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Picture
Gallery of Human Golu
While
man-made dolls are organized to form golu at houses, God’s dolls,
(i.e. human beings) grace the ‘Golu Vaibhavam’ at Samratchana.
This concept of ‘human’ golu is functioning right since 1997.
Navarathri at Samratchana brings out the latent creativity in
everyone, motivates teamwork, and imbibes a sense of belonging
to the world as one large family. The spectators are introduced
to the world’s history and mythology through play-acting.
Themes are decided well in advance, and meticulous preparations
get going. The sets are made ready, participants rehearse their
roles and everything associated with the theme is organized; volunteers
themselves make all arrangements. And Navarathri itself finds
people buoyant with excitement and cheer as their Samratchana
family members enact various themes. And each theme is followed
by a dance performance related to that theme by the
Samratchana
Dance School children.
A glimpse of Navarathri 2002 themes and festivities at Samratchana:
‘Ulaga Maha Thirudan’ (Oct 6) was
a Samratchana family theme that explained how Siva Shankar Baba
captivates the hearts of so many persons, with his pristine love.
Yama and Chitragupta, observing that the evils in the world had
reduced to a great extent, descend to Earth to check out how,
and are amazed to witness the transformation that Baba brings
on individuals, and how Baba as AthmaNathan captivates
the souls.
‘Gayathri Mantra Magimai’ (Oct 7),
revealed the sanctity of Gayathri Mantra. The golu detailed how
king Kaushika, through the power of Gayathri Mantra, got transformed
to Viswamitra, the friend of the Universe. Illustrated were the
power of the divine cow Kamadhenu, the adamant nature of the king
Trisanku to reach Heaven with his mortal body, because of which
he was stuck halfway between heaven and earth (this state is called
Trisanku Swargam) and also how the Sage Agastya freed the Gandharva
Svetan of his curse. The significance of AnnaDhaanam
(offering food) was explained, as also the
boon granted by Gayathri Devi to Siva Shankar Baba that persons
who visited him would never return hungry.
Noah’s Ark (Oct 8),
recounted how God saved the believers from the Deluge. An Oracle
instructed Noah to collect two representatives of each species
for the New World and as many human beings aboard a ship that
He would protect from the deluge. People who refused to believe
Noah, rushed in, a last-minute attempt to save themselves, but
alas, the deluge consumed them and the world started afresh with
the members of Noah’s Ark.
‘Kumbhakarna’ (Oct 9),
brought out the prowess of Ravana’s brother Kumbhakarna. Despite
his advice to Ravana to give Sita back to Rama having fallen on
deaf ears, Kumbhakarna resolved to stand by his brother in gratitude
for the care Ravana had bestowed on him. Rama vanquished Kumbhakarna
in battle and granted him salvation.
‘Thyaga Brhamam’ (Oct 10),
detailed the life story of the singer-saint Thyagaraja, the immensity
of his love for Rama, and how this love of God saw him safe through
troubled times. Thyagaraja was granted the Rama mantra by none
other than Sage Narada himself. Thyagaraja’s brothers, provoked
by jealousy, threw away the idol worshipped by Thyagaraja into
the river, though they repented later. Another incident : on Thyagaraja’s
way back from Tirupati, a rich person persuaded Thyagaraja’s disciples
to accept some gold coins and hand over to him when they reached
home. The disciples hid the coins in the palanquin. Thyagaraja
was accosted by dacoits who attempted to steal the gold, but Rama
and Lakshmana kept watch all night and drove away the dacoits.
Rama appeared in Thyagaraja’s dream and advised him to accept
‘Aabath Sanyasam’ and granted him salvation.
‘Gorakumbha’ (Oct 11),
depicted the devotion of Gorakumbha for Lord Panduranga. Gorakumbha
was a potter by profession. He was so much devoted to the Lord
that one day at work, as he pounded the mud ready for the pots
to the tune of the Lord’s Nama Sankeerthanam (chanting of the
Lord’s name), he unknowingly trampled his child to death. Infuriated,
his wife cautioned him, in the name of Panduranga never to approach
her. Gorakumbha punished himself by cutting off his hands. Lord
Panduranga, moved by the ardent devotion, restored to Gorakumbha
his hands as well as his child.
Sivarathri Magimai (Oct 12),
portrayed the significance of observing the Sivarathri Vratam
(fasting on Sivarathri day). Brahma in the form of a swan and
Vishnu in the form of a boar, failed in their attempts to determine
the form of Lord Siva. In His infinite compassion, Lord Siva granted
them His vision in the form of Jyothi (Fire). That day is
called Sivarathri. The golu portrayed how a doe and her children
escaped death at the hands of a hunter by the sheer chance of
them having stayed awake incidentally on a Sivarathri day. The
hunter was granted salvation because every time he settled himself
atop the Vilva tree near the Sivalinga (to wait for the deer:
five times, that is), a Vilva leaf fell on the Sivalinga and a
teardrop rolled from his eyes (at the love of the deer for each
other) on the Sivalinga. And Lord Siva had accepted this
as Abhishekam(water offering) and Archanai (flower
offering). Daksha (the father-in-law of the Moon God) was
provoked by the Moon’s arrogant nature and cursed him that he
would lose his radiance. The Moon propitiated Lord Siva by performing
penance. Siva granted Moon a boon that he would regain radiance
for the fifteen days from the New Moon day (Amavasya) and
wane for the fifteen days from the Full Moon day (Pournami) (No
curse can be totally waived). Siva as Mahakaaleswarar,
slayed the demon Dhooshanan who disrupted the homam (fire offering)
performed by the sage Vedapriya, and this place is called Mahakaalam.
Sage Gautama, annoyed with a jealous Rishi who ruined his fields
in the form of a cow, killed the Rishi. Repenting for his action
of killing a cow, Gautama worshipped Siva as Thryambaka
near a tributary of the river Ganges. Siva granted him salvation,
and the tributary was named after the sage (hence the river Gautami).
This place is Thrayambakam. Also explained was the
significance of the Rudraksha bead. Teardrops from the three eyes
of Lord Siva (the third eye on the forehead: Netrikkann
and hence Siva is known as Trinetradhaari), merged to form
the Rudraksha bead. The importance of the Rudraksha was depicted
by the story of the Rudraksha cat; his master (a sage) refused
to respect anyone who did not wear Rudraksha. A conflict arose
due to this, between this sage and a visitor-sage. The Rudraksha
cat (so called because he too wore Rudraksha) gained entry to
heaven and back and thus demonstrated the power of Rudraksha bead.
Nala-Damayanthi (13th Oct),
narrated the story of King Nala and his consort Damayanthi. Having
heard of Nala’s heroic feats, Damayanthi resolved to marry none
but him. The deities, wishing to test Nala’s nobility, sent him
as their messenger of love to Damayanthi, which he dutifully conveyed.
Damayanthi’s devotion to Nala moved the deities, and they revealed
their identity, and Damayanthi was married to the person of her
choice. Soon after, swayed by the influence of Kali, Nala lost
his kingdom to his half-brother Pushkara, in a game of dice, and
retired to the forest with Damayanthi, whom he later abandoned
in an effort to free her from further troubles. Damayanthi found
solace in a Queen-mother of a nearby kingdom and undertook all
efforts to trace Nala. Meanwhile, Nala was stung by the serpent
Karkotaka and underwent a change in form. Karkotaka advised him
that everything happens for good always. How Nala’s integrity
won him back the kingdom is the highlight of this story.
The Magic Vessel; How the peacock feathers got eyes
(two themes on Oct 14). An all-kid-show.
Children enacted the story of an innocent villager whom the fairies
presented a magic vessel that can grant his every wish. The jealous
village headman set out to get a similar vessel for himself, but
his greed landed him poorer than ever. ‘How the peacock feather
got eyes’ depicted all the animals requesting the peacock to be
their king, and as he strutted about in pride, the Sun God’s daughter
fell in love with him. The girl would not listen to her father’s
advice and so he got her married to the peacock. As days flew
by, the peacock’s vanity alarmed her, till one day the Sun God
flung him away to Earth again. The tears shed by the bride turned
into dust on the peacock’s feathers and assumed the form of eyes.
It was almost as if a real Circus had come to stage, on
Oct 15 2002, the Vijayadasami day, as children performed
acrobatics, trapeze items, and performed the ‘animal shows’, dressed
up as animals, right to the tail. The Circus also featured Charlie
Chaplin attempting to do tight-rope walking and ‘Appu’ (of the
Kamal Hassan starrer ‘Apoorva Sagodarargal’). And, the audience
was rolling in laughter.
Until
Navarathri 2003 then!
Picture
Gallery of Human Golu
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