The siege of Mumbai.

Sri gurubhyo namaha.

Shocking. Scary. Unbelievable.

The inhuman siege of Mumbai, the drama which began on Wednesday and still rages on as I type this post, brings tears to one's eyes. The audacious nature of the attack, its synchronicity, the complete abandon with which the jihadis have executed this attack, the utter and complete breach of security in a city that normally has police crawling the streets, I could go on.....

The notion of a safe India, of a democratic and stable India, of a spiritual and tolerant India, is disappearing fast. Replaced as it were by visions of Iraq or Afghanistan or perhaps Indonesia superimposed on the streets of Mumbai and Delhi.

As the NSG and the army join the Mumbai police in attempting to curb this most overwhelming of situations, and as millions of Indians the world over wait with bated breath and heavy hearts for the close of this drama, I realise that there is the power of prayer in each of our hands. Let millions of japa of the Gayatri mantra done the world over become astras as powerful as the BrahmastrA - destroying as it were the anger and the hatred that is at the very root of this unending struggle. Let the prayer of every AstikA (believer/theistic) be heard by the Gods in heaven. Let there be a shower of peace. May my prayers and silent tears join the floods of tears from people the world over to be a blanket of comfort for those who have lost their loved ones. May those who have lost their lives in this bloody siege find everlasting peace in the heavens, or may their next lives be at least in better and more humane times.

The sage and siddha, Thirumular questions -

'' pUsai enbadhu pUvOdu pAniyO ?
Asai kObam agandhai agatriyE
nIsa vaimpori nenjul niruthiyE
Isanai tham idhayathut kAndalE . ''

- Is pUjA (worship) defined as holding flowers in one's hand? (i.e. is it only the ritual/external?)
(Nay) When desire/lust, anger and selfish ego are removed
When the impure and lowly five senses are arrested (by pratyAhArA) within the heart
And when one sees the Lord in the abode of the Heart (etheric cave of the heart) - that is pUjA.

In the name of religion, for the sake of defending one's faith, if one had to believe in violence and spreading fear and panic, when will the time come to transcend the base demons of anger and selfish ego? When will the time come where we will know what really is prayer? Or when will we come to know what or who really is God?