Marathon Blogger Prompt 3 - Monday

Monday comes knocking on my door every week after Sunday, asking me to start the new week with new thoughts.

It’s a vegetarian day, just dhal, rice and fried potatoes will do.

Some of my friends pray to lord Shiva and go on a fast for half a day, skipping lunch. A religious lady friend takes her bath early morning and makes her trip to the temple to pour the milk on Shiva linga. Every Monday, she listens to same Shiva story, his power of endurance and strength, his temper strong enough to destroy evil, and his passion for perfection, his tanda dance.

Every woman prays for a perfect man, she seeks Shiva’s blessing for a good husband.

Many believe that Linga represents the male organ but there are many other interpretations behind the linga.

“The experience of the Shiva linga in Yogic meditation is an experience of a pillar of light, energy, peace and eternity, expanding the mind, opening the inner eye and bringing deep peace and steadiness to the heart. From it radiate waves, currents, circles and whirlpools of Shakti spreading this grace, love and wisdom to all. To concentrate our awareness in the linga is one of the best ways of meditation, calming the mind and putting us in touch with our inner Being and Witness beyond all the agitation and sorrow of the world.”

Source: http://www.vedanet.com/2012/06/the-shiva-linga-and-its-meaning/

A true devotee chants 'Satyam, Shivam Sundaram'

The Oath Of Vayuputra

I could not go for the launch of this book at Peddar road, but had watched it on U-tube and was surprised to see the crowd that waited to enter the store. Never in my life have I seen a book launch of such magnitude. Amish said that during book launch of his first book, there were only his family members and few friends had been forced to attend the event, his wife had distributed the questions to be thrown at author during the book reading, but popularity of those two books had changed his status and now he was known as one of the most sought out writers.

I, like thousands others, was waiting eagerly for the third and final episode of Shiva Trilogy.

I had liked the first two parts too. I had written the review of ‘Immortals of Mehula’ and ‘Secrets of Nagas’ on my blog

At the end of part two of Shiva Trilogy, I was left with questions such as:

What evil is he talking about? How can we destroy evil when it does not exist by itself? Good and evil, two sides of the coin, he must visit Panchavati, the city of Nagas to know the secret.

Shiva did reach Panchavati, I had eagerly waited for evil to emerge, making wild guesses of putting face to the evil, was it really Nagas? If it was not Naga then who was evil?, Then suddenly it is revealed that Somras, the powerful magic potion, which was good at first, had turn to evil and it had to be destroyed. Then the journey to seek the help of Vayuputra began to put an end to evil by destroying people who would not stop using Somras.

The third part, however, did not excite me as much as the other two parts did. Maybe my expectations were too high.

However, I did like the narration of the last fight of Sati. This excerpt made me sit at the edge as I read through the pages of her final fight:

“Swuth didn’t approach Sati with both his curved swords. That would have been unfair according to the rules of Aten, since Sati had one sword hand. He held the sword forward in his hand. As he neared Sati, he started swinging the sword around, building it into a stunning circle of death just ahead of him, moving inexorably towards her. Even as Swuth’s sword whirred closer, Sati began to step back slowly. She suddenly thrust her sword forward quickly, deep into the ring of the circling blade of Swuth, inflicting a serious cut on the Egyptian’s shoulder. She pulled her sword back as rapidly, before Swuth’s circling blade could come back to deflect her sword. He’d never met anyone with the ability to penetrate his sword’s circle of death.”

The book title says ‘Oath of Vayuputra’ but what oath? And Vayuputra (isn’t that supposed to be Lord Hanuman) has less than 100 pages of fame.

The read is easy flow, so even though I had put away after reading 200 pages of more brutal war and long sea travelling, I did return back to finish the book. 

The book did have the elements of surprise, joy and pain.

Shiva Trilogy 1- The Immortals of Meluha

“Look here, like it?” said my 25-years-old nephew as he turned his back to show me the intricate embroidery on the back of his shirt. His dark blue silk shirt had embroidered design of colorful snake wound around Trishul - the tri-fork blade.

“Have you become a disciple of Lord Shiva” I asked, slightly amused but quite impressed with the colorful thread work.

“Yes I have become the follower of dude Shiva who smokes chillum, uses bad language and is the destroyer of evil. He is really cool man".

My jaw dropped.

‘Relax’ he said, “after reading ‘The Mortals of Meluha’ you will understand what I mean” he laughed.

I googled the book online to read the burb

“The story of the man whom legend turned into a God” it said.

The book seemed to be part fiction, part mythological but how did it impress the young man? Maybe he was impressed with the war and violence that seemed to fill its' pages. Oh, It must be all boy stuff and I dismissed it.

Recently, on being confined to bed-rest, post-operation, I went through marathon reading and decided to read this book too.

Yes, this was un-put-down-able-book

‘The Immortals of Meluha’ is the first book of Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathy, brought up in a Shaivide family where he has been taught to worship and respect all religions.

It is a fast paced book, with interest never dithering a moment.

I loved reading about Shiva and Sati’s gradual love affair that begins when he watches her dance the first time, it deepens over the various meetings up to the time she finally expresses her love when she is seriously ill.

“I wish I had told you earlier,” murmured Sati, “because the first time that I am telling you will also be the last.”

Shiva continued to look at her, his voice choked.

Sati looked deeply into Shiva’s eyes, whispering softly, “I love you.’

That is the soft moment.

I have always been fascinated about Shiva dance that I have seen it perform by some Shiva devotees during several religious meetings. This dance is very well described in this book.

A beautiful eternal dance of love.

“Dancing was something Shiva was as accomplished in as in warfare. The dance conveyed the various emotions of a woman. In the beginning it conveyed her feeling of joy and lust as she cavorted with her husband. The next emotion was anger and pain at the treacherous killing of her mate. Despite his rough masculine body, Shiva managed to convey the tender yet strong emotions of a grieving woman.”

Shiva is so human and approachable. He makes mistakes and learnt from them.

The character of Anandmayi is also adorable, she being strong, fearless and sensual. She is the one who made me realize that Chandravanshis were not evil people.

Nagas are believed to be the evil forces behind the terrorist attacks that need to be destroyed but a human side of the Naga is shown when they try to save two women from being eaten by crocodile.

I am not sure if ‘Somras’ would be the preferred drink in present world, knowing the growing population of world today and all were to live more than 200 years, but I am equally fascinated by its' effects.

People looked young although they are more than 100 years old. What makes this possible is the brilliance of magic potion called ‘Somras- the drinks of the Gods invented by Lord Brahma. The power of the somras, when administered to selected group achieved a reverential status, which was used for the good of the society. They were not allowed to charge anything for their service, and had to live on alms and donations from others.

The city of Devagiri is a perfect town but I am still impressed with Ayodhya that resembles somewhat like Mumbai city with bad infrastructure, but people living a content life.

Some of the other excerpts that I liked

Page 86

Only your karma is important. Not your birth. Not your sex. And certainly not the color of your throat. Our entire society is based on merit.

Page 153

‘I think’ said Daksha smiling, ‘the most powerful force in a woman’s life is the need to be appreciated, loved and cherished for what she is’

Page 215

‘Transactions are threads that when woven together make up a society, its culture. Or in the case of a person, they weave together his character.’ If you want to understand a person’s character, look closely at his interpersonal behavior or his transactions.

The book is an interesting read. Waiting to read part 2 and 3.