Unintentional Yatra

Namaste readers! As cliche as this opening line may be, a funny thing happened on the way to the Hindu Temple of Rochester last night...

Last night, I attempted to take the bus to the Hindu Temple of Rochester, to attend Sankat Hara Chaturthi, a puja performed in honor of Shri Ganesha. The bus system here in Rochester is a bit of a mixed bag...it's cheap, on one hand, a plus for me since I can't afford a car, but you get what you pay for, in the form of confusing routes that don't really get you where you need to go sometimes.

This was hardly the first time I took the bus in Rochester - I live here, after all - but what ended up happening is I wound up on the completely wrong bus! In a semi-panic, I had to get off three, maybe four miles from my destination. I then had to walk the rest of the way.

It seemed like a Herculean (maybe Krishna-sized) task walking all those miles in a single hour, and my right foot protested incessantly in pain as a result. But I still made it there. And on time! I was certainly a sweaty mess when I got there, but I was still accepted at the temple to partake in the puja.

I brought this up on Facebook and a Hindu discussion forum, trying to make sense of what had happened. One forum goer had an interesting idea: apparently in India, there are special walking pilgrimages one can undertake called yatra. Oftentimes these yatra are pretty lengthy, and since it's a pilgrimage the ultimate destination is a Hindu religious place.

This forum goer suggested that maybe Shri Ganesha wanted me to undertake a yatra. I don't know if walking through an American suburb would count as a yatra, but regardless of where I walked through, the end result was the opportunity to worship Ganesha...so maybe it's not that far off the mark.

At any rate, I certainly feel I've accomplished something.

Shri Ganapati, Show Me the Way

Namaste readers! I've had a...revelation of sorts. No, it didn't take the form of a special vision or literal miracle or anything like that, but rather it was a thought that stuck with me. That thought: I should place even more trust in my Ishta Devata, Shri Ganesha (also known as Ganapati) than I do now, and to that end, I should show more devotion towards him, as I feel a swelling of devotion towards him in my heart right now.

I guess the origin of this revelation is the dark period I'm going through right now - perhaps my mind suddenly wanting to seek out Shri Ganesha even more now is probably a sign that my soul has had enough. I know what some people will say - that I should focus on more real matters, and not worry so much about Shri Ganesha.

To that I say: would it be too much to do both? Working towards bettering my situation is definitely my primary goal, but can't I have two primary goals, the other being to engross and envelop myself in Shri Ganesha's love?

After all, it's not like I have anything better to do. :)

10,000 Views!

Namaste readers! I probably should have written about this milestone when it happened, but recently my blog has hit the milestone of 10,000 views! I don't know how many of those were legitimate versus how many were spam bots trolling the web, but regardless, this is a big milestone and I want to thank everyone who has read my blog. You readers are the reason this blog is still around, so again I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I think I will mark this milestone with a dream I had tonight, which I remember very vividly and I hope to share with you readers. This is partially to write this down, as I feel it's important to remember it.

In this dream, I apparently had an opportunity to meet Lord Vishnu, which seemed unusual, but I was elated! Upon meeting him, he seemed to send me off to a female consort (who I didn't know anything about), and this consort then told me that in my next life I was going to be a tiger, and that beforehand I was to undergo some testing. As if to reflect this fact, I could actually feel myself becoming a tiger, growing the tiger fur and everything! The testing seemed to consist of me being a tiger cub (or maybe a house cat?) and testing what decisions I would make. I remember making some decisions regarding what I would do in certain situations...and then I abruptly woke up.

I have no idea what this means, if it should be taken literally, or if there's a deeper meaning, or if this dream is of no consequence at all. Perhaps one of you readers might have some insight? You will have better insight than those internet spam bots, at any rate! :-)

On X-Men: Days of Future Past, and its Unexpected Spirituality

Namaste readers!

I recently wrote a piece for the official Art of Living blog on the recently released movie X-Men: Days of Future Past. It's been published and you can find it here:

http://artoflivingsblog.com/art-of-living-x-men-days-of-future-past/

As for what it's about, in summary it's about the unexpected spiritual angles of this most recent of X-Men movies. There are mild spoilers in this piece, but don't let that stop you if you've already seen it, of course. :)

Short Book Review: the Power of Dharma

Namaste readers,

Recently I've had the pleasure of reading an eBook on how the scriptures of ancient India can be applied to modern times. This book is none other than The Power of Dharma, written by Dr. Nicholas Sutton and Hemal Randerwala.

The Power of Dharma is a unique book, in the sense that it has taken the scriptures of ancient India and Hinduism and found ways to interpret them for the modern world; while this book isn’t the first or only text to do so, what is unique about this work is that it has ways to apply the ancient wisdom of India to everyday life in present times. This is important because the scriptures of ancient India have valuable things to teach the modern world about topics such as altruism and working to benefit others. What is especially important about The Power of Dharma is that the book offers guidance on how to properly balance the needs of oneself vs. the needs of others! After all, if one cannot take care of oneself, it is doubly hard to take care of others as a result. This I would say is why reading this book is so important, because it actually offers compelling, relevant advice on how to live dharmically, as to live in that way is the epitome of the aforementioned need of balancing the needs of oneself vs. others.

There are two ways which you can acquire this book: one is through the website GoDharmic.com, where you can also find more writings by Hemal Randerwala. You can also buy the book through Amazon.com.

A Fract OSC Bhajan Adaptation

Namaste readers! I'm doing more experimentation with Fract OSC, but this experiment...well, let me just tell you what it is and you can decide for yourselves.

At the suggestion of a friend of mine from India, I made a Fract OSC synth version of the Hindu devotional bhajan Jai Ganesha Deva.

Upon learning of my ability to make synth music with Fract, she suggested I try making Fract synth versions of songs from India. I decided to start simple by adapting a Hindu devotional song (called a bhajan) to Lord Ganesha, as I've been trying to practice the Hindu faith for a number of years. (But you regular readers of my blog already knew that.)

I realize I might be opening myself up to potential scrutiny and criticism by doing this, but my friend from India had a firm belief that this would be accepted and supported by potential listeners. If this offends anyone I do apologize; all I ask is that you give me the benefit of a doubt and know that I did this not out of intentional malice but genuine devotion. Thank you. :)

I Make Ritual Noise

Namaste readers!

It is said that creative acts, such as making music, can be beneficial for the soul. Well, for quite a while, at least in the music category, I was creatively barren for some time - the last time I picked up an instrument was a saxophone during my elementary school years. I've listened to lots of music across many genres since then, but while I had the thought of trying to create music again, I never had the courage (or resources, for that matter) to try.

Now, I guess you could say I've found my muse, so to speak. There is a video game out there, independent in nature of course, called Fract OSC, which is not only an adventure game where you solve puzzles to generate music, it's also a tool with which to make music! My computer kept getting bogged down during the game part, though, so I took the shortcut of unlocking all the music creation features (which is allowed in game through the menus).

From there, I decided to try my hand at making music. I made my first ever electronic song in this game, and if you're interested, you can listen here on YouTube.

I realize it might not be of the best quality music in the world, but hey, I gotta start somewhere. Hopefully my first effort is at least enjoyable.

At the very least, I think I've found a creative outlet that I can access with ease. At the end of the day, that's what matters.