Shunya

by Sri M.

What comes out of your mouth is more important than what goes in.

The Namboodiri Brahmins are peculiar to Kerala. Legends say that they were brought from the north by Parasurama, the axe-wielding Brahmin incarnation of the great god Mahavishnu, and settled in the land reclaimed by him from the ocean. It is said that he cast his divine axe into the sea, and the sea receded, exposing the land which is now believed to be Kerala.

Fearlessness is the sign of enlightenment. You pretend. Don’t pretend. Be truthful.’

Follow the teacher’s guidance, but do not imitate him for he acts in different ways, for reasons you cannot comprehend.

‘The “I” must go. I, I, I, aren’t you tired of saying I? That “I” is the problem. Throw it off. That “I” is to be pushed out like shit. All your insides are constipated with ego. Take an enema. Break your image. Get the shit out.

The reason why Ayyappa was called ‘son of Hari and Hara’ went back to a story from the Puranas. It is said that in ancient times, when the cosmos was still young, the celestial beings called Devas, depicted in latter-day paintings as clean-shaven, fair, handsome, ornamented beings, the good Aryan type, and the dark-bodied brutes, the Asuras, the bad ones, who guffawed endlessly and had thick, turned-up moustaches of the kind associated with warriors, villains, dacoits and anti-heroes in general, were at constant war with each other. During a short period of ceasefire, they decided to churn the primordial ocean of milk together in order to obtain the nectar which conferred immortality on the imbiber. They used the great mountain Meru as the churning rod and the divine serpent Vasuki as the rope. The serpent was wound around the churning rod and the Asuras and the Devas holding the two ends began to churn the ocean. The first product that came out of the churning was the lethal hala hala poison which threatened to destroy the cosmos. The great god Shiva, who lived on Mount Kailash, came to their rescue by drinking it. His consort, Parvati, fearing that in the process of saving the universe,

her lord would be affected by the poison, squeezed his neck with both her hands so that the poison would not descend to the rest of his body. Shiva’s throat turned blue and so he came to be known as Neelakanth, the blue-throated one. Finally, when the nectar of immortality emerged, the Asuras got hold of the bowl that contained it and started to run away with it. Vishnu, the great god, sustainer of the universe, who was watching the proceedings and who was himself a clean-shaven, beautiful but infinitely grander replica of the Devas, decided to act. Vishnu exercised his magic powers and transformed himself into Mohini, a voluptuous enchantress. Infatuated by this red-lipped, big-bosomed beauty, the foolish Asuras let go of the bowl of nectar and ran after her. The Devas, meanwhile, got hold of the nectar and partook of it, thereby becoming immortal. Mohini, by using her magical powers, escaped from the Asuras who were pursuing her and reached a beautiful isolated garden of sweet-scented flowers deep in the forest. There as she was admiring her own beauty, looking at her image on the surface of a clear pond, she realised that Shiva himself, infatuated by her beauty, had followed her to that lonely spot. As the story of Ayyappa goes, consumed by a passionate and burning desire, Shiva and Vishnu, in the form of Mohini, indulged in conjugal union. Mohini gave birth to a divine boy instantly. Since Vishnu’s popular name was Hari and Shiva’s Hara, the child came to be known as H...

‘Prestige, power, name and fame have to go. Attachment comes in many guises, some hardly recognisable. Get rid of it all and be free.

‘So be careful. The snare creeps in imperceptibly. Keep life free. Don’t let the cat get in. Be free and run from all establishments.’

Love death and embrace it, for it’s your constant companion.’