“Swaroopa” - Why did I choose that name?

Hello World!

Namaste! This is my preliminary attempt at a blog. I had an intuition that I need to share my thoughts and ideas with the world. So when I started thinking about what to write as my first topic, it took me some time to settle on one. Finally, I decided I need to clarify what “Swaroopa” means. It is the name of my blog, so I should know what it is and should have some underlying meaning or symbolism pertaining to this blog.

 

Before really starting this attempt, let me give homage to the Hindu God who removes obstruction, Ganesha, by invoking him - "Om Gam Ganapathaye namah:". May Ganesha remove all the obstacles in my path and purpose to accomplish the highest authentic, original and creative expression, I can ever achieve and to help myself, my family, friends, the community, society and the greater world at large! Tadasthu- So, it is! To underline this invocation, I am putting the image of the whole Shiva family. Why reduce anything? 

 

Shiva family with Shiva, Parvathi, Ganesha, Subramanya and the bull Nandi
Image credits - Leon Meerson, via Wikimedia Commons

Swaroopa is a Sanskrit word. As many of you may know Sanskrit is a very ancient Vedic language, which includes all the Hindu scriptures. Don’t worry, no, this is not about Hinduism or any religion, but I might use concepts from Hindu religion or another religion to present my point. So coming back to Swaroopa, Swa is “of self” and Roopa is “form or an authentic expression”. So, Swaroopa means “One’s own authentic self.”

What is Swaroopa or one’s own authentic self? It is not the persona or personality we project outside. It is truly what we feel inside and the simple things that give us joy. Think back when each of us was a little boy or a girl. What were the things we loved doing or creating? That was the expression of our true authentic self. At that age, we were not concerned about what my family will say, what my colleagues will infer or what my friends will assume. We were free in our thoughts and mind that we were able to express ourselves freely without the fear of ridicule. That is one’s own authentic self or Swaroopa.

Once we become an adult that Swaroopa gets masked or covered in layers and layers of conditioning and norms of the societal structure. We become conditioned so much that later we become unknown to ourselves. In modern terms, we call it a mid-life crisis. This is a call of our inner selves to come back to one’s Swaroopa and express as an authentic being. How many times have we heard a person giving up all she/ he has worked for thirty years to transform completely and reinvent themselves to be a very different person. If we can be in the society and are able to express ourselves with our authentic self that would be the true freedom each of us can enjoy.

Another perspective I can give of Swaroopa is, in Hinduism the Mother Goddess, Saraswathi, Lakshmi, Durga, Kali or whichever Goddess it is, is thought of as “Akshara Swaroopini”. “Akshara” means syllable or alphabet and “Swaroopini” the form represented. So the Mother Goddess is the syllable or alphabets manifested. For a blog, the most important tool is the Akshara or the word composed of alphabets. So why not give the blog the name Swaroopa, which itself is a word or Goddess manifested? This perspective of Akshara Swaroopini was given to me by my dad. If you say it as “Akshara Swaroopaha”, then, it is God manifested as the alphabet. For those who don’t believe in Goddess or God, this can be applied to the Universal energy or the spark manifested as the word comprised of alphabets.

Lalitha Tripurasundari
Image credits - Arjunkrishna90 / CC BY-SA

So, this blog will be about finding oneself through Vedic concepts, astrological notions, philosophical ideas, metaphysical queries and everyday happenings. Why not live an authentic way of life where a person is able to truly express oneself creatively and originally? I am hoping this would be an attempt to bridge the gap between modern day rationality and the ancient wisdom of Vedas, astrology, and mythology with a touch of my own analysis and interpretation. I consider myself a lifelong student and welcome other perspectives and suggestions. If this creates a dialogue, which brings out a new way of looking at everyday life with the practicality of modern times and the wisdom of the Vedic times that would be a great step towards the beautiful integration of the past and the present.

Through this blog, if I am able to inspire or motivate a few of my fellow beings, then I consider myself successful. But as I mentioned earlier, this is my very first attempt at blogging. In between, if I flounder or stumble, please be patient with me. 
 

As Lao Tzu quoted,

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.

Wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉


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". 
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