Warrier's Collage on Sunday October 6, 2024

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Sunday, October 6, 2024 (Sunday Collage) Good Morning Happy Birthday to all friends who have Birthday during this week. Today is my grandson Vihaan's Birthday. Happy Birthday to him and Best Wishes 🙏 and Nice Day for all. M G Warrier A Collage Book Review Preparing For Death : Arun Shourie https://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/review/0670092398/RTFYD41ABU6FU?ref_=cm_sw_r_mwn_dprv_WKM976AMK1M3BQ1AS8D9&language=en-IN A Manual for understanding Life Reviewed in India on 5 October 2024 This book was published during the pandemic (2020). After reading some reviews, I had decided not to buy this book. When a senior colleague suggested a mutual friend may consider reading and reviewing this book, based on the impression I got from initial reviews in the media, I discouraged the idea. I didn't want our octogenarian friend to get depressed by laments on fear of the inevitable. But later I felt that the reviews of this book I had access, as most of the book reviews we get to read, had not done full justice to the efforts that had gone into putting this book together. I am saying this after buying and reading the book myself. Priced 799, the hard cover book elegantly brought out by Penguin /VIKING is a real sumptuous treat in 516 plus xi pages for anyone wanting to know the reality of life. If one is interested in reading only a good review, borrow the book from a friend or a library and read pages 1 to 9. The author gives a beautiful picturesque introduction to what he wants to convey through the book to the reader. Will the book change my own perceptions about life and death? Crossing over to the other side of 80, I'm curious. We experience death every time we go into deep sleep without the help of drugs. This was my oversimplified perception about life and death. I'm wiser after reading the book. B Nostalgia Connecting events and memories Udayapuram Temple While returning from the place where my ancestral home Manakkal was located (near Vatakara) after the Bhagavati Puja on September 13, 2024, grandson Vihaan enquired whether the temple in which I stayed during my childhood days was close by. I said it was 30 minutes drive from the place we had reached then. He suggested a visit to the temple. As we had not planned a visit to Purameri where the Udayapuram Shiva temple was situated, we dropped the idea of taking a diversion. We had a target time of 3 30 pm to reach Kottakkal after lunch from Kozhikode. Vihaan was remembering my story : https://www.facebook.com/share/r8NpMCfFQKucF4h5/ The other day, my school classmate Udaya Varma Raja who later retired as the head of Purameri High School told me that the Deities which were worshipped in the premises of the palace (in small temple-like accomodation) which owned the Udayapuram temple were shifted to a room inside the Shiva temple. When we were staying inside the temple, the room opposite to the "Thidappalli" (kitchen inside the temple) was being used as a store room and and we were sleeping inside another adjacent room of identical size. Both the rooms didn't have any windows. Now the Palace Deities displaced following the partition and demolition of the Palace must be occupying one of these 2 rooms. Dislocation and displacement happens to Gods and Goddesses also. Lucky ones survive longer. C Vathsala Jayaraman's Column Ramana Maharshi Shri Venkataraman, who became Sage Ramana later was born in a village called Tiruchchuzhi in Tamilnadu. He was a normal child, exhibited no apparent signs of greatness. He was very good at sports, intelligent but lazy at school, indulged in mischieves like any other boy. In July 1896, he had a life changing experience, which urged him towards 'self-enquiry' that culminated within a few minutes in his self awakening. His essential teaching was the powerful 'silence' which radiated from him and calmed the minds of many devotees which included foreigners like Paul Brunton who has penned many books on Ramana. Many people have questioned Ramana as to how one can teach thro silence. Shri Ramana Replied "How does speech arise?First there is abstract knowledge. Out of this arises the ego, which in turn gives rise to thoughts and words. So the word is the great grandson of the original source-silence. If words can produce an effect, judge for yourself how much more powerful the 'silence' should be. A few minutes of silence carries much more powerful radiations and vibrations than those created out of continuous discourses for months." Shri Ramana said "Trace the 'I' thought back to its source and find out where 'I' arises from. It will automatically dissolve in the source" Ramana Maharishi very often used to tell his devotees "There is nothing called 'realization' in life. What is there to realize? We have realized the unreal, thinking it to be real. We dig a well and make a huge pit. The 'akasa' or the space in the well has not been created. It is already there. We have just removed the the earth which was filling the akasa. Similarly with all the innate tendencies gone, the self will shine alone." I have given below the English version of a small interesting write up (original in Tamil) comparing spiritual experience with preparation of papad or appalam in Tamil as narrated by Sage Ramana during his conversation with inmates of Ramanasrama : From the teachings of Ramana Maharishi Appalathil Aatmeeyam (Spirituality with "Papad" as example) Near English version ------------------------- Dehatma Bhava, the black gram is broken into 'Jeeva' and 'Deha' by using a grinding stone called 'WHO AM I' Add a herbal juice in the form of ' SAT SUNG' Add Cumin in the form of 'MIND CONTROL' Add some pepper in the form of 'CONTROL OF SENSES' Add salt in the form of 'Detachment' Add spices of 'Good thoughts' Leave of thinking 'I' and 'I' The pestle of 'Seeing Inward' stands before you. The flour is made into a fine thick paste with incessant efforts. Take a wooden plank called 'Equaliy' Use the flattener called'Calmness' Get a beautiful papad called 'ATMANUBHAVA' This is not enough. You have to enjoy the Atmanubhava. Take a vessel called 'SILENCE' Pour the ghee called Suddha Brahmam. Use the fire called 'GNANA' Fry well. You get an ever tasty papad called 'Aham Brahmasmi' May sage Ramana shower his grace on every one.