Music, dance, Sculpture and YAJNA

The white ambassador came to a stop. We walked briskly to once again behold the beauty of 'AmaraShilpi' Jakkanacharya's masterpiece - 'temple of Halebidu'.
All my previous visits to Halebidu were very brief and filled with guilt of having missed the opportunity to understand the background culture of a byegone era which created such a marvel. This time I was determined to convince my family to hire a 'guide'. With my resurgent interest in rational spirituality combined with the recent reading of the book 'Evolution of Theism in the Indian subcontinent', I was curious to know of any background of spirituality behind the immense dedication needed to build a structure of such intricate and detailed workmanship.
The guide was very fluent in English and had a passion for Archeology. We picked the best even though had to wait to get our turn. After a brief narration of how King Vishnuvardhana converted to Vaishnavism under the tutelage of Acarya Sri Ramanujacharya, we proceeded towards understanding the cultural and sculptural intricacies. The sculptures of 'Sri UgraNarasimha decorated with the garland of Hiranyakasipu's intestines ' and 'Ganges coming from Sri VamanaDeva's lotus feet with Bali Maharaja as onlooker' stood out among all of them. I realised that glorious activities of various Dasavataras was the common theme and motivation for Jakkanacharya and team. Shakuntala, Visnuvardhana's wife was a great dancer. The guide described the dance floor and the audience seating inside the temple precints. The diety ChannaKesava was frequently entertained by the various cultural performances. 'The temple is an extended cultural center'. Various kinds of music,dance,theatre was performed regularly for the pleasure and satisfaction of the Ishta Deva.
Why these artisans and kings spent decades together and consuming lots of resources for depicting activities of Visnu? Cant this time and effort used for economic development etc? My mind peaceful until now collecting observations became excited for the first time - Eureka! -> the culture was rooted in 'Yajna' - 'activities done for the pleasure of the supreme'. I had recently read the definition of Yajna and mention of it in 'The Gita' as a means for spiritual enlightenment.
Generally people think yajna means performing fire sacrifice or 'Homa'. But according to Gita, any activity performed with the intent of satisfying the supreme becomes yajna. Performance of Yajna emancipates the spirit self from the clutches of matter.These wonderful structures speak about the culture prevalent in Hoysala and Vijayanagar empire. One can easily assess how Spiritual emancipation was the central essence of human life and pivot of culture and arts. This was to such an extent that even forms of entertainment like Sculpture, Music, Dance and theatre were dovetailed towards Yajna with Paramapurusa as the center. Is there a better means of meditation than Sculpting any of the glorious activity of the Dasavatara for decades? With such intense meditation, the sculptors came in touch with more fundamental and joyful layer of existance and reality. Meditation became passionate addiction for these sculptors ……………………...
Back in the car all were silent, dumbstruck with awe at the work and dedication of the Sculptors. One of my cousin broke the silence by initiating discussion on the origins of carnatic classical music and its correlation to Yajna (the act of satisfying the supreme). I narrated slokas from the Bhagavatham glorifying Nama Sankirtan as the only effective way of doing yajna in this age of faults - Kali Yuga. The divine musical science and art with the various ragas practiced in Vaikuntha descended onto the earthly realm thru Sriman Purandara Dasa - Father of Carnatic classical music. With the Vedic scriptures unanimously declaring 'Nama Sankirtan' as the primary means of spiritual perfection in kali yuga, compositions and rendering of Purandara dasa enabled many to adopt the method of congregational glorification of the names of Supreme Lord Hari. When music is practiced for the pleasure of the supreme, it is called Sankirtana Yajna. When we were having coffee at the roadside dhaba, I read aloud the following verses from the Gita which summarised all the discussions we had throught out our wonderful trip

9.27 -> Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform—do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.
9.34 -> Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me.


- Inner Voice
Inspired by the Divine Grace of Saints

At your service,
Ram

ellu-bella to bevu-bella to firecrackers

It was arrival of another long weekend due to Makara Sankranti. Our office coffee table discussions hovered around each of our vacation plans. Some of them had movie plans, visiting a cool restaurant, while some planned for a resort visit to chill. These are all fine but somewhere we hit saturation after long years of indulgence. Is there something more to it? I have through the years anticipated the arrival of Sankaranti with enthusiasm of snacking on my mom's ellu, bella. This time my mind started to get an itch towards contemplating on the metaphysical importance of this festival. With some deep discussion and analysis on the Gita for the past few years, I thought of exploring any correlation between teachings of the Gita and festivals.

Makara Sankaranti is primarily related to the Sun God and his journey Northward called Uttarayana. In the descending history of the supramental knowledge of the Gita, Sun God plays a very vital role. Arjuna was startled to hear that he is not the first recipient of Gita's liberating wisdom. Following excerpt from the 4th chapter of divine converstation gives the details .

The Blessed Lord said: I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvan, and Vivasvan instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Iksvaku.
This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.
That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore you can understand the transcendental mystery of this science.
Arjuna said: The sun-god Vivasvan is senior by birth to You. How am I to understand that in the beginning You instructed this science to him?
The Blessed Lord said: Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy!
Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.

Festivals are supposed to encourage contemplation to move soulward. Normally we are consumed and engaged with 3 modes of material nature mostly dominated by modes
of passion(rajas) and ignorance(tamas). Festivals propel us towards Sattva or mode of goodness provided we celebrate it knowing its full intent and background. Some of our biggest festivals like Rama Navami, Dusshera, Sri Krishna Janmashtami, Diwali(Naraka Chaturdasi, Bali Padyami) are related to celebrating the glorious activities, events, and 'Abhyuttanam Adharmasya' of Dasavataras. Deep contemplation on the metaphysical intent and observance in satisfaction of the intent of the festival is needed.
Lending ear to the glorious activities of Dasavataras purifies one's lower nature and elevates one to Sattva guna and beyond to Suddha Sattva. Combined with this Nama Sankirtana and prasadam is sure to give us a glimpse into eternal transcendental existance beyond the three gunas.

- Inner Voice
Inspired by the Divine Grace of Saints

Vasudaiva kutumbham

It was late evening. The temple room was packed with curious spiritual seekers. The acarya was expounding the Gitopanishad and disciples were astounded seeing his heartfelt affection for Trees, insects and human beings belonging to any class, creed. The acarya had established himself on the plane of 'Vasudaiva Kutumbham' which is the primary qualification for one to perform the duty of the Guru - 'The spiritual master. Ultimate selflessness culminates in Spiritual selfishness on the plane of Vasudeva kutumbham.
When we experience oneness on the fundamental plane of the soul, heartfelt feeling and caring for all living beings sprouts in the heart due to realisation that we are all part
of one Kutumbha -> Vasudaiva Kutumbham.
Advaita or oneness is experienced when one in love. I asked my mother the other day -> why she feels pain when iam unwell. Its because of the bond and love. Even there are many film songs expounding that two become one when in love. The best way to experience oneness with the whole cosmos is to fall in love with the origin -> the infinite supreme person and realise Vasudaiva Kutumbham thru Bhakti Yoga. Meditation is the natural outcome of love.
This is not just in theory but has to be experienced. Spiritual knowledge is not just to satisfy our intellectual curiosity but to go to the platform of experiencing and living with the mindset and realisation of that knowledge. Its just not enough to know CMMI but needs to be applied to help Projects achieve Zero defects. That is the difference between Jnana and Vijnana. Vijnana culminates in ananda. If Projects are the laboratory to experiment and try out the principles of CMMI, everyday life incidents and experiences are an opportunity to apply the principles of Gita. Every life incident should be seen thru the filter of Sri Krishna's divine words in Gitopanishad.
On the physical plane, our love is limited to the physical family. As we progress in our inner journey, the concept of my family goes on extending till I experience that whole cosmos is 'My family'.