The great battle had been fought. Dharma had been established. Around
her were the corpses of her hundred sons: some with broken necks, some
with smashed skulls, some with open chests, and one with a broken thigh.
The wailing of her widowed daughters-in-law filled her ears. They
mourned for her sons and her grandsons, all of whom were killed by the
Pandavas army. Tears rushed out of her eyes, making her blindfold so wet
that she feared that she would be able to see those dead faces through
the cloth. Unable to bear the thought, she squeezed shut her eyes. The
hundred pots from which these hundred were born occupied her courtyard
in the palace. But these were bodies of grown men, princes, warriors,
each one with a broad chest and long arms. They occupied an entire
field. Their bodies still gleamed with their sweat, their armors, their
jewels, their weapons. How magnificent they would have looked as they
marched out of the city blowing a hundred conch-shells?
Gandhari
howled at the truth of her insight. Then she screamed a curse, “May you
Krishna witness the death of your children and your children’s children.
And may you die alone in the forest, hunted down like a beast.”
Krishna
came and hugged her. She wept. And she felt Draupadi weeping next to
her. Both were being hugged by Krishna, the mother of villains and the
mother of heroes, both being comforted by he who they say is God. He
said nothing. He allowed Gandhari to vent out her venom and he accepted
the curse quietly – no retaliatory curse. Yes, his children would die as
Gandhari had deemed fit and so would he. Let his clan suffer so that
the spiral of vendetta does not continue. It has to end sometime. And if
this demands the sacrifice of his clan, then let it be so.
After
the war was over Krishna was himself contemplating the end of the
Yadavas race. They were very powerful under the protection of lord
Krishna so no external force could defeat them. If the Yadavas
themselves are left unchecked, at some point of time in future, they
will become a burden to the Earth. So, lord Krishna realizes the
importance of bringing the destruction of his own race. So, when
Gandhari curses Lord Krishna and his race, He thanks her for having
solved his problem.
Days flew by after the coronation of
Yudhishtra as the king of Hasthinapur. Krishna went back to Dwaraka to
rule over the beautiful island kingdom. Blessed by the presence of the
Goddess of Wealth (Rukmini), the people enjoyed a luxurious life. Slowly
the curse of Gandhari started taking form. The Yadavas were in eternal
bliss in Dwaraka. So much bliss, that they forgot good conduct, morals
and the importance of discipline and humility. Consequently, once when
some learned men came to Dwaraka, the Yadavas sealed their destiny.
It
so happened that once great sages like Vishwamitra, Durvasa, Vashista,
Narada among others were on a pilgrimage. After visiting various places,
they visited Dwaraka to meet Lord Krishna and Balarama. The Yadavas,
which included Bhodakas, Vrishnis, Kekeyas and Andakas, who were once
virtuous devotees of Krishna, had lost their sense of culture and
discipline and were little more than hooligans. A group of Yadavas boys
who saw the great sages decided to play a prank on them in order to test
their powers.
Narad & Vishwamitra visit Dwarka – Samba dressed as a Woman Insult The SagesThey
dressed Samba, the son of Krishna and Jambavati, as a woman and tied
many robes to his belly so he’d appear as a pregnant woman. They
approached the sages and asked them to predict whether the ‘lady’ would
give birth to a boy or a girl. The Rishis realized the truth through
their divine vision and were enraged. In anger, the sages cursed them
saying that the disguised boy will give birth to a lump of Iron which
will destroy the entire Yadava race.
The Yadavas, shocked though
they were, were too arrogant to even apologies. They left the scene,
laughing off the curse as the speech of one who had lost all his sanity.
Things were however very different the next morning. Sambha developed
labour pains and soon delivered a mace from within him. The Yadavas were
now struck with fear. They immediately rushed with the mace to Akroora
and Ugrasena and in the presence of Krishna himself; they narrated the
weird tide of events.
Akroora immediately ordered, “Grind the mace
to a fine powder and cast it into the seas.” The Yadavas nodded and
retreated. Akroora cast his gaze at Krishna, his eyes full of questions.
Krishna simply smiled back. “The wheels of time are turning Uncle”, he
said, “and Sambha has played his part perfectly.” He left without
another word, leaving both of them bewildered. “What did he mean by
that?” asked Ugrasena. “I can tell you that, father.” Ugrasena turned
around to the source of voice – Rukmini.
Thirty six year ago,
Krishna prayed to Shiva for a son like him. Does that ring any bell?”
Rukmani asked. Ugrasena, said very slowly, his eyes bright, “A son like
Shiva. A son like the god of destruction! Krishna wanted Sambha to aid
in destruction…” And even more slowly, his voice down several levels, he
uttered, “Gandhari’s curse. The time for her curse to act has arrived. A
reward for her devotion in him”, he ended, leaving Akroora agape and
Rukmini nodding in agreement.
Outside the palace, the Yadavas had
obeyed Akroora’s command to the dot. They had ground the mace finely.
Everything was ground except a sharp triangular piece which appeared to
be very hard indeed. And then they had thrown the fine powder and the
lone piece into the sea. Happy that they had taken care of the matter so
easily, they returned back to their general state of intoxication and
bliss
Time rolled by. The triangular piece of the mace was
swallowed by a fish. The fish was caught by a hunter, who upon finding
the piece in the fish’s entrails immediately used it to craft a fine
poisonous arrow. The fine powder, on the other hand, washed back ashore
and deposited itself by the beautiful coast of Dwaraka. A certain grass
grew in lush abundance in the area where the powder was deposited.
Everything was set for the final showdown.
The Yadavas soon forgot
all about their curses. The consumption of alcohol was banned in the
entire kingdom of Dwaraka. However, after 36 years of Mahabharata war,
lots of omen used to appear in the Dwaraka city. The Sudarshana chakra,
Panchajanya shankh, the chariot of lord Krishna and the plough weapon of
Balarama disappeared from earth. One day, the Yadavas gathered on the
beach. The liquor that they drank made them lose their senses
completely.
They started teasing one another, bringing up the gory
pasts and gruesome mistakes of each other. Satyaki and Krithaverma
acted as the starting points of the doom of Dwaraka. Satyaki had fought
on Pandava’s side in the battle of Kurukshetra and Krithaverma, on the
Kauravas side. They taunted one another, bringing back memories of the
horrific war. In a fit of rage, Satyaki, jumped on Krithaverma and cut
his head off. The friends of Krithaverma pounced on Satyaki and a great
brawl followed.
Pradyumna,
the son of Krishna, innocent though he was, found himself in the thick
of the fight and was killed. As they have come to the sea shore for a
pleasure, they did not carry any weapons along with them. They saw the
long grown grass in abundance along the sea shore. They picked up the
grass stems and beat and killed each other. Those grass stems were
nothing but blades made of the powder of the same lump of Iron born to
Samba. Thus the curse of saints fructified.
Each blade of grass
became a mace, smashing into the Yadavas, killing them instantly. It was
a matter of moments before the Yadavas lay dead, killed by their own
clan members and in front of their very King. Except Krishna, all
Yadavas were killed. Krishna’s charioteer Daruka and another one called
Babhru only survived. They both approached Sri Krishna and said: “O
Krishna! All Yadavas were killed. Whereabouts of Balarama are not known.
It is better to search for him.”
Krishna started thinking about
the ways and means to leave this body. He remembered the words of Rishi
Durvasa. Once, as per the wish of saint Durvasa, he applied Payasam
(liquid food prepared with milk, sugar and rice) throughout his body. As
his legs were resting on ground, he could not apply it to his feet.
Durvasa observed it and said: “Krishna! You have not applied Payasam to
my foot. Your death is in your foot.” said Saint Durvasa.
Krishna
laid down under a tree and went into Yoga Samadhi. At that time a
hunter Jara entered that forest. That hunter misunderstood the moving
foot of Krishna as a lurking deer and shot a lethal arrow that pierced
into Krishna’s feet. As soon as the hunter reached Krishna, he realized
his mistake and pleaded the lord for forgiveness. Lord Krishna consoles
him and tell him how his death was inevitable.
Krishna says that
in his previous birth as Rama in the Tretayuga, Rama killed Vaali
(Sugreeva’s brother) from behind. So, Krishna has now reaped the price
for the same through Jara who was king Vaali in his previous birth. This
story beautifully brings out the very important fact that, even for the
Ruler of the Universe, the laws of Karma remain the same. Hence, lord
Krishna left the mortal world. The time from which lord Krishna died is
considered to be the beginning of Kaliyuga.
Not always, but at many times - my version of screaming is writing, at least for the last eleven and half years, but in recent times, the words were stuck inside
me. I had to force them out. “I like the feeling of words doing as they
want to do,” wrote Gertrude Stein, who died more than 40 years before
Prozac hit the market. Same here. And with each step forward, my words flow
more easily, brain to fingers to screen...
I can't wait to get the opportunity again to start writing, sharing..
I'm here. I love you.
I don't care if you need to stay up crying all night long. I will stay
with you. There's nothing you can ever to lose my love. I will protect
you until you die. and after your death. I will still protect you. I am
stronger than depression and I am braver than loneliness and nothing
will ever exhaust me -
I don’t chase people
anymore. I learned that I’m here, and I’m important. I’m not going to
run after people to prove that I matter.
Ten years ago I began my blog. With hope to write at least one post a
day, thinking daily inspiration would be around the corner. But as per
usual, side tracking occurred. I was inspired and blog ready for the
first six years, then after some life set backs, I began to slack. The
inspiration wasn’t constantly present; I wasn’t remembering to go online
and blog daily. It happened, change. So what?
Just as much as we
don’t want things to change, they do. As much as we don’t like tough
times, they happen, they are necessary. Things will shake us up, change
us, steer us on some new, unknown path. It will happen, so just let it
happen. We can fight change, be depressed, and suppress it. And for
what? The more we push, the harder we will get hit.
People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing, that's why I recommend it daily.
I’ve
come to realize, just because I wasn’t inspired and didn’t blog every
day like I had intended, “A quote every single day…or at least
every week...” doesn’t mean I’ve failed. It doesn't mean I suck and
should give it. No. It is what it is. Inspiration will come and go. We
just need to stay motivated. I can pick up, exactly where I left off.
Feel what I'm meant to feel, each day as they come.
I'm not a religious person. I'm more spiritual, I believe. Earlier this year, I have been tested like I have never been tested before.
There have been so many trials in all aspects of my life -- love, family, work, friends, self. My emotions were overflowing I didn't know how to
contain myself. I was holding on to my virtues tightly.
Then I realized all the while I was seeking for material things.. until last Friday, while driving to work, I realized there is one thing that I really need -- peace. Peace on earth,
peace on our hearts, peace of mind. There are millions of non-material things I can wish for you but this is what my heart yearns. Today, the 3rd of Nov - Zero Fourteen as you (will hopefully)
blow the candle on your cake, I'll be praying and wishing you for one thing, peace.
I know it is not much Reetu, but this all I have to say - I will always remember the relationship we had and that was very special to me. I understand that there is no
reason to be together again since you do not feel the same for me. Be sure that someone else will conquer your love, so I can only wish you the best.
So, this years Halloween was themed 60s - Over The Rainbow where you'd come dressed in colorful outfits.
As the previous years company was generous enough to subsidize us 30bucks each to get our costumes. I tagged along during office hours with the costume hunting party to the Halloween City store in Annapolis. It seems every year the costume prices seems to be doubling!!! I was not going to spend more than what was given to me ;) LOL
Anyway, in the end I picked up an orange jumpsuit in hopes of dressing up as an inmate. It was the cheapest I could find to fit my thirty dollar budget lol But I did customize it with a number tag I made and then sew it onto the jumpsuit and a ball & chain(which broke within half an hour of my wearing it). The party itself was pretty darn amazing.. the DJ was spinning every amazing track you could think (including Michael Jackson's Thriller). The dancing never stopped. I had a blast! but I did end up leaving earlier as I had to attend some other commitments.
I've trade my 2013 Malibu to get a NEW Mercedes C300 Sport. It has been 3 days since I got it and figured it would be nice to share my thoughts.
Some background: This is my first very own Mercedes since I've had my license. I have rented them, drove my friends but this is different. It is mine - well technically will be mine soon as I pay off the loan ;)
Exterior: Love it. Every line flows beautifully, a great combination of subtle and aggressive with a slight lean on aggressive with the Sport body style. The Arctic White paint job shines brilliantly in the sun and the seemingly glows in the night with reflections from cars and street lamps. It basically blends in when I want it to and still manages to turn heads. And the fact that it matches with my Bright White Jeep Wrangleris AWESOME!!
Interior:
This
thing is a vault. A comfortable vault filled with great materials from
the seats to the dash. The seats are made of a hand sewed leather.. pretty comfortable. The dashboard materials
are a matte soft touch plastic with rosewood grain trim, everything from the
stalks to the buttons feel top notch.
POWAHH:
Perhaps
this car is a dog to most but for me it is great, it puts out 248 hp
and 251 pound feet torque. It defaults to ECO mode on Start up which
includes Start/Stop engine tech and starts you off in second gear. For
all the traffic I've dealt with in the city this function has saved me a
lot of gas. At first I thought it was a gimmick and it would be
annoying (Start/Stop) but it's seamless. Switch over to Sport mode and
that's when the C300 comes alive, it puts down it's power quickly when I
need it and I can easily get up to speeds that are beyond what's
posted. The C300 is a 4Matic with a rear bias and it handles
exceptionally well especially around tight bends. Many people complain
that AWD isn't fun but I've been having a blast!
Ride:
Amazingly
comfortable even with these 3rd world country roads that Baltimore Dept of
Transportation haven't maintained in a decade. It absorbs bumps with
ease and never feels harsh.
My Closing Thoughts:
When
you get a Mercedes Benz, people's whole perception of you changes.
Friends expect you to blow money fast when you are reluctant to spend
money on crap, no I don't want to spend $18 to see the Dracula Untold "But you gotta Benz yo!" they retort. To me this is just a car, a car
that hit all of the things that I wanted for a price that fit perfectly
in my budget.
People
want to race, all the time. I'll be at a red light minding my own
business and a guy will pull up in his Acura TSX, stare at me, chirp his
wheels and speed up to the next stop light. I then casually drive to
the next light taking full advantage of the ECO Start/Stop. This also
takes place on highways with various BMW/Audi drivers attempting to
prove to me that their German car is best German car. I never entertain
it for a second.
Men
grill me. I can be at a red light and look around and see a guy with
this angry look on his face staring right at me whether they are in
another car, standing on the corner or crossing the street with their
girlfriends. It's this look that says "I don't know who you are but I hate your stupid face and your stupid car".
I casually look away because that's lame and jealousy is a female trait.
Girls
grill me. I can be at a red light and look around and see a girl with
this sultry look on her face staring right at me whether they are in
another car, standing on the corner or crossing the street with their
boyfriends. It's this look that says "I don't know who you are but I love your sexy face and your sexy car".
All in all I'm happy and I thank Mercedes Benz of Cataonsville for making all of this possible!
Here
she is in the morning after getting 30% tint all around:
My reunion with Annapolis Bancorp folks: an unexpected and delightful evening at Union Jacks!
The reunion, “I think it is a wonderful indication of the spirit that
helped made this company great,” Patsy said. “The image lives on in
these people.”
I cannot believe it has been almost three years since BA was taken over by FNB!! Some folks are missed very much :(
But nevertheless it was awesome to catch up with some of my best-est work buddies :)
I have been blogging for a decade. I wrote and wrote and I guess I am still writing. I shared my opinions, I linked to songs, books and movies I liked and more importantly, I used the blog to reflect myself to me. IMO, blogging is a spiritual practice that teaches me about faith and resilience.
At this juncture I like to say; the seeds have been planted and the dream has taken root. Now all I have
to do is the daily discipline of silencing the enemy within :)
I am very positive person. I always try and look for the best in everything, but sometimes it’s easy to get bogged down in negativity. If you’re working towards something it’s hard to not let the doubt creep in. You can find you end up asking yourself ‘Is this the right thing to do?‘, ‘What if I do all this hard work and I don’t get the desired outcome?‘, ‘What if all this is in vain?‘.
But I figure if you’re working hard for something then it’s got to be something you really, really want, so keep on focusing on the joy if and when it does all come out your way.
When I was thirteen, I couldn’t wait to be eighteen. I thought I'd know it all by then - have all the answers and that prized freedom. When I was twenty one, I planned to be married by age twenty-five with two kids. I'll always smile to myself when I think about how time changes things. And when I turned thirty I made a list of as many goals as I had in years hoping by my 33rd birthday, I'd accomplished them all.
Then a funny thing happens about the time I turned thirty three people start asking about marriage and kids and houses. And I' had begun to worry about savings, retirement, and health insurance. I'd start spending my money with more conscience.. short term sacrifices for long term gains, right?
Then comes a point where I sometimes start to compare my 32 years with everyone else’s. I wonder if I'm on the right track because it’s different from all the people I am surrounded by. I've start going to my friends’ weddings and buying baby gifts for second birthdays and suddenly I realize I am at the exact age that seemed so far away just five years ago.
I’ve always liked including myself ( maybe because I do look young too ;)) in the 25 something category...growing up, but not quite grown up. You’re an adult, but still recognize that you’re part kid. I’ve enjoyed the navigating of adulthood and all of my new first time experiences, a new job, my first ‘grown-up’ paycheck, my first house & car.. growth!
But it seems like the older I’ve gotten, the more aware I’ve become of my short-lived stay in the ‘twenties’ and the pressure to fit the mold of all of the rest of the thirties..
I’ve started to think about how easy it is to become controlled by our age and the expectation of what your age signifies to everyone else, who cares about me. They have an expectation.. almost a timetable of how old I should be by the time I graduate, buy a first house, get married, have kids... start my retirement. Suddenly it seems like there are all these benchmarks to meet, even when they don’t match the goals you are trying to reach..
My grandma once said; because as easy it is to forget, you’re free to do what you want with your life. The problem is, that can be quite the responsibility, to live your life the way you want to, rather than they way you are expected to especially if that means taking a big jump and especially when that jump may feel like a free fall! Maybe it means - quit your job and go back to school, get married or don’t.. end a relationship that no longer serves you, move away or move back home... become a different person... whatever it may be it is now the time to say goodbye to all of the things that have kept me stagnant and keep moving forward.. In the journey, one thing I always tell myself is to slow down and breathe in.
I loved you
Although against my will I knew I loved you
Time was standing still because I loved you
But someday I knew you'd fly away
Tomorrow
That could never be a new tomorrow
For I can only think of yesterday
And everyway... I loved you
Such memories of moments when I loved you
I loved you then but you were never mine
A summer to remember for all time
Leaving me with tears from farewell eyes
Those precious moments saying last good-byes
And I loved you
But you were never mine
a beautiful song in my repeat corner the past few days :)
I am Jegathpriyan, reflecting you like a mirror. So whatever you are, bring it on. I am whatever you think I am. I don't see a need in trying to alter your perceptions about me as I know the only way you will ever know me is if you ever come up & talk to me and not stay a mile away and try to judge me! To the people I love, my unconditional love is forever. ""The unexamined life is not worth living""
