As we waited on our very learned friend in music R.Sachi to extol the virtues of the next concert from "Parvathi", we found ourselves engrossed in a few serious issues concerning our own would be 'Identities'; and they came simultaneously from three very different sources.
The first, on the seriousness of 'Identity' was brought home by a very powerful representative of the Hindu community here in the USA, who has made this his home over several decades. He is a man who has been given to some tremendous world wide charities, who is a very distinguished scholar in his own right, and who takes away ones breath in a most dynamic manner when he is on the podium relating to this very intriguing subject. In two very rapid successions this year, he has penned two extraordinary books "BREAKING INDIA" and "BEING DIFFERENT" and is currently riding on the crest of some very thought provoking meets both in India and in the USA.
He is also currently involved in some very serious discussions with the senior members of India's government, bringing home issues facing India's integrity, its security and above all a 'lost' IDENTITY, far from the pale of issues that India's media can either comprehend or discuss with their public, other than the feeding of salacious material for some immediate end.
With just this introduction we leave you to your own devices to discover him for yourself, either through Google/Bing, through YouTube, Facebook or through a publishing entity such as the Huffington Post.
For those in India, who wish for a face to face meeting, here is your opportunity! (Click)
The first, on the seriousness of 'Identity' was brought home by a very powerful representative of the Hindu community here in the USA, who has made this his home over several decades. He is a man who has been given to some tremendous world wide charities, who is a very distinguished scholar in his own right, and who takes away ones breath in a most dynamic manner when he is on the podium relating to this very intriguing subject. In two very rapid successions this year, he has penned two extraordinary books "BREAKING INDIA" and "BEING DIFFERENT" and is currently riding on the crest of some very thought provoking meets both in India and in the USA.
He is also currently involved in some very serious discussions with the senior members of India's government, bringing home issues facing India's integrity, its security and above all a 'lost' IDENTITY, far from the pale of issues that India's media can either comprehend or discuss with their public, other than the feeding of salacious material for some immediate end.
With just this introduction we leave you to your own devices to discover him for yourself, either through Google/Bing, through YouTube, Facebook or through a publishing entity such as the Huffington Post.
For those in India, who wish for a face to face meeting, here is your opportunity! (Click)
"Life in the 70s!"
Cherished patron and very popular Karnataka Chief Minister
Devaraja Urs, and F. K. Irani builder of Ideal Jawa
preside at an event in "Parvathi".
Seen also is Gowri Kuppuswamy rendering the invocation.
Cherished patron and very popular Karnataka Chief Minister
Devaraja Urs, and F. K. Irani builder of Ideal Jawa
preside at an event in "Parvathi".
Seen also is Gowri Kuppuswamy rendering the invocation.
Our other absorption, came from some of those innocuous but precious moments relating to a life, spent with the very respected octogenarian Sri. K. Srikantiah.
Of particular note and leading inevitably towards contemplation, were those words wherein he spoke of 'mystical forces at work' in his life
"... you know, all these years, any time I became involved in this 'Karya', I would be besieged with hundreds of responsibilities and problems... sometimes these problems would become huge obstacles, all created by all sorts of people and their agencies. It seemed so petty and incomprehensible and here I was providing the Lord's music free to all of them!... I felt, many a time, of giving all this up,...but there was always that one thought with Lord Raama! that held it all together... some inexplicable force would always make all these problems go away...the solutions were all beyond me...and in the end, each occasion would be a success leaving everyone feeling happy ..."
Of particular note and leading inevitably towards contemplation, were those words wherein he spoke of 'mystical forces at work' in his life
"... you know, all these years, any time I became involved in this 'Karya', I would be besieged with hundreds of responsibilities and problems... sometimes these problems would become huge obstacles, all created by all sorts of people and their agencies. It seemed so petty and incomprehensible and here I was providing the Lord's music free to all of them!... I felt, many a time, of giving all this up,...but there was always that one thought with Lord Raama! that held it all together... some inexplicable force would always make all these problems go away...the solutions were all beyond me...and in the end, each occasion would be a success leaving everyone feeling happy ..."
The ever smiling legend of Bollywood - Dilip Kumar- during a visit
in the early 70s!
in the early 70s!
A final urge to examining our own identity came in the light of reading the Ramayana, in its very first section where Valmiki asks the sage Narada:
"Who can possibly be full of virtues in this present world?"
Narada thrusts upon him the description of a Sri Raama.
One of the descriptions he provides is in comparing Raama with Kubera.
While reading this, we were made conscious of the very ignoble way in which we ourselves think of the word Kubera. When we have occasion to use the name, we often use it as a term, in comparing someone as 'Avan Kuberan' or 'Avanu Kubera', and we allude to it singularly as someone who is possessed of wealth.
So, where is the virtue in this?
Narada, however, in emphasizing Raama with Kubera, has a message for all us. Raama the Prince is a 'prince of the heart', to be emulated by us as a model of bountiful-ness; a 'Kubera' in the distribution of his own wealth towards the welfare of people around him.
In a very refined way (and these books of human heritage are indeed so beautiful) we are pointed to the very gross ways in which we color our very own minds!
It all comes from the theater that we subscribe to!
"Who can possibly be full of virtues in this present world?"
Narada thrusts upon him the description of a Sri Raama.
One of the descriptions he provides is in comparing Raama with Kubera.
While reading this, we were made conscious of the very ignoble way in which we ourselves think of the word Kubera. When we have occasion to use the name, we often use it as a term, in comparing someone as 'Avan Kuberan' or 'Avanu Kubera', and we allude to it singularly as someone who is possessed of wealth.
So, where is the virtue in this?
Narada, however, in emphasizing Raama with Kubera, has a message for all us. Raama the Prince is a 'prince of the heart', to be emulated by us as a model of bountiful-ness; a 'Kubera' in the distribution of his own wealth towards the welfare of people around him.
In a very refined way (and these books of human heritage are indeed so beautiful) we are pointed to the very gross ways in which we color our very own minds!
It all comes from the theater that we subscribe to!
