#indology

[noosphe-re]

[indicatoday]

Multidimensional Features And Perspectives Of “Parenting” In Hinduism And Modern Psychology - Indic Today

Parenting is the art and science of making the next generation. How much a society invests in it determines its course of continuity, prospe

Indic academy initiative for publishing content on Shastraas, Indic Knowledge Systems & Indology and to showcase the activities of Indic Academy.

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https://www.indica.today/

[authorkoushik]

The Story of Sarama from Adi parva of Mahabharata and its essence in present context

The chapter three of adi parva of mahabharata narrates the story of the celestial feminine hound sarama. the dog of the gods. the story happens in the time of Janamejaya the son of pareekshit. ( the famous devotee of lord vishnu who listened to srimad bhagavata purana from the holy saint and realised guru shika brahma maharshi - son of vyaasa maharshi. )

Janamejaya was in a sacred sacrifice along with his brothers . One of the sons of sarama came to that place where the sacred sacrifice was happening.

Since the place was sacred and the brothers of janamejaya feared that the purity of the place may be spoiled by this dog and they hit him and drove him away. the dog cried and pain and sought refuge in his mother sarama - the celestial dog.

She asked her child in a lovely and clear tone, what has happened to you dear child, why are you crying, who has beaten you. the dog answered as he continued weeping. “ brothers of the great king janamejaya of bharata varsha have beaten me. Sarama immediately responded with a question “did you do any wrong?” she asked.  He said in  a sad painful “No mother!, I have committed no sin nor any fault. I did neither touched the sanctified clarified butter (ghruta - ghee) or touch any other materials. In fact I did not even look unto that direction.”  disheartened by the unnecessary affliction of her son, Sarama decided  have a talk with the king before making conclusions, she went to the place of sacrifice and addressed king Janamejaya directly.  She said “ O king, My son has no fault, he neither licked the sacred offerings nor did he looked at them with desire. your brothers have hit him hard and shooed him away.  why has he been beaten? she asked in an angry and majestic tone. There was an awkward silence in the place. the brothers could not defend themselves for their arrogant act. Their silence infuriated Sarama. she felt it was an effort to ignore her. she cursed “ as you all have beaten up an innocent blinded by your power and strength without respecting Dharma -  righteousness and unbiased justice)  you  all would suffer from an unknown and unseen fear (danger) when it is least expected.

न किंचिदुक्तवन्तस्ते सा तानुवाच यस्मादयमभिहतोऽनपकारी तस्माददृष्टं त्वां भयमागमिष्यतीति॥  1-3-9 (708) जनमेजय एवमुक्तो देवशुन्या सरमया भृशं संभ्रान्तो विषण्णश्चासीत्

when she uttered these words janamejaya became totally shunned and perplexed,  he indulged in an effort to seek a purohita  to  pacify the effect of the curse with prayachittas for his sin after the sacred sacrifice was completed.  later found a great sage somasrava son of sage srutasrava and requested him to be his purohita

and the story continues...

if we note carefully in the story , sarama asks if the dog has touched something or licked something sacred when she asks why he has been beaten up and also insists to the king Janamejaya that the dog is faultless as he did not do either which was mentioned above, and hence we can interpret that existence of the dog in the place is not something punishable but it is said not to have dogs inside the house , to avoid such natural canine behaviour  

Hence  we can understand that all beings ( dogs to priests have been granted the equal right in justice in the holy way of sanatana dharma. there there are rules quoted in some places and scriptures that dogs cannot be allowed in certain places, that does not mean that they must be  not be fed or must be let down or be hurt ( by taking the name of scriptures) in vain. 

the essence of sanatana dharma preaches and instructs protection of all living beings including animals and birds and its equated to sacred sacrifice. offering food and protecting the living beings are a part of gruhastas ( house holder’s duties)

of course you need not let animals inside your place of worship or your bedrooms or even inside houses but taming them and giving them a home in current contexts cannot be projected as something against sanatana dharma and if done so is a clear misrepresentation.

one can always tie their pets in their respective places on auspicious days but when generic statements are passed that may convey things otherwise in my humble opinion.

bhuta daya (kindness shown to beings is one of the primary parts of sanatana dharma.

सर्वभूतसुहृत् शान्तः ज्ञानविज्ञाननिश्चयः। पश्यन् मदात्मकं विश्वं न विपद्येत वै पुनः॥१२॥

- uddhava geetaa chapter seven verse 12

he who is calm and peaceful and a well wisher , friend to all being who has determined and unshakable wisdom , who is always seeing the world as my own form ( form of supreme godhood - param brahman) he doesn’t fall again. ( he doesn’t perish and lose himself in the cycle of mundane cycles of birth, life and death)

[indicatoday]

Svādhyāya: Studying Our Holy Books-Part XI - Indic Today

In addition to Sanskrit and Tamil, many other Indian as well as non-Indian languages were used for composing Hindu scriptures. For e.g., we

Indic academy initiative for publishing content on Shastraas, Indic Knowledge Systems & Indology and to showcase the activities of Indic Academy.

Visit us:

https://www.indica.today/

[authorkoushik]

Gaurivallabha.. A Prayer to Shiva for Protection

गौरीवल्लभ कामारे कालकूटविषादन

मामुद्वरापदम्भोधेस्त्रिपुरघ्नान्तकान्तक​

gaurīvallabha kāmāre kālakūṭaviṣādana

māmudvarāpadambhodhestripuraghnāntakāntaka​

gaurīvallabha - O consort of Gauri

kāmāre - O foe of kāma (the god of lust and desire)

kālakūṭaviṣādana  - O one who devoured the great poison of kālakūṭa

māmudvarāpadambhodheh - Uplift me from the ocean of calamities and dangers.

tripuraghna - O destroyer of three cities

antakāntaka​ - O destroyer of Death

A prayer on Lord Shiva seeking protection from all kinds of dangers and calamities. the prayer request Lord Shiva to uplift the devotee from the ocean of dangers and conflicts. the sloka praises Lord Shiva with 3 main epithets. Gauri Vallabha - the eternal consort and Lord of Gauri, kamare - the four of the deity of lust , and Kaala koota vishaadana - o n e who devoured the poison HalaHala.

These 3 epithets clearly describe and establish the incomparable prowess of the Lord.

Gauri is the personification of all nature. Shiva is her Lord and master. hence the entire nature is obedient to him.

The universe runs on his divine will. proves that the Lord is our protector who defends us from all physical dangers and the metaphysical.

kāma is the embodiment of lust , Desire and attachment. which is the root cause of all problems in the psychological plane. Desire leads to other bad qualities like greed , wrath, delusion, ego, selfishness, Pride and others. Lord Shiva has subdued the god of lust and defeated him by burning him to ashes with his third eye ( representation of wisdom) so when he is prayed to with this epithet, he defeats the lust and other qualities following it in the mind of the devotee and bless him with peace of mind calmness and intelligence .

the next epithet  Describes Lord Shiva drinking the Great poison Haalaahala  for the welfare  of all the worlds  gods humans and Demons show his   unconditional love towards everyone and great strength which can   Surpass the greatest venom of all time and  live with an  eternal mark   unaffected ,   and the mark of the great poison  turned into a mere decoration.  the shows  no danger can  overpower him.   thus  he is the ultimate shelter for all of us  in all situations.  Let us take him as  our  sole asylum and surrender on his holy feet through this prayer.

May he save us , guide us and lead us in the path of light.

after the prayer for protection two epithets are chanted to praise him.

they are tripuraghna , and antakaantaka

tripuraghna - lord who destroyed the three demon cities

the three cities represent the three modes of material nature - ( satva ,   rajas and tamas ) the three bodily states ( jaagrat - awaken , svapna - dream and the sushupti.- deep sleep)  

burning of the three cities are more philosophically explained in the upanishads )

antakaantaka - he who puts an end to death himself. death is one of the greatest dangers ( as perceived by the life forms ) though death and birth are two sides of the same coin endlessly tossed in cycles by the maaya ( the great delusion which is samsara)

Lord Shiva puts an end to death by blessing us with the ultimate wisdom of self realization.

the name tripuraghna and antakantaka (mrutyunjaya) has both material and spiritual benefits for being chanted with devotion.

five different aspects and forms of Shiva are remembered and prayed to through this shloka (sacred verse of praise)

[thursdayisbetterthanfriday]

The last indologist: »Fortunately, there are still places in the world that haven’t given up on history« — University Post

The University of Copenhagen has an invaluable collection of ancient Indian manuscripts. But all the people who knew how to read them have b

"Back in 2016, the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) shut down five small cultural and language programmes at its Faculty of Humanities: Finnish, Tibetology, Thai, Indonesian, and Indology....

The tragedy is the fact that there is no longer anyone at the university who has the skills to read them.

»The continued de-prioritization of the humanities has resulted in UCPH owning an important collection of Sanskrit manuscripts that could have had immense research potential, but that are now going to waste,« says Jacob Schmidt-Madsen....

»There are fortunately still places in the world that haven’t given up on history. I now continue my work on ancient Indian games and gaming cultures in Berlin, but I do wish I could have done it in Copenhagen.«"

[lesewut]

How the Idea of God developed in Ancient India and their proofs of the Existence of God

From the series Theological Theories of the Orient - A highly informative, mentally overwhelming, spiritual overloading and awe-inspiring work: "The Progress of The Idea of God by the Indians and their Evidences for the Existence of God" written by the Altmeister of Indology Prof. Hermann Jacobi in 1923, published by W. Kirfel, who was the student and later successor of Jacobi's professorial chair. This edition also includes "The Philosophy of Madhvachaya" by Prof. Helmuth von Glasenapp, who's work is still used as standard reference for Sanskrit studies (even in India) and he also undertook the philosophical systems of Herder and Kant for a comparative analysis in consideration of Indian philosophy.

Thousand years of spuculation and theories, abstract ideas and deep timeless wisdom - Diving into Hindu cosmogony is a mental journey that must advance to a life task, when the reader is truely devoted.

So a little forewarning that this post has no aim for completeness: Just consider the wealth of thousand years of speculation and the literal sense of all those holy books and comments. But I do not need to reproduce what was consolidated so adequate by passionated Professors of Indology, as I can say for myself, as a lay(wo)man :')

"What the finest is, of this the Cosmos is made, this is satyam, this is atman, this is you (tut twam asi)."

Prof. Jacobi has the aim to analyize the six orthodox systems of Hinduism in focul point of describing how the idea of God, respectively the belief in monotheism, evolved in Ancient India. The analysis is examined in philosophical speculation and is not including the religious side of this contemplation. The great folk religions arised at the end of the Vedic period (~800 before our time) till 4th century. The idea of the Divine has undergone many transformations. Kathenotheism (Coined by Schelling, καθ’ ἕνα [kath’ héna, “one by one] + θεός [theós, “god”, believing in the existence of multiple Deities and that different deities are supreme at different times, depending on circumstances, but their autarchy were denied] is defined as a preliminary stage of monotheism, having its roots in sacrificial rituals and the interpretational demand to lightening up every part of the ritus: Because in the ritual of sacrifice everything and all is relevant, so they were considered as symbols, refering to a being "behind" the symbol, this is called brahma. With this idea, the concept of atman aroused, adding more metaphysical content (yes, there are upgrades possible :') ...) to the concept of the sacrificial cult.

"But he, who is the atman (=brahma) ist not like this and not like that, he is intagible (...), he is not connected, he is not shaking, he does not get harmed."

The whole sincerity in sacrificial exegesis, established a scientific claim and the main concern of the interpretation of symbolistic means, resulting in bringing the period of Brahmana forth.

By giving the act of sacrifice an higher value than the cult of the Divine, consquently the lower assessment of the Deities had to lead to the loss of their significance. The Brahmanical system is consistently pursueing to expand their knowledge in symbolic meanings, but the majority of Ancient Indian population was still believing in other forms of native primitive religion. (Side note: What makes a belief more primitive than the other(s)? In my opinion it is the complextity of the cosmogony defined and the treatises of theodicy. Comments and discussions over centuries, showing the dialectic process behind theories...) The search for the real, the truth (~ satyam), behind the appearance, strenghtened the will (in Indian parlance the "will" is always connected with the realization) for seeking methods of epistemology. Also the ideal of the Absolute, the Highest, the idea of this "something", which is standing above the world, is deeply interwoven in the nature of the human reason. The Ancient Indians searched for other ways for religious practice, without the help of the old Deities, finding a compromise between the thoughts of the Upanishads plus the revelations and the obligations in sacrifice of the Vedas. What a huge cultural and pychological evolution it meant for the progress of cognitive skills to reduce all phenomena as cosmic illusions, to target all roots to the One and First Cause (exciting how the Sankya ideas were combined with the Pantheism of the Upanishad) and how the definition or separation of soul (the meaning changed within the decades, traces of the old definition can be found in the Buddhism) and substance evolved the question, how the Prime Matter (pradhana or prakrti) is composed. It is very interesting how the principle of Karma, also originates in the cult of sacrifices: After a sacrfice, the time till the request will be recognized is called karman. Every action of the earthly ones is influenced by a natural and preternatural "something", which is called Karma. In the common view, Karma adheres to the soul, till it is completelty consumed (Samsara - The circle of life, the world of becoming and elapsing through liberation -> Nirvana).

It would massively expand my capacity in every way to present my notices in a logical order, but I will try to draw some graphs and present different cosmological and ontological systems in English. Still working on my notices, but will never “complete” these joyful studies of metaphysical theories in seventy lifetimes 🥲💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙 and this is a wonderful good reason to stay alive for a little while 🦋🥰