Storieo

Author: Swetha Balajee

  • Divinity

    Divinity

    That day was different while I had been to a temple with my friends on a school tour. For my lucky charm, it was a Shiva temple. We visited every corner of the temple, enjoyed viewing the arts in the sculptures and listened to the historical stories of the temple. Fortunately, I got a company with one of the priests of the temple who easily got closer to me and we spoke a lot. Walking along the various Shrines of the temple, he asked me “what is Shiva according to you?”

    I stood blank as I felt it was a question far beyond my knowledge and I really couldn’t frame out an answer. He started answering me his questions himself.

    “Shiva is the ultimate power. Yet we simply regard Shiva as per Shiva tattva.” It sounded totally new to me and I exclaimed him “Where to search for Shiva Tattva?” He laughed at me on my innocence and answered me that it is nothing to be searched for, rather it was not any framework or rules to follow. “It can be simply attained through meditation. Shiva is nothing but the inner state we could experience. It is a state between being awake or dreaming or sleeping. It is a glimpse of the fourth state experienced from neither sleeping nor dreaming and it can give us the best rest possible which is not attained by sleeping.”

    Now I was even more confused and went speechless. I broke the silence in some minutes and asked him, “So is it that Meditation is Shiva?” for which he nodded a big ‘NO’.

    “Shiva tattva is something beyond words and it can only be felt. Innocence and intelligence together is Shiva. Shiva is embodied in such a way that though he is the Lord of the Universe, he does not owe any jewels or clothes for himself. He is a combination of Rudra and Bholenath which means fierce and innocence together.”

    I felt like I understood something and started listening eagerly to each and word from him. “Shiva was given a form to make it understandable for the innocent people. He is an unfathomable divine energy actually having no form. The most common form of Shiva that was created to rely his powers on the Universe is the Nataraja form which symbolizes the functioning of the Universe. The form created for Shiva has a drum in his hands. This is to symbolize that the world is full of rhythms, ups and downs.”

    I nodded as I agreed to his point regarding the Nataraja form, the stories of which I had heard from my Granny. I had even started loving Bharatham because of this dancing form of Shiva. I asked him, “Is there any other forms of Shiva that is more popular and important?”

    He nodded yes as we stopped in front of the Shrine of Lord Shri Bhairava, a form which is full of terror including Shiva’s weapons and a dog as his vector. We worshipped him and the continued our talk. He pointed out to this form of Shiva and started continuing, ”In general, Shiva also holds a Trishul in his hands. This is to symbolize that he has the power to destroy all the evils of life. It is also believed that, Shiva can destroy the three types of pain, physical, spiritual and ethereal pains that can arise in one’s life.”

    We felt greatly relaxed as we were speaking so much about Shiva. I was really enjoying this company at the temple and learnt a lot. It was almost time to leave while we were too enthusiastic in our conversation. I asked him. “So how could one attain Shiva in one’s life?”

    He appreciated my eagerness for giving a greater continuation towards his words and explained me, “Chanting his divine name is one way of expressing your love for the divine. The Lord Shiva is commonly chanted by the famous Panjaakshara which is “OM NAMA SHIVAYA”. This could be split in the following ways for understanding it. ‘OM’ is regarded as the ultimate vibration of the universe. NA,MA,SHI,VA,YA represents the five supreme powers that constitute the universe such as the Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether. Thus, the mantra for chanting Shiva is simply a representation of the existence of various powers of the Universe. OM is the sound of peace, joy and love thereby constituting the Universe.”

    I wondered at the various unknown things that was in day-to-day practice of life. I decided to teach others the meaning behind each and every little thing about Shiva so that they understand the supremacy of Shiva. Rather, I said to myself that I should learn more about Shiva before I could teach others. With a greater feeling of contentment, I ended up the tour and reached back home where I exclaimed every incident to my granny and started learning more form her.

  • The gift of life- (III)

    The gift of life- (III)

    Its about how friendship is important in one’s life and how great friends a girl and a guy could be.

    Running through my memories, those days were happy and wonderful when I had Aadhi with me. I really can not forget that one day-out with him where we became so close ever after our meeting at the party.

    The week after the party was good with a few little talks with Aadhi during the tea breaks. He asked me if I could join him on a day-out with him that weekend. I thought for a while, yet I agreed. It was the very first time I was hanging out with a guy friend of mine. We planned to take a long travel together so that we would have a lot of time to talk and took his car, headed towards Vellore’s Golden temple. On our way, we conversed a lot about each other’s college life and other funny experiences.

    The temple was known for its excellent environment that gave us fruitful peace of mind. We had a nice time visiting the temple where I took photographs of him in different postures. He wondered at my skill of photography and appreciated me. We walked together while he kept commenting about my various habits. I wondered how much he had observed about me in these few days and especially in this trip. He suggested few changes in my dressing styles so that I looked even greater. I had told him that my ex had left me with my beauty as one of the reasons. Aadhi had remembered that and hence suggested me some changes so that I become pretty enough to make my ex jealous of my beauty.

    We went to a hotel for the lunch where we came to know about each other’s tastes and food habits. Drowned in our conversation, I got the food struck in the middle way inside my throat. I struggled hard to get it ok while he held a glass of water to me immediately as I coughed. I felt pleased at the way he cared for me without my words. He respected my feelings more than I deserve.

    On our way back, he stopped the car at times to refresh ourselves from the tiresome journey. He cared about my comfort with the car, played melodious music, those songs that I had always loved. Even with that, we found our tastes to be similar and that’s how we never quarreled with each other. I felt he was a good person sent into my life just to make me forget my bitter past and have a happy life.

    Days at the office were even happy after this day-out with him. We started being frank to each other, to utter our problems with the project so that we found a solution together. Previously we had been fighting at the office only because of our innocence. We had been blindly arguing without hearing the other’s point and now things have changed.

    Fortunately, this relationship of ours gave us happiness in all the possible ways. Since we worked together better, we got promoted together for our performances at the office. After promotion, our management arranged meetings at various places of the state and that gave us more chances of having official day-outs together. Life was better then.

    Once, Aadhi suffered illness and took leave from the office. That day felt so blank without him and I struggled to pass the day on. At the evening, I reached out to him over phone while he said he was getting better. But the next day, he did not come to the office. I could not tolerate his absence and took leave. I reached out to his home. That was the first time I went to his home and then I understood how lonely he had been just like me. I came to know that he was taking his own medications without visiting the doctor and I scolded him for being so careless. I drove him in his car to the nearby hospital and got him back to home. I made him soups and a simple meal, gave him medicines and cared for him till late evening. He thanked him for taking so much care and then I left to my home. This repeated the next day just as I directly went to his home as I had taken leave for both of us that day. Then it was the weekend. Aadhi got better with his rests and my care. That was the time I had been searching for a new home and hence Aadhi suggested me the one just opposite to his flat in the apartment thus breaking the loneliness of both of us.

    Life became better since we were no more lonely. At times, we used to spend the days together at either of the one’s home caring for each other in the best way possible. We respected our feelings and we never had a serious argument. We used to fight childishly for funny things and that made a happier bonding.

    I had always felt that he was a gift of my life and he too expressed the same towards me.

    A TRUE FRIEND CAN CARE AND LOVE MORE THAN A LOVER.

    Image source: instaquote.info

  • Lots to learn (Before conversion- II)

    Lots to learn (Before conversion- II)

    The story is basically framed for children to know better about religion.

     

    Thinking about the days when I was young…

    It was a fine evening while I came back home from school. After refreshments, I and my brother used to play at the empty space near our home but that evening it was raining heavily. So we decided to make our games indoor. We ran into our doors and later it was a fine surprise to have our grandparents soon in home. They had been in a pilgrimage for the past week and now they are back. We felt happy to have them since they were our best companions.

    After a while, I took seat beside my granny while my brother sat beside grandpa and we almost made a circle. Feeling ultimate silence except the noise of the raindrops falling from the leaves outside, Granny began a story. We always loved listening stories from her.

    “So today I would like to teach you something rather than a mere story.”

    We looked indifferent at what she had planned to teach us and looked at each other. She continued.

    “ Hinduism is not a Religion, it is an ocean of Faith. For those who believe, miracles happen in the name of God. Of course, miracles had happened through Faith in the history of almost all of the religions yet, Hinduism, here has many more incidents and evidences proving the Divinity.”

    She gave a pause and questioned me. “Who is God?” I being a devotee to Shiv, immediately replied “SHIVA”.

     She smiled and said, “Yes my dear, you are right. It is believed in Hinduism that Lord Shiva is the Supreme Power and controls the entire Universe. The Trinity Concept also plays a major role in the framework of Hinduism. According to Trinity, among the three major powers, Brahma, plays the role of creation, Vishnu plays the role of preservation, while Shiva, the supreme power is responsible for destruction. Lord Shiva is believed to be a destroyer yet, he could save the people who have faith on him. Yes, he is known for the destruction of the evils around and that does not mean he destroys everything in the world.”

    As she paused we gave an eager look at what she was about to say next. Understanding our eagerness she continued. This time, she pointed at a photo hanging in the doorstep of our pooja room and proceeded. It was the picture of Lord Shiva in the dancing form.

    “The Nataraja form of Shiva symbolizes the five major actions for the existence of the world such as 1) Sristi or the creation 2) Sthiti or the maintenance or time 3) Samhara which means destruction  4) Tiro-bhava which means concealment and 5) Anugraha which means the favor or acceptance. Thus, the entire concept compiling this Universe has been explained through a single form i.e the Nataraja or Dancing form of Shiva.

    But my little dearies, for the fact, Lord Shiva has actually no form. There exists a story where the Lords Brahma and Vishnu decide to find up Divine Shiva’s head and feet and fails at last revealing that Shiva has no forms in real. There is no ending of his form in a head or feet. Shiva is simply everything. He has no specific forms and the forms that are worshipped by us were created to educate the young minds like you, about spirituality.”

    This time I felt a little confused. I asked, “What are you trying to say granny?”

    She replied, “ I know you are confused. Hinduism is actually an ocean of faiths and you are not forced to adopt any particular rules. You can have faith and worship the Lord in any from you believe in. The Freedom of thoughts and beliefs is the most important point that adds up dignity to this wonderful religion.

    Getting deeper into the powers and supremacy of Hinduism, The Vedas stand at the First place. In a broader sense, Vedas are sources of wisdom and a beginning of the spiritual knowledge. A right thinking, right understanding and a right action combines to form the Divine Truth and riches. Vedas play a major role in inculcating these three in a man who learns them. Vedas are simply a collection of Mantras mainly composed of words, symbols and rhythms. To avert unfavourable things by rituals is the framework of the Vedas or mantras.”

    This time, my brother interrupted her. He asked her “Granny, all the religions are having their own Vedas. They call their holy books as Vedas. Are all the books same or different from each other granny?”

    Granny looked at us and exclaimed that it was a good question. She felt that it was really essential to explain us this important difference among the Vedas.

    “Each religion has its own Veda, the book that comprises the sayings of the great men who framed that religion. But, for Hinduism, Vedas not only instruct us for life, yet, itself plays a role in averting the bad things away from us through its rhythms. OM (pronounced as AUM) is the very basic mantra that has the utmost power of positivity in it. Mantras purify the air around us through their vibrations thereby creating a positive environment.

    And, in Hinduism, Vedas are majorly classified into three types as Rig, Sama and Yajur which has several sub classifications in them. Among these, the Rig Veda is a collection of words, having a specific counts in each set. They are similar to a collection of words or a prose. The Sama, on the other hand, is a collection of words and symbols and they are sung according to the symbols they contain. The Yajur Veda finally is framed of rhythmic prose. A classification known as Atharvana Veda is derived by a combination of the Rig and Yajur Vedas.

    These Vedas create a positive energy around the people who learn them which the Vedas of other religion does not.”

    “How do you say so granny?”  we asked together. “Scientifically, the Universe acts on the basis of the vibration of molecules and the pronunciation of the Vedas are capable of controlling these vibrations of these molecules. Also, singing helps in Pranayama, or the breathing exercise to keep your mind and body in a healthy state. Thus, every ritual in Hinduism was framed with a scientific background that helps in making us have a great life both physically and spiritually.”

    we never felt tired on listening to our Granny. It was time for dinner and hence we decided to continue this travel into Hinduism later on. We had a nice supper prepared by our mom, chit-chaatting with the whole family.

    Days were always happy in those times…

  • Before Conversion

    Before Conversion

    Its just the things to be finely reviewed before getting into a change of religion. This story is actually an article with an idea of revealing the supremacy of Hinduism.

    I always wonder why few people change their religion!!  That too, mostly from Hinduism. There are really very few records for the people who have converted from other religions to Hinduism. Rather, the rate of conversion of folk from Hinduism to other religions, is truly increasing at a greater pace over the years. Is it the flaw with the rules of Hinduism that helps them leave their religion of birth and convert to something else or is it that the talent of those so-called spiritual heads of other religion that makes them speak in an attractive way so that they add up population to their religion strengthening it.

    I do not want to blame the other religions or mock at their Gods, rather I don’t want anyone to change their religion of birth. There are miracles happening with the Gods of each of the religion, yet, it is not necessary that we should change ours just because miracles happen in the other. It is all about faith that makes miracles happen. When you have the faith in other God and is ready to convert yourself into it, why don’t you  have the same faith in yours and pray hard so that you be blessed with your needs. It’s a point to be agreed that prayers are always answered and there is nothing that could be changed from being blessed.

    I tried to resolve this issue and found few truths. The very first thing that came into my mind is that Hinduism does not implement any rules on its followers such as a compulsion to go to temple, a restriction on entering the temples of others, an implementation on the costumes to be worn, the rituals to be followed, and so on. Even in Hinduism, there are instructions on costumes and preaches to be followed daily, but they are not subjected to compulsion and it is we who have stopped following them over time. Still, we don’t have any punishment for not following the rules in Hinduism. Next, Hinduism is vast spread in our Nation over years, in the history and it actually does not need anyone to make it popular in our sands. Hence, there is actually no necessity to implement any rules to maintain the religion.

    Turning back to the pages of history, Hindu Gods have actually been closer to people. There are poetic evidences where great poets, with strong spiritual faith, have experienced the Dharshan of God in their lives and have reached heaven due to their faith. Moreover, the Lord himself have lived on this Earth on many occasions, the so-called plays of the Lord. Lord makes miracles happen in the life of people, in order to make them happy rather than making them believe his existence.

    Yes, Faith can make things happen. There are really no prayers left unanswered. The only thing is that, the Lord answers your prayers only when the right time comes. It is our duty and pleasure to have patience and Faith in Lord and let our prayers to be answered.

    An overview of the various epics and myths show that the preaching of all the religions are almost the same such as the respect to elders, faith in Lord, Humanity, Equality, Humbleness, Love, etc. in some way or the other, on the whole, all religions preach the same about life on this world. But, we don’t understand this very basic point and differentiate the religions on the basis of the images and names of the Lords. GOD is one.

    The very basic necessity for the theme of LORD is unity and faith in the Supreme Power.

    It is even good to follow those people who say there is actually “NO GOD”. There is no God, it is just the supremacy that exists above all human powers, the power that cannot be controlled, the power in some words called the fate.

    But on the other hand, the faith in Lord has some deeper senses in it. There are evidences, for the supreme power existed in some forms, LORD, and has made miracles and blessings for those who believed. So it is actually our choice to believe in Lord or not. My point of argument inside is that when you are ready to trust the Lord through the words of others, why cant you just trust the Lord insisted for you right from your birth!! It is an endless argument to change religion from one to the other, yet it doesn’t have any valid reason.

    The overall point to be demarcated is that the society has lost its due to reason out things before they could adopt other’s thoughts and adapt themselves to others views.

    Note: The reasons to expose the supremacy of Hinduism among various religions are yet to be revealed in the next parts of my story.

  • He who could save – Shiv IV

    He who could save – Shiv IV

     

    It was the time when I started believing that fate could be changed through prayers. I always felt great with the content obtained by praying for others. I used to listen to the problems of others and prayed to Shiv, for them. Some day, I heard that my friend’s sister Rani was being disturbed in her family because she had a girl child first and everyone in her family was scolding her for not having a baby boy. On hearing this, I still wondered how many parts of our society has not changed their views regarding the birth of babies and everyone always wished to have a boy child. Most of the achievements in the current society is made only by women. Everyone speaks of Women’s liberation everywhere and still others wish for having only boy child in their family.

    She had been sent back to her mother’s home due to the fight that arose with her in-laws regarding this issue. My friend felt bad and cried over to me. I always loved her sister as my own and regretted for her. I prayed to Shiva that her in-laws and husband should be convinced soon and she should be happy with her new born in her family. Around six months passed and things happened. She was just accepted in her family like a servant and was always scolded by everyone. But I felt it was better rather than she being in her mom’s home.

    I still continued my prayers for everyone around me who were in struggle in their lives. In some months, I came to know that Rani Akka (AKKA, meaning elder sister in Tamil) was pregnant again. This time, I wished stronger that it was a boy child so that all her troubles end sooner. I prayed everyday, all time, for her and my prayers were answered. Yes, this time it was a baby boy, so cute as Rani akka. I wondered how Shiv always answered my prayers and thanked him for this valuable blessings. I conveyed my hearty greetings to her.

    I felt that this baby boy is a blessing showered by Shiv and hence he shall be named any one of those several hundred names of Shiva. I couldn’t convey this to Akka, but to the shock of mine, they had already chosen a name to him, Keerthan Siva, which means the ‘melodious musical Shiva’. I understood that all these incidents were HIS play. I thanked him for proving his powers again.

    Shiv had always helped me in all the situations. Once, when I had been preparing for my entrance exam fro higher education, I was affected by severe viral infection from my laboratory as I had to work with microbes for my project. Only two days were left for the exam and doctors insisted me a minimum of three days of medication for the cure. I was preparing hard for the exam right from the beginning and cried to Shiva about the reason for this play and took a deep sleep. In half a day, my fever got reduced and I felt better. I continued my preparation for the exam and fortunately I performed well. It was then I realized that there had been a little break out of fire at the space near the laboratory where I used to work. If I had not been affected by this infection I would have been working there during the accident and I would have got into untold troubles. I may have even been dead at the accident but Shiv had saved me from this by giving me just an infection.

    EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON.

    From the myths and ancient stories, we could observe that there were several incidents in which God has been so close to the people. Sages who give up worldly pleasures and perform hard meditation and rituals have easily met God and has been blessed with so much of powers to enhance the society.  But in the recent times, we have moved away so far, really far from God. There is no such incident that someone has visualized the Holy Image of God. We are reading only in stories about the various forms of Lord like the Dasavathar ( Ten Different forms) of Lord Vishnu, the Four-Headed Brahma, The Dancing form of Shiva and so on. It is all because of the changing lifestyle and the lessening of belief in Lord. Atheism has become a trend and many people who love to be trendy give up their believes on Lord.

    For those who believe, Lord always showers his blessings and makes miracles happen in their life. Every soul in this world is beautiful and every soul deserves miracles to happen in their life. And once it happens, it is our duty to remember God who makes it happen in our life. Gratitude and faith brings the Lord close to us so much.

    We keep praying to Lord to end up our struggles and once it happens, we forget the existence of Him. The Lords plans for our day are always better than ours and he knows what is good to us rather than what we feel good for ourselves. He knows the right time to make things happen in our life. Only our patience with strong belief is essential to work out things.

  • The symbol of life – Shiv III

    The symbol of life – Shiv III

    My journey towards the search of Shiva grew as days passed. The fact behind the symbol of Shiva in dancing mode, the so-called NATARAJA form of Shiva is the most interesting one. It is a symbol that confers the facts about life including the five powers that controls life on Earth such as the Air, Water, Land, Fire and Sky. Shiva is the god of destruction, and a ring of flames encircles him. These represent the cremation fires which are ultimately going to consume our mortal bodies. Shiva’s tresses are long and flowing, and dark as the night is. Supra-normal energy, amounting to the power of magic, resides in such a wildness of hair. Dance is a conscious attempt at integrating all the tiers of our existence. Dance is therefore a spiritual channel, an opening of both metaphysical and sensuous doorways. Thus, through his Nataraja form, Shiva tries to explain us how to control our senses and our survival on this Earth using the supreme five powers.

    Several miracles started happening in my life with the blessings of Shiva. But unfortunately dangers were also intimated to me through my dreams which I couldn’t help. Once, I had a dream in which there occurred flooding in the river near our home. I was running through the roads from my school towards home and a big wave of water rose from the river. The wave followed chasing me all around my way. I hurried out and stepped into my home and I woke up from dream. I did not make it a serious point since it seemed funny for me at that moment. But, some days later, there occurred the most known disaster of Chennai’s flood by 8th December. It sent shivers into me while I saw in the NEWS in television, the same kind of waves rising upon the Adaiyar bridge from the flooding water. I felt indifferent about how waves could rise from a river, since it was usual only in the sea. I felt that God has intimated me about this disaster earlier but in a different way as if I had been in the place of disaster. I had been incapable of realizing this and even if I had realized it, I had nothing to stop such a cause.

    Day by day, my faith on Shiva rose up and I started analyzing things around me and my dreams, so that I could stop any other disaster like the previous one. Later I understood that, fate, I may call the plans of Shiva, about various occurrences on earth could not be changed by any human powers. Fortunately, I was not intimated about any other disasters to make me guilty anymore. Rather, I decided to change up His plans through prayers. Yes, prayers and spiritual meditation could bring him close to us and make him listen to our prayers.

    Time passed by. I got a different new kind of infection in my right index finger that prevented me from doing my works. I couldn’t hold up even my pen to write. Everything became hard for me. Even the doctors had no idea of what infection it actually was and they had no clue of what to proceed further on treating this. I asked Shiva about why this was happening yet I consoled myself that he has a reason behind his every play. I have heard that fasting on Tuesdays could cure up any disease through the powers of my Sri Vaitheeswaran. I decided to take up this idea for my cure. It is believed that prayers like fasting, foot travel to distance temples, offering to holy showering of the statues in shrines, etc can help in expressing our Love and faith towards God. I started fasting and in exactly the third week of my fasting my infection got cured completely. I thanked Shiva for his miracle again in my life. Everyone had felt sad and scared since the doctor’s could not cure me. Fortunately, Shiva answered my prayers.

    That was a tragic time when my family experienced little financial crisis and my mom was in search of a job. It was a long term prayer for me to improve the finances of my family. But I felt it unanswered yet I did not lose faith. This time, I decided to take up more tough chances to make my Shiva listen to me and answer sooner. Yes, I took a continuous fasting for three consecutive days where I did not eat even fruits (generally, people under fasting are permitted to eat fruits and liquid food) and in those three days, water was my only power. I chanted Shiva’s name all through the day and I even forgot hunger. Three days ended, I felt completely exhausted after fasting yet there was no good news. I believed that Shiva will answer my prayer, even if not immediately but sure at some time. I was waiting for a good news to come. Days passed, weeks scrolled, around a month passed and then came an opportunity for my mother to work in a college. She had previous experience and hence she was appointed in a better position in renowned institution. I felt greatly happy as this would surely calm out several problems in my family.

    Thus, Shiva had always been there with me in my every move and has been leading me through my tough times yet not leaving my hands out of his safety.

    FAITH CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS.

  • Faith does it – Shiv II

    Faith does it – Shiv II

    Miracles happened through Shiva as I came across many intuitions that started coming live. I realized that Shiva was the sole power that controlled all the existences of this world. My time of prayers and faith on Shiva started increasing. I started reading books about the MOST POWERFUL SAGE, SHIV, as he is regarded in the myths. Yes, the Lord Shiva is a sage who has become the ultimate power through his skills of controlling his senses, which is the basic requisite for anyone to become a Sage, out of which Shiva stood extra-ordinary and became the super power.

    My curiosity to know about Shiva increased day by day. Shiva in every temple had different powers and names accordingly. Once, I had a dream in which I had been performing poojas to the Lord, in a Shiv temple. I quite remembered the name of the Lord and the temple even after I woke up from sleep. I searched the internet for the location of that temple but it was found no where. I questioned everyone I knew about the existence of such a temple and found nothing. I kept thinking to myself about my dream, the reason for the occurrence of such an event in a dream where I myself was performing poojas inside a temple. It was unusual for common people to enter the so-called interior of the shrine and perform poojas in a temple. But I strongly believed that there is some reason behind this dream. Everyday when I prayed by chanting various names of the Lord, I included this new name too and felt that some day I will have a dharshan of this Lord of my dream.

    Another day, I had been to a temple where I heard a chanting of around 108 shivas in different places. To the shock of me, I heard the same name of Shiva that I came across in my dream. I was really excited to know about the existence of the temple in my dream. I informed my dad about this and tried to listen the audio again to know the place details of that temple. Happily, I found the place and decided to visit there soon.

    Plans worked out well and I reached the temple with my dad. It was on a far village, less populated , so calm and peaceful. We spoke with the in-charge of the temple and listened to the history of the temple. They were following so many rules and rituals on that particular temple regarding the poojas. It was nearly the time for the Utchchi Kaal, the pooja to be held exactly at 12 noon. The Guru who has to perform the pooja suddenly experienced muscular cramps on his chest and sat stranded near one of the pillars. We do not know how to help him and there were no other people of the village nearby. Everyone were busy in their own works and the temple was actually isolated.

    The guru managed to speak out of his pain and asked me to perform the pooja by telling me to chant Sri Rudra. While we were conversing previously I had told him about the mantras and poojas I have learnt through books. So he asked me to perform pooja by chanting Rudra. He also ordered that the Utchchi Kaal pooja should never be given up at any cost as per the rules of the temple while he couldn’t rise up from his pain. Since I belonged to the Brahmin community and as I was aware about the mantras, I was permitted to perform the poojas. I was ordered to shower up milk, honey, curd, rose water, Holy Ash and many other things upon the Shiv Linga while chanting few mantras. I did as per his words. I wondered how my dream exactly came true as I was performing these poojas. I felt spiritually excited to the peak on that moment. As I completed my pooja, in few moments the Guru got well from his pain and spoke to us. He too exclaimed the fact that he had never experienced such pains before and started calling out the people from the village to explain this event. I felt greatly blessed on how Shiva made his play through the guru to make my dream true. I believed that my dream will come true and it happened. My faith on Shiva grew even more stronger and I shared my experience with everyone.

    I started realizing the fact that everything happens through his powers and there is nothing we could do to change them. SHIVA IS ALWAYS THE ULTIMATE POWER.

  • Incipience – Shiv I

    Incipience – Shiv I

    Running back some few years, when I was around 11 years old, I was just another little girl in the family. Though grown up so orthodox in nature, I was not fully developed in my faith towards GOD. Like other kids around, for me, and GOD was someone powerful, prayer brings him to us. That was all my great opinion on this subject.

    It was a different experience when I reached Sri Vaitheeswaran temple near Tanjore, Tamil nadu, with my family. After a span of around 10 years, we were heading to that temple, Shiva being main God there. I said my dad about the positions of various shrines and the location of the holy pond of that temple. I really wondered how I remembered so much about that temple which was exactly correct in detail. I had went there previously only when I was just an year old. I felt it really deep moving inside me and realised that there is really something that united me with this temple. All the time, I was thinking so much about my memory issue on this temple, experienced deep spiritual feel on worshipping every shrine. I was talking to Shiva, the so-called God, about why all these things were happening.

    Meanwhile, they told me that the God, Sri Vaitheeswaran is the most powerful one in curing all health issues. I thought to myself if Gods were so specific in their powers. They tied up some red colored string on my wrist and said that it would protect me from my illness.

    Days passed on and my thoughts about this relation with God faded from my mind. I was busy in enjoying my school life with friends and fun. Some day, I fell sick. It took some days for me to recover. My mom replaced the string in my hand with a new one. I thought about my experience at the temple again. I started observing the string in my hand and realized the fact that it changed its appearance, say its level of freshness depending upon my health. Some day, when the string looked up too weakened I became seriously affected with infection. Again it took a big leap to cure me while I started believing in the reality of the string in my wrist as well as the unmatched powers of Shiva who was driving me through all these. I started praying to Shiva when I felt that he would be my savior. I was astonished when I had an intuition that my life would end up when the string falls off from my wrist on its own. I took  more care and observed the string carefully in whatever work I engaged myself.

    Years passed soon and I was on my teens when I had another intuition that I should be on the temple again to save myself. Nobody believed my intuition and I was not taken to the temple. There occurred the accidental miracle of my life where I met with an accident within a week after my intuition. I was more scared when I found that the string was lost at the site of accident. I was hospitalized and my parents felt bad for not believing my intuition else of which I would not have met with an accident. Everyone’s prayers saved my life and I went to Sri Vaitheeswaran as soon as I was discharged. I got a new band on my wrist from the feet of Shiva at the temple.  This time my trust was on its peak and I believed the ultimate powers of Shiva. Thus, my faith on Shiva saved me from death and it was him who made all the plays to make me trust his powers.

    All the plays in our life is driven by GOD and there is really nothing that could change his plans of our life other than our own prayers.

  • Time to save

    Time to save

    In a world of increased pollution and several other crisis, it is just the time people need to realise and save our future.

     

     

    I wondered when are these people going to change. I regretted the fact how insane they are. I felt worried thinking of the Earth’s future. It is just another day my mind is fed up with all these thoughts. Every time I reach the wash area, I see someone wasting so much of water. Either they keep the tap running off while brushing, use more water for washing less number of clothes, or they use so much of water to clean the utensils and so on. I keep warning each one of them to save water. But no one lent ears to my words, rather I was looked up as a common enemy by everyone for I had been indulging in their freedom of using resources. I never worried about how they treated me and I always kept turning off others’ taps while they were wasting water. I felt scared of where all these are going to end up.

    I looked up on the world’s records regarding water issues. There existed so many nations, especially in the southern parts of Africa where people are suffering for pure water. There had been occurring water crisis in many parts. Although 70% of our Earth is made of water only 3% of it is pure and usable for our purposes, the rest are saline or salt water, in the sea. Of this 3%, much has depleted due to our usage, or polluted due to human activities. So the present level of available pure water for usage is much low. People have not realized this issue. Everyone thinks that its their rights to use water just because they pay money for it.

    You have rights to waste your money. But you have no rights to waste the society’s resources.

    At the bottom of my heart, I always wanted to find some solution to this problem. I decided to take a chance with the cultural program of the College. I made a survey regarding all these water issues all over the world and made a presentation regarding the same. I decided to hold up a felicitation on this issue at the Culturals event. The organizing committee reviewed my presentation and rejected it as they felt it would be boring at the happy evening. I felt fed up totally and said to myself that they were just one among those who waste resources. I strongly wanted to create an awareness on this issue. Thinking for a while, my mind caught up with my mobile. I scrolled out in it and then struck with the idea of using social media. I uploaded and shared my presentation with my friends through whatsapp and facebook. I felt atleast 10 out of 10000 people will realize on seeing this and started forwarding my presentation to the groups I were in. To my satisfaction I received good replies from everyone and had more number of shares.

    But this wasn’t my actual target. I wanted to end up this issue on water crisis which is expected to occur even in our nation in the near future. So I wasn’t fully satisfied. I was thinking over and over again. Then I felt, it is the children who could be changed easily. Also, they are the citizens of the future. So I decided to change the minds of the children and started travelling to the nearby schools in the evenings. I met a lot of enthusiastic kids who keenly observed what I spoke. Some understood what I tried to establish and some felt shocked about the future. I felt satisfied that atleast few of them will pass this on to their family so that wastage of water could be reduced to some extent.

    I continued my school visit when I went to my hometown. My ambition was not only to save water but also to establish a good awareness on depletion of various natural resources. I suggested on reducing wastage of electricity, reduced usage of plastics and the importance of cleanliness. The importance of separating degradable and non-biodegradable wastes should be well understood so that people handle the wastes in a proper way. This will help in reducing land pollution since accumulation of wastes is a major problem in our country.

    Also, the society should understand the hazards of industrial effluents so that a massive protest against the establishment of toxic industries could be started. People have not realized the level of pollution of land and water through industrial effluent. Through my talks, I established strong awareness and opinions in the young minds of children including those kids of the government officials related to the industrial development corporation. I felt that some of the dads may change their minds through the words of their cute daughters so that they don’t get into accepting bribes for granting permission for those hazardous industries of the town.

    The recent fact that an industry manufacturing poly vinyl chloride, a toxic substance that could pollute air and soil has been inaugurated in my town made me run through shivers. That year, I visualized the pollution and experienced lesser or absence of rainfall during the season truly because of that company. A thin film of polluted air was established in a radius of around 6 km around that industry and this prevented rainfall in these regions.

    When I enquired through the people who survived close to that industrial area, I was astonished with the fact that bribe was at its peak in the establishment of this industry. It was actually banned in other nations while the industrialists probably managed to start it here through the influence of money. Many great political leaders and higher officials have involved in this bribe event and everything has been moved legally for starting the company. Approvals were based on payments and the value of life and survival of the people in the city were not taken into consideration. I felt that there is no solution to this problem since it involved higher levels of corruption in the concerned authorities.

    As days passed by, my visits and speeches got spread through many parts of my hometown as well as around my college. I could sense the change in few people around me at the hostel. I felt a bit happy for the change yet there are so many people still ignoring the value of resources, especially on the wastage of those non- renewable resources. I wondered if there are any possibilities for changing all these people. Fate.. there was absolutely nothing that could be done on solving this issue.

    If the government decides to implement stern regulations for usage of resources simultaneously establishing terrible punishments by law, there may come a change. But it was actually a long way ahead. Even the higher officials and scientific dignitaries of the nation have not realized the seriousness of this issue and hence there is really no solution to this issue until the society decides to change.

    With a confidence built in myself that I could change atleast few people of the society I continued my journeys to several areas around. I wished that some day everyone starts saving resources before its too late.

     

  • Against all ODDS

    Against all ODDS

    The story may seem similar to their self for who have been a victim of the reservation that exist in several fields of our nation’s administration. 

     

    Great achievements are never easy. It takes a big deal to achieve things in life. Every fall in your life makes you rise. Understand the stepping stones towards success so that you reach higher than you ever were. Inspiration does not come from others. It works when you start comparing your past and present. Sweety was one of that kind. Passing through infinite number of struggles she stood at the position no one expected her to be. She is now the Chief Scientist at the Nation’s centre for Scientific Research and Development.

    It was before 10 years when Sweety completed her tenth grade of schooling in her small town. While everyone else joined higher grade in a popular school in the next town, she couldn’t even see that school due to her family situation. She decided to continue the remaining two years of schooling in her  town. She chose to study biology and mathematics as major subjects and worked to the best possible level. She scored 197/200 which her classmates who left to the best schools also did not secure. Everyone motivated her to join medicine so that she would become a good doctor and serve her town. She believed that it was really a good choice and dreamt of becoming a doctor soon.

    The day when she had been to the counselling for joining a medical college, there happened the twist she was not even aware of. She belonged to General category. The government had some reservations for other communities and just because she belonged to general, she could not get offer in a renowned Governmental medical institution. Other students who had secured less than her got offers through reservation. She had no other options for a government institution. Her parents could not afford to join her in a private institute. She felt the whole world before her break apart. Her dreams shattered in minutes.

    She felt broken not because she lost the medical seat but because she lost it due to her community while others who scored lesser than her got into medical colleges.

    It took some days for her to recover while she applied for Engineering admissions. She decided to chose for biology related engineering atleast she would not lose her passion for biology. Four years passed so soon while she learnt a lot in research and engineering. Rather, Caste and community followed her everywhere. She had cried a lot seeing her parents struggling for getting the loans from bank for her college fee. Others who had a good family background and came to college just for obtaining a degree, were offered a lot of scholarships. Sweety who scored first even at her college, was offered nothing because of her community. Passing through all these heartbreaking incidents, she was self motivated. She believed in her hardwork. For the next level of her education, she applied for the National Eligibility Test when she was again vexed up on seeing the exam fee. It was just doubled for General candidates compared to other reserved candidates. She felt why she couldn’t afford anything with her merits rather than her community. Anyways, she worked hard and scored the best for joining the position of a Junior Research Fellow at the Central institute. That’s how she started to grow.

    Even while joining as research fellow, her grants for stipend was comparatively low than people of other communities. She managed to get through them by earning in part-time jobs besides working perfectly on her project. Innovations became easy for her due to her immense knowledge on basics of biology which she had learned on self during schooling.

    Two years passed. She completed her project as soon as possible. It was an unexpected event when she got placed in administrative position in the same centre she had been doing her research. It was a reward for her wonderful team work and managing skills that she had exposed during her project. In two more years, she became the Chief Scientist in the same. This was the perfect growth, it was all because of her untired perseverance.

    Everytime when she worked hard and achieved great things, she lost best opportunities just because of this reservation. Yet, at last, she proved herself against all odds and reached the best position. She always thanked all the troubles she had come across that made her bold enough and strong. Her college life helped her improve her patience and tolerance so that she became a good leader later. The problems she faced during her work as a JRF helped her improve her research and problem solving skills.

    Moral:

    Difficulties always makes us stronger. Boldness will help to grow.