Monday, February 27, 2023
All Roads Lead to Ganga - Ruskin Bond (36 of 2023: Feb 11)
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
How Strange a Season - Megan Mayhew Bergman
From my lonesome reader.
This collection of amazing short stories focus on the lives of different female characters grappling with desire and dealing with fear. Many are caught between the burdens of the past and the uncertainty of the future because of issues to do with the changing environment, economic inequality and strained familial circumstances. It's extremely moving how Bergman shows how these characters struggle to deal with these larger issues while fulfilling their own ambitions. As a way of not feeling overwhelmed one character suggests “The trick was to believe in your choices.” The author has a wonderful ability to quickly immerse the reader in her characters' reality which meant I was immediately gripped by their dilemmas and emotionally invested in their outcomes.
Bergman builds environments in her stories with rich atmospheric descriptions from a glass-walled seafront property in California to the lazy heat and rotting fruit on a South Carolina farm. Some tales focus on quiet intermediary periods where characters contemplate big decisions which will affect the rest of their lives. Others maintain an immediate dramatic tension as in 'Peaches, 1979' where a serial killer “strangler” is in the area and the culprit might be a part of the protagonist's own family. There's biting inbuilt comedy in the story 'Heirloom' where a woman turns her inherited barren desert ranch into a business where wealthy men can work out their emotional blockages by operating heavy machinery. In 'Wife Days' a woman negotiates a degree of autonomy with her husband by declaring she will only play her role as wife on certain days of the week. However, her ritual of rejuvenation through swimming and washing her face becomes like a circular nightmare rather than a path towards physical/spiritual renewal.
The most sustained and ambitious tale in this collection is the novella 'Indigo Run' (which took me more than a morning to complete as I had to read it in between work demands throughout my day.) It's set on a Southern plantation and primarily involves the tempestuous marriage between Helena and Win and their daughter Skip. Here “The past felt uncomfortably close... as if it were being kept at bay but ready to rush in at any moment and take root again.” It's so compelling how the characters feel duty bound by expectations and the burden of history to play certain roles. However, this impedes their growth and potential for personal happiness. It feels like a metaphor for the larger country. As an extension of this novella there is the compelling final fable-like tale in this collection 'The Night Hag' which charts the life of a figure born from a fish egg who takes “the shape of a woman”. After being used and discarded by a man, she physically and mentally deteriorates until she takes on monstrous properties (both in appearance and her actions.) Aside from this intriguing flirtation with the fantastical, Bergman's stories exquisitely capture the realistic dilemmas of different individuals with great wisdom and psychologically insightful detail.
Sunday, February 19, 2023
Essence of Bhagavad Geeta
https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/Index
क्लैब्यं मा स्म गम: पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते |
क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप || 3||
klaibyaṁ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha naitat tvayyupapadyate
kṣhudraṁ hṛidaya-daurbalyaṁ tyaktvottiṣhṭha parantapa
BG 2.3: O Parth, it does not befit you to yield to this unmanliness. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O vanquisher of enemies.
If one reads this one shloka one gets all the merits of reading the entire Gita; for in this one shloka lies imbedded the whole message of the Gita...Stand up and fight! Not one step back, that is the idea...Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move form the sphere!..Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards....Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune.
Chapter 4-17 says, Activity is the core stone of life, and here it should be filled with Karma - i.e Actions to be done. These are divided into:
- Nitya - Daily duties,
- Naimittika - duties on special occassion
- Kamya - desire prompted duties.
- The Yoga of Arjuna - Grief - 47
- The Yoga of Knowledge - Snkya Yoga - 72 - Peace is happiness
- Karma Yoga - The Path of Action - 43
- The Yoga of Renunciation of Action in Knowledge - Gyana Karma Sanyasa Yoga - Selfless Action- 42
- The Yoga of True Renunciation - Karma Sanyasa Yoga - 29
- The Yoga of meditation - Dhyana Yoga - 47
- The Yoga of Knowledge and wisdom - Gnyana Vignyana Yoga - 30
- The Yoga of Imperishable Brahman - Akshara Param Brahma Yoga - 28
- The Yoga of Royal Secret - Raja Vidya Yoga - 34
- The Yoga of Divine Glories - Vibhooti Yoga - 42
- The Yoga of Cosmic Form - Viswaroopa Sandarshana Yoga - 55
- The Yoga of Devotion - Bhakti Yoga - 20
- The Yoga of field and its knower - Kshetra Kshetranjaa Vibhaja Yoga - 35
- The Yoga of Guna - Gunatraya Vibhaga Yoga - 27
- The Yoga of the Supreme Spirit - 20
- The Yoga of divine and Dvilish Estates - Guna Types - 24
- The Yoga of threefold faith - Divine and Undivine Types - 28 (Om Tat Sat)
- The Yoga of liberation through renunciation - 78
Sanatana Dharma
Sanatana - that which is ancient. The implication of this term can fall under two categories: the obvious and the suggestive. The obvious meaning indicates that the self is not new (nutanah) but it is ancient and therefore we as students of Brahma-vidya, need not hesitate to accept it, In its suggestiveness, the term Sanathana implies that the self is unconditioned by time and place. Perfection gained, whether it be in India or at the North Pole, in the present generation or in the chaste periods of the Vedic Culture, in all places and at all times, by all seers, in all the religions of the world, the Self-experience at the time of God-realisation, can only be one and the same.
Lord Narayana created Brahma, and taught him the Vedas. With the help of the Vedas, Brahma began to create. The Upanishads say that the Lord revealed Himself to Brahma and also reveals Himself to those who study the Vedas.
The objective in Sanatana Dharma, according to Swami Satyananda, lies in freeing every atom of existence in its own way from karma and help it achieve its own state of perfection. The Sanatana Dharma is known as the eternal religion because it represents the eternal idea of perfection.
Dharma is often translated as “duty,” “religion” or “religious duty” and yet its meaning is more profound, defying concise English translation. The word itself comes from the Sanskrit root “dhri,” which means “to sustain.” Another related meaning is “that which is integral to something.” For example, the dharma of sugar is to be sweet and the dharma of fire to be hot. Therefore, a person’s dharma consists of duties that sustain him, according to his innate characteristics. Such characteristics are both material and spiritual, generating two corresponding types of dharma:
(a) Sanatana-dharma – duties which take into account the person’s spiritual (constitutional) identity as atman and are thus the same for everyone.
(b) Varnashrama-dharma – duties performed according to one’s material (conditional) nature and specific to the individual at that particular time (see Varnashrama Dharma).
According to the notion of sanatana-dharma, the eternal and intrinsic inclination of the living entity (atman) is to perform seva (service). Sanatana-dharma, being transcendental, refers to universal and axiomatic laws that are beyond our temporary belief systems. Most adherents prefer to call their tradition Sanatana-dharma rather than using the more recent term, “Hinduism,” which they consider has sectarian connotations. (Sometimes another category is added, called sadharana–dharma, general moral rules for everyone.)
“Dharma is sometimes translated as ‘religion’ but that is not exactly the meaning. Dharma actually means ‘that which one cannot give up’ and ‘that which is inseparable from oneself’. The warmth of fire is inseparable from fire; therefore warmth is called the dharma, or nature, of fire. Similarly, sad-dharma means ‘eternal occupation.’ That eternal occupation is engagement in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.”
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
Scriptural Passage
“The supreme occupation [dharma] for all humanity is that by which men can attain to loving devotional service unto the transcendent Lord.”
Bhagavat Purana 1.2.6
The meaning of Dharma loosely translates as ‘the values that sustain us,’ The meaning of Sanatana Dharma is ‘eternal.’ Dharma is one word that does not have a proper literal translation. Dharma acquired a comprehensive and complex significance that it is impossible to articulate in any other language. Dharma is a combination of ethics and religion. It stands for all the ideals, purposes, influences, institutions, and ways of conduct that shape a person, as an individual, and as a member of society.
The essential characteristic or duty of an object or a living being without its importance is Dharma. For example, the Sun’s luminosity, coolness of the water, and the divine Spark of existence in human beings – all of which relate to Dharma. We can understand the meaning of Dharma at two levels. They are – cosmic and individual.
The four types of dharma are:
1. Born with a gift:
You are born with a gift, like an incredible voice, artistic skills, etc. You know your gift. They have an undeniable gift they came on this Earth to share. Most artists and athletes fall under this category. They were given an incredible voice, the ability to shoot a goal or tell a joke, all skills we celebrate in our society. However, that doesn’t mean they’re set for life. The gift was given to them but it’s up to them to determine what they want to do with it. Some of the best musicians aren’t even playing, not because they’re less talented, but because they did not chase their Dharmas the way that others did.
2. Shaped By Situation:
You have a break-down and share it. “I was on my knees, wondering if God does exist when suddenly a voice came over me and I knew what I came here to do.” These break-down, breakthrough stories are often what you hear from coaches, motivational speakers, and authors, all of who falls under the teacher archetype. From this point of breakdown, you take radical responsibility for your life and transform your worldview with a newfound sense of Purpose to share your realizations with others. Your pain becomes your Purpose, and your mess becomes your message.
3. Shaped By Personal Needs:
You had a need and now are solving it. We often find our Dharmas by serving our own needs and then finding that others need the exact same thing. It doesn’t have to be anything traumatic but something we genuinely needed help in ourselves such as support in the early stages of our business, organic baby wipes, or deliverable Ayurvedic soups. If you have an issue, chances are someone else does too, and they’d love to know your approach to solving it.
4. Shaped By Other’s Needs:
People around you needed something and you found the solution. This is the less talked about way to find your Dharma, but it’s just as important. You don’t personally have to go through an issue in order for it to be your Dharma. What problem can you solve for others? You might be passionate about health because you helped your father versus his diabetes and want to help others do the same. You don’t have to personally have gone through the issue to want to be part of the solution.
You may have a combination of two, maybe even three types of dharma as related to each
According to Vedas there are 33 Gods/Devas. These Gods are separated in the following pattern : 12 + 11 + 8 + 2.
12 is the number of Adityas, 11 are the number of Rudras, 8 is the number of Vasus, 1 is Prajapati, the Master of Gods, and 1 is the Supreme Ruler who is very powerful.
Names of all 33 Vedic deities:
12 Adityas (personified deities) correspond to the 12 Solar months and represent different attributes of social life. The Vedic sages especially venerated the Adityas and Vedas are full of hymns dedicated to Indra, Agni, Surya, Varun and the like. These are:
1. Indra/Shakra (eldest and the undoubted leader of other Adityas)
2. Ansh (due share),
3. Aryaman (nobility),
4. Bhaag (due inheritance),
5. Dhatri (ritual skill),
6. Tvashtar (skill in crafting),
7. Mitra (friendship),
8. Pushan/Ravi (prosperity),
9. Savitra/Parjanya (power of word),
10. Surya/Vivasvan (social law),
11. Varun (fate),
12. Vaman (cosmic law).
8 Vasus are attendant deities of Indra and comprise of eight elemental gods that represent the different aspects of Nature. They are:
1. Anil (Wind),
2. Apas (Water),
3. Antariksh/Dyaus (Space),
4. Dhara (Earth),
5. Dhruv (Pole Star),
6. Anal (Fire),
7. Prabhas (Dawn),
8. Soma (Moon).
11 Rudras:
· 5 abstractions – Ānanda (bliss), Vijñāna (knowledge), Manas (thought), Prāṇa (breath/ life), Vāc (speech),
· 5 names of Śiva – Īśāna (ruler), Tatpuruṣa (that person), Aghora (not terrible), Vāmadeva (pleasant god), Sadyojāta (born at once)
· 1 - Ātmā (spiritual self)
In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the 11 Rudras are represented by ten vital energies (rudra-prana) in the body and the eleventh one being the Ātman (the soul)
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Keep Walking...
Quitting is not for winners. People quit way too easily and way too soon. Changing direction, adapting, applying a new strategy is not quitting. It is persevering. I am curious as to what your definition is of "win at life?" Winning in my world is learning to overcome and not quit. We learn nothing from success. We learn everything from overcoming adversity. People quit on their marriages, their children, their health, their friends, their dreams, their God, far too frequently. Imagine a world that did not quit on each other.
Having send this, it was always good to keep walking. And better to walk away. Life is beautiful when you keep walking, and better if you uplift others on your journey.
“Keep walking, despite the impediment most heavy - keep walking, despite the agony most torturous - keep walking, despite the mockery most foul - just keep walking, for, your walk counts – for, your walk is not just your walk, but the walk of our whole humanity.” ― Abhijit Naskar, When Humans Unite: Making A World Without Borders
Keep Walking. It is good for our body and our mind. Just don't quit.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
There was a Time....(34 of 2023)
There was a time I would have set myself on fire, to keep others warm.
There was a time I would have crossed oceans to reach people who wouldn’t cross a stream for me.
There was a time I would try, too hard, to be seen by those, who would simply never see me.
There was a time I felt myself unworthy of a person, who could actually never be worthy of me.
But not anymore.
You see my friend, there are many ways to spend your time on this earth
but wasting it on those who are not appreciative of your attention, is a crying shame.
Use your time wisely.
Save your best efforts for those who care.
For those who would return the favour or at least appreciate your attention.
Those who truly value you.
And the rest?
If they do not see you now, they never will.
And they are missing out.
Make this the time that you realise your time is precious and should only be bestowed on those who bring you comfort, positivity, support, love or joy.
Or all of the above.
Remember, you are the main act, not a warm up,
and this, my friend, is no dress rehearsal.
This is it.
The curtain is well and truly up.
Shine on.
✨
Donna Ashworth
From ‘to the women- words to live by’
Monday, February 13, 2023
Stress, Suffering and Sanity....Being Human Being...
All human beings experience life only from two states of being: a suffering state or a no-suffering state. There is no third state of being. The most important decision you need to make every day of your life is from which state you want to live and act.
If your answer is a beautiful state- your life that day is on the right track.
Suffering states are also called stressful states- these are anger related states, anxiety related states, sadness related states and doubt related states.
And the non-suffering states are graded into 3 levels - beautiful states transcendental states and enlightened states.
Most of u assume you know stress, because you can feel it.
But let us enquire into it deeper. Stress is a pre-immersion, post-immersion, and often a re-immersion of a pressured situation. Remember, Stress is a pre-immersion, post-immersion, and often a re-immersion of a pressured situation.
And this pre, post and re immersion leads to the build-up of unpleasant emotions such as anxiety, frustration, guilt, or anger in the mind and unpleasant sensations in the body.
So what is a pre-immersion?
A pre-immersion is when you anticipate a problem or anticipate a pressured situation and continually play the negative scenario in your head again and again. You are playing the same song, same recording again and again.
A post-immersion is when a problematic situation has been faced and is over. But inwardly, the situation does not end. You keep ruminating over the situation, giving rise to emotions such as anxiety and anger long after the event is over.
Whether it is a pre-immersion or a post-immersion, both are repeated immersions in a pressured situation leading to tremendous amounts of stress. Stress accumulates in various layers of consciousness, causing unforeseen challenges, troubles, and sickness.
As you detox stress from your consciousness, you will not only experience physical and emotional healing and health, but you will also connect with the greater intelligence of the universe. In this state of connection, miracles and synchronicities happen. Your understanding of life gets deeper and your response wise.
Art of relaxation:
Our life experiences have a direct impact on our bodies and the mind.
In the body this impact is stored in your cells in the brain and the body. This stress accumulates as toxins floating in the blood.
Much of this toxin has to be cleansed with conscious attention.
If you don’t purge this stress, it can lead to chronic ill-ness and inflammatory disorders.
If you want to heal your body, you have to bring attention to it.
You have to activate the immense intelligence of the trillion cells of your body.
The key to activate your body-intelligence is to live in a stress-free emotional state and an alpha brain state.
Now Your brain functions in five electrical wave patterns, which are the 5 measurable brain-states. Some of you know this, but I want to show you the mysterious connections between the brain waves and your mind.
Most people live in a state of distraction and agitation. This you all know very well. Even if you bring observation to yourselves you will see this.
When you are in this agitated stressed out state of mind, your brain is in the beta brainwave mode.
In beta brainwave mode, your brain is vibrating at 13 to 30 or 40 cycles a second. In this state concentration, listening, focus, nothing is possible. You are internally in a state of noise and chaos. This state is literally called the monkey mind state.
Your body is restless. Your breath is unrhythmic or irregular. Your immunity is flawed. Neither healing nor sustenance is possible. Your body is prone to fall sick.
The second brainwave state is alpha. In this state your brain vibrates at 8 to 13 cycles per second. In this state,
You are attentive, focused; your memory is sharp. Your mind is calm promoting clear thinking and perception. You are naturally more efficient.
Your breath is rhythmic and steady. Your body moves into natural healing zone promoting vitality and health.
The 3 other brain states we will see later. Today’s meditation will shift you into alpha brain-state from beta brain-state.
How do you move your body into alpha brain wave state?
Know that the most powerful tool for this shift lies in your breath. Bringing attention to breath and learning the right practices releases many latent potentials of your body-mind-consciousness.
Art of forgiveness:
Relationships are the mirrors in which your state is reflected.
Every human being deep down is a wounded person. Hurt by parents, hurt by siblings, criticized by teachers, let down by friends, betrayed in love, humiliated by peers or superiors, in so many ways your heart has been wounded by the way people have treated you.
Even though practically you might have moved on. You might have even convinced yourself that you have grown up and have forgiven all the people who hurt you- the truth is you have not transcended your hurt.
These wounds linger in your consciousness. They have become impressions, a force within you.
Sadly, when we are hurt we cling onto them for years.
Why do we not let go of our hurts?
Let me narrate an experience with you, a real life experience.
About 8 to 9 years ago, a gentleman in his early 40’s came to me. One of his biggest problems was his terrible anger towards his father. He was often bullied by his step-brother in his childhood. His step brother even tried choking him to death once. His parents always either took the side of his step-brother or remained silent.
So, he became an addict to drugs, alcohol, and a whole lot of things. With great difficulty he overcame those habits yet was caught in emotional addiction - addiction to anger.
I led him to freedom.
He saw that he continued to be angry with his father, because somewhere he was still hoping that someday his father will have a realization of all the wrongs he had done to him.
He was waiting for his father to repent, for the pain he had suffered. He was hoping his father would come and apologize to him.
I showed him the futility of that expectation. His father had not transformed at the age of 50, 60 and now his father was 70 years old. There was no hope ever that his father would change. His father would never change. And in the meanwhile, what he was doing was wasting his life expecting his father to change.
In that single conversation with me, this man could see what thinking process kept his suffering alive.
If you are hoping that someday your parents or someone who has hurt you will realize what they have done to you and they will come forward and apologize to you, your hurt will continue to stay alive. That expectation will keep your hurt alive.
You have to see the futility of holding on to such an expectation. In fact, you have to see the destruction that will happen within you if you held on to that expectation.
Only in that realisation can your emotionally hurt mind be silenced.
Art of joyful living:
I want you to know - Life can be lived in two ordinary ways & one extraordinary way. The first ordinary way to live is to be pleasure driven.
When you are pleasure driven the background experience of your life is mechanical, boring and uninteresting. And when life feels like a chore, you give into pleasure driven life.
You become a seeker of thrill or entertainment. Incapable of steady focus or committed relationships, you keep hopping from person to person/another and job to another.
You do not know the fullness of life at all.
The second way of living is to be aggression driven.
You are driven by the need to be seen, to be aggressive, to be more than others.
At the background of all your efforts is comparison and hence a deep dissatisfaction.
You are never present to the task in front of you, because you are constantly imagining the reward you will receive versus someone else.
You are never present to the person in front of you, because you are either measuring yourself against them or are measuring their love for you.
You some how want to be more than the other.
But there is an extraordinary way of living. And that is the third way of living.
The third way of living is a life of awareness.
Living a life of awareness, there is attention to action. There is attention to activity. There is attention to thought as it arises.
This intense awareness is magical. It frees you from the clutches of incessant thought. You experience a deep joyful ness in living.
It is this deep joy, this bliss, this ananda that is the nature of existence.
When you dwell more and more in this joy, every experience feels complete and joyful. Life feels more beautiful. There is a deep inner silence from which to experience life.
You experience the falling of the autumn leaves from the tree. You experience the innocence in the eyes of your child, the warmth of your partner, and the affection of a parent. You experience the beauty of walk taken in solitude. You live life fully.
This is the bliss of which the sages have sung since the dawn of history.
You can make your beginning into this realm of bliss starting today by being more present. This will be your first baby step.
UNIVERSAL INTELLIGENCE
What if I told you that plants also have senses? They sense when you pluck a leaf or break a branch. Because the smell that emerges from one leaf kind of gets smelt by the other plant. They sense danger.
When you stand near a tree it knows you are standing near it. There is a knowing. There is an intelligence in the universe.
The prey in the forests know when the lion is hungry, know when it is satiated as well. They accordingly get close or maintain a distance.
Ants when attacked spray chemicals to keep their predator at a distance. The chemicals that ants release are often pheromones that signal danger to other members of the colony, and can also discourage predators from pursuing them.
Farmers watch the migratory birds before deciding the crop for the season? If the birds build their nest on the lake at a higher altitude, it means there will much rain that season and they plant rice paddies. If the nests are closer to the ground, they plant peanuts that require less rain. And the birds have not been wrong for centuries.
Everywhere you see around you, you recognise a communication. A communication, a mutual understanding, an intelligence and interdependence.
Be it within the species or inter-species communication.. there is communication seems to happen throughout nature.
Do you wonder how they know each other’s requirements to fill the gap To render the necessary support?
They seem to perfectly fall in place like puzzle pieces.
All life seems to flow as one. All living things are connected in the web of relationships, and this web of relationships help to sustain and support life on our planet.
This is because there is one intelligence that flows through all life. We are in a filed of intelligence.
I call it Universal Intelligence.
This intelligence responds, communicates, supports and nurtures.
Different traditions and thoughts realised this universal intelligence in many ways. Some attribute a form and a personality, while some see it as a field of consciousness. They called it God, angels, spirits.
And how do we connect to this greater field of intelligence?
This is important for every one of you to know.
We humans communicate through our state of consciousness with this field of consciousness. When you are in a suffering state , when you are stressed, you cannot intuit the messages and you are out of sync with the universe. Chaos sets in. When you are in a beautiful state, you are in tune with the universe. You body, mind and consciousness flow as one with life drawing synchronicities and miracles. Order sets in.
Awakening to Universal intelligence is an extraordinary spiritual experience for everyone.
PARENT RELATIONSHIP:
Your thinking is very old. If you have nurtured a thinking of blame, faultfinding and anger as children, you tend to grow up into adults with that thinking even though your circumstances have changed.
If you grew up with a thinking of loneliness and seeking approval as children, you will grow up with the same thinking as adults even though you may be surrounded by friends.
If you have grown up as a child with anxiety over losing love, you will grow up into adults who will live with insecurity. You mechanically re-enact the same thinking patterns with your partner, your children and your careers. Your thinking spills over into your conversations, your gestures and your actions.
Unless there is an awareness of your thinking, there cannot be a transformation in the quality of your life.
In hurt, you oscillate between being arrogant at your superiority or dissatisfaction when you see you are less. You become human beings who are unhappy. Your thinking, decisions and responses come from a place of agitation and not peace. You define yourself in terms of the people with whom you compare. You become insecure.
Is it possible that such a mind can make intelligent decisions? Is it possible that such a mind so driven by hurt, a mind that is so driven by insufficiency can make the right decisions?
Think about it.
6 KOSHAS:
Who do you think you are?
Your most common association is with your physical body. That is why you say, I am fair or dark, I am this race or that. I am this age or that.
While it is true. It is only partial true.
The truth is that you are way bigger than your body.
Just as we have our physical body we also have the energy body. In this energy body are 72,000 nerve currents, called naadis carrying various kinds of spiritual energies.
There are 7 points in the body where certain key psychic nerve cluster happen. These nerve clusters are called chakras. The moment you hear the word chakra, please do not come to any conclusions. Continue to stay in a state of listening.
Before we go into chakras, let us get back top this. You are 6 bodies not one body.
Annamaya, prana maya, Manomaya, karma maya, Vijnanamaya, and anandamaya.
Annamaya kosha or the physical body, the one that is made of food is the smallest. And to explore this physical body alone modern science has taken nearly 300 years of research.
The next is the Pranamaya Kosha or the energy body. It is almost 3 feet around your physical body. It is a much bigger universe. In this body, the Kundalini, the great serpentine spiritual energy is there. It is the position of your kundalini that differentiates between the ordinary and the genius. Higher the kundalini, greater the genius. And this genius could be in terms of your skills, Your capacity to love or greater insight into situations, greater ability to flow with life and all of that.
The Pranamaya Kosha also has 72000 nadis or energy channels, 5 kinds of breath energies and so on- it is the whole universe. In the Prana Maya kosha are 7 major chakras and many minor ones. These chakras are energy vortices that is located along the central energy channel of your body called Sushumna. This energy channel is like your spiritual spine located in the middle of your body. And each of these chakras hold a very powerful potential.
Manomaya Kosha or your mind body- consists of your conscious mind, your sub conscious mind and the unconscious mind which is deeper…in the unconscious mind are your past life vasanas and this life Samskaras are stored. And finallythe collective unconscious of entire humanity are stored- all of these is the Manomaya Kosha.
The next is Karma Maya kosha is the karmik repository- the karmik energy bank of yourself, your soul circle, your community and collective humanity’s karma- it is a huge dynamic that keeps playing out as energy patterns. It keeps playing out as chaos or order in your life.
The next is Vijnanamaya Kosha is the pure wisdom body- the body that stretches into other lokaas or worlds. When you awaken to this dimension, you realise you are not living on this plane alone. You are simultaneously living in many realities. It is these realities you some times see in dreams. Realizations you have in this world would flow to other worlds. And realisations you have in other worlds flow into this one.
Finally you have the anandamaya kosha or the bliss body- which is as huge as the universe itself. When you wake up to this dimension of yourself, you realise you are the universe. You are the all. There is no separation between you and anything in this flow of life. Realising these dimensions, I would say is the greatest adventure you can have in your life.
Wednesday, February 08, 2023
A Train to Moscow - Elena Gorokhova (33 of 2023 Feb 8)
In post–World War II Russia, a girl must reconcile a tragic past with her hope for the future in this powerful and poignant novel about family secrets, passion and loss, perseverance and ambition.
In a small, provincial town behind the Iron Curtain, Sasha lives in a house full of secrets, one of which is her own dream of becoming an actress. When she leaves for Moscow to audition for drama school, she defies her mother and grandparents and abandons her first love, Andrei.
Before she leaves, Sasha discovers the hidden war journal of her uncle Kolya, an artist still missing in action years after the war has ended. His pages expose the official lies and the forbidden truth of Stalin’s brutality. Kolya’s revelations and his tragic love story guide Sasha through drama school and cement her determination to live a thousand lives onstage. After graduation, she begins acting in Leningrad, where Andrei, now a Communist Party apparatchik, becomes a censor of her work. As a past secret comes to light, Sasha’s ambitions converge with Andrei’s duties, and Sasha must decide if her dreams are truly worth the necessary sacrifice and if, as her grandmother likes to say, all will indeed be well.
Another taste of the Russian psyche with its suspicion of the enemy without and the enemy within or at least the planting of that suspicion by the state, a people manipulated, misled, forced to spy on each other, told a version of history that we would say is fake news. Particularly apposite as we sit here enduring Putin’s destruction of Ukraine, showing that nothing much has changed in 80 years or more. How we would love to communicate with ordinary Russians, learn more about their country and culture, visit etc. That seems a pipe dream now even though they are, in reality, just like us, but let down more than we are by their leaders. Government should be for the people but in Russia it is for the state, the ruling elite. The curtain on stage - the division between reality and make-believe - which is which? The iron curtain - another division - why is it there, why is it necessary? So many questions.
really good, actually - Monica Heisey - (32 of 2023: Feb 7)
As a former screenwriter on the excellent sitcom 'Schitt's Creek', Heisey's skills at writing awkward comedy really come through in the narrative. There's plenty of bad logic humour with lines such as “Tragically I was the victim of a supportive home life” and Maggie's musing that her brief romantic forays with other women mean “I’m not sure I’m bisexual enough to count.” Personally, I feel there's no better comedy than a sad blundering threesome scene and this novel contains an excellent one. There is plenty in this story which made me chuckle in appreciation – if not laugh out loud. I enjoyed the creative approach of interspersing Maggie's account with revealing text exchanges, Google searches and fantasy interludes which further reinforce how little control she has while trying to keep it together. Also, there are some wonderfully cutting scenes where other characters reveal just how wacky Maggie's behaviour has become in a way that she herself hasn't divulged to readers.
The trouble is that the novel begins to feel too drawn out as Maggie becomes eminently unlikeable with an increasingly unbelievable lack of self-awareness. This partially undercuts the more meaningful message of the book about a newly independent woman learning to love herself. As sympathetic as Maggie is with her restlessness, body issues and contemporary romantic problems, I wanted to like her more. Certainly unlikeable central characters are a stalwart of great stories and offer a lot of potential for great comedy, but it ultimately felt like Heisey sacrificed her protagonist's integrity by striving to get more jokes in. It's an issue similar to what I found in reading “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine”. I definitely found Heisey's novel funny and enjoyable, but while it's unquestionably heartfelt it doesn't quite capture all the emotion it could have.
Tuesday, February 07, 2023
Shefeekinte Santhosham
Shefeek (Unni Mukundan) is a happy-go-lucky guy who wishes good for everyone around him. People in his village, which includes his longtime girlfriend Sainaba (Divya Pillai) and his close friend Ameer (Bala), eagerly await his arrival. As he packed things, he decided to purchase some gifts for all those who helped him in the past. The trouble Shafique had to face due to one of those gifts and how it changed his life drastically is what we witness in Shefeekkinte Santhosham. Life takes a sudden U-turn on the day of his engagement when Shefeek gets arrested for a serious crime. The movie portrays his understanding about life after that. He almost loses everything he held dear.
The film is all about Shefeek trying to create happiness in others’ lives and ultimately realising that it is important to take care of his happiness. Happiness is a perspective. Also, it's a paradox. Shefeekinte Santhosham can be added to the latter.
There is the concept of happiness, sacrifice, betrayal, orphan, but something was lacking in the movie. Probably a good screenplay.
Monday, February 06, 2023
On Reading....Action, Knowledge and Ignorance
What is the use of reading the books? Bookish knowledge we cannot do anything, What we gain out of it, how do I change out of it, is what matters.
As children how often have we heard 'Reading without reflection, is like eating without digestion' .
Having been on a reading spree, I have decided, and I want to apply them into practise. So this year, there will be lot of books being revised.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference, living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; taking this world as it is and not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.
− Reinhold Niebuhr
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 13, Verse 8-12
अमानित्वमदम्भित्वमहिंसा क्षान्तिरार्जवम् |
आचार्योपासनं शौचं स्थैर्यमात्मविनिग्रह: || 8||
इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहङ्कार एव च |
जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदु:खदोषानुदर्शनम् || 9||
असक्तिरनभिष्वङ्ग: पुत्रदारगृहादिषु |
नित्यं च समचित्तत्वमिष्टानिष्टोपपत्तिषु || 10||
मयि चानन्ययोगेन भक्तिरव्यभिचारिणी |
विविक्तदेशसेवित्वमरतिर्जनसंसदि || 11||
अध्यात्मज्ञाननित्यत्वं तत्वज्ञानार्थदर्शनम् |
एतज्ज्ञानमिति प्रोक्तमज्ञानं यदतोऽन्यथा || 12||
BG 13.8-12: Humbleness; freedom from hypocrisy; non-violence; forgiveness; simplicity; service of the Guru; cleanliness of body and mind; steadfastness; and self-control; dispassion toward the objects of the senses; absence of egotism; keeping in mind the evils of birth, disease, old age, and death; non-attachment; absence of clinging to spouse, children, home, and so on; even-mindedness amidst desired and undesired events in life; constant and exclusive devotion toward Me; an inclination for solitary places and an aversion for mundane society; constancy in spiritual knowledge; and philosophical pursuit of the Absolute Truth—all these I declare to be knowledge, and what is contrary to it, I call ignorance.
Essentially Mira - Mira Kulkarni (31 of 2023 Feb 6)
From making fragrant candles and soaps to building India's first luxury Ayurveda beauty empire, Mira Kulkarni has proved that a thriving business can grow from just one tiny seed. The creative genius and driving spirit behind Forest Essentials' range of natural beauty products, Kulkarni has been hailed as a farsighted leader for creating a whole new category, and her ability to translate traditional Ayurvedic processes into transformational new products and anticipate beauty trends. In just two decades, under her direction, Forest Essentials has grown into a billion-dollar company, poised to go global soon. Through it all, Kulkarni has fiercely guarded her privacy - until now.
Essentially Mira is an extraordinary account of how a single mother of two rose above all odds to build a globally renowned brand from the ground up. Capturing Mira's childhood days, her marriage at the age of nineteen, both her parents' deaths that left her orphaned at twenty-eight, facing death threats and the many memorable encounters that changed a sensitive young girl into a consummate businesswoman, the book talks about the story behind Forest Essentials and how it grew into the iconic brand it is today.
Inspirational and incredibly relatable, Essentially Mira is a story of someone who never gave up.
“When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go.” ...
“Nothing is impossible. ...
“There is nothing impossible to they who will try.” ...
“The bad news is time flies. ...
“Life has got all those twists and turns. ...
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you
Unlocking Potential: 7 Coaching Skills that Transform Individuals, Teams and Organizations - Michael K. Simpson (30 of 2023 and Feb 5th)
As a leader, your success is directly measured by the success of those working on your team, and in fact their success is your success. So a leader, we need to coach our team to success.
- Build Trust,
- Tap Potential,
- Create Commitment and
- Execute Goals
- Show genuine concern for the individual's welfare and future
- continuously demonstrate personal integrity, honesty and sincerity
- Keep confidences
- Clarify Together - permission, time
- Learn by listening
- Explore options
- Commit to action
- Aligning objectives and defining success
- Data collection and Relationship building
- Data Debriefing and Behavioral Coaching
- Transition and Sustainability
- Build trust - both - character (who you are) and competence (what you do).
- Challenge Paradigms - Explore assumptions, Probe rationales, Question viewpoints and perspectives, examine implications and consequences, question the question.
- Seek Strategic clarity - understand short term noise, drive strategic direction and focus, strategic narrative, drive goal alignment clarity and accountability, define wildly important goals.
- Execute flawlessly - Focus on wildly important goal, act on the lead measures, keep a compelling scoreboard, create a Cadence of Accountability.
- Give effective feedback - It can be a coaching tool. Avoid negative reaction, focus on posetiv. SARAH feedback response model - when people get negative feedback, they go through Shock, Anger, Rejection, Acceptance, Humility/Help.
- Tap into talent - Three types of conversations - i) The coaching job-performance conversation, ii) the career-development conversation. iii) the 'clear the path' conversation.
- Move the middle - Reward the top and move the middle. Coach to create a great performing team.
- People
- Structure
- Rewards
- Resources
- Decisions
- Processes
Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill (29th of 2023 Feb 4th)
Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill
Have written about this book even before, and in much more detail, this is an abridged version as I reread the book to create my video. This indeed is one of the greatest Success self help book of all times, undoubtedly for individuals who are interested in furthering their lives and achieving their goals. Most of the self help classes - cover points from this book. Drawing inspiration from lives of millionaires of his generation, Napoleon Hill reveals the life-changing secret to securing exceptional wealth and success.
Simple basic techniques are suggested in the book.
All Achievement, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea! If you are ready for the secret, you already possess one half of it, therefore, you will readily recognize the other half the moment it reaches your mind.
A person who cannot make decision quickly cannot be relied
in making decisions.
Chapter 2 - Introduction (Thoughts are Things). Dont quit, know that you are the captain of your soul.
Chapter 3 - Desire: Step 1
Starting point of all achievement. The first step towards
riches. Intense and not just wish. Your
sight will always be on it.
Dreams - Failures - Lessons Learned - Success
Chapter 4 - Faith: Step 2
Visualization and believe in the attainment of your dreams,
Faith translates thoughts in subconscious mind into infinite intelligence which
will help you achieve your dreams.
Two books recommended: In search of Excellence and Break
through. - Importance of faith.
Chapter 5 - Auto-Suggestion- Step 3
Autosuggestion is the medium to influence the subconscious
mind. No thought can enter without the aid of autosuggestion. It comes from
repetition.
Chapter 6 - Specialized Knowledge - Step4
Knowledge are of two types - General and Specialized.
Education gives general knowledge. We need to have specialized knowledge.
Chapter 7 - Imagination - Step 5
We can create anything that we can imagine. Two forms of
imagination are Synthetic or creative. Today synthetic is considered negative, but it is not. Synthetic
is using others with modifications. It do not create anything new and Creative
is a new one created
Whether we are informed or not, But there are three biggest
enemies in our lives. Who always fights with us. They just don’t want us to
complete or achieve our goals and dreams. who are these Three Enemies? Amongst
all three, the First and the biggest one is Fear, second is Indecision and the
third one is doubt.
All three Enemies are very dangerous for us because of two
reasons. The first reason is they are very much connected to each other. Because
of which they help each other to grow more and trap the person under a Downward
Spiral and is unable to grow.
SIX Basic FEARS: Fear Of Poverty; Fear Of Criticism:The Fear
Of ill Health:Fear Of Loss Of Love:Fear Of Old Age:Fear Of Death:
Determination, definiteness of purpose and the burning
desire to attain the goal and the persistent effort to bring your imagination
into light, will help you succeed.
Chapter 8 - Organized Planning - Step 6 this speak about how to build a plan, leadership, the does and donts,
Chapter 9 - Decision - Step 7 The mastery of Procrastination
Lack of decision is the major cause of failure and why do we
not make decisions? Because of Fear. People mostly fail, because they keep
thinking and never do, and the time fleets.
Chapter 10 - Persistence
Be persistent till your goals are fulfilled. The basis of
persistence is the power of will. Will power and desire, when properly
combined, make an irresistible pair.
Lack of persistence, is the major cause of failure. It can be overcome
by efforts. Starting point of all achievement is desire. A will. Master mind
will help develop this.
Chapter 11 - Power of the Master Mind - 9th Step towards
riches, the driving force.
Power - organized and intelligently directed effort.
Coordination of two or more people. Plans are inert and useless, without
sufficient Power to translate them into action. The sources of knowledge are i)
infinite intelligence, ii) accumulated experience, iii) experiment and iv) research.
Our life will depend on the five people around us.
Unsuccessful people are surrounded with negative people, while successful
people are surrounded by positive people. Habits too are derived from the five
people around us.
Chapter 12 - The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
(Sexuality) Charisma and creativity.
10th Step.
It means switching of the mind from thoughts of physical
expression, to thoughts of some other nature. Sexuality, passion or Charisma is
what is meant here. People are influenced by feelings and emotions more than
reasons. Stimuli to which minds responds are sex, love, fame/power/financial
gain, music, mutual suffering, auto
suggestion, fear, alcohol and drugs and master minds.
Courage, creativity, increases with this.
Chapter 13 - The Subconscious Mind The connecting Link, 11th Step.
You cannot completely control, but can handover the plans.
Formulate and write out desire, positive affirmation, visualization, act as
though goal is already yours.
Th seven major positive emotions are: Desire, faith, love,
sex, enthusiasm, romance, hope.
7 negative emotions to avoid are: fear, jealousy, hatred,
revenge, greed, superstition and anger.
One emotion will dominate other. Through faith and habit -
affirm , visualize everyday.
Faith and fear make poor bedfellows. Where one is found, the
other cannot exist.
Subconscious mind is the intermediary, that translates
prayers and desires, answers come back by way of plan, with the help of
intelligence. Do not accept trouble, as they have a tendency not to
disappoint.
Chapter 14 - The Brain: A broadcasting and receiving station for
thought. Every human brain has the ability to attract vibration, by way of
intuition. Creative imagination is what helps to get information.
Chapter 15 - The Sixth Sense - The door to the temple of
wisdom. 13th Step.
Apex, of the philosophy of success. Creative imagination or
the receiving sense. As you develop 6th
sense, a guardian angel will help open door to wisdom. Nature don't deviate
from it's law. There is a power, or first cause, infinite intelligence each
maintaining a proper relationship in nature - day and night, river flowing
downwards.
Let great people shape your life, but do not hero worship.
Have 'invisible councillors'. Sit in between them. Napoleon Hills were Emerson,
Paline, Edison, Darwin, Lincon, Burban, Napoleon, Ford and Carnegie. He would
speak to them. Building characters through Auto-suggestion.
The sixth sense is not something that one can take off and
put on at will. It comes through application.
Chapter 16 - The Sixth Ghosts of Fear - How many are standing
on your way?
Indecision, doubt and Fear - You have to clear your mind of
these three.
The Six basic fears, not all suffer from are: Poverty,
Criticism, Ill Health, Loss of Love, Old Age, Death.
All other fears are variation of these. Thought impulses
translate into physical forms. Worry because of indecision. State of Mind,
based on fear. Nothing is worth worrying. Vibration of fear passes from one
mind to other. Destructive thoughts convert a person into an antagonist.
State of mind has to be created.
The seventh basic evil is Susceptibility to negative
influences. Don't give up your right to be positive.
It strikes when you are not aware of its presence and is
intangible. It comes in different forms. Both within and outside. It is deadly
as poison.
Your will power is your defense. We are all susceptible to
the basic fears.
Habits are difficult to break, especially when they provide
justification for something we do. "The first and best victory is to
conquer self. To be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and
vile. "
Take Inventory of yourself.
"Patience, Persistence and perspiration make an
unbeatable combination for success."
Develop your will power - and what you can do will be more
than money, you will leave a legacy behind.
Life is a checkerboard, and the player opposite you is TIME.
If you hesitate before moving, or neglect to move promptly, your men will be
wiped off the board by TIME. You are playing against a partner who will not
tolerate INDECISION.
The Master Key is Burning Desire. Real wealth is measured
not by what you have, but what you are.
Saturday, February 04, 2023
5 Steps to Mindfulness : Tiny Steps to Happiness & Personal Development - Magical Mona: 28th of 2023 Feb - 3rd
"By just being present in the present, you can alter the reality and impact the consequences. "
Caution:
We feed or body with food, do we feed our mind?
Change begin with me. Things start one step at a time. Anxiety is thinking too much into future, and depression is thinking too much of past.
Be in the present.
Our mind is always 30 seconds ahead of our actual state - from morning on in every task we do. We worry about the past or the future, and is not living in the present.
Benefits of Mindfulness:
- Better Health
- Lower Stress
- Increased Focus
- Improved problem solving capabilities
- Boost confidence
- Promote Creativity
- Emotional Balance
- Enhance Memory
- Foster Communication
- Builds Resilience
- Increase your Happiness Level
- Self
- Relation
- Professional
- Purpose
- Spiritual
- Identify the task in hand
- Set a timer for 25 minutes
- Begin your task and keep working till the timer is running
- As timer goes off, mark off one Pomorodo and take a 5 minutes break
- After4 pomorodos are complete, take a long break of 20 to 30 minutes
- Confident
- Strong
- Determined
- Courageous
- In the best form of my life
- Today onwards I will intentionally work on my self development
Friday, February 03, 2023
Journey into Divine You
There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.
You feel it, don’t you?
– Rumi
- 'I' - Be Selfish to be Selfless; Practise Self - Various self create personality, and too much of self lead to Ego. 'Aham Bramasmi' - I am the universe, I m absolute existence. I am my deepest desire. I am my faith. I follow my Dharma.
- 'E' - Energy and Environment - Your tribe determines your vibe. You are the reflection of 5 things your surround yourself with. What you appreciate, appreciate in your life. Practise Gratitude and SAVERS daily - Silence, Affirmation, Vision, Exercise, Read and Scribble.
- 'A' - Acknowledge, Appreciate, Accommodate - Live in Awe, put it out, stop judging, drop the thought into your heart, and bless - Zoot zoot.
- 'H' - Happy, Hungry to grow, Humble, Help - Follow 4H's simultaneously.
- 'L' - Live, Love, Lead, Learn, Live a Legacy.
- 'S' - Sadana, Seva, Shraddha, Share, Smile, Satsang
- 'C' - Confidence, Courage, Consciousness, Compassion, Change, Consistent, Care.
Feedback
Q 5 and 10...you r best judge. I can't answer for you.
1...I have always seen you at your best in everything that you do. Except when you are with Rajesh. May be u r conscious of my presence but yes, in his presence you just closed down yourself, stand and watch. 🤷♀️ sorry it's blunt but true to my eyes.
2. I may not come to you for advise because u believe in staying neutral and personal touch is absent in advises.
3. You support me in Kerala trip, Rameshwaram trip...u fulfill all my wish when I come at your place. It's very touching and humbling. Because of you, my mom only trip was Kerala in her life time.
Thank you so much for that.
4,6,7....your passionate reading habits and love for books.
8. Touch wood, I have always seen you lit up. Except when with your hubby. 🤷♀️
9. Innate gift is love for books and also people. Your love and caring for people is also very passionate and commendable.
Continue to see feedbacks pouring in and the final one looked like:
Payal
Your personality
1>When have you seen me at my best: Mostly you are very conscious of your surroundings.
2> Everything- behaviors, treatment, life advice, random chat . May be an exception of acreer, because I take abrupt decissions but other than that... everything.
7> You remind me of me. You are like that mirror, which helps people find themselves.
5>Life coach, finance, team leader etc.. rather more like a mentor role
You can make a monster find its soul. You reflect kindness. You define humanity.
8> You are very passionate about relationships. You light us the most when you talk about Thara. (Ever since we were in school).
10> I see you becoming a guru
4 Your Personality
Thursday, February 02, 2023
French Braid by Anne Tyler - 27th of 2023: Feb - 2
In an entry from 1977 in “The Journal of Joyce Carol Oates” she remarks that “Anne Tyler's imagination turns (instinctively?) toward her central theme of staying-in-one-place / running-away. Taking on responsibilities / ridding oneself of all responsibility.” This is certainly noticeable in many of Tyler's novels – most notably in “Ladder of Years”. There's a persistent tension for many characters between maintaining the life they've built and leaving it behind. In her latest novel “French Braid” we have an example of a character who, in a sense, has it both ways. Mercy is the matriarch of the Garrett clan. Though in her younger days she fantasized about walking out on her life she has loyally loved and supported her husband and three children for decades. But her natural domain isn't the domestic. Once their youngest child has flown the coop she embarks on pursuing her passion for painting and gradually moves out of the family home into her artist's studio. She's developed a technique for painting a family's home by focusing on one aspect which is represented in high detail while the rest remains a bit of a blur. Mercy's living arrangement mostly goes unspoken amongst the family so she maintains her position while achieving a kind of independent freedom. It's an excellent compromise for a riddle that has been threaded throughout so much of this author's meaningful body of work.
The novel begins in 2010 before leaping back to a rare Garrett family holiday in 1959 and skipping forward through the decades alighting focus on several different members of the household. Similar to Tyler's “A Spool of Blue Thread” we get a broader picture of these individuals by seeing brief snapshots of them in different periods of time. Gradually we come to understand how this family has maintained loose bonds while living separately and largely unknown to each other. Though they are reunited for some holidays and anniversaries, other occasions such as weddings aren't always marked with the traditional get together. Tyler presents instances when they do see each other with a wonderful amount of detail and dialogue which captures all the awkwardness and uncertainty of people who are united through coincidence of birth rather than natural affection. Men in the family revert to bland discussions about the traffic getting there. Women side-eye the choices of dishes brought to the dining table. These are familiar figures who are of a certain type – yet they are also unique and distinct. Mercy and her husband Robin's son David doesn't conform to his father's masculine expectations. The rift this causes is subtle yet severe in creating a longstanding distance which is never entirely broached. It's just one example of how this family has drifted apart while still remaining roughly connected. Though Robin might be simply viewed as a domineering dad he's depicted with a lot of compassion and sympathy showing how even handed Tyler is when writing her characters.
The title of the novel is acknowledged as a metaphorical cliche when an older David observes how this style of hair arrangement which leaves waves in the strands when undone is “how families work, too. You think you're free of them, but you're never really free; the ripples are crimped in forever.” It's a bit of hard-won terse wisdom which is a platitude but still essentially true. However, the real understanding of family life comes from looking at members as individuals caught in different periods of time and circumstances. This is the technique Tyler has employed and which Mercy might have depicted visually if she painted people rather than objects. It's wonderfully affecting as the novel builds to say so much more than any of its finely-observed parts. Tyler's ability to find profundity in the mundane without any overly dramatic plotting is unparalleled and highly accomplished.
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell 26th of 2023 Feb -1
Maggie O'Farrell's latest novel “The Marriage Portrait” is the kind of supreme historical fiction that brings the past alive and gives a new perspective.
With her latest novel “The Marriage Portrait” Maggie O'Farrell proves that she's one of the finest historical novelists working today. The basis of her inspiration comes from using that classic trick of plucking a semi-obscure figure from the distant past along with a bit of gossip to conjure a tale from between the pages of history. The subject is Lucrezia de' Medici, a noble daughter from Florence who was married to Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara in 1558 when she was only thirteen. A year later she died from what was labelled as “putrid fever” but it was rumoured that she had been murdered by Alfonso. Although this new novel is set in the mid-1500s (only a few decades prior to her previous novel “Hamnet”) the stories are worlds apart. We follow Lucrezia's life as she is born into a busy privileged Italian household and ostracised for being the strange daughter of the family. O'Farrell imaginatively transports readers to this era with sumptuous, lavish, gorgeously-rendered detail of palace life with its many ornate rooms and hidden corridors, trysts and shady dealings and a menagerie of exotic animals kept for Cosimo, the Duke of Tuscany's amusement. When Lucrezia ventures into the depths of the palace to spy upon her father's new acquisition of a tigress she feels a momentary connection with this wild beautiful animal that stirs her spirit.
The narrative alternates between the story of her upbringing and her time at the remote “hunting lodge” of her husband Alfonso when Lucrezia is suddenly convinced “that he intends to kill her.” Is this true? Is she delirious from illness? Is she paranoid? Is there any way she can survive? These questions remain tantalizingly suspended throughout the story until the exhilarating and clever climax. There are so many compelling characters: vain sisters, bratty brothers, a wise nursemaid, seductive suitors, mysterious artists and scheming friends. As heads of the family, Eleanora and her husband Cosimo provide a model example of rulers of the region in their productivity and determination to educate all their children – both the boys and girls. However, their great flaw is underestimating their daughter Lucrezia. Here she is placed at the centre of the novel as the consummate outsider and forgotten child whose artistic talent leaves her teachers in awe. Though this position naturally makes her somewhat lonely, it's also advantageous as she can see the workings of things more clearly from a distance. Lucrezia's keen skills of observation and ability to discern power dynamics serves her well. She probably would have remained sidelined by her siblings if her elder sister Maria hadn't died from illness which means Lucrezia is ushered to take her place in marrying Alfonso.
I felt so drawn into the dynamics of palace life. O'Farrell is very skilful at evoking this period as well as creating a mystery around Alfonso who comes across as so charming but secretive. It's a tribute to the author's ability that she can build such a strong sense of hope while also making readers dread an impending doom. I was kept in suspense throughout while being spellbound by the heady experience of Lucrezia's wealthy but cloistered life. What's especially intriguing about this historical novel is the way the author allows you to see how things could have played out so differently if fate had blown in a different direction. If Maria hadn't died from disease and married Alfonso her outcome would have been very different from Lucrezia's. If Alfonso hadn't been so ruthless in his desire to produce an heir and allowed Lucrezia to become his equal partner, they could have ruled in as harmonious a way as Lucrezia's parents. O'Farrell shows how certain events dictate history, but they don't determine the future. And through the inspiring conclusion she establishes an ingenious way for us to re-view the past.
Courtesy: Lonesomereader.