Monday, August 25, 2014

On Ghee

An interesting take on Ghee by Chanakya

अन्नाद् दशगुणं पिष्टं पिष्टाद् दशगुणं पय: |
पय्सॊष्टगुणं मांसं मांसाद दशगुणं घृतम् ||

Rice < Wheat < Milk < Meat < Ghee - each is 10 times better than the predecessor!

Monday, August 18, 2014

On Brains


बुद्धिर्यस्य बलं तस्य निर्बुद्धेस्तु कुतो बलम् 
वने सिंहो मदोन्मत्त: शशकेन निपातित: ||

One who has brains is the one who has strength. The shloka quotes the story of pancha-tantra where a clever rabbit kills the mighty lion!

Monday, March 24, 2014

On Belief

From मनुस्मृति

देवे तीर्थे द्विजे वैद्ये बुद्धिर्भवति यादृशी |
यादृशी भावना तत्र सिद्धिर्भवति तादृशी ||
This श्लोक: is an interesting take on belief.  It articulates that results obtained from God, Pilgrimage, Brahmin, Doctor are directly proportional to the belief in them !!


Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Only Spirit(भाव:) Matters


मूर्खो वदति विष्णाय धीरो वदति विष्णवे |
उभयस्य फ़लम् तुल्यं भवग्राही जनार्दन:||

The above श्लोक: in simple terms says that God only looks at intention, not grammar.  Gist is as follows.

Foolish people say विष्णाय which grammatically incorrect.रामाय is correct but for विष्णु it must be विष्णवे; which is the word used by विद्वान while praying. However, the result of the prayer is same; since its based on the भाव: not the grammar.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Devo Bhava (देवो भव)

Following mantras are quite common.

मातृदेवो भव |  पितृदेवो भव | आचार्यदेवो भव | अतिथिदेवो  भव |

Taking last shloka(अतिथिदेवो  भव) as an example, I always thought that it meant Guest is god. But recently i learnt a different meaning of the same.

These sholkas are told by Gurus in gurukool to their students. The sholkas appear in प्रथमा शीक्षावल्ली of तैत्तिरीयोपनिषत. The sholkas are in imperative mood - its teacher telling students अतिथिदेवो  भव. In this context the correct meaning arises which is  - teacher telling students "You become a person who treats guest like god" . Same applies to other sholkas.


Saturday, January 25, 2014

Tenses & Moods in Sanskrit

There are 6 tenses & 4 moods in Sanskrit. The following shloka enlists all forms of verbs corresponding to tenses & moods in Sanskrit.

लड्वर्तमाने लेड्वेदे भूते लुङ्लङ्लिट्स्तथा |
विध्याशिषोस्तु लिङ्लोटौ ऌङ्ऌटौ लुड् भविष्यति ||

A time line plot of the same (verb to tense/mood mapping) is shown below.

Timeline Based Categorisation of Tenses In Sanskrit

The whole timeline has sections past ( भूत ) and future ( भविष्य ) tense with present ( वर्तमान ) tense in between. The forms of verbs are called लकरा: 

The following explains mapping of various लकारा: to tenses/moods shown above using भू धातु , एकवचनम् , प्रथमपुरुष: as example for each of the लकार:
  • लट् लकार: ( e.g भवति )  represents present tense. 
Both past and future tense have 24hr mark relative to present tense. This 48hr period is referred to as अद्यतन. 

  • लृट् लकार: e.g भविष्यति represents the time period upto 24hrs in the futureअद्यतन भविष्य ). This लकार: corresponds to future tense in English and other languages. 
  • लुङ् लकार: ( e.g अभूत्) represents the time period upto 24hrs in the past ( अद्यतन भूत ).
Beyond 48hr period is referred to as अनद्यतन. Following are the लकरा:  that belong to this class.
  • लुट लकारe.g भविता represents the time period beyond 24hrs in the future ( अनद्यतन भविष्य ).
  • लङ् लकार: (e.g अभवत् ) represents the time period beyond 24hrs in the past ( अनद्यतन भूत ).This लकार: corresponds to past tense in English and other languages. 
There are one more form of लकर: in past tense 
  • लिट् लकार: (e.g बभूव ) represents the time period that we have not seen (परोक्ष) - beyond our existence in past - happenings during different युग .
In addition,
  • लेट लकार: This लकार: is used only in vedas.
Moving to moods, there are 4 of them, they are as follows.
  • लोट् लकार: ( e.g भवतु/भवतात् ) represents imperative mood.
  • विधिलिङ् लकारe.g भवेत् represents potential/possibility or should/must be done.
  • आशिर्लिङ् लकारe.g भूयत ) represents the tense used in blessing someone.
  • लृङ् लकारe.g अभविष्यत् ) represents the tense of conditional possibility or possibility dependent on another event.