Bhāva, tāḷa, artha, rāga

I’ve been practicing music for a few weeks now (karNATaka vocals). My voice has regained it’s rAgam (melody). I have an issue with the tALam (rythym), however. There is a story behind this. Back in the day, when I was a student, there was a renaissance going on. At that time there was too much emphasis on technique or s’AstrIyata. Not enough importance was given to meaning (artha) and bhAva (essence). At that time, thought leaders like K. Viswanath, S.P. Balasubramaniam, and others decided to bring artha and bhAva back into the classical form. My father also belonged to this school of thought. And he was the hero-god-guru to me at that age.
So I started investigating the meaning of the words in telugu, kannaDa and samskRtam which were the languages of the songs I was learning then. Sometimes I would be lost in figuring out the meanings and inserting the pauses at the right time to convey that meaning. At other times, having understood the meaning, I would be lost in that wonderful bhAva of those great devotional composers. And I would miss the beat, though never the note. I also became familiar with the old classical languages.
Carnatic classical music, in classical Indian languages gave me an experience of bhakti (devotion), like none other. With these songs running through my head, I suddenly burst into song at unexpected times, in unexpected places. This gets me some surprised reactions varying from amusement to regard.
I was guided by father to sing in any temples we visited and never to refuse a human request for a song. I like singing for god. (People don’t mean what they say, so I wish they wouldn’t ask.)
When I sang at home for god, my grandmother (paternal) or my father would come and listen, and sometimes sing along. My son still does.
When I sang in temples (even in remote corners), I would find that someone had been listening when they surprised me with an appreciative word at the end. In my sAdhana (practice), I keep devoting some time to the tALam. I expect I will get there, sometime!

For the curious, here is a link to a song I recorded a few years ago:


https://sanskritchants.wordpress.com/2021/01/28/sriman-narayana-bhava-pramukhyata/
#music #experience #learning #classicalmusic #carnatic #karnatik #devotion #languages #telugu #kannada #sanskrit #raga #tala

Wait Loops

Wait Loops are also a form of kāla granthi issues.

The biggest wait loop is for death.

We fear death. And we forget about it and live as if we are never going to die. Else we remember death, and can go into freeze panic whenever we experience mortal fear.

There are smaller wait loops.

Waiting to get better after we fall sick.

Waiting to get married or get divorced.

Waiting to go somewhere or get back.

Waiting to start a course/job, waiting for them to end.

Waiting for a deliver/return pickup and or refund.

We are continuously put in wait loops by nature (for rain to start/stop, or by individuals (I’ll call you back/ghosting), or AI/organisations (….).

When we’re waiting, we tend to put things on hold, we don’t start new things or other things. We think if we know what’s going to happen, then we can plan better, choose better, work better, live better.

And stuff like covid, lockdowns, deaths, losses etc… so many surprises and shocks, occur.

Some handle waiting much better than others.

To overcome this feature kālagranthi, one must give up both preferences and the illusion of control.

samatvam and akārakatvam are required.

Aryabhatiya

Aryabhatiya-with-English-commentary_textDownload

Śri Rāma navami by Kavana Śarma 23rd Mar 2018

శ్రీ రామ నవమి
కవన శర్మ
We know from VAlmIki rAmAyaNam that when rAma of sUrya VamSam was borne on Chaitra Suddha navami day under the star Punarvasu , sUrya was at his maximum exaltated position in MEsha RASi when . We now celebrate this festival of SrIrAma navami some time in the Roman months of March and April . Today the 25 th March 2018 is SrI rAma navami.
rAma and sItA got married according to VAlmIki on a day when the star was uttara phalguNi .But we now celebrate it on SrI rAma navami. Who started this tradtion ? May be Bhakta rAma dAsu or his successors tUmu Lakshmi narasimha dAsu or Varada rama dAsu. To me it appears to be Narasimha dAsu .
Who is Bhaktha RAma DAsu ? He is kancherla GOpanna .He was given the name rAma dasu by a sUfi saint KabIr dAs .
A few traditions were started by rAma dAsu .He popularised Bhajana tradition of worshipping God. He provided a transition from annamayya padams to tyAgarAja keerthanAs ,from accha telugu to maNi pravAla telugu that is samskRtham mixed telugu. . He also introduced an unusual 3 disc MangaLa sUtra dharaNa in the kalyANa utsavam rAma and sItA at BhadrAchalam. . He got one disc made in the name of of daSarath and got one from the adopted father abdul hasan TAnIsha, the navab of Golkonda representing Janaka and the third one from his personal side as he thought sItA was his own daughter . This sUtram still is being used and it has been used today at BhadrAchalam It has become customary for the later sunni muslim kings to send pearls and silk clothes for the bride and the groom until few decades back. So this kalyana utsavam was a very secular event Now the elected rulers of telugu land have taken up the responsibility .
Pokala Dhammakka who admired Sabari was like her a tribal woman and she found the idols of rAma sItA and lakshmaNa .She started the construction of rama’s temple at bhadrAchalam with a prAkAram.
tanIshA became the sultan of GOlkonDa in 1672.He appointed akkanna ,Madanna the uncles of GOpanna as ministers under him. The navAb was secular .These uncles got Gopanna the job of the revenue collector for bhadrAchalm area. Having collected Jijiya tax for a while on behalf of the king Gopanna repented and started helping dhammakka in completing her unfinished temple building project .After exhausting his personal money he spent the tax moneies collected by him about 6 lac varahAs . The navAb was angry on learng about this and sent GOpanna to jail for 12 years. Towards the end of 12 years, however, when still a small period of the sentence is left GOpanna was set free by the navAb. . tAnIshA was a highly religious person .It was said that once he found his enemy Aurangazeb alone. But at that time the Moghal was praying as the storey goes. tAnIsha did not let his soldiers kill the person doing prayer . So It is quite possible that tAnIsha repented punishing a bhakta like GOpanna towards the end and released him . So rAma dAsu came out of jail in 1686 He most probably lived a few years more.
tAnIshA himself was dethroned after 8 months of a very fierce war with Aurangazeb in 1687 and put in a jail .
This year TTD celebrated 685 th jayanthi of rama dAsu .So according to them he was born in CE 1633 and perhaps he lived upto 1690 . But definitely he did not die in the year 1680 as some believe .
Is Dhammakka a Hindu ? It is important to know in the present day context.
Nowadays we hear a lot about SCs and STs not being Hindus . But PokAla dhammakka a highly respected tribal lady believed she was Hindu.
The word Hidusthan was coined a few thousand years back by our persian friends to describe land in India beyond the River Sindhu which they were calling river Hindhu according tio their language structure . The religion of these people according to them was Hindu .
But the dharma which people followed in Bharata khandam in those days was known to therm as sanAthana dharma . dharmam again means the rules that existed at the time of creation or the rules that governed the 4 types of forces that came into effect soon after the Big Bang. It covered all shades of beliefs and philosophies. The nasthikaas and aasthikaas were both parts of it . Followers of all forms of ‘God ‘ were members of it. They discussed and argued among themselves and the literature dealing with those discussions is known to us as upanishats . I myself do not like the word Hindu . I call that faith as BahuLa tatva bhAratIya Matam ( BTBM)

“Some personal work and some common work”.

“Some personal work and some common work”.

This was my father’s teaching. He said that men and women, old or young must work and be financially independent. Only children should be exempt from earning for themselves. When he passed on at the age of 79, he was still gainfully employed. And physically self-reliant.

If our country and society are to be uplifted, everyone must also take on some common work. After providing for yourself and your family and for other friends and acquaintances, check and see what you are doing for the society and the country.

I think everyone does something for others, often we do it without thinking about it.

Some speak kindly and heal emotional pain, some restore lakes, some work for pure air and clean neighbourhoods. Some plant trees, some write checks, some treat the sick, some distribute free food, some organise micro-credit.

Without this we cannot go forward and upward.

This is the way. Observe what you are doing for society. Appreciate yourself. Accept appreciation of others.

More importantly, know that you are helping and building the country as a whole, both through your gainful employment that reflects in the GDP and through all your other efforts as well.

We are all part of something that is bigger than ourselves.

Whenever I see someone doing something good for someone else, I heal from the pain of the sad and hard things that I hear. So whenever you do something nice for someone, tell others. They will feel inspired and happy.

Kalaganṭi

మాపటివేళకు

agni nakshatram, kārtikēya, gold

Bharata. Takshashila. Pushkalavata.

draupadi. agniputri.