time ticked one more second and as per the modern common custom, it is time to make resolutions, or should i say time to 'start following up on the resolutions made under extreme peer pressure'.
vidur has a small advice for resolutions, undertakings, projects that we decide to undertake. "the wise should only make those resolutions (undertake projects) that are according to one's ability and aptitude." else they will have less chance of completion.
"once started, the wise doesn't stop or get distracted by fear or attachment, cold or heat, ample or no resources, pride or aimlessness; the wise takes resolutions to completion."
and here is a simple yet deep thought for the new year: "but the one who sees all beings in the divine and divine in all beings, after that [after such viewpoint, experience] one doesn't hate anyone." - iishAvAsya upaniShad (6)
each of the 18 shlokas of this upaniShad is packed with meaning worth a chapter or a book in itself. being part of the upaniShad, these kind of thoughts are very ancient, much before any of the 'modern' institutionalized 'religions' started.
here is pursuit of truth, spiritualism in its purest form, loaded with many layers of meanings and experiences.
here is wishing you all a happy new year.
embrace the world with an open heart.
for the great saint tulasiDasa says - "run towards the [people of the] world and hug them with love, for you never know in what form you may find the divine".
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(c) shashikant joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः । Practical Sanskrit. All rights reserved. http://practicalsanskrit.blogspot.com/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Practical-Sanskrit/94744542422
This one shloka opens up many facets, related to learning and teaching – be it regular schools or spiritual learning. Modern education system, student-teacher relationship, undue blame on teacher or students for below expectation results.
Let us look at each of the four parts. one learns from four sources - teacher, self, others, and with time (i.e. experience).
This doesn't mean it is exactly one-fourth from each. That may depend upon individual case - how good the teacher, classmates, own intelligence or environment is.
Just like to grow a tree a gardener, good seed, fertile soil and time are needed, so too to learn one needs a teacher, own intelligence, co-students and time (patience, experience).
it is that time of the year, the season of giving, the season of charity, caring, love and kindness!
merry christmas!
those in the snow belt, enjoy the snow. others, enjoy the sun! but enjoy.
recently, on a reputed online discussion forum, i read a comment in context of why indians (read - hindus) don't do much charity, that other religions stress on charity, even as much as 15% of your income! that is a hefty chunk of charity! surely the trait is giving is shrinking everywhere - with our increased wants and needs, increased population, and increased selfishness, corruption and reducing trust.
it is true that many hindus are wary of charity as a routine, mainly because they are not sure of what happens of the donation. many non-profit organizations exist for the mere task of funneling money in form of expenses. but otherwise, hindus do actually do charity, in many small to large organizations around the world.
but this set me thinking, what does the ancient philosophy say on this? does the 'religion' talk about it? i am including just a few thoughts on the topic of giving, and since the sanskrit is not necessarily simple, i have skipped the language part for them.
the concept of giving was at many levels. the householder sustained a large part of the society via charity. the students begged their food in the village/town as brahmachAri. this ensured they didn't develop egos larger than their hearts! the sannyAsii, poor, wandering monks all depended on the gRihastha (householder) for sustenance. this is still seen among buddhist societies, where monks still take alms.
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(c) shashikant joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः । Practical Sanskrit. All rights reserved. http://practicalsanskrit.blogspot.com/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Practical-Sanskrit/94744542422
intellect, strength, patience, fearlessness, health, consciousness (awareness) and oratory - may they come by remembering hanumAn .
बुद्धिर्बलं यशो धैर्यं निर्भयत्वमरोगिता । अजाड्यं वाक्पटुता च हनुमत्स्मरणाद्भवेत् ॥
buddhir_balam yasho dhairyam nirbhayatvam_arogitA | a_jADyam vAk_paTutA cha hanumat_smaraNAd_bhavet ||
while devotees of any divine form will say that their divine will give them everything, why are these things associated with hanumAn - intellect, strength, patience, fearlessness, health, consciousness (awareness) and oratory? there are specific reasons.
in the master epic rAmAyaNa of vAlmIki, we come across a wonderful character named hanumAn. his character has captivated people from all times and of all ages. along with shiva and ganesh, perhaps there are most temples of hanumAn. so vast are the qualities of hanumAn and the reasons for them that one post will not be sufficient.
being an avatar of shiva himself, he is favourite of bachelors, and men of strength like wrestlers. he is called as the monkey god. but calling it that in english removes all the greatness one feels when refered as vAnara - which means "maybe human", i.e. half human, like the great apes.
there are many shlokas in his name, and saint goswAmI tulasidAsa wrote a full 40 verse, compact poem called "hanumAn chAlIsA" i.e. 40 verses of hanumAn. in it, he summarizes all the adventures of the great hero.
renounce one person for the sake of the family, a family for the sake of village; village for the sake of country and even the [kingdom of] earth for one's own sake.
this is a very much misunderstood shloka, and the misunderstanding comes from not taking in account the context, the speaker and the essence of the statement. this shloka appears in many shloka collections, including panchatantra and hitopadesha. the earliest reference seems to be in vidura neeti 5-17, which is part of the larger mega-epic mahAbhArata.
the wise minister vidura, of the kuru super-empire, is advising the emperor dhRitarAShTra to follow the path of dharma, right conduct, and not to let unfair things happen due to power intoxication or familial attachment. the emperor was literally blind, but metaphorically blind in parental attachment to his son duryodhana, and lets him get away with some of the most blatant and unfair thing he does out of jealousy and ego. duryodhana, the son was not ignorant of the right conduct, but he accepted he had a natural liking for a-dharma, even though knowing well he was doing wrong.
there are three common misunderstanding regarding this shloka - #1. that the sacrifice of the [good of] smaller unit SHOULD be done to be able to get the good of the larger unit. this makes it a prerequisite to the greater good, which is not so.
#3. giving it a spiritual spin, the last part is translated as 'abandon the [attachment to this material] world for your own moksha, nirvana.' i.e. leave worldly attachment, only then you will be able to liberate yourself.
incoming wealth, always good health, friends,
sweet spoken wife, obedient children, fruitful knowledge
- these are the six comfort/pleasures of this mortal world, o king!
--
arthAgamo nityamarogitA cha priyashcha bhAryA priya-vAdinI cha |
vashyashcha putro'rthakarI cha vidyA ShaD jIvalokasya sukhAni rAjan ||
--
अर्थागमो नित्यमरोगिता च प्रियश्च भार्या प्रियवादिनी च ।
वश्यश्च पुत्रोऽर्थकरी च विद्या षड् जीवलोकस्य सुखानि राजन् ॥ ०-१०
continuing the discussion in hitopadesh, the king after hearing the two shlokas on the morning walk - recipe for disaster and two types of knowledge - started to think about his children and their education or lack of it, future of his kingdom etc. and he remembers this shloka. this was originally said by vidura in mahAbhArata (vidur neeti) to emperor dhRitarAShTra .
in this mortal world, where we live and die, and all the experiences are within this short span what are the sources of comfort/pleasure? let us see how the wise vidur lists them out, and how the rest all follow from these! remember, this is not about the next world, or spirituality. sometimes we have to talk of the present and real as per our limited senses. specially, the people of action (rajas)!
[updated 2012] A new and expanded print and Kindle version of this book is coming soon. The goal is to provide accurate transliteration, easy to read for new-comers, word by word accurate translation, and meaning to help you understand your devotion.
Hindu Prayer Book - English translation and transliteration. Compilation of most common prayers. This was in response to an article published in Cleveland Plain Dealer in January 2003 that Kirtans are becoming very popular in Cleveland, but not (m)any knew the meaning. Then some ’experts’ commented that words are not important and even that words can be an obstruction to real realization.
The question then comes - why then sing a kirtan, bhajan, and that too in Sanskrit? Words are important, when they convey an idea. So this humble collection of important and common mantras, shlokas, and artis.
Any error is mine,
any perfection is divine.
Simple shloka-s for children and adults alike.
Daily prayer shloka-s and mantras
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(c) shashikant joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः ।
Practical Sanskrit. All rights reserved.
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i had written an article in 2003 on Diwali that i have as a PDF, so instead of extracting text out of that, i thought of uploading the PDF itself.
click on the small icon on bottom right of the document (Fullscreen) to read comfortably.
or you can also read that as GIF by clicking on the pics below.
na devA daNDamAdAya rakShanti pashupAlavat ।
yaM tu rakShitumichchhanti buddhyA saMvibhajanti tam ॥
viduraneeti 3-40
As described in an earlier post on smart goals, the wise minister and brother Vidura gives the emperor Dhritarashtra (dhRitarAShTra), a sermon of eight chapters in the epic Mahabharata.
After two chapters of some of the best advice on leadership and management and politics and friendship and social responsibility, the emperor says - tell me more, your interesting and varied talks entice me and i don't get tired of listening to them.
Time and again Dhritarashtra had said - "What you say is correct, but I can't think straight when it comes to the interests of my own son Duryodhana". Duryodhana plots and plans against the cousin Pandava (pANDava) and cheats them, insults them and sends them on exile for 13 years.
This is when Vidura says this shloka, meaning that the emperor should not think that he will be saved by any god or divine if he keeps making foolish decision and not use his own intelligence and good brains.
This one shloka itself has deep implications in many aspects of society, politics, religion.
There are people who think that if they surrender to god, to a master, to a guru, then everything will be okay. They give big donations, charity and all PR stunts. Then there are those who claim there can't be any god or God if there exist pain, sorrow, injustice and all the negativity in this world.
There are those who claim big titles, and positions and assure deliverance from whatever. there are missionary TV channels who will pray for you and get your message to God and save you. Now this trend has started in Hindu religion also. You have TV puja-s, and internet homa and prayers - on your behalf.
There are temples where the rich give donations of many crores (1 crore rupees = about 250,000 US dollars) in the hope and assurance that god will listen to them first. They have their own VIP lines to have quick and easy darshana (viewing) of the divine (statues in the temple). There are 'saints' and realized masters who have multi million dollar business of saving souls! They harp on the importance of a living guru and overshadow even the supreme divine in their megalomania.
And all of them rely on the spirituality, philosophy given by the ancient seers. No one has invented anything new. If they say so, laugh at them heartily. They sure have reinterpreted for their times. So we should look carefully at the original sources. Don't worry that those original people themselves are not alive.
Even if we don't believe in gods, avatars etc., even then we have to believe that some people existed who saw the way they saw and generations have carried their words. We have the scriptures to prove that somebody said these things. It is their humbleness that most of the Indian seers didn't leave any specific details about themselves. Even without their physical bodies, their words, if contemplated genuinely and earnestly, will deliver us!
Veda Vyasa is attributed to have categorized the Veda-s, no mean task by today's standards. So we must listen to his words carefully. And Vidura was one of the wisest in the Mahabharata, so we must listen to him even more carefully.
So,
to those who think if we pray to god, god will come and deliver us;
to those who think god is going to deliver us only if we believe in this or that form of god (whether Indian or not);
To them - god will not come down and stand on your doorstep like a guard, will not be with you all the time like a body guard. While faith is important, it is the intelligence that god gives along with other skills that intelligence/mind can use, that ultimately saves us.
God is good only if thoughts, prayers to him/her etc. bring any change in us, our hearts and minds. And not all of life is spirituality, lot of it is also reality. As Kalidasa (kAlidAsa) says in Kumara-sambhavam - shareeramAdyam khalu dharmasAdhanam (शरीरमाद्यं खलु धर्मसाधनम्) - this body is the instrument of (executing) all dharma (responsibilities and deeds) - so we should not neglect the shareera-dharma as well. And with society comes the practical world and wisdom and neeti and reality of this world.
What miracles we hear - Jesus walking on water, Meera drinking poison, rocks thrown on Buddha splitting in pieces and not hurting him - they are created to give us a sense of greater than human perspective. They are to appeal to our feelings, emotions, and to create in us an unwavering faith. And through such 'higher than us' figures, good teachings are passed. We tend to believe larger than life figures, and the trend of creating legends continues to this day - be it Princess Diana or 9/11.
But before the faith, we must use our mind, our viveka to see what are the intention of the faith creator. Lot of world's problems are because of this negligence.
This shloka is like 'buyers beware' advice in Indian market. You be aware of what you are buying.
We should not blame anyone for our problems.
This doesn't mean it is everyone for oneself, and there is no need to do good. When Draupadi and Yuddhishthira have a discussion on the importance of karma while in exile, he says - I don't follow dharma even for following dharma [and having the fame of how dharmika I am]. I follow dharma (the right conduct) because I think that way, I must do the right thing, for I have to do karma, then why not the right karma.
So we all need to do our duties in the society. After that it is not our fault. A farmer tills the land, but if it doesn't rain it is not his fault. That is why kings and governments give subsidies, and relief funds during drought.
Anyway. Some of the statements above may not seem connected, because there is so much that can be said connecting them that it would be too long for a single post.
But, use your brains, your intelligence and the divine will protect you.
God helps them, who help themselves.
Question: when Rama is getting ready for exile, Lakshmana, his younger brother says that they should grab the throne by force. Because, this decision of Dasharatha - their father and king - to send Rama to exile, was not right decision for the father to his son or for the king to his kingdom. And yet Rama says - it is destiny (daiva). Even when Lakshmana says - the brave make their own destiny, Rama refuses.
Why?
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And now the language aspects of the shloka -
na = not
devAH = gods, divine
daNDamAdAya = with stick (daNDa) in hand (AdAya)
rakShanti = protect (plural third person of verb rakSh)
pashupAlavat = like a cattle-grazer
pashu = animal
pAla = protect
-vat = like, when used as a suffix
pashu-pAl-vat = like a cowherd/shepherd
yaM = whom
tu = rather, instead
rakShitumichchhanti = desire (ichchhanti) to protect (rakShitum = for protecting)
buddhyA = with intelligence
saMvibhajanti = attach, join, (endow)
tam = that (person)
[ The intention of this post is not to challenge anyone's belief but to remind them that god works through our own hands and mind, so we should always be aware, alert, and right thinking, for we alone take ourselves to heaven or hell by our own deeds].
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(c) shashikant joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः ।
Practical Sanskrit. All rights reserved.
http://practicalsanskrit.blogspot.com/
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each and every sound can be a mantraM, to be meditated upon. but for that one needs to understand the acoustics of the mouth, vibrations of sounds, meaning of the letters of the language. specially in sanskrit each letter sound has a meaning.
e.g. the first consonants
क (ka) means - brahmA, viShNu, kAmadeva, agni (fire), vAyu (wind), sUrya (sun) etc.
ख (kha) means - sky (khaga = those that move in the sky = birds), heaven, senses of perception, field (farm), void
ग (ga) means - gandharva (celestial singers, dancers), adjective for gaNesha (gaN gaNapataye namaH)
every plant has some medicinal use. even the poisonous ones have use in fighting venom. a pharmaceutical company would be better testimony of it even for modern medicines, what to say of ayurvedic medicines which were prepared from plants directly, and were heavily plant based.
this is the confusing part about ethics - what to do? is the terrorist right in using force to get his/her way? are we right in using violence against a terrorist?
it is all in the intention.
the word AtatAyin mean "one who is in a stretched posture of attack - with a stretched out sword or a stretched bowstring, ready to kill."
vasiShTha-smRiti defines 6 acts of terror - one who sets fire (arson), one who poisons, one who is ready to kill with a drawn weapon, one who takes money by force, one who takes over land, one who kidnaps woman.
(september 11, 2001, new york)
arjuna asks kRiShNa in gItA (1-36) what he will gain by killing these terrorists, the kauravas. now, look at what all duryodhana did to pANDavas - setting fire to the house of lac (in which they were made to stay as guests), gave bhIma poison, took their land and money by deceitful force (winning the dice game my deceit), even took draupadI away (as part of the bet). even then arjuna has the moha - illusion - that the kaurava were his family, cousin etc.
How we love to make friends! That is what humanity is all about- connecting to other people! If social networking is any indication, our worth sometimes is measured by how many friends we have in our circle.
But we are talking about carrying the responsibility of being a friend. Of keeping tab, helping when needed and remembering and fulfilling the promises we make.
When we are in need, we say, "You indeed are my friend" for a friend in need is a friend indeed. I think should be 'A friend in deed is a friend indeed.'
Once the favor is done, we have smooth sailing again; we tend to slowly forget the importance of that help, in time. Maybe it starts to fade how someone helped us in our time of need.
In Rāmāyaṇa (रामायण , rAmAyaNa = The Travail of Rāma) - the first masterpiece of a story with fully developed characters, plot and all nine rasa (रस = mood in literature, like happy, sad, love, fear, ...), with no precedence in Indian literature to it. In that sense, it was a trendsetter, a best-seller forever, ever since it appeared on the "Vārāṇasī (वाराणसी, vArANasI = the oldest continuous living city of the world) best seller list" in the remote past.
Rāma helped Sugrīva (सुग्रीव, sugrIva = One with beautiful neck) the vānara (वानर, vAnara = maybe human, human like) king, to end his exile and get his wife back by the only possible way - killing Vālī (वाली, vAlI) who had banished Sugrīva and kept his wife. Rāma-Sugrīva friendship is a classic example of "types of friendships" where it is mutually beneficial and each comes to it for some help from the other, maybe because they are in similar situation.
When Sugrīva got the kingdom, Rāma told him that after the four months of rain, we will plan to attack Rāvaṇa (रावण, rAvaNa = one who made everyone cry in horror), for rain is not season to wage a war.
But even after the rains were over, Sugrīva, in his new found power and authority, forgot his vow and kept enjoying. Then Rāma sent his younger brother Lakṣhmaṇa (लक्ष्मण, lakShmaNa) to remind Sugrīva. Lakṣhmaṇa twangs his mighty bow from the city gates itself and Hanumān warns a worried Sugrīva - reminding sugreeva of his friendship vow..
So true, it is easy to make friends. But to keep it! That is a different ball game altogether.
This is also a line you could easily find as a status line on FB, on a car bumper sticker, but it was first said in Rāmāyaṇa.
Salutations to the foremost of seers, the ādi-kavi (आदिकवि, Adi-kavi = foremost poet seer), Vālmīki (वाल्मीकि, vAlmIki = seer of the epic Rāmāyaṇa).
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for kRiShNa, for the son of vasudeva, and for the [source of] joy of devakI,
for the boy of the cowherd [chief] nanda, for the benefactor of cattle (cows), salutations.
कृष्णाय वासुदेवाय, देवकी-नन्दनाय च ।
नंद-गोप-कुमाराय, गोविन्दाय नमो नमः ॥
kRiShNAya vAsudevAya, devakI-nandanAya cha |
nanda-gopa-kumArAya, govindAya namo namaH ||
it seems like lot of you like devotional, bhakti mantras rather than the worldly wise neeti sutra. so let me pick some devotional bhakti mantras for simple sanskrit, starting with one of the most favorite of kRiShNa mantra.
while it is impossible, for a mere mortal like me, to dwell on all the details of the most intricate character of kRiShNa, let me touch on the language aspects of the words.
kRiShNa has many many names. viShNu has even sahasra-nAma i.e. 1000 names, mainly describing the attributes, or mnemonic for stories and incidents from his life and leelAs.
e.g. dAmodara = dAmA (rope) + udara (belly, wasit) = reminds of the story when he was tied to the grain-pounder with rope by yashodA.
vArShNeya = of the dynasty of vRiShNi
madhusUdana = slayer of madhu, an dAnava.
giridhara = giri (mountain) + dhara (holder) = one who held the mountain (on his little finger)
What is the crux of humanity as we know? What would be the utmost thing we would need to remain human, to have life as we know it?
Money? Fame? Car? Internet? Two hands? Would any thing make us really happy? (Read on, there is a twist to this cliche).
Let us look at what ultimately makes us happy.
One type of person may be happy, in bliss without anything or anybody. Such people are very few, and most of them, we don't even know. For they don't care much for society. Yes, there are people who are born in society, and have given it up. No, no, not suicide, they have renounced the society, in the real sense. No desire left.
There are gurus and yogis in the active society who crave for fame, name, follower-ship, but there are many who reside in the foothills of Himalaya (himAlaya, हिमालय = the abode of snow), or even higher, don't have anything for possession, live in nature's sweet climate of harsh winter! Even as way back as Kalidasa (kAlidAsa, कालिदास) (around 50BC) mentions of such sadhu-s (sAdhu, साधु , good person) -
The ascetics would come down the slope to enjoy the shade of the cloud in the middle parts of the mountains (with rising sun and heat), but then would go up again worried about possible rain.
[kumArasambhavaM कुमारसंभवम् 1-5]
They could have had a social life, of 'earn and burn', 'shop till you drop', but on their own, they left the life of comparison, competition, joy and sorrow and connected to their inner source of happiness.
But we are not them.
And we are not happy by things, but by people. If we had no people to share with, fight with, compare with, show off to - where would the joy be? A Porsche brings no joy (for long) if you can't show off to the neighbor, or pick hot chicks!
Two years back, we moved back from US after a long stay of 17 years. While my daughter's new school was getting the new building built, their old building was really a makeshift, and for a year she complained. After all, we just moved from US for good for the first time in her life. She was only 9. and the worst part, the school infrastructure, where she would spend the most time, was not as great as any parent would want it - small, small rooms, no playground etc. It was a new school in town to boot!
Then the new campus was built for her second year at the school, huge grounds, big rooms!
So I asked her - "Would you have this new school building and no friends, rude teachers, inattentive staff or would you have the old building, less facilities but great friends and caring teachers"? She immediately said - "The good friends and teachers."
All her cribbing for a year for bad building was forgotten - the friends mattered more!
So, people give us joy or sorrow, or our joy and sorrow is tightly related to people. We feel joy when they agree with us, do amazing things, share their time with us, ...
We feel sad or angry when they disagree with us, do things we don't like, don't eat the dinner that we made while it is still hot, ... and if they great company, give us sorrow when they leave us.
So, people give us joy and happiness (for most of us normal mortals anyways).
And how do people give us joy? Apart from the short material things - by sharing their time with us, thoughts, likes and dislikes, talking about sweet nothings or sweets, sharing ideas and experiences.
And all this is through language, the foremost of human invention - by which we can visit places simply by reading a book; listen to someone across the globe or read this website and understand and enjoy. (I realize there is American sign language too, but you get the point).
Language is sacred.
The word is sacred.
Don't abuse it, don't abuse the power of the word. No, I am not being Bible-ish. I am talking way much higher level than that.
Word carries the thought.
Thought carries the experience.
Experience - the divine (or the evening soap!)
The wounds of arrows from a bow can still heal, but those from harsh words - they never heal, nor are they forgotten!
Harsh words caused Mahabharat (mahAbhArata, महाभारत, the great epic), the greatest civil war ever in history of the world - once by Draupadi to Duryodhana (when he stepped in water when he thought there was none, and she called him blind son of blind father * Actually it is not Draupadi as per original Mahabharata, this is added somewhere later on. In Vyasa's Mahabharata, she wasn't even there at the time Duryodhana stepped in water by mistake) and once when Duryodhan (duryodhan, दुर्योधन) insulted her (by asking her to sit in his lap in front of a full court).
Why are words harsh?
Who do they hurt?
They hurt the ego in us.
Because we are full of 'mAnya-mAnitA' (मान्य-मानिता) - "I am great, I deserve respect."
They scare us, for harsh words make us realize the other person is not favorable to us.
But for most humans working at below average grade point, life is like that.
We all have a small bird of ego captured in our (rib)cage and any hurt to this enrages the monster in us - and we go berserk with hurt ego, bruised emotions and what not.
When do we use harsh words?
When we are angry or jealous. Anger comes when something comes in the way of us and what we want. Jealousy comes when someone else already has what we want!
At the root of both is 'our want' and mis-projection of it.
We may use harsh words to our children (our anger rather than their discipline!), our spouse (our venting rather than their fault!), subordinates (our hurt ego somewhere rather than their bad performance).
None of these build any positive vibe, does any real good.
And words are like arrows - once shot can't be reversed - they rarely miss their targets either!
That is why we are given two ears and one mouth - talk less, listen more.
॥ न दुरुक्ताय स्पृहयेत् ॥ ॐ शांतिः ॥
|| na duruktAye spRihayet || om shAntiH||
[rig-veda 1-41-9]
This was not intended to be this long or this deep, but with the flow of thought, the typing doesn't stop. Hope you are reading this line. and if yes, please do let me know your reaction.
May you all find this a turning point in your life and practice the restraint of the tongue, never say harsh words. Take that as a challenge in your life, how can you communicate without using harsh words, without getting angry. Not because someone else is watching, but because you are watching!
And tell me after a day or a week, how it went. How long were you able to remain un-harsh in words.
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and now the language aspects of the shloka -
na = (do) not
duruktAya = duH + ukti = difficult/harsh/bad/hurtful word
uktAya = for word
duruktAya = for harsh words
spRihayet = have desire, craving, coveting for.
so do NOT covet (saying) harsh words.
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(c) shashikant joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः ।
Practical Sanskrit. All rights reserved.
one wise son is worthy [than a] hundred stupid ones, for a single moon destroys the darkness, not even a hundred stars [can do that].
वरमेको गुणी पुत्रो, न च मूर्खशतैरपि ।
एकश्चन्द्रस्तमो हन्ति, न च तारागणैरपि ॥
varam_eko guNI putro, na cha mUrkha-shatair_api |
ekash_chandras-tamo hanti, na cha tArA-gaNair_api || kathamukhaM-08
so, we were following the hitopadeshaH. in the preface to the book, our king sudarshana was strolling on the banks of gangA in the metropolitan city of pATaliputra (modern day paTanA), where he had heard two shlokas being recited - knowledge is the only eye and the recipe for disaster. this had set him thinking about his own princes.
among the not-born, born-and-died and the stupid for life - the first two types of children are still better, for they give you sorrow only once, but the third (stupid) gives you sorrow every step of life.[4] his is some birth which brings fame to the name of the family, else in this ever changing mortal world, many are born and die.[5]
people with wisdom wish to do (projects) as per their ability, execute as per their ability and do not consider anything small or trivial (don't disrespect any task).
यथाशक्ति चिकीर्षन्ति यथाशक्ति च कुर्वते ।
न किञ्चिदवमन्यन्ति नराः पण्डितबुद्धयः ॥ 1-26
yathA-shakti chikIrShanti, yathA-shakti cha kurvate |
na kinchidavamanyanti, narAH paNDita-buddhayaH ||
this is 26th shloka from chapter 1 of vidura-neeti, an excellent, stand alone section of the grand epic mahAbhArata. in this the great emperor dhRitarAShTra - whose sons were the villains making life miserable for their cousins pANDavas - is extremely restless about tomorrow's court appearance of the messenger, sanjaya, who brought the message from pANDava side.
a disturbed emperor calls for his wise minister and brother vidura at late hours and asks for words of wisdom regarding dharma (right conduct) and artha (politics).
the wise vidura bares all his wisdom for the benefit of the emperor, but sadly, to no avail, as the deadly war does take place.
गणेश gaNesha enjoys the adoration of all hindus' no matter what personal god (इष्ट-देव iShTa-deva) they choose.
Please search the internet for some wonderful art images of the iconography of गणेश and videos on youtube or other video sites.
Don't say 'idol of गणेश ', say 'statue of गणेश '.
Just like most 'gods' which are anthropomorphic representations of the aspects of nature, creation, universe, our feelings, qualities, गणेश also has rich visual imagery.
It is the most down to earth, dear to all, easily represented (just a lump of clay or a beetle-nut is enough) deity.
Lord of art, learning, crafts - गणेश has inspired artists simply in the art of depicting गणेश itself, resulting in perhaps the god with most types of depiction.
Detailed commentary will be much deeper and lengthier, so I am only providing approximate word-by-word translations. Some liberties have been taken to not do literal translation.
^1, ^2 etc. are notes at bottom.
These translations are from स्मृति 'smRiti' and not श्रुति 'shruti' meaning not learnt from a teacher, so I might have chosen a less appropriate meaning, where words with multiple meanings are used.
e.g. गुरु guru also means heavy, main, most important, apart from teacher.
It is surprising that one, the words to this are available only in context of "that महादेवन mahAdevan song from Hindi movie विरुद्ध Viruddha".
Second, a few sites that give the words, have major errors, (search for 'gananayakaya" on the net) breaking words where they should not, very ambiguous and incorrect transliteration.
It is important to know the correct words, for it enhances the essence of devotion, and brings about further change of heart, than just mumbling on a nice melody/music.
I could not find any good rendering of just the words, what to say of meaning. Hope this post, fills that void.
For the one who is - (common to all the adjectives/names of gaNesha) -
- gaNa-nAyaka = leader of the गण gaNa (^1), gaNa-devatA = divine god of the people, gaNa-adhyakSha = representative of the people, dhImahi = meditate (^0).
- guNa-sharIra = embodiment of गुण guNa (^2), guNa-maNDita = one adorned with गुण guNa, guNa-IshAna = lord of the गुण guNa, meditate.
- guNa-atIta = beyond गुण guNa, guNa-adhi-Isha = controller of गुण guNa, guNa-praviShTa = pervading the गुण guNa (or one in which guNa is pervading, full of all guNa), meditate.
- eka-danta = having one tusk, vakra-tuNDa = having curved trunk, gaurI-tanaya = son of गौरी gaurI (पार्वती pArvatI), meditate.
- gaja-IshAna = lord of the elephants, bhAla-chandra = with moon on forehead, shrI-gaNesha = श्री shrI गणेश gaNesha, meditate.
That is,
Meditate, for the leader of the people, meditate for the divine god of people, meditate for the embodiment of guNa ... etc.
For the one who is -
- gAna-chatura = clever at music (and singing), gAna-prANa = life of music, gAna-antaH-Atman = inner soul of music .
- gAna-utsuka = eager for music, gAna-matta = intoxicated in music, gAna-utsuka-manas = eager-minded for music .
- guru-pUjita = main (guru)(^3) among those who are worshiped, =guru-devatA = main god, guru-kula-sthAyI = main resident of the family.
- guru-vikrama = most brave, guhya-pravara = main among mysteries (to liberation?), guru = knowledgeable, guna-guru = elder or worthier by virtue of his guNa (guNa-guru) .
- guru-daitya-galan-kShetre = the main in the area of killing demons, guru-dharma-sadA-ArAdhya = main goal of dharma.
[one liner translations are so much injustice to sanskrit]
- guru-putra-paritAtRi = main protector of children (son), guru-pAkhaNa-khaNDaka = main destroyer of hypocrisy.
- gIta-sAra = gist of song/music, gIta-tattva = essence of song/music, gIta-gotra = enricher of music, meditate .
- gUDha-gulpha = one with deep ankles, gandha-matta = intoxicated with fragrance, go-jaya-prada = giver of victory over senses (go-jaya), meditate.
- guNa-atIta = beyond guNa, guNa-adhi-Isha = controller of guNa, guNa-praviShTa = pervading the guNa, meditate.
- eka-danta = having one tusk, vakra-tuNDa = having curved trunk, gaurI-tanaya = son of gaurI (pArvatI), meditate.
- gaja-IshAna = lord of the elephants, bhAla-chandra = with moon on forehead, shrI-gaNesha = shrI gaNesha, meditate.
For the one who is -
- grantha-gIta = sung of (praised) in the scriptures, grantha-geya = worthy of being sung of in the scriptures, grantha-antaH-Atman = the soul of the scriptures.
- gIta-lIna = immersed in music, gIta-Ashraya = patronage/refuge/saviour of music, gIta=vAdya-paTu = expert in singing and playing music.
- geya-charita = whose personality/praises are sung, gAyaka-vara = worthy/ideal of singers, gandharva-priya-kRit = benefactor (priya-kRit) of the musicians (gandharva).
- expander of the dominance of musicians(?), one who loves water of gangA (wrongly written as ganges).
- gaurI-stanandhaya = breastfed by gaurI, gaurI-hRidaya-nadana = bringer of joy to the heart of gaurI (or the child of gaurI's wish(heart)(^4)
- gaura-bhAnu-suta = brilliant (bhAnu) son of pArvatI, gaurI-gaNa-Ishvara = lord in the form of gaurI-gaNesha.
- gaurI-praNaya = dear to gaurI, gaurI-pravaNa = leaning towards gaurI (young gaNesha in her lap, or one who leads to shakti), gaura-bhAva = the essence of gaurI (bhAva), meditate.
- go-sahasra = [like, equal to] thousand/all senses/cows/veda, go-vardhana = enhancer of senses/cows/earth, gopa-gopa = protector of protectors, meditate. [go has multiple meanings]
- guNa-atIta = beyond guNa, guNa-adhi-Isha = controller of guNa, guNa-praviShTa = pervading the guNa, meditate.
- eka-danta = having one tusk, vakra-tuNDa = having curved trunk, gaurI-tanaya = son of gaurI (pArvatI), meditate.
- gaja-IshAna = lord of the elephants, bhAla-chandra = with moon on forehead, shrI-gaNesha = shrI gaNesha, meditate.
^0 dhImahi - meditate, focus the intellect on it, ponder on it
^1 gaNa = people, groups of people. gaNarAjya = democracy, people-rule.
^2 guNa = qualities, the three guNa (sattva, rajas, tamas), characteristic
^3 guru - teacher, but also, main, important, chief, heavy (with virtue)
^4 gaurI = pArvatI, shakti, umA, aparNA, gaurI, ... pArvatI created gaNesha out of her desire, using clay and then breathed life in it.
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sulabhAH puruShA rAjan, satataM priyavAdinaH | apriyasya tu pathyasya, vaktA shrotA cha durlabhaH ||
Yes-men are great! They make you feel more better, when you are feeling good. Similarly, when you are feeling down, they will take you even further down :) For they will simply say what you want to hear, not what you should hear!
It is like yelling in an echo well! Or watching yourselves in the mirror.
In corporates and administration, if you get yes-men, they are not even your eyes - to see the current or the future. It is like glasses on the eyes of a blind man.
But such yes-men are abundant. people don't want to offend others, specially if it is not in a large public place, where you could care less for others! For a king, a CXO, it could be dangerous. Render you aimless, submarine without periscope, ship without rudder, sailor without compass.
This shloka first appears in Ramayana (rAmAyaNa) [3:37:2] , when Maricha (marIcha) warns Ravana (rAvaNa) against his plans of abducting Sita (sItA). Later, in Yuddha Kanda,Vibhishana (vibhIShaNa) warns Ravana again to return Sita and avoid the war. Both times, the speaker dares to defy and go against the will of a King gone mad.
This shloka is also told by the very wise Vidura in the epic Mahabharata (mahAbhArata) to the blind emperor Dhritarashtra (dhRitarAShTra). One day the emperor calls for Vidura late at night to his palace, and complains of sleeplessness. Vidura says that "one who challenges a stronger foe, the helpless, the one who has been robbed of everything, one in affair or a thief - these suffer from lack of sleep, and asks if the emperor has any of the situation applicable."
After a long and stimulating counsel on what should a good king, statesman, leader do, he goes on to say this warning.
Reminds me of a much later saying - "We don't always love all whom we praise." Read it again, yes! There are lot of actors in the world, who would do anything to please you, as long as you have some muscle or money or power.
But for a leader, king, CEO it is important to get the real perspective, real clarity of thought. But such people who would say even unpleasant truths as long as like they are medicinal in value, would do long term good. A good king should surround himself with a panel of really learned, simple, truthful people who won't be scared to say they can't see the emperor's clothes.
Next time someones gives you criticism, or tells you the real truth about matters, thank them. For their truthfulness in feedback will help you improve.
And now the language aspects of the shloka -
sulabhAH = easily available
labh = to gain
lAbha = profit
lobha = greed
su-labha = easily available su- prefix for indicating good.
puruShA = man
rAjan = o king
satataM = always
priyavAdinaH = sweet spoken.
apriyasya = of (-sya suffix) apriya (unpleasant)
priya = dear, pleasant; a- prefix negates it
tu = but; short of kintu
pathyasya = of (-sya) medicine (pathya)
vaktA = speaker; from vAk - speech
shrotA = listener
cha = and
durlabhaH = scarce; not easy to obtain
(c) shashikant joshi । शशिकांत जोशी । ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः ।
Practical Sanskrit. All rights reserved.
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learning of the weapons [and] of the sciences - there are two types of knowledge for dignified living |
first is a matter of laughing in old age, second is respected always ||
vidyA shastrasya shAstrasya, dve vidye pratipattaye |
AdyA hAsyAya vRiddhatve, dvitiyA_Adriyate sadA ||
this shloka is also part of the preface to hitopadesh (practical counsel)
in which the importance of knowledge is propounded.
here, it compares the knowledge of weapons and sciences. on the surface it may seem the intention of using shastra and shAstra is merely for poetic, alliteration purpose, just had to say something. for it is difficult to find much depth in it.
unless we consider this:
1. this is being taught to princes - the future kings - it is like their BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) course.
2. a king has to be a soldier as well - adept at some weapons personally.
3. every king aspires to grow, like modern corporations.
by saying knowledge of weapons, it implies, how to actually use the weapon, e.g. how to best shoot with a bow, rifle, cannon, missile launcher etc.
youth, prosperity of wealth,
power of authority and lack of right judgment;
each one is enough for catastrophe/disaster,
what to say where all four are present.
this shloka is the second of the shlokas that king sudarshan heard on his morning walk by the river gangA (no, Ganges is NOT the right name). see the first shloka here. (hitopadesh kathAmukhaM)
four situations that may cause mishaps, misfortune, catastrophe, wrongdoing.
youth -
youth think they are immortal, nothing is impossible (or should i use the copyrighted - impossible is nothing!), nothing can hurt them. they would do craziest things like para-sailing, driving motorcycles on rear wheel at 130 miles per hour, or any such adventure sport (add you favorite crazy thing here), which someone with family and secure job and a bit of age would consider - insane!
