January 2019
“आचिनोति च शास्त्रार्थानाचारे स्थापयत्यपि।
स्वयमाचरते यस्मादाचार्यस्तेन चोच्यते॥”
“An Acharya is one who consolidates the essentials of a knowledge system, establishes them in tradition, and himself observes them in practice”
Introduction
The term ‘Acharya’ is reserved for one who teaches not by mere lecturing, but through the force of his personal conduct. In the context of modern Indian renaissance, there is perhaps nobody who deserves this...
The insights of the sort DVG possessed emanated precisely from this deep understanding of philosophy, or more accurately, his realization of Darshana. In other words, when we grasp the nature of the world characterized by name and form (nAma-rUpa), we develop what is known as the tara-tama vivEka—wisdom to grade worldly events and phenomena. In his own[1] words,
The subject matter of politics is human nature…a person who desires to work in...
Dharma-dhvaja
I recall an incident when Shivaswami Iyer once poked fun at a group of people, calling them ‘Dharma-dhvajas.’ This was during one of his lectures at the Lions’ Institute in Bangalore. “A person who wants to help others—i.e., who wants to perform acts of dharma—and also wishes to make his humanitarian service known to the public is called a dharma-dhvaja by Manu. Basically, he wants his flag (dhvaja) of ‘dharma’ flying high at all...
Writing just four years after India attained independence, DVG characterizes[1] our freedom from British rule as a “fruit” endowed with a “sour taste.” But more bluntly,
…what exactly is this fruit? Freedom is not a mango or a banana. It is a coconut. We need to have the skill to remove its fibre-covering, the strength to break its shell, and the patience to chew the copra [within]. Else, we will never be able to savour its full taste. This is...
"It's better to wear out than to rust out", Swami Vivekananda used to often say. True to these words, having worked tirelessly for over a decade, his body began to wear out by his late thirties. Diabetes, obesity and related complications made his health most precarious. There was a condition of general dropsy with his feet especially swollen, making it difficult for him to walk. His body became so sensitive that the slightest touch would cause...
Back at Hastināpura, the spies that Duryodhana had set out in search of the Pāṇḍavas returned to the capital and reported to their king. “We thoroughly searched the forests and we were unable to find the Pāṇḍavas there. We don’t know where they are gone. We heard that their chariots were taken to Dvārāvati and we went there to take a look. It appears that the charioteers had brought empty chariots without the heroes in it. There was no trace of...
೯
ಅರ್ಥಾಲಂಕಾರಗಳು ವಾಕ್ಯವಿಶ್ರಾಂತವಾದರೆ ಶಬ್ದಾಲಂಕಾರಗಳು ಶಬ್ದವಿಶ್ರಾಂತ. ಅಂದರೆ, ಇವುಗಳಿಗೆ ಶಬ್ದರೂಪದಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ತಾತ್ಪರ್ಯ. ಅರ್ಥಾಲಂಕಾರಗಳು ಬುದ್ಧಿಗಮ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಭಾವವನ್ನು ಮೀಟಿದರೆ ಶಬ್ದಾಲಂಕಾರಗಳು ಶ್ರವಣಗಮ್ಯವಾಗಿ ಭಾವವನ್ನು ತಟ್ಟುತ್ತವೆ. ಈ ಕಾರಣದಿಂದಲೇ ಇವುಗಳಿಗೆ ಪರಿವೃತ್ತಿಸಹತ್ವವಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಂದರೆ ಕವಿತೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬಳಕೆಯಾದ ಶಬ್ದಗಳಿಗೆ ಪರ್ಯಾಯಪದಗಳನ್ನಿಟ್ಟರೆ ಶಬ್ದಾಲಂಕಾರವೇ ಮರೆಯಾಗುವ ಸಾಧ್ಯತೆಯುಂಟು. ಇವುಗಳ ನಿರ್ಮಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಲ್ಪನೆಗಿಂತ ವ್ಯುತ್ಪತ್ತಿಯ ಪ್ರಮಾಣ ಹೆಚ್ಚು. ವಿಶೇಷತಃ ಇವುಗಳು ಪದಮಾತ್ರವಿಶ್ರಾಂತವಾದ ಕಾರಣ ನಿಘಂಟುಮೂಲದ...
In the present context, it would not be incorrect to say that the various expositions on sāmānya-dharma in the myriad smṛti texts have its origin in the conception of the eight ātma-guṇas in Gautama-dharma-sūtra, the fundamental kalpa-sūtra text. The kalpa-sūtras are the primary sources for dharma-śāstra and the foremost of the ancient dharma-śāstra texts is the one composed by Gautama; it is not an exaggeration to say that the eight ātma-guṇas...
Shivaswami Iyer was a Sanskrit scholar. V Krishnaswami Iyer was his friend, colleague, and sometimes an opponent in his profession as a lawyer. Krishnaswami Iyer founded a Saṃskṛta Mahāpāṭhaśālā in Mylapore, Madras and also established a medical school called Venkataramana Ayurvedic Dispensary. He too was a great scholar of Sanskrit and had compiled a Sanskrit work called Ārya-caritam. When he had to appoint new faculty for his Sanskrit college...
But at the doctrinal level, this consequence is the direct outcome of imposing the selfsame untested theory of freedom, democracy, liberty and related ideas fashioned in the West on an entire people who had fashioned their lives for more than three millennia based on a thoroughly different political, cultural and social inheritance. In other words, an all-encompassing and far-reaching change was thrust upon the entire population of the seventh...