Tomichan Matheikal's blog

Vishwamitra and young Rama (Gemini AI) “O Rama, I shall teach you Bala and Atibala , the two secret mantras, which are the mother of all knowledge. By chanting them, you will never suffer from fatigue, hunger, thirst, or disease. You will shine among all beings, your intellect will be unmatched, and your strength will be extraordinary.” Rama was barely an adolescent when Sage Vishwamitra took him away from the comforts of the palace to the hardships of the forest. Dasharatha wasn’t quite happy to send his young son with the sage. How can a tender boy protect a mighty sage from rakshasas as powerful as Tataka and Subahu? Dasharatha is ready to send his entire army instead. He offers himself then. Vishwamitra reminds Dasharatha of his raja-dharma of upholding righteousness, even above personal emotions. If a sage asks for help, the king must honour the request. “Rama is no ordinary human child,” Vishwamitra tells Dasharatha. “He is born for a higher purpose.” When Vasistha, the ro...

  By Gemini AI Dharma is more than duty or righteousness. It is the underlying order that sustains the cosmos, society, and the individual. The Vedas speak of dharma as a deep alignment with the divine order. When humans live in unity of thought, word, and deed, they reflect the cosmic harmony the gods themselves observe. In the context of the society, Dharma guides individuals to perform their roles responsibly – as parents, teachers, rulers, etc – so that there is harmony everywhere. Each person adhering to their Dharma contributes to collective wellbeing or social harmony . Dharma also includes self-discipline, integrity, and the alignment of thought, word, and deed. This is personal inner harmony . The Ramayana is a living embodiment of dharma as harmony. Rama’s mission is to restore the cosmic harmony that is disturbed by adharma which is symbolised by Ravana’s arrogance and lust. The relationships in the epic – son to father, husband to wife, brother to brother, king...

Tara and Rama as imagined by Gemini AI Tara was an apsara, a celestial nymph, who emerged from the ocean. When the gods and demons churned the ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality (Amrita), many divine beings and objects emerged. Tara was one of those precious entities. She was so stunningly beautiful that almost every man there – gods, demons, and the vanaras – wanted to marry her. According to certain Puranas, Lord Vishnu resolved the problem by declaring that the person standing on the right side of Tara would be her husband. Vali, the vanara, happened to be the lucky one. In Valmiki Ramayana, Tara is the daughter of a venerable vanara physician. Depending on where you read about her, Tara assumes multiple forms. The Puranas venerate her as one of the Panchakanyas, Five Holy Virgins, whose names are believed to have purifying and protective power when recited. Tara was not a virgin physically. She was the wife of both Vali and Sugriva, and had a son too. It is her moral qua...

By Gemini AI The Sarayu wept again. In silence. Sita had been swallowed by the earth. If I have been pure in thought, word, and deed, and have never once thought of any man but Rama, then, O Mother Earth, receive me into your bosom. Sita prayed and Bhumi Devi, Mother Earth, appeared personally to take Sita into her embrace. She vanished from the earth after that. Silence descended on Ayodhya. It engulfed Rama and Lakshmana and everyone else. The Sarayu was both a witness and a participant of all the sighs that underlay the silence. Rama fell into silence after Sita’s departure. He knew he was incomplete without Sita. He knew that words would have no meaning hereafter. The silence of the fissured heart is more eloquent than the music of apsaras. The Sarayu could feel the pulse of Rama’s silence as he sat on her shore looking into her depths for days on end. Words have had their time already. The Sarayu recalled how words fell from Sita’s noble lips when Rama asked her to u...

Pope Francis was a saintly, enlightened religious leader. His death is undoubtedly a loss for humankind. I started reading his autobiography, Hope , nearly two months back and am still reading it. I could have finished it long ago. But I didn’t want to. Because I loved every page of it. And I wanted this soothing and refreshing feeling, that I got every time I returned to the book, to last as long as it could. So I read the book slowly, one chapter a day, or even slower sometimes. There are lines in the book that set me thinking for long. There are personal episodes from the Pope’s life that remain etched in my heart. I already wrote two posts based on my reading experience. War is Stupid: Pope Francis & The Pope and a Prostitute . I would have written a lot more. The A-Z challenge I took up in April became a hindrance. But I continued to read the autobiography because I needed the inspiration as well as comfort it offered. There is compassion on every page of the book. Th...