vedabhASya - Vedic Studies

Graha is a place that is seized/captured for the purpose of dwelling. Consciousness dwells in nine places in the life of a living being, in particular us the human beings. These places are the nava-grahas. 1. The first dwelling of consciousness is the binding of 'life' with a physical body.  2. The second dwelling of consciousness is the conscious 'mind' in a being. 3. The third dwelling of consciousness is adaptation to obstacles by a being. 4.  The fourth dwelling of consciousness is knowing or learning by a being. 5.  The fifth dwelling of consciousness is impacting other beings by communication, reproduction etc 6.  The sixth dwelling of consciousness is driving physical actions by a being (thoughts to action). 7.  The seventh dwelling of consciousness is responding/reacting to external stimuli/forces by a being. 8. The eight dwelling of consciousness is the sub-conscious mind in a being 9. The nineth dwelling of consciousness is the unconscious mind in a be...

 As usual for the festivals of India, there are multiple stories on why people celebrate Deepa-avali. Here is my story on it. Naraka-asura is is the son of Earth (Bhumi, Aditi) and the Boar (varAha avatar of god Vishnu)  that guards the forests of Earth.  He got friendship of Mura, a demon that induces vices (of selfishness and self-centrism) in our mind. When he became very powerful he started abusing Aditi, the divine Mother Earth herself.  After bearing it all for a very long time, in another eon,  Aditi complained to SatyabhAma, the wife of Krishna, the ruler of west of India (while Naraka ruled in other corner, the east of India).  Krishna and Satyabhama teamed up, fought and killed Naraka. But before that they have to kill Mura, the  demon that induces the vices of selfishness and self-centrism in Naraka's mind. At the time of death (as Mura got killed), Naraka realized his mistake, begged forgiveness and asked for a boon. That people will celebr...

  Nava-ratri means nine nights. Nights induce fear in human beings. But nights also nourish them. There are three fear inducers in a human life that also nourish them. Huge barriers (be it social, human, natural etc etc) in front of our life induce fear in us. We have to develop the strength to cross these potential barriers to achieve something. If we cross-over these barriers, they nourish us.  dur-gA in sanskrit means one that can not be stopped. This quality is personified as a feminine divinity in vedic literature.  So we invoke durgA (invoke means worship in vedic terms), the strength in us, not to be stopped by any barrier. The ability of others to harness resources for their growth (which we call wealth) induces fear in us. We have to develop that ability in us  to harness the resources around us for our growth. If we achieve that wealth, it nourishes us.  Laksh-mi means the 'mark' or 'characteristics' in us. The hallmark of human life is the ability to ...

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...