Tuesday, September 4, 2007

The "Sa" of Sadhana

"sa .. re .. ga .. ma... pa.. dha.. ni...!!!"...............I remember repeating these musical notes after my music teacher when I was a young girl. These are the seven basic " swaras" or sounds called sapta swaras in Indian music. Like we always begin the musical journey with the Musical alphabet "sa".....I venture on with my sadhana.....a sequel to my earlier post.....a tag which I owe to Bharathy of spicy chilly!



Each new task is begun after offering salutations of Lord Ganesha.....dispeller of all obstacles!....in Hindu tradition. I invoke Ganesha (the elephant headed god).....
I remember a very inspiring story about Ganesha!
" One day sage Narada visited Kailasa , abode of Lord Shiva and his Shiva Kudumbam ( his family consisting of Parvati , His divine consort and His two sons Ganesha and Subramania). Narada offered Lord Shiva , a golden fruit during his visit.Shiva called his two sons, Ganesha and Subramania and said,
"I will give this divine fruit to only one of you. Whoever circumvents the whole universe thrice and comes to me first will be given this fruit!"
Those were not days of formula cars ....and the two sons had to rely on their "vahanas".Subramania's vahana or means of transport was a peacock....and Ganesha's vahana was a rat. As soon as the rules were laid for begetting the fruit , Subramania sped on his Peacock. What would poor Ganesha do? He was in a dilemma! He knew well that he would lose if he traveled on his mooshika vahana or his rat!....but Ganesha knew exactly what to do.He went straight to his parents ....circumvented them thrice and asked for the reward!
"To me the whole Universe is my parents!....I have circumvented my Universe thrice and I am eligible for the golden fruit!"

Thus Ganesha won the race!!!"

We see this whole wide world around us through our parents ! from the moment we are born .....though the umbilical chord is cut as we are welcomed in to this world the bond persists for ever! the first bond , the first relationship...of pure love...!!!

The "Sa"of my Sadhana is that I am a daughter....blessed to be born to two wonderful people....and like to echo the words of Ganesha !!! I dedicate this post to my parents , to whom I owe my life.


I was fortunate to be born to an artistic mother and loving father ....who helped me make a blue print of my life in childhood , which I am living today!
I wish I could relive those days ....with my parents ....
life without any stress or responsibilities...
a life where you could just relax and swim with the current....
a life where you travel like a passenger fully aware that the driver will take you where you ought to go...unperturbed by the route you might take .....
a life where you could take your parents for granted and still bask in the warmth of their affection and security....

I have been honored by my dear friends...,
Mishmash is a creative artiste , who surprises me with her innovative presentations and mouth watering recipes....
Bharathy , a wonderful friend, I am happy I stumbled upon her in this blogsphere, who delights me with her day to day recipes and equally good shots!
Thanks to both of you for the awards!...I am truly flattered!





I have passed on "rocking blogger award" to someone who is very dear to me. She is my grandmother , who started blogging at the ripe young age of seventy five. You can read more about her at her blog - khayals.
I have also love visiting Krystyna's blog...I have passed on this award to this inspiring blogger too.

"Power of schmooze" award is being conferred to
1. Mathew whose blog is rightly named spark , for he never fails to kindle sparks which glow with sense of humor and satire.
2.Maddy whose varied interests and knowledge on umpteen areas , cannot go unnoticed.
3.Naveen , whom I am proud to call my brother , whose perspectives and values are reflected in his posts. And I truly admire his writing skills.


I pass on the "Thinking blogger award" to
1. Kalyan , who has a passion for photography and travel. I love visiting his blog , "heaven's garden"
2.Dharma, whose posts portray simple day today events pondering into it with the depth of a philosopher!
I am not sure whether these awards have already been conferred to you!....if yes! I am not surprised!

Here is a video of a musical instrument... listen to it , friends! Can you guess what this instrument is just by listening to it? All the sounds are produced from a single instrument!



30 comments:

Li'l Lite said...

Thats another lovely post Nanditha!

Congratulations on the awards...you truly deserve them!

Bharathy said...

Instrument ...HANG DRUM??!!!!!!!!
I am sure abt the raaga..IT IS SINDHUBHAIRAVI!..
I was totally spell bound Nandi!!cos I am in love with this raaga!!:)...that too through this instrument..mind blowing!!!

LOL..the story abt the fruit.. yes!..I admit..we tryly owe our parents for what we are!!

Congrats on your awards!;)

BTW..How did the programme go?:)

Bharathy said...

...hats off to khayals..yet to go through..!!..Sounds simply amazing!!Be prouud!!

J said...

Well written, Nanditha! The instrument is wonderful to listen to, no idea what it is though! Looking forward to ri, ga, ma...:)

Anonymous said...

A beautiful post indeed

life where you could just relax and swim with the current....
a life where you travel like a passenger fully aware that the driver will take you where you ought to go...unperturbed by the route you might take .....
a life where you could take your parents for granted and still bask in the warmth of their affection and security

-- Lovely and gotto agree with wat ya say.

dharmabum said...

your parents are indeed fortunte :)

thank you - am much honoured. i am no philosopher, just a bum round the corner. but thanks, this means a lot. and no, this hasn't been given before - you are the first one, which makes it all the more special.

salutations!

Nanditha Prabhu said...

little light,
thank you!

bharathy,
you are right , its the hang drum! isn't it amazing!
do you sing?...if you can spot ragas , I 'm sure you must have good knowledge of music!
My program mes went on quite well!
thank you for remembering and en quiring:)
you went through khayals? you would believe , if i tell you her academic back ground!yes, I'm proud!:)

Jyothsna,
the instrument is hang instrument!its a result of a lot of research in the field of acoustics!


pria,
thank you !...

J said...

Btw, I forgot to add earlier that I liked your ammuma's blog too. I like the simple lessons grandparents tell us thru stories or experience :)next time I'll leave a comment there :)

Sindhya Govind said...

Nicely written post. I have heard the story of Ganeshji from my Amma.

Congratulations on all your awards!

Looking forward for the rest of the findings from your "Sadhana".

Maddy said...

once again thanks - it is just that i believe the world to be limitless...there is so much out there, so see, watch, observe & tell others if you can and what you can...

Naveen Prabhu said...

Nandukka .. thanks a lot ... i am flattered :-)
amma/ appa will love this post ..

Cynthia said...

I recall hearing those musical notes while living in Guyana!

mathew said...

Thanks a lot for the award..am having best of times these days with two awards.. ;-P

I checked your grandma's blog..really terrific to see her writing..

Although I am plain dud when it comes to music and dance..I can sense how much you dear you hold it ..This entry is awesome tribute to 4 things..faith.parents..music and dance....

wishing you good luck and happiness..

krystyna said...

Hi Nanditha!
Very powerful, inspiring post!
Your parents are proud of you.
My mom is a great mom too. She is 78 young and she started blogging too. This month (22) will be her Birthday. She lives in Poland.
If you'll find little bit time and say her Hello in her Birthday she will be very happy.

http://mojewojaze.blogspot.com/

krystyna said...

Thank you so much for awarded me.
I feel very honored.
Have a wonderful, blessing weekend!

krystyna said...

Nanditha, your grandmother is amazing, lovely woman!!!
Ah, I love this music!
Thanks!

Bharathy said...

Knowledge abt music??Yes or no....

But I breathe music!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

You seem pretty ethnic...About the post, if you don't mind, could you explain me the relevance of Gods in our lives ?I could explain it to you that they are just the children of necessity ( which happens to be the mother of all inventions )...

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, am blogrolling you for easy access.You have a wonderful language as well as aesthetic sense in expressing things up.

Nanditha Prabhu said...

dharma,
:)congrats on the award!

sg,
thank you !

maddy,
i love reading your posts! you educate me on various topics on which i have no clue


naveen,
:)...

cynthia,
thats nice! i think the basic notes are the same for any kind of music.

mathew,
enjoy your awards. i am in the same boat too!:)
nice to know that you visited my grand ma's blog...she is a person with lot of will power !

krystyna,
i visited your mom's blog too!
i will surely wish her on her birthday!

bharathy, great to know that you are a lover of music too!happy to have you for a friend!

sri tatsat mishra,
welcome to my blog. thank you for visiting and blog rolling.
you asked me to explain about the relevance of god in our lives...i saw your explanation. if you are really happy with this i don't think you should seek for more answers. In my case I have always felt a presence , or a silence which guides me ....you can name it God or an energy or consciousness or Being. We human beings tend to live only the human part forgetting the " being" part often.Just try feeling the being in you! have you got the answer?

Anonymous said...

This is a lovely post Nanditha. I could feel a musical rhythm all along as I read every word, although I'm still trying to figure out the musical instrument, which was lovely listening.

Thanks very much for the award. I am really honored. Congrats on your awards too...

Anonymous said...

I must say, I am amazed by your acceptance.I have seen people not appreciating those who do not think their way.
About God :--I agree with your point about the "being"part of us all~~However, I do not know what to say about the energy you talked about.All through my studies, I have known energy to be something positive(that is a mathematical way of looking at things,I agree).But,something that you talked about,some divine presence ( which guides you ), appears more to be a sum total of situations and nothing more.On a more practical basis, I do not see much point in believing in something that is way beyond your control.However, much like you, I respect your belief and wish you all the luck with things.

~~Awesome post by the way~~

Amrita said...

Got to your blog thru Kalyan.
Wow., thank you for introducing me to this fascinating instrument.I think i could play it too. It sounds like the jal tarang. Just so beautiful, like you 're floating on air. Thank you again

Movie Mazaa said...

thx for sharing these wonderful blog pals with us. am sure we r gonna ahve a great time reading them!

:)

And congrats on the award as well..

Nanditha Prabhu said...

sri tatsat mishra,
good luck to u too!:)

kalyan,
if you have not yet figured out , the instrument is Hang drum!


amrita,
yes , i was fascinated by the instrument when i heard it first. i too had the urge to enquire about the price so that i could have it as a treasure .. but found out that its so much in demand and very costly too!
thank you for visiting!

mm,
welcome here...and thanks for leaving your valuable comments!

Vidya said...

This post is a mixture of all kinds of emotions. I first want to acknowledge the fact that you value your parents! Not many do that. So I am glad that you do! :D

Secondly congratulations on the multitude of awards! I don't know what this blogging award is? Can you please elaborate?

Thirdly, I noticed that you have mentioned that the instrument is HANG DRUM. I don't know what it is. Would you happen to have a picture?

Vidya

Indrajit said...

good to read..
Just bumped here and it's worth ..
:)

Bharathy said...

Visited ammummas blog!!Sorry I went a bit emotional there!!:(
She is simply great!!

Nanditha Prabhu said...

vidya,
thank you!as mentioned i was given the awards by two of my blogger friends! and i could keep it or pass it on ! you have the liberty to judge!
and about the hang drum...it is a percussion instrument capable of various sounds. it is a product of intense research in the field of acoustics .It was developed in Switerland.and is in much demand today!it is played with the hand and is either played on one lap or on a stand.it had resemblance with a steel drum and with kitchen pan and even a Ghatam( an Indian percussion instrument).

INDR'S ANGELS,
welcome , keep visiting!

Bharathy,
saw that you went emotional! But i can understand!take care!

diyadear said...

congrats on those awards.. n a beautiful post!!!