Warrier's Collage February 28, 2022

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Monday, February 28, 2022 Good Morning February 28 is observed as National Science Day. See a link at H for more details. Nice Day M G Warrier A Responses 1) Jyothilakshmi Anil Kumar I don't know how well to express ...but I am overwhelmed with joy reading these sweet and kind responses on my statements from you and Surendran Uncle. It feels extremely good. Prayers and wishes for good health and wellness to both of you and both Aunties. Thank you for making my day. 2) R Jayakumar I Collage on Sunday It took about 45 minutes to go through today's (Sunday February 27, 2022) weekly Collage without opening any of the links provided. The increase in the number of readership of your Blog posts is not surprising. Your writings are very precise and to the point, no word or sentence is used without context or to beat around the bush. That is why there are many admirers for your autobiography (now in instalments) even before it is published by the person who promised to help you. I remember something connected to productivity linked* wages system. During my school days I remember to have gone to pluck groundnuts during some Sundays when the crop becomes ready to pull out. At the end of the work each one was given one tenth of the quantum of groundnuts gathered by him/her. The more one brought the more is the reward. (No one worried about child labour in those days). The reward in kind could be used in the house for self consumption or could be sold in the bazar. I think the quota system followed in our cash department also comes under productivity-linked wages. Thanks and good wishes for continuing with the Collage even after the lockdown days. R Jayakumar (*In Malabar area, till 1950's wages for harvest of paddy etc, plucking of coconuts and even pepper were linked to the quantity of the produce procured 🙏-Warrier) II Curry leaves I hope you are still in Thiruvananthapuram. The photo seems to be of your row house bungalow in TVM. Your curry leaves tree has grown very tall. We find such trees in our native village too, but not in Mumbai. I read the article on the benefits of eating curry leaves. Unfortunately we are using these leaves in small quantity while cooking, only for the purpose of adding flavour to the dish. Yes. We are in Thiruvananthapuram since December. We don't have much space left in the compound. It's 60x40. House occupies more than 1000 sft including a car porch, though we don't own a car. So there are not many trees. As we are occasional visitors here since 1986, we couldn't maintain a garden also. Perks of accepting a transferable job. Nice view from your terrace in the village house. Yet to plan travel back to Mumbai 🙏-Warrier B Current Affairs 1) Ukraine Update https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/ukraines-deadly-gamble (Link Courtesy : Mohan Krishnan Thiruvananthapuram) Human interest story : www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/medical-student-from-haryana-refuses-to-leave-ukraine-says-will-take-care-of-house-owners-kids-as-he-joins-war-373347 2) Media Response February 27, 2022 Make a beginning in rehabilitation of students This refers to the reports about hundreds of Indian professional students returning from war-torn Ukraine. Most of them had left India with the hope of procuring a qualification with brighter job prospects than that was within their reach, remaining in India. The present scenario in Ukraine has spoiled their hopes and dreams. By acting quickly to rehabilitate these students, GOI and state governments can create a precedent for all similar unfortunate situations anywhere in the world in future. The suggestion is to create a High Power Expert Group with representation from GOI, state governments and Educational Institutions to coordinate admission for these students in domestic institutions, commensurate with their qualification and academic record so far. Governments and Corporates may have to subsidise costs, on a need-based basis. Educational institutions may have to be permitted to create additional seats on supernumerary basis, for once. Most of the students may be in a position to bear the costs upto the level they had planned while in Ukraine. M G Warrier Thiruvananthapuram 3) Victoria Terminus/ CST to get a facelift soon https://swarajyamag.com/infrastructure/decks-cleared-for-chhatrapati-shivaji-maharaj-terminus-to-become-world-class-station *Link Courtesy : S Thyagarajan C Mahashivratri : Nostalgia Mahashivratri : Some childhood memories By M G Warrier I have nostalgic childhood memories about Mahashivratri. Let me take you back in time to the 1950's when I was in school. My father, a Namboodiri, was temple-priest in a Shiva temple in a remote village in Malabar from circa 1920's to 1959-60. My elder sister and I stayed with him inside the temple during our school days. This Shiva temple was owned by a local Royal family. By 1950's that family's fortunes started sagging due to various developments. Still, the one festival which was associated with the temple, namely Mahashivratri, was celebrated by the whole population of the village elaborately. I was present there during seven Shivaratri celebrations. Few days prior to the Mahashivratri, offerings which mostly were ingredients to be used for worship, decoration of the Deity and the temple premises and feeding the devotees who will gather in the temple premises on the festival day (many would return home only the next day as keeping awake on the Shivaratri night is part of the Shivaratri Vratham). Items brought by devotees included rice, oil, hundreds of tender coconuts for "Abhishekam", flowers, Jaggery, dry ginger (Jaggery and dry ginger are used to make "PANAKAM", a drink served lavishly to devotees remaining awake during the night) and so on. The whole night there would be entertainment programmes in the temple premises. Such programmes included Kathakali, Chakyar Koothu, Ottam Thullal, Discourses by Swamys and even "Kathaprasamgam". For us children the day and night used to leave pleasant memories of a get together every year. ****. ****. *** D Mahashivratri 2022 : Vathsala Jayaraman This year Mahashivratri is tomorrow, March 1, 2022 Nowadays it is said that people are becoming too materialistic and lack devotion. But more than ever, there are many many journals like Bhakthi, Shakthi etc publishing articles on such topics : A few years back I read an article in Tamil about the spiritual significance of Shivarathri tale. We would have heard about the story of a hunter who stayed the entire night on a Vilva tree along with the animals he hunted during day time,unknowingly plucked leaves and dropped them down.They fell on a Shivalingam just below the tree and the hunter attained saayujyam. The Scriptures record the following inner meaning of the Chitra Bhanu story. It is an allegory. The wild animals that the hunter fought with are lust, anger, greed, infatuation, jealousy and hatred. The jungle is the fourfold mind, consisting of the subconscious mind, the intellect, the ego and the conscious mind. It is in the mind that these "wild animals" roam about freely. They must be killed. Our hunter was pursuing them because he was a Yogi. If you want to be a real Yogi you have to conquer these evil tendencies. The hunter was also called Suswara. It means "melodious". The hunter had a pleasant melodious voice. If a person practices Yama and Niyama and is ever conquering his evil tendencies, he will develop certain external marks of a Yogi. The first marks are lightness of the body, health, steadiness, clearness of countenance and a pleasant voice. This stage has been spoken of in detail in the Upanishad. The hunter or the Yogi had for many years practised Yoga and had reached the first stage. So he is given the name Suswara. His birthplace is Varanasi. Now, the Yogis call the Ajna Chakra by the name Varanasi. This is the point midway between the eyebrows. It is regarded as the meeting place of the three nerve currents (Nadis), namely, the Ida, Pingala and the Sushumna. An aspirant is instructed to concentrate on that point. That helps him to conquer his desires and evil qualities like anger and so on. It is there that he gets a vision of the Divine Light within. The climbing of bael tree and all other details are also furnished in a spiritual fashion. Vilva leaf has three leaves on one stalk. The tree represents the spinal column. The leaves are threefold. They represent the Ida, Pingala and Sushumna Nadis, which are the regions for the activity of the moon, the sun and fire respectively, or which may be thought of as the three eyes of Shiva. The climbing of the tree is meant to represent the ascension of the Kundalini Shakti, the serpentine power, from the lowest nerve centre called the Muladhara to the Ajna Chakra. That is the work of the Yogi. The Yogi was in the waking state when he began his meditation. He bundled up the birds and the animals he had slain and, tying them on a branch of the tree, he rested there. That means he had fully conquered his thoughts and rendered them inactive. He had gone through the steps of Yama, Niyama, Pratyahara, etc. On the tree he was practising concentration and meditation. When he felt sleepy, it means that he was about to lose consciousness and go into deep sleep. So he determined to keep awake. His wife and children are none other than the world. One who seeks the Grace of God must become an embodiment of love. He must have an all-embracing sympathy. His shedding of tears is symbolical of his universal love. In Yoga also, one cannot have illumination without Divine Grace. Without practising universal love, one cannot win that Grace. One must perceive one's own Self everywhere. The preliminary stage is to identify one's own mind with the minds of all created beings. That is fellow-feeling or sympathy. Then one must rise above the limitations of the mind and merge it in the Self. Why did he pluck the leaves? That is mentioned in the story only to show that he had no extraneous thoughts. He was not even conscious of what he was doing. All his activity was confined to the three Nadis. The leaves, represent the three Nadis. He was in fact in the second state, namely, the dream state, before he passed into the deep sleep state. He kept vigil the whole night, it is said. Yes, that means that he passed through the deep sleep state successfully. The dawning of day symbolises the entrance into the Fourth state called Turiya or superconsciousness. It is said that he came down and saw the Lingam. That means that in the Turiya state he saw the Shiva Lingam or the mark of Shiva in the form of the inner lights. In other words, he had the vision of the Lord. That was an indication to him that he would realise the supreme, eternal abode of Lord Shiva in course of time. Now the story continues. He goes home and feeds a stranger. A stranger is one whom you have not seen before. The stranger is no other than the hunter himself, transformed into a new person. The food was the likes and dislikes which he had killed the previous night. But he did not consume the whole of it. A little still remained. That was why he had to be reborn as King Chitrabhanu. Going to the world of Shiva (Salokya) is not enough to prevent this. There are other stages besides Salokya. These are Samipya, Sarupya and finally Sayujya. Though it appears to be an ordinary story, many of us are not aware of the spiritual significance. This is a rough translation of what I read in Tamil. Vathsala Jayaraman E Faith/Spirituality charan singh (@CharanSingh60) Tweeted: Unity in Diversity - 175 हउ बलि बलि जाउ सतिगुर साचे नाम पर कवन उपमा देउ कवन सेवा सरेउ एक मुख रसना रसहु जुग जोरि कर I surrender to Naam gifted by true Guru To whom to compare with & how to serve Almighty? Meditate with folded hands & sing praise with tongue Nalh, 1398, SGGS https://twitter.com/CharanSingh60/status/1497692026900709376?s=20&t=Ujm4qLojvHnLbueMcTHyuw F Leisure Astrology Raveendranath Ex-NABARD tries to predict the future of the pandemic : https://youtu.be/kvVReoeDsfo G Book Review : War and Peace https://www.britannica.com/topic/War-and-Peace Excerpts : "In 1812 Napoleon invades Russia, forcing Alexander to declare war. Andrey returns to service, and Pierre is driven to believe he must personally assassinate Napoleon. As the French advance, Mary, Andrey’s sister, is forced to leave her house. Nikolay finds her in the streets, and the two reconnect. Pierre, still crazed by his imaginary duty, is apprehended by French forces and witnesses a number of executions, which deeply affect him. During his imprisonment, he befriends Platon Karatev, a wise peasant. He is later freed from the French and promptly falls ill. After recovering, he marries Natasha, and they have four children together. Nikolay weds Mary, and the two enjoy a happy married life." 2) No Way But Surrender : Vice Admiral N Krishnan https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/19800331-book-review-no-way-but-surrender-by-vice-admiral-n.-krishnan-806536-2014-02-01 Excerpts : "Admiral Krishnan, author of this book, was Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command in 1971, and responsible, consequently, for naval operations in the Bay of Bengal. He starts with the establishment of the Eastern Fleet, centred around INS Vikrant, and ends with day-to-day operations during the conflict, leading to the surrender of the Pakistani forces in Dacca. The Command's aim was to "destroy the enemy's maritime forces deployed in support of his military operations in East Bengal and to deny all sustenance from reaching the enemy." China was assessed as not having the naval capability to intervene. Pakistan was believed to have four options - concentrate its maritime forces in Chittagong, reinforce its forces by drawing upon the west, pursue hit and run tactics on India's eastern seaboard, or lay defensive minefields around East Bengal ports." H National Science Day https://www.collegedekho.com/articles/national-science-day/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA3-yQBhD3ARIsAHuHT64m06zvR9M8fEr9BMiGXxDwrVzXDcVcNy0V0MEtJuY4jn4VMMvhrXoaAqnCEALw_wcB