

Sunday, May 29, 2016





















Sunday, May 22, 2016

Maha Bharata - Some Hidden Gems - 3 (Yayati)






Sunday, May 15, 2016

Maha Bharata - Some Hidden Gems - 2

From Book 1, Adiparva of Mahabharatha. Section 71-78 - Shakuntala addresses Dushyanta  

             Controlling her anger with extraordinary effort, Shakuntala (Shankunta is a bird; Shakuntala was so called because she was protected by birds when she was left behind by Menaka, her mother) addresses Dushyanta:
             “Knowing everything, O monarch, how can you act like an inferior person. You know the truth. You think no one else knows the truth. When people do sinful deeds they think that no one observed him. But, he is observed by the gods and by Him also who is in every heart. The Sun, the Moon, the Air, the Fire, the Earth, the Sky, Water, the heart, Yama, the day, the night, both twilights, and Dharma, all witness the acts of man. I am a wife devoted to my husband. I have come of my own accord, it is true. But do not, on that account, treat me with disrespect. I am your wife and, therefore, deserve to be treated respectfully. In the presence of so many, why dost thou treat me like an ordinary woman?

Even rishis cannot beget children without women. Don’t you know that the husband entering the womb of the wife cometh out himself in the form of the son?  That is why the wife is also called  Jaya (she of whom one is born). And the son that is so born rescues the spirits of deceased ancestors. That is why he is called putra, the one who saves (his ancestors) from the hell called Put.

She is a true wife who handles household affairs with care, is devoted to her husband and who has borne a son. Only those with wives can perform religious acts. The wife is a man's half and is the first of friends. The wife is the root of dharma, artha and kama. The wife is the root of salvation.

Since it is considered that a man is born as the son, a man whose wife hath borne a son should be looked upon as his mother. No man, even in anger, should ever do anything that is disagreeable to his wife, seeing that happiness, joy, and virtue--everything depends on the wife. Therefore, why are you treating me like this?

I brought your son up on my own and have brought him to you. Is there any happiness better than hugging a son who comes running towards you? Even ants support their own eggs without destroying them. Why are you not supporting your own child? Let this handsome son of yours hug you".
Then, Shakuntala recounts her story of how she was born of Viswamitra and Menaka and how she was abandoned and was brought up by Sage Kanva etc. (There is a statement in this section of Mahabharatha that “the maker of the body, the protector of life and the giver of food are all fathers) Dusyanta says he does not believe all that story (in essence he criticizes her mother’s “indiscretion”) and he does not remember her. Shakuntala says “how it is easy to find fault with others and ignore one’s own. Wicked people look for bad things when someone speaks both good and evil things, like swine do.  Noble ones look for good things even when mixed with evil, just like a swan separates milk from water (This seems to be the most original site for this common expression). You are taking the weak things I have said and ignoring the important things I said”.

Then, she mentions five kinds of sons: one from the wife, one gifted by someone, one purchased, one reared out of affection and one from another woman not wedded. She seems to suggest that a son is a son and it is the father’s duty to protect and love him. She says: “Take this son of yours and protect him. Be truthful because truth is the highest vow, there is nothing higher than truth and it is as high as the study of the Vedas. If you give no credit to my word, I will leave, but leaving our son with you, so he may rule at the end of your reign” and she walks out. (Remember, the son is Bharatha, whose name is still the name of India)

            Then, a celestial voice comes and tells Dushyanta and all his royal assembly how Shakuntala told the truth and that Bharatha is indeed his son and that he should accept them. Dushyanta does, but after saying that he was sorry he caused pain to Shakuntala. He had to do it, he said, in order to convince his subjects and household that indeed he had married Shakuntala and it was not a lustful union. (Remember a similar situation when Rama accepts Sita after she was imprisoned by Ravana)

            One other side-story is Kalidasa’s version of this story. In that version, a ring given by Dushyanta is the reminder to him of their wedding and not a celestial voice. More important in Kalidasa’s version is an eloquent, beautiful poetry from the mouth of sage Kanwa (Kalidasa calls him Kashyapa), when he sends Shakuntala to her husband’s house. It is so beautiful in its original Sanskrit that I encourage anyone who knows how to understand even a little Sanskrit to go and read.
                There are several passages in Act 4 on this topic of a daughter going to her husband’s house for the first time. The special one is poem 5, Act 4.  Kanwa (Kashyapa) says: “Shakuntala is going to leave today to her husband’s house. I am choking with emotions. My eyes are tearing. My eye sight is blinded with anxiety. If this is the feeling of a father, that too a forest dweller, who just happened to have raised her, how will a parent feel when the daughter leaves home".

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Maha Bharata - Some Hidden Gems - 1

All of us who grew up in India have experienced story-telling in its glorious form in our villages and towns. They are called Katha-Kalakshepam, which means spending time (kala-kshepam) telling stories (katha). The tradition of story-telling is universal. Even tribes living in isolated communities spread their culture and myths through story-telling. (Please read a book by Mario Vargas Lhosa called The Story Teller. It is a fiction, but captures the essence of this tradition)

Wandering story-tellers are a special breed. They go from village to village and entertain people in the evenings with their stories, songs and legends. From what I know, there is still one such family left in India). Our own Puranas, particularly Mahabharatha and Ramayana lend themselves to story-telling remarkably well. Indeed, the tradition at the time when our puranas were written was for the king’s retinue to move from place to place performing sacrifices (yagna). In the evenings everyone gathered around when someone recounted puranic stories. The famous Mahabharatha itself is written in that mode, as stories told during the sacrifices performed by Janamejaya.

As a child I enjoyed those stories and, without being aware, learnt (imbibed is a better word) plenty of morals from our heroes Rama, Krishna and King Sibi and Karna. As I grew older I was not satisfied because our Bhagavathars (the name for the story tellers in its traditional form) were telling only the stories and perpetuating myths without telling us the many gems buried between the stories.

Yes, when you go to the originals, there are several conversations between the various characters in these epics which are profound. They teach morals, state-craft, deep philosophy and many more. These are left out by the story-tellers. It is particularly sad because it is accepted that if you cannot find a subject of importance in life (dharma, artha, kama and moksha) dealt with in Mahabharatha, you will not find it mentioned anywhere else either.

 Since most of us enjoy hearing stories, we go away happy at the end of the kalakshepam. The bhagavathar knows that if he (or she) started moralizing, he will lose the audience. But very few of us go to the original and read what is written in between these stories. I wish to correct the void.

Here is a book purely based on the gaps in the stories that we are told. Enjoy.

Here is the first of my series. This one is out of order. It is also from a different source. Later, I hope to cover these episodes, in sequence if possible from the Mahabharatha. My source is a website where the entire Mahabharatha can be found in Sanskrit ( with a scholarly verse-by-verse English translation by Prof. K M Ganguli).

In between these stories, other thoughts will also be shared, as my inspiration dictates .  

Arjuna’s Doubt – Same question, different answers 

Here is an episode from Mahabharatha as told by the famous Tamil Poet Subrahmania Bharathiyar in his book of short stories (Gayathri Publications, Thiruchi 3rd Print 2012, pages 262-264)

All the questions are from Arjuna about war and peace. He asks different people and gets different answers with different explanations.

Arjuna asks Karna: Which is better – war or peace?”  Karna says that peace is better. When asked for the reason, Karna says: “If there is a war I will have to hurt you. You will suffer and I cannot bear to see you suffering. Therefore, both of us will suffer. That is why”. Arjuna says that his question was not personal but universal. Karna says that he does not spend time thinking about universal matters. Remember, Karna is a brother of Arjuna and neither of them know it. Indeed, if Indra did not “cheat” Karna to part with his armor with which he was born, he could not have been killed by anyone.

Arjuna then asks Drona, his archery teacher the same question. He replies that war is better because it is the duty of the warrior caste. Besides in war one gets famous by winning or dies, in which case he reaches “heaven”.

Arjuna goes to his wise grandfather, Bhishma and askes the same question. He says that peace is better because only the warriors class benefits by wars whereas the entire humanity benefits in peace. Arjuna says that he does not agree. Bhishma asks for a reason. Arjuna says that Karna thinks he is better than Arjuna and only if there is a war (between the Kauravas and the Pandavas) will the world know who is truly better. Bhishma advises Arjuna: “Child, Dharma (righteousness) will establish itself and will always win – by war or by peace. Therefore, control your anger. Consider all lives as your siblings and seek peace. Let there be love all around”.

Later, Arjuna meets Sage Vyasa, who wrote the Mahabharatha and asks the same question. Vyasa says that the preference depends on the circumstances. “Sometimes, war is better and other times peace is”.

Finally, Arjuna asks Krishna (Arjuna’s Divine counterpart) the same question just before Krishna is getting ready to go to Hastinapura as an emissary for the Pandavas. Lord Krishna says: “At present, peace is better. That is why I am going to Hastinapura to seek peace”.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Blaise Pascal and Pascal's Wager

Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher. He was born in 1623 and died at the young age of 39 of stomach cancer, in 1662. He invented a calculator called Pascaline, which some believe is the forerunner of computers. By recording barometric pressure at various altitudes, he validated Torricelli's theory and in recognition of this work came the Pa unit as measurement of this physical phenomenon. His work on the fixed likelihood of a particular outcome in the rolling of dice in gambling was the beginning of the modern theory of probabilities.  

In his introduction to Blaise Pascals’ book entitled Pensee, T. S. Eliot recommends Pascal to “those who doubt, but who have the mind to conceive, and the sensibility to feel the disorder, the futility, the meaninglessness, the mystery of life and suffering, and who can only find peace through a satisfaction of the whole being”.

Now to Pascal himself in the Pensees;

 “…One must have very clear sight to see all the principles, and in the next place an accurate mind not to draw false deductions from known principles.”  

“Words differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings differently arranged have different effects”.

“The whole visible world is only an imperceptible atom in the ample bosom of nature. No idea approaches it………..What is a man in the Infinite?”

“Since he (refers to man/woman) is infinitely removed from comprehending the extremes, the end of things and their beginning are hopelessly hidden from him in an impenetrable secret, he is equally incapable of seeing the Nothing from which he was made, and the Infinite in which he is swallowed up.” (My italics)

“We naturally believe ourselves far more capable of reaching the center of things than of embracing their circumference. ”  “Let us not therefore look for certainty and stability”.  How can part know the whole?”

“Since everything then is cause and effect, dependent and supporting, mediate and immediate, and all is held together by a natural though imperceptible chain, which binds together things most distant and most different, I hold it equally impossible to know the parts without knowing the whole and to know the whole without knowing the parts in detail.”


“Justice and truth are two such subtle points, that our tools are too blunt to touch them accurately.”

“…. The most powerful cause of error is the war existing between the senses and reason.”  “These two sources of truth, senses and reason, besides being both wanting in sincerity, deceive each other in turn.”


“The great and the humble have the same misfortunes, the same grief, the same passions, but the one is at the top of the wheel, and the other near the center, and so less disturbed by the same revolution.”

 (These following passage from Pascal’s Pensees is similar to the thoughts from the Upanishad. It is also similar to what Lord Krishna tells Narada about His relationship with several Gopis (devotees and admirers) all at the same time.)  “Do you believe it to be impossible that God is infinite, without parts?  - yes, I wish therefore to show you an infinite and indivisible thing. It is a point moving everywhere with an infinite velocity; for it is one in all places, and is all totality in every place.  

This section (233) also has a profound discussion on “God is, or He is not”. ……. Reason can decide nothing here………What will you wager?...According to reason you can do neither the one thing nor the other. According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.”

“But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing.  Wager, then, without hesitation that He is”  (This is the famous Pascals’ wager)

 The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know” (section 277)

“It is your own assent to yourself, and the constant voice of your own reason, and not of others, that should make you believe”. ( section 260)

“It is right that what is just should be obeyed; it is necessary that what is strongest should be obeyed. Justice without might is helpless; might without justice is tyrannical………We must then combine justice and might, and for this end make what is just strong, or what is wrong just……..” ( section 298)

“….we have an idea of happiness, and cannot reach it. We perceive an image of truth, and possess only a lie. Incapable of absolute ignorance and of certain knowledge, we …..”

“True religion consists in annihilating self before that Universal being………” (the essence of oriental meditative practice)

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious convictions” ( section 894)