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The etymological root of deva/devi/devata/devataa means the shining or resplendent one.
Bhagavad Gita talks about desirable forms of tapasya. The idea is to purify oneself. The beauty of the Bhagavad Gita is that yajna and tapasya complement each other. They merge.
‘Those who perform terrible austerities, not sanctioned by the sacred texts [shastras], full of insolence and ego and deriving strength from desire and attachment, devoid of consciousness, torture the elements in the body and also me, inside the body [as the jivatman]. Know them to be driven by asura resolutions.’
‘Worship of gods, brahmanas24 [dvijas may also mean the first three varnas], gurus and the wise, purity, uprightness, brahmacharya and non-violence—these are known as physical austerities. Not uttering words that lead to anxiety, speaking the truth and that which is pleasant and leads to welfare and self-study—these are known as austerities in speech. Tranquillity of mind, gentleness, silence, self-control and purity of sentiments—these are known as mental austerities. These three types of austerities, performed single-mindedly by men, without attachment to the fruits and with supreme faith,
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six systems of darshana: Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta.
pancharatra (a sacrifice performed for five nights) philosophy, incorporating elements of bhakti (faith/devotion) and Vishnu’s avataras (incarnations).
ten avataras: Matsya (the fish), Kurma (the tortoise), Varaha (the boar), Narasimha (half-man, half-lion), Vamana (dwarf), Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and Kalki.
Bhagavad Gita is as a text, it is a smriti text. It is a not a shruti text. A shruti text is cast in stone. It does not change from one yuga to another. In contrast, a smriti text is context-specific. It reflects the value judgements of the time and the place in which it was composed and can vary from age to age.
Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.
Section 3(f) of this statute states: (i) ‘Sapinda relationship’ with reference to any person extends as far as the third generation (inclusive) in the line of ascent through the mother, and the fifth (inclusive) in the line of ascent through the father, the line being traced upwards in each case from the person concerned, who is to be counted as the first generation; (ii) two persons are said to be ‘sapinda’ of each other if one is a lineal ascendant of the other within the limits of sapinda relationship, or if they have a common lineal ascendant who is within the limits of sapinda
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‘The wise look equally upon a brahmana, who is learned and humble, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a shvapaka.’
Dharmashastra texts (like Manu Samhita) mention several other varnas, other than these four.
When varna became hereditary, inequities and oppression were indeed caused in the name of varna. But there is no evidence that varna was always hereditary.
individuals have different functional and occupational specializations, depending on their gunas. This is true of all societies.
Satyakama went to the sage Gautama. He wanted to study under Gautama. Gautama asked him about his parentage. ‘I don’t know who my father is,’ replied Satyakama. ‘My mother is Jabala and she has been with many men. I don’t know who my father is.’ Gautama replied, ‘You are a true brahmana, since you speak the truth,’ and accepted him as a student.
To become a true brahmana, you need to follow the codes of conduct laid down for brahmanas, such as in 4.4 of Manu Samhita.
shvavritti means servitude or service. A brahmana must never resort to this.
women weren’t required to take part in purificatory rites because menstruation was regarded a natural monthly process of purification.
those who are really close. After an anthropologist named Robin Dunbar, this is known as the Dunbar’s number and is roughly around 150, with a range between 100 and 250. Most people cannot handle a number more than this.
Sadachara is not the same as dharma. Sadachara is context-specific and transient. Dharma is perennial, irrespective of societies and the historical stage in their evolution.
The definition of Religion is four-fold; Veda, Smriti, Sadacharah (good conduct) and Atmatushti (self-satisfaction).’ This was what Dr B.R. Ambedkar said, speaking on the Hindu Code Bill.
Prithu, after whom prithivi or prithvi (earth) is named, was the first king.
truth alone triumphs. The quote comes from the Mundaka Upanishad.
this is ‘truth’ in the sense of achieving self-realization, not the mundane business of lying or not lying.
Manu Samhita was meant for satya yuga and not other yugas. And the Manu Samhita itself states that several practices are for brahmanas, not others.
All our texts suggest balance, restraint and the avoidance of excesses.
As an adult, the inability to digest milk is natural. The ability to digest it is the genetic mutation. We exhibit what is known as lactase persistence and therefore, even as adults, we are tolerant towards milk and dairy products.
Shanti Parva, when Bhishma is lying down on his bed of arrows and instructing Yudhishthira. Within that, there is a sub-section about apad dharma, the dharma in the time of calamities.
the word muni is etymologically linked to silence.
One can follow dharma only if one remains alive.
A true brahmana is one who does not harm, even when he has been harmed. A true brahmana is one who has conquered his rage.
I cannot, and should not, define myself in terms of external objects and their possession. Relations, however close, are external too. I cannot, and should not, define myself in terms of them.
You will find different renderings/texts of Bhaja Govindam. Usually, there will be twenty-six shlokas, but sometimes there may be an additional five shlokas, bringing the total to thirty-one.
Kith means friends, kin means relatives.
Any person who has placed himself nyasa) on the path of virtue and truth sat) is a sannyasi.
The first shloka mentions five kinds of fathers -s), the second seven. The consolidated list is: (1) Someone who gives you food; (2) Someone who saves you from fear; (3) Someone whose daughter you marry; (4) Someone who gives birth to you; (5) Someone who invests you with the sacred thread; (6) Someone who gives you knowledge; (7) Someone who confers a mantra on you; and (8) An elder brother.
putra doesn’t have to be biological. The dharmashastra texts mention other kinds of putras too.
We won’t find an answer to the question of ‘who am I’ through kith and kin.
‘Banishing the touch of external objects, focusing the eyes between the eyebrows, controlling the prana and apana breath equally within the nostrils, controlling the senses, the mind and the intellect, beyond desire, fear and anger, the muni who desires moksha is always liberated.’
‘Towards whatever the fickle and restless mind wanders, withdrawing it from that, bring it under the control of the atman.’
The Royal Library of Alexandria had an estimated 400,000 manuscripts.
We don’t have an exact figure for the library in Nalanda, but there were hundreds and thousands of manuscripts.
Silence gives us the opportunity to contemplate and introspect. A critical component of dhyana is silence and solitude.
the word ‘mantra’ means something that controls the mind (manas).
Empirism means testing it out, on the basis of experiments. Hinduism is actually a very empirical religion.
Gnosis means knowledge. Gnosis is cognate with the word (jnana), also meaning knowledge. Agnostic will be ignorant.
When Thomas Huxley (the first person to coin the word in 1869) or Bertrand Russell used the term agnostic, they had something very specific in mind
When one is told there was a healthy atheist tradition (Charvaka, Ajivikas, Lokayata) in India, one must be careful. Atheist in the sense of not believing in rituals and the Vedas? Certainly. There are shlokas against rituals in the Bhagavad Gita too. Atheist in the sense of not believing in a creator God? Certainly. Atheist in the sense of not believing in the atman? We are on very shaky ground here.
There are no binaries, no black and white. Each of us has shades of black and white.
Each one of us has sura traits and each one of us has asura traits.
