Want to Hire Me? – May 2023 Updates

Hello readers,

Those of you who have been following posts for the last few months probably know the changes in my life. I want to share more recent updates.

I joined a BPO on January 25th. But unfortunately the process has some issues; there is no work at least for a few months until those issues are sorted out. So the employer said that they would relive me for now and update me when the process is ready to be launched again.

This has again created a problem. I have moved out of my home town and currently paying a huge amount for accommodation in a different city. I can’t go back to my hometown as there are some issues within the family. The royalties that I get from my books is a very small amount per month. So I am in need of a job immediately to take care of my survival. A person was kind enough to donate me some money to manage my expenses for now but it wont last long.

The readers of my blog and people who have supported me come from various domains. Some are employed in various countries, some are researchers and professors and there are some students too. Probably there are employers too who may be able to offer me a suitable job according to my qualification.

I may be a suitable employee in many different areas. Having had some experience in Youtube, I can even work for an Youtube channel. I can do SEO and social media marketing. I have the ability to collect data for research about religions and spirituality, as I have done quite a lot of research for my books. My professional experience in companies is in customer service domain; so I have enough training, experience and communication skills to offer customer support or technical support for a company.

So, I think it would be great if any of you who owns an organization can find a job for me there. That will put an end to all practical struggles that I have been facing ever since I moved out of my hometown. It will also make me much more comfortable to work on content for my blog and Youtube channel in the free time.

If you want to hire me, contact me here: https://shanmugamp.org/contact/

If you want to help me by offering a donation, that will be also a lot helpful. I dont know how long I have to wait before I can get hired but I do need to take care of expenses and pay my rent until that happens. If you want to donate, please find the options here: https://shanmugamp.org/donate/

Advertisement

Learning Malayalam – A Student’s Testimonial

I started learning Malayalam recently. It has been a very interesting journey. My first language is Tamil and I know some basic Sanskrit. Malayalam seems to preserve the beauty of both these languages. As I started learning, I fell in love with the language. Also, it is easy to learn Malayalam when you know both Tamil and some basic Sanskrit.

First, I focused on the ability to read the language. I also started learning some simple sentences and phrases in Malayalam. I bought some books including the books meant for small kids. I also bought books which are about learning English and Sanskrit through Malayalam. I bought them because they had a lot of sample sentences and conversations. All of them have been very helpful.

Here is a snapshot of my book collection for learning Malayalam:

When it comes to reading practice, Google Maps have been very helpful. If you zoom into the state of Kerala, you will see the place names written both in English and Malayalam. Practicing Malayalam reading this way not only helps you to improve your reading skills, but also helps you to understand the geography, landscape, important cities etc of Kerala.

Many websites have a lot of useful Malayalam phrases and sentences. I went through a lot of them and now I am able to convey simple things in Malayalam. There is one site which I loved a lot; let me give you the link: https://www.learnentry.com/english-to-malayalam/malayalam-sentences-and-phrases/.

There are also some good Youtube channels which teach conversational Malayalam. The ones that I loved the most are ‘Fluent in Malayalam’ and ‘Easy Pick up’.

A tool that I use often to construct sentences and to find out the meaning of sentences is Google Translate. I know that it is not always accurate. But with the basic knowledge I already have in Malayalam, I can usually identify the errors easily.

With the help of Google translate, I wrote a script for my first speech in Malayalam and made a video for it. Here is the script:

“എല്ലാവർക്കും നമസ്കാരം..എന്റെ പേര് ഷൺമുഖം. ഞാൻ തമിഴ്നാട്ടിൽ നിന്നാണ്..

ഞാൻ താമസിക്കുന്നത് തമിഴ്നാട്ടിലാണ്, എന്റെ മാതൃഭാഷ തമിഴാണ്. എനിക്ക് മലയാളം വളരെ ഇഷ്ടമാണ്. അങ്ങനെ ഞാൻ അടുത്തിടെ മലയാളം പഠിക്കാൻ തുടങ്ങി.

ഗൂഗിൾ ട്രാൻസ്ലേറ്റ് ഉപയോഗിച്ചാണ് ഞാൻ ഈ പ്രസംഗം എഴുതിയത്. എനിക്ക് അത് വായിച്ച് മനസ്സിലാക്കാൻ കഴിയും. എന്നാൽ എന്തെങ്കിലും തെറ്റുകൾ ഉണ്ടെങ്കിൽ അറിയിക്കുക..

എനിക്ക് മലയാളം പഠിക്കാൻ ചില പ്രത്യേക കാരണങ്ങളുണ്ട്. അത് വെളിപ്പെടുത്താൻ ഞാൻ ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നില്ല.

ദൈവാനുഗ്രഹത്താൽ, ഏതാനും മാസങ്ങൾക്കുള്ളിൽ എനിക്ക് മലയാളം നന്നായി സംസാരിക്കാൻ കഴിയുമെന്ന് ഞാൻ പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കുന്നു.. 

എനിക്ക് ഇതിനകം അടിസ്ഥാന സംസ്കൃതം അറിയാം. നിങ്ങൾക്ക് തമിഴും സംസ്‌കൃതവും അറിയാമെങ്കിൽ മലയാളം പഠിക്കുന്നത് വളരെ എളുപ്പമാണ്.

നിങ്ങൾക്ക് എന്തെങ്കിലും നിർദ്ദേശങ്ങൾ ഉണ്ടെങ്കിൽ, ദയവായി എന്നോട് പറയൂ.. എന്റെ പ്രസംഗം ശ്രദ്ധിച്ചതിന് നന്ദി.”

I even attempted to write a poem; But it is not complete yet:

‘അറബിക്കടലിൽ നീന്തുന്ന മീനുകളാണ് നിന്റെ കണ്ണുകൾ…

നിന്റെ പുരികങ്ങൾ മന്മഥന്റെ വില്ലുകളാണ്…

നിന്റെ കണ്മണികൾ ഒരു നിഗൂഢ മുത്തുച്ചിപ്പിയുടെ കറുത്ത മുത്തുകളാണ്..

ആ മൂക്ക് രണ്ട് സുഷിരങ്ങളുള്ള ഒരു ദിവ്യ പുല്ലാങ്കുഴലാണ്… അതിലൂടെ നീ  ശ്വസിക്കുന്നതെന്തും ദിവ്യ സംഗീതമാണ്…’

Then I downloaded school textbooks in Malayalam. I started making notes from them and my learning improved a lot. There are many Youtube channels which elaborate on the lessons from these textsbooks. If you search by the name of the lesson, you will get the related Youtube videos, where a teacher covers all aspects of the lesson including the exercises.

I wrote the following after reading one of the lessons from the first grade Malayalam textbook:

“ഞാൻ മലയാളം പഠിച്ചു തുടങ്ങിയിട്ടേയുള്ളൂ. സ്‌കൂളിൽ കുട്ടികൾ മലയാളം പഠിക്കുന്നതുപോലെ സ്വാഭാവികമായും ഭാഷ പഠിക്കാൻ ഞാൻ ആഗ്രഹിച്ചു. അങ്ങനെ ഒന്നാം ക്ലാസിലെ മലയാളം പാഠപുസ്തകം ഡൗൺലോഡ് ചെയ്തു.

ആ പുസ്തകത്തിന്റെ 50-ാം പേജിൽ താഴെപ്പറയുന്ന ചോദ്യങ്ങൾ ഞാൻ കണ്ടെത്തി.

നിങ്ങൾക്ക് എത്ര പൂക്കളുടെ പേരറിയാം? 

ഏതു പൂവാണ് നിങ്ങൾക്ക് കൂടുതൽ ഇഷ്ടം ?

ആ പൂവിനെക്കുറിച്ചി എന്തൊക്കെ പറയാം ?

ഇതാണ് ചോദ്യങ്ങൾ…

തമിഴിലും ഇംഗ്ലീഷിലുമുള്ള പല പൂക്കളുടെയും പേരുകൾ എനിക്കറിയാം. ഒന്നാം ക്ലാസിലെ മലയാളം പാഠപുസ്തകത്തിൽ നിന്നാണ് മലയാളത്തിലെ ഏതാനും പൂക്കളുടെ പേരുകൾ ഞാൻ പഠിച്ചത്. ജമന്തി, മുല്ലപ്പൂ, കണിക്കൊന്ന, ആമ്പൽ, പനിനീർപൂവ്, ചെമ്പരത്തി തുടങ്ങിയ ചില പൂക്കളുടെ ചിത്രങ്ങളും പേരുകളും ആ പേജിലുണ്ട്.

പക്ഷെ എനിക്കേറ്റവും ഇഷ്ടപ്പെട്ട പൂവിനെ കുറിച്ച് ചോദിച്ചാൽ എനിക്ക് ചില കാര്യങ്ങൾ പറയാനുണ്ട്. ആദ്യം, എന്റെ പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട പുഷ്പം ആ പേജിൽ പട്ടികപ്പെടുത്തിയിട്ടില്ല.

എന്റെ പ്രിയപ്പെട്ട പൂവിന്റെ ജന്മദേശം കേരളമാണ്. അവിടെയാണ് പൂവിട്ടത്. എന്നാൽ അതിന്റെ സുഗന്ധം ലോകത്തിന്റെ എല്ലാ കോണുകളിലും എത്തിയിരിക്കുന്നു. അതിശയകരമായത് എന്താണെന്ന് നിങ്ങൾക്കറിയാമോ? ഈ പുഷ്പത്തിന് പാടാൻ കഴിയും; ദിവ്യസംഗീതത്തിലൂടെ സന്തോഷം പകരാൻ ഇതിന് പ്രത്യേക കഴിവുണ്ട്.

പൂവിന്റെ പേര് അറിയണോ? ആകാശത്തിലെ ഏറ്റവും തിളക്കമുള്ള വസ്തു ഏതാണ്? വേദങ്ങളിലെ ഏറ്റവും നല്ല മന്ത്രം ഏതാണ്? ഈ ചോദ്യങ്ങൾക്കുള്ള ഉത്തരങ്ങൾ ഒരുമിച്ച് ചേർക്കുക. നിങ്ങൾക്ക് പൂവിന്റെ പേര് ലഭിക്കും.”

Just today, I finished writing about certain important incidents that happened in my life. Again, I used Google translate as my primary source, since I am not good in composition, even though I can manage to read and comprehend simple stories. So, if there are any mistakes, please let me know. Here it is:

“2022-ൽ, എന്റെ ഫേസ്ബുക്ക് ഫീഡിൽ ഒരു പെൺകുട്ടിയുടെ ഭക്തിഗാന സംഗീത വീഡിയോകൾ പ്രത്യക്ഷപ്പെടാൻ തുടങ്ങി.

അന്ന് ആ പെൺകുട്ടിയെ കുറിച്ച് എനിക്ക് ഒന്നും അറിയില്ലായിരുന്നു. പിന്നെ എനിക്ക് പ്രത്യേകിച്ച് ഒന്നും തോന്നിയില്ല.

ഒരു ദിവസം ഞാൻ അവളുടെ ‘കാലഭൈരവാഷ്ടകം’ എന്ന വീഡിയോ കണ്ടു. അപ്പോഴാണ് അവൾ വളരെ കഴിവുള്ളവളാണെന്ന് എനിക്ക് മനസ്സിലായത്. ആ വീഡിയോയിലെ അവളുടെ പ്രകടനം മികച്ചതായിരുന്നു.

മറ്റൊരു ദിവസം ഞാൻ അവളുടെ ‘ഗോപിഗോപാലം’ എന്ന വീഡിയോ കണ്ടു. ആ വീഡിയോയിൽ, അവൾ തന്റെ സഹപാഠികളായ നാല് പേരെ തനിക്കൊപ്പം പാടാൻ പ്രേരിപ്പിച്ചിരുന്നു. അവളുടെ കണ്ണുകളിലും മുഖഭാവങ്ങളിലും നല്ല ആത്മവിശ്വാസം ഞാൻ ശ്രദ്ധിച്ചു. അവളുടെ പ്രകടനത്തിൽ എനിക്ക് അസാധാരണമായ എന്തോ ഒന്ന് തോന്നി.

കൂടാതെ, ‘കാലഭൈരവാഷ്ടകം’, ‘ഗോപിഗോപാലം’ എന്നീ രണ്ട് മ്യൂസിക് വീഡിയോകൾക്കും സംഗീതം നൽകിയത് അവളാണെന്ന് അറിഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ ഞാൻ അത്ഭുതപ്പെട്ടു. ഞാൻ ശരിക്കും മതിപ്പുളവാക്കി.

കുറച്ച് സമയത്തിന് ശേഷം ഞാൻ അവളുടെ നിർവാണഷട്കം എന്ന വീഡിയോ കണ്ടു. ആദിശങ്കരാചാര്യ രചിച്ച കാവ്യമാണ് നിർവാണഷട്കം. അദ്വൈത വേദാന്തത്തിന്റെ പ്രയോഗത്തെക്കുറിച്ചുള്ള ആശയങ്ങൾ ഇത് ചുരുക്കത്തിൽ വിശദീകരിക്കുന്നു. ‘നേതി നേതി’ എന്നൊരു ആത്മീയ അഭ്യാസമുണ്ട്. ഈ കവിത അത് പടിപടിയായി വിശദീകരിക്കുന്നു.

നിർവാണ ഷട്കത്തിന്റെ ഏറ്റവും ജനപ്രിയമായ സംഗീത പതിപ്പ് ഇഷാ ഫൗണ്ടേഷനാണ് രചിച്ചത്. എന്നാൽ അവർ വലിയ തെറ്റ് ചെയ്തു. ഇഷ ഫൗണ്ടേഷന്റെ വെബ്‌സൈറ്റിൽ നൽകിയിരിക്കുന്ന വരികൾ ആദിശങ്കരാചാര്യയുടെ പതിപ്പിൽ നിന്ന് വ്യത്യസ്തമാണ്. ഇഷ ഫൗണ്ടേഷന്റെ നിർവാണഷട്‌കത്തിന്റെ വരികൾക്ക് പിഴവുണ്ട്. അത് കവിതയിൽ നിന്നുള്ള ഒരു സമ്പൂർണ്ണ വരിയെ പൂർണ്ണമായും അർത്ഥശൂന്യമാക്കുന്നു. ഞാൻ സംസ്കൃതം പഠിക്കാൻ തുടങ്ങിയപ്പോഴും ചില പ്രശസ്തമായ പുരാതന ഗ്രന്ഥങ്ങൾ മനസ്സിലാക്കാൻ എന്റെ അറിവ് പ്രയോഗിക്കുമ്പോഴും ഞാൻ ഇത് കണ്ടെത്തി.

അപ്പോഴാണ് എനിക്കൊരു ആഗ്രഹം ഉണ്ടായത്. നിർവാണഷട്കത്തിന് ആരെങ്കിലും ഒരു പുതിയ രാഗം എഴുതി പിഴവുകളില്ലാതെ പാടണമെന്ന് ഞാൻ ആഗ്രഹിച്ചു. ഈ ആഗ്രഹത്തെക്കുറിച്ച് ഞാൻ ഓൺലൈനിൽ പോലും എഴുതി. ഞാൻ പറയുന്ന പെൺകുട്ടി ഈ ആഗ്രഹം നിറവേറ്റി. അവൾ കവിതയ്ക്ക് ഒരു രാഗം ചിട്ടപ്പെടുത്തുക മാത്രമല്ല, പിഴവുകളില്ലാതെ മനോഹരമായി ആലപിക്കുകയും ചെയ്തു. ഒടുവിൽ ആദിശങ്കരാചാര്യരുടെ കവിതയോട് അവൾ നീതി പുലർത്തി.

ഇതെല്ലാം കണ്ടപ്പോൾ എനിക്ക് വല്ലാത്ത സന്തോഷം തോന്നി. വളരെ പ്രത്യേകതയുള്ള ഒരാളെ പരിചയപ്പെടാൻ വന്നതാണെന്ന് ഞാൻ കരുതി. എന്റെ സ്വന്തം ആഗ്രഹങ്ങൾ, സ്വപ്നങ്ങൾ, അഭിലാഷങ്ങൾ, താൽപ്പര്യങ്ങൾ മുതലായവയുമായി വളരെയധികം ബന്ധപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്ന ഒരു പെൺകുട്ടിയെക്കുറിച്ച് എനിക്കറിയാമെന്ന് ഞാൻ മനസ്സിലാക്കി.

എന്നാൽ അതിനെക്കാൾ അത്ഭുതകരമായ ഒരു കാര്യം അതിനു ശേഷം സംഭവിച്ചു. പിന്നീട് ഞാൻ അവളുടെ മറ്റൊരു മ്യൂസിക് വീഡിയോ കണ്ടു. വിശ്വരൂപം എന്ന സിനിമയിലെ ഗാനമായിരുന്നു അത്. ‘നിന്നെ കാണാതെ ഈ ജന്മം മുഴുവൻ കടന്നുപോയിരുന്നെങ്കിൽ’ എന്നാണ് പാട്ടിലെ ഒരു വരി. അവൾ ആ വരികൾ പാടുന്നത് കേട്ടപ്പോൾ എന്റെ കണ്ണുകൾ നിറഞ്ഞൊഴുകി. സ്നേഹവും വാത്സല്യവും അത്ഭുതവും സന്തോഷവും അതിലേറെയും നിറഞ്ഞ ഒരു മഹാസമുദ്രത്തിൽ ആ ഗാനം എന്നെ മുക്കി. എനിക്ക് സംസാരശേഷിയില്ലാതെയായി.

അതിനു ശേഷം പലതും സംഭവിച്ചു. അവളുടെ ചില കച്ചേരികൾക്ക് ഞാൻ പോയിരുന്നു. ആ കച്ചേരികൾക്ക് മുമ്പും ശേഷവും എന്റെ കണ്ണുകൾ നിറഞ്ഞിരുന്നു. എന്താണ് സംഭവിക്കുന്നതെന്ന് എനിക്ക് ശരിക്കും വിശദീകരിക്കാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞില്ല. ആ വികാരങ്ങൾ തുറന്നു പറയുക എന്നതു മാത്രമായിരുന്നു എനിക്കുണ്ടായിരുന്നത്. ഞങ്ങൾ ഒരുമിച്ചായിരിക്കണമെന്ന് ഞാൻ കരുതി. അത് വിധിയാണെന്ന് എനിക്ക് ബോധ്യമായി.

എന്റെ വികാരങ്ങൾ തെറ്റിദ്ധരിക്കപ്പെട്ടു. എന്നാൽ സർവ്വശക്തൻ എനിക്ക് ഉടൻ ഉത്തരം നൽകുമെന്ന് ഞാൻ വിശ്വസിക്കുന്നു. ഇതെല്ലാം ദൈവഹിതം കൊണ്ടാണ് സംഭവിച്ചതെന്ന് ഞാൻ വിശ്വസിക്കുന്നു. ഇതെല്ലാം പ്രകൃതിയുടെ രൂപകല്പന അനുസരിച്ചാണ് സംഭവിച്ചതെന്ന് എനിക്ക് ബോധ്യമുണ്ട്.”

I have also started watching Malayalam movies with English subtitles. Recently I watched the Mohanlal’s movie ‘Spirit’. There is also a 1992 Mohanlal movie called ‘Sooryagayathri’ which I like a lot. But colloquial Malayalam is very difficult to understand. I hope I can soon learn to understand the language as it is spoken in real life.

Most importantly, I have found school textbooks to be an excellent source for learning. Sometimes I take screenshots of certain useful passages to read them again and memorize the sentences. I used to do the same with Sanskrit. Here are some examples:

I am sharing this to inspire others who are learning Malayalam, give my learning tips and inspire them. Hope you found this helpful. If you are a Malayali, your suggestions and corrections are welcome…

There Is No Second Thought – English Poem

Often,
We are in a situation to choose
one among the two choices…
A popular example is having to choose between life or death.

Well, My wish would be this..
I will either live with you or die with you…
There is no third option..

If we live together,
It is good for the world because
we can work together to change it..

If we die together,
It is good for us because
we don’t have to put up with the
stupidity of the world anymore…

Anyway,
There is no question of two choices for me
when it comes to love…
Because I have already chosen you…

After declaring my love to you,
I know that you are also left with two choices.
It is either ‘yes’ or ‘no’…
If you say yes, there is future..
If you say no,
there is no present tense or
future tense
left in my language. ..
Only the past tense will speak to
the upcoming generations…

Anyway, situations with two choices always haunt our lives…
We always ask,
‘Should I speak or not?’
‘Should I continue or not?
Should I live or die?

These two choiced questions have their own term in English.. It is called ‘Dilemma’..

At least, when it comes to who I should spend my rest of my life with, there is no dilemma…

I love you without a second thought: I love you without the dilemma.. And I love you because there is no second choice..

  • Shanmugam P

March 2023 Updates

Hello friends,

Hope you are doing fine. In a previous post, I had written about joining a new job on January 25th. Right now, I have been actively working on my new job and it has been nearly a couple of months now.

I have moved to a new city because of my current job and got a nice spacious room in a mansion. I have also got some of my old books which were stuck in a different place. I had to spend a lot to pay the advance for the mansion and for moving my stuff.

After moving here, I have started making live videos on Youtube. The room has a good lighting and silent environment. That makes it easy for me to make videos, write poetry and a lot of new content.

There is another happy news. I have published my Tamil poetry book, under the title ‘மலையோரக் கவிதைகள் – Malayorak Kavithaigal‘ (Paperback):

Publishing my Tamil poems as a book has been a dream for me ever since I was a school student. The dream has finally come true. This book doesnt have all the poems I have written; but it has a lot of my recent poems; some of them are from the last one year and a few of them are from the years 2018, 2019 and 2020, when I was very active in my blog.

The book is listed in Amazon India, Notion Press and Flipkart. If you know Tamil, you can support me by buying the book. It costs Rs.137. Click on one of the links given above in this paragraph to buy the book.

I have ordered some author copies and it is expected to arrive today. I am quite excited about it.

Though I have got a good job which can give more financial stability, I had to spend a lot of money over the last few months for getting everything moved, to order author copies, to take care of some health issues and more. I also need financial help to launch new projects, as I feel like I am back on track to produce a lot of new content. If you want to support me, please consider donating: https://shanmugamp.org/donate/.

Please remember, your help makes a lot of difference.. It gives me much more strength to continue with my mission. In fact, publishing my Tamil poetry has given me another new beginning. I have reached another new mile stone. And it was possible by people who supported me by offering financial help; In fact, there was a time last year when I was pretty much homeless and my survival was threatened! Without the help done by many of you, It wouldn’t have been possible to get things resolved and restore a stable daily life that I used to have.

I extend my gratitude to people who have helped me and I am looking forward to receive some help now to manage my expenses this month. Thank you for reading.

An Invitation To The Lovers And Well Wishers Of The Humanity

Hello friends, well wishers, spiritual seekers and music lovers..

I have started a new group on Facebook about   @Sooryagayathri ​ , called as ‘ Sooryagayathri university’..The purpose of this group is not only to promote Soorya’s divine music, but also to learn things together..

Over the last few months, I have faced verbal abuses, threats, and even physical violence just because of declaring the fact that two people who have similar interests can get together for the welfare of the society.. People were quick to judge and come to conclusions..

To avoid such undesirable consequences and to keep myself safe, I have become much more careful.. But at the same time, I am disappointed with the world and the society because of many things that have happened.. Where is the intelligence of humanity? Did it get hijacked by mobile phones or did it burn to ashes because of the social model that modernisation has created?

We should talk more.. And we will.. As of now, I am sharing the group’s link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/906159627502438/?ref=share

If you want to see a new world, then dont worry.. Creation of a new world is in the process because of thousands of people who are awakened and intelligent, and thousands of people like Soorya who are passionate about  spreading happiness through divine art forms…

Thanks for reading….

Love Is God – An English Poem

When love hits you,
you have no choice except being hit..
When love engulfs you,
You have no choice other than giving in..

When love blossoms,
the only choice you have is to
lose yourself in the fragrance…
When the bells of love ring within you,
the only choice you have is to
lose yourself in that magical sound..

When love speaks to you,
it is impossible to stop listening…
When love conquers you,
It is impossible to escape..

When love becomes your heartbeat,
Your heart becomes a percussion instrument..
When love enters your lungs,
Your every breath is a tune of music…
And your nose becomes a two holed flute,
which breathes in the Notes
and breathes out a Song..

Love doesn’t have age limit…
You can fall no matter how old you are..
Love doesn’t have boundaries…
You can lose your heart beyond the borders…

Love cannot be destroyed..
It will speak through memorial tombs..
Love cannot be forgotten..
It will remind itself to you through the old poems…

Love has changed histories;
Love has done its job in spite of the geographical limits..
Love has defeated the calculations of mathematical brains…
Love has challenged science…
Love has been a manure for language and literature to grow..
The bottom line is,
Without love, there is no school..
Without love, there is no children in the first place…
Without love, there is no humanity…..

Love is God… Period

  • Shanmugam P

The Journey Of A Lover – Chapter 1

 “The most extraordinary people in the world do not have careers. What they have is a calling” 

– From the book ‘The Code of the Extraordinary Mind

I haven’t had a fixed job or a healthy career in life for a long time. But I do have a calling that is much more powerful than a job that helps to pay bills or a career which has a clean ladder of professional growth. A calling can go beyond many rules that are determined by the culture or the society; In fact, the sole purpose of a calling may involve questioning some of these rules. 

Mahatma Gandhi’s experiments with truth and the quest for Indian liberation was born out of a calling. The same is true for thousands of scientists who contributed to the scientific world. Many people today live with such a calling and often they have conflicts between what is socially demanded from them and what they actually want to do. They may find it very hard to fit in the society until they find a suitable supportive environment to go on with their mission or the inner calling. 

Ever since I was young, I have been passionate about a few things; those few subjects are very much related to my inner calling. I have felt that I am born to make a difference in these areas:

  1. Poetry, Music and other forms of art.

I grew up reading the poetry of Mahakavi Bharathiyar who has been my main inspiration. I was interested in exploring various meters in Tamil prosody like Venba, Agaval, Virutham etc and I wanted to write poetry in these classical meters. This interest was mainly inspired by Bharathiyar’s poems. I succeeded in using meters for poetry and I developed my poetic skills overtime. 

For some people, (Like Sooryagayathri, my most favorite carnatic singer) M.S. Subbulakshmi is an inspiration for music. Interestingly, M.S. Subbulakshmi and Bharathiyar have something in common. Bharathiyar was born on December 11 and M.S.Subbulakshmi died on December 11.

These coincidences have always caught my attention. I think coincidences are like some kind of synchronization as Carl Jung has observed. They come with messages or signs.

“Jung developed the theory of synchronicity as a hypothetical noncausal principle serving as the intersubjective or philosophically objective connection between these seemingly meaningful coincidences” –  Kerr, Laura K. (2013). “Synchronicity”. In Teo, T. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.

 I have written more about such coincidences here: https://shanmugamp.org/2019/09/27/some-amazing-coincidences-regarding-religious-tolerance/ (By the way, Osho, my spiritual inspiration was also born on December 11th. Most importantly, my son from my divorced wife was also born on December 11th. It doesn’t end here. My ex wife remarried on December 11th). 

I feel sad to see that poetry as an art is dying today. In ancient times, poetry preserved all the accumulated knowledge. People preferred metrical verses to record knowledge as they are easy to memorize and serve as great mnemonic devices. After all,most of our famous Vedic verses are in the form of poetry. But its importance and utility is not known to people these days. It is especially true with metrical verses, since free verse is getting more popular these days. I wanted to serve  the society by raising awareness about poetry and even teaching the nuances of it, if possible. 

  1. Religion

Religion has always fascinated me. I got a chance to explore various religions as I studied in the schools run by three major religions in India: A Christian School run by a church in my first grade, a Muslim school run by a mosque in 2nd grade, and a Hindu school which is named after one of the Shankaracharyas of Kanchi Kamakoti mutt in my 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grade. It looks like a design. I feel like I am destined to study in these schools to see how various religions operate.

My main inspiration for religion in early childhood was Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It was through him I understood that atmajnana/ brahmajnana and moksha are the most important goals of every religion. I also learned that all major religions are different paths to the same destination and all names of God point to the only one truth. The Rig Vedic verse ‘Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuta Vadanti’ became my favorite Vedic verse later in my life. It means ‘ The Truth is one; but it is called by various names by scholars and wise ones’.

I was disappointed by the conflicts and wars that exist between religions. My second book ‘Discovering God: Bridging Christianity, Hinduism and Islam’ was written to address this.

I have been very devotional since my early childhood. Many of my early poems were devotional poems. Later, I went through many spiritual experiences that changed my life; I will tell you more about them later in this article.

3) Science

Science has fascinated me as much as religion did. I have developed strong skeptical and critical thinking due to my exposure to science. In 9th grade, I was a main participant among a four membered team in science quizzes conducted by science center, Tirunelveli. I have been an atheist during my late teens for sometime as I lost the trust that religion is useful in any way in the modern world. My favorite scientist is Albert Einstein. He was my main inspiration.

The conflicts between science and religion were very obvious to me. Due to my earnest desire in finding out the truth, I wanted to resolve this issue by bridging science and spirituality. One of my ambitions or interests those days was to become a scientist.

Even though I forgot most of the science that I learned in high school, I know how science and scientific method works. One of my main concerns in recent years was about the fact that pseudoscience is very dominant and how it is very easy to fool people with fancy scientific terms. I am both open minded and skeptical at the same time. I wanted to see what we have in common among the findings of scientists and the enlightened sages of our ancient world. This motivated me to write my first book ‘The Truth about Spiritual Enlightenment: Bridging Science, Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta’ which is still selling and earning me royalties.

4) Society

I am going to talk about something that is least addressed in today’s world but which is also most important to understand if you really want to live a life that you have been created for. The issue that I saw in society made me angry. If this issue is recognized and addressed, most of the problems in the society can be addressed.

Do you remember one of the questions that you have been asked when you were a child? This is especially true if you are born in a country like India in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Teachers and parents often ask you, ‘When you grow up, do you want to become a doctor or an engineer?’

Why didn’t they give me all the available options? What if I want to become a poet or a singer? Obviously, those people wanted us to get the most respected and high paying jobs in the society. We were rarely encouraged to find our own passions.

I realized that I was much different than other people. I was always jumping from one interest to the other and I was more interested in exploring everything that the world has to offer. So obviously I was a very active child. My attention was switching often as I know that the world is so big and I can’t choose something right away just because the society dictated us to do so.

Did you notice that I mentioned the words ‘attention’ and ‘activity’ in the previous paragraph? Those words are important. There are many children in today’s world who show hyperactivity and also find it difficult to pay attention because of the overwhelming amount of attention grabbing stuff in the modern world. It is actually a healthy trait. But if you take such a child to a psychiatrist, a lot of them will diagnose them as the children having ADHD or ‘Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder’. That is a tragedy!

Recently, scientists are talking about how ADHD is not really a problem but actually a personality trait. There is a great amount of diversity among how the nervous systems of people function. It is also found that people who are diagnosed as ADHD patients simply have a different kind of nervous system which makes them motivated by interest rather than importance. Dr. Hallowell and Dr. Ratey coined a new name for ADHD and called it as VAST, which stands for Variable Attention Stimulus Trait.

Modern society has been created by having most of the neurotypical people in mind. But for people who are neurodiverse, this society is a problem; they have difficulty to fit in and perform according to the social demands. But it is not their fault. They are simply born for something different. In today’s society, such people are forced to follow the formula that everyone is following : 

Study and get good grades, get a good degree that has a lot of scope for a high paying job, get a high paying job, earn a lot of money, give birth to children, and die!

Do you see the problem? 

Here, I want to say more about the concept called svadharma mentioned in Bhagavad Gita. It is one of the most misunderstood concepts in religion. Since, Svadharma and Varna are discussed together, people think that Svadharma depends on the Varna one is born in. But in reality, a person’s Svadharma is nothing but the uniqueness, personality and interests which are determined by nature or genetics and by the nurture or one’s personal  experiences in life. 

Let us look at the 35th verse of the 3rd chapter in Gita (Transalation taken from https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/3/verse/35) :

श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुण: परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् |

 स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेय: परधर्मो भयावह: || 35||

śhreyān—better; swa-dharmaḥ—personal duty; viguṇaḥ—tinged with faults; para-dharmāt—than another’s prescribed duties; su-anuṣhṭhitāt—perfectly done; swa-dharme—in one’s personal duties; nidhanam—death; śhreyaḥ—better; para-dharmaḥ—duties prescribed for others; bhaya-āvahaḥ—fraught with fear

Meaning: It is far better to perform one’s natural prescribed duty, though tinged with faults, than to perform another’s prescribed duty, though perfectly. In fact, it is preferable to die in the discharge of one’s duty, than to follow the path of another, which is fraught with danger.

………..

The word duty here means the type of life that nature assigns to you. By doing introspection and discovering your true passion, strengths, weaknesses etc, you can see what kind of life or career is ideal for you.

This is one of the important messages of Gita. When people choose a career which suits their passion and interest, we will have qualified people everywhere to do their jobs. We need to see a world without class differences in order to accomplish this. A person who is picking up garbage in streets deserves to be paid as much as a doctor who cleans a person’s stomach gets paid. Both are cleaning something and bringing a cure to the society anyway. 

When that becomes a reality, the world will become a better place. Since all jobs are equally valued and since each one find s a job according to their own svadharma, everyone will naturally do their job well. That will be a kingdom of heaven on earth!

I want to end this chapter by quoting a poem by Robert Frost. It is one of my favorite poems:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

  • To be continued….

You Are Stardust – A Poetical Story

While people choose to fall in love
with their garden rose,
I somehow fell in love with a distant star..
I cannot touch the star and I cant speak to it
so that it can hear me…


Sometimes  the clouds hide it and some times the lights nearby dont let me see it.
When the sun rises, the stars disappear..
But during the night,
If I am awake, I can see it for real;
If I am asleep, I can see it in my dreams…
But whether it is day or night, the star still shines in my heart;


When I close my eyes, it shines too..
I know that stars are light years away;
But this one star is not;


My heart beat told me that there is something else which is beating close by.. And I discovered that it was my star..


My lungs told me that there is something else which also breathes along with them..Then I discovered that it is my love with that star which also breathes in a longing to survive..


My stomach told me that it has a hard time digesting the sweet memories that the star has given me..


And my nerves always tell me, ‘we have a communication problem here.. We dont understand the language of love!’…


My brain finally told me,
‘I cant identify the red blood cells because your beloved star that shines in your heart is always red because of being shy and being in love’…


I finally gathered the courage to speak to the star directly..
I asked her, ‘who are you?’
And she said, ‘I am the same as you.. I am a star and you are a star dust.. As Carl Sagan put it, all human beings came from stars because our atoms were formed inside of stars, supernovae, and neutron star collisions”…


And I said, ‘Ok fine, how should I call you?’
She said, ‘By any name that you like’…
I decided to call her by the name ‘Sooryagayathri’..

I Love You – A Special Poem for the Valentine’s Day

I felt your love in the air, in the deep waters of great oceans, in the fertile soil on the banks of Tamraparni river, in the fire of my lamp and on the space everywhere…
I know you are looking for a divine love; I know you have been searching for it in the river banks and temples…


When I sensed that search, I recognized you; when I heard your song, I found you.. When I saw you in real, I knew that it was you….


Did the winds deliver my question? I was asking  if you recognised me.. I was wondering if you really knew that we were looking for each other all along…
We are made for each other; our hearts beat for each other; we breathe for each other.. I have told the moon and the sun to leave you a note.. Did they do?


When the waves of Bay of Bengal touched my feet, I told them that i love you.. When the tides of Indian ocean immersed me, I told them that  I miss you.. When the droplets of Arabian sea sprinkled their love on my face, I told them that I can’t live without you.. Did any of them tell you what i said?


When that cute sparrow sang by my window, I told her to let you know that i cant survive this separation. When that beautiful peacock spread her wings, I told her that I am longing for a single loving glance from you..When that colorful rainbow appeared one day, I told it that you are the rainbow of life.. Did any of these messages reach you?


When the scent of jasmine penetrated my nose, I told it that I love you; when the color of a beautiful white lotus reflected on my eyes, I told it that I love you.. When the taste of a juicy mango dissolved on my tongues, I told it that I love you.. When the touch of the soft petals of a sunflower caressed my face, I told it that i love you.. When I heard that cuckoo sing in the early morning, I told her that i love you.. Dont you still know that I love you? If you don’t, let me say it again.. I love you…

New Year 2023 Updates

Hello everyone…

First of all I want to wish all my readers a happy new year. I know it is late but I was busy in a restaurant billing job during New year and I was kind of stuck in it. I will tell you more about it.

2022 was a totally different year for me. A lot of unexpected life events and experiences happened this year and it included both good and bad. To be more precise, they were both life changing (in a positive way) and life threatening.

As a person living in the society as a common man, I am forced by the social demands to find a social identity that gives me a more stable place in the society so that I could meet my financial needs and make a living. So, I don’t want to be just a self employed blogger and author anymore. I found a job in BPO and I am joining on January 25th. But I will continue to post whenever I get time and I will continue assisting spiritual seekers when they email me (whenever I get the free time and interest).

I recently worked for a job at a restaurant and I was handling billing & accounts. It was 12 – 13 hours of work per day and I had to work 7 days a week. I didn’t get time for anything at all except work. It didn’t feel like it was my cup of tea after two weeks. So I quit that job. It was a nice experience though; it also kind of trained my mind to prepare to meet the same old days working as an employee in a company. I came back to my native town on January 11th.

After trying for many companies, I finally got a more stable one. I went through two interview sessions over the phone and I got a provisional offer letter through email to join on January 25th. This job is for a client company in the US that handles the inbound sales of cable and internet service.

The process that I will be working for is going to be the same kind of process that I worked in during 2014 and after, when I went through the spiritual experiences and shift that I have talked about in my book. So I am pretty familiar with the kind of calls that I would be dealing with. I was a good performer in that old process and even got appreciation from the clients. Hopefully, there is going to be a good career growth as it is going to be an MNC.

If I get a supportive environment and convenient situation, I may come back to work full time on spirituality and poetry. But it may take a few years.

Many people were kind enough to help me with donations throughout my period of self employment. I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all your help . At the moment, I still need help for paying the security deposit for accommodation and for managing my expenses until I get my first month salary. Then I will become more stable and I wouldn’t need to rely on donations for my survival. If you want to help me, please check this link for options: https://shanmugamp.org/donate/

%d bloggers like this: