By Divine Design

It is no accident. For the simple reason such miracles have to be from a Mastermind. That mind is the Universal Muse. We think we understand the bodies we are gifted with and the "bodies" we build... the apparently static but constantly growing, changing, decaying and rejuvenating structures that we live in... the futures we carefully plan and  craft for ourselves and try hard to enact. But through all of Creation runs a subtle power and it is gifted to us individually as our own subtle body and the auras of everything around us.

These are the dynamic entities through which "divine" energy and "divine" plan are communicated to us, the channel through which we connect with that power and talk to it as it talks to us.

We forget this and we forget to trust in these forces. Vishvakarma Puja is dedicated to reviving and energizing that channel and nourishing the subtle bodies of ourselves, our dwellings and our creations - our works of art, our writing, the assignments we have perforce to submit and be assessed for and the survival skills we practice as long as we are alive. It’s a day I love so much because it binds me through that invisible thread to the humblest of artisans, workers, craftsmen – all seamlessly woven together into that divine plan that we understand so little of.

Vishvakarma is depicted in most places as an old, bearded man riding a swan.


In Bengal, however he comes to life in every humble corner as a swashbuckling young man riding an elephant. The elephant is synonymous with stability as well as ancient wisdom. Resting on that strength he rises in resplendant colors.

I am always reminded of the cool, grey-tinged, sleeping, wise old earth on whose rim appears the divine gold disc at dawn.

A legend in tune with this occasion on the Sudarshana Chakra's creation.

"Chakra Azhwar"
According to one legend, the Sudarshana Chakra was created by Vishvakarma.
“Viswakarma's daughter Sanjana was married to Surya, the Sun God. Due to the Sun's blazing light and heat, she was unable to go near the Sun. She complained to her father about this. Viswakarma took the Sun and made him shine less so that his daughter would be able to hug the Sun. The left over Sun "dust" was collected by Viswakarma and he made three things out of it. The first one was the famous aerial vehicle Pushpaka Vimana, the second being the Trishula (Trident) of Lord Shiva, and the third was the Sudarshana Chakra of Lord Vishnu.”
“Pushpaka was originally made by Vishwakarma for Brahma the Hindu god of creation, later Brahma gifted it to Kubera, the God of wealth, but was later stolen, along withLanka, by his half-brother, the demon king Ravana.”

In Kim's words:
"Vimanas (aerial vehicles) can only remind me of the prophet Ezekiel's vision of the heavenly chariot with wheels within wheels. The wheels all had eyes around the rims of the wheels. The chariot could go anywhere, in any direction, and it could always see where it was going.

"Our subtle bodies are somehow more mobile than our physical bodies. They have the ability to turn and see in all directions. It's fortunate that they do, because our physical bodies are mired in the limitations of time and space.

"Vishvakarma Puja for me is the day on which those limitations are dissolved, and we can see the grand design of the universe "face to face," instead of "through a mirror, darkly" (Paul, New Testament)"

Here's to the fruition of that divine design within all of us!

19th December 2012

I ran into this while searching for sacred chants today so here is Sudarshana Gayatri