In the month of Shravan if an unmarried woman ties a red thread around me, circumambulates sprinkling water and flowers, I am indebted to fulfil her desire for a suitable husband. I am indebted to grant a son to a married woman praying for a child too.

I am worship.

I am a boon.

The Skanda Purana considers me a symbol of worship and professes that if a family without an heir serves and regards me as son, I will carry forward the family legacy for as long as I live.

The Upanishads refer to me as a metaphor to explain the relevance of the body and the soul: the body is the fruit which we see outside while the soul is the seed, invisible and internal.

It is beneath my shade that centuries ago, Goddess Sita took refuge in Lanka and Lord Hanuman visited her carrying the ring of Lord Rama.

I have witnessed the birth of Vishnu…

The final journey, samadhi of Sri Krishna… after a hunter called Zaara, mistaking him for a deer, shot him with an arrow.

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In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says, among the trees I am Ashwatha …I am the beholder of the Trimurti. Lord Brahma is my roots. Lord Vishnu my trunk and Lord Shiva my leaves.

There is an ancient story how this happened, a story as old as the hills.

The gods chose to hold their councils under the shade of my branches and that is how I came to be associated with spiritual understanding.

The Brahma Purana and the Padma Purana relate another equally delightful story about an ongoing fight between the demons and the deities when Lord Vishnu sought refuge inside me to escape a particularly dangerous demon.

Legend has it that Lord Vishnu dwelled inside me for a long, long time until the demons stopped hunting for him and which is why devotees of Vishnu hold me in high esteem.

 Keshava: A Magnificent Obsession available on https://amzn.to/2vogOtk

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I am Senkhu.

Ancient science used my shell ash described in Sanskrit as shankha bhasma, to cure all kinds of ailments. In those days I was soaked in lime juice and calcinated in covered crucibles innumerable times and reduced to powder ash.

I contain calcium, iron, and magnesium which make me antacid and cure all digestive problems.

My ash mixed with tamarind seed ash, five salts, asafoetida, ammonium chloride, pepper, carui, caraway, ginger, long pepper, purified mercury, and aconite in specified proportions, triturated in juices of lemon and is prescribed for wind, air and bile ailments, as well as for beauty and strength.

I am as popular in Ayurveda medicine as in prayer and worship. A powder made out of my ingredients is a cure for stomach ailments and beneficial to building strength.

I am Sankham.

Keshava: A Magnificent Obsession available on https://amzn.to/2vogOtk

Next week I introduce to a new character of the book

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I am Shankara.

I am the wind instrument.

Like the flute, I had to endure pain before I was created. A hole is drilled near the tip of my apex so when air is blown through this hole, it travels through the whorls of the shankha, producing a loud, sharp, shrill sound called Shakhand.

This sound is the reason why I was chosen as a war trumpet, I am loud and clear enough to be heard by the warriors on the battle front, to summon help for the wounded on a barren land far away.

For a long time I only travelled to the battlefield, watched the soldiers bleed and put up a brave fight with their enemies. I am Shankara…I am evident everywhere in the temples…On the pillars, on the temple walls, on the temple gopuras. The city of Puri where Lord Jagannath resides is celebrated and recognised as shankha-kshetra.  I am also connected to Shaligrama, another form of Lord Vishnu.

Shaligrama stones are usually found in the Gandaki River in Nepal are worshipped by Hindus as a representative of Vishnu.

The way to recognise a Shaligrama is it has marks of shankha, chakra, gada, and padma arranged in this particular order and which is why Shaligrama is seen as an avatar of Keshava.

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I am the forbearer of a legacy. I am blessed and also the cursed.

Blessed because Goddess Lakshmi resides within me and cursed because Radha Rani accuses me of stealing her Kaanha away from her.

The bansuri looks on me as her rival because as long as Kaanha was in Gokula, the flute was forever on his lips or tied onto his waist band.

All of Vrindavan, the gopalas and the gopis are annoyed with me because they feel I have snatched their friend away from them.

How do I explain to them that it is my Lord who comes in search of me and not the other way round? How do I tell them that He dictates the time and the tenure, the exile and the attachment?

In Gokula it was the flute, in Dwarka it is me, the conch and later, after the Yadav yatra it will be the Peepala tree.

All of us have our roles to play in his journey and when the time is up, He moves on

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I was originally used as a war trumpet. Kings and warriors declared war open blowing my trumpet on the battle field and closed war at sunset with my trumpet again.

I am identified with the deities. Seers believe that I am blown to invoke Lord Shiva and there is a special connection between us which is evident from the similarity in our names.

I am Shankara.

I am associated with Lord Shiva.

I am associated with Lord Vishnu.

I am the abode of Goddess Lakshmi, who is the goddess of wealth and consort of Vishnu and because I emerge from the water, I am also regarded as a symbol of female fertility and associated with serpents.

Keshava: A Magnificent Obsession available on https://amzn.to/2vogOtk

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For centuries the human race has survived on my dairy products.  For centuries, the kitchen fires have burned with my offerings.

I have toiled, tilled and ploughed the farmer’s fields. I have dragged and pulled his vendor’s carts.

I have spread my dung on the village homes so that they kept warm.

I am fuel.

I am fertilizer.

For centuries my urine has been consumed in religious rituals and also used for medicinal purposes. The much talked about panchagavya is a mixture of my five products: my milk, my curds, my ghee, my urine and my dung.

I am disinfectant.

I am also the beast of burden.

Keshava: A Magnificent Obsession is now listed on https://amzn.to/2vogOtk

Next week I introduce to a new character of the book

@bhawanasomaaya