ya devi sarvabhuteshu...

As I watch the myriad evil events that happen all over the world by so called terrorist elements, I go back into Hindu mythology to the point when Mahamaya Devi Durga and Devi Kali’s stories originate.

Tales of those times when Mahishasura the asura who could take any form and more so that of a buffalo and his counterparts Raktabeeja come to mind.

Raktabeeja represents the same forces that we see today that are coming in more numbers every day.

The havoc by these demonic forces were so great then that it actually brought ALL the residents of their worlds together – the devas, the sages, the yakshas et al, and it was with their UNITED power that Devi Durga got her form, and each of her weaponry from their individual weapons.

See any similarity in our current times and what needs to be done?

Myth to Reality

In the mythical legions that India has inherited, there was, once upon a time an âsura by the name of Raktabeeja. The very name of this being conveyed it's character. It had this boon to be able to resurrect itself from it's own drops of blood.

Just as we hear of cloning/genetic engineering in the modern times, India has had in its past/mythology, events, entities or both which have probably exemplified all aspects that science has discovered/ doscovering today.

So Raktabeeja never was destroyed, because everytime he would be wounded he'd have reinforced himself with another of his kind.

At such times, the world managers (devata) went to the triumvirate (Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesha) and asked for respite. That's when the Goddess Durga/Kali/Chandi emanated from the force of all the beings that existed in those times.
The Goddess was the supreme power, with the supreme ability of being a ferocious mother - a mother who innately is meek and soft, but when it is time to defend her close ones, she would be unstoppable in her tracks of destruction.

Mahakali as she came to be known finally vanquished the blood spurting terrorist by not letting a single drop of his blood hit the ground
- and this was possible only because everyone came together with a single purpose to join forces and defeat the terrorist forces.

I remembered this story since the time I have been hearing about terrorists and attacks. All these characters that call themselves terrorists are individuals who have lost the element of humanity in them for whatever reason - most often governance caused.
And with the increase in the numbers of these incidents, I am reminded of Raktabeeja, and thus wonder about the emergence of a power that can actually destroy these entities along with all those factors which are giving rise to such events and entities.
But the driving force behind any such move is vastly lacking in the nation today - the power of unity.

As it is said, history repeats itself, except that the price one has to pay is higher.

In today's capitalist times, we all have forgotten our past and the lessons we need to learn from them. People who refer to the past are seen as old-fashioned and so-jurrassic that the present is not able to learn anything new and is too busy rotating the gerbil-wheel of detached life through generation of money.

Only if there were sufficiently sane people in the nation today, who would leave their self interests aside and get together to generate a think tank and action body that can actually get down to work out the issues, the nation can feel proud of 'emerging' as a new power.

But as someone said, the Indian arena of intellect is under dire neglect and thus India will remain 'emerging forever'.

With the Devi Navratra approaching, sharing this aspect was poignant to the times we are living in.

Shravan - the identity through time

NAG PANCHAMI, Shravan Poornima, Rakhi, Janmashtami:
the festival calendar kicks off this month despite everything. So what is it all about? The meaning of ‘Shravana', I'm told, is ‘listening to the names of God'. The star Shravana (Aquarii), number 22 of the 27 nakshatra or birth stars of the Hindu calendar rides high in the sky now, which is why the month is named for it. It is considered the ‘birth star' of Saraswati, no less.
The month Shravana is the fifth in the Hindu calendar (July-August in the north) and the most important of the Chaturmasya or four months of staying put at home out of the North Indian monsoon's way (except for the kawariyas who were traditionally sent off adventuring to divert them from picking fights at home out of sheer boredom during these non-harvest months). In the Malayali calendar, Shravana is ‘Thiruvonam' and in the Tamil calendar, it's ‘Avani' (AugustSeptember).

‘Shravan' recalls the poignant figure of Shravan Kumar in the Ramayana. A devoted son, he carries his blind, old parents in baskets slung from a bamboo pole across his shoulders.

One morning, when he sets them down gently in the forest and goes to fetch them water from a spring, he is mistaken for a deer by King Dasharatha of Ayodhya. Dasharatha shoots an arrow at Shravan Kumar from a distance, fatally wounding him. When Dasharatha comes up to get his kill, he is horrified, but it is too late to save Shravan Kumar.

With his dying breath, he implores Dasharatha to find his parents and look after them. Dasharatha locates the old, blind couple and tells them what happened. Unable to bear the shock, they die, cursing that Dasharatha's punishment will be that one day he too will die of sorrow from being separated from a son he loves. And as generations have known and mourned, the dread- ful moment does indeed arrive when Dasharatha dies keening, "Rama! Rama!"

If as modern Indians we wonder why our epics are so full of terrible vows and curses, we have only to consider the worldview that these stories spring from: that every action has its consequences and Fate is a combination of circumstances that kick in together and alters destinies.
Our only (fragile) ‘insurance' therefore against a malefic combination, says this worldview, is to be aware of what we do and to keep the human contact as full of good energy as possible. The month of Shravan is about renewing ties (Rakhi) and the descent of Krishna, the Eighth Avatar (Janmashtami), so perhaps that was the poet Valmiki's ancient reason for choosing this name for that boy . Incidentally, Pandit Satkari Mukhopadhyaya, the pre-eminent international authority on Valmiki's Ramayana, told me just last week that present scholarly work dates the first known text of Valmiki to the 7th century BCE.

This ‘Sawan', it's Nag Panchami on Wednesday , August 6; Rakhi/Raksha Bandhan on Shravan Poornima falls on Saturday , August 16 and Janmashtami, Krishna's birthday , is on Thursday , August 28. That's three big festivals in English August on this side of the Narmada and Onam on September 12 in Kerala.

Since everyone knows about Rakhi and Janmashtami back wards, the interesting puzzle remains Nag Panchami. It's customary for those who believe in astrology to offer milk to snakes (usually at the snake statues under the peepal tree in a temple). Or, in the north, they bought snakes from Ra jasthani tribal snake-catchers who once gathered in West Del hi, and released them to offset the ‘sarpa dosha' (‘snake malefics') in their birth chart. Sachin Tendulkar had a sarpa dosha puja performed in Karnataka at a famous Kartikeya temple two years ago. In West Bengal and Orissa, they hon our Manasa Devi, the nag kanya who married a rishi and saved her people, while in Punjab, Nag Panchami is apparently ‘Guga Naumi' with the whole milk drill.

Animal rights activists have ensured that snake-catching and trading is against the law. Secondly , it's known that snakes do not drink milk. However, even if modern Hindus modify these ancient practices to suit the spirit of the age, it is hard to give up on the powerful appeal of serpent statues smeared with the haldi-kumkum of many worshippers or the fascination of ‘Nagin' films.

It is especially hard to not surreptitiously bob your head or fold your hands to Nag Devata, knowing why Shiva wears snakes on his neck: when the snakes went to him and complained feelingly that they were hated and despised by the race of men, Shiva in his compassion gave them a place of honour around his own blue neck.

renukanarayanan@hindustantimes.com

Even if modern Hindus modify ancient practices to the spirit of the age, it is hard to give up on the powerful appeal of serpent statues or the fascination of Nagin films
(C) HT 02-08-08
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Incidentally, Shravan is my brother's name too, so this article is special for me in more ways than one.