ChinmayC Blog

Lord Shiva is believed to be the most powerful God in the Hindu Trinity with Brahma and Vishnu. Lord Shiva is described as a destroyer and also a recreator and transformer. He is also referred to as Mahadeva or Maheshwar—the Great God. In his benevolent form he lives like a simple householder with his family of other Hindu Gods and Goddesses and spends His time in Kailash with the simplicity of an ascetic. But when He is angry, he becomes the Destroyer in which form he can obliterate demons, impurities in human minds and even the whole world. He is everywhere like any other omnipotent and omnipresent God. You can find Him in your heart, in the environs of your home and do your prayers accordingly; and if you want to worship Him in the form of an idol you can install a Shivling or Shiva Linga, the mark or sign or symbol of Lord Shiva, in your home or visit a temple or a shrine or a place of worship even under a big tree that are found almost in every locality in India. There are even ar...

Hanuman Chalisa is a collection of forty verses (chalis in Hindi means the number 40) except for two Doha or couplets in the beginning and one Doha at the end, in praise of Lord Hanuman who apart from being the exemplary devotee or Bhakta of Lord Ram is also regarded as an incarnation of Shiva and so, is recognized as a God. The scripture of Hanuman Chalisa is authored by Tulsidas (1497/1532—1623), the famous Bhakti poet-saint of the 16 th century India, renowned for composing the Ramcharitmanas (Lake of the deeds of Rama), retelling of the epic Ramayana. Ramcharitmanas is a monumental poetic creation because of the fact that Tulsidas composed it in the Awadhi or Oudhi language that is taken as a dialect of Hindi and thus taking the epic to the huge arena of the common Indians; Sanskrit scriptures are understood mostly by the scholars of that language. Hanuman Chalisa is also composed in Awadhi.   As we mentioned Hanuman Chalisa is a collection of forty chaupais (four-li...

Bollywood is actually a misnomer. In true subservience to Hollywood this name was coined since the Indian Film (Hindi) Industry was located in Bombay—which ceased to be so long back and Mumbai took over. Therefore, if at all, this industry should be called Mullywood! Anyway, Bollywood consists of a vast assortment of producers, directors, actors, music directors, lyricists, singers, production managers, spot boys and a huge lot of technicians in various categories ranging from cinematography to post-production labs. Basically all these people are individuals and thus all have right to their own opinions. Difference of opinions has been a celebrated hallmark of democracy—particularly in the largest democracy called India. If this democratic right of having one’s own opinion is universal why Bollywood be an exception? We cannot jump to the conclusion, as many self-motivated individuals engaged in media or politics often do, that ‘Bollywood is divided’. That the righteous difference of op...

In the Paleolithic age humans survived on edible plants and hunting of wild animals. They lived in small groups, made rough stone weapons and killed animals for food. The use of fire in the Lower Paleolithic age revolutionized the act of eating as they began to cook their foods finding wonderful ways of having vegetable dishes or mixing vegetables with meat. The survival instinct of eating got gradually replaced by the gourmet approach. The point to note here is that vegetarian and non-vegetarian ways of eating existed on planet earth since pre-historic times. - Please Click to See more Here:   (This article was first featured in newskarnataka.com's print publication 'Karnataka Today' Volume 1, Issue 1) 

It has been there all the time—maybe sporadic in the past, but consistent in the last few years. We encounter intolerance at every step of our existence. At home, the random husband does not tolerate certain aspects of his wife’s personality while the random wife does not tolerate certain ways of her husband—this is excluding the serious concerns of infidelity or disloyalty. In-laws are hardly tolerated by many particularly in matters relating to money. Children do not tolerate parental ‘advice’. Step out of home and it is worse. Everybody out there is just obsessed of surging ahead of others—does not matter even if it involves pushing or thrashing. Vehicle drivers grimace bitterly at pedestrians for their supposed ‘indulgence’ on the road while the pedestrians lash out at the drivers for their supposed ‘monopoly’ over the roads. Why road rage cases are increasing all the time? Root cause of this is only intolerance. If you only brush against a car in a genuine case of accident withou...

When students from our country face racial attacks in Australia or in the US, India put up an ‘Indian’ front against racism. When our officers like Devyani Khobragade is discriminated against and prosecuted in USA India put up a united and heated opposition. There is nothing wrong in that, in fact it is good and positive. However, when it comes to living within India we transform into racial or regional or linguistic or religiously chauvinistic animals and tear at each other in sheer intolerance or hate or feelings of racial superiority or whatever you may call it. In a country that boast of having unity in diversity we ourselves give our politicians avenues to exploit us and politicize every related issue possible under the sun. The so-called mainstream ‘Indians’ can very easily find out whether the person they confront belongs to the North East or any other isolated part of the country. They just need to have a look on the appearance and need to hear just one word uttered in Hindi—o...

Anna Hazare Breaking His Fast Fight against corruption in India got the long sought after boost as Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, passed the Lokpal Bill today afternoon. The Anti Corruption ombudsman Bill or the Lokpal Bill has almost become an Act pending the President's nod. Anna Hazare, the crusader against corruption, has given up his 7-day long fast and his followers at his native village Ralegan Siddhi and all over the country are celebrating. After disastrous defeats in four assembly elections the Congress led UPA Government has something now to draw inspiration from. Maybe it was already inspired by the certainty of it as the Government countered the US in a telling manner following the most peculiar case of Devyani Khobragade. A diplomat humiliated, and a lady harassed and insulted by American cops. Thanks to the sheer absurdity the conspiracy theory is gaining ground in India. A big apology from Uncle Sam is what the whole of India want now. One mor...

When the national capital along with its northern allies lead the way in torturing, maiming, raping and murdering women of all possible age-groups how could the financial capital be far behind! A city boasting of being safe for women over the years has lost this tag forever as crimes against women, intimidation and murder of liberals and all kinds of mafia related shootouts increase ominously. On a more sinister note this could just be the reflection of what is going all around the country. Like the nosediving value of the Indian rupee all values of the society are plummeting to all-time lows. Greed, lust, corruption, violence, intolerance, chauvinism, perversion etc are becoming the new parameters of modern life. Why? Because, our political parties and leaders need to contest and win the General Elections-2014. Because, to achieve that goal they need to have a hopelessly divided and morally defunct society. Because, they have to impose a new ‘governance’ on us for the same ‘noble’ o...