Breath - Science and Scriptures (Part 1)

April 10, 2020

Flower lungs

Many of you know that a significant portion of my year 2019 was spent towards my yoga teachers training. I still haven't got the certification but that doesn't stop me from practicing or writing about Yoga. I now see a pattern of obstacles in every formal degree/certificate that I got so far :)

Human intelligence has done all sorts of discoveries in Science to try to understand the esoteric ways of nature. Science is an invention of human intellect and thus called as पौरुषेय (made by humans) whereas Scriptures are अपौरुषेय (not made by humans). I am usually able to relate with philosophy more than I can focus on science. Here I am going to try to combine both. This post is divided into 2 parts. In this part I am writing about some of the subtleties of our breathing mechanism - a significant part of Ashtanga Yoga, and its effect on our physical and mental well being.

Disclaimer: I don't have any institutional education in human anatomy and physiology. My writeup here is based on my understanding, primarily from the book: The Anatomy of Hatha Yoga: A Manual for Students, Teachers, and Practitioners by H. David Coulter. My sister who is also an Anatomy professor helped me review this. Any errors are completely mine. 

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What is the first thing humans do after landing on this earth? They take their first breath! From then on the process of breathing is generally taken for granted until we start to realize the impact of bad breathing habits. Breath is so natural that why would we even want to pay attention to it? On a physical level effective breathing is essential to maintain appropriate levels of oxygen in the body. On a more subtle level, breath directly affects how one thinks and feels, influencing the mental state.

I love how Ramana Maharshi describes it in this shloka from Upadesha Saram:

चित्तवायवश्चित्क्रियायुताः ।

शाखयोर्द्वयी शक्तिमूलका ॥ १२ ॥

Both mind and prana expressed as consciousness and activity respectively are two branches rooted in the same shakti.

In fact, breath is a connection between the body and the mind and thus is so important. It suffers when the body has stress or when the mind is agitated. More on the philosophy in another post.

What and How of Breath?

In the gross form, breath is the air we inhale and exhale. A level below it is the exchange of oxygen and carbon-di-oxide in the cells within the body. At a more subtle level, breath is the manifestation of prana that is responsible for all physiological activity in one's life. Maybe we can stop here and take a breath? :)

The main organ involved in breathing is Lungs in the body. We all studied that in Science as kids right? Lungs are passive spongy air-filled organs in the chest. One important part of the Lungs is the Alveoli - tiny balloon-like air sac endpoints in the respiratory system where the exchange of oxygen and carbon-di-oxide takes place. These get affected in a number of respiratory diseases like Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, ARDS (Acute respiratory distress syndrome - which most COVID-19 patients are at risk for right now), etc. Smoking also causes damage to them. Naturally one can understand why one is unable to breath well in any of these diseases as the body doesn’t receive appropriate amounts of oxygen.

Different Muscles that operate during Breathing

Since the Lungs are passive, breathing takes place due to complex muscular activity. The three main muscles used in the respiration are:

• Diaphragm muscle - umbrella like muscle at the base of the rib cage.
• Intercostal muscles - two types of muscles between the ribs: external and internal intercostals.
• Abdominal muscles - used in many breathing exercises.

Where does all that air go? 

So where does all the air you inhale go? How much do we inhale? Are we using our lungs to full capacity? The main four lung volumes are:

• Tidal volume - the amount of air that moves in and out in one breath. Usually around ½ litre when relaxed.
• Inspiratory Reserve volume - additional air one can inhale after the usual tidal inhalation. ~3 litre.
• Expiratory reserve volume - additional air one can exhale after the normal exhale. Usually around 1 litre.
• Residual volume - amount that remains in the lungs even after exhaling as much as one can exhale. This is usually around 1200 ml.

Lung Volumes Illustrated

How does this correlate to the amount of oxygen we get? Remember, it is only the air that gets to the alveoli that is useful. The amount of air that actually gets to the alveoli is measured by the alveolar ventilation. This is tidal volume minus any air that is left in the nasal passages and other airways in between nostrils and the alveoli, measured per minute.

Our Autonomic nervous system responses

Most of us remain in mainly 2 modes of operations:

• Fight or flight also known as Sympathetic (Stress) nervous system
• Rest and digest also known as Parasympathetic (Peace) nervous system

These are two sides of our autonomic nervous system (ANS) that governs the internal functions of the body - blood pressure, digestion, elimination, glands. Both are important for our proper functioning. ANS is basically maintaining everything that is happening unconsciously within the body.

There is another nervous system - somatic nervous system (SNS) in the body that deals with all things that we do consciously - touch, vision etc. as well as control of skeletal muscles. We might think that breathing is an unconscious act and thus controlled by the ANS but that is not the case. As we discussed before, the act of breathing involves different muscles which are controlled by the SNS. When we sneeze, cough or just take a sigh of relief, our body uses the SNS.

Both SNS and ANS work together for harmony. ANS has a huge effect on our breathing (controlled by SNS function). ANS signals SNS to work differently when needed, for example when the blood isn't getting enough oxygen.

By now we know that our autonomic nervous system (ANS) influences our breathing. Can our breathing influence our ANS? Again ANS is very important in the smooth functioning of our internals and thus our well being. I can't tell my heart to slow down in case of stress but I can use my breath to influence my ANS which can then influence my heart.

"It's like a referral system. The ability to control our breathing consciously gives access to the autonomic functions (e.g. heartbeat, blood pressure, etc.)."

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In the next post, I will talk about how the ancient breathing practices provide benefits and have led many researchers to write their thesis while discovering the workings of these practices. 

Rama Navami and Harela

April 2, 2020

Hazaar Rama Temple, Hampi, India

Happy Rama Navami! Happy Harela!

Today is the end of Chaitra Navaratri. I assume for most it had been an interesting Navaratri! Folks in India were fortunate to get a telecast of Ramayana twice a day. What more can one ask in the lockdown? 

Harela is one of our festivals that is celebrated along with the Navratri. On the first day of chaitra navratri, Mustard and Jau (Barley) seeds are sown in a dish with soil and the sprouted plants (called Harela) are then harvested on the Harela day - one day after Rama Navami. Harela is then put behind the ear lobes as a symbol of prosperity. I have been celebrating Harela with this childhood picture for many years now.

Grandmother giving Harela

Without writing my own stories today, I will briefly mention a few shlokas on Lord Rama to ponder. 

Rama Nama

I heard this shloka recently and couldn't stop smiling. This shloka is said to have been recited by a group of tribal hunting folks who lived in the forest.

वने चरामो वसु चाहरामो

नदीस्तरामो न भयं स्मराम: ।

इतिरयन्तो विपिने किराता

मुक्तिं गता रामपदानुषङ्गात् ॥

वने चराम: - we roam in the forest

वसु चाहराम: - we bring wealth

नदीस्तराम: - we cross rivers

न भयं स्मराम: - we know no fear

The word 'Rama' repeats in the shloka. The tribe attained liberation simply by reciting 'Rama' unknowingly and without gaining knowledge. This is similar to Maharshi Valmiki who became maharshi having recited 'Rama' nama by chanting 'Mara-Mara'.

Raghava-Yadhaveeyam

This is an interesting poem by Sri Venkatadhvari. Written with 30 shlokas as 'anulom-volom kavya' (अनुलोम - in natural order, विलोम - in reverse order), this poem has the story of Rama from the Raghu Kula when recited in natural order (as written) and the story of Krishna from Yadava Kula when recited in reverse order. Thus by just writing the 30 shlokas, the composition became 60 shlokas. One of the shloka is mentioned below with its anulom and vilom. One can find others on the internet.

हारिसाहसलंकेनासुभेदी महित: हि सः ।

चारुभूतनुज: राम: अरम् अराधयदार्तिहा ॥ २८॥

Rama, who took away the life of Ravana, the astoundingly brave, the Lord of Sita, the beautiful daughter of the earth, and who destroys the grief of those who resort to him and is honored by all devas.

ह आर्तिदाय धराम् आर मोरा: ज: नुतभू रुचा ।

स: हित: हि मदीभे सुनाके अलं सहसा अरिहा ॥ २८॥

Krishna, who cared for the welfare of Pradhyumna defeated the enemies in heaven, which had elephant like Airavatha, with his bravery and returned to earth.

Hope the devotee in you got invoked with these beautiful shlokas! Happy Rama Navami!

Keertimukha - The Face of Glory

March 25, 2020

This post had been a draft, pending formatting since last year. For this post, I am turning into the Narada muni (नारद मुनि) and tell the story of the monster face, Keertimukha (कीर्तिमुख) - the face of glory.

Keertimukha is used as a design motif extensively in the Gopurams in Hindu temple architecture. I mostly saw it in temples built in South Indian architecture, but I could spot it in the North India as well. Outside of India, it is also found in the Buddhist architecture in China, Tibet, Indonesia, Nepal, etc.

Look for the top most entity in the Gopuram picture below. The picture is of Arunachaleshwara temple in Tiruvannamalai. Added more pictures with Keertimukha at the end of the post.

Arunachaleshwara temple - look at the top most entity in the sky

The story of Keertimukha (कीर्तिमुख) is mentioned in multiple Hindu purananas. The story below is from the Padma Purana (पद्म पुराण). I haven't read the Purana but I added the relevant excerpts below. There are inconsistencies in the stories but the symbolism is probably more important. To me symbolism is a great source of understanding. Symbolism is capable of making one understand the thing that can't be expressed in words or definitions.

Keertimukha is connected with the asura Jalandhara (जलन्धर - one who holds water). Keertimukha's story is an incident inside the tale of Jalandhara. Jalandhara is first mentioned when Narada goes to see the Pandavas in the Kamyaka forest (काम्यक वन). Distressed Yudhishthira (युधिष्ठिर) asks Narada that which one of their actions made them fall for this. Narada then asks him to leave the grief as even the Gods had to deal with their share of grief.

ईश्वरोपि हि न स्थायी पीड्यते देहसंचयैः।

न दुःखरहितः कश्चिद्देही दुःखसहो यतः।।

He gives Yudhishthira the example that the Sun gets eclipsed by Rahu, even Rahu's (originally known as Svarbhaanu) head was cut by Vishnu when he falsely drank the nectar during Samudra Manthanam. Vishnu also was thrown into the deep ocean by brave Jalandhara, who himself was then killed by Shiva.

शरीरं सवितुर्यस्माद्राहुस्तद्ग्रसते बली। 

राहोरपि शिरश्छिन्नं शौरिणामृतभोजने।। 

सोऽपि शार्ङ्गधरो देवः क्षिप्तः सागरगह्वरे।

जालंधरेण वीरेण निहतः सोऽपि शंभुना।।

Yudhishthira became curious about Jalandhara. Narada then tells him the story of Jalandhara's birth. The same event can be found described with multiple stories in different places and in different ways in the Uttara Khanda (उत्तर खण्ड). The stories that are mentioned below are one of the versions of the same story or events described differently in two different places (Chapter 3 and Chapter 99).

Story of Jalandhara's Birth 

The story starts with Indra (इन्द्र) visiting Shiva on Mount Kailash. Indra along with other gods performed a beautiful dance in front of Shiva. Shiva was pleased and asked Indra that he can ask for a boon. Indra was quite proud of his power and asked Shiva for a battle in which he would get to fight against a powerful person like Shiva.

यत्र त्वत्सदृशो योद्धा तद्युद्धं देहि मे प्रभो।

Shiva granted him the boon. Indra then left from Kailash but Shiva was angry with Indra's arrogance and then his anger manifested as a body in front of him. It asked Shiva for what it should do for him. Shiva then gave that body the order to go and conquer Indra after reaching the Ocean.

Meanwhile, the River Ganga meets Ocean and a brave son comes into existence from Ganga. The boy cried so loudly that even the earth shook and Brahma (ब्रह्मा) came out of his meditation. Brahma then goes to the Ocean and asks why the ocean was crying. Ocean replies that it isn't him but his mighty son that is roaring. Ocean gives his son to Brahma and the child grabs Brahma's beard. Brahma wasn't able to get the hands of the child off his beard. Brahma named him Jalandhara as the tears came out of his eyes when his beard was shaken by this child.

नेत्राभ्यां विधृतं यस्मादनेनैतज्जलं मम।
तस्माज्जलंधर इति ख्यातो नाम्ना भवत्यसौ।।   

So this is the story of how the powerful Jalandhara was born. Note, he was born because of Shiva's anger. He also got the boon from Brahma that Gods will not be able to conquer him. Later he became friends with Rahu who acted as his messenger. This Jalandhara was the one that also fought in a war with Indra and other Gods. So how is Jalandhara connected to the story of Keertimukha who is the star of this post?

Story of Keertimukha 

Once Narada muni tells Jalandhara that he had been to Mount Kailash and had seen Shiva whose beautiful wife Parvati is like a gem and doesn't compare to any of the gems the mighty king like Jalandhara has. This makes Jalandhara full of lust and he sends his messenger Rahu to Mount Kailash. Rahu on meeting with Shiva tells him that Parvati, the daughter of Mount Himalaya is like a gem and only suits to be with Rahu who is the lord of jewels.

श्मशानवासिनो नित्यं मुंडमालाधरस्य च।

दिगंबरस्य ते भार्या कथं हैमवती शुभा।।

अहं रत्नाधिनाथोऽस्मि सा च स्त्री रत्नसंज्ञका।

तस्मान्ममैव सा योग्या नैव भिक्षाशिनस्तव।।

Shiva grew angry and a fierce man was produced from the space between his eyebrows. The face of this man was like that of a lion, his tongue was moving, his eyes were fierce and he was great. His hair was upright, body dry and he was like Narasimha.

सिंहास्यः प्रचलज्जिह्वः सज्वलन्नयनो महान्।

ऊर्ध्वकेशः शुष्कतनुर्नृसिंह इव चापरः।।

The man was about to eat Rahu when Rahu became full of fear and asked Shiva for his protection. Shiva being the protector for anyone who seeks it, asked the fierce man to not kill Rahu as he is just a messenger and dependent on someone else. Rahu then left from there but the man was still hungry and asked Shiva, his master, about what he should eat now.

क्षुधा मां बाधते स्वामिन्क्षुत्क्षामश्चास्मि सर्वथा।

किं भक्ष्यं मम देवेश तदाज्ञापय मां प्रभो।।

Shiva casually asks him to eat his own hands and feet.

संभक्षयात्मनः शीघ्रं मांसं त्वं हस्तपादयोः।

The man then ate his hands and feet and only his head remained. Shiva, unaware of what the man did, looked at him with just the head left, was pleased with his devotion and obedience and said, "With the name of 'Keertimukha' you remain at my door always. Those who do not honor you, do not do what is dear to me".

त्वं कीर्तिमुखसंज्ञो हि भव मद्द्वारगः सदा। 

त्वदर्चां नैव कुर्वंति नैव ते मत्प्रियंकराः।।

Since then Keertimukha remains at the door of the Lord. You can spot him above or near Shiva in the pictures below.

Narada concludes his talk with Yudhishthira: O king, I have told you the tale of Jalandhara, the hero of the world to remove your grief. Now you must remember that as long as the body lasts, one being influenced by that, will experience pains and pleasures. O king, there is no greater protection than knowledge. Even Krishna and others experienced pain and pleasure when bound in the body.

तुभ्यं दुःखनिरासाय प्रोक्तमाख्यानमुत्तमम्। 

यावद्देहोस्ति कर्माणि सुखदुःखानि कर्मतः।। 

देही भुंक्ते वशो राजन्त्राणं न ज्ञानतः परम्। 

कृष्णादीनां देहबंधे सुखदुःखादि वर्तते।।

Below are more pictures from my previous trips where I found Keertimukha.

Keertimukha used for decorative border, Hazaar-Rama Temaple - Hampi, Karnataka

Keertimukha above Shiva, Neelkanth Mahadev - Rishikesh, India

Keertimukha above Nataraja, Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India

Keertimukha above Adi Shankaracharya, Kailash Ashram, Rishikesh, India

Colored Keertimukha in the Bottom right corner, Some temple while driving through Pondicherry, India

Arunachaleshwara temple decorations

Asteya in the Current Times

March 15, 2020

Niece accidentally painted Coronavirus!

The world is going through a tough time. How did we end up here?

Even though we are all socially distant (or more socially connected virtually?), no one is quite alone in it. It feels like we have been given the time to slow down, to sit at home longer so this could very well be a reflecting moment. Could we see this as a time to meditate on what we could do differently?

If you are connected to the world through any of the social media - Facebook, WhatsApp, etc., you have probably heard about or seen empty shelves in stores, people in line with carts waiting outside of big departmental stores, the inability to find hand soap, sanitizers, and other such essentials, etc at least in the America.

A well-wisher and friend called up to remind me to buy some essentials to keep myself equipped in case of need. Toilet paper, groceries were among the few that I was told to buy. I had been hearing about stockpiling and the shortage of essentials from my co-workers. It did make me think about what I needed to do.

I had a ‘wait a minute moment’ while I was thinking about what and if I need to get anything. I made a list of all the things I eat on any normal day and the list could fit in the top half of a small sticky note. Then came the question of do I need toilet paper? Almost 6 years ago, I installed bidet in the toilet to get back to my Indian standards. Since then the toilet papers are there for my guests and at this time, my guests are probably busy buying their own toilet papers.

Looking at my $10 bill at the Indian store during the last visit, the guy behind the billing counter mentioned that people are hoarding groceries worth $600. There was a sadness and a sense of worry on his face. I heard that the stores are now doing rationing. I bought some potatoes and taro root, both of which can last long. Coincidently later my mother mentioned how their neighbors asked them to buy some potatoes and kerosene oil after a flood warning long back - Potatoes to eat and Kerosene oil to light the stove.

So where is the need to stockpile coming from? It could very well be pointed to the self-preservation instinct or fear of death in a negative form. Self-preservation makes one buy the things one might need for a few weeks if one needs to quarantine themselves, but going overboard with it becomes hoarding, a natural outcome of ignorance.

I could relate it to what Patanjali says as the five Kleshas (क्लेशा:), afflictions or causes of suffering for human beings.

अविद्यास्मितारागद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः क्लेशाः॥2.3॥

Ignorance, egoism, attachment, hatred (aversion), and clinging to life are the five kleshas or state of a suffering mind.

अभिनिवेश (clinging to life) is the last one and deeply rooted in every human being.

The hoarding can be described in two ways, one gross and the other subtle: Parigrah (परिग्रह - possessing or grasping unnecessary) and Steya (स्तेय - stealing). Accumulating goods simply is possessing more than one needs. When one hoard, they are not just possessing it but also subtly stealing something from others who could very well make use of it. By possessing more, one contributes to raising the prices and even making things unavailable for others to use.

The opposite of Parigrah and Steya are Aparigrah (अपरिग्रह - non-possessiveness) and Asteya (अस्तेय - non-stealing) respectively - two of the five Yamas of Ashtanga Yoga. Yamas are the first of the eight angas (limbs) in Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga and described as self-regulating behavior in our interactions with the world. Patanjali gives assurance that if Asteya is followed, all ‘wealth’ will be available.

अस्तेयप्रतिष्ठायां सर्वरत्नोपस्थानम् ॥2.37 ||

To the one who is established in non-stealing, all wealth comes.

On a positive note, I see people coming forward to help and share in my neighborhood. Young folks have created virtual groups to help the elderly by bringing groceries to their door so they can avoid the fear of catching anything.

While it may appear like a difficult task to follow Asteya, one doesn’t need to go to a yoga class to practice it!

The 11th C

March 5, 2020

Central Park, New York

The airplane doors closed, the pilot gave a warm welcome, the flight attendant made sure both Hindi and English speaking passengers understood how to fasten the seatbelt and that if the air pressure in the cabin changes dramatically, it’s ok to be selfish and save your life first. The airplane quickly cut through the clouds and floated in the air for the next 3 hours before touching the ground at the Lucknow airport. I have been to Lucknow many times, but this was the first time I landed at the Lucknow airport.

Lucknow, the City of Nawabs, is associated with many of my childhood memories. During the few days in Lucknow last year, I got an invitation to be part of Sham-e-Awadh - annual function at my nephew's school. The chief guest for the day was Mr. Shomie Das, a former teacher, Principal and an Education consultant who previously also served as headmaster of The Doon School, Dehradun. His speech was targeted towards the parents in the hall and focused on how to prepare the kids for the world that is full of options at every stage whether it's choice for food or school, career, life partner, place to live, etc.

He mentioned these 10 qualities (10Cs as he called them) that the kids today will benefit from as humans and citizens. There were a few in it that resonated with me instantly. He wasn’t focused on how and what to do so that the kids become the 'best' in the world. The 10 Cs he mentioned are:

Creativity, Curiosity, Critical thinking, Communication, Choice, Courtesy, Collaboration, Candid, Citizenship, Compassion

The need for compassion (unconditional acceptance) - दया, करुणा was spot on. The constant lack of harmony can be improved if there is more empathy and compassion. The same principle applies to any area of life be it personal or professional.

Sage Patanjali mentions करुणा as a key factor if one wants to be happy with oneself. This is one where I feel that adults need to learn more than the kids.

मैत्रीकरुणामुदितोपेक्षाणां सुखदुःखपुण्यापुण्यविषयाणां भावनातः चित्तप्रसादनम् ॥1.33॥

(One can cultivate a peaceful mind by being friendly towards happy people, compassionate towards the ones who are suffering, delighted with those who are virtuous, and undisturbed by those who are harming.)

The world has moved from being a place that more or less felt secure to a constant place of competition. In the olden days, people knew what they were going to do when they grow up - learn some occupational skills from their parents and follow the same profession. It isn't the same anymore, one is forced to think about what they want to ‘become’ from childhood. I joke about how my grandfather made the mistake of not forcing his kids to follow what he did for a living and for that reason we are out and away from the serenity of our home in India.

It seems essential to have more compassion than the competition in the current world. Compassion helps lower the insecurity around. One can’t make good choices in life without having compassion for oneself and others.

Collaboration and citizenship are other elements that are much needed in the current state of the world. Even though Competition and Collaboration both start with C, Collaboration requires one to look at the common goal whereas competition forces one to look at other people and compare.

I felt there is an important C that is not in the list. I want to end this note with my 11th ‘C’. Concede - Surrender, Ishwara Pranidhana (ईश्वर-प्रणिधान), Ishwara Prasada Buddhi (ईश्वर-प्रसाद-बुद्धि). While life will be full of choices, one will encounter choiceless situations more than the choices. Choice in actions is essential but one has no choice or control on the results. The seed sown in a well-plowed land may not necessarily bear a good crop. At that point, this 11th ‘C’ will be most useful - acceptance with Grace!

Mahashivratri

February 21, 2020

Shiva at night, Rishikesh, India

Why are we not able to accept mortality with ease? Accepting the ephemerality of life puts one through a test time after time - days, months, years it takes to succeed can vary but it is still a test. Some of the profound words I recently heard said that if mortality was our nature, we would be able to accept it without doubt - but that isn't so! While the mind was still accepting the flow of life and death, Mahashivratri appeared to remind the truth.

Today is Mahashivratri (महा-शिव-रात्रि) - the great night of Shiva. Every lunar month has 2 pakshas (पक्ष) - krishna paksha (dark fortnight, towards new moon - अमावस्या), shukla paksha (bright fortnight, towards full moon - पूर्णिमा). Every krishna paksha's 14th day (चतुर्दशी - day before new moon) is considered as Shivratri. So there are 12 Shivratris in a year. Among these the one in the month of Falgun (फाल्गुन) is called Mahashivratri.

In the common language, this day is considered as the 'wedding' day of Shiva and Parvati. And then it is also considered as the 'birth' day of Shiva. There are many pauranic stories describing the origin of this day. 

Growing up we celebrated Shivratri with fasting on this day and visiting the main Shiva temple in the small town I spent part of my childhood - the Moteshwar mahadev temple. It use to be crowded with visitors from all nearby towns. This was one of those days when everyone in our home would fast. The habit has continued till date. This year I decided to take a day off - a day free from eating, talking, meeting!

Another aspect of Mahashivratri that we saw during childhood was 'Kaanwar' (कांवर) - created from a bamboo stick with cane baskets at both ends. Devotees carry Kaanwar to the holy places like Haridwar where river Ganga flows. Water is brought from river Ganga in cans inside the cane baskets.  People start their journey with their kaanwars long before the Mahashivratri day to travel and get Gangajal (water from river Ganga). They return with the Gangajal before mahashivratri and offer that to Lord Shiva. They travel on foot and by the time they get back home, it is not uncommon to have sores on the soles.

Closing with these words from Adi Shankaracharya's Nirvana Shatakam (निर्वाण षट्कम्) which say, I am none other than Shiva. May you see the truth in you and others. Happy Mahashivratri!

न मृत्युर्न शङ्का न मे जातिभेदः

पिता नैव मे नैव माता न जन्मः ।

न बन्धुर्न मित्रं गुरुर्नैव शिष्यं

चिदानन्दरूपः शिवोऽहम् शिवोऽहम् ॥

Vasant Panchami (बसंत पंचमी)

January 29, 2020

Taken at Half Moon Bay, California

Festivals seems to be coming faster than I thought! It's clear that we Indians don't stop celebrating once we start! Happy Basant Panchami! 

Basant (Vasant - वसन्त in Sanskrit) Panchami is celebrated every year on the Panchami (पञ्चमी तिथि - fifth lunar day from full moon or new moon) of the Shukla Paksha (शुक्ल पक्ष - towards full moon) in the Indian month of Magha (माघ - end of winter and start of the spring). It is the onset of the spring season. Goddess Saraswati is worshiped on this day also initiating devotees into education. 

Mustard starts flowering. The sight of those soon to be dense yellow fields can't be ignored. It's amazing to see the flow of life through these seasons - if there wasn't a fall with all bare trees, there won't be a spring so enjoyable and much awaited. 

Yellow color is also given a lot of importance. Back at home, we were given yellow colored handkerchief on this day by our grandmother. These used to be plain white ones colored yellow in home made color with turmeric. Kids often pin them to their shirt pocket while going to school. We use to make sure we wear yellow colored clothes on this day. Young girls often get their ears and nose pierced on this day. Looks like Kumaoni women love to wear their big traditional nose ring. 

Sitting Holi (called Baithki Holi), a special tradition of Uttarakhand also starts from this day and continues till the Holi festival. Time is spent gathering, singing traditional holi songs with traditional musical instruments. 

Wishing you a very Happy Basant Panchami with this beautiful poem by famous Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'. It beautifully describes how the glory of Spring is connected to the Monsoon behind it:

राजा वसन्त वर्षा ऋतुओं की रानी

लेकिन दोनों की कितनी भिन्न कहानी

राजा के मुख में हँसी कण्ठ में माला

रानी का अन्तर द्रवित दृगों में पानी

डोलती सुरभि राजा घर कोने कोने

परियाँ सेवा में खड़ी सजा कर दोने

खोले अंचल रानी व्याकुल सी आई

उमड़ी जाने क्या व्यथा लगी वह रोने

लेखनी लिखे मन में जो निहित व्यथा है

रानी की निशि दिन गीली रही कथा है

त्रेता के राजा क्षमा करें यदि बोलूँ

राजा रानी की युग से यही प्रथा है

नृप हुये राम तुमने विपदायें झेलीं

थी कीर्ति उन्हें प्रिय तुम वन गयीं अकेली

वैदेहि तुम्हें माना कलंकिनी प्रिय ने

रानी करुणा की तुम भी विषम पहेली

रो रो राजा की कीर्तिलता पनपाओ

रानी आयसु है लिये गर्भ वन जाओ

Makar Sankranti-Ghughutia

January 13, 2020

Received through a WhatsApp message

Makar Sankranti is probably the most familiar name for this time of the year. Others like Pongal, Bhogi, Lohri all just follow it. Ghughutia is how it is called in our home Uttarakhand in India.

What is Makar Sankranti? मकर संक्रान्ति - Makar (मकर) means Capricorn. Sankranti (संक्रान्ति) in general means transition, change of direction. Makar Sankranti is when the Sun progresses into the Capricorn zodiac attributing to the movement of Earth. Thus in Indian culture, we have 12 Sankrantis corresponding to each zodiac. We also consider Uttaraayan (उत्तरायण - उत्तर + अयन) to start from Makar Sankranti. Uttara (उत्तर) means North and Ayan (अयन) means movement or progress (Progress of sun towards the north). Sun progresses northward towards Tropic of Cancer during the next 6 months that is when the Karka Sankranti happens leading Sun into Dakshinaayan (दक्षिणायन).

Makar Sankranti brings a change of seasons, harvest season arrives, days tend to get longer, the weather gets warmer and in Uttarakhand, the migratory birds start returning to the hills. Even today, people in Uttarakhand say that the cold will go away after Makar Sankranti. Makar Sankranti and the whole Uttaraayan period also have great significance with one's spiritual journey. We have a close relationship with the Sun. If we can understand the Sun and its relation with everything around, we can understand our relationship with everything associated with us including our mind, etc. The Gayatri Mantra associated with the Sun is also where one seeks wisdom and enlightenment. Though any time is good to make progress, this particular time is considered specifically good to make spiritual progress.

Makar Sankranti is celebrated all over India (and in some Asian countries too) in some form or the other. The celebrations may differ but the underlying theme is the same. In Uttarakhand, Makar Sankranti is celebrated both in the form of Uttaraayan and Makar Sankranti - Ghughutia or Kale Kauva (काले कौवा or black crow). Uttaraayani fairs are held across different towns. I remember going for it a few times at our local center for cultural activities - Parvatiya Sanskritik Utthana Manch (पर्वतीय संस्कृतिक उत्थान मंच) in Haldwani.

For Makar Sankranti, people across Uttarakhand make sweets out of sweetened flour, typically with jaggery and deep-fried in ghee. There are a number of things that are cooked:

• Ghughute - though all the shapes are called Ghughute this is the main one which is Ghughuta. This is made in a specific twisted crossover shape.

Deep-fried Ghughute

• Special Ghughuta for the crow - this one is made especially for crow.

Special Ghughuta for crow

• Various shapes - flower, sword, shield, damru, chakri (spiral), khajoor (dates).
• Gudpare - Usual square or diamond-shaped sweets
• Bade - Made with urad daal and are salty with a hole in the center

Ghughute and different shapes

Once the deep-fried Ghughute are ready, garlands are made with these by adding dry fruits (specifically fox nuts - मखाना and raisins - किशमिश) and fruit (usually an orange) in the center along with them. The garlands are then hung on the wall or kept someplace safe.  They look like the ones in the cartoon picture above.

The next day in the morning, kids wear their garlands, go on the rooftop of the house and call the crow to feed its Ghughuta and seek blessings. One can hear neighborhood kids also doing the same. Kids sing a specific song to call the crows. 

The song in Kumaoni:

काले कौवे काले घुघूती माला खाले
बडा पुआ खाले
ले कौवे बड़ा मेकें दे सुणो घड़ा
ले कौवे ढाल मेकें दे सुणो थाल

…..

In English:

Black, black crow, eat this ghughuta garland
Eat this badaa and pua
Black crow eat badaa, give me a gold pitcher
Black crow eat this shield, give me a gold plate

The advent of mobile phones and WhatsApp messages has also resulted in this morning ritual of Makar Sankranti to be done with messages these days. Once the Ghughute have been offered to the crow, one can enjoy it themselves. Ghughute are also shared with relatives and neighbors. By the end of the day, there is a vessel full of all Ghughute that came from various neighborhood houses that one won't be able to identify which was made by whom. 

Here are some other glimpes of Sankranti celebrations in India from last few trips:

A man with his decorated cattle on Makar Sankranti day

Makar Sankranti special Rangoli at the doorstep in Karnataka

Flower and Sugarcane decoration

When I got caught by the Police

December 30, 2019

In the rearview mirror!

This is a real-life story and I am sure many can relate to this. It used to be an embarrassing incident but since then has turned into a funny story and had inspired a few others in a similar situation. A number of us dealt with that initial anxiety caused by the thought of having to drive, specifically on highways. 

Do you know that driving on highways is one of the most common causes of anxiety? Its phobia version also has a name - Vehophobia.

I lived in California for about a year and a half without owning a car in the times when services like Uber and Lyft didn't exist. I relied on public transport to the extent that I was teased that I always needed to find a rental place next to the train station. After getting a valid license to drive, I finally bought a Car. 

It was 2011, a year after I had bought a red ferrari (aka car) and was actually driving everywhere but with a catch - I had not gone onto freeway alone ever. Every route would usually involve some highway in between, it was a bit tough for me to use it and not end up on the highway. To be my lazy self, I had turned the ‘Avoid highway’ option 'on' in the Garmin GPS device that I had, which meant that it’s going to show only the routes that go through internal city roads. Google Maps is smarter but these devices weren't.

Having survived two layoffs at Adobe during the downturn of 2009-2010, I was in the process of finding a new job. I was appearing for an onsite interview with a company in San Mateo, very close to my house. Almost all of us have some stress before interviews, presentations, etc. and I am no different. I took my car to get to the interview location. I was using my GPS navigator. There was a left turn that needed to be made to drive into the company's parking lot and I missed that!

The lane I was on became ‘Left only’ with a ‘No U-Turn’
 sign. Then the ‘Left only’ lane turned ‘Freeway only’. What more could I expect? It was like some conspiracy against me. My single shot ‘stresspresso’
 turned into a double shot one in no moment - the interview stress and the add-on of ‘I have no clue where am I supposed to go’. 

Remember my non-smart GPS device was on ‘avoid highway’ mode so it stopped telling me any route to get to my destination. The ‘stresspresso’ kicked in and I stopped my car on the side of the freeway entrance which had quite a lot of parking space but was neither a legal nor a safe place to park. 

Trying to find my route back through the dumb GPS device, I was just parked there when I saw the Police car behind me. The policeman came to my window and knocked. I rolled down the window and he said, “Mam, do not come out of the car. Why are you stopped here?”. I told him what had happened and that I was trying to find my way back and I was not comfortable going onto the highway.

We continued to talk through the window. Usually one won't be happy being interrogated by a Police officer but I was relieved that he came and asked. He understood my genuine concern and offered to help.

He said, “I will help you get onto the highway and take the exit”. He took out his loudspeaker and told me to follow him. 
“Look over your shoulder, merge with the traffic ….. take the next exit”, were the words before the man and his voice both disappeared. 

I got to the interview and also got the job offer, though I didn’t end up joining that company.

The 'No U-Turn' sign from that experience remained in my head. After that on a weekend, I decided that it’s going to be a do or die day. I will go onto the freeway and either will get rid of this limitation once and for all or won’t return home. I took the car, got on to Highway 101 and drove from San Mateo to Mountain View just to buy groceries at the Milk Pail Market. Since then I haven’t looked back. I also stopped relying on GPS and trust my mental map and navigation more than the smart maps now. 

Fear of missing the highway exits and not being able to find my way back was probably the primary cause of not wanting to drive on freeway. I dealt with the issue by using Google street view beforehand to familiarize myself with the route and exits. I left the other silent concern of 'who will be in trouble if I accidentally end up in a hospital?' aside.

I also reminded myself that the appearance of fear is a false evidence. Fear, after all, is False Evidence Appearing Real. 

Since then, this incident has become a fun story and every time I shared it, someone would quote either themselves or their friends who still don’t consider driving on the highway. Just recently, a coworker who had recently moved from another country and was in the process of learning to drive here and get a license mentioned that they are still learning and aren’t yet comfortable. Everyone else in that lunch group started sharing their embarrassing yet funny driving stories. 

Hopefully, this story will inspire someone to get past their fear of driving and not take it on themselves, it is a genuine and well known area of concern among many people. And I am glad that my so far the only encounter with the Police was a pleasant one. 

Until next year... 

Listen! Don't try everything in English

I mentor a young schoolgirl in India. We do video calls once a week and during that time I can either help her with anything that she needs help with or I will make her do some exercises. I was told she needs help with English so I focus on English. Frankly speaking, I was a bit conflicted inside that do I want to teach English. I was also told that these kids don't have people in their family who can help them. A whispering voice came from inside, "can you keep your ideologies aside and focus on the need of the hour?". Often we don’t realize that the little time we give to someone can mean so much to them. Let’s call this girl ‘Radhika’ for our conversation. She is in 10th std.

Radhika would ping me on our defined day with a WhatsApp message ‘Hi mam, today is my skype’ which often makes me laugh as I am not used to hearing mam and we don’t end up using skype. My initial impressions about Radhika was that she is a smart and fearless girl. Initially, I was supposed to talk to her in English so that she gets comfortable conversing in English but I decided not to do that and since she understands decent Hindi, we communicate in Hindi. 

In one of our chats, I asked Radhika if she had any specific topic she would like help with. She did come up with a topic - direct and indirect speech. I don't remember learning anything in school since it had been so many years. I explained to her how to convert direct to indirect speech in Hindi. I wanted to avoid just telling the general grammar rules as her teacher might have already done that. Imagine explaining direct and indirect speech in English when your explanation itself will have those. We did a few examples and then she had to rush to school. Before we hung up, I asked her if this was helpful to her. She said, “this was very helpful”. Since then I have seen her improve in the homework.

The next time I asked Radhika the same question, “do you have any specific topics you need help with today?”. "No", she said so I had to come up with a task for her. I made her read a story of a few pages from her textbook to see her level of comprehension. While she had a regional accent, her comprehension was good. I noticed that she has a habit of eating words. She would eat some of the articles (‘a’, ‘the’), interchange them or twist and make new words while in a hurry. I stopped and corrected her every time she did that. Then there was a phrase in one of the sentences - ‘part and parcel’. I asked her if she understood what that means. She read it as ‘part’ and ate ‘the parcel’. I said, "can you explain the meaning of the phrase to me?". To my surprise, instead of coming up with a verbose explanation in English she said ‘अविभाज्य अंग’. Next, there was the phrase ‘new dimension’. And she was quick to say ‘दृष्टिकोण’. Her textbook has English meanings of these phrases. I was so happy as she reminded me of myself during school and my love for the तत्सम words. By now I had guessed that Radhika is strong in Hindi. I was curious if she studies Sanskrit as a subject in school as Hindi isn’t her mother tongue. She smiled and said, “no”. I asked her why she smiled. I thought she might say what will one do with Sanskrit. But she said, “Sanskrit is hard to learn”. I didn’t say much and we moved on to reading the next paragraph. 

Why am I writing about her? Of course, she reminded me of my old days and brought a smile. But more than that I wanted to write about the overly hyped need for English speaking. There are other more dangerous things than not being able to speak in English, like making it mandatory to speak in English in schools, teaching in English when the kids don't know that language, thinking that getting educated in English medium is the only way to get a job, taking English fluency to be a sign of intelligence. Humans are born with a sense of inadequacy and if one is made to feel inadequate because one isn't proficient in a foreign language, it can't be anything other than a disaster.

While the listening, speaking, reading, writing order is probably good for learning one's mother tongue, it seems the reading, writing, comprehending, speaking may be better suited for learning a second language that English is. There is a fundamental difference when one learns something in their mother tongue versus when it is taught in a language that isn't their first language. It is much easier to learn a concept if it's explained in one’s mother tongue or a language close to that. It's also not important to fluently speak in English to feel confident. As long as one can read, write, comprehend it, that fulfills the purpose of learning English for most kids in India. One can get used to converse over time. It would be a bit worrisome to not be able to speak in your mother tongue but that doesn’t apply to other languages.

I don’t know where this girl will go but I do see the potential and the confidence in her. I hope I would be able to influence her fluency in the subtleties of life more than her fluency in English.

Laugh at your own risk

(scene from an Indian Railway compartment, people who don't like middle berth sometimes occupy someone else's berth and don't want to give it to the actual ticket holder)