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Novelization of the Mahabharata

ByElizabeth

I found used a novelization of the Mahabharata a couple of weeks ago, which I am now reading.  I’ve read other versions put into English prose, all of which have some stamp of the presenter (author?).  The version I am reading brings to the fore that those who are deserving of the love of people and who are blessed by the divine are physically beautiful, wealthy, and possess great military prowess.  Righteousness includes unquestionably obeying the orders of rulers and parents and accepting your station in life as the determination of God.

The book jacket proclaims the Mahabharata “the greatest spiritual epic of all time.”  I agree that it is a great epic and a rather amazing one.  Some of the precepts, like all presented in great writings that have lasted over the centuries are worthy of contemplation for one’s own life (I am all for recognizing guests as divine visitors and treating them with due regard, for example), as well as for understanding the society in which the work was created.  But any work that mostly reflects the societal mores of the time in which it was written and is designed to perpetuate the powers that be is perhaps best read as fiction.  Saying this does not mean I do not recognize the good of some of the teachings interwoven into the fairy tales, but rather that I think it must also be understood in the confines of its context, lest we perpetuate societal evils that no longer serve.  (This, of course, has Western parallels.)

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    Appropo of Ayyappa

    ByElizabeth

    Reading today’s article in the Washington Post, “Women Fight for Access to Sacred Places in India,” and appropo of my recent blog post on Ayyappa, reminded me of what led me to the law.  I am conscious that relative to most of the billions of women on this planet, I have had extraordinary opportunities.

    I think I have a responsibility to live to the fullest the opportunities I’ve been fortunate enough to have. And I think that part of that responsibility is to make my own contribution to eliminating injustice and to keep working with creativity and dedication and passion, while ultimately, like Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita and his right action, letting go of the result, knowing I am not in control of any particular outcome or sequence of events.

    What is your story? The opportunities explored?  The barriers that need not have been there?

    purna 1c

    Shakti Pilgrims, Tamil Nadu, India, 12/11

     

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    The Search Continues (based on some dreaming)

    ByElizabeth

    In 2000 or 2001, shortly before I started practicing Anusara yoga, a teacher who regularly played music in class, played for us a recording of Alice Coltrane singing a tantric chant to Siva and the Goddess Bhuvaneshvari.  I only heard the chant once while we were in savasana — corpse pose/final relaxation.  Although I only heard the chant once, for several months afterwards, I found myself having a recurring dream that I was wondering in a neighborhood that looked like the one where I grew up and went to high school and chanting the full chant.  At the time I merely found it curious that I seemed to have learned the sanskrit just by hearing the chant one time.  I have since learned that the recording may have been done right near my high school; that is where the Coltrane’s had a recording studio.  I also learned that the chant was a tantric chant.  At the time, my teachers were coming from a classical yoga perspective.  Did I actually learn the chant by osmosis?  Was having the very vibration of the chanting near where I lived and studied the catalyst for me, as a receptive being, discovering a path of tantric yoga?

    I have found other recordings of the chant.  One is Atman’s “Dancing to the Goddess” on the Eternal Dance CD, which is an electronica version.  The other is Ragani’s “Om Mata” on the Best of Both Worlds, which is a very nice kirtan/pop version.  I have several of Alice Coltrane’s recordings, which are great jazz, if you aren’t familiar with Alice Coltrane as a fabulous musician in her own right.  Recently I searched again on the internet to see if the bootleg had become available.  There was nothing on YouTube (though some good Alice Coltrane things to watch).    I bought Alice Coltrane’s “Radha-Krsna Mana Sankirtana,” which was originally recorded in 1977 (when I was in high school) and reissued in 2005, as I thought that was a promising source.  It has some good things on it, but no luck finding the recording I wanted to hear.

    The chant goes like this:

    Samba sadasiva, samba sadasiva, samba sadasiva, samba shambo.

    Om mata, om mata, om sri mata, jagade mata.

    Om bhuvaneshvari, sri bhuvaneshvari, hari parashakti, devi bhuvaneshvari.

    It is a chant to the benevolent, auspicious one within, the radiant goddess, the creatrix of the world.  Bhuvaneshvari is one of the ten wisdom goddesses.

    Please advise if you have access to the Alice Coltrane or another recording of this beautiful chant.

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    Prayers for Gabrielle Giffords

    ByElizabeth

    I received the following email last night from Move-On.  I pass it on to all of you, who, I am sure are also grieving deeply and praying for those who were the direct victims of these hideous violence, and who also are concerned for all who have been and continue to be impacted by the policies and mindsets that contribute to the environment in which such acts arise:

    Dear MoveOn member,

    This is a tragic day for America.

    As you may have already heard, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 17 other people were shot today at an event near Tucson.

    Right now, Rep. Giffords is in critical condition, and there are reports are that at least five people have been killed, including a young child of about nine years old and Justice John M. Roll, the chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

    Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy. We’ve created a Facebook page where we can all post prayers and thoughts for Rep. Giffords, the other victims and their families. You can find it here:

    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205705&id=25753-1983776-0_o0QGx&t=1

    Gabrielle Giffords is an up-and-coming, shining star in Congress. Anyone who’s been around her will tell you that she’s smart, passionate, and one of the hardest working members of Congress. Robert Reich, one of her mentors, once said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s the first or second female president of the United States.”1

    Judge Roll started his legal career as a bailiff in the Pima County Superior Court and worked his way all the way to the federal bench. He was appointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1991 and began serving as presiding judge in 2006.

    This is such a terrible, confusing, awful thing. Please join us in sending your prayers and wishes to those who are suffering tonight. Here again is the link:

    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205705&id=25753-1983776-0_o0QGx&t=2

    –Justin, Adam, Amy, Anna, Annie, Carrie, Christopher, Daniel, David, Duncan, Eli, Emily, Gail, Ian, Ilya, Ilyse, Kat, Laura, Lenore, Mariana, Marika, Matthew, Melanie, Michael, Milan, Nita, Peter, Robin, Ryan, Susannah, Stephen, Steven, and Tim

3 Comments

  2. The one I am reading now is an excellent read. It is “retold” by Kenneth Anderson (a/k/a Krishna Dharma) (Torchlight Publishing, Inc., California, 2nd printing 2007). It is a fuller retelling than the William Buck version.

  3. Most writing, even (especially?) writing considered to be spiritual or even scripture, reflects in some way the social milieu in which it was written, though not all was intended in its own time to perpetuate the existing political power structure. I think that it takes creative contemplation and interpretation to find full support for a modern western woman’s spirituality in any ancient texts.

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