The topic here Ucchadanam is a term which means a methodology that is used by the manthrika's of early ages to drive out some evil force out of a particular location, a house or a village or a town. My grandfather was a manthrikan the side of which was known only to immediate family members. He had a guru who he meets occasionally in a cave somewhere in the hills nearby.
Thinking of my grandfather brings me avid memories of my child hood days, where we were treated as special children by the people of the village. May be the greatness of the pious and old grandfather of mine, who was a courtier in his highness Vishakham thirunal's affairs. Brought to look after the properties of Vishakham thirunal's ammaveedu in Arumana and then a contractor and close aide of the then finance secretary and son inlaw of his highness, Sri Velayudhan Nair, My grandfather had an air of Piety and humbleness around him.
He was a much respected and dignified person in the village. We could feel elated when as kids we were carried in his arms and while he walks majestically amidst the green paddy fields and clad in white dhothi and Jubba, brass rimmed walking stick in hand, the peasants bowing with respect etc. There are vague images of him doing poojas with colorful chakras and and with lines of vibhuthi on his chest hands and forehead, and seated in padmasana, surrounded by golden colored brass lamps and the aroma of the dhoopam etc.
We also had a family deity who was Nagadevatha and we had a temple (thekkethu) in the south east corner of the compound. From the age of 3 I was accompanying him to do the daily prayers at the temple. He was strict that I am clean after school and ensured that I bathed and did not consume any eatables before entering the sanctorum. The dark sanctorum had a Palmyra leaf box tied to the truss of the tile tatched roof of the temple. I was very curious as what could be inside that. He used to assure me that I will definitely be told what was inside that if I would be clean and and be devoted to the devatha. I was very enthused to be there and slowly started learning teh rites and teh Manthras associated with the poojas.
He would chant
"Om.. ugra haalaahala..."
and I would also repeat the same and he was very patient with my childish lisps, and ensured that I pronounced them with correct intonations. Technically speaking a mantra is a mystical formula composed of letters and words that are meaningful to the initiated. A mantra is a combination of sacred syllables which forms a nucleus of spiritual energy. Mantra should be pronounced properly. If it is not pronounced properly, its significance is likely to be changed. This shows that pronounciation should be done properly otherwise the meaning gets changed.
Where the mantra should be broken is important, the meaning gets changed according to the place where we break the mantra. That is why we should not pronounce the mantra if we do not know how to do it. If a mantra is not properly used, it can have an adverse effect. There is a rhythm for pronouncing the mantra and the seat is specific, the sitting posture is definite. The smaller the mantra, the more effective it is. If it is long, it becomes difficult to utter and its result is general. If it is small, it is easy to utter and its result is very good.
Grand mothers tell stories of durmanthravadis to make children have fear and be obedient. I remember many instances of that which my granny told , where the durmanthravadi gives blood sacrifice of young children and if we go out of the house he will catch us too.
However, it happened that my grandfather had a guru who had taught him sadmanthravadam and oushadhavidya. He defiitely had great intuition and some mystical powers which i had never seen him using that. His upasanamoorthy was Lord Neelakantha and he was an expert in Visha chikitsa also. I usually wonder what this is and have been very inquisitive of it. My grandfather was patient and he used to tell me what is manthravadam etc.
'Manthravadam' or performing rites for propitiating supernatural forces (a type of native 'voodoo') is popular in Kerala. This is infact a very complicated topic. It is believed that it permeates the ethereal and reaches out to the supernatural phenomena. It is also a belief that "manthravaadis" can communicate with the spirits of the dead. There are various incidents in a traditional keralite home where there are interlinking instances of manthravaadam and oushadhakriya(Medicine from plants). The unseeable can be seen and unhearable can be heard and not all manthravadis can do that. This threfore points that the science of occult which was practiced in kerala was vast and it had various branches.
Normally Manthravadam is distinguished into 4 as sahathapamanthravadam(Sympathetic magic), Bhavishya jnanam(Divination), Adbhutha prayogam(Thaumaturgy) and Aabhichara Karmam(incantation). However, there is much broader classification as Sadmanthravadam(Good) and Durmanthravadam(evil). Sadmanthravadam as told earlier is for teh good of society and human beings which does not harm the person practicing it or the beneficiary. Durmanthravadam is a totally dangerous game which can have it's evil effect on the doer or the practitioner or the benficiary also if something went wrong. Sorcery,incantation or aabhichara karmam was definitely a feared and dark magic.
Talking about magic, the most potent Mantras and prayogas are found in Atharva Veda. In fact most of the Mantrics from Kerala use Atharva Veda. Both Ayur Veda and Astrology are from the Atharva Veda. There is a lot of overlap between Atharva Veda and Tantras which came later than the Atharva Veda. In Visha vidyam that is snake bite treatment Garuda upasana played a major role. I could feel the intensity of the knowledge and the power of contemplation which has come to me by centuries. there are a lot of things unknown. What I understood was just the tip of the huge mountain.
Now coming to our story, as in the case of any stories with a Hero, and a clown, this story too has a hero and clown. My Hero is of course, my grandfather. And the clown is none other than one of his cousin's who was jealous of him. I could not call him a Villain as he was more of a clown ending up as a laughingstock for people.
He was always jealous of my grandfather, and my grandfather almost always ignores him. (reminds me the typical cousin duo played by Mohanlal and Jagathi in the film yoddha). So one day this cousin of my grandfather was coming from karodu , a place near arumana after some ucchadana kriya as there was some yakshi's trouble as he had found out. He was wearing a white dhothi and had an angavasthram on him. Had a chooral (a rod) which he sometimes uses for baadha ozhippikkal (warding off of spirits). Karodu was a place with dense vegetation and looks more like a forest area. As those days there were no means of transport, the rich and affluent used to travel in their Tongas or villu vandi's. Others have no other go but to resort to walking. And even to this day there will not be any transport at the time he headed for home as it was 2:30 AM in the morning.
While he was walking amidst the tall trees and twines that were connecting the trees, he was walking very boldly. He did not take a choottu (a torch made by lighting a broom made of coconut palm leaf) inspite of the people in the house asked him to. He said I am a great manthravaadi and I have just pinned the yakshi in the palmyra tree. what harm will come to me..? I can very well walk back home without any light. In his heart of hearts he knew that it was pournami (full moon night) and was confident that he can easily go in that light. There were eerie noises and sound effects by the crickets. there were also some firefly's flying around. he walked on and on. Sudenly he got strtled when he heard something falling from the height. It stirred a marrow in his spine and he caught his chooral firmly and cried out "ammae mahamaayae"..! but it was not too late that he realized that it was a coconut palm leaf and a coconut that fell in the silence of the night. After bringing courage he walked on. there were streaks of moonlight oozing through the thick foliage of the tall trees in that ottayadi paatha (a small path), which appeared like evil forces looking at him or surrounding him. He was thinking of all these and he realized he was stepping on something slithery under his feet.
A shriek escaped his throat but that was broken due to the fear in him. he tried to cry out “ paambu”.. but “paaa..” only could come out. He ran as fast as he could but the root of the tree which had dry leaves which got moist due the rain that night made him feel it was a huge snake he was stepping on. It was not long that he reached Panankara. Panankara had a rivulet and a small bridge made of wood and coir. Somehow he crossed the rivulet and just came to the other side. Somewhere in the farthest vicinity was heard a dogs howling. He felt fright in the air. the wierd noises made by the arecanut trees swaying at the westerlies wind made him look around once.
There was a kaavu there.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarpa_Kavu). He had a small fear as he had just stepped on a good one..
Then he heard a something like an anklet sound coming from behind. He stopped and listened. The anklet sound also stopped. He moved ahead and lo.. The anklet sound again. As he stops walking the anklet sound also stops.. he held the chooral firmly and started walking a bit more faster chanting his ishta manthra. As his pace increased so did the sound of the anklets pace too. he started running literally and so did the anklet sound. With all his fright and courage regained after holding his chooral and rudraksh maala he turned back. He felt a lightning pass through him. He freezed.. There was this figure of a woman clad in white saree and with loose hair.. Seen in the dim moonlight which did not reveal her face.. but he could see the eyes and the teeth shining of the being.
He started chanting his manthras loudly and tried some black magic. but the being was still. He felt that it sould be the same yakshini he had captured and nailed in his clients palmyra tree. Maybe someone has pulled out the Nail. He felt... he did all he could do but this did not go away from the human plane to the ethereal plane.
As a final method he removed his clothes and urinated around him in a circle.. sat down and chanted some manthra sitting naked there in the circle. Then took some soil and threw on her. Nothing happened but the lady started crying out loud.. "Yemanae.. ennai onnum cheyyallae.. chanthaikku ponam.."(master don't harm me.. i wanted to go to the market.)
Then only he realized that it was a lady who was going to the market and was following him as he was a well known manthrik, and felt protected in the darkness..!!
The story was narrated to my grandpa by a worker in the field who happened to be the affected lady's husband. I was sitting in his lap listening to this and did not make out much of that then :)
HR Phobia
What will I take as elective in my MBA which is still inside the braces or under the bar for 4 years now? Well HR Management is one good option, my wife said that.
But why should I do it? Do I really deserve the Hate of really intelligent and hardworking people who earn the bread and butter for any organization to grow? (That doesn’t mean that I should necessarily get a HR job after completing the course.. J)
Despite its more everyday use terms such as "human resources" and similarly "human capital" continue to be perceived negatively and maybe considered an insulting of people. They create the impression that people are merely commodities, like office machines or vehicles, despite assurances to the contrary. The resource management group is not bothered about any other resources, but human beings who are the resources they manage. It's common when we hear that they say "That resource of yours needs to be placed in this project..."!!! rather than telling the name of a person. Are we really commodities??? Hmm of course they too are resources for the organization.. The RMG resource..!
The definition of HR Management as per Wikipedia reads as under,
“Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business”
They definitely do “contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business”. Especially in a knowledge centric industry like what we work in, any company we go to will have the induction program conducted by the HR’s lauding the achievements of that company. Relative terms like, “we”, “our company” etc., are used which makes me think "do I really belong?"..! IF then why are they treating us like this? We will be told, for any issues, come to us. We are here to help you.! When you really have a problem and if that is against the interests of a manager and however you are being able to back that up with data, you will be told, I have heard your version, let me talk to the manager as well..
This definitely is contrary to the theoretical discipline that is based primarily on the assumption that employees are individuals with varying goals and needs, and as such should not be thought of as basic business resources, such as trucks and filing cabinets.
Hence proved that no company’s HR is for the people, but they exist for the company..!
A Father is Born
8 May 2010..
While in the driving seat of our WagonR, my mind was not seeing the road, but mindful of my wife' comfort at the Front seat. All poised to enter the new phase of our lives we felt like going through a phase..Gowreesha hospital appeared to be a long way from sreekaryam. Finally when we reached there at 9 AM Dr. Rema was already in the labour room. My wife went in with a nursing assistant and we waited for around an hour and then the door of the labour room opened. My heart skipped a beat in anxiety and Dr. Rema was there with a note pad and she read out many a names and people belonging to those names ran to her. At each names she called, my ears used to turn up if it was my wife's. Then finally the last name was her's. The doctor looked at my face and told, I am admitting her. she will be delivering today.
My heart was praying to lord Gowreesha whose temple was on the same street as the hospital. Something in my mind said the lord is extending his sheath of protection around us and that she will be having a safe delivery.As hrs rolled by my anxiety started increasing. My parents were at home around 70 kms away. I had the great boon that at times of real need God will keep just himself alone with me. May be because I remember him only in times of need.
Hours rolled on and I realised that I was hungry when it was 3:00 PM. I tried in between to have a glimpse of my wife through the door.. however it was always closed. she went inside just like that in the morning and I really felt a pang when she was inside for such a long time.
All of a sudden the doctor came out and said she's dilating and soon would be delivering. my heartbeat went up two three.. five.. many folds.. I prayed, and prayed..
Finally at around 4:45 PM was the son born.. no I was born.. a new birth for me..as a Father. it was around 5:30 PM that they brought the bundle of Joy to us. He opened his eyes when I took him in my hands.. his mother's very same eyes.. the hazel eyes.. The doctor said, my wife was fine and she would be brought to the room in a while. My eyes welled with gratitude when I thanked her .. and my sweet lord when he was my only companion when in need.
It's an year..!
It's an year since I got into the pensive mood.. soon shall be jotting things .. wait and see..
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