Learn Sanskrit through Shlokas! - 7

कृष्णो रक्षतु नो जगत्रयगुरुः कृष्णं नमस्याम्यहं

कृष्णेनामरशत्रवो विनिहताः कृष्णाय तस्मै नमः ।

कृष्णादेव समुत्थितं जगदिदं कृष्णस्य दासोऽस्म्यहं 

कृष्णे तिष्ठति सर्वमेतदखिलं हे कृष्ण रक्षस्व माम् ॥३३॥

kṛṣṇo rakṣatu no jagatrayaguruḥ kṛṣṇaṃ namasyāmyahaṃ

kṛṣṇenāmaraśatravo vinihatāḥ kṛṣṇāya tasmai namaḥ ।

kṛṣṇādeva samutthitaṃ jagadidaṃ kṛṣṇasya dāso'smyahaṃ

kṛṣṇe tiṣṭhati sarvametadakhilaṃ he kṛṣṇa rakṣasva mām ॥

May Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Preceptor of the three worlds, protect us; I bow down to Śrī Kṛṣṇa; By Śrī Kṛṣṇa were the eternal enemies destroyed; to that Śrī Kṛṣṇa may our obeisance be; by Śrī Kṛṣṇa alone was this universe lifted from its morass; I am a servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa; In Śrī Kṛṣṇa rests all this manifestation; oh Śrī Kṛṣṇa! Please protect me!

Interestingly, this shloka uses all the Vibhakti-s! It is from the Mukundamala, composed by the great saint Kulaśekhara Ālvār. 

kṛṣṇo rakṣatu no jagatrayaguruḥ - May Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Preceptor of the three worlds, protect us; (the form kṛṣṇaḥ when used in a sentence gets modified by Sandhi. We shall learn about Sandhi-s soon!)

kṛṣṇaṃ namasyāmyahaṃ -I bow down to Śrī Kṛṣṇa;

kṛṣṇena amaraśatravo vinihatāḥ -By Śrī Kṛṣṇa were the eternal enemies destroyed;

kṛṣṇāya tasmai namaḥ -to that Śrī Kṛṣṇa may our obeisance be;

kṛṣṇāt eva samutthitaṃ jagadidaṃ- by Śrī Kṛṣṇa alone was this universe lifted from its morass; 

kṛṣṇasya dāso'smyahaṃ - I am a servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa; 

kṛṣṇe tiṣṭhati sarvametadakhilaṃ - In Śrī Kṛṣṇa rests all this manifestation; 

he kṛṣṇa rakṣasva mām - Oh, Śrī Kṛṣṇa! Please protect me!

The prayer is a powerful testament to the devotion of anyone who has surrendered to the Lord. It is also a way of expressing that Bhakti can be in any Vibhakti!

Vande mātaram ! Vande samskṛtam !

Learn Sanskrit through Shlokas! - 6

Narayana is the name of Vishnu or Hari. He is the eternal protector and sustainer. The God appearing in both Ramayana and Mahabharata is Narayana or Vishnu in the Avatara of Sri Rama and Sri Krishna. 

This prayer to him by Swami Ramanuja in his Gadyatraya is most famous:

त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव 

त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव ।

त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव 

त्वमेव सर्वं मम देव देव ॥

tvameva mātā ca pitā tvameva

tvameva bandhuśca sakhā tvameva ।

tvameva vidyā draviṇaṃ tvameva

tvameva sarvaṃ mama deva deva  ॥

Oh, Lord who are the God of all gods, you alone are my mother, you alone are my father; 

You alone are my relative, and you alone are my friend. Indeed, you alone are my learning! You alone are my wealth! You alone are indeed my all in all!

tvam eva you alone (are)

mātā my mother

ca and

pitā my father

tvam you

eva alone

tvam eva you alone (are)

bandhuḥ relative

ca and 

sakhā friend 

tvam you

eva alone

tvam eva you alone (are)

vidyā learning

draviṇaṃ wealth

tvam you

eva alone

tvam eva you alone (are)

sarvaṃ everything, all in all

mama my

deva deva  Oh, Lord, the God of gods!

Here we see the word mātā. 

We are all familiar with these words:

mātṛ noun-root for mother. We see this in mātṛdevo bhava. But in sentences, we come across its many forms occuring as separate words!

1. mātā  mother (Nominative case)
2. mātaram to mother (Accusative case)
3. mātrā by mother (Instrumental case)
4. mātre for mother (Dative case)
5. mātuḥ from mother (Ablative case).
6. mātuḥ belonging to mother ( Possessive case)
7. mātari in mother (Locative case)
8. mātaḥ  oh! mother! (Vocative case)

These different forms of the same root giving different meanings are called Vibhakti-s. In fact, in every shloka, we encounter different Vibhakti-s, playing a vital role in conveying the meaning, establishing the relationship between different words, and compacting the sentence.

See below! Can we recognise the Vibhakti?

I bow down to mother (here, motherland, Bharat)! I bow down to Sanskrit!

Vande mātaram ! Vande samskṛtam !

Learn Sanskrit through Shlokas! - 5

Hanuman is the original superhero. In the Valmiki Ramayana, Sri Rama himself says Hanuman is the greatest hero he has come across! Hanuman combines strength, intellect, creativity and devotion in equal measure. No wonder we pray to Hanuman whenever we are in any difficulty - even Sri Rama did so!

असाध्यसाधक स्वामिन् असाध्यं तव किं वद। 

रामदूत कृपासिन्धो मत्कार्यं साधय प्रभो ॥

asādhyasādhaka svāmin asādhyaṃ tava kiṃ vada ।

rāmadūta kṛpāsindho matkāryaṃ sādhaya prabho ॥

Oh, Lord, you are known to accomplish the impossible! Tell me, what is therefore impossible for you?

Oh, the messenger of Sri Rama! Oh, ocean of compassion! Please accomplish my mission, Lord!

asādhyasādhaka Oh, the one known to accomplish the impossible!

svāmin Oh, Lord!

asādhyaṃ impossible

tava for you

kiṃ what is

vada  tell me!

rāmadūta Oh, the messenger of Sri Rama!

kṛpāsindho Oh, ocean of compassion!

matkāryaṃ my mission

sādhaya Please accomplish

prabho Lord!

Prayers and orders in Sanskrit use a special form of the verb known as लोट् Loṭ .

We are all familiar with these words:

वद           vada   - Tell me! Say!

भज         bhaja   - Pray! Praise!

रक्ष          rakṣa   - Protect!

अव         ava       - Take care of !

भवतु      bhavatu - May it happen!

कुरु        kuru      - Do!

साधय    sādhaya  - Accomplish!

पाहि     pāhi          - Protect! Take care of!

These words are used as requests to higher-ups or deities, or as instructions to equals and subordinates. So Bhaja govindam means "Pray to Govinda!" - an instruction. sādhaya means "Please accomplish" in this prayer.

Vande mātaram ! Vande samskṛtam !

Learn Sanskrit through Shlokas! - 4

The Goddess worshipped throughout the year in India is Ma Durga. She is called by various names. Devi is worshipped as the Universal Mother and combines the Goddesses Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Parvati.

 सर्वमङ्गलमाङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके ।

शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके देवि नारायणि नमोस्तुते ॥

sarva-maṅgala-māṅgalye śive sarvārtha-sādhike ।

śaraṇye tryambake devi nārāyaṇi namostute ॥

Oh, Supreme Goddess, who are the auspiciousness in all things auspicious! Oh, Consort of Shiva/One who confers good! Oh, Goddess who fulfils all my goals/wishes!

Oh, Mother, who are my refuge! Oh, the Three-eyed One! Oh, the Maya power of Lord Narayana!

I bow down to you!

sarva-maṅgala-māṅgalye Oh, the auspiciousness in all things auspicious!

śive Oh, Consort of Shiva/One who confers good!

sarvārtha-sādhike who accomplishes for me all my goals/wishes!

śaraṇye Oh, My refuge!

tryambake Oh, the Three-eyed One!

devi Supreme Goddess!

nārāyaṇi Oh, the Maya power of Lord Narayana!

namostute I bow down to you! ( actually it is three words Namaḥ astu te)

Most of our prayers invoke our chosen Deity with various attributes and descriptions. The idea is that when we behold the image or idol and invoke these words, our minds and hearts connect with the Supreme Being, far beyond simple matter. Then the prayer acquires a new meaning.

They say that we begin by chanting these prayers as mere words, then we develop understanding and feeling, and finally dissolve ourselves in prayer.

In the nineteenth century, Sir Monier Williams, with the help of great Indian scholars, produced the comprehensive Sanskrit-English dictionary, listing over 300,000 Sanskrit words! Even before this, Indians had created both dictionaries and thesauruses called Śabdakoṣa-s. Indeed, etymology or derivation of words is a separate science called Nirukta and so on. The famous Amarakośa is around 1500 to 1800 years old.

Here is a sample from the Amarakośa listing of the words connected with the word, "horse":

Vande mātaram ! Vande samskṛtam !

Learn Sanskrit through Shlokas! - 3

Today, let us pray to Goddess Saraswati!:

सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यं वरदे कामरुपिणि ।

विद्यारम्भं करिष्यामि सिद्धिरभवतु मे सदा॥

sarasvati namastubhyaṃ varade kāmarupiṇi ।

vidyārambhaṃ kariṣyāmi siddhirabhavatu me sadā ॥

This is a direct address to the Goddess of Learning. It means

Oh Goddess Sarasvati ! I bow down to you. You are the gracious boon-giver! You are beautiful in form! I will embark on my study, and may success come to me always!

The words used to addess the Goddess are sarasvati, varade, and kāmarupiṇi . 

sarasvati  Oh, Goddess Sarasvati ! 

varade Oh, boon-giver!

kāmarupiṇi Oh, One beautiful in form!

namaḥ  I bow down 

tubhyaṃ to you!

kariṣyāmi I will embark on

vidyārambhaṃ study

me to me

siddhiḥ success

bhavatu may it come

 sadā always!

In Sanskrit, when we address someone, we use a special form of the noun called sambodhana which, in English, they call the Vocative case. So, I can just say, Hare! Rāma! Kṛṣṇa! Sarasvati! Varade!  to say, "Oh, Hari! Oh, Rama! Oh, Krishna! Oh, Saraswati! Oh, Boon-giver goddess! This makes the message unambiguous, and I do not need to add Oh every time!

 Also, we have seen many verbs so far.

karoti makes

laṅghayate makes climb 

vande bow down to

upāsmahe  we worship

namaḥ  My obeisances (a special type of verb)

kariṣyāmi I will embark

bhavatu May it be

In Sanskrit, the verbs are in myriad forms to indicate the present, past and future tenses, as well as moods, requests and wishes and conjectures! And all these verb forms are derived from a core set of over 2,000 verb roots which were listed by Maharshi Panini (Mahaṛṣi Pāṇini) in the 3rd century BCE.

Both nouns and verbs can all be traced back 95% percent of the time to these 2000 root verbs. And the Sanskrit vocabulary is already available in millions of words. One can even coin new words to suit one's purpose readily, as long as one follows the Panini Grammar rules. Panini has been hailed as perhaps the greatest mind ever, as he was able to create a system of grammar to define this perfect language. Indeed, computer scientists and AI researchers are now studying the methods of Panini to create new forms of logic. 

Did you know Mendeleev used the Panini ideas to create the Periodic Table!?

Vande mātaram ! Vande samskṛtam !

Learn Sanskrit through Shlokas! - 2

Second day! Here is a shloka most of us know:

अगजाननपद्मार्कं गजाननमहर्निशम्  । 

अनेकदन्तं भक्तानामेकदन्तमुपास्महे ॥

agajānanapadmārkaṃ gajānanamaharniśam ।

anekadantaṃ bhaktānāmekadantamupāsmahe  ॥ 

This shloka says as follows:

We worship day and night him, the Elephant-headed God, who has one tusk, who is like the sun to the lotus of his mother born of the Mountain, and who gives so many boons to devotees!

This very popular shloka on Ganesha has so many beautiful aspects. First of all, we should know that over 90% of all Sanskrit literature is in the form of poetry! That is because all literature- from the Vedas to Kavyas and Itihasas like Ramayana and Mahabharata were transmitted by word of mouth and stored in memory, not in written form, till about 2500 years ago. The Sanskrit literature available to us today itself extends to millions of palm leaf manuscripts. And a lot of it has also been lost. So you can imagine the memory power of ancient Rishis. Anyway, that is a different topic!

Coming to poetry, there are rules about metre, and also the beautification of words by alliteration and such aspects. Easily, Sanskrit has the most elaborate system of Alaṅkāra-s or beautifying elements in a verse. Sanskrit poets are not matter-of-fact. They give a lot of similes, metaphors, hyperbole and so on. They tell a story every moment. Additionally, all shlokas can be sung!

Word-by-word meaning:

agajā daughter of the mountain

-ānana face

-padma lotus

-arkaṃ the sun

gajānanam the Elephant-faced God

aharniśam day and night

anekadam giver of many boons

taṃ him

bhaktānām to the devotees

ekadantam one-tusked

upāsmahe  we worship.

Vande mātaram ! Vande samskṛtam !

Learn Sanskrit through Shlokas! - 1

I want to try something new here. Can one learn Sanskrit by understanding some shlokas? Here is my first attempt!

मूकं करोति वाचालं पङ्गुं लङ्घयते गिरिम् ।

यत्कृपा तमहं वन्दे परमानन्दमाधवम् ॥

mūkaṃ karoti vācālaṃ paṅguṃ laṅghayate girim ।
yatkṛpā tamahaṃ vande paramānandamādhavam ॥

What does this shloka mean exactly?

I bow down to that Lord of Lakshmi, who is the embodiment of Supreme Bliss; whose compassion makes a dumb person talkative, and makes a lame person climb a mountain!

Ten words in Sanskrit take here thirty words of explanation in English! Wow. 

In Sanskrit, we compact the message by using compound words called Samāsa-s. In fact, this language is Samskṛtam,  a compound word which means "Well constructed". These compound words are easy to understand once we get the hang of it. For example, the compound word for a student is Vidyārthī,  which means one who seeks knowledge! In English, too, we have such derived words with compounded meaning, e.g. democracy. demo-cracy meaning rule of the people. In Sanskrit, it would be Loka-tantram.

 By the way, I am typing all the original Sanskrit words in italics here. Also, they are shown with diacritical marks that make the pronunciation unambiguous. You can read up and understand this here:

So, now, shall we jump into understanding this shloka?

mūkaṃ a dumb person

 karoti makes

 vācālaṃ a talkative man

 paṅguṃ a lame person

 laṅghayate makes climb 

girim a mountain
yatkṛpā  whose compassion

tam Him

ahaṃ I

vande bow down to

parama+ānanda Supreme Bliss (embodiment of)

-mā-dhavam  Lord of Lakshmi

Reordering the words,

ahaṃ I

vande bow down to

tam Him

parama+ānanda Supreme Bliss (embodiment of)

-mā-dhavam  Lord of Lakshmi

yatkṛpā  whose compassion

 karoti makes

mūkaṃ a dumb person

vācālaṃ a talkative man

laṅghayate makes  paṅguṃ a lame person climb 

girim a mountain.

In English, we use conjunctions and prepositions to connect the words. In Sanskrit, these are built into the words themselves! This makes for compactness as well as unambiguity. This also does away with the need for the correct sequence of words, since wherever we place the word in a sentence, it means the same. 

For example, 

Rāmaḥ rāvaṇaṃ hanti  means Rama kills Ravana. 

Rāvaṇaṃ rāmaḥ hanti  also means Rama kills Ravana.  This won't work in English, because we dare not write Ravana kills Rama😀 

Vande mātaram ! Vande samskṛtam !

Vande Mataram

Celebrating 150 years of the famous song of India, composed on 7 November 1875!

An interesting article:

https://swarajyamag.com/culture/150-years-of-vande-matarams-musical-odyssey-the-melody-and-memory-of-a-nation

वन्दे मातरम् 

सुजलां सुफलां मलयजशीतलाम् सस्यश्यामलां मातरम्

वन्दे मातरम् ।

शुभ्रज्योत्स्नापुलकितयामिनीं

 फुल्लकुसुमितद्रुमदलशोभिनीं

सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीं

 सुखदां वरदां मातरम्  ॥ १ ॥

वन्दे मातरम् ।

कोटि-कोटि-कण्ठ-कल-कल-निनाद-कराले

 कोटि-कोटि-भुजैर्धृत-खरकरवाले,

 अबला केन मा एत बले ।

बहुबलधारिणीं नमामि तारिणीं

 रिपुदलवारिणीं मातरम् ॥ २ ॥

वन्दे मातरम् ।

तुमि विद्या, तुमि धर्म तुमि हृदि,

तुमि मर्म त्वं हि प्राणा: शरीरे बाहुते

 तुमि मा शक्ति, हृदये तुमि मा भक्ति,

 तोमारई प्रतिमा गडि मन्दिरे-मन्दिरे मातरम् ॥ ३ ॥

वन्दे मातरम् ।

त्वं हि दुर्गा दशप्रहरणधारिणी

 कमला कमलदलविहारिणी

 वाणी विद्यादायिनी, नमामि त्वाम्न

मामि कमलां अमलां अतुलां सुजलां सुफलां मातरम् ॥ ४ ॥

वन्दे मातरम् ।

श्यामलां सरलां सुस्मितां भूषितां

 धरणीं भरणीं मातरम् ॥ ५ ॥

वन्दे मातरम् ॥

Wikipedia:

Vande Mataram (1909)

by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, translated by Aurobindo Ghose

Bengali-Sanskrit poem from the novel Anandamath (1882) written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. The first 2 stanzas of the original full version have the official status as the "National Song" of the Republic of India. 

Here is the literal translation of all the stanzas of Vande Mataram by Aurobindo Ghose as appeared in Karmayogin, 20 November, 1909.

I bow to thee, Mother,

richly-watered, richly-fruited,

cool with the winds of the south,

dark with the crops of the harvests,

The Mother!

Her nights rejoicing in the glory of the moonlight,

her lands clothed beautifully with her trees in flowering bloom,

sweet of laughter, sweet of speech,

The Mother, giver of boons, giver of bliss!

Terrible with the clamorous shouts of seventy million throats,

and the sharpness of swords raised in twice seventy million hands,

Who sayeth to thee, Mother, that thou art weak?

Holder of multitudinous strength,

I bow to her who saves,

to her who drives from her the armies of her foes,

The Mother!

Thou art knowledge, thou art conduct,

Thou art heart, thou art soul,

For thou art the life in our body.

In the arm, thou art might, O Mother,

In the heart, O Mother, thou art love and faith,

It is thy image we raise in every temple.

For thou art Durga holding her ten weapons of war,

Kamala at play in the lotuses

And speech, the goddess, giver of all lore,

To thee I bow!

I bow to thee, goddess of wealth

pure and peerless,

richly-watered, richly-fruited,

The Mother!

I bow to thee, Mother,

Dark-hued, candid,

sweetly smiling, jewelled and adorned,

the holder of wealth, the lady of plenty,

The Mother!

Translation in VERSE form by Shri Aurobindo

King Yadu's generosity

 

In the epic poem Yādavābhyudaya, describing the history of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa beginning with his ancestors, the great poet Vedānta Deśika describes King Yadu and his generosity thus:

देहीति वदतां प्रायः प्रसीदन् प्रत्युवाच सः । 

ललितध्वनिभिर्लक्ष्मीलीलाकमलषट्प्दैः ॥

Let me tell you the story:

The wood-cutter was pensive, unable to feed his folk,

Too old as he was to fetch wood from the jungle deep.

"Let me go and ask our King Yadu, generosity incarnate!

If he won't see me and help, to whom else can I supplicate?" 

Dawned the day when Yadu met his people, 

To listen to their woes and wants. 

The guards felt pity for the old wood-cutter, 

Grimy, in tatters, clearly in desperate need. 

Ushered in and presented to King Yadu, radiant on his throne, 

The wood-cutter raised his hands and tearfully fell down prone.

No words were heard. King Yadu simply gestured,

A picture of compassion, eyes full of assurance.

A large platter heaped with gold was brought

And given to the wood-cutter, now stunned into disbelief.

It was a slow walk back to his hut, 

His bent back carried the bag of gold.

His wonderstruck wife asked, "What did you tell King Yadu?

What were the king's words that came with this bag of gold?"

"I spoke not, neither did our godly king.

All I heard was the sweet humming of bees,

Swarming on the lotuses held by Goddess Lakṣmī. 

Grace incarnate, she's the handmaid of our beloved Yadu!"

(कालिदासकृतं श्यामलादण्डकम्ः 

येन वा भाव्यसे सोऽपि लक्ष्मीसहस्रैः परिक्रीडते ।) 

***

Prayer to Balaji

In the Sri Venkatesha Suprabhata, there is an interesting shloka in the Mangalashanam section :

 

Glory be to our Lord Venkatesha granting the vision of the

Ambrosia of His divine form to His own devotees

Idefatiguably looking upon Him devotedly, 

Endlessly and

Insatiably! 

आकालमश्रान्तमात्मनामनुपश्यताम् 

अतृप्त्यमृतरूपाय

वेङ्कटेशाय 

मङ्गलम् ॥

How God created the World!

I am fortunate to be a student of Dr. Sowmya Krishnapur in the Vyoma Labs online course on the Mahā-kāvya of Śrī. Vedanta Deśika, The Yādavābhyudaya. It tells the story of Bhagavān Ṣrī Kṛṣṇa in 24 Sargas comprising 2500+ślokas. 

The way the great poet introduces the hero of the epic poem is this:

क्रीडातूलिकया स्वस्मिन् कृपारूषितया स्वयम् ।

एको विश्वमिदं चित्रं विभुः श्रीमानजीजनत् ॥१ - ०९॥

The supreme Lord, with His limitless powers of creation, sustenance and dissolution, dipped his sporting brush in the infinite colours on His palette of compassion, and painted this creation within His own Being, by Himself with no other medium or aid, by the resplendence of His Consort of Prosperity and Grace. 

As the teacher was explaining this verse, my mind went to the first verse in Bhagavān Ramānuja's Śrī Bhāṣya :

 अखिलभुवनजन्मस्थेमभङ्गादिलीले....That Lord who sports in the creation, sustenance and dissolution of this entire universe...

I recalled also the several times that Bhagavān proclaims in the Śrīmad Bhagavadgīta how He has created this world and its relation to Him :

एतद्योनीनि भूतानि सर्वाणीत्युपधारय । अहं कृत्स्नस्य जगतः प्रभवः प्रलयस्तथा ॥ ७-६॥
मत्तः परतरं नान्यत्किञ्चिदस्ति धनञ्जय । मयि सर्वमिदं प्रोतं सूत्रे मणिगणा इव ॥ ७-७॥

Understand Me to be the creation and dissolution cause of all this creation and all beings born in various wombs. There is nothing beyond Me, as indeed, everything is within Me like many gems strung in a necklace . 

 

मम योनिर्महद् ब्रह्म तस्मिन्गर्भं दधाम्यहम् । सम्भवः सर्वभूतानां ततो भवति भारत ॥ १४-३॥ 

 The primordial Nature is but my womb wherein I place the seed and cause all creation.  

 

 गतिर्भर्ता प्रभुः साक्षी निवासः शरणं सुहृत् । प्रभवः प्रलयः स्थानं निधानं बीजमव्ययम् ॥ ९-१८॥

 For all, I am the Destiny, the Provider, The Lord, the Witness, the Abode, the Refuge, the Friend, the Creation, the Dissolution, the Habitation, and the Treasure as well as the Inexhaustible Seed. 

 I do believe that the spirit of the verses quoted from the saints aligns perfectly with the message of Bhagavān in the Śrīmad Bhagavadgīta. I am immensely lucky to be studying this under an incomparable teacher, Dr. Sowmya Krishnapur.

 

Bernard Shaw and the Nobel Prize

Ravana in Shiva Purana

Asutosh Rana as Ravana in Hamare Ram theatrical play

Was Ravana the supreme devotee of Shiva? Read Shiva Purana (Motilal Banarasidass)

Corrections:

सुवर्णमधुपर्पटिका - Soan Papdi

Ever since I discovered Soan Papdi in Indra Cafe, Mysore, as a teenager, I am simply fascinated by this multilayered sweet that melts in your mouth. It is indeed a paradigm for all creation - a multilayered multiverse in which Bhagavan lives and breathes in His eternal Leela or sport! 

This is what Perplexity.AI says:

Soan Papdi is a delicate, flaky Indian sweet made from besan (gram flour), maida (plain flour), ghee, and sugar syrup, flavored with cardamom and garnished with nuts. It is best enjoyed fresh during festivals like Diwali.

I have just christened this heavenly delicacy in Sanskrit:

सुवर्णमधुपर्पटिका

Don't forget to eat Soan Papdi during this Deepaavali! 

🙏🙏🙏

Four Brothers

Sri. Atmaram had four sons. He was indeed so attached to them that they entirely fulled up his consciousness.

The eldest was Chitta. Chitta had a headstart compared to others as he remembered his grand-parents and even his great-grandmother. He was full of the family's old stories and lived with a deep sense of Khaandaan history. You wouldn't guess it when you saw the brothers together, but Chitta always had an influence on the decisions made by the other three.

The second one was a vain fellow. He was born when Sri. Atmaram was already well established in life. He named his second son Aham. Aham struck everyone as full of I-Me-Myself. The brothers had to find a way to live and play together "around" Aham's sense of self-importance.

The third was Buddhi. Buddhi was a clever fellow, able to study well, and played brain games like chess. He would always find a way to tackle any problem they faced, and honestly, the brothers always looked up to him for solutions, whenever they came up against any challenge.

The fourth was irrepressible. He had been named Manas. He was full of fun and was always ready to party. He made friends easily and broke up too in a jiffy. A most outgoing sort of fellow, Manas was the life and soul of any party. But whenever he was upset, or had to be reasoned with, only Buddhi could deal with him.

These four brothers - Chitta, Aham, Buddhi and Manas, were the inner courtyard as it were of Sri. Atmaram's world.

Everyone therefore said, "If you want to convince Sri. Atmaram about anything, go to his four sons. They will convince him."