Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Crossed the Million mark! Thank you readers.

At 1-03 pm IST today (27 Aug 2013), my blog was read for the millionth time!

 

I thank my readers for making this mark.

 

For a novice and a lesser known entity like me whose basic task is home making, I consider this as an unbelievable achievement.  I have absolutely no knowledge of internet tools – something which readers can make out from the same old page set up that I am having ever since my daughter opened this blogger account for me. She is instrumental in making me write blogs as she kept telling me that whatever I talk to her on so many issues – on dharma, epics, literature, cosmos and astrology – must be recorded in some form and reach people who would like to know. It was then we came to know of blogger and she opened this account and even typed some of the early articles of this blog. 

 

I dedicate this mail to her for having given me the impetus for starting this blog. It was because of my children I was able to fine tune my knowledge and rationalize  many concepts in the course of my answering their inquisitive questions of why and why not. One of my best original ideas was the description of cosmos by means of the image of Nataraja. It was conceived at a moment I was discussing with her on interlinking scientific ideas on multiple Universes and Brahma sutra verses on Brahman given in the first chapter. 


My children had been my first audience, now I have lakhs of readers who had listened to me and helped me to fine tune my ideas and even look for more ideas by their interactions through their comments. My humble NAMASAKRAM  to all of them.



Infact it is they, the readers who brought out and continue to bring out the best out of me. I am very happy to have well informed readers who have added to my knowledge and made me think and refine my knowledge by questioning me on many topics. There have been occasions when I had to go back to look for more info in order to convince them or convince myself about what I wrote.


I also remember at this moment my internet friend, Mr M.K.Krishnaswamy an octogenarian, who has been an admirer of my articles on Vedantha  and Dharma since 2003 when I was writing in yahoo groups. His comment on my write-ups that I "see" where people merely "gaze" boosted up my self-confidence that I can write "something" which others may not know or see. My heart-felt thanks to him for being a motivator.


Some stats on the millions reads.


The millionth read was one of those traditional and old articles which had always attracted steady readership. You would have guessed it right, it is either one of the astrological articles or the traditional topics such as oil bath or dreams. At the time of millionth read, the top ten reads had 5 articles on astrology and the other 5 on traditional practices.


The  "Moola, Aslesha.."  article continues as the top read with over 33,500 reads, followed by an article in Kanimozhi and then on Karunanidhi. 2G scam had attracted many readers; so also Karunanidhi's Sethu bickering.


But Moola, aslesha article hogging the top slot for most days in all these years, is not a happy thing, for it shows that the stigma on these stars particularly affecting young girls waiting for marriage still continues in our society.


On readership, the highest number had come from India only. Nearly half of that number has read from the USA. Next comes UK which is one sixth of the USA readership. Half of UK readership constitutes the number of reads from Singapore. Close to them are Malaysia, UAE, Canada and Australia. All the above have formed the major chunk of reads in the last 5 years.  Most of the readers have come through google search only. I think the topicality of the articles had helped in attracting steady visitors. Currently 1200 to 1400 reads are made per day.


Certainly blogging had boosted up my self confidence and motivated me to write more. I have learnt more and analysed more in these years of blogging mostly for the sake of blogging. Blogging has been very interactive and fulfilling experience than what we feel when we write in print media.


Though I am presently a bit slow in posting my original articles, due to a thesis I am writing, I would be back in a few months with more ideas on Indian past, Aryan – Dravdian issue, Sundaland - Mayan and Vedantha.

Thank you once again dear readers for making me what I am.

 

- Jayasree Saranathan.

 

18 comments:

Sheela said...

Dear Madam,

Congratulationṣ and best wisheṣ.
I learnt a lot about hinduism and astrology from your blog.
Please keep up the good work.
Looking forward for more enriching posts from you.
Thanks,
Sheela

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Sure Ms Sheela and thank you very much.

Unknown said...

Congratulations Ms.Jayshree. Look at it differently, a million people with similar view points, interests and attitude congregated at your blog over a period of time. I wish India has more people like you.

Jay

A Senior Citizen said...

Dear Madam

Hearty Congratulations on this unique achievement in this space! Please convey my sincere thanks to your daughter as well. Without her catalyst action, we would not had the benefit of your blogs. Looking forward to many more posts from you. I firmly believe this Million Visitor Achievement is only a small beginning to greater achievements in future. With best regards
Dr Guru.Raghavan

Jayasree Saranathan said...

From: mkrishnaswamy
Date: Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 8:07 PM
Subject: Crossing the millionth mark
To: Jayasree Saranathan


Congratulations, Jayashree!
You have been writing since the Bhakti List days http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/ ;
you write frankly, boldly and well-informed ever since.
This early dedication to sharing with readers has developed self-confidence and a wide circle of readers.
Your children have encouraged you to communicate your thoughts via digital format, creating your own web-site
and a Blog for your readers.
May the Lord bless you in your efforts to spread knowledge.
सत्यमेव जयते न अनृतम्
Best wishes
MKK

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Dear Mr Jay Sekhar.
Thanks for your wishes. I join you in wishing that many more Indians take interest in knowing the true past and culture of our country. At the moment the future looks bleak with Sonionomics digging India as a grave and tarnishing anything that is
My worst fears of India's Moon dasa coming up in 2015 seems to doing a rehearsal now. I wish judicial activsm crops up its head after saturn crosses rahu at the end of September. The corruption cases against UPA must blow it out. Vadra must become the nemesis for Sonia. With Sonia at the helm our culure and Dharma will be under stress.

'

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Please read as /Tarnishing anything that is Hindu/

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Dear Dr Guru.Raghavan.

Thanks for your wishes. My children are thrilled and read the comments here.

I think there are million reads and not million visitors. I could not know the exact number of people who visited the site.

I do wish i will fulfil my wish of writing down here whatever i planned. At the current rate of my speed and time i have info / ideas to write for four years. God willing i will write them all here.

Dr Rama Krishnan said...

Dear Madam
Congratulations. I have been a follower of your site for years and I am proud to be a part of this million! My regards to your children and their persistence. We would have missed out so much if not for them.
Thanks once again
Dr Rama Krishnan

Jayasree Saranathan said...

From: Jayasree Saranathan
Date: Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 8:16 AM
Subject: Re: Crossing the millionth mark
To: M.K.Krishnaswamy


Thank you Uncle.

Coming to think of my transformation from yahoo groups to blogger, I was able to express my thoughts freely in my blog than what I could do when I was writing in yahoo groups. I was a sort of non-conformist in yahoo groups where there was resistance to original thinking. But in my own blog, I am able to be write without restrictions, - the only kind of restriction I feared here was Governmental ban on blogs on political topics. The readership I experienced in blogosphere is varied and intelligent and that gave me more impetus to keep updating my knowledge. I faced abusive comments only in my Tamil blogs and I could understand that as being the result of intolerance to face the fact of Dravidian bubble.

Today I can say that my blog is my usp as I am finding myself (unbelievably) in touch with reputed scholars from across the world who are willing to listen to what I say and even ask me to give my opinion on certain issues. One such interaction with Dr Narahari Achar led me to do a re-work of the planetary positions at the time of Mahabharata war which I believe is more close to reality. It was cross checked by him and found it to be close to within 50 years of the traditional MB war. I will be posting it in my blog or publish it in the Astrological Magazine after which I will upload it in scribd. I will intimate you and others when I bring it to the public view.

Thanks once again for your good wishes and blessings.

regards,
Jayasree

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Dear Dr Ramakrishnan,

Thanks a lot for being a loyal reader of my blogs.I remember the interactions we had in the comment section on Hindu thought. It is this type of interaction that enriched my knowledge too. Thank you once again.

On the role of my children, i must say that I grew up with them. At every stage of their growth, I was also mentally at that level and talked to them on how to cross that stage. It so happened that my writing career (if I can call it so) started from children's magazine to higher level. There was a time when both myself and daughter were writing at the same time in Gokulam (a children's magazine run by Kalki house)on topics from our perspective of a mother and a young one!

The ideas of dharma and karma were debated / discussed by us for all times and a shred of it can be read in my interview to Hindu blog. It would show how we have to think from the children's point of view and make them imbibe in the way they can understand or conceive. It can be read here.

http://www.hindu-blog.com/2010/01/interview-with-jayasree-saranathan.html#more

Today my daughter is doing Masters in surgery of a medical discipline where she is treating a number of poor people everyday. Even today my interaction continues with her where we talk of ethics and compassion in medical treatment and the karmic causes behind her role. Learning on Dharma and Karma is never ending. The Almighty is helping me to learn unceasingly from as many angles as possible.

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Picked out a question - answer from that interview in the Hindu blog.

Hindu Blog – How have you fared as a blogger writing about Sanatana Dharma?

Srimati Jayasree Saranathan - I don’t know.

As for me, whatever knowledge we have, must be imparted to others without any kind of expectation. It is a duty that I write. Whoever is there in the similar frame of thought, or whoever is searching for these information, will come to my blog. That’s all.

*****

If asked today, I would have said that there is some satisfaction in running this blog as I managed to reach my thoughts on Sanatan dharma to a good number of readers. People are taking notice which I could see from the readership stats for articles such as the ones on Kedarnath.

Sheela said...

Dear Madam,

We readers should thank you for knowledge imparted.

Congratulations and wishes to your daughter and your family who have been instrumental in making of this unique blog. I also wish billion readers view this blog & lead a dharmic life.

Regards
Sheela

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Thank you Ms Sheela. Billion views is too much for the asking and not possible for a long time. But let me use this comment as an opportunity to tell a view from Mahabharata on how we have to take these huge numbers. This comes in chapters 217 and 218 of Adhi parva.

Arjuna went on a vanavasa after he unintentionally breached the code of not disturbing the brother when he was with Draupadi. Arjuna reached the south seas and there he met and married Chithragada whom I think is 'Alli Rani' of Tamil fables. From Parathava (fishing community of south east Tamilnadu) stories, I deduce that she had the Parathavas as her servants and ruled over both sides of the Pamban / Mannar gulf and had control over pearl diving. Her location must covered Mannar in Srilanka and Korkai (Thootthukkudi / Tuticorin)in TN.

After getting a son from her, Arjuna went further south / south east where there were 4 theerthas. I think they were somewhere in the Sundaland / Indonesian islands or of Andaman - Nicobar islands. There he was bitten by a crocodile but subsequently over powered it. It turned into a beautiful woman who narrated her story of having been cursed by a Brahmin whom she along with her 3 friends tries to entice.

The curse was that they (the four women) be turned into crocodiles for 100 years. The women were worried over this and begged him to reduce the period. The Brahmin replied as follows:

"The words hundred and hundred thousand are all indicative of eternity. The word hundred, however, as employed by me is to be understood as a limited period and not indicative of a period without end.".

In this sense your good wish for a billion views is indicative of eternity. A million is within reach, but a billion means eternal in the current context. So let me take it as many more views that keep growing with time. Thank you.

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Dear Ms Sheela,

Let me also use this context of huge numbers (billion) to show some expressions found in the inscriptions of Raja raja Chola - which I think make interesting reading and add to our knowledge.

There is a mention of huge numbers along with some names of places such as


"munneerp pazam theevu panneeraayiram"
முந்நீர்ப் பழம் தீவு பன்னீராயிரம்
(must be a reference to Lakshadweep - it is said to consist of 12,000 numbers)

"Ganga paadi thoNNooRRaaraayiram"
கங்கபாடி தொண்ணூற்றாராயிரம்

(96,000 of Ganga-paadi)

"Nulambampaadi muppattheeraayiram"
நுளம்பம் பாடி முப்பத்து ஈராயிரம்
(32,000 of Nulambam padi which perhaps refers to regions near Vellore)

"Vanavaasi panneeraayiram"
வனவாசி பன்னீராயிரம்
(12,000 of Vanavasi, a place in Karnataka)

Like this the list goes. Initially it was thought that the number referred to the population of the country or the income from that country. But these two are not constants. They vary always. So these numbers must refer to something else.

Later similar expressions were found in the inscriptions in Kolar and Thirukkovilur temple. The Thirukkovilur temple inscriptions gave a definite clue by saying
"Milaadu iraNdaayiram bhoomi"

மிலாடு இரண்டாயிரம் பூமி(2,000 bhoomi of Milad)

Bhoomi refers to a unit of measurement of land like how we say cents, grounds etc. Based on this inscription, it is now concurred that the huge numbers connected to some land names of Rajarajan inscription must refer to the measurement of land of those countries.

The huge numbers of these inscriptions do refer to countable numbers of some item - here land.

Skandan said...

Respected Madam,

It is my routine that when I opne my laptop in the morning, after checking my mails, I go to favourites to see whether there is any new post from you. I learnt a lot from your blog and I share many of your articles with my family and friend and also discuss during dinner meetings.

May God bless you and give your good health and energy to continue this effort for long... Prayers to your family who had been supporting you in this work.

Pranams
Skandan

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Dear Mr Skandan,

Thank you very much. Interactions with you have been enriching.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Madam, you fully deserve it.