In the presence of God

Swami Vivekananda was a great Hindu saint and philosopher. When he was very young, he had several problems at home. He went to a saint called Ramakrishna. He told him about his problems. Ramakrishna advised Vivekananda to go to the nearby Kali (hindu goddess) temple and pray to her for help.

Vivekananda followed Ramakrishna's advice. When he reached the temple and saw the idol of goddess Kali, he forgot his troubles and just stood there as though mesmerized. He tried to go back to the temple several times, and each time he was unable to ask goddess Kali for help. He was just blissful to be in her presence.

The same thing happened when Sudama went to meet Krishna.

Everything happens for a good reason

Sage Vishwamitra requests Dasharatha to send his young sons' Rama and Lakshmana with him to help him slay the monsters in his Ashram.

This sounds like a dangerous expedition. It shocks Dasharatha and makes him worried. He does not see how this can be good for his sons' until Vasishta explains to him.

Similarly in a lot of instances we do not see the big picture and get worried about the immediate circumstances. We realize only until much later that whatever happened was for a good reason.

Shiva's boons

In many mythological stories Shiva is known to give boons to a lot of Asuras. Why is that so?

Shiva is known to be a compassionate lord in Hinduism. He grants wishes despite of knowing that people will misuse them. This is because he knows that in the end people will realize their mistake and change their ways.

Realizing our fault ourselves has a greater impact than being corrected by someone else. This is what happens to Kubera in this book.

Faith

The story - "Pillar" is all about faith. Sometimes faith in a God is more powerful than God himself. In Ramayana, Hanuman had faith in Rama and crossed the ocean effortlessly. Whereas Rama himself needed the bridge to cross the same ocean.

Success can blind us to our obvious faults

  

This is the key takeaway of our new book - "The Seventh Avatar".

The Seventh Avatar is story of the birth of Rama. Vishnu had to incarnate as Rama to end Ravana's atrocities.

Ravana was very successful and powerful. He was very talented and learned as well. There was one problem with him, however. His success got to his head disabling him from thinking straight. When he prayed to Brahma for a boon, he requested protection from all life forms except man. He was too conceited to believe that a man could actually harm him. Hence Vishnu took an avatar as a man to vanquish Ravana.

In history, this mistake of underestimating your opponent has been made time and again...

Did Murugan get angry on losing the race?

There are several versions of this story. In some cases Murugan is known to get angry on losing the race. In my opinion, this is a mythological story and mythological stories can be interpreted in different ways to represent different learnings.

In this story, showing Murugan as getting angry would set a wrong example to kids. That is the reason I have shown that it is normal for kids to get upset when they lose. If they spend some time to think calmly, that feeling will pass. In the end, they need to congratulate the winner when the victory is well deserved.

This attitude helps kids enjoy the activity and not worry about the result. Lord Krishna explains in the Gita - we have a right to action but not to the results.

What do you think?

Umachi - Introduction

What is Umachi?
Umachi is a brand for books with stories from Indian history and mythology.

What is Umachi's purpose? 
Our purpose is to create an awareness of the glorious tradition and heritage of the Indian civilization.
Readers gain moral and spiritual wisdom from this treasure trove of stories. This will act as a framework for building effective and confident global citizens of tomorrow.

How does Umachi achieve its goal?
Our stories are presented in contemporary prose with friendly  illustrations. They will have a positive and practical takeaway message. For younger children (3-8), the stories will be around mythological characters and epic heroes. For older kids (9-15), we will focus on biographies of great people from history. In future, we plan to have a series on deeper topics for young adults.


What does Umachi mean?
Umachi (pronounced as um-mah-chee) is a word derived from the combination of Uma (Hindu goddess symbolizing the energy of the universe) and Shiva (Hindu God symbolizing the transformation of life forms everywhere). This is a common moniker used for gods by kids in South Indian (Tamil) households.
 
How is Umachi different?
Here's why:

1. The content is heavily researched for accuracy using various traditional and contemporary sources
2. The content is prudently picked and presented to nurture faith and build character in impressionable minds
3. The prose style  is contemporary and stretches the vocabulary of kids
4. E-Books provide ready access to meanings of difficult words and 1-click access to a glossary of Indian terms
5. The story, characters, glossary and illustration are consistent across all Umachi books
6. Umachi books are picture/chapter books as research suggests that this format enhances comprehension and  sentence building skills
7. Every Umachi book has an activity page at the end, putting creative young minds to work
8. Umachi provides social networking for parents

Where can you find these books?
Currently only the e-books will be available in the following formats:

• PDF (on Lulu)
• Kindle content on Amazon (you can play it on all Kindle devices, Kindle for PC, Kindle for Mac and Kindle for iPad)
• iBooks on Apple iPad - will be available shortly

The print version will be available soon for sale in India only.