*From To Sathish*-Sathish's new movie Info & Pics pg20! - Page 98

Mantra Japam

Japam is the recitation of a Mantra. Mantra is derived from "Man" which means Mind and "tra" which means tool. Mantra therefore means a tool to control the Mind.
There are two categories of mantras delineated in the shastras. One is the vaidika-mantra, or mantras of the Vedas (such as Gayatri, etc.), and the other is the nama-mantra, or mantras composed of the Lord's names. By definition a vaidika-mantra will possess three aspects, namely a seed letter (such as 'om', 'srim', 'hrim', etc.) which invokes the divinity, a deity to whom the mantra is directed, and a function or offering to the deity (such as 'namah', 'svaha',etc.). Such vaidika-mantras must be received directly from the guru through the process of upadesha, or initiation. This category of mantra has many rules and regulations associated with the chanting of the mantra. It is not that one may chant the mantra at any time or at any place. Prior to the chanting of the mantra one must undergo purification both externally and internally.
This involves bathing (and other procedures from the 'yama' and 'niyama'), meditational postures (asana), breath control to make the mind peaceful (pranayama), withdrawal of the senses from the sense objects (pratyahara), and absorption on the deity (dharana). These six steps of yoga help one to purify oneself, first externally, and then internally. Once situated in purity one may then begin one's mantra sadhana, provided one finds a suitably pure and peaceful location.Such mantras require one to be completely dedicated to their sadhana under the guidance of a qualified guru. These mantras should not be chanted whimsically, as there is all chance of committing mistakes in our sadhana, resulting in us incuring negative reactions.Nama-mantras are quite different from the vaidika-mantras, as they are composed only of the Lord's name.
Such mantras carry the exact same potency as the vaidika mantras, but in a manner accessable to all. When we analyse the power source of all mantras, we will come to understand it is the name alone which empowers the mantra. For example, one may take a mantra such as 'om namo bhagavate vasudevaya'. If one were to just chant 'om namo, om namo, om namo', one will not receive the effect of the mantra. On the other hand, if one were to just chant 'vasudeva, vasudeva, vasudeva', one would receive the benefit of the mantra, for it is Vasudeva's name which empowers the mantra. The full potency of the Lord is present within His holy name:There are no restrictions (niyamas) for chanting the Lord's name; neither must one take consideration of the time or circumstances."The nama-mantras are the Lord's special mercy to the fallen souls of the Kali-yuga. Those of us with no proper spiritual qualification can still attain the Lord and associate with Him through His divine name.

There are three ways by which one can do Japam
Ucchahi - loud recitation - less effective
Upamshu - soft recitation - more effective
Manasikam - within the mind - most effective.

Benefits of Japam

Physical - to energize the system (to tone up the system)
Mental - to remove depression/obstacles/mental blocks.
Spiritual - self-development/specific areas of growth (strengthening the inner-personality by projecting positive powers inwards; over-coming/eliminating negative traits)

A Real Deposit

I accompanied my husband when he went to get a haircut. Reading a magazine, I found a hairstyle I liked for myself, and I asked the receptionist if I could take the magazine next door to make a copy of the photo. "Leave some ID, a driver's license or a credit card," she said.

"But my husband is here getting a haircut," I explained.

"Yes," she explained. "But I need something you'll come back for."

mohandas karamchand gandhi
Thank you.Some people will say that you shouldn't have partitioned India and Pakistan.some will say that you were insulted in South Africa and hence you came to India to fight for freedom since your ego was bruised.Some will talk about your sex life and more will talk more shit.To all of them "go to hell". I thank you for the free air i breathe which you gifted me by going through so much pain and spending so much time in jail.I thank you for teaching me Ahimsa is the best Offence and also the best Defence.Now more than ever your teachings and life is relevant to our country and if we have to go far and higher,i think we need to look back and learn from you.How you came is not important for how you lived,what you achieved and what you stood for is important.You lived,you stood and you died a martyr.Thank you so much

never married

I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog that growls every morning, a parrot that swears all afternoon, and a cat that comes home late at night. (Marie Corelli)

To write and the whys and the hows

Writing is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.""George Orwell

For me the ability of writing was a big discovery and i was as suprised as some of you are when i happen to accidentally write something special.Having born in bangalore with kannada flavour to telugu parents and add to that lots of tamil families around us,well clash of sounds is an understatement.writing came to me after i learnt how to read and tell time and speak in tamil and english and these were taught to me by my first teacher,ARUNA my sister.I very much doubt if she remembers for it was decades ago.Believe it or not my first words written apart from studies was a love letter written to a classmate I.KALA back when i was doing my 2nd std in saraswati vidyalaya.W*F will be your reaction but now that i think about i can shed some light on it i think.Can a boy of 7 to 8 years fall in love and have feelings for a girl,i seriously doubt it but i think i wrote it for the girl was pretty,beautiful and special.As for me i thought of myself as ugly and ordinary and a pariah for i was an outcast an orphan living under my aunts roof.So anything special or beautiful was worth coveting for to make myself beautiful and to elevate myself and hoping that some of her light would shine on me and that i could escape from the darkness i was covered with and was living under.

Whenever i spoke or tried to have a conversation people kind of warded me of saying things like "athigaprasangi" and shake me and ask me why do you want to know the answers to everything.I had a pretty decent handle on english and tamil and although my writing was not perfect in the literal sense,i
remember my english teacher from krishnaswamy matriculation school always asking me to do better and told me many a time to write and hone that skill.I participated in many essay writing competitions and was always part of the school's english literary association.Great things were predicted for me but they were also tinged with predictions and sayings from all my elders and prayers such as "short tempered,cannot focus on one thing.inferiority complex,sullen,impertinent and very aggressive ".

I wrote sometimes to escape my demons for i could talk about everything under the sun but i could not talk about the pain i felt in my chest or how horribly lonely and shunned i felt.But all that pain never broke me,bent me a bit yes,but never broke me.Like cliched examples i did and rebelled to get people's attention.I got lot of attention,yup in the form of canings,beatings with sticks and whipped.I think my aunts,my grandmom beat the shit out of me to get rid of their demons and frustration which plagued our family.I write and there is a bit of gemini in my writings and postings.But i write for there is a song bird who sings in my mind and i write to escape the demons who
persist and refuse to leave me and say that i will be nothing if i am without my sadness and loneliness.So very true for writing comes from our experiences,betrayal,love failure and seasons in the abyss of orphanhood.These are the tools with which i unconsciously approach my writing and acting and i am nothing without them.

From a badly put together toy i have learnt to function nevertheless with the help of my friends and classmates from besant arundale.Venket,sanjay,bajji,paddy,nandu,dharini,hema are some of the people who have mended and made me functional.But all that is possible and made possible by the presence of my wife who has been my mata,pita,guru and deivam.A humble thanks to all of you.

Might just continue someday,before advance stage of dementia sets in

GHOST WHISPERER

"Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee
And I'll forgive Thy great big one on me."
Robert Frost

"Death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed."

From the first unfocused stare at light and life you largely travel without too many questions until the uncertain age of 13 or 14.Most of your life and time in these years are about food and play.I largely spent time waiting for festivals like pongal,diwali,ganesh chaturti,telugu new years day and mahalaya amavasya.I don't know much about my ancestors or too many secrets about my family but one thing i realised and understood was that people in my family knew how to eat and eat well.Dress well and enjoy the good things in life even though it meant living beyond their means.One more thing i understood about my family was that everybody suffered ( THE GREEN CHILI UP THEIR ASS SYNDROME) and i think i got my green chili or inherited from my kith and kin.My family largely went with the flow and they have been flowing ever since and the flow is not clogged because the bed is clogged with silt and weed.

Sometime when i was 12 or 13 i realised things were happening to me and others of my age around me at home and school.Well i sprouted hair in places from my head and most of he girls sprouted strange bumps on their chests.Confusing times but they soon settle down and of you go into the unknown and euphoric years of teenage when you are an alien.Your brain secretes strange hormones needed for the coming adulthood,when you need to become a man to face the world and the opposite sex.Quietly and largely unnoticed mother nature holds you by the scruff of your neck and drags you to sick depths before you come to the altar of vows and the end of bachelorhood.By the time you look around helplessly and ask what the heck,where did the years go,you are married although you are never prepared for it and will never be and everyone can pick up like i did the book MEN ARE FROM MARS AND WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS.

Now in my 40's i lay awake many a night smiling to myself and asking what life is all about.I look at the blades of the ceiling fan which keeps whispering as if on a loop "what goes around comes around and what comes around goes around".I am more alive now although too many questions plague and make me suffer from insomnia and gift me with small bags around my eyes.Nowadays most of the time i am awake i wonder how to make peace with myself and peace with life which also means coming to terms with other lives.I don't know much about ghosts but i am sure they have better things to do than haunt people for people haunt and torment themselves and need no help.Sometimes shah rukh comes singing in my dreams telling me

Har Ghadi Badal Raha Hai Roop Zindagi
Chaav Hai Kahhi Hai Dhoop Zidnagi
Har Pal Yahan
Jee Bhar Jiyo Jo Hai Sama
Kal Ho Na Ho

I feel strangely alive in these years of pondering than those years in the sun and in the times of my youth.Growing up all of us cousins used to sleep like bodies lined up after a natural disaster but now don't like to be touched even by my wife when i go to sleep and thank her blessed soul for she understands my feelings.
What does it mean to grow up,what does it really mean to grow up i used to think but now slowly things and the pieces of the puzzle are coming together.I came alone and will go alone and the loneliness is the key the secret.There is something profound and meaningful that life teaches you with this emotion.When our most important thought processes are dependent on other lives true meanings are never found for simply put they always lead to disappointment like most expectations.But learning to depend on your own thoughts,learning to live by your own thoughts you simply put a chasm between you and others and try as much as they will they cannot cross or bridge it.Good for people always tend to betray you,let you down and are not just there when you need them.Like most drug addictions we tend to get addicted to people and relationships which is bad and counter productive.

I have seen too much death early in my life and i used to wonder what it all meant but now i know i have to live for it is gift from the universe that it let me go on and took others around me and some much much before their time like my kid brother.It just is and the most important revelation is that some things work in scales too high and far out for me to understand.Just like we can never possibly land on the sun or swim to the depths of the deepest oceans life teaches you that some things are meant to be.You grow immune to those questions for there is no logical answer which even a person with the highest IQ can answer.
so in the end we are left with Jee Bhar Jiyo Jo Hai Sama,Kal Ho Na Ho

"Weathered"

I lie awake on a long, dark night
I can't seem to tame my mind
Slings and arrows are killing me inside
Maybe I can't accept the life that's mine
No I can't accept the life that's mine
I try to hold on but I'm calloused to the bone
Maybe that's why I feel alone
Me..I'm rusted and weathered
Barely holding together
I'm covered with skin that peels and it just won't heal

Human body

Did you know 11% of people are left handed
Did you know unless food is mixed with saliva you can't taste it
Did you know the average person falls asleep in 7 minutes
Did you know 8% of people have an extra rib
Did you know the smallest bones in the human body are found in your ear
Did you know stewardesses is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand
Did you know that you burn more calories eating celery than it contains (the more you eat the thinner you become)
Did you know all the blinking in one day equates to having your eyes closed for 30 minutes
Did you know your foot has 26 bones in it
Did you know the average human brain contains around 78% water
Did you know your brain uses between 20 - 25% of the oxygen your breathe
Did you know a 1/4 of your bones are in your feet
Did you know your tongue is the fastest healing part of your body
Did you know a 1 minute kiss burns 26 calories
Did you know you burn more calories sleeping than watching TV
Did you know an average person will spend 25 years asleep
Did you know the most common mental illnesses are anxiety and depression
Did you know your skin is the largest organ making up the human body
Did you know enamel is the hardest substance in your body
Did you know the hyoid bone in your throat is the only bone in your body not attached to any other

Did you know your most sensitive finger is your index finger (closest to your thumb)
Did you know the human body of a 70 kg person contains 0.2mg of gold
Did you know women blink twice as much as men
Did you know Scotland has the most redheads
Did you know household dust is made of dead skin cells
Did you know the word 'testify' derived from a time when men were required to swear on their testicles
Did you know you take over 23,000 breaths everyday
Did you know your foot and your forearm are the same length
Did you know you burn more calories sleeping than watching television
Did you know 56% of typing is completed by your left hand
Did you know human thigh bones are stronger than concrete
Did you know more people are allergic to cows milk than any other food
Did you know your mouth produces 1 litre of saliva a day
Did you know your head contains 22 bones
Did you know the coloured part of your eye is called the iris
Did you know you breathe 23,000 times a day
Did you know if your DNA was stretched out it would reach to the moon 6,000 times
Did you know everyone has a unique tongue print
Did you know you begin to feel thirsty when your body losses 1% of water
Did you know hiccups usually lasts for 5 minutes

Did you know not all your taste buds are on our tongue (10% are on the insides of you cheeks)
Did you know your most active muscles are in your eye
Did you know your liver has over 500 functions
Did you know your brain uses 25% of all the oxygen your breathe
Did you know horses have 18 more bones than humans
Did you know blonde beards grow faster than darker beards
Did you know when recognising a persons face you use the right side of your brain
Did you know the human body contains 96,000km(59,650miles) of blood vessels
Did you know the hydrochloric acid found in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve a nail
Did you know on average you blink 25,000 a day
Did you know men have 10% more red blood cells than women
Did you know you have fewer muscles than a caterpillar
Did you know when your face blushes so does your stomach lining
Did you know 1 square inch of human skin contains 625 sweat glands
Did you know your normal body temperature is 37C (99F)
Did you know red blood cells are produced in bone marrow
Did you know you shed a complete layer of skin every 4 weeks
Did you know a Sphygmomanometer measures blood pressure
Did you know oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen make up 90% of the human body
Did you know the fingerprints of koala bear are indistinguishable to that of a human

Did you know the average person will consume 100 tons of food and 45,424 liters (12,000 gallons) of water in their lifetime
Did you know the longest word that can be typed using only our right hand is 'lollipop'
Did you know people who work at night tend to weigh more
Did you know wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times
Did you know new born babies have 350 bones (by age 5 the amount of bones merges to 206)
Did you know you use 72 different muscles while speaking
Did you know the most common disease is tooth decay
Did you know the average person goes to the toilet 6 times a day
Did you know your foot is the most common body part bitten by insects
Did you know the longest time a person has been in a coma is 37 years
Did you know your right lung takes in more air than your left
Did you know womens hearts beat faster than mens
Did you know the average person has 10,000 taste buds
Did you know the smallest bone in your body is found in your ear
Did you know the ideal temperature to fall asleep is between 18-30c (64-86f)
Did you know honey enters your blood stream within 20 minutes of being eaten
Did you know you brain weights 2% of your body weight though uses 20% of all oxygen you breathe and 15% of the bodys blood supply
Did you know each red blood cell lives an average of 4 months and travels between the lungs and
other tissue 75,000 times before returning to bone marrow to die
Did you know the hardest substance in the human body is enamel
Did you know there are over 10 trillion living cells in the human body

Did you know the number 1 cause of blindness in the US is diabetes
Did you know every year over 98% of atoms in your body are replaced
Did you know your blood is 6 times thicker than water
Did you know 44% of people have broken a bone
Did you know the human eye can detect more shades of green that any other colour
Did you know you can't tickle yourself
Did you know the average person has over 1,460 dreams a year
Did you know a baby fetus develops fingerprints at eighteen weeks
Did you know a hippopotamus can run faster than a man
Did you know the night vision of tigers is 6 times better than humans
Did you know the average person consumes over a ton of food and drink each year
Did you know more people are allergic to cows milk than any other food
Did you know there are over 100 different viruses that cause the common cold
Did you know acorns are poisonous to humans (if eaten it can cause damage to your kidneys)
Did you know humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of their hands
Did you know a person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation (Death can occur about 10 days without sleep while starvation takes a few weeks)
Did you know the average human drinks over 60,566 litres (16,000 gallons) of water in a lifetime
Did you know an individual blood cell takes about 60 seconds to make a complete circuit of the body
Did you know by age 60 most people would have lost half of their taste buds
Did you know every square inch of the human body has an average of 32 million bacteria on it


Did you know fingernails grow faster than toenails
Did you know humans shed and regrow outer skin cells every 27 days (almost 1,000 new skins in a lifetime)
Did you know it takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown
Did you know the human body has over 600 muscles (40% of the bodys weight)
Did you know in 1900 the average life span in the US was 47
Did you know DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleicacid
Did you know the average person walks the equivalent of twice around the world in a lifetime
Did you know laughing lowers levels of stress and strengthens your immune system
Did you know once a women reachs the age of 30 they lose 1% of their bone mass every year thereafter (by the time a women is 50 she will have lost 20%)
Did you know the surface area of your lungs is roughly the same size as a tennis court
Did you know you have over 600 muscles
Did you know after youve eaten it takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest
Did you know the human eye blinks over 4,200,000 times a year
Did you know a person produces enough saliva to fill 2 average size swimming pools during their lifetime
Did you know the average person sheds .7kg (1.5 pounds) of skin each year
Did you know the human body creates 2,500,000 new red blood cells every second
Did you know a soap bubble is 10,000 times thinner than the average human hair
Did you know an astronaut can be up to 2 inches taller returning from space (the cartilage disks in the spine expand in the absence of gravity)
Did you know there are over 97,000 km (60,000 miles) of blood vessels in the average person

Did you know married men live longer than single men...

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA -- SOME LESS KNOWN FACTS

The great figure who toured America and England and was known for his brilliant eloquence scored only a 47% at the university entrance level examination, a 46% in the FA (later this exam became Intermediate Arts or IA), and a 56% in his BA exam.
After his father's death, the family was reduced to poverty. Taking advantage of his penury, many well-to-do ladies who were enamored of him tried to woo him. He preferred to starve than fall for such temptations. To one such lady he said, "Shun these worthless desires and call upon God."
In spite of his BA degree, Narendranath (Vivekananda's real name) had to go from door to door in search of employment. He would loudly proclaim, "I am unemployed" to those who asked him. His faith in god shook and he began to tell people rather aggressively that God does not exist. One neighbor complained, "There is a young fellow living in that house. I have never seen such a conceited fellow! He is too big for his boots - and all because he has a BA degree! When he sings, he even strikes the table arrogantly and struts around smoking cheroot before all the elders..."
After the death of his paternal uncle Taraknath, his wife Gyanadasundari ousted Vivekananda's family from their ancestral house and filed a suit in the court. Vivekananda fights the various litigation suits for 14 years and on the last Saturday of his life on 28 June 1902 he puts an end to the court case after paying some financial compensation.
When Jogendrabala, his sister committed suicide, Vivekananda told Yogen Maharaj, "Do you know why we Duttas are so talented in our thinking? Ours is a family with a history of suicides. There have been many in our family who have taken their own lives. We are eccentric. We do not think before we act. We simply do what we like and do not worry about the consequences.
The Maharaja of Khetri, Ajit Singh, used to send 100 rupees to Swamiji's mother on a regular basis to help her tide over her financial problems. This arrangement was a closely guarded secret.
He simply worshiped his mother. After his Chicago fame, when Pratap Mazoomdar viciously condemned him, "He is nothing but a cheat and a fraud. He comes here to tell you that he is a fakir," Vivekananda responded in a letter to Isabelle McKindley - "Now, I do not care what they even my own people say about me - except for one thing. I have an old mother. She has suffered much in her life and in the midst of all she could bear to give me up for the service of God and man; but to have given up the most beloved of her children - her hope - to live a beastly immoral life in a far-distant country, as Mazoomdar was telling in Calcutta, would have simply killed her."
No women, not even his mother, were allowed inside the monastery. Once when he was delirious with fever his disciples fetched his mother. Seeing her Vivekananda shouted, "Why did you allow a woman to come in? I was the one who made the rule and it is for me that the rule is being broken!"
Vivekananda was a connoisseur of tea. In those days when the Hindu pandits were opposed to drinking tea, he introduced tea into his monastery. Bally municipality increased taxes on Belur on the grounds that it was a private garden house' where tea was served. Vivekananda sued the municipality in Chinsurah Zilla District Court. The British magistrate came on horseback to investigate. Now, who can beat the British at tea drinking? The charges were dismissed.
Vivekananda once convinced Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the great freedom fighter, to make tea at Belur Math. Tilak brought nutmeg, mace, cardamom, cloves and saffron with him and prepared Mughlai tea for all.
Vivekananda's tireless service to man and God took a toll on his physical body. In all his 39 years, he suffered from various ailments - migraines, tonsillitis, diphtheria, asthma, typhoid, malaria, other persistent fevers, body heating up after dinner, liver problem, indigestion, gastroenteritis, accumulation of water in the stomach, dysentery and diarrhea, dyspepsia and abdominal pain, gallstone, lumbago, neck pain, Bright's disease (acute nephritis), kidney problem, dropsy, albuminuria, bloodshot eyes, loss of vision in his right eye, chronic insomnia, inability to bear heat, premature greying of hair, neurasthenia, excessive fatigue, sea sickness, sunstroke, diabetes, heart problems. His motto, "One has to die...it is better to wear out than to rust out."
Towards the end of his brief life he advised his disciples, "Learn from my experiences. Don't be so hard on your body and ruin your health. I have harmed mine. I have tortured it severely, and what has been the result? My body has become ruined during the best years of my life! And I am still paying for it." When one of his disciples asked him why he ignored his health, he replied he had no sense he has a body when he was in America.
Vivekananda hated cowards. He writes to John P. Fox, "I like boldness and adventure and my race stands in need of that spirit very much...my health is failing and I do not expect to live long."
In 1900 two years before his death when he arrived in India from the West for the last time, he hurried to Belur to be with his disciples or gurubhais. He heard the dinner gong but found the gate locked. He climbed over it and quickly made his way to the dining area to eat his favorite dish khichuri. No one suspected his rapidly failing health.