Paul McCartney - Here, There and Everywhere / Wanderlust

Here and There.



How do we say "I am from here" and "I am from there"  in Sanskrit?
These are simple sentences but its actually not the same as in other languages.

Because the word "From" is not used in the same format as in other languages.
In Sanskrit to denote "From", nouns/pronouns undergo the 5th case ending declension(Ablative)

For example : बालकः विद्यालयात् आगच्छति | (bAlakaH vidyAlayAt AgacCati) (The boy comes from school)
Technically there is no actual stand alone word "From" in this sentence.
The word विद्यालयम् (vidyAlayam)(school) undergoes declension in the 5th case ending and becomes विद्यालयात् (vidyAlayAt) which means "From school"

So let's get back to the writing "I am from here", "I am from there"
This is a bit different because the words "Here"(अत्र) (atra) and "There"(तत्र) (tatra) are not nouns or pronouns and are in fact अव्यय(avyaya)(indeclinable) and do not undergo declensions.
So how do we write :

I am from here.

I am from there.

We do so by employing a प्रत्यय (pratyaya) तः (taH) which is used to denote the word "from"

तः (taH) can be used for nouns and indeclinables...we can even say विद्यालयतः(vidyAlayataH) to denote "from the school".
So let's write the answer:

अत्र(atra)  +तः (atrataH) = अत्रतः (atrataH) (from here)

तत्र(tatra)+ तः (taH) =तत्रतः(tatrataH) (from there)

अहम् अत्रतः अस्मि (aham atrataH asmi) (I am from here)

अहं तत्रतः अस्मि (ahaM tatrataH asmi) (I am from there)

"Lungi Dance" The Thalaiva Tribute Official Full Song | Honey Singh, Sha...

रजनिकान्तः (rajanikAntaH)





What is the literal meaning of रजनिकान्तः (rajanikAntaH)?



रजनि (rajani) means Night

कान्तः (kAntaH) means Lover.



रजनिकान्तः (rajanikAntaH) means "The Lover of the Night", its the name of a flower which blooms at night.



So.... All the Rajani fans, Don't miss the chance!

Akon - Right Now (Na Na Na)

Right Now न न ण(na na Na)


Which "N" to use ? न or ण in Neuter Noun Plurals?


Let's take a few examples:


फलम्  (phalam)(fruit) is singular......फलानि (phalAni)(fruits) is plural.


कमलम्(kamalam)(lotus) is singular.... कमलानि(kamalAni) is plural.



Let's take two other examples:


पत्रम् (patram)(letter) is singular....पत्राणि (patrANi)(letters) is plural.


पुष्पम् (puSpam)(flower) is singular....पुष्पाणि (puSpANi)(flowers) is plural.


You would wonder why पत्राणि (patrANi) and पुष्पाणि (puSpANi) were not written as पत्रानि(patrAni) and पुष्पानि (puSpAni).


The reason is ... if in the singular form of the Neuter noun a र् or ष्  exists either in free form or in a conjunct consonant ण(Na) is used instead of a न (na).


In पत्रम् we find the conjunct consonant त्र which is made up of a त् and र hence the plural is written as 

पत्राणि.


In पुष्पम् we find the conjunct consonant ष्प which is made up of ष् प hence the plural is written as 

पुष्पाणि.

Mozart- Piano Sonata in F major, K. 332- 1st mov. Allegro

Sonata in F!

Does the letter F exists in Sanskrit?

Yes and No!

Well, this gets interesting because it does not exists as an alphabet but it exists as a sound.

So where do we find the F sound?

For this we need to go a little Vedic Sanskrit today.(Rigveda III.62.10)

Pay close attention, I would be quoting the Gayatri Mantra from the Rigveda III.62.10 here as an example.

Now do take note!! DO NOT  change how you pronounce the mantra after reading what I write because the conventional way of reciting this Mantra is accepted.

ॐ भू: भुवः स्वः । तत्स॑वि॒तुर्वरेण्यं॒ । भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि । धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त् ॥

Let's get back to the whole F story.

There is a Visarga Sandhi rule seen in Vedic Sanskrit which gives the F sound.

The rule:

Visarga (: sign) preceded  by any vowel and followed by the letter प (pa) फ (pha) the Visarga though its retained in the writing but its  pronunciation changes to an F.

Formula:

Any Vowel + :(Visarga) + प  or फ = Visarga pronounced as F

Let's take an example of the last line of the Gayatri Mantra:


 धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥  (dhiyo yo naH pracodayat)

The rule applies for the last two words:

  नः प्रचोदयात् 

Let's break down these into the formula format.

न् + अ + : + प्रचोदयत्

The Visarga : is preceded by a vowel  अ and followed by प्र (which is conjunct consonant made up of प् र)

So this F rule applies.

Even though its written as  धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥  (dhiyo yo naH pracodayat) but it is pronounced as dhiyo yo naF pracodayat in Vedic Sanskrit.


As I said earlier there is nothing wrong in reciting this line as dhiyo yo naH pracodayat for daily practices because Vedic rules and accents for the Gayatri Mantra differs depending if we are reciting it for a homa or for daily japam.

So DO NOT change how you pronounce the Gayatri.

I typed this information for academic interests only.

So you can actually have a Sonata in F in Sanskrit!

Roobaroo - Official Audio Song | Rang De Basanti | A.R. Rahman | Aamir Khan

रूबरू(rUbarU) with र.. Face to Face with the letter र 



One of my students told me that he noticed that the letter र doesn't really follow the the same format of adding the vowel signs  ु  ू


And he is absolutely right!


Let's take a few examples and then compare its usage with the letter र.


क् +  ु  = कु


क् +  ू  = कू




म्  +  ु   = मु 


म्  +  ू   =  मू


If we observe the above we would notice the the vowel signs    ु  ू     are added below the letters.


But there is a slight difference in the case of the letter र.



र् +   ु   = रु


र् + ू  =  रू



In both these cases the vowel signs are NOT added below the letters but attached directly to it.


Now..just one more point...the word रूबरू(rUbarU..pronounced as Roobaroo) which means "face to face " is not a Sanskrit word.

It is a word loaned from the Persian language and used in Urdu and Hindi.

The word for face to face in Sanskrit is मुखम् -प्रतिमुखम् ( mukham -pratimukham)

Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane (Official Video)

अत्रैव अस्मि! झञ्झावातः सदृशः  ते कम्पनं करोमि !


Sharing one of my favorite songs!

Simply love it when the Scorpions(वृश्चिकाः) (vRścikAH)   belt out this line.

"Here I am! Rock you like a hurricane!"

So how do you say " "Here I am! Rock you like a hurricane!" in Sanskrit?


Here you go:


अत्रैव अस्मि! झञ्झावातः सदृशः  ते कम्पनं करोमि ! 

atraiva asmi! jhanjhAvAtaH sadRśaH  te kampanaM karomi ! 


 अत्रैव =Here ( with emphasis)

अस्मि = I am

 झञ्झावातः = Hurricane

सदृशः = Like 

 ते = You

कम्पनं  करोमि=  Rock

Salaam Namaste - Full Title Song | Saif Ali Khan | Preity Zinta | Kunal ...

Salam Namaste!      سلام    नमस्ते


What's the meaning of the word Namaste?

Well..let's dissect the word.

नमस्ते (namaste) is made up of two words नमः(namaH) and ते(te).

So how does it become   नमस्ते(namaste)?

नमः(namaH) means Salutations.

 ते(te) means upon you(this is the 4th case ending dative)

There is a Visarga Sandhi rule here known as विसर्गस्य सकारादेशः (visargasya sakArAdeshaH)

The rule is :

When a Visarga ( the : sign)... is followed by स त थ , the Visarga is replaced by  स्

Let's apply this:

नमः  + ते  

= नम  + स् + ते

= नमस्ते (namaste)

There you go "Salutations upon you"


Well...another language too has a similar greeting where it is "Peace be upon you" Yes..you guessed it right!!!   AssalAmu a'laikum( السلام عليكم)

Salam Namaste سلام    नमस्ते everyone!

Learn samskrit

वारम् (vAram) ...Times.



I am providing translation for this video right up to 3.58min.


In this video the word taught is वारम्(vAram)...it means "times" as in one time, two times, three times (frequency of occurrence)


Let's go:


The boy says to the teacher: I need The Ramayana(book), could you kindly give me?


The teacher says : This is my own book and for today I am giving this to you just for one time.

I wont be giving it to you again. Kindly accept.


The boy replies :Thank you"


The teacher says 'Welcome"


The teacher then proceeds to teach and says eka vAram(one time).

Then he rings the bell twice and says "I made a sound twice"


Then he proceeds to say the following :


I eat three times a day.

He explains the meaning of the word वारम्(vAram) saying its usage indicates "times"as in frequency of occurrence.


He then says : I will say and you kindly repeat after me"


He makes the class recite from One time,two times,three times so on till ten times.


Then he says : I will say something and all of you add the word वारम्(vAram) to it.

Then the class adds the word वारम्(vAram) to each sentence the teacher utters.


Next the teacher says: "We will do a new exercise/practice where I would say who preforms what and mention a number after  the sentence  and all of you add the word वारम्(vAram) and say it correctly.

Kindly do so.


Teacher says: The boy goes to school(1)

Students : The boy goes to school once.


Teacher : He eats.(1)

Students: He eats once.


Teacher : I drink tea.(2)

Students :I drink tea twice.


Teacher : Mother cook.(3)

Students :Mother cooks three times(thrice).


Teacher: Ganesha went to Kashi.(2)

Students : Ganesha went to Kashi twice


Teacher : The teacher taught.(10)

Students: The teacher taught ten times.


Teacher : Shri Krishna tolerated Shisupala's abuses.(10)

Students :Shri Krishna tolerated Shisupala's abuses ten times.


Teacher : In a week oil bath is good.(1)

Students : Weekly once,oil bath is good.



The rest of the video the teacher is relating a story to the students.

Colour Coding!

I have noted that sometimes those who are not used to the Devanagari script have a slight problem reading it initially.

Devanagari script even though its written from the left to right but at times we do go backwards to write the Gunita(diacritical marks).

For eg:

To write  हरिणः  we start off by writing ह  र  first, then we go back to fill up the diacritical mark ि for the  र and then we write the णः and we get हरिणः

Those who are not used to the Devanagari script find this a bit difficult at the beginning because in the Roman script we do not go backwards to write anything, its strictly unidirectional.

Devanagari can at times be bi-directional.
Let's take a look at the word   हरिणः

Some beginners who haven't committed all the alphabets to memory  find it a little hard to read the diacritical marks not sure it belongs to which alphabet.

for eg some who haven't fully grasped the script might think  हि is a letter  not realizing that no such letter exists and not realizing that the  िactually belongs to the र as in रि.


So to overcome this initial hiccup in new learners who have not committed everything to memory, I recommend colour coding when writing.

Use a different colour for each alphabet till you commit all to memory.

Eg:

ह  रि णः  

So you would know which diacritical mark belongs to which letter.

So write away in the colors of the rainbow!

Petra Berger - When He Spoke My Name

There are three ways to translate "When he spoke my name" in Sanskrit.


It depends on which way we would like to say it.


Yes! You can be talkative in Sanskrit and there is always multiple ways to say anything(good for trying to escape on technical grounds in court!)



यदा  सः मम नाम अवदत्  yadA saH mama nAma avadat.


यदा सः  मम नाम अभाषत yadA saH mama nAma abhASata.

यदा  सः मम नाम उदितवान् yadA saH mama nAma uditavAn.

The word "he spoke" can be written in three ways.


1) सःअवदत् ( saH avadat)


2) सः अभाषत (saH abhAshata)


3) सः उदितवान् (saH uditavAn).

John Legend - Refuge (When It's Cold Outside)

शरणं गच्छामि (sharaNaM gacchAmi)
I go(seek) Refuge!


Today we would cover 1st person singular grammar for present tense.


Let's take the root word गच्छ्(gacch). It means "go"


So how do we say I go ?


I go in Sanskrit is अहं गच्छामि (ahaM gacchAmi)(I Go).


The root word  गच्छ्(gacch) when conjugated in 1st person singular becomes गच्छामि (gacchAmi).


In fact by default  गच्छामि (gacchAmi) means "I go" so even if we do not use the word अहं(ahaM) along with it  there is no problem at all.




If we want to say "he goes" it would be   सः गच्छाति (saH gacchAti) or just गच्छाति  (gacchAti) alone would suffice.




In the Buddhist chant.. we see the usage of गच्छामि (gacchAmi) to denote "I go"


बुद्धं शरणं गच्छामि (buddhaM sharaNaM gacchAmi)


धर्मं शरणं गच्छामि (dharmaM  sharaNaM gacchAmi)


संघं शरणं गच्छामि (sanghaM sharaNaM gacchAmi).



The meaning of the above three chants differ slightly depending on the school of thought...but from the linguistic point of view the meaning is as follows:


The word बुद्धं (buddhaM) means Intellect with emphasis on the discerning ability...but also mostly translated as The Buddha.


The word धर्मं (dharmaM) does not have an English equivalent and its best described as the Law of Being/The inherent quality of each person depending on the stage of their life...its also translated as the Dharmic Teachings of The Buddha.



The word संघं (sanghaM) means Community/Organization/Association. In this context it can also mean a Union with the Higher Self


The word  शरणं (sharaNaM ) means Refuge.


So the meaning of everything is :


I go(seek) refuge in the The Buddha/discerning power of the intellect.

I go (seek) refuge in the Dharmic Teachings/Law of Being.

I go (seek) refuge in the Community/Union with the Higher Self.



Note: This translation is from the linguistic point of view. 

a very hard question for religious people

कः अहम्? kaH aham? (who am I?)



This video gives an interesting topic for discussion where patients who underwent the split brain procedure,where the Corpus Callosum of the brain is cut for treatment of intractable epilepsy.



The Right Hemisphere of the brain (मस्तिष्क दक्षिणगोलः) (mastiSka dakSiNagolaH) is no more connected to the Left  Hemisphere of the brain.(मस्तिष्क वामगोलः)(mastiSka vAmagolaH).

The patients who undergo this procedure lead practically normal lives with no neurological deficit noted.



The Neuro- scientist in the video Dr Vilayanur Ramachandran does a very interesting experiment where he asks questions to the patients who had undergone this procedure.


He asked the Right hemisphere of the brain the question "Do you believe in God?"

The Right Hemisphere's answer was "Yes"


Now when the same question "Do you believe in God" was asked to the Left hemisphere of the same person and the answer was "No"


Dr Ramachandran jests about his finding in his video.


But this poses a very interesting supportive finding for most religious beliefs.


Since the brain gives conflicting answers....The right side says "I believe in God" but the Left side says "I do not believe in God"


So what is truly our belief?


Who am I ? कः अहम्? kaH aham?



Adi Shankara in his famous Nirvana Shatakam/Atma Shatakam starts off by saying "I am not the Mind(and its components) "मनोबुद्ध्यहंकार चित्तानि नाहं manobuddhyahaNkAra cittAni nAham


Why?

May be because the Mind which goes through the function of the brain gives conflicting answers if the Corpus Callosum is cut which hints that the Brain/Mind is not reliable?


So when we say "I believe in God" is that really the truth?

Or when we say "I do not believe in God" is that really the truth?


The answer for Who am I ? कः अहम्? kaH aham?  is सो ऽहम् so 'ham (I am He).


Grammar rule to note:

सः अहम्  (saH aham) undergoes Sandhi rules(euphonic combination) and becomes सो ऽहम् so 'ham.


Anyway how do we get the actual answer (प्रतिवच्)(prativac) if we really believe in God or not?


Well certainly not through our brain!


Note: I am using the word (प्रतिवच्)(prativac) for "answer" and not the word उत्तरम्(uttaram) because प्रतिवच्)(prativac) implies contemplation before the answer is given.

Late Night Alumni "What's In A Name" Live

O' Dont! उमा (umA)





The name उमा (umA) has a very interesting meaning.



The story goes that when Goddess Parvati was performing intense penance to gain the love of Lord Shiva her mother Mena was getting worried to see her daughter not even eating in her intense devotion and love for Lord Shiva



So Mena told Parvati " उमा (umA)"



उ(u) + मा (mA)= " उमा (umA)"



The meaning is O' Don't!



Parvati's mother Mena didn't want Parvati to undergo hardship hence she tried to stop her and said

 O' Don't"





उ(u) here is used as a vocative and also exclamation to address someone.



 मा (mA) means Don't.



 मा (mA) has many meanings in Sanskrit but in this context it means Don't.



So the name umA means O' Don't!



It is in special reference to Goddess Parvati when she was in intense penance to win over Lord Shiva.

So what's in a name?