Friday, July 17, 2009

Thursday Thoughts-Karkidaka Masam/Month

This Thursday is different, as today (Friday) marks the beginning of a new month as per Malayalam calender, Karkidakam.


Karkidakam falls at the peak of monsoon ( thankfully, update from my native village in Kerala is it has been pouring, of late). The rains are considered to be the grace of God. Abundant rains mean good crop and a contended life. (Unfortunately, our great civilization still depends on the vagaries of monsoon !) So, earlier when the fields were flooded and most of other economic activities were in pause-mode, people 'looked inward'. Hence, this month was also known as Ramayana Month, a month dedicated to reading Ramayan.
Accoridng to our scriptures, there are nine types of Sadhana-one of them being Parayanam.
Naturally, when the going is bad it is ideal to shift to simple diet, porridge of all essential nutrients (karkidaka kanji). This period is considered to be good for ayurvedic treatment, because of weather conditions and also (may be) it used to be low cost treatment based on natural remedies and practitioners used to be families passing on the knowledge to generations...
This month, we remember our ancestors too...

For Sadhana, any month or moment is ideal. Any of the nine methods/combination thereof, fine. The idea is to be in God-consciousness...So, let me not miss this Ramayana month to BE Near and Dear to My Ishta Devata

1 comment:

Vishwanath Seshadri said...

Useful post, Subash..

I am lucky to be in God'sown country for part of this month - listening to discourses and visiting temples...

cheers