Vinayaka and Hanuman

Very close to my office there is a famous temple Madya Kailash.  This temple has a unique deity called the "Aadhyanta" prabhu.  As given in the image by side, the deity is a merge of half vinayaka and half hanuman.

I have heard my granny mention many times "Pillayar pidikka koranga mudinjadu" (You start making a Vijayaka and it ended as hanuman).   For a long time, i believed it is actually a critic of my work,  may be she intended/used it that way always.

Later, from my wife's bhajana circle, understood that for a bhajan recitation always starts with a Vinayaka bhajan/sloka.  All the other deities continue after that, finally finished with a Hanuman bhajan.  That made litte more sense,  but the question always lingered why that way.

A very interesting blog entry by ThingBigBlog author Who is vinayaga?, kindled some thought.  Further analysis definitely provided more evidence.

Vinayaka	Brain
Grey in color (elephant)	Called the grey matter
2 big ears	2 big lobes on either side
long trunk	Trunk shaped Medulla
Solves all troubles	When you think through all your challenges are overcome

"Adi" means first or origin, sticks well with Vinayaka the symbol of brain (where the thought originates).

"Antha", how does that associate with Hanuman?  What would that be?  A further analysis brought the most obvious to light, "No thought is productive, unless it results into an action".  Action !!!, that is the word you would associate Hanuman with in the whole of Ramayan too.  He jumped the sea to seek sita, one immediate thing that comes to my mind.  As a an animal, monkey is also an impatient creature that rests too less.

That fits exactly in the puzzle.

I am really amazed by the amount of symbolism that is built by our ancestors into our daily life.
Lets have the blessings of "Aadiantha" purshan and have a very productive life filled with vibrant/positive thoughts and concrete actions.

Mylapore car festival - a view point

"ஊர் கூடி தேர் இழுத்தல்" is a phrase that I  have heard many times.  But, for the first time i got to witness it in great depth.  Truly, it was an awesome experience.

I would like to present two thoughts that still resonating in my mind.

First thought is centered around the following images.

A musicians, leading in the front with all instruments energizing the team and crowd.
The people holding the rope (வடம் ) and pulling the cart to the front.
The enthusiasts with large wooden planks navigating the big cart well over pot holes and corners.

All of them working in tandem with precise sync to make bring the car to its final destination (நிலை).

Though there is a deity statue assigned responsibility (ஆவஹனம்) for guiding the car safely, the manifestation was a super-organism synchronized by the person with flag circled in the next image.

The super-organism had to plan its move for the next 5 meters and re-access.  

No one individual was a subordinate or boss to another, they were united by the common goal to accomplish the goal.  A true symbolization of how a team needs to perform.  

Second thought was more a "Why?" question on the whole event.  

On reflecting on the thought "ஊர் கூடி தேர் இழுத்தல்" phrase re-occurred.  Yes, it was very obvious, any task that as big as a Car festival, requires the entire community to participate for completion.  Occasions such as this, create a means for work together shelving their differences.  

On completion of the big task, a natural happiness cloud sinks in, causing longevity of relationships.  

Thousands of people thronged the streets of Mylapore, the last two days, one thing i found common across all of them.  Everyone had a smile on their face.  Awesome source of energy to sink in when you see  all those smiles.

Wow !! our people had figured the way of living together.

Let's keep the smile going and pass it on :)

PS: Images from google search 

• http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/grand-prelude-to-mylapores-biggest-festival/article3278347.ece
• http://aarbalaji.blogspot.in/2007/04/more-kapaleeswarar-festival-images.html
• Balaji Maheswarar