Remembering Mamoo Balackram

The atma is neither born nor does it die at any time, nor having been it will cease to exist again. It is unborn, eternal permanent and primeval. The Atma is not destroyed when the body is destroyed. -Bhagavad Gita 2.20

Because death is certain for the one who is born, and birth is certain for the one who dies. Therefore you should not lament over the inevitable.

All beings O Arjuna are unmanifest before birth and after death. They are manifest between birth and the death only. What is there to grieve about? -Bhagavad Gita 2. 27-28

Today is his Cremation. May he find his way Peacefully to the Supreme Lord. He lived not for himself but to help others, the true Karma Yogi. May he attain oneness with Bhagwan Krishna.

adhiyajnah katham ko ’tra
dehe ’smin madhusudana
prayana-kale ca katham
jneyo ’si niyatatmabhih

"Who is the Lord of sacrifice, and how does He live in the body, O Madhusudana? And how can those engaged in devotional service know You at the time of death?" Bhagavad Gita(8.2)

adhibhutam ksaro bhavah
purushas cadhidaivatam
adhiyajno ’ham evatra
dehe deha-bhrtam vara

"O best of the embodied beings, the physical nature, which is constantly changing, is called adhibhuta [the material manifestation]. The universal form of the Lord, which includes all the demigods, like those of the sun and moon, is called adhidaiva. And I, the Supreme Lord, represented as the Supersoul in the heart of every embodied being, am called adhiyajna [the Lord of sacrifice]."Bhagavad Gita(8.4)

anta-kale ca mam eva
smaran muktva kalevaram
yah prayati sa mad-bhavam
yati nasty atra samsayah

"And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt." Bhagavad Gita(8.5)

yam yam vapi smaran bhavam
tyajaty ante kalevaram
tam tam evaiti kaunteya
sada tad-bhava-bhavitah

"Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail." Bhagavad Gita (8.6)

abhyasa-yoga-yuktena
cetasa nanya-gamina
paramam purusham divyam
yati parthanucintayan

"He who meditates on Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Partha, is sure to reach Me."Bhagavad Gita(8.8)

prayana-kale manasacalena
bhaktya yukto yoga-balena caiva
bhruvor madhye pranam avesya samyak
sa tam param purusham upaiti divyam

"One who, at the time of death, fixes his life air between the eyebrows and, by the strength of yoga, with an undeviating mind, engages himself in remembering the Supreme Lord in full devotion, will certainly attain to the Supreme Personality of Godhead."Bhagavad Gita(8.10)

om ity ekaksharam brahma
vyaharan mam anusmaran
yah prayati tyajan deham
sa yati paramam gatim

"After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable om, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and quits his body, he will certainly reach the spiritual planets."Bhagavad Gita(8.13)

a-brahma-bhuvanal lokah
punar avartino ’rjuna
mam upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate

"From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again."Bhagavad Gita (8.16)

avyaktad vyaktayah sarvah
prabhavanty ahar-agame
ratry-agame praliyante
tatraivavyakta-samjnake

"At the beginning of Brahma’s day, all living entities become manifest from the unmanifest state, and thereafter, when the night falls, they are merged into the unmanifest again." Bhagavad Gita (8.17)

OM TRYAMBAKKAM YAJAMAHE SUGANDHIM PUSTIVARDHANAM URVAROOKAMEVA BANDANAAN MRITYORMOKSHEEYA MAAMRITAAT.

OM TRYAMBAKKAM YAJAMAHE SUGANDHIM PUSTIVARDHANAM URVAROOKAMEVA BANDANAAN MRITYORMOKSHEEYA MAAMRITAAT.

OM TRYAMBAKKAM YAJAMAHE SUGANDHIM PUSTIVARDHANAM URVAROOKAMEVA BANDANAAN MRITYORMOKSHEEYA MAAMRITAAT.

Swadha.

Found a website on the mantra:

"The Mahamritunjaya mantra is from the Rig-Veda and needs initiation for attaining Siddhi. Anybody can recite this mantra and attain good health, release from bondage and other problems. This is the greatest reliever from all evils and can be recited at any time like any other Maha-mantra.

TRYAMBAKKAM refers to the Three eyes of Lord Shiva. 'Trya' means 'Three' and Ambakam' means eyes. These three eyes or sources of enlightenment are the Trimurti or three primary deities, namely Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and the three 'AMBA' (also meaning Mother or Shakti' are Saraswati, Lakshmi and Gouri. Thus in this word, we are referring to God as Omniscient (Brahma), Omnipresent (Vishnu) and Omnipotent (Shiva). This is the wisdom of Brihaspati and is referred to as Sri Duttatreya having three heads of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

YAJAMAHE: means, "We sing Thy praise".

SUGANDHIM: refers to His fragrance (of knowledge, presence and strength i.e. three aspects) as being the best and always spreading around. Fragrance refers to the joy that we get on knowing, seeing or feeling His virtuous deeds.

PUSTIVARDHANAM: Pooshan refers to Him as the sustainer of this world and in this manner, He is the Father (Pater) of all. Pooshan is also the inner impeller of all knowledge and is thus Savitur or the Sun and also symbolises Brahma the Omniscient Creator. In this manner He is also the Father (Genitor) of all.

URVAAROKAMEVA: 'URVA' means "VISHAL" or big and powerful . 'AAROOKAM' means 'Disease'. Thus URVAROOKA means deadly and overpowering diseases. The diseases are also of three kinds caused by the influence (in the negative) of the three Guna's and are ignorance (Avidya etc),falsehood (Asat etc as even though Vishnu is everywhere, we fail to perceive Him and are guided by our sight and other senses) and weaknesses (Shadripu etc. a constraint of this physical body and Shiva is all powerful).

BANDANAAM: means bound down. Thus read with URVAROOKAMEVA, it means 'I am bound down by deadly and overpowering diseases'.

MRITYORMOOKSHEYA: means to deliver us from death (both premature deaths in this Physical world and from the never-ending cycle of deaths due to re-birth) for the sake of Mokshya (Nirvana or final emancipation from re-birth).

MAAMRITAAT means 'please give me some Amritam (life rejuvenating nectar). Read with the previous word, it means that we are praying for some 'Amrit' to get out of the death inflicting diseases as well as the cycle of re-birth."

http://www.kamalkapoor.com/vedicmantras/mahamritunjayaMantra.asp

"The highest Death is the death that comes naturally and takes one to one’s Eternal Abode.

We know everything that is created will one day be dissolved, and that anyone who takes birth will also have to face death. Death is an integral part of living. How we face death will (in many ways) be decided by how we live our life.

Death forces us to let go of our mortality. We conquer Death when we let go of our mortality freely. To do that, we have to live our life free of all images. If we hold on to our self-image our entire life, it is very unlikely that we will drop that image at the time of death. If we are holding on to any image whatsoever, we will have to come back and resume our journey again.

Death is not the final abode. It is only a transmission from one form to another. To reach the Deathless State, we have to reach the Formless, and that Formless is One Without a Second. We are all drawn to that Supreme State (Moksha), because That is our Ultimate Abode. Only the nectar of Deathlessness (AMRITAM) can satisfy the thirst of our soul.

Our past karmas come to an end when we have paid all our debts. But there is one debt we can never repay, and that is our debt to the Creator who gave us the gift of Life. Ultimately, only He can release us from the endless cycle of birth, life, and death, and that He does naturally when we surrender completely to His Will.

There is no man who is the Perfect Man. Everyone has some flaw, some imperfection. The greatest height is reached only by way of the greatest humility. Old age and death humble even the mightiest. We can approach the Supreme Might only with supreme humility. For that, we need to give up our self-will."

( http://world.std.com/~aditya/The%20Mahamritunjaya%20Mantra2.htm)

I took this form the website listed below, it explains the use of the mantra and it helps one deal with death

random rant

Everything that is created can be destroyed right? Broken down into its fundamental elements. or just shifted form one form to the next like energy. Can we really destroy?
I was thinking about the destructive nature of man, and what we fight over.

Superstitions and Death

Know how they say there is always a sign or signal...
My mom's brother died today, he had a stroke about 2.5 years ago and he didn't quite recover. I pray now that he is at peace and no longer in any kind of pain and happier.
I never really knew my uncle, but from what my mom said he was a very kind and generous person who would do anything to help others. Sometimes we are so stubborn that we fail to appreciate life until we see the pain that death brings.

Strange thing is that a couple days ago my mom was commenting on the roses in our front yard, they were in full bloom and very beautiful.
My aunt had come earlier that day and say that roses are a bad plant because the thorns prevents angels from entering the house ( it is accepted in our family that my aunt is more than a bit looney btw).
Anways back to the roses, so a couple days ago my mom commented on it and then said that rose plants never agreed with her family because their rose plant was in full bloom 33 years ago when her father died, she also said that all her family members die at Christmas. ( I told her that she has to stay with me forever, so don't even think about dying at christmas or anytime ever!)
So we were all thinking about it and then said wait up though, I had put miracle grow in the roses about a week ago, and Bami said that she had put rose food, so of course they would be in full bloom, all of the flowers would be blooming.
And another point on the roses was that my uncle was not well( he could've been better but in Guyana medicine isn't at its most advanced, which I think is horrible, he coul've been better!), ,so why see the roses as a sign for death.
So we mused about it some more and bami commented that well the roses bloom for the departed soul, people put roses on graves, so the roses bloomed for the soul. This explanation really made my mom feel better, and I like thinking of it that way too.

Anyways, I just got to thinking about the entire idea of superstitions and stuff.

reinforcing my point...on limitless stupidity

A woman and her boyfriend fighting over a cell phone, to end the argument she swallowed it and almost choked to death...now isn't that smart!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10594017/
for your reading amusement

One wonders why she couldn't just throw the damn phone against a wall or something if she didn't want him to get it, or stomp on it at least. Then again why thow it when you can swallow it!
I wonder, did he call the paramedics so that they can save her or recover the phone?

Stupidity has no limits

We it turns out that we can sue someone else for our own incompetence

' ...The coffee crisis happened Nov. 12 after she and a friend pulled out of a Forest Ave. Dunkin Â’ Donuts drive-through and headed to a strip mall across the street. When the pal tried to park, lids on two cups came off, causing 200-degree java to spill and soak through her jeans, her lawyer said.'

while she at it she should sue her friend for his bad driving
sue the jeans company for not making heat resistant jeans
and sue her parents for making a stupid offspring...who would rest hot coffee on their laps and if she was holding the container as she claimed then how in hell did it spill...and how come it was her feet burnt and not her lap or leg, we would think that in falling the very very hot coffee would've at least trickled down her leg before making one big splash on her feet? Furthermore how come there were no burns on her hands? Seriously if hot coffee was falling on me I think that I'd at least try to grab the cups ( getting burns on my hands) instead of letting it leap out of the cup holders and land only on my feet to give me 3rd degree burns. And 2 cups of coffee fell and only one foot got burnt? Maam can you show the coffee stains in your friend's car?

what this is? without a doubt this moron carefully poured the coffee on herself. Instead of suing dunkin doughnuts she should sue herself for coming up with such a stupid plan.
instead of caution hot beverage printed on BOTH their lids and cups dunkin doughnuts should change it to we are not liable for your stupidity--this beverage is very hot (hot means it can burn you STUPID!!!)

Why I love poetry

Edmund Spencer- Amoretti

He wrote this book of poems 'Amoretti' for his new bride. Amoretti literally translates into 'little loves'.
look at the way he immortalizes his love for her in poetry. By writing his love in poems , it shall be renewed over and over again as the verses are read century to century by scholars and lovers.


SONNET. LXXV.
ONE day I wrote her name upon the strand,
but came the waves and washed it away:
agayne I wrote it with a second hand,
but came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray.
Vayne man, sayd she, that doest in vaine assay,
a mortall thing so to immortalize.
for I my selue shall lyke to this decay,
and eek my name bee wyped out lykewize.
Not so, (quod I) let baser things devize,
to dy in dust, but you shall live by fame:
my verse your vertues rare shall eternize,
and in the heavens wryte your glorious name.
Where whenas death shall all the world subdew,
our love shall live, and later life renew.

A pic is worth a million words...two millon words if you add words to it!

Beowulf

saw today on msn that they are making a Beowulf movie! (I love Beowulf, ...can you tell?) Yes!
finally someone recognises the wonderful epic elements.
angelina jolie is set to star in this movie. Interesting
I can hardly wait! its set to release Nov 23rd 2007. looonng wait:(
for those of you who d not know what beowulf is , here's a useful site
beowulf

tis the season to be jolly

Finals are over, projects are over! 2005 is almost over! Christmas is almost here! And a New Year is approaching!

stitch's bowl

Actually I thought about that while I was walking from the store after having purchased the bowl. I wondered if maybe it was too small for stitch and I wondered if I should release him into a river so that he can be happy. I thought about a life trapped in a bowl, solitary with no other species of your kind, no family, no friends , no one else like you, no one to communicate with, no one to love. And then I considered this world and people in it and how some of us actually put ourselves in that small bowl and never leave to explore the huge world, we are always trapped in the confines of our home or within five miles of our neighborhood. However unfortunately for stitch he has no choice and I feel extreme guilt for keeping him in there, but I do not know if river conditions are suitable for him.

stitch's new bowl...he likes!!!!