Golu 2022

Our Navrathri golu this year is a trip through time weaving reality with mythology, fantasy and dystopy.

Ethereal

The journey starts with Swarga, where perfect beings reside in their gossamer abodes warmed by the soothing rays of a young sun God Surya. On the top tier is Shiva, Parvati with their son Ganesha. Shiva, the destroyer, an indomitable yogi, the embodiment of will power sits with his significant other, Parvathi, the goddess of strength and herself a destroyer of evil (in the form of Durga, sitting tall on a tiger). Interestingly, they both together take the form of Ardanaari – half male and half female – symbolizing the gender neutrality of the mind. With them is their son, Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. Also seen in Swarga are Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, with lotuses in her hand and Saraswathi, the goddess of learning holding the musical instrument Veena. Krishna sits busy eating up butter and the ten avatars of Vishnu are also in sight. And Buddha sits in meditation in a serene corner contemplating the meaning of it all.

Evolution

We move down from the heavens to the Jurassic terrain with an abundance of flora and fauna on land as well as in water. Life has evolved itself languidly over millions of years. Life creeps into land from the water, Dinosaurs came and go, as biology rolls the dice of DNA determining survival or extinction.

Equilibrium

From the Jurassic we come to the golden era of human civilization. The land is lush with produce and people live simple lives. Kingdoms blossom within territories and life flows like a harmonious river, one with nature. There is a perfect balance of people, of resources, of all life forms living in symbiosis in a perfect ecosystem.

Ramayana

The scene played out is the the Aranya Kandam ( “Forest Chapter”) from the book of Ramayana, set in Thretha yuga, which considered to be the perfect era (demons notwithstanding). Banished from his kingdom by his conniving stepmom, Rama the perfect human, lives in the forest with his ethereally beautiful wife Sita and intensely dedicated brother Lakshmana.

One day an Asura, Soorpanaka (of demon lineage) comes by and falls in love with Rama. She then assumes the form of an enchanting temptress and tries to seduce him.

She is stoped by the fiery Lakshmana who then cuts off her nose in anger. She runs, (now in her original demonic form) to her brother, Ravana the ten-headed king of Lanka.

Enraged by this insult to his sister, he seeks the help of magician Mareecha who takes the form of a golden deer to lure Sita.

Sita sends Rama away to capture the golden deer for her and when he takes too long to return, she sends Lakshmana to check on him. Knowing she is now alone, Ravana abducts her in his chariot.

The devout bird Jatayu fights Ravana but is unable to free Sita as she is taken to Lanka. Valiant Hanuman goes to Lanka to find her and enraged by Ravana sets fire to golden palace .

The story however, ends happily with Sita liberated and the villain, Ravana is killed.

Explosion

The idyllic and fertile conditions for human life lead to an inevitable explosion in human population. Trades flourish, territories won and lost, people farm the land and trade their prized produce, art and artifacts. Once sparse villages start growing into dense cities.

Excess

Lights. Camera. Action! Glamor, fashion and show business dominate the collective human imagination. Lives are lavish and lived in excess. Resources are plentiful. Newly invented incandescent lights, synthetics, plastics and nylons take over cottons and candlelights. Life is to be enjoyed. The rich plunder the poor. Materialism at its peak, products are consumed and discarded mindlessly…..

Elimination

And all that nylon the plastic needed a place. Landfills became the best kept secret of technological advancement.

Entrapment

The fiery red sun shines down mercilessly on the expanses of concrete. Resources have run dry. Malnourished, exhausted and beaten down by the intense heat of an ever warming sun, they pray to the vestiges of their Gods of Kali Yuga (the era of destruction) while the skysrcapers crumble. A few old houses remain as a proof of a bygone era. Yet, hope remains. For after all, life always finds a way not merely to sustain itself but to flourish. That which survived the ice ages can survive the melting pot as well. Breaking free of its constraints, life will circle on.

Which way will the future go? The Ethereal and Equilibrium are both but a breath away on either side. Hope is eternal that life will prevail one way or another.

Hope you enjoyed our golu.

May the Shakthi be with you.

Tick Tock

The hermit on the hill –

And so the hermit sat upon the mountain top for ages. That’s what the people said. For years and years or decades and decades or even eons and eons depending on whom you asked. But then only the hermit knew he had captured Time and banished it inside his water jug . Time for him did not tick any more. And time that doesn’t tick doesn’t exist. And if time did not exist he did not exist, for how could he exist without ticking along a timeline or crunched in the folds of its fabric. So he sat abstract inside the shell of his human form that people thought was him all along.

The Time in his water jug –

But Time can never sit still, it has to Tick! No, no! It can never be still. It has to tickle them timeline sticks. It tried to jiggle some to the right and then jiggle some to the left, creating much confusion as life went backwards and then forwards. People who weren’t born died and people died without knowing they’d been born. Trains were on time and lands lush with greenery until the sun seemed to gobble it all up. It then rained backwards and thundered before lightning struck. It made life devolve and continents to stick. But it still didn’t matter one bit as they seemed oblivious to it even as they lived.

Time then gave a shrug and tried an all round wiggle. The world went round and round as the stars and planets jostled one another. Horrorscopes were cast as wars were won or lost. Some lives went on a whirlwind and others on a roller coaster. People said it was the wrath of gods or a curse for bad thoughts.

Time ticked on. No one seemed to know where from it came or whenceforth it would go. They sat with their scientific thoughts and prayers to assorted gods. They wrung their hands and shared their distorted thoughts.

Then Time could take it no more. Out popped the lid and came out on a limb. It lashed out like a cassette tape, the end came first, then the preamble. People who’d never ever seen time on its own and stood in awe at the expanse of it.

Tame it they cried! Hold it they screamed, while we get to the beginning and end of it all. They formed teams to hold the ends and peg it to the ground. They named the start a Big Bang and tried to race to the end. And so it went for ages until there came a guy with static in his hair and a twinkle in his eye who wrung their old thoughts on a clothesline and made a fabric out of Time.

The pebble at their foot-

But no matter how they measured it – by linear foot or by cubic meter – Time stayed elusive. They gave up trying to figure it out and flopped to the ground where the pebble lay still. They never saw the pebble lay it’s time in it’s water jug as it never had a water jug to begin with.

The pebble stayed a pebble with or without time.

Tik tok tik tok.

1=0

If all is one and if one is all then there is none.

Numbers exist because of one another. 1 exists because of 2.. and 3… and 4… and infinity.

Take those away then one becomes infinity but then infinite number of the very same ones is meaningless as there is no other and therefore as good as zero.

You..me..him…her.. it.. they… that.. and this – all the same one. and therefore none. One and none. One or none. Pulsing coexisting. As one and as zero. But the same. None.