A Major Emotion

When the throat chokes at a hero's martyrdom
Stirring the pride of belonging to a great nation
It's witnessing the wonders of this Divine kingdom
Epic and marvelous, giving a deep tingling sensation

When the head seeks to bow, kneeling down
And the eyes well with tears, shedding all inhibition
When the knees go weak, hands quiver a bit
When there is within an inexplicable, profound emotion

It is pure, it is free of envy, 

it's the hero's parting inspiration

It's daring to hope in the 

ordeals of time, it's plain admiration

Such was the sacrifice of man, who was

Known as Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan

Whose last few words to brethren were

Don't you come, Them - I will take care

PS: this is what I felt after watching the teaser of the movie Major based on the life of the martyr Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who selflessly laid down his life to protect hostages from terrorists during 26/11, the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks

Insights while learning Sanskrit - 2 - Suta

suta in Sanskrit means child or offspring.

In Jyotiṣa, the 5th House of children, mantras etc is also generally called suta-bhāva. 

The etymology of the word suta is quite interesting. It comes from the root "su", which is described in Dhātupāṭha as "su abhiṣave". Abhiṣave means to press out juice. So "su" indicates the pressing out of the juice, specifically soma rasa. It gives the meaning of something that has been brought out, brought forth or extracted. So suta indicates offspring in the sense of something that has brought forth out of you. Hence it is expression of your creative powers. 

The general verb related to "su" dhātu is "sunute" or "sunuti". Note that this dhātu is ubhayapadi, hence it can be used in parasmaipada as well as atmanepada forms. It belongs to the svādi, the 5th gana, where the conjugation for making the stem or aṇga i.e. vikaraṇa pratyaya is "nu"- hence su-nu-ti for e.g. 

Shiva Tāṇḍava Stotram - 2

jaṭā-katāha-saṃbhramam-bhraman-nīlimpa-nirjhari

Like a huge cauldron are those matted locks

In them is swirling, the river of the Gods (Gangā)

vilola-vīći-vallarī-virāja-māna-mūrdhani

Her waves lash about, twisting to and fro

Like a glistening creeper, above his brow

dhagad-dhagad-dhagad-jalal-lalāṭa-paṭṭa-pāvake

Dhag Dhag Dhag sputters the flame on His temple, very bright

kiśora-ćandra-śekhare ratiḥ pratikṣaṇaṃ mama

With the young moon on the crest, He is ever a captivating sight

Sarasvati - Grant us intellectual wealth

There is a beautiful ṛk in the Rg Veda extolling Devi Sarasvati. It is the 10th ṛk in the 3rd sukta of the 1st mandala. It was visioned by the sage Madhuchandas Vaiśvāmitra in the Gāyatri metre. It is in Gayatri metre since as you will note below - there are 3 lines are of 8 syllables each - so 8x3 = 24 syllables in all. And when you sing it in this proper rhythm one can really feel the beauty of this ṛk. 

First I give the translation by Shri R L Kashyap, then my own attempt at translation and understanding - at least literally. Finally I end by the deeper import given by Kashyapji. I have found that in general his translations are giving the deeper meaning of the Vedic suktas, which I have not seen in other English translations. 

01.003.10 (Mandala. Sukta. Rik)

पा॒व॒का नः॒ सर॑स्वती॒ 

वाजे॑भिर्वा॒जिनी॑वती । 

य॒ज्ञं व॑ष्टु धि॒याव॑सुः ॥

pāvakā ǀ naḥ ǀ sarasvatī ǀ 

vājebhiḥ ǀ vājinī-vatī ǀ 

yajñam ǀ vaṣṭu ǀ dhiyā-vasuḥ ǁ

Rishi: Madhuchandas Vaishvamitra; Chandas: Gayatri; Devata: Sarasvati

Translation by Shri R L Kashyap

pāvakā ǀ naḥ ǀ sarasvatī ǀ - May the purifying Sarasvati; yajñam ǀ vaṣṭu ǀ - desire our yajna
vājebhiḥ ǀ - (She has) plentiful types of riches; vājinī-vatī ǀ She has felicities in plenty or potent energy in expression
dhiyā-vasuḥ ǁ - She is rich (substance) in substance made by thought (dhi)

Now I attempt to translate with my very basic knowledge of Vyākaraṇa

naḥ is dvitiya vibhakti, uttama purusha in plural i.e. us i.e. “to us” i.e. we as objects
pāvakā – indicates a noun form
sarasvatī – the Devi Sarasvati
So pāvakā is referring to Sarasvati as an adjective. Pāvaka means “purifying”. Pavate means “to purify”
So pāvakā sarasvatī means “purifying Sarasvati”

Now in the 2nd and 3rd ṛks – the words “vajinīvatī” and “dhīya-vasuh” also indicate the karta i.e. Sarasvati. 

Vajinīvati indicates she who has lot of “vājin”. Vajin means mares or horses. So she who has lots of horses. But deeper meaning is I suppose that horse, mares indicates speed. The speed of thought, the ability to grasp something quickly. Also indicates possessing lot of energy. So its quick and vigorous intellect. 

One devata who is associated with mares is the Sun God – Vivasvān, who as a horse begot upon his wife Sanjña, the divine physicians Ashwini Kumaras, of whom one is a great astrologer. Sun himself indicates Time. Thus there is a jyotīṣa purport to the above term - vajinīvati.

Dhiyā-vasuḥ is a compound of dhiyā and vasuḥ. Dhiyā means “by the mind” – it is the Chaturthi form of “dhi" - intellect. Vasu means light, wealth. This clearly shows the purport is not material wealth, but wealth of the mind i.e. intelligence, knowledge. 

So all these are alternate names or adjectives of Sarasvati i.e. pāvaka, vājinīvatī, dhiyāvasuḥ, which means: 

O Sarasvati who is purifying, rich in horses (thought, intellect), possessing wealth of thought, intelligence 

Another word mentioned is "vājebhiḥ" - this is a tritiya vibhakti, bahu vaćana i.e. 3rd case, Plural. So it indicates either by vāje or with vāje. Vāje is a word related to vājinī, both from the root "vaj" which means to go, hence vāja means something vigorous, strong, energetic. 

Now the 3rd can be used in the sense of instrument i.e. what we say "by something" or it could mean accompanying i.e. "with something". I think it is the later here. 

So Sarasvatī is vajinīvatī i.e. rich in thought, speed of thought as well as vājebhiḥ i.e. "with" her speed and vigor". 

So: sarasvatī pāvakā vajinīvatī dhiyavasuḥ vajebhir

Meaning: O Sarasvati who is 

pāvakā - is purifying, 

vajinīvatī - is rich in thought (speed of thought), 

dhiyavasuḥ - possessing wealth of thought, intelligence 

vajebhir - and with lot of speed and vigor

Now what are we asking of Saraswati. 
“nah” – means “we” as an object – karma
"Yajñam" – this is again in dvitiya vibhakti. So it means “our yajna”.
"Vaṣtū" – is the verb with Lot Lakara i.e. Imperative mood – which is a request or prayer. Vaṣti means to desire. So we are asking us Devi Sarasvati to desire or to like our yajna. 

Yajna means an offering as a worship – a worshipful offering. In Bhagavad Gita there are various types of yajñas described. Sarasvati is Goddess of Learning and Wisdom. She bestows one with intellectual ability. So what is the yajna she will like – what is the offering she would want. She would want us to learn. Even young children are taught the famous shloka “Sarasvati namastubhyam varade kāmarupini…”. So what we are offering to Sarasvati is our learning efforts. We ask her to be pleased with this effort – for she is purifying, possessing intellectual acuity, vigour and wealth of knowledge, light. Our unstated expectation is that she bestows us with all these intellectual riches in return for our worshipful efforts to learn. 

So put together the complete translation along with the anvaya is:

sarasvatī pāvaka vājinīvatī dhiyāvasuḥ vājebhiḥ - O Sarasvati who is purifying, is rich in thought (speed of thought), possessing wealth of thought, intelligence, and with lot of speed and vigor.

naḥ yajñaṃ vaṣṭu - Our Yajña, please desire.

Following is the deeper import of the ṛk by Shri Kashyap. As you can see he beautifully sees a sequential progression in terms of spiritual evolution. 

Overall meaning & import by Kashyap:
May the purifying Sarasvati, be pleased by our yajna (offering, effort)
She is full of various riches and she is possessor of potent energy in expression
She is full of wealth (vasuh) of thought, intellect (dhi)

This is first of triplet of riks, wherein the first (i.e. the above rik) is about purifying ourselves, removal of sins and giving our offering. In the second rik, she supports our yajna or offering i.e. she supports the process of spiritual evolution. In the third rik, she bestows the offering of successful completion of the yajna, where the revelations flow down in a flood, and the soul is fully awakened.

Shiva Tandava Stotram - 1

jaṭā-(a)ṭavi-gala-jala-pravāha-pāvita-sthale

In His hair locks matted, like a forest dense

Water oozes like flowing streams that cleanse

gale-(a)valambya-lambitām bhujaṇga-tuṇga-mālikām

Gigantic serpents on that mighty neck depend

Circling it and hanging down like a lofty garland

ḍamaḍ-ḍamaḍ-ḍamaḍ-ḍaman nināda-vaḍ-ḍamarvayam

Dum Dum Dum, goes the ḍamarū's thundering roar 

That weaves the sound's mighty, reverberating soar

 

ćakāra ćanḍa-ṭanḍavam tanotu naḥ śivaḥ śivam

Such a stirring, energetic Tānḍava, did Lord Śiva dance

O my Lord, to partake its blessings, give us all a chance

Guru - all vibhaktis

गुरुरेव गतिः गुरुमेव भजे

गुरुणैव सहास्मि नमो गुरवे |

न गुरोः परमं शिशुरस्मि गुरोः

मतिरस्ति गुरौ मम पाहि गुरो ||

gurureva gatiḥ gurumeva bhaje

guruṇaiva sahāsmi namo gurave |

na guroḥ paramaṁ śiśurasmi guroḥ

matirasti gurau mama pāhi guro ||i

This śloka to Guru in anuṣtup metre has all the seven vibhaktis and sambodhana for singular - eka vaćana and in the sequential order so that one can memorize all the vibhaktis for Guru.

Guru is my refuge (Guru as karta - prathama)

I worship only Guru (Guru as object of worship - dvitiya)

I am always with Guru ("with" - tritiya)

Salutations to Guru ("to" - chaturthi)

Nothing greater than Guru ("than", from - pañchami)

I am child of Guru ("of" - ṣaṣṭi)

My intellect is in Guru ("in" - saptami)  

Save me, O Guru (addressing Guru - sambodhana)

For detailed explanation of the grammar and proper pronunciation, please see

https://www.sanskritfromhome.in/explanation/shlokas/gurureva-gatih-english/

Insights while learning Sanskrit Vyākaraṇa - 1

 I have had some insights or aha moments while learning Sanskrit Vyākaraṇa. While I havent recorded some of the previous ones, I thought I will do Sri Ganesa i.e. auspicious start with this one. 

So I am reading Siddhānta Kaumudi (SK) of Bhattoji Dikshita the authoritative commentary on Pāṇini's Ashtadhyāyi. 

I jumped straight into learning chaturthi vibhakti and sampradāna, thanks the kind person who introduced me to this book. 

First realization I had was that I understood why the descriptions like sampradāna, apādāna etc directly correlate with their respective vibhaktis like chaturthi, panchami etc. This was something I had wondered earlier. So here it was clearly explained for e.g. in the sentence - pashunā rudraṃ yajate i.e. 

pashunā - by the pashu or cattle - this is instrumental case

rudraṃ - Rudra is - this is dvitiya

yajate - (he/she) worships (for themselves as - the "te" indicates it's ātmanepada)

So it means "by or with the pashus, Rudra, they worship". Here even though Rudram is dvitiya case i.e. an object, but actually Rudra is Sampradāna by the definition - dānasya karmaṇa yam abhipraiti sa sampradāna (569 SK i.e. Pāṇini 1-4-32). Here the cattle are being offered to Rudra. However Rudra is in dvitiya i.e. 2nd case and not chaturthi i.e. 4th case. So here is an example where the description like sampradāna is not directly correlating to the vibhakti. I found this very interesting considering my baby-like knowledge of vyākaraṇa. 

So we find that sampradāna can be occurring in different vibhaktis. 

Secondly in SK, we are given the various ways in which sampradāna is employed and how when it occurs in a sentence it lends a different meaning or additional layer to the words. 

For e.g. SK 575 i.e. Pāṇini 1-4-37 - kruddh-druh...

Here it says that when verbs denoting anger (krudh), injury (druh), īrṣya (jealousy), asūya (deriding) occur with sampradāna case, then it indicates - this verb is coming out of anger i.e. yaṃ prati kopaḥ. To contrast this an example is given - bhāryāmīrṣyate i.e. (the person) is jealous of his wife. Here the word bhāryām indicate wife is in 2nd case, so while it indicates jealousy, it doesnt show anger at the root of this feeling. While if the same were to occur with 4th case, then it indicates anger e.g. haraye īrṣyati i.e. jealous towards Hari indicates that this is coming from anger. Now this if we were to write in English we would have said

1. bhāryām-irṣyate - (he is) jealous of his wife

2. bhāryai irṣyate - (he is) jealous towards his wife due to anger. 

In the former case, the person is not liking that others should look at his wife i.e. me-enām-iti… "me" means "to me" - dative case, enām is the feminine accusative case indicating "bhāryam".  Note the word "of/regarding" and "towards" in the above sentence are just to differentiate between 2nd case and 4th case while translating in English - but they dont convey the presence or lack of anger, unless we explicitly mention this in English. However in Sanskrit - the word bhāryai being in 4th case itself indicates that the jealousy directed towards her is coming out of anger. Now I dont know how many Sanskrit translations in English are faithfully giving this sense to us. 

Similarly from SK 572 (Pāṇini 1-4-34), ...  jñipsyamānana indicates that the sampradāna when used with certain verbs like praise, taking away, standing, cursing indicates the additional aspect of wanting the sampradāna person to also know about this. So gopīsmarāt kṛṣṇāya shlāghate. Since the verb shlāgate i.e. praise is feature here with sampradāna- here it doesnt just mean that gopi is praising Krsna, but also that gopi wants Krsna to know about thsi (jñipsyamānana). If instead here if Krsna was in dvitiya case, then it wouldnt be necessary that gopi wanted Krsna to know about it. 

Such a subtle enhancement of meaning by just using one pratyaya instead of another.