"Balaji"

Sri Venkateshwara or Balaji, is a form of the Lord Vishnu only. Sri Krishna is also an Avatar of Lord Vishnu. So, Sri Krishna, Lord Vishnu or Sri Venkateshwara or Balaji are one & the same God. As per the Hindu scriptures, Lord Vishnu, out of love towards his devotees, incarnated as Sri Venkateshwara and appeared for the salvation and upliftment of humanity in this Kali Yuga (dark age) and is considered the supreme form of Vishnu in this age. The meaning of Lord Venkateshwara is the one Supreme Lord who destroys sins. Lord Venkateshwara is famous for being the most-visited shrine in the World and its prime deity for being the richest God in the World. This Temple is in the town of Chittor District of Andhra Pradesh in India & is located in the foot hills of Tirumala. It is around 140 km from Chennai and 740 km from Hyderabad city in India. The ancient and sacred Temple of Sri Venkateswara is located on the seventh peak, Venkatadri Hills on the southern banks of Sri Swami Pushkarini & because of this reason only Lord Balaji has been named Venkateswara. The greatness & opulence of Lord Balaji, the preserver of the whole Universe, is reflected in his richly ornamented life-size idol in the Tirumala Tirupati Temple. In the Temple the black idol of Lord Balaji is covered in gold, jewellery and precious ornaments and its height is 2 meters.The sacred shrine is visited by millions of devotees from far and wide. Every year, millions of people visit this Temple from within India and the rest of the World, and it receives around Indian Rs 10 Billion (more than 200 Million US$) in offerings from the devotees.

Hinduism - manifestations of the ONE supreme God!

There is a general belief that there are numerous Gods in Hinduism, which are not present in most other religions. However, the fact is that although there are numerous Gods in Hinduism, all of these Gods are a manifestation of the ONE supreme God, which is explained in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter Ten in detail:- Lord Krishna is saying that he is the source of all beings & gods. Not even that as per Lord Krishna, all these universes & creations spring from but a spark of His splendour only. As per Him, He is seated in hearts of all living entities. He Himself is Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva & Lord Brahma. He Himself is Sun, Moon, Wind & Fire. He Himself is Rama God too. He Himself is Lord of wealth - Kubera. He Himself is Spiritual word Om. He Himself is river Ganges. Among women He Himself is manifested as Goddess of fortune (Lakshmi), Goddess of wisdom (Saraswati) & other Goddesses of fame, memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience. As per Lord Krishna His opulence is limitless. Hindus likewise believe in only one God. They glorify and praise His thousands of qualities. For example when God is love, He is symbolically represented by Lord Krishna, God as virtue is represented by Lord Rama, God as power is represented by Lord Hanuman, God as wisdom is represented by Goddess Saraswati etc. etc. So these different aspects of Gods represent spirituality, purity, power etc. of the Ultimate One who is endless truth and bliss. "When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day." - Mahatma Gandhi Below are some verses from the Bhagavad Gita which explain about the various manifestations of the ONE supreme God. "aham atma gudakesha sarva-bhutasaya-sthitah aham adis cha madhyam cha bhutanam anta eva cha" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 20) "Sri Krishna said: I am the Super Soul, O Arjuna, seated in the hearts of all living entities. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings." "adityanam aham vishnur jyotisam ravir amsuman maricir marutam asmi nakshatranam aham sasi" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 21) "Sri Krishna said: Of the Adityas I am Vishnu, of lights I am the radiant Sun, of the Maruts I am Marici, and among the stars I am the Moon." "rudranam sankaras chasmi vitteso yaksha-rakshasam vasunam pavakas chasmi meruh sikharinam aham" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 23) "Sri Krishna said: Of all the Rudras I am Lord Shiva, of the Yakshas and Rakshasas I am the Lord of wealth [Kubera], of the Vasus I am fire [Agni], and of mountains I am Meru." "pavanah pavatam asmi ramah shastra-bhrtam aham jhasanam makaras chasmi srotasam asmi jahnavi" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 31) "Sri Krishna said: Of purifiers I am the Wind, of the wielders of weapons I am Rama, of fishes I am the shark, and of flowing rivers I am the Ganges." "aksharanam a-karo ’smi dvandvah samasikasya cha aham evakshayah kalo dhataham vishvato-mukhah" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 33) "Sri Krishna said: Of letters I am the letter A, and among compound words I am the dual compound. I am also inexhaustible time, and of creators I am Brahma." "mrityuh sarva-haras chaham udbhavas cha bhavisyatam kirtih srir vak cha narinam smritir medha dhrtih ksama" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 34) "Sri Krishna said: I am all-devouring death, and I am the generating principle of all that is yet to be. Among women I am fame, fortune, fine speech, memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience." "yac chapi sarva-bhutanam bijam tad aham arjuna na tad asti vina yat syan maya bhutam characharam" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 39) "Sri Krishna said: Furthermore, O Arjuna, I am the generating seed of all existences. There is no being—moving or nonmoving—that can exist without Me." "yad yad vibhutimat sattvam srimad urjitam eva va tat tad evavagaccha tvam mama tejo-’msa-sambhavam" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 41) "Sri Krishna said: Know that all opulent, beautiful and glorious creations spring from but a spark of My splendor." "atha va bahunaitena kim jnatena tavarjuna vistabhyaham idam krtsnam ekamsena sthito jagat" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Ten verse 42) "Sri Krishna said: But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe." BELOW ARE SOME OF THE FAMOUS QUOTES FROM BHAGAVAD GITA: "yada yada hi dharmasyaglanir bhavati bharataabhyutthanam adharmasyatadatmanam srjamy aham" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Four verse 7) "Sri Krishna said: Whenever and wherever there is a decline in virtue/religious practice, O Arjuna, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself, i.e. I manifest Myself as an embodied being." "paritranaya sadhunamvinasaya cha duskritamdharma-samsthapanarthayasambhavami yuge yuge" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Four verse 8) "Sri Krishna said: To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium." "karmany evadhikaras tema phalesu kadachanama karma-phala-hetur bhurma te sango ’stv akarmani" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Two verse 47) "Sri Krishna said: You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty." "na jayate mriyate va kadacinnayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyahajo nityah sasvato ’yam puranona hanyate hanyamane sarire" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Two verse 20) "Sri Krishna said: The soul is never born nor dies at any time. Soul has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. Soul is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. Soul is not slain when the body is slain." "vasamsi jirnani yatha vihayanavani grhnati naro ’paranitatha sarirani vihaya jirnanyanyani samyati navani dehi" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Two verse 22) "Sri Krishna said: As a human being puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones." "nainam chindanti shastraninainam dahati pavakahna chainam kledayanty apona sosayati marutah" (Bhagavad Gita: Chapter Two verse 23) "Sri Krishna said: The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind." I read an article -Specific similarities between the lives of Jesus and Krishna-which finds similarities between the lives of Jesus and Lord Krishna. Though Lord Krishna was born more than 3100 years before Jesus, some of the similarities between the lives of the two are interesting, such as:- Both were called Saviour, and the second person of the Trinity. Both were sent from heaven to earth in the form of a man. Krishna and Jesus were of royal descent. Angels in both cases issued a warning that the local dictator planned to kill the baby and had issued a decree for his assassination. Both Jesus and Krishna were called both a God and the Son of God. Both claimed: "I am the Resurrection." Both referred to themselves having existed before their birth on earth. Both were god-men: being considered both human and divine. They were both considered omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Both performed many miracles, including the healing of disease.

Why do fellow-Indians in my beloved "Bharat" generally appear to be so stressed-out and/or so unhealthy-looking???!!!

*This discussion-point follows-on from recent research which I carried-out into the typical 'lifestyle' options of fellow Sisters and Brothers in my beloved Motherland. Hence, the following 'facts' which I've set-out and stated below are based upon my own views and also the various contributory thoughts and comments I came across during my www-research. ====== ====== ====== ====== ====== ====== ====== India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh had his arteries bypassed very recently, a procedure that increasing numbers of Indians are having. Last year, medical journal Lancet reported a study of 20,000 Indian patients and found that 60 per cent of the world's heart disease patients are in India, which has 15 per cent of the world's population. This number is surprising because reports of obesity and heart disease focus on fat Americans and their food. What could account for Indians being so susceptible -- more even than burger-and-fries-eating Americans? Four things: diet, culture, stress and lack of fitness. There is no doctrinal prescription for vegetarianism in Hindu diet, and some texts explicitly sanction the eating of meat. But vegetarianism has become dogma. Indian food is assumed to be strongly vegetarian, but it is actually lacking in vegetables. Our diet is centred around wheat, in the north, and rice, in the south. The second most important element is daal in its various forms. By weight, vegetables are not consumed much. You could have an entire South Indian vegetarian meal without encountering a vegetable. The most important vegetable is the starchy aloo. Greens are not cooked flash-fried in the healthy manner of the Chinese, but boiled or fried till much of the nutrient value is killed. Gujaratis and Punjabis are the two Indian communities most susceptible to heart disease. Their vulnerability is recent. Both have a large peasant population -- Patels and Jats -- who in the last few decades have moved from an agrarian life to an urban one. They have retained their diet and if anything made it richer, but their bodies do not work as much. This transition from a physical life to a sedentary one has made them vulnerable. Gujaratis lead the toll for diabetes as well, and the dietary aspect of this is really the fallout of the state's economic success. Unlike most Indian states, Gujarat has a rich and developed urban culture because of the mercantile nature of its society. Gujaratis have been living in cities for centuries. His prosperity has given the Gujarati surplus money and, importantly, surplus time. These in turn have led to snacky foods, some deep fried, some steamed and some, uniquely in India, baked with yeast. Most Indians are familiar with the Gujarati family on holiday, pulling out vast quantities of snacks the moment the train pushes off. Gujarati peasant food -- bajra (millet) roti, a lightly cooked green, garlic and red chilli chutney, and buttermilk -- is actually supremely healthy. But the peasant Patel has succumbed to the food of the 'higher' trader and now prefers the oily and the sweet. Marathi peasant food is similar, but not as wholesome with a thick and pasty porridge called zunka replacing the green. Bombay's junk food was invented in the 19th century to service Gujarati traders leaving Fort's business district late in the evening after a long day. Pao bhaji, mashed leftover vegetables in a tomato gravy served with shallow-fried buns of bread, was one such invention. The most popular snack in Bombay is vada pao, which has a batter-fried potato ball stuck in a bun. The bun -- yeast bread -- is not native to India and gets its name pao from the Portuguese who brought it in the 16th century. Bal Thackeray encouraged Bombay's unemployed Marathi boys to set up vada pao stalls in the 60s, which they did and still do. The travelling chef and TV star Anthony Bourdain called vada pao the best Indian thing he had ever eaten, but it is heart attack food. Though Jains are a very small part (one per cent or thereabouts) of the Gujarati population, such is their cultural dominance through trade that many South Bombay restaurants have a 'Jain' option on the menu. This is food without garlic and ginger. Since they are both tubers (as also are potatoes), Jains do not eat them, because in uprooting them from the soil, living organisms may be killed (no religious restriction on butter and cheese, however!). Even in Bombay, this intolerance prevails. Domino's, the famous pizza chain, has a vegetarian-only pizza outlet on Malabar Hill (Jinnah's neighbourhood). Foreigners like Indian food, and it is very popular in England, but they find our sweets too sweet. This taste for excess sugar extends also to beverage: Maulana Azad called Indian tea 'liquid halwa'. Only in the last decade have cafes begun offering sugar on the side, as diabetes has spread.. India's culture encourages swift consumption. There is no conversation at meal-time, as there is in Europe. Because there are no courses, the eating is relentless. You can be seated, served and be finished eating at a Gujarati or Marathi or South Indian thali restaurant in 15 minutes. It is eating in the manner of animals: for pure nourishment. We eat with fingers, as opposed to knives and forks, or chopsticks, resulting in the scooping up of bigger mouthfuls. Because the nature of the food does not allow for leisurely eating, Indians do not have a drink with their meals. We drink before and then stagger to the table. As is the case in societies of scarcity, rich food is considered good -- and ghee is a sacred word in all Indian languages. There is no escape from fat. In India, advertising for healthy eating also shows food deep fried, but in lower-cholesterol oil. The insistence by family - 'thoda aur le lo' -- at the table is part of our culture of hospitality, as is the offering of tea and perhaps also a snack to visiting guests and strangers. Middle class Indians, even families that earn Rs10,000 a month, will have servants. Work that the European and American does, the Indian does not want to do: cooking, cleaning, washing up. Painting the house, changing tyres, tinkering in the garage, moving things around, getting a cup of tea at the office, these are things the Indian gets someone else to do for him. There is no sense of private space and the constant presence of the servant is accepted. Gandhi's value to India was not on his political side, but through his religious and cultural reforms. What Gandhi attempted to drill into Indians through living a life of action was a change in our culture of lethargy and dependence. Gandhi stressed physical self-sufficiency, and even cleaned his toilet out himself. But he wasn't successful in making us change, and most Indians will not associate Gandhi with physical self-sufficiency though that was his principal message. Indian men do no work around the house. Middle class women do little, especially after childbirth. Many cook, but the cutting and cleaning is done by the servant. Slim in their teens, they turn thick-waisted in their 20s, within a few years of marriage. Since we are dependent on other people, we have less control over events. The Indian is under stress and is anxious. This is bad for his health. He must be on constant guard against the world, which takes advantage of him: the servant's perfidy, encroachment by his neighbours, cars cutting in front of him in traffic, the vendor's rate that must be haggled down. Almost nothing is orderly and everything must be worried about. In the Indian office, the payroll is a secret, and nobody is told what the other makes. Knowledge causes great stress, though the lack of information is also stressful, leading to spy games and office gossip. Because there is no individualism in India, merit comes from seniority and the talented but young executive is stressed by the knowledge that he's not holding the position he deserves. Indians are peerless detectors of social standing and the vertical hierarchy of the Indian office is sacrosanct. Dennis Kux pointed out that Indian diplomats do not engage officially with an American of lower rank, even if the American was authorised to decide the matter. In the last decade, when Indians began owning companies abroad, the Wall Street Journal reported on cultural problems that arose. Their foreign employees learnt quickly that saying 'no' would cause their Indian bosses great offence, so they learnt to communicate with them as with children. Indians shine in the west where their culture doesn't hold them back. In India honour is high and the individual is alert to slights from those below him, which discomfort him greatly. There is no culture of physical fitness, and because of this Indians don't have an active old age. Past 60, they crumble. Within society they must step back and play their scripted role. Widows at that age, even younger, have no hope of remarriage because sacrifice is expected of them. Widowers at 60 must also reconcile to singlehood, and the family would be aghast if they showed interest in the opposite sex at that age, even though this would be normal in another culture. Elders are cared for within the family, but are defanged when they pass on their wealth to their son in the joint family. They lose their self-esteem as they understand their irrelevance, and wither. *PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT IN FAVOUR OR AGAINST THE ABOVE VIEWS ETC. Thanking you in advance Regards rkp 12.07.09

CoLaS Awards 2009, "The Sage", Gateshead, Tyne & Wear

LSC CoLaS Awards 2009 from Fawthrop McLanders on Vimeo. Kerry Sweet Ingredients UK Limited,(DKSI), Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, UK. "CoLaS Small Employer Of The Year Award 2009" http://www.lsc.gov.uk/regions/NorthEast/News/colas09/ Succesfully achieved/awarded/received on behalf of the Company by Brian Hobbins, Operations Manager & Rob Pugal, QA/Technical Manager at "The Sage", Gateshead, Tyne & Wear, on Fri 03 April '09. http://vimeo.com/4198478 http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=mypagesuite&pnum=&refresh=tM130n6QbT14&EID=829992ad-f723-4641-8a50-c1d72e7901fe&skip= Didn't "DKSI" do well, folks?!

...I'm asian!!!

You know that you're Asian when...
* You tell your parents you got 98% in an exam, and they ask about what happened to the 2%.
* There is a sale on any item, and you buy 10 of them.
* You make tea in a saucepan.
* You never buy bin-bags, but use your saved-up plastic grocery bags instead.
* You store your clothes in a suitcase, rather than a wardrobe.
* You have a 'Singer/Brother' sewing machine somewhere at home.
* Your mother has a minor-disagreement with her sister, and then doesn't talk to her for 10 years.
* You call an older person you've never met before, "Uncle/Aunty".
* You hide everything from your parents.
* Your mother does everything for you, if you're male.
* You do all the housework and cooking, if you're female.
* Your relatives alone could populate a small city.
* Everyone is a "family-friend".
* Everyone always called you for help with their homework.
* You study law, medicine or engineering at university.
* You were not-so-clever, so you studied computer science or media studies or business instead.
* You don't know anyone who has studied music.
* You went to a university as far away from home as possible.
* You still came back home to live with your parents, after you had graduated.
* Your best friend got married at the age of 18.
* You like your meat 'well-done'.
* You eat onions with everything.
* You use chilli sauce instead of tomato ketchup.
* You ALWAYS fight over who pays the restaurant bill.
* You say you hate Bollywood films/songs, but secretly you watch/listen to them.
* You avoid public places, when with a member of the opposite sex, especially if there's an acquaintance of yours within a 5 miles radius.
* You always say "open the light", instead of "turn on the light".
* You secure your baggage with a piece of rope.
* You walk out of customs with your trolley at the airport, and get greeted by all 25 members of your family, who have come to pick you up.
* You get very upset when airlines refuse to accept your luggage, when it's ONLY 30kgs overweight.
* You go back to your parents' country, and people treat you like you're a member of the Royal family.
* You ask your dad a simple question, and he tells you a long-story of how he had to walk miles barefoot, just to get to school.
* Your dad drives a Nissan car/van.
* You're rich, so your dad drives a Mercedes car/van.
* You're ALWAYS taking-off and putting-back-on your shoes, wherever you go.
* When you were little, you wondered why your English friends waited until after breakfast to brush their teeth, when you did it first thing in the morning?
* To your English friends, oil is used purely for cooking, and not as a grooming-aid.
* Your parents have nicknames, but only because people they work with, just stopped trying to read/pronounce their actual/real names.
* You have annoying nicknames like Chotu or Chicku.
* Your parents call all of your personal friends "Beta", (son/daughter).
* Your mother measures wealth in terms of gold and diamonds.
* Your parents drink at least 6 cups of tea per day.
* Your parents ALWAYS compare you to all of their friends' kids.
* At least once a week your mum/dad will say, "I want to go back to India/Pakistan".
* No one ever seems to call ahead of time to say that they're coming over for a visit.
* Your parents worry what other people will think, if you're not going to be a doctor/engineer.
* Your parents will ALWAYS say whilst out shopping abroad, "It's cheaper in India/Pakistan".
And finally, you'll definitely know that you're Asian when...you forward this message on to all of your Asian/English/Scottish/Welsh/Irish/European/American/Canadian, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc family and friends!!!
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

rag/(raag/raga) + examples

The rag is the most important concept that any student of Indian music should understand. The Hindi/Urdu word "rag" is derived from the Sanskrit "raga" which means "colour, or passion" (Apte 1987). It is linked to the Sanskrit word "ranj" which means "to colour" (Apte 1987). Therefore rag may be thought of as an acoustic method of colouring the mind of the listener with an emotion. This is fine as a general concept but what is it musically? It is not a tune, melody, scale, mode, or any concept for which an English word exists. It is instead a combination of different characteristics. It is these characteristics which define the rag. Here are the characteristics. There must be the notes of the rag. They are called the swar. This concept is similar to the Western solfege. There must also be a modal structure. This is called that in North Indian music and mela in carnatic music. There is also the jati. Jati is the number of notes used in the rag. There must also be the ascending and descending structure. This is called arohana /avarohana. Another characteristic is that the various notes do not have the same level of significance. Some are important and others less so. The important notes are called vadi and samavadi There are often characteristic movements to the rag. This is called either pakad or swarup. In addition to the main characteristics of rag, there are some other less important ones. For instance rags have traditionally been attributed to particular times of the day. They have also been anthropomorphize into families of male and female rags (raga, ragini, putra raga, etc.). There is a tendency to downgrade the importance of these aspects due to their irrational and unscientific nature.