The Frog and the Princess!
Hello all,
Namaste! Hope all of you had a great week where you were able to use your words and thoughts to create exactly what you want for your life. As we discussed last week, words as thoughts and inspiration are the magic that creates our life. So, we should use our words and thoughts very carefully.
For the past few months we have been analyzing Philosophy so thoroughly, why don't we go back to some Mythology for a few weeks. Of course, even in Mythology, we would only be using deep philosophical concepts and perspectives. Of course, what should you expect from a spirituality, philosophy, and a mythology blog? ;-))))
Mythology: Before proceeding with the story and concepts, what is Mythology? Why do we use it? Let us take our dictionary. According to Wikipedia, 'Mythology is the collected myths of a group of people retold among those cultures'. Now, why do we need myths? Also nowadays in the modern society myths have started to be considered as falsehoods while facts are considered the truths. Facts are indeed facts. Do they become truths? Yes. They do. But according to each person's perspective.
Let us take an example. Sun is the nearest star to our Earth. It is a fact. But is it the truth of every person? Let us explore. For a Hindu in India, Sun according to their upbringing would become Surya (the deity of Sun) who is brilliant, golden in color and represent the Soul in Astrology. To an ancient Egyptian, Sun is the Sun god, Ra. But for the ancient Greeks, he was the Sun god, Apollo. It is the same fact, but manifesting as three entirely different truths. Truths according to the reality of upbringing, culture, and perspectives one lives.
Now, what are myths? Myths are stories that have been retold for many generations. Why do we need myths? Because many times the morals, the principles, and concepts become very dry. For example, take the case of this blog. The concepts discussed here are about esoteric philosophy and spirituality. When the same concepts are wrapped in the silky softness of a mythical story, doesn't it become more interesting? That is the true purpose of a myth.
To teach the next generation wonderful values and morals not as dry subjects, but as a story being told at the laps or knees of a grandfather or grandmother. Then the stories take an ethereal connotation, where it gets unfolded in the magic of a wonderful kitchen or living room where a stew or soup is boiling at the fire, the home nice, and cozy and we, the kids happy and content with the elders, whether they are parents or grandparents.
Look around. What do we see nowadays? We have younger generations many times deprived of these stories, parents too busy in their career or work, and the kids are at the daycare. Grandparents at their own place. The stories, the deep bonds, and belonging are getting lost. We as a human race have lost touch with our roots- the grandparents, ancestors, and the stories. Hence many times when the kids become young adults they don't feel that deep sense of belonging. Aren't every one of us humans in search of that deep belonging whether in our career, marriage, or life?
This is what unfortunately we have lost. We have lost that deep emotional bonds and belonging. Then, we go all over the world searching for it in Asramas (hermitages), psychologist's office, and prescription tablets. It is that deep psychological connection, our stories, and our own roots to our lineage that we have lost. Now we go searching for it in such a way that we have no idea what we are searching for. Isn't it very sad?
The stories as myths are the deep bonds that connect our parents to our kids through us. It can be religious, spiritual, or ancestral stories. Those are supposed to be told to the children. It is not enough for kids to read it as a fairy tale in some book in the library. That can be done. But it also has to be told as stories to kids for them to have that deep emotional sense of their own place in this world. Something we as a human generation has left out of our modern life.
This was just to elaborate on the importance of mythology. Now let us take a mythical story, very common, which almost every kid in the west and most probably in the east also knows. It came out as a famous Disney movie as well. Here, I am not just going to elaborate on the story. But I am going to show when you really analyze a mythical story thoroughly, sometimes deep esoteric meanings can also come out. The beauty of true myth. The story of the frog and the princess.
The frog: In the old story the princess runs away from the kingdom when she was forced to marry a prince whom she didn't like. Later she goes into a forest where she meets a frog who was living in a swamp and he asks her to marry and kiss him (!!!!). Then it seems he would turn back into a charming prince. After some unforeseen twists and bends in the story, the princess marries the frog and kisses him. This turns the frog to a charming prince and they live happily ever after. This is the story.
Now, we will take this story and analyze it deeply. Can we come up with some esoteric wisdom? Let us see. Remove the princess running away from the kingdom and all. Let us start from the swamp. The frog is living in the swamp. The swamp is very green and mushy. There are animals like maybe small crocs, cranes, and other birds near the swamp. The life of the frog is gentle, lazy, and lethargic. Days roll on slowly with a snail's pace and the nights bring howling owls and swinging bats.
Let us take the same frog and transform it into a human. Think of a human being in a small village in the countryside anywhere in the world. The village is their domain. They were born there, the only place they know. The village has a small market place, a baker, and a dispensary. There are few neighbors who get together at the market place, have local yearly fairs and get-togethers. But the place is very small. Nothing much happens. Days move by at snail's pace and nights come with good dreams and some nightmares.
Can you relate the same frog to the human being? Both are living in a small place whether it is a swamp or a village. That is all they know. The frog doesn't know about the greater forest or the human doesn't know the greater world. The swamp and the village are their domain. This story we can even take to a larger perspective. All of us humans are born, we live an okay life and walk to our graves. So, in that sense aren't we living a very small, village life, a life from mere thought realm? Are we really using our mind??
We can also consider this scenario from another perspective. Think of the lives we are leading. Everyday life- mundane, monotonous, tedious, and boring. We wake up every day. Do a bunch of stuff, mindlessly or heartlessly. It is again evening, then we go back to sleep. Repeat, repeat, and repeat. Did we come to Earth just for that? To pass on days, just like that, doing some random thing, whether on the internet, social media or get-togethers?
Shouldn't our life have a higher purpose? Higher and larger than ourselves, our immediate family, and friends? Shouldn't our lives burst with inspirations, creativity, and authenticity? Where did we lose ourselves and our spirit (not the spirit that we drink) in between? How did we become robots doing daily unending tasks? How did our life get into a mode of subtle stagnation? Can you see that? Can you feel that? We are doing a hundred different things. But the thing that makes our heart sing with joy or explodes with creativity, such a thing never seems to come around.
The green swamp the frog lives or the village the human being dwells in can be related to that. The swamp of our own lives, with heavy emotions, tough experiences, and unbearable burdens whether it is of our own complicated life relationships, the debts, strings of life or the everyday task of living itself. Can you see that underlying subtle stagnation? The green swamp of our own life? The swamp or pond we are destined to be in, till the end of our times?
I very well had my share of this feeling. During my Biotechnology days, I always used to have this underlying feeling of stagnation. Life was just not flowing. The energy was somehow tied up like a swamp. What happens when water remains in a swamp for too long? It gets mixed with Earth to become a deep, muddy, dark, mush. As the water is not flowing, soon the water becomes foul and produces a stench. Can't we relate our lives many times to this situation? A subtle underlying stagnation that eats at our Soul's core? This very stagnation actually pushed me to take charge of my career in a different field and do something about it.
The princess: Now, the princess comes into the picture. The frog is suddenly feeling a tinge of excitement. It wants to know more about the princess. What is she like, what does she like, how can he make her happy, how can he transform the swamp so that she stays. He also starts to think of his froggy form. How as a frog he is not really compatible with her human form. Here we tend to think the princess as the 'real princess'. Instead, how about we think of her as our mind or an inspirational idea that strikes our mind?
We as a frog is living a very stagnant, but a very busy life as always. Then suddenly one day for a few minutes we get a glimpse of our own mind or a brilliant idea (the princess). We become enchanted. We want to know more about the princess. What would make her happy? What all she needs? How can I become the person matching to her from froggy, stagnant state?
Here, the princess or the mind shows the possibilities of what 'can be' or the hidden potential from 'what is'. Now, for the frog, he/she has to become okay with the idea of being a frog. Being 'okay' as a frog at the present moment. Then only we can realize, yes, we are a frog in our pond of life, but as the mind says we can get transformed into the prince or the princess if we put in the effort. The prince or princess of our own life. Many times we take the princess as a separate being. But can't we also take it as our own Soul or the pure heart that through our mind shows us 'what is', the frog in the green, muddy swamp and what 'can be', the prince/princess in the shiny white horse flying through landscapes of our own mental realms.
Even with the human in the village, he/she can have an idea strike them at any moment. They find that, yes, that idea can take them out of their comfort zone (village) into a greater, broader world. That can give them inspiration, idea, and deep creativity. The purpose of the Soul that drives them to take charge of their own lives and drive it exactly where they want it to be.
The frog marries the princess: Finally, in the story, the frog marries the princess, they kiss and they get transformed into the prince and princess. Here the minute the mind has taken the outlook of a princess with high and mighty ideals, there is no way the person can stay as a frog in a swamp. As it is the principle of Vedic Philosophy, 'Our inner reality reflects outside'. So, the minute the inner reality has become a princess, the outer reality indeed has to change as a prince or princess. Someone who feels like a prince, princess, king or queen within themselves cannot act like a frog or pauper outside.
Here the king or queen, we are not discussing from the ego perspective, but from the deep perspective of inner power. That inner power of true authenticity. 'Swaroopa'. Each one of us can feel like a royal standing in our own inner power, coming out of our swampy green of life to become the king or the queen on the shining horse galloping forward capturing the horizons of the mental and emotional realms.
The life that is greater than just ourselves, bursting with inspiration and creativity. The true way the divine had planned for us, but we choose to lead it the swampy way. See, how a mythical story can have deep wisdom of truth if we look at it with awareness. Nowadays we reject myths as pure falsities. But then, look at the success of 'Harry Potter'. Don't we still love our mythical stories, subconsciously? Myths are not just stories. But they are stories that bestow values to our next generations in a loving way, so that those generations find their deep roots to grow the tree of the lineage of their own ancestors, in their own way in a modern world that is chaotic, crazy, and pressured.
The great mythologist Joseph Campbell wrote the book called the 'Power of Myth'. In that, he analyzes the importance of myths in any society, where they can bring people together to lead a very expansive and highly idealistic life. He writes in his book, "We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about".
So now to the question. Should we lead the life of a frog in a green swamp or the life of a magnificent king/queen conquering the highest realms of creativity and inspiration?? Of course, it is always our free will and choice!
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday!😉
Next week: The birth of Karthikeya!
Credits: Images and links from Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay.com
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to Jayasree Padmanabhan and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I just use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds to use their service for subscription list. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Namaste! Hope all of you had a great week where you were able to use your words and thoughts to create exactly what you want for your life. As we discussed last week, words as thoughts and inspiration are the magic that creates our life. So, we should use our words and thoughts very carefully.
For the past few months we have been analyzing Philosophy so thoroughly, why don't we go back to some Mythology for a few weeks. Of course, even in Mythology, we would only be using deep philosophical concepts and perspectives. Of course, what should you expect from a spirituality, philosophy, and a mythology blog? ;-))))
Mythology: Before proceeding with the story and concepts, what is Mythology? Why do we use it? Let us take our dictionary. According to Wikipedia, 'Mythology is the collected myths of a group of people retold among those cultures'. Now, why do we need myths? Also nowadays in the modern society myths have started to be considered as falsehoods while facts are considered the truths. Facts are indeed facts. Do they become truths? Yes. They do. But according to each person's perspective.
Let us take an example. Sun is the nearest star to our Earth. It is a fact. But is it the truth of every person? Let us explore. For a Hindu in India, Sun according to their upbringing would become Surya (the deity of Sun) who is brilliant, golden in color and represent the Soul in Astrology. To an ancient Egyptian, Sun is the Sun god, Ra. But for the ancient Greeks, he was the Sun god, Apollo. It is the same fact, but manifesting as three entirely different truths. Truths according to the reality of upbringing, culture, and perspectives one lives.
 |
| The mythology of constellations of the southern sky! Image credits - Pixabay.com |
Now, what are myths? Myths are stories that have been retold for many generations. Why do we need myths? Because many times the morals, the principles, and concepts become very dry. For example, take the case of this blog. The concepts discussed here are about esoteric philosophy and spirituality. When the same concepts are wrapped in the silky softness of a mythical story, doesn't it become more interesting? That is the true purpose of a myth.
To teach the next generation wonderful values and morals not as dry subjects, but as a story being told at the laps or knees of a grandfather or grandmother. Then the stories take an ethereal connotation, where it gets unfolded in the magic of a wonderful kitchen or living room where a stew or soup is boiling at the fire, the home nice, and cozy and we, the kids happy and content with the elders, whether they are parents or grandparents.
Look around. What do we see nowadays? We have younger generations many times deprived of these stories, parents too busy in their career or work, and the kids are at the daycare. Grandparents at their own place. The stories, the deep bonds, and belonging are getting lost. We as a human race have lost touch with our roots- the grandparents, ancestors, and the stories. Hence many times when the kids become young adults they don't feel that deep sense of belonging. Aren't every one of us humans in search of that deep belonging whether in our career, marriage, or life?
This is what unfortunately we have lost. We have lost that deep emotional bonds and belonging. Then, we go all over the world searching for it in Asramas (hermitages), psychologist's office, and prescription tablets. It is that deep psychological connection, our stories, and our own roots to our lineage that we have lost. Now we go searching for it in such a way that we have no idea what we are searching for. Isn't it very sad?
The stories as myths are the deep bonds that connect our parents to our kids through us. It can be religious, spiritual, or ancestral stories. Those are supposed to be told to the children. It is not enough for kids to read it as a fairy tale in some book in the library. That can be done. But it also has to be told as stories to kids for them to have that deep emotional sense of their own place in this world. Something we as a human generation has left out of our modern life.
This was just to elaborate on the importance of mythology. Now let us take a mythical story, very common, which almost every kid in the west and most probably in the east also knows. It came out as a famous Disney movie as well. Here, I am not just going to elaborate on the story. But I am going to show when you really analyze a mythical story thoroughly, sometimes deep esoteric meanings can also come out. The beauty of true myth. The story of the frog and the princess.
The frog: In the old story the princess runs away from the kingdom when she was forced to marry a prince whom she didn't like. Later she goes into a forest where she meets a frog who was living in a swamp and he asks her to marry and kiss him (!!!!). Then it seems he would turn back into a charming prince. After some unforeseen twists and bends in the story, the princess marries the frog and kisses him. This turns the frog to a charming prince and they live happily ever after. This is the story.
Now, we will take this story and analyze it deeply. Can we come up with some esoteric wisdom? Let us see. Remove the princess running away from the kingdom and all. Let us start from the swamp. The frog is living in the swamp. The swamp is very green and mushy. There are animals like maybe small crocs, cranes, and other birds near the swamp. The life of the frog is gentle, lazy, and lethargic. Days roll on slowly with a snail's pace and the nights bring howling owls and swinging bats.
 |
| The frog living in a swamp! Image credits - Pixabay.com |
Let us take the same frog and transform it into a human. Think of a human being in a small village in the countryside anywhere in the world. The village is their domain. They were born there, the only place they know. The village has a small market place, a baker, and a dispensary. There are few neighbors who get together at the market place, have local yearly fairs and get-togethers. But the place is very small. Nothing much happens. Days move by at snail's pace and nights come with good dreams and some nightmares.
Can you relate the same frog to the human being? Both are living in a small place whether it is a swamp or a village. That is all they know. The frog doesn't know about the greater forest or the human doesn't know the greater world. The swamp and the village are their domain. This story we can even take to a larger perspective. All of us humans are born, we live an okay life and walk to our graves. So, in that sense aren't we living a very small, village life, a life from mere thought realm? Are we really using our mind??
We can also consider this scenario from another perspective. Think of the lives we are leading. Everyday life- mundane, monotonous, tedious, and boring. We wake up every day. Do a bunch of stuff, mindlessly or heartlessly. It is again evening, then we go back to sleep. Repeat, repeat, and repeat. Did we come to Earth just for that? To pass on days, just like that, doing some random thing, whether on the internet, social media or get-togethers?
Shouldn't our life have a higher purpose? Higher and larger than ourselves, our immediate family, and friends? Shouldn't our lives burst with inspirations, creativity, and authenticity? Where did we lose ourselves and our spirit (not the spirit that we drink) in between? How did we become robots doing daily unending tasks? How did our life get into a mode of subtle stagnation? Can you see that? Can you feel that? We are doing a hundred different things. But the thing that makes our heart sing with joy or explodes with creativity, such a thing never seems to come around.
The green swamp the frog lives or the village the human being dwells in can be related to that. The swamp of our own lives, with heavy emotions, tough experiences, and unbearable burdens whether it is of our own complicated life relationships, the debts, strings of life or the everyday task of living itself. Can you see that underlying subtle stagnation? The green swamp of our own life? The swamp or pond we are destined to be in, till the end of our times?
I very well had my share of this feeling. During my Biotechnology days, I always used to have this underlying feeling of stagnation. Life was just not flowing. The energy was somehow tied up like a swamp. What happens when water remains in a swamp for too long? It gets mixed with Earth to become a deep, muddy, dark, mush. As the water is not flowing, soon the water becomes foul and produces a stench. Can't we relate our lives many times to this situation? A subtle underlying stagnation that eats at our Soul's core? This very stagnation actually pushed me to take charge of my career in a different field and do something about it.
The princess: Now, the princess comes into the picture. The frog is suddenly feeling a tinge of excitement. It wants to know more about the princess. What is she like, what does she like, how can he make her happy, how can he transform the swamp so that she stays. He also starts to think of his froggy form. How as a frog he is not really compatible with her human form. Here we tend to think the princess as the 'real princess'. Instead, how about we think of her as our mind or an inspirational idea that strikes our mind?
 |
| The princess - our mind or an idea! Image credits - Pixabay.com |
Here, the princess or the mind shows the possibilities of what 'can be' or the hidden potential from 'what is'. Now, for the frog, he/she has to become okay with the idea of being a frog. Being 'okay' as a frog at the present moment. Then only we can realize, yes, we are a frog in our pond of life, but as the mind says we can get transformed into the prince or the princess if we put in the effort. The prince or princess of our own life. Many times we take the princess as a separate being. But can't we also take it as our own Soul or the pure heart that through our mind shows us 'what is', the frog in the green, muddy swamp and what 'can be', the prince/princess in the shiny white horse flying through landscapes of our own mental realms.
Even with the human in the village, he/she can have an idea strike them at any moment. They find that, yes, that idea can take them out of their comfort zone (village) into a greater, broader world. That can give them inspiration, idea, and deep creativity. The purpose of the Soul that drives them to take charge of their own lives and drive it exactly where they want it to be.
The frog marries the princess: Finally, in the story, the frog marries the princess, they kiss and they get transformed into the prince and princess. Here the minute the mind has taken the outlook of a princess with high and mighty ideals, there is no way the person can stay as a frog in a swamp. As it is the principle of Vedic Philosophy, 'Our inner reality reflects outside'. So, the minute the inner reality has become a princess, the outer reality indeed has to change as a prince or princess. Someone who feels like a prince, princess, king or queen within themselves cannot act like a frog or pauper outside.
Here the king or queen, we are not discussing from the ego perspective, but from the deep perspective of inner power. That inner power of true authenticity. 'Swaroopa'. Each one of us can feel like a royal standing in our own inner power, coming out of our swampy green of life to become the king or the queen on the shining horse galloping forward capturing the horizons of the mental and emotional realms.
 |
| Every mythical story has some deep secrets hidden within them! Image credits - Pixabay.com |
The life that is greater than just ourselves, bursting with inspiration and creativity. The true way the divine had planned for us, but we choose to lead it the swampy way. See, how a mythical story can have deep wisdom of truth if we look at it with awareness. Nowadays we reject myths as pure falsities. But then, look at the success of 'Harry Potter'. Don't we still love our mythical stories, subconsciously? Myths are not just stories. But they are stories that bestow values to our next generations in a loving way, so that those generations find their deep roots to grow the tree of the lineage of their own ancestors, in their own way in a modern world that is chaotic, crazy, and pressured.
The great mythologist Joseph Campbell wrote the book called the 'Power of Myth'. In that, he analyzes the importance of myths in any society, where they can bring people together to lead a very expansive and highly idealistic life. He writes in his book, "We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it is all about".
So now to the question. Should we lead the life of a frog in a green swamp or the life of a magnificent king/queen conquering the highest realms of creativity and inspiration?? Of course, it is always our free will and choice!
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday!😉
Next week: The birth of Karthikeya!
Credits: Images and links from Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay.com
Ralph Waldo Emerson writes, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance ; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried".
All rights reserved to Jayasree Padmanabhan and SwaroopaBlog.
To my Blog readers: As all of you know, the European Union has passed laws regarding the collection of the user data. This is just to inform all my EU blog readers, I just use Google Analytics, which Google provides, to look at from where readers are reading my blogs. I also use Specific feeds to use their service for subscription list. I don't collect or intend to collect user data to sell or provide to third-party applications. Regards,
SwaroopaBlog.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions and perspectives shared here are that of the author/owner only. Even though the author/owner will try to research well before posting the information, the author/owner of this blog does not make any portrayal of the accuracy or correctness of the content on this blog or the links provided. The author/owner will not be liable for any omissions or inaccuracies occurred. The author/owner will not be liable for any damages or losses due to the use or display of this blog. These terms and conditions can change at any time.
This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
©Jayasree Padmanabhan and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity
This blog is purely for informational purposes only.
©Jayasree Padmanabhan and Swaroopa, 2017- Eternity
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