How the cucumber connects with cosmos?

Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra -
- from Rig Veda 7.59.12 (1500-1200 BCE)
https://greenmesg.org/stotras/shiva/mahamrityunjaya_mantra.php

Om Try-Ambakam Yajaamahe

Sugandhim Pusstti-Vardhanam
Urvaarukam-Iva Bandhanaan
Mrtyor-Mukssiiya Maa-[A]mrtaat ||

Meaning:
1: Om, We Worship the Tryambaka (the Three-Eyed One),
2: Who is Fragrant (as the Spiritual Essence), Increasing the Nourishment (of our Spiritual Core);
3: From these many Bondages (of Samsara) similar to Cucumbers (tied to their Creepers),
4: May I be Liberated from Death (Attachment to Perishable Things), So that I am not separated from the perception of Immortality (Immortal Essence pervading everywhere).

http://mk.skycoded.com/watch/DIrvM1gcnPU#

Squirting of cucumber seeds
Ecballium elaterium

We have been reciting this mantra since young without actually knowing its meaning. We were told it is dedicated to Lord Siva and is recited during anxiety or ill health. It was a kind of a shield to be used in precarious and life-threatening situations. No one actually taught us what the whole Sanskrit recital actually meant, what more its deeper meanings. 

Now there is guy, Praveen Mohan who has delved into the secrets of lost temples and many of the forgotten pearls of wisdom in Hinduism. He is quite prolific in making videos. Some of his claims are quite outlandish and got chaffed by content providers. Youtube and Facebook, at one time, even temporarily suspended his account. Nevertheless, they are food for thought and totally worth considering. He brings out mostly the marvel of ancient Indian builders, their building techniques which were way ahead of their times and how these technologies predate modern Western knowhow but somehow got forgotten in the annals of time.

In one of his presentation, he ventures into the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra. It is one of the oldest mantras, taken from the Rigveda which was composed as way back as between 1500-1200 BCE. Of course, it is paying homage to Lord Siva but it does not request to save us from death or danger. The way I look at it, it is making us realise that life and death is a continuum, an essence of the soul. Now, what is the 'cucumber' (Urvaarukam) doing in all these, of life and preservation of life?

Here is where it becomes profound. Uruvarukkam is a poisonous variety of cucumber that explodes when ripe to extrude its seeds of life. This, in a way, can be viewed as immortality as one transmits his elixir of life, the DNA, to the next generation. His body dies but his legacy lives on forever.

There are other things related to this mantra. The pattern of seed distribution and the placing of the seeds in the fruit suggests that the ancient Hindu scholar knew about Fibonacci numbers (which was actually thought of by a 2nd century Sanskrit scholar, Pingala). Fibonacci sequencing in nature ensures the best placement of leaves of the trees for sunlight and seeds on a flower for best dispersion.

Fig 1
ratio of the length of the longer 
segment to the shorter one is φ

Another intriguing thing about the recital of this mantra is that, on special occasions, it is recited 108 times. Why 108 times one may enquire? Besides having 108 beads on prayer beads, it has much more significance than that.

The diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of Earth. The distance from the Sun to Earth is 108 times the diameter of the Sun. The distance from the Earth to Moon is 108 times the diameter of the moon. In ayurvedic practice, it is said that there are 108 vital points in our body.

Fig 2

In certain prayers involving Lord Shiva, elements of nature are invoked and are represented in the form of a pentagram. Even though the Western world dismisses this as invoking of satanic worship, there is much involved in it. Again, the outer angle of the pointed star is 108.

As seen in the diagram in Fig 1 and Fig 2, the ratio between intersections of shorter and longer lines corresponds to the golden ratio, φ, of 1.618. The golden ratio, in turn, is seen everywhere in Nature. The ratio between subsequent numbers in the Fibonacci sequence is also φ. The pentagram, hence, is the visual representation of life much like how Fibonacci numbers represent the pattern of sustaining life.

So, in short, the take-home message, at least me, in all these prayers is not to change the course of Nature but instead endeavour to use our intelligence to fight the offending agents whilst appreciating that death is not the be end. Life continues with or without us.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Life ruled by numbers?

Pain? Just a perception?

D4447 - That is the number of my running bib in the recently concluded pre marathon run of 30km. Somebody who is highly superstitious or particularly particular about numbers and if you are a Malaysian Chinese, you would have your version of interpretation. From the experience of mixing and growing up with superstition, my take on this number is like this. Generally the number 4 (sei, si) is shunned as it sounds similar to death in most Chinese dialects. 8 (pat, fatt) is desirable for its symmetrical appearance and its sound akin to prosperity. 7 is okay too as it signifies something complete like how 7 days complete a week.
Detractors will also argue that one justify their claim by looking only at what they want to see.
Well, the way I see it, the racing number denotes how my Back to Basics 30km run went.
Deterrence started with a bruised knee sustained two weeks before the race. Dried concrete on the training tarmac sent me sliding on my knees, bruised but not stirred! Then there were the aches and pains, knees, sole, here, there and everywhere.
But the minor glitches were just, minor.
After feasting on carbohydrate the day before the event, I thought that things would be okay when morning come as I lay my weary head down. But I was so wrong! Just past the stroke of midnight, an hour and and a half into slumberland, tour of duty blared its loud horn. Two hours flew by as I sorted out my worldly duties, the reason I was sent to Earth. And I was left with only 2 hours to shut my eyes before it would be to get ready for the run! A working colleague had to douse fire with kerosene by saying that I should abandon my running plan for health reasons. Oh, those naysayers!
Against all odds I persevered...
The run was a low key affair but widely supported by die hard running junkies. The terrain was an undulating unforgiving see-saw of a path with peaks and troughs. The initially planned 10km loop had to be re-routed to 7km (wonder why is it 7?, is it a sign? the last digit of bib!) after part of route was flooded due to the downpour the day before.
Anyway, from 0530h, the runners went round the loop in circles before the break of down all the way to enjoy the various hues of sky and skyline as the rays of sun hit the countryside of the lush green terrain of Serdang.
All the effort bore fruit anyway. Managed to finished 4 loops of the course with an additional 2km to round it up to 30km in 3h36m, feeling complete and satisfied that the psychological barrier of sleep deprivation was successfully combated and be in course to meet the FM challenge, come 29.9.2013!
All the sey loh, sey loh threats; but still managed to complete! 4447!

http://runkeeper.com/edit/activity?tripId=238390016

But it is not just a number?

It first started with the greeting of "hello Uncle" and your reply to "Sorry, I don't remember being related to your mother!".

Then it became, "You just don't understand!"
And finally, you know that it has hit the next phase when one who has turned 31 years start condemning the generation younger than them as "these young people just don't get it!"!
During my last outing, there was this 31-year-old guy, born in the prosperous years after the 80s, shown obviously by his bulging abdominal girth, went on a rampage telling the crowd how he cannot fathom what the youngsters are thinking these days! And it was about their fixation with their fingers doing the talking rather than talking in somebody's face. And how alienated these aliens are out of touch with reality!
This is funny because when I see this 31-year-old, I look at him as coming from a planet. Looks like I am turning into a dinosaur.

Welcome to 2013 as I enter the Senior Veteran category, and I complete half a century of life on earth.

1,2,3,4...

1 - there is only 1 God; whether it is Brahman, Allah, God or The Force,. 1-Love, 1Malaysia.
2 - there is always two sides of things; good - bad, male - female; God - Satan; positive - negative;
3 - there is always three dichotomy - God, Son, Holy Spirit or Brahma, Vishnu, Siva,
4 - four corners of the wide universe;
5 - Pentagon, the pagan symbol.the five fingers, elements of world (water, metal, wood, wind, sky)
6 - 666? Denotes Satan
7 - Days in a week (Complete); 'Eight days a week' according to Beatles;
8 - Fatt- good luck according to Chinese belief
9 - Nine planets in Milky Way, if you exclude Pluto you can include Sun to make up the number! 9 precious
     stones-Navagraha
10- The basis of our numerals - because we have ten fingers! Hrtithik Roshan does not count, he has 11.

Soliloquy of numbers…..numbers…

8.3.2010

Soliloquy of numbers…..numbers…

Today is the 2^nd anniversary of Malaysian political tsunami. Though this may be a historical date for me as a Malaysian, for someone who did his primary and secondary school education in the National language, did his undergraduate studies in a local varsity (instead of an overseas offer, for better or worse), did postgraduate studies with a state scholarship, served 7 public hospitals and is paying a sizable amount of taxes annually, why do I still remember these insignificant dates and numbers? How is it going to benefit mankind? Why do I remember the following numbers? Why???

6103	Hutchings school registration number
5.1.1970	1st day of school in Std 1
PD 8886	Father’s first motorbike
PJ 9535	Father’s 2nd motorbike
PM 1337	Another of father’s bike
PB 581	The bike forever breaking down!
BP 6162	Good old faithful Austin that took us to KL
PAF 2584	My first bike
PAG 4297	Sheila / Lats’ bike
9.7.1961	The birth date (and death) of 1st born of Mr & Mrs Sham; stillbirth due to “slapped cheek disease”, caused by Parvovirus B15 characterized by hemolysis and heart failure. Mrs Sham had reason to believe that the fetus was slapped by Satan as she was crossing a cemetery to go to her work place at an European home in a hurry and for a long time was blaming her fate for her predicament till of late.
4388	The Shan’s phone number in Malacca as we used to call them once or twice a year after waiting for hours at the pay phone in Block A of RRF.
PF 97	The Shans came to Penang in a Fiat.
886434	The 1st phone number in Brown Garden.
NE 4411	Mama’s white Volvo 144.
106, Templer Road,Seremban	Mama’s address in Seremban.
39,Jalan Durian Daun, Malacca	The Shans address in Malacca.
16150	Postcode for Kubang Krian.
43,Caunter Hall,Penang	My home address on my birth certificate.
3417	My first Post Office savings book number.
3838	Sheila’s Post Office savings book number.
12.12.1970	The date I got my stamp collection book, I wonder what happened to those stamps now.

Things you learn at an impressionable age as a child tend to last a life time. This long term memory is difficult to erase from our hard drive. They are here to stay. And also a sign of senility, where long term memory supersedes short term memory and we try to hide our inefficiencies by recalling things of the past. Just like you cannot teach old dogs new tricks. Totally wrong, totally disagree!!