The expert cook

   

                                 The expert cook


In olden days the main and only job of woman was to take care of the house. So expertise in cooking was considered a necessary qualification.
Shakti kumara, a merchant's son decided to find out a bride for himself and set out in the guise  of a palmist, with four pounds of quality rice bound in a cloth.

Wherever he went, the parents of marriageable daughters showed their girls to him to read their hands. And whenever Shakti kumara saw a suitable match for him, he told her, showing the bundle of rice to treat him to a good lunch with that rice . It was whole rice with husk. The girl would laugh and turn her face away thinking him to be mad.
Ultimately he entered an old big house where Gomini ( name of the girl ) lived with her parents and a servant maid.
The moment he saw Gomini, Shakti kumara knew that she was the girl he was looking for. He simply showed his bundle of rice to her. Before he could say something, Gomini signed to her maid to take the rice from Shakti kumara and asked him to take a seat in one corner of verandha swept and cleaned, giving him water to wash his feet.
Then she set to work, while Shakti watched. First she pounded the rice, kept them in Sunlight for a while and separated the husk from the rice rubbing them on the cleaned floor.
Then she called her maid and asked her to go and sell that chaff to a goldsmith who would need it for polishing his ornaments, and with that money, to buy some wood, nether wet nor dry, a small sized earthern  cooking vessel and two earthern plates.
 After the maid had done her work, Gomini threshed the rice in the mortar with a heavy pestle,sorted it with a winnowing basket and washed it thoroughly. Then making obeisance to the oven, she kindled some of the logs of wood and put the rice in boiling water. After a few minutes, she took the utensil from the cooking fire, covered it with one of the earthern plates and poured the gruel on the other plate. Then stirring the rice with a spoon, making sure that it had been well-cooked, she kept the pot upside down to dry the rice inside.
Next she sprinkled water over the half-burnt logs of wood which had by that time turned into charcoal and asked her maid to sell those charcoals in the market and buy with that money a few vegetables and a little ghee, oil, curd, salt , amalaki ( myrobalans ), tamarind and spices.
The maid went and brought the things quickly.
Then Gomini kindled the remaining logs of wood and prepared two or three dishes. After this, she placed the earthern plate with gruel on wet sand and cooling it gently with a palm leaf fan, put salt and powdered amalaki in it which added to the gruel a flavour resembling the fragrance of lotus.
Then she asked Shakti kumara through the maid to take bath, giving him oil and amalaki for his pre-bath toilet.
When Shakti came back after cool and refreshing bath, he saw a wooden seat placed on the clean floor swept and rubbed for the second time and before it the tapering portion of a plantain leaf taken from the garden. Shakti took his seat. Gomini first brought him the cool soothing gruel soup which removed his weariness and exhaustion all at once.
Then she brought two big spoons full of steaming rice, poured a little ghee over it and served the vegetable soup and another dish she had prepared.
When Shakti had finished that, she brought the third course - the remaining rice and curds spiced with pepper, cinnamon and ginger, and fragrant cool butter milk and sour gruel.She offered him water fragrant with rose petals mingled with the perfume of full-blown lotuses.
Then the maid removed the leaf and cleaned the place.
Being highly pleased , with the consent of their parents, he married that girl  according to the proper rites, and took her home.

Take care of your nature and nature will take care of you

                                  Take care of nature and nature will take care of you

The striking features of nature are its richness in variety, orderliness and rhythm. The world of nature is very varied. But still there is an order. There is no clash seen anywhere regarding shelter and food. Of all the created ones, man is supposed to be the supreme because he is credited with discrimination.

The scriptures declare that the entire outside world consisting of earth, sky, the Sun, the moon and the stars, the plant kingdom, animals and birds , the rivers and oceans was created first and then the man. The entire paraphernalia is essential for man to exist and enjoy it and lead a fruitful life. Even now man finds comfort in the lap of nature when he is tired or stressed.

Nature, and the world outside is not an inanimate thing. It is a living, pulsating organism. The great  thinkers of ancient India recognized it fully- understanding it as the cosmic form of the Infinite Reality. It is to be cultured and nourished, respected and revered. If  one approaches nature with the right attitude, he can invoke its grace and blessings to benefit humanity.

The third chapter of the Bhagavad Gita explains the ideal relationship between man and nature beautifully. The whole world of cosmic powers and natural phenomena functions instinctively in the service of all. When you cherish nature with give and take spirit in the society or the community, you shall be cherished by the natural forces in turn, and thus mutually cherishing each other you will reach the highest prosperity, peace and joy.
Man has both the qualities evil and good. There is always a constant struggle between the two. With the advent of the scientific revolution and impact of materialism, the qualities like gratitude, love, kindness tend to erode and selfishness, intolerance, greed, pride, egoism, hatred all predominate. These have brought about innumerable evil results like corruption , vulgarity etc. In spite of his conquest over nature, the wild brutal aspect of nature within him has gained upper hand clouding his glorious qualities of compassion, love, forgiveness, gratitude.
He is disharmony with himself. So he exhibits evil thoughts which emit negative waves. It is a universal law that love begets love and hatred returns hatred only with multiple times. Emitting negative thoughts rebounds on him and ultimately man himself may be wiped out from the surface of the earth.
Nature reflects man. Man's behaviour to nature and other beings is the deciding factor. In his vanity, man thinks that he is successful and that he has achieved things. Really speaking, he cannot achieve anything without the help of nature and community. These are all his gifts. He should realize this. There are innumerable stories available in literatures as to nature saved good people and showed its fury in the form of floods, fire, earth quakes etc in destroying the evil. There is an interesting story that tree went as a witness for a honest man in getting him justice. It is said that the sky, earth, trees are eternal witnesses and man cannot hide anything from them. Even birds animals all help a good person. They punish a bad one.
Rama's kingship was governed by righteousness and his rule was based on the welfare of the people.
Rama-rajya, the ideal kingdom on earth, that was the time when social harmony prevailed and people lived in peace. Because the leader was upright, loving and just. It was a golden age of golden deeds.
Rama-rajya is like Milton's version of millennium, a golden age as he expresses in ' Paradise Lost '.
Milton dreams of
New heavens, new earth, ages of endless data,
Founded in righteousness, and peace and love,
To bring forth fruits, joy and eternal bliss.
During Rama's rule, nobody was tempted to do any violence to any body. Every one was healthy and free from diseases. Trees always brought forth fruits and flowers. The rains were on time. Every one

was contented, none spoke falsehood. A man's  good conduct has such purifying effect on the entire atmosphere. All these aspects of Rama-rajya are relevant in any age.
In the same way, any one of you can conquer the universe around you,because you are the center. If you change, the world will also change. We have  forgotten all the beautiful techniques of mastering the world around, improving our country, beautifying our society with human qualities.
Revolutions or changes in the constitution will not change the world or bring peace.
The world outside is ruled by, governed by, determined by us. Each one of us is responsible for the condition of the world today. Let us change the world by changing ourselves. When man realizes oneness of life, unity of consciousness, he will never engage himself in strife or quarrel. This realization is possible  by introspection and using discrimination.
When man is in harmony with himself and the world, peace and prosperity accrue on its own. The great seers of the Vedas always declared that the movement, speech and mind of the people should be harmonious. They should try to understand each other. Their common goal should be public welfare.
What a glorious vision !