Difference between Om Nama Shivaya and Shivaya Nama

Om Nama Shivaya and Shivaya Nama are mantras dedicated to Mahadev Shiva. But is there a difference between them?

Om Nama Shivaya – Sthula Panchakshara

Shivaya Nama – Sookshma Panchakshara

Om Nama Shivaya is chanted to gain worldly objectives.

Shivaya Nama is chanted to attain Moksha – Liberation

Saint Vallalar wrote that when one applied sacred ash on the forehead, one should say ‘Sivaya Namaha,’ because it confers on a devotee good speech, good company, good qualities and moksha.

Each of the letters in these mantras has significance. ‘Na’ represents our pride, ‘Ma’ represents the impurities in our minds, ‘Si’ represents Lord Siva, ‘Va’ represents Goddess Sakti, and ‘Ya’ represents the atma. 

So when we say, ‘Sivaya Namaha,’ the atma, represented by ‘ya,’ is in the middle. On one side are pride and other impure thoughts represented respectively by ‘Na,’ and ‘Ma.’ On the other side of ‘ya,’ we have Lord Siva and Goddess Sakti represented by ‘Si’ and ‘Va.’ So it is for us to decide what we are going to do.

Will we go the way in which temptation leads us? Or will we turn towards God? The ‘ya’ comes right next to ‘Va,’ for the Goddess is even more merciful than Lord Siva. After all, an erring child is afraid to approach its father.

It first seeks forgiveness from its mother, who recommends to the father that he must not judge his child harshly. In the same way, the Goddess makes sure that the Lord’s wrath is not directed towards us. 

She speaks to Him on our behalf. To get His mercy, we must go to Her first. His mercy then automatically comes to us.

Saviour Najib and an Indian economic fund

SHAH ALAM: The down-trodden and marginalised Indian community is hoping that Datuk Seri Najib Razak can be their saviour.

All they want is an Indian economic fund fashioned after the Bumiputera economic empowerment agenda he announced recently.

Leading the call for hand-outs to Indians is the MIC. Vice-president Datuk M Saravanan and party treasurer Datuk Jaspal Singh feel that this is the only way Indians can break free from their chains of poverty.

But another view is to take stock of what have been given to the Indians so far.

Saravanan reportedly said that the marginalised Indians need to be uplifted by the government with such specifically targeted economic model while Jaspal said Indians were twice worse off than Bumiputeras.

Jaspal had called on Najib to introduce among others an Indian Economic Empowerment Council, increase Indian equity ownership in the corporate sector and structured programmes to support Indian entrepreneurship.

But do the Indians need a specifically targeted economic model?

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Institute of Ethnic Studies principal research fellow Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria thinks otherwise.

Sothinathan's dilemma

ANALYSIS With the announcement by M Saravanan that he would not contest for the MIC deputy president post, the only candidate likely to challenge Dr S Subramaniam in the forthcoming party elections is S Sothinathan.

But Sothinathan is said to be in a dilemma, whether to make a second attempt for the post as he did in 2009 or to position himself as one of the three vice-presidents this year and to move up later in 2016, when the leadership transition in MIC takes place.

In the 2009 party elections, Sothinathan contested as the third candidate for deputy presidency, securing a respectable 280 votes against veterans G Palanivel and S Subramaniam. Palanivel won the contest with 629 votes against Subramaniam who polled 547 votes.

Sources close to Sothinathan said although it is an uphill task to unseat the current deputy president and health minister, Sothinathan may still have a fair chance provided Palanivel's supporters back him for the position.
      
"Most of the delegates who were elected in 2009 are likely to be returned again this year. Sothinathan has a comfortable 280 votes based on the 2009 election results.

"Former deputy president Subramaniam’s 547 votes are up for grabs now because Subramaniam is not going to play any role in this election due to his health condition.

Group proposes EIA for Batu Caves

PETALING JAYA: An environmental impact assessment (EIA) must be conducted before any development at the 400-million-year-old Batu Caves is considered, said Friends of Batu Caves (FoBC).

The environmental coalition urged the Selangor government and Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to insist, with immediate effect, on an EIA for any development activities at and within the Batu Caves’ buffer area.

FoBC stressed that this was crucial in view of Batu Caves’ status as a national heritage site and its proposed listing as a Unesco World Heritage Site.

“Although this may not be required by law at the moment, special consideration should be given to the area.

“Particularly since there have been recent calls by prominent figures including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel for Batu Caves to be nominated as a World Heritage Site,” it said.

It added that the operational guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention clearly stated that impact assessments for proposed interventions were essential for all World Heritage properties.

FoBC warned that Batu Caves’ location within a densely populated and heavily developed area meant that it was highly vulnerable to irreversible damage, especially to the fragile karst and cave ecosystems of the limestone hill.

No excuse for temple fracas in 1Malaysia

COMMENT I am a Hindu born and raised in Malaysia. My sisters, cousins, mother, father, their siblings, even their parents were born and raised here.

I have best friends of all races, I know the "right way" of using chopsticks, wore a kebaya for my wedding reception, got married in a church and a temple and have a Malaysian flag stuck in my car and well, tick all the boxes when it comes to being an ideal Malaysian. At least I used to think so.

Yet three decades on, I return from a short trip abroad to the news that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) officers had allegedly wore shoes, smoked and damaged statues of deities at a Hindu temple in Jalan P Ramlee in the act of removing the statues to make way for construction for 30-storey tower block next door. Welcome home.

The statues were unceremoniously removed, allegedly hacked out from the 101-year old Muneswarar temple in the Golden Triangle before proper prayers can be carried out to have them relocated, amidst claims that no notice was issued.

Even we, Hindus, are not allowed to simply manhandle statues and proper prayers must be done before an altar at home is moved, what more in a temple proper and in such an angry manner.

When a group of Buddhists used a surau for meditation with permission of the Muslim resort owner, all hell broke loose with the resort owner being remanded, his permanent resident status revoked and the surau earmarked for demolition. But now it would appear that government staff do not think twice of defiling another's place of worship.

We are Malaysians, we were raised to know not to wear shoes in homes and in suraus, mosques, temples and most places of worship.

Mahabharata – Bahagian 47

Hari sudah lewat petang dan Maharishi Sukracharya mula risau. Anak gadisnya, Devayani, yang pergi ke tasik untuk mandi-manda bersama-sama sekumpulan kawannya masih belum pulang.

“Mungkinkah sesuatu yang tidak diingini menimpa? Mengapa hatiku begitu risau?” Demikian fikir pendeta itu yang merupakan penasihat kepada ketua golongan asura iaitu Raja Vrishaparva.

Sejurus kemudian, maharishi itu memanggil seorang wanita yang menginap di ashram (asrama) dan memintanya pergi meninjau tasik tempat Devayani, Puteri Sarmista dan rakan-rakan mereka pergi.

“Mengapa tidak saya pergi terus ke istana untuk mendapatkan maklumat? Kalau ada sesuatu berlaku sekali pun, pasti maklumat sudah sampai di sana,” wanita itu mencadangkan.

“Oh! Sampai bila kita mahu terus hidup berkiblatkan istana dan raja-raja? Bukankah lebih baik jika kita pergi terus kepada punca masalah daripada asyik bergantung kepada sumber maklumat daripada pemerintah dan istana?”

Wanita yang mengusulkan cadagan tadi tidak membantah mahu pun menjawab. Dia segera pergi ke tasik yang dimaksudkan.

Sebaik tiba, dia terkejut melihat Devayani sedang menangis seorang diri di bawah sebatang pokok. Gadis itu ternyata amat marah dan kedua-dua matanya pula merah.

Palanivel's U-turn may trigger fight for No 2

ANALYSIS On Sept 1, G Palanivel was officially elected unopposed as the eighth president of MIC, securing 617 nominations, which translate into support from 3,702 branch chairmen out of 4,000-odd branches. This is indeed a tremendous show of support.

Palanivel's smart and tactical moves made this possible.
His early announcement that he will only stay for one more term as president overwhelmingly doused deputy president Dr S Subramaniam's hopes of mounting a challenge for the presidency as the branch chairmen across the nation felt: "Why should there be a challenge since he is going away in three years. Let's give him the chance!"

About two weeks before nominations, at a closed-door meeting attended by central working committee members and divisional chairmen from all over the country, and at the press conference that followed subsequently, Palanivel reiterated once again that he would step down as president in the first quarter of 2016, paving the way for Subramaniam to take over.

It was also publicly declared that this leadership transition deal was brokered by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak himself.

This triggered a massive show of support for Palanivel from MIC branch chairmen in terms of filing nomination papers. Even MIC leaders who were openly backing Subramaniam filed nominations for Palanivel and garlanded him on his victory.