Warrier's Collage 11082020 : Chaturvarnyam

https://youtu.be/WeOFtq4iPeg Listen to Ishwar Puri "All questions come with answers" Let's go straight to Collage today. M G Warrier Warrier's Collage 11082020 : Chaturvarnyam A Interaction Vathsala Jayaraman " Today's (August 10) Collage was brimful. Shri Babusenan's Vararuchi had aromatic ruchi, a great lesson on caste system. That stigma could not be detatched even by real smartness, skill and wisdom. What a pity! Even a great scholar could not get himself extricated from his ego and caste web." B Lead Article : Janmashtami Special Understanding Krishna and Rama Vathsala Jayaraman on Krishna : Sri_Krishna_Shri Krsna with his flute, Cow & Calf. Though Shri Krishna's exact date of birth is still a matter of research and controversy, almost all people agree that it falls on Bhadrapada month( Adi-Avani) ,Krishna Paksha Ashtami mostly coinciding with Rohini. Krishna lived for nearly 125 years.Most of the period he fought against evil doers to protect the common folk On one hand Krishna is an embodiment of beauty, love and grace, on the other hand he is a personification of power, glory and magnificence.While we enjoy his childhood plays as Navaneeta chora,he inspires all the villagers by lifting the Govardhana hills by his little finger. He astonishes us by his brave killing of the asuras. Krishna as a cowherd proves himself as a friend of the lowly and downtrodden. By killing asuras and rakhasas and certain ruthless rulers, Krishna proved himself as the protector of the sadhus. Krishna's intelligence is revealed on all the occasions from fixing the date of Mahabharata war, to the tricks played by Krishna during the Mahabharata War resulting in the death of Drona, Karna and others. ( though some of his deeds are commented as extremely atrocious, they form part and parcel of administrative intelligence) Establishing the great city of Dwaraka miles away, speaks volumes of his political genius. Krishna loves peace. But when war is inevitable, he preaches that a kshatriya is duty bound to fight for righteousness. It is something like saying 'If you see corruption,and yet do not strive against, it amounts to dereliction of duty.' While many people see the messages of Gita as a cult of Bhakti,Mahatma Gandhi, Aurobindo and Tilak see the emphasis on Karma Yoga. For Swami Vivekananda Gita is a message of manliness or bravery. We find from works of Vivekananda that he encouraged young men to worship Shri Parthasarathi and not the Krishna of Brindavan, whose prema-Dharma concept is very often misunderstood. Patriots of pre independent India were greatly influenced by Krishna's manliness, prowess and heroism. Krishna preaches a pattern of socialism when he says in Gita" whoever cooks food for himself alone, commits a sin." No wonder Krishna's life is a message. He has been a source of inspiration not only to holy men and women but also to patriots and philanthropists,social and religious reformers, political leaders and above all to common people,rich and the poor alike. Even the wisest,purest and the most selfless heroes, Bhishma,at his last breath addresses Shri Krishna as the ETERNAL SUPREME. Why not we? Jay Shri Krishna!" C V Subbaraman adds : Krishna and Rama ITIHAASA means history: ITI aasa; Thus was it. So, not only Ramaayanam and Mahaabhaaratham are itihaasams but various other events mentioned in the scriptures. Why is Krishna special? Raama was an ideal person, a model to be followed by kings and and the subjects too. There is probably no specific advice Raama has given to people in general to follow. But Krishna has been a good teacher from his childhood. He showed the people how life has to be lived, what life means, and how one has to fight evil. By lifting the Govardhana Hill to save the lives of people and the cattle from the fury of non stop showers unleashed by Indra, Indra was also taught a lesson by HIM. In the process, He also told the people that Nature has to be respected for all the benefits provided by Nature for the welfare of people and animals and birds. He also sent strong messages to Kamsa, Shishupaala, Duryodhana and Drtaraashtra. His actions in some situations might be questioned by the superficial critics, but they will find how deeply meaningful and practical were the actions. Krishna was a practical person: For Him protecting Dharma was an important mission: Dharma Samsthhaapanaarthhaaya Sambhavaami yuge yuge. In this mission, even one has to take some uncharitable steps, they would be justified. His interventions by giving advice for quelling Bhishma, Drona, and Karna as also Duryodhana are the cases in point, because He was certain that all these brave men had espoused Un-dhaarmic causes. He did not mind getting cursed for this! He is therefore regarded rightly as the Jagatguru. Raama is not described as Jagatguru. Raama is only an Aadarsha purusha. We therefore need a combination of both Raama and Krishna in leading our lives. Hence Jai Shri Raam and Jai Shri Krishna. Subbaraman" Comments by V T Panchapagesan : Godliness in action " How I look at it is this..Ithihas means it happened... Those who wrote, was seeing & witnessing...Valmiki, Vyasa. Life of Rama can be followed while Krishna is not Due to his miracles..in action.. Ayanam means Path. Hence we can follow the path of Rama. Ramayanam and not Krishnayanam.. Krishna is Godliness in action. Form and Formless in form. Be Well, V. T. Panchapagesan" (This is consistent with what was shown to mother Yashoda in His mouth when caught for eating soil and what was shown to Arjuna after providing "Divyachakshu"-Warrier) C Books : Malayalam Poetry Edasserykkavithakal http://www.tbsbook.com/product/%E0%B4%87%E0%B4%9F%E0%B4%B6%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%B6%E0%B5%87%E0%B4%B0%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%95%E0%B4%B5%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%BE-%E0%B4%B8%E0%B4%AE%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%AA%E0%B5%82%E0%B5%BC/ If the link doesn't open this is about the collection of all works by renowned Malayalam Poet Edassery Govindan Nair now published in 4 volumes (Cover Price 1200 Discounted Price ₹600). The poet's son Edassery Madhavan, Ex-RBI has settled in Thrissur. Collage wishes the publication all success. D Readers Write 1) Gotra concept E T Rajendran The article on ‘Pursuit of knowledge’ in Collage (Warrier sViews blog, Times of India) prompted me to write this on lineage referred there in. As we know, Sreekrishna said in Bhagavat Gita : Chaturvarnyam maya srishtam, based on one’s inner qualities and outer activities. He further said : What matters is one’s own aptitude and nature, shaped by three Gunas, not in which group one is born. Can we have such categorisation today? Definitely not. How our caste system, with so many number of castes and sub-castes, was evolved over a period of time? Is it in any way indirectly based on Sree Krishna’s vakyam? Sometimes we find caste categorisation based on the type of work one is engaged in. In the words of Sree Narayana Gurudevan, the spiritual Guru, all the religions were created by man. That should be the case with caste system also. As rightly mentioned in the article, what we know about our caste is what is recorded in our school leaving certificates. So let one internally decide which group he/she belongs to, in the categorisation of Sree Krishna. Of course, everybody knows, this will not have any societal acceptance. So we are bound to follow what we have been made to understand by our parents and the custom/practice we have been taught to abide by. In one of the spiritual discourses, one Acharya said, we all belong to the Bharathiya Rishi Parampara, with Manu - Shatharupi as the oldest grand parents, but we cannot trace the lineage except one or two or may be three generations prior to the present. So we all belong to one religion and that of mankind. Depending on our initiation and upbringing we take recourse to religious scriptures. In my childhood, I did not have exposure to any scriptures, not even semblance of knowledge, except Bhakti Grandhas like Adhyathma Ramayanam by Ezhuthachan, Krishna Gatha by Cherussery and Devi Mahatmyam sthrothram, that too very superficially. Bhagavat Gita and Srimad Bhagavatham came to my sight much much later. One main reason for lack of awareness about scriptures, at least in the region which I belong to, is the ignorance of Sanskrit language. Very few schools/colleges offered learning this veda bhasha as a part of curriculum . There were very few transcripts available then unlike the present days. Now coming back to prevailing caste system, in Tamil Nadu, when one does offerings to a deity in a temple, apart from the birth star the Pujari will ask what is the Gothram of the devotee who does the offering? When asked to me, I only blinked because I did not know and I have never been told about it. To my knowledge, my ancestral family is not identified with any Gothram. All look very obscure! I think, other religions have also different groups/sub-groups like we have in Hinduism. The purpose of life, Acharyas say, should be to attain Moksha (realisation of God)in this life here, by deep Sadhanas, and not something to be attained after death. This again seems to be attainable only by very few. Then what is possible is to lead a Sathvik life through spiritual/dharmic path, whichever scriptures one may follow. Sounds too philosophical! Surely, there are erudite persons in this group to throw more light on this. 2) V Babusenan Continued from previous day (Vararuchi)... Pakkanaar, the second among the twelve children born to the Parayi wife of Vararuchi, lived a very normal life of a Paraya making and selling baskets with bamboo reeds, though bestowed with divine qualities. He was respected equally by those belonging to the upper and lower classes. One day, while Pakkanaar and his wife ,were sitting by the wayside making baskets, a group of Brahmins came that way. They hailed Pakkanaar and said that they were going on a pilgrimage. They invited him to join them. Pakkanaar politely declined on health grounds but made a request : Would they accept the bottle gourd (chorakka ) in his wife's basket as his representative, dip it in every holy pond where they take a dip and bring it back safely to him? They readily agreed though amused by this rather strange request. The pilgrims duly came back after the pilgrimage and handed over the bottle gourd back to Pakkanaar. To his query they confirmed that it was dipped in all the sacred temple ponds where they bathed. His elder brother Agnihotri was giving a feast in honour of these pilgrims. He handed over the bottle gourd to Agnihotri's wife with instructions to put it in every curry. She obeyed. It was a very bitter bottle gourd and every curry tasted bitter. The Sadya was totally spoiled and the Brahmins were furious. Enquiries revealed that the bottle gourd was the culprit. The Brahmins went to Pakkanaar : "Why did you do this to us?" They asked, "Didn't you know that it was bitter?" "Yes, I knew", replied Pakkanaar, "But it was before you dipped it in the temple ponds." "What nonsense you say, Pakkanaar?" They responded angrily : "Will that remove the bitterness of the gourd?" "That was what I wanted you to know" E Chaturvarnyam and Gotras 1) Chaturvarnyam https://asitis.com/4/13.html Stanza 4.13 of Bhagavad-Gita explained. 2) Gotras https://www.news18.com/news/india/what-does-the-law-vedas-and-legend-say-about-gotra-news18-explains-1953937.html Courts and Media did some research to understand the significance of the Gotras in the context of a celebrity controversy during the last decade. This article gives some interesting information. 3) Varna and Caste https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/manusmriti-and-cast-system This article introduces us to the purport of assertions in Manu Smrithi written at a time the concept of religion itself was not in vogue. The differentiation between Varna and Caste is interesting. 4) Manu Smrithi : One View https://www.dailyo.in/lite/lifestyle/hindus-manu-dharmashastra-manusmriti-vedas-devdutt-pattanaik-mythology/story/1/15412.html There are diverse interpretations of Manu Smrithi. This is one view. F Leisure Absent-minded Professor* (1) Albert Einstein's wife often suggested that he dress more professionally when he headed off to work. "Why should I?" he would invariably argue. "Everyone knows me there." When the time came for Einstein to attend his first major conference, she begged him to dress up a bit. "Why should I?" said Einstein. "No one knows me there!" (3)Albert Einstein was often asked to explain the general theory of relativity. "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour," he once declared. "Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity!" (4)When Albert Einstein was working in Princeton university, one day he was going back home he forgot his home address. The driver of the cab did not recognize him. Einstein asked the driver if he knows Einstein's home. The driver said "Who does not know Einstein's address? Everyone in Princeton knows.Do you want to meet him?. Einstein replied "I am Einstein. I forgot my home address, can you take me there? "The driver reached him to his home and did not even collect his fare from him. (5)Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn't find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn't there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn't find it. Then he looked in the seat beside him. He still couldn't find it. The conductor said, 'Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I'm sure you bought a ticket. Don't worry about it.' Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car, he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket. The conductor rushed back and said, 'Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don't worry, I know who you are. No problem. You don't need a ticket. I'm sure you bought one.' Einstein looked at him and said, 'Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don't know is where I'm going.' 6) When Einstein met Charlie Chaplin: Einstein said, *"What I admire most about your art, is its universality. You do not say a word, and yet ... the world understands you."* “It's true,” replied Charlie Chaplin, *"But your fame is even greater: The world admires you, when nobody understands you.".* *Forwarded by Dr T V Surendran. Nice & refreshing are good old memories