Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Becoming A Grandfather Changed The Equation Of Life


as an un growing
father of 3 kids
held captive in
a bottle of liquid
diehard disembodied
like a genie i hid
had no time a
habit i could not
rid ,, than came
the camera followed
by 3 grand kids
i gave up hooch..
yes i did ,, no
more utara
drunken eyelids
walking a path
through vision
focus marked
on a grid,,

all three camera kids
the grandfather they
completely outdid
outbid...

My Tryst With Hope And Hindutva - Maha Kumbh

After visiting the Kumbh Mela of 1895, Mark Twain wrote:
“It is wonderful, the power of a faith like that, that can make multitudes upon multitudes of the old and weak and the young and frail enter without hesitation or complaint upon such incredible journeys and endure the resultant miseries without repining. It is done in love, or it is done in fear; I do not know which it is. No matter what the impulse is, the act born of it is beyond imagination, marvelous to our kind of people, the cold whites. Irrespective of all worldly barriers of caste, creed, region, the Kumbh Mela has wielded a mesmeric influence over the minds and the imagination of millions…”
**************
“The tale is great, one may say enormous. Every twelfth year is held to be a year of peculiar grace; a greatly augmented volume of pilgrims results then. The twelfth year has held this distinction since the remotest of times, it is said.”


Tolerance of Hardship
Irrespective“At the Kumbh Mela, I was struck by the enormous tolerance of the Indian people,” Tully said. “This is something which has consistently struck me ever since I have lived in this country. The tolerance of hardship of the pilgrims who went there, many of them walking barefoot, carrying their luggage on their heads, having nowhere to sleep at night, except on straw out in the open. But it is not just their tolerance of harsh conditions, it is also their tolerance of each other, because at the Kumbh Mela there are heaven knows how many different forms of Hinduism being preached.”
Mark Tully

1989: Guinness Book of World Records proclaims the crowd of 15-million crowd at the February 6 Allahabad mela "the largest-ever gathering of human beings for a single purpose."

The Maha Kumbh


you need
more than
you camera
your vision
your camera
eye ..a moment
full of centuries
that refuses to die
a moment holding
your feet in the
waters of the ganges
confluence of 3 rivers
ganga yamuna saraswathi
as they meet ..you cry
brahma vishnu mahadev
bam bam bholenath
chants that wreak havoc
in the soul of the sky
a river that holds in its
open palms ,,, the spirit
of humanity ,,,on a high
you soar you fly...
har har mahadev
har har mahadev
har har mahadev
god replies ,,,

The Malang At The Maha Kumbh ,,,,

The Naga Sadhu And The Malang ,,,

Naga Sadhus And Yoga

Naked yoga (Sanskrit nagna yoga) is the practice of yoga without clothes. While many practice naked yoga at home and in nature, there are a growing number of participants, including children, in group classes. The practice is gaining popularity, notably in western societies that have more familiarity with social nudity. It is becoming popular in Europe and United States.[1]
Naked yoga should be considered in relation to the dress code at yoga courses, varying from different times and yoga directions.


Naked yoga have probably an Indian history since ancient times. One of the Indian sects called Naga Sadhus made nudity a part of their spiritual practice, but naga have been misunderstood as "nagna".
Naga means "who represents Power". The word Naga had came from NAG (snake) which signifies power in Hindu philosophy. And the word sadhu had came from Sadhan (Spiritual Practice). Members of the sect considered nudity a way of rejecting the material side of life. Celibacy and disregard of the harsh outside conditions were among the key ideas of their philosophy. They practiced naked yoga to tame their desires, identify with their physical bodies and to break the attachment with everything physical, sensual and material.
The word "gymnosophists" (naked philosophers), is used in ancient Greek writings as the designation of wise men (yogis) in India, maybe the naga sadhus.
Modern naked yoga has some roots in Germany and Switzerland through a movement called Lebensreform. The movement had since the end of the 19th century highlighted yoga and nudity.[2] In the early 20th century, the term gymnosophy was appropriated by several groups who practiced nudity, asceticism and meditation.

The Magic Of The Maha Kumbh..Lives Long After It Is Over

For Photographers The Maha Kumbh Was A Great High

The Greatest Show On Earth ... The Maha Kumbh..

The Greatest Show On Earth ... The Maha Kumbh..

The Greatest Show On Earth ... The Maha Kumbh..

The Greatest Show On Earth ... The Maha Kumbh..

The Greatest Show On Earth ... The Maha Kumbh..

Hardcore Cheek Piercing ,, Marriammen Feast Mumbai Juhu

Hardcore Cheek Piercing ,, Marriammen Feast Mumbai Juhu

Now You Know Why I Cant Shoot What Others Shoot


i shoot pain
overcoming pain,
i shoot man his
tryst with his destiny
mind over matter
reflections of his
cosmic brain
i shoot hope
i shoot hindutva
i shoot the 14
stations of christ
i shoot the pain
of karbala
i shoot hussain
i shoot what
i was destined
to shoot ,,, tears
rolling down a
window pane
as she looks
out for him
in a desolate
corner ,, sense
of poetry she
obtains ,,

now metaphorically
it could be ukraine ,,

The Goddess Marriammen ...

Māri (Tamil: மாரி), also known as Mariamman (Tamil: மாரியம்மன்) and Mariaai (Marathi: मरी आई), both meaning "Mother Mari", spelt also Maariamma (Tamil: மாரியம்மா), or simply Amman or Aatha (Tamil: அம்மன், "mother") is the South Indian Hindu goddess of rain. She is the main South Indian mother goddess, predominant in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Māri is closely associated with the Hindu goddesses Parvati[clarification needed] and Durga[clarification needed] as well as with her North Indian counterpart Shitaladevi. Goddess Mariamman and Goddess Kali are closely associated with each other. Mariamman is a form of Durga who took the form of Kali.[clarification needed]
Festivities for her happen during the late summer, early autumm season of "Aadi". Throughout the deccan region, grand festival known as "Aadi Thiruvizha" are taken for Maariamman. Her worship mainly focuses on bringing rains and curing diseases like cholera, smallpox, and chicken pox.
She is worshipped in accordance to the local agamas as "Pidari" or the "Grama Devata" usually by non-Brahmin priests or in some cases of big temples like Samayapuram Maariamman temple, also by Brahmin priests. According to shaktha agamas, she is depicted in sitting posture and might be flanked some times by Ganesha and Subramaniya or Ganesha and Naaga on her sides.[citation needed] She is usually taken in procession in a decorated chariot.

Mariamman is an ancient goddess, whose worship probably originated from pre-Vedic mother goddess cult of Dravidian people before the arrival of the Aryans with their Brahmanic religion.This is well attested by the unemployment of Brahmins in officiating the worshiping rituals of the goddess and by the non-Vedic worshiping method that was embraced by her devotees. In Tamil, the word 'Maari' would mean rain and 'amman' would literally mean mother but here "mother nature." She was believed and worshipped by the ancient Dravidian people to bring rain and hence prosperity to them as their vegetation was mainly dependent upon rain. The goddess was not a local deity, connected to a specific location but worshiped throughout the Dravidian nation.
Worship[edit]

The worshiping methods are non-vedic and often accompanied by various kinds of folk dancing.[1] Offerings such as Pongal and Koozh that were cooked using earthen pots were also made during the festive season. Rituals such as fire walking and mouth or nose piercing were also practiced.
Myths[edit]

One story about the origin of Maariamman is she was the wife of Thiruvalluvar, the Tamil poet, who was an outcast.[citation needed] She caught smallpox and begged from house to house for food, fanning herself with leaves of the neem or margosa tree to keep the flies off her sores. She recovered and people worshiped her as the goddess of smallpox. To keep smallpox away, neem leaves are hung above the main entryways of South Indian homes. This temple houses both Thiruvalluvar and his wife Vaasuki Ammaiyar.
The Tamil word Muthu means pearl and hence in the ancient usage of the language 'Muthu Maari' was a celebrating, poetic way of telling the rain falls in droplets which were related to pearls given by the nature god for property. Maariamman was also called 'Muthu Maariamman' which meant the goddess who gives prosperous rain. This was wrongly connected to the pearl-like small form of the boils that occur during chickenpox.[citation needed]
Another story involves the beautiful virtuous Nagavali, wife of Piruhu, one of the nine Rishis. One day the Rishi was away and the Trimurti came to see if her famed beauty and virtue was true. Nagavali did not know them and, resenting their intrusion, turned them into little children. The gods were offended and cursed her, so her beauty faded and her face became marked like smallpox. The Rishi returned, found her disfigured, and drove her away, declaring she would be born a demon in the next world and cause the spread of a disease which would make people like her. She was called Mari, meaning 'changed.' Both stories are reported by Whitehead[citation needed] and he remarks that in Mysore he was told that Mari meant sakti, power.
Local goddesses such as Mariamman who were believed to protect villages and their lands and represent the different castes of their worshippers have always been an important part of the religious landscape of South India. However, we can note periods of special significance. The eclecticism of the Vijayanagar period (1336–1565) encouraged folk religion, which became more important and influenced the more literate forms of religion. In the last century and a half there has been a rebirth of Tamil self-consciousness (see Devotion to Murukan). In the middle of the present century deities such as Mariamman have become linked to the "great tradition" as the strata of society which worship the goddess has become integrated into the larger social order.
Iconography[edit]

Māri is usually pictured as a beautiful young woman with a red-hued face, wearing a red dress. Sometimes she is portrayed with many arms—representing her many powers—but in most representations she has only two or four.
Māri is generally portrayed in the sitting or standing position, often holding a trident (trisula) in one hand and a bowl (kapala) in the other. One of her hands may display a mudra, usually the abhaya mudra, to ward off fear. She may be represented with two demeanors—one displaying her pleasant nature, and the other her terrifying aspect, with fangs and a wild mane of hair.
Goddess of disease[edit]


The Nanalthidal Mariamman,Kattucherry near Porayar,Tamil Nadu
Mariamman cures all so-called "heat-based" diseases like pox and rashes. During the summer months in South India (March to June), people walk miles carrying pots of water mixed with turmeric and neem leaves to ward off illnesses like the measles and chicken pox.[why?] In this way, goddess Māri is very similar to North Indian goddess Shitaladevi.
Fertility goddess[edit]

Devotees also pray to Mariamman for familial welfare such as fertility, healthy progeny or a good spouse. The most favoured offering is "pongal", a mix of rice and green gram, cooked mostly in the temple complex, or shrine itself, in terracotta pots using firewood.
Some festivals in honor of goddess Māri involve processions carrying lights. In the night, the devotees carry oil lamps in procession.[why?] Mariamman is the family deity for many families in Thanjavur district,Tamil Nadu.It is usually a family custom to initially worship the family deity for any family occasion such as wedding. Many families even have a custom of inviting the family deity first for all occasion in the family.The family deity(Kula-theivam)worship is considered more important in any Hindu festival. The family deity worship runs many generation and it also gives a clue to the origin of family,because the family deities are usually located within the vicinity of the village where the family belongs.
Temples[edit]


Mariamman temple in a village in Tamil Nadu


Main shrine to Mariamman in the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Most temples to Mariamman are simple village shrines, where non-Brahmins act as lay-priests using non-agamic rituals. In many rural shrines, the goddess is represented by a granite stone with a sharp tip, like a spear head. This stone is often adorned with garlands made of limes and with red flowers. These shrines often have an anthill that could be the resting place of a cobra. Milk and eggs are offered to propitiate the snake.
Some temples have also attained enough popularity that Brahmins officiate at them. For example, the Samayapuram temple near the shore of river Cauvery in the northern outskirts of Trichy, maintains a rich agamic tradition and all rituals are performed by Gurukkal of Brahmins.
Punainallur, near Thanjavur (Tanjore), is the location of another famous Māri temple. Legend says that Mariamman appeared to the King Venkoji Maharaja Chatrapati (1676–1688) of Tanjore in his dreams and told him she was in a forest of Punna trees three miles distant from Tanjore. The King rushed to the spot and recovered an idol from the jungle. Under the king's orders a temple was constructed, the idol installed and the place was called Punnainallur. Hence the deity of this temple is known as Punnainallur Mariamman. Mud replicas of different parts of the human body are placed in the temple as offerings by devotees pleading for cure. It is said that the daughter of Tulaja Raja (1729–35) of Tanjore, who lost her eyesight due to illness, regained it after worshiping at this temple. Shri Sadasiva Bodendral is said to have made the Moola Murthy of Goddess Maariamman from the mud from the ant hill where snakes had resided.
Erode Mariamman temple festival is grand one in Tamil Nadu. Three mariamman goddess named small, mid and big mariamman in three corners of city combines to a festival at every April month of season. It has ther thiruvilla and all devotions to God which ends in Cauvery river to stack away the kambam(Mariamman's husband) into the flowing river water.
Other important temples of Mariamman in Tamil Nadu are in the towns of Veerapandi, Theni, Anbil (near Trichy), Narthamalai, Thiruverkadu, Salem, Virudhunagar and Sivakasi, Vellore. In Chennai (Madras), a famous Mariamman temple is the Putthu Mariamman—the Putthu (ant hill) is across the road from the temple and is located on the Velachery Main Road.
Singer Harini rendered in 2012 a song on Samayapuram Mariamman deity which became part of the album OM NAVA SAKTHI JAYA JAYA SAKTHI. The song narrates the power of Sakthi as Samayapuram Amman which has the Peruvalai River as Punya Theertham as believed by people in that area.[2]
Another famous Mariamman temple is situated in the state of Karnataka, in the town of Kaup, seven kilometers from the famous temple town of Udipi.
Marubai temple matunga
Mariamman Koil, Pilakool
Mariamman Temple, Ho Chi Minh City
Mariamman Temple, Bangkok
Mariamman Temple, Pretoria
Punnainallur Mariamman
Samayapuram Mariamman Temple
Sri Ramamirthamman Temple, Erumaipadukai
Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Kuala Lumpur
Sri Mahamariamman Temple, Penang
Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore
Mariamman Temple, Pretoria
Sri Ramamirthamman Temple[edit]
Sri Ramamirthamman Temple is a famous temple on the banks of the River Vennar near Needamangalam; the beautiful village is called Erumaipadukai. Shri Maan S.Ramachandran pillai is the founder of Ramamirthamman Temple. This amman kovil thiruvilla was very famous; many people celebrate this amman kovil year festival.
It is believed by the devotees that the Goddess has enormous powers over curing illnesses[1] and hence, it is a ritual to buy small metallic replicas, made with silver or steel, of various body parts that need to be cured, and these are deposited in the donation box.[citation needed] Devotees also offer mavilakku (Tamil: மாவிளக்கு), a sweet dish made of jaggery, rice flour and ghee. [2] Offerings of raw salt is also made to the Goddess by the rural devotees. The temple attracts thousands of devotees on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays, the holy days for Ramamirthamman.
Outside India[edit]
There are many Mariamman temples outside of India, in Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Fiji, Guyana, Vietnam, Germany[3] and South Africa, the product of efforts of the Tamil diaspora. Some notable temples include the Sri Mariamman temple in Singapore, a Mariamman temple in Pretoria, South Africa, as well as one in Medan, Sri Mariamman Temple Karachi Pakistan, Indonesia.[citation needed]
Hindu tradition[edit]

In Hindu tradition, Mariamman is the sister of Lord Vishnu (Sriranganathar) and called Mahamaya.[citation needed]
The Samayapuram Mariamman is worshiped on the first day of the Tamil month of Vaikasi by the Iyengar/Srivaishnava Brahmins of Srirangam. They claim that she is the sister of Lord Renganath (a form of Vishnu) of Srirangam.[citation needed] This is the second most prominent temple in Tamil Nadu, following Palani, on the basis of income.[citation needed]
Another version of the traditions suggests she is the mother of Parasurama, Renukadevi who is appeased for rains. She is also known as Sri Chowdeshwari Devi in most of the parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In Mysore region she is worshiped as both Chowdeshwari Devi and as well as Mariamman. There are many instances where Mariamman has appeared to people in form an old woman wearing red sari with green bangles and three mangalsutras.[clarification needed] She is also regarded as the Gramdevata[clarification needed] of certain villages, thus reducing the incidence of contagious disease in these villages. Another version depicts her as Pattalamma, goddesses of truthfullness and punctuality. She is said to punish any villager failing to practice these virtues.[citation needed]
In reference to Sanskrit stotras, it is suggested Mariamman is not sister of Lord Visnu rather feminine aspect of Lord.[citation needed] The Lord incarnates in this form during Kali yuga, when knowledge is almost void or ignorance at peak. Even few refer or map to other female goddess like Renuka devi, none of them have been proved or validated. The Mariamman represents core aspects of Lord in form of curative aspect to signify direction and awakening of knowledge. She is referred as MahaLakshmi, Mahasaraswati and MahaKali. Varamahalakshi is dedicated to Mariamman. It also represents finite aspect of infinite qualities.


from wikipedia

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