vedabhASya - Vedic Studies

If we trace back the roots of English word 'divine' to Latin/Greek etc, we we will land up at saMskrt word 'diva' which means dawn or daybreak.  Those that give us the dawn or daybreak, those that gives the light that relieves us from darkness are 'diva' or divine.  If knowledge is light and ignorance is darkness, then those that give us knowledge are divine. If peace/happiness is light and gloom/sad is darkness, then those that give us peace/happiness are divine. Slokas are 'divine' because of the knowledge in them. They are not divine because of their sounds. The way they have been recited, the sounds they produced has been changing continuously over centuries. Even the vedic recitations have different ways of recitation of the same thing. sAma veda recitations of the same sloka are different from other vedic recitations. Then there are umpteen recitation methods.   Scriptures that give us ancient knowledge are divine, as they give us  the knowledge of...

Sumangali Prarthanai - A discriminatory ritual ?  I In the South Indian Brahmins, there's a custom, peculiar to them called 'Sumangali Prarthanai'.  This is not described in any Grhya Sutras, nor followed in the Brahmin communities in the North. As such this is a 'laukika' ceremony and not a veda sastric ceremony. Laukika means worldly or ordinary life. Like the several laukika rituals in a marriage, this is a ceremony by the Sumangalis, for the Sumangalis and of the Sumangalis, that emerged out of day to day life needs. Sumangali means those women whose husbands are (supposed to be) alive. As it stands today, it seems a discriminatory ritual, excluding women who lost their husbands. The underlying message of this ceremony seems to be like women who die before their husbands die, alone or gifted and blessed. Also women who participate in this ritual seek that boon of dying before their husbands die.   Sumangali Prarthanai - Not in saastras or sutras In-spite of all ...

 In Andal's  thiruppaavai pasuram 17,18,19 there's a great psychology.  How do we wake up Krishna..?  First Andal wakes him up through the mother and brother (from whom Krishna was born and with whom he played together). Then Andal wakes him up through his girlfriend.  The pasuram 18, calling nappinnai as nadagopan's marumagal (which meant sister's daughter), where krishna is referred to as her 'maithunan' (which means mama paiyan in those days) depicts nappinnai as his girlfriend, not yet married.  Then comes the pasuram 19 which talks about krishna sleeping with nappinnai .  Now Andal is waking up krishna through this wife. Krishna is the govinda, the Adi Purusha, the avyaya puruSa sAski, the eternal witness, inside all.  Body is like the cart. Mind is the horse. Our self is the driver. If our self becomes one with cart or horse, vehicle runs amok. Our self has to detach from body and mind and witness them to control them. This witness is the ma...

  pathaam vaasal means the one with paththu vaasal (ten doors). Our 'self' has ten entry/exit points in this manifest world. Our 'self' is like a street with ten doors. They are the five indriyas with which it processes information (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch) and five indriyas with which it executes functions (work using hands, motion using legs, speech using mouth, recreation using genitals, metabolism using digestive and respiratory systems). But the 'self' in itself is a door to the consciousness behind (though it is like a street with ten doors to the manifest world). The principle behind this is, from that consciousness rises the 'self' that exists in all life-forms and separates them from non-living. But that consciousness is just a witness to the self. It does not interact with the self. The self cannot see the consciousness. This witnessing consciousness is called purusha, the avyaya sAksi (eternal witness). Thus the manifest 'self...

Understanding animal signs was an ancient science. In those days people lived in very close quarters with animals, both domesticated and wild. Hence they had opportunity to understand the animal signs clearly and related it to understanding the environment better. For eg. when does dragonfly fly a lot..? when there's a lot of moisture in air and about to rain. So simple. When lizards make sound, they do either to avoid fighting or for courtship. In either case they are asking for their acceptance. So when people say something and lizard makes sound, people mis-interpret it as acceptance. lizards make sound asking for acceptance. We also had various beliefs in the past based on our environment at that time. You are not supposed to hit on top of the head (it means you are unprotected and face death). You are not supposed to wave off with your right hand (lakshmi will leave you), but you can do so with left hand or left foot (poverty leaves you). You are not supposed to hit your chest...

There's an asana called savasana or yoga nidra which anyone can do. A trainer, by using verbal cues, repetition, imagery etc heightens the concentration and focus of participants. This relaxes them and makes them amenable to suggestions  from the trainer.  This is how hynposis also works. An alternative to this technique is used in rural india today. In a dark room lit with few lamps,  with pictures in brilliant red (long wavelength) colors and with certain sounds, priests shift individuals into a high concentration and focus state and make the person before them to do what they want.  Many swamijis/gurujis help their disciples arrive at the same concentration and focus (leading to mind relaxation) by combination of their voice, music, room settings, chants, decor etc etc.. The above techniques were used for long times as a cure to psychotic disorders by relaxing the patients (like how hypnosis is used today as an augmented clinical therapy). In many cases of depress...

saMkhya (based on the saMkhya kArika of Iswara krishna) design pattern has 24 elements excluding the purusha. Basically it's a design pattern for evolution in matter and consciousness domain. The design pattern is "A detached observer drives the evolution of the evolute". Observer is purusa. evolute is prakrti.  For eg we define a parameter called 'energy' which is abstract, but which is known through its effects such as mass, heat, motion etc. we attribute one cause called 'energy' to all these effects, because they are transformable between each other. We say they express the same 'energy'.  The abstract energy is the 'puruSa' the observer.  All the matter and biological forms are the prakrti, the evolute. Same way we define a parameter called 'consciousness' which is abstract, but which is known through its effects such as signaling, growth, death etc,  We attribute one cause called 'consciousness' to all these effects, b...