So what? It's no big deal!

Let's take a look at this simple conversation to understand the usage of the phrase "So what? It's no big deal"

अद्य सः पठति|  adya saH paThati ( Today he is reading)

तेन किम्? tena kim? (So what?)

अहम् अपि पठामि | aham api paThAmi ( I am also reading)

इदं महाकार्यं नास्ति |  idaM mahAkAryaM nAsti (This is no big deal)

 

व्यञ्जन (Vyanjana) the story of  Consonants and Curry.

In Sanskrit the word व्यञ्जन (Vyanjana) can mean:

1)Consonant

2)Curry.

It might sound strange but there is a basis for this.

Firstly what is a consonant?

A consonant is an alphabet that can only be sounded with the help of a vowel.

For eg क (ka) is a consonant.

 क (ka)  = क् (k) + अ(a)

क(ka) can only be articulated with the help of the vowel अ(a)

In Sanskrit a vowel is called स्वर:(svara)  which is short for 

स्वयं राजते इति स्वर: svayaM rAjate iti svaraH which means that " A vowel is that which is self established"

In other words the vowel does not need the aid of any alphabet to articulate itself as it is the basis of phonetics.

 Now coming to a Consonant व्यञ्जन (Vyanjana), as it was written earlier that a consonant can not be articulated without the help of a vowel.

Therefore a Consonant is not a main alphabet.

It can't stand without a vowel.

Ok, now lets get to the story of the other व्यञ्जन (Vyanjana), Curry.

Here it gets interesting.

As we know that we have to eat curry with the main dish like rice or bread.

The curry therefore is a side dish and the main basis of the meal is either rice or bread.

Therefore in this context a curry is called व्यञ्जन (Vyanjana) because its not the main dish and can not be eaten on its own without rice or bread.

To recap : A  Consonant व्यञ्जन (Vyanjana) can not be articulated without the main alphabets(The Vowels) 

and a Curry व्यञ्जन (Vyanjana) can not be eaten without the main dish of either rice or bread.

Strange but true..both consonants and curries are just side dishes.

रासक्रीडा (The Divine Essence in Play)

Today we would touch upon the word रासक्रीडा (rAsakriDA) and its deeper meaning.
It's a word so wrongly understood that lead humans to give it an erotic shade.

We find the word  रासक्रीडा (rAsakriDA) in the Srimad Bhagavata Purana where Lord Krishna as a child manifested Himself into many and danced with the devoted pure hearted Gopikas.

But sadly it is always pictured as if Lord Krishna was flirting with them!

So what is the truth? The truth lies in the word  रासक्रीडा (rAsakriDA).


Meaning:

रास (rAsa) = Essence
क्रीडा (krIDA) = Play.

Lord Krishna is Paramatma and the Gopikas represent Jeevatma.
So the whole  रासक्रीडा (rAsakriDA) is the Divine Essence in Play where the "Pure hearted Lovers of God" drown in His Divine Essence so beautifully captured as a dance of the Lover(Jeevatama) and The Beloved (Paramatma).
This is the actual understanding of the रासक्रीडा (rAsakriDA).

Those of you who are familiar with the works of Jalalludin Rumi  would understand the Dance of Lover and the Beloved as he had said :

"The Beloved has permeated every cell of my body Of myself there remains only a name, everything else is Him."

Decoding of the Gayatri Mantra.

The Gayatri Mantra is a mantra from the Rigveda.
Most of us are familiar with it as in:
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Om bhur bhuvaH svaH
tat savitur vareNyaM
bhargo devasya dhImahi
dhiyo yo naH pracodayAt

However in the Rigveda we find the Gayatri Mantra without the "Om bhur bhuvaH svaH" line.

In the Rigveda the Gayatri Mantra is written like this:
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
tat savitur vareNyaM
bhargo devasya dhImahi
dhiyo yo naH pracodayAt

So how did the "Om bhur bhuvaH svaH" line appear in the Gayatri Mantra that we all recite today?

Ok, this is where we have to analyze the concept of :
1)Website
2)Establishing a connectivity
3)Downloading 

Let's apply this to the original mantra in the Rigveda.
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
1) tat savitur vareNyaM(That Most Adorable Divine Essence)....This is the Divine Essence which we all are trying to log in. The "Website" of  heavens(svaH)
2)bhargo devasya dhImahi (We meditate on the Divine Effulgence)..Here we seek to establish a connection as to meditate on it, the intermediate zone represented by bhuvaH.
3) dhiyo yo naH pracodayAt(May it illuminate our intellect)..At this point we have established a full contact and requesting for a download of the Divine Essence to illuminate our intellect.
Since it's we who are making the request it represents Bhu(Earth)

From all the points above we have mapped out 3 realms:
Earth, Intermediate and Heavens, these 3 realms have to be interconnected to each other for logging in, establishing connectivity and downloading.
Hence ॐ  AUM is used to connect all 3 realms as  AUM is all pervading and we get :
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Om bhur bhuvaH svaH
tat savitur vareNyaM
bhargo devasya dhImahi
dhiyo yo naH pracodayAt

क्रिया तन्मात्र(Action Potential)

If we observe the graph of Action Potential we would understand the concept mindfulness slightly better.

This graph of Action Potential shows the response of a cell membrane when stimulated.

If we closely observe from the point of stimulus to the peak Action Potential there is an upward slope and it takes some "time" to climb up there(but its all in microseconds)

How does this relate to Mindfulness?

Well, its this climb up the slope before full Action potential is reached that buys us some "time" to reflect on our potential action.

We have the choice here as to react or not to react all in just this microsecond "spacetime"

Mindfulness is about expanding this "spacetime" as to make conducive choices.

Sometimes by observing scientific experiments we learn more about ourselves..sadly at times spirituality divorces sciences and vice versa.

Action Potential is called क्रिया तन्मात्र (kriyA tanmAtra) in Sanskrit.

Graph taken from moleculardevices website.

चित्तनाशः(cittanAsha)

Have we realized that as we cross a certain "older" age we tend to remember the "younger" days? for eg we would want to listen to songs we listened when we were young?

Well, the reason is this:
As we age some older adults have changes in the caliber of the cerebral vessels and a gradual lack of blood supply which can lead to Vascular Dementia and erasing of some aspects of memory.

Right away the mind comes to the rescue to retain as much memory as possible and it makes us revert to our childhood memories and preferences to make our mind retrieve and reset its memory to a better functioning mode.

So from time to time its good that we train ourselves to revert to our childhood favorite songs/food/places we visited etc..
its a safe way of retaining the memory as we age.

Practically everything in our body is so technical and self healing if only we knew..I cant help thinking of the Quote by Imam Ali (AS)

“Your cure is within you, yet you do not sense it! Your sickness is from you, yet you do not see it! You consider yourself a small body; Yet encapsulated within you is the entire universe!”-Imam Ali (AS)

Dementia in Sanskrit is called चित्तनाशः(cittanAsha) 

चित्त(thinking faculty) 

नाश(loss)

Therefore in Sanskrit Dementia is denoted as "Loss of the Thinking Faculty"

One of the benefits of having a medico as your Sanskrit teacher, I would teach you Sanskrit and also give you tips to retain your memory.

A third not given!

Today we would compare a little Latin with Sanskrit.
Its very interesting because of the striking similarity.

Let's translate the famous line from the Principle of Excluded Middle(PEM) of Aristotle where he says : "Tertium non datur" which means "A third is not given".

In case anyone is wondering what is "Tertium non datur"( A third is not given), its a statement that is rather black and white in application with no shade of grey.
That is every claim has to be either true or false with no other option.

So let's translate "Tertium non datur" to Sanskrit.

Tertium : तृतीयः(tRtIya)

non = न (na)

datur = root word in Sanskrit is दातृ(dAtr),but when used in verbal passive form it becomes  दात(dAta)


Therefore :   Tertium non datur translates as  तृतीयः न  दातः (trtiya na data)