A State of Mind

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

A State of Mind

Everything is just a state of mind

Since yesterday, I have begun counting my blessings. The first in the morning was the gentle breeze that wafted into my home when I opened window-by-window in the morning. The next blessing was the sight of two neem trees that have always been standing outside my house, but which I noted was a blessing. As I opened the door that led to a patch of the Universe outside bringing bright tidings from my alien visitor - the Sun, and plonked on the sofa to meditate, I stopped counting. I was in Meditation.
And then this thought came about being in a meditative state of mind. What a beautiful, yet oft-used expression it is, "a State of Mind." Everything is just a state of mind. I see the door and it is not a door, but a state of my mind. All the books on the shelf - several states of my mind, the Veena in a corner - a musical state of my mind.
Usually a tiny word such as state in this case, takes me into its trail on a tour of consciousness and there I went. When we say, it is this or that geographical state - it is a way of being, a collective state of mind of the people, customs and manners. The country is no country, but a state of my mind which draws the boundaries and demarcates, remembers its friends and enemies...
Then comes the wind state of mind, the water state of mind, the fire state of mind, the space state of mind the moon state of mind and the sun state of mind or the divine state of mind...
This state of mind happens when the body is quiet and all the particles that constitute the mind settle down in one particular state. Don't we also call a dead body as "lying in state."
After the international ramblings on various states of mind, I returned to myself into the silence where all the states dissolve into nothingness - nowhere to go and nothing to do, but to just be.
Swahilya.

5 comments:

hari said...: Hi Swahilya,
Everything is indeed a state of mind, no second opinion on that. In fact the differentiation of “Me” and “You” is also very much a state of mind. If one considers you as part of me and all of us as one, then the words like anger, jealousy, greed, rich, poor etc.. would not find a place in the dictionary at all. For example if I find Swahilya not different from me then there is no way that I can get angry, greedy or jealous with a part of my self.

There is a story in Bhagawatha relating to Maharishi Vyasa and his son. One day Maharishi Vyasa was walking through the forest and there were a group of women taking bath naked in a pond. The moment they saw the Maharishi they hid themselves in the pond and waited for him to pass through. Immediately after he went his son was passing through the same path. The Maharishi hid behind the bush to see his son’s reaction to the women. To his surprise the women did not hide themselves and his son passed through, naked himself, without any reaction at all. The Maharishi immediately came to the women and asked why they did not hide themselves when his son passed through to which they replied that, his son’s state of mind was so pure that he did not differentiate between him and the women at all. To him they were no different than him. So it is just the state of mind that differentiates between a spiritually enlightened and materialistically illusioned.

Sorry for citing examples to you as you may surely know this story already. It is like showing candle to the sun. Just felt like repeating it.; June 08, 2005
Swahilya Shambhavi said...: Wow Hari, that was really great - a post within a post. It is the best of yours I have read. I have heard of the story. But repeating it any number of times is meditation. This comment seems to have an uninterrupted flow of thought if I am right?; June 08, 2005
hari said...: Absolutely right Swahilya. It just came spontaneously and in fact I have a lot to say on this subject.; June 09, 2005
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; February 23, 2007
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; April 24, 2007

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Aham: Food for the Soul

I think its time I write about one blogsite I love to visit more than any other in recent times. It is Swahilya's blog. Let me try my best to describe her blog site. She writes about anything and everything but with a spiritual bent of mind. I know that I have raised a few eyebrows here by calling a spiritual blog my favorite despite my strong inclination towards science. Every time I visit her blogsite I come out having learned something or the other. Many a times I have personally requested her to write on different topics and she obliged every single time. I will run out of superlatives if I try to describe her writing style...
*****

The Acquaintance

Hello! Is this Miss.Divine?,
Yes it is she said,
I heard the smoothest voice I ever had,
It did not command nor was it submissive,
I was totally mesmerized by the brilliance,
Awestruck by its mysterious charm,
The signals from her brain
perfectly interpreted by her vocal cords,
Poured out the intelligence that lay within,
I listened with the keenest of ears,
Is she human? I thought,
No, she is Miss. Divine,
She is my latest acquaintance,
The teacher that sits under the banyan tree,
Is she Buddha incarnate?
or is she the perfect answer?
The balance between creation and destruction?
Is this the birth of the cosmic intelligence?
She denies perfection,
Humility is her second name,
She worships the indestructible,
She is SWAHILYA.
*****
Thirumandiram CD - (Akshara Foundations)
- A review by R. Suryaprakash, Vocalist
Great epics, works of saints etc., are generally branded as “Immortal” and conveniently allowed to die a slow death as the Western concepts rapidly gain ground in our society. On such almost forgotten treatise is “Tirumandiram” of Tirumoolar. It is to be said that some of the other constituents of “Panniru Thirumurai” of Shaivism are still popular, such as “Thevaram” and “Thiruvachagam”, thanks to the grit of Oduvars who still sing the verses in temples.Tirumandiram has a spiritual charm, bordering on the occult and its beauty has been fully brought to the fore by a young and enterprising team by setting to tune, ten of its verses and rendering them in a CD album which is eminently listenable. This CD has been recently released by these devotees of Akshara Foundations, with the profound blessings of H H Swami Akshara.
The plan of rendition has been excellent, with meditative chanting of a verse by a single member by rotation, followed by group rendering of the same. This is followed by a short raga sketch/interlude in Veena. After that, the verse is rendered by the entire group as a song, set in the same raga as the interlude, along with mridangam accompaniment. This pattern is followed assiduously while rendering all the ten verses. The introductory chants are set in the raga Revathi for all the verses and have been rendered soulfully by each one of the participants. He choice of Revathi raga is apt, because, in the phrases “ ni. sa. ri sa. ri ni. sa. ri…pa. ni. sa ri. sa ni.ri. sa…” the Raga is Veda Mantra itself. The interludes and the rhythmic rendition of the verses are set in ragas which take you through a journey in blissful realms of traditional music. The opening verse “Aiyindu Karaththanai” , technically not a part of the original treatise but conventionally sung as “Vinayagar Thuthi” of Thirumandiram has been rendered in raga Nattai, which is most acceptable as the opening raga in our music tradition. “Aaadi Natta Anta Surati” goes the saying. The tala is Adi.The second one “Thiruvadiye Sivamaavathu…” follows in the raga Suddha Saveri, in Kanda Chapu tala. It is a welcome change in talam.“Anbum Sivamum…” is in Anandabhairavi, “Thunaiyaduvaai Varum…” in Hindolam, “Ullam perunkoyil …” in Shivaranjani (which is literally an archana to the Lord), “Thelivu Guruvin…” in Bageshri, “Yaan petra Inbam…” in Kalyani, “Marathai Mariththathu…” in Sama, “Man Onru Kandeer…” in Hamsanandhi, rounding off with “Naadaththin Andamum…” in Madhyamavathi, the last one very apt raga-wise and set in brisk Khanda Nadai. Others follow the regular eight-beat cycle (Adi talam) which has aesthetic simplicity. The verses are rendered in an order different from the above in keeping with mood/raga contrast. The interludes have been rendered with a sense of proportion and purpose by the Great Veena Vidushi Smt. Kalpakam Swaminathan, an octogenarian and a veteran who has been recently conferred with the birudhu Acharya Choodamani by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai. Her rendering of thanam in Kalyani raga as an interlude for the verse “Yaan Petra Inbam….” is one of unbridled “Inbam” (joy) and one wishes that her greatness “Peruguga Iv Vaiyaham” (spreads all over the world)!The individual renderings have simplistic charm as they have been rendered with utmost dedication by participants who, barring a few, are not basically professional practitioners. The open throated rendering by Swahilya, who has a stentorian voice, sruti suddham and bhavam which immediately takes one to the sanctum sanctorum deserves special mention. The charming rendition of the opening verse by little Kavya is also very sweet and gives one the firm impression that she has got a great future. The involvement and competence of the others too, cannot be understated.
In all, this album stands out for its meditative effect, involvement of the participants, and most importantly the rendition in traditional method so as to give the listener, the satisfaction of having undergone a pilgrimage. “Thirumandiram” by Swahilya and her team merits universal listening and appreciation. - Purnima

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

A State of Mind

5 comments:

Aham

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