Arjuna’s Way

 Arjuna was the greatest warrior and archer in Mahabharata. His arch-enemy and rival was Karna, on the Kaurava side.

What made Arjuna an invincible?

Arjuna once vowed that he would kill his enemy Jayadrata, the King of Sindh the next day before sunset and if he failed in his mission then he would enter fire and end his life.

Jayadratha, then went to Drona, who was then the commander of the Kaurava army, and pleaded with him to protect his life.

Drona had been the guru for all the Pandavas and Kauravas in teaching the techniques of warfare. For Drona Arjuna, was the most favorite student.

Drona loved Arjuna and Arjuna loved Drona, throughout their lifetime.

Jayadratha was also a former pupil of Drona.

Drona then gave him words of consolation and said that he would design a very rare kind of vyuha or the arrangement of troops the next day that would baffle even Arjuna and thus save his life.

Jayadratha then got some courage for his life and asked Drona, as to whether he showed any partiality towards Arjuna and taught way too many war techniques than his other pupils including himself.

Drona replied to him that he never showed partiality between them but Arjuna was a better student and he always improved his craft. While all others had left their learning after they left his school or Gurukul, Arjuna kept on learning archery from various other sources.

He had gone to Kailash, pleased Lord Shiva with his bravery and courage, and obtained Pasupata astra. He had gone to the abode of Indra the Lord of Gods and had obtained divine astras from him.

He had also learned the nuances of the art of dancing in the abode of Indra.

Now, with all these sustained efforts on his part, he is easily better than me, replied Drona.

In the next day's battle, true to his words Drona formed the army in a complex triple Vyuha and kept Jayadratha at the very end of the formation. But defying all of them, Arjuna reached Jayadratha and killed him on time, fulfilling his words.

From this, we know that one has to be a lifelong learner.

Also, Arjuna, followed one more technique in life and that was, first he would kill those who surrounded and supported his enemies, isolate them, and then concentrate on killing them.

In other words, Arjuna would isolate his target, and then pounce upon it and go for the jugular. Karna, would not do that. He would go to the jugular straight.

The method of Arjuna’s was systematic in approach with clinical precision.

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                                                                    DEATH 

We think that physical death is the only death. That is ceasing to breathe is the only death.

Yes, it is the official way that death is defined.

But death may be a living death too and that may not be visible to others. To everyone around him, he might be living a bubbling life, but inside his heart, he may be a dead man. He would be the dead man walking, without others not knowing that fact.

Every one of us carries loads of our painful past, and many are not able to overcome those defeatist thoughts. While that may require healing time heals a lot. Even if the wounds are healed the scars remain for a lifetime.

Now, let us explore the different kinds of death.

1. We all know as mentioned already, the physical death.
2. Losing your honor is another kind of death. What is the use of living if we lose our honor?

When someone insults us in front of all the people then it is a death.

3. Poverty is another form of death. A poor man only pulls himself along and he seldom lives a life. He has constant worries about his next meal.

In Panchatantra, a verse aptly sums up the death due to poverty.

A beggar to the graveyard ‘hi’ed,

O! Friends corpse arise he cried.

One minute, lift my poverty,

For I am weary of my poverty,

You are rich and good,

The corpse was silent and then he knew that

It was better being dead than being alive and poor.

The above story is narrated about a beggar, who was living near a graveyard and one day, a wealthy man had passed away and his relatives were taking his body to the graveyard for giving proper last rites.

He thought that since the wealthy man had died and he had no more use for his wealth, so why can’t he the afflicted and poor ask for riches from him?

And he called out the dead man to give him some of his wealth. The corpse was silent and then he knew that it was better to be dead than be alive and poor.

4. Seeing your children suffer is another kind of death.

5. When someone you trust a lot betrays you, that is another form of death.

6. If you love somebody and then have to separate them, that is death. Then he/she might become your password because you cannot forget them.

7. Still more, a cruel form of death is being mocked by a person who initially loved you but deserted later.

The arrows lodged in your heart may be extricated, but the wordy arrows lodged into your hearts are not visible but they torment you all through your life.

Hence we should not abuse or insult others.

8. Defeat is another kind of death. Swami Vivekananda would say ‘With every success you live a little more and with every defeat you die a little’.

9. Killing another person with a weapon is punishable. But what if you don’t take any weapon to kill others but damage his reputation?

That is character assassination. Even though this is also a crime, there is no way to prove the character assassination and it is difficult to get over the scandalous charges.

There will be always someone who would say, that without fire no smoke comes out. Even, if you are as white as a swan, it is not possible to get over the scandalous charges. This is another kind of death

10. If you lived royally in your town, but due to a sudden reversal of fortune you have become poor, then that is another kind of death. Shastras says that we should not live in the same place where we once lived royally.

Our shastras, tell us how to lead a life that is worthy of leading and how to succeed in life.

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The Art of Magic Squares: Step-by-Step Solutions

Hinduism for Teens and Adults course day 1 13.7.2021

We all know that India or Bharat is the birthplace of Hinduism. But we will be astonished to note that no university teaches Hinduism to the Hindus or the people living in this subcontinent.

There is only one such University in the world that teaches Hinduism to people of all lands and cultures and that University is situated in the United States of America.

I came to know about Hindu University in America when I participated in a course conducted by BSIS or,  BHISHMA SCHOOL OF INDIC STUDIES https://www.bhishmaindics.org/ 

One faculty by name Narendra Joshi took classes for us in the BSIS was an alumnus of the Hindu University of America https://www.hua.edu/ 

The Hindu University of America conducts a lot of courses on Hinduism. One such course is 'Exploring Hinduism For Teens And Parents.' This course is conducted by Dr. D.K. Hari and Hema Hari.

The first time I came in contact with Dr. D.K. Hari was when he took a session on Kala Gnana or the calculation of the time some 8 years back.

That itself was a fascinating subject. Afterward, I had attended some short lectures regarding various aspects of Sanatan Dharma.

They both have created exhaustive content on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/BharathGyan They have a website called the https://bharathgyan.com/ 

They have also authored many books on the greatness of Bharat.

This is the first day of their course 'Exploring Hinduism for Teens and Parents'. The course was simply mind-blowing.

The first day took some time to settle down and get introduced to various features that are available to the students.

Once that part was over the classes took off well.

The question that was put was what was the original name of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The original name for the Arabian Sea was Sindhu Sagar because the river Sindhu drains into oceans there. The original name for the Bay of Bengal was Gangasagar.

Someone put a question as to why the Bay of Bengal is not called the Brahmaputra Sagar because it also drains into the oceans. 

The teachers said that the Brahmaputra is called by different names throughout its region of flow. In one place it is called the Yarlung Tsangpo, Siang, Jamuna (not to be confused with the Yamuna) it merges with the river Padma as the Ganges is called in Bangladesh and then this is called the Meghna until it drains into the ocean.

I never knew that the Brahmaputra is also called the Jamuna. New information to me.

 Then another interesting question was put; what is the meaning of Bharat. Our constitution names countries like India or Bharat. India is the name given to us by our western neighbors and the Europeans. The name India is derived from the name Sindhu. The Persians had a problem with the syllable S and wherever possible they substituted it with H. So the land that lied beyond the river Sindh came to be called by them Hindu instead of Sindhu.

The teachers it seems have traveled a lot of countries it seems and they say that we are called the Hind by the different cultures and nationalities.

On the other hand, the name 'Bharat' which is the name that we gave ourselves has a very interesting etymology.

'Bha' means light, like Bhaskar. 'Rath' means the chariot. 'Rath' is also closely related to the word 'Rathi' or delight.

That means we are people who are immersed in knowledge.

Sage Vishwamitra refers to our country as 'Bharat Janam' or the people living in Bharat. So the word of Bharat is there from the Vedic times.

How did this land come to be known as Bharat by our forefathers? 

There are a lot of Bharathas' in our mythology. Sri Rama's brother was called the Bharatha, the son born to the Dushyantha, and Sakunthala was called Bharatha and there was also a King called the Jada Bharatha.

How did the other cultures call us?

The Chinese are also an ancient and parallel culture to ours.

The Chinese called the King of the Turks the King of Lions for their being ferocious.

They called the King of Persia the King of the Kings for their wealth, glory, and fertile lands.

They called the King of Rome to be King of Men. The Romans glorified physical strength. The Rome and the Greece was the birthplace of the Olympics. Who can forget the Pheidippides.

The Greek and the Romans believed in physical fitness, valor, courage etc. They ruled a vast area of the land for a very long time.

They enslaved people from different parts of the world. Spartacus is an example of the rebel slave. It is said that at one point there were about 10 slaves for every Greek. 

But if you go to the Greece and Rome and ask them about their ancient culture, they would say that we do not know anything about that. Go to the museum and find it yourself.

If you go to the Persia and asked them about their past culture and religion which was called the Zorashtrians they would know nothing about that. 

But if you came to India, you need not ask them about their past culture and religion. Yes. We have taken a beating, our land mass has come down. Originally the Bharat extended from the Afghanistan to Pakistan to Bharat, to Bangladesh and to the Burma.

Now our land mass has come down but still we essentially keep or preserve the ancient culture and the religion intact. We still see temples more than thousand years old and the practice of worshipping the departed, etc remains the same. We still worship the idols all over the country. The mantras that we utter are all the same throughout the length and the breadth of India.

That means our roots are strong and they go deep.

The first class was only an appetizer. Now awaiting the main course.

How many Prime numbers are there | Are Prime Numbers the building block of Integers

Samhita or Joining in Taitarya Upanishad

Samhita means joining or union. 

We will see some unions here.

The idea is to take from the gross to the subtle.

There are five kinds of unions mentioned in this Upanishad.

1. Adi lokam - knowledge concerning the universe

2. Adi jyotisham - knowledge concerning light - luminosity

3. Adi Vidyam - knowledge concerning vidya or flow of Upanishad knowledge

4. Adi Prajam - knowledge concerning progeny (maintaining family line) and

5. Adi Atmam - knowledge concerning oneself as a human being.

First let us take Adi Lokam.

athadhilokam.h .prithivi purvarupam.h . dyauruttararupam.h .

akashah sandhih . vayuh sandhanam.h . ityadhilokam.h . . .

First, with regard to the worlds: The earth is the first form, heaven is the last from, the akasa or sky is the union and the air is the medium. Thus with regard to the worlds.

athadhijautisham.h . agnih purvarupam.h . aditya uttararupam.h . apah sandhih .

vaidyutah sandhanam.h . ityadhijyautisham.h . . .

Next, with regard to the heavenly lights: Fire is the first form, the sun is the second form, water is the union and lightning is the medium. Thus with regard to the heavenly lights.

athadhividyam.h .acharyah purvarupam.h…antevasyuttararupam.h . vidya sandhih . pravachana sandhanam.h . ityadhividyam.h ….

Next, with regard to knowledge: The teacher is the first form, the pupil is the second form, knowledge is the union and the recitation is the medium. Thus with regard to knowledge.

When the teacher and the student come together they come together with the object of learning. Therefore Vidya sandhih. What causes the transmission of the Vidya? It is pravachanan or discourse by the guru to his students.

athadhiprajam.h . mata purvarupam.h .pitottararupam.h . praja sandhih . prajanana                 sandhanam.h .ityadhiprajam.h ....

Next, with regard to progeny: The mother is the first form, the father is the second form, the progeny is the union and procreation is the medium. Thus with regard to the progeny.

The Mother is the first form and the father is the second form. When they both come together a child is born. What makes them come together? It is the fertility/marriage etc.

athadhyatmam.h . adhara hanuh purvarupam.h . uttara hanuruttararupam.h . vaksandhih . jihva sandhanam.h . ityadhyatmam.h …

Next, with regard to atman: The lower jaw is the first form, the upper jaw is the second form, the speech is the union and the tongue is the medium. Thus with regard to the atman.

Objects for meditation	Purva rupam (Prior form)	Uttara rupam (Latter form)	Sandhih (Union)	Sandhanam (Means of joining)
Universe	Earth	Heaven	Akasa	Air
Light	Fire	Sun	Water	Lightning
Knowledge	Teacher	Pupil	Knowledge	Recitation
Progeny	Mother	Father	Progeny	Procreation
Self Atman	Lower jaw	Upper jaw	Speech	Tongue

itima mahas hitah . ya evameta mahasa hita vyakhyata veda . sandhiyate prajaya pashubhih . brahmavarchasenannadyena suvargyena lokena …

These are the great Samhitas (combinations). He who meditates on these Samhitas, as here explained, becomes united with progeny, cattle, the light of Brahman, food and the heavenly world.

The idea is to go from the gross to the subtle. These mantras urge us to think like this to go from the gross to the subtle. If we think like this then the rewards are having a good marital life with good children, lot of wealth.

Think of this body, world etc as the gross then go one step at a time to the subtle or the atman.

We will be having that Brahman or God consciousness as the reward for thinking like this.

Needless to say that if we make it an habit to think like this in our day to day life we will be wealthy and successful in our life. Also we will get the enlightenment as a result of our pious life.

How Should A King Behave In Times Of Distress.

'How should a king behave when he is without money in his treasury, depleted army, his ministers not loyal to him as they tell others what is happening in the meetings', asked Yudhishthira.

To him, Bheeshma replied, 'the morality or the standards that are to be followed in ordinary circumstances is different from those that are to be followed in dire circumstances.

The king should always have access to his treasury, army, ministers, servants etc. So a king should in no circumstances even think of losing them.

The treasury and the army are like his two arms. Of these two if he has treasury he can maintain an army. So treasury is of utmost importance to him.

A king should see to it that he fills up the treasury in lawful means in ordinary times. But in dire circumstances, he can resort to dire measures.

Since a king is the one who supports the kingdom, the kingdom should support a king in his time of need.

In times of distress, he could resort to filling his treasury by taking whatever measure one needs to take even if it appears to be outright immoral.

Suppose a big tree is to be felled down, it cannot be felled down without causing disturbance or damage to other trees or living creatures living around it.

First, we have to cut down the branches. These branches may be entangled with the branches of other trees in the vicinity. When the branches fall down they may kill any animal living underneath it.

Likewise while filling his treasury a king may resort to such measures which are not always conducive to morality, virtue, or dharma.

But if a king is taken to excessive adherence to dharma, he may have to lose his kingdom or his subjects may have to suffer.

Each one has its proper place.

A king in dire needs can obtain wealth in not so straight means and in times of normalcy give it back to the people.

In this way, his people will not censure him and he will also not be liable for adharma.

A king that has a well-filled treasury obtains success here in this life. He also earns religious merit doing sacrifices and giving of his wealth.

In ordinary circumstances, his treasury should be filled up by righteous means and in dire circumstances, his treasury should be filled by means that may not be approved by the scriptures. But by following this path a king does not earn sin.