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OM GAM GANAPATHAYE NAMAH

I MAHASARASWATHYAI NAMAH

Editors seek the of MahaSaraswathi Kamala Shankar (Editor-in-Chief) Laxmikant Joshi Padmanabhan Ramesh Padma Chari Arjun I Shankar Srikali Haranath Gnana Varsha Narasimhan

II Thanks to the Authors

Adarsh Ravikumar Omsri Bharat Akshay Ravikumar Prerana Gundu Ashwin Mohan Priyanka Saha Anand Kanakam Pranav Arvind Chari Pratap Prasad Aravind Rajagopalan Pavan Kumar Jonnalagadda Ashneel Reddy Rohit Ramachandran Chandrashekhar Suresh Rohan Jonnalagadda Divya Lambah Samika Kikkeri Divya Santhanam Shreesha Suresha Dr. Dharwar Srinivasan Venkatachari Girish Kowligi Srinivas Pyda Kowligi Kribakaran Sruti Bharat Guruganesh Kotta Sumedh Goutam Vedanthi Harsha Koneru Srinath Nandakumar Ramesha Sanjana Srinivas HCCC & Balajyothi class S Srinivasan Kapil Gururangan Saurabh Karmarkar Karthik Gururangan Sneha Koneru Komal Sharma Sadhika Malladi Katyayini Srivishnu Goutam Vedanthi Kaushik Amancherla Saransh Gupta Medha Raman Varsha Narasimhan Vaishnavi Jonnalagadda Swamy Vyleen Maheshwari Reddy Mahith Amancherla Varun Mahadevan Nikky Cherukuthota Vaishnavi Kashyap Narasimham Garudadri

III Contents

Forword VI Preface VIII Chairman’s Message President’s Message XI Significance of Maha Kumbhabhishekam XII Bharadwaja 1 Acharya Kapil 3 6 Aryabhatta 9 Bhadrachala Ramadas 11 Bhaskaracharya 13 Bheeshma 15 Bhillamalacarya 17 19 Charaka 21 25 27 Gargi 30 32 34 39 and 41 44 Maharshi 47 49 Mahaviracharya 51 Maitreyi 53 55 57 59 Muthuswami 61

IV 64 Panini Maharshi 66 68 Prahlad 71 73 Raja Varma 76 Paramahamsa 78 Ramana Maharishi 81 Sage 84 Sage Bharatha 86 Sage Vishwamitra 88 Samartha Ramdas 91 Sant Gyaneshwar 95 Sant 98 Sant 100 Sarada 102 104 106 Sri Bharati Krishna Teertha 109 Sri Purandara 113 Sri Ramanujacharya 115 Sri Syama Sastri 117 Srinivasa Ramanujan 119 Susrutha 121 Vivekananda 123 125 Varahamihir 128 Vasishta 130 Veda 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 .

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 in the of Cosmology and philosophy; the pioneers in Ayurvedic medicine such as the eminent Charaka and the exalted Sage Susrutha; the renowned , 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, Tukaram, Surdas, and Bhadrachala Ramadas and the notable celebrities from the two great Hindu epics, and . The most impressive composers of like Sri Syama Sastri, Sri. (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 scholar Kalidasa, and also the distinct teachings of Sri Adi Shankaracharya, Sant Gyaneshwar, Swami Ramakrishna, , and Sri Aurobindo. The life story of the great poet, novelist, and musician: Rabindranath Tagore who wrote ’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 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 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 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 , 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 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 constructions described in the texts, the Shatapatha and the Taittiriya . Hinduism has contributed to fields like , , architecture, cosmology, medicine, mathematics, physics, , 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, 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 and religious 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 . 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 that we have such a beautiful 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 like Sri Shankaracharya, Sri Basavesvara, Sri Madhavacharya, and Sri Ramanujacharya who spread the message of oneness of God.

HCCC regularly conducts children’s programs and cultural events to encourage the young generation to perform music, dance and . The Youth and Education Services encourage learning of Sanskrit language, Sahasranamam and for the youth and Bala Jyothi for tiny tots. The Youth, Education and Senior Services has made remarkable progress in the last 5 years under the leadership of Dr. Kamala Shankar ably supported by her Committee Members and Volunteers. This project “Great Contributors of Hindu Heritage” is one more example of team effort and dedication towards including the new generation Hindus to the temple programs.

I invite all of you to participate in the second Mahakumbabhishekam of the temple.

Om Namashivaya Om NamoNarayanaya

Dr. Peraiah Sudanagunta, MD, MPH HCCC Chairman - 2009

X President’s Message

Namaskarams

I am very happy that we are coming out with a book on Great contributors of Hindu Heritage. The project speaks volumes about how we have evolved in our Y&E programs over the last six years. Now I do not see a single children’s function with less than 100 kids and so many wonderful programs have evolved. Thanks to the hard work and leadership that Dr Kamala Shankar provided in this area which was ably followed up by Smt. Archana Ranganathan and Smt. Padmaja Madhusudan. I am sure this book project will open even more new vistas in the years to come. May god bless the youth so that one day we will write a book on contemporary Hindu prides.

Thanks

Dr. Srinivas Pyda HCCC President - 2009

XI Significance of Maha Kumbhabhishekam

Excerpts from the article by Pdt. Srinivasacharyulu Rompicherla, Yaga

Kumbhabhishekam: After construction, Hindu temples are inaugurated with Kumbhabhishekam ceremony, for devotees to worship. The divine energy and spirit are invoked through religious rituals and homas and transferred to the kumbhas (vessels) containing the holy water from sacred rivers like . Kumbhabhishekam literally means pouring of this sacred water from the vessels over the vigrahas (idols) and the temple (top of the temple towers).

Maha Kumbhabhishekam: Once every twelve years after the Temple is opened, a Maha Kumbhabhishekam is performed by the devotees to renew their dedication to the temple and to re-vitalize their connection to the divine. Errors and omissions can happen during the Temple’s operation. A few examples include cracks in the wall, cracks on the floor, leakages and gap in between pedestal (peetha) and the bottom of the idol. The have allowed a maximum of 12 years to rectify these items, by performing rectification ceremonies called ‘Prayashchittam’ in the Agamic (scriptures of ) language. This is also the occasion when needed renovations and repairs are done within the temple. New vigrahas and to the temple structures are also consecrated at this auspicious .

XII A procedure called Ashtabandhana – alchemy with eight products is performed to fix the mistakes in the idols that require shilpis to come in contact with them. After fixing all these, an auspicious day is selected and a is performed for 5, 7, or 9 days. During these days, the kalasams are energized after conducting proper homas and invocations from the idols, the necessary rectification procedures mentioned above are performed, and the vimanas, vimana kalasas, and the idols, are sanctified (purified) with the holy water in these kalasams.

At -Vishnu Temple, Livermore, CA: Ÿ Kumbhabhishekam was performed July 9 – July 13, 1986. Ÿ Maha Kumbhabhishekam was performed July 1 – July 5, 1998. Ÿ Maha Kumbhabhishekam will be performed June 16 – June 20, 2010

XIII Acharya Bharadwaja

Rohit Ramachandran Age 12

In 800 BCE, Acharya Bharadwaja became a pioneer of aviation technology. The Marut found him beside the river and raised him. They taught him about the and he was later adopted by , the son of Sakuntala and . He had a great passion for knowledge of Vedas in to other studies. He meditated on , Shiva, and to obtain more knowledge. Attaining mastery over the Vedas by the , and studying the works of earlier , he has churned the Vedic lore, and extracting the cream, presented it to mankind, in the work named ‘ Sarvasva.’

In the Yantra Sarvasva, he explained how to construct an aircraft which can travel in air, on land, on water, and even underwater. Not only did he describe constructing regular airplanes, but unique war planes and fighter planes as well. There are discourses on the structure of the atmosphere, aeronautic hazards and how to avoid them, and even a section on diet and clothing for aviators. The text describes the devices powered by steam, electricity and even solar power. Five hundred slokas or stanzas, go into such intricate details about choice and preparation of metals that would be suitable for various parts of different vimanas, construction details, dimensions, designs and weight they could carry, and purposes they could be used for. His findings ranged from aviation science and flying machines to space science.

Acharya Bharadwaja sorted flying machines into three categories, namely, Rukma, Sundara and Shakuna Vimanas. The first category lists devices that fly exclusively between points on Earth. The second category includes machines that fly to and from different planets. The last category consists of machines that can travel to other . Additionally, he distinguished himself in aviation technology through the 32 secrets. One of the most acclaimed secrets is the Profound Secret; the Profound Secret is a technique that uses and wind force to make a flying machine invisible. The Living Secret reveals how to use electrical force to make an invisible space machine visible. He formulated eavesdropping strategies which could be used to listen to conversations in other planes. An especially prominent secret is the Visual Secret which involves

1 techniques used to see inside other planes. Moreover, Acharya Bhardwaj made the bold declaration that a flying machine can only be used at its greatest magnitude when the power of the sun’s rays, mercury, and another chemical called “Naksha Rassa” are blended together.

Acharya Bharadwaja was married to Suseela and had a son named . His son Dronacharya was born as a result of his attraction to an , Ghrtaci. He trained in the use of weapons. Acharya Bharadwaja also had a daughter named Devavamini. She was given in to Visravas and was the mother of .

Bharadwaja was a host to Dasaratha’s son Bharata when he was en route to meet Sri , to persuade him to return to . He used his powers to play host to the entire retinue and treated them to a great feast and entertainment with Viswakarma’s help. He advised Raja not to turn his back on a battle field and to fight till he won. Bharadwaja taught the Agneya to Agnivesha. He performed the yajnam for Divodasa, so that he could get a son. Bharadwaja had a debate with Bhrgu about the system, and he said that physiologically, there was no difference between members of any caste. Bharadwaja’s Vedic were placed in the sixth of Rig Veda by Maharshi Veda Vyasa. Dharmasutra and Srautasutra were written by Bharadwaja. He was a grammarian. As per the Rktantra, pratisakhya of the , Brahma taught grammar to Brhaspati who in turn taught it to Indra, and who in turn taught it to Bharadwaja. Panini, Rkpratisakhya and Taittiriya have quoted and discussed Bharadwaja, on grammar.

Over 100 years ago, his research was tested and successfully executed by Bapuji Talpade and his wife in a thrilling flight demonstration in Chowpatty Beach, , a full eight years before the Wright brother’s first flight in North Carolina. Bharadwaj’s discoveries have caused people all over the world to speculate as to whether it was actually an Indian who originally invented the airplane.

References: http://venkatamurty.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/10/acharya-bharadwaja-800-bce.htm http://www.etika.com http://ancientindians.wordpress.com/Bharadwaja/

2 Acharya Kapil The Father of Cosmology and Philosophy

Kapil Gururangan Age 19 HCCC Youth volunteer

The contributions of Acharya Kapil Muni (Acharya meaning teacher in Sanskrit) have merited a place in the history and legends of India. He was also known as Sage Kapila, a great hermit with extraordinary , or spiritual powers. Acharya Kapil was born (by Western estimates) around 3000 BCE to Kardama Muni and Devahuti; according to the Purana, one of the great ancient histories of India, he is fabled to be a descendent of , the progenitor of all mankind. The dual identity of Acharya Kapil as a mythic character as well as a historical figure blurs some realities and makes it difficult to assess the sage’s true life. Nevertheless, Acharya Kapil is firmly associated with the Samkhya school of Vedic philosophy, one of the oldest philosophical systems in India. He is often declared the founder of this system, whose name (samkhya) means enumeration. Acharya Kapil is honored as the father of cosmology, as well as for the study of the and humanity’s place in it, because of his philosophy’s implications for the creation of the universe.

The Samkhya philosophy has two core components: (worship of , or divine energy) and duality. According to Acharya Kapil, the universe consists of two realities: (consciousness, ultimate and spirit) and prakriti (). This is, in , the difference between the physical body and the metaphysical soul; the latter inhabits the former until it is liberated from the cycle of . The Samkhya philosophy is the first to admit there is no creationist god (), meaning that the existence of Ishvara cannot be proved, and hence cannot be admitted to exist. The Samkhya theories of existence are very similar to Darwin’s theories of evolution, with primordial matter transforming and differentiating into many, many diverse objects. (spiritual liberation) is attained by casting off ignorance and by realizing the purity of the purusha separate from the prakriti. According to the , Krishna is supposed to have taught Acharya Kapil’s samkhya to in a passage known as the Uddhava Gita. Rene Descartes, a prominent French

3 , borrowed heavily on these ideas over 4500 years after Acharya Kapil’s birth – so long lasting was Acharya Kapil’s influence that his ideas have survived the ravages of time for over half a millennium.

The translation of Indian history by the West has created some confusion on the dates of the school’s creation. Although Acharya Kapil is understood to be the founder, the major text of the Samkhya school is the “Samkhya Karika,” which was written by Ishvara Krishna around 200CE, 2800 years after Acharya Kapil was supposed to have been born. The chronological integrity of Sage Kapila’s achievements is also complicated by Krishna’s references to him in the Bhagavad Gita. The date of War, in which Krishna’s dialogue takes place, is still an open debate. One such passage of the Bhagavad Gita is:

“Of all trees, I am the tree, and of the sages among the demigods I am . Of the I am Citraratha, and among perfected beings I am the sage Kapila.” (10.26)

In addition to his appearance in the Mahabharata, Sage Kapila also appears in the history of Ayodhya long before the birth of Lord Rama. Lord Rama’s ancestor, , planned to perform his one-hundredth asvamedha yagna (horse ) to bring further power and prosperity to his kingdom. Only Lord Indra, the King of the Devas, held the title of Lord of because he alone had completed the sacrifice one hundred . In jealousy, Lord Indra stole the horse as it traversed the earth and hid it in the hermitage of Sage Kapila. King Sagara’s 60,000 sons, believing Kapila to be the abductor, attempted to murder him, but the mighty sage reduced them to ashes. Upon the entreaty of Sagara’s grandson, Anshuman, to redeem the of the 60,000 sons, Sage Kapila replied that only if the Ganges descended from heaven would their souls be redeemed. The Ganga herself came down from heaven to create the Ganges River in northern India, to redeem the souls of Lord Rama’s ancestors.

Much as my purpose in this writing is to share with you the story of Sage Kapila, my great namesake, his own intention was to share his philosophy of emancipation and to teach humanity how it may be saved through the pursuit of knowledge. It is this very purpose and legacy that Acharya Kapil enumerates in the Bhagavata Purana:

“My appearance in this world is especially to explain the philosophy of Samkhya, which is highly esteemed for self-realization by those desiring freedom from the entanglement of unnecessary material desires. This path to self-realization,

4 which is difficult to understand, has now been lost in the course of time. Please know that I have assumed this body of Kapila to introduce and explain this philosophy to human society again.”

References: “Kapila.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Merchant, Vasant . “The contributions of India: the seer-scientists and the renaissance in India.” International Journal of Humanities and . 1 Jan 2002. Oman, John Campbell. “The Great Indian Epics: The Stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.” London: Adamant Media Corporation, 2004.

Word Scramble AND Unscramble the words below.

1. ARMLODABA ------2. RDRAU ------3. MILAX ------4. AKNARGDUKAA ------5. AIRSNKIHSR ------6. UMHNANA ------7. TARTAEADTY ------8. AARGAVHAN ------9. IRAGTAY ------10. NAURANNAP ------11. IJLBAA ------12. NLDAA ------13. MISAARR ------14. TIAS ------15. KLAAIVAAABRH ------16. DNHCIA ------17. ARAEIKTKYH ------18. AHRIHRAA ------19. IATARSAWS ------20. AATRIPV ------

key at page 97

5 Adi Shankara

Medha Raman Age 12

India at the time of Shankara’s birth in 788 AD was in a chaotic state in of religion and philosophy. There was much superstition, bigotry, and fighting among the many of Hinduism. The land of the rishis and was spiritually lost. Shankara was born under these circumstances, to a couple living in the small village of Kaladi on the banks of the river , in the coastal state of . His parents Sivaguru and Aryamba prayed to Lord Siva for a child. God, pleased with their devotion, is said to have appeared to the couple in a dream and promised them a choice of either a son who would die young but would be the best philosopher of his time, or many sons who would be mediocre. The couple chose a brilliant, but short-lived son. As the Lord had already promised that would bring goodness to the world, he was named Shankara -‘Sam’ meaning prosperity and ‘Karathi’ meaning the giver, born under the star “Thiruvathurai” (Arudra).

Shankara’s intellectual abilities grew rapidly. At the tender age of three, he was taught to read and write. When he was four, his father passed away. After his thread ceremony at the age of five, he was sent to Gurukul for learning the scriptures. As per tradition, the brahmachari must go from house to house and get alms to give to his guru. On a Dwadasi day (a day of and when people only eat fruits), Shankara went to the house of a very poor lady and asked for alms. The lady did not have anything to give him. However, as it was Dwadasi day she had kept a single amla fruit for herself. She unhesitatingly decided to give the amla fruit to Shankara as she could not send a Brahmachari away, empty handed. Shankara was moved by her selfless act and so he sang a prayer to Goddess - the beautiful “Kanaka Dhara Stotram.” At the end of the stotram, Goddess Lakshmi appeared in person and showered a rain of golden amlas on the lady’s house.

Shankara could recall scriptures by reading it just once and so he was hailed as ‘Eka-Sruti-Dara’. He mastered all the Vedas, recited extensively from the , studied the philosophies of diverse sects and was a storehouse of philosophical knowledge. Shankara developed his philosophy through commentaries on the various scriptures. It is believed that he completed these works before the age

6 of sixteen. His major works fall into three distinct categories – commentaries on the , the Brahmasutras and the Bhagavad-Gita. Shankara spread Advaita , the supreme philosophy of to the four corners of India. The essence of or non-dualism is to emphasize the reality of one’s essential divine identity or simply that God is in everyone and everything. The Advaita doctrine propagated by Shankara views the bodies as manifold but state that separate bodies have the one Divine in them.

Shankara traveled with his disciples all over India by foot and often had debates with people on various subjects of Hindu religion. Shankara’s most famous debate was with Mandana Misra, the ritualist. It was decided that Mandana Misra’s wife would act as the referee. After debating for over fifteen days, Mandana Misra finally accepted defeat. His wife then challenged Adi Shankara to have a debate with her in order to ‘complete’ the victory. She too conceded defeat and allowed Mandana Miśra to accept with the monastic name Suresvaracharya.

Shankara established a , or , in and made Suresvaracharya the head of the matha. Similar were established in the of , Dwaraka and near , and other disciples were placed in charge of them. These four mathas are still functioning today. Their heads have also come to be known as Shankaracharyas, in honor of their founder. As part unifying Indians together spiritually, Shankara ordained a from the South as the chief priest in Joshimath and likewise appointed from other regions in the other three mathas.

Adi Shankara lived for a short span of thirty two years and attained heavenly abode in in 820 AD but during his short life time he composed many hymns on Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, , and Subramaniam including ; Sivanandalahari; Saundaryalahari; Sri Laksmīnrmsiha Karāvalamba Stotram; Sarada Bhujangam; Kanakadhara Stotram; ; Shiva Manaasa ; and Pandurangashtakam among others. Adi Shankara contributed greatly to the revival of Hinduism and his teachings will live on forever.

References: 1) Lives of by Swami Sivananda 2) www.kamakoti.org/miscl/adi.html 3) Shankara Digvijaya, The Traditional Life of Sri Sankaracharya’,(1986), Sri , Madras, India.

7 Did you know?

1. Adi Shankaracharya mastered all the Vedas and the Vedanta in gurukul itself and could recite the epics and Puranas by heart. 2. Shankaracharya founded four mathas (“”), which helped in the historical development, revival and spread of Advaita Vedanta. 3. Shankaracharya was attacked by a crocodile and when he recited the mantras of renunciation, the crocodile let him go off immediately. 4. Under the guidance of Bhagvatpada, Shankara mastered Hatha, Raja and . 5. Adi Shankara wrote on the ten major Upanishads, the Brahma and the Bhagavad Gita. 6. Some people he debated were Veda Vysa and Mandana. Sankara proved his worthiness when he decided to open the south gate of the Sharada temple in . All the other gates had been opened by scholars from the north, east, and west except for the south gate. Many people tried to open it before Sankara but they all failed. Finally, Sri Shankaracharya opened it and seated himself upon the throne of supreme knowledge

References

1) Swami Raghaveshananda, The story of Sri Sankara for Children, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras 600 004

Compiled by Samika S. Kikkeri 10 years old

8 Aryabhatta

The Legacy He Left Behind

Shreesha Suresha Age 14

India in ancient times was home to many mathematicians, astronomers, and philosophical leaders. At this age where little was known about the place we live in, where numbers were not even fully developed, an Indian mathematician by the name of Aryabhatta shed light on our universe and so influences us even to this day. Without him, much of the understanding we possess today might not even have been thought of. His works in the fields of both math and science leave a lasting legacy as we use what he invented to add to our knowledge.

Aryabhatta was born to a noble family. He was born in 476 AD and is believed to have born in , , where he did his studies. Yet others say he might have been born in Akshma, Kerala. Born into a noble family, he studied in University and wrote his most famous thesis when he was just 23 years of age. The Aryabhattiyam, written in 499 AD, is perhaps his most famous thesis because it is his only work that survived to this day. Considering the time at which it was written, it baffles many because of how accurately it resembles today’s reality.

Aryabhatta was the first Indian to excel in mathematics and astronomy without a divine link for his accomplishments. When his famous thesis Aryabhattiyam was translated to and titled the Magnum Opus in the 13th century, its formulas fascinated many people in Europe. He said that if 104 is multiplied by eight, added to 62000, divided by 20000 it will be approximately 3.1416. This is close to today’s value of Pi, which is 3.14159. He also said that it is an approximate and so should not be taken as the exact value. Aryabhatiyam consists of 108 verses and 13 introductory verses and is divided into four padas or chapters. Gitikapada (13 verses) describes large units of time - , and . Ganitapada (33 verses) covers mensuration; arithmetic and geometric progressions; or shadows; and simple, quadratic, simultaneous and indeterminate equations. Kalakriyapda (25 verses) covers different units of time and methods for determining the positions of planes for a given day. Golapada

9 (50 verses) covers geometrical and trigonometric aspects of , the shape of the earth, cause of day and night, rising of zodiacal signs on horizon etc. His greatest contribution in mathematics has been the use of zero as a place value in decimal numbers and powers of ten with null coefficients, without which writing decimal numbers, and large numbers could have been more difficult.

He contributed to math but also made monumental leaps in astronomy. He pointed out that the earth spins on its axis. He described this to be the reason why the stars seem to move across the night sky. He correctly explained the causes of eclipses, stated that the earth orbits around the sun and also asserted that the moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight. Aryabhatta accurately calculated the Earth’s circumference as 24,835 miles, which was only 0.2% smaller than the actual value of 24902 miles. This approximation remained the most accurate for over a thousand years. His statement that the earth revolved around the sun was revolutionary for its time. He gave formulae for determining the size of planets and their mean orbits. He gave methods for physical modeling of the solar system. However, by the time they reached Europe, these methods were ignored. In his book Aryabhattiyam, he often refers to Suryasiddhanta. He had developed instruments like yantra (disk instrument), Gola yantra (armillery sphere like instrument) and shadow instruments.

Because of his contributions in these two fields, he left a lasting legacy not only in but also in the itself. His work has had a great influence on modern science and math, as it was translated and spread to many cultures. This is why the world views him as the first of many important mathematicians and astronomers of ancient India.

References: http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/ http://thebestlinks.com/tag/aryabhatt-biography.html http://www.indicstudies.us/Mathematics/AryabhattaI.html

10 Bhadrachala Ramadas

Srinivasan Venkatachari Age 75

Sri Bhadrachala Ramadas (also known as Bhakta Ramadas) was a very great devotee of Lord Rama and also a famous composer who lived in the 17th century. He was born in a Telugu family in Andhra Desa and was named Gopanna. For his devotion to Lord Rama, he was later named Ramadas by the people. During his childhood, he became proficient in Telugu and Sanskrit and developed a steadfast devotion to Lord Rama. He lost his parents in his early life and was under the care of his maternal uncle who held positions of power in the kingdom of Golconda ruled by a Sultan. Due to their influence, Gopanna was appointed as the Tahsildar of Taluk.

Tradition has it that the great saint Das appeared in his dreams and gave him the upadesa of Taraka Mantra. Then onwards Gopanna’s devotion to Lord Rama began to increase a hundred-fold and he began to compose beautiful songs in praise of Lord Rama. The Lord Rama temple of Bhadrachalam was then a small one and was also not in good condition. So Gopanna decided to build a big temple to Lord Rama and adorn the with jewels. At the beginning he began those activities through public donations. Soon the public donations became very poor and Gopanna utilized money (collected as taxes) for the purpose. When the Sultan of Golconda came to know of this, he arrested Gopanna and sent him to jail for 12 years for misappropriation of government money. Towards the end of his period of imprisonment, Lord Rama and his brother appeared before the Sultan as messengers of Gopanna, repaid to the Sultan all the money taken by Gopanna from government funds, got release orders from the Sultan, got Gopanna out of jail and disappeared. When Gopanna heard that two messengers reportedly sent by him had repaid to the Sultan all the money taken by him, he realized that Lord Rama along with Lakshmana had appeared before the Sultan on his behalf, and was very overwhelmed with emotion. He congratulated the Sultan for having gotten the Darshan of the Lord through Purva Janma Punyam (good deeds in his past life). The Sultan apologized to Gopanna, and by way of atonement, he reappointed Gopanna as Tahsildar and gave back the money repaid by Lord Rama and also donated lands to the temple.

11 Sri Ramadas composed songs in praise of the Lord Rama numbering about one hundred and transformed Bhadrachalam into Kaliyuga Vaikunta. The bulk of his songs are in Telugu and some are in Sanskrit. He has used a language which is simple and also which appeals to the masses. Each one of his songs is clothed in sweet music and breathes the fragrance of bhakthi. His songs may be grouped into three categories: 1. Songs composed before his imprisonment, which are generally in praise of Lord Rama and his greatness like Rama Rara (Ananda ) and Sri Ramula Divyanamam () 2. Songs composed during his prison life, which have a tinge of pathos like Edanunnado (Natakurunji) and Kula (Kamboji) 3. Songs composed after release from prison, which are in a more rapturous and confident tone like Oh Rama Ninama Memi Ruchira (Purvi ) and Anta Rama Mayam (Sri )

The soul stirring of his songs, the depth of feelings underlying them, their sweet and melodious music and human touch have irresistible appeal. There is not a single Bhajana in where his songs are not heard. Sri Ramadas used several in his songs viz. Ramadas, Bhadrachalavasa, or the synonyms of Bhadrachala like Bhadragiri, Bhadradri, and Bhadrasaila. A few of his other popular compositions are Taraka Mantramu (), Ennaganu Rama Bhajana (Panthivarali), and Nannu Brovu (Kalyani). Sri Ramadas had the supreme bliss of gaining Rama Sakshatkara, was immersed in Rama Nama and obtained enlightenment. He spent his life singing the glory of Lord Rama and attained the lotus feet of Lord Rama at the age of 68.

Sri Thyagaraja Swamy, who was born a century later, termed Sri Ramadas as an ideal bhakta and a great hero (Dheeran). He pays his tribute to Sri Ramadas in his krithis as follows: 1. Ksheera Sagara (Devagandari) wherein he refers to Lord Rama’s freeing Ramadas from prison 2. Brindavana Lola (Thodi) wherein he refers himself as the Dasa of Sri Ramadas 3. Kaligiyunte (Kiravani) wherein he equates Ramadas with great Bhaktas like Narada, , and Parasara.

References 1. Great Composers – Prof. P. Sambamurthy – The Indian Music Publishing House – Seventh Edition, 2004.

12 Bhaskaracharya Mathematician, Astronomer, Innovator

Karthik Gururangan Age 14 HCCC Youth volunteer

Bhaskara is also known as Bhaskara II or as Bhaska- racharya, meaning “Bhaskara the Teacher.” Bhaskara- charya was born in Bijjida Bida, in present day Bijapur district, to the family. Bhaskara- charya’s father was a Brahmin named Mahesvara. Mahesvara himself was famed as an astrologer. This happened frequently in Indian society with generations of a family being excellent mathematicians and often acting as teachers to other family members.

Bhaskaracharya and his works represent a significant contribution to mathematical and astronomical knowledge in the 12th century. His main works were the Lilavati (dealing with arithmetic), (Algebra) and Shiromani (written in 1150) which consists of two parts: Goladhyaya (sphere) and Grahaganita (mathematics of the planets).

Today, we encounter Bhaskaracharya’s amazing works in mathematics and astronomy every day. Examples of these great works are various proofs for the Pythagorean Theorem (a2 + b2 = c2), algorithms for solving quadratic (power of two) equations and cubic (power of three) equations, solutions of Diophantine Equations of the second order, negative and irrational roots of quadratic equations, and conceived differential calculus and its various applications in trigonometry. He also contributed significantly to basic arithmetic and . He gave various rules for zero, arithmetical terms and methods for multiplying and squaring terms, further estimation of pi, and more discoveries in plane and solid geometry.

Bhaskaracharya provided us with invaluable theorems, definitions, and research in critical fields of mathematics, and also contributed copious amounts of information to the field of astronomy. In his book Shiromani, he included a section on the planets titled Goladhyaya. This section covered topics such as: mean longitudes and latitudes for the planets, three problems of

13 diurnal rotations, Syzygies (auspicious alignment of celestial bodies), lunar and solar eclipses, and the Sun Equation. He also discovered the eccentricity of the ellipse, elliptical orbits of the planets, spherical trigonometry, calculations of the lunar crescent, and various astronomical instruments.

In today’s society, we would be at a loss without Bhaskaracharya’s studies and observations in number theory, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, engineering, and astronomy. Bhaskaracharya’s conception of calculus is especially interesting since he discovered most principles, and essentially all of calculus, before Sir Issac Newton in the 17th century. Satellite dishes, headlights, , arches, and telescopes are all based on principles of conic sections (different types of shapes that are created when one slices a cone with a plane at different angles) that Bhaskaracharya discovered. There is even a room in the White House that is elliptical. Its shape allows someone standing at one focus of the room to hear every word that someone standing at the other focus says. This allows the U.S. officials to monitor and hear different people from afar who enter the White House. That principal is based on Bhaskaracharya’s works that any sound wave or light wave will bounce from one focus to the other in an ellipse.

Our basic arithmetic operations are based on Bhaskaracharya’s work with zero, without which we would probably still be using today. In short, Bhaskaracharya has impacted our world and way of thinking. Had he not come along with the determination, curiosity, and willpower to discover the secrets of our world, we would likely have never reached our modern era.

References: http://www.aazad.com/bhaskaracharya.html http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Projects/Pearce/Chapters/Ch8_5.html Dr V.., Rajesh. Bhaskaracharya Bijaganitham. 1st ed. 1. : Bhavan, 2001. Print.

14 Bheeshma

Adarsh Ravikumar Age 9 HCCC Y&E Bhagavad Gita Class

Bheeshma, the Pitha Maha, was one of the most honored and revered personalities of the Kuru Dynasty. He was one of the eight , who was cursed by Maharishi Vasishta to be born on earth and live a long and illustrious life. He was born as the youngest son of King and Ganga towards the end of Dwarpa Yuga, and was named Devavratha. When King Shantanu married Ganga, he agreed to a condition that he would never question her actions, and if he did, she would leave him immediately. Ganga had seven babies, and she drowned all of them to break their curse. Shantanu did not question her as he promised. When the eighth child was born, he confronted her as he could not bear to lose another child. Ganga left with the child but promised to return him when he was of the right age.

Devavratha, Ganga’s son, learned from the guru of the devas Brihaspati, the vedas from Vasishta, and from . He was hence, very well versed in the scriptures and the world’s most renowned archer. When he was a teenager, Ganga brought him back to King Shantanu. A few years later, Shantanu wanted to marry a fisher-woman named . Her father disagreed because Satyavati’s sons would not be heirs to the throne, since Devavratha was already the next heir. To see his father happy, Devavratha promised he would never desire to become king and took a vow of celibacy. He also vowed to protect the throne and serve whoever was the king of . All the world and the gods applauded him and called him “Bheeshma, he of the terrible oath.” His father, who was immensely pleased by the sacrifice, blessed him with “Swachhanda Mrityu:” he could choose the time of his death.

Bheeshma was a staunch devotee of Krishna, whom he knew was none other than the Lord . He was one of the very few people who saw Krishna’s Vishwaroopam. During the Mahabharat war, even though he fought on the side of the , he fought the war righteously. While on his death bed, he gave Yudhishtira meaningful instructions about the duties of being a king. To the question “What is the greatest of life?” Bheeshma answers that the Vishnu Sahasra Nama can free man from all evils, and teaches it to Yudhishtira

15 before leaving for his heavenly abode.

Bheeshma led a very simple, chaste and disciplined life, and he served many saints and sages. He lived for 350 years and saw five generations of the Kuru Dynasty. He gave up his life after ensuring that the throne of Hastinapur was safe at the end of the Mahabharat war. He did not agree with the decisions of Dhrithirashtra or but continued to defend the throne and fought on the side of , fully knowing its consequence. One of the greatest causes of ’s helplessness in the Mahabharata war was that he had to fight his Pitha Maha, and he addresses this grief to Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita:

Katham bheeshma maham sankhye dronam ca madhusudana isubih pratiyotsami pujarhavarisudanah - 2.4

Arjuna said : “Hey Madhusudhan! How can I attack Bheeshma my grandfather and Dronacharya my guru who are worthy of my worship”

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhishma http://www.prapatti.com

16 Brahmagupta Bhillamalacarya

Girish Kowligi Age 14 HCCC Youth volunteer

Brahmagupta, son of Jisnugupta and grandson of Visnugupta, was born in 598 AD in Bhinmal (Bhillamala) in in northwest India. He likely lived most of his life in Bhillmala, and is often referred to as “Bhillamalacarya,” the teacher from Bhillamala. He spent his early days as court astronomer to the King of Rewah, known as Vyagrabhata. He was the head of the astronomical observatory at , and during his tenure there wrote four texts on mathematics and astronomy: the Cadamekala in 624 AD, the in 628 AD, the Khandakhadaya in 665 AD and the Durkeamynarda in 672 AD.

Brahmagupta not only elaborated the mathematical results of Aryabhatta in the field of astronomy, but also made notable contributions to many topics. Bhaskara II called him “Ganita Chakra Chudamani” which means “The gem in the circle of mathematicians.” Brahmagupta’s most famous work is his “Brahmasphutasiddhanta,” a revision of his own older book on astronomy the Brahmasiddhanta (Doctrine of Brahma). Brahma-Sphuta Siddhanta means Brahma’s Corrected System.

In the history of the world, the invention of zero is very significant. When and by whom zero was discovered is still unknown, but it is recognized across the world that zero was invented in India. Even though it is difficult to identify a single inventor of the concept of zero, Brahmagupta is a reasonable candidate for the title of “Father of Zero.” It was Brahmagupta in the Brahmasphutasiddhanta (The Opening of the Universe), who treated zero as a number in its own right and used and defined operations involving zero. Others before Brahmagupta, such as Aryabhatta and the Babylonians, used zero as a placeholder to denote decimal numbers. Brahmagupta also discovered the concept of the . He correctly stated that multiplying any number by zero yields a result of zero, but erred in defining a zero divided by zero as zero. He did not mention anything about a non-zero number divided by zero.

The Brahmasphutasiddhanta contains twenty-five chapters. The first ten chapters cover topics on astronomy such as mean and true longitudes of the planets, the

17 three problems of diurnal rotation, lunar and solar eclipses, rising and setting of the moon’s crescent, the moon’s shadow, and conjunctions of the planets with each other and with the fixed stars. The remaining fifteen chapters cover mathematics rules for addition, , , , algebra, trigonometry, spheres and instruments. The method the whole world uses today to multiply two numbers was discovered by Brahmagupta. He formulated the way of working out square roots, and the means of solving linear and a number of quadratic and indeterminate equations. The arithmetic presented by Brahmagupta is today’s algorithm for computing square roots. Brahmagupta devised formulas for calculating the area and length of the diagonals of a cyclic quadrilateral, a four sided figure whose vertices are points on a circle. His method is still known as the famous Brahmagupta’s theorem. Brahmagupta dedicated a substantial portion of his work to geometry. Brahmagupta gives constructions of various figures with arbitrary sides. He essentially manipulates right triangles to produce isosceles triangles, scalene triangles, rectangles, isosceles trapezoids and a scalene cyclic quadrilateral.

At the age of 67, Brahmagupta wrote , literally meaning “sweetmeat.” With it, he became the first to use algebra to solve astronomical problems. He correctly anticipated the gravitational theory. Brahmagupta calculated the length of the solar year at 365 days, 6 hours, 5 minutes and 19 seconds. The estimate is almost remarkably close to the actual value of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and about 48 seconds.

Brahmagupta’s great works, like the Khandakhadayaka and the Brahmasphutasiddhanta, brought astronomy to Arabs through whom it spread to many countries of Europe. The infinitesimal method, Dirac delta function, binary number system, binary matrices, origin of Universe, of thermodynamics, zero temperature, chemical equilibrium in reversible thermodynamics, quantum numbers, origin of life, biological clock and many other discoveries as well as the mathematization of natural sciences were possible only after zero was established as a number. Really, a world without Brahmagupta would have been a very different place!

References: “Brahmagupta: The father of Arithmetic.” Hubpages.com. Web. 1 Nov. 2009. . Brahma-Sphuta Siddhanta, Vol. I by Dr. Sampurnananad, published by Indian Institute of Astronomical and Sanskrit Research. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmagupta#Life_and_work

18 Chanakya

HCCC Balajyothi class students

“A man is great by his deeds, not by birth,” says Chanakya, a renowned economist, political strategist and writer who lived between 350 BC -275 BC. Chanakya was born to Rishi Canak, a teacher who naturally sowed the seeds of Chanakya’s education right from the very beginning. At a very early age, little Chanakya started studying Vedas. The Vedas, considered to be the toughest scriptures to study, were completely memorized by Chanakya in his infancy. He was attracted to studies in . It can be said that he was a political strategist by spirit, and his education in the field only enhanced his natural acumen.

As a person, Chanakya has been described variously as a saint, a devoted nationalist, a selfless ascetic and an astute political thinker. He created controversy by saying ‘The ends justify the means;’ the ruler should use any means to attain his goals. All his written works, namely ‘,’ ‘Nitishastra’ and ‘Chanakyaniti,’ were unique because of their rational approach.

Chanakya had his education at a famous school in a city well known in those days as Takshashila (corrupted later into ‘’). Takshashila is famous for producing geniuses such as Chanakya. After acquiring vast knowledge in various branches of study, he wanted everybody to benefit. So famous was Chanakya in the vicinity of the university that he had many nicknames – Vishnugupta, Kautilya and Chanakya. The whole nation was bewildered by the cleverness and wit of this seemingly unimportant boy who went on to unify the country with the sheer power of his character. He lived his life working to his capacity in pursuit of his vision of a happy strong and prosperous India.

Turning point in his life Once Chanakya was treated disrespectfully by the king of Pataliputra, which is the present day . After being humiliated, Chanakya raged through the streets of Pataliputra and vowed that he would one day destroy the king. There was a young boy named among his friends playing a role of king in a play. Chandragupta’s bravery and shrewdness were visible right from childhood. Chanakya was very impressed by the way boy sat on the large throne and shouted against injustice and the corrupt practices of the kings and people in general. Looking at the bright face of Chandragupta, Chanakya instinctively knew that he had the potential to be the king and decided to train

19 him in order to overthrow the Nanda king. For the next seven or eight years, Chandragupta had his education in Taxila with selected teachers shortlisted by Chanakya himself. The art of warfare and the art of were mastered by Chandragupta with equal expertise.

Before defeating the Nanda, Chanakya had to employ various strategies. The relationship between Chandragupta and Chanakya bloomed through the years, developing into a strong force against their enemies. King Nanda had the support of a big army and equally important support from the guidance of his very able minister, Amatya . This minister was very intelligent and had unlimited loyalty to the king. Chanakya knew that defeating Amatya Rakshasa was as important as vanquishing Nanda’s army. During the war, Chandragupta was the physical instrument of the Taxila force, while its brain was Chanakya. It was a keen and bitter fight. In the end, King Nanda, his sons and his relatives died.

The true aspect of Chanakya The momentous life of Chanakya seems like the saga of an individual obsessed with revenge. But personal revenge was not the aim of Chanakya. He wanted a secure kingdom and a smooth administration that would bring happiness to the people. He thought that there were two ways of ensuring the happiness of the people. Firstly, Amatya Rakshasa had to be made Chandragupta’s minister. Secondly, a book must be written, laying down how a king should conduct himself, how he should protect himself and the kingdom from the enemies, and how to ensure and order. By writing “Arthashastra” and “Nitishastra,” Chanakya gifted his wisdom on the art of ruling to many generations to come.

Words written by Chanakya about 2300 years ago: “The secret task of a king is to strive for the welfare of his people incessantly.” “The administration of the kingdom is his religious duty. His greatest gift would be to treat all as equals.” “The happiness of the commoners is the happiness of the king. Their welfare is his welfare. A king should never think of his personal interest or welfare, but should try to find his joy in the joy of his subjects.” Chanakya was an expert statesman and a wise sage.

References: Maxims of Chanakya-Kautilya by VK Subramanian Complete Chanakya Neeti- Dr Vishwamitra Sharma

20 Charaka The great indian physician of vedic times

Dr. Dharwar Achar Age 72

Medicine has passed through several crucial milestones in the long history of mankind. It began with the pre-historic notion that all disease was due to effect of Demons (Demonistic Theory), a still held in some remote parts of the world. With the advent of science and discovery of micro-organisms, came the concept of ‘Germ Theory of Disease’ and then antibiotics ruled the world. The industrial soon brought in the ‘Environmental Theory’ which assumed that environment was the main cause of ill health. This soon gave way to ‘The Behavioral’ concept, bringing psychiatry to the forefront, to be followed by the current belief that, well, after all, man’s health and disease depended largely on his own lifestyle. It is in the midst of this context that the pioneering work in in medieval India takes on a special significance.

The famous Physician author Charaka is believed to have lived during 400 B.. to 200 B.C. (2 centuries before Christ) and was a Physician in the court of King . The unique feature of is that it is the only world medical literature of that period which is still there today in complete form. It is an understatement to say that the text was a masterpiece in the fundamental approach to Ayurveda and its relation to life, health and disease. Nature occupied an important component of Ayurveda and continues to do so even today. Charaka’s search and research led him to uncover nature’s secrets for man’s health and well-being.

It is amazing that he conceived this concept in an era when nothing was known to man except Vedic knowledge. It is equally amazing that this concept has been re-discovered and recognized now after more than 2500 years and redesigned as “Alternate Systems of Medicine” or “Holistic Medicine” with a wide use of product of mother nature- the “Organic” concept.

Charaka played a key role in annotating the medical writings of his Guru, , and brought out the famous “Charaka Samhita”, which has stood the test of time as the pillar of ancient world medical literature and

21 traditional healing. The logic and philosophy propounded by him was remarkably pragmatic. The text was translated into & Persian in the 8th century and into English in 1897.

Charaka was a versatile genius. Talking about the origin of illness in man, he believed that man’s longevity depended on multiple factors – role of plants and seeds, qualitative and quantitative dietetics, control of sense organs, suppression and non-suppression of man’s natural urges and the role of the physician till the end of the patient’s life. He dwelt upon the deep connection between diet and drinks. He underlined the need to be aware of imminent, impending signs and symptoms of disease and sudden death.

The Samhita has 120 chapters and explains the nature of Arogya (Health) and Roga (Disease), properties of Aushadha (Drugs) and Anna (Food & Nutrition). According to him, a good, healthy life is basically a matter of intelligence (common sense) and pure knowledge. He strongly believed that a physician, even if not clever, can at least be kind. He showed the value of deep exploration with a self-inquiring mind for medical insights.

Charaka noted that curbing the ego of the physician was crucial in patient care. He has to have an open mind, with a liberal or holistic outlook. Kindness and for the patients played a key role in his Samhita, which notes that, no one can or should be abandoned for want of a better treatment, till his last breath. It is quite noteworthy that this concept of terminal care of dying patients is being rediscovered in recent times (hospice concept).

A remarkable feature of Charaka’s medicine was the reliance on direct observation. He emphasized that the most dependable evidence comes from observation by the eyes, a concept that opposes today’s westernized, laboratory- oriented medicine. He mentions four key factors in recovery of illness – the physician, the drugs, the nursing and the patient.

It is therefore not surprising that Charaka’s works had excellent academic and clinical credentials. He uncovered the complete medical wisdom of the Vedic era at a time when science did not exist.

In the end, it is worthwhile to note that medieval medicine as conceived, refined and developed by Charaka, was not only aimed at maintaining health and curing disease, but was also concerned with harmonizing safe conduct and spiritual pursuit with the involvement of the body, mind and spirit & soul in the midst of external universe, a truly ‘Holistic’ approach to health and disease.

22 We salute the sage for his knowledge, purity and pragmatism in ultimate patient care.

References: Craka Samhita, Dr.Ram Sharma & Vaidya Bhagawan Dash, 2005. Sthana and Nidana Sthana by K.R.Srikantgha Murthy, Varanasi,Chaukanha Orientalia, 2004, xvi Charaka Samhita, P.V.Sharma, Translator Chaukhamba Orientalia, Varanasi, India, 1981. Chattopadhyaya , 1982, Case for Critical Analysis of Charaka Samhita, Studies in the History of Science in India.

Charaka

Varsha Narasimhan HCCC Youth volunteer

Type “Charaka” into Pubmed, the online medical journal database, and you will receive 32 hits, though the father of Ayurveda who wrote the Charaka Samhita Sutra, the oldest of the three texts of the Ayurveda, has been dead for about 2,000 years. He produced remarkable insights in disciplines as diverse as anatomy and pharmacology, but he also held beliefs that modern medicine does not consider scientifically accurate. So as consumers of modern medicine, why do we still care about him?

One reason is that though the study of medicine may have changed, the patients have not. Charaka has much to say about patient care and much of his advice is strikingly appropriate for modern times. Charaka’s sensitivity to the importance of the patient’s life even required the physician to curb his own ego. According to Charaka translator and chronicler MS Valianathan, Charaka believed that the physician “had to be liberal in outlook, ready to accept that his was not the sole line of effective treatment and that many styles of living could be conducive to good health.” The exploration of alternative treatments is worthwhile, as the

23 increased acceptance of acupuncture reveals; studies show that the treatment, which originated in China, is effective against post-surgery or chemotherapy nausea (Mayo Clinic). As Charaka seemed to know, holistic, open-minded action yields benefits.

Though his system of thought encourages innovative treatment, Charaka also requires that physicians be prepared when their treatments fail. In his prescription for the care of terminally ill patients, Charaka is strikingly compassionate. Valianathan states that Charaka instructs the practitioner “to acquire the confidence that his treatment would bring relief or cure except when the disease had become incurable or the death of the patient was inevitable…. In dealing with a possible fatal outcome, a physician had to summon his internal resources of strength and stay with the patient as a friend till his last breath. Charaka’s prescription is as appropriate now as it was then. The idea of caring for dying patients physically and emotionally is profoundly significant, yet it did not find formal expression in western medicine until the hospice movement of the 1960s (NHPCO).

Medicine of the past often seems odd, and in the future, people will probably look back on our medical beliefs as absurd. Charaka may have believed that blood was consumed by tissues and replenished through digestion, but until a few years ago, we lacked an HPV vaccine. If Charaka proves anything, though, it is that medicine requires not only facts but attitudes. By encouraging a system of thought that would both survive and promote medical advances, Charaka moved medicine forward.

References: Valianathan, M.S. The Legacy of Charaka. Himayatnagar, , India: Orient Longman Private Ltd. , 2003. Print. “Acupuncture: Can it help?.” Mayo Clinic. 13 Dec 2007. Mayo Clinic, Web. 20 Oct 2009. http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/acupuncture/SA00086/METHOD=print. “History of Hospice Care.” NHPCO. National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, Web. 20 Oct 2009. .

24 Dhruva

Akshay Ravikumar Age 13 HCCC Y&E Bhagavad Gita Class

When you look into the night sky, you see millions, maybe even billions of stars. But one star is different. One star stands out. This star is Dhruva, named after the ardent devotee of Vishnu. At a very young age, Dhruva meditated upon Lord Narayana, and received the boon of shining as one of the greatest celestial beings. He is one of the immortals of the world.

Dhruvakumara, or Dhruva, was the son of Queen Suneethi and King Uttanapada. He was the grandson of Swayambhu Manu, said to be the first human on earth. Uttanapada had another wife named Suruchi, and she had a son named Uttama. The King was partial to her. Suruchi was full of hatred towards Dhruva, as she wanted her son to take the throne. One day, the King was sitting on the throne, and Uttama was on his lap. Dhruva came and asked if he could sit on his lap too. Queen Suruchi was furious; she scolded and shunned him. She told him that he should meditate on the Lord to be reborn as her son. Only then would he gain her respect.

Dhruva ran crying to his mother. He really wanted to sit on his father’s lap. He asked his mother how he could meditate and attain the lord. Dhruva wanted to find out how to reach God. Queen Suneethi told him that Lord Narayana alone was the Supreme Controller and He alone could give Dhruva whatever he wanted. Dhruva was determined to find this Narayana right away so he could be with his father. He set off to the forest in his quest for “Narayana.” He spent time asking the trees, plants and animals if they knew where Narayana was.

Sage Narada, on seeing Dhruva walk alone in the forests at night, appeared before him and guided him in his search for the Lord. Narada advised Dhruva to go to the banks of the River to pray to Vishnu. He taught him to chant “Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya” to help him focus his mind on Narayana.

Dhruva followed the instructions of his Guru Narada and started a severe penance. He bathed thrice a day, and ate fruit once every three days. The next month, he ate one fruit every six days! After a few months, he drank water once

25 in nine days. He had nothing on his mind but Lord Narayana. Nothing could stop this child’s . At the age of five, his devotion surpassed that of great saints! His tapa (penance) was so strong that they began to frighten the Devas. What would happen to the world if he continued? The Lord consoled them, saying that Dhruva’s would benefit the world, not hurt it. He lived the true life of a Yogi, as described by Lord Krishna in Yoga of Bhagavad Gita: “The Yogi who is always contended, self-controlled, strongly determined, his mind and intelligence offered to me-that devotee is dear to me”

True to his assurance in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Narayana appeared before Dhruva to fulfill his wish. Dhruva’s happiness on seeing the Lord turned him speechless but the lord touched his cheek with his divine , and Dhruva began praising the lord like a great poet! He did not ask for anything; he kept praying. The Lord, very pleased by this young Bhakta, assured him a very high position among his creations and asked him to go back home to his parents.

Meanwhile, King Uttanapada regretted of his behavior towards Dhruva and wanted to seek his forgiveness. Sage Narada comforted him, assuring him that Dhruva was under Lord Vishnu’s protection by virtue of becoming his great devotee. Dhruva returned to his parents after gaining all knowledge directly from the Lord himself!

One day, Dhruva went hunting with his brother. Unfortunately, a (demon) caught Uttama and killed him. Queen Suruchi died out of sorrow and Dhruva became king. Later, Dhruva laid siege to the land of the but gave up his anger when Swayambhu Manu stopped him. Dhruva listened to his grandfather’s advice and Kubhera, lord of the Yakshas, pleased with Dhruva, granted him a boon - to have the power to always think of Lord Narayana. Dhruva ruled for 36 golden years, after which he made his son Utkala king and left to perform tapas. The Lord, satisfied with his devotion, took him to his abode. His mother too attained the Lord due to the Bhakti of her great son Dhruva.

References: “ Dhruva” by Dr. A.S. Venugopal, translated by Professor .S. Mudambadithaya http://www.hinduwebsite.com/gita912.asp

26 Draupadi

Sahana Kribakaran

In the epic tale of Mahabharata, we have witnessed many heroes emerge at various stages of the story, but there has always been one heroine: Princess Draupadi. She has stolen a place in our hearts as the strong, dignified epitome of femininity. Her willingness to sacrifice for others and comply with their circumstances has earned her the position as the everlasting heroine in the story of Mahabharata.

Draupadi’s roots trace back to the prayers of King Drupad of , who yearns for a child to continue his . However, after his son is born from a yagna, he is unexpectedly granted a daughter who rises from the same yagna in a full grown silhouette. Like the fire through which she entered this world, Princess Draupadi’s personality is fervid and passionate. But we must also realize that she possesses many other exceptional qualities: compassion, pride, and strength.

As the time of Draupadi’s marriage approaches, her father arranges a Swayamvara. He calls for all the Kings and Princes to take part in a contest. The challenge was to use only five arrows to pierce the eye of a revolving fish tied to the ceiling, solely by viewing the reflection of the fish in a bowl of water placed beneath it. However, to the utter shock of many at the Swamyamvara, Draupadi, also known as Panchali (the Princess of Panchal), refuses to allow to participate in the competition. Hence, the path was clear for the great archer Arjuna, one of the five brothers. He pierces the eye of the fish with one arrow and is chosen by Draupadi as her husband. As he arrives home with Draupadi, Arjuna announces to his mother that he has brought home a prize from a contest. Kunti, without seeing what he has brought and wanting her sons to practice unity, tells him to share whatever he has brought with his brothers. Yudhishtara, the eldest brother, obeys his mother’s command without question. Thus having been treated as an object, Panchali becomes the wife of all five due to the circumstances.

It is quite evident that Draupadi is not destined to live a joyful life; instead, she is instrumental in starting the war: she aids the Pandavas to victory against the Kauravas. She encounters the greatest shame in her life when her husband, Yudhishtara, decides to gamble with the uncle of the Kauravas,

27 . Not nearly as skillful and clever as the cunning Shakuni, Yudhishtara loses everything including his kingdom, himself, his brothers, and in the end, his wife Draupadi. Duryodhan commands Dusshasan to drag the slave Draupadi to the court by her hair and disrobe her entirely. She looks pleadingly with a sense of disgust at the elders of the court and her husbands but no one comes to her aid. As Dusshasan disrobes Draupadi, she raises her arms in prayer and calls for Lord Krishna, the ninth of Lord Vishnu. Because Panchali places her entire trust and in Lord Krishna, he responds by sending her yards and yards of divine clothing as she is being disrobed. Dusshasan faints due to the exertion and the honor of Draupadi is restored, albeit very late. She then vows never to re-tie her hair until she can smear it with the blood from the corpses of both Duryodhan and Dusshasan. The fate of the clan is sealed at that very moment, and the gory scenes of could be foreseen by the wise men of the court.

The relationship between Draupadi and Lord Krishna is a substantial one in regards to the story of Mahabharata. She first meets with Krishna during her Swayamvara and considers him as her Sakha, or dear friend, and he reciprocates the same friend-like affection.

After losing everything in the game of dice, the Pandavas, and Draupadi are exiled to spend twelve years in the forest and one year incognito. Even though Panchali was born as a Princess, she willfully accepts her and lives a simple life in the forest for no fault of hers. Upon their return from exile, the Pandavas request the Kauravas for the return of the Kingdom they had lost in the gamble, but predictably, Duryodhan refuses. Having failed to convince the Kauravas, the great Kurukshetra ensues between the Pandavas and Kauravas. Pandavas annihilate Duryodhan, Dusshasan, and their ninety-eight brothers. The shame and indignity Draupadi was compelled to bear is once and for all wiped clean with the blood of Duryodhan and Dusshasan. The fire of the funeral pyre of Duryodhan and Dusshasan cleanses the soul of the daughter of fire, Draupadi.

One of the often concealed and forgotten aspects of Draupadi’s life is her five sons. After her marriage, Panchali bears a son for each of her husbands: Prativindhya (son of Yudhishtara), Srutasoma (son of ), Srutakirtti (son of Arjuna), Satanika (son of ), and Srutakarman (son of ). During the eighteenth and last day of the Kurukshetra war, Ashwathama, one of the sole survivors of the waning war on the Kauravas’ side, decides to take revenge. He enters the Pandavas’ camp at night and murders all five of Panchali’s sons. Predictably, Draupadi is inconsolable and furious to see such

28 a despicable act and calls for revenge. She pleads with Yudhishtara to bring the body of Ashwathama. Ever the just person, Yudhishtara refuses to comply, stating that killing a Brahmin is a sin. But Arjuna and Bhima wage war with Ashwathama and bring him back as prisoner to Draupadi. Her anger by then is abated, so Draupadi spares the life of Ashwathama. Instead, she asks Arjuna to remove the prized jewel from Aswathama’s head and hands it to Yudhishtara. She apprehends that one: it is a sin to kill a Brahmin, two: it is morally wrong to kill the son of a Guru, and three: she must never allow another mother to endure the same pain she is going through. Draupadi emerges as the triumphant, noble persona in spite of her sufferings in life. Like the fire from which she was born, she is instrumental in destroying the evil and bringing peace and to the world.

References: “Draupadi, the Woman: Epitome of Feminity and Feminism.” Dolls of India. Web. 16 Dec 2009. . Garg, Aparna. “Draupadi: The Heroic Princess of the Mahabharat.” Tattava: A Tribute to Hindu Culture. 1 Dec 2009. Web. 16 Dec 2009. . Gibbs, Laura. “Draupadi.” Encyclopedia for Epics of Ancient India. 16 Oct 2007. Web. 16 Dec 2009. .

29 Gargi

Sruti Bharat HCCC Youth volunteer

Gargi Vacaknavi (circa 800 – 500 BCE) is one of the most prominent women sages. She was the daughter of sage Vachaknu and was born in the family of Garga. She composed hymns that questioned the origin of existence. Her keen, probing questions prompted one of the first discussions of reincarnation and the imperishability of the , or soul.

Sage in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad began the philosophical inquiry into the nature of the Self, the laws of causality ( and , or action and the fruit of action), and reincarnation. Gargi is mentioned in the Sixth and Eigth Brahmana of Brihadaryanka Upanishad. His well-known exposition of these truths occurred at a debate, at King ’s court, where Gargi was his main challenger. Gargi was one of the in the court of King Janaka of . Yogayajnavalkya samhita a classical text on Yoga is a dialogue between sage Yajnavalkya and Gargi.

This debate is very important. In the Sixth Brahmana (book) of the Brhadaranyaka, Gargi begins her long line of questioning with, ‘ Yajnavalkya, if everything is otaprota ( warp and woof) with water, with what is water otaprota?’ The reply comes: ‘Gargi, with air.’ Then, with what is air otaprota? ‘With antariksha.’ With what is antariksha otaprota? ‘Gargi, with .’ With what is ‘With Aditya loka.’ Then, Aditya loka with loka, Chandra loka with Indra loka, Indra loka by , Prajapati with Brahma loka. Then Gargi asks, ‘Where is Brahma loka?’ This makes Yajnavalkya angry.

In the Eighth Brahmana (book) of this Upanishad, Gargi asks further questions that allow Yajnavalkya to illuminate the nature of the imperishable . Her first question in this Brahmana is, strangely, a repeat of her first question in the Sixth Brahamana, about the “warp and woof” the earth is woven upon. Yajnavalkya does indeed take his answers deeper this time. He suggests that anyone who dies understanding the imperishability of Brahman is a true brahmin.

30 This is interesting because it has always been understood that only men had access to a brahmin’s knowledge, but here Yajnavalka suggests that if Gargi could understand the nature of Brahman, she too can become a brahmin. The dialogue further supports this idea when Yajnavalkya takes the time to describe the seeming paradoxes of Brahman to Gargi, thus teaching her the precepts needed for enlightenment.

Gargi, indeed, is proven to be Yajnavalkya’s main intellectual match, even over the other brahmin men. She is the only one who is not silenced when Yajnavalkya dismisses her first questions; she continues, and due to her curiosity and determination to receive answers, gets more and more answers from the sage for the benefit of all students. When Yajnavalkya so eloquently expounds on this topic, Gargi knows she cannot defeat him by any question, and she says to the other brahmin men, “None of you will defeat him in this debate!” In other words, if she is unable to win the debate, then no other brahmin men will be able to win either - altogether a stunning display of her woman’s intellect.

Gargi officially loses the debate to Yajnavalkya, but this famous debate demonstrated some important facts. It shows that in the of Hinduism, women were not only admitted into religious assemblies, but that they were also integral to the development of . Gargi’s questions allowed Yajnavalkya to teach us about the nature of Brahman and the Universe. All can learn from her curiosity, intellectual inquisitiveness, and persistence.

References: “Gargi, the Virgin Philosopher” by Swami Sivananda. http://www.sivanandaonline.org/ graphics/spritual_life/ideal_for_women/the_culmination_selfhood.html?9d5ab6c0 Professor Layne Little, Department of , UC Berkeley. Lecture on January 29, 2009, in the class RST90B: “Introduction to Hinduism.” The Character of the Self in Ancient India: Priests, Kings, and Women in the Early Upanisads by Brian Black. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany, copyright 2007. Pages 150-157.

31 Goswami Tulsidas

Komal Sharma Age 13 HCCC Youth volunteer

Goswami Tulsidas is one of the great saints, poets, teachers, and philosophers of the which swept across major parts of India during 14-17th century. During this time, great devotional poets set aside all kinds of differences and expressed love for God. They used high-impact poetry with very intense thoughts expressed in simple language.

Goswami Tulsidas was born in 1532 in Rajapur, , India, to mother Hulsi and father Atmaram Dubey. Tulsidas had a difficult childhood, and faced several problems while he was young. Days after he was born, he lost his mother. Following that, his father deserted him and left Tulsidas with his grandmother. He was deprived of love from his mother or father. A few years later, his grandmother passed away as well. He was left all alone in the world. His neighbors and other people of the village took care of him. Tulsidas lived in the temple and ate the food offered to the Gods. In one of his songs, he describes how difficult it was for him, as a boy, to get even four grains of gram.

Tulsidas was a disciple of Naraharidas, who was a reputed scholar, philosopher and storyteller. Naraharidas gave discourses on devotional stories from mythology, blended with music. Tulsidas loved the discourses very much. During this time, devotion to Rama got embedded in his heart. About his guru, he wrote, “I got for my Master God Parameswara Himself in human form.” Goswami Tulsidas was a great saint. He had deep and extensive knowledge of the scriptures and the Puranas. He made a profound study of and literature. The language he chose for writing was the common people’s language of his times. With his efforts, the knowledge, wisdom, philosophy, and spiritual literature which was available in languages like Sanskrit was made available to a wider population. This was not done as mere translation. Works of Tulsidas have originality, independent outlook, and high creativity. The language he used is easy and powerful, the message is clear, the poetry is of the highest order, and the devotion it generates in readers is intense.

The most important contribution of Tulsidas is the Ramayan — “The Ramcharitmanasa.” This is worshiped with great reverence and is the guiding

32 force for living life with emphasis on devotion, dealing with forces, building and maintaining relationships, and following the right path even under most difficult circumstances. Goswami Tulsidas authored 12 spiritual books and many other small but powerful works. Some of the works by Goswami Tulsidas are “Dohavali,” which contains 573 (form of self-contained rhyming couplet in poetry); “ Patrika” (a petition against the six passions and nine vices) and “ Chalisa” (a poem primarily praising the God Hanuman). His works are a full spectrum ranging from epic to simple two liners (dohas).

There are many inspirations we can draw from Goswami Tulsidas’s life. He was very weak when he was young and had no support from his family at all. His belief in God made him become a stronger person. His spiritual beliefs made him write such detailed books, allowing others to follow the same path. Hundreds of years later, his works continue to be read, practiced, and worshipped. They serve as a beacon of culture, heritage, and way of life for a large section of the Hindu population. These works will always continue to be an inspirational and spiritual guide. His devotional approach is based on moral conduct, and the idea of salvation through Rama - an incarnation of absolute knowledge and love.

References: Ramcharitmanas, , , India The life of a text: performing the Ramcaritmanas of Tulsidas, Philip Lutgendorf, 1991 Wikipedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsidas

33 Kalidasa

Sumedh Goutam Vedanthi HCCC Y&E, Samskritam Class

Kalidasa was one of the greatest poets, dramatists, and Sanskrit scholars who ever lived on the earth. Kalidasa is famous and well-known in the literature world, even though not much is known about the great poet’s birth, childhood, and personal life. The western world discovered a few of Kalidasa’s most beautiful and popular literary works: Shakunthala and Malavikagnimitram.

The Incomparable Poetic Genius and Dramatist Although Kalidasa is compared to other great poets and dramatists of recent times, his style of poetry and use of language are unique and incomparable. In Kalidasa is praised and compared among other poets by the below Sanskrit sloka.

purAkavInAm gaNanaprasange kaniShThikAdiShThita kAlidAsaH | adyApi tattulya kaverabhAvAt anAmikA sArthavatI babhUva ||

Meaning of the sloka: Once upon a time, poets and writers assembled to rank all the great Sanskrit literary giants. At that congress of counting, they ranked Kalidasa as first and assigned the little finger, and could not come up with a second one who can come even next to Kalidasa. So they named the next finger as ‘anAmikA (the one without a name)’. This sloka just tells that there is not even a single person who can even think of taking a second position behind Kalidasa, let alone the first position.

“ upamA kAlidAsa” Kalidasa’s description of nature in his works is incomparable, with his uniquely blended similes and metaphors.

upamA kAlidAsasya bhAraverarthagauravam | dandinaH padalAlityam mAghesanti trayogunAH ||

Kalidasa is best known for happy and expressive similes, Bhaaravi for value of meaning, Dandi for words of dancing and with mix of all the three qualities. This emphasizes how he is distinguished and known for his great art of similes.

34 Kalidasa might have been at the court of emperor Chandragupta II in the city of Ujjain as one of the nava-ratnas( nine gems- great scholars) or in the court of King in the city of Dhara, as Bhoja’s chief scholar or advisor. Based on these historical accounts he might have been a contemporary to the other navaratnas and great scholars like Amara Simha (author of ), , Varah Mihira( greatest astrologer).

Kalidasa’s Life and Stories There is a speculation about Kalidasa’s earlier life, that he was actually not very smart when he was younger, and his name was not even Kalidasa then. In fact, there is a story of his life in which Kalidasa was sitting on the branch of a tree and was cutting the very branch he sat on, with an axe. A counselor who was rejected by the princess of Varanasi, picked Kalidasa and gave the handsome, young man garments, making him look like a learned person. The counselor then introduced Kalidasa to the princess of Varanasi as revenge. He also told Kalidasa that he was in no condition to speak. Once the princess saw Kalidasa, she admired his beauty, and his silence appealed to her as evidence of true wisdom. Right after Kalidasa married the princess, she came to know of his true identity. In anger, she left Kalidasa telling him to pray goddess for education. Goddess Kali pleased by Kalidasa’s prayers, blessed the young man with education and poetic power. Since then he became “Kalidasa”, the one who surrendered to Goddess Kali.

“ asti kaschid vAgvisheshaH” Before Kalidasa was blessed by Goddess Kali, he was challenged by a group of scholars in a king’s court with this statement: “ asti kaschid vAgvisheshaH” (asti = is; kashchit = there anything; vAk = speech, visheshaH = speciality; Is there any thing that is special in your speech? Basically asking “do you have any scholarly skill, at all?”). Being blessed, he wrote 3 great poetic works (two of them epics and one lyrical composition) starting with the words that challenged him, viz, asti – KumArasambhavam (starting with, “astyuttarsyAm dishi devatatmA”) kaschit – MeghadUtam (starting with “kaschit kAntA viraha guruNA” ) vAk - Raghuvamsam (starting with “vAgartAviva sampruktau” )

“deepashikha Kalidasa” Kalidasa was famous in his time as “deepashikha Kalidasa” for his presentation of the “deepashikha” (torch or lamp bearer) simile in his Raghuvamsa Mahakavyam. sanchAriNI dIpashikhaiva rAtrAu

35 yam yam vyatIyAya patimvarA sA | narendra margAtta iva prapede vivarNabhAvam sa sa bhUmipAlah || (Raghuvamsham – Canto 6 – Sloka 67)

As the torch bearer (lamp bearer) moves through the city, lights the area in front, and darkens the area behind, when Indumati (Lord Rama’s grandmother) holding the moves through the aisle of awaiting kings, the kings’ faces brighten as she approaches them and kings’ faces darken as she leaves them behind.

The wit of the Poetic Genius Kalidasa was praised for his extraordinary wit and intellectual thinking. Once King Bhoja (Kalidasa’s patron king based on several sources) convened the scholars in his court (including Kalidasa) and gave a puzzle to solve. The puzzle is simply

“ThaaThaMThaThaMThaMThaThaThaMThaThaMThaa.”.

No one was able to solve this and Kalidasa observed Bhoja’s schedule for two days and came up with the following sloka:

rAmAbhishheke jalamAharantyAH hastAchchyuto hemaghaTho yuvatyAH | sopaana maargeNa karoti shabdaM “ThaaThaMThaThaMThaMThaThaThaMThaThaMThaa.h”.||

The meaning is simply: During the coronation ceremony of Lord Rama, the young women who were fetching water, dropped their golden vessel on the stairway to the palace making the sound

“ThaaThaMThaThaMThaMThaThaThaMThaThaMThaa.h”.

Kalidasa’s literary marvels The legendary writer contributed to the world with many literary works, seven of them were widely available and most often explored by scholars. Among them two are epic poems, three are , one is lyrical and poetical composition and one poem is of general interest. The Epic Poems are: 1. Raghuvamsam – The Dynasty of Emperor (great grandfather of

36 Lord Rama) A rich composition of poetry describing the dynasty of the emperor Raghu and their decedents. 2. Kumarasambhavam – The birth of Kumara (Kaarthikeya ) An epic of the birth of Kumara (Shanmukha or Karthikeya) to Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The Dramas (Plays) are : 3. AbhijnAna shakuntalam – Forgotten and recognized . This play tells the story of a great king, Dushyanta, who falls in love with the daughter of a saint, Shakuntala. They enjoy a pleasant life until fate intervenes. When the king returns to his kingdom, his pregnant bride unintentionally offends a saint who puts a curse on her that whomever she was in her deep thought will forget her. The saint offers a remedy in that the king’s memory will return only when bride produces the given by him to the king. But Shakuntala loses the ring while bathing. Finally, a fisherman finds the ring, the king’s memory returns and King Dushyanta and Shakuntala reunite again. ‘Shakuntalam’ is noted for both its beautiful presentation of romance, love, comedy and pathos with excellent poetry and wonderful prose of dialogues. 4. MalavikAgnimitram – The story of Malavika and Agnimitra’s love and wedding. 5. VikramOrvasIyam – The story of Pururava’s romance and wedding with Urvasi. The lyrical composition is: 6. Meghadutam – The Cloud Messenger This a very short poetical composition of one hundred eleven (111) slokas composed in “mandAkrAnta” (slow-stepper) meter. Kalidasa describes a YakSha’s “vipralamba-shringara” (romance of separation) so beautifully that even the oriental scholars of the west were mesmerized and spent a great amount of time in analyzing and enjoying this poetic marvel. The poetical presentation is: 7. Rutusamharam – Garland of the seasons A wonderful poetic garland of the descriptions of the six seasons. Unlike the western 4 seasons, India seems to have enjoyed six seasons. Though the following two poems are attributed to Kalidasa, many still disagree regarding authorship. 8. Shrutabodha 9. Shringaratilakam

This article is a small effort to give a glimpse at the life of one of the greatest poetic genius who ever lived in this world. One should spend a small portion of life reading, understanding and enjoying his poems and dramas. Even karuna-

37 (pathos) is expressed beautifully in Kalidasa’s language. His works stand above the world like Mount Everest!!

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalidasa Raghuvamsam – Kalidasa - 6th canto 67 sloka http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc60.html Translations of Shakuntala, and Other Works - Arthur . Ryder http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/kalidas.html Foundations of Indian Culture – G. C. Pande Kalidasa – K. Krishnamurthy

Shyamala Dandakam (Lyrics for this song are written by Mahakavi Kalidas)

Manikhya veenaam upalalayanthim, Madalasam manjula vaag vilasam, Mahendra Neela dhyuthi komalangim, Mathanga kanyam smarami. 1

I meditate on the daughter of Matanga, Who plays the made of precious gems, Who has become lazy due to her exuberance, Who is blessed with very sweet words, Who has a pretty mien which shines like the blue gem.

Chathurbhuje Chandra kala vathamse, Kuchonnathe raga sone, Pundrekshu pasangusa pushpa bana, Hasthe namasthe jagadaika matha. 2

My salutations to that mother of universe, Who has four hands, Who wears the crescent as an ornament, Who is of the colour of saffron, And who holds flower, sugar cane, rope, arrow, The goad and pundareeka in her hands.

38 Kunti

Nikky Cherukuthota Age 12 HCCC Y&E Bhagavad Gita Class

Kunti was the mother of the eldest three of the Pandava brothers from the Mahabharatha- Yudhishtira, Bhima and Arjuna. Her father was Surasen of the Yadav clan, who named her Pritha. She was the sister of the father of Krishna. She was given in adoption to the childless King Kuntibhoj, after which she came to be known as Kunti. The king considered Kunti as his lucky charm because after her arrival, he was blessed with children.

When Kunti was a young girl, sage visited their palace. Kunti served him reverentially throughout his stay there. The sage, pleased with her service, taught her a mantra that allowed her to have a child by any god she wished. When she was a young maiden, she wanted to test the mantra. When she finished reciting it, the God appeared. She asked the Lord to return, but he refused to go without fulfilling the mantra. Thus, she was given a baby. Without knowing what to do, she abandoned the baby by placing him in a basket and floated him in the river. The baby was later found by a charioteer and his wife and was named Karna. He went on to become a central character in the Mahabharata. Later, Kunti married Prince of Hastinapura. Pandu also married , with the consent of Kunti.

King Pandu while on a hunting expedition mistakenly shoots and kills a rishi who curses him that he will never be able to have children. After this incident, King Pandu, appointed his brother Dhritharashtra as a custodian to his kingdom and proceeded to the forest to find peace and meditate on the Lord. Kunti too accompanied him with Madri. One day, the prince felt grief about the fact that he would die childless and expressed his concern to Kunti. Then Kunti decided it was time to use the mantra. She used it three times, first receiving a son, Yudhistira, from the God Dharma, then Bheema from the God , and thirdly, Arjuna from God Indra. Kunti revealed the mantra to Madri, who bore twin sons, Nakula and Sahadeva, from the twin Gods the Asvins. The five together were known as the Pandavas. Kunti was left to take care of the sons after the death of Pandu and Madri.

39 Kunti had a very kind and tender nature. She could easily bear her own sufferings, but others’ sufferings had a melting effect on her. After escaping Duryodhana’s conspiracy to immolate them in the house of Lac, when the Pandavas were staying in Eka Chakra Nagari, a demon named Bakasura began to terrorize and torment the people. Every day, the demon had to be given a cartful of food and two bull buffaloes. Not satisfied, the evil demon also devoured the person who brought him the food. People of Eka Chakra Negara had to do the job one by one. Once, it was the turn of the Brahmin family, whom the Pandavas were staying with, to send the man in order to carry the food to the demon. There was lot of argument over who should go to him with the food. When Kunti came to know about the matter, her heart was filled with pity. So she consoled and convinced the by sending her son Bhima to carry the food for Bakasura. Could any other mother on earth offer to sacrifice her child so others can live?

During the Pandavas twelve years exile, Kunti had stayed in Hastinapur. After the exile period was over, she asked her sons to abide by the path of religion and fulfill the purpose for which Kshatraanis (ladies of the class) give birth to their children. After the battle of Mahabharata, Kunti received the honor to be Raj Maata (the royal mother). She treated her elder brother and sister-in-law with affection and love as they were mourning the loss of their sons in the battle. After the great battle of Kurukshetra and in her old age, she went in exile to the forest with her brother-in-law , , and Dhritarashtra’s wife , where they died together in a forest fire. Kunti’s life is an exemplary example of devotion, penance and sacrifice.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunti http://www.urday.com/kunti.html

40 Lopamudra and

Katyayini Satya

Today we often hear about the equality of women and education of women as a modern world goal, but it was a common practice in the ancient Hindu Society. The story of Lopamudra, one of the great women philosophers of ancient India exemplifies this.

Women during the Rig enjoyed great freedom and equality in India. Girls and boys both underwent the” ”or thread ceremony before they began their Vedic Studies at the age of eight and continued throughout their adulthood. The girls went through the same rigorous discipline and training as their male counterparts, who were bestowed the title Brahmacharis.

It is documented in ATHARVA SAMHITA that higher education was regarded as a necessary accomplishment to be well placed in life. During this era there were two classes of educated women namely SADYODWAHAS and BRAHMAVADINIS. Our great Hindu tradition has had the distinction of having many Brahmavadinis who pursued their studies throughout life. These Vedic women show the progressive thinking of that period. They document that the highest education, including Vedic studies, was open equally to men and women. Many women distinguished themselves not only as Vedic scholars but also as great philosophers, debaters and teachers.

There are eight recognized BRAHMAVADINIS whose writings have been recorded in the Rig Veda. The Brahmavadinis were: Lopamudra, Vishwavara, Appala, Ghosha, Godha, Shashwati, Vaach and Romasha. In the Hymns written by these eight Brahmavadinis, they praise the various deities they worshipped and speak of their joys and sorrows in life. Lopamudra, one of the eight Brahmavadinis and the wife of Sage Agastya, is recognized for her beauty, eloquence in speech and great intelligence.

She is also called Kaushitaki and Varaprada. A hymn in the Rig Veda, “Divine Love,” is attributed to her.

In Mahabharata (: - Parva), it is mentioned that Agastya Rishi did penance at Gangadwara (Haridwara), with the help of his wife Lopamudra.

41 Story of Lopamudra and Agastya Agastya took a vow of celibacy and poverty at a young age, achieved greatness as a sage, and mastered many skills including the field of medicine. His ancestors became angry with his decision; they wanted him to break his vow and have a son who would continue the family legacy. Agastya promised to break his vow but could not find a partner who would renounce worldly pleasures for him, welcome a life of austerity in the forest, and be a suitable partner in his spiritual as well as worldly duties. So Agastya created a lovely maiden, taking the best features or from various animals (creation of artificial life & organ transplants?). He gave her to the King of Vidharba who was praying for a child. The Royal couple named her Lopamudra. The name Lopamudra signifies the loss (Lopa) that the animals suffered by giving their distinctive beauties (the Mudras).

The royal couple gave her the best education and raised Lopamudra in royal luxury. When Sage Agastya saw that Lopamudra had attained the age of marriage, he came and demanded for her hand in marriage. The royal couple was shocked by this request. They were afraid to refuse the sage, whose curse might destroy the life of their only child. Lopamudra agreed to marry him and left her father’s palace for the hermitage after renouncing all the worldly luxuries. After serving her husband faithfully for a long period of austerity, Lopamudra grew tired of his rigid practices and his lack of attention and love. She wrote a hymn of two stanzas making an impassioned plea for his attention and love.

Divine Love For many long years in the past, both by day and by night, And in the mornings, have I wearied myself serving you: Now decay impairs the beauty of my limbs; What then?-Let husbands approach their wives

The ancient sages who attained truth, And talked of truth with the very gods They did beget children, but did not break their penance; Therefore, should the wives be approached by their husbands.

It appears that the message of the last stanza of the hymn did not go in vain. The sage realized his duties towards his wife and performed his domestic and spiritual life with equal enthusiasm. Shortly thereafter, Lopamudra gave birth to a son who would continue the family legacy. He was named Dridhasyu and later became a great poet.

42 LOPAMUDRA, AGASTYA and LALITA SAHASRANAMA Both Agastya and Lopamudra were great devotees of Sri . In Brahmanada Purana, Sage Agastya questions Hayagreeva muni (who is none other than Vishnu) thus: “You have related to me the wondrous stories of Lalita - the birth of the mother Lalita, the episode of her coronation, the glory of Sri Chakra - but why have you refrained to reveal the thousand names of Lalita? Am I not worthy to hear those blessed names? May I know the reason for this omission?”

Hayagreeva was very impressed by Agastya’s persistence and determination to learn the Sahasranama. Hayagreeva told Agastya that he considered these Mantras very powerful, sacred and secret; they should not be taught to anyone who has no devotion or someone who is wicked. He imparted this Sahasranama to Agastya because he was a great dovotee of Sri Vidya. Agastya only thought of Lopamudra as she was a great devotee of Mother Lalita and an ideal person to spread the glory of this mantra. Together with her husband, she is credited with spreading the fame of the Lalita Sahasranama.

Dear devotees, after chanting the Lalita Sahasranama, please take a moment to say your pranams to the following three.

First, to Shankara Bhagavatpada for systematizing the rules of worship of this Lalita. She could be worshipped in the form of an image (Prartika), a diagram (Yantra), or sound (Mantra).

Second, to Lopamudra for her devotion and for making this Sahasranama available to the common man.

Third, to the river (Cauvery). It is said that the present-day river Kaveri (Cauvery) is Lopamudra’s reincarnation form!

Let Lalita Sahasranama flow like river Kaveri and bless all devotees.

References: Great Women of India, Advaita Publication, , 1997 Lalita Sahasramana- Prologue, M.V.B.S. , Tatvaloka, Oct/Nov 1990 Loppamudra, Google Search: Wikipedia

43 Madhvacharya

Srinath Nandakumar HCCC Y&E Samskritham class student

The Story of Madhvacharya starts at the flagpost in front of the Ancient Temple of Ananteshwara in , which is a coastal town of . At the annual festival, one person climbed on top of the flagpost. Everybody wondered why he was there. Then everyone fell silent as he began to speak: “Lord Vayu, the son of Vishnu, is going to be born in our midst very soon for the revival of the Vedic dharma.” Later, when one of the devotees, Madhyageha Bhatta, was going home, he said, “There is so much confusion regarding the Dharma, only Lord Vayu will be able to show us the way.” His wife also said, “How fortunate must be the family in which the lord is going to be born!”

Sri Madhva’s Childhood and Sanyasa: On the auspicious day of Dasami, in the year 1238 AD, a boy was born to Madhyageha Bhatta and in the tiny hamlet of , near Udupi, and he was named Vasudeva. Little did they know that they were the chosen family.

Even as a child, he was extraordinary in every respect, and repeatedly astounded his teachers. He performed several miracles; for example, he freed his father from the clutches of a shark by giving the latter a handful of tamarind seeds, which satisfied him completely. He also killed the demon Manimanta, who attacked him in the form of a snake, by crushing the snake’s head under his toe. Once when Vasudeva was barely 3 years old, his parents couldn’ find him. His father walked into the night as far as the temple, but there was no sign of the little toddler. He rushed into the temple and found his son praying the lord. “Vasudeva! How did you get here?” he asked. Vasudeva replied, “The Lord himself took me by the hand and brought me here.” Madhyageha Bhatta did not take him seriously.

Soon it was time for Vasudeva to begin his formal education. After his thread ceremony, he went to of Totantillaya. Vasudeva was good at studies, but he was not satisfied with what he was taught. He was always ahead of the others and searching for true knowledge.

44 At the age of eight, he announced to his parents his intention to take up sanyasa, and on noting their distress at his pronouncement, promised to wait until another son was born to them. Finally, at the age of eleven, upon the birth of a younger brother (who many years later joined his order as Vishnu Tirtha), he was at last ordained into sanyasa by Achyutapreksha Tirtha, the ascetic and a great Advaita Vedanta guru. Vasudeva was given the name of Anandatirtha by his guru. When his guru attempted to educate him, he astounded the former by his knowledge. It is said that when his guru tried to teach him the noted Advaita text IshhTa-, he pointed out, to Achyutapreksha Tirtha’s amazement, that there were 30 errors in the very first line of that work. Achyutapreksha was amazed at Anandatirtha’s intellectual curiosity, and he could not answer the volume of questions arising from Anandatirtha. Two renowned scholars came to Achyutapreksha’s place and a debate ensued between them and Anandatirtha. Anandatirtha’s sharp intellect astounded the visiting scholars. To a particularly difficult question, one of them replied, “I will answer you tomorrow.” The scholars fled the next morning, realizing they couldn’t match Anandatirtha’s intellect. Achyutapreksha’s face beamed with delight as he proclaimed Anandatirtha as Purnaprajna. It was this profound knowledge of all subjects that earned him the title of “Purnaprajna” (the one of complete wisdom). Then, greatly pleased, Achyutapreksha Tirtha accepted Srimad Anandatirtha as his master.

Srimad Anandatirtha as Madhva: Srimad Anandatirtha is commonly known as Madhva, the third avatara of Mukhya Praana, the god of life, usually identified with Vaayu, as given in the Balittha Sukta of the Rig Veda. The first two avataras are Hanuman and Bhimasena, and the third is Acharya Madhva.

Srimad Anandatirtha, now identifed as Sri Madhvacharya, began to expound the scriptures to larger audiences. He began writing his famous commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. He also went on a pilgrimage to South India, holding discussions with scholars at places like Srirangam and . Sri Madhvacharya decided to go to Badrinath after he finished his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. After winning followers at places like Kaashi, Gaya, and Puri, he returned to the south. He was received by many followers at Kudil. When Sri Madhvacharya began his speech, a Trivikrama Panditaacharya, a doyen of advaita among the scholars, challenged him. The debate, the greatest ever at that time, continued for 15 days. Finally Trivikrama conceded. Trivikrama Panditachaarya became Acharya’s disciple and wrote the very revered Sri Vaayu Stuti praising Sri Mukyapraana (Vaayu) and his three : Sri Hanuma, Sri Bhima and Sri Madhva.

45 Though Sri Madhvacharya had intense intellect, he was also known for his immense physical strength. In one instance, he defeated wrestlers in a duel and astonished everyone. Once a group of sanyasis wanted to prove that he is not the third of Lord Vaayu. They offered him 10,000 bananas and a large bowl of hundred liters of . Achaarya silently consumed the entire , reminding the onlookers of Lord Hanuman and Bhimasena. The sanyasis could not say a word after that.

Sri Madhva Philosophy: Sri Madhvacharya’s philosophy came to be known as the Dvaita philosophy, though Sri Madhva himself called it Tattvavaada. The Tattvavaada doctrine can be summarized as follows: Sri (Vishnu) is supreme. The world is true and real. The differences are real. The classes of souls are dependent on Sri Hari and reach different ultimate states. Mukti, or liberation, is the experience of the joy of one’s own nature, which is achieved by flawless devotion to Hari and correct understanding. Observation, inference, validation of vedas, upanishads, bhramhasutras, bhagavadgita, Mahabharatam, etc., are indeed the sources of knowledge. Hari alone is praised in all the Vedas.

Sri Krishna in Udupi: Once Sri Madhva was meditating on the shore of the . He saw a ship in distress and guided the ship to the shore. The grateful master of the ship offered him any valuable thing he liked on his ship as a gift. But Sri Madhva politely took a mound of gopichandana (used for the ship’s ballast) and broke it to find the beautiful Sri Krishna idol supposed to have been worshipped by Devi in Dwapara yuga. Sri Madhvacharya installed the famous Sri Krishna idol in Udupi and established 8 mathas. In 1317, Sri Madhvacharya disappeared in front of the disciples under the shower of flowers from the heaven. He is still believed to be in Badari in the of Sri Vedavyasa.

References: www.dlshq.org/saints/madhva.htm www.experiencefestival.com/madhavacharya www.dvaita.org www.tattvavada.org

46 Maharshi Atri Divya Lambah Age 15

Maharshi Atri was one of the manasputras of Lord Brahma, also known as Prajapati. The other manasaputras were: Marici, , , and . Maharashi Atri is also one of the . His wife was the sister of the sage Kapila. Sage Kardama and Devhuti were Atri’s father-in-law and mother-in- law. As his name implied, sage Atri was the possessor of all the three qualities Sat (pure), Raja (medium) and Tama (dark) and was a supreme devotee. Similarly, his better half Anasuya was also a great devotee, and a very chaste woman. Pleased with the Anasuya and her devotion to her husband, Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara granted a boon to Anasuya. She wished Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara to be born as her sons. as Vishnu’s incarnation, Durvasa as Shiva’s incarnation and Chandra as Brahma’s incarnation were born to Anasuya. Sage Atri’s name is associated with a state of physical consciousness above the physical, mental, and vital planes and is the source of Divine utterance.

Sage Atri in Ramayana: Sri Rama went to the hermitage of sage Atri. Sage Atri felt very pleased to see Sri Rama. Sage Atri said- “O Raghunath bless me, so that my mind does not abandon the thoughts of your feet.” Sri Rama was very pleased to hear such words. Then Sita sought the blessings of Anasuya. Anasuya blessed her and presented a divine apparel that would never become dirty. Anasuya also preached Sita about the duties of a chaste woman.

Sage Atri faces a Spiritual Dilemma: Along with sage Viswamitra and sage Kasyapa, Atri once was faced with a spiritual dilemma. The three were following the oath of “Aparigraha” or non-acceptance of gifts from others. They were living on the fruits they gathered in the forest. There was a severe drought and all the trees in the forest withered away. They could not find a single fruit. They refused the food sent to them by King Vrishadarbhi. They decided to eat the stems of lotus flowers to avoid dying due to starvation. They gathered some stems, kept them on the shore of a lake and were taking a bath in the lake. Lord Indra stole them. When they saw that the stems were missing the three sages announced in a loud voice the consequences of the sin of stealing food. Hearing those words, Indra was scared and gave them back the stems, took them to Indra Loka and felicitated them fittingly.

References: http://www.Indian Mythology.com | http://www.Urday.com | http://www.Mihira.com

47 Gods and Godesses Crossword Puzzle 1

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EclipseCrossword.com

Across Down 2. Shiva-Vishnu together known as. 1. Son of Shiva-Parvati. 3. Fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. 4. Consort of Brahma. 5. Birthplace of Sri Krishna 6. Goddess who destroyed Madhu and 8. Shiva-Vishnu temple is located here. Kaitabha demons. 9. Agama used to worship Lord Vishnu. 7. One of the sons of Lord Rama and Sita 11. Seven Sages Devi. 14. Consort of Vishnu. 10. Festival of colors. 15. Number of . 12. Incarnation of Brahma, Vishnu and 17. God of wind. Maheshwara. 18. Son of Arjuna. 13. Seven Hills Temple is located here. 20. One who got sanjeevani to save Laxmana. 16. He gifted his thumb as dakshina to his 23. Other name of Sita Devi. Guru. 24. Abode of Vishnu. 19. Wife of Laxmana. 26. Very sacred river. 21. Consort of Shiva. 28. Festival of Lights 22. This deity is located at the backside of 29. One of the vedas Assembly Hall in Livermore temple. 30. Agama used to worship . 25. Abode of Shiva. 31. Famous archer who received gita upadesha 27. Mother of Sri Krishna directly from the Lord. key at page 108

48 Maharishi Valmiki

Guruganesh Kotta, Age 17 Ashneel K. Reddy Age 12 HCCC Youth volunteer

Maharishi Valmiki is a well-known sage in Hindu Heritage. Valmiki was born around 400 BC to a sage named Prachetasa and was named Ratnakara. His contribution to Indian culture is the great epic Ramayana. He lived in what is today northern India.

Early life One day, as young Ratnakara was exploring in the woods, he suddenly realized that he had wandered off and lost his way. Looking at the boy, a passing hunter decided to adopt him and raise him as though he was his own son. Ratnakara soon forgot his original parents and grew up to be a hunter under the tutelage of his foster father. When he grew up to be of marriageable age, Ratnakara married the daughter of a fellow hunter. As his family grew, so did the difficulty of feeding them. Due to the scarcity of food, he was left with no other choice but to steal to make a living. Gradually, he became a highway robber, attacking people as they traveled from village to village.

Encounter with Narada In one of his expeditions, he attacked Sage Narada. Without putting up with any defense, Narada sang the praises of Lord Rama and came to see a change in Ratnakara’s face. Narada realized that, Ratnakara could be transformed into a good person easily, and so he asked him several questions, the most important of which was “Would your family be willing to bear the burden of the sins you are committing?” Ratnakara was unsure, so he went to his family and asked the same question that Narada asked him. When his family said that they were not willing to do so, Ratnakara was surprised.

This had a profound impact on him. He realized the error of his ways and went back to Narada to ask for his forgiveness. Narada forgave him and told him to serve God instead of resorting to robbery. He told Ratnakara about Rama and advised him to meditate on Rama’s name.

49 Ratnakara sat down and began to meditate. He did so for such a long time that ant-hills began to form around his body. After a considerable period, God was pleased and so his penance was fruitful. A divine voice called out and gave him the name of “Valmiki” (one born out of ant hills.)

Penning of the Ramayana Maharishi Valmiki built his hermitage on the banks of the River Ganga. Soon after, Valmiki had the unique opportunity to serve Lord Rama, Sita Mata, and Sri Lakshman in his ashram. Maharishi Valmiki humbly requested that Lord Rama build his hermitage on Chitrakuta Hill. The Lord kindly obliged. Narada later visited Valmiki in his hut and narrated to him a biography of Lord Rama. Valmiki felt blessed and learned the story in its entirety. Later, Lord Brahma appeared to him in a vision and told him to pen the story down.

Then, one day, as Valmiki was bathing, he saw a bird being shot by a hunter and forever separated from its mate. Deeply moved by grief, the sage uttered a sloka in Sanskrit, roughly translating to “You will find no rest for the long years of . For you killed a bird in love and unsuspecting.” This sloka had a perfect metrical phrase.

Lord Brahma then said that the story would be widely accepted if he wrote it in the same poetic style as the sloka. Valmiki gladly accepted and documented what would become the twenty-four thousand verse epic, Ramayana. This poem is the main reason for the sage’s timeless fame.

The story of Rama without Valmiki would be unclear, as there would probably be many different accounts of it and no widely accepted one. Valmiki’s documentation therefore provided insight into Rama’s life, and his style of writing influenced many of his contemporary poets.

In conclusion, Valmiki was truly a great scholar who selflessly devoted most of his life to humanity and serving God. His contribution to Hinduism by writing down the epic poem called the Ramayana cannot be overstated.

References: http://www.iloveindia.com/spirituality/gurus/valmiki.html http://hinduism.about.com/od/gurussaintsofthepast/a/valmiki.htm http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rys/rys1002.htm

50 Mahaviracharya

Gokul Kowligi Age 17 HCCC Youth volunteer

Mahaviracharya, the great Jaina mathematician, probably hailed from the Kanarese-speaking areas of south India and lived during the reign of the Rastrakuta King Amoghavarsa Nrpatunga (814- 877). In keeping with the Jaina tradition, he studied mathematics for its own sake and not in association with astronomy, as was the vogue with the Brahmana mathematicians. His Ganitasara samagraha does not therefore form part of any astronomical treatise, but treats mathematical problems in a more simpler and direct manner. The copious illustrations characterizing his work also reflect this attitude. But he seems to be fully conversant with Brahmana mathematics and, in particular, with the works of Brahmagupta, whose reputation as an authority was acknowledged far and wide.

In fact, Mahaviracharya dealt with several of the problems which had engaged the attention of his illustrious predecessor and tried to improve upon them, often times with success, which shows that he was neither a mere compiler nor a commentator but an original investigator. The manuscripts of his work and its commentaries have come down to us in Kanarese and in Telugu translations, and Bhaskara II and other scholars in northern and central India do not refer to his work. It is not even mentioned in ’s Ganakatarangini. Thus, it is reasonable to infer that his work was in circulation only in the south.

Ganitasara samagraha is a work in nine chapters, dealing with operations with numbers excluding those of addition and subtraction which are taken for granted, squaring and cubing, determination of square and cube roots, summation of arithmetic and geometric series, fractions, rule of three, mensuration and algebra, including quadratic and indeterminate equations. His arithmetical operations are based on decimal place-value numeration. He mentions 24 notational places and uses word numerals, as had been the established practice. He gives operating with zero, but erroneously states that a number divided by zero remains unchanged. Negative numbers are used.

The process of summation of a series from which the first few terms are omitted is called by him vyutkalita. In his treatment of fractions, he was the first among

51 the Indian mathematicians to have used the method of lowest common multiple, called by him niruddha, in order to shorten the process. In mensuration, Mahaviracharya’s treatment is similar in spirit to that of either Brahmagupta or Bhaskara II, but much fuller and in certain cases a little more advanced. Like Brahmagupta, he gives the area of a quadrilateral as of [(s-a)(s-b) (s-c)(s-d)] but does not mention that the formula holds good only for a cyclic one. For the volume of a sphere, he gives an approximate rule as 9/2(1/2*d)**3 and an accurate one as 9/10*9/2*(1/2*d)**3, which makes pie equal to 3.0375. Mahaviracharya gives two roots for quadratic equations and treats of simple and simultaneous indeterminate equations of the first degree.

Some of the interesting things in Ganitasara samgraha are: A naming scheme for numbers from 10 up to 10^24, which are eka, dasha, ... mahakshobha. Formulas for obtaining cubes of sums. The first person mentions that no real square roots of negative numbers can exist. The imaginary numbers were not identified until 1847 by Cauchy in Europe! Techniques for least common denominators. They were not used in Europe before the 15th century. Techniques for combinations ( choose r). They were not discovered in Europe until 1634. Techniques for solving linear, quadratic and higher order equations. Studies of several arithmetic and geometric series. Techniques for calculating areas and volumes.

References: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/mathmaha.html http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/6779-MAHAVIRACHARYA-AD. aspx

52 Maitreyi

Omsri Bharat HCCC Youth volunteer

Maitreyi was the daughter of Sage of and the niece of Gargi, a Vedic scholar. Through Gargi, Maitreyi became interested in and the Vedas. Gorge took Maître to the court of Wanaka where the Sage Yājñavalkya was discoursing. After hearing him overcome all arguments and expound wisely, Maitreyi desired to be the direct disciple of the sage. However, because she was merely 18, she realized that the only way she could do this was if she became the Sage’s consort. Sage Yājñavalkya’s current wife, Katyayini, accepted Maitreyi as the sage’s second wife. Though Maitreyi was primarily interested in theological discussions with her husband, she participated in daily chores with Katyayini.

Maitreyi’s great contribution to Hinduism is the conversation that she initiated with her husband. In it, she asks questions that have plagued humans for centuries, and Sage Yājñavalkya answers these questions. After the Sage proposes to give some property to her, Maitreyi asks whether material wealth will bring happiness. The sage answers wisely that while property will bring comfort, she will be as happy as anyone else as wealth cannot bring happiness or immortality. Maitreyi then asks him, “What is the point of the property and life at all if everything is impermanent and nothing will bring more happiness?” She asks how to attain eternal happiness if material wealth cannot ensure it.

The sage commends her on her wise questions and answers that property and wealth are so impermanent and therefore cannot give permanent happiness. When one feels happy because one has a new object, the mind is actually not happy with the object; it’s happy because something feels more complete in one’s being. But objects are not permanent; therefore, there must be something that will permanently make your being complete. This is Atman, and everyone tries to seek Atman in some way or another. Until one realizes the Atman fully, no happiness or stability will be felt.

After living together for a while, Sage Yājñavalkya consulted both his wives on the prospect of sanyasam for him. Both agreed to it, and after having a discussion with the sage about it, Maitreyi decided that she too wanted to take sanyas to gain knowledge. Yājñavalkya gave Maitreyi the knowledge of Atman and took Sanyas. Maitreyi became a wandering ascetic and prescribed to the

53 rules of celibacy. She later composed the Maitreyi Upanishad.

References: http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_2/practical_ vedanta_and_other_lectures/yajnavalkya_and_maitreyi.htm www.shuklayajurveda.org http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/brdup/brhad_II-04.html

Match The Guru with the Shishya Write the of the correct match next to each problem.

1. Vasishta a. Agnivesa 2. Bhagavatpada b. Vallabhacharya 3. Karna c. MaharshiMahasaya 4. Tulsidas d. Parashurama 5. e. Purandaradas 6. Sandeepany . Sri Rama 7. Haridas g. Naraharidas 8. Charaka h. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa 9. Sukracharya i. 10. Dronacharya . 11. Surdas k. Sri Krishna 12. l. Janaka 13. Brihaspati m. Arjuna 14. Vivekananda n. Devas 15. YukteshwarGiri o. AdiSankaracharya

key at page 80

54 Mandodari

Prerana Gundu Age 16 HCCC Youth volunteer

Mandodari was the fair and radiant queen of . She was the wife of the very powerful King and unlike many others during that time period, she had the courage to speak against him. When Ravana kidnapped Rama’s wife Sita, Mandodari told him it was unjust and wrong. Because she chose to speak out, Sita was able to live somewhat comfortably in captivity. Mandodari’s hospitality and sincerity made her truly shine.

When Mandodari was born, her mother Hema passed away. Hema left for the Heavens, leaving her family behind. Mandodari lacked a mother to look after her but was blessed with a father who really loved her and took good care of her. It was he who gave Mandodari her name. The word Mandodari has the meaning of Mand (water) + Udar (stomach), meaning someone who is born in water. This name suits Mandodari well because water symbolizes pureness, and Mandodari had both a pure heart and mind. Mandodari is considered to be one of the Pancha Kanyas according to . It is believed that simply thinking her name can wash away all ones sins.

One day, while Mandodari and her father were roaming the earth, they reached a dense forest. Mandodari was fifteen years of age, and looked divine and heavenly. It was in these forests that Ravana met Mandodari. Ravana then asked King for Mandodari’s hand in marriage. King Maya happily gave Mandodari in marriage to Ravana.

Regardless of Ravana’s evil deeds, Mandodari had an intense love for him. She viewed their future together with much optimism and joy. However, they differed in their way of thinking. Mandodari was truly as pious and righteous as well as beautiful and appealing. She seemed not to fear anything except for lies and unrighteousness. Her beauty captured Ravana, and thus she became his first wife and his favorite one as well. She always had a special place in his heart. Although Ravana would listen with patience to his wife’s words, he never seemed to change his qualities. Ravana was well aware of what dharma and goodwill were, yet he chose not to follow that path.

Mandodari was not just a loving wife but a caring and doting mother as well. She

55 was the mother of , who like Ravana, was very powerful and brave, and had conquered Indra, the King of the Gods. Even though her husband and son were fierce and loved to fight, Mandodari remained concerned yet composed. She sincerely loved them and they meant a lot to her.

The character and actions of Mandodari reflect beautifully upon her. She is like a gem within the sea- very rare and difficult to come across. Her beauty, her passion, and her love say so much about what kind of person Mandodari was. It takes a lot of courage to be like Mandodari. She always stood up for what was morally right and never gave up hope. She was willing to always stand by her husband’s side even though he tended to be mischievous and devious. Deep down, she knew that her husband had a good side although he tended not to show it. Overall, Mandodari was one-of-a-kind. Even though she may not be among us today, her morals and beliefs should be. We should realize that we can accomplish so much in this life, whether it be bringing a smile to someone’s face or following a dream. All we need to do is have hope and do it with a pure heart.

References: http://www.urday.com/mandodari.html http://students.ou.edu/T/April.D.Trenary-1/chapter3.html http://www.experiencefestival.com/mandodari

56 Markandeya

Vaishnavi Jonnalagadda Age 12 HCCC Y&E Bhagavad Gita Class

Markandeya was an ancient rishi (sage) from the Hindu tradition, born in the clan of Brigu Rishi. He is celebrated as a devotee of both Shiva and Vishnu and is mentioned in a number of stories from the Puranas. The Markandeya Purana comprises a dialogue between Markandeya and a sage called , and a number of chapters in the Bhagavata Purana are dedicated to his conversations and prayers. Markandeya Tirtha, where the sage Markandeya wrote the Markandeya Purana, is situated on a trekking route to the Yamunotri Shrine in the , .

Mrikandu Munivar, father of Markandeya, worshipped Shiva and sought from him a son. He was asked to choose between a gifted son with a short life and a dunce with a long life. Mrikandu Munivar chose the former, and was blessed with Markandeya, an exemplary son who was destined to die at the age of 16. Markandeya grew up to be a great devotee of Shiva. One day, with the permission of his father, he left for the forest to do penance. Lord Narayana appeared and asked for his desire, “Lord, please show me your maya.” Makandeya said,“It will be done soon, in due time.” said the Lord. Markandeya went back to live in an ashram in the by the Pushpabhadra river. Suddenly, there were strong winds and heavy torrents of rain. Soon there was water everywhere. The water level rose and started to immerse the hills and mountains.

Markandeya left the ashram and climbed a mountain to escape from the water. He noticed that the water level kept rising but never reached above his feet. Soon the whole earth was immersed in water, and not a single living being was in sight.

He climbed a banyan tree and waited till the water level receded. As he climbed up the tree, he saw a beautiful baby on a branch. Its face was glowing. As Markandeya bent to pick up the baby in his arms, the baby breathed hard and Markandeya was sucked into the baby’s mouth. Markandeya felt like he was falling through a dark tunnel. Suddenly, he touched the ground. He was surprised at what he saw. Everything was fine around him. The world was dry

57 and people were living their lives normally. There was no sign of water or rains anywhere. The whole world was intact! He prayed to Lord Shiva.

Lord Shiva and Parvati, riding , appeared before him and explained to him, “Markandeya, you had wished Nar-Narayan to show his maya. The baby that sucked you in was Lord Vishnu himself.” “Please tell me about Lord’s different forms,” Markandeya requested. Lord Shiva explained, “The Celestial Father Brahma is the Creator of the whole universe. Lord Vishnu is the Protector and I am Mahesh, the Destroyer. I harm only the sinners, not the holy or righteous. All the three forms are of the same Lord, Para Brahma.”

On the day of his destined death Markandeya was deeply engrossed in the worship of the Shivalingam. The messengers of , the God of death were unable to take away the lad’s life, given his devotion to Shiva. Yama had to come in person to take his life away and sprung his noose around the young sage’s neck. The noose landed around the Shivalingam, and Shiva emerged in all fury, kicking Yama and killing Death itself. Shiva then revived him, under the condition that the devout youth would live forever. For this act, Shiva was thereafter known also as Kaalakalaya, meaning ‘one who brought death to death itself.’

Thus Maha Mrityunjaya is also attributed to Markandeya, and this legend of Shiva conquering death is inscribed in metal and worshipped at Tirukkadavur in , India. Tirukkadavur is the shrine where thousands throng to celebrate Shashti Abda Poorthi (60th birthdays) with the belief that the blessings of the deity will prolong their lives. Tirukkadavur is one of the 8 Veeratta temples celebrating Shiva as the destroyer of evil forces. A similar account is also given in Purana, although in that version, Markandeya is rescued by Vishnu after he recites the Mrityunjaya Stotra.

Markandeya lived a long life meditating on the Lord. In the end, Lord Vishnu’s messengers took him to Heaven in the celestial .

References: http://www.indiantemples.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markandeya

58 Mirabai ( Mira)

Priyanka Saha HCCC Youth volunteer

Mirabai is a sixteenth century poet, singer and saint and perhaps the most remembered and quoted woman in Indian history. Her life story reminds us of , who was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna.

Family Background: Mirabai, (1498 to 1547 C.E.) a princess, was born in Samvat, in the village of Kurki near Merta, Rajasthan. Her father Ratan Singh was a warrior of the Rathore clan and the son of Rao Jodha of Mandore, who was the founder of city in 1459. The Rathores of Merta were great devotees of Lord Vishnu. Thus, Mirabai was brought up amidst Vaishnava influence, which directed her life down the path of devotion to Lord Krishna.

Early childhood influence: As an infant, Mirabai was deeply enamored by an iconic doll of Lord Krishna owned by a visiting holy man and refused to let it go until she possessed it. At an early age, child Mira, as she was fondly known, was drawn to religious activity. Once there was a marriage procession in front of her house. Mira, who was an only child, saw the bridegroom and asked her mother innocently, “Dear mother, who is my bridegroom?” Her mother smiled and replied, “My dear, Lord Krishna is your bridegroom.” She spent much of her time bathing, dressing and worshipping the image. She used to talk to the idol, sang beautiful songs and danced in ecstasy .

Mira’s marriage: In 1516 C.E Mira had an arranged-marriage with Prince , who was the eldest son of of Chittor in . As a wife, she was dutiful and took great pride in serving her husband. After her household duties were done, she would spend her time in the worship of Lord Krishna, singing and dancing his praises. Her devotion to Lord Krishna did not go down well with her in-laws, who forced her to worship their family deity, Durga. Mira was not comfortable doing so, and so defying all norms, she stood adamant and said, “I have already given my life to my beloved Lord Krishna.” This enraged the Rana and his relatives, who persecuted Mira in various ways.

Miracles of life: It is said that Lord Krishna had a protective hand on Mira. Once Rana sent her a cobra in a basket, but when Mira opened it, she found a lovely idol of Krishna and a garland of flowers. Then Rana sent her a cup of

59 poison and Mira offered it to Krishna and took it as prasad. The poison turned into real nectar. A little later, Rana sent a bed of nails for Mira to sleep on and it transformed into a bed of roses. Once and the court musician came in disguise to Chittor to hear Mira’s devotional songs. Seeing her absolute surrender to Lord Krishna, Akbar was deeply moved. He touched her holy feet and placed a necklace of emeralds in front of the idol. This infuriated her husband, who ordered Mira to drown herself in the river. Mira obeyed and went to the river singing “Govind, Giridhari, Gopal,” and dancing in ecstasy. As she raised her feet from the ground and was about to drown, a hand grasped her. She turned around and saw Krishna. Krishna smiled and told Mira: “My dear Mira, your life with this mortal husband is over. You are free and mine now. Immediately proceed to Brindavan to seek me there.”

Bhakti movement: She spent the last years of her life in . Mirabai participated wholeheartedly in the Bhakti movement, which consisted of active devotion displayed and expressed through public, ecstatic, religious song and dance. The tolerant nature of this religious movement gave its members the ability to ignore the restrictions of caste, sex, and creed. This, in turn, allowed Mirabai to rise as a poet-saint through her songs.

Mirabai’s works: Mirabai’s poetry was written in the form of song verses known as padas and mystical love poems called . She is credited with creating a unique raga, or mode in which her songs were to be sung, which was named after her: Mira’s Malar. Mirabai composed her songs in a combination of the Rajasthani and Bhasa languages, but they have since been translated into Hindi, Rajasthani, and Gujarati. There are anywhere from 400 to 1,300 songs attributed to Mirabai, but scholars believed she most likely composed between 103 and 200 padas. Mirabai was a free-spirited woman and treaded through her spiritual journey, braving all odds. Amidst social oppression, poverty and gender bias she stood adamant in her resolve. Truly, her devotion to Lord Krishna is unparalleled in history.

References: Biographies, Women in world history curriculum. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Lives of Saints by Sri Swami Sivananda. Encyclopedia of Women & World Religion, Macmillan Reference USA, 1999

60

Srivishnu Goutam Vedanthi Age 10 HCCC Y&E Samskritam class

Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar was born in Tiruvarur (of District, now known as the state of Tamil Nadu.) and lived from March 24, 1775 to October 21, 1825. He was known as one of ‘the Trinity’ of .

Muthuswami Dikshitar’s father was Ramaswami. His mother was Subbammal. He was named after the temple deity Muttukumaraswami. Ramaswami Dikshitar, father of Muthuswami, was childless till his 40th year. In the month of , the annual Vasantotsava time in the Thyagarajaswami Temple, a baby boy was born to him, and he was named Muthuswami, after God . Later on, two more sons - Chinnaswami and Baluswami and a daughter Balambika - were also born to Ramaswami Dikshitar.

Muthuswami learned the Sanskrit language, and Vedas, and other important religious texts. Even before the age of 16, Sri Dikshitar attained proficiency in the veda, agama, kavya, nataka, alankara, jyotishya, and other sastras. He also obtained a preliminary musical education from his father.

Under the training by his father Sri Ramaswami Dikshitar, who was a titan in the world of music, he mastered Venkatamakhi’s treatise and the chaturdandı prakasika. Srı Dıkshitar was initiated to the Srıvidya mahamantra by Srı Chidambaranatha Yogi. He traveled with him to Kaasi, stayed there for five years, and by incantation of the mantra, he acquired the blessings of the Divine mother Kaasi Annapoorneshwari. Muthuswami Dikshitar attained a mastery over the veena, which he played for almost all his compositions. During their stay in Kaasi (Varanasi), his guru Chidambaranatha Yogi, presented Dikshitar with a unique veena, and died shortly thereafter. The of Chidambaranatha Yogi can still be seen in the Hanuman area in Varanasi.

After Muthuswami Dikshitar’s return, he traveled to the pilgrim town of Tiruttani, a temple town near . In the sanctum of the presiding deity there, Srı Dıkshitar started reciting the Sri Subrahmanya Panchadashakshari. Muthuswami Dikshitar had ‘darshana’ of God Muruga in Tiruttani. Lord Subrahmanya appeared before him there, and by putting sugar in his mouth, blessed him. It

61 was then that Muthuswami Dikshitar made his first composition, “Sri Naathaadi Guruguho,” in the raga. Thereafter, he composed on the Lord in all the 8 declensions. From then on, he composed a number of masterpieces on Lord Subrahmanya and other deities, each one brimming with devotion and lyrical excellence.

Thus acquiring knowledge, wisdom and great piousness, Muthuswami Dikshitar traveled to many holy shrines, which is why most of his kritis are about the temples he visited.

Subsequently, Sri Dıkshitar moved to Tiruvarur and continued to compose. He traveled to Etthayaapuram to attend the second wedding of his younger brother Sri Balaswami Dikshitar. On the way, he saw the parched and rain-starved crops, and was moved by the sight. To seek the divine intervention of the compassionate Amriteshwari, he immediately composed Anandamritakarshini in raga . Even as he was teaching it to his disciple, the rain clouds appeared in the sky, and it started raining in torrents. After attending his brother’s wedding and staying there for some time, in the year 1835, corresponding to the Tamil year of Manmatha, he attained samaadhi at the feet of Lord Subrahmanya.

When Muthuswami was going to a dance in Thanjavur he ran into Sivanandam, Ponnayya, Chinnayya, and Vadivelu. They expressed their desire to learn music from him and entreated him to accompany them to Thanjavur. There, Dikshitar imparted to them the 72 Melakartha Scheme tradition handed down by Venkata Vaidyanatha Dikshitar. The students showed their gratitude by composing a set of nine songs called the Navaratna Mala glorifying their guru.

Dikshitar has composed 9 kritis in praise of the deities in . They are: • Sri Ganeshath param – Desi – K.chapu • Angarakam Ashrayamyaham - Suruti Rupakam • Sri Kumara Swaminam – – Adi • Sri Vaidyanatham – – Adi • Balambikayai Namasthey – Nattakurinji – Rupaka • Balambikaya Katakshithoham – SriRanjani – C.Ekam • Bajare re chitha Balambikam – Kalyani – M.Chapu • Balambikaya Param – – Adi

His body of work includes 450 to 500 compositions that are used by many violinists and composers in concerts today. Some of these lyrically and musically

62 rich compositions have not been available to the public. Each of his compositions is unique and brilliantly crafted. The compositions are known for their depth and soulfulness of melody. Muthuswami made compositions in all the 72 melakartha , in his asampurna mela scheme. Dikshitar was a master of tala and is the only composer to have kritis in all seven basic talas of the Carnatic scheme.

For many old ragas such as Kaisiki, Narayana and Gopika , we have to fall back on Dikshitar’s compositions to understand the aspects. There are again ragas like Saranga , Gaula, Mahuri and Kumudakriya, which have been handled only by Dikshitar. Some important Kriti groups that Muthuswami Dikshitar has brought about are: Guruguha Vibhakti kritis, Kamalamba Nava , NavaGrha kritis Nilotpalamba Vibhakti kritis, PanchalingaKshetra kritis, Rama Vibhakti kritis, Tiruvarur Panchalinga kritis, Thyagaraja Vibhakti kritis, Abhayamba Vibhakti kritis and Madhuramba Vibhakti kritis.

It is no wonder that every single composition of this great and blessed soul brims with devotion, meaning, and melody, and is musically embellished with gamakas and adornments. The compositions shine brightly in all the prescribed rhythmic gaits, including vilamba (slow), madhya (medium) and druta (fast). It has been my very firm belief that every vidvan and student should play or perform these compositions after fully absorbing and appreciating the nuances of melody richness (raagabhaava), embellishments and adornments(gamaka) and rhythmic gait (kaalapramaanam) which lie buried in these great treasures.

Sri Muthuswami Dikshitar was truly a musical genius and his compositions are a gift to the music world.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muthuswami_Dikshitar http://sangeethapriya.org/tributes/dikshithar/ Dikshita Kirtana Prakasikai – Nagasvara Vidvan Sri T. S. Natarajasundaram Pillai http://www.guruguha.org/

63 Nagarjuna

Rohan Jonnalagadda Age 17 HCCC Youth volunteer

Acharya Nagarjuna was an Indian philosopher who lived from approximately 150 CE to 200 CE. To this day there is very little information regarding Nagarjuna’s life. He was born in the South Indian region of Andhra as a Brahmin, which at the time entailed a strict adherence to the Vedas. The only known biographical documents of Nagarjuna are of Tibetan and Chinese origin. These documents were written centuries after Nagarjuna died, and tend to make him seem superhuman. However, some of this information is reliable. It is known that Nagarjuna made a pilgrimage from the Andhra region to , specifically Nalanda, where the greatest Indian Buddhist Monastery would be founded. It is here that Nagarjuna began to gain renown as a philosopher.

There is no record of when Nagarjuna converted to Buddhism. The aforementioned Tibetan and Chinese biographies give us two separate legends. In the Tibetan legend Acharya Nagarjuna was born to a Hindu family. It was prophesied, however, that he would die young. His parents found no way to prevent the events of the and finally committed him to Buddhism, after which his life span increased. The other legend portrays the young Nagarjuna as a rather mischievous boy who attempted to sneak into the king’s palace with his friends and seduce the king’s mistresses. However, when the group was found, Nagarjuna managed to flee and avoid punishment. After this incident, Nagarjuna realized that constantly pursuing desires would lead him down a dangerous path. As a result, Nagarjuna joined the Buddhist order.

The Nagarjuna we know was not born with this name. Legend has it that after he converted to Buddhism, he was recognized for his great skill in magic and . This earned him an invitation to the sea floor, the domain of the serpent kingdom. There he recovered valuable, ancient Buddhist writings called the Sutras. His discovery led to his name, Nagarjuna, or “noble serpent.” A copious amount of literature is linked to Nagarjuna, but scholars heatedly debate whether Nagarjuna actually wrote most of these works. Scholars do agree, however, that Nagarjuna wrote the influential Buddhist text Fundamental Verses on the (Mulamadhyamakakarika). This text details the core of Nagarjuna’s thoughts and beliefs. Nagarjuna is also

64 responsible for founding the Buddhist concept of “emptiness.” He believed that all things lack a fundamental and unchanging essence. He argued that it is possible for things to change only because they lack this unchanging essence, and that existence is only possible because of this lack of essence. Nagarjuna coined the term sunyata to represent this lack of an essence. He expanded and further refined his new concept in another piece of literature: Seventy Verses on Emptiness (Sunyatasapati). This concept is now an inherent and vital part of . Nagarjuna was also partially responsible for the creation of the “” of Buddhism. This doctrine states that there are two forms of the truth: one that is ultimate and undeniable, and a “relative” or conventional truth that may not apply directly to everything as the ultimate truth does.

Nagarjuna was also a renowned practitioner of Ayurveda, or Traditional Indian Medicine. He is also recognized as a pioneer in the use of bhasmas, specially treated minerals that are used as medicines. His work in Ayurveda has led some to label him as the Father of Iatrochemistry, a now seldom used science that somewhat fused chemistry and medicine and sought to use natural chemicals as medicines. It remains unknown how long Acharya Nagarjuna lived, but the story of Nagarjuna’s death is just as legendary as his illustrious life. Legend has it that during his life, Nagarjuna was an advisor to King of the Stavahana Kingdom in . Nagarjuna would regularly advise the King on spiritual matters. Two more of Nagarjuna’s well-known writings, entitled to a Good Friend and Precious Garland were written to King Gautamiputra.

Today, Nagarjuna is recognized in some branches of Buddhism as a patriarch and is greatly revered for his wisdom and contributions to Buddhism as a whole. He is most often depicted sitting cross-legged on a giant snake, a homage to the story of his visit to the kingdom of the serpents.

References: http://www.iep.utm.edu/nagarjun/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagarjuna http://www.sacred-texts.com/journals/ia/banav.htm#pp_2

65 Panini Maharshi

Narasimham Garudadri HCCC Y&E Samskritam class student

One can never talk about Samskritam without mentioning the name of Panini Maharshi. Such is the greatness of the Maharshi, to put it simply. Unfortunately, there is not much known about the life of this great sage. He was an ancient Indian Samskritam grammarian from Pushkalavati, . Historians and scholars have estimated that he lived around 4th century BCE. Legend has it that Panini was born a dull child, but as one whose interest in learning knew no bounds. An astrologer who happened to pass through his school read Panini’s palm and broke to him the news that his palm had no line for learning. The heartbroken but not completely dissuaded boy wanted no impediments to his learning. Soon after, Panini’s guru saw a happy boy whose palm was bleeding. Upon asking, Panini answered that he had drawn the “line of learning” on his palm with a knife. The guru was overjoyed to see Panini’s interest in learning and vowed to make him a scholar.

Panini Maharshi did not create the Samskritam language but formulated the grammar for it. He fitted the Samskritam language into strict rules and regulations so that any person speaking across the length and breadth of country could speak and understand the language precisely in the same way. His grammar has become so popular that no one refers to any other grammar for Samskritam, even though there were some other grammarians before him who are referred in his work. As a result of his austerities, it is said that he received Maheswara sutras from none other than Lord Shiva. These sutras emanated from the Damaruka of Lord Shiva. They are 14 in number. In these 14 sutras, he has classified all the vowels and in different categories as per their utterance characteristics.

He wrote the masterpiece “Ashtadhyayi,” the book of Sutras. The Ashtadhyayi is organized into eight chapters. Each chapter in turn consists of four padas. Together Ashtadhyayi consists of 3,959 Vyakarana Sutras. Sutra is the form of codification used in ancient India to record knowledge in a very precise and short form. Vyakarana is one the six . expounded further on the works of Panini Maharshi. Patanjali Maharshi wrote a bhasya on Ashtadhyayi called “MahaBhashya” during 2nd century BC. Together

66 these three great sages are called “munitraya” of grammar.

In describing the Samskritam grammar, Panini Maharshi used the concepts of meta-rules, transformations and recursion, which would qualify him as one of the progenitors of modern computing. The Backus-Normal form, or BNF grammars, used to express modern programming languages have significant similarities to Panini grammar rules. Panini Maharshi was the first one to use such rules and expressions for a natural language and that too for a language as great and vast as Samskritam. The intricacies in the Sutras are too much for a human mind to comprehend and remind us of a programming language, and so, BNF form should be justly called Panini-Backus form.

The examples of the Ashtadhyayi can be used to explain the fundamental methods of syntax definition for the creation of new languages. There has also been significant use of Panini’s work to teach computers to understand Samskritam. This interest in the relevance of Samskritam to modern computing has also sparked a number of research and development projects aimed at using the fundamentally pure and unambiguous structure of Samskritam grammar to further develop the understanding of linguistics, as well as to create more efficient computing and programming languages.

Even though we are really not capable of understanding and appreciating the masterpiece of this great sage, we should take a moment everyday to remember Panini Maharshi in reverence and gratitude for giving us such wonderful tools and formulae with which to learn this great language, which is called “Devavani” or “Girvani,” the language of gods. Only with his grace are we able to understand this grammar and enjoy the Samskritam language and its wide and extraordinary literature, thus enriching our lives.

References: www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Panini.html http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/panini.htm

67 Patanjali

Mahadeva Iyer Age 74 HCCC HS senior program

In the firmament of Indian luminaries Patanjali is perhaps the brightest star. His Yogasutras () are as contemporary today as when they were compiled. The name Patanjali is interesting and quite appropriate. It is believed Patanjali is an incarnation of Adisesha the serpent on which Lord Vishnu reposes. He wanted to descend to earth to teach Yoga to human beings. So he fell (Pat) into the open palms (anjali) of a praying woman, hence the name Patanjali.

According to another legend Patanjali was one of the three sons born to the sage Atri and his wife Anasuya; the other two were Dattatreya and Durvasa. Other biographical details like his date and place of birth are subjects of much debate and speculation. Some authors believe that Patanjali probably lived around 250 B.C. Patanjali was nothing short of a child prodigy. It is said that he was able to speak right from the moment he was born and displayed a sharp intellect and communicating skills.

Patanjali’s reputation rests mainly on the compilation of the famous Yoga Sutras. He is also believed to be author of a treatise on Ayurvedic medicine and a commentary on Panini’s grammar. The Ayurvedic treatise describes the structure and function of the human body, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and the drugs used to treat them. Patanjali’s work as a grammarian is equally brilliant. In his Mahabhashya he not only wrote a commentary on Panini’s grammar but also enlarged Sanskrit vocabulary and made it an effective instrument in communicating human thought. But it is not definitely known whether all the three are the works of the same author.

Yoga Today we have any number of programs for physical fitness. There are also programs for mental relaxation and preserving brain functions. Modern medicine has come to recognize the mind body connection, But Yoga is the only program which offers the benefits of physical fitness, mental relaxation and spiritual upliftment. Actually Yoga means union. It prepares one for union with godhead. The credit of giving us Yoga Sutras-the systematic approach to Yoga philosophy

68 and practice goes to Patanjali.

Sutra means thread. In this context it is the most essential part required to hold the ideas together. In ancient times when there were no books, everything had to be remembered and passed on to the next person verbally. Therefore only essential words like the sutras were used to convey ideas. Something like a telegraphic language!

The Yoga Sutras Patanjali was not the originator of Yoga.There is mention of Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads, which pre-date Patanjali. It seems there were different kinds of Yoga before his advent. Patanjali made yoga systematic and easy to understand and practice. It is possible he added his own brilliant ideas in the process.

The Sutras offer what are considered the best Yoga practices known as . It comprises eight limbs, hence the name Ashtanga Yoga. They are: 1 Yama 2 cleanliness 3 posture 4 Pranayama breath-control 5 Pratyahara sense-withdrawal 6 Dharana concentration 7 Dhyana meditation 8 Samadhi union with Godhead

Some scholars believe that Transcendental Meditation is derived from the Yogasutras. Be that as it may, and pranayama meet the needs of modern man admirably. The yogasanas are an excellent way of improving flexibility of the body; some claim that it is helpful even in strength training and weight loss! As a stress buster, pranayama is par excellence. Between them, they are the perfect recipe for a healthy body and healthy mind.

Although there are many yoga teachers today, the credit for popularising yoga and maintaining its pristine purity goes to B.K.S. . He not only taught yoga to generations of yoga aspirants, he also gave rigorous training to yoga teachers so that they in turn pass on the pristine purity of Yogasutras. Patanjali can keep smiling because his sutras will continue to benefit mankind forever.

References: Patanjali-Wikipedia

69 A Biography of Patanjali-Kofi Busia-Internet article How to know God- and Christopher Isherwood

By Chandrashekhar Suresh Did you know this about Patanjali? Patanjali’s Yoga is part of the six schools of Hindu Philosophy. Maharishi Patanjali, “The Father of Yoga,” compiled 195 sutras, which serve as a framework for integrating Yoga into the daily routine As per one legend, Patanjali fell (pata) into the hands (anjali) of a woman, thus giving him the name Patanjali. It is believed that Maharishi Patanjali was the avatar of Adi - the Infinite Cosmic Serpent upon whom Lord Vishnu rests There are many experts of Indian traditional dance who consider Patanjali an exceptional exponent of Indian Dancing system. There is a beautiful onomatopoeic poetic work in Sanskrit attributed to Patanjali, called ‘Siva Stotra.

Gods and their Match the God with their respective Vahanas

1. SHIVA a. TORTOISE 2. VISHNU b. SWAN 3. BRAHMA c. EAGLE 4. d. HORSES 5. LAXMI e. CROW 6. YAMA f. RAM 7. DURGA g. LION 8. SUN h. FROG 9. i. 10. GANESHA j. PEACOCK 11. k. OWL 12. l. DOG 13. m. BUFFALO 14. n. BULL 15. INDRA o. MOUSE key at page 112

70 Prahlad

Sanjana Srinivas Age 12 HCCC Y&E: Bhagavad Gita Class

Prahlad is one of the greatest Vishnu Bhaktas the world has seen. His very name is addressed reverentially by sages and saints as “Prahlad Maharaj.” At a very young age, he showed the universe the true significance and effect of Bhakti. Stories of Prahlad’s faith in Lord Vishnu as the Supreme Controller and Savior of all, and the Lord’s love for his devotee, are to this day chanted and retold. Prahlad revealed the nine ways in which Devotion can be expressed by all creations with the sloka: “Sravanam Kirthanam Vishnuh Smaranam Pada Sevanam Archanam Vandanam Dasyam Sakhyam Atma Nivedanam.”

Prahlad was the youngest son of Hiranyakasipu and Kayadhu. One time the bodyguards of Lord Vishnu, Jaya and Vijaya were cursed by the four Sanatkumaras to be born on earth as Vishnu’s enemies. When they begged for forgiveness, Lord Vishnu granted them the boon that in every birth, they would be killed by the Lord Himself and come back to Vaikunta. was one such birth. Prahlad was a devotee of Vishnu from birth. Narada taught Prahlad ashtakshara mantra while he was in his mother’s womb and, thus he developed Vishnu-Bhakti in the unborn child.

Mother Kayadhu was under the care of sage Narada when Hiranyakashipu was doing penance to get the boon of immortality from Lord Brahma. When the Lord appeared before him, Hiranyaskashipu prostrated before Brahma and said, “Lord, grant me this boon: let me not die at the hands of any being created by you, be it god, man, demon, animal or even an inanimate thing. Let me not die by day or by night, outdoors or indoors, in the sky or on the earth; let me not die by any weapon whatsoever.” Hiranyakashipu’s main goal was to seek vengeance on Lord Vishnu for killing his brother .

When Prahlad was a little boy he was taught about righteousness (Dharma), wealth () and desire-fulfillment () by his teachers. Then they took him before the king and asked him to repeat the lesson he had learned. Instead Prahlad said, “Devotion to Lord Vishnu - hearing and singing his glories, constantly remembering, attending, worshipping, adoringly serving Him - is the purpose of life.”

71 Hiranyakashipu was furious and ordered his soldiers to kill Prahlad. The soldiers stabbed Prahlad with pointed and poison-tipped spears, but he constantly chanted the Lord’s name and remained unhurt. Hiranyakashipu ordered Prahlad to be trampled by a mad elephant, but the animal stopped short of him, bowed his head and turned away! Then Hiranyakashipu ordered that Prahlad be thrown from the highest mountain, thrown into the fire, be bitten by poisonous snakes and many such atrocities. Prahlad, thinking of Sri Narayana constantly, remained calm throughout his ordeal and bore no hatred or anger. Lord Krishna describes thus his true devotee in Bhagavad Gita: || Adveshta Sarva Bhutanam, Maitra Karuna Eva cha Nirmamo Nirahanakara dukha sukha kshami ||

Meaning: (He who has no trace of hatred towards any creature, who is friendly & compassionate towards all, who is free from the bondage of ‘I’ & ‘Mine’, who treats pain & pleasure with equal calmness & who is forbearing in spite of provocation)

Hiranyakashipu asked Prahlad why he continued to disobey him. He forced Prahlad to believe that he was the only bhagawan and that there was no Vishnu. So Prahlad argued, “Sri Vishnu is the Lord of the Universe. He is without beginning and without end. He is present in the entire universe and, therefore, He alone is to be worshipped.” Hiranyakashipu asked if Vishnu was present in the pillar near to them. Prahlad told him that of course he is.

Hiranyakasipu kicked the pillar and demanded that Vishnu present himself. The pillar then split in two, and out came a mighty being, half-man, half-lion. This was the “Narasimha” avatar of Lord Vishnu. A massive fight then took place between Hiranyakashipu and Narasimha. Lord Narasimha picked up the mighty , placed him across his lap, and tore open the heart and bowels of Hiranyakashipu, flinging the dead carcass aside. Only the prayers of young Prahlad could calm the Lord who had taken this avatar to prove his devotee right and to rid the world of evil.

Lord Vishnu had taken the form of Narasimha because Hiranyakashipu had a boon from Brahma. The Lord, in keeping with his promise, destroyed evil and protected his devotees to enable them to continue worshipping him.

References: “Bala Bhagavatam” – Chinmaya Publications Nrisimhapriya – magazine authorized by Sri Ahobila Math. Title- Great Contributors to Hindu Heritage

72 Rabindranath Tagore

Mahith Amancherla Age 16 HCCC Youth volunteer

Who wrote India’s National Anthem? Who was the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature? Who called Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Mahatma of India? The answer to all of these questions is Rabindranath Tagore. Rabindranath Tagore, also known as Gurudev (title given by ), is one of the greatest writer in modern .

Rabindranath was born on May 7, 1861 in Calcutta (now ) into an affluent Brahmin family. He was the youngest of thirteen surviving children of and mother Sarada Devi. His early education was at home. When he was eleven years old, he accompanied his father on a tour of India. The tour lasted several months. They visited many places in India. Tagore also visited his father’s estate at . There he read biographies, and studied history, astronomy, modern science, and Sanskrit. During this time, he composed many literary works. At the age of 17, he was sent to to study law, but he returned home after the first year without completing his degree. He started writing poems at the age of eight and published his first book of poetry at the age of 16. In 1883, he married (1873–1900); they had five children, two of whom died before reaching adulthood.

Rabindranath Tagore was not only a poet, but was a great novelist, musician and a painter. He wrote many short plays and novels, but his true passion was poetry. Tagore played a large role in the artistic and cultural renaissance of India which occurred in the 20th Century. He wrote over one thousand poems. His () won noble prize in 1913. He was the first Indian and Asian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. As a writer, Tagore primarily worked in Bengali, but after his success with Gitanjali, he translated many of his other works into English. One of the aspects of Rabindranath’s genius was his use of the , so the translation of his work in English did not always capture his sense of humor or his intellectual rigor.

His poems and writings were influenced by Upanishads. His poems expressed his love of God and human beings, his vision of the nature’s beauty and the human heart, and his pride in his native country. Among his fifty-odd volumes

73 of poetry are Manasi, [The Ideal One], Sonar Tari [The Golden Boat], Gitanjali (1910) [Song Offerings], Gitimalya (1914) [Wreath of Songs], and [The Flight of Cranes). He also wrote eight volumes of short stories; almost two dozen plays and play-lets; eight novels; and many books and essays on philosophy, religion, education and social topics. His writings depicted a wide range of Bengali lifestyles, particularly village life. Tagore’s short stories influenced Indian literature deeply. His novels include Ghare Baire (The Home around the world), , and .

In Ghare Baire, through the lens of an idealistic , Tagore expressed his conflicted sentiments about rising Indian nationalism, terrorism, and religious zeal in the Swadeshi Movement. Gora raised controversial questions regarding the Indian identity matters of self-identity, personal freedom, and religion which were developed in the context of a family story and love triangle. In Jogajog, Tagore demonstrated his feminist leanings, using pathos to depict the plight and ultimate demise of Bengali women trapped by pregnancy, duty, and family honor.

He was an early advocate of independence for India, and his influence over Gandhi and the founders of modern India was enormous. He criticized India’s “abnormal caste consciousness” and scrutinized orthodoxy. Like Mohandas Gandhi, Tagore abhorred terrorism, but he could not agree even with Gandhi on such political moves as the boycott burning of British-made goods. In 1915, the British crown awarded him knighthood, but he resigned the honor in 1919 in protest against the massacre of 400 Indians in the Jallianwala Bagh incident.

He emphasized self-help and the intellectual uplift of the masses. He requested Indians to accept that “there can be no question of blind revolution, but of steady and purposeful education. In 1901, to promote those ideas, he established a school (later Vishwa- Bharati University) where education could be imparted in a free atmosphere, in the open air, and with the participation of students from all countries. Tagore visited more than thirty countries in five continents. Through international travel and lecturing, he introduced aspects of Indian culture to the West and vice versa. His extensive travel allowed him to interact with many notable contemporaries including Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, George Bernard Shaw, and H.G. Wells.

Tagore was also an excellent musician and painter. He wrote around 2,230 songs. People call these songs . He also wrote Amar Shonar Bangla, the national anthem of Bangladesh. After extended suffering, Tagore died on 7th August, 1941.

74 He had a dream for future India. He wanted India’s freedom from the British rule. He dreamt of an India “Where the mind is without fear:”

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

References History of “Rabindranath Tagore”” Life Historic. Web. http://lifehistoric.blogspot. com/2009/08/history-of-rabindranath-tagore.html>. “Rabindranath Tagore - Biography.” Nobelprize.org. Web. . “Rabindranath Tagore - Rabindranath Tagore Biography, Rabindranath Tagore Life History, Rabindranath Tagore Art Works.” Indian Culture - Cultural India - - Cultural Heritage of India - Cultural Attractions in India - Indian Cultural Heritage. Web. . “Rabindranath Tagore -.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

75

S. Srinivasan Age 72

Raja Ravi Varma is considered one of the greatest painters in the history of Indian Arts. He is famous for his depiction of scenes from the epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana. Raja Ravi Varma is most remembered for his paintings of beautiful sari clad women, portrayed as very shapely and graceful.

Raja Ravi Varma was born on 29th April 1848, to Umamba Thampuratti and Neelakandan Bhattathiripad in the royal palace of Kilimanoor, a small town in Kerala. At the age of seven, he started drawing on the palace walls using charcoal. His uncle Raja Raja Varma noticed the talent of Ravi Varma and gave him preliminary lessons in painting. At the age of 14, Ayilyam Thirunal Maharaja took him to Palace and he was taught water painting by the palace painter Rama Swamy Naidu. He was later given lessons in oil painting by a British painter, Theodor Jenson. In 1873, Ravi Varma won the first prize at the Madras Painting Exhibition. He achieved worldwide acclaim after he won an award for an exhibition of his paintings at Vienna in 1873.

Professional aspects: Raja Ravi Varma received systematic training, first in the traditional art of Thanjavoor and then in European art. He is credited with providing the critical link between Thanjavoor School and Western academic realism. His paintings can be classified into the following three categories: • Portraits • Portrait-based Compositions • Theatrical Compositions, based on myths and legends It is the third category of paintings for which Raja Ravi Varma is the most renowned. He was continuously traveling through the length and breadth of India, in order to find subjects for his paintings. His love for the South Indian woman is evident in his works. In many of his paintings, he has modeled Hindu Goddesses on the women living in the southern parts of India. The most popular as well as impressive paintings by Raja Ravi Varma include ones depicting episodes from the story of Dushyanta and Shakuntala and of and .

Title of Raja: In 1904 Viceroy Lord Curzon, on behalf of the King Emperor bestowed upon

76 Raja Ravi Varma the Kaiser-i-Hind Gold Medal. At this time his name was mentioned as “Raja Ravi Varma” for the first time, and thereafter he was always referred to as Raja Ravi Varma.

Recognition In recognition of the immense contribution of Raja Ravi Varma towards Indian art, the Government of Kerala has instituted an award in his name. Known as the ‘Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram,’ the award is given to individuals who show considerable promise in the field of art and culture. There is a college in Mavelikara district of Kerala established in honor of Raja Ravi Varma. Raja Ravi Varma was married to Rani Bhageerathi Bayi (Kochu Panki Amma) of the Mavelikara Royal House. They had two sons and two daughters. He spent the later years of his life in Mysore, Baroda, and a number of other cities in the country. This exposure helped him to expand as well as sharpen his skills and evolve into a mature painter.

He left for the holy abode on 2nd October 1906, leaving behind his legacy of amazing paintings.

References: Raja Ravi Varma and the Printed Gods of India, Erwin Neumayer & Christine Schelberger, New Delhi, , 2003 Raja Ravi Varma: The Most Celebrated Painter of India : 1848 - 1906, Classic Collection, Vol I & II. , Parsram Mangharam, 2005 Raja Ravi Varma: Portrait of an Artist , The Diary of C. Raja Raja Varma/edited by Erwin Neumayer and Christine Schelberger. New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2005

Famous Shakuntala painting

77 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Harsha Koneru Age-17years HCCC Youth volunteer

Ramakrishna Parmahamsa was born to a poor Brahmin family in 1836, in a small town near Calcutta, West . As a young man he was artistic, a popular storyteller and actor. Young Ramakrishna was prone to experiences of spiritual reverie and temporary loss of consciousness. His early spiritual experiences included going into a state of rapture while watching the flight of cranes and losing consciousness of the outer world while playing the role of the god Shiva in a school play.

Ramakrishna had little interest in school or practical things. In 1866, he became a priest at a temple dedicated to the Goddess Kali. He became a full-time devotee of the goddess, spending increasing amounts of time giving offerings and meditating on her. He would become frustrated and demand that the goddess appear before him. He even threatened to take his own life with a ritual dagger.

Ramakrishna’s behavior became more erratic as time passed and began to worry his family and employer. He would take on ritual and mythical roles, identifying with figures from the Puranas. His parents found him a wife, believing that his mental instability was a result of his celibacy.

About this time, an elderly holy woman named Bhairavi appeared and determined that Ramakrishna’s madness was “spiritual madness” rather than ordinary madness. He was literally mad for the vision of God. It was concluded that this was a case of divine madness similar in nature to that of other famous saints such as Chaitanya. From this point on, people began to treat Ramakrishna with more respect. The holy woman stayed with Ramakrishna for some time, teaching him yogic and tantric meditation techniques.

A yogin named Totapuri then became Ramakrishna’s mentor. Ramakrishna adopted the role of renunciant and learned a nondualist form of Vedanta philosophy from him. In this system, God is understood to be the formless unmanifest energy that supports the cosmos. Ramakrishna experienced a deep

78 form of trance (nirvilkalpa samadhi) under the guidance of this teacher - a state that can be described as complete absorption of the soul into the divine ocean of consciousness.

Disciples began to appear at this point in Ramakrishna’s life. He embarked on a long period of teaching to a group of disciples. Ramakrishna explained on different occasions that God is both formed and formless. His acceptance of different approaches to the worship of God and the validity of different religious paths is in the best tradition of the inclusive approach to religion common throughout India.

One extraordinary quality of Ramakrishna’s message was its appeal to a broad cross-section of Indian society. In the West, like and tend to be exclusive. If one religious approach is right, the others must be wrong. But the Indian mind tends to more readily accept someone like Ramakrishna who preaches universality of religion and accepts and even promotes individuality in the seeker’s approach to God. For instance, Ramakrishna appealed to the upper classes, which were likely to follow a Vedantist or philosophical approach to religion by sometimes describing God as a nondual formless essence.

Ramakrishna also appealed to those with an interest in yoga and esoteric practices by practicing a nondual form of meditation, prescribed by Totapuri, which seeks samadhi, the experience of subject and object as one and the same.

The most popular religious practice by far in India is bhakti, or devotion to a deity. Ramakrishna’s message was welcomed by both the rural and urban religious people who did puja to the divine mother Kali as a protective and benevolent deity. These devotees saw him as a great teacher and bhakta who sang the .

Ramakrishna died of of the throat in 1886, leaving his wife Sarada Devi, who was considered a saint in her own right, to take charge of his disciples and carry on his message.

References: “ Ramakrishna - Vivekananda Center of New York (A Vedanta Temple for Universal Worship). Web. 4 Jan. 2010. .

79 Some Famous Contributions Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s teachings God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshipping God. The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make- believe and take the truth. At a certain stage in the path of devotion, the devotee finds satisfaction in God with form, and at another stage, in God without it.

Swami Vivekananda’s quotations Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success, and above all, love. Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man. Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be.

Match The Guru with the Shishya - key 1. f Vasishta a. Agnivesa 2. o Bhagavatpada b. Vallabhacharya 3. d Karna c. MaharshiMahasaya 4. g Tulsidas d. Parashurama 5. j Shivaji e. Purandaradas 6. k Sandeepany f. Sri Rama 7. e Haridas g. Naraharidas 8. a Charaka h. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa 9. i Sukracharya i. Asuras 10. m Dronacharya j. Samarth Ramdas 11. b Surdas k. Sri Krishna 12. l Ashtavakra l. Janaka 13. n Brihaspati m. Arjuna 14. h Vivekananda n. Devas 15. c YukteshwarGiri o. AdiSankaracharya

80 Ramana Maharishi

Vyleen Maheshwari Reddy Age 16 HCCC Youth volunteer

In a small village near in Tamil Nadu, called Tiruchuzhi, on December 30, 1879, a boy was born to Sundaram and Azhagammal. He was the second child of four siblings. His parents were proud to have gotten another son and named him Venkataraman. Sundaraman Iyer’s family belonged to Parasara , Dravida, Smartha lineage and followed Yajus , apastambhasutra.

As a child, Venkataraman was mischievous, popular, athletic, and very intelligent, yet he was lazy when it came to school. He had many extraordinary talents, one of which was being able to go into such a deeply unconscious state that even if physical harm was done to him he wouldn’t come out of his trance. Luck was something that just lived within Venkataraman. No matter what team he played for, it always ended up winning, so his peers nicknamed him Tangakai, meaning the golden hand.

He and his brother had to go live with their uncle Subbaiyar so they could be educated in all the English categories and later had to attend Scott’s Middle School after his uncle got transferred. One year later (1892) Venkataraman experienced the tragic loss of his father due to sudden illness. Venkataraman realized that the body is just a lifeless piece of material that has a spirit (atma) living in it.

After his father’s death he began to go to the American Mission High School, where he met an older relative who gave him the knowledge of Arunachala. Venkataraman got inspired by reading “Sekkizhar’s Periyapuranam,” a book describing the lives of 63 Saivite saints, and started getting more religiously attached to the Temple in Madurai. On July 17, 1896 at age 16, Venkataraman had a life-changing experience. After having intense fear about death, he spontaneously initiated a process of self-inquiry that culminated in his becoming enlightened.

After this experience, he lost all interest in family, friends, sports, and studies. He left home for Arunachala and never came back. Venkataraman befriended

81 Muthukrishna Bhagavatar and traded his earrings to get a loan of 4 for the pilgrimage. At Arunchala temple he spent 6 weeks in the - vault in a deep Samadhi (meditation). Seshadri Swamigal found him and took him to the Subramanya Shrine to be fed and nursed back to health. During his recovery, a named Palaniswami became his disciple and served him.

In 1902, a government official named Sivaprakasam Pillai visited the young swami in the hope of obtaining an answer to the age-old question, “How do we know one’s true identity?” Swami answered the questions through gestures and writing either on sand or slate, and these became his first teachings on self- inquiry. Pillai was a great poet; he wrote a poem entitled Anugraha Ahaval in Tamil describing the Swami’s grace. Once a Vedic scholar named KavyaKantha Ganapati Sastry, a person with unmatched literary gifts and talents, asked Swami the meaning of tapas. Swami replied “While doing mantra japa, if you inquire and observe where the sound of the mantra arises from, the mind gets absorbed in it. That is tapas.” The tormented heart of Ganapati immediately found instant solace and proclaimed him as Sri . “” in the word Bhagavan means prosperity, dharma, jnana, and “rishi” means one who is celibate, one with complete control over passions, one who is absolutely truthful and one who has masterd Vedas and Vedangas.

His mother and younger brother later came to live with him and learned his religious ways. Sri Ramana composed a poetry book called The Five Hymns to Arunachala. After watching Sri Ramana’s success, his mother peacefully passed away on May 19, 1922 at his side. He was known for belief in the power of silence and rarely using speech. A cancerous lump on Maharshi’s arm was detected in November 1948 and was removed in February 1949. After the cancerous lumps reappeared, Sri Ramana decided against the doctors’ advice to amputate the arm. Two more surgeries occurred and made him weaker, but throughout this entire process, he remained calm and had a serene attitude towards death. On April 14, 1950, while devotees massaged his body, he sat up, and hearing the chants of Arunachala, peacefully passed away.

Sri Ramana Maharshi teachings about self-inquiry have been classified as “jnana marga” and the Advaitic school of thought. His earliest teachings are documented in the book “Nan Yar?” (Who am I?), first written in Tamil. Sri Ramana warned against considering self-inquiry an intellectual exercise. He advocated fixing the attention firmly and intensely on the feeling of “I” without thinking, until the feeling of duality disappears. He advocated self-inquiry as the fastest means to realization, and also recommended the path of bhakti and self-surrender, which would ultimately converge with the path of self-inquiry.

82 His philosophical ideas spread throughout India and the West and have truly inspired many generations.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramana_Maharshi Sri Ramana Leela by Sri Krishna Bhikshu, Edited and Translated by Pingali Surya Sundaram, Published by Sri Ramanasramam.

83 Sage Agastya

Pranav Raja Age 10 HCCC Y&E: Bhagavad Gita Class

Birth of Agastya Folklore in the Medicine says that Sage Agastya was born about 4573 years prior to the commencement of at a place in . His father Bhargava (Savithru - one of the 14 Adithyas) was well learned while his mother Indumathi was from Punjab on the banks of the . They were both devotees of the Pasupatha order of the sage Muni.

Education Very few details are available about his Guru. In many Puranas, it is said that he was taught by Hayagreeva, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Sage Drona the acharya of the Pandavas and Kauravas learned the art of war from his Guru Agni Vesa, who is supposed to have learned it from Sage Agastya. In fact, the great Sahasranama Stotram and Lalitha Trishathi were taught to him by Sage Hayagreeva at the express orders of Goddess Lalitha Tripura .

Agastya married King Vidharbha’s daughter Lopamudra. Agastya traveled long distances on foot through forests and mountains to do pilgrimages, for satsang etc. On such journeys, Sage Agastya would give his wife a micro form and carry her in his pitcher.

Once when Agastya was away from his pitcher, Lord Ganesha took the form of a crow and overturned it. Lopamudra, along with the perennial water from the pitcher, turned in to the mighty river Kaveri, which is perennial. She was called Kaveri because she was spread by a crow. Kaa means crow and Viri means spread. Another legend is about how Sage Agastya saved the earth from imbalance. , a mountain in the , felt that the Sun should not go from East to West without its permission, so it grew and grew and grew, till the sun could not pass. The devas were worried and approached Sage Agastya to help them. Sage Agastya, and his family traveled to South India, via Mount Meru. On their way, Sage Agastya requested the mountain not to grow any further until his return. Mount Meru humbly agreed. After passing through the mountain, Sage Agastya told his wife that they will never go back north of Mount Meru.

84 Killing of Vatapi Vatapi and Illvala were two demon siblings. They used to kill mendicants and Brahmins with a trick. Vatapi would take the form of a sheep and this sheep’s meat was cooked and served by Ilwala. Once the food was eaten, Ilvala would call out for Vatapi to come out. Then Vatapi would come out tearing the stomach of the person who ate him. The same drama was unfolded before Sage Agastya. However, when Ilvala called Vatapi to come out, Agastya fondling his stomach, said “Digest, Oh Vatapi” and Vatapi was digested. Thus Vatapi ended up losing his life due to his own mischief!

Agastya and Lord Rama During the war with Ravana in , Lord Rama and Ravana dueled for a long time, and Rama used the power and strength derived from the “Aditya Hridayam” to kill Ravana. Sage Agastya had taught this prayer about Surya, the sun God, to Lord Rama.

Agastya cursed Thataka Thataka was the daughter of a Yaksha called Sukethu. She was born to him because of the blessing of Lord Brahma. She had the strength of 1000 . She married another Yaksha called Sunda, and a son Mareecha was born to them. In a quarrel with Agastya, Sunda was killed. Thataka and Mareecha became very angry and attacked the hermitage of Agastya. Agastya cursed them and they became . Later they were killed by Lord Rama, and both of them attained salvation.

Agastya Vaishnavite temple to a Shiva Temple Agastya reached a place called Kutralam in Tamilnadu, along with his wife. There was a temple for Lord Vishnu in Kutralam. Agastya, a Shaivite, was refused entry in the temple. Agastya, by his miraculous powers, converted the statue of Vishnu inside the temple to Shiva Lingam and demonstrated to the people that Shiva and Vishnu was the same one God.

References: http://kumarmohit.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/story-sage-Agastya/ http://www.celextel.org/storiesandanecdotes/Agastya.html

85 Sage Bharatha Lover of the arts

Hamsa Ramesha Student of Jayendra Kalakendra

Sage Bharatha was a lover of the arts. In fact, you could say he is responsible for the strong tradition of classical Indian art forms that exist today. Bharatha, also known as Bharatha Muni, or Bharatha “The Saint,” is most famously known as the author of the Natyasastra, which has 6,000-slokas written in Sanskrit.

Scholars estimate that the Natyasastra was written sometime between 500 B.C. and 300 A.D. In 36 chapters, Sage Bharatha covers the entire theory of many traditional Indian art forms and practices, including poetry, dance, acting, music, make-up, costumes, plays, stage direction and even the origin of theater.

One main focus of the Natyasastra is the theory of rasa, or emotion. The nine basic rasas that Bharatha describes are: love, (sringaram), joy (hasyam), sadness (karunam), courage (viram), fear (bhayanakam), anger (raudram), peace (shantam), disgust (vibhastam) and wonder (adbhutam).

In fact every form of art is given a descriptive rasa. Acting, for example, involves using your body (angikam), speaking and singing with words (vachikam), expressing emotions (satvikam), and using costumes and decorations (aharyam).

Dancing is composed of natyam, or dramatic representation through words; nrityam, or songs and hand gestures (mudras); and nrittam, rhythmic dance steps in carefully executed patterns.

There is a lot of speculation as to whether the Natyasastra was actually written by Sage Bharatha, as some believe it was originally passed down by oral tradition, and written down at various points by a number of people. Others even speculate that the Natyasastra was not a work of humanity, but one of divinity.

According to legend, Lord Brahma wrote a mythical , called the

86 Natyaveda, on the knowledge of drama, such that the common people of earth would be able to understand. The Natyaveda draws elements from the other four Vedas incorporating words (pathya), gestures (abhinaya), music (geet) and emotions (rasa). After finishing the Natyaveda, Lord Brahma asked Sage Bharatha to spread word of this Veda throughout humanity.

Yet another legend cites the involvement of Lord Shiva, the lord of dance. Shiva was so impressed with Sage Bharatha’s first play that he sent his disciple, Tandu, to teach the sage about the art of dance in its purest form. Tandu taught Bharatha about body posture, neck position, hand gestures and the discipline of expressions, all of which is said to be included in the chapter “Tandava Lakshana” in the Natyasastra.

Regardless of who its true author was, the Natyasastra is largely credited to Sage Bharatha. It had a huge impact on classical Indian dance forms like , , and . The Natyasastra was the only piece of literature that described Indian music at length until the 13th century, when Indian music differentiated into Carnatic music of the South, and Hindustani music of the North. Sage Bharatha’s Natyasastra was revolutionary for its time and continues to influence Indian theater to this day.

References: http://www.indiavideo.org/text/bharata-muni-1073.php http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2003/06/02/stories/2003060200370200. htm http://www.enotes.com/bharata-muni-salem/bharata-muni http://www.rasas.info/

87 Sage Vishwamitra

Kaushik Amancherla Age 14

Sage Vishwamitra is the grandfather of King Bharatha, after whom India is named. He plays a very important role in the life of Lord Rama. He is the only King to be elevated to the honor of . Vishwamitra was born to King Gadhi, so he is also known as Gadheya. Since he was born in the family of the famous King Kusa, his great grandfather, he is also called as Kaushika. Born to a royal family, he learns all the skills of a warrior and earns a good name as a king. His kingdom is Kanyakubja. Sage Vishwamitra, just like his name suggests (Vishwa means World, Mitra means Friend). He is the sage who gifted the “ Mantra” to the world. This mantra was revealed to Sage Vishwamitra when he was in deep meditation. is found in all the four Vedas, and in particular.

The Gayatri Mantra: Om bhur bhuvah svah tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi dhiyo yonah prachodayat

The goddess Gāyatrī is considered the veda mata, the mother of all Vedas and also the personification of the all-pervading Parabrahman, the ultimate unchanging reality that lies behind all phenomena. The goddess is the only one considered to be able to withstand the brilliance of Aditya- the Sun, who sustains the creation. Gāyatrī is typically portrayed as seated on a red lotus signifying wealth. She often appears with five heads with ten eyes looking in the eight directions plus the earth and sky, and ten arms symbolizing all her incarnations. She is also portrayed accompanied by a white swan, holding a book to impart knowledge in one hand, and carrying a cure in the other.

Vishwamitra’s encounters with sage : During one of Vishwamitra’s hunting trips to the forest, he went to the ashram of Sage Vasishtha. Sage Vasishtha offered very good food to all of the King’s men, and Vishwamitra was surprised as to how Vasishtha managed to provide food for so many people. Then he came to know about the divine cow Nandini, the daughter of cow . Nandini could provide anything one asked for.

88 He asked Sage Vasishtha to give Nandini to him in exchange for thousands of cows and lot of money, but the sage declined. Angered by this, King tried to take Nandini by force, but Nandini created a forceful army and defeated the King’s men. King Vishwamitra went away and came back with a bigger army to take Nandini but again he faced defeat. The king felt humiliated and went away into the forest and performed penance in the name of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was pleased and bestowed Vishwamitra with a lot of Divine astras (arrows), and King Vishwamitra became .

Rajarshi Vishwamitra went back to Sage Vashista who in turn absorbed Vishwamitra’s powers. Again, Vishwamitra went back to the forest to pray further. The confrontation between Vishwamitra and Vasishtha appear in RigVeda also, but the version of statements differs from what is present in Puranas. It seems the last four sections of Sukta 15 of RigVeda, , Anuvaka 4, carry the confrontation story. Compositions of Vishwamitra find a place in of RgVeda also.

Birth of Shakuntala: During one of the many episodes of Rajarshi Vishwamitra’s tapas, to become Brahmarshi, the gods sent , an apsara in Lord Indra’s court, to disturb his tapas. Sage Vishwamitra got disturbed and as a result of their union, a girl child named Shakuntala was born and she later became the mother of King Bharata.

Vishwamitra blesses Rama with Dhanurvidya: When Vishwamitra’s yagnas were being disturbed by demons, Sage Vishwamitra approached King Dasaratha to send Lord Rama and Lakshmana along with him so that he could complete his yagna without interruption from Demons. He bestowed on Lord Rama the celestial arms which never missed the mark. Sage Vishwamitra took Rama for the swayamvar to marry Sita. Vishwamitra is the sage who told the story of , Sage Gautama’s wife, whom he had converted into a statue by a curse. He also told Sri Rama that she would be liberated only when he touched her with his foot. After Lord Ram’s marriage to Sita, Sage Vishwamitra became one of the seven celestial Sages.

Testing of : Sage Vishwamitra made Harishchandra immortal by testing his adherence to truth. He proved to the mighty Gods how virtuous a mere human being could be through the example of King Harishchandra. He subjected the king and his family to many hardships, but the king did not budge from the path of truth. Thus even at the risk of being seen as a villain, Vishwamitra made Harishchandra immortal.

89 Sending Trishanku to Swarga: Trishanku was a King who wanted to perform a yagna which would enable him to go to heaven in his physical body. Trishanku approached Sage Vishwamitra who agreed partly because of his running rivalry with Sage Vasishtha and he wanted to show his superiority. Vishwamitra presided over the yagna and sent Trishanku to heaven but Trishanku was thrown down from heaven by the gods. As he was falling, Vishwamitra stopped him in mid air and created a replica of heaven. Such was the power obtained by sage Vishwamitra because of his great tapas. The heaven created by Sage Vishwamitra for Trishanku is called Trishanku Swarga.

His becoming Brahmarshi: After repeatedly giving up his powers obtained through great penance, Vishwamitra realized the futility of his ego and went to perform penance once again. Lord Brahma was pleased with him and manifested himself before Vishwamitra. Lord Brahma accepted him as Brahmarshi and blessed him with a long life, and the ability to bless the whole world. However, Vishwamitra was not satisfied and wanted to be accepted as a Brahmarshi by his arch rival Sage Vasishtha. When he went to the ashram of Sage Vasishtha, he was welcomed as a Maharshi. Vishwamitra was not satisfied and went back for doing more penance. When he went again, Vasishtha addressed him as a scoundrel. Instead of getting angry and annoyed like before, Vishwamitra smiled and kept quiet and turned to leave. Then Vasishtha addressed him as Brahmarshi.

Conclusion: Sage Vasishtha was born a Brahmarshi where as Vishwamitra achieved that stage by burning off the ego. The place where Vishwamitra got the siddhi is called Brahmapushkar, Brahmakund and Uttarkund.

References: Tales from Indian Classics, Children’s books Trust, New Delhi. Indian Mythology.com Telugu Bhakti.com

90 Samartha Ramdas

M.L.Swamy Age 85

Samarth Ramdas! What a pious name! ‘Samarth’ means ‘All powerful’ and ‘Ramdas’ means servant of Lord Rama, servant of God Almighty! Samarth Ramdas is a much revered great saint of Maharastra and India.

Shri Samarth Ramdas was born in 1608 AD (1530 according to “Shaliwahan Shak”) in the village Jaamb, in , on the auspicious day of Sri Ramnavmi to Sri Suryaji and Smt. Ranubai. His name (given by his parents at birth) was Narayan Suryaji Thosar. Ramdas was a contemporary of Sant Tukaram. He was a great devotee of Lord Rama and Hanuman. He had Darshan of Lord Rama even when he was a boy. Lord Rama Himself initiated him.

As a boy, Ramdas acquired some knowledge of the Hindu scriptures and developed a liking for meditation and religious study. One day he shut himself in a room and began to meditate on God. When his mother asked him what he was doing, Ramdas replied that he was meditating and praying for the good of the world. His mother was surprised at the precocious religious inclination of the boy and felt happy.

When Ramdas was twelve years of age, all arrangements were made for his marriage. He sat in front of the bride in the marriage pendal. There was a screen between the bridegroom and the bride. When the priests chanted “Sawadhan! (be alert oh! bridegroom), Ramdas bolted away from the place and disappeared within the twinkling of an eye. He wanted to be away from the worldly life!

For twelve years, Ramdas stayed at Nasik on the banks of river Godavari. He used to get up very early in the morning, go into the , and with his body half-immersed in water, recite the sacred Gayatri Mantra till about noon. Then he would go for alms. He first offered the collected food to his Deity Sri Rama and then took it as Prasad. After resting a while, he used to attend religious discourses in the various temples of Nasik and Panchavati. Ramdas also studied Sanskrit and copied in his own hand the Ramayana of Valmiki.

Ramdas did Purascharana of the Rama Mantra of thirteen letters Sri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram thirteen lakhs of times at Tafali, near Nasik, on the banks

91 of the Godavari. After the Purascharana was over, once again Ramdas had Darshan of Lord Rama. It is said that Lord Rama ordered Ramdas to visit holy places such as Nasik, , Kasi, etc. Ramdas sprinkled over a dead body holy water uttering the name of Rama and the dead body was restored to life. Ramdas had to do this, because he had blessed a woman who had just lost her husband. Ramdas was an Advaitin and a Bhakta in one. He had the very noble quality of never hating any religion or nation. His main object was to spread the Hindu religion throughout India

Ramdas had not visited Pandharpur, as he had not known the existence of this holy place. Tradition says Lord Panduranga Vittal, in the form of a Brahmin, with a batch of three hundred pilgrims, appeared before Ramdas. He asked him whether he had any objection to seeing Lord Krishna. Ramdas replied in the negative. Panduranga then took Ramdas to Pandharpur, and when the Bhaktas approached the temple, the Brahmin disappeared. Ramdas then knew that it was none other than the Lord that had brought him to that holy place. He entered the temple, and to his great surprise, found Sri Rama standing alone on a brick. Ramdas addressed the Deity thus: “O Lord, what are you doing here alone? Where are your brother Lakshmana and your consort Sita Mata? Where is Maruti and where are the monkey hordes?” On hearing these words, the image at once transformed itself into Sri Pandarinath. Ramdas then praised Panduranga for His kindness, prostrated before Him and sang songs of joy for getting His rare Darshan. Ramdas now felt doubly convinced that the several incarnations of the Lord were but His several forms and preached that everyone should respect and worship the One, who took care of one and all in the world. Ramdas then worshipped Panduranga to his heart’s content and became a frequent visitor and Bhakta of Panduranga Vittal also. In Pandharpur, Ramdas came in contact with Tukaram and other saints of Pandharpur. In his pilgrimages, Ramdas observed and studied the social, political and economic conditions of Indians and their utter helplessness in life.

It is said that Sri Rama ordered Ramdas to go to the banks of the and help the cause of Shivaji, and the founder of the Kingdom of . Ramdas came to the Krishna River and went about preaching from to Kolhapur. He established eleven principal seats of Maruti, which emphasized the importance of physical development. He installed the shrines of Sri Ramachandra at Champavati and introduced Sri Rama Mahotsava and the procession of Sri Rama’s chariot. It was at the place called Singanvadi that Shivaji became the disciple of Ramdas. He had given away his entire kingdom to Saint Ramdas and on his orders accepted to be his regent. Shivaji placed the sandals of his Guru on the throne, acted as regent of the

92 kingdom and adopted as ensign the flag of orange color. Ramdas’s ways were very peculiar. He appeared to the outside world as a mad man. He had a small bow. He used to have, by his side, a large number of stones with which he pelted every object he saw. To men really interested in his teachings, he gave the Mantra “Sri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram”

Ramdas had eleven hundred disciples, of whom three hundred were women. The women disciples were also expert preachers and were virtuous. Ramdas sent his disciples to all parts of India to spread the Hindu religion. His disciples and Mutts in the North directly or indirectly helped Shivaji and his work. Ramdas’s organization in the South, round about Thanjavur, helped Shivaji’s son Rajaram to go to Jinji and carry on the Twenty Years’ War with Aurangazeb. When Ramdas visited Thanjavur, Venkoji, who was the step-brother of Shivaji, became his disciple. Ramdas appointed Bhimaswami, his direct disciple, the Mahant of the Thanjavur Mutt.

” is a classic spiritual text that until recently has been largely unavailable in the West. The text was written in the 17th Century {1654} by the great Saint Shri Samartha Ramdas in the . The book was originally written in a poetic style and is presented in the format of a conversation between a Guru and disciple. Many questions are answered and many doubts are cleared. In Dasbodh, Samartha Ramdas presents the essence of many Vedic texts. Is truly a manual for life in the highest sense and has been popular for many years in India. Dasbodh is somewhat unique among spiritual literature in that it not only expounds the classic themes of between the true and the untrue, and detachment commonly found in Vedic literature, but also provided detailed instruction on how to function and excel in society from a place of deep spiritual understanding. In this, Ramdas clearly outlines and makes easy the path of liberation through Devotion and Knowledge. Through knowledge, Ramdas clears away all doubts and gives the understanding of one’s “True Self.” Ramdas also reveals the true meaning and significance of “Discrimination” and “Detachment.” The book draws upon ancient Vedic texts including, but not limited to Vedas, Shashtras, Upanishads, Avadhut Gita, Bhagavad Gita, Rama Gita, Yogavasishtha, , Brahma Sutras, to name a few. Mainly, what is presented in Dasbodh is the voice of direct experience itself. Dasbodh prescribes the path of devotion to God or “Bhakti mārg” as well as the path of Knowledge or “Jnana Marg” for “liberation” according to Hindu philosophy. It deals with diverse aspects of human life such as politics, conducting business dealings, and taking care of one’s body and family life. It is a comprehensive volume in verse form providing instructions as to how one ought to live one’s life. Ramdas generally preferred to live in the forest, where he would say, he had

93 better meditation. In his last days, Ramdas devoted his time partly to literary activities and partly to the systematic building up of his disciples and Mutts, both in the North and in the South. The literary works of Ramdas such as Dasbodh, Manache Shlok (verse addressed to the mind), Karunashtakas (hymns to God) and Ramayana (describing only the conquest of Lanka by Sri Rama and the vanquishing of Ravana) are very popular. It was as a tribute to Ramdas’s extraordinary patience and determination in rehabilitating the Hindu that people named him Samartha (all-powerful) Ramdas, a name which he richly deserved. This great Guru of Maharashtra breathed his last in 1682 at Sajjangad, near Satara, a fortress which was given to him by Shivaji for his residence.

Ramdas repeated the Rama Mantra with his last breath. At the time of his departure from the world, a dazzling light emanated from his body and Ramdas was absorbed in the image of Lord Rama.

The last instructions of Saint Samarth Ramdas to his disciples were: Do not think much of your bodily wants. Have Satsang with devotees. Keep the image of Lord Rama in your heart. Repeat the name of Lord Rama always. Annihilate lust, greed, anger, hatred and egotism. See Lord Rama in all creatures. Love all. Feel His presence everywhere. Live for Him alone. Serve Him in all beings. Make total and unreserved surrender unto Him. You will always live in Him alone. You will attain immortality and eternal bliss

References: “VinobaSaraswat” By Vinoba-Bhave “Shakti-Saushthava” By D.G.Godse “Rajwade-Lekhsangrah” by Viswanath Kashinath Rajwade “Tryambak Shankar Shejwalkar Nivadak Lekhsangrah” By Tarkatirth http:/-www.ramdas.org

94 Sant Gyaneshwar

Saurabh Karmarkar Age 12

Sant Gyaneshwar is a shining star among the many great saints who were born in India and showed the path of knowledge to the common people. In the thirteenth century AD, the knowledge of Sanskrit language was becoming scarce. Common people were increasingly denied access to India’s rich sources of religious and spiritual knowledge, which were written in Sanskrit. Some people who knew Sanskrit had begun to think themselves as superior to others. At this time, Sant Gyaneshwar was born in what is now the state of Maharashtra. In a short life of mere 21 years, he left such a mark with his astonishing accomplishments that he is remembered and revered by all devotees even today. Sant Gyaneshwar was the second of the four children of Vithalpant and Rukminibai Kulkarni, a very pious couple living in a village called Apegaon near the present day town of on the banks of river Godavari. Vithalpant was well-versed in Vedas and Shastras at a very young age. He was very spiritual in nature and not interested in worldly matters. He would spend his time in search of God and often set out on pilgrimages to holy places. During one such pilgrimage, he camped in a village called Alandi near . There he was spotted by one Dattopant, a local Brahmin, who thought he would be an ideal match for his daughter. Not being interested in setting up a family, Vithalpant at first declined, but later he gave his consent for the wedding after receiving some vision in his dreams. However he remained uninterested in worldly matters, and one day, after his usual bath in the Godavari river, he set out straight to Varanasi to find a guru who could lead him to spiritual knowledge. There he met Shri Swami, who accepted him as his disciple and initiated him into sanyasa or a life of a . Since anyone with family responsibilities was not allowed to become a sanyasi, Vithalpant did not disclose the fact that he was already married. Many years passed by. Vithalpant dedicated his life in the service of his guru. Rukminibai, who now lived in Alandi with her father, tried to drown her sorrow by spending her time in the service of God. Once Shri Ramananda Swami was on his pilgrimage to Rameshwar, and happened to camp at Alandi. Rukminibai, on hearing of the great saint visiting her village, also went to pay her respect to him. When she bowed down to touch his feet, he gave her a blessing to be a mother of worthy children. Hearing this blessing, she merely laughed. When Swamiji

95 asked her the reason, she explained to him how her husband had deserted her, and there was no way the blessing could become true. On further enquiries, Swamiji realized that her husband was none other than his own disciple. He immediately cut short his visit, returned to Varanasi, and ordered Vithalpant to go back to his wife. Accepting his guru’s command, Vithalpant returned to Alandi.

In those days it was unacceptable for someone to abandon sanyasa and become a once again. The local Brahmins who interpreted the Shastras would not accept the couple as part of the society, and ordered them to live outside the village. The pious couple accepted the punishment and began to live in a small hut in the outskirts of Alandi village. It was here that four children were born to them – three boys Nivrutti, Gyanadev or Gyaneshwar, Sopan, and a girl Mukta. All the four children were very intelligent and pious. They studied Vedas with their father, but because they were driven away from the society they could not join the Brahmin community or study in the schools run by them. Vithalpant pleaded with the Brahmins that his children should not be made to suffer for no fault of theirs. The Brahmins ordered that Vithalpant had committed a grave crime by abandoning his sanyasa life, and the only atonement for that was a death sentence. In a state of desperation Vithalpant and Rukminibai made the ultimate sacrifice for their children. They set on a pilgrimage, never to come back. The orphan children somehow lived by begging for dry food and with the help offered by some sympathetic neighbors. But they did not waver from the study of Vedas and practicing the righteous life as taught by it. Like Shankaracharya, Jnanadeva was an Advaita-vadin, a non-dualist. Shri Gyandev, on the orders of his guru and elder brother Nivritti, began to write a commentary on Bhagavad Gita in the Marathi language, called Jnaneshwari, at the tender age of 16. He wrote with the desire that the highest knowledge be easily available to everyone in the society, and not remain the privilege of a few who knew Sanskrit.

There is a legend that once Gyaneshwar had an argument with some Brahmins who challenged him to prove that God is everywhere. They dared him to prove that God lived in a buffalo that was passing by. Immediately Sant Gyaneshwar placed his hand on the animal’s forehead and it began to recite verses from the Vedas. The Brahmins were astonished and became devotees of the little Gyaneshwar. He also performed other miracles like this when situation arose, with the purpose of erasing the ego in the minds of otherwise learned elders. Once while sitting on a broken wall along with his siblings, he made the wall move and fly to the ashram of another renowned saint. The news of Gyaneshwar’s mastery over spiritual matters, his simplicity, kindness, and his teachings began to spread far and wide. He became the virtual leader of the Varkari ,

96 or the Varkari movement, which considered it important to visit the town of Pandharpur in southern Maharashtra twice a year on bare foot. The movement is still very strong and has a huge following in Maharashtra.Sant Gyaneshwar, having achieved what he had set out to do, decided to discard his body and attained samadhi at the young age of 21. His renowned work Gyaneshwari has become the cornerstone of , and has been serving as a guiding light for generations of spiritual seekers. Sant Gyaneshwar’s life is a lesson for all of us. He had to undergo a very difficult childhood filled with hardships and even societal ridicule. Yet he never wavered from his goal, and continued on his path with love in his heart for all, even towards the ones who were bad to him. That is the sign of true greatness. We should all try to follow his example in our own lives. May Sant Gyaneswar’s blessings be with all of us.

References: http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HkPage.aspx?PAGEID=9622&SKIN=D

Word Scramble - key GODS AND GODDESSES

1. LAMBODARA 2. 3. LAXMI 4. KANAKADURGA 5. SRIKRISHNA 6. HANUMAN 7. CHANDI 8. DATTATREYA 9. 10. GAYATRI 11. 12. BALAJI 13. 14. SRIRAMA 15. SITA 16. KALABHAIRAVA 17. KARTHIKEYA 18. 19. SARASWATI 20. PARVATI

97 Sant Surdas

Komal Sharma, Age 13 HCCC Youth volunteer program

Sant Surdas was a saint and poet who has contributed significantly to Indian Literature. While his works are a treasure of spiritual knowledge, very few facts are authentically known about the life of Sant Surdas.

Exact details about the birth and childhood of Sant Surdas are unavailable. Based on available information, it is believed the he was born in 1478 CE. His place of birth is considered to be Runkata Village on the - Road. His father was Ramdas, a singer. Sant Surdas was born blind. Because of this disability, he was not treated well by his family. On , Surdas’s brothers got new clothes. However, Surdas did not get any new clothes. His parents thought that Surdas would not know the difference between new and old clothes. It hurt his feelings. He was also abused by his friends. At the age of six years, he heard a group of devotional singers passing by his house. He joined that group and left home. He visited several places and eventually reached Gaughat village on the Mathura-Agra Road. At Gaughat, Sant Surdas met Sri Vallabhacharya who is considered one of the five main Acharyas of the Hindu Religion. Soon Sant Surdas became a disciple of Saint Sri Vallabhacharya. Through Sri Vallabhacharya, Sant Surdas was exposed to various spiritual literature and philosophies. Sri Vallabhacharya changed the style of Sant Surdas’s devotion and compositions. Surdas memorized the entire Srimad Bhagwat. He developed deep devotion for Sri Krishna and started reciting Srimad Bhagwat to large gatherings. Sri Vallabhacharya is founder of Pushti (Pusthimarg). The three pillars of are Raag (playing and listening to music), (offering Vegetarian food to God), and Vastra & Shringar (decorating the deity with beautiful clothes and jewellery). All these are included in daily routine offered to Sri Krishna Deity.

It is essential to know some of the beliefs of Pustimarg to understand the nature of songs and verses written by Sant Surdas. Pustimarg is based on pure, spontaneous, selfless, and motivational love for Sri Krishna. These things are reflected in writing of Sant Surdas. It is believed that Sant Surdas wrote 100,000 songs and verses, which were compiled under the title Sur Sagar. However, less than 10,000 songs and verses are available now. Sant Surdas

98 has a unique way to describe beauty, chance, grief, and mother’s love towards her child. In Sur Sagar, the songs are about life and adventures of Sri Krishna. The inspiration is from Srimad Bhagwat. The language used by Sant Surdas is the common people’s language Brij-Bhasha, which is a dialect of Hindi. Sant Surdas had a broad mental horizon and full visualization of life and deeds of Sri Krishna. This is reflected in the minute details of actions, emotions, dress, love, and every other aspect of life in the works of Sant Surdas. It is believed that Sant Surdas dictated to another person who could write as fast as Surdas could dictate.

Other notable works of Sant Surdas are Sur Saravali and Sahitya Lahiri. Through his works, Sant Surdas introduced a trend in Hindi Poetry. Sant Surdas’s verse has also been included in Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of Sikhs.

Some specimens of his work are given below. The naughty child Sri Krishna was caught with freshly churned butter by his mother , with some still on his face. He claims: I did not eat the butter, mother. I think my friends have smeared some on my face! Another sample is: Our eyes thirst for a vision of Hari; They long to see the lotus-eyed one, grieving for him day and night. Wearing a saffron tilak and pearl garland and dwelling in ,

In conclusion, Sant Surdas has written about every aspect of Sri Krishna’s life using minute details and vivid imagery and visualization. According to Sant Surdas, the dynamics of knowledge are very amazing. Those who attain knowledge are able to feel intimacy with God but are not able to express it. Having a handicap of not seeing did not stop Sant Surdas from expressing his feelings and thoughts for Shri Krishna. Even today in most parts of India, people who cannot see are referred to as Surdas. This reference may not relieve their pain and suffering. However, a connection to one of the greatest saints leaves a good feeling in the people who can and cannot see.

References: Surdas ke Lokpriya Pad, Manoj Pocket Books, New Delhi A History of , F. E. Keay, 1920 Wikipidia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surdas

99 Sant Tukaram

Varun Mahadevan Age 10 HCCC Y&E Balajyoti class

Sant Tukaram was one of the greatest Marathi poets in history. He composed and produced several songs and poems on his beloved Lord . He was very innocent and a caring person but was frequently cheated by cruel people around him. Many people were attracted to his awesome music and his wonderful connection to his Lord Vithoba.

Sant Tukaram was born in the village of Dehu and lived around the period of 1577-1609. He was married to Rakhumabai, who died early during a famine. The family also lost a son to the cruel famine. Sant Tukuram later married Jijabai and had four sons.

Sant Tukaram did not enjoy the work he was doing to make a living. He was attracted to nature and frequented the forests of Maharashtra. He spent much of his time in deep thought and serious study of the works of Gyaneshwar, and , famous Sants of his native land. He received spiritual guidance from a guru, Raghava Chaitanya, in a dream. On another occasion, it is said that he was visited in a dream by Namdev, and Lord Vitthal himself, and was informed that it was his mission to compose abhangs (religious poems). After a period of contemplation in isolation and severe austerity, he began to write poems, inspired by his devotion for Lord Vithoba (Vitthal), the family deity.

Sant Tukaram had an immense love for nature. He always walked up the hills into the forests to meditate. An observant farmer who saw him frequenting the forests employed him to drive away the birds that ruined his crop. His immense love for all beings prompted him to feed the birds, since he knew they were a creation of Lord Vithoba and should be loved and respected. He went to the extent of ruining the entire yield and was the subject of the wrath of the farmer, who dragged him to his village and signed a bond that he would pay a ransom for the loss of the crop yield. Sant Tukaram and his wife worked so hard in the field that they earned the blessings of Lord Vithoba. A part of his acquired wealth was donated to repair a temple in the hills where he went to pray. Sant Tukaram composed beautiful poems in Marathi which the common people could relate to and understand easily. His popularity and fame grew

100 in the society, much to the resentment of the Brahmins. Brahmins in his town considered themselves to be the learned Sanskrit pandits and the true sages of that era. According to legend the local Brahmins forced Sant Tukaram to throw his poems and abhangs into the river Indrayani. There are currently about 4,607 poems of Sant Tukaram, but not a single original manuscript is available. Sant Tukaram became extremely famous in India. Chatrapati Shivaji, the king of the Marathas came to Sant Tukuram to get his blessings. However, some hated or were rude to him, and some also cheated him. A few people even thought that he was not fit to be a Sant. In spite of all these harassments and humiliations, he was still kind and happy. He led a happy and contented life with his family. He was also helped by Vithoba many times and performed plenty of miracles. To quote a few, he turned iron into gold and resurrected dead people.

Many legends carry stories of his respect for and devotion to Lord Vithoba. To cite an example: A friend of Sant Tukaram heard that Sant Tukaram always dined with Lord Vithoba, and he wanted proof, so he invited Sant Tukaram to his house to dine with other Brahmins. Sant Tukaram said he needed some more plates and thought of Lord Vithoba and Lord Ganesha. They appeared to him, and Sant Tukaram and his friend were happy when they saw them. The other diners didn’t see them but saw the food was gradually disappearing and were in a state of shock and disbelief. This was one of Sant Tukaram’s ways of showing his care and proof of his immense love for the lords.

The Sant lived up to 48 years. There is disagreement about Tukaram’s final day. Some say that he informed his wife early in the day that he was going to (the Divine Abode), and his wife did not take him seriously. He climbed the hillock and waited for Vithoba. By that time, news had already spread around Dehu and people had gathered around the hillock, waiting for the Divine event. From eyewitness accounts, a large vehicle appeared from the skies and Vithoba emerged. Eyewitnesses rushed to Tukaram’s home and informed his wife that Tukaram was on his way to Vaikuntha, the Abode of God. His wife ran toward the hills, only to see him take off in the Viman (flying vehicle). Modern devotees still gather at the hillock and sing his praises. Tukaram’s son Narayana was a great bhakta like his father.

References: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tukaram http://www.poemhunter.com/sant-tukaram/biography

101 Sarada Devi

Sneha Koneru Age 17 HCCC Youth volunteer

Sarada Devi was the wife of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. She was born in 1853 in the small village of Javrambati near Calcutta. She was betrothed to Ramakrishna at the age of five. At the time, Ramakrishna was going through his period of . It was so intense that people thought he was losing his mind, and they hoped a marriage would bring his mind back to the real world. Despite hearing rumors that her husband was crazy, she went to join him at Dakshineshwar in her late teens. After meeting Ramakrishna, she was relieved to find that the rumors were untrue and he was actually a kind, spiritual man. During Ramakrishna’s lifetime, she kept a very low profile. After the death of Ramakrishna, she came to play an important role in leading the Ramakrishna movement. She was addressed as the ‘Holy Mother’ by the followers of the Ramakrishna monastic order. The people who followed Ramakrishna regarded Sarada Devi as their own mother and looked to her for advice and encouragement after Ramakrishna died.

Sarada Devi lived at Dakshineshwar as a devoted wife and as the first disciple of her husband. For her, the marriage was an intense spiritual practice and service to her husband. Sarada Devi’s life revolved around devotional practices. Her day started at 3 am. After finishing ablutions in the Ganges, she would practice Japa (meditative repetition of a mantra or name of God) and meditation until daybreak. Ramakrishna taught her the sacred mantras and how to initiate people and guide them in spiritual life. Apart from her meditation most of her time was spent cooking for Ramakrishna and his devotees. When Ramakrishna suffered from throat cancer during his last days, Sarada Devi nursed him and made suitable food for him. After his death, whenever she wanted to dress like a widow, she reported to have dreams where Ramakrishna told her not to. Sarada Devi had humility, modesty and a loving spiritual disposition, although her life was very simple. Until after Ramakrishna died, no one was fully aware of her spiritual realization. Sarada Devi remained the spiritual guide of the movement for the next thirty four years.

After Ramakrishna’s death, Sarada Devi began her pilgrimage through North

102 India. She and her followers visited many temples and started her role as a guru. After her pilgrimage, Sarada Devi stayed by herself in Ramakrishna’s native village of Kamarpukur. She was very poor, and when news reached the disciples of Ramakrishna that she needed care and attention, they arranged for her to stay in Calcutta. At her house, called ‘Udbodhan House,’ Sarada Devi was accompanied by other women disciples of Ramakrishna. People began to see her for guidance, instructions, and spiritual initiation. According to her devotees, her hospitality was unique and characterized by motherly care and solicitude.

In 1919, Sarada Devi spent her last year in Jayarambati. Her health seriously declined during the last three months of her stay there. With her strength greatly impaired, she was brought back to Calcutta in February, 1920. She continued to suffer for the next five months and died at 1:30 am on July 20, 1920. Her last advice to her devotees was “But I tell you one thing—if you want peace of mind, do not find fault with others. Rather see your own faults. Learn to make the whole world your own. No one is a stranger, my child: this whole world is your own!” Her body was cremated at the (headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission).

Sarada Devi played the important role of leading the Ramakrishna movement after Ramakrishna’s death. She also initiated several prominent into the Ramakrishna Order. Swami Nikhilananda was a freedom fighter and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. He accepted Sarada Devi as his guru and joined the Ramakrishna Order. He eventually founded the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center in New York. Sarada Devi advocated education for women although she was uneducated. Her dream of a girl’s school on the Ganges, where Eastern and Western pupils could study together came true. In 1954, Sri Sarada Math and Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, a monastic order for women, was founded in honor of Sarada Devi.

References: “Sri Sarada Devi, The Holy Mother.” SaradaDevi.info. Web. 4 Jan. 2010. . “Sri Sarada Devi: The Holy Mother.” BELUR MATH: The Headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and , India. Web. 4 Jan. 2010. . “Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi.” Ramakrishna - Vivekananda Center of New York (A Vedanta Temple for Universal Worship ). Web. 4 Jan. 2010. .

103 Shabari

Sadhika Malladi Age 11 HCCC Youth volunteer

Shabari was an influential character in the Ramayana. She was born in the Bhil Tribe and was a hunter’s daughter. She renounced the world after seeing how her father bought thousands of sheep and goats to sacrifice at her marriage dinner. Even as a young girl, she was against animal sacrifice and ran away from home in search of peace. Shabari met Sage Matanga at the foot of Mount Rishyamukha. She accepted him as her guru and served him with utmost devotion all through her life. Her main goal was to attain Salvation and her Guru advised her that by virtue of her service she would get Rama’s Darshan, which would then relieve her from worldly miseries. Her guru told her to practice devotion to God, and through it, she would achieve Moksha.

Before Sage Matanga died, he told Shabari that Rama would be coming to the Ashram. From that time on, Shabari, a helpless old woman, devoutly prepared daily for Rama and Lakshmana’s arrival. Every day, she would strew flowers all over the pathway to the Ashram so that Rama’s feet would not be hurt by the ground. Shabari also picked fresh berries every day and tasted them to ensure that only the sweet ones would be given to the lord. The old woman would toil every day in hopes of receiving Rama at the ashram. When Rama walked across the flowers strewn on the path to the ashram, he was amazed by Shabari’s devotion. When Rama actually came with Lakshmana, Shabari was ready, and although initially she did not recognize them, she washed their feet with her tears and fed them the berries she had handpicked and tasted. Lakshmana actually expressed concern over Rama’s eating food already tasted by someone else. To this Rama told Lakshmana about true devotion and Bhakti which makes everything else unimportant. He tells Lakshmana that that was the best fruit he had ever tasted. Rama mentions to Lakshmana that whoever offers him leaves, fruits, flowers or water with devotion, he will accept them with great joy.

Shabari played the role of helping Rama find and rescue Sita from Ravana. Guided by , Rama and Lakshmana looked for Shabari, who provided information as how to find Sita. Shabari tells them that the ape-king could help Rama. Sugriva, she said, resided on the twin peaks, Mallaydri and

104 Bhung, and Rama and Lakshmana should find Sugriva and request his help in finding Sita. Together, the trio would defeat Ravana.

Before Rama left, Shabari begged him to show her the path to true devotion. Rama was already amazed by Shabari’s devotion, but before he departed he delivered his discourse on nava-vidha bhakti (nine-fold devotion) to Shabari, and told her, “that which is most difficult for the greatest was easily attained by you, Shabari, because of your sincere devotion.” After this, Rama gave Salvation to Shabari explaining that pure devotion is expressed in nine ways. First is satsang or association with love-intoxicated devotees. The second is to develop a taste for hearing my nectar-like stories. The third is service to the guru. Fourth is to sing my (communal chorus). Japa or repetition of my Holy name and chanting my bhajans are the fifth expression. To follow scriptural injunctions always, to practice control of the senses, nobility of character and selfless service, these are expressions of the sixth mode of bhakti. Seeing me manifested everywhere in this world and worshipping my saints more than myself is the seventh mode of bhakti. To find no fault with anyone and to be contented with one’s lot is the eighth mode of bhakti. Unreserved surrender with total faith in my strength is the ninth and highest stage. Shabari, anyone who practices one of these nine modes of my bhakti pleases me most and reaches me without fail. Shabari is a true example of total devotion and bhakti in a devotee and shows that if one has these qualities one can attain Moksha.

References: Ramayana by Dreamland Publications http://www.geocities.com/neovedanta/ramayana12.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabari

105 Sri Aurobindo

Anand Kanakam Age 24

Sri Aurobindo Ghose (August 15, 1872 – December 5, 1950) was an Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, major Indian poet, philosopher, and yogi. He joined the movement for India’s freedom from British rule for a duration between (1905–10) and became one of its most important leaders, before turning to developing his own vision and philosophy of human progress and spiritual evolution. Sri Aurobindo was born as Aravinda Akroyd Ghose in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, on 15 August, 1872 to Dr. Krishna Dhan Ghose, District Surgeon of Rangapur, Bengal and Swarnalata Devi, the daughter of religious and social reformer, Rajnarayan Basu. Aurobindo spent his first five years at Rangapur.

Aurobindo spent two years at the Loreto convent. In 1879, Aurobindo and his two elder brothers were taken to Manchester, England for a European education. After living in England for a considerable period, Aurobindo had become contemptuous of the British rule in India. He came to believe that the only way to free India from the British yoke was for the common people, and not just the elite that composed the erstwhile Congress, to embark upon total revolution. At the beginning of the 20th century, Bengal had become the central hub for voices against British rule, and during his vacations to meet his family in Bengal, Aurobindo came in contact with many who shared his views. As a result, was founded as an attempt to organize Bengali youth through a program of physical fitness and spiritual training for a nationalist program. Aurobindo provided the ideological for the ultra-radical Jugantar party, an offshoot of the Anushilan Samiti.

Aurobindo’s conversion from political action to occurred gradually. He had been influenced by Bankim’s novel Anandamath, which deals with the freedom movement, and he had also met Vishnu Bhaskar Lele, a Maharashtrian yogi who further enhanced Aurobindo’s yogic capabilities. Once while meditating with Vishnu Bhaskar Lele in 1908, Aurobindo had his first experience of , a state of complete mental silence free of any thought or mental activity. In his , Sri Aurobindo claimed to have been visited by Swami Vivekananda, who guided him in important aspects of his yoga. Sri Aurobindo later said that while he was in prison, he saw the convicts, jailers, policemen, the prison bars,

106 the trees, the judge, and the lawyers as different forms of one godhead, Krishna. In Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo completely dedicated himself to his spiritual and philosophical pursuits.

In 1914, after four years of concentrated yoga, Sri Aurobindo launched Arya, a 64 page monthly review. For the next six and a half years this became the vehicle for most of his writings, which appeared in serialized form. These included The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on The Gita, The Secret of The Veda, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, The Upanishads, The Renaissance in India, War and Self-determination, The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity, and The Future Poetry. Many years later, Sri Aurobindo revised some of these works before they were published in book form. For some time afterwards, Sri Aurobindo’s main literary output was his voluminous correspondence with his disciples. His letters, most of which were written in the 1930s, numbered in the several thousands. Many were brief comments made in the margins of his disciple’s notebooks in answer to their questions and reports of their spiritual practice—others extended to several pages of carefully composed explanations of practical aspects of his teachings. These were later collected and published in book form in three volumes of Letters on Yoga. In the late 1930s, Sri Aurobindo resumed work on a poem he had started earlier—he continued to expand and revise this poem for the rest of his life. Savitri, an epic spiritual poem in verses of approximately 24,000 lines became perhaps his greatest literary achievement.

The was founded by him on 24 November 1926 (Siddhi Day). At the time there were no more than 24 disciples in the Ashram. In December of that year, Sri Aurobindo decided to withdraw from public , and appointed his co-worker Mirra Alfassa, henceforth known as The Mother, to take charge of the ashram. The central theme of Sri Aurobindo’s vision is the evolution of life into a “life divine.” In his own words: “Man is a transitional being. He is not final. The step from man to superman is the next approaching achievement in the earth’s evolution. It is inevitable because it is at once the intention of the inner spirit and the logic of Nature’s process.”

The Sri Aurobindo Ashram, the spiritual community that flourished around him, was organized and directed by the Mother and continues to operate with slightly more than 2000 members and a similar number of nonmembers who live nearby and are associated with the Ashram’s activities. The experimental international city of Auroville, founded by the Mother and based on Sri Aurobindo’s ideals, is located about 10 km from the Ashram; it has approximately 2000 members from around the world, and an international base of support groups called Auroville International.

107 References: www.kheper.net/topics/Aurobindo/SriAurobindo.htm www.sriaurobindoashram.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo

Gods and Godesses Crossword Puzzle - key

1 G 2 H A R I H A R A 3 4 N A R A S I M H A J 56 A M A T H U R A C 78 K L I V E R M O R E N H 9 10 U A V A I K H A N A S A 11 S A P T A R I S H I S O N N 12 H W D L A D 13 14 T A L A X M I I 15 16 I T W E L V E T R I K T 17 18 19 V A Y U A A B H I M A N Y U P L T R 20 H A N U M A N R M 21 22 P T V K E I 23 J A N A K I Y A Y L 24 R V A I K U N T H A A 25 V K A 26 27 G A N G A D K 28 T I D E E P A V A L I I L V D 29 A Y A J U R V E D A S K R 30 S H A K T I G 31 A R J U N A EclipseCrossword.com

108 Sri Bharati Krishna Teertha Shankaracharya of Puri, Computations – the Vedic Way

By Srinivas Pyda

The current day mathematics cultivated formalism and logic to an extent where anything and everything has to be understood giving secondary importance to solving a problem at hand. However, in the ancient Indian or Vedic traditions solving problems easily and effectively was given primary focus. Either way is fine. However, when we rehash and do a computation the Vedic way, it throws a lot of light into simplicity. In this article we will examine how could be done the Vedic way. Before we do that, we like to give some background history.

Background History: The person that brought out Vedic mathematics to the limelight is the Shankaracharya of Govardhana Matt in Puri, Sri Bharati Krishna TeerthaMaharaja (1884 – 1960). He wrote a book on Vedic Mathematics explaining 16 different sutras & sub-sustras and how they can be used to do various calculations. In this article we will use one sutra - Nikhilam Navata, Charamam Dasata, Anuroopena (All from 9, last from 10 --proportionately) – to see how multiplications could be done. Govardhana Matt is one of the 4 matts started by Adi Sankaracharya apart from the base Peetam in Kanchi. Vedas were considered as repositories of all Knowledge, not just in spiritual, but has also in secular/ temporal stuff. These are Rigveda, with Ayurveda (anatomy, physiology, surgery, etc) as Upa-veda, Samaveda with Gandharvaveda (science & art of Music) as Upa-veda, with (archery and military science) as Upa- veda and with Stapthyaveda (engineering, architecture, vaastu, etc) as Upa-veda. The 16 sutras that swamiji explained in his book with many illustrations come from Stapthyaveda.

The key to Vedic mathematics comes from (practice) all the techniques described below needs that abhyasa to see how simple they are. Another important point to notice is how & where the numbers are placed. Indians discovered “zero” – what does that mean – it means without having to have umpteen symbols, we can keep counting and writing any big number repeatedly using fixed number of symbols (in the decimal case, 10, with “0” as the terminating/starting symbol) in a sequence taking cognizance of the position these symbols appear. This digit placement plays a critical role in many of the techniques below.

109 Multiplication – a Vedic way: Here we expound using Nikhilam sutra, but could be done using Urdhva –Tiryagbhyam sutra also. : Nikhilam Navata, Charamam Dasata, Anuroopena (All from 9, last from 10 -proportionately) The rule is to subtract all the digits of the original number from 9 and the last one from 10 The last word – Anuroopena – is a corollary while playing with different base numbers than the round ones. Let us do actual examples.

Example 1: 97 * 91 = ? • Pick a base that is power of 10 à here we will choose 100 as it is close to operands. • Put the two numbers above and below. Subtract each from base & write remainders with “-“ in between (This is what the sutra is actually saying) 97 – 03 91 – 09 ______

88 | 27 • In the above 88 is obtained by cross subtracting (ie 97-9=88 or 91-3 = 88) and • 27 is obtained by multiplying 9 with 3. The answer is 8827. We can use any number of digits in the number and the multiplication is still as simple. The vertical “ |” is used to separate components coming from subtraction and multiplication and is often helpful when we need to carry over.

Example 2: 999993 * 999996 = ? 999993 – 7 999996 – 4 ______999989 | 000028

Here the base is 1 million(1,000,000). As the base is one million 7*4 should have 6 digits and that is why we see 4 zeros before 28.

Example 3: 53 * 98 = ? • 53 – 47 98 – 02 ______51 | 94 Here the base is 100.

110 Example 4: 888 * 998 = ? • 888 – 112 998 – 002 ______886 | 224

Here the base is 1000.

Example 5: 112 * 103 = ? • 112 + 12 103 + 03 ______115 | 36

Here the base is 100. As the numbers are higher than base, we put a “+” instead of “-“ and as usual we add across and multiply the compliments.

Example 6: 113 * 96 = ? • 113 + 13 96 – 04 ______109 | (-52) = 108 |48

Here the base is 100. As multiplicand of compliments is negative (ie –52), we simply borrow “1” from 109 giving us 48. (Note this is again same as applying Nikhilam navata, Charamam dasatha)

Example 7: 54 * 48 = ? • Here Take base as 10. As our numbers are close to 50, applying Anuroopena (proportionately) corollary, we need to multiply by 5. • 54 + 4 48 - 2 ______52 | (-8) = (52 *5) | (-8) = 260 | (-8) = 259 | 2

Example 8: Finding squares is now simple. 732 = ? • 73 +3 73 +3 ______76 | 9 = (76 *7) | 9 = 532 | 9

111 Example 9: using Urdhva –Tiryagbhyam Sutra Multiply 76 * 7 = ? • 7 6 0 7 ______(7*0) | (7*7 + 0*6) | (6*7) = 0| (49) | (42) = (49+4) | 2 = 532 Here 4 is carried over to 49.

Example 8 above can be done with Urdhva –Tiryagbhyam Sutra as follows. 7 3 7 3 _____ (7*7) | (7*3 + 7*3) | (3*3) = 49 | 42 | 9 = ((49+4) | 2 | 9 = 5329

The treatise by swamiji is very illuminating with many more techniques. Here is reference for interested readers. Vedic Mathematics By Bharati Krsna Tirthaji Maharaja and published by Motilal Banarasidass Publishers in Delhi.

Gods and their vahanas - key

1. n SHIVA a. TORTOISE 2. c VISHNU b. SWAN 3. b BRAHMA c. EAGLE 4. j SARASWATI d. HORSES 5. k LAXMI e. CROW 6. m YAMA f. RAM 7. g DURGA g. LION 8. d SUN h. FROG 9. e SHANI i. ELEPHANT 10. o GANESHA j. PEACOCK 11. f AGNI k. OWL 12. h SHUKRA l. DOG 13. a VARUNA m. BUFFALO 14. l BHAIRAVA n. BULL 15. i INDRA o. MOUSE

112 Sri Purandara Dasa

Divya Santhanam

Early Life Sri Purandara Dasa was born in 1484. He was the only son of a wealthy merchant. His original name was Srinivasa Nayaka. He married a girl named Saraswathi when he was 16. His parents died when he was 20, and he took over the family business. Srinivasa’s wealth increased so much that he was given the name “Navakoti Narayana.

His Transformation Srinivasa Nayaka was a greedy man and loved money. One day Lord Vishnu saw how greedy Srinivasa was. Lord Vishnu came down to Earth and disguised himself as a Brahmin. He talked to Srinivasa and asked for money for his son’s Upanayanam. Srinivasa declined every time. Six months later, the Brahmin went to Srinivasa’s wife and asked her for some money. His wife gave him her nose ring because she had no money. The Brahmin went back to Srinivasa and asked him if he could have some money for the nose ring and slowly pay him back.

When Srinivasa went home he asked his wife where her nose ring was. She was scared of what her husband would do if he found out the truth, so she decided to drink poison and end her life. She took the glass and heard a clanging noise inside it. When Srinivasa’s wife looked inside, she found the nose ring! When she showed it to Srinivasa, he was very confused. Suddenly, he realized that only God could have made the ring appear in the cup.

His Musical History Srinivasa Nayaka was ashamed of himself. He was so ashamed that he gave away all his money and became very poor. Instead of wearing jewels, he wore a “tulasi mala’” and carried a tamboora. He had to beg for food and money. He composed many songs (perhaps as many as 475,000), mainly about Lord Vishnu. He ended all his compositions with his penname, Purandara Vittala (a form of Vishnu). He’s called “Sangeetha Pitamaha’” or the Great Father of Music. He is supposed to have created the system of Carnatic music that is followed even today. Most of his songs are written in and some are in Sanskrit.

113 Purandara Dasa also had great influence on Hindustani music. The foremost Hindustani musician Tansen’s teacher, , was Purandara Dasa’s disciple. Purandara Dasa’s compositions are equally popular in Hindustani music. Hindustani music legends such as and have made them more popular in recent years. Young, well-known artists such as , Nagaraja Rao Havaldar, Ganapathi Bhatt, and Sharma are continuing the tradition of singing Purandara Dasa’s compositions in north Indian music concerts.

He introduced the raga Mayamalavagowla as the basic scale for music instruction and fashioned series of graded lessons such as swaravalis, janta swaras, alankaras, lakshana geetas, prabandhas, ugabhogas, thattu varase, geetha, sooladis and kritis. Another of his important contributions was the fusion of , raga, and laya in his compositions.

Conclusion Purandara Dasa lived in the last years of his life. He died in 1564 at age 80. He is still a very important part of Carnatic music. People sing his songs every day and we will always remember him as the Father of Carnatic Music.

References: Wikipedia.org Dvaita.org

114 Sri Ramanujacharya

Vaishnavi Kashyap Age 13

Shri , one of the most prominent followers of , was born on April 13, 1017 A.D. to Kesava Perumal Somayaji Dikhsitar and Kanthimathi Ammal. Supposedly an incarnation of Lakshmana, Lord Rama’s brother, he was named Ilaya Perumal at birth. The Vridha Padma Purana stated that he was “The Lord himself... come down on Earth as a Trinanda Sannyasin…to save men from the confusion and lead them to a True Faith.” During his early years, he lost his father, thus coming under the protection of “Tiruk kachi Nambi,” who supposedly had talked to Lord Varadaraja. At the age of 16, he had memorized all the Vedas and Shastras, and by 17, he was married to Rakshaakaambal. However, Ilaya Perumal was more learned than his teacher, Alavander, a Saivite Guru. On one occasion, he pointed out a mistake that his Guru had made, but the Guru, enraged at the audacity of his student, plotted to kill Ilaya. Learning of this plot through one of his classmates, Ilaya went to the outskirts of the village with the help of an aged couple. Finding that these people were no ordinary people, Ilaya realized that they were actually Lord Varadaraja and Perundevi Thayar. Soon the news came that Alavander was very sick and wished to meet his beloved student Ilaya Perumal. However, Alavander died before Ilaya reached him. During the procession, Ilaya noticed that 3 of Alavander’s fingers were folded, signifying 3 unfulfilled wishes. Ilaya immediately swore that he would: write a commentary on Veda Vyasa’s Bramha Sutra, keep the memory of Vyasa and Parasara everlasting, and lastly, strive to protect the holy collections of the Alwars (teach the doctrine of Saranagati to God as a means of Moksha), Alavander’s fingers relaxed.

That was only one of the myriad number of things that Sri Ramanuja vowed to do. One problem that he faced was his married life. His wife had a religious philosophy that differed from his and constantly argued with him. At the age of 30, he sent her to live with her parents and took “Sannyas” under the name of “Ramanuja.” There are always those people who disrespect the learned Acharyas. One of these evil-minded persons mixed poison into Ramanuja’s biksha. However, Sri Ramanuja, a very compassionate soul, forgave this person and sought to cleanse him. This avoidance of revenge is one of the most

115 important things that Sri Ramanuja contributed to the Indian heritage. Revenge is definitely not the way to keep one’s mind pure. Forgiveness and compassion will always win over any bad qualities. After mastering Sage Vyasa’s Boddhayaana Vritti, Sri Ramanujacharya wrote works like the Vedanta Sangraham, explaining the views of many learned Sages. Sri Ramanuja had many disciples; most of them had strayed into bad company but were cleansed by him.

Sri Ramanuja’s philosophy basically was , which in Advaita (oneness of God) with Vishesha (attributes).“The soul is real, eternal, individual, and not omnipresent.” In Ramanuja’s system of philosophy, the Lord (Narayana) has two inseparable Prakaras or modes, namely, the world and the souls. These are related to Him as the body is related to the soul. They have no existence apart from Him.

One should detach from all worldly pleasures and focus on attaining liberation by thinking only about God. Indians today can greatly benefit from his philosophies. If we forgive and forget, rather than plotting revenge and harboring vengeance, we will gain and strengthen our friendships. Also, if we keep reminding ourselves that God is the one who makes us do what we do, then we will be more successful in life.

Sri Ramanuja’s life and works are very inspirational. Sri. Ramanuja has written 9 books, referred to as the nine precious gems, the Navarathnas. He strived to protect the collections of Hinduism and never once strayed from the “holy path.” He was a person who realized that human beings are just instruments in the hands of God. God is the creator, preserver, and the destroyer. God sends down people like Sri Ramanujacharya to keep us on the right path that will lead us to the Truth. Sri Ramanuja was one of the greatest teachers who taught us not only to follow God, but to actually believe in Him and have faith in Him.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Ramanujacharya

116 Sri Syama Sastri

Aravind Rajagopalan Age 13

Sri Syama Sastri, a great composer of Carnatic music, was born in 1762 and was the eldest of the three great composers known as the Musical Trinity – “Sangeetha Mummurthigal.” He was a Brahmin whose ancestors had migrated from Andhra to Tamil Nadu. Sri Sastri was born at Thiruvarur in Thanjavur district and was named “Venkatasubrahmanyan” but out of affection was called “Syama Krishna.” His father was a hereditary priest (Archaka) who was doing daily pooja to the idol “Bangaru Kamakshi” originally brought from Kancheepuram. Around the age of ten, Sri Sastri’s family migrated to Thanjavur and settled there.

As a boy, Sri Sastri used to help his father in the daily pooja and became a great devotee of Goddess Kamakshi. He had a sound education in Telugu and Sanskrit and learned Vedas. He learned the rudiments of music from his maternal uncle. A great exponent of music, Sri Sangeetha Swami by name, happened to stay with his family for a chaturmasya (a period of four months during which a sanyasi stays at one place). With one look at Sri Sastri, the Swamy noted his inherent musical talent and taught him all the intricacies of Raga, Tala and Swara Prastharas which transformed him into a musical genius. Sri Sastri had some advanced training under Sri Adiyappa Iyer, an asthana pandit of Thanjavur palace and the composer of the famous Bhairavi “Viriboni.”

Sri Sastri took up his father’s duty of doing daily pooja to Goddess Bangaru Kamakshi and got inspiration from her. He soon became a great musician and composer. He composed songs mainly in Telugu but a few of them were also in Sanskrit and Tamil. All were in praise of Goddess Mother and had the mudra “Syama Krishna.” He is reported to have composed more than 300 compositions.

When he went to Madurai to worship Goddess Meenakshi, he composed 9 songs in her praise which are called “Navaratna Malika.” Among these 9 songs, the most well-known are: Sarojadala Netri (Shankarabaranam), Marivere Gathi (Ananda Bhairavi), Meena Lochana Brova (Danyasi) and Mayamma (). Sri Sastri is the architect of the musical form called Swarajathi. This was

117 originally a dance form, but Sastri transformed it into an attractive musical form by eliminating Jathi passages. His three Swarajathi’s – Rave Himagiri Kumari (Todi – Adi), Kamakshi Anudinamu (Bhairavi – Chapu), and Kamakshi Ni Padayugame (Yadukula Kamboji – Chapu) - are unparalled in their raga bhava and stand monuments to his creative genius. Some of his popular compositions are: Ninne Namminanu (Thodi), Kanaka Saila (), Birana Varalichi (Kalyani), Sankari Samkuru (Saveri), O Jagadamba (Ananda Bhairavi), Palinchu Kamakshi (Madhyamavathi), and Himadri Sute (Kalyani).

Unlike those of his more famous contemporaries, Sri Sastri’s compositions are not well known and distributed. This is due to two factors. First, his songs are of a scholarly nature and are in such intricate time-measures that only a person of high proficiency in music could master and sing them correctly. Secondly, he did not have many disciples to learn them with devotion and zeal and propagate them. He disdained royal favours and did not stoop to Narastuti (in praise of human). He avoided going to Thanjavur palace and declined the request of Mysore Maharajah to visit his palace and receive honors. Living at Thanjavur, he used to visit the nearby Thiruvaiyar often and discuss with Sri Tyagaraja Swamy their compositions.

Sri Sastri was a great SriVidya Upasaka who spoke to the Goddess and to whom the Goddess spoke. He gave SriVidya Upadesam – initiation into the cult of Devi Bhakti – to his contemporary Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar. Sri Sastri was also an expert in Astrology. His predictions were accurate. When his devoted and pious wife passed away, he predicted that he too would pass away in six days time. Hurriedly, a picture of him was painted by the palace painter, which Sri Sastri saw and approved. As predicted, on the sixth day, he left his mortal coil and attained the lotus feet of his Ishta – Goddess Sri Kamakshi – at the age of 65.

References: Great Composers – Prof. P. Sambamurthy – The Indian Music Publishing House – Seventh Edition, 2004. Compositions of Syama Sastri – Dr. T. K. Govinda Rao – Ganamandir Publications – Second Edition, 2003.

118 Srinivasa Ramanujan

Arvind Chari Age 21

Srinivasa Ramanujan was born of humble origins on December 22, 1887, in the City of Erode, Tamil Nadu, India. He was initially raised at the home of his maternal grandparents, but then moved on to live with his parents in the city of , in the Thanjavur district. When Ramanujan was 2 years old, a small pox outbreak devastated his town, killing his newborn brother. Ramanujan, although extremely sick as well, recovered, but this single event in his childhood was the precursor to a life filled with illness, and eventually premature death.

From a very early age, Ramanujan’s food and clothing lacked any particular quality of style. However, this prepubescent lack of luxury did not seem to affect his mind. Ramanujan attended several schools before the age of ten, finally settling down at Kangayan Primary School. His initial reluctance to attend his classes was quickly squelched when his mother got the local constable to make sure he went to school. After this issue was settled, Ramanujan excelled in all his subjects, passing his primary school exams with first rank in the district. By age 11, he had exhausted the mathematical knowledge of two college students who were lodgers at his home. He was later lent a book on advanced trigonometry written by S. L. Loney. He completely mastered this book by the age of 13 and discovered sophisticated theorems on his own. By 14, he was receiving certificates and academic awards which continued throughout his school career and also assisted the school in the logistics of assigning its 1200 students (each with their own needs) to its 35-odd teachers. He completed mathematical exams in half the allotted time, and showed a familiarity with infinite series.

It was at this point in his life, age 16, that he was introduced to the textbook that would shape the rest of his mathematical career. The book, A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics by George S. Carr, abounded with theorems and statements of mathematical fact; however many of them were stated without rigorous mathematical proof. Ramanujan took these formulae to be the basis for mathematical argumentation, and his future work would forever suffer from sloppiness in mathematical clarity, and a lack of clear direction. Yet, despite these drawbacks, Ramanjan’s interest was sparked, and his mathematical career had formally begun.

Ramanujan would go on to lead a very troubled adult life. He attended college at

119 the age of 17, later to be thrown out because of his lack of effort in all subjects other than mathematics. After attempting to attend the College of Madras and failing to pass the college entrance exam for the same reasons, he decided to continue his study of mathematics on his own. Ramanujan developed multiple theories all related to his original reading of Carr’s book. He would later understand that he had specifically derived many new theorems on ellipses and their modeling.

Ramanujan clearly loved mathematics. He would work for days on end without proper food or water. Often, he became extremely ill, and at many points was unable to continue his proofs. Ramanujan took up several menial jobs just to survive, including that of a mail clerk. Throughout these difficult times, he never lost sight of his work. Ramanujan, finally decided that his work was worth discussing in a larger forum, and sent his work to a pre-eminent English mathematician, G. H, Hardy at Cambridge University. G.H. Hardy immediately noticed the brilliance of Ramanujan. Despite the clear lack of formal mathematical training, he invited him to continue his work in England. Ramanujan, with the blessings of his mother, agreed.

Ramanujan spent five years in London deriving equations and finally received his PhD. He received numerous mathematical awards, and thrived academically in the environment. However, as was true of most of his life, his success was not without hardship. He fell ill once again, and was forced to return to India, where he soon passed away on 26th April, 1920 at the age of 32.

Ramanujan’s life is one that all Indians, as well as citizens of the world, can take pride in. Despite modest beginnings and no formal training, he was able to surpass many of the world’s most gifted mathematicians. By the young age of 32, he was considered one of the most gifted mathematicians alive, and had he been given more time, there is no telling what he may have discovered. Ramanujan’s story should shed light on every child’s potential, regardless of wealth or resource, to flourish.

References: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan The Man Who Knew Infinity : A Life of the Genius Ramanujan by Robert Kanigel

120 Susrutha

The sage, the surgeon & the samhita

Dr. Dharwar Achar Age 73

Susrutha, the Father of Clinical Surgery and Plastic Surgery during medieval times in India, was the son of well known Sage Vishwamitra. He was most revered and celebrated amongst the sages of his times, because of his vast knowledge and unique understanding of the depth of human illness. He devised many innovative surgical interventions which were greatly appreciated and acclaimed, and became popular in later times.

His famous treatise “Susrutha Samhita” was an extraordinary encyclopedia, both in its originality and in its pioneering surgical principles, processes and procedures, which described surgical treatment extensively. In older times, any other life sciences being non-existent, plants & herbs were the only means of treatment for diseases. Susrutha propounded the concept -”Amanthram Aksharam Naasthi, Naasthi Moolam Anaushadham”-meaning that, every herbal root/plant/leaf had some value or the other for human health. The ‘Samhita’, thus, is an ancient treasure for modern ages, in which the sage has revealed a profound spiritual philosophy of remedies for illness in simple yet pragmatic terms. Accuracy, precision and perfection find an important place in Susrutha’s writings and teachings.

He was a great and unforgettable inspiration to the contemporary world of medicine. In his ‘Samhita’, he explains the interface of healing through a combined practice of using both Ayurveda and surgery and how the two systems inter- relate. Even his definition of Health as a state of complete physical and mental well being and not merely absence of disease, is in tune with the definition of health by the World Health Organization. The Samhita was later translated into Arabic in the 18th Century A.D.

One of Susrutha’s well known procedures was the surgical repair of the nose. Cutting the nose was a common form of punishment those days (eg, Lakshmana cutting off the nose of Soorphanika in Ramayana). Susrutha’s method of treatment, plastic surgery of the cut nose (Rhinoplasty), was so well accepted that even later, British physicians travelled to India to learn more about the

121 pedicle grafting performed by natives here.

As a medical teacher, he ordained his students to practice surgery on inanimate objects such as cadavers, fruits (e.g. watermelons), vegetables, clay pots and reeds, to acquire expertise before treating human beings. Susrutha designed his own surgical instruments based on jaws of animals and birds and used horse hair and fibres of barks for stitching wounds. He advocated strongly that, no matter what surgical instruments one used, the hand is the most important and the best instrument. He dealt with such conditions as war injuries, amputations, bladder stones, fractures, cataracts, Cesarean sections and even brain surgery, using the basic concepts of asepsis and anesthesia. He emphasized that proficiency in one field can only be attained through a good knowledge of other areas as well.

Medical historians date the period of Susrutha around 600 B.C, long before Christ. It is indeed amazing that some of his surgical principles which had good scientific foundation are admired even today. Susrutha is known to have lived on the banks of the holy river Ganges, close to present day Banares, and acquired his proficiency through training from .

Through his “Samhita,” Sage Susrutha left an indelible mark and imprint on the medical world for many long succession of centuries to come. Our deepest adoration and salutations to him and his works.

References: Sharma P.V., History of Medicine in India, Delhi, Ind National of Science. D.P. Agarwal “ Susrutha, The Great Surgeon of Yore” Rana R.E. and Arora B.S. “History of Plastic Surgery in India”, J of Post Graduate Medicine.

122 Swami Vivekananda

Pratap Prasad Age 14 HCCC Youth volunteer

Swami Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863 in Calcutta, India as Narendranath Dutta in an orthodox Kayastha family. His parents were Vishwanath Dutta and Bhuvaneshwari Devi. His father was an attorney in the High court of Calcutta and his mother practiced austerities. His parents gave him two things, his rational mind and religious temperament, which would go on to shape his future thinking and make him a famous personality.

Narendra was home schooled before he got admitted to the Metropolitan Institution in 1871. He had varied interests and a wide range of scholarship in philosophy, history, the social sciences, arts, and literature. He showed keen interest in scriptural texts like Bhagavad Gita, Puranas, Ramayana, Upanishads, Vedas and Mahabharata. He was also well versed in classical music, both vocal and instrumental. Even as a child, he did not believe in superstitions and discrimination based on caste and religion. Since boyhood, he took an active interest in physical exercise, sports, and other organized activities. The influence of his interest in sports can be felt in his famous quote, “The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.” He passed the entrance exam and got into the Presidency College. The next year he shifted to the Scottish Church College and studied western philosophy and logic.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a famous mystic of the 19th century India. He was considered to be an avatar or incarnation of god by his disciples. Narendra’s meeting with Sri Ramakrishna in November in 1881 was a turning point in his life. His first impression of the Paramahamsa was skeptical; Narendra found him to be just an ordinary man who used simple language in his teachings. Yet Paramahamsa’s answer to his question, ‘Do you believe in God, Sir?’ impressed Narendra. In spite of being enamored of the great Sri Ramakrishna, he did not agree with all his teachings, such as the worship of Kali.

It was Narendra’s nature to test something thoroughly before accepting it, as is evident from one of his key teachings, “Take up one idea. Make that one idea part of your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other

123 idea alone. This is the way to success that is the way great spiritual giants are produced.” He learned this from his guru, the Paramahamsa who taught him to try and see the truth from all angles. During the course of five years of training under Ramakrishna, Narendra transformed from a restless youth to a mature man who was ready to renounce everything in a quest to realize God. He eventually accepted Ramakrishna wholeheartedly as his mentor and Guru and completely surrendered to his teachings.

He became a monk after the death of Ramakrishna and came to be known as Swami Vivekananda. He traveled around the world to the US, England, China, and other places in Europe to spread his teachings. His brief speech in the Parliament of in 1893 marked the beginning of western interest in Hinduism not as merely an exotic eastern oddity, but as a vital religious and philosophical tradition that might actually have something important to teach the West.

Swami Vivekananda left for posterity his four classics: Jnana-Yoga, Bhakti- Yoga, Karma-Yoga, and Raja-Yoga, all of which are outstanding on Hindu philosophy. He gave Hinduism a clear identity by advocating that the masses accept all Hindu doctrines. He explained that the views of all Hindu philosophers are one total view of reality and way of life known as Hinduism. He also ended the quarrels and competition among the various sects of Hinduism, which each claimed that its views were the only true and valid ones. He applied Sri Ramakrishna’s doctrine of Harmony (Samanvaya) to unify the various sects of Hinduism by explaining the principle of unity in diversity. He defended Hinduism during his visits to the West, and he integrated the best elements of Western culture into Hindu culture. He modernized the monastic ideals, followed in the Ramakrishna Order, by elevating the importance of social service and equating it to divine service.

Swami Vivekananda died while meditating after rupturing a blood vessel in his brain on July 4, 1902. In the course of a short life of thirty-nine years (1863- 1902), of which only ten were devoted to public activities, he left the world a better place than how he found it. The Ramakrishna Mission founded by Swami Vivekananda continues to propagate his teachings. His contribution to Hinduism makes him one of the most important pillars of Hinduism in the post 20th century modern world.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda http://www.rkmvc.ac.in/mission/vivekananda.html http://www.ramakrishna.org/sv.htm

124 Tyagaraja

Gopi Krishna HCCC -Y&E Samskritham class student

Tyagaraja was one of the greatest composers of Carnatic music, or classical South Indian music. His full name was Kakarla Tyaga Brahmam. He was a prolific composer and highly influential in the development of the South Indian classical music tradition. Tyagaraja composed thousands of devotional compositions, most of them in praise of Lord Rama. His compositions remain very popular even today. Of special mention are five of his compositions called the Pancharatna Krithis(English: ‘five gems’), which are often sung in programs in his honor.

Sri Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Syama Shastri are regarded as the “Trinity of Carnatic Music.” Tyagaraja is the most revered Vaaggyeakaara [Poet composer] among the trinity.Tyagaraja aaraadhana mahothsava is celebrated at the national level. No musician can get his musicianship without learning the krithis of Tyagaraja. He was a Gaayaka, Vainika, Vaaggeyakaara: a teacher, a philosopher, and a saint. More than this, he was a Raamabhaktha.Tyagaraja felt that God realization is best achieved through Nadopasana (devotion through music). His objective while practising music was purely devotional, as opposed to technical. He also showed aflair for composing music, and in his teens, composed his first song “Namo Namo Raghavayya” in the Desika Todi ragam, and inscribed it on the walls of the house.

Tyagaraja was born on 4th May, 1767 in Tiruvarur, a small town in the Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, to Kakarla Ramabrahmam and Sitamma in a Telugu Brahmin family of the Mulukanadu subsect. He was named Tyagaraja, after Lord Tyagaraja, the presiding deity of the temple at Tiruvarur. Tyagaraja was born at his grandfather Giriraja Kavi’s house. Giriraja Kavi was a poet-composer in the court of the king of Thanjavur. Tyagaraja was married at a young age to Parvatamma, who died shortly afterwards. He then married Kamalamba and they had a daughter named Sitalakshmi. Tyagaraja died on January 6, 1847.

At the age of five, Tyagayya had memorised the 24000 of Ramayana and would melodiously sing them after his father’s discourses on Ramayana. Thus Rama became part and parcel of his life. As a boy, Tyagaraja would assist his father in puja by bringing flowers and tulasi, walking nearly 3-5 kilometers. On

125 the way, he would pass the house of Sonti Venkataramana Bhagavathar, who used to teach Carnatic music. Tyagaraja, attracted by the music would listen for a few minutes every day, but one day he became so engrossed that he came late after collecting flowers. His father, on learning the cause, realised his liking for music. He immediately met the Bhagavathar and arranged for Tyagaraja’s lessons. Tyagaraja mastered the science of music within two years.

A few years later, Sonti Venkataramanayya invited Tyagaraja to perform at his house in Thanjavur. On that occasion, Tyagaraja sang Endaro Mahaanubhavulu, the fifth of thePancharatna Krithis. Pleased with Tyagaraja’s composition, Sonti Venkataramanayya informed the King of Thanjavur about Tyagaraja’s genius. The king sent an invitation, along with many rich gifts, inviting Tyagaraja to attend the royal court. Tyagaraja, however was not inclined towards a career at the court, and rejected the invitation outright, composing another gem of a kriti, Nidhi Chala Sukhama (English: “Does wealth bring happiness?”) on this occasion. Angered at Tyagaraja’s rejection of the royal offer, his brother threw the statues of Rama Tyagaraja used in his prayers into the nearby Kaveri River. Tyagaraja, unable to bear the separation with his Lord, went on pilgrimages to all the major temples in South India and composed many songs in praise of the deities of those temples.

The Pancharatna Kritis composed by Tyagaraja are: Jagadananda Karaka - Ragam Naatai; Dudukugala - Ragam Goulai; Sadhinchane - Ragam ; Kanakana Ruchira - Ragam ; Endaro Mahanubhavulu - Sri Ragam.

Tyagaraja experienced miracles all through his life. On several occasions, Rama, Lakshmana, Seetha and Anjaneya appeared before him and protected him. His krithis reveal all his experiences. He led a very simple life, singing bhajans and keerthans. In addition to nearly 600 compositions (kritis), Tyagaraja composed two musical plays in Telugu, the Prahalada Bhakti Vijayam and the Nauka Charitam. Prahlada Bhakti Vijayam is in five acts with 45 kritis set in 28 ragas and 138 verses in different in Telugu. Nauka Charitam is a shorter play in one act with 21 kritis set in 13 ragas and 43 verses. The latter is the most popular of Tyagaraja’s operas, and is a creation of the composer’s own imagination without basis in the Bhagavata Purana.

Tyagaraja’s works are some of the best and most beautiful literary expressions in the . Valmiki composed the Ramayana, the story of Rama, with 24,000 verses and incidentally Tyagaraja also composed 24,000 kritis in praise of the lord.

126 References: http://www.carnaticmusic.esmartmusic.com/sriTyagaraja/Tyagaraja.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyagaraja

Thyagaraja’s - Nidhi chaala sukhamaa

Raga Kalyani, 65 Mechakalyani Aa: S R2 G3 M2 P D2 N3 S Av: S N3 D2 P M2 G3 R2 S Taalam: Mishrachaapu

Lyrics: : nidhi cāla sukhamā? rāmuni sannidhi sēva sukhamā? nijamuga balku manasa!

Anupallavi: dadhi navanīta kśīramulu rucō? dāśarathi dhyāna bhajana sudhārasamu rucō?

Charanam: dama śamamanu gangā snānamu sukhamā? kardama durviṣaya kūpa snānamu sukhamā? mamatā bandhana yuta narastuti sukhamā? surapati tyāgarājanutuni kīrtana sukhamā?

English translation: What should save you truly, O Mind? Wealth or the service of His Kind? Should milk, curd and butter, the palate cheer? Or the nectar of singing about the Sire? Subduing the baser instincts, Is a dip in the holy Ganges; Giving in to carnal instincts, Into a pit of refuse one submerges. Should it please to sing a mortal frail, Bound by egotist cords, Or should it please to forever hail, The Lord of the gods?

127 Varahamihir

The Great Astronomer (505-587)

Ashwin Mohan Age 17 HCCC Youth volunteer

Daivajna was an astrologer, astronomer, and a great Indian mathematician. Also known as Mihira, he was considered to be one of the nine jewels of the great king Vikramaditya. He also compiled many books that enhanced our ability to solve mathematical as well as astronomical problems. Although very little of his background is known, he managed to be a great influence on the Western world. His various books contained vital information about our universe, and important trigonometric formulas.

One of his main works was the book Pancasiddhantika, dated 575 CE, gave us more information about older Indian texts which are now lost. The work included the five astronomical cannons, also known as . They were Surya, Vasishta, Paulisa, Romaka, and Brahma. The Romaka Siddhanta known as the “Doctrine of the Romans,” and the Paulisa Siddhanta also known as the “Doctrine of Paul” were two works of Western origin which influenced Varahamihira’s thoughts about science.

His most important contributions to mathematics were a range of trigonometric formulas that are used even today to solve a wide range of problems. These included formulas such as: sin x= cos ((π/2)-x, sin² x= (1-cos2x)/2, and sin²θ + cos²θ = 1. Other contributions included his sine tables; he improved those of Aryabhatta I to get more accurate values. The honour of the invention of permutations and combinations belong to Varahamihira.

He managed to publish another set of books, the Bruhad Samhita, and Bruhad Jatak. These historical books revealed his discoveries in the vast domains of constellations, science, geography, botany, and animal science. His contributions to astrology included books such as Daivaigya , Laghu Jataka, Yoga Yatra, and Vivaha Patal. Later, his son Prithuyasas also contributed in the ; his book Saara is a famous book on horoscopy.

128 Although limited information about Mihira is known, we all can learn from his contributions to mankind. He was a pioneer of numerous scientific and mathematical concepts that we all benefit from today. We must all honor his contributions and those of all other Indian philosophers and scientists who haven’t received enough credit for their work. Such great thinkers and inventors can be considered to be jewels in our vast Indian history. However, we must all do our part by passing such valuable information about our history from one generation to the next.

References: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. . Varahamihira biography. . Varahamihira and Vedic Mathematics. .

129 Vasishta

Saransh Gupta Age: 11 years HCCC Y&E Bhagavad Gita Class

Vasishta means a person who knows what is best (Visishta). Vasishta was the guru of Lord Rama, and of the entire Surya Vamsha. He is considered one of the Saptarishis - Seven Great Rishis. Whenever a famine occurred or there was no rainfall in Ayodhya, he came to the rescue of the city’s subjects by using the powers he achieved from penance. He also saved the people of Ayodhya from any danger. When Sage was unsuccessful in his attempts to bring the Ganges from heaven to earth, Sage Vasishta was the one who gave him a mantra with which he succeeded.

He is the manasaputra of Lord Brahma, the creator. Vasishta is credited as the chief author of the seventh Mandala of the Rig Veda. He was also author of Yoga Vasishta and Vasishta Samhita. Yoga Vasishta is his teaching to Lord Rama.

‘Yoga Vasishta,’ narrated by Vasishta and written by Valmiki, is the longest text in Sanskrit after Mahabharat and Ramayana and an important text of Yoga. The book has been dated between the 5th and 14th Century A.D. Sage Vasishta presented it to Prince Rama when he was in a state of dispassion at a young age. It is a great teaching which helps newcomers understand Hindu philosophy in a simpler way, and it is divided into six chapters: Dispassion, Qualifications of a Seeker, Creation, Existence, Dissolution, and Liberation. It is presented as a dialogue in a conversational style between Vasishta and Lord Rama, in which Vasishta explains to Lord Rama scientific ideas, philosophy about our conscience, the creation of our world, and the multiple universes in the world. The book consists of around thirty thousand slokas as well as numerous short stories and anecdotes used to help simplify the content. It is also called, Vasishta-Ramayana and Vasishta Geeta.

Vasishta was the Sadguru of his time, possessing 20 “kalas” or divine arts, and had complete knowledge of the whole cosmos and God. Many of his slokas are found in the Vedas as well. Vasishta married , who is famous for her virtue and devotion to her husband. Once there was a large flood that destroyed

130 their house, so they built a hut on the banks of the Saraswati River. He, along with Arundhati, established a Gurukula for students where he trained thousands of pundits.

Vasishta is well known for his role as Kulapati, or chief preceptor. He was always generous, and taught his disciples religion, philosophy, geography etc. There was peace and calmness around the hermitage at all times. The ashram was constantly filled with sounds of birds and the learning and chanting of mantras by students. Several holy sacrifices or “yagnas” were conducted here for the good of the world, and hundreds of visitors came to visit Vasishta each day. But as more people came to the Gurukula, he needed more milk, curds, and for his devotees, guests, and for the performance of sacrifices. Devendra, having admired Vasishta’s generosity and performance of sacrifices, gifted Vasishta with a holy cow named Nandini, who was the daughter of Kamadhenu. Since Nandini was a divine cow, she had the extraordinary power of giving the sage whatever he wished, so the ashram no longer had trouble getting milk, curds, and ghee.

Vishwamitra became a Brahmarshi after the interactions he had with Sage Vasishta. One day, King Kaushik (the original name of Sage Vishwamitra) visited Vasishta’s ashram with his army. Sage Vasishta with the blessings of the divine cow Nandini, fed the entire entourage. On hearing about the divine powers of Nandini, the king became greedy and wanted to take her to his kingdom. He expressed his desire to have Nandini, and Vasishta refused. The argument went on for quite some time, and finally, the King decided to take Nandini by force. The army tried to tie up Nandini but was unsuccessful because of her divine powers. After a long battle, the army finally lost. The king tried again with even more weapons and soldiers, but lost again. Soon after, he realized that the power of Vasishta was greater than his own physical powers, and he too wished to have such powers. So he gave his kingdom to his son and went to the forest to perform tapas and gain yogic powers. He was henceforth addressed as Saint Vishwamitra. He attained the title of Brahmarshi after years of austerities, and grew as famous as Vasishta, who himself acknowledged him (Viswamitra) as a Brahmarshi. Maharshi Vasishta was omniscient.

References: 1. http://ancientindians.wordpress.com/vasishtha/ 2. www.wikepedia.com 3. BRAHMARISHI Vasishta : Mythological Tales of Vasishta -www.urday.in/Vasishta.htm

131 Veda Vyasa Maharshi

Pavan Kumar Jonnalagadda Age 10 HCCC Y&E Bhagavad Gita Class

Vyasa-Krishna Dvaipayana, the narrator of Mahabharata, was born to Parasara Rishi and -Kanya Satyavati Devi towards the end of the . Krishna means dark-colored and Dvaipayana means born on an island of the Yamuna River. Veda Vyasa Jayanthi is celebrated on Shukla Chaturdi, also called “Guru Poornima.” Veda Vyasa ensured that the “,” on the basis of which man should lead his life on earth, were not lost forever.

In Vishnu Sahasranamam, Vyasa Maharshi is addressed as none other than Lord Vishnu himself: ”Vyasaya Vishnu Roopaya, Vyasa Roopaya Vishnave Namo Vai Brahma Nidaye, Vasishtaya Namo Nama.”

Veda Vyasa compiled the Vedas into four parts: Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva Veda. He was responsible for dividing the Vedas into four : the Mantra, the , the and the Upanishads. He elaborated the Vedas through the medium of “Puranas.” There are 18 puranas that Veda Vyasa wrote: , Padma purana, , , Bhagwata purana, Narayana purana, Markandeya purana, Agni purana, Bhavishya purana, , , purana, purana, purana, purana, Matsya purana, purana, and Brahmananda purana.

Vyasa was also responsible for helping to continue the lineage of the Kuru Dynasty. After he left the palace of Hastinapur for the forests to meditate on the Lord, King Shantanu met Satyavati and married her. Their 2 sons were Vichitraveerya and Chitrangada. Vichitraveerya had 2 wives named and . Vichitraveerya died shortly after marriage, so Satyavati, thinking that the dynasty would come to an end, thought of Vyasa. He appeared. When his mother asked him, he blessed Ambika with Dhritirashtra and Ambalika with Pandu. A third son Vidura was born with his blessings to a maid in the palace.

Vyasa authored the story of Mahabharata. Brahma came to Vyasa’s hermitage

132 and asked him to write the story as he witnessed it. Vyasa agreed but needed someone to write it for him. Brahma suggested Lord Ganesh. Lord Ganesh agreed, upon the condition that it should be narrated without a pause. Thus the story of 100,000 slokas was completed successfully in one sitting even though Ganesh had to break his tusk to continue writing. This is considered the most voluminous epic in the world!

Vyasa did most of his writing work on the banks of the river Saraswathi in a cave near the beginning of the Saraswathi waterfall, 4 km from Badrinath. Unfortunately for us, the river Saraswathi started drying up thousands of years ago, and people thought it was an imaginary river. Today, we can see the remnants of civilization on what was once the Saraswathi river bed. The Sthala Purana states that Sage Vyasa wrote the Mahabharata on the banks of Godavari. The Gyana Saraswathi temple, which was installed and propitiated by him, is located in this district, . Thus the place came to be known as Vyasara. My family visited this temple.

When Vyasa composed the ‘Jayam’, later called the Mahabharata, he wanted to include events that would help us understand the principles of Vedas and their connection to our daily life. He wanted to weave together all the stories of the Puranas so that people who were not able to study the Vedas in a Gurukula would understand them through stories. Vyasa also recorded the Krishna- Arjuna Samvada (conversation) known as Bhagavad-Gita in the Mahabharata. Thus he illustrated the Vedas and the Upanishads with the Mahabharata and recorded the entire summary again in the form of the Bhagavad Gita.

Even though Vyasa wrote so many scriptures and books, he lacked a sense of fulfillment. Narada said that this was because Vyasa had not yet written about the great devotees of the Lord. Vyasa then composed the story of the poornavatara Sri Krishna, the Srimad Bhagavatam. Like most rishis, Vyasa lived for hundreds of years. He lived throughout the Dwapar Yuga and ensured that the Lord’s guiding light for mankind continues to shine.

References: www.dlshq.org, http://ancientindians.wordpress.com/

133 OM KANAKADURGAI NAMAH

yā devi sarva-bhūtesu matru-rupena samsthithā namas thasyai namasthasyai namasthasyai namō namah

Salutation again and again to the Devi who abides in all beings in the form of the mother

134 Great Contributors to India’s Heritage - Crossword Puzzle

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4. This acharya was given the title of Purna 1. Also known as Kautilya. . 2. Father of ancient clinical and plastic 12. One who is known for teaching on Self surgery. enquiry and a book “Who am I?” 3. Famous physician who wrote a samhita on 13. One who composed many abhangs in traditional methods of healing. praise of Lord Vithoba. 5. The author of Ramcharitramanas. 14. This acharya was pioneer in aviation 6. Compiler of famous Yoga sutras. technology. 7. A great devotee of Lord Rama who 16. One of the greatest painter in the history gifted “Manache Shlok” and “Dasbodh to of India. the mankind”. 18. A prince and staunch young devotee of 8. Famouse devotee who made Lord Vishnu Lord Vishnu. to appear in half man - half Lion form. 21. He formulated sutras on Samskritam 9. This brave lady had a great debate with grammar. Sage Yajnavalkya. 22. The great philosopher who made a 10. Vedas were revealed to this sage. buffalo chant Vedas to prove God existed 11. She tasted fruits before offering to her lord. everywhere. 15. One of the great composers of carnatic 23. This acharya propounded Samkhya music. philosophy. 16. Mathematical genius who derived many 24. Blind poet and a great devotee of Lord new theorems on ellipses. Krishna. 17. A hunter who went on to become a 26. Pioneer in usage of bhasma as Maharshi. medicine and also known as Father of 19. Guru of Suryavamsa. Iatrochemistry. 20. youngest son of Shantanu, who gave 28. Sri Lalitha Sahasranama was revealed to on his death bed. this sage. 24. One of the beautiful and work of Kalidasa. 30. A rajput princess who is famous for her 25. Author of India’s national anthem. pure devotion to Lord Krishna. 27. Disciple of Bhagavatpada. 31. one of the nine jewels in King 29. One of his famous work is Ganita-sara- Vikramaditya’s court. sangraha. 33. One who propounded VishisthaAdvaita 32. A great philosopher and a devotee of Philosophy. Goddess Kali. 34. He introduced raga Mayamalavagowla. 35. Composer of 9 krithis in praise of deities at 38. He was the first to declare earth spins on Vaitheeswaran koil. its own axis. 36. famous disciple of Sri Ramakrishna 40. A great devotee of Sri Rama from Paramhamsa. Bhadrachalam. 37. She was more interested in knowledge and 41. Dattatreya the incaranation of Lord discussion of atman with her husband than Vishnu was born to this Sage. worldly life. 42. This great mathematician was given the 38. The name of the publication which Shri title Ganita Chudamani. Aurobindo started. 43. One of the panchakanyas. 39. Also known as panchali. 44. Maha Mrutunjaya Stotra is attributed to 42. One who wrote 6000 slokas on Natya this person for conquering death. Sastra. 45. Some of his contributions are Lilavati, Bijaganita and Siddhanta Shiromani. 46. One of the Brahmavadinis. 47. King who became a Brahmarishi.

136 Great Contributors to India’s Heritage - Crossword Puzzle

1 C 2 3 4 S C M A D H V A C H A R Y A 5 6 U T H A P 789 S S U A P N G A 10 11 R A L R R A A V S T 12 13 U M S R A M A N A T U K A R A M E H A T A I K H Y G D A N 14 15 16 17 B H A R A D W A J A L T R A V I V E R M A B J A T A A Y A A V A A 18 H S D H R U V A M L Y R L 19 20 21 R V G A M B P A N I N I 22 G Y A N E S H W A R A N I H S 23 M S R U K E K A P I L 24 25 S U R D A S I T A J I E 26 27 H A S N A G A R J U N A S S 28 29 A G A S T Y A H G A M M A 30 K T O M E E R A B A I N 31 32 U V A R A H A M I H I R H K 33 N A E R A M A N U J A C H A R Y A T M V R 34 35 A P U R A N D A R A D A S M I A 36 37 L K U V R M C 38 39 40 A R A R Y A B H A T T A I D R A M D A S H 41 M A T R I R H V R C I A S Y U E A H T R 42 B R A H M A G U P T A S K U A R Y H N W A P R E A 43 A M A N D O D A R I A N A Y Y 44 R M A R K A N D E Y A I 45 B H A S K A R A C H A R Y A I N I T D 46 47 L O P A M U D R A V I S H W A M I T R A EclipseCrossword.com

137 Can you find the 16 differences between this picture

138 and this picture ?

139 Acknowledgements

My Gratitude to MKA YES TEAM for their continued dedication:

Archana Ranganathan, Anand Gundu, Arjun I Shankar, Chitra Padmanabhan, Dharini Baskaran, Haranath Gnana, Jyoti Gundu, Laxmikant Joshi, Katyayini Satya, Madhu Ramesh, Padma Chari, Padmaja Madhusudan, Padma Subbaraman, Parvathi Sivaswamy, Rajgopal Kowligi, Savitha Setlur, Srikali Varanasi, Suman Jain, Subadra Subramanian, Sudhindra Goutam Vedanthi, Sunitha Krishnakumar, Smt. Vanlila Patel, Tejeshwar Bannur, Varsha Narasimhan.

Special thanks to Sri. Sridar Pootheri and Sri. TK Subramanian for the temple pictures.

Thanks to Sri Prakash Pokala, MKA2010 Chairman,

Sri. Suresh Katta, Sri. Suresh Sachdeva, Sri. Srinivas Pyda, Sri. Jegan Thambiaiah, and other devotees.

Thank you for your generous donation for this project.

Best regards Kamala Shankar, Editor-in-Chief HCCC Board of Director

140 Contents by Categories Great Devotees Dhruva 25 Markandeya 57 Mira Bai 59 Prahlad 71 Shabari 104

Great Mathematicians, Scientists & Astronomers Acharya Bharadwaja 1 Aryabhatta 9 Bhaskaracharya 13 Brahmagupta Bhillamalacarya 17 Charaka 21 Madhvacharya 44 Mahaviracharya 51 Nagarjuna 64 Sri Bharati Krishna Teertha 109 Sri Ramanujacharya 115 Srinivasa Ramanujan 119 Susrutha 121 Varahamihir 128

Great Philosophers Chanakya 19 Gargi 30 Lopamudra and Lalita Sahasranama 41 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa 78 Sarada Devi 102 Sri Aurobindo 106 Swami Vivekananda 123

141 Great Poets, Artists & Musicians Bhadrachala Ramadas 11 Goswami Tulsidas 32 Kalidasa 34 Muthuswami Dikshitar 61 Panini Maharshi 66 Patanjali 68 Rabindranath Tagore 73 Raja Ravi Varma 76 Samartha Ramdas 91 Sant Surdas 98 Sri Purandara Dasa 113 Sri Syama Sastri 117 Tyagaraja 125

Great Sages & Acharya Kapil 3 Adi Shankara 6 Maharshi Atri 47 Maharishi Valmiki 49 Maitreyi 53 Ramana Maharishi 81 Sage Agastya 84 Sage Bharatha 86 Sage Vishwamitra 88 Sant Gyaneshwar 95 Sant Tukaram 100 Vasishta 130 Veda Vyasa Maharshi 132

Great Personalities from Indian Mythology Bheeshma 15 Draupadi 27 Kunti 39 Mandodari 55

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