Krishna's Advice To Arjuna - Part One

14: If the soul meets death when Sattva prevails, then it goes to the pure regions of those who are seeking truth. 15: If a man meets death in a state of Rajas, he is reborn amongst those who are bound by their restless activity;and if he dies in Tamas, he is reborn in the wombs of the irrational. The Bhagavad Gita , XIV, transl. Juan Mascaro. « It is incorrect to assume that Hindu thought strained excessively after the unattainable and was guilty of indifference to the problems of the world. (...) The Gita asks us to live in the world and save it. » S. Radhakrishnan, The Bhagavadgita. When Thodti was born at Nelveli in the latter half of the XXth century his ancestors had been living out-of-right for the past *** centuries hovering on never-never land under villages with-out-back twenty-hutments now overgrown to two one-thousand hovels in towncentre marshalling yards no sewers gurglecourse under their feet nor piped potable water flush their long-curdled alimentary canals nor showers chase the clinging cloaca stench nor even un-broken drains tarred roads garbage removal vans find mouth on election platforms the towncentre = the bus-terminal churning flipping putrid mud after three-day drubbing storms and bulging human fleshed trains run on forgotten time the lav’s stinging week-long turds splashvomits the feast of flies temples carved with mantric-mouthed hands from the VIIteenth & VIIIteenth gopurams in congested tiered runaway curlicue rococo-baroque fantasy rose chalk kunkumam ripe mango yellow pitch black indigo bulging fuming thick mascara eyes Zapata moustaches dangling over burgeoning bellies lithe white cows gracing Ganesha’s flanks garlands of roses hibiscus jasmine identical buxomy lasses ballooning commodious backs ample thighs their sarees a deliberately clasped transparent veneer of pudeur the jingling nautch girl anklets vain reminders of Kannagi bangles bracelets armlets tiaras talis earrings noserings fingerings toerings kolusus the prancing stained eyelashes the full lascivious lips and that eternally round-eyed vacant supercilious stare past the invisible sanctum sanctorum the vast sinking steps of the holy tank murky with blodok torn bookmatches ceremonial paper ferns water-lilies lotuses and centuries-old ooze caked ulcerous washing feet and tick-milling matted hair see how trailing reams of wishes and private wants rise in pre-paid puja-thin mantric magic smoke to high heaven