Lord Shiva Dwells In Your Heart And Home Always!

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 artistic priests available in the country who can come to your home, create a perfect idol of Shivling in clay and do a most gratifying Puja for you. You absolutely need not launch yourself in a journey of finding and discovering Him.

 

History is a process of evolution and change. Mother Earth keeps on changing through wars, conflicts, rivalries, reforms and recreation in an endless cycle. Mother Earth belongs to the whole of humankind, and not to any particular section of it. Since evolution has been the eternal cycle human discoveries and inventions definitely mark the progress of humankind. In modern times archaeological surveys lead to priceless discoveries of civilizations, scriptures and monuments. Such priceless assets add to our knowledge and should ideally be preserved in museums and research institutions. Such discoveries should never ever lead to disputes or quarrels over the rights of ownership as we just said Mother Earth belongs to all. Petty quarrels make Lord Shiva very angry and we’ve been watching the devastation caused by Mother Nature in the recent decades, and mind you, the Shakti or the energy of Lord Shiva’s better half Parvati or Durga or Kali gets channelized through the Lord only.

 

Throughout history many of the kings or emperors, irrespective of their religions, had either done a lot of good or did a lot of evil deeds and acts of destructions. Many invaders coming from various regions of the world ravaged and savaged our countries on many occasions leaving a trail of pain and suffering; however, the next rulers repaired again, and therefore, the process goes on. We cannot bring those to court for doing wrongs over the centuries, neither can we reward those benevolent ones in public events. But we can do indeed learn, gather knowledge and follow the good ideals.

 

We should consider ourselves very lucky to be living in a modern and digital world of today where everything is at our fingertips. We can even find our beloved gods and goddesses in our handy devices and sing or listen to prayers, either alone with oneself or with others, within them. If we find something objectionable or we disagree with something/someone we can always exchange our views openly in a peaceful and a virtually-built environment, instead of breaking out in open physical conflicts that definitely anger the divine powers, Mother Earth and Mother Nature. The best option is to go on enhancing our Gyan or wisdom rather than be vapid about it.

 

We should also shift our focus on how to further the all-round progress of our country in all fields of activity. We’ve seen how the Pandemic nearly destroyed us; how the economies have been hit; how the inflation is becoming uncontrollable; how the gas cylinder prices have shot up beyond the 1k mark and the fuel prices have crossed the 100+ mark, still rising; how the unemployment has been becoming a scourge; and what has been happening to our neighboring country Sri Lanka. We have much to ponder upon while keeping our prayers pure and within ourselves. Besides, should we go on with our relentless hunts/quests/pleas to overburden our courts that have already been reeling under extreme pressure?

Mumbai Monsoon: Still Unwilling To Pour & Water Cuts!

The heavy showers in Mumbai city and some adjacent area in the first week of July seemed to indicate that the monsoon finally caught the rhythm and we hoped that rains would be regular for the rest of the season. But no, the inexplicable unwillingness to pour showed up again from mid-July, particularly in areas of Thane district. The skies, as in the month of June, remained mostly gloomy with floating clouds contributing to the uncomfortable humidity. Even though the temperatures were below 33 degree Celsius the real feel with 80—90% humidity was around 38 degree! At times, the skies blackened hopefully with occasional soothing sounds of thunder, but mostly it petered out without pouring. There were, of course, a few incidents of showers, but not up to the desired intensity and consistency. And now, the obvious happened! Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced a 20% water cut from 5^thAugust, valid not only for Mumbai city but also for parts of Thane and Bhiwandi.

Very heavy showers in Mumbai city in early part of July, leading to water-logging on several occasions, ensured the overflowing of only Tulsi lake which is situated within the city limits, but the remaining six major water supplying lakes were much below the overflowing mark. Taking all the seven lakes into consideration the water level is only 34% of the overflowing capacity at this moment while it was 85% this time in 2019 and 83% in 2018. The BMC said that although Mumbai city received heavy showers in the first half of July the rains were not at all sufficient in the catchment areas around Thane and Bhiwandi. As has often been seen in the past deficient monsoon in catchment areas eventually leads to severe water shortage from October onward. The BMC assured that with the expected rainfall during August the cuts will be eased out gradually.

This month is our only hope for the monsoon to pour in these areas, because from September the South West Monsoon normally starts withdrawing from Maharashtra. There were water shortages and cuts in the past, no doubt; but in all of my years in Mumbai I have never seen such unwillingness on the part of the monsoon to pour and its adamant defiance of the weather forecasts on almost a daily basis This has been witnessed from mid-May till now. Tired of watching the skies for possible rains we often check the weather on our mobile screens, and lo! So often we behold ‘thundershowers’ in full flow on the screens with the special lightening effects. But, unfortunately, nothing of that sort happens in reality, with the sky looking as gloomy as ever and the humid heat seeping into us. Yes, Mother Nature has been angry with humankind since a long time, and has demonstrated her wrath through the unending saga of COVID-19 forcing governments take unprecedented measures and poor humans hide at home. We hope fervently Mother Nature take mercy on us forgiving our sins, and pour Her blessings on us in near future. Meanwhile, humankind must learn to be grateful, moderate and reciprocating. 

The Zombie Progression!

It’s no longer implausible now. It’s happening everywhere, it’s rampant everywhere and it’s not imperceptible. We need to retain some of the humanly senses to understand it and to think about why it’s being so.

They prominently exhibit brutality, but emotionless. They are like programmed entities guided by machines, gadgets and devices. They act on instant impulses taking those to the final realization. Like the professional executioners. Totally devoid of feelings, they demonstrate their skill everywhere, on the streets, in the highways, in the hotels and within four walls of the homes. They seem to indulge in human activities only, but not as humans. The emerging species of the zombies, if you take it as natural you do indeed belong to them.

The programmed beings react immediately to impulses provided in-built by a wide variety of sources. Some of them quarrel in public places; someone, still not programmed and a rarity, comes up and tries to mediate to bring peace. They disperse, but the ire of an unfulfilled impulse remains. So they waylay that unsuspecting person much later and usher in an orgy of violence and killing. All other bystanders in both instances fail to emit any kind of emotion and just watch on. A few bystanders switch on their mobile cameras and take pictures of the bloodied person lying writhing on the ground. Yes, they need those pictures for others of their ilk in all the social spaces available. Who cares a thought for saving the victim!

They drive vehicles guided by the maniacal impulse. At the slightest provocation both parties involved get ready to kill each other. Sometimes they hit someone down and run away guided by the avoid-trouble impulse. The bleeding being sees some hope as pedestrians gather around. However, they get busy with their gadgets and get busier still as the one on the ground slowly bleeds to death. No one thinks about saving a life. The thought process is irrevocably blocked for the impulse-driven entities.

Beggars and the deprived normally act as humans, because most of them do not enjoy access to those impulse providers. One of them one day loses the last ounce of her energy and falls flat on the hard concrete pavement of the busy street resigned to the inevitable end. Beings will be rushing past all around her hardly taking notice, because they are mostly guided by the work and related impulses. Even if somebody notices s/he will shrug it off with ‘what can I possibly do’ kind of programmed thought. Some award-winning photographer in search of impulsive ‘death’ takes this opportunity for a few ‘precious’ photographs. This process may very well be spread over two or three days. Finally the municipal machinery will clear away the human garbage. It does not matter at all if the municipal machinery is being operated by humans only, programmed as they are too.

Sometimes both the predator and bystander types of beings get guided by diverse impulses, the former by perpetrating-excitement impulse and the latter by watching-excitement impulse. In various cases of violent encounters and abductions mostly in public places they get abundant loads of fulfilled impulses. Who cares for the victims, right? The victims always get thrown out in death throes, pushed into the drains or hillsides or land up purely dead with their throats slit. If someone, still left with some human values, takes up the case of a victim like a brave Good Samaritan he or she would most probably end up with the same fate.

Not many of the impulse-driven activities within four walls of the homes come into the public domain. However, the media whose duty it is to report puts out the details in gory glory how the impulsive robbers not only looted the house, but killed all those of the family exhibiting extreme brutality. Who cares for the victims again! The media having done its public duty the impulsive readers get their money’s worth too.

Experts say that the brutality demonstrated in all crimes has been increasing alarmingly in India over the last few years. Their studies also reveal the utter lack of human emotions in the criminals.

So far in the endless expanse of space planet earth happens to be the only place where human beings live. The rate at which humans are losing their values and humanity the zombie progression is most likely to engulf mother earth very soon making her unable to bear the burden any longer. The Endgame, indeed? Would anybody ‘human’ be able to prevent it and make way for better times on our Planet Earth? Hope, undoubtedly, is the most positive human emotion. And the clock ticks on. 

Devastated Uttarakhand-A Saga of Endless Suffering And Indomitable Courage

It’s now nearly a fortnight since the flash floods devastated the north Indian state of Uttarakhand leaving a trail of endless sufferings and indomitable courage. Torrential rains and cloudbursts led to the flash floods the fury of which was beyond our human imagination. The floods swept away or swallowed up anything that came its way—pilgrims and tourists; cottages, houses and buildings; guest houses and hotels; huge chunks of land mass and roads; hills and hilly tracks and the temples and even the sacred idols in this holy state of the Char Dham Yatra pilgrimage. After the rescue of more than 100000 pilgrims thousands are still trapped and missing. While the official death toll has been pegged at around 1000 sources say it could be beyond 10000 when you account for the fact that thousands of missing persons have not returned still. Mother Nature punished her greedy children one more time in such a telling manner that the governments and the people of our planet earth better stop and ponder before embarking on the next folly.

Thousands got trapped and stranded in various tricky and inaccessible nooks and corners of this hilly state—a natural paradise ever increasingly compromised by human greed in the forms of lobbies and coteries involving an unholy nexus of politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, builders and brokers. Questions of Eco-zone sensitivity and ecology guidelines always get relegated against such overpowering greed.

It’s no secret that millions of sinners in this great country throng temples, holy places and sacred waterways in a desperate bid to wash away their sins and you can see their desperation when you get pushed, sidestepped and manhandled while standing in any queue for any temple or holy places. It looks like the incorrigible sinners try to absolve their sins so that they can go back to commit more sins in their daily life and come back again creating a vicious circle of vice and virtue. This desperation translates into the 'business' desperation to cash on. We like it or not, the Uttarakhand devastation is another classic example of man’s folly and Nature’s wrath.

While the inimitable Indian politicians of all hues and colors hankered for garnering credit—the most sought after commodity in any form of Indian activity—for providing relief and rescue for the stranded pilgrims the trapped ones continued to suffer indescribable misery of starvation and death, and the soldiers of the armed forces launched the biggest rescue mission in Indian history braving the furious weather and risking their own lives. The unsung heroes of Uttarakhand have made thousands of helicopter sorties rescuing more than hundred thousand stranded so far and they have displayed full skill, bravery and courage while getting them to the helicopters through makeshift bridges over rifts, rope-ways from inaccessible hilltop roads and plain mountain climbing. Few days back the armed forces—prominently the Ind-Tibetan Border Police, the Army, the Air Force—rescued 4500 people with 330 helicopter sorties in a day making this the biggest chopper rescue mission of the world so far.

Can you imagine in this modern age of communication people have died in thousands failing to find roads to travel, for the lack of shelter in adverse weather conditions and not finding enough water or food. In this saga you hear tales of good Samaritans coming to their help providing free food and water, and also of cheats and thugs robbing and overcharging the hapless masses.

The brave soldiers fighting the immense human tragedy have had their share of tragedy too. Twenty excellent pilots of the Indian Air Force engaged continuously in the rescue mission got killed tragically when the helicopter carrying them to transit camp crashed in Uttarakhand. India cried for these martyrs belonging to almost every state of the country with three of them from Maharashtra and Mumbai. We salute the Heroes.

With the rescue operations scheduled to end in a day or two the authorities are trying hard to prevent the possible outbreak of epidemic as it has been a mammoth task to cremate all the bodies of the victims. Unfortunately, the blame game continues too, with the met office insisting it had issued rare kind of weather warnings for stopping and evacuating the pilgrims, and the state authorities denying it stoutly.

Granted we are always at the mercy of Mother Nature and we are helpless against the kind of immense calamities that can confront us anytime. But we can definitely correct ourselves to help our Mother in a more meaningful way and possibly prevent more Uttarakhands from unfolding in near future.

Hurricane Sandy Vs Cyclone Nilam!

The biggest ever natural calamity to hit USAcame on Monday in the form of Hurricane Sandy and is far from over on the third day today. The super-storm first attacked Atlantacity in New Jerseydemolishing the gambling mecca there in particular, maybe as a symbolic fury of Mother Nature for sinful human excesses. Then the raging storm advanced towards New York City and caused maximum damage on the most happening place of the world. On the third day today Sandy headed for Canada.

Arguably the most advanced nation of the world has been found crying for mercy as Hurricane Sandy methodically progressed on its incredible course of devastation. More than 50 people have perished so far despite all the precautions taken and evacuation done on a war footing. More than 8 million households and businesses have lost power, and again incredibly enough it may take days to restore electricity. Swaths of NYC have been submerged under water continuously. More than 15000 flights have been cancelled with three airports of NYC area remaining closed for days. The USshare markets were closed for two days—a record since 1888. With the Presidential Elections scheduled for the 6th of November poll campaigns by President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney have been cancelled for the third day today. There have been speculations about even postponing the national polls that never happened in US history.  

Meantime Cyclone Nilam has risen over the Bay of Bengal and was headed towards the Indian coastal states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Heavy rains have lashed Tamil Nadu for the second day today along with high velocity winds. Emergency precautions are being taken with fishermen asked not to venture out into the sea and hundreds of thousands of people evacuated and shifted to safer places. Latest reports reveal that Cyclone Nilam has made a landfall at Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu and is likely to intensify as per the met office.

Mother Nature is supreme. She can wreak havoc at will and punish human follies any time She wants. Mortals must realize this irrespective of the levels of modernization or the heights of civilization they have supposedly reached.

Praise and revere thy Mother! 

Let's Save Our Mother Earth...