1. Maha:Great
2. Mahâ in Tamil
3. Mahâvakyas of the Hindu Tradition
4. Hinduism & Rationality - The Dynamic Tension of Di-Poles
5. Hindu Egalitarianism and Western Modernity
6. The Four MahaVakyas of the Upanishads
7. The Mahâyajñas of Hindu Praxis
8. Bhâshyas and Mahâbhâshya
9. Mahâkavis and Mahâkâvyas
10. Hindu Philosophies
11. Hindu Philosophies (contd)
12. The World is Acattu NOT False
13. Mahâkavi Kâlidâsa
14. Ushavandanam - Kalidasa
15. 36 Tattvas and Beyond - Mind and Beyond
16. Raghuvamsa
17. Kumârasambhava
18. The Death of the Autonomy of the Soul - Vallalar
19. The Mahâbhârata
20. More on the Mahabharata
21. Some Other mahâs
22. The Religious Madness and Evil Karmas - Vallalar
23. The Evolution and Liberation - Nammalvar
24. Philosophy of Nammalvar
25. Karma and the Theory of Pebbles in a Pond - Wave Resonance
26. Realities and Ultimate Realities
27. Kacciyappa Sivacharyar (Sivâcâriyâr)
28. Sarabha Upanishad - Sarabha Destroys Narasimha
29. Annapurna Upanishad
30. Advaya Taraka Upanishad - on Spirituality
31. Pasupata Brahmana Upanishad - on God's Will
32. The First Word and Hymn: Agni - by Visvamitra
33. Siddhanta and Vedanta - Advaita Relationship
34. Searching for the Gods
35. The Vedas on Women
36. Catur-words
37. Ramayana Made Easy
38. Appar on BEING as the World Itself
39. Siddhanta Mukti
40. Siddhanta Mukti (contd)

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Maha:Great

I will begin my reflections on Sanskrit with one of the most frequently
occurring sounds in the language: mahâ. Without going into the grammatical
details I will simply note that this prefix is derived from mahat: great. When
placed in front of a noun, it acquires the connotation of something that is very
special or unusually great, as will be seen in the examples to follow.

The word mahâ is related to the Greek mega which also means great.
That’s why a big city (polis in Greek) is called a megalopolis. A megaphone
refers to a device that makes sound great, or as we would say, that magnifies
sound. The word magnify comes from the Latin magnus which again means great.
Recall that the Great Charter of English history is known by its Latin name,
Magna Carta. In scientific metrology, mega- is a prefix for one-million. For
example, one million hertz is a megahertz.

In Hindu metaphysics, âtma(n) refers to the soul. With the prefix mahâ
added to âtma, we get mahâtmâ: great soul. This is an honorific given to
extraordinary individuals, people who have distinguished themselves by character
and spiritual strength. The best known use of this title in modern times was for
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), who is often referred to as Mahâtmâ
Gandhi.

The term âtmiya could mean a sanctified region. Combined with mâhâ (an
older form of mahâ), it gives mâhâtmiya: which refers to a great place of
pilgrimage. The term also refers to a genre of writing that tells of stories
associated with such places. An important poem venerating Shakti (Cosmic
Principle) describes her exploits at specific sacred spots when She came to rid
the world of evil forces. This work is known as Devi Mâhâtmya. It occurs in the
MarkanDeya PurâNa. It invokes Mahâkâli, Mahâlakshmi, and Mahâsarasvati. It is
considered by some to be a scriptural work. there are 700 (saptasatI) verses in
13 chapters in this work. It is a magnificent narration of mythic visions of how
evil forces and miscreants came to be subdued by the Mother Goddess to protect
the world. It may be taken as a parable to reminds us of how maternal love will
not brook any danger that might confront the offspring. Devi Mâhâtmya dates
back to the 5th-6th century CE.

The word kavi means poet and kâvya is a sophisticated poetic work. In
classical Sanskrit literature at least six major works are known as mahâkâvyas.
The correspopnding mahâkavis are Kalidâsa, (5th century CE), Bhâravi (6th
cent.), and Bhartrihari (7th cent.), Megha (8th cent.), Kumâradâsa (7th cent.),
and Shriharsha (12th cent.).

Yâna refers to a path or something that takes us along a path: a
vehicle. With mahâ, it gives us mahâyâna: the branch of Buddhism that deifies
the Buddha and speaks of Bodhisattvas who are divine beings. mahâyâna was
propagated by Nâgârjuna in the first centuries of the CE. We see here an
example of Sanskrit terms in Buddhism.

V. V. Raman
March 14, 2007

The Sanskrit prefix mahâ has entered the Tamil language in two different ways.
First, since the sound ha is not intrinsic to Tamil, mahâ becomes makâ, and may
be pronounced magâ. With this connotation, most Sanskrit words with mahâ have
their Tamil equivalents. Thus, for example, one has in Tamil magâdevan (the
Great God, an epithet for Lord Shiva), magâsakti (The Great Cosmic Energy),
magânyâni (a great enlightened man), etc. The word for a trillion is
magâpadumam. [In later Tamil, letters for the Sanskrit sounds sha, sa, ksha, ja,
ha were also introduced.]

The tenth lunar asterism is magam (maham). Roughly every twelve years there
occurs a full moon with this asterism. It is noteworthy that Hindu astronomers
observed such rare celestial phenomena. This event is called a magâmagam (or
mâmagam). This is a religious day for Shaivas. Mâmagam became mâmângam in
colloquial Tamil. To say that someone has seen five mâmângams means he has lived
for sixty years: an important landmark in a Tamil male's life.

Sometimes, as also happens in Sanskrit, the long gâ becomes a short ga. Thus
one speaks of mageshan (mahesh: maha + ish) and magarishi (maharishi in
Sanskrit).

It happens frequently that mahâ is contracted to mâ in Tamil. Thus, many words
with this prefix denote great. A great sinner (a very wicked person) is
referred to as a mâpâvi (mahâpâvi). Likewise, mânagar (mahâ-nagar) means a great
city; great austerities are called mâtapam (mahâtapas). The name magâpalipuram
(Town of Mahâbali) becomes mâpalipuram. This ancient port city contains
magnificent Dravidian-Buddhist sculptures dating back to the 7th –9th century
CE. The 2004 tsunami had the effect of unearthing some ancient carvings which
had been hidden underground till then. This has become a boon for Indian
archaeologists.

Sometimes the use of mâ reflects the worldview of the people. Thus, kari means
an elephant, and mâkari means a male elephant. Brahmins were known as mâcanangaL
(great people: mahâjans); the word piLLai means a boy or a son, while mâppiLLai
(great son) means son-in-law.

In Bengal one refers to Goddess Kâli as Mâkâli, meaning the Goddess Mother.
However, in Tamil, this means Mahâkâli.

The Tamil word for tree is maram. the word mâmaram (great tree) means a mango
tree. Now, a raw unripe fruit is called kâi. Therefore, the berry from this tree
is known as mânkâi or mângâi. A Sanskrit-derived Tamil word for fruit is pazham
(from phalam). A great fruit thus becomes mâ-pazham which becomes (due to
euphony) mâmpazham. This is the Tamil word for mango fruit. This word entered
Portuguese and then English, to become mango. Thus, in a peculiar way, the name
of this delicious fruit contains the Sanskrit word mahâ, which one would have
hardly suspected.

This reminds me of the word ambalam which, in Tamil, means a wide open space.
In could also mean a hall of justice. An important commercial sector of the city
of Chennai is called Mâmbalam (a great open space). In the context of the
complex Hindu culture, I may point out that there is a Shiva-Vishnu temple in
Mâmbalam, a not very common place of worship of this interfaith kind in India.

The various planetary influences of classical Hindu astrology are known as
mâdisai (great directions) in Tamil astrological books.

In Tamil literature, the poet Nammâzhvâr (9th – 10th century CE), whose hymns
to Vishnu are part of Tamil Vaishnava scripture, is reckoned as a magâkavi.

V. V. Raman
March 16, 2007

The Tamil word for mouth is vâi. From this is derived the word vâkku: speech or
saying. Note that the word vocal, which is derived from the Latin vox (voice)
sounds somewhat like this. I am not sure about the exact origin, but in
Sanskrit, the word vâc (pronounce vâch) means voice or talk. In the Vedic
worldview, Vâc is personified. We read in the Aitareyaka ÂraNyaka that "Vâc
enters into the rishis." Vâc is also described as the Mother of the Vedas. The
gâyatri mantra is said to be a manifestation of Vâc.

The Sanskrit word vâkya, reminding us of the Tamil vâkku, also means speech or
saying. A saying is a statement of significance that has come into current
usage. In ancient Greece, for example, one spoke of the sayings of the Seven
Sages (the Greek hepta sophoi: saptarishi). These include pithy statements like
"Meditation is best' (Cleobulus of Lindus), "Master anger" (Periander of
Corinth), and "Look at the end of life" (Solon of Athens).

In Sanskrit too, there are many important vâkyas like these. But some of these
which occur in the Upanishads are known as mahâvâkyas (Great Sayings). They are
all simple statements relating to the same theme. The four mahâvâkyas are:

Aham Brahmâsmi (Brihadâranyaka Upanishad, I.4.10): I am Brahman. Note here the
basic verb asmi (am), and compare it with the Latin sum : I am.

Brahman, in Hindu vision, is the spiritual substratum of the universe. It is
cosmic consciousness. The idea here is that whereas one imagines oneself to be a
separate entity apart from the rest of the world, one is actually an integral
aspect of the Totality.

The next mahâvâkya is: tat-tvam-asi: Thou art That (Chhândogya Upanishad,
VI.8.7). The first is a statement of self-realization ; the second reads like an
instruction that a guru gives to a disciple. It is to make us realize, or remind
us of, what we really and ultimately are.

The third mahâvâkya is from the Aitareya Upanishad (V.3): Prajnânam Brahmâ:
Ultimate knowledge is Brahman, That is to say, whatever we may know or think we
know, the essence of all knowledge should be the identity between the individual
self and the Supreme Self.

The fourth mahâvâkya is: Ayam âtmâ Brahmâ (Mândûkya Upanishad, 2). This
(individual) âtman is Brahman. Again, it is the same idea as in the above three,
namely the equivalence of the personal and the universal.

In other words, the Upanishadic view recognizes the finitude of us all here on
earth, and reminds us of our ultimate links with Infinity.

I recall here that one of the Greek mahâvâyas, attributed to Chilon (as also to
Socrates) is gnoti seaton: Know thyself. Sri Ramana Maharishi expressed it
famously as a question : nân yâr : who am I ? One may say that the Sanskritic
mahâvâkyas are responses to these reflections. From Vedantic perspectives, the
essence of spirituality is enshrined in the Upanishadic mahâvâkyas. In the Tamil
tradition, makâvâkyam is any sacred syllable in Vedantic framework.

On Periyar and the Dravidar Kazhagam

1.  The Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) is committed to rationalism.  I have no issue with such a stance.   Repeated demonstration and promotion of the use of reason as the preferred approach towards discovering, evaluating and/or developing opinions, viewpoints and facts is consistent with the methodology of modern science.  There cannot be (as yet) an excess of rationalism in a society that, on the one hand, has been for long largely uncritical about superstitions and wasteful (in terms of time and resource) religious practices, and, on the other hand, is now slipping deeper into mindless aping and mimicry of the consumerist and sensualist ways of the West.  DK is serving an important societal role by so determinedly highlighting and confronting issues arising on both fronts.
 
2.  DK is also carrying forward the anti-Brahmanism of Periyar.  It has to be admitted that such commentaries by DK do cause discomfort and sometimes come through as abrasive.  But when viewed against the continuing ‘mischief’ by the likes of Cho Ramasamy and Sujatha in their writings, and the manner in which measures to promote the use of the Tamil language in education and governance in Tamil Nadu continue to be challenged and subverted, DK can be reasonably seen to have been left with no alternative.
 
The language situation in Tamil Nadu is discussed in a recent post:
 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akandabaratam/message/26666
Mon Mar 19, 2007 1:58 am
PMK to strive for Tamil "in all fields at all levels"
 
 
3.  Periyar is a Hindu rationalist.  This has been discussed in:
 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akandabaratam/message/26013
Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:50 am
 
QUOTE
Sugrutha is right in saying that Periyar should not be cloaked in spiritualism.  There is no need.  Let Periyar remain as the pole star of rationalism in the Hindu sky.  That is why Kalaignar has talked about Periyar being, in effect, the Hindu rationalist.  And that appears to be his way of pointing out - in the fewest possible words - the direction in which Hinduism ought to evolve.   It is about paving the way for the interpenetration of spiritualism and rationalism.  It is not the disabling contradiction of opposites, but the dynamic tension of di-poles.  Isn't that what Siva's dance all about?
UNQUOTE
 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akandabaratam/message/25995
Sat Jan 27, 2007 9:35 am
 
QUOTE
As if extrapolating the developing trend in science, Periyar went the full distance in the social space of the Dravidian world.  Unlike Socrates of ancient Greece, Periyar felt NO need for God to tell him what he had to do for his people.  He saw for himself that the minds of people around him had been long numbed by superstitions and elaborate rituals spun around puranic conceptions of gods.  He, therefore, felt that people had to be first liberated from such mental and emotional fetters before they can be expected to gain confidence in the uniquely human gift - human reasoning.  It is by fostering the spirit of reasoning in them that Periyar hoped to bring people to recognize the servile state to which they have been reduced for centuries.  Only then would they rise up against the debasing and unjust social order.  
 
Therefore, Periyar, who had started life as a believer (a devout Hindu), openly challenged the Brahmanical doctrine of varnashrama dharma.  He urged people to break free of the shackles of the socio-religious order that had been so cunningly imposed on them by the Dharmists in the name of Hindu gods. 
 
Periyar has succeeded spectacularly!  The results are already there to be seen in the social landscape of the entire South, though there is still alot more work pending.  Understandably so, as it is about dismantling more than 2,000 years of legacy.
 
DMK, that emerged as a political organization from Periyar's DK, had always operated somewhere along the continuum between the two poles, belief(theism) and disbelief (atheism). Periyar positioned himself right atop the latter pole, in the vicinity of which the Buddha had also been some 2500 years ago.
 
Anyone who understands change dynamics would be able to appreciate the 'shock value' in Periyar's approach: so would physiotheraphists who administer 'shock therapy' to stimulate healing in some parts of the human body! 
UNQUOTE
 
4.  I, therefore, think that the positioning of the statues of Periyar outside temples would be no more than symbolic reminders of the other (atheist) pole of Hinduism, perceived broadly as above. 
 
It was the brazen use of "brutal force" to destroy the first installation of Periyar statue in Srirangam - a particularly bold act in Periyar's Tamil Nadu - that provoked a sharp retaliation:
 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akandabaratam/message/25571
Tue Dec 19, 2006 12:53 pm
Govt. has done its duty well: Karunanidhi
 
Anbudan
ARUL
http://anbudanarul.blogspot.com

Egalitarianism In the Sacred and Secular Spaces

A question arose in the past as to whether Hindu liberalism and egalitarianism
is modernism. No, it is there in the vedas and in tamil texts. Sangam
literature, Kural, Aathicoodi, Punitavathi and Appar are clear on this both in
the secular as well as in the sacred spheres. Too many to quote. So no questions
about it. After centuries of domination it surfaces again today simply because
of democracy, with the people demanding it. That it synchronises with western
liberalism or is further inspired by it in this era is of academic interest.

While the Indian constitution has more or less established a free and
egalitarian secular society in law, it is found wanting in the sacred spaces,
where the constitution may not be able to encroach into.

'Hindu Liberalism' does not conflict with Hindu values, rather in sync with it,
more still, it demands it. Hindu egalitarianism is aram - justness and
virtuousness (or chariya, or dharma). It is on the basis of aram that worship
can commence and built on it. My own firm and tested belief is that unless aram
is established, worship of gods is pointless, the door is firmly shut and any
striving will lead to dead ends. Maanikkavasagar says he got enlightenment
simply by ONLY serving devotees, serving society - tondu or service. A Rotarian
can be considered an ideal Hindu.

Inspite of these movement towards liberalism in its practices, there is no
change in Hindu beliefs - in God, and His relationship with souls, as well as in
worship and meditation. The changes are in sacred practices, not beliefs.

modernism - a movement that aims to break with classical and traditional forms,
modifying traditional beliefs and practices with modern ideas.

First Questions - the Larger Looming Question on Culture

But in Hindu egalitarianism there is no change in beliefs! And neither are the
ideas new.

"There have, for example, been frequent declarations that non-Western
civilizations typically lack a tradition of analytical and skeptical reasoning
and are thus distant from what is sometimes called 'Western rationality.'
Similar comments have been made about 'Western liberalism', 'Western ideas of
right and justice', and generally about 'Western values'. Indeed, there are many
supporters of the claim [articulated by Gertrude Himmelfarb with admirable
explicitness] that ideas of justice, right, reason and love of humanity are
'predominantly, perhaps even uniquely, Western values.

... this artificial distinction between the East and the West in the area of
values is *not* historically justified. A good example is the Emperor Ashoka in
India, who during the Third Century BCE covered the country with inscriptions on
stone tablets about good behavior and wise governance, including a demand for
basic freedoms for all -- indeed he did not exclude women and slaves as
Aristotle did. The claim that the basic ideas underlying freedom and tolerance
have been central to Western culture over the millenia and are somehow alien to
Asia is, I believe, *entirely rejectable*."

"It is worth recalling that in [Mughal Emperor] Akbar's pronouncements of four
hundred years ago on the need for religious neutrality on the part of the state,
we can identify the foundations of a non-denominational, secular state which was
yet to be born in India or for that matter anywhere else. Thus, Akbar's reasoned
conclusions, codified during 1591 and 1592, had universal implications. Europe
had just as much reason to listen to that message as India had. The Inquisition
was still in force, and just when Akbar was writing on religious tolerance in
Agra in 1592, Giordana Bruno was arrested for heresy, and ultimately, in 1600,
burned at the stake in the Campo dei Fiori in Rome."

Amartya Sen
Nobel Laurate

.
Its a worldwide movement too, as people everywhere are beginning to speak up,
questioning the orthodox status quo, demanding justice and equality.

"Our immediate policy, therefore, should be to lose no time in "Our Our
immediate policy, therefore, should be to lose no time in waiting for the
enlightenment of our neighboring countries (far east) in order to join them in developing
Asia, but rather to depart from their ranks and cast our lot with the civilized
countries of the West. We should deal with them exactly as the Westerners do."

Yukichi Fukuzawa
Meiji Era Reformer

.
"Chinese civilization has been around for several thousand years now, while
Western civilization has only been around a mere several centuries. Chinese
people cannot change a past civilization into a modern one. This is why people
say that China is the most conservative and that is the reason for its
accumulated poverty ... we, the modern people of China, are all useless, but if
in the future we use Western civilization as a model, we can easily turn
weakness into strength, and the old into the new. I think that everyone should
go to the West and find something new, then go to the East and find something
old, and if we Chinese can bring this about, then there will be nothing hard
about the old turning into the new."

Sun Yat Sen

.
"The search for the sources of India's strength and for her deterioration and
decay is long and intricate. Yet the recent causes of that decay are obvious
enough. She fell behind in the march of technique, and Europe, which had long
been backward in many matters, took the lead in technical progress. Behind this
technical progress was the spirit of science and a bubbling life and spirit,
which displayed itself in many activities and in adventurous voyages of
discovery. New techniques gave military strength to the countries of Western
Europe, and it was easy for them to spread out and dominate the East. This is
the story not only of India, but of almost the whole of Asia."

Jawaharlal Nehru

.
"The fez sat upon our heads as a sign of ignorance, fanatacism, obstacle to
progress and attaining a contemporary level of civilization. It is necessary to
abolish the use of the fez and adopt in its place the hat, the head gear used by
the whole civilized world."

Kemal Ataturk

.
"I become more and more surprised to see how far higher, in reality, our
European civilization stands than the East, Indian and Persian, ever dreamed of
... this fraud of looking up to them -- this wretched worship-of-Tagore attitude
-- is disgusting."

D.H. Lawrence,
1923
(his condescension of Indian spirituality and liberalism admired by the west)

.
"The triumph of the West, of the Western idea, is evident first of all in the
total exhaustion of viable systematic alternatives to Western liberalism ...
what we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of
a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that
is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of
Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."

Francis Fukuyama
The End of History

.
"...in the year 2050 out of the four largest economies, three will be Asian:
China, USA, India, and Japan [in that order]."

Goldman Sachs Report
(all four are socially liberal egalitarian societies)

.
"The selective memory that so easily forgets the decisive contributions of
rationalist Muslim thinkers like Al-Farabi [10th century], Avicenna [11th
century], Al-Ghazali [12th century], Ash-Shatibi [13th century] and Ibn Khaldun
[14th century] is reconstructing a Europe that practices self-deception about
its own past. If they are to reappropriate their heritage, Muslims must
demonstrate in a manner that is both reasonable and free of emotional reactions,
that they share the core values upon which Europe and the West are founded."

Tariq Ramadan
International Herald Tribune
in response to Pope Benedict's recent quote of a Byzantine emperor.

Pathma

These are the four Grand Pronouncements ( = mahA-vAkyas):

praJAnaM Brahma – Rgveda, aitareyopanishad, 5.3
Absolute Consciousness is brahman

aham Brahma asmi – yajurveda, bRhadAraNyaka Upanishad, 1.4.10
I am brahman

tat tvam asi – sAmaveda, cAndogya Upanishad, 6.9.4
Thou art That

An important concept in Hinduism is yajña, a term that is loosely translated as
sacrifice. The word sacrifice brings to mind some kind of killing, of goat or
bull or whatever. However, the root word here is yaj which means adoration or
worship. It is true that the offering of animals to the gods (bali) became a
practice which continues in our own times in some regions/temples of India.
However, in its more original form yajñas referred to any mode of prayer or
worship of the divine. In particular, it refers to the sanctification of
something, and consecration of any act or thought.

Now what would be a proper worship mode? In principle, as long as there is
humility and devotion to the Cosmic Mystery, any manner of showing respect to it
could be called yajña. In traditional Hinduism five specific modes of worship
are prescribed. These are referred to as the mahâyajñas.

The traditional mode of yajña is performed at the fire altar (havan). Its goal
is to commune with the cosmic principles. This was common in the Vedic age, and
continues in our own times on sacramental occasions such as marriage. Marital
vows are taken with fire as witness: fire is eternal, as seen in the sun and the
stars. However, the fire altar is not a necessary concomitant of yajña.

First, simple prayer to the Divine (deva) without a fire altar constitutes
devayajña. This could be simply the pûja that many Hindus perform at home or in
temples, and a routine recitation at the altar which is part of most Hindu
homes. The careful, reverential, and systematic recital and study of sacred
works is also counted as a yajña. Since such efforts reveal to us the ultimate
nature of brahman, this mode of worship is known as brahmayajña. The third of
the mahâyajñas is related to departed souls. Traditionally, one remembers them
and offers special prayers to and for them periodically, using sanctified water.
This is referred to as pitriyajña or yajña to the ancestors. In addition to the
departed elders of one's own family, there are believed to be several other
spirits in the world. Their worship constitutes a fourth type of yajña which is
known as bhûtayajña. [I prefer to interpret bhûtas as the primordial elements in
the material world.] Next, one might wonder, while one is thinking so much about
gods and ancestors and spirits, what about fellow humans? Well, serving
fellow-humans is also listed as a yajña. It is called narayajña.

Not unlike the Islamic injunction for five namazes a day, traditional Hinduism
requires the faithful to do these mahâyajñas every day. Clearly this is
impractical, if not impossible. So it has been said that the mere repetition of
the gayatri five times a day has the same effect as doing all the five yajñas.

We may note two here that the mahâyajña is meant to connect us to the Cosmos,
the dear departed ones, transcendental knowledge, spirits (physical world), and
fellow humans beings It has been said that the worshipers' bodies are made up of
earth; the recitation (sound) occurs in the air; ancestral worship calls for
water; havan involves fire; and the Divine is in the ethereal realm. The
mahâyajñas involve all the mahâbhûtas: five elements of ancient science.

Spirituality is to be distinguished from scholarly understanding : the first is
experiential and the second is intellectual. In most traditions, including the
Hindu, the first is held at a higher level. Indeed, many swamijis and gurus
are wont to deride scholars for their rational analytical approaches to
religious texts. Some have gone so far as to say that scholarly inquiry into
sacred works should be disallowed, because it has the potential for sowing seeds
of doubts.

Not many denigrators of scholarship realize, however, that the cultural
continuity of traditions depends heavily upon scholarly exponents who present
the meanings and significance of religious texts generation after generation.
Furthermore, theologies evolve as a result of critical rational analysis, even
if it sometimes provokes one to wonder about some of the questionable
contentions in sacred scriptures. In any case, most of our ancient texts would
be utterly incomprehensible to us without scholarly commentaries on them. In the
Sanskrit tradition, commentaries on traditional writings are known as bhâshyas.
The corresponding Tamil word is pâDiyum.

[The literal meaning of Bhâshya is speaking. Bhâshâ is simply language in most
Indian languages. As an instance of Indic cultural influence overseas, we may
mention that the language in Indonesia is called Bhâsha Indonesia ; likewise we
have Bhâsha Malaysia.]

Plato said in his Republic that good epic poets were not masters of the subject,
but were inspired and possessed which is what enabled them to express their
ideas in magnificent meters. This may be true of Vedic sage-poets as well. Their
works are not always immediately clear to the reader. That is why, though many
purohits repeat them by rote, few really understand their meaning, let alone any
symbolism that might be implicit in them. In this context, the 14th century
commentaries on the Vedas by SâyaNa, with their strict injunctions as to how
Vedic hymns are to be recited, are of great importance in our efforts to grasp
the significance of the Vedas. There are several bhâshyas in Sanskrit. For
example, Govinda Bhâshya, a highly regarded VaishNava text, is a commentary on
Vedânta Sûtra. Scholars like Shankarâ, Râmânuja, and Madhvâ have written
canonical bhâshyas on the Brahmasûtras and the Bhagavad Gîta.

Such bhâshyas correspond to what are called exegeses in the Western tradition
which call for thorough study and critical interpretation of scriptural texts.
Exegeses play important roles in Christian, Judaic, and Islamic theology.

However, not all bhâshyas are on sacred writings. The classic Sanskrit grammar
of PâNini, known as Ashtâdyâyî, which has been described as 'one of the greatest
intellectual achievements of any ancient civilization.... ' was the first
treatise on linguistics. Though traditionally regarded as part of Vedânga, this
work is a systematic study of the structure and grammar of the Sanskrit
language. Patañjali's bhâshya on PâNini's work is known as Mahâbhâshya: The
Great Commentary. The term is somewhat like magnum opus: great work.

In the 19th century, commentaries were written on the Mahâbhâshya, both by
Sanskrit pandits with a deep knowledge of the language, and by Western
Orientalists who, with all their objective modes of inquiry, were often
insensitive to the profounder cultural context of the works they were commenting
upon. Often they viewed Sanskrit primarily as another ancient language like
Latin and Greek, with little empathy for the living language that Sanskrit is in
the cultural and philosophical life of the Indian people. But they too have
contributed significantly to our understanding.

Poetry is the ornament of any language. It is what makes a language beautiful.
Poets are the supreme wielders of the tongue. If a language is compared to a
musical instrument, then its poets are like its virtuoso players, bringing out
the best melodies the instrument is capable of. And poets are more than that:
They often convey great truths and insights about the human condition. In
classical times, they were held on the highest pedestal. In the Indic tradition,
poets were always regarded with the greatest respect. As Longfellow wrote,

The bards sublime,

Whose distant footsteps echo

Through the corridors of time.

The Sanskrit (also Tamil) word for poet is kavi. Vâlmîki, the author of the
RâmâyaNa, is described as Âdikavi: the first poet. The word kavitâ means poem.
Kavi also means a person who is blessed with insight and wisdom.

As elsewhere, Sanskrit poetry, from Vedic hymns to modern works, is governed by
very strict rules of prosody. One cannot write any inspired work and call it
poetry. Each stanza is to have a well-defined number of syllables, ranging from
eight to twenty-one. Writing poems is somewhat playing a game with very rigid
rules, and becoming a winner.

Every language has its own great poets who stand toweringly above all others.
These are the mahâkavis (great poets) of its literary tradition. Homer for
Greek, Virgil for Latin, Goethe for German, Dante for Italian, Shakespeare for
English, and Bharati for Tamil, are examples of mahâkavis.

A long poetical work with a well-defined plot is called a kâvya. Sanskrit
literature has many kâvyas. Some of these epic works have attained the status of
mahâkâvyas. Thus, Kamban's RâmâyaNam, Virgil's Aeneid, and Dante's Divine
Comedy, may be regarded as mahâkâvyas.

In Sanskrit literature, a number of major works have attained the status of
mahâkâvyas. Among these may be mentioned Kîrâtârjunîya by the poet Bhâravi. This
work narrates the episode from the Mahâbhârata: in which the valiant Arjuna of
the Pandava brothers encounters Lord Shiva in disguise as a Kirâta (a wild
mountain-dweller), and acquires a powerful weapon. Another mahâkâvya is by Sri
Mâgha, entitled Shishupâla Vâdha. This work narrates the annihilation of the
evil king Shishupâla at the hands of Lord Krishna during a yajña which was
conducted by Yudishthira during which Shishupâla insulted Krishna.

As yet another mahâkâvya we may mention the work of the poet Bhatti, and called
Bhattikâvya. It is essentially the story of Rama, re-told beautifully again, but
its chapters are artfully constructed to explain and teach various rules of
grammar and structure in Sanskrit. This is a remarkably clever didactic approach
to teach the correct usage of the language. This work reflects not only the
extraordinary ingenuity of the poet, but even more the fact that in classical
India many thinkers were fascinated with words and word-play as much as with
spirituality and after-life: a fact that is seldom given sufficient importance
in commentaries on Indian culture, either by Indians or by alien commentators.

We may note that practically all the mahâkâvyas take their themes from the
RâmâyaNa and the Mahâbhârata: works that are the ultimate fount of Indic
culture.

V. V. Raman
March 26, 2007

Read most books on Hinduism and it lists philosophers as below:

Kapila
Patanjali
Gautama
Kanada
Jaimini
Vyasa

Shankara
Ramanuja
Madhava
Vallabha
Nimbarka
Chaitanya

Which is a terribly lopsided and unrepresentative view of Hindu
philosophies, partly because of ignorance and partly deliberately
perpetuated with an agenda.

Here is a A Fuller List, dates may vary + or - by a few centuries.

1000 BCE Pasupata monastic orders
700 BCE Kapalika monastic orders
700 BCE Kalamukha monastic orders

600 BCE Kanada, Vaisisekha
600 BCE Bhoga Rishi
600 BCE Agastya
600 BCE Lopamudra (or Kausitaki), Lalita Sahasranama
500 BCE Kaundinya, Panchartha Bhasya
500 BCE Kapila, Samhkya
400 BCE Vyasa
300 BCE Jaimini, Purva Mimamsa
250 BCE Nandinatha, Nandikesvara Kasika
200 BCE Tirumular, Tirumantiram
200 BCE Patanjali, Yoga Sutras
200 BCE Gautama, Nyaya Sutras
200 BCE Tiruvalluvar, Tirukural

100 CE Auvaiyar I, Purananuru poems
200 CE Lakulisa, Pasupatha sutras, Karavana Mahatmya
200 CE Kusika
200 CE Garghya
200 CE Maitreya
675 CE Guhavasi Siddha
775 CE Rudrasambhu
800 CE Vasugupta, Siva Sutras
800 CE Adi Shankara
850 CE Kallata, Spanda Sastra
850 CE Somananda, Siva Drishti
850 CE Ugrajyoti
850 CE Sadyojyoti
900 CE Utpaladeva, Pratyabijna Sutras
975 CE Abinavagupta, Tantraloka
900 CE Matsyendranatha

1000 CE Gorakhsanatha, Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati,
1056 CE Srikumara, Tatparyadipika
1100 CE Basavanna, Vacanas, Sakthi Visishadvaitha
1100 CE Allama Prabhu, Mantra Gopya
1200 CE Aghorasiva
1200 CE Ramanuja
1300 CE Auvaiyar II, Aathicoodi
1300 CE Meykandar
1300 CE Nimbarka
1300 CE Madhva
1500 CE Vallabha
1500 CE Chaitanya
1600 CE Appaya Dikshitar, Sivarkamani Dipika

There are several hundred more but any book that does not deal with
at least *this list* is not representative of Hinduism, which means almost
all books. Not included in this my list are saints, and sangam poets
who are also philosophers. (there is just too many).

A quick glance reveals that the characters in the former 'abbreviated'
list are now lost in a crowd, and no longer of significance, and 'vedanta',
whatever that is, is relegated to a minority view. Besides most of these
characters are much later in a long line of them and their works are
commentaries of even earlier commentaries, bhasya of a bhasya. In other
words, not really original. If there happens to be a yarn in the first bhasya,
it gets a booster in the second one. Trouble is commentaries usually has
one, by default; its easy to spot. So I don't bother with commentaries. That is also
because they are not commentaries on any agama, which would force me
to consider them as it directly underpins the religion.

As I have mentioned before more than half the extant Hindu literature
today is in tamil, and any book or philosophy that does not deal with the
body of tamil literature, is not representative of Hinduism or its
philosophies, is not talking about Hinduism, it is talking of something else.
As the major part of sanskrit literature is written in ancient tamil grantham
script, and is not available in nagari or devanagari at all till today, not
available north of the vindhyas, one wonders how those philosophers or
scholars could have read those texts and write about Hinduism and its
philosophies.

At the ground level we have temples, home shrines, dieties, pujas, bakti
hymns, festivals and ascetics. This is agamism, built on metaphysics and
a philosophy woven thru and around it. If one is not talking of Agamism
one is not talking about Hinduism at all. One can't just superimpose
upanishadic philosophy on Agamism. That would be too simplistic, and
besides, Agamism has its own independent 'stand alone' philosophy. One
has to quote the agamas to show the philosophy is agama-compliant,
which many did not.

All the classical Hindu philosophies, called the shad dharsanas, including
the Uttar Mimamsa which is popularly but errroneously termed 'vedanta',
really are dead with no relevance to the Hindu. It has been that way for a
millenium. Some sects theologically rests on this foundation.

Dear Pathma
 
Thank you. But I feel that the history of Indian philosophies must begin from Sumerian where as I have shown you find the central elements of even Buddhism and Jainism in the Gilgamesh Epic. Samkhya and Yoga are present quite visibly in many Sumerian texts. Right now I am studying the Solar Cosmology in the Sumerian Kinglist and which is with us through Rig Veda, etc.
 
We must  include such texts as below: 
3000 BC: Suruppaks' NeRi
2300 BC : Enhudu Anna's Exaltations of In-Anna Kes Temple Hymns
2000 BC Sulgi's Hymn B
1800 BC Hammurabi's Legal Code
Many Incantation Texts
 
I have listed here only the texts I have studied. There are many more.
 
Loga

.
Yes you are right Dr. Loga. Many other scholars say so too including Swami
Prabhananda which link I posted two days ago. The jain tirthankara
Rsabhadeva is mentioned in the vedas too. The Padma Purana says Rama
built a temple and worshipped Muniswrathanath, the 20th jain tirthankara.
So it is quite silly to say that the agamas antecedent the vedas. They were
contemporaneous or anterior. Prevedic texts cannot be overlooked anymore.
The rest have yet to connect the dots. Here is the revised list.

PreVedic
3000 BCE Suruppak, NeRi
2300 BCE Enhudu Anna, Exaltations of In-Anna Kes Temple Hymns,
2000 BCE Sulgi, Hymn B
1800 BCE Hammurabi's Legal Code
1800 BCE Many Incantation Texts

Vedic Period
2500-1500 BCE >420 rishis, Vedas and Agamas

PostVedic
1000 BCE Pasupata monastic orders
700 BCE Kapalika monastic orders
700 BCE Kalamukha monastic orders

600 BCE Kanada, Vaisisekha
600 BCE Bhoga Rishi
600 BCE Agastya
600 BCE Lopamudra (or Kausitaki), Lalita Sahasranama
500 BCE Kaundinya, Panchartha Bhasya
500 BCE Kapila, Samhkya
400 BCE Vyasa
300 BCE Jaimini, Purva Mimamsa
250 BCE Nandinatha, Nandikesvara Kasika
200 BCE Tirumular, Tirumantiram
200 BCE Patanjali, Yoga Sutras
200 BCE Gautama, Nyaya Sutras
200 BCE Tiruvalluvar, Tirukural

100 CE Auvaiyar I, Purananuru poems
200 CE Lakulisa, Pasupatha sutras, Karavana Mahatmya
200 CE Kusika
200 CE Garghya
200 CE Maitreya
675 CE Guhavasi Siddha
775 CE Rudrasambhu
800 CE Vasugupta, Siva Sutras
800 CE Adi Shankara
850 CE Kallata, Spanda Sastra
850 CE Somananda, Siva Drishti
850 CE Ugrajyoti
850 CE Sadyojyoti
900 CE Utpaladeva, Pratyabijna Sutras
975 CE Abinavagupta, Tantraloka
900 CE Matsyendranatha

1000 CE Gorakhsanatha, Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati,
1056 CE Srikumara, Tatparyadipika
1100 CE Basavanna, Vacanas, Sakthi Visishadvaitha
1100 CE Allama Prabhu, Mantra Gopya
1200 CE Aghorasiva
1200 CE Ramanuja
1300 CE Auvaiyar II, Aathicoodi
1300 CE Meykandar
1300 CE Nimbarka
1300 CE Madhva
1500 CE Vallabha
1500 CE Chaitanya
1600 CE Appaya Dikshitar, Sivarkamani Dipika

Pathma

Appar Meditating on Death 10 (Final)

The World is Acattu NOT False (or deluding)

Some of the central metaphysical concepts in some Indian darsanas are the concepts of Cat (Sat) and its negation Acat (Asat) and where the root appears to be the Sumerian zid-de where the meaning ‘in proper light', proper view etc. This has become Cat meaning however the absolutely True and where in Tamil in such uses as CattaRivu, it means Axiomatic Truths, truths that are there always and in the mind of all. Here Acattu, its negation does not mean false, illusory, a delusory and so forth but only truths that are NOT absolute, axiomatic. The Acattu are also truths but which can be displaced and hence transcended. The Cat in contrast does not allow this transcendence this going beyond. The understanding that shows itself as true and which cannot be further transcended is recognized as Cat and hence absolute.

The word ‘maayam’ is used in this sense of Acattu here.

Thus Meykandar notes that all human understanding that comes with temporality of time consciousness is Acattu, true but not absolute. Such understanding that are Acattu, invite a going beyond and reaching the absolute ground. The soul in view of this duality is also called Cat-Acat at least since the days of Tirumular.

In the following verse, this appears to be the way Appar views the relationships even within a nuclear family. A soul lives as the father and another as Mother. There are many who move along as the siblings all these relationships inviting passionate attachments so that there is no alienation. Similarly as one becomes an adult male, a female becomes a wife and through her some as children and so forth.

Appar is puzzled by such emotional ties and wonders how they come to be and then at the point of death disappear. It all looks so uncanny, so bewildering for a philosophic mind.

Now such social relationships constitute the support system for embodied existence where the problem of loneliness is overcome by such relationships. Such a person is NOT an orphan with nobody committed to help him out even with considerable self sacrifices.

But despite such marvelous qualities of such filial and other ties, they are NOT absolutely permanent- they are only Acattu - there in the world for a while and then specially at the point of death no more.

Now in contrast to this, BEING remains the genuine and TRUE Father for even after death where the soul ceases to have a body, BEING continues to be Father (Mother) etc i.e a Power who cares. Such a BEIING has as His name the Mantra namaccivaaya and which means He is the Lord of the Pancha Krityas, the One who does all the fundamental processes in the world. Thus there is NOTHING beyond such a person and once blessed by Him one can in fact enjoy a life in the celestial world, an eternal existence free from becoming embodied again.

10.
tanatai aar taay aar udan piRantaar
taaram aar puttirar aar taam taam aaree
vantavaaRu eGGanee poomaaRu eetoo
maayaamaam itaRkeetum makizveeNdaa
cintaiyiir umakkonRu collak keeNmi
takaz matiyum vaaL aravum taLaikkunj cenni
entaiyaar tirunaamam namaccivaaya
enRu ezuvaarkku iru vicumbil iruttalaamee

Meaning
Someone become my father my mother and brothers and sisters. Someone else becomes my wife who also brings about many offspring as my children. But really these souls who are they? How do they become my intimate ties as members and my family and how at the point of death all these dissolve into nothing? It is all uncanny and certainly not absolutely real and so do not rejoice at having them. And now let me tell you something. There is BEING who shows Himself as Siva wearing the crescent Moon and bright snake and who is the real father of all. If you can see His name is the mantra Namaccivaaya and raise yourself up in the spiritual realms then you can also be placed in the vast celestial world.

Kâlidâsa is reckoned as the greatest of the gifted poets of the Sanskrit
tradition. There is a story to the effect that in the context of a dispute over
who was greater, he or Dandi, a rival poet of great stature, the two went to
Sarasvati, the Goddess of Learning, to get Her judgment. She declared
unequivocally that Dandi was the one, and explained to Kâlidâsa with the phrase:
tvam-eva-aham: Thou art the same as I, suggesting that he was the very
embodiment of Sarasvati. The story is a measure of the admiration that Kâlidâsa
enjoys in the Sanskritic literary world.

As with Shakespeare, Kâlidâsa has been read and remembered as much for his plays
as for his poetry. His Mâlavikâgnimitram is the story of a servant girl called
Mâlavikâ and a prince named Agnimitra. The prince sees a picture of Mâlavikâ who
had been exiled, and he falls in love with her. This throws his queen into a
rage, and she has the object of her husband's affections thrown behind bars.
Eventually it is found out that the maid actually belongs to the royal family
which makes the king's affections acceptable. The play suggests that already in
those times (early C.E. centuries) there used to be captivating portraits in
India. Sadly, few relics of them have survived. The play also reveals caste
constraints in love and marriage.

Another of Kâlidâsa's plays is entitled Vikramôrvashîya: The Winning of Ûrvashi
through Valor. It was inspired by the legend of the celestial nymph Ûrvashi,
mentioned in the Mahâbhârata.. King Puruvaras falls in love with Ûrvashi, and
she sends him love letters on leaves. In heaven Urvashi acts in a play in which,
by mistake, she utters Puruvara's name. This was against the rule, and she is
sent down to earth, and would return to heaven only when her earthly husband
lays eyes on their progeny. Eventually, she is freed of the curse, and the two
live happily on earth. There is much charm in the way the play unfolds.

The most famous play of Kâlidâsa is no doubt Shakuntalâ, although the original
title of the play is abhijñânashâkuntalam: The Recognition of Shakuntalâ. It is
the classic story of how King Dushyanta met perchance the fair maiden Shakuntalâ
in a garden, their instant love, their marriage, and his returning to his
kingdom for a while; the anger Shakuntalâ provoked in an ill-tempered rishi who
cursed her to the effect that her husband would forget her unless he saw their
marital ring, the loss of the ring when she goes to see him at the palace as a
pregnant wife, his refusal to see her; how her celestial mother Menakâ takes
Shakuntalâ to heaven, how some years later the ring is discovered in the
entrails of a fish and brought to king Dushyanta, whose mind flies back to his
once-beloved Shakuntalâ; and how he eventually sees a young lad - their son
Bharata - in heaven. This is perhaps the best known and most beautiful Sanskrit
play of all, rendered into most Indian languages and into some European tongues
as well. It was gloriously praised by Goethe who wrote that the name of
Shakuntala evokes flowers and frets, all that delight and sustain, all earth and
heaven.

Long before Vivaldi's magnificent music on The Four Seasons, Kâlidasa wrote a
great poem called Rtusamhara: Cycle of Seasons which lyrically describes
seasonal changes and their impacts on nature and on human emotions. One also
finds here keen observations on how heat and cold, spring and rain affect man
and beast. There are references to forest fires, amorous scenes in cool nights,
the gushing of waters after a downpour, flowers in blossom, harvests in autumn,
and to winter's mute passivity. In this poem Kâlidâsa reveals himself as a
gifted nature-poet as well.

The adaptation into English of its beautiful lines. It is important to note that this is not an invocation TO Dawn. Rather, the poet speaks to us as Usha (Dawn).

Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!
Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

BTW, this reflective poem, along with quotes from Gandhi, the Gita, Kabir, and Sarojini Naidu, has entered the hymn book of the Unitarian Universalist Church.

We have to keep in mind that the entire world of experience, of matter
and mind, is within the confines of time and space, and subject to the
physical and mental laws of mind and matter. The mind provides us a
three-dimensional experience. These things we are talking about is
BEYOND the mind, and beyond time and space. As we know mind only
operates within these confines of time and state. We are no longer in
the realm of physics but transcended into the realm of metaphysics. This
is the fourth-dimension, outside the box, where there is no mind.

When we transcend into this realm of metaphysics, where the mind does
not operate; the Self can cognise the experience, but it cannot
understand or explain, as the mind is not working. Everything is known
instantly as the mind is not there to block, limit or filter it due to
acquired mindsets. The Self experiences it without the usage of a
three-dimensional mind.

As there is no mind or intellect working, there are no questions. The
Self is stunned. When it returns to the normal experiential level, the
mind describes the experience as 'wonderful, blissful, peaceful, a
oneness with the universe and a oneness with all humans and plants
and animals'. In other words, indescribable, loss for description, for
want of concepts, for there are no words from the three-dimensional
realm that can describe the realm of metaphysics. Because the mind did
not experience the metaphysical realm, only the Self experienced it.
The mind cannot describe what it did not experience.

Yet this stage is subject to, or within the confines of anava, karma and
maya, as the chart of tattvas shows below. Not yet samadhi, not yet a
jivanmukta. That comes with the grace of god when these bonds are
shattered, leading to a fifth-dimensional experience of Oneness with
God.

But there is some more. When the unfettered soul experiences the
Unknown, or the transcendent Siva, which is beyond even the 36 tattvas.
This would be the sixth-dimension. One cannot even say whether there
is a oneness or twoness with God at this level, whether god exists or even
the soul exists. The rigveda says 'only Rudra alone knows the
relationship between god, souls and the world, and no one else'.

The 36 Tattvas: Categories of Existence

http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/dws/dws_r8_charts-tattvas.pdf

TRANSCENDENT
Atattva:Parasiva (Absolute Reality), beyond all categories - the 6th Dimension

IMMANENT - realm of jivanmuktas/unfettered souls/5TH DIMENSION
1) Siva tattva: Parâsakti-Nâda (Satchidânanda, pure consciousness)
2) Sakti tattva: Paramesvara-Bindu(Natarâja, Personal God), light and love
3) Sadâsiva tattva: the power of revealment (Sadâsiva)
4) Isvara tattva:the power of concealment (Maheshvara)
5) Suddhavidyâ tattva: dharma, pure knowing, the powers of
dissolution (Rudra), preservation (Vishnu) and creation (Brahmâ)

IMMANENT - realm of fettered souls, temporary transcending/4th DIMENSION
6) mâyâ tattva: mirific energy
7) kâla tattva: time
8) niyati tattva: karma
9) kalâ tattva: creativity, aptitude
10) vidyâ tattva: knowledge
11) râga tattva: attachment, desire
12) purusha tattva: the soul shrouded by the above five tattvas

INDIVIDUALITY - WITHIN THE 3RD DIMENSION - the mind
13) prak®iti tattva: primal nature
14) buddhi tattva: intellect
15) aha?kâra tattva: external ego
16) manas tattva: instinctive mind
17) ßrotra tattva: hearing (ears)
18) tvak tattva: touching (skin)
19) chakshu tattva: seeing (eyes)
20) rasanâ tattva: tasting (tongue)
21) ghrâ?a tattva: smelling (nose)
22) vâk tattva: speech (voice)
23) pâ?i tattva: grasping (hands)
24) pâda tattva: walking (feet)
25) pâyu tattva: excretion (anus)
26) upastha tattva: procreation (genitals)
27) ßabdha tattva: sound
28) sparßa tattva: feel/palpation
29) rûpa tattva: form
30) rasa tattva: taste
31) gandha tattva: odor
32) âkâßa tattva: ether
33) vâyu tattva: air
34) tejas tattva: fire
35) âpas tattva: water
36) p®ithivî tattva: earth

All of us are operating within the 13th-36th tattvas. When we sleep,
meditate, worship, or sometimes stumble in, we go into the realm of
the 6th to 12th tattvas temporarily. Those who have been graced and
their fetters shattered permanently, operate all the time in the 5th to 1st
tattva, as well as beyond the 1st tattva (atattva), and are able to see and
experience god and the various forms of god.

This is the geography of the three worlds, and beyond, and our
ascensions into it.

Raghuvamsa

We who live in an age of democracies and dictatorships seldom realize that
once many great civilizations were ruled by kings who gained authority by virtue
of their birth in a royal family. The system still continues in nations like
Great Britain, Holland, and Scandinavia. In ancient times, they were also common
in Egypt, China, and India as it is in Thailand today. The rulers of such a
hereditary lineage of rulers constitute a dynasty.

In Indic culture, there are two histories: a secular history and a sacred
history. The latter has a semi-mythic dimension. In Indic sacred history, one
finds two principal dynasties which are said to owe their descent from the
Sun-God (Sûrya) and the Moon-God (Soma). The epic hero Rama was a scion of the
Solar Dynasty; while Krishna, the other illustrious epic hero, was a scion of
the Lunar Dynasty. In ancient Egypt too there was a Sun-dynasty, and a French
king (Louis XIV) called himself le Roi Soleil (the Sun-King).

The Solar-Dynasty is referred to as Raghuvamsa in Sanskrit, a name that
originates from one of its most illustrious kings: Raghu. [Literal meanings of
the word raghu include fast-moving and light.] According to one reckoning, there
were more than 120 monarchs in this dynasty, reigning for hundreds, even
thousands of years. The famed Ayodhya was their capital. The founder of the
Solar Dynasty was Ikshvâku who had a hundred sons. The epic hero Rama is known
as the Lord (pati or nâtha) of the Raghus.The last king of the Solar Dynasty was
a certain Sumitra who was exiled from Ayodhya by a certain Nanda in the 4th
century C.E.

One of Kâlidâsa’s two mahâkâvyas is Raghuvamsa. The work is in 19 cantos.
Scholars are not agreed that Kâlidâsa wrote all of them. The poem starts from
the reign of King Dilîpa, then talks about his son Raghu II, who was the 61st
monarch of the dynasty. Then we go on to read about Ajay, Dasaratha, Râma, and
three more.

Raghuvamsa speaks eloquently about the conquests of Raghu in the east and the
west, in the north and the south. It says that womenfolk in Kerala fled on the
onslaught of Raghu, leaving their jewels behind. The reddish dust from their
path colored their curly hair like kum-kum. It says that Raghu’s soldiers bathed
in the Kâveri river with their elephants. Raghu with his army also went way
beyond the borders of India, attacked the Huns. The poet says that “the cheeks
of Huna women glowed with embarrassment by the action of Raghu in waging war
with their husbands.” Raghu “removed the blooming flush of wine from the
lotus-like faces of Yavana women when he encountered their men.”

Recall that the fierce Huns flourished in about the 5th century CE (perhaps
Kâlidâsa’s lifetime). Thus, the anachronism in Raghu, the great grandfather of
Rama, conquering them becomes apparent. But we must realize that the goal of
epic poetry is not to record history, but to inspire readers within a cultural
group by portraying grand and noble heroes.

Raghu was a worshiper of Nandini, the wonderful cow which he once saved from
the attack of a lion. The lion was, in fact, a heavenly being, and as mark of
appreciation for Raghu’s act, he was blessed with a son. Raghu’s son Aja marries
Indumati who, alas, dies in a garden when a downpour of flowers from heaven
descends on her. Aja does not mount the funeral pyre of his wife because he did
not want his people to say he gave up his life for a woman. This is interesting
because there is the implication here that male sati was a practice.
We read in Raghuvamsa that there was at least one king of the dynasty
(Agnivarna) who was a womanizer who neglected his royal responsibilities.
Ignoring its chronological inconsistencies, Raghuvamsa has secured place of
honor in Sanskrit literature.

V. V. Raman
March 30, 2007

Kumârasambhava

On a clear summer night (in the northern hemisphere) one can see a cluster of
six or seven stars in the constellation Taurus. This is the Pleiades. Known as
Krittika in Sanskrit, this star cluster has been variously interpreted in the
mythologies of the world, from Babylonian and Greek to Chinese, Mayan, Hindu,
and more.

In the Hindu mythic vision, different legends are associated with them. Perhaps
the most important of these relate to the six-faced God known as Kârttikeya
(Murugan or Shanmugan in the Tamil tradition) who is one of the two sons of
Shiva and Pârvati. Kârttikeya, regarded as the God of War, is also known as
Kumâra. There are references to Kumâra in Skanda PurâNa, Mahâbhârata, Chândogya
Upanishad, and other works. (The Bhâgavata PurâNa says that Kumâra was one of
the 22 avatâras of VishNu.) Kumâra in Sanskrit (kumâran in Tamil) means (a
handsome) son, boy, youth, prince, etc..

Sambhava (Together-Being). means origin or birth. As verb, it refers to
occurring, appearing, birth, as in Krishna's famous phrase in the Bhagavad Gita:
sambhavâmi yuge yuge: I am born (appear) from age to age. One of Kâlidâsa's two
mahâkâvyas is entitled Kumârasambhava: The genesis of Kumâra. It is told in 19
chapters.

In the RâmâyaNa the gods approach Brahmâ for help to rid them of the râkshasa
RâvaNa. In Kumârasambhava we read that the gods went to the world of the
self-born (svayam-bhû) for help to rid them of the asurâ (demon) Târaka. Only a
son of Shiva could destroy this demonic being. This meant that Shiva, the
scantily clad ascetic in Kailâsa, peacefully meditating while seated on a tiger
skin, had to be aroused to sire a son. Umâ, the daughter of the Mountain God
Himalaya, tried to woo him, but in vain. Thereupon Indra dispatched Kâma (the
god of Love) with his consort Rati (Enjoyment) and Vasanta (Spring) to
accomplish this, but Kâma was turned to thin ash by Shiva's third eye, for his
anger was aroused by the attempt to distract him. Pârvati began to engage in
strenuous asceticism herself. Because of this, Shiva who "grants all desires
and is himself without any desire, who resides in the crematorium and yet gives
life to all" decided to take Umâ as wife. Disguised as an old man, he sent the
Seven Sages (Saptarishi) along with Arundhati (the chaste wife of one of them)
to ask Himâlayâ for his daughter's hand. The marriage was agreed upon, but only
three days later. Shiva waited with great difficulty. If such emotions tormented
Shiva, asks the poet rhetorically, how would ordinary persons be tormented by
them? Shiva and Pârvati are married, their son Karttikeya is born, he kills
Târakâsura, and restores the glory of Indra.

In some of the passages of Chapter VIII the romantic embrace of Shiva and
Pârvati is described in language that has been described as erotic. Such
elaborations in the shringâra rasa (erotic style) may offend some modern readers
who are conditioned by Victorian moral standards, but they were not uncommon in
classical Indian sculpture and poetry. In this matter, the Hindu world was way
ahead of the Western. Ironically, some modern Hindus frown upon present-day
laxity in language and public behavior that one finds in the West. On the other
hand, the molders of public taste and values of modern India, in their crass
imitative mode, have adopted the Western display of lurid amorous intimacy in
movies and magazines.

It must be pointed out, however, that even in the classical world, not everyone
applauded eroticism in the religious context. An eminent 11th century literary
critic and admirer of Kâlidâsa, compared it to describing the love-life of one's
own parents. One legend says that Kâlidâsa died of leprosy for such writing
about Shiva and Pârvati.

VaLLalaar’s Garland for Mahadeva- 74

The Death of the Autonomy of the Soul

This is very difficult verse to interpret and understand for it raises a dilemma: If everything done by a soul is in fact directly or indirectly that of BEING, then where is the autonomy and freedom of the soul? In the mind of VaLLalaar an excruciating DOUBT arises throwing him into a metaphysical dilemma a puzzle about human autonomy.

It goes back to one of the most profound metaphysical insights of Appar and many others of the Bakti movement- aadduvittaal aar oruvar aadaataaree: If played by BEING who can refuse to play? Where it also carries the implication that human agency in actions is not there.

All human actions are only seemingly the actions of the acting soul but actually not. BEING prompts the soul to act letting the soul think that it is in fact acting by concealing Himself and remaining the Supreme Unconscious, the MaRai Porul, the hidden and concealed. The acting agent is conscious of the action and its consequences only partially - most of the processes grounding the action and in particular how in fact BEING is managing all behind the scenes remains unknown, unconscious etc. This is the concept of UNCONSCIOUS in Saivism where it simply means hidden and concealed.

Then gradually when the ego gets destroyed and the soul becomes egoless, it dawns that what the soul thought was his own autonomous actions, were not in fact so. The soul has not been genuinely autonomous at all - it has been led only to think so. The real agent has been BEING all along.

Thus VaLLalaar notes that he as an embodied creature endowed with the five senses studied the physical world and when sufficient has been learnt, then the worldly learning terminated where even this termination is in fact the action of BEING. Then having made the soul withdraw from the physical world and the pleasures there, made the soul attach itself firmly to the FEET of BEING so that it becomes totally spiritual and hence interested only in metaphysical matters.

When VaLLalaar sees this having happened to him, believes that he is like the great souls of the past who have received the Grace of BEING. But because against the understanding that only BEING is the real agent, a problem or a dilemma arises here. He was led only to think that he acted as an autonomous one but not really so as he cannot do anything on his own. So when he feels he just simply played as such, was he in fact playing or was it BEING who was playing as thus?

This question has no answer and it is NOT a genuine question at all. When the soul becomes the same as BEING with the destruction of primordial alienation (anniyam) and now as Meykandar notes there is no alienation but only sameness. This very question is artificial - not natural. The natural situation is to become deeply silent and enjoy the absence of alienation with BEING which also puts an end to existential repetititon.

74.
paditteen poy ulakiyanuul entaay niiyee
padipittaay anRiyum appadippil iccai
muditteen naan muditteenoo oduppittaay pin
unnadiyee tuNai ena naan uRutiyaakap
piditteen maRRu atuvaaka nii pidippittaay ip
peetaiyeen innaruLaip peRRoor poola
naditteen em perumaan ii tonRum naanee
naditteenoo allatu nii nadittaayoo?

Meaning:
O my Lord! I studied the world as a text where in fact it was You who taught me all. And when I lost interest in such studies I terminated my interests where again You were the one who terminated it all. Then since You caused my withdrawal from the physical world and cling to Your Divine Feet as my support , I grasped it very firmly where again You were the One who made me act as so. At this point having realized Your presence everywhere I thought that I am like those great souls who were graced by You profusely. But I only pretended thus and I am not sure whether I really did it. Perhaps it was You who played again like this but making me think that I in fact played acted and so forth . Tell me which is the case.

Loga

Of all the mahâ's that enrich Indic culture, the best known is the Mahâbhârata,
one of the two epic poems that have inspired India's civilization. It is
believed to have been composed by more than one author, and over several
generations. Like many things ancient and Indian, its origins are shrouded in
the mists of unrecorded history. No one knows precisely when the work was put
down to verse, much less anything certain about its relationship to historical
facts. But enterprising scholars have been probing into the matter and advancing
theories based on their interpretations. Not unlike Bishop Ussher who
categorically stated in the 17th century that the world was created on October
3, 4004 BC, one Indian scholar has stated that the climactic Kurukshetra War
detailed in the epic began on October 16, 5561 BCE.

Every Hindu has heard of the Pandavas and the Kauravas: the antagonist-families
in the epic. The divine Krishna also appears here. The epic enshrines one of
the most sacred works of the Hindu world, the Bhagavad Gîta which is a
philosophical, spiritual, and ethical wonder-work that has been subjected to
literary, historical, and scholarly analyses such as few other works in the
cultural legacy of humanity. Not as well known is the fact that the Vishnu
Sahasranâma is also from the Mahâbhârata.

Because most Hindus have read the Mahâbhârata primarily through one of its
abridged editions in various languages, English and Indian, or through
picture-book versions and TV serials, many interesting aspects of the work are
not widely known. Thus, for example, not many may know that in its original form
the work was called Jaya. Its initial 8,800 verses were received by Krishna
Dwaipayâna Vyâsa who elaborated it into a work called Bhârata with 24,000
verses. And few remember Rishi Paila who assisted Vyâsa in his colossal
undertaking. Vyâsa's work eventually grew to more than four times that length,
and acquired the name of Mahâbhârata. Bharata, the king and son of Shakuntala is
well known, but bharata was also the name of an ancient clan whose descendants
came to be called bhâratas. It is their grand story that is called Mahâbhârata.
Modern India is named after them as Bhârat.

The Mahâbhârata is as weighty and complex as the history of the subcontinent,
with episodes both historical and of pure fantasy. Like India, it is peopled by
characters noble and petty, enlightened and narrow, selfless and selfish too.
Its parables and ideals reflect the basest and the most sublime aspects of human
behavior.

There are at least three recensions of this huge epic. A mammoth project,
lasting more than forty-five years, was launched by the Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute in Pune, and was completed in 1966 with a comprehensive and
comparative 19 volume study of various extant manuscripts of the epic. The
Mahâbhârata was fully translated into English in the 1880s, and a century later
it was produced as a TV series, which enjoyed immense popularity.

From considerations of the meter in the poetry of the epic, one scholar has
argued that the work was probably composed by a shûdra for shûdras. Another
scholar has challenged this thesis. Such debates may mollify or acerbate caste
conflicts, but to me they neither enhance nor diminish the grandeur of this
magnificent work which is a wonderful expression of the human spirit, unique in
that aside from its fascinating narrative painted on an incredibly vast canvas
with innumerable side stories, ethical teachings and reflections on life, the
Mahâbhârata has had an indelible impact on the worldviews, visions, arts, and
evolution of a great civilization, such as no other literary work has had.

The MB was not authored by Vyasa (though he is a contributor), not
scribed by Lord Ganesha (as gods don't need to do that), that it is a
collection of puranic stories retold in new ways, local legends, fables and
some history, all woven together into a one piece, that over time it
accreted to twelve times its original size, that no such dialogue as in the
gita took place, that is is merely the handbook of traveling minstrels, that
it is a play-novel much like and in the category of Shakespeare, Homer and
Kalidasa (imagine Aladdin and the 40 Thieves being the standard reading
texts on islam), that it contains a hodge podge of philosophies, and much
more..

Most Hindus believe it to be their shastra, the infallible words of god,
events that actually happened and are trying to date the non existent events.

Though it is based on puranas (historical kathas), it is to be taken as
metaphorical explanations and elaborations on truths, nothing more. (It
would not be too farfetched to say that the teachings of the MB has no
basis in the vedas or agamas, but I would not like to discuss this.)

This is not to say that it should not be read, rather it should be read with
the proper perspective like one reads Marvel, Anime, Manga and Amar
Chitra Kathas, and be inspired. To elevate it to the point of 'shastra' is a
folly that has bedevilled us, trapping minds in myths and fantasy, and
(mostly young Hindu) people don't take Hinduism seriously. Its easier to
find people believing in the Virgin Birth, UFOs, etc.

It did serve its purpose before as an inspirational mass educational system
though, so overwhelmingly that the overarching success has now become
a drawback.

Today we can trace much of the confused Indian mass mind (including
athiests, p-secs, communists) to these texts like the MB and Ramayana,
where fiction, myths, superstition and fantasy remains the foundation of
religion and mistaken for spirituality.

For Hindus to be reminded of this is to emerge from the dark ages. (Notice
Dr. Raman did not use the word 'shastra' in that article.) Its a simple mind
change.

In the last few essays I have referred to a few terms where mahâ- occurs as a
prefix, signifying something very great or important. Indeed there are many,
many more such instances in the Indic cultural, philosophical, and metaphysical
framework. Before moving on to another frequently occurring word, I’d like to
mention a few more mahâ- terms to illustrate how this prefix can also alter, and
give a special meaning to, a word.

For example, the notion of mâya is central to one school of Indian philosophy.
Already in Vedic times, it referred to a magical power, which could affect the
appearance of things. In the advaita (non-dual) philosophical system, mâyâ
refers to the illusory mode that hinders our recognition that everything is but
One: brahman. It is sometimes spoken of as a veil that stands in the way of our
recognizing the nature of Ultimate Reality. But the epithet Mahâmâyâ (the Great
Mâya) is one of the 1008 names by which Shiva's consort Shakti (the Cosmic
Energy) is known.

The Latin word for father is pater, and in Greek the word is patir. In
Sanskrit, pitri (plural) refers to one's paternal grandfathers. This word also
connotes the originators of the (mythological) gods and other beings. Some Vedic
hymns are devoted to the pitri. The word pitâ also stands for father. Pitâmaha,
literally means Father Great. However, it is an epithet for Brahmâ, the Creator
of the Universe. In the Mahâbhârata, this is used as an honorific for Bhîshma,
the highly regarded elder of the Pandava-Kaurava families.

Or again consider the word râjan: king. The corresponding Latin word is rex,
regis. Therefore mahârâjâ simply means great king. The term was often a title
assumed by Hindu kings who had vassals under them. This is also a respectful
appellation, which is reserved for certain spiritual leaders of the sect founded
by Vallabhâcârya (16th century). These mahârâjâs dress up in a lordly manner,
and are treated to sumptuous feasts by their followers. In Gujarati, the term
could also refer to a cook.

The Sanskrit word for a vehicle or chariot is ratha. This gives mahâratha,
literally great vehicle. It can also mean a great warrior who can single
handedly fight against many opponents. The word is used in this sense in the
first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.

One word for state or national entity is râshtram. Thus, mahârâshtram would
mean a great state or country. Indeed, this was the name of an ancient kingdom
in the Indian subcontinent, which extended southwards from the Vindhya
mountains. Now this is the name of one of the states of modern India. Sanskrit
writers referred to the language spoken here as Mahârâstri, whence the modern
language Marâthi. Perhaps the only other nation that has great as a prefix is
Britannia: Mahâbritannia would be Great Britain.

The word tapah literally means heat or fire. From this comes the word tapas,
which refers to ascetic austerities. It is the persistent effort to attain
spiritual enlightenment by subjecting oneself to extraordinary physical and
mental disciplines. Hindu lore is replete with men and women who undertook the
most grueling tapas in order to attain all sorts of things. In Hindu sacred
history, some aspirants performed tapas for hundreds, even thousands of years.
Usually, at the termination of such long austerities, Brahmâ (or Shiva or
VishNu)) appeared to grant the tapasvin (one who performs the tapas) any boon of
his or her asking. These powers were sometimes misused. It was then that God
incarnated to rid the world of such powerful evil individuals. From tapah, we
get mahâtapah: the Great Fire or the Great Ascetic. This is an epithet for
VishNu in the VishNu Sahasranâmah (VishNu's Thousand Names).

The Indic world has many other words and concepts with mahâ as a key
component..

V. V. Raman
April 8, 2007

The Religious Madness and Evil Karmas

VaLLalaar so noted for his very loving disposition, is moved to say that the presence of Prarabta Karma in the world and which installs a life happiness for some but an immensely painful one for others is grossly unfair. He laments at this seeming cruelty and appears to lack a comprehension of it after deliberating on it for long.

Now this is how he sees the unfairness. He projects himself into the metaphysically ignorant, the Peetai and notes that because of the ignorance he is moved to become a religious fanatic where he is overcome with hatred for other religions, and seeks to destroy them like a devil incarnate falling into a life of great pains and miseries not only for himself but also for others.

The word ‘matam’ means both religion and fanatical zeal, a virtually uncontrollable mental state etc. VaLLalaar must have observed all around the reign of religions such as Christinaity and Islam etc where despite the many good things they brought there were also religious violence, where innocent people were killed mercilessly.

Applying the Karma doctrine he notes that such people do not prosper at all and will Nali - suffer, decay and disappear. What they do are EVIL and such actions elicit karmas that will ensure that they decay and decline. Such actions are the Viizcci VinaikaL and will cause the FALL of the agents more and more into Malam, making them hasten to their own premature and painful death as is the case in the world.

To such evil people stand opposed the GOOD ones who are compared to the farmers who sow good seeds and cultivate the soil so that the yields are plenty and pleasant. The good ones are the Anbar, the Lovers of BEING and people who also Meel eeRi, who climb up the developmental ladder, make an evolutionary CLIMB so that they are CLOSER to BEING than to Malam and hence enjoy a life full of happiness.

This is well known as part of Agamism where it is recognized that creatures EVOLVE if good actions are done and FALL if evils are done.

But here comes the lamentation of VaLLalaar. BEING agrees with the good people and blessing them with the higher stages of evolution also moves along with them and in that continuously guides the souls in their metaphysical odyssey towards Moksa.

But looking at the great pains and miseries inflicted upon not only themselves but also others in the world, cannot BEING the most powerful and who rules over all, do something else other than installing the mechanism of Karma for regulating the movement of the souls towards moksa so that such great miseries are not there?

The religious fanaticism so ferocious is uncalled for and BEING should not have allowed for it. The presence of such cruelties is NOT justified at all and BEING should not have allowed for it.

75.
matteeRi alai tayir pool vanjca vaazkkai
mayaleeRi viruppeeRi matattinoodu
piiteeRi uzalkinRa manattaal antoo
peeyeeRi nalikinRa peetaiyaaneen
vitteeRi viLaiveeRi makizkinRoor pool
meeleeRi anbarellaam viLagkukinRaar
oyyeeRi uyirkkuyiraay niRainta eGkaL
udaiyaanee itu takumoo uNarkileenee

Meaning:
I the ignorant fool, gets to be pushed about and suffer great miseries in this earthly existence like the milk being churned violently to separate the butter. Out of metaphysical ignorance, I develop fanatical desires seeking to establish my religion as the religion of all and with these thoughts filling my mind I move about in the world. Thus I became devilish in my actions inflicting pains and sufferings not only on others but also myself. In contrast to me, there are great souls who love BEING and like good farmers who enjoy good harvests only because they sowed good seeds, do many good actions and reap the benefits as a joyous kind of life in this earth They also develop spiritually and climb up the ladder of evolution reaching great heights in spirituality. O my God! You are with all and not only cause such upward movements but also remain with them in total agreement with all such souls. It seems to be very unfair that You should allow for one group of people to suffer and another group to enjoy. I just simply don’t understand the reasons at all.

The Evolution and Liberation

The Dravidian metaphysical thinking has sev