Slaves to some one!

Slaves we prefer to some one foreign

P.R.Ramachander

Slaves to someone foreign we were,

To the moguls from the Persian coast,

To the merchants who came from a tiny island next.

And then some one led us to what some call freedom,

But our leaders great led us to ideology that killed men in cold,

Imported from a country which told that all are one,

And we never thought a second to become its slave.

Leaders changed but again another ideology came,

From the land which was a universal police,

Calling it freedom and slaves to it we are almost now,

Of this ideology which some one foreign calls great..

To the lady from Italy we can easily be slaves,

For we are tired of ideas and search of persons foreign.

But that great lady thought in a different tune,

And preferred to be our master through a bearded man.

I only wonder which country we will choose next?

Tips for a Iyer Home

Dear Friends,

Here are a few tips from a book called “Live with Grace” in Tamil. May be what Kerala iyers believe and follow may be slightly different.Possibly each of you know several dos and donts as well as several tips which makes life easy .Why don’t you please share it with the group.

1.Lighting of lamp

a. If Gingelly oil is used then all the sufferings of family will disappear

b. If castor oil is used family life in the house would become sweeter

c. If groundnut oil is used family will run into credit problems

d. If lamp faces east then sorry and bad luck will disappear

e. If lamp faces west credit problems, sufferings due to Saturn, and quarrels between siblings will disappear.

f. If lamp faces west problems in fixing marriage, problems for education, would disappear. Wealth will accumulate.

g. Lamp should never face the south.

2.What should be seen as soon as one awakes from sleep:-

Lotus, Gold, Lamp, Sun, Sandalwood, Sivalinga, sea, Cow with calf, right hand, Sumangalis, Mridangam, Mirror, King, Forest elephant, Black monkey. Etc

3.What should not be done at night.

Washing cloths, Taking curds,Eating Nellikkai, Sweeping floor and throwing it out, Sleeping below a tree, Scraping of soil, Ploughing, etc

4.What should not be crossed while walking:-

Goat, Space in between cows, Fire, Space between two Brahmins, Space between husband and wife, Space between teacher and student,

5.Where people should not wait:-

Places where good people quarrel, Place where alcohol is consumed, Place frequented by prostitutes, Places where people quarrel with each other, Public place where water is collected

6.Things that will give longer life:-

Evening Sun, Smoke from Homa, Clear and Pure water, Eating milk with rice at night, Helping the sick, Bowing before elders etc.

7.Places where Goddess Lakshmi lives

Lotus, Elephants face, Back of a cow, Vilva plant, The Seemantha Reka of virtuous women,

8.Things that should not be done by women

Breaking Ash Gourd for Drishti, Breaking coconut while pregnant, Charity without the knowledge of husband,

9.Number of Pradakshinams

Siva temple: Any odd number of rounds above 3. When Only Siva Linga without his consort is there in the temple, We should not make complete rounds of the temple.

Vishnu Temple :4 times

Ganesha temple:once

Sun temple :once

While doing Pradakshina, we are supposed to walk slowly and gently and concentrating our mind on God. When Abisheka is being performed we should not do Pradakshina.

10.Namaskarams in a temple

Sashtanga namaskaram in a temple should be done in such a way that there is no prathishta of God in the side pointed by our feet.So it is recommended that this type of Namaskara is done outside the Dwajasthaba.. Women should not do Namaskarams with their chest touching the floor. They also should not do angapradakshinams.

11.Places where one can meditate:

River bank, Where Agni Kunda is there, Temples, Cowshed and Garden where holy flowering trees are planted. f these are not available then one can do meditation in ones own house. Meditating sitting on a tiger skin, fulfills all desires, On a skin of deer one gets Gnana , On cloth cures disease and on Woolen removes sorrow.

Chains for Japa should be made of sangumani, Silver beads, Neem seed. Coral beads, Spatika, Rudraksha or lotus seed.

P.R.Ramachander

Oh, our Soft ware lady

Oh, Our dear Software lady

By

C.S.Chithra

Mangayar Malar, February 2008

Translation from tamil attempted by

P.R.Ramachander*

Even though you arrive in a latest model car of your company,

Dressed to kill in the latest dress from a boutique,

Even though your Id card hangs on your neck like a garland,

You are but a pitiable mouse caught inside your lap top,

You are a pitiable deer jailed in the glass cabin.

Even though you can open several windows on your computer screen,

You would not find time to open the windows of your home.

Even though you have a pretty house with lot many pretty things,

You live in a boring four by four cage made of glass.

Whether it is day or night, you will have more work to do,

Your heart will beat bug bug , Lap top, bug bug, lap top,

And the only food that you ever will take would be Pizza and Cutlet,

And a good meals that you like , will be an unfulfilled dream.

Even the colorful dreams of yours would be full of projects and releases,

The week end outing for you would be only the mindless body moving out ,

Festivals , birthdays and anniversaries would be only in the calendar,

And friendships and mutual relations would be in your sachet.

For you ,all greetings are through SMS from your mobile,

And sweet little loving murmurs through e-mail and chats.

Oh young software lady, when will this chase of the endless mirage end,

And when will you live your life ,

Is it after your youth becomes a dream?

* Apologies for minor modifications

Pradheep, IV standard, B section

By

Surya Suresh

(Aval Vikatan, October 27, 2006)

Translated By

P.R.Ramachander

Oh mummy dear, unfortunately your Bus,

Always daily comes before my auto.

When I return from school,

To an empty home, mummy dear,

It appears to me as if there is nothing there.

Mummy, you who return home at nine P.M daily,

And daddy who will try to come by eleven,

Appear as some hazy shadows to me,

When I dream of you both at my school.

Nowadays I am bored stiff

With Tom and Jerry and POGO TV,

I am tired of the snacks in the Fridge

And your endearing voice in cell phone, Mummy

Why is it that you who are an ace,

In setting up the drawing room, Mummy,

Are not able to understand me

Who thirsts for your loving touch?

Like you who know how to postpone

Household work to Sundays,

I have also become an expert

In postponing my hankerings for your love.

The house maid who looks after me,

Becomes a temporary Mummy to me,

During those times I feel that

It would be better, if I am born to her.

To make people understand

That I am your son, Mummy

You always brag about

How well I do in my class,

What are you going to do,

To make me understand that ,

You are my Mummy, dear?

Grinding stone, Arundathi and she.

Grinding stone, Arundathi and she.
By
Madurai Baba raj
Mangayar Malar, August 2008,
Translation attempt,
By
P.R.Ramachander

With burden of a big family,
I am being ground like ,
The masala on a grinding stone.
Even my small and tine wishes ,
Are really far , far and far away,
Like the Arundathi star in the sky.
Perhaps we all enter the married life,
Only because of these facts,
After stepping on the grinding stone,
And seeing the far off star , Arundathi.

Hubby, lend me your ears!

Hubby, lend me your ears!
By
Muthu.Shanthi, Vizhuppuram,
Mangayar Malar, pp16, August 2008
Translation attempt by,
P.R.Ramachander


You would very often gulp,
The tasty food that I cook,
Prepared with lots of thought and care.
You would sit erect and silent,
Without even seeing me,
Who am going round and round,
Expecting the words, “That was super, darling.”

When I say I am sick,
You would without interest ask,
In a short, swift and single line,
“Can’t you go to the doctor?”

Do all men become deaf,
When they become husbands, darling?

I do not want any thing great from you,
But hubby, please lend me your ears,
What I need are just a few caring words,
A little smile to console me,
A little touch with friendliness,
A little gift on festive occasions,
A caress of my hair with care,
Few little words to ask me how I am,
And few words praising me,
But not only dresses and Jewels as you seem to think,
Please lend me your ears, hubby.

A mile stone in My translation efforts.

I retired from service as a scientist in a national institute in the year 2000. My research life spanning 36 years was very productive and fruitful. Once I retired I decided that I should do some thing which is entirely different from what I was doing till then . I started with very many activities. Of them, one was the translation of stotras in to English verse. I wanted to do this because I thought that we should give a chance to our youngsters not well versed in their mother toungue or Sanskrit, to understand the meaning of the majestic Hindu prayers. I started the work in the year 2002. By 2005 I had completed translation of 41 great books which included Sundara Kandam, Devi Mahatmyam, and Abhirami Andathi and so on. Sri Bhagyam Ramaswami who is running a web site called www.appuswami.com agreed to publish my translation of Abhirami Andathi in his web site. Since it attracted lot of attention, I wanted to have a web site of my own. My daughter in law Sangeetha taught me rudiments of web site building and also a template. Sri Achalam of Mumbai, whom I consulted, encouraged me to upload all my translations. Thus in 2005, I uploaded my translations (41 in number) in my web site www.geocities.com/ramya475 . This was an instant hit. But once the initial enthusiasm faded, the number of new visitors per day was about 10-20.It was at this time that I decided to set apart a considerable time per day for translations of stotras. As of today, I have translated 300 stotra rathnas. The break up is as follows:-

Addressed to
Sanskrit
Tamil
Malayalam
Hindi
Total
Vishnu
41
1
4
1
47
Rama
11



11
Krishna
22

3

25
Shiva
34
1

1
36
Goddess
60
3

6
69
Ganesa
9



9
Subrahmanya
6
3


9
Ayyappa
3

1

4
Planets
17



18
Rivers
6



6
Hanuman
8


1
9
Philosophy
17



17
Daily prayer
1



1
Other Gods
23

1

24
Vedic Hymns
9



9
Puranas
6



6
Total
274
8
9
9
300

In this collection there are stotras from Vedas like the Rudram and Purusha Suktham to the composition called Janaki Panchakam by my young friend Sri.Animesh. Translations of very many stotras like Shyamala Dandakam, Abhirami Andathi, Mariamman Thalattu, Kamakshi Suprabatham etc have been for the first time in English. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to translate the whole Bhagwad Gita in to English and add to this web site. Having just reached the mile stone of 300, I would like to thank all the people who directly and indirectly supported my venture. I firmly believe that all this is not my contribution but that of God, who has blessed me and using me as his instrument. I really do not know how to thank him for his grace except doing pranams to him.
I had depended for my translation efforts on legendary Anna’s Tamil translations published by Sri Ramakrishna Mutt, Chennai, Sri Bapu Rao’s great compendium in Malayalam called Stotra Rathnakaram, The great Hindi publication called Stotra rathnavali by Gita press Gorakhpur, Sri Animesh’s translations in his web site www.stutimandal.com, translations by Dr.Sadagopan and Sri Anbil Ramaswamy in the oppiliappan archives as well as the great collection of e-books appearing in the web site www.sundarasimham.org, consultations through e-mail with Dr.Saroja Ramanujam, Dr.S.N.Shastri, Dr Sundar Hattangadi , Dr.Sadagopan and several others. I want to thank each and every one of them .
I would like to thank my daughter in law Smt.Sangeetha for the initial web site construction as well as guiding me in the preliminary stages. I would like to Thank Sri Achalam, who was the first one to instill confidence in me for undertaking this great venture. My daughter Smt Meera Venkatesan has been a great source of inspiration in whatever I do and when I felt weak or wavering she used to tell me , that I can do it and I want to express my gratefulness to her. Being dissatisfied by my web site she has constructed a new one to host all my translations and essays viz http://stotraratna.awardspace.com , in which all the translations are stored in the easily downloadable PDF form.
I want to thank the members of Pattars Group, Iyer123 group and 4-brahmins group for the constant encouragement by publication of several of my translations and also for extending helping hand in terms of crisis.
. I want to thank Sri Lakshmanan of the www.celextel.org for encouraging me by publishing all my translations in his great and popular web site. I would like to thank www.chennaitimes.com for reproducing some of my translations in their popular web site. Several web sites including that of Ramana Ashram, Sathya Sai foundation, Karunamayee foundation, www.kaumaram.com, etc have used few of my translations and this has helped me a lot in gaining confidence in the work that I am doing .My thanks to all of them. One young gentleman called Sri Vinay Yadav has started a web site called www.stothrarathnas.com exclusively for my translation efforts. My thanks to this young man.
My friends of the Rajaji Nagar Bhaktha Sabha, Bangalore, brought 254 of my translations in a CD form and distributed it at a very nominal cost to all their members. I wish to thank, this great organization.
Sometimes a pat on the back, whether you deserve it or not becomes a great source of inspiration. Many people have just done that several times among them is Sri Vaidyanathan Pushpagiri an inveterate blogger in Sulekha, who has told several good things about what I have been doing . Though I know that, I do not deserve such praises, my thanks to him.
All this would not have been possible but for my wife who was my major source of Inspiration in what all I do. A simple word of thanks would not do for her at all.