Walking in Wilderness

 Last year, dozen of us friends packed backpacks, flew to a central American country and went hiking, zip-lining and a full day ATV-ing over the hills driving on  winding trecherous trails, stopping n swiming in waterfall pools and lunch on a hill top with vista views of Pacific ocean on one side and thick rainforests with diverse flora and fauna on the other side. This tropical place is similar to our western ghats and it was a fun adventure.

This year as we were exploring places to go this vid caught our attention  https://www.facebook.com/share/GD7fy1CZyKJALYQu/?mibextid=Mk4v2M and decided Utah is the place to go. So last week, half dozen of us packed backpacks and went hiking in multiple different National parks in Utah, driving 100s of miles from one park to other (Zion to Bryce to Archies to Canyon Lands)  and finally flying back from Salt Lake City. Utah lanscape is quite different. Once massive sand dunes, petrified and became rock (sandstone).  Massive rocks, mountains, canyons, hills and ground with full of petrified sand, turned into sandstone. At some places it is hard as granite, elsewhere it is brittle and sand is falling off on the floor. It is an unreal landscape, red in 360 degrees as if you've stepped on Mars. Interestingly, years ago I bought hiking shoes called Mother of All Boots (MOAB II by Merrell), and there I was hiking in town of Moab, UT in those shoes : )  The contrast of the rich greenery from last year to barren red standstones this year, is hard to describe. We signed up for a UTV tour at Moab, only to learn later that we signed up for Hells Revenge Trail.  These rented UTVs are driven by us, and living upto its name this 2.5hr drive ended up as one of the heart stopping, adrenaline pumping, nerve wrecking driving experience over the sloping edges of the cliffs, with jaw dropping views all around. Highly recommend if u r on an adventure visit to Moab. The canyon jump was similar to a bungee jump we did from 108th floor of Stratosphere in Vegas. But after we went to Utah, there were other fun places to go so we decided to do the canyon jump after we all turn 50.

Here UTV promo vid: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=66u_It_Xo94

N Route 128: https://www.facebook.com/share/XWazzVWBsudAwU17/?mibextid=oFDknk

It is always inspiring and fun to hang out with high school buddies especially on such hikes. One morning, at the resort suite we stayed, I woke up at 5am and looked to the side only to find one my friends was missing. I come to living room and his shoes were missing. Eventually realized that he went for a 12mile run on America's second most scenic drive near by. It is national park area, there could be wolves, coyotes and who knows what animals roam in the night by the Colorado river that runs parallel to this drive, and no cell phone signal but none of that mattered to him.Woke up, got ready without disturbing others sleep, put on his shoes and hit the road.

Inspired, I quickly freshen up, hop in to the car and drive a few miles into the Archies National Park, go to a Sunrise view area, where the Sun rises behind La Sal Mountains in distance. Opposite to Sun are red sand stones walls of Archies. It was mesmerizing as colors of the park come alive, from dark night to various hues of morning Sun light over these huge cliffs of Archies. I call home to parents and wake up my girls back home to show live Sunrise view of at Archies, making them part of the experience virtually. I put my phone down and sit there for half hour viewing distant peaks of La Sal mountains, soaking the morning Sun while reflecting in my own thoughts of ever changing but continually evolving ones own views, beliefs and perspectives  about the immense nectarine beauty and complexities of the experiences that we call Life. Then drove back n joined friends at breakfast. That morning reminded me of an incident from 2009, which I will write next. Stay tuned. 

From this week,, nights get longer than days with Summer passing the baton over to Autumn Season. Happy Autumn/Fall Equinox folks!

JNVC Stories #2: What's in the name?

JNVC Stories #2: What's in the name? 

Beautiful, quiet, smart, good kho-kho player and for 7 years she was my classmate till 12th class. In those 7 years, I hardly ever talked to her. Ours was dynamic school that encouraged polishing all dimensions in us from academics to sports to arts to music to gardening, and we did all.  May be our paths crossed in some projects but I never struck a conversation with her beyond the purpose. Thanks to our language teachers, languages/words/phrases were as intereseting to me as physics, mathematics and cricket. One day I wondered what does her name mean? As I tried to find out, my research led to an interesting story. 

We wrote 12th class exams, left school. Life moved on. I went on to do engineering, end up in Hyderabad, 150kms away from high school. One day I and my friend Sampath were at a local bus stop and suddenly a glowing golden complexion girl appears in front of us. "Chakravarthy!" she exclaims and congratulates for topping 12th class. "Sampath!" she exclaims turning to my friend. I take a close look trying to identify her. In two years, from fine young girl she became a fine young woman. She is our classmate from the first paragraph. She chats with us and tells that she lives near by. Forces us to walk with her to her house. With such happiness she introduces us to her family, makes tea, serves snacks, sits next to us wanting to know everything that is happening in our lives ever since we left the school. We sat there for only an hour but her hospitality left an impression. 2nd half of 1990s it was, an era of no cell phones and never met her again. Hope she is happy and doing well whereever she is. Now back to her name. What is her name? What is the great Indian love story behind her name? Lets find out.

One day Himavati, queen of Himalayas, goes looking for her daughter who went to play with friends but hasn't returned home. It was getting dark. Looking around, Himavati finds her daughter under a tree in utterly deep meditation. She is so stunned that first thing Himavati says is "ooh ma!" (Oh Mom! or Oh Dear!). Later those words became one of the names of her daughter, Uma. A common name in India. But who is this young gal Uma? She is no ordinary girl. Her previous body was named as Sati, daughter of Daksha. Daksha is son of Brahma himself, and is given task of progeny (prajaapati) and fill this universe with various species and lifeforms. For that reason, Sati's dad Daksha wanted her to marry one of the flamboyant and rich Devas like his other daughters. But Sati chose to marry Shiva. She was anamoured with Shiva's mystic yogic knowledge and his minimalistic approach to life. Daksha let her marry Shiva but one day insults Shiva. That makes Sati really sad. She decides to let go her identity as Daksha's daughter. With her own yogic shakti, Sati sheds her body and takes birth as the daugther of king of Parvathas(mountains/himalayas) hence she is named Parvathi. 

Shiva on the other hand was completely devastated with Sati's demise. He creates furious Rudra and brings Daksha to his senses. Daksha repents and seeks pardon from Shiva. Shiva in despair carries around his beloved Sati's body like a vagabond. Her body may be lifeless but it was full of vibrant pulsating energies(shakti) that she had accumulated spending time with yogic Shiva....and you know what happens next: The story of Shakti Peetas. As time passes, Sati's body disintegrates and her body parts fall at various locations in India. These locations are called Shakti Peethas. These are still revered as energy(Shakti) centers in India. The most famous of all Shakti Peethas is Kamakhya in Assam where you see all movie actors and famous people go. But why? To pray and harness creative yogic power of Sati. Sati's yoni fell in Kamakhya and it still menstruates. It is an annual event and those three days are state holidays for Assamese. Yoni is where birthing and creation happens. Devotees who are in creative proffesions go to Kamakhya to pray for enhancing their creative skills. Yogis go there to pray and harness creative power of universe itself. Other devotees go to pray for reproductive health, vitality and for children. Likewise her arms, thighs, breasts, eyes, ears etc fell at various places and there are known 108 Shakti peethas and 18 of em are most famous temples spread across in all 4 corners of India and neighboring countries of Pak, Bangladesh and Srilanka. Devotees with ailments in body parts go there for looking for cure.  Healthy devotees go for protection and to offer prayers and Yogis go to harness and tap into the energetic power at these places. Telugu states have three such Shakti Peethas with temples in Alampuram, Srisailam and Draksharamam.

Now back to our story of Parvati and Himavati. Sati now born as Parvathi,  wants to marry Shiva again. She has to draw attention of Shiva towards her. The only way to do it is tapasya. Only with tapasya she can raise her vibrations to the level of Sati so Shiva is drawn towards her, attracted. Hence, Parvathi begins her deep meditation. Mom Himavati tried to stop her but Parvathi was on a mission and Narada tells Himavati to give up her efforts. In deep love for Shiva, every day Parvathi intensifies her tapasya. At one point she survives eating only the dry-leaves("parna"). Later, she further intensifies her tapasya by continuously fasting without even eating those leaves(parna) hence she is called a-parna, Aparna.

Now you know her name. : ) 

Well, if you are still wondering about the tapasvini in the story : ), it ends on a happy note. Shiva does come, identifies Parvati as Sati and they get married in the presence of Vishnu, Devas and Maharishis. Their marriage day, the conjugal union of Shiva and Parvati, is celebrated as Maha Shivaratri. Uma and Aparna are names still stand as testament to the immense tapasya of Parvathi and her love for Shiva.

Here is a nice song celebrating the eternal love of that eternal couple penned by a famous Keralite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3rRbJUKI_M&t=48s

That brought me to few other questions. Shiva and Parvathy, are they physical entities or non-physical? Are they earthly dwellers or celestial beings? Are they perceivable energies or tunable frequencies? Can they be seen, touched or only be felt? It took me a very very long time to discern these concepts coz scriptures are very cryptic..lets explore these aspects in next write up. In fact Shiva himself outlines his nature in his purana and in extensive mind blowing conversations with Parvathi, as devi Parvathi asks these very questions to her husband, Who are you my dear? how can you reach such an intoxicatingly amazingly blissful state via meditation? what's your nature and nature of this world? What do you meditate on? And on and on she asks, and Shiva lovingly answers.

 Then curious Parvathi asks Shiva the most unthinkable "Oh My Beloved, if there is so much joy just by being with you, what kinda joy it is to be you, to experience you as you experience yourself" and her request takes both Shiva and Parvathi into an interesting phase that even Shiva did not anticipate as he accepts her requests and with his power they exchange polarities for a short period of time. Thats when he becomes Artha Naarishwara. Ofcourse Parvathy is unable to handle Shiva's yogic dispassionate energies and Shiva unable to handle emotional waters of Parvarthy, Universe goes thru a wierd phase.imbalance during this brief period of time. As the polarities slowely get restored, the eternal love of Parvathy for  Shiva returns. She again goes on a self purification and long deep penance filled journey to win love of Shiva again. In her love for him is her physical, emotional and spiritual solace and balance. In serving him is her peace. Her joy is in his presence. Her music is in his words. Shiva this time tests strengths of Parvathy's steadfast love with various situations, before an eventual reunion and the universe rejoices regaining its balance.  

JNVC Stories - Sampath & Sampathi 

In highschool I had a friend named VijayaSarathi who had passion for languages. While others were thinking about choices of engineering or medicine, he had a clear goal of learning meanings of every word in 300 page oxford english dictionary by end of 12th class (incredibly enough, he did it!). In 9th class, one day I was with him and another friend Sampath. I wondered "your name sounds so elaborate VijayaSarathi, what does it mean?" He answers "Vijaya + Sarathi = Victory Charioteer = Krishna, one who led Arjun to victory". 

I thought wow! Interesting! Language is like mathematics! Words are like equations. Finding meaning is like derivations/deductions!  I turned to Sampath and asked him for meaning of his name. He didn't know so he promptly looks at VijayaSarathi (VS) for the answer.

VS: You are named after an animal.

Sampath: What? What you talking about?!! 

VS: Don't worry. It is a good animal that turned a situation of despair into hope. It also led to the creation of a great new hero Hanuman. 

Sampath: What? You must be kidding!!!  

VS: Nope. Listen. When prince of Kishkinda, Angadh reaches edge of the land, he feels very dissapointed that they are unable to locate Sita. The search group he was leading included Hanuman, Jambavan and other mighty vanaras. Angadha did not want to go back to the king Sugriva empty-handed. He sits on a mountain rock and declares  that it is better to spend rest of the life there than go back and inform his group's inability to locate Sita. He goes on narrating the entire story how they ended up there. A big bird listening to this discussion hears the name of Jatayu and comes close to this vanara group. Angadha asks "Oh Mighty old bird, who are you?" The mighty old bird responds "I am the elder brother of Jatayu and my name is Sampath(i)".

VS pauses and looks at Sampath. Happy Sampath smiles. Sampathi with brief appearance changed the trajectory of the epic by informing location of Lanka leading to the gaint leap by Hanuman across the ocean. 

Wowed by his answer but not completely satisfied, I ask "What if someone asked that mighty bird  meaning of his name, what would be his answer?" 

VS smiles and says: "Sampathi means wealth and virtues. Sampada, Sampatthi are its related words. Sampath can relate his name to material stuff like wealth or to something far greater. Who am I to tell? Choice is Sampath's. "

Good old days....

Dear Dad, Chicago

Dear Dad, 

This week I got a chance to stay in Chicago while attending a conference. Instead of sending you pictures of the city which you could easily find Googling, I decided to share with you the city that I saw as I walked on its streets. Please remember that the city has a whole lot more to offer than what I saw in couple of hours.

As the conference ended, Wednesday evening, I tucked my feet into the sneakers and hit the road. Walked over 10miles rudderless in the urban wilderness of Chicago. Thanks to the gentle caressing wind, not a sweat poured out of my pores. Walk was a breeze, thanks to the awe inspiring marvel of human engineering all around me. Unlike NY, Chicago looked clean, food was phenomenal, buildings were youthful and non-monotonous, each skyscraper looked as unique as the signature(s) of its respective architect(s). I had plenty of company on the streets, the city was bustling with life. Tourists relentlessly clicking their cameras. Young and old, men and women, jogging, roller-skating, cycling, some sitting and just chilling in the corner cafes, some walking holding and warming their hands while some were melting in each others arms. Moms and dads bending down to their toddlers’ height and looking straight up pointing their fingers into the sky checking out how high the sky piercing buildings in front of them were and  probably whispering in their kids’ ears that even sky is not the limit to their innate imagination. Middle aged men oblivious to the beautiful day around them, weighed down by the chores, briskly walking to their after-work destinations. Roads filled with automobiles of all shapes, sizes and prices. Joyous visitors turning heads in awe in 360 degrees sitting on roof top of the brightly painted buses. Overall it was an enticingly inviting vibrant city.

Though I had been to Chicago before, never walked the walk but I felt the resonance, the vibe, and the feeling of deja-vu. Crossed the river, meandered through the millennium park, brisked through the art institute, hit the trail by the mighty Michigan lake, strolled through the Navy Pier, and as I was on my way back to the hotel on magnificent mile, Sun started dipping and Earth began dragging its own somber shadow, like a veil, over the sky reaching structures as if it was telling me “Pal! Go home! Curtains are down and the show is over!”…but the show is never over in Chicago, its only a new show that began.

The gleaming reflective buildings basking in the golden twilight soon reduced to a silhouette then the distant windows started blinking like stars rivaling the real ones up above. In no time, night fell, the city transformed, dressed for the evening occasion, as if it wore a dark and sparking dress again calling me in, daring me to explore. The city did not look the same as the one that I had been walking all this time. As if, I stood there and Earth underneath my feet moved on and I am in a different city. I would have walked 10 more miles in this new city had I not felt hungry. Retired into a restaurant and called it a day, and what a day it was!

Yours Lovingly, 

Son