Ambiga, a Malaysian woman of courage

Ambiga. Who is this woman who launched thousands of people to the streets of Kuala Lumpur and some other towns in Malaysia, yesterday, April 28, 2012?

She is not a minister in some government department, or, a priest with a huge following or something. But she is someone alright; someone, with some standing. A highly qualified lawyer by profession, 56 years old Ambiga Sreenevasan is the active organizer of Bersih 3.0, the name given to the huge, ‘peaceful’ rally, in remonstration for a clean and fair 13^th general election, which is just around the corner. This was indeed a mammoth assembly which took all Malaysians by surprise.

 ‘Took by surprise’, because, despite all the sorts of anti-rally propaganda meted out by the government authorities, from the very top, to dampen and to discourage the attendance of people to the rally, still thousands of citizens were seen gathering around the prohibited Merdeka Square in Kuala Lumpur, or Dataran Merdeka, as is known locally.  

The supposed to be peaceful assembly of the citizens turned into chaos later on, with fights between the police and some groups of good citizens, suddenly, turned to mob-like characters, with water cannoning and tear gas firing by the police.

Currently, news has it that the police and the organizers of the assembly are blaming each other as to who started the ruckus first. Same old! Same old!

Well, back to Ambiga. She is actually Dato’ Dr Ambiga Sreenevasan. She was conferred the title Dato’ by the sultan of Perak in 2008. She obtained her honorary doctorate in Law from the University of Exeter in 2011.

In March 2009, she became one of the eight recipients of the International Women of Courage Award from United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in the presence of the famous first lady, Michelle Obama. Now, that's strong American connection. An enviable link, that would make the Malaysian government authorities to think twice before they decide to take any negative action against her.

Yes. Be her action correct or wrong, Dato’ Dr Ambiga Sreenevasan has truly become a woman of courage. And a charming one at that!

All Spanish! What a sigh of relief!

Yesterday’s (April 25, 2012) Bayern Munich’s semi-final victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League  would be remembered by me for the whole round of sighs it will bring here and there.

For one, Lionel Messi will let off a sigh that his nemesis Christiano Ronaldo also missed a vital penalty in the semi-final.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola will breathe a sigh of relief that his strong competitor in Spain, Jose Mourinho of Real Madrid, also failed to take his team to the final.

Barcelona’s fans will inwardly let off a huge sigh of relief that their ‘el clasico ‘ rival Real Madrid were not any better than their team in failing to pass through the semi-final stage.

Chelsea boss Roman Abramowich will let off a  sigh of relief that his team is not meeting Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid in the final, as losing to Real Madrid in the final will be almost sign of backlash for removing Jose from Chelsea in 2007.


Well, I am letting off a huge sigh of relief that clubs from Spain are no more monopolizing the Champions League! 
....just heard the news that two Spanish clubs Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid are fighting it out, on May 9, in the Europa League (UEFA Cup)  final......sigh!

What's in a hug

What’s in a hug?

You will get the answer if you ask one of the 20,000 people who are expected to be hugged by ‘the hugging mother’ Satguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi on Saturday 7^th April 2012, in Penang.

Also, fondly known as ‘Amma’, she is said to possess hugs that somewhat soothes one’s inner feelings, making him or her to be truly peace at mind after the hug. Serious proclamation this. 

Why not test and experience it yourselves? She will be offering spiritual discourses, meditation, devotional songs and the much eagerly awaited hugs, from 7pm at the Penang International Sports Arena (PISSA).

A recently updated website on Amma  states that she will also be having a program in Kuala Lumpur, at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (Perdana Hall), on April 9^th 2012 from 7pm.

So there you are! Those who missed her hugs in Penang can now rush to Kuala Lumpur!

Why do Hindus pray to stones and statues, pictures and posters

Why do Hindus pray to stones and statues, pictures and posters?

Be it for any religion, when we pray to God our minds automatically begin to imagine a form or a symbol representing Him. It could be in any form; a man in a flowing robe of white, looking over from the heavens above, or just two eyes watching over you - to each his own or just as his religion has encouraged him to adhere to. A praying human will definitely imagine someone or something in his mind or even the simple letters of GOD in big image.

To the Hindus, and come to think of it, to most. God is everywhere, invisible to the human eye; He is all too powerful. He could be at the pillar behind you or the tree under which you are seeking shelter, all the time watching.

But the Hindus also believe that you could see God if really focus and feel for Him. They know the form of God is quite similar to man in essence. They carve out the silhouettes and profiles of God and Goddesses as relatively as told in the ancient chronicles and manuscripts on Hinduism. The carved sculptures are placed in the houses of the Gods and after holistic cleaning and prayers-accompanied purification they are ready to be worshiped as representations of the Gods and Goddesses. The statues of a God may portray to have many hands or the face made to look fierce but this is just to show the extreme power of the Gods and Goddesses. So now all a Hindu needs is to focus on the sculptural symbol of God and pray for his well being. To him the statue already has the soul of God in it. To the Hindus their prayers will reach God through any means if they truly and passionately pray to him. And that is why they also pray to the symbols of God such as the stone-carved phallus symbol of Lord (god) Shiva, the creator.

Pictures and posters are essentially the photo copies or the intricate and vigilantly laboured drawings of the statues of the Gods and Goddesses in their splendor. The houses of the Hindus will conveniently have these in their prayer rooms for them to pray at various occasions.

Why Hinduism has many Gods and Goddesses

Just a little clarification why Hindus have many Gods and Goddesses.

The world’s population is huge. It is impossible for a single person to oversee the hardships the billions of people, less alone grant the wishes of the masses. For efficient organization and management of these masses, the globe itself had become divided into nations.

Nations systematize themselves to bring about efficient rule and control of their populace. They have presidents or prime ministers or head of states with other names. Under them, they have other ministers or leaders, holding various port folios. They have leaders to oversee respective segment of the assignments, relating to the smooth running of the nation. A nation’s business sector will have its own administrator to deal only with the commercial aspect of the nation. So will the agricultural, military, education, health, just to name a few. Some nations even have ministers to look into the welfare of women in their realms.

Why such segmentation? It is absolutely impossible for one person to administer the operation of a nation all by himself, that’s why. Dreadful chaos will rein in which will definitely make that person go insane, just to put it mildly. So is the same case with our beloved God, though He definitely won't go insane, being the almighty He is. In this world of billions of lives, both human and non human how can God singularly focus his attention on the requirements and prayers of those souls? It is for this reason that Hinduism has allotted itself with various representations or representatives, if you may, of God.

Just for an illustration, below are some of the most common Gods and Goddesses, also known as deities with various representations:

Brahman (male) – Almighty God.

Brahma (male) – creation.

Vishnu or Vengkadeswara (male) – preserver or sustainer of life.

Shiva (male) – death and dissolution. Also creation.

Ganesha (male) – success, wisdom, wealth and also destroyer of obstacles.

Muruga (male) – remover of all kinds of negative forces.

Saraswati (female) – knowledge and learning.

Lakshmi (female) – wealth and prosperity.

Durga (female) - protector of righteous and destroyer of evils.

Mariamman (female) – fertility, health and good spouse