The science of fire

I read this rather fascinating explanation of the various types of fire that emnates when a Homam or fire sacrifice is performed. I don't most of us would have noticed the types of fire , in our daily lives.

The Rig Veda starts with the following lines:

अग्नि॒म् ई॑ळे पुरो॒हि॑तं यज्ञ॒स्य॑ देव॒म् ऋत्वि॒ज॑म् । होता॑रं रत्नधा॒त॑मम् ॥

agním īḷe puróhitaṃ / yajñásya devám ṛtvíjam / hótāraṃ ratnadhâtamam

Agni I laud, the high priest, god, minister of sacrifice, The invoker, lavishest of wealth.

Agni (Abhimani) the fire god is said to have sprung from the mouth of the Virata purusha, the Cosmic Man

The Rigveda often says that Agni arises from water or dwells in the waters. On the face of it, this may sound illogical, or even ridiculous. Closer inspection, to me, reveals how much science the Rishis knew thousands of years before modern science realized that there is a lot of energy ( heat) involved in two atoms of Hydrogen bonded to one atom of Oxygen to form water!!! In fact modern Nuclear Physics attempts to split atoms and compounds to extract this heat for commercial exploitation!!!

Agni (fire) is the element of transformation. It symbolizes absorbing and digesting experiences. As you make offerings in fire and they burn in fire, various spiritual experiences are processed and digested by your internal fire.

Tongue is that which allows one to taste things that one is going to accept inside and digest. Each tongue of fire stands for a spirit that controls how you absorb spiritual experiences.

Even to the untrained eye, in a Homam, only certain things are offered to the fire, and in a certain measure and in a certain sequence. This determines, by and large, the nature of the "tongue" one can expect to come out - very similar to the very different colours of flame that are observed in the Chemical Laboratry when different metals or compounds are put to the flame test.

The seven tongues of Agni are: Kaali, Karaali, Manojava, Sulohita, Sudhoomra-Varna, Sphulingini, and Vishwaruchi.

Kaali is the dark and black/blue fire. It symbolizes the spirit of detachment. Spirit of detachment control show you absorb your experiences, when you are offering in that tongue of fire.

Karaali is the monstrous, dreadful fire that looks like a wide open mouth. Spirit of attachment and desire controls how you absorb your experiences, when you are offering in that tongue of fire

Manojava is the swiftly moving, flickering and unstable flame. Spirit of wavering (could also be flexibility) controls how you absorb your experiences, when you are offering in that tongue of fire.

Sulohita is the (copper like) dark red color flame. Spirit of determination and strength controls how you absorb your experiences, when you are offering in that tongue of fire.

Sudhoomra-Varna is the greyish/purple/smoke-colored fire. Spirit of confusion (could also be resolution of confusion) controls how you absorb your experiences, when you are offering in that tongue of fire.

Sphulingini is the fire with sparks. Spirit of aggression and haste (could also be a great intuition/insight) controls how you absorb your experiences, when you are offering in that tongue of fire.

Vishwaruchi is the bright fire. Spirit of focus, knowing, being and bliss controls how you absorb your experiences, when you are offering in that tongue of fire.

As you keep performing homam and a relationship is formed between you and fire, the external fire in the homa kundam ( or the fire pod) will reflect your internal fire. When your mind is well-focused and blissful, the fire will automatically burn bright.The state of your mind will decide how you will taste the spiritual experiences you are going to absorbfrom around you. 

That in turn decides which tongues (tasting agents) of your internal fire are receivingfood right now. That in turn decides which tongues of the external fire are receiving offerings right now.The external fire is a mirror to your internal state. An adept may be able to detect, looking at the fire,which tongues of fire are active right now and hence guess the state your mind is in.

The above relationship between the state of the mind and the fire is easy to explain away but not easy to practise. I believe this only comes with eyars' of trying.

To me, this also attempts to answer many critics of fire sacrifices or Homams or Havans, on the purpose and inner meaning of such Homams. 

Clearly, homams are not meant to be performed superficially. They need a lot of attention to detail, involve a lot of practise and to me, they appear to be very, very scientific.

Special thanks to "Vedic Wisdom" by Shri. Narasimha Rao" which had the explanation for the 7 tongues.

A favourite Thiruppugazh of mine

This is a Thiruppugazh masterpiece that I stumbled upon, when I was searching for my favourite musician T M Krishna's songs...   I got bowled over by a combination of his voice, the Ragam Chenchurutti in which this song has been composed, and the profound meaning of Arunagirinathar ( which I only found out later on). The lyrics have been taken off the website Kaumaram ( thanks a lot to them).  Enjoy the song!

T M Krishna's rendition of Thiruppugazh in CHenchurutti




நிலையாத சமுத்திர மான சமுசார துறைக்கணின் மூழ்கி
     நிசமான தெனப்பல பேசி ...... யதனூடே 

நெடுநாளு முழைப்புள தாகி பெரியோர்க ளிடைக்கர வாகி
     நினைவால்நி னடித்தொழில் பேணி ...... துதியாமல் 

தலையான வுடற்பிணி யூறி பவநோயி னலைப்பல வேகி
     சலமான பயித்திய மாகி ...... தடுமாறித் 

தவியாமல் பிறப்பையு நாடி யதுவேரை யறுத்துனை யோதி
     தலைமீதில் பிழைத்திட வேநி ...... னருள்தாராய் 

கலியாண சுபுத்திர னாக குறமாது தனக்குவி நோத
     கவினாரு புயத்திலு லாவி ...... விளையாடிக் 

களிகூரு முனைத்துணை தேடு மடியேனை சுகப்பட வேவை
     கடனாகு மிதுக்கன மாகு ...... முருகோனே 

பலகாலு முனைத்தொழு வோர்கள் மறவாமல் திருப்புகழ் கூறி
     படிமீது துதித்துடன் வாழ ...... அருள்வேளே 

பதியான திருத்தணி மேவு சிவலோக மெனப்பரி வேறு
     பவரோக வயித்திய நாத ...... பெருமாளே. 

......... சொல் விளக்கம் ......... 

நிலையாத சமுத்திரமான ... அகலம், ஆழம் இவ்வளவு என்று காணமுடியாத பெரும் சமுத்திரம் போன்ற 

சமுசார துறைக்கணின் மூழ்கி ... சம்சாரம் ஆகிய நீர்த்துறையிலே மூழ்கி, 

நிசமானதெனப் பல பேசி ... மெய் போன்ற பல பொய்களைப் பேசி, 

அதனூடே நெடுநாளும் உழைப்புளதாகி ... அந்த சம்சாரக் கடலிலே, நீண்ட காலமாக உழைப்புள்ளவன் ஆகி, 

பெரியோர்களிடைக் கரவாகி ... பெரியோர்களின் கூட்டத்தில் சேராமல் ஒளிந்து மறைந்து ஒதுங்கி, 

நினைவால்நி னடித்தொழில் பேணி துதியாமல் ... நல்ல நினைவோடு நின்னடிக்கான தொண்டுகளை விரும்பிப் போற்றாமல், 

தலையான வுடற்பிணி யூறி ... உடலில் முதன்மையான நோய்கள் வந்து தாக்கவும், 

பவநோயின் அலைப்பல வேகி ... இந்த சம்சார சாகரத்தில் பிறவி நோய் என்னும் பல அலைகள் வீசவும், 

சலமான பயித்திய மாகி தடுமாறித் தவியாமல் ... கோபம் கொண்ட பைத்தியக்காரனாக மாறி, யான் தடுமாறித் தவிக்காமல், 

பிறப்பையு நாடி யதுவேரை யறுத்து ... பிறவியின் மூல காரணத்தை ஆராய்ந்து, அதன் ஆணிவேராகிய ஆசையை அறுத்து, 

உனையோதி தலைமீதில் பிழைத்திடவே ... உன் புகழ் ஓதி இவ்வுலகில் உய்யுமாறு 

நினருள்தாராய் ... உன் திருவருள் புரிந்து ஆட்கொள்வாயாக. 

கலியாண சுபுத்திரனாக ... மேன்மை தங்கிய கல்யாண மாப்பிள்ளையாகவே 

குறமாது தனக்கு விநோத ... குறக் குல வள்ளி தேவியிடத்தில் என்றும் விளங்கி உல்லாசமாக, 

கவினாரு புயத்தில் உலாவி விளையாடி ... அழகு நிறைந்த அவளது திருப் புயத்தில் தழுவி உலாவி லீலைகள் புரிந்து 

களிகூரும் உனைத்துணை தேடும் அடியேனை ... மகிழும் உன்னை உற்றதுணையெனத் தேடுகின்ற என்னை 

சுகப்பட வேவை கடனாகும் ... இன்பம் அடையும்படியாகவே வைத்தருள்க. இது உனக்குக் கடமையாகும். 

இதுக்கன மாகு முருகோனே ... அவ்வாறு என்னை அருளினால் அது உனக்குப் பெருமையும் ஆகும், முருகனே. 

பலகாலும் உனைத்தொழுவோர்கள் மறவாமல் திருப்புகழ் கூறி ... பன்முறையும் உன்னை வணங்குபவர்கள், மறக்காமல் உன் திருப்புகழைப் பாடி 

படிமீது துதித்து உடன் வாழ அருள்வேளே ... இவ்வுலகிலே உன்னைத் துதிசெய்து உன்னுடனேயே எப்போதும் இருந்து வாழும்படியாக அருளும் செவ்வேளே, 

சிவலோக மெனப்பரி வேறு ... இதுவே பூலோகத்தில் உள்ள சிவலோகம் என்ற அன்பை உண்டாக்கத்தக்க 

பதியான திருத்தணி மேவு ... திருத்தலமாகிய திருத்தணிகையில் வாழ்கின்ற, 

பவரோக வயித்திய நாத பெருமாளே. ... பிறவிப் பெரு நோயைத் தீர்க்கவல்ல, வைத்தியநாதப் பெருமாளே. 

An Ode' to Ricky Ponting

There once was a batsman called Ponting

In technique he never was found wanting

His stint at the crease saw the fielders often panting

He always had the perfect reply to the steaming bowler’s ranting.

----

His centuries most often saw Aussie wins

His eleven opponents verily became nine pins

Words spoken in pre-series conferences he never used to mince

Hence he had as many fiends as assassins.

----

The Aussie media spoke of him in the same breath as Tendulkar

His actions matched the “Punter” he was, for a moniker

His verbal duels against opposition were an effective psychological tinker

With the bat and without it, he ended up as their back-breaker.

----

His rapid slump in form forced to hang up his boots

The opposition and media could not care two hoots

The “Tasmanian Devil” finally went back to his roots

To contribute to Australian rules Football with his shoots.

====

Harikesanallu Muthiah Bhagavathar

Harikesanallur L Muthiah Bhagavatar was a multi-faceted personality who strode the Carnatic music world in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th. Born on 15th November 1877 to Sri Lingam Iyer and Smt Anandambal of Punalveli village, he was however to put the village of Harikesanallur on the musical map for it was there that the family migrated when he was still young. He later learnt music at Tiruvayyaru from Sambasiva Iyer of the Pallavi Doraiswami Iyer lineage. Sambasiva Iyer’s father Sabhapati Sivam was a disciple of Tyagaraja. He was also taught by Sambasiva Iyer’s son TS Sabhesa Iyer.

Muthiah Bhagavatar became a fine musician who was richly awarded and feted. He later became an expert in Harikatha and on playing the Gotuvadyam. He ran one of the earliest music schools of South India. Named the Tyagaraja Sangeeta Vidyalaya, it functioned in Madurai for four years, from 1920 onwards. One of its stellar products was Madurai Mani Iyer. In later years, Muthiah Bhagavatar was Principal of the Teachers’ College of Music run by the Music Academy, Madras and the Swati Tirunal Academy in Trivandrum. He was also one of the prime movers in the effort to get music to become part of University curriculum. Muthiah Bhagavatar helped conduct two major music festivals for several years, one at Karur for the Zamindar of Andipatti and the other at his own Harikesanallur. He helped organise music conferences in Tanjavur between 1912 and 1916 and also at the Music Academy, Madras from 1929 to 1945. He presided over the Academy’s Conference of 1930 and received its Sangita Kalanidhi on 1st January 1943. He wrote the first doctoral thesis in Carnatic music and was awarded the D Litt. by the Travancore University in 1942. He composed a Harikatha on the life of Tyagaraja and besides, composed several songs, his corpus being perhaps the largest after Tyagaraja’s.

He played an important role in the resuscitation of Swati Tirunal’s kritis and some of the latter’s songs are sung in tunes set by Bhagavatar. He brought the raga Hamsanandi into Carnatic music, inspired by its Hindustani equivalent, Sohoni. He was music director for two Tamil films and had also composed scores for church music. He traveled extensively going as far as Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). In manner and deportment he was regal. In personality he was striking and in lifestyle he was extravagant. He was in short a larger than life personality. When he died in 1945 he left a void difficult to fill.

Muthiah Bhagavatar first came to the notice of the royal family of Mysore when during the Dussehra durbar of 1926, Madurai Ponnusami Pillai played his kriti Valli Nayaka Ni (Shanmukhapriya) on the nagaswaram. The Maharajah, Krishnarajendra Wodeyar IV desired to meet the composer of the kriti and through the efforts of Ponnusami Pillai and Bhagavatar’s good friend Mysore Vaudevachar who was a palace artiste, an invitation was sent for the Dussehra celebrations of 1927. He became a palace artiste and shifted to Mysore. In 1928, Bhagavatar was conferred the title of Gayaka Shikhamani by the Mysore Court and given the task of composing 108 kritis on Chamundamba, the tutelary deity of the royal family.

Bhagavatar was initially diffident as the songs were to be in Kannada but Krishnarajendra Wodeyar, who had by then become a friend, solved it by getting palace scholar Devottama Jois to assist in the matter of lyrics. Bhagavatar began work and by way of prayer, initially composed six kritis, one each on Ganapati (Buddhi Devi in Malahari), Saraswati (Sri Mangalavani in Asaveri), Siva-Mahabaleswara who is the consort of Chamundamba (Mahabaleswara Vibho in Saranga), Narayana who is enshrined on the same hill as Chamundamba (Narayana in Kiravani), Guru (Gurunatha in Pushpalata) and Anjaneya (Sri Anjaneya in Chenjurutti). All these songs request the respective deity to give the composer the talent and skill to compose the 108 kritis on Devi.

The basis for the 108 songs is the Chamundamba Ashottaram, which as the name suggests is a list of 108 names of the Goddess and which are recited everyday at the temple by way of worship even now. Bhagavatar followed the same order, from Sri Chamundambayai Namaha (his first song is Sampatprade Sri Chamundeswari in Kalyani) to Srimat Tripurasundaryai Namaha (the last song is Srimat Tripurasundari in Madhyamavati). The songs are all in the usual pallavi, anupallavi, charanam format with every tenth song and the 108th song having two charanams instead of one. Each tenth song (as also the 108th) incorporates, in its second charanam, the name of the ruler, Krishnarajendra Wodeyar.

Bhagavatar, always a man for unusual and rare ragas uses them in plenty in this suite of kritis. Thus we have ragas such as Vinadhari (Girijadeviya), Harinarayani (Devi Sri), Shuddha Lalitha Sahasrashirsha, Chakrapradipa Chakreshi), Vijayanagari (Vijayambike), Urmika (Kalaratrisvarupini), Guharanjani (Navavarana) and Navaratnavilasa (Navaksharamanu). While most of the songs are in conventional talas, one or two are set in talas such as kanda jati jhampa and chatusra jhampa. As the songs progressed, their notation was taken down by Belakavadi Srinivasa Iyengar. To assist Bhagavatar in his composing work and to enhance the pleasure of listening to him sing the songs, the Maharajah ordered two tamburas, each six feet tall and decorated with copious amounts of ivory. These were gifted to Bhagavatar who immediately christened them Rama and Lakshmana.

The set of 108 kritis was completed in 1932 with the last two songs being set in the characteristic mangala ragas Saurashtram and Madhyamavati. In addition, there is a mangalam in Vasantha. On the work being completed, Bhagavatar was gifted Rs 10,000 and a pearl necklace that had a ruby studded pendant bearing the image of Goddess Chamundamba.

Heleopathy in Curing Leprosy

I was reading Surya Puranam, when this interesting story same my way.

Samba, the handsome son of Krishna, was cursed by none other than Krishna Himself, for being the object of wrongful desire for Krishna's wives. Subsequently Samba was afflicted with Leprosy so that his gory figure could serve as a grim reminder for all thinking about such wrong relationships.

What is most intersting is how Samba cured himself of the Leprosy disease.

Legend has it that, it was Samba, the son of Krishna,...built the great
sun temple at Sambapura (modern Multan in Pakistan)....
The same Samba legend is associated with the Sun temple at Konark in Orissa
as well. As in the case of Multan, another Chandrabhaga river is found
in the vicinity of Konark Sun temple with the same sanctity and
significance attached to it.

For the record, the word Konark is made of two words in Sanskrit -  Kona कोण meaning Angle and Arka अर्क, which is another name for Surya. This is in deference to the dedication of the temple that was built in Konark, in the name of Surya.

The Sun temples in Egypt are also located on the banks of river Nile. In
fact, there appears to be a strong correlation between Sun worship and
the cure for skin diseases in general and leprosy in particular.

Legends connect the very establishment of sun temples in various
places with the cure of leprosy, according to elderly locals present in
the Mela in Konark.

Legend has it that, it was Samba, the son of Krishna, who built the
great sun temple at Sambapura (modern Multan in Pakistan), on being
cured of leprosy after he had propitiated the sun god for 12 years in
Mitravan on the bank of river Chandrabhaga. The same Samba legend is
associated with the sun temple at Konark as well. As in the case of
Multan, another Chandrabhaga river is found in the vicinity of Konark sun
temple.

Konark Sun temple's association with leprosy cure is not merely legend-
based, but functional as well. There is an institution called Abdhut Mutt
at Konark. The Mutt, it is learnt, was famous for leprosy cure and related
rituals. Even now, on Magha Saptami day, when gods are taken in a
procession to the Chandrabhaga beach near Konark, a person in the guise of a leprosy
patient walks along in the company of others.

Today's modern science has discovered that sunlight is one of the key cures for Leprosy!!!

I wonder how much more our forefathers knew, that we are just "discovering" now....!!!

Mrythyunjaya Manthram's real meaning

त्रियम्बकं यजा महे सुघन्धिं पुष्टि वर्धनं

उर्वारुकं इव बन्धनान म्र्युथ्रोयोर मुक्षीय मामृथात

Thriyambakam Yajamahe Suganthim Pushtivardhanam
Urvaaru kamiva Bandhanan Mruthyor Muksheeya Maamruthath

The Mruthyunjaya Mantram is commonly miscontrued, as the name itself (Mruthyu-Jaya) suggests, to win over Death. Far from the truth. In the Mantram, there is a referernce to Urvaaru ( Sanskrit word for CUCUMBER).

The cucumber is seldom plucked by force from the plant. Any such cucumber forced out is quite bitter. Those cucumbers that are ripe usually fall off themselves and are usually collected for consumption. They are the cool and tasty ones.

The prayer indicates- just like the Cucumber usually comes out on it's own from the plant, and not forcibly plucked, the death for the individual should also come naturally, and not be untimely - in other words, this prayer is only for saving from ApaMrthyu or untimely death, and not from Death itself.

As the saying goes, the only two certain things in life are Death and Taxes!!

Perils of a non-market economy

Today's article in the media of China bad-mouthing the USA on Quantitative easing 2 (QE2 for short), is interesting, but not surprising.

Interesting, because it tells you where Gold and , by deduction, other materials prices are headed , courtesy the imminent fall in value of the by-now much maligned Greenback.

Not surprising, because, China seems to be expressing a sense of deja-vu. Half a trillion plus of extra money in circulation at near-zero-percent interest rates, is likely to see flight of capital into speculative pastures in Asia and other "investment destinations" , further emaciating the US$ value, not to mention the higher inflation due to rising import costs to a vastly devalued $$. This could well have a double whammy effect of lower consumption down the road, and adverse increase in exchange rate of the Renmimbi, throwing cheap Chinese sweatshops into a tailspin in terms of pricing and competitiveness, and quite possibly resulting in loss of jobs and closing down of factories. This, in turn, could even lead to social unrest in the worst case scenario, and derail, at least temporarily, any dreams of China making it big in short time.

But then, if the Chinese growth story had been groomed on a dose of free-market capitalism, they would have been used to the fact of hiring and firing, opening and closing down of business in the same vein, and would have learnt to take it as a fact of life and move on. But here is a growth story largely built in Government largesse and initiatives, and looking up to the Govt for every policy move and hand holding.

Free market capitalism, after all, does have it's merits, even if it is not the panacea for all the world's ills.