Racism

Since the attack on Indian students in Australia, there have been huge uproar from Indians and Australia
has been accused of being a racist country. Is it really fair to accuse Australia for few attacks on
Indian students when few Indians have not been treating many foreigners properly? Ask any African living
in India and each will tell you at least one instance when they felt the brunt of racism.Can't we think of few reasons which might lead our Indian students into these kind of abuse, to mention some like working late nights, indulging in anti social activities (yes!you heard right) like drug trafficking, unethical behiour on personal front like flirting, deceit and adultery.The other reasons might also be ignorance of proper native mannerisms as we Indians are more prone towards loud speaking and ignoring about the premises when we hold mobile, yes, ofcourse this could also lead us into trouble espically when we are travelling in public transport.
I have seen Indians use the most derogatory terms on other "ethnic" communities, but they seem to be mesmerized by white people because of their colur and foreign ethnicity. We Indian communities address each other’s community with terms such as; Gujarati is called as gujjus, South Indians are all called as Madrasis, irrespective of their state and language and most of the people form northern part of Indians still assume Madras as a state , Punjabis are called as gottas and the list goes on….

I go to some "Indian Outlets & restaurants" in Sydney all the time and literally run by Indians and I am totally surprised by the utter change in behavior. I am Indian and don’t get treated the same way and an Aussie in that store would.

As people staying in Bombay think anybody outside of Bombay or from down south is not worth anything......that same thing goes along when it comes to racism.....people in India still give too much importance to the color of skin.....

I once worked for a Tamil Company, where the first question someone asked me on my first day of orientation was whether I was a Tamilian and that to be a Brahmin or not.

Some of the behaviours that include are as follows:

1. preferential treatment to Westerners over Indians

2. Treating other Indians like dirt based on his/her profession, caste, religion, region, language

3. In the Indian corporate world there is rampant favoritism / unequal treatment of employees based on province, language, caste


We see many ads in Indian matrimonial columns asking for a "fair skinned" beautiful girl..No one says they dont care about the color of skin and care about character.

Indians! there is nothing wrong with being an Indian.Behavioural trait always should be according to the situation and adaptive nature towards the ambience . Be proud of who you are. If you are not fair or complex issues, that is ok too. You will never be a different person.

I choose Lalita Sahasranama archana (and chanting) as a regular practice for relief from the perils in life and for spiritual progress, as She is fully aware of the unparalleled greatness of this hymn, which is full of the power of mantras and is capable of fulfilling all desires. Especially during Navaratrulu, I chant the sahsranamam and do pooja with sadopachara, I mean with 16 upacharas. Among the many hymns, mantras and devotional songs available, this Sahasranama is specially suitable for worship in the morning and produces quick results.

Sri Lalitha Devi fulfills all desires of her Devotees. Her compassion and care will be with them at all times and in all situations. The Shakti (power) of Sri Lalitha Devi is best described by the words "haribrahmendra sevitaa" in the above Sloka. She is worshipped by all Gods including Vishnu, Brahma and Indra. Sri Lalitha Devi is also known as "vaageeramaa sevitaa", meaning she is served by Goddesses Saraswati and Lakshmi. Goddesses Saraswati and Lakshmi fan Sri Lalitha Devi with the Divine Fans (vinjaamara) at all times.

Lalita sahasranama is a hymn that describes the 1000 names of Devi or Lalita and praises God as the Divine Mother or God's Shakti or Power. A sahasrananam is a litany of one thousand names of God or Goddess. sahasra is one thousand and nama is name. There is at least one such sahasranama for each deity in Hinduism. Lalita Sahasranama is a hymn described in the Brahmanda Purana and is one of the most sacred stotras in Hinduism. It was recited as a result of conversation between Hayagriva, a minor avatara of Vishnu and the great sage Agastya.

Lalita sahasranama is famous for the internal organization of its text and the rhythmic sound vibrations it can produce. The aim of the Vedas and other scriptural texts is to inspire the love of God and dispassion in human beings and to raise them step by step to the realisation of the Self. The object of the phalashruti -- the description of the benefits accruing from a certain form of worship -- is to strengthen the sense of devotion in people and to make them qualified for higher forms of sadhana, by pointing out the way to remove the hardships of life and to gain prosperity. The main items in the phalashruti on Lalita Sahasranama given in the Brahmanda Purana are summarised below.

I adore Goddess Lalitha Devi and I am an ardent devotee of her. For devotees of Divine Mother Lalitambika, there is no hymn greater than Sri Lalita Sahasranama. Those who chant this most sacred hymn containing the thousand names of Sri Lalita Devi are assured of liberation. The radiance attained from chanting this stotram during Navaratri cannot be described in words. It must be experienced firsthand.

It is extremely auspicious to chant or at least listen to this stotram during Navaratri. When puja to a Sri Chakra is done using the Namavali form of Sri Lalita Sahasranama, unimaginably powerful cosmic vibrations will surround the worshipper, bringing every kind of blessing.

శ్రీ సూక్తం

Significance of srisuktham

Whenever I read sahsranamam of any goddess, I try to chant srisuktham. I don't know why, I feel without reciting it my pooja is incomplete. My lalitha sahsranamam pooja also consists of srisuktham as prefix. Even while listening to srisuktham at temples, I feel like my body is drenched in the pond of nectar. This feeling also gives me immense power. Ihave strong inclination to read the suktha without the help of any resources. Truly, to some extent I have achieved success by remembering few verses of the suktha.

The Sri Suktam is the essence of the Vedas, and that it contains all the important information about Divne Mother. The essential message of the Sri Suktam is that Mother's true form is the beautiful, cosmic golden light of divine consciousness that shines in the hearts of all creatures


The supreme appears in the form of Vishnu to uphold and protect the world. The operation is done through the power of Vishnu for which the terminology is Lakshmi. She is the Brahman revealed in its mother aspect as creatrix and nourisher of the three worlds. Her description appears in the Shi Sukta, where she has been lauded in golden words and in glorious terms...Just as there is no difference between Power-Holder (Vishnu) and Power (Lakshmi)...She is the presiding deity of all divine manifestation.

For the adoration of Lakshmi, there is no hymn equal to the Sri Sukta...The letters, syllables and words in the fifteen verses of Sri Sukta, collectively form the sound body of Lakshmi, the presiding deity of this Hymn. As it has come to us from the consciousness state of the Rishi (seer), the substance is Chit, the creative energy in Vaikhari or gross from of sound.

The universe is conceived and born of sound. Light is nothing but a sound of a particular frequency. All that we see in this worlds in solid, liquid, or gaseous state has emanated from sound. Even our mind is the crystal of sound. Nama (name) is sound from which rupa (form) has come. To cut it short, Sri Sukta is a Siddha Mantra and is a radiant mass of energy. By proper Sadhana, the jiva can raise itself to a divine status. But to attain this, it is very vital that the meaning of the Mantras are correctly understood, intoned and also remembered at the time of recitation.

Global Market

China versus Indian Exports

One thing that always came to my mind is why is the export market of India is not up to the range of the China. Especially after migrating, I see most of the products ranging from safety pin to furniture are all made in China. I don’t say India doesn’t have export structure. But it is very limited. Few products really boast of our quality even in this so called Chinese market. But after coming to Australia, I count that Indian export market structure is very limited.

Recently, I was working on my coursework, researching on several economic issues. The main aspect that came to my mind is the standards of market products in this country and global wide especially in European dwelled countries.

What holds back India is the main question?

The key to answering this question is the poor response of large-scale labour-intensive manufacturing including assembly and processing activities in India.

Large-scale labour-intensive manufacturing activities have been virtually absent from India. Apparel factories employing thousands of workers under a single roof found in China are non-existent in India.

The explanation for the poor performance of large-scale labour-intensive manufacturing is, in turn, to be found in the domestic policy regime—both past and present. Until the late 80s, large Indian firms were confined to a positive list of capital-intensive sectors. Even in these sectors, their size was limited through licensing based on the perceived size of the domestic market by the authorities. The same applied to foreign companies.

As long as this reservation was in force, high-quality labour-intensive manufactures that could compete on the world markets had no chance of emerging in vast volumes. The bulk of the small-scale enterprises operated in the protected domestic market.

Most labour-intensive products including toys, footwear, sports goods and apparel have now been off the reservation list for some years.

The most important factor that still holds back large firms from entering these products is a set of labour laws in India. Under these laws, it is virtually impossible for a firm with 100 or more employees to fire the workers even in the face of bankruptcy. It is equally difficult for the firms to reassign the workers from one task to another. These provisions impose very low worker productivity or a high real cost of labour. Large-scale capital-intensive sectors such as automobiles, where labour costs are a tiny proportion of the total costs, can profitably operate in such an environment. But the same is not true of large-scale labour-intensive sectors labour. Few foreign manufacturers are willing to enter India outside of a small subset of capital- and skilled-labour intensive sectors.

Two additional factors have held back the labour-intensive manufacturing in India: costly power and poor transport infrastructure. Not only do firms pay a much higher price for power in India than elsewhere in the world, they also face much greater uncertainty of supply. Likewise, despite considerable improvement, the transportation network in India remains unreliable and inefficient. The time taken to clear the goods entering and existing the ports and to move the goods between ports and manufacturing sites, which is so critical for assembly and processing activities, is much higher and more variable in India than in the competing countries such as China.

Child Issues

In other words….

Aneesh, who is born and growing in Australia, is bilingual. I think there are two main factors in successfully raising a multilingual or bilingual child; consistency and perseverance. The thought of bilingual topic stood before me because of the child is developing speech delay. Most of the community services say it may because of multi or bilingual background.

For me, my strategy for raising multilingual children at tender stage would be to converse with him in one language. It doesn’t necessarily be your mother tongue. It could be English too. The main emphasis should be language perfection. Teaching small phrases would also do a great job as they can grasp some of the broken sentences and at least they would know what to convey. Whatever input we put in this progress should be ‘are they clearly able to convey what they want’.

Constant interaction in the minority language exposes children to a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical structures relating to everyday life.

My three year old is still learning both languages, but moves easily between the two. When I am tired I can get sloppy and use an English word if that’s easier. But I know that if I expect my child to learn, I have to put in the effort.

DIVINE EXPERIENCE

Sathya Dharma Shanti Prema Ahimsa = BHAGAVAN SATYA SAI BABA

DIVINE EXPERIENCE

Coming to my dedication towards Bhagavan sri sathya sai Baba (fondly addressed as ‘swami’ for his devotees) started in my early childhood. I wouldn’t say I was ardent devotee then. Actually my aunt’s in-laws and whole family used to worship the divine spirit. We were balavikas students in our childhood and we started our dedication towards him participating in cultural activities such as dance, music, bhajans, rallies and some voluntary work. I had utmost respect towards him throughout my childhood and later. But the spiritualist love and faith towards him started when the time came and I had Swami’s darshan in the form of a dream.

These were the intricate days in my life. My father passed away, I was completely shattered. Though I never showed on my face to others what I was gong through, but it was difficult part of my life. I was advised my cousins to organize a bhajan in my home. I organized it all myself. Even today I remember it was my birthday September 4, 2000, I bought the flowers, garlands and prasadam items. After bhajan, I was not feeling that good and my heart was deeply sad and I had cried and tears were pouring through my eyes. And that night I slept and had a dream that Baba has smiling at me and was conversing with me in English and assured me that I would be married soon and that groom would reside in overseas. He was also telling me that everything would be alright and I should visit Tirupathi abode of Lord Venkateshwara before migrating. And everything happened what he said. Now I have strong and pure love and faith towards him.

Now also we attend bhajans in Sydney which are organized by dedicated people of Srilanka. On my first visit to the bhajan, we had a warm welcome from the organizers and they had shown utmost respect towards us which I never experienced anywhere else in Sydney Indians. They were amazed that I was balavikas student and have personally seen him as no one has ever seen him personally. And being a Balavikas student to them was achieving some Masters degree in any University.
Due to domestic chores, it has been not possible for us to attend bhajans regularly. But deep down in my heart she lives and guides me. I always wanted to be a balavikas teacher and even the organizers here, asked me to attend the workshop (required to become teacher). But I could not attend due to inability to drive and having a young child. But someday I would definitely participate and engage myself in voluntary work and bhajans.

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is an integral manifestation who combines two very significant roles. Firstly, He is a great spiritual Master, famed for His simple and sweet exposition of the greatest and most intricate of spiritual truths which form the fundamental teachings of all the religions of the world. Elucidating on His mission, Bhagawan declares “I have come not to disturb or destroy any faith, but to confirm each in his own faith. His formula for man to lead a meaningful life is the five-fold path of Sathya (Truth), Dharma (Righteousness), Shanthi (Peace), Prema (Love) and Ahimsa (Non-Violence). Love for God, fear of sin and morality in society – these are His prescriptions for our ailing world.
Secondly, He is an inexhaustible reservoir of pure love. His numerous service projects, be it free hospitals, free schools and colleges, free drinking water supply or free housing projects, all stand testimony to His selfless love and compassion for the needy and less privileged. True to His declaration - “My Life is My Message”, He has inspired and continues to inspire millions of His devotees worldwide by His personal example to live the ideal that service to man is service to God.

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is thus a beacon of hope in a world that is desperately seeking an end to the unrest and sorrow prevalent today. Bhagawan Baba is nothing but Love walking on two feet”.

Mankind must use this golden opportunity to follow in His footsteps. That is the way to its redemption and its salvation.

Sai Ram

FESTIVALS

Rathasaptami
Once my Grandmother(ammamma)  was preparing ‘payasam’ and kept the payasam on chikkudu leaves (broad beans) and offered it to Lord suryanarayana as naivedyam. The payasam was made in traditional and old way of cooking with the help of wood and coal. When I asked what she was doing. She said that day was Rathasaptami and explained me the importance of that festival. Here I am giving short description.

“Ratha” means chariot and “Sapthami” means the 7th day, it is the day when the Surya/Sun god is believed to ride on the chariot drawn by 7 horses to gift the beautiful season “Spring” to South India. It is during this time that Surya/Sun moves from the southeast to the northeast. 7 represents the colors of the rainbow or the 7 chakras. This festival falls on the 7th day of the Hindu month Magha, February in the Gregorian calendar. The days become warmer and bring relief and cheer to life after the bitter winter months.

On Rathasaptami day, rangoli/patern of surya/sun riding a chariot is drawn. A special bath is taken with arka leaves (jilledu akulu). In some communities they keep ‘regi pandu’ on the head, 2 on the shoulders, 2 on knees and 2 on foot while having bath

The following mantra on Sun god is chanted while taking the bath.“Saptha Saptha Maha SapthaSaptha Dweepa VasundaraSapth Arka Parna MadayaSapthamyam Snana Machareth”
Prayers and mantras to be chanted on this holy day are
· Surya sahsranamam
· Aditya hrudayam
· Gayatri mantram
· surya ashtothram or ashtakas.

 

Then an offering of “Payasam” made of rice with jaggery is shown to the sun. In the “sup” (basket for sifting corn) twelve heaps of grain are offered to the sun, the number corresponding to the twelve constellations through which the sun goes. Grain is offered to the brahmins.Some people show their respect to the sun by bowing twelve times every day to the sun, repeating every time one of the twelve names of the sun. These twelve names are: Mitra, Ravi, Surya, Ahanu, Khag, Pushan, Hirnyagarbha, Marichi, Aditya, Savita, Arka, and Bhaskar. On this day a new season begins, the sun sitting on his chariot sets out on his journey.

Iit is very sacred to follow this tradition. now a days people donot tend to get much time due to work pressure and other domestic duties. Atleast they can meditate on this for few minutes for Lord Suryanarayana. I know its difficult to get a glance of surya is hard sometimes in temperate zones. But still the bhakti imbibe in us should show the utmost respect and shraddha towards the Lord surya.

By following this simple ritual people believe that the Lord will bless them with success for all their endeavors in the coming year.

Note: Most of the information gathered from Rathasaptahmi vratham and normal rituals done at home

My love Aneesh Ramana

In life, we come across various forms of relations. But giving birth to some one is altogether different experience. That’s what happened when my son was born. Most of the people say that they had their happy days during school, college and family gatherings. I cannot say, my life (from childhood to teens) is filled with great memories. The best and the happiest thing happened to me is my son’s birth. The bond of mother and child is purest and holy.

Many say mother is the Gem who knows everything about the child. But one thing I say is, child is also a Gem who gives birth to mother. Many articles and speeches have been given about Mother – child relation in the past and now and then.

After my father’s demise, the first biological relation I had was my son.
During my pregnancy and after delivery, I really do not know what I am going to do as I never had any knowledge of raising kids. Even my cousins were born on consecutive months and years. So I have never seen how we can take care of newborn. But everything I learnt was from day to day experience I gained. He taught me many things. Emotionally, I have become strong and very much dedicated to him. I want everything to be perfect for him. I see a mother and father in me.

In today’s generation people get so much busy in their lives that they hardly find time for their mother, they don’t even remember the things she has done for them to make their life smooth and comfortable. A person should always remember the efforts made by the mother for his betterment and should give utmost respect and care to his mother, as she really deserves it. He/she should let her mother know what she means to him and she will be the happiest person on this whole world.

Right now we are dealing with his speech delay. But deep down somewhere inside, I think he would be successful in all aspects of life. Yes I do I have some many concerns for him. But he is keeping my inner spirit energized and stimulated all the time. I want my son to be emotionally strong and be a strong fighter through out his life as life gives us so much and we have to walk through each step whether it is good or bad.

People say I have given birth to a son, but I say, he has given me a new birth.

ammamma

Grandmother

I had very good memories of my grandmother. Literally speaking, she was also my paternal aunt as well as my mother was married to her maternal uncle. My Grandmother played a fundamental part in my life.

Myself and my cousins , we have learnt so many things from you. She taught us how to read and write Telugu perfectly. Most of my school classmates say that their Telugu improved when we had a change of Telugu teacher in our 8 grade. But even before my 8 grade and throughout my childhood I had a good fluency of reading and writing Telugu perfectly because of her mentoring. When my mother and aunt (pinni) were going out or while they were working, my grandmother used to take care of us and cook delicious Andhra Brahmin food which we used to relish. She taught us Telugu vyakaranam. It’s because of her my teacher language skills are good not because of any teacher.

She had her set of old age depression and problems which made an impact of her quality of life especially when she was sick. Grandparents play a vital role in everyone’ lives. But today the society is changing and kids have very limited access to their grandparents because of many reasons.

I still think children learn valuable information from grandparents which these so called corporate schools do not teach. I really feel upset for my son who is unaware of that kind of affection and hardly can he expect any affection from his grandmother.

The second generation should love their parents and spend some quality time with their parents and make sure their small wishes are fulfilled and encourage their kids to learn some things from grandparents a lot of things which their never think of. I mean in terms of religion, culture and tradition. Grand kids should also spend some time with their grandparents even though their education demands a lot of time for themselves. They should never complain and gossip about their grandparents with their parents. If any problem arises, they should talk in a peaceful way rather than creating fuss as they are your parent’s parents.

Grandparents should exercise love rather than their authority on family matters and their descendants.

The negative kind of structure is because of the increasing influence of nuclear families and other materialistic demands.

This is message to all grandparents who do not understand the mutual sharing of love and affection towards their grandkid and is in concept of divide and rule should make a note and step forward and be lovable. Loves can our lives wonderful. I am sending this message as my kid is unaware of actual love from his paternal grandmother. Some times tears flow through my eyes. And I had to stop here.

మాతృదేవోభవ

Mother’s love

Mother plays a vital role in everybody’s life. My mother passed away when I was only 9 years old. All I can recall about her was she used to be beautiful and was a bharatnatyam dancer. I believe that some of her charm has rubbed on me. As my memory power is very good, I can recall those sweet memories. My mother used to be very strict in discipline and studies. As ఫర్ as my studies are concerned, she wanted me to secure not only good percentage but also to get first rank in the class. Getting first rank used to be very hard. Even then I got first rank in most of my kindergarten and primary classes. She used to work as teacher in an aided school. While walking through her school, there used be a house of my classmate and she used to be my competitor in those days. My mother wanted me to compete with her. After her demise I used to study but to secure good percentage not like today’s children who are very studious and do not find time to play or engage in any activities.

I had also sweet memories with my relatives when my mother was alive. Every day we used to be surrounded by relatives and friends. She used to be affectionate with every one irrespective of caste, creed and religion. She used to be very affectionate and when required acted very strict towards me. I recall one memory, somebody said that children whose mother is working tend to take pride and in some cases arrogant. If you were mother alive, you would be probably being acting like them. I gushed and said having a mother is more than expecting anything else. Working or not working, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the live physical presence and love of her.

I still miss my mother. I miss my mother for not only myself, for also my tiny tot who is ignorant of love and affection of his grandmother. Even grandmother plays a fundamental part of our lives. I try to be like her balancing relation with our personal emotions. May be some of the traits I took from my mother which keeps me going to protect my self esteem and dignity while there is impediment in my relations. I miss the festivals she used to celebrate like sankranthi, deepavali, dasara, varalakshmi vratham and karthika masam poojalu. I wish those days would come back. The first sloka or chalisa I learnt was hanuman chalisa. She taught me how to read the Telugu text of hanuman chalisa when I was in my 1st or 2nd grade and at the same time she used to read aloud without the help of any book. She also taught me the importance of poojalu and how good it is to be vegetarian as we are strictly supposed to be. I learnt so many good things from her even at that tender age. I think those are all the basic steps to lead a good life and to be traditionally and culturally well behaved and be good humans.

If my mother was alive, there could be a lot of difference. I would have been totally different person. All these years, I learnt a lot all by my personal experience in life. It would have been great if my mother would have been there to guide me, protect me and appreciate me. Hats off! to all mothers who take a lot of pain in raising their kids.

My mother has come back in the form of my son. A few years before a flower and blossomed and shed and it has budded and took the form of grandchild.