange of a dish gave us two important characters who achieved the pinnacle of success in their own way. Parashurama is considered to be the 6^th avataram of Lord Vishnu.

RAM RAM

Rama and Krishna - A Comparison

RAMA and KRISHNA - A Comparison

The two itihasas - Ramayana and Mahabharatha encompass the two avatars of Lord Vishnu - Rama and Krishna. Quite contrasting in their character, they set different examples to us.

1. Rama was born in the palace as a royal prince on Navami, Krishna was born in the jail on Ashtami.
2. Rama was born amidst joy and celebrations, Krishna was born amidst fear and anxiety.
3. Rama was born in summer during the day time, Krishna was born in the rainy season in the thick of the night
4. Rama was fair complexioned, Krishna was dark in complexion
5. Rama was a sober child, disciplined and adhered to what his parents told him while krishna was a naughty little boy who entralled everyone with his mystic plays and pranks
6. Rama strictly followed the 'Eka Patni Vrata' that he would not marry anyone else other than Sita while Krishna married more than 16000 ladies the reason being given in my blogpost: http://lahariguru.blogspot.in/2013/06/rama-and-krishna-get-your-facts-right.html
7. Rama always followed dharma. He would always do what was prescribed in the dharma shastras and follow them even if it gets him for a personal loss. Krishna always did what he thought was dharma. According to him, A nail must be taken by a nail and that it was not wrong to do adharma to beat adharma. But is this right may be the question of many. Each yuga has its own yuga dharma. If Rama's act suited that of treta yuga, dwapara yuga had its own dharma.  
8. Whenever Rama had a war with someone or any army, he would always spare one person who would carry tales to his/her master. For eg., when he killed Thataki, he killed her son subahu too but spared mareecha. This mareecha came as a golden deer later to woo Sita. When he fought the 14000 rakshasas in janasthana, he spared one person called akampana who went and reported to Ravana and so on. But krishna never spared anyone. Whoever came to a war with him would be vanquished completely.
9. Rama always followed rules of the war and protocols like sending a messenger before the war, giving the opponent a chance to realise etc. But krishna never had any protocol.
10. Rama never claimed that he is GOD himself. Krishna proclaimed himself as the supreme
11. Rama never gave sermons to anyone. Krishna took the position of an acahrya in delivering the bagavadgita.
12. Rama took the entire clan along with him to vaikuntam when his avataram ended. But Krishna went single.

Whichever be the avataram, these two forms have captured all beings. They are being celebrated and held as role models. There is a famous saying that "Act like how Rama has acted and live like how Krishna has preached". This is the way to true happiness

RAM RAM