Sajjad Zahir: The Voice of the Common Man
He was sent to Pakistan to lay the foundation of a communist party. He remained underground for 3 years, but was ultimately arrested with the poet Faiz. Click on the link to read further
http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00006124&channel=leafyglade%20inn
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Ya Devi
Shakti
Hiren Kumar Bose
Published in Shakti, Times 2005
Six days prior to Durga Puja every devout Bengali household wakes up before sunrise to soak in the festivity related to the coming of Goddess Durga in their neighbourhood pandal--- listening to the Chandi Path being played on the All India Radio. I still remember my childhood days spent in Ambala Cantonment getting up bleary eyed, still wrapped in a quilt as the Sanskrit shlokas extolling the virtues of the demon slayer consumed the immediate surroundings. That was also the first time I got introduced the word 'shakti'.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Shakti Rupenu Sanghastita
Namastasyae Namastasyae Namastasye Namo Namah.
(I bow down to the Goddess who manifests herself as shakti (power and energy) in everything, living and non living).
As I grew up I began to understand that belief in Shakti or the feminine aspect of divinity was an integral, and somewhat popular, element of the Hindu religious fabric.
Shakti is symbolically female; but it is, in reality, neither male nor female. It is only a force, which manifests itself in various forms. For instance in the case of cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons it has been solely gender specific, namely Katrina, Rita, Laura etc.Smart and politically correct, as the Hindu sages were they divinised everything, the rituals and festivals, ceremonies and celebrations so that man engaged in the desired objects of the world was always reminded of the Supreme Being. Elaborates Vedanta scholar A Parthasarathy elaborates in "The symbols of Hindu Gods and rituals": "Hinduism has personified wealth and riches in the form of goddess Laxmi. So a man who runs after material wealth is made to remember the goddess in all his transactions. Thus a touch of divinity is lent to his material pursuits. Another man may pursue knowledge. Knowledge is personified as the goddess Saraswati. So his mind is also drawn to the higher even though he is engaged in the pursuit of worldly knowledge." Shakti, the mother Goddess, also known as Ambaa (mother), or Devi (Goddess) is considered to be the personification of Cosmic Energy in its dynamic form. It is believed that Shakti is the power and energy with which the Universe is created (by Brahma), preserved (by Vishnu), destroyed (by Shiva). And the cycle continues. Worshipped in several forms as Rajarajeswari or Kamakshi, she is the Universal mother; as Uma or Parvati, she is the gentle consort of Shiva; as Meenakshi - she is the queen of Shiva; as Durga riding the tiger and bearing weaponry she is fearless in her battle against the demonic or the egotistic forces of man; and as in the angry and terrifying Kaali, she destroys and devours all forms of evil. In fact, she is also the personification of time, her dark form symbolic of future, which is beyond our knowledge. Devi, Kali, Bhagavati, Bhavani, Ambal, Ambika, Jagadambe, Kamesvari, Ganga, Uma, Chandi, Chamundi, Lalita, Gauri, Kundalini, Tara, Rajesvari, Tripurasundari, etc., are all forms of Shakti.
Radha, Durga, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and Savitri are also five names of the same Shakti.Shakti is the energy aspect of the Lord. Inherent in God and inseparable like heat from fire. As Maya, by which the Brahma creating the universe is able to make itself appear to be different from what it really is, or the unmanifested state, when manifest, is the universe of name and form. Electricity, magnetism, heat, light, the five elements and their combination, are all external manifestation of Shakti. Intelligence, discrimination, psychic power and will are all Her internal manifestation. She keeps up the lila (play) of the Lord through the gunas, namely sattva, rajas and tamas. She lies dormant in the muladhara chakra at the base of the spine, in the form of coiled-up energy known as the kundalini shakti, She is at the center of the life of the universe, She is the primal force of life that underlies all existence. She is the energy in the sun, the fragrance in the flowers, the beauty in the landscape, the Gayatri or the blessed Mother in the Vedas, colour in the rainbow, nectar in the flowers, intelligence in the mind, potency of cures, power in sages, devotion in bhaktas, samyama and samadhi in yogis. A poet would describe Shakti as nature itself: the whole world is Her body, mountains Her bones, rivers Her veins, ocean Her bladder, sun and moon Her eyes, wind Her breath and fire Her mouth.The worship of Shakti reminds us that one needs to free oneself from desires, which leads to the chaotic state of our mind. We all are prisoner of desires-like nursing an ambition to work for a MNC firm, or having a Miss World look alike as one's wife, or having an apartment in an upmarket high rise, or acquiring an Rs 1 lakh worth flat TV... the list becomes endless.
No sooner have you satisfied one the other crops up its heads like the demon Mahishasur or Ravan. As long as there are desires within, the mind remains agitated---a state when one is unable to concentrate and shies away from contemplation and meditation. In order to fulfill the desires we are willing to go to any length-beg, borrow or steal. In fact, the craving is natural for one's societal importance is valued by one's acquisitions. Moreso in a consumerist culture we presently live in. Burdened by our limitless desires we distance ourselves from the promise of higher degree of consciousness: happy in our cloistered world of simple consciousness from which we hatched.
Shakti chastises the believer, the devout, the seeker to find one's true nature beyond name and form. Explaining the process Eckhart Tolle, The power of now, says, "When your consciousness is directed outward, mind and world arise. When it is directed inward, it realises its own Source and returns home into the Unmanifested ."Shakti has the power to release us from our "I" centric existence that imprisons us in emotions like jealousy, anger, lust, envy and pride; and, more importantly, is capable of making ordinary mortals a Gyaneshwar, a Ramkrishna Parmahansa, a Tukaram et al.
What better way to stop the mind from its ramblings? Bestow 'salt and sugar' of divinity in rituals and festivals, ceremonies and celebrations. But there is something beyond too as a savant remarked: "While you pray you talk to God when you meditate God talks to you."Meditation, and more so disciplined meditation, is like taking your mind (remember we only take our bodies) to an aerobic class. Once ushered to the borders of that world you need to knock at the door repeatedly to experience the eternal bliss and self-realisation. What happens then? "Spiritual consciousness bring with it an illuminating understanding of the life and order of the universe, and a brilliant intellectual enlightenment which makes even the most complex problem of life seem simple and clear; coupled to these is a sense of lofty moral elevation and a sense of exaltation and joyousness impossible to describe. There comes also a conviction of immortality -not a feeling that one shall have it , but a certainty than one already has it," writes Dr Rolf Alexander, a physician who worked at Mayo Clinic and acutely aware of the limits of modern medicine travelled to Tibet and India in search of ancient, universal, healing techniques. Dr Alexander explored the body/mind connection and its capacity to activate the vital life force residing within each of us and penned the self-help book, The Healing Power of the Mind.
Don't forget that every individual is born with divinity, though dormant. And only the worship of shakti is capable of arousing the same As Goddess Kali's best known devotee Parmhansa Ramkrishna put it: "You cannot realize him if you have the least bit of attachment in you. A thread with ever so few ragged fibres won't pass through the eye of a needle."
Hiren Kumar Bose
Published in Shakti, Times 2005
Six days prior to Durga Puja every devout Bengali household wakes up before sunrise to soak in the festivity related to the coming of Goddess Durga in their neighbourhood pandal--- listening to the Chandi Path being played on the All India Radio. I still remember my childhood days spent in Ambala Cantonment getting up bleary eyed, still wrapped in a quilt as the Sanskrit shlokas extolling the virtues of the demon slayer consumed the immediate surroundings. That was also the first time I got introduced the word 'shakti'.
Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu Shakti Rupenu Sanghastita
Namastasyae Namastasyae Namastasye Namo Namah.
(I bow down to the Goddess who manifests herself as shakti (power and energy) in everything, living and non living).
As I grew up I began to understand that belief in Shakti or the feminine aspect of divinity was an integral, and somewhat popular, element of the Hindu religious fabric.
Shakti is symbolically female; but it is, in reality, neither male nor female. It is only a force, which manifests itself in various forms. For instance in the case of cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons it has been solely gender specific, namely Katrina, Rita, Laura etc.Smart and politically correct, as the Hindu sages were they divinised everything, the rituals and festivals, ceremonies and celebrations so that man engaged in the desired objects of the world was always reminded of the Supreme Being. Elaborates Vedanta scholar A Parthasarathy elaborates in "The symbols of Hindu Gods and rituals": "Hinduism has personified wealth and riches in the form of goddess Laxmi. So a man who runs after material wealth is made to remember the goddess in all his transactions. Thus a touch of divinity is lent to his material pursuits. Another man may pursue knowledge. Knowledge is personified as the goddess Saraswati. So his mind is also drawn to the higher even though he is engaged in the pursuit of worldly knowledge." Shakti, the mother Goddess, also known as Ambaa (mother), or Devi (Goddess) is considered to be the personification of Cosmic Energy in its dynamic form. It is believed that Shakti is the power and energy with which the Universe is created (by Brahma), preserved (by Vishnu), destroyed (by Shiva). And the cycle continues. Worshipped in several forms as Rajarajeswari or Kamakshi, she is the Universal mother; as Uma or Parvati, she is the gentle consort of Shiva; as Meenakshi - she is the queen of Shiva; as Durga riding the tiger and bearing weaponry she is fearless in her battle against the demonic or the egotistic forces of man; and as in the angry and terrifying Kaali, she destroys and devours all forms of evil. In fact, she is also the personification of time, her dark form symbolic of future, which is beyond our knowledge. Devi, Kali, Bhagavati, Bhavani, Ambal, Ambika, Jagadambe, Kamesvari, Ganga, Uma, Chandi, Chamundi, Lalita, Gauri, Kundalini, Tara, Rajesvari, Tripurasundari, etc., are all forms of Shakti.
Radha, Durga, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and Savitri are also five names of the same Shakti.Shakti is the energy aspect of the Lord. Inherent in God and inseparable like heat from fire. As Maya, by which the Brahma creating the universe is able to make itself appear to be different from what it really is, or the unmanifested state, when manifest, is the universe of name and form. Electricity, magnetism, heat, light, the five elements and their combination, are all external manifestation of Shakti. Intelligence, discrimination, psychic power and will are all Her internal manifestation. She keeps up the lila (play) of the Lord through the gunas, namely sattva, rajas and tamas. She lies dormant in the muladhara chakra at the base of the spine, in the form of coiled-up energy known as the kundalini shakti, She is at the center of the life of the universe, She is the primal force of life that underlies all existence. She is the energy in the sun, the fragrance in the flowers, the beauty in the landscape, the Gayatri or the blessed Mother in the Vedas, colour in the rainbow, nectar in the flowers, intelligence in the mind, potency of cures, power in sages, devotion in bhaktas, samyama and samadhi in yogis. A poet would describe Shakti as nature itself: the whole world is Her body, mountains Her bones, rivers Her veins, ocean Her bladder, sun and moon Her eyes, wind Her breath and fire Her mouth.The worship of Shakti reminds us that one needs to free oneself from desires, which leads to the chaotic state of our mind. We all are prisoner of desires-like nursing an ambition to work for a MNC firm, or having a Miss World look alike as one's wife, or having an apartment in an upmarket high rise, or acquiring an Rs 1 lakh worth flat TV... the list becomes endless.
No sooner have you satisfied one the other crops up its heads like the demon Mahishasur or Ravan. As long as there are desires within, the mind remains agitated---a state when one is unable to concentrate and shies away from contemplation and meditation. In order to fulfill the desires we are willing to go to any length-beg, borrow or steal. In fact, the craving is natural for one's societal importance is valued by one's acquisitions. Moreso in a consumerist culture we presently live in. Burdened by our limitless desires we distance ourselves from the promise of higher degree of consciousness: happy in our cloistered world of simple consciousness from which we hatched.
Shakti chastises the believer, the devout, the seeker to find one's true nature beyond name and form. Explaining the process Eckhart Tolle, The power of now, says, "When your consciousness is directed outward, mind and world arise. When it is directed inward, it realises its own Source and returns home into the Unmanifested ."Shakti has the power to release us from our "I" centric existence that imprisons us in emotions like jealousy, anger, lust, envy and pride; and, more importantly, is capable of making ordinary mortals a Gyaneshwar, a Ramkrishna Parmahansa, a Tukaram et al.
What better way to stop the mind from its ramblings? Bestow 'salt and sugar' of divinity in rituals and festivals, ceremonies and celebrations. But there is something beyond too as a savant remarked: "While you pray you talk to God when you meditate God talks to you."Meditation, and more so disciplined meditation, is like taking your mind (remember we only take our bodies) to an aerobic class. Once ushered to the borders of that world you need to knock at the door repeatedly to experience the eternal bliss and self-realisation. What happens then? "Spiritual consciousness bring with it an illuminating understanding of the life and order of the universe, and a brilliant intellectual enlightenment which makes even the most complex problem of life seem simple and clear; coupled to these is a sense of lofty moral elevation and a sense of exaltation and joyousness impossible to describe. There comes also a conviction of immortality -not a feeling that one shall have it , but a certainty than one already has it," writes Dr Rolf Alexander, a physician who worked at Mayo Clinic and acutely aware of the limits of modern medicine travelled to Tibet and India in search of ancient, universal, healing techniques. Dr Alexander explored the body/mind connection and its capacity to activate the vital life force residing within each of us and penned the self-help book, The Healing Power of the Mind.
Don't forget that every individual is born with divinity, though dormant. And only the worship of shakti is capable of arousing the same As Goddess Kali's best known devotee Parmhansa Ramkrishna put it: "You cannot realize him if you have the least bit of attachment in you. A thread with ever so few ragged fibres won't pass through the eye of a needle."
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