Once when Rabindranath Tagore visited a large library in America, he expressed a desire to see the most prized books which were kept there. The officials there brought before him several books that were carefully wrapped in a cloth and delicately preserved. Among them, Tagore’s attention was drawn to a rare edition of the Bhagavad Gita.
नारायणं नमस्कृत्य
नरञ्चैव नरोत्तमम् ।
देवीं सरस्वतीं व्यासं
ततो जयमुदीरयेत् ॥Having saluted Nārāyaṇa,
the human and the divine;
Sarasvatī; and Vyāsa –
May Jayabe hailed!
ನಿದ್ರೆಯು ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯಾದರೆ ಹಾಸಿಗೆಯು ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ. ಮಂಚ-ಮಧುಮಂಚಗಳು ಮತ್ತೂ ಮಿಗಿಲಾದ ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಿ. ಅಷ್ಟೇಕೆ, ಭೋಗಲೋಕದ ಸ್ವೀಕೃತಿ, ನಾಗರಕಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಸತ್ಕೃತಿ. ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಸಾಹಿತ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಎಲ್ಲ ಸ್ತರಗಳೂ ಸೇರಿ ಶೃಂಗಾರಶಯ್ಯೆಯು ಪದರುಪದರಾದ ಸುಪ್ಪತ್ತಿಗೆಯೇ ಆಗಿದೆ. ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ ಕೆಲವೊಂದು ಶಯ್ಯಾಸ್ವಾರಸ್ಯಗಳನ್ನು ವಾಚಿಕವಾಗಿ ಮಾತ್ರ ಸಹೃದಯರೊಡನೆ ಹಂಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಹವಣು ಇಲ್ಲಿದೆ.
I had the acquaintance of Sri Kempe Gowda for a really short time—about two or three hours.
Sri Kempe Gowda hailed from the Coimbatore region. There was no one to tell how he acquired the craze for music. After his childhood, he became the disciple of Sri Pattanam Subrahmanya Iyer who was renowned in Tiruvayur in the Tanjavur district. Out there, Kempe Gowda was the classmate of Vidwan Mysore Vasudevacharya. I have heard that in his final days, Kempe Gowda was staying in the house of Sri Rame Gowda in Jigani Village, which falls en route Bangalore-Bannerghatta.
The qualities of poetry, song, and sastra are all infused in the Gita. In the view of the Three Acaryas [Adi Sankara, Ramanuja and Madhva], it is evident that the Gita forms the foundation stone for Vedanta-Sastra. However, in the context of the Gita, the term “Sastra” has a deeper connotation than is commonly understood. Here, Sastra means those procedures or processes or methods that come in handy for the pursuit of spirituality.
Kṛṣṇa reached Upaplavya, met the Pāṇḍavas and narrated everything that transpired in Hastināpura. He finished by saying these words – “Though Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Vidura, Gāndhārī, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and others tried to counsel Duryodhana, he refused to listen. He never changed his mind. He only got enraged, his eyes turned red and he left the court without caring for anyone. He was followed by the kings who had taken shelter under him. He commanded them all – ‘Head to Kurukṣetra! The Puṣya star is high today!’ They left with Bhīṣma as their commander-in-chief.
ಅಮರುಕನ ಹೆಣ್ಣುಗಳ ಹಠ ಕಾವ್ಯಪರಿಧಿಯನ್ನೂ ಮೀರಿದ ಅತಿಕವಿತಾಭೂಮಿಕೆ. ಮನಸ್ಸನ್ನು ಕಲ್ಲಾಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ನಲ್ಲರನ್ನು ಮುನಿದ ಹೆಣ್ಣುಗಳು ಹೊರದೂಡುವರೆಂದು ಬಲ್ಲವರ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯ. ಆದರೆ ಅಮರುಕನ ಹೆಣ್ಣುಗಳು ಮೊದಲು ತಮ್ಮೊಡಲಿನಿಂದ ಪ್ರಾಣವನ್ನು ದೂಡಲು ನಿಶ್ಚಯ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡ ಬಳಿಕವೇ ಪ್ರಾಣೇಶ್ವರರನ್ನು ಮನಸ್ಸಿನಿಂದ, ಮಂದಿರದಿಂದ ಹೊರಡಿಸಬಲ್ಲರು. ಇಂಥ ನಾಯಿಕೆಯ ಬಳಿ ಮುಂಜಾನೆ ಪ್ರಿಯತಮನು ಬಂದು ಬಾಗಿಲು ತಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾನೆ. ಇರುಳೆಲ್ಲ ಅವನಿಗಾಗಿ ಕಾದು ಕಳವಳಿಸಿದ್ದ ಆಕೆ ಅಗುಳಿ ತೆಗೆದು ನೋಡಿದಾಗ ಅವಳಿಗೆ ಕಂಡದ್ದೇನು? ಅಲತಿಗೆಯ ಬಣ್ಣವನ್ನು ಹಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, ತೋಳಬಂದಿಯ ಒತ್ತುಗುರುತನ್ನು ಕೊರಳಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಕಾಡಿಗೆಯ ಕಾಲುವೆಯನ್ನು ತುಟಿಯಂಚಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ತಂಬುಲದ ಕೆಂಪನ್ನು ಕಣ್ಣಂಚಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಮೆತ್ತಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಂದ ವಿಕಟಶೃಂಗಾರದ ಮನದಾಣ್ಮ!