Slave of my slave.

      Long ago when Alexander the great came to India , he found the people fearless and friendly. He befriended many of them. when he prepared to leave to his homeland he wanted to take a sage from India along with him. 

      He went in quest of a sage into the forest . He found one sitting under a tree deep in meditation. Alexander greeted the sage warmly and kindly requested him to accompany him to Greece. He promised the sage great riches and comfort.

      The sage calmly replied that he has no desire to go with the king and that he has no use for riches and is very comfortable here.

       Alexander flew in to a rage he burst out in anger, "do you know who I am? I am the great king Alexander, no one lives after disobeying me" .So saying he unsheathed his sword. The sage was not perturbed he replied ,"you say you are a king ,but you are just a slave to my slave".

       Alexander was much surprised by this reply,he could not comprehend its meaning, "why did you call me the slave of your slave? I am nobody's slave",he called back .

       The sage answered in a sweet calm voice," Great king , I have mastered  my anger. Anger is my slave,I don't lose my temper as you do, you are still a slave to your anger. Anger is my slave , so, you are a slave to my slave".

       

Vikata kavi Tenali Raman

      Once upon a time during the reign of king Krishnadevaraya there lived a man called Raman in a village called Tenali, Raman was very lazy and never did any work . One day he met a sage who taught Raman a secret Mantra and asked him to chant it thousand times in front of goddess Kali .

     That night after the whole household went to sleep, Raman crept out of his bed and made his way to the Kali temple. He chanted the mantra with great devotion. To his surprise goddess Kali with all her thousand heads stood in front of him when he finished chanting. When his eyes fell on the goddess he started to laugh , this infuriated the goddess who demanded him to explain himself . Raman begged her pardon and said that it was just that it suddenly occurred to him that when he has a cold it is difficult enough to wipe one running nose and that he wondered what the goddess would do if she ever caught a cold since she had thousand heads. 

      The goddess couldn't help smiling at this reply and gave him a boon by which he will always make others happy with his wit. She also said that henceforth he will be called Vikata Kavi . Raman was not satisfied with this boon he argued that it would do him no good. Then the goddess brought forth two bowls in her hand . One golden bowl containing the milk of wisdom and one silver bowl which had curds and stood for wealth , these she offered to Raman and asked him to choose any one bowl and drink from it to be blessed with that boon. Raman tricked the goddess by quickly gulping down the contents of both the bowls and again begged the goddess for forgiveness and explained that one without the other would be of little use. He argued that wealth without wisdom and wisdom without wealth would both bring unhappiness. The goddess relented and blessed him again with both the boons but she also warned him that to be so blessed will make other's envious and therefore he would make lot of enemies .But he would also have the wisdom to get out of any unpleasant situation.

        Since Raman hailed from the village Tenali he was called Tenali Raman and since he was blessed by goddess Kali , he was called Vikata Kavi Tenali Raman.

True to one's nature

     A saint was taking bath in a river.  His eyes fell on a scorpion . It was struggling for its life in the flowing water.


     He picked up the creature in his hands to save it from drowning . As he took the creature in his hands, it stung him on his hand. 


      Overcome by the pain of the sting, the saint let the scorpion fall from his hands in to the water.  As soon as he let the scorpion down, it again started  struggling for survival.


      Unable to see a fellow creature suffer the saint picked the scorpion with his hands once more . It stung him again. He was forced to let go of it because of the pain.The scorpion dropped back into the water.


       This act of the scorpion struggling for life and the saint picking it up went on for three or four times. Every time the scorpion stung the saint he dropped it into the river.


      One of the men on the bank of the river was watching this drama. He called out to the saint and said, "Why don't you give up the futile attempt of saving the life of a cruel creature? It has stung you so many times. Why don't you just let it die?"


      The saint smiled and said , " Every one gives only what one has. The scorpion has stung me again and again though I am trying to save its life. If it cannot give up its nature then how can I give up mine."

Mahatma Gandhi-His clothes

    Mahatma Gandhi , he stands for all things great about our country. His principles, strength of character and simplicity make us proud of him. We lovingly call him Bapu and when we think of him the image that comes to our mind is a simple ,kind old man wearing simple clothes - a mere loin dhothi.

      Mahatma Gandhi did not dress like this always.He was one of the few Indians who got educated in England during the pre-independence time. He wore western clothes or traditional Gujarathi clothes(long turbans, kurta and dhoti).

      In the year 1921 Mahatma Gandhi visited Madurai, and stayed in the residence of Sri Ramji Kalyanji 175 A West Masi street. On his way to Madurai he had seen farmers  and poor people wearing the simplest of clothes , a small towel like dhoti around their waist(Some he was told washed and wore the same clothes as they did not possess any other) .He was much disturbed and was haunted all through the night by the scenes that he had  witnessed . Overnight he took a decision to dress in a simple way just like so many of the people of his beloved country. He started to dress in this new way from the very next day much to the surprise of everyone present. He explained to them about his decision and attended the meetings in Madurai.He continued to dress this way through out his life.

riddles

1.  What is in the middle of Paris?
2.  Comes once in a year but twice in a week.
3.  What goes around the world but stays in a corner?
4.  Where does Thursday come before Wednesday?
5.  I have a head and a tail but no body.
6.  You can make it but cannot see it.
7.  I can run but cannot walk.
8.  What can't be used unless broken?
9.  What has four wheels and flies ?
10.What two words have thousands of letters?
11.How many letters are in the Alphabets?
12.Which building has maximum number of stories?
13.I have hands and a face ,no legs but I can run.
14.Which bank has no money.
15.What can you catch but cannot throw?
















Answer
1.  the letter 'r'
2.  the letter 'e'
3.  postal stamp
4.  in a dictionary
5.  a coin
6.  noise
7.  river 
8.  eggs
9.  a garbage truck
10.post office
11.nine
12.library
13.clock
14.a river bank
15.a cold

Story of Mylapore

      Once Parvathi, the divine consort of Lord Shiva was distracted on seeing a peacock while she was with her husband, Angered by her callousness Lord Shiva cursed her to become a pea hen. Parvathi came to Mylapore then called Kapali Nagar and did penance as advised by Lord Shiva. After several years of penance Parvathi was redeemed of her curse and rejoined her Lord. Since Parvathi came as  a mayil(pea hen), the place thereon came to be called Mylapore.

Kannappa Nayanar-epitome of devotion

This story is in praise of one hunter who never learnt any holy scriptures and whose discipline was just to kill-hunt, who became an excellent example of devotion.

      Thinnanar was a very skilled hunter, who in his sixteenth year succeeded his father Nagan as the king of the Vyashas(hunters) in Uduppur in South India.

      One day Thinnanar led his men into the forest to hunt, the hunters made a lot of killings but suddenly a wild pig broke away from their nets and leaped away into the dense forest. Only three people were able to chase the wild pig to the end, they were Thinnanar, Nanan and Kadan. The chase had taken them a long way away from their men, they were hungry and tired. Thinnanar asked Kadan to cook the pig while he himself along with Nanan set out to bring water.

      As they cut across the dense forest they came to the foot of the kalahasti hill. Nanan told Thinnanar about the temple of Kudumithevar on top of the hill and that they can go and pray there. Even as Thinnanar took his first step towards the Lord he felt a huge wave of love and boundless joy surge inside him. 

As his eyes fell on the Shiva lingam he was transformed into an embodiment of  devotion .Tinnanar was merged in deep feeling of divine ecstasy.He wept, and shed tears of extreme joy.

      Nanan told Tinnanar that he had seen a priest bathe the Lord and ornate him with flowers. Thinnanar understood the worship that the God of Kalahasti likes, But his foremost concern was that the Lord was alone and unprotected in the forest surrounded by wild animals. Next it stuck him that the Lord must be hungry and  left to get meat for the Lord. He went to the foot of the hill where Kadan had cooked the wild pig, he tasted the meat of the cooked pig and took only those pieces he deemed tasty and worthy of the Lord on a leaf, he took some water from the river in his mouth and some beautiful wild flowers in his hair . He went up the hill, poured the water on the Lingam, ornated the Lingam with wild flowers and offered the meat to the Lord.He stood guard the whole night with bow and arrow in his  hand and left only in the morning to get food .


      The priest Shivakochariyar , as was his habit for years came to perform his daily prayers and to offer salutations to the Lingam. But today the bones and flesh strewn in front of the Lingam distressed him. He cleaned the altar carefully all the while blaming the hunters for the mischief. He brought fresh water from the river to bathe the Lingam and performed puja and prayers. He prostrated in front of the Lord and left to his hermit.


     Our adorable hunter came back with his offerings to the Lord , he forgot sleep at night guarding the Lord was his prime concern.This continued for days. Meanwhile Nanan and Kadan brought his father and others to persuade Thinnanar to return home, but none of their efforts were fruitful in getting back Thinnanar.


     By this time the sage Shivakochariyar was desperate ,he worshiped to the Lord to remove the person who was responsible for this misdeed. The Lord appeared in his dreams and said that the deeds of the person was a delight to him, the water he spit on him more sacred than the Ganges and the flowers he brought in his hair more holier than the offerings of God. He also asked Shivakochariyar to hide and see the true devotion of Thinnanar.


      Shivakochariyar hid behind a tree and saw Thinnanar returning with his offerings.Thinnanar came near the Shiva Lingam and saw with horror that his worst fears had come true ,he saw blood flowing from one eye of the Lingam, Thinnanar in his helplessness screamed out loud, he ran all around the forest to find the miscreant responsible for this, he brought herbs from the jungle to heal the wound. Finally desperate to stop the healing he took his arrow pierced his eye and plucked it out and placed it on the wound on the Shiva Lingam, the bleeding stopped at once, Thinnanar was ecstatic , he danced around in celebration not feeling his own pain. In another moment he saw blood flowing from the other eye of the Lord, this time around Thinnanar knew what's to be done,since he won't be able to see the wound with both his eyes gone he stuck his toe on the wound to mark its position and then  took his arrow to his other eye and was about to pluck it  , when the Lord himself, unable to bear such an act of devotion appeared shouting "Oh! halt Kannappa!!, halt Kannappa!!(kann=eye).Shivakochariyar saw the great love of this devotee and the grace he got for it. It was only mere love and intense devotion to the Lord that bestowed Kannappar the greatest boon from the Lord that is, self-realisation.


Great scholars including Thirunyana Sambandar,, Sundharar, Manikkavachakar,Nakkirar and a list which is too long to put ,have praised this great hunter as an unparalleled example of devotion.