Swami Ramanananda, Samadhi - Photo Feature 3

Time is past 3 pm.

A crush of people have gathered around the body, to see the rituals being carried out. Its a bit of a neck-stretch if you havent got a good place to watch from. I decide to stretch my legs instead, and walk across to the eastern side of the Ashrama, where the Veda Patashala and Goshala (cow pen) is.

Here is a picture of the Goshala.

The Ashram manager told me once that there are a few cows here that are from “Cow Lakshmi’s” line.

**

I then walk across to the Samadhi site. Better to be early and get a vantage view. The site is now cemented and done. Here’s a picture.

Little Brahmachari boys from the Veda Patashala are waiting near the Samadhi pit, on the left. 

Notice the elderly man, wearing a shade of ochre, in the left of the picture above. I sit down next to him, and we chat. He is an ‘oduvaar’, singer of Tamizh songs of Naayanmaar saints. He sings in the Seshadri Swami Ashram next door. He tells me that Swami Ramanananda liked hearing him sing these songs of Siva.

I request him to sing a few songs..

“Namachivaya vazhga, Nadhan thal vazhga immaippozhuduhum ennenjil ninggadhan thal vazhga”, he begins… What a song! (”Long live the God’s name - Namasivaya! Long live the holy feet of God! The feet that do not leave my heart even for a moment, long live those holy feet!).

For the next half an hour or so, I listen to him songs of the prime-four Naayanmaars. 

And then he asks me, “ippo Pattinathaarukku povoma?” (”Shall we now move on to Saint Pattinathaar?”). I beam my assent. He sings a Pattinathaar song. Then I ask him - “Swami…Arunagiri…”, requesting him to sing a song of the great saint Arunagirinathar, who hailed from Arunachala. He sings with joy.

What a blessing! Sitting in front of Arunachala, listening to the songs of the great Tamizh saints, sung by a traditional oduvaar….

And when he rounded off his songs, Vedic chants could be heard, as the priests proceeded with the rituals that had to be done with the body of Swami Ramananda before it could be interred.

And then they brought the body to the Samadhi site.

**

                                                     To be contd….

Swami Ramanananda, Samadhi - Photo Feature 2

Time is around 1 pm.

I am told that the formal Samadhi ceremony will commence at around 3 pm.

I decide to go into the town to visit Sri K Natesan. Sri Natesan is a contemporary of Swami Ramanananda. He is in his nineties as well, and is perhaps a few months elder to Swami. Sri Natesan has been a long time resident of Ramanashramam, and is a disciple of Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni. Indeed it would not be an overstatement that he has Ananya-Bhakti to Bhagavan and Nayana alone. And it is to him that we owe the debt of receiving the complete works of Nayana. He has spent a lifetime of effort tracing all of Nayana’s writings, and has undertaken the Herculean task of bringing them all to print. The complete works of Ganapati Muni will be over 12 volumes. Of this nine have been published so far - all by Sri Ramanashramam. It may be said that the training in proof reading that Sri Natesan got under the eye of Sri Ramana, has made him a nonpareil editor of Sanskrit writing. Indeed, one of his most shining moments was, when as  a youngster, he found a proof-error in a manuscript that had been earlier proof-read by Sri Ramana! Ramana Maharshi is said to have given him a look of affectionate wondrous appreciation!

Sri Nateshan stays now in his brothers residence, a hundred year old house near the great Arunachaleshwara temple. It is a house that has heard the resonating chant of Vedas for all these hundred years. I find Sri Nateshan in his room, in the terrace. He is happy to see me, as am I to see him. He is not keeping the best of health and is convalescing here. We have a long chat.

Heres a picture that I took of him reading out a Tamizh verse of Muruganaar, to me.

**

Returning from his house, I stop for a moment to take this picture of the hill.

 

The arch seen in the picture leads to Agni Teertham, the pond that is near Agni Lingam. Someone once mentioned to me that the water here comes from the spring near Skandashramam, and goes from here to the water tank in the Arunachaleshwara temple.

**

I reach the Ashram at around 3 pm. The Samadhi ceremony has commenced.

The body of Swami Ramanananda, in Padmasana posture, is kept outside Sri Ramaneshwara Mahalingam hall, in the open. A crowd has gathered, and Swami’s poorvashrama kin are gathered next to the body. Priests chant sanskrit shlokas and the rituals are performed.

Heres a picture.

**

                                                                To be contd….
 

Swami Ramanananda, Samadhi - Photo Feature 1

One of the things you would notice if you walked into the spartan room of Swami Ramananda was that the room was full of pictures. Many of which were taken by Swami himself. Yes, Swami Ramanananda loved photography. He loved explaining his pictures. And he himself was very photogenic. He had radiance, presence.

And so, I thought that it would be appropriate if I could do a little photo feature about his Samadhi day - the day his body was interred into the final resting place.

Here goes.

**

I reached the Ashram at about 11 AM.

 

Its a nice, warm day. Notice the top of Arunachala in the backdrop of the Ashram above.

**

I am told that Swamis body has been kept in state in his residence-room. Going past Cow Lakshmi’s samadhi in the back of the Ashram, one reaches the Swamijis room. Small queue of people entering the room. Quiet atmosphere.

Swamiji’s body is seated in Padmasana. He seems completely absorbed in meditation. (In case you are wondering ‘where is Swami in this picture’…thats the person in ‘ochre’ dress).

Notice the pictures in the room, and Mahatma Gandhi’s bust on top of the cupboard. Swamiji had the highest regard for Mahatma.

I am told by his family members that his end was quick. He had been quite fine on the day of Bhagavan’s jayanti, on 25th December. He was his usual happy self, and was seen participating in the pooja and functions. Next day, on 26th, sometime in the evening, he felt uneasy, and within fifteen minutes, he shuffled his mortal coil, and was absorbed in Arunachala. 

**

I step out of the room.

Heres the view outside Swamijis quarters.

Notice the peacock on the parapet wall.

**

I walk back to the front of the Ashram, and come to the site that is being prepared for Swami’s samadhi.

It is a pit around 8 feet or so deep. Ground water is oozing from the bottom. A small brick wall is being raised around it. I have the privilege of laying a brick. Sure feel blessed.

 **

                                                     To be contd….

  

Swami Ramanananda

Got the news that Swami Ramanananda was absorbed in Arunachala last night.

Known as Sri TN Venkatraman in his poorvashrama, he was a pure expression of the energy of goodness, and has been one of the key instruments in the service of Sri Ramanashramam. He was in his 90s, and took sanyasa some years ago.

Among countless others, I too have been a recipient of his spontaneous affection and blessings.  I will always cherish memories of his wholesome greeting “Arunachala!”, his smiling and radiant face.

He was the nephew of the sage of Arunachala, Sri Ramana Maharshi.

  

When a million masks bloom…

It has been a day of high drama in India.

Reminds one of the opening lines of the great twin-cities tale of Dickens: “”It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

Now, these timeless lines seem to say it all about the other twin-cities tale of today. That of Gandhinagar- Ahmedabad.

Modi, the man and mask, who so strikes to the core of all hearts, that he is indeed spoken of, “for good or for evil, in the superlative degree”, has today, for “best or for worst”,  won, and won hands down. The man who qualified with a Masters degree in Political Science has proved that he is a master of that subject.

They showed him on TV, giving a short victory speech at his party head quarters. “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” he chanted, raising twin fingers of victory, chorused by thousands and thousands of party workers gathered there.  

And as he walked away with a promise of a long speech tomorrow, the loudspeakers played an old Hindi film song :

hoTho.n pe sachchaaii rahatii hai
jahaa.n dil me.n safaaii rahatii hai
ham us desh ke vaasii hai.n, ham us desh ke vaasii hai.n
jis desh me.n ga.ngaa bahatii hai…

(Where lips speak the truth all time
Where hearts of all are clean of grime
We are citizens of that nation state
Where flows Ganga, the river so great.)…

While the TV shows the celebrations in BJP headquarters, they show the other extreme in the Congress party premises - a sepulchral silence.

While all sorts of questions and debates are being thrashed about on TV, here’s one more. One wonders if this election has a deeper significance for the country,…

While one Congress leader dismissed this election results saying “one swallow doesn’t make a summer”, one wonders whether Congress has seen the last of their summers. Is there any substance in Congress now?

Or is it that we need to reconsider the words of the great Mahatma, whose last will and testament, written on the eve of his assassination, commenced with the following lines:

“Though split into two, India having attained political independence through means devised by the Indian National Congress, the Congress in its present shape and form, i.e., as a propaganda vehicle and parliamentary machine, has outlived its use. India has still to’ attain social, moral and economic independence in terms of its seven hundred thousand villages as distinguished from its cities and towns. The struggle for the ascendency of ‘civil over military power is bound to take place in India’s progress towards its democratic goal. It must be kept out of unhealthy competition with political parties and communal bodies. For these and other similar reasons, the A. I. C. C. resolves to disband the existing Congress organization and flower into a Lok Sevak …”

Well, its winter now. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Some goose and gander sauce

One of the email forwards brought this news item   about a CII-AT Kearney report on the growth of the Indian Film industry. The news items says “The Indian film industry is worth around $1.8 billion in 2006 (around Rs 7,500 crore) and is expected to grow at 25% per annum in value terms for the next four years to reach $4.5 to $5.1 billion (around Rs 20,000 crore) by 2011, said a report by CII-AT Kearney on ‘The new economics of the Indian film industry: creativity and transformation’.

Contrast this with the other great Indian industry - the IT Industry. For one, the CII-AT Kearney report could just as easily have been about “The new economics of the Indian IT industry : innovation and transformation”, and with a few deft global changes of “box office” by “US Market” and such, the report may stand up quite well (perhaps better than a blog automatically translated by Google from one language to another). But if we look at the numbers, they tell a different story.

The IT Industry is growing at more than 32 percent YOY (see here ). Mr Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom, announced that the industry will achieve a revenue of USD 60 B by 2010 (see here ).

Surprising, isn’t it? For all the ritz-and-glitz, the film industry is rather small! That is one difference between Films and IT Industry. The difference in scale!

Picture this.

Companies like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant, are all making more money than the whole Indian film industry!

Move aside Dev Anand! Make way for Narayana Moorthy?

Which brings to mind the advice that Mr Narayana Moorthy gave in his valedictory address to the film and entertainment moghuls in an entertainment industry summit a few years ago. Do you remember reading about that? No?

Well, its worth reading all right. Check this

The Chairman of Infosys gave a 5 point Mantra to Moviedom. He said Globalize, Benchmark, Corporatize, use project management techniques, and go for quality certifications. But I wonder about the wisdom of all this cross pollination, esp the last pollen. Imagine making a movie using procedures conforming to ISO 9000 (or whatever) standards

I would rather try the reverse. For eg, from IT industry perspective, I wouldn’t mind checking out the best processes of movie-making.  I am not sure, but I suspect that the film industry is pretty good in project management. I read of massive productions being completed in record time. It may well be that we in the IT Industry need to check out film industry benchmarks! Also, in terms of staff assignments, I quite like the specialization of roles in film industry - Producer, Director, Actors, Playback singers, music directors, stuntmen, visual effects folks etc. Compare that with IT industry where, generally speaking, the same person tends to be fungible across all kinds of roles! I am sure there  are more learnings!

What say you?

If you cant beat them, buy them

Some years ago, in one of the houses in my neighborhood, it started raining stones. Honest! One evening, I got a call saying - “hey, can you please come over? We could do with some help. Something weird is happening in our house…” etc, and when I landed up there, sure enough it was a  theatre of the bizarre. At the back of their house, every once in a while, stones came crashing down from the sky. We kept watch, trying to figure out where on earth this was coming from, but were quite clueless at the end of the day.  

Next evening, the rain commenced again. This time I went to their terrace, and kept watch, like a hunter from a treetop ‘machan’. Others took other vantage points. This was the house of a high (retired) Government official. So, cops were on hand too. But that didn’t deter the stones. They came like ‘spit and curse’ of celestials, from nowhere, suddenly falling from the sky…No fixed frequency. Once in five or ten minutes, sometimes after a gap of half an hour, “crash”…

All sorts of speculations were tabled. Some said that this could be black magic. One of the housemaids had separated from her husband. Now that fellow, was rumored to be a practitioner in occult stuff. So, this housemaid was questioned. She threw a fit, screamed like one possessed, and added to the problem. Someone else from the neighborhood came dragging a youth - and handed him over to the cops, saying that the fellow was moving around suspiciously, and may well have been throwing the stones. The cops immediately worked on him, but couldn’t extract a confession. It became obvious that he had no idea about the goings-on, and that demeanor of suspiciousness that he wore was the natural-look that God had gifted him with.

The second day too ended clueless.

The third day, experts in occult etc were consulted. Many concerned people, from far and near, shared their war stories. Turned out that every one had some crazy banshee real-life experience, and offered expert advice for free. Come evening, cops came, and the rain started on schedule.

Some one hour into the rain, they caught the cloud!

It was a housemaid of the house next to theirs. This girl (in her late teens) was caught red-handed. She had been expertly threw stones without anyone noticing. She had been somewhere around all the time, but no one had seen her doing the act. She had all along acted like one trying to help from the other side of the wall, as one of the watchers, saying that stones were falling over there as well. She was the hound disguised as the hare! She slipped once, and they caught her, stones in hand. Turned out that she had been paid by someone to create a nuisance here. Well, the cops questioned her, warned her, and let her go. That was that, chapter over.

That was some years ago. The house that was stoned, has since been demolished, and a set of flats has come up there. This got done just a month or so ago, and the original folks moved in to one of the flats. They had invited us to visit them. And imagine my surprise. That maid from their next door, the perpetrator of the stone-shower, was now working here as a maid! Working for the people she had stoned!

Well, its not easy getting maids nowadays, and one can’t be very choosy. ‘Better a known  devil than an unknown angel’, and all that.

Explanation was not far to seek. Earlier, she had been working for the competition. Now she was an employee of this house!

Capitalism! Thats the occult that works, any time, every time!