Sunday, August 31, 2008

Ever keep highest values

Dear All

This week's slokam is from our Srimad Bhagavad Gita from our Great Sage, Sri Veda Vyasa. This message is for all of us - urging us to keep highest standards in all walks of our lives.



यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठः तत्तदेवेतरो जनः
स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते


yadyadAcarati zreSThH tattadevetaro janaH
sa yatpramANaM kurute lokastadanuvartate

యద్యదాచరతి శేష్ఠః తత్తదేవేతరో జనః
స యత్ప్రమాణం కురుతే లోకస్తదనువర్తతే


yadhyadhaacharathi shaeShTH thaththadhEvaetharO janaH
sa yathpramANaM kuruthae lOkasthadhanuvarthathae

Purport or Bhaava

Persons who are the cream of any society (professors, politicians, judges, doctors, teachers, executives, CEOs, technocrats, engineers, scientists, businessmen etc..) have a very great onus and highest responsibility in carving the people's behavior and guarding the human values of the society. Because, whatever these learned people in the higher rungs of the society do, those actions and behaviors will be very closely watched by the less privileged and the masses. They will simply replicate (like photocopying) these actions. They will assume that these actions are the milestones or benchmarks for their actions. So much so, all of us who are somewhat educated and who are in responsible positions need to keep highest moral and social values and raise our bars up and set higher benchmarks for ourselves. Only then, any society can think of progess in attaining higher standards. (This is how the Lord has motivated the Great Victor (Mr. Arjuna) to keep his standards high up)

Bye till next week!

Love,

Sarma

Thursday, August 28, 2008

The EGO causes all evil

My dear and close hearts,

Greetings to you all.

This week's poem is from Saint Kabir's poetry. Sri Bhakta Kabir lived between 1398-1458. By birth he is born in a humble weaver's Muslim family, but he preached and practised all religeons as one and firmly advocated this in his teachings. He is an ardent bhakta of Sri Rama and wrote poetry on HIM.

See this couplet below. These are called Doha's (two liners or couplets) written in Hindustani (which is very close to Urdu)


जब मै था तब गुरू नहीं‚ आब गुरू है, मै नहीं

सब अंधियारा मिट गया‚ जब दीपक देख्या मांहि

jab mai Thaa thab guroo naheen‚ ab guroo hai, mai naheen

sab andhiyaaraa mit gayaa‚ jab dheepak dhekhyaa maanhi

జబ్ మై థా తబ్ గురూ నహీఁ, అబ్ గురూ హై, మై నహీఁ

సబ్ అంధియారా మిట్ గయా, జబ్ దీపక్ దేఖ్యా మాన్హి

Purport

When the EGO was strongly rooted in me, Then I couldn't realize the Guru (the Guru of all Gurus - is the God). Upon realizing the God (Guru) within me now, all my EGO is uprooted. (I am serene and tranquil). All the illusion or darkness is shattered, when the illumination within (the Alimighty) shines brightly in me.

Message: EGO or Aham Kaaram is the root cause of all evils. It draws us away from purity and glory. Sans Ego, we realize our inner power to the full.

We will meet next week. Bye till then,

Regards
Dr Sarma

The Real beautifications

Dear all, Greeting and Best wishes

Starting from 10th August I started to mail you one slokam / poem per week along with its crisp purport (bhaavam). These are from our collection - the teachings of great masters of yester years. Please write to me, if you do not want to receive them by any reason or if you have any questions. Hope you will find them interesting and thought provoking. Please share them with like minded friends.

Love,

Dr Sarma

Those of you who want to see these poems in your mother tongue, please use Indian Language Converter (ILC) by clicking the link below sothat you can see this in the language of your choice.

www.iit.edu/~laksvij/language

The fonts for our various Indian languages are called 'Unicode fonts' and are available by default with Windows XP. Or you may download (only once) form the internet the Unicode fonts for the language of your choice and paste them in your 'fonts folder' accessed through the 'control panel' of your computer. After that, If you copy and paste in ILC left view pane the English script of the slokam below you can see it converted into most of the Indian languages in the right view pane. Of course you need to select the exact page of the language you want to see. You may need to adjust the spellings by slightly altering the English script. For viewing in Telugu, the given English script is exactly correct.

The following slokam is written in Sanskit is by Sri Bhartru Hari - A great poetry on code of human conduct


श्रोत्रम् श्रुतेनैव न कुन्डलेन

दानेन पाणिर् नतु कन्कणेन

विभाति कायः करुणा पराणां

परोपकारेण न चन्दनेन

శ్రోత్రం శ్రుతేనైవ న కున్డలేన

దానేన పాణిర్ న తు కంకణేన

విభాతి కాయః కరుణా పరాణాం

పరోపకారేణ న చన్దనేన

shrOthraM shruthaenaiva na kundalaena
dhaanaena paaNir na thu kaMkaNaena
vibhaathi kaayaH karuNaa paraaNaaM
parOpakaaraeNa na chandanaena

Purport or Bhava of this verse is

Hearing to (following) the teachings of the great masters is the real ornament to our ears but not ear-rings or diamond ear studs.

Giving to others and sharing whatever we have is the best ornament for the hands but not golden bangles and bracelets.

The real test for kind heartedness and enriching experience for this body is in extending whatever help to the needy and not by sandal paste and perfume.

This Slokam is translated by another poet named Yenugu Laksman Kavi into Telugu - which is as follows (eevi in (second line) means = Daana gunam)




అమరు చెవి శాస్త్రమున కుండలమున గాదు

వలయముననొప్పదీవిచే వెలయు పాణి

ఉరు దయాఢ్యుల మేను పరోపకార

కలన రాణించు గంధంబువలన గాదు

amaru chevi shaasthramuna kuMdalamuna gaadhu
valayamunanoppadheevichae velayu paaNi
uru dhayaaDyula maenu parOpakaara
kalana raaNiMchu gaMDhaMbuvalana gaadhu