Life is a journey in Chi - "சி"யின் பயணம் வாழ்வடா!!

This attempt emerged when i was talking to my Karate / Tai Chi Master Mr. Devarajan who used always talk about how Tai Chi phonetically could have had a tamil origin. The fact that martial arts in China was a direct export from ancient Tamilnadu is already established and there could be a possibility that Tai Chi as an art and word is also derived from Tamilnadu. Let me explain this.

Tai Chi (considered as the most superior form of martial arts) written in tamil is தாய் சி which means is mother "chi" and can be interpreted as mother of all "Chi"s. Chi in chinese is the prana's counterpart in sanskrit and means the energy. So Tai Chi is the art of nurturing the mother of all energies. May be we should change the spelling of energy to enerchi :)

It is difficult to miss that Chi-na is called so because it is a land where Chi energy is nurtured or available in abundance. He used to tell that a pregnant lady in Tamil is called as "பிள்ளை தாய்ச்சி", and this means பிள்ளை and தாய் is united by the சி.

"சி" is a very important word or mantra for siddhars. In "நமசிவய" (namasivaya), சி is the center word and is also termed as நாயோட்டு மந்திரம். It is told that the most secret word for them is "சி" and this is how you push a dog away. If you read the buddhist teachings / tantrics and the siddhar teachings/ tantras you may not find too much difference. Hence irrespective of whether Bodhidharma was a buddhist and a siddhar the origin of Tai Chi could have very well been from tamilnadu.

So in short Chi (சி) is an important word in tamil and today my master was reminding me  about the whole human life cycle can be captured with words ending in Chi (சி) and listed most of the words below. I just scribbled this poetry from those words and hope you would enjoy this.

I have used words ending with சி to define every stage of life and ending with cycle of life. I have coined a word called நகை மாட்சி (meaning laughter reign) which i have not read anywhere so far. This comes close to பகை மாட்சி, படை மாட்சி both available in Thirukural. For a guy like who is interested in Sidhars, martial arts, Indian / Buddhist philosophies, tamil and traditional arts this topic was a perfect intersection of all. I have concluded that Life is a journey in Chi and also journey of Chi is life :).

புணர்ச்சியில் கலந்ததுவாய்

பிள்ளைதாய்ச்சியில் கருஉருவாய்  

மலர்ச்சி பெற்று மழலையாய் 

வளர்ச்சி பெற்று குழந்தையாய்  

பயிற்சி பயின்ற பாலனாய் 

உணர்ச்சி கண்ட காளையாய்

சுழற்சி செய்யும் இவ்வண்டத்தில் 

முயற்சி செய்து மாமன்றத்தில் 

மருட்சியில்லா மனதுடன் 

எழுச்சி கொண்ட எருதுபோல் 

புரட்சி செய்ய புறப்படும் 

முதிர்ச்சி பெற்ற மனிதனே! 

புகழ்ச்சி வந்து போய்விடும் 

இகழ்ச்சி வந்து போய்விடும் 

எழுச்சி வீழ்ச்சி இரண்டுமே 

வாழ்வில் மாறியே வந்திடும் 

திரட்சி பெற்ற தேகமும் 

வறட்சி காண நேரிடும்

மனத்தளர்ச்சி இன்றியே 

மகிழ்ச்சியோடு வாழடா!

கச்சைக்கட்டும் மாந்தரை

தாயை போல எண்ணியே  

மனசாட்சி மாறும் மடயரை 

மிகதுச்சமாக தள்ளியே 

உணர்ச்சிகளில் ஊன்றியே 

மனக்கிளர்ச்சிக்களை கட்டியே

நல்லுணர்வுகளை தீட்டியே

நகைமாட்சியோடு வாழடா ! 

உண்மைக்காட்சி காணவே 

அருளின் மாட்சி பேணவே 

அந்த ஈசன் ஆட்சி நீளவே 

உயர் பெயர்ச்சிக்காக வாழடா! 

புணர்ச்சி கொண்டு வந்திடும் 

வளர்ச்சி பெற்று மாறிடும் 

யாவும் இறைச்சியாக போகுமே 

மீண்டும் புணர்ச்சி கொண்டு மீளுமே!

"சி"யில் வாழ்க்கை தொடங்குமே 

"சி"யில் வாழ்க்கை தொடருமே 

"சி"யில் வாழ்க்கை முடியுமே 

"சி"யில் பயணம் வாழ்வடா!!

அந்த 

"சி"யின் பயணம் வாழ்வடா!! 

"சி"யில் வாழ்க்கை தொடங்குமே 

"சி"யில் வாழ்க்கை தொடருமே 

"சி"யில் வாழ்க்கை முடியுமே 

"சி"யில் பயணம் வாழ்வடா!!

அந்த 

"சி"யின் பயணம் வாழ்வடா!! 

Happy reading!

(happynhandsome@gmail.com) 

Survival of the fittest - Sanskrit sayings

Be it an English naturalist Charles Darwin who professed about the branching pattern of evolution based on natural selection "On the origin of Species" or the polymath philosopher Herbert Spencer of the same era who drew an economic parallel to the Darwinian biological evolution terming it as "survival of the fittest", there have been lot of debates over the "Creation Vs Evolution" theories since long. The theory that the strong will overcome the weak and the might shall always be on the right side of evolution has been widely accepted.

You may have read my blog which argues that most evolved things in nature are weak  and I urging you to Hail the frailty here 

http://ragsgopalan.blogspot.com/2010/11/musings-hail-frailty.html

But i was reading some nice Sanskrit sayings and few of them arguing in favor of the Social Darwinism and wanted to share them with you.

वनानी दहतो वन्हे: सखा भवति मारुतः!
स एव दीपनाशाय कृशे कस्यास्ति सौहृदम !!
Translitt. 
Vanaani Dahato vanhe Saka BHavati Marutaha
sa eva deepana saaya Krshe kasyaasti sahrdam 

The meaning is when it catches fire in the forest, wind is there to assist it (sakha bhavati marutah). But the same wind destroys a lamp. (sa eva deep nashayay). 


The nature in the form of wind would be a friend to a fire that is strong but would extinguish the same fire when it is weak. So if one doesn't have power/wealth, he doesn't have friends (krshe kasyaasti sahrdam ). 


Now I am tempted to quote Poet Bharati here who said,  
அக்னி  குஞ்சொன்று  கண்டேன்  - அதை  
ஆங்கொரு காட்டிலோர்  பொந்திடை  வைத்தேன் 
வெந்து  தணிந்தது  காடு  - தழல் 
வீரத்தில்  குஞ்சென்றும்  மூப்பென்றும்  உண்டோ !!
Translitt. 
agni kunjondru kandaen - adhai 
angoru kaatilor ponthidai vaithaen
vendhu thanindhathu kaadu - thazal
veerathil kunjendrum moopendrum undo!!


He found a spark of fire and kept that in a tree in forest. The whole forest got burned down. Is there a difference between a spark (small) and big fire? So here we see that there are some things where its quality is the same irrespective of its size.


Now lets look at one more saying that bolsters the argument for Social Darwinism. 


अश्वं नैव गजं नैव व्याघ्रं नैव च नैव च !
अजापुत्रं बालिं दह्वात देवो दुर्बलघातका :!!


It not the horse (Ashwam), its not the elephant (Gajam) and its never the tiger (VyaGhram). No, Not at all!! Only the baby goat (AjaaPutram) is sacrificed during any ritual. And the conclusion is that even God does not protect the weak!!

In the same measure, I have also come across another saying that defines a powerful person. Its not about just physical power or authoritative power or money but a person with enthusiasm is a powerful person. There is nothing as powerful as enthusiasm.

उत्साहो बलवानार्य नास्त्युत साहात परम बलम!!
Translitt. 
Utsaaho balavaanaarya nastyutsaahat param balam!

Now if we try to reconcile both the arguments - on the one hand the most evolved things in nature are frail in nature and on the other hand that the nature through its social behavior would eliminate the weak and helps the strong, then are we not left with contradictions?


I agree that this is not as complicated as we sometimes encounter "Headache - But nothing" situations from our wife / girlfriend. :) But, I still don't have an answer to solve this contradiction but would certainly say that the non-dual yet bipolar quality of nature seems to balance all such contradictions very finely and it seems that this dynamic interplay would appear to vanish as we evolve in our mental plane. Or so they say.


Lets just wish that we evolve ourselves to see the truth above such apparent contradictions.  


Yours enthusiastically
Happy reading!
(happynhandsome@gmail.com)

The nicest and safest place in the world!

What is the safest place on earth? This was the question i was mulling as i saw pictures of Muammar Gaddafi being dragged out of a sewage pipe and given the treatment that isn't different from the ones meted out by him to most of his opponents for the last 4 decades.

With due respects to the departed soul, i was giving myself a dry smile at his very "karmic"ally apt last words 'Don't shoot me". Do you need any more proof that "Time is great leveler"?

I would not disgaree if you call him "mad dog from the middle east" with a nauseating sense of dressing, usurping power with a single tool called "merciless elimination of dissent" and who ruled with an iron hand on the foundation of nature's oil reserves. But my memory of Gaddafi from my college days were firmly rooted in adulthood jealousy when i read about his female virgin body guards :). His quotes like, 

"Were it not for electricity we would have to watch TV in the dark" 

"A woman has the right to run for elections whether she is male or female"

were quite revealing and inspiring in making me realize that nature isn't entirely logical and it can endow power and wealth to absolute merciless morons like Gaddafi. Then nature started revealing more such morons exist in the world like Dubya Bush and i think i am quickly reaching a stage where nature is suggesting that vast majority of our world leaders are rooted in ignorance, idiotic and dogma driven without any trace of logic and rationality in their genes.

The Gaddafi's clips on screen led me to recollect the images of Saddam Hussein being pulled out of a underground pit and hanged but the ending was a shade more gracious than his African counterpart.  

News of Jaya being questioned in Bangalore was also noticed by me on the day. A trial for 66cr, has been going on for the last 15 years and with more than 1500 policemen deployed for 2 days and the cost of just these 2 days should be more than 25 lacs to the state. I am sure by now the overall cost of trial is more than the tax from the wealth that could have been realized. 

Irrespective of country, creed, religion, and nationality, corruption has attained the qualities of god - Omnipresent and Omnipotent. With most of our leaders being mentally corrupt usurping power and wealth without any limits, but all the accumulated power and wealth does not provide the safety and protection when the time is not on their side. 

Chanakya in his "Chanakya sutra" says "Stinking riches are not possible without evil" 

(नास्त्यपिशाचमैश्वर्यम् । - nāsti apishācham aishvaryam)

So coming back to the question i started this blog with, what provides safety against the vagaries of time and life? This is not just for our leaders but for all of us in general. If enormous Power and wealth does not seem to provide that safety consistently, then what provides this safety.

Then i read this old email accidentally which said, the most valuable places to be,

"The nicest place in the world to be is in someone's benign thoughts

The safest place in the world to be is in someone's prayers"

Be it Saddam or Gaddafi or Bush or most of our leaders neither existed in benign thoughts nor in people's prayers. I understand that there cannot be a sweeping generalization and the argument that a person can never exist in everyone's prayers.

So, the next question i have, "Is there a easy way to be present in everyone's prayers that gives us an affordable ticket and visa to be on the safest place?'.     

I don't know the answer to this question but thinking logically about the “Law of reciprocity of nature” or you call it “Law of Karma” which states that "As you sow, thou shall reap", then the easiest way to be in the safest place / in everyone's prayers is to have "everyone in our prayers". So the trick seems to be,

For a healthy life, pray health for all, 

For a wealthy life, pray wealth for all

For a prosperous life, pray prosperity for all

For a safe life, pray safety for all

For a peaceful life, pray peace to all,

To be in everyone's benign thoughts, be benign to all

To be in everyone's prayers, pray for all!

2 aspects of this concept is concisely captured as under:

• தீதும் நன்றும் பிறன் தர வாரா - Theedhum Nandrum piran thara varaa (Translitt) (In Tamil it means Good and bad things to you does not come because of any one else but because of your thoughts and deeds only.)
• Shreyo-bhooyat-sakala-Janaanam (In Sanskrit, it means may the whole humanity be blessed with excellence).

From time immemorial nature has been teaching us the same lesson with many characters Ravans, Kamsas, Hitlers, Gaddafis, Saddams et al, and that does not seem to register with us. Guess, we shall continue to do what we would and nature would continue to teach us what it should!..

I am signing off wishing you and your family a very happy Diwali. 

May the festival of light help us lit the light within.

Happy reading!

Independence Day - More hopeful than happy?

As our corruption friendly Dr. Singh (irony - you cannot call him corrupt yet) would unfurl our national flag and deliver the speech today for the 8th time, everyone is wondering what the speech would contain specifically in terms of corruption management.

Though contentious I maintain that this time our Independence day gives me more hope than happiness. It's not "scam a day" that has been breaking was a dampener but the way we reacted for the last 3 years and how we are trying hard and misgovern ourselves to the brink.

Some thoughts on this issue are as follows:

1. UPA tends to boast that the growth for the last few years has been closer 9% and the highest ever by any government.

I agree but just wanted to highlight this fact that growth is given in India as a factor of life during this period. Let's instal president's rule for 5 years and see what's the growth. We would still have a growth % closer to this sans the stupid political issues. This is agood smoke screen to hide behind. 

2. Lok Pal bill and Anna's campaign is unconstitutional.

Experts say that the Indian constitution has been changed / fine tuned many times over. (Heard it is 150+ times since independence) When the Kashmiri interlocutors can suggest that Indian constitution should be changed to solve Kashmiri issue, which is tacitly accepted by this government, why can't this be changed for the better.... For addressing the corruption issue.

3. Anna's movement is undemocratic.

Not sure what else could be called democratic. When people assemble for the protests leaving back their daily business (in many case their livelihood for the day), when people gather without any daily incentive for attending meetings (very unlike political meetings), when people fast for many days without any compulsion, when people brave bad weather and risk of injury during gatherings. When they come around with their families to protest, when things are completely ground up... It's participative democracy and nothing else.

4. Lok pal bill alone cannot stop corruption.

Among the reasons this seems to be most valid. Agreed that this is not the sufficient condition but a very necessary condition which is hidden in that statement. If an ineffective law is not be enacted then how will we know that the law is ineffective even before implementing. Also if currently ineffective laws have to be repealed then tell me which of our laws would stand the test in India today. Take the simplest of the laws ~ traffic laws. One of the most ineffective laws can this be repealed? Unfortunately our media also does not want to ask difficult questions about the key people at high levels who are behind corruption. We are in a media frenzy where the energy is spent on catching  low hanging fruits like Raja and Kalmadi.

5. This government talks about programs like NREGA where close to 70000 cr are being spent.

Many studies have been conducted that out of every one rupee spent by government only 5 to 15 paise or even less reaches the poor. Even I assume it's 15% only should we appreciate the government for a 10000 cr effective program or a charge them with a 60000 cr loot.

6. Fiscal deficit, growth and inflation.

Our debt to GDP ratio is over 70% which is as close as some of the developed economies which are considered broke or almost broke now. Despite this, most of our eminent economists are saying that we can afford this fiscal situation because we are growing at 8%+. The fact which i wanted to highlight based on this growth argument is Greece. Greece was the fastest growing economy last decade in Europe but is financially broke now. Few economists from Greece should have also thought that the fiscal situation is OK as long as there is growth like we do now. But growth can reverse in a small period of time not leaving enough time to repay our debts. Here i see we are blindly walking down that path and would be one of the economies in the near future where we invite another 1991 situation upon us. 

I think we need to overcome 3 barriers....

1. Priority barrier:

I believe we have got our priority wrong. The order of priority should be:

a. Governance reforms (not on policy and investment reforms as popularly understood). This includes judicial reforms, political criminal nexus mitigation and obviously an independent authority for oversight. If the last one is about Lok Pal then it is independent Lok Pal. Please note that our growth %s did not increase till we had an independent election authority - this is a factor not highlighted enough. 

b. Security reforms - Be it Maoist, terrorist, naxalites or a petty thief - we need a sense of security. Today this does not exist and there are too many areas to tie up here.

c. Third comes investment reforms. Putting this ahead of the other two is not only inefficient but also self serving for those who benefit from bad governance.

2. The conflict of the interest barrier

Conflict of interest between people who create governance reforms and the ones who benefit from misgovernment is very strong and obviously the fruits of  bad governance are sweet for them, keeps them going in their political life and more importantly the deterrents are not very strong.

3. Lack of will as a barrier

If there is a strong will then there is a way. But its lack of will that creates an impasse on the bill. Our governments response seems to be on a familiar line "Ignore - Denial - Discredit - Delay - Disrupt - Be forced - Try to take credit for the outcome". I wish they change the strategy - be less defensive and develop the will. Some say that this is the first barrier to be broken.

With these mixed emotions I am not happy today for what we are today considering where we could have been. Yet I am very hopeful of our country and our future not because that our political parties can get their act right but as a country we have seen many ups and downs and have a past of coming out of successfully. This time the issues are created by ourselves not by someone from outside and i am hopeful of the past repeating itself.

I wanted to list 2 of the Thirukural that is very apt for the day:

வேலன்று வென்றி தருவது மன்னவன் 

கோல தூ உங் கோடா தெனின்.

This essentially means that king's armor (can be added as military or police might) cannot help him endure success to his might but only because of his lawful reign. We are seeing this happening in many places across the world that when people rise because of dissolution against the monarch none of the forces can stop them.

அல்லற்பட்டு ஆற்றாது அழுத கண்ணீரன்றே
செல்வத்தை தேய்க்கும் படை.

The tears of the citizens of the country enduring woes (because of  bad governance) shall wear / file away that reins prosperity and influence. This means that the army of tears is stronger than  anything else. 

So here i am wishing all a very hopeful Independence day and a happier future.


Yours hopefully!

Musings on fear: Lets stop stringing and start playing !

While we call claim to be unique and special in our own ways, we are all the same in our pursuit for happiness. One key factor that always stands between us and our "Happiness" is fear. 

Fear!....a primordial and congenial emotion that can be associated with a whole lot of adjectives like Omnipresent, Omnipresence, Contagious, difficult, parasitic, stressful etc... This is the most important factor which virtually exists between the worlds of possibilities and probabilities, keeps us alive and shapes the individual and society. The fear of uncertainty, change, future, death, failure etc... it comes in 1000s of flavors, hues and tints, despite being absolutely virtual, and non-existent our entire life and the world operates and is centered around the this factor. 

I came across couple of super duper articles on the same and i thought i would share it here! .. 

First this beautiful Shloka probably from Bhagavatham, which explains how EVERYTHING in life is laden with fear.

" bhoge roga-bhayaṁ, 

kule cyuti-bhayaṁ, 

vitte nṛpālāt bhayaṁ, 

māne dainyabhayaṁ,

bale ripu-bhayaṁ, 

rūpe jarāyā bhayam, 

śāstre vādi-bhayaṁ, 

guṇe khala-bhayaṁ, 

kāye kṛtāntāt bhayam. 

nṛṇāṁ bhuvi sarvaṁ 

vastu bhayānvitam.

vairāgyaṁ eva abhayam."

The meaning of this Shloka is as follows:

"In enjoyment, there is fear of disease; in family reputation, there is fear of falling; 

in wealth there is fear of kings (of getting taxed); in prestige/pride there is fear of losing; 

in power, there is fear of enemy or adversary; in beauty, there is fear of old age; 

in scriptural erudition, there is fear of learned opponents; (of defeat)

in virtue, there is fear of wicked vilifying person; in body, there is fear of death. 

For human beings, everything in this world is coupled/associated with fear. 

Vairāgya (dispassion towards worldly enjoyments) alone bestows fearlessness." 

To my understanding, as per Vedic scriptures, the concept of fear is rooted in 2 things, Attachment and Ignorance. As one wise man said "Fear is the lengthened shadow of Ignorance".

Almost all the scriptures talks about Jnana Yoga (which is path of knowledge) to dispel ignorance and Karma Yoga to be involved in worldly activities and still perform it without any attachment. It is also called as "Nishkamya Karma", do your duty without worrying about the fruits.

Now there is a beautiful Thirukural which highlights that there is no pain from anything from which a man is detached.  The beauty of this Kural is that when you read it, your lips shall not touch each other. A poet highlighting detachment ensures that even our lips don't touch each other.

"யாதனின் யாதனின் நீங்கியான் நோதல் அதனின் அதனின் இலன்"

"yAthanin yAthanin nIngiyAn nOthal athanin athanin ilan" (Transliteration)

(Meaning) From what from what a man is free (of attachment), from that, his pains flee.

At one level Bhakti Yoga which asks you to dedicate everything to the supreme being and be attached to him, changes its tack (at the philosophical level) that the attachment to god also has to be snapped.  Very aptly highlighted in the following Thirukural which highlights that the love we have for a personal god is also an attachment but this is only to get detached from the worldly material life.

"பற்றுக பற்றற்றான் பற்றினை; அப்பற்றைப் பற்றுக பற்று விடற்கு."
"Pattruga patratraan pattrinai; appatrai pattruga pattru vidarkku." (Transliteration)

(Meaning) Attach yourself to Him who has conquered all attachments, bind yourself firmly to Him so that your bonds may be broken.

Now the beauty in the above Kural which talks about attachment is, the lips touch each other for every word. This is literary masterpiece and can be appreciated by people who know Tamil.

The important point i want to highlight is that in one way of interpretation, in Hinduism the highest point is actually knowledge (truth / Satyam)  and desire-less state of detachment is a path / catalyst to it instead of a personal god with a carrot and stick.

The other article I liked about fear is here...

"A woman who took her debauched son to meet Buddha. On seeing the youth, Buddha told him that he had just one more day to live. The youngster was shocked, but knew there was little that he could do about Buddha’s prediction. Having realized that time was so short, he clung to his mother’s sari, and broke down. He wanted to meet all his family members, friends and neighbors before the end came. With six hours left for his death, he found himself lying on a cot, distraught and disillusioned.

When just three hours were left, Buddha paid him a visit. The youth did not wish to speak to Buddha, but the latter smiled at him and inquired if in the last 24 hours he had lied or cheated. The youth replied in the negative. Buddha then asked him if he had stolen from or hurt anybody. The youth got irritated and replied that how could he possibly think of doing such things when all he was thinking of was death.

Buddha gently patted his head and said: “Son, I don’t know who has to die and who has to live, but understanding the ultimate truth can be very enlightening. While you became aware of death only in the last 24 hours, I have been aware of it for the last 24 years.”

Fear of death stems from our fear of seeing it all end, losing our possessions and being catapulted into endless darkness. Most people find it difficult to come to terms with their mortality; they prefer to believe that there is life even after death. But those who are in constant touch with their inner spirit seldom fear the inevitable. They believe in neither heaven nor hell; they also don’t believe in the theory of incarnation.

Our stipulated lifespan is a mere ‘blip’ in this ostensibly vast eternity spanning billions of years. We must therefore learn to value each day of our life and savor it, moment by moment."

All those who believe in hoarding their energy and resources for the future to mitigate one fear or the other could take a cue from the insatiable musician who eventually rued: “I spent so much time in stringing my instruments that there was no time left for me to perform...”

Being firmly rooted in the adobe of fearfulness, we are all stringing the instruments without playing it. I don't know how but may we be less possessive and rise up to the realm of fearlessness and freedom.

Lets stop stringing and start playing!...

Yours fearfully,

Happy reading!...