पश्यन्ति paśyantī

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Aliveni  - the lady with long black tresses Sometime in the 90s, I bought a set of CDs titled Gems of Carnatic. While I was familiar with several of them, there were many I had never heard before. Of them, one particular song composed by Swati Thirunal and sung by K V Narayanaswamy was my favorite - Aliveni . I would play it all the time. Since then, I have heard many renditions and liked some and did not like many. To me the sahityam , where u break the words, where u add emphasis, and how you use raga and gamakams to convey the bhava is critical. For example many sing the famous Tygaraja's composition Bantureeti by breaking it at the worn place (bantureeti kolu -- viyavayya rama has no meaning, instead people who understand the sahityam will always sing bantureeti koluvu - iyavayya rama). Even after understanding the sahityam, the deeper essence must be embodied in the singer otherwise the rasa will not be created. That can only be achieved by years of rehearsing to get your not...

The cosmology lessons that Rama learned from Sage Vasishtha परमाणाविदं भाति त्रिजगत्सवनाभ्रखम् । देशकालक्रियाद्रव्यदिनरात्रिक्रमान्वितम् ॥ १२ ॥ paramāṇāvidaṃ bhāti trijagatsavanābhrakham  | deśakālakriyādravyadinarātrikramānvitam  || 12 || But the world is said to be composed of atoms, which compose the land and woods, the clouds and the firmament. But there are no atoms to form time and space, actions and motions and revolutions of days and nights.    परमाणुः प्रविततस्तस्यास्ते तादृगेव च । भाति भासुरताकारि तादृग्गिरिकुलं पुनः ॥ १३ ॥ paramāṇuḥ pravitatastasyāste tādṛgeva ca   | bhāti bhāsuratākāri tādṛggirikulaṃ punaḥ   || 13 || Again the atoms (of matter) which fill the world, have other incipient atoms (of spirit), which are inherent in them, and cause them to take and appear in the forms of mountains and the like.   तत्रापि तादृगाकारमेव प्रत्यनुसंततम् । दृश्यमाभाति भारूपमेतदङ्ग न वास्तवम् ॥ १४ ॥ tatrāpi tādṛgākārameva pratyanusaṃtatam   | dṛśya...

My thoughts on: INTRODUCTION TO VEDAS A Course by Bhadarkar Oriental Research Institute September 14, 2020 I just had the opportunity of completing the final lecture on Rigveda by Dr. Ganesh Thite. He provides a broad introduction, scope, and a very scholarly overview of the history of the study of the Vedas. Dr. Thite spends considerable time discussing various translations and commentaries done by Europeans (orientalists) and their views. He also mentions Sayana’s bhasya on Rigveda very briefly. As a student of Sanskrit (and of Telugu mother tongue who is fluent in Hindi and Marathi), I particularly found his explanation of the differences in classical Sanskrit and vedic Sanskrit very interesting. I know now why the bahuvachanam of Deva can be DevAh or DevAsah .  Dr. Thite explains the overall structure of the 10 mandalas of the Rigveda. He provides a brief overview of mandalas 2-8 which are Rishi-based,  expounds a bit on the Deity-based 9th mandala where are the hymn...

Chapter 1: How we came to be Sri-Vaishnavas Thanks to the over told story of Ashoka, almost everyone has heard of Kalinga.  Kalingadesa was ruled by the long line of Ganga lineage starting from about the 5th century all the way up to the early 14th century. Of them, Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva who ruled during the early part of the 12th century was one of most celebrated due to his accomplishments that created a chain of events that play pivotal roles in preserving our ways of life. According to a copperplate inscription, he is credited with building the Jaganath Temple at Puri. When the great SriVaishnava scholar, and the proponent of Visishthadvaita, Sri Ramnujacarya visited the temple, Anantavarman was so impressed by the Acharya, that he gave up shaivite traditions and adopted SriVaisnavism. Anantavarman was also called asTrikalingadhipathi or Sakala Kalingadhipati (Lord of Kosala, Kalinga and Utkala) and had his capital at Mukhalingam (currently on the outskirts of Srikakula...

Hanuman Jayanti - Celebrating the original superhero! तदा शैलाग्र शिखरे वामो हनुर् अभज्यत |  ततो हि नाम धेयम् ते हनुमान् इति कीर्तितम् || ४-६६-२४   when Indra hurled the thunderbolt at young anjineya (son of Anjana), he fell on the mountain top and broke his Zygomatic Arch (cheek bone) and hence got the name Hanumaan (one who has a broken cheek bone).  I was trying to find out why the southerners celebrate it on a different day than in the north (in parts of the south it is celebrated over a month later . According to one claim, in the north, it is celebrated on the occasion of his birthday and in Andhra it is celebrate the day he met Rama. Most of us have heard how he meets Rama & Laxmana by using his kamarupam siddhi (shape shifting ability) in bhikshu-rupam (ascetic). And it’s interesting what he asks them in a somewhat concerned tone but using precise grammar and utmost respect: राजर्षि देव प्रतिमौ तापसौ संशित व्रतौ ||  देशम् कथम् इमम् प्राप्तौ भवन्...

Following are random excerpts from my old writings and some are from a letter I had written to my daughter’s middle school Math teacher (circa 2006) who would be showing slides of Varanasi in class and talking about untouchability. It turned out that he also held Bible related after-class gatherings at the school. This was my first exposure to the attack on Hinduism by the Church and how “untouchability” has been one of their favorite weapons, or should I say a beast that they have created, fed, and nurtured for several decades, if not centuries. A beast that we have been made to believe is our own creation. Anyhow, I thought I will share these since I feel it is quite relevant today due to the COVID pandemic that the world is going through. ******* Sushruta  (600BC ~ couple of centuries before Hippocrates), a Shalya Vaidya (surgeon) who describes over a 100 surgical instruments and stresses on keeping the instruments “pure” and practiced several hundred surgeries in...