Sanskrit Tidbits-32:A shloka by Vivekananda in honour of Paramahansa
ShareTweetSwami Vivekananda mostly wrote in English. There is the odd piece he wrote in Bengali. Some people may also know that he was extremely fluent in Sanskrit. There is an anecdote about Swami Vivekananda and More »
Evolution of man,need for Religion in world and perfection of Hinduism
ShareTweetSome 5 billion years ago, earth was a molten mass and there was no life here. Slowly, the miracle happened and life appeared on earth from the same matter. In due course More »
Bharat-Vs-India, Swami Vivekananda and DNA of Intellectuals
ShareTweetMy grandfather used to tell me a story. There used to live a great astrologist and palmist in a village. He could look after the palms and foretell future of anyone as More »
Renaissance in India:A Prelude
ShareTweetOf late, there has been a lot of awareness about how we have been consistently and deliberately betrayed and ditched by our own men on whom we trusted more than ourselves for More »
Delhi Gang Rape,British Raj Inherited Section-144 and Rise of Shakti in India
ShareTweetFor some strange reason, I had been following the rape cases in the country for the last couple of days honestly. Now that my respect for the Government, Opposition, Media and Society More »
India:This country has rotten to the core.Now, it is at the verge of collapse.
ShareTweet1. A student “XYZ” studies day and night and makes it to a top-level world renowned B-School in India. One morning she wakes up and finds her boyfriend updating his status message that More »
Was there a salacious dimension in Radha-Krishna relationship: An Open Letter to Swapan Dasgupta
ShareTweetDear Sir, I came across the above mentioned tweet of yours and I am sorry to say that this was the most unfortunate tweet that would have ever landed on my TL, More »
Sanskrit Tidbits-10: Fun with riddles in Sanskrit
ShareTweetSanskrit is also fun. Did you know Sanskrit literature is full of puns? In 1982, Gurupad K. Hegde wrotean entire book titled “Pun in Sanskrit Literature”. It was published by Mysore College More »
Narada and Maya: A story from Swami Vivekananada’s Works
ShareTweetThere was once a handsome young sage named Narada. He was devoted to god ad well versed in holy books. In one of these he came across a word, Maya, that was More »
Bhagat Singh’s letter to his Father
ShareTweet[When the case was in its final stage, Sardar Kishan Singh (Bhagat Singh's father) made a written request to the Tribunal, saying that there were many facts to prove that his son More »
Bhagat Singh On the slogan of ‘Long Live Revolution’
ShareTweetShri Ramanand Chaterji the editor of Modern Review, ridiculed the slogan of ‘Long Live Revolution‘ through an editorial note and gave an entirly wrong interpretation. Bhagat Singh wrote a reply and handed More »
Sanskrit Tidbits-8: Myth behind different names of Lotus in Sanskrit
ShareTweetThere are statements that Sanskrit was elitist. It wasn’t spoken by the masses. The brahmanas controlled access to the language. From whatever I have read, that’s not the impression I have formed. More »
But what is the Hindu religion?
ShareTweetLess than a month after Sri Aurobindo’s acquittal from the charges brought against him in the Alipore Bomb Trial (May 1908–May 1909), he delivered this speech in Uttarpara, West Bengal. It was More »
Sanskrit Tidbits-7: Myth behind most commonly used words in hymns
ShareTweet We now know the word namah is associated with chaturthi vibhakti and it should be easy for us to understand expressions like नमः शिवाय शान्ताय कारणत्रय हेतवे or या देवी सर्वभूतेषु More »
Frog in the Well: Why we fail to live at peace with one another
ShareTweet In a well a little away from the sea, there lived a big black frog. He had been born there and not for a single day been out . He knew More »
The science of living: An aimless life is a miserable life
ShareTweetAn aimless life is always a miserable life. Every one of you should have an aim. But do not forget that on the quality of your aim will depend the quality of More »
Hymn to Mother India-II
ShareTweetIndia, my India, where first human eyes awoke to heavenly light, All Asia’s holy place of pilgrimage, great Motherland of might! World-mother, first giver to humankind of philosophy and sacred lore, Knowledge More »
Sanskrit Tidbits-4:Can you detect anything wrong in this picture?
ShareTweet त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव। त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव। त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव। त्वमेव सर्वं मम देव देव॥ From what you already know, this should be simple to translate and understand. More »
Sanskrit Tidbits-1
ShareTweetअहम् युष्माकम् अध्यापकः न अस्मि। युष्माकम् अध्यापिका रोहिणी अस्ति। I don’t possess the skills to teach you Sanskrit. My learning of Sanskrit is entirely self-taught. There is nothing formal about it. In More »
An Appeal by Sudharma, world’s only Sanskrit daily
ShareTweet Sanskrit, A glorious language : Most of the gems of our cultural and religious heritage (the Vedas,Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Subhashitams, the Puranas) originated in this language. Even today,Sanskrit is taught in More »
An Introduction to Tilak by Sri Aurobindo-I
ShareTweet Today is the birth anniversary of great nationalist leader Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak (23rd July 1856-1st August 1920). Who can say better about Tilak than Sri Aurobindo who had the opportunity More »
Internet Hindus and Renaissance in India-I
ShareTweet When you were in school, you were taught: Mahatma Gandhi is the father of Nation. Now an RTI says, Mahatma Gandhi was never conferred Father of Nation title. Unlearn it and More »
Why I am an atheist: Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh
ShareTweet“Bhai Randhir Singh aka Baba Randhir Singh was a Ghadarite in Lahore Central Jail in 1930-31. He was a God-fearing religious man. It pained him to learn that Bhagat Singh was a More »
Samya: An essay on “Equality” by Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay-I
ShareTweet“Samya means “equality”. This essay was written by Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Bankim says that there are two kinds of inequalities: 1. Real 2. Artificial. In this essay, Bankim has shown how More »
Sri Aurobindo on Rishi Bankim Chandra:The man who gave us the mantra of Vande Mataram
ShareTweetThere are many who, lamenting the by-gone glories of this great and ancient nation, speak as if the Rishis of old, the inspired creators of thought and civilisation, were a miracle of More »
Bhawani Mandir: How nationalists used to conceieve the idea of India’s independence
ShareTweet[This is an extract from the article written by Sri Aurobindo Ghose and distributed in the form of pamphlets in 1905. A copy of this pamphlet was put in as evidence when More »
Unity: An open letter to those who despair of their country
ShareTweet[Note: This open letter is from the "Archives of India" series of The Mother India site. It was written by veteran Freedom Fighter Sri Aurobindo in his Newspaper Bande Mataram to give More »
Criticism By Family And People Biggest Hurdle in a Social Initiative
ShareTweet Neither the finances, or the time factor nor the difficulties in field work can pull down my enthusiasm and passion for this initiative. But the challenges to be faced are discouraging More »
Hymns To Mother India-1: Bande Mataram
ShareTweetIn 1938, Mira Alfassa, Spiritual Collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother, said, India is not the earth, rivers and mountains of this land, neither is it a collective name for the inhabitants More »
Sanskrit Tidbits-41:Vedic Sanskrit and wisdom of Upanishadas
Someone asked me a very valid question. Why has tidbits concentrated on classical Sanskrit literature and avoided Vedic Sanskrit literature? The criticism is true. Let me try and rectify it a bit. We will return to
Sanskrit Tidbits-40:The brilliance of Sanskrit poet Magha
From Kalidasa, in this version of tidbits, I am going to move on to Magha. (I have mentioned him earlier.) He was from 7th century ACE, in what was then Gujarat, and is now Rajasthan. Magha
Sanskrit Tidbits-39:Kalidasa anecdotes
In the last tidbits, we talked about Kalidasa. All said and done, we don’t know much about Kalidasa. We don’t know where he lived. We don’t quite know the period. This has a bit to do
Sanskrit Tidbits-38:Kalidasa’s Meghadootam
In earlier tidbits, I mentioned Kalidasa. One can go on and on about Kalidasa. In this tidbits, I will stick to मेघदूतम्. It is obvious this means “cloud-messenger”, which is the name under which Meghadutam has
Sanskrit Tidbits-37:Valmiki’s Poetry
In the last tidbits, I talked about Valmiki. देवि सुरेश्वरि भगवति गङ्गे त्रिभुवनतारिणि तरलतरङ्गे। शङ्करमौलिनिवासिनि विमले मम मतिरास्तां तव पदकमले॥ This isn’t Valmiki. It is Adi Shankaracharya. It is his famous stotram on the
Sanskrit Tidbits-36:First Shloka of Valmiki Ramayana
In this version of tidbits, I want to talk about Valmiki. The word कवि doesn’t only mean poet. It means a wise person, someone with insight. And Valmiki was the first poet, adi kavi. He composed the first
Sanskrit Tidbits-35: Durga Saptashati famous hymn sung by Gods for Goddess Durga made easy
In the last tidbits, I promised to give you another prayer to devi (the goddess), also from “Chandi”, part of the Markandeya Purana. This is so famous that you will immediately recognize it. This
Sanskrit Tidbits-34:An introduction to Maarkandeya Purana
Often, we go to a specific market in the evenings. There is a temple there and at the time of evening aarati, one often hears the following bein chanted. सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके। शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते॥ Once, I
Sanskrit Tidbits-33:Shivaashtakam made easy
Today, I am going to give you a beautiful stotram. This is शिवाष्टकस्तोत्रम्, शिव-अष्टक-स्तोत्रम्. Once we break it up in this wa, we know that it is a stotram dedicated to Shiva and that
Sanskrit Tidbits-32:A shloka by Vivekananda in honour of Paramahansa
Swami Vivekananda mostly wrote in English. There is the odd piece he wrote in Bengali. Some people may also know that he was extremely fluent in Sanskrit. There is an anecdote about Swami Vivekananda and
Sanskrit Tidbits-31:Spiritual aspect of Manusmriti
This is the final tidbits on Manu Smriti, focusing on the last and 12th chapter. The 12th chapter has 126 shlokas. While this chapter also has material on crime and punishment, what is more interesting is
Sanskrit Tidbits-29:More on different Varnas-Brahman,Shudra as per ManuSmriti
What does the word द्विज[dwij] mean? You might be tempted to say that द्विज means the same thing as ब्राह्मण. But you are not entirely right. Etymologically, द्विज means someone, or something, that is born twice. Hence, a bird, or any other
Sanskrit Tidbits-28:Manusmriti and Position of Women
Chapter 9 of Manu Smriti is a difficult one. With 336 shlokas, it is long. It is about relations between a man and his wife and with the lenses we wear now, it is
Sanskrit Tidbits-27:18 Types of cases dealt by kings as per Manusmriti
I find Chapter 8 of Manu Smriti extremely interesting. It is also a long chapter, with 420 shlokas. I find it interesting because it is about justice delivery and crime and punishment, law and
Sanskrit Tidbits-26:Duties of a king as per Manusmriti
In the last tidbit, we were on Chapter 5 of Manu Smriti. I will skip Chapter 6, since that is about those who wish to retire to the forest, after having fulfilled their
Evolution of man,need for Religion in world and perfection of Hinduism
Some 5 billion years ago, earth was a molten mass and there was no life here. Slowly, the miracle happened and life appeared on earth from the same matter. In due course
Sanskrit Tidbits-25:Strictures on different kinds of food as per Manusmriti
Manu Smriti has strictures on food too. लशुनं गृञ्जनं चैव पलाण्डुं कवकानि च (5.5). These are to be avoided by brahmanas. लशुन is garlic, गृञ्जन is also a kind of onion or garlic, sometimes translated as leek (it also
Sanskrit Tidbits-24:Brahmin and Sanatan Dharma as per Manusmriti
सत्यं ब्रुयात्प्रियं ब्रुयान्न ब्रुयात्सत्यमप्रियम। प्रियं च नानृतं ब्रुयादेष धर्मः सनातनः॥ You have probably heard this. You have certainly heard the first line of the shloka. “Let him (we will come to the “him” part
Bharat-Vs-India, Swami Vivekananda and DNA of Intellectuals
My grandfather used to tell me a story. There used to live a great astrologist and palmist in a village. He could look after the palms and foretell future of anyone as
Sanskrit Tidbits-23:Different types of Marriages as per Manusmriti
सर्वं तु समवेक्षइदं निखिलं ज्ञानचक्षुषा। श्रुतिप्रामाण्यतो बिद्बान् स्वधर्मे निवेशेत वै॥ Since I was on Manu Smriti, you have guessed right. This is from Manu Smriti, 2.8. Here is the translation. “A learned person looks on
Sanskrit Tidbits-22:An introduction to Manusmriti
Because of what has happened, the following shloka has been circulating on the Net. The translation is straightforward. “Where women are honoured, the gods are delighted.” That’s the first line. Because of यियाः, the second line’s
Sanskrit Tidbits-30:Manusmriti on crimes,punishments,penances and intercourse
Chapter 11 of Manu Smriti has 266 shlokas. I have said this earlier too. Manu Smriti has specific terms and specific definitions. Take the term स्नातक. In the ashrama classification, there is a brahmacharya stage, during which,