Editors Seek the Blessings of Mahasaraswathi
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OM GAM GANAPATHAYE NAMAH I MAHASARASWATHYAI NAMAH Editors seek the blessings of MahaSaraswathi Kamala Shankar (Editor-in-Chief) Laxmikant Joshi Chitra Padmanabhan Madhu Ramesh Padma Chari Arjun I Shankar Srikali Varanasi Haranath Gnana Varsha Narasimhan II Thanks to the Authors Adarsh Ravikumar Omsri Bharat Akshay Ravikumar Prerana Gundu Ashwin Mohan Priyanka Saha Anand Kanakam Pranav Raja Arvind Chari Pratap Prasad Aravind Rajagopalan Pavan Kumar Jonnalagadda Ashneel K Reddy Rohit Ramachandran Chandrashekhar Suresh Rohan Jonnalagadda Divya Lambah Samika S Kikkeri Divya Santhanam Shreesha Suresha Dr. Dharwar Achar Srinivasan Venkatachari Girish Kowligi Srinivas Pyda Gokul Kowligi Sahana Kribakaran Gopi Krishna Sruti Bharat Guruganesh Kotta Sumedh Goutam Vedanthi Harsha Koneru Srinath Nandakumar Hamsa Ramesha Sanjana Srinivas HCCC Y&E Balajyothi class S Srinivasan Kapil Gururangan Saurabh Karmarkar Karthik Gururangan Sneha Koneru Komal Sharma Sadhika Malladi Katyayini Satya Srivishnu Goutam Vedanthi Kaushik Amancherla Saransh Gupta Medha Raman Varsha Narasimhan Mahadeva Iyer Vaishnavi Jonnalagadda M L Swamy Vyleen Maheshwari Reddy Mahith Amancherla Varun Mahadevan Nikky Cherukuthota Vaishnavi Kashyap Narasimham Garudadri III Contents Forword VI Preface VIII Chairman’s Message X President’s Message XI Significance of Maha Kumbhabhishekam XII Acharya Bharadwaja 1 Acharya Kapil 3 Adi Shankara 6 Aryabhatta 9 Bhadrachala Ramadas 11 Bhaskaracharya 13 Bheeshma 15 Brahmagupta Bhillamalacarya 17 Chanakya 19 Charaka 21 Dhruva 25 Draupadi 27 Gargi 30 Goswami Tulsidas 32 Kalidasa 34 Kunti 39 Lopamudra and Lalita Sahasranama 41 Madhvacharya 44 Maharshi Atri 47 Maharishi Valmiki 49 Mahaviracharya 51 Maitreyi 53 Mandodari 55 Markandeya 57 MiraBai 59 Muthuswami Dikshitar 61 IV Nagarjuna 64 Panini Maharshi 66 Patanjali 68 Prahlad 71 Rabindranath Tagore 73 Raja Ravi Varma 76 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa 78 Ramana Maharishi 81 Sage Agastya 84 Sage Bharatha 86 Sage Vishwamitra 88 Samartha Ramdas 91 Sant Gyaneshwar 95 Sant Surdas 98 Sant Tukaram 100 Sarada Devi 102 Shabari 104 Sri Aurobindo 106 Sri Bharati Krishna Teertha 109 Sri Purandara Dasa 113 Sri Ramanujacharya 115 Sri Syama Sastri 117 Srinivasa Ramanujan 119 Susrutha 121 Swami Vivekananda 123 Tyagaraja 125 Varahamihir 128 Vasishta 130 Veda Vyasa Maharshi 132 Acknowledgements 140 Contents By Categories 141 V Foreword This exquisite collection of essays by young students and senior devotees is quite commendable. In compiling this anthology from well-known sources about the Great Contributors of Hindu Heritage, the students have created an outstanding reference booklet for the study of Hinduism. The encyclopedic presentation of a variety of subjects such as the life stories of the revered Sages; the valuable contributions of the great mathematicians and astronomers like Aryabhatta, Bhaskaracharya, and Brahmagupta; the admirable work of great Sage Kapila in the field of Cosmology and Samkhya philosophy; the pioneers in Ayurvedic medicine such as the eminent Rishi Charaka and the exalted Sage Susrutha; the renowned economist, political strategist and the man of wisdom, Chanakya; and the highly educated women of Vedic era, the distinguished scholars Gargi and Maitreyi. The most often quoted and remembered devotees like Prahlad, Dhruva, Shabari, Mira Bai, Saradadevi, Sri Tulsidas, Saint Tukaram, Surdas, and Bhadrachala Ramadas and the notable celebrities from the two great Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. The most impressive composers of Indian classical music like Sri Syama Sastri, Sri. Purandara Dasa (Srinivasa Nayaka), and the great contributor in the field of classical dances the revered Sage Bharatha. The incomparable work of the great poet, dramatist, and Sanskrit scholar Kalidasa, and also the distinct teachings of Sri Adi Shankaracharya, Sant Gyaneshwar, Swami Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, and Sri Aurobindo. The life story of the great poet, novelist, and musician: Rabindranath Tagore who wrote India’s National Anthem and was the first Asian to be awarded with Nobel Prize in literature. All of this and much more makes the book quite interesting and enjoyable. VI Through the contributions from the learned exponents of Hinduism, the students from Youth education class at Livermore Temple have prepared this elegant pocket edition in order to encourage the modern generation to the detailed study of the great Contributors of Hindu Heritage. May God bless these youngsters with increased academic performance, clarity of vision, true knowledge, and sincere interest into the study of ancient scriptures. I must congratulate Dr. Kamala Shankar and the other teachers of HCCC Y&E, for their devoted and enthusiastic efforts in completion of this noble work. The general public will find this concise book very informative and immensely readable. Prabha Duneja President Geeta Society 02/14/2010 VII Preface HCCC has reached yet another historical milestone & will be conducting its second Mahakumbhabhishekam on June 16-20, 2010. Mahakumbhabhishekam (MKA) is performed once in 12 years for the sanctification of the temple through rectification ceremonies called “Prayaschittam” performed as per the scriptures. HCCC has been conducted several Religious, Cultural, Youth and Senior pre- events such as Maharudram, Dhanavantari Homa, Guru Sishya Day, Ayurvedic camp, Maha Saraswathi Program, Alameda County Canned food donation, and Gayathri homam to mark the occasion of Mahakumbhabhishekam. The Youth and Education branch, with its strong vision and the untiring dedication of many volunteers, has brought to people of all ages many path- breaking programs based on Hindu culture, language, tradition, arts, crafts, dance, and music. This has brought about a sense of pride and belonging in the Hindu Community. In the same spirit, the Youth & Education and Senior Committee, on the occasion of Mahakumbhabhishekam 2010, is proud to present this book on Hindu heritage. Hindu heritage has offered the world an abundant wealth of knowledge and innovation. There is a rich culture and heritage in ancient Hindu literature. The essentials of geometry were used in the altar constructions described in the Vedic mythology texts, the Shatapatha Brahmana and the Taittiriya Samhita. Hinduism has contributed to fields like alchemy, astronomy, architecture, cosmology, medicine, mathematics, physics, poetry, arts, and philosophy. There are so many great contributors from Hindu heritage, of whom we can be proud, and even today their discoveries and philosophies are used. For example, plastic surgery started in India when Sage Susruta began performing nose reconstruction surgeries and Aryabhatta discovered and propagated the decimal system and powers of 10. Flying machines were discovered by Acharya Bharadwaja, while Acharya Kapila propagated the Samkhya philosophy. We have encouraged many youth and seniors to write short articles about these great contributions and contributors. The authors range in age from 10 years to 85 years. The life history of pioneers in many fields has been brought together to inspire the kids of today to become good citizens of tomorrow and senior citizens of today to become good motivators and educators. This is an educational, informative book, and not a literary work. The style and format of VIII authors vary and the editors have tried to retain the authors’ originality. We are only able to include a few of the great contributors in this edition, but the authors have made a sincere attempt to cover as many as possible. In the summer of 2009, when I conceptualized this book project, I had envisioned at-least 51 authors to contribute (51 representing the aksharas in samskritam language). It has been a herculean task to compile, review, and do multiple editorial changes to bring about this final version. In this process, I have learned many new facts about our heritage, and I hope that you, the reader, will as well. I wish to thank all the contributors and authors for their dedicated efforts in bringing this project to fruition. I wish to acknowledge, the excellent team work of my co-editors and educators. Thanks to the many volunteers who helped us in so many ways. Thanks to Haranath Gnana for compilation, tracking of articles, and helping with the publishing aspect of the work. Happy reading and happy volunteering at HCCC! Best regards, Dr. Kamala Shankar HCCC Board of Director MKA2010 “YES” Committee, Chairperson. IX Chairman’s Message Dear Readers, It gives us great pleasure to participate in this project on Hindu Heritage. We are pleased to know that Hindu Community and Cultural Center (HCCC) has taken another great step in preserving and spreading the spirit of Hinduism. HCCC since its inception in 1977 has encouraged Hindu worship and religious rituals here at Livermore Temple. As a good citizen and responsible member of the community, the HCCC has over the years undertaken a number of humanitarian and social services. Sri Swami Vivekananda, disciple of Guru Paramahamsa, spoke about Hinduism as a Philosophy rather than a religion. He taught us to seek God through such community services, which we are proud to say, HCCC has been doing very sincerely. It is the Lord’s blessing that we have such a beautiful Hindu temple where we can pray and perform our Hindu rituals in an authentic manner. The HCCC also gives us the opportunity to celebrate and cherish the lives of our great Hindu philosophers like Sri Shankaracharya, Sri Basavesvara, Sri Madhavacharya, and Sri Ramanujacharya who spread the message of