UCP: Hanuman Jayanti and Good Friday 2012!

Today Friday 6 April 2012 is an instance of the Hindu and Christian calendars colliding as both Hanuman Jayanti and Good Friday (part of the Easter Holiday week) falls on this day. So we here at UCP thought we'd come out our blogging hibernation and attempt to discuss well the UCP aspects of it...

Now according to Hindu traditions today Hanuman Jayanti is the day Hanuman was born on earth (or I guess incarnated) and this day is the full moon (Purnima) day in the Lunar Hindu calendar month of Chaitra (March & April). So this year the Hindu month of Chaitra falls in the Gregorian month of April and also coincides with the Christian marking of Good Friday.

According to the Christian traditions and history which seems to be well documented on this site here. Jesus is tried on Good Friday and finally dies on the cross (later to resurrect) at approximately 3PM on the Good Friday.

Although the two settings are very different...the similarity we here at UCP can see is that in both traditions Hindu and Christian...God is seen to want to help mankind...in the case of the Christian point of view Jesus as a result died on the cross for the sins of man and said to God- "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" he then according to the movie the "The Passion of Christ" at least says "Father into your hands...I commend...my spirit" Here is the Youtube clip where someone from the Youtube community edited the film to show the last things Jesus said while being crucified. It is always painful for us here at UCP to watch! :(



In the case of Hanuman he agreed to stay on earth until the end of Kalyug at the behest of Vishnu for according to Vishnu during Kalyug which is the current age mankind is in...man need only call the name of the Lord and he will attain salvation. At least again this is what the guys at the UCP desk gathered from this Yotube clip that is taken from the closing episode of the late eighties adaptation of the Ramayan epic by Ramanand Sagar. See the times 1:53 to 2:49 mins in the clip so see what we mean.



So two very different cultures and scenarios...but the similarity we see is that Shri Hanuman like Jesus Christ are both there to assist man in his ascent to the Great one? No offense here meant to any particular religion as this is just UCP's attempt to discuss and analyze possible similarities that we suspect exist but appreciate that not everyone would see or agree.

And is never a secret here at UCP that the guys that make up the UCP desk are more Hinducentric in their views...it's where the majority of the guys' journeys into UCP started and it is the religious tradition they are most comfortable with so as a result when put to a vote they decided that we shall chant the Hanuman chalisa as we ask Hanuman Baba for his assistance while here on planet earth!

The God Series: Episode 3-Mother Earth!

Our last episode in the God series looked at God as Fire. We would like to continue on that trend and cover all the elements on the next few episodes of the series. As a result we felt it fitting to cover the element of Earth today since it is a Friday and normally based on Hindu centric views we usually surrender to the Divine Mother on a Friday and the Earth is always seen as Mother as well. We’ve never come upon a single religious or cultural view hence far that has seen Earth as Father...don’t know why really...although I can see why they’d see Earth as Mother but not sure why not Father as well...
But anyway let’s stick with the world traditions here and go along and explore the concept of God as Mother Earth!
We’ll start with Hinduism then...
The Earth is worshipped in Hindu rituals all the time and Hindus bow to the Earth in fact they often beg her forgiveness before they allow their feet to trample upon her each morning...just check out this lovely prayer noting this!



However UCP’s favourite concept of God being perceived as Earth is when in the Ramayan, Sita Maa is seen as born from the earth and eventually returns to her Mother...and this touching scene in the TV serial version of The Ramayan where she begs Mother Earth to open up and receive her again epitomises it for us!

As a whole we here at UCP can see why man as a whole even if it is seen from a scientific evolutionary path...divorce of all UCP and spirit...would hold great respect and awe for Earth. And why as a result worship of the Earth or its personification as God would have eventually developed. After all we live on planet Earth and it is from her we are nourished and it is where we are sheltered and eek out our existence. I guess it is why she is always personified as a her ...as a mother not a father...because she is seen as the ultimate nourisher...we are in a sense in our particular mother’s wombs as we stay grounded to planet Earth by gravity while she holds all of us in her womb....feeding us...sheltering us...Mother Earth is our foothold in this great and wild Universe! In fact some from the Production House have celebrated Mother Earth for Preserving Our Lives in the past at this Diwali Festival Show!

So next up on the God series is Wind! So we'll catch you then!

Hanuman Jayanti 2010!

All pictures copyright of Meady's Musings Production 2010

It's that time of year again for us at UCP to wish our favourite little yet sometimes big yet sometimes human size monkey friend Happy Birthday again! Yep it's Hanuman Jayanti 2010...perhaps it's why over on Meady's Musings not too long ago we were thinking about him and wishing to have a prehensile tail like him. Who knows it must have been a premonitionary feeling visualization thing in the air hinting at us to remember his bday!? :)

I can say I have also had another lovely moment with him not too long ago as well when my niece who says to my mother that he, Hanuman Baba is her fav of the Hindu deities gave her necklace with a Hanuman amulet to me! :) It was the sweetest thing for my niece to do by the way and truly UCP at its finest! :) But I was having the creepies one night driving home and I called up my niece to say so...that it was just the weirdest creepy thing feeling...and when I drove into the garage she was waiting there for me and told me something to the effect that you see I, unlike most other relatives etc. continue to not have a mala, a pendant, or necklace or amulet of some sort hung up in my car...this would protect me and make me braver you see! I'd go with God full speed ahead! :) And then without me asking she proceeded to go into the house and bring out this amulet of Hanuman Baba on a necklace she owns and hangs it up in my car! HOW SWEET!:) And so very kind of her as if Hanuman Baba is her fav form it must also be one of her fav amulets and necklace too and she just gave it away to me!:)

So now here he hangs looking out my car windscreen...but I find the shadow it casts even more profound see pic above at start of the blog!:)



So Happy Birthday Hanuman Baba! And thank you my niece! :) According to Hindu stories you were asked by Ram to stay here on earth to protect us all through this age of Kalyug and I must say I'm surely glad he asked you to and you so humbly and willing agreed! As you are often a needed friend indeed! And on your bday I must cue your fav salute the Hanuman chalisa and re-show the clip from Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan where we see you are asked by Vishnu himself on earth to stay!:)

The Festival of Shiv: Day 2 of Salutations from One to the Other!

Yesterday on the prayers as we celebrated Day 1 of The Festival of Shiv we learnt that sometimes Bramha, Vishnu aur (and) Mahesh (Shiv) are up to games with each other or picking on each other in arguments and fights just like any gang of teenage guys! I mean Shiv taking the form of a beam of light to end a dispute between the other two...and saying catch me if you can...find my head and feet...what's with that? And with Brahma and all this lying business? Saying he found a flower atop Shiv's head when really it had fallen from Shiv thousand of years before! LOL! What's with you guys already!

I figure the games the Creator (Bramha), Sustainer (Vishnu) and Destroyer (Shiv/Mahesh) must play are not just meant to be boyish games...although that too! :) But also for the spreading of the energy you know...perhaps when Shiv spreads himself as a beam of light...that was some universal energy being stretched out (the universe expanding...entropy)and then when Bramha went above the energy (looking for a head)he also created something (apart from just pure mischief)...perhaps a world or two...and as Vishnu foraged below the beam of energy looking for Shiv's feet he must have stablised Shiv's energy in the Universe...you know keeping it put (sustaining it) while Mr. Bramha the creator drew from the energy of Shiv to do his thing above Shiv's energetic head...creating another planet perhaps...who knows to make up for Pluto that is a planet no more :(

And I guess if Shiv's energy is left fully unleashed it can destroy said worlds created by Bramha in a supernova for all to see! SO HE IS INDEED ALSO THE COSMIC DESTROYER..and perhaps he does his destruction in one swooping dance!...NATARAJ! Then said energy is harnessed again by Vishnu so that Bramha can create yet another world and so it goes...so it goes...

So no doubt there is always this strong interplay in particular between Vishnu and Shiv as one has to harness the other! And no doubt to do so one has to salute the other...such is their love for each other that when Vishnu's energy was shrunk into a human form on earth as Shri Ram...well guess what for Maha Shiv Ratri just like other humans (the form he had taken) he prayed to Shiv! And now tonight as we celebrate Day 2 of The Festival of Shiv...look at those two as they now behave like serious and loving men and bow in salutation to each other as they sing, pray, play musical instruments and dance for each other! :)

'A prayer to Lord Shiv by Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan. The translation below is provided by Youtube user sherpa21987.

Om namaha Shivaya, Om namaha Shivaya, Om namaha Shivaya, Namaha Shivaya, Namaha Shivaya

Damaru paani shool paani hey Natarajan namo namo
(Bearer of the resounding drum, bearer of the awesome trident, I bow to You O' Cosmic Dancer)

Sheesh ganga bhasma anga karte dharan namo namo
(On Your head the holy Ganga, on Your body ascetic ashes)

Damaru paani shool paani hey Natarajan namo namo
(Bearer of the resounding drum, bearer of the awesome trident, I bow to You O' Cosmic Dancer)

Tum aadi-dev anaadi ho, tum anta-heen anant ho
(You are the primal Godhead without beginning, You are eternal, without end)

Om namaha Shivaya

Shrimant ho bhagawant ho, hey naat girijaa kant ho
(Yours is divinity, Yours benediction, You are the adored Lord of Uma, Daughter of Himalayas)

Om namaha Shivaya, namaha Shivaya, namaha Shivaya, namaha Shivaya

Shashi lalaat tanaha viraat, hey trilochan namo namo
(Your cosmic being dances as primordial energy, I bow to you, O' bearer of the fiery third eye)

Damaru paani shool paani hey Natarajan namo namo
(Bearer of the resounding drum, bearer of the awesome trident, I bow to You O' Cosmic Dancer)

Nis-saar is sansaar mein, Shiv naam kewal saar hai
(In this world devoid of meaning, Your name is the only meaning)

Om namaha Shivaya

Shiv shakti hai, Shiv bhakti hai, Shiv mukti ka aadhaar hai
(Shiv is power, Shiv is devotion, Shiv is the means to salvation)

Om namaha Shivaya, namaha Shivaya, namaha Shivaya, namaha Shivaya

Rom rom om om, hey aghanaashan namo namo
(I worship You with every atom of my being)

Damaru paani shool paani hey Natarajan namo namo
(Bearer of the resounding drum, bearer of the awesome trident, I bow to You O' Cosmic Dancer)

Damaru paani shool paani hey Natarajan namo namo
(Bearer of the resounding drum, bearer of the awesome trident, I bow to You O' Cosmic Dancer)

Om namaha shambawaiyachaha mayobhavayachaha
Namaha shankarayachaha mayuhskarayachaha
Namaha shivayachaha shivatarayachaha'

UCP Salutes Pandit K. Dinnanath Dubay as He Leaves the Mortal Coil!

Here on the prayers we are in a slower dancing pace as we mark the release from the mortal coil of one of the great pundits/pandits of Trinidad and Tobago and also the father of the creator of UCP. As a result, UCP itself as a blog (and its other related blogs)are marking a mourning period and so the scheduled festival of Shiv on this blog that was carded for all February long will be delayed by one week and re-commence on Mon 8 Feb 2010.

Another blog has marked his death in a current affairs approach and you can check out that here. And my eldest brother has also shared his memories of our father here. But here on the prayers I'm going to salute him as the many decades long pundit he was.

However before I do that I will also tell you this...he gifted me his favourite harmonium just a few weeks before he dropped the mortal coil...perhaps a hint that I should pick up back with it...I did dabble in it when I was a child. So hmmm...maybe soon just like him I'll be pulling a dhun or two!:)I for sure must have inherited my LOLness (laugh out loudness) from him...for just as my brother recalled on his blog post I've always known him to be a pleasant, humble and down to earth man with a very LOLness nature! :)I must have gotten my eyes from him too and I've often been told I look identical to his mother, my paternal grandmother i.e. my aajee whom I never met as my father was orphaned very young. Also just like him I'm always reading about four books at a time and find vedic astrology fascinating! :)

Indeed it were tough times for my father as it was for many of Indian ancestry back on the island then...and his marriage to my mother did not last...people are not perfect...it is why we take the mortal coil to our lessons learn...and it's why we need to engage in Universal Collective Prayer! My mother is the daughter of another great pundit who graced the island for decades...the late Pandit Parasram Maharaj ...who for me was like this metaphysical being almost and after Shiv he is it for me! Seriously a tower of strength and a powerful patriarch if there ever was one! And my now late father would also attest to that!

Me,along with my two brothers grew up with our maternal grandparents... after the separation...nani and nana, my mother (who never remarried as she believes a Hindu woman only marries once)and the rest of my mother's family. My father eventually divorced my mother, remarried and had four children from that marriage.

But as I was saying those were tough times for my dad and there was always the need to engage in UCP-Universal Collective Prayer! In fact there must have been a significant need for that back in the days when Indians here on the island were mostly labourers on the plantations. And it is a well known story on the island by now that a major source of strength for the Indian community was the Ramayan...and of course why not...you're being oppressed by the 'white man'...he is your boss! And then you have this amazing story where your personal God...your Ishq Devataa (let's say) is this hero of epic proportions...the 7th Avatar of Vishnu come on earth to right the wrongs...the beloved warrior God Shri Ram! :)

So it was a great story to keep in your hearts while you toiled in hardship and found ways to eek a survival while still maintaining your spirit! And it is why tonight I not only salute my father but all pundits who have been at it in the past 150 plus years on the island...THANK YOU! By keeping the Ramayan in your hands and taking it to the people and reciting it in verse and song you gave them that message of hope that one day all would be right again! Again THANK YOU!

My father was into singing the Ramayan and up to late last year he released a CD- Ram Bharat Milap with Ramayan verses and bhajans. In his youth in Hermitage, his pundit training was heavily influenced by Rambharose Pundit and later on during his marriage to my mother he was also influenced by my nana's teachings (my nana was a noted island expert on the Ramayan and could quote and reference it like any Google search may now do!) and one of my mamos the late Pundit Dr. Samsundar Parasram. However my nana was not into this singing business...and in that arena my father found a companion in my other mamo...who thankfully is still alive...Pundit Dr. Rampersad Parasram...whom I'm hoping will pull a dhun or two at the funeral service tomorrow as we salute my father Pandit K. Dinnanath Dubay as he sheds off the mortal coil and sails up, up and away! :)


My father, I am learning since his mortal coil shedding seems to have many a beloved chela...from far and wide...spanning to North America as well...so many messages and notes saying how loved he was...one has even uploaded this video on youtube! :)


But now in true UCP styling I salute you my father the late Pandit K. Dinnanth Dubay with this tune and Ramayan excerpt as we say farewell at the funeral service tomorrow Wed 3 Feb 2010 at your home in Sangre Grande from 9 AM to the banks of the Caroni at 1PM. Please note another Pundit will be saying farewell to the mortal plane tomorrow as well...Pundit Doodnath...farewell Pundit and THANK YOU!

Advent Calendar:Mon 14 Dec-The Gift that are Bears!

The bears have finally arrived here on Meadys' Musings Production's Advent calendar. The purple elephant and little mouse did finish the house keeping on time but then fell asleep not awaking in time to pick the bears up from the airport! The host of bears were so diverse in their nature and temperaments it made for quite an array of tricks and treats at the airport. Unfortunately while some were 'with little brain' there were others who felt they were 'smarter than the average bear' and ended up re-boarding outbound flights etc. However we are pleased to say at the end of this very long day all the bears are finally with us! And hopefully here to stay for the holidays! With the purple elephant and the little mouse! OLE!

Now on to exploring their gifts...

-On Meady's Musings we will talk a bit about their nature as studied in science! And also talk about some close encounters with bears of amazing kind!

-On UCP we will explore the famous bear of Hindu fame...Jambavan-The King of Bears of the Ramayan! And take a look at the entire bear army along with one of monkeys and other animals and fish as they build the Ram Setu...Ram's Bridge.

-On Books and Films Corner it was so tough to choose one bear over another as so many fine bears have populated books and films...filling the imagination of children as they clutch their teddy bears looking on...but we hope you enjoy some of our fav bear moments!

Bears in Scripture-Jambhavan the King of Bears


Oh Great Bear King Jambhavan !

Many an ode have been written about your monkey counterpart Hanuman
But not many have sat and penned about your name
Yet many argue you should be of similar fame
I know you are more a bear of action
Not one to complain or ask for such acclaim and affirmation
However you’ve worked alongside three great kings of Hinduism
Indra, Ram and Krishna
You are a chiranjivin
Immortal just like Hanuman Baba
You chose to stay on earth although you could have attained liberation
Thank you for this consideration
A student Emmanuel Torres by name
He saw the need to salute your skills of leadership
Oh great bear I’d have to say during the Ramayan battle your skills were indeed fantastic!
I recall with delight how you steered your bear subjects
Who alongside many a monkey and other animals, birds and fish
Helped fulfil Shri Rama’s wish
To build the setu...oh that great trans-oceanic bridge
And indeed it was a task well accomplished!
Live long in our hearts oh great bear king!
Your love for Shri Ram will forever be remembered by us
As we love him too!
Jai Shri Ram!

Copyright Meady's Musings Production 2009.