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Kathāmṛta - 55 - Sūryaprabha-lambaka - The Story of Guṇaśarmā

One day, the king was having his meal. Guṇaśarmā, who sat in his proximity refused to eat a certain dish which was brought to him by the cook. When asked the reason for his act, he said – ‘Even as I saw it, I came to know that it is filled with poison! You can test it by having it fed to someone else; I will then relieve him of poison and cure him!; When the king asked the cook to eat the particular dish, he fell unconscious upon eating. Guṇaśarmā used a mantra to review him. The cook then confessed – ‘Deva! Your enemy Vikramaśakti instigated me to feed you with poison!’

Masti Venkatesha Iyengar and D V Gundappa

Masti’s life was extremely organized; his work was meticulous, immaculate, and accurate; he kept a track of all his activities and an account of all his expenses. Once I happened to meet him in the bank and we got talking. He told me, “You know what, in the last forty years, I have spent —lakh and —thousand rupees for printing books. Until now, I have received —lakh and —thousand rupees from sales. I am left with books worth —lakhs.” Even his intake of food was temperate.

Ch. 2 Yoga of Discernment of Reality (Part 9)

The Characteristics of a Knower

The teaching must have affected Arjuna a wee bit. He asks, “You mentioned about the state of being in samādhi and talked about a sthitaprajña (one of steady wisdom). What are his characteristics? How does he speak?” Bhagavān enumerates the marks of a knower which forms the education of a seeker. The nineteen ślokas from the 54th to 72nd were apparently Mahatma Gandhi’s favourites. These ślokas are useful for contemplation and practice. 

ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಕವಿಗಳ ಕಾವ್ಯಮೀಮಾಂಸೆ - 32

ನಾವಿನ್ನು “ಶಿವಲೀಲಾರ್ಣವ”ದತ್ತ ತಿರುಗಬಹುದು. ಇದರಲ್ಲಿ ನೀಲಕಂಠದೀಕ್ಷಿತನ ವ್ಯಾಪಕವಾದ ಕಾವ್ಯಚಿಂತನೆ ಕಂಡುಬರುತ್ತದೆ. ಮೊದಲಿಗೇ ಕವಿಯು ಧ್ವನಿಯ ಮಹತ್ತ್ವವನ್ನು ಸಾರುತ್ತಾನೆ:

ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯವಿದ್ಯಾಜಯಘಂಟಯೈವ

            ಸಂವೇದಯಂತೇ ಕವಯೋ ಯಶಾಂಸಿ |

ಯಥಾ ಯಥಾಸ್ಯಾಂ ಧ್ವನಿರುಜ್ಜಿಹೀತೇ

            ತಥಾ ತಥಾ ಸಾರ್ಹತಿ ಮೂಲ್ಯಭೇದಾನ್ || (೧.೮)

Kathāmṛta - 54 - Sūryaprabha -lambaka - The Story of Sūryaprabha and Guṇaśarmā

 

चलत्कर्णानिलोद्धूत सिन्धूरारुणिताम्बरः।

जयत्यकालेऽपि सृजन् सन्धामिव गजाननः॥

 

Victory to Gajānana, who reddens the sky with sindhūra

scattered by the wind from the constant flapping of his ears,

creating a sense of sunset even when it’s not the hour of dusk!

 

Kolar Lodging

Upon completing my first year of high school (Fourth Form) at Mysore, I moved to Kolar for the second year (Fifth Form). After initial hardships in matters of boarding and lodging, I was able to set up boarding arrangement at one Venkataramayya’s residence, which was made possible by Ramadasappa’s munificence.

Rāḻḻapalli Ananthakrishna Sarma (Part 1)

“There is a dire need for the rejuvenation of connoisseurship. The number of connoisseurs in the society must increase. The tastes and opinions of people need to be more cultured.” Rāḻḻapalli Ananthakrishna Sarma had expressed this concern during his presidential speech at the Āndhra Nāṭaka Kalāpariṣat at Nellore in 1938. To this day, after the passage of so many decades, his opinion is relevant, perhaps even more so.

ಸಂಸ್ಕೃತಕವಿಗಳ ಕಾವ್ಯಮೀಮಾಂಸೆ - 31

ಇಂಥ ಕಲ್ಪನೆಯಿಂದ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯದ ಸ್ವರೂಪವನ್ನು ಹೀಗೆ ಬಣ್ಣಿಸುತ್ತಾನೆ:

ಅಸ್ತಿ ಸಾರಸ್ವತಂ ಚಕ್ಷುರಜ್ಞಾತಸ್ವಾಪಜಾಗರಮ್ |

ಗೋಚರೋ ಯಸ್ಯ ಸರ್ವೋऽಪಿ ಯಃ ಸ್ವಯಂ ಕರ್ಣಗೋಚರಃ || (೧.೯)

ಎಚ್ಚರ-ನಿದ್ರೆಗಳಿಲ್ಲದ ನೇತ್ರವೇ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ. ಇದರ ದೃಷ್ಟಿಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲವೂ ತೋರಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತದೆ; ಇದು ಮಾತ್ರ ಕಿವಿಗೆ ಎಟುಕುತ್ತದೆ.