Shuklambaradaram – A humorous explanation by Maha Periyava

Shuklambaradaram – A humorous explanation by Maha Periyava

By

P.R.Ramachander

Before   we start  any ritual   we recite the  prayer:-

Shuklambaradaram  Vishnum  Sasi Varnam  Chathurbujam,

Prasanna  Vadanam Dhyayeth , sarva Vigna upasanthaye.

The smarthas   consider it as  prayer   addressed to Lord Ganesa  , the remover of obstacles

And translate it thus:-

I meditate  on the cheerful faced  god   who  is the remover  of all obstacles,

Who is clad in white silk, who is peaceful, who is moon coloured  and has four hands.

(Lord Ganesha also wears  yellow silk    and is supposed to have  five hands- his tusk is considered as one hand . He is supposed to be red coloured)

The Vaishnavites  consider   that it is a prayer   addressed   to Lord Vishnu  and  translate it as follows:-

I meditate  on  Lord Vishnu wearing silk  white cloths, who is  of colour of moon,

Who has four hands  and has pleasant face   and pray to him  to remove all obstacles on my way.

(Please note  Lord Vishnu wears   yellow silk (Peetambaram)  )

Recently I read  humorous explanation  aimed at  teasing  his  disciples by the great saint Maha Periyava (Source Dina Malar  31-12-2016 quoted by  Mohan Kumar):-

If   the milk of white  colour is mixed with  decoction   of black(Vishnu) color  we get coffee  of moon colour,

And this if presented by  two hands  of the wife  to the two hands  of the  husband,

He would become  pleasant faced  and then all obstacles in way of wife   would be removed.

I Am presenting below what I read   with English transliteration :-

(உடனே மஹாஸ்வாமிகள் இதற்கு வேறொரு அர்த்தமும் இருக்கு அது உனக்கு தெரியுமோ என்று சொல்லி சிரித்தார்.

Shuklam-ஸுக்லம் - என்றால் வெள்ளை அதாவது பால் (white  i.e milk)

Vishnum -விஷ்ணும் - என்றால் கறுப்பு அதாவது டிகாஷன்(Black i.e decoction)

Sasi varnam -சசிவர்ணம் - என்றால் கறுப்பு வெள்ளை கலந்தது அதாவது காபி(Moon colour mixture of  whie and black  t.e coffee)

Chatrhurbhhujam0 ஸதுர்புஜம் - என்றால் நான்கு கைகள் அதாவது (Four hands)
மாமியோட இரு கைகள் காபியை கொடுக்க(Wife;s two hands to give)
மாமாவோட இரு கைகள் அதை பெற்றுக் கொள்ளும்(Husbands  two hands to recieve

Dhyayeth- த்யாயேத் - என்றால் நினைத்தல் அதாவது
இப்படி காபி கொடுப்பதை மனதில் நினைப்பது(Thinking of coffee)

Prasanna vadanam- ப்ரஸன்ன வதனம் - என்றால் மலர்ந்த முகம் அதாவது
காபியை மனதில் நினைத்ததும் மாமாவின் முகம் மலர்ந்து விடும்(Pleasant face on seeing coffee)

SArva Vigna upasanthaye -ஸர்வ விக்னோப ஸாந்தயே - என்றால் எல்லா கவலைகளும் நீங்குதல் அதாவது
காபி குடித்தால் கவலை நீங்கி மனம் சாந்தமாகி விடும் என்றார்.(All worries would come to an end)

Domestic life is ruined by a great show off

Domestic  life  is ruined by  a great  show off

By

P.R.Ramachander

(I got the idea  of writing  this after I read a tamil post  by SP Ramanathan. My thanks to him)

I am great   genius   of sorts  ,

Who  is capable of   writing a Wikipedia,

On any subject  on earth  whatsoever ,

But my wife  finds it  hard to understand  anything.

So right   from the   time   the sun rises  in the east,

I would be   showing off  to her  all   that I know,

To my poor dear  wife  , who finds it difficult ,

To understand  , even simple  things in life.

Our domestic life    was indeed miserable ,

For my   wife   felt that I was  torturing her ,

Using my  genius  and  tried  always,

To avoid me   and rarely talked to me.

One day   when it was   a holiday  ,

And my wife   getting bored  of  hearing,

Incessant outpouring  of my lectures,

Had  gone to visit   her   parents who were nearby.

And I  feeling the need  of some audience ,

Decided  to visit a   friend of mine , who not only,

Knew everything on earth  but also could do,

Any work given  to him in a jiffy  with great efficiency.

My friend and his wife welcomed me  with great warmth ,

And I  with great curiosity   asked   both of them,

About their   day to day  life  and the   wife,

With a great  smile  started   narrating  with glee.

“Your dear   friend    does  not know   even simple  little  things,

And it is me   who is compelled    to get all his work done for him,

And he even does not know   how to see   the  time from the clock,

And  date  from  the Calendar  and I have to see  it  and tell him about it.”

And my friend   said to me , “Yes  my friend  ,

If she is not there   even for some time ,

I find it difficult   to do   anything at all.”

And his wife looked at him with great love.

Next day  I met my friend in his  great office ,

And asked him , “What happened to you?”

And he said, “True I know   everything ,

And  I also know  lot about her ,.”

“She is an extremely efficient manager  of the home,

And would be able to give a great life  to me   with even less finance,

But all her life  no one   in her home   felt the need,

To say   even   one word of appreciation to her.”

When she got married to me  , she knew I was a genius,

And I thought  that she would suffer a lot ,

Due to her  the inferiority complex  and,

Then I decided  not to show  off myself to her  at any time.

Due to that we both lead   any extremely,

Satisfactory married   life and she  never ever,

Leaves me alone and goes anywhere,

And I would even refuse to go to heaven if it is offered to me.

Wife -the angel of love sent by God

Wife  -the angel of love    sent by God

Translated   by

P.R.Ramachander

(I found these   divine words  written in Tamil by my facebook friend Hamsabai  Santhana Krishnan. My grateful acknowledgements to her.) 

The word wife can be taken as another,

Synonym   for   the word  “love”.

All wives  are   loving angels  ,

Who shoulder the burden  of the home.

If all men can be compared  to one side drum,

All women  who go for a job are drums with two sides,

Though the crown  called “lady” is pretty,

The society would  always keep pinching them always..

Oh husbands  , give a helping  hand to them,

Please hug and protect  that loving angel,

Who is always   living   only for you,

Talk to her always with care  and love.

Whenever   you get   even little time ,

Do all that you  can to help her in kitchen,

Please understand  all her pains and sorrows,

And look after  her,   just like you look after  your daughter.

Make   her body as  well as mind as mellow  as possible ,

Appreciate   her skills   in the art of cooking,

Look and feel the    scars   made by kitchen heat,

On her , for they are the signs of her  love towards  you.

What she   is doing   is not   cooking ,

But  is the  sign of her love towards you,

Daily thank and tell her , what she does is great,

Tell her  that without her , your life is a Sahara  desert.

You can send these  SMS    to her also,

For she is a candle burning   for sake of  your family,

And  an  angel of love who comes with us in  the journey of life,

She  is with us because  God cannot be with us always.

See to it that  not a drop of tear comes   from her eyes,

Be always  like   a third   hand    for her ,

Understand that  if she    sheds   tears ,

All your prosperity and joy   would get burnt.

Working mothers -a boon or curse

Working mothers earn money but sometimes are not able to give affection. Are they a boon or curse to their children?

Working mothers  -a boon or curse

BY

P.R.Ramachander

(Based on a write up I read long back and am not sure who wrote it. My acknowledgements   for that anon  writer)

A:BOON

It is a boon   to  have  a working mother  for,

Working mothers are  more capable ,

As they juggle their lives   between,

Their work, their home and their passion.

They know the  home outside   the world,

Much better  and have much great confidence ,

To live and  to lead the family  both in work and play.

Their children   due to  her tight   schedule  ,

Learn  the art of  depending on themselves,

IN their own home   and outside  much better,

Have a better  vision  to progress in this world,

And they get all they want  as their Mummy  will get it for them.

B:CURSE

It is a curse   to   be brought up by working mother,

Because  a working mother  is a curse  to her children,

Since they see   their mothers   but very rarely,

Get looked after   by some servant who does not love them,

Rarely  can  tell their mother   about the  food they like and get it

And start depending   on restaurants for the food they like  

Are scolded  but not helped  by their mothers   for  their shortcomings,

And they fall   prey to  bad habits   due to no one  being there   to correct them.

Ganges - Does the sins go away by dipping in Ganges- two stories

Ganges - Does the  sins go away  by  dipping in Ganges- two stories

By

P.R.Ramachander

(The first story is very popular   in Kerala and I read the second one in Tamil  in the post of  Mannargudi  Sitaraman  Srinivasan.  Thanks to him.)

I.  Pakkanar   and the bitter gourd

There is a poor saint  belonging   to a low caste,

Long long time    ago  in the God’s own country named Pakkanar,

One day his  master  told him that  he is going to Benares,

So  that he can bathe  in ganges, so that   all his sins  would go away.

Pakkanar gave a  bitter gourd to his master to take to Benares,

With a request  to dip it  in  the holy ganges and bring it t back with him,

And the master  just did that and on return gave  the bitter fruit to Pakkanar  ,

Who immediately  bit in to the gourd  and said, “Its bitterness has not still gone.”

II.Saint Ramakrishna  Paramahamsa      and ganges

A great poor  , very aged   follower of saint Ramakrishna ,

Planned to go  Benares,  to bathe   in Ganges  and return back sinless.

The saint   with a smile told   that nothing like  that would happen,

As  once he leaves his dresses  on the shore   and takes  the  dip,

The sins would remain in his   dresses and would again  get attached to him.

The devotee  was  slightly convinced and asked  the Bhagawan,

“They say  if I am  cremated after  death on the shores of Ganges,

After my death , then my soul   would go to heaven,”

The saint told “possibly , but the sins  of that body  get scared  of Ganges,

And would climb on some   tree and wait for    good sinless  persons  like you,

And as soon as they see  you, they would occupy your body.”

And so after  a pilgrimage  , you possibly would return with more sin.”

How to see God?

How    to see  God?

By

P.R.Ramachander

(Here is a   a great truth told in simple worlds  culled from a Tamil speech of Sri Tenkachi Swaminathan , who specializes  in explaining   religious truths  in simple way. My thanks to him.”

One man  was yearning   to see God,

And enquired   with all his friends,

And they looked at him  as if he is silly,

And told him    to go to the   temple.

On his way he  met a wise  Guru,

And he told the    great Guru,

That he was going to see   God,

In   temple  for saluting   and praying to him.

The Guru asked him , “Do you know  God ?.

He said “No”  and the Guru   smiled at him,

And said,” If so  how would  you recognize him,

And without  recognizing him,  how can you salute Him?”

Then the Guru continued  “all the people ,

Who go to the temple  , go there   to ask for   a favour,

From a God whom they   do not know at all,

Or to complain about   some one or some thing to him.”

The thoughtful man replied    to the Guru,

“I  want only to love him, but I do not know him,

And please tell me  how I  can  meet that God ?”

And then without hesitation  Guru told  “Meditate.”

Then the man asked , “Is there  any connection  ,

With meditation    and the God whom I do not know?”

And the patient Guru   with a smile told “No,

But by meditation you can definitely feel him  in your mind.”

Guru further added  “meditation  is connected with the mind,

And  if done with faith and discipline, it creates a deep silence.

And   in that state  of deep silence only  , you can realize God,

And  then only you can either worship  or salute him.”

At that  time  one devotee   was coming back from the temple,

And he told the Guru, “I had a very great meeting   with God today,

And I am sure  no one could have   seen God better  than me,

Because I took special   Darsan ticket  for 200, and I could stand there for a while.”

The Guru with smile asked   that man, “How far were you from  God?”

And he replied  “Hardly ten feet “ and the Guru laughed   at him,

And told  “There is one another  man   in the temple   who is nearer,

Than you were  and he    stands  there  for much more time.”

That man   who  returned from   temple went back disappointed,

And the man who wanted   to see   God in the temple  ,

Started   to go back to his home  and he told, “Thanks a lot,

Now  I know that unless  I  realize God  I cannot see  him.”

At that time   another  fashionable    rich man came to thE guru,

And asked “ I WANT TO BE SPIRITUAL   “ , “Can you help me””

And the Guru said  “Remove the first word and then the second.

Without  “I the ego”  and “WANT  the desire”  you would be spiritual “

“I also came   to know from you that  unless I travel,

Far far away from myself  , I can never realize him.”

The Guru blessed   him and told him  ,” Good,

You now know that by going away , you are going near.”

The never diminishing offerings(Naivedhyam) to God

The never diminishing   offerings(Naivedhyam)  to God

Transcreated  by

P.R.Ramachander

(I read the  Tamil  original in Tamil from the post of  my face book friend Sri Guru Moorthi.  My deep sense of acknowledgement to him.)

One disciple    told his Guru  ,

I am not able to believe,

That God   takes  even a bit,

Of the food offerings given to him.,

“If he indeed    takes a little   bit,

There should be  a reduction  in quantity,

Of  the food offered   to God by us”,

Told the   disciple   to his guru.

The Guru only smiled   and took him,

The school   of Vedas   run by him,

And he asked the   disciple  to take a Veda book,

To absorb a sloka   from Vedas  in to his mind.

The Disciple   who was   very intelligent ,

Learnt by heart   a great sloka   from Vedas,

And without committing   even a single mistake,

He chanted it before his Guru.

The Giru was extremely happy  and asked his disciple,

“Now go and bring the book   from where  you learnt this”

And the disciple  just did that and the Guru   opened the page,

From where the disciple   had learnt the sloka by heart.

Then the Guru told him, “Just now you told this sloka,

And I thought   it   would have vanished   from the book,

But it seems to be   very much there , that too completely.”

And  then the disciple  asked” How can it get reduced?”

The Guru then told , “Your mind  has the sloka from Vedic book,,

In  a spiritual form  and the macro  form of the Sloka,

Does not get diminished   by it   and like that,

God eats   the offering to him  in spiritual form only ,

And so  the macro form   of your offering never diminishes.”