Warrier's Collage May 19, 2021

Welcome to Warrier's COLLAGE On Wednesday MAY 19, 2021 Prayer Pranamya Shirasa Devam... https://youtu.be/vEuV3U3BFfQ Meaning: https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/my-guru-mantrasankat-nashan-ganesh-stotram/m-lite (Links Selected by: M G Warrier) Good Morning Exclusive Website for Warrier's Collage @ www.warriersblog.com with daily pageviews 500 plus. Collage postponed the holiday scheduled for today due to various compulsions. Nice Day M G Warrier A Interaction 1) Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai Today's (May 18) Collage was a beautiful admixture of so many wonderful combinations, a Kadamba Mala of flowers of distinct and varied fragrance beautifully strewn* by Shri Warrier. The topics varied from Kanglish miltry hotels, dishes served thereon to the discussion on the impact of food on character strengthened by psychological research: Thoughtful conversation between God and a dead man culminating in shoonya: Constructive suggestions to face loneliness, an unavoidable part of our lives; happy farewell to the birds that fly in air, emerging technologies in banking in pandemic crisis; a thorough analysis of pains and sufferings; analysis of 'cholee ke peeche,' song and the thoughtful conclusion by Shri Warrier. Shri Kelkar's wonderful take on Gita, views on noisy TV presentations, Shri Nallasivan's article on MGR's presence of mind and a commentary on patram, pushpam, phalam, thoyam. Today's Collage is a composite guide offering variety entertainment programme from psychology to spirituality, commerce to banking and politics, cine songs to restaurants, all in one. (*Collecting flowers and making "Mala" is the traditional occupation of 'Variyar'** community in Kerala. Thanks for the encouraging words 🙏-Warrier) **About the Warrier surname: Warrier (Varier/Variyar/Wariar) is a South Indian, Hindu community from Kerala, India. They are engaged to assist the Namboodiri priests in temple-related chores, primarily catering to the floral requirement & are well known Sanskrit scholars. Despite the ambiguity in spelling (Modern variations include Warrior), the community is considered to be a close-knit one. Largely due to the nature of its duties, community members were educated and professed the occupations connected with knowledge - like medicine, education and the sciences. (Many Thanks for the excellent summary and encouraging words. 🙏-Warrier) 2) V Babusenan Thiruvananthapuram I used to wonder! "Gopee peena payodhara mardana Chanchala karayuga shaalee..." The devotee stands at the bottom of the footsteps leading to the sanctum sanctorum of a temple with the idakka in his hands and sings these lines from 'Geetha Govindam' with great devotion, regardless of the men and women standing behind him with folded hands. I used to wonder. Years ago, during one Bharani festival in Kodungalloor Devi temple, I saw something which even now I can't forget. At the bus stand on the Swaraj Round in Thrissur, one poor family was waiting for bus to Kodungalloor. The man was standing with the youngest child sleeping on his shoulder. His wife, his two children and an elderly woman (perhaps, his mother) were sitting on the ground around him. He seemed to be in a trance singing a song which was a string of the most vulgar words in the Malayalam language! I used to wonder. In most of the Hindu temples, there are erotic carvings* somewhere on the walls. The Konark Sun temple is internationally known for such things. Why? Why the sage Paraasara failed to behave like a gentleman to Malsyagandhi in the boat? Why Viswamitra, on his waking up from his very long tapas, couldn't control himself on seeing the beautiful Menaka? Perhaps, one answer to these questions is that erotic feelings are fundamental to human nature, too strong to wish away. Our Collage is always full of light with no trace of heat in it. But today, I felt a little heat in it. Sometimes, when it becomes unintentionally ponderous with spiritual and moral thoughts, rare diversions like this will help to maintain the lustre of Collage. When I say that occasional explorations behind and above the choli are like coconut shavings in Malayali's favourite breakfast 'puttu'(that brown or white cylindrical thing). Friends, please don't raise your eyebrows. Take this in a lighter vein. Regards (Thank you, Sir. On May 17, Collage reader Thyagarajan shared this snippet: "Laugh for a while in these gloomy days. A friend has posted that one of the rumours doing round is that WHO is reported to have said that if one takes the first dose of vaccine now and the next dose of the vaccine in the next birth, the soul will develop enough immunity (antibody) for next seven births." My response was: "No joke, Sir🙏 Shiva, my childhood PG Host accommodated me and my Dad inside the same temple which was the official quarters allotted to him by the local Royal Families, though he had no permission to accommodate overnight guests except on Mahashivratri day. He once confided to my father: "Do you know, once I attempted suicide by swallowing poison? Timely intervention by my reluctant wife Parvati not only saved my life, that single dose of "kalkoot" which I am still holding in my throat gave me immortality which even Krishna didn't get!"🙏-Warrier *In that temple, just before the main entrance, there was a portico-like space which had excellent well-painted erotic wooden carvings on the ceiling. Students from the nearby schools used to crowd there to enjoy the artistic beauty of bare bodies of gods and goddesses depicted, unmindful of the story the carvings conveyed. Thanks again for giving an opportunity to remember those days 🙏-Warrier) 3) C V Subbaraman Mysuru Patram Pushpam...........the only important word in this shlokam is "bhaktyaa". One who offers anything with devotion.....if there is no devotion, whatever one does does not have any value. Does any person standing in a balcony of his house throwing a five rupee coin at a beggar on the street with an air of haughtiness or contempt get any punya? Absolutely NOT. On the contrary, a poor lady offering even a handful of rice with sympathy and compassion gets divine blessings. That is why Lord Krishna takes with immense pleasure the handful of beaten rice (avil) tied in a torn and old cloth of his old friend Sudama. While the same Lord rejects the elaborate lunch prepared by Duryodhana but goes to the house of Vidura to take lunch. That is why homely food even if it is simple is superior to the best of the Five Star Hotel food - the former comes with love while the latter comes for a price! Subbaraman 4) S Nallasivan Hyderabad What else, it's Collage! It is very simple. Day before yesterday, in a lighter vein I had claimed with pride about my privileged status of getting the Collage through e-mail ID and WhatsApp beside the two RBI Groups. Since yesterday, the privilege of getting the mail around 6-30 a m stands suspended. But all is not lost. Since the two RBI Groups still have me in their mailing list I get to peruse the Collage alright. I feel badly let down. But then who bothers about such finer sentiment these days. Though I have not received the Collage as yet, I am sending the response as I could know about your query from a personal mail received from friend Shri S M Sendil. Thanks and regards S. Nallasivan (Now you know, how the Collage is different from College 👍🙏-Warrier) More interesting responses at D below. B Satsangam with Panchapagesan Gita XIII Slokas 7 to 11... 20 qualities of a GNANI 13th Quality: Anasakti: Unattachment As long as we are attached to anything in this world we suffer from that attachment.. A man who is attached to his wealth is always agitated. He suffers from the constant fear of losing it. He can never enjoy his wealth. A mother who is attached to her children is worried and anxious about their welfare. She can never remain peaceful and happy. An expensive carpet, valuable china or any possession for that matter can cause great mental agitation and sorrow if we are attached to it. But if we are detached from it, when we do not relate to it selfishly, we are free from worry and anxiety. We do not go through suffering and sorrow. In fact we enjoy it. When we drive our newly purchased car on a rough and rugged road the bumps are painful to take. But when we are riding in another’s car we enjoy the spring action over the potholes.. What makes a tragic movie so attractive, so enjoyable to the viewer? How does a sad picture make millions happy? The reason is simple. It is their detachment from the movie. It is their aloofness. It is because they are not mixed up or entangled or involved in it. When we look upon the pictures on the screen as a witness the movie becomes a source of enjoyment. But when we get directly involved in it, it is a source of misery. So is it with the world. When we look at the phenomenon of this world impersonally, it lends a charm. It is beautiful. It is wonderful. We enjoy every bit of it. But if we view it personally, if we lose our objectivity, if we get attached, involved and entangled in it, we are miserable. We suffer and it is a universal law. A GNANI is ever rooted in the supreme being never attached to the terrestrial world of objects and beings. He remains ever peaceful, calm and happy. V T Panchapagesan C Book Review: Miss MacIntosh, My Darling https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/09/19/the-most-unread-book-ever-acclaimed/ Excerpts: "I came across Young by way of her essay “The Midwest of Everywhere,” a short piece about a series of bizarre sights she claims to have witnessed firsthand in the American interior: elephants browsing the banks of the Wabash River; an entire town populated by deaf people; a dead whale in a boxcar, stranded in the middle of a cornfield. Young was born in Indiana and spent many decades in the Midwest—at the University of Chicago, where she studied Elizabethan and Jacobean literature, and at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she taught fiction—but in the essay, she writes about the region in a way that is entirely unfamiliar. “For me, a plain Middle Westerner, there is no middle way,” she writes. “I am in love with whatever is eccentric, devious, strange, singular, unique, out of this world—and with life as an incalculable, a chaotic thing.” I read the essay last winter at my home in Wisconsin. At the time, I was in a slump that was probably seasonal but felt dire and endless and linked, in a vague way, to the fact that I lived in a region that was bound up in the American imagination, and increasingly my own, with the television reboot of Roseanne. I have always lived in the Midwest and had often defended it against reductive stereotypes. But the notion that it was an economic and political wilderness had become such an insistent article of national consensus that I’d begun to doubt my own frames of reference. I was not in a particularly ambitious mood that winter, but I kept thinking about the strange consciousness I’d glimpsed in the essay. A couple days later, I found a copy of Miss MacIntosh." D Lessons from Cyclone Yesterday (May 18) morning, the first message I saw was from my younger brother M L Jayaram Nair (Kerala). It read: "Please inform if all OK in cyclone" I talked to him later in the morning. Many of us, when in the midst of problems and frustrations, expect a message or a call from our near and dear ones. I had posted a short note at WarriersViews Times of India in the context of Lockdown: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog/warriersviews/someones-waiting-for-your-call-24781/ Excerpts: "Listening and interacting are activities we can’t afford to avoid in the present social environment. Sharpening these tools when all our faculties are in working condition will help us in situations like Lockdown or when we feel the need to get in touch with people to help them or for getting help from them. So, on an ongoing basis, keep in touch with some individuals outside your close family and friends circle and feel the difference. This is the best time to make such experiments. So, today, call someone whom you have not called so far this year." *Also see E 2 E 1) Responses received through V R Chittanandam Cheñnai There was a small write up by Shri Babusenan on Nobel Prize in Warrier's Collage. I forwarded it to some of my contacts. Here are a few responses. Hope you will enjoy reading them. Chittanandam Nice reading. NOBEL prize is not awarded for Maths. Legend : When Alfred Nobel was awarded the NOBEL prize - for inventing DYNAMITE -. he accepted it - subject to Mathematics being omitted from the prize. Reason : His fiancee eloped with a Mathematician! It is surprising a) a man can develop a dynamite and cannot blast off a Mathematician b) a mathematician can be romantic enough to elope with a woman. Hence it was decided to award an ABEL prize for Maths. It is equivalent to a NOBEL award. One Indian ( Srinivasaraghavan - a contemporary in Presidency College in mid 1950's ) has been given the award so far. P.B.Rajagopalan. (Abel modelled after Nobel Prize was established in 1899 and carries a monetary award of 7.5 million Norwegian Kroners. Sathamangalam Ranga Iyengar Srinivasa Varadhan (b. 1940 at Chennai) studied in Presidency College, Chennai and secured his Doctorate from Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. Since 1963 he has worked at Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in New York University. His awards and honours include National Medal of Science (2010) from President Barack Obama and Abel Prize in 2007 for his work on Large Deviations. - VRC) Very interestingly informative. Thanks very much. K.S.Krishnamoorthy .......epidemics..........'leveller of world population....? This corroborates the statement in our epics... 'Boobaram kuraikka ' பூபாரம் குறைக்க' ... .. மகாபாரத யுத்தத்திற்கு ஒரு விளக்கம்..... S.Rajaopalan 2) Do it NOW* : Poem by nobel laureate Sir Robindra Nath Tagore When I'm dead Your tears will flow But I won't know Cry with me now instead You will send flowers, But I won't see Send them now instead You'll say words of praise But I won't hear Praise me now instead You'll forgive my faults, But I won't know..... So forget them now, instead You'll miss me then, But I won't feel Meet me now, instead You'll wish You could have spent more time with me, Spend it now instead When you hear I'm gone, you'll find your way to my house to pay condolence but we haven't even spoken in years Look, listen and reply me now! Spend time with every person around you, and help them with whatever you can to make them happy, your families, friends and acquaintances. Make them feel Special, because you never know when time will take them away from you forever. Alone I can 'Say' but together, we can 'Talk' Alone I can 'Enjoy' but together we can 'Celebrate' Alone I can 'Smile' but together we can 'Laugh' That's the BEAUTY of Human Relations. We are nothing without each other So Stay Connected!! Stay safe. 🙏🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 *Received from P R R Nayar Thiruvanantapuram 3) A face to remember* When Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola in a telephone interview, was asked by the radio presenter, "Sir what can you remember made you a happiest man in life?" Femi said: "I have gone through four stages of happiness in life and finally I understood the meaning of true happiness." The first stage was to accumulate wealth and means. But at this stage I did not get the happiness I wanted. Then came the second stage of collecting valuables and items. But I realised that the effect of this thing is also temporary and the lustre of valuable things does not last long. Then came the third stage of getting big projects. That was when I was holding 95% of diesel supply in Nigeria and Africa. I was also the largest vessel owner in Africa and Asia. But even here I did not get the happiness I had imagined. The fourth stage was the time a friend of mine asked me to buy wheelchair for some disabled children. Just about 200 kids. At the friend's request, I immediately bought the wheelchairs. But the friend insisted that I go with him and hand over the wheelchairs to the children. I got ready and went with him. There I gave these wheel chairs to these children with my own hands. I saw the strange glow of happiness on the faces of these children. I saw them all sitting on the wheelchairs, moving around and having fun. It was as if they had arrived at a picnic spot where they are sharing a jackpot winning. I felt REAL joy inside me. When I decided to leave one of the kids grabbed my legs. I tried to free my legs gently but the child stared at my face and held my legs tightly. I bent down and asked the child: Do you need something else? The answer this child gave me not only made me happy but also changed my attitude to life completely. This child said: "I want to remember your face so that when I meet you in heaven, I will be able to recognise you and thank you once again." What would you be remembered for after you leave that office or place? Will anyone desire to see your face again where it all matters? This is a must read piece. It got me thinking. I pray it does same to everyone. God bless you all. *Forward received from K P V Karunakaran Mumbai F Music and Brain : Vathsala Jayaraman Chennai It is amazing to learn about our brain's ability to absorb and make sense of music. The scientists refer to music as 'organized Sound'. It is highly complex and far more effective than a computer's capacity to identify and process. How exactly the brain takes in organized sound-still remains an unanswered question. Why does it make us feel the way we do? Some people feel more uplifted when they listen to classical music. Some others don't feel so high even if they listen to Bach or Beethoven or Mozart. Despite personal preferences, music, in general, has synchronized effect on people's brains. We just go, listen and move about with our own chores. But research scholars don't leave that way. When MRI scan of the brain of listeners was taken, it was found that music has an identical effect in all the brains. It activates brain regions that are involved in planning, attention and memory. We are not just simply processing the sound as that of a background noise or the sound of a car engine. Music is more meaningful to our brains than just any sound. Ordinary sounds are processed in Auditory cortex whereas music travels far deep and it makes designs or patterns. Because of the melody and repetition,our brains are constantly predicting what will happen next based on these patterns. That is why we tap our toes, nod our heads and make standing ovation at appropriate occasions. Though the effect of music is the same on everyone's brain, some prefer Carnatic, Some prefer Hindusthani; Some prefer only instruments and some like only light music. This is where music becomes linked to emotions. Different types of music activate the brain in different densities for different persons. The welling of emotions of have been tracked electronically. and the emotions have been rated on a scale. Some music merely looks beautiful and some leaves one in raptures. When we listen to good music, we say that we are being taken altogether to a new world.Yes, it is true. Why is it so?What is the reason for that excessive enjoyment?Thanks to a chemical, Dopamine, released by the brain when we perform or listen to music. While dopamine normally helps us feel the pleasure of eating it also helps produce euphoria from illegal drugs. It's active in particular circuits of the brain. We hear that some people feel chills from particular songs by some particular persons. How the brain handles both anticipation and arrival of a musical rush-This is experienced while listening to alapanas and kalpana swaras. PET scans of the brain showed that the listeners' brains pumped out more dopamine in a region called the striatum when listening to favourite pieces of music than when hearing other pieces. Dopamine surged in one part of the striatum during the 15 seconds leading up to a thrilling moments in that part of the brain connected with predictions, and a different part of the brain dealing with emotions when we are fully satisfied with the performer. When we go to a performance, we never even think about all these things. Research field is entirely different. It analyses deep into the scientific part of the art and the psychological and neurological impact on the performer/listener. This will be of great significance for those who are obsessed with any art(which they say that they have a passion). People who deal with music as a therapy have to be very careful in not loading the patient with too much music resulting in excessive dopamine. Fortunately many of us just listen and forget. Is it good in a way? Ignorance is bliss. Vathsala Jayaraman G Quotes about sanity https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/sane-quotes Like: "If you understand hallucination and illusion, you don't blindly follow any leader. You must know if the person is sane or insane, over the abyss." Marguerite Young (Marguerite Vivian Young was an American novelist and academic. She is best known for her novel Miss MacIntosh, My Darling. In her later years, she was known for teaching creative writing and as a mentor to young authors. "She was a respected literary figure as well as a cherished Greenwich Village eccentric.")