The Sound of Solace SLS Class Material Present Tense (TOI 030709)

MASHA HASSAN, Speaking Tree, The Times of India

 

The vibrating strains of Azaan always have an enchanting effect on me; they resonate in my mind, filling my soul as well as the atmosphere with their sound of solace .

I don't offer namaz (being too young for it). Yet, the prayer makes me feel like surrendering myself submitting to the spirit of Islam that stands for peace and purity, humility and discipline. The term 'submission to God' is a deep and divine term when it is followed in true spirit. We are not expected to visualise God but to worship Him and adore Him as a Protector.

I wake up everyday, my eyes opening to the serene sound of the Azaan, every word finding its way into my consciousness as the new day dawns with the promise of a new beginning. I don't know Arabic, but the words and their impact are so evocative that it is easy to recognise and submit to the One Power that protects and guides us, and surrender and submission to the Almighty is but an expression of Divine trust.

The day goes on with nothing but a daily routine. My holidays are going on, but with the 10th boards ready to occupy my mind, I tend to frown a lot, worrying about the future. The evenings are meant for tuitions but the brighter side is that on my way I can hear the beautiful sound of the evening prayer. The sounds of solace give me a feeling of protection and this prayer tells me that someone is out there to hear and know. It takes me to a different world, a world that may not be real in this day and age but is still alive and these prayers have kept it alive in a conventional kind of way.

Salat or Salawat is the name given to the formal prayer of Islam that serves as a formal method of remembering Allah. The prayer, one of the obligatory rites of the religion, is performed five times a day - at dawn (fajr), noon (dhuhr), in the afternoon (asr), at sunset (maghrib) and nightfall (ishaa). Prayer is also cited as a means of restraining a believer from social wrongs and moral deviance.

These prayers are a medium and it helps us to remind ourselves of a God who looks over us. Whatever we do, we will receive compensation or otherwise in the here and now. Heaven and Hell are not places to which we are destined to go, but they are states of our own mind. Any religion, which can successfully help us overcome material influences, has to be scientific, and spiritualism is just that.

For me spiritualism is not a compulsion or a daily routine. It is a feeling I get when I smell a flower or look at the clouds. For me helping an animal is spiritual. I remember the day when I helped a cow with a broken leg. It was hard to move her from the middle of the road but my father, determined, called the Sanjay Gandhi hospital and meanwhile we gave the cow water to drink. Seeing her being rescued from pain and the maddening summer heat I felt liberated as it brought me closer to the Almighty and His Creation. It was like offering a prayer and being rewarded, too. The happiness and joy I felt at that time was immense. That is spiritualism to me; that is my namaz.

(The writer is a tenth class student in a Delhi school.)

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4729763,prtpage-1.cms

 

 

Take a leap of faith in total surrender TOI-ST 250609

C V R Joga Rao

 

"Please recite Gajendra Moksham for me." We get occasional SOS calls from our daughter software professional in the US whenever she is faced with a

persistent illness or an intractable situation at the workplace.

My wife and I sit down in prayer and recite the celebrated Bhagavatam story of the Elephant King. We believe in the efficacy of this prayer, for it has seen us through many a crisis in our nearly four decades of family life.

The story is well known: King Indradhyumna is a devout Vishnu Bhakta. Vanity over his devotion to God brings upon him Saint Agastya's curse and he is born as Gajendra, the proud elephant king. In order to redeem His devotee entangled in mundane pleasures, divine play is enacted by way of Gajendra getting caught by a crocodile while playing with members of his royal household in a forest lake. He fights the crocodile with all his might but in vain. Weary, anguished and helpless after struggling to free himself for long, the elephant laments why no one has come forward to save him. He prays to God, in the context of his past sanskaras :

"God is the Universal Self which is eternal and has no beginning or end. He is the cause as well as the effect for the universe that is but His illusory play with Himself playing all the roles like actors on a stage. He is omnipresent, omniscient and Almighty. He is beyond speech and thought and can be realised only by the yogis who have exhausted all vasanas and steadfastly see Him in their mind's eye..." But there is no Divine response.

Gajendra is distressed why the omnipresent and Almighty God who is said to come to the rescue of the destitute is not answering his prayers and has not granted darshan or given him relief. He now begins to doubt His existence. As he deeply contemplates over this, realisation occurs within him that God alone is the protector for the universe; all his doubts vanish like mist before the Sun and he entreats Him for ending his agony in a spirit of total surrender. The Supreme Lord soon appears, kills the crocodile with His Sudarshana Chakra and releases Gajendra.

Similarly, man, egoistic and proud of his power and pelf, struts about the world unmindful of God until defeat and dejection make him realise his limitations. He turns to God for instant solution to his problems and when it does not happen, he loses faith in Him. Instead of surrendering to His will and praying for relief, he specifies solutions and action plans without realising that God being Almighty and Omniscient will give relief in His chosen way.

Like the Ramayana's Sundarakanda and the Hanuman Chalisa , recitation of Gajendra Moksham is a common ritual among Hindus as it offers solace for the distressed. It is particularly dear to people in Andhra Pradesh because of Bammera Pothana's soulful rendering in Telugu of Vedavyasa's Bhagavata Purana. Pothana was a gifted poet but led a simple farmer's life. His intense devotion to Rama and a divine vision impelled him to undertake this gigantic task. He faced many a hurdle as he declined royal patronage. Legend has it that when he reached an impasse in describing the Vaikuntham scene in Gajendra Moksham and rested for the day, Rama Himself took the form of Pothana and completed the poem.

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4697194,prtpage-1.cms

Soundarya Lahiri And Inner Beauty TOI-ST

3 Jun 2003, 0001 hrs IST, Sri Sri Ravishankar

Consciousness is beauty and Creation is an expression of
consciousness. Beauty is present in all creation. Eastern philosophy
believes beauty is the nature of things, while western thought sees it
as perception. Perhaps beauty is both subjective and objective.

The East emphasises subjectivity; it sees beauty as the nature of
existence — as Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, an objective phenomenon. In
the West, where objectivity is emphasised, beauty is seen as a
subjective phenomenon. But as the old proverb goes, beauty lies in the
eyes of the beholder. Beauty bridges the subject-object divide.

Be calm and serene; turn within and you can get a glimpse of beauty.
Every experience of beauty is happening within, and is superimposed on
the object outside. Beauty is a state of mind. If your mind is calm
and collected, it perceives beauty everywhere. If agitated, even the
most beautiful things can annoy. Perception of beauty varies with the
level of intelligence. For an average person, garments and accessories
are the symbols of beauty. For the more sensitive, the sparkle in your
eyes or a smile on your face is beautiful. Others see beauty in
innocence. A child captivates your attention with its innocence and
smile.

For the intellectually inclined, beauty lies in intelligence. However
good looking a person is, she will not be found attractive for long if
she lacks wit and intelligence. Whenever the mind is captivated, it is
close to the Self or pure consciousness. That's why temple idols are
decorated with clothes and jewellery and the room is enhanced with
incense, flowers and food is offered to lure the mind away from the
five senses and make it still.
Dispassion to one's Self, dedication to society and devotion to God is
the secret of undying beauty. Without dispassion, beauty is
short-lived. But possessiveness turns beauty into a mirage. Devotion
and wonderment is simply appreciating beauty without possessiveness.
You see a beautiful painting and you want to own it, you want to take
it home with you, but then you hang it on your wall and after a while
you don't even look at it.

Adi Shankara in the Soundarya Lahiri — 'Waves of Beauty', speaks of
the god of love, Kama, aiming at you with five flower arrows which aim
to awaken the five senses, giving rise to a 'wave' of beauty which
creates bliss — you start appreciating everything from a thorn to a
snail to even a sea urchin. The rishis have always adored beauty and
made it a characteristic of the Divine. Satyam or truth, Shivam or
benevolence, tranquillity and divinity, and Sundaram or beauty.

Shyness enhances beauty while shame kills it. Valour enhances beauty;
arrogance des-troys it. There is a certain beauty in maturity — so
looking beautiful is not the sole prerogative of the young. Often
beauty is recognised only when it is uncommon. But to nature lovers,
everything in nature is beautiful. Beauty is not just in the flowers;
it is in the thorns of a cactus, too.

Beauty creates a thrill, it wakes up the sleeping consciousness.
Beauty can also bring ecstasy and draw you into deep meditation.
Beauty is not limited to excitement and activity, it also permeates
sleep. Look at a sleeping baby, Buddha or Vishnu. There is un-
fathomable beauty there. Not just knowledge but even ignorance,
foolishness has a certain beauty.
To be able to perceive truth or beauty in creation, calmness is
essential. An agitated mind can neither see the truth nor appreciate
beauty. That's why Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram always go together. The
whole of Creation is nothing but 'Waves of Beauty'.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1962.cms

Waves of divine beauty TOI-SE

BHANUMATI NARASIMHAN

The nature of the Self is described as Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram:
Truth, Tranquillity and Innocence, and Beauty.

Spirituality is a journey from the outer world of names and forms to
the subtle world of energies, to the innermost core of our being, the
Self.

Satyam or Truth is multidimensional, unchanging in time and space. It
is the substratum, the basis of entire creation. Shivam is the
embodiment of calmness and tranquillity, innocence and benevolence.
Shiva is always mentioned along with Shakti. Shakti is the primordial
energy responsible for entire creation. Energy is the feminine aspect
and is addressed as Mother Divine, the Devi. Like the sea and the
waves, though seemingly separate, they are essentially the same. Like
the light and the lamp, dancer and the dance, Shiva and Shakti, the
creation and the creative impulse are inseparable.

Sundaram is beauty. We move from recognising beauty outside to beauty
within. Adi Shankaracharya in his composition Saundarya Lahiri (Waves
of Beauty), glorifies the incomparable beauty of the Divine Mother.
Here he speaks of Apangat or Kama, the god of love, an archer with a
bow and five flower arrows. When Apangat hits you with his arrow of
flowers, a wave of beauty is created inside you.

The five flowers represent the five senses through which you
experience something that is beyond the senses. You experience a wave
of beauty rising deep inside you; you have dissolved into the
formless. Rather, you are formless. You have come back to your nature.

When you look at beautiful scenery, your eyes shut and you sink into
that ocean of beauty. When you smell a fragrant flower, the flower
remains outside, the fragrance disappears in a void, and you drop into
being. That is beauty. When you hear beautiful music, you become fully
immersed in it and you no longer know what is being played. You are
lost in the formless divinity within.

In this way, Adi Shankara has described the beautiful journey from the
gross to the subtle, the outer to the inner, the form to the formless,
and the limited to the infinite, non-dual consciousness.

Established in such a state, you start appreciating everything from a
thorn to a snail and a sea urchin. Dispassion to one's Self,
dedication to society and devotion to God is the secret of undying
beauty. Without dispassion, beauty is short-lived. Possessiveness
turns beauty into a mirage. Devotion and wonderment is simply
appreciating beauty without possessiveness. You see a beautiful
painting and you want to own it, you want to take it home with you,
but then you hang it on your wall and after a while you don't even
look at it. Adi Shankaracharya was an embodiment of dispassion. He
could fully cognise and experience beauty in entire creation.

Beauty creates a thrill; it wakes up the sleeping consciousness.
Beauty can also bring ecstasy and draw you into deep meditation.
Meditation is complete relaxation, like a cool shower for the mind. It
is the act of getting in touch with your own divinity, getting back to
your nature. Your nature is truth, innocence and beauty.

To be able to perceive truth or beauty in creation, calmness is
essential. An agitated mind can neither see the truth nor appreciate
beauty. That's why Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram always go together. The
whole of Creation is nothing but 'Waves of Beauty'.

(The writer is director, Women & Child Welfare Programmes, The Art of
Living Foundation.)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4335256,prtpage-1.cms

Vande Mataram : Aurobindo's Interpretation

Translation by Shree Aurobindo

Mother, I bow to thee!   
Rich with thy hurrying streams,   
bright with orchard gleams,   
Cool with thy winds of delight,   
Dark fields waving Mother of might,   
Mother free.   

Glory of moonlight dreams,   
Over thy branches and lordly streams,   
 Clad in thy blossoming trees,   
Mother, giver of ease   
Laughing low and sweet!   
Mother I kiss thy feet,   
Speaker sweet and low!   
Mother, to thee I bow.   
   

Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands   
When the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands   
And seventy million voices roar   
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?   
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,   
To thee I call Mother and Lord!   
Though who savest, arise and save!   
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove   
Back from plain and Sea   
And shook herself free.   
 

Thou art wisdom, thou art law,  
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath  
Though art love divine, the awe  
In our hearts that conquers death.  
Thine the strength that nervs the arm,  
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.  
Every image made divine  
In our temples is but thine.  

Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,  
With her hands that strike and her  
swords of sheen,  
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,  
And the Muse a hundred-toned,  
Pure and perfect without peer,  
Mother lend thine ear,  
Rich with thy hurrying streams,  
Bright with thy orchard gleems,  
Dark of hue O candid-fair  

In thy soul, with jewelled hair  
And thy glorious smile divine,  
Lovilest of all earthly lands,  
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!  
Mother, mother  mine!  
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,  
Mother great and free!  

 http://www.indianchild.com/vande_mataram.htm

I Have a Dream - Speech by Martin Luther King Jr.

In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvellous new militancy which has engulfed our community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realise that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realise that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And... even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character... I have a dream that one day... right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.... I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together." This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And this will be the day ^ this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing./ Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,/ From every mountainside, let freedom ring!/ And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true... And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! Excerpted from the `I Have a Dream' speech delivered on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3677641,prtpage-1.cms

Start singing, dancing and rejoicing, Speaking Tree, TOI 11 Dec 08

Time is short. Dance, sing, be joyous! If there were no nuclear destruction possible, no threat, you could have postponed.

You could have said, "Tomorrow we will dance." But now there may be no tomorrow; you cannot postpone. This is for the first time that tomorrow is absolutely doubtful for all. Individually it is always doubtful: tomorrow may never come, even the next breath may not come in. Individually death is always imminent, but this time it is something global, universal. The whole earth may disappear, may explode.

You can cry and weep and you can beat your head against the wall; that will not stop nuclear destruction and its threat. In fact, it may bring it closer and faster because sad people, miserable people, are dangerous people. Misery creates destructiveness. Politicians have enough atomic energy piled up to destroy this earth not only once but several hundred times.

If the whole of humanity can start dancing, rejoicing, feasting ^ seeing that the threat is very close by... If the whole earth can become full of joy it will be less possible to destroy, because who is going to destroy it?

We are the people; it is up to us to decide that we want to live or that we want to commit suicide. If we start a new climate in the world ^ of rejoicing, of dancing, of singing, of meditation, of prayer ^ and if people become full of bliss, cheerfulness, laughter... there is every possibility we can avoid destruction, because joyous people don't want to destroy, they want to create.

If destruction has become global, we have to make laughter and dancing also global, in the same proportion, to counteract it. Why be sad? And what are you going to gain by sadness? Yes, i know the world is facing a danger, but each individual has always faced the danger of death. If universal death is really close by, don't postpone. I say rejoice ^ because if you can die rejoicing, you will transcend death, you will go beyond death.

One who can die blissfully never dies, because in death he comes to know immortality.

If the time is short, then you have to spread this orange laughter all over the world. Then it is time that we should make people more and more joyous. Tell them that death can take over this earth any moment, because... politicians have so much power now... Just push a button and the process can be triggered, the whole earth can explode. You don't have time to waste.

Remember, meditation will give you many joys, many blessings; many gifts will descend on you. The Buddha says: do not turn away what is given to you... because if you turn it away you will miss the opportunity, and it may not knock on your door again for a long time. One never knows when the moment will come again. So whenever something happens to you in meditation, open your heart. And go dancing, go joyously, because in meditation nothing wrong can ever happen to you.

The more alert you are, you find new ways of doing things, you find new styles of living your life. The more alert you are, the more creative you are, and only creative people know what happiness is. What you create is not the point ^ just be creative. It may be poetry, it may be music, it may be sculpture, it can be anything, but just the process of being creative brings you to the point where you meet the Divine.

(Excerpted from `Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha'. Courtesy: Osho International Foundation. www.osho.com. Today is Osho's birth anniversary.)

Yoga to fight stress!

Shavasana

 

Lie on your back, both legs straight and apart by about one foot. keep your arms on the floor, slightly away from your torso, the palms facing upwards. Make sure that there is no tension in your body.

 

Let your limbs loose. close your eyes and focus all your attention on your breathing. Focus on inhaling and exhaling in arythmic pattern. Rest in this position for five minutes.

 

BENEFITS

 

Helps overcome physical and mental fatigue; is the simplest way to fight depression, tension and insomnia; has a calming influence on entire body and one of the best ways to relax.

 

 

Aum Chanting

 

This is the perfect way to begin and end all exercise sessions. Sit in a comfortable postion, like padmasana or sukhasana, breathing normally. Inhale to your lungs' capacity. Open your mouth and say 'aaa' first. Then close your mouth slightly and say 'o'  and then close your mouth fully, saying 'mmm' and exhaling all the while. Repeat this cycle a few times.

 

BENEFITS

 

Boosts energy circulation in your body

 

The aum sound reverberates throughout the universe, as well as our bodies. it contains within itself the powers of the trinity; Vishnu, Brahma, Mahesh. When you chant in the meditative fashion, all your energy gets refreshed. You feel recharged, ready to take on anything.

 

Hasayasana

 

Sit in sukhasana and close your eyes. Now, smile, feel happy and think that you are free from all mental tensions. Tell yourself that you are free of all the ailments. gradually, start laughiing, louder and louder. Let yourself free and laugh out as much as you can. Raise your hands as well. Slowly lower the volume, reduce your tempo and return to the calm, smiling position.

 

BENEFITS

 

Helps develop a healthy mindset; takes the mind completely off all physical ailments or mental tensions; helps get rid of any anger, irritation or depression.

 

Courtesy:  Dr. Surakshit Goswami, Times Wellness, Delhi Times, with TOI March 7

Six qualities every great leader needs

By Sarah Lourie, Assistant Editor
SearchCIO.com

American Airlines Executive Chairman Ed Brennan knows about corporate leaders. He's had a seat on a dozen corporate boards -- he's sitting on four right now. Addressing attendees at the Society for Information Management's SIMposium 2004, Brennan said leadership is one of those things you know when you see it. It's a subtle quality a friend of his described thusly: "I don't know if I can define leadership, but I know when I've been led."

Brennan said he believes that great technology leadership is imperative for businesses. "As an example, on the fateful day of 9/11, American Airlines had many important decisions to make," he said. "On average, at any time during the day, we have 900 to 1,000 planes airborne. The decision was made to ground the fleet, and all planes landed within one hour.

"IT was critical to making and implementing this decision; it would have been impossible without it," he stressed.

So what makes a great corporate leader? According to Brennan, six qualities separate the leaders from the followers:

Integrity: This is a deal breaker if you don't have it completely. When it comes to governance, Brennan said, he "never did anything or asked anyone to do anything he couldn't go home and explain to his kids."

A deep understanding of the business: "You can't fake it. People will know." While you don't need to know every detail, you do have to have a good grasp of the business.

Consistency: While keeping things fresh is important, leaders cannot change direction frequently. They will lose people's confidence.

Willingness to admit a mistake: Everyone makes mistakes. If you're not making any, you're not doing your job right. But Brennan emphasized the importance of admitting your missteps -- otherwise people will not respect you.

The ability to listen: Good leaders must be willing to handle opinions contrary to their own and absorb as much as they can.

Decisiveness: While you should listen to others' opinions, the final decision is yours to make. Brennan said when CEOs fail, very often it's because they are not decisive. Average tenure for a CEO has fallen from more than a decade to three years because people lose confidence in leaders whose indecision results in failure.

So where does the CIO fit into Brennan's framework? The perception of senior management is that IT over-promises and underachieves, he said. Just remember that a good leader will know that results don't happen overnight, and being patient is important, too.