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Newasa - Encountering an unique form of Vishnu, and Sant Jnaneshwar

The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...

Finding beauty in unexpected places...

October is over and November is here. Before I know it, the year will be over! And I am nowhere near catching up with all the posts I have to write. October brought in so much travel, from the unexpected Club Mahindra Bloggers Meet to another unexpected Diwali trip to Sringeri. There is so much I want to write, but the words will take some time to come. Meanwhile, I just realised that the blog has been left alone for too long without a post, so I will be posting some random images from my trips.....

We were on our way to Nainital, when we stopped to take pics of the wonderful view of the hills and valleys. But as we clicked and posed for others, these weeds by the roadside caught my eye. 



They are just weeds - unwanted and un-cared for. Yet, they grow profusely wherever they get the chance! If we see them in our garden, we pluck them and throw them off, but look closer and see the innate beauty, the perfect geometrical shapes. Remember drawing flowers with a compass in school? Doesnt this remind you of that? And yet, this is so much more beautiful, for it is  small - the diameter would be less than a centimeter - and besides, it is alive! 

Comments

  1. Are these not called Dandy Lions Anu?

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  2. I think Dandelions too is the name? 

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  3. Superb! Like son the mom or is it the other way round. I admire the inquisitiveness.

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  4. loved the last line: it is indeed alive!! It is beautiful Anu.

    Can I ask you a favour? The font is fine in the post but really small in the comment form. Could you pl. increase it? Thanks!

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  5. No idea, Julia... i wondered if they were dandelions.

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  6. maybe, Mridula! thinking of adding to the write up with some interesting stuff about dandelions!

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  7. THanks! there is a whole lot of inquisitiveness around, both for mom and son!

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  8. THanks so much! and thanks for pointing out abt the font.. will increase it!

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  9. New way of thinking about these so called unwanted part of our gardens! Doesn't this post apply to our daily lives!!!! Food for thought

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  10. Sometimes we need weeds and thorns to appreciate the ones that please the senses, don't we? And sometimes we need to see the neglected for what they are.

    Lovely post, Anu.

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  11. appreciate your post ,thanks for sharing a nice post

    ReplyDelete

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