The Holy Week:Easter Sunday-The Resurrection!

Happy Easter Sunday to All! As Mary Magdalene leads the pack as the first to see The Christ resurrect...what joy...and what good enough acting for a TV special level, from Debra Messing of Grace Adler fame!:) Oh those doubting Thomases!:)

The Holy Week: Holy Saturday 2010

As the Holy Virgin Mary continues to display her leadership skills as she shows her patience as she waits...waits like us for the resurrection...we here at UCP can't find much words and will instead only show this video now instead of another word put out!

The Holy Week: Good Friday-The Ultimate Surrender?

Good Friday is usually too sad for us to post many words here on UCP in fact last year we said nothing but put up two potent segments from the movie "The Passion of the Christ". But this year we will painfully try...

From our Hindu centric eyes we see it as "The Ultimate Surrender" and this year around we still can't see it any other which way...for us when Jesus says:


"Father, into your hands...I commend...my spirit."

Really we see it that he has reached the point of Ultimate Surrender onto the Universe and thus merges and becomes one with it...i.e. Bodhisattva is he! However we've been reading that Christians see this in a different way tough but we can't even explain it...it's like looking at one of those images that has two pictures in them but we only see the one picture...so for us here on UCP, Jesus the Christ is a Bodhisattva...an enlightened one...and so really it means from the eastern perspective he is God so don't we then all agree? It is just that we believe that others can follow to become Bodhisattva too a lone Bodhisattva is not he! But on such a sad day why argue? Of course it is not entirely sad in that a Bodhisattva is born and this is usually a very rare occurrence...but as one such enlightened being is born so many others revel in sin...and that is just sad...very sad when you recollect on this day the sinful things that were done...sad!

So it is why we normally try not to speak much but mark silence on such a day so we've said enough really but will talk on only because our dharam or duty calls and we had promised to explore the leadership role of women here too...And really to be a mother is to be a leader...you are the ultimate leader then as you mold a child...but like all leaders know there comes a time when you must let go...however in Christianity the Holy Virgin Mary had to let go big time...as she let her son go to the wider community...and then to the Universe by the time he was in his thirties...and she never abandoned his side despite all of this...And before Jesus the Christ made the Ultimate Surrender he made one last act perhaps this last act was required to fulfill all his karam and dharma on the material plane...and this was it as he said:


". . . Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her
unto his own home."
John 19:26b-27, KJV

And in doing so he gave his material plane mother someone to call son and to to be called mother by and treated as such while she remained on the material plane and he moved on...

So now we will put up the videos again but not ourselves watch them...as just too sad...sad! And profound!

The Divine Mother Leadership Series:Day 9-Saraswati for Peace and the Grand Finale!

Today is the ninth and final day of the Hindu festival of Vasant Navraatri and also the last day dedicated to Mata Saraswati in our series here on UCP. So today we will be looking at her as the white cladded embodiment of peace and reviewing the whole nine day cycle as we wrap Vasant Navraatri 2010. Ladies and Gentlemen…UCPers far and wide…it’s the grand finale!

Now we started our journey fighting the bad guys with Mata Durga riding on her lion or tiger, bashing the demons left, right and center! She slayed that Asura (demon) Mahish and then her tiger gave a great big roar as she finally realized she had to STOP! Let it go already! LOL! This realization coming in her Kali form when saw that her demon bashing was starting to get kinda out ah hand…so much so that she now had her husband (in her Parvati and Sati form) Shiva at the mercy of her feet!

The Mata Lakshmi came along and stabilized everything for us and gave us all the resources we need to move right along to finding our inner self…

As Mata Saraswati rode in, all cool and calm like a breath of fresh air on her swan…bringing us the knowledge that we were more than the material…all pure and white with light…as we come to this point…the point of peace…inner peace…

Leadership Lessons Learnt:

Well let’s write it like this as we have recently been having fun with our Fishbone Diagrams of Root Cause Analysis fame on our sister blog Meady’s Musings…

The Root Cause Analysis of ‘Why the Ladies Divine of Hinduism aka Devis are Leaders’ is:

The Ladies Divine of Hinduism are leaders because they display initiative, commitment and passion and know how to nourish. They also have the wherewithal to source the necessary tools and materials to get the job done and the knowledge of their self...none of their strengths and weakness lay hidden from them (their Johari window is wide open!). However above all they know how to go with the flow and find peace within and with who they are…they truly are to their own selves true!

So ladies I salute you!

Om Shaanti…shaanti…shaanti!

The Divine Mother Leadership Series:Day 8-Saraswati for Purity and Durga Ashtami

All photos in this blog post are taken by Meady's Musings Production but are photos of Art created by other artists (unfornuately their names unknown to me at this time)

In Hinduism you have to admit it's tough for a girl to get centre stage!:) I've always conceptualised God through Hinduism's eyes to be like a big huge diamond that had so many faces when it was cut and so many glittering rays reflecting off the diamond as it shone in the light that basically there were countless faces and rays. And each of these faces and rays could be conceptualised further...iconified and worshipped...so not many Gods really but many faces and rays of this infinite huge diamond that is the Universal spirit!:) But as we iconify and break them out...Boy does it get crowded and as I said in my opening line it's tough for a girl to take centre stage! :) She has to be pushing and elbowing her way up there! LOL!

But as I said at the kick off of the Leadership series we here on UCP were going to celebrate the nine days of Navraatri using the format of the first 3 days for Durga, the second three for Lakshmi and the final three for Saraswati. Making our way in a cycle on the three stops...facing and killing our demons....sustaining our self on the material plane and then reaching for the knowledge that is our pure and peaceful souls! Now having said that one can't count out the day like today though when Durga is worshipped in a big pooja normally in some parts of India and indeed here in Trinidad. It's Durga Ashtami folks! So here is how we here at UCP will reconcile it. We will upfront give Saraswati her day and then talk about the Ashtami after! OK...everybody happy! :)


SARASWATI FOR PURITY

Saraswati in Hinduism represents purity...dressed in her white sari with the innocent Hans (swan) as her celestial vehicle of choice. By the way isn't it cool in Hinduism how all the forms have their divine vehicles all being these animals!:) But now back to the devi hereself...I've often pondered on her peaceful form growing up as a child...I must say you can almost feel her presence and she must most appropriately sit and appear to I'm sure many a traveller at the side of beautiful, fresh flowing streams and brooks!:)Once in my teens I had woken up a early morning and decided on my own accord to do a hawan in our pooja room and I could swear almost hidden a step away or just as I turned I saw a lady in a white sari seemingly peeping out from some plane to peek at me and then hide or run off before I could really see her or catch her!:) Who knows I must have a vivid imagination...or perhaps it is the natural hallucinogen that is prayer or maybe just maybe she really did come to peek at me from some other plane or place?!:) When I told my mum she simply said...So Blessed! and smiled:) Isn't it lovely though whatever it maybe?

So I'm so so happy to recall her here today on UCP! :) :) :) That lovely lady!:) Now after having come upon a picture on a wall while renting a house with friends a few years ago in San Francisco. I am in this moment convinced that if she my beloved Saraswati was a devi in Japanese and Chinese cultured Buddhism she would be the lovely goddess and beautiful bodhisattva-Quan Yin! As seen below here in the image I took of the picture that adorned the wall of my bedroom in that vacation rental in San Francisco:



DURGA ASHTAMI

On my reading and research about this special day and celebration what jumped out at me was how they celebrated all the devis and 64 yoginis for Durga Ashtami and not just the demon bashing Universal mother herself! :) I'd love to find out more about these 64 yoginis...who are they? Can I one day become one? LOL! :) But they must be what I'd call the divine light rays reflected off the diamond faces...not quite the Divine Mother herself in potentence but a ray...a small subset of her divine presence indeed! And I'm glad their beauty, love and radiant presence is also celebrated on this day!:) I will one day research and write more on this yoginis in this space but for now you can read more about this celebration here!

The Divine Mother Leadership Series: Day 7-Saraswati: Knowledge

Picture republished from this site

To lead you must have knowledge else well it would be like the blind leading the blind. The Goddess Saraswati in Hinduism is the embodiment of knowledge. She represents the respect for knowledge...the knowing in the religion that the need to know is important enough to worship it i.e. focus and meditate upon it so it can be acquired...knowledge is found everywhere depending on what you are seeking to know about...but according to Hinduism the highest knowledge to be pursued is that of the self...and most societies would agree that the search for self knowledge is best expressed and documented in the Arts...music, poetry, theatre, literature and I guess in the modern day context...films, documentaries, TV shows and yep blogs...Youtube! :)

And so as we move into the last leg of three days dedicated to the goddess Saraswati we salute her here in the form of one of her embodiments...MUSIC! :)

The Divine Mother Leadership Series: Day 6-Lakshmi: The Opulent One!

Photo republished from this site

Any leader needs to be admired. She must be looked up to by her followers...respected by her team members...there must be some little spark about her...that twinkle in her eye that makes others want her to lead and to follow her. True leaders must be seen as things to admire. And of all the nine forms of Shakti i.e. the Divine Mother in Hinduism whom we are saluting on The Divine Mother Leadership Series, Maha Lakshmi is the most opulent of the forms. And today on the day 6 of the series we salute her opulence her splendour as a leader by wondering upon the beauty created as a monument to her worship in the form of the Birla temple in Delhi, India as seen above! What a magnificent site! :)

The Divine Mother Leadership Series: Day 5-Lakshmi: The Nourisher

Any leader knows that she must provide her followers with resources to carry out their tasks else nothing will get done. Goddess Lakshmi is know for that! She is the ultimate nourisher. She provides us with the resources we need to carry out what we must while here on planet Earth! Here are some of the forms she takes to provide these material needs to us...some say she takes eight forms to provide us with these resources as follows:

* Adi Lakshmi (The primal mother goddess)

* Dhanalakshmi (One who showers wealth)

* Dhanyalakshmi (Food – one who eliminates hunger)

* Gajalakshmi (Power and Strength)

* Santan Lakshmi (Children)

* Veera Lakshmi (Courage and Strength)

* Vijaya Lakshmi (Victory)

* Aishwarya Lakshmi (Prosperity)

The Divine Mother Leadership Series: Day 4-Lakshmi: The External Supporter

You can purchase the above beautiful poster from this site.

As we move into the 2nd set of three in the nine nights festival called Navraatri we focus on the Divine Mother in the form of the goddess Lakshmi. For us here on UCP one of her leadership skills is her ability to support others. Since any leader at some point in time needs to be there to support her followers. It might be a novel angle for some to approach leadership from but really a leader has to also sometimes support...mentor...nurture...and today on the Day 4 of The Divine Mother Leadership Series we will focus on Maa Lakshmi's role as supporter.

She sits at the feet of Vishnu massaging them...Vishnu is a leader in his own right and so it may appear that Lakshmi is simply the follower in such an illustration...however in the material world in our day to day lives...can't we see that even leaders need to support their teams at times? For instance in the corporate world can't you see how a team would best work if the leader went to each of the team members and figuratively speaking 'sat at their feet massaging them'. In that time they could sit there and listen to the thoughts and ideas of each of their team members in a relaxed and loving manner...this in the end makes the leader very strong...as she now knows intimately the views of each of the team members...so her ideas when put forward as the team leader is in the end a true agglomeration of the parts...and there is no better vision or viewpoint from a leader than a summation of all the parts...which when in gels together just right and flows from the leader can in act synergy and then the whole is greater than the sum of its parts! :)

The Divine Mother Leadership Series: Day 2-Durga:The Big and the Small!

Image re-published from Exotic India Art where the murti (sculpture) in the image can be purchased.

As I previously spoke about on the Festival of Shiv, Hinduism is an excellent religion when it comes to capturing things on the microscopic and the macroscopic simultaneously and its ability to do that is not only illustrated by the adventures and activities of its Gods but also its Godesses! So just like on one hand Shiv can do the dance of destruction but then on the other take a seat next to his consort Parvati with baby on lap...well so too can his consort!

In fact in the same Shiv story I discussed during the festival of Shiv, Parvati's ability to be big and then small is seen when she got mad...really mad...really mommy mad in all nine forms mad with the devas (angels)! Let's recall it here as she took on the form of Nav Durga:



However other than that katha there is the time when Parvati who is also a form of Durga took on her other form of Kali and went on a rampage of demon bashing! She got so into it just like when on Day 1 of our series she was beating up Mahish Asura... well Kali couldn't stop! So Shiv decided to step in and well she was kicking his blue form too! But as she was about to as they say in Mortal Kombat...FINISH HIM! She went "Oh my Lord! It is you!" as she realised it was her husband Shiva (when in the Parvati form) and she could only stick her tongue out in shame that she had gotten that carried away! And she stopped stomping and suddenly the big became small again! :)(See Image at top of article)

So What's the Leadership Lesson Here?

Well like the fascinating peepal tree in my front yard...the ability to know when to be big and when to be small and when to be big again if need be! I mean to be a true leader you have to know when to step up to the plate like discussed on Day 1 of the series...but here on Day 2 we learn you have to also know when it's time to step down. You also need to know how to stoop to conquer. And a leader must never feel she is too small to do something but neither must she feel too big to do something...if nothing is above you yet nothing is below you well then my dear...you are a leader I'd say! :)

PS:The story of Kali stepping on Shiv has many versions and intepretations and you can read more about them here.

The Divine Mother Leadership Series:Day 1-Durga:Is She the Cheese Standing Alone?

I do not hold the copyright for this photo but it seems to be all over the internet and I made the assumption that it was copyright free. Please contact me if you consider this misuse.

Today is the beginning of Vasant Navratri in the Hindu calendar and we are also in the Catholic month of fasting known as Lent which leads into the Holy Week that culminates on Easter Sunday with the Resurrection of Christ! As a result on UCP I'd like to launch a new daily series that will run from today the first day of Vasant Navratri until the start of the Holy Week-Palm Sunday i.e. this series will run from today, Tue 16 Mar until Sat 27 Mar 2010. It will as a result be covering the entire Vasant Navratri festival. And in some parts of India and often of recent times here in Trinidad as well, the festival tends to be marked by celebrating the Divine Mother in triplicate. The first three days as Durga then followed by another three for Lakshmi ending up with the final three being for honouring Saraswati. UCP likes this approach where it is said in the first three days we look at destroying our demons...then for the next three days we pray to accumulate the wealth that is needed to execute stuff on the material plane and in the last three days we look for the wisdom to carry it all out! All three necessary to execute well on planet earth in all our divine feminine splendid forms! :)

As discussed on Meady's Musings yesterday the series will cover the way the Divine Mother in Hinduism and to a lesser extent in Catholicism personifies Leadership. Leadership in all the forms or as how we here at UCP and Meady's Musings Production define it that is! So here we go kicking off the series with Goddess Durga herself and we will continue daily until Sat 27 Mar 2010...hope you all have as much fun as we plan to have on this series...now let's carry on!

DURGA as a LEADER: And the Cheese Stands Alone!

If we here at UCP had to sum up Durga's leadership qualities in one phrase it would be that..."And the cheese stands alone!" For in this form the Divine Mother needs no help and is all out on her own except I guess for her vehicle which is either a lion or a tiger at most times! But other than that in this leadership form she needs no helpers...no men...no followers...she just kicks demons around all on her own! Just look at the licking she put on ole Mahish asura (demon) while in this form. LOL!

Also in this battle with Mahish no holds were barred...they were fighting tooth and nail! Just out there in the middle...get to it... and when such a grand battle exists sometimes one cannot tell who is who...each takes on the other so intensely that they momentarily become one and there is momentarily no distinction...'good' fighting so intensely to overcome 'evil' that in a moment the 'good' almost looks like 'evil' as it becomes so obsessed with fighting the 'evil'. It reminds me a lot of Bram Stoker's Dracula tale where Van Helsing is so obsessed with killing Dracula at times you wonder if he had not taken on the very nature of the being himself...I guess the classic tale of...Who is the hunter?...Who is the hunted?


So what leadership qualities does Maa Durga display in her fight to the death with Mahish asura?

1. INITIATIVE:The raw ability to lead...walk out there in the middle of the battlefield of the unknown...take the initiative...be the first one to step forward when everyone is hesitating...step up to the plate even when you look around and you see you are the only one who came out in the middle of the battlefield (the cheese standing alone). And it's why many a time leaders tend to look around and realise there is no one else there...no one to whisper a word of advice...no one's shoulder to leader on...since no one else stepped out! And that can't be an easy place to be! With all the devas (angels) looking on Maa Durga stepped up!

2. COMMITMENT: Once already out there on the battlefield there is no turning back and you have to stick with it. Have the commitment to fight to the end! Its either I die or my opponent but I'm not leaving! As did Mother Durga as she fought until she slayed Mahish Asura

3. PASSION:So yep...she took the initiative and stepped up to the plate...and even after having realised the dauntingness of the task and the fact that 'you are in this alone baby' she decided to commit...stick with the task to the end! But guess what that was not all...she didn't just go through the motions till the end. No siry she proceeded to fight with passion! Maa Durga took on Mahish asura with such passion well it got to the point of obsession! And that combo of Initiative, Commitment and Passion folks is why we today on UCP salute you as a leader Mother Durga...you're the woman! :)