Advent Calendar: 21 Dec 09-The Gift of Avatar!

Well as mentioned on last Saturday's blog post I did indeed head off to see 'Avatar' the movie this weekend. When I was about to leave Meady's Musings Production house for the cinema...the little mouse came up to me courtesied and asked for permission to climb up to my shoulder. This I allowed and that he did and then proceeded to whisper into my ear a request to join me to see the film! Now the little mouse has accompanied me to the movie theatre halls already you see...so he is accustomed to this treatment and has developed quite a fine taste for film I might add. He is one of the few animals I house who can do this as he can fit into my purse and then when the lights are lowered and the film rolls he peeks out of my purse to view the film...usually unnoticed!

However on this occasion I didn't like the idea as he had so many mice relatives and friends over I thought it rude of him to leave them and be off to the movies. In the end I allowed it though after much pleading on his end and after I was convinced that all his mice relatives were to be well taken care of in our absence. The Purple Elephant was a key helper in all of it as he volunteered to fill in as a main host so that the little mouse could get to go...aah as I always tell you they are such good friends those two always looking out for each other! A couple bears also agreed to take care of the shepherds in my absence...they even made them three bowls of porridge to help them recover from their long journey. So off it was for the little mouse and me to see the movie 'Avatar'.

And today on the Advent calendar I present the gift of avatar in three special ways...you see 'Avatar' is the name of this particular film and in recent decades the name has been adapted for use in terms of the virtual (computer) world but the concept of avatar has existed since the time of the ancestors of the purple elephant and the little mouse back in India. In fact it is only when already seated in the theatre hall and 20 mins into the film that the little mouse confessed to me that he so wanted to see the film because he thought he was going to see an avatar of Vishnu in the film. The little mouse also said that some in the mice community had believed he (Vishnu) was going to incarnate in the form of a mouse in this film...but...well...that was clearly not what this 'Avatar' movie was about! Much to the disappointment of the little mouse but as the film progressed he took a fancy to the female lead...the Na'vi named Neytiri and all was well in mouseland again!

So today as my gift on the calendar I analysed avatar in three ways:

-On Meady's Musings:The metaphysics behind avatar as it is seen in Hinduism and how it has been continually re-used and re-adapted since in various concepts of the modern world.

-On UCP:We will meet Vishnu himself as he speaks of his various avatars! :)

-On Books and Films Corner-We will talk about the film 'Avatar' ..what I and the little mouse thought of it! I can say we did enjoy it more or less! :)

But read on to learn more...


VISHNU AVATAR

"yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham
paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

Translation from 'Bhagavad Gita As It is':
Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion--at that time I descend Myself. In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium."

Krishna Janam ashtami to Krishna Janam ashtami-One Year Into the Prayers!

For sure our time here on the earthly plane does fly! Today is the Hindu festival of Krishna Janam ashtami and last year on this same auspicious festival I launched the prayers! :) It's not exactly 365 calendar days but in terms of Krishna Janam ashtami to Krishna Janam ashtami it is indeed one year! :) Indeed Krishna's birthday has come around again or at least according to staunch Hinduism the time when he appeared through Maya (illusion) to take form in the flesh but didn't really...he just hovered as energy and made all who was not as 'enlightened' enough believe he was of flesh...but aren't we all just energy...and according to him merge into him so there!:)

But even though those who saw him as flesh may not have been as englightened their hearts were filled with love...and on him they showered it in the form of Bhakti Yoga...and he said that was cool too you know! :) So today is really celebrated like that where everyone slips into Maya (enlightened or not) and welcomes a lovely baby boy! :)

And last year on the prayers I spoke about the festival...and celebrated in grand style at my home...but as I said in my welcome back to myself post a few days ago...this year on the prayers I'm not necessarily going to cover festivals especially if I did them previously...so this year I want to dig a bit deeper into the thing...So here it is...

Like all boys and girls he (Krishna)...he came here with a purpose (as we do too)and tonight on the prayers I share one of his grand purposes while here...his long lecture to Arjun...whom he liked to call Parth....this long lecture...also know as the beautiful song divine...The Bhagwat Gita!

I share his discourse in the form I like best...through the body of the actor in the BR Films (TV series)version of the Mahabharat I used to watch growing up...the production is in itself Universal Collective Prayer as Indians of all religions worked together to make it! :)

So it you can find just over 40 mins tonight to be lectured to by the supreme one...enjoy! :)

Advent Calendar:Christmas Day!-Joy to the World Let's Rejoice in Universal Collective Prayer!

Since I've created Universal Collective Prayer the blog I've been more and more dabbling in and rejoicing in forms of prayers from other cultures and religions. I've always celebrated Christmas and no doubt I've even reflected on the birth of the Christ child before but posting on this blog has made me even deeper into it I've found...it has made me realize how much I feel Joy for the symbolic birth of the Christ child today and how every time I see him as a baby I also see an image of Baby Krishna similar to the one from the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust which I can't re-post here after reading their terms and conditions. But it is of the baby stealing ghee (clarified butter and a real treat in that time and era of Vedic culture...I guess equivalent to being caught with your hand in the cookie jar in modern Northern American culture.). This parallelism happened to me earlier this week while driving to work when I heard a very very cute Christmas song on the radio along these lines....
'I'm getting nuttin this Christmas cause I've been nuttin but bad...I put a knot in Suzie's hair somebody snitched (told) on me! I....somebody snitched (told) on me! I'm gettin nuttin this Christmas...'

I can't remember the words well but it was so cute and the first visualization of it that came to me head was of Baby Krishna and how he was so bad ....a bad bad boy when he was a baby...always stealing the ghee and stuff...and so cute! :) And I guess it made me realise that the kid in the song would have been just like little Kanhaiya (Krishna) and so he would have been getting nuttin for Christmas too! He who then proceeded to show his mum that he had the whole universe in his mouth! There is a good visualization of this in the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust but I just realised I can't publish it here even if it is not for profit and even if I link back and in so doing give the site its rights but I guess they do need to sell the pics to build temples apparently so... And perhaps in that we see already how religion and people decide how to share or hoard God's love...but yep understand bout copyright and all.

But yep He who I see as Love's Pure Clear Light as it was manifest through the Christ Child as he was symbolically born today....Said Christ child who as an adult told his followers that to go to his father and his kingdom we had to become in our hearts like children! :) It made me think that if I ever did have my own kids on earth in this lifetime that I should try to remember what Mata (Mother) Yashoda saw in Baby Krishna's mouth and give my kid something for Christmas even if he is bad and somebody tells on him! :)

And guess what I luckily was able to find back that song on the You tube so here it is! At least as far as I know for now it can be shared not for profit if we want to simply share our thoughts...

May God Fill Us All with Universal Love and Compassion!

Today I launch the blog Universal Collective Prayer. It is the morning of the celebration of Krishna Janamashtami. I'm republishing this beautiful image from the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International Art Gallery of Yashoda Maa bathing the Baby Krishna as according to Vedic culture, Hinduism and especially Vaishnavism the Lord Vishnu appeared in his 8th incarnation on the earth in the form of the Baby Krishna on this night. This afternoon I will perform Satnarayan (Satyanarayan) Katha a ritual that worships the Narayan form of Vishnu and celebrates the power of Sat- Truth and the Lord Narayan is worshiped as the embodiment of Truth in this prayer. The Katha is a story that illustrates the power of Truth. Later on into the evening I plan to join with others across the globe in Lighting Candles for Tibet (in my case only deeyas this time) and then will join with the rest of the Hindu world in the commemoration of Baby Krishna's appearance on earth by celebrating Krishna Janamashtami at 12 PM tonight.

When I first envisioned this it was based on the fact that the two events coincided- the candle4tibet event which Ive been involved in http://meadysmusings.blogspot.com and Krishna Janamashtami. Even before I realized this I had planned to do the lighting for Tibet this time at my home after a puja and I had figured on the celebration of Truth hence the Satyanarayan Katha. I had enjoyed my first candle4tibet event so much but did not have the strength or felt the local interest would be there for another public lighting. I figured it did not matter if it was public as the power of collective prayer could be felt at my home and by linking up with others in spirit globally. So I was going to experiment with this instead. However realizing that the day coincided with Krishna Janamashtami celebrations here. I opted to start at home and then take it to the local temple. I'm yet to see how this entire universal collective prayer experience will turn out and of course I plan to share it here on this blog.

However after the beautiful experience that was the Candle4Tibet event on Thurs 7 Aug 08. Ive been having so many mixed feelings...with Buddhists (converts mostly) coming and going on about their religion. People letting me know that H.H. Dalai Lama is not a vegetarian. People mouthing off to me bout what my heritage and the truth bout what my lineage may or may not really be. I guess oh Lord help us all the questions of who is right and who is wrong plagued us all as usual! These things sully the prayers. And if you believe in reincarnation as many who follow eastern thoughts do we will all have experiences as different races, sex, religion, caste and class at some point in our existence so...really so what?! It made me realize too that the Truth as powerful as it maybe is always relative and can so easily be sullied. To be honest in all of this I don't know what is the Sat? What is the Truth? But simply this which I guess is my Sat, my Truth. Perhaps that is what it as Shakespeare so famously wrote 'To Thine Ownself Be True' and that's all we can do. Our life on this earth is meant to be an experience for us to be able in the long run, no matter how many lifetimes it takes, to learn love and compassion for all beings. And there it was I found for now what is the Truth to fill out in my religion slot on Facebook! I changed it real fast from Hindu/Buddhist/Spiritualist to this after my recent experiences.

So I go into this evening's proceedings (as it thunders and rains here very much as it did according to the Vedic tale on the day that Baby Krishna came to earth) with this in my heart... this in my prayers. No matter who we are where our ancestors came from or how we choose to worship... Let us all show each other love and compassion. I truly believe this and so this is my truth that if we all focus on this and practice this piece by piece and as we get better at it...the truth will prevail...and we will all of a sudden realise that LOVE IS ALL THERE IS! (and I think I may have just quoted a Beatles song there...no rights infringement intended) Please reflect on my loaner pic from the Bhaktivedanta people and look at the love and beauty in it. A mother lovingly bathing her baby. Don't bother too much bout who was right and who was wrong who came first or who came last. Who was better and who was best or who is right now or wrong now. May God Bless Us All and fill Us with Love and Compassion to All Beings of the Universe!

I also look fwd to the next event on Sat 30 Aug when the Tibetan Governtment in exile is hosting a global day of fasting and prayer. As quoted on the website www.tibet.net-

The committee has appealed to the Tibetan supporters, champions of truth and non-violence around the world to join in this non-violent effort to reduce one's defilements and to create wisdom and compassion in the minds of the oppressor.

It aims to bring solace to the departed souls of all those Tibetans and who are still enduring atrocities under the brutal Chinese oppression from their sufferings, and for the truth of Tibetan issue to prevail soon.

While observing the fast, people will recite prayers to enhance the collective merits of the Tibetan and Chinese people and long and healthy life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.