about kāmya
Kāmya is not my real name, but it is my choice, and in that sense is real to me.
I am a 32-year-old American woman living in Canada, a convert to the Hindu way of life, and a devotee of Lord Indra. My job is to work as a home medical transcriptionist; my dharma is a matter of continuous learning and effort.
Instead of babbling about the boring details of my daily existence, most of which are so dull that I stop reading the post before I finish writing it, I’d like to write about the word kāmya, and perhaps reveal some of myself by explaining why I use this name and what it means.
(If nothing else, you will quickly learn a trait of mine that suffuses everything I write: fascination with really minute, tedious detail.)
Parents often consult a newborn child’s astrological chart to help decide upon the child’s name. The constellation that the moon is in at the time of birth, or nakṣatra, determines – on a spiritual/mystical level – the letters with which the given name should start. Naming a child by this knowledge is auspicious, because there is a resonance created by the repetition of an appropriate name, a sound-magic that reinforces the child’s good qualities and aids in spiritual progress throughout the child’s life. This is why Hindu converts are encouraged to follow this practice. According to my own chart, my name should begin with the syllable kā (kaa).
I felt a ring of resonance and correctness when I saw the word Kāmya in R.C. Dogra’s excellent book Thought-Provoking Hindu Names. Dogra translates this name as wish, desire, longing for or striving after, intention. Indra is my answer to all of these meanings, and I wanted to find a word that would reflect Him, without directly using His name.
So I began to use this name here, and then researched the word. I often act by intuition and look up the reasons later!
The first use of “kāmya” comes in Rig Veda X.21.5, a hymn to Agni, in which death-god Yama is called Agni’s “well-beloved friend” (priyo yamasya kāmyo).
The later Śrauta-Sutras classify certain yajñas (fire-sacrifices) as kāmya: optional, motivated by a specific wish or desire. I was amused to read that Somayajña, a ritual of offering the sacred substance Soma to the Devas, particularly to my beloved Indra, is one of these kāmya karmas (actions).
The later Bhagavad-Gītā, however, warns people against kāmya-karma. Why should this be? Because if you perform actions with hope for specific results, then you are attached to the fruit of everything you do. You become trapped in a cycle of expectation and elation/disappointment, enslaved to your own endless desires instead of worshipping for the pure sake of love.
My love of Veda and Vedic ritual is such that, if the Śrautas accepted converts, I would be sitting in front of a fire with a ladle right now, not writing a blog. However, yajñas are more likely to be desire-motivated worship by their very nature; the rites can be difficult, costly, and time-consuming, but may be performed by those with the correct knowledge, whether or not there is any devotion in the act.
But it is not the type of worship that determines the worshipper’s heart. Yajña is not innately selfish if the priest places his own ego into the fire and focuses on sacrificing everything to God; prayer or japa is not innately pure if the reciter chants God’s name for his own benefit only. What kāmya might caution against is the selfishness that keeps us mired in worldly things.
As one who longs, perhaps too much, for one specific form of God, I see a double-edged warning/blessing in my chosen name: an instruction to worship without grasping, love without expecting, to be joyous and drive away despair, knowing that love and bliss are God’s nature.
Perhaps when I have learned lessons from this name, I will choose another to use here. In the meantime, I use this space to keep track of my own knowledge, record my thoughts and ideas, and offer a strange, wordy sort of worship to my chosen God. Please feel free to criticise, question, or otherwise respond, in comments to this or any other post.
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© Kāmya and ridiculously reverent, 2011-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kāmya and ridiculously reverent with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Kamya.. Nice to learn about you.
“the rites can be difficult, costly, time-consuming, and can be performed by those with the correct knowledge, whether or not there is any devotion in the act.”
I request you to go through this page to infer more on the above comments
http://www.vedicastrologer.org/homam/ganapathi.htm
Thank you,
Srini.
[...] Ridiculously Reverent blog is by kāmya, an American woman living in Canada. she is a vedic Hindu, a devout devotee of Indra. She writes [...]
Beautiful description. Amazing thoughts & narration. May lord Indra bless you & your spiritual journey.
Thank you so much, on all counts; I very much appreciate your good wishes!
Hi, nice blog. I saw ur blog in western hindu blog.
I think you are in the Way of Purva Mimamsa dharsan.
If you don’t know about that , i would suggest you to read and learn about Purva mimamsa, because your interest in Veda are very close to Purva mimamsa path of liberation in Hindu.:-)
anyway happy newyear sis.
I have heard the word ‘mimamsa’ before, but didn’t know anything about it. I am reading now and finding it very interesting; thank you so much for this suggestion, and happy new year to you too!
I suggested as i saw you are very much interested in yajna etc which are mentioned in Brahamana parts of Vedas. As im following Uttara mimamsa or Vedanta which belongs to Upanishadic philosophy , i don’t know much authentic books on purva mimamsa.
If you know any please let me know.:-)
I also feel extremely happy that people like you are reviving the knowledge and philosophy of hinduism which is neglected in India.;-(
And yet I feel sad to know that the greatness of Hindu thought and wisdom is neglected anywhere, especially in India…
If I find any good sources of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā knowledge to recommend, I will certainly return to this thread to tell you titles and authors. Meanwhile, do you have any recommendations for good reading on Vedānta and/or Upaniṣads?
Hello Kāmya — I also read about ‘Ridiculously Reverent’ on the Western Hindu blog. Glad to have a chance to read around — fascinating. And I especially like your tagline: “Sarcasm, scholarship, speculation, and Soma.”
— I’ll be coming back to read more and more.
Thank you for the compliment and for reading these words; it motivates me to keep writing, despite the occasional difficulty of sharing devotional feelings. I’ve subscribed to your blog as well and am looking forward to more posts!
And thank you for sharing Śrī Śivananda’s prayer today. His work was my first introduction to yoga and Hinduism, and I love his style of writing: strong, concise, and striking, without any trace of rudeness. It’s difficult to write “brief” without being “brusque,” so I admire his talent as well as his teachings!
Swami Shivanandji was the initiator and Guru for many world famous personalities, including my guru Swami Chinmayananda
Swami Vivekananda’s complete works, its in English and author is a US/UK man,.
CHINMAYA MISSION, RAMAKRISHNA MISSION publications have various books in english.:-)
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
by Swami Vivekananda is available in AMAZON , its an 8 volume Set.
Its best recomended for any starter. Nearly $29, i think. There may be free online version but not authentic
I am happy to see your blog. I got the address from Satya’s post in Ancient Indians. I also live in Bangalore and Satya is my colleague’s daughter. I am delighted to note that you have chosen the path of Sanathana Dharma, called by a geographical name Hinduism.
It is certainly not an -ism. One nice definition of dharma is -
Dharma is appropriateness in thought, action, attitude and judgment to a thing or a happening or a desire or an incident in life.
By your choice of name Kamya – you are born in star Mrigasirsha – Many nice names exist Kameswari, Katyayani, Kalindi. and of course, Kamya which means – desirable , beautiful , amiable , lovely , agreeable – and incidentally it is the name of an apsaras, a celestial dancer – probably dancing in Indra’s court
Best of luck in your quest.
Thank you so much for your reply, and I apologise that it took me so long to answer. I have seen your postings on Satya’s blog before and have learned from the comments you’ve written, so I am pleased to see you here.
I very much like the definition of Dharma that you’ve given, especially as it (rightfully) makes of adherence to dharma an alignment with the appropriate and correct – a simple and pleasurable action, rather than an onerous duty to be dreaded.
You are correct about my birth star indeed…and I did not know that Kāmya is the name of an Apsara! How very appropriate to the name’s meaning.
And thank you for the well-wishes; I appreciate it.
I enjoyed the post and the comment stream!