Sangitaratna Chintalapalli Venkataraya was a tiger of the yesteryears. Though the usage of ‘tiger’ as a simile for a musician may be debated, the tiger is renowned for representing courage and fortitude. This was the prowess of Venkataraya. He belonged to the line of great vidvans of music. His training in tradition and the craft of music was of a high degree. When a person acquires learning by his own efforts, when the mind becomes filled with enthusiasm and brightness, a zeal arises to create waves. Even after he was ninety, Venkataraya had this kind of zeal.
Author:D V Gundappa
What can we do to stay healthy? Nothing much frankly, except for an easy adherence to a few simple rules. These rules relate to the four pillars of health namely, food, sleep, exercise and emotional wellness.
आहार-निद्रा-व्यायाम-ब्रह्मचर्यै: सुयोजितै:।
शरीरं धार्यते नित्यमागारमिव धारणै:।।
(राघवन् तिरुमुत्पाट्)
In the Vedas, alternative words for kshatriya are ‘गोप,’ ‘पशुप,’ ‘शर्धा,’ ‘व्रात,’ etc. The word ‘गो’ has ten meanings of which one of them is ‘earth.’ Other meanings include ‘wealth,’ ‘knowledge,’ etc. It also has the meaning of one who nurtures all these. In several places, Indra has been called ‘गोपति.’ The word ‘गोप्ता’ comes from the root word ‘गुप्.’ When words like ‘गोप’ and ‘गोप्ता’ are used in the sense of nourishers and kshatriyas, it emphasizes the philosophy of nurturing dharma.
Krishna had the qualities of a good statesman – be it eloquence, integrity, intelligence, wit, or the ability to take quick decisions. One can imagine he was a soft-spoken person. He spoke words that were at once pleasant and honest (see BG 17.15). While his words were practical, they were never devious. He never forgot a promise, he never broke a promise. And yet, for the sake of dharma, he was willing to abandon a hundred promises. Krishna had dharma drishti (vision of overall goodness) and the Gita is full of that.
For the primitive man, who led his life like an animal, hunting was the primary means of livelihood. The current article examines the process by which a rustic activity such as hunting helped in the evolution of sophisticated theatrical art forms. We will need to closely examine the relation between reality and the ideality, livelihood and life, the worldly and the sublime while dealing with this subject. When we question ourselves thus, we might be pleasantly surprised with the discoveries we make.
Which is the oldest religion in the world? Nobody knows. Ask the foremost historian or the greatest saint but they will not have an answer. We know so little about the earliest humans who inhabited our planet. But we can take an educated guess about the first god. Keep aside for a moment the view that god created the universe and just consider how humans visualize god. Most probably, the first god that humans recognized and worshiped was the sun.
In our tradition, of the lineage of seers, the family that stands out is the Bhrguvamsha (or the Bhargavavamsha). Bhargava was one of the leaders of our country’s rise in material prosperity; he even tried to reach out to other-worldly wealth. Chyavana, one of the founders of Ayurveda; the seer-poet-artiste Shukracharya, who was a master of the Arthashastra and skilled in martial science; the seer Dadhichi who sacrificed his own body for the sake of universal welfare; and other greats were all descendants of the Bhrguvamsha.
The agnishomiya vyuha – the Agni-Soma formation – is the cosmic structure, the eternal arrangement. It is the eternal establishment that binds the consumer and the consumed. This concept has been discussed in the Upanishads and the Yogavasishtha. Krishna speaks about this in the Gita when he identifies himself with the sun, the moon, fire, energy, sap, thought, etc. (BG 15.12-15).
ಶ್ರೀ ಶಂಕರಾಚಾರ್ಯರು ಅದ್ವೈತಸಿದ್ಧಾಂತದ ಪರಮಾಚಾರ್ಯರೆಂಬುದು ಸುವಿದಿತ. ಭಾರತದೇಶದ ನಾಲ್ಕು ದಿಕ್ಕುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರು ಸ್ಥಾಪಿಸಿದ ಆಮ್ನಾಯಪೀಠಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಶೃಂಗಗಿರಿಯ ಶಾರದಾಪೀಠವೂ ಒಂದು. ಶಂಕರರ ಶಿಷ್ಯೋತ್ತಮರಾದ ಸುರೇಶ್ವರರು ಈ ಪೀಠದ ಪ್ರಥಮಾಚಾರ್ಯರೆಂಬುದು ಅದರ ಹಿರಿಮೆಗಳಲ್ಲೊಂದು. ಹೀಗೆ ಆಚಾರ್ಯ ಶಂಕರರಿಗೂ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕಕ್ಕೂ ಸಾವಿರವರ್ಷಗಳಿಗೂ ಮೇಲ್ಪಟ್ಟ ಗಾಢ ನಂಟಸ್ತಿಕೆ ಇದೆ. ವಿಷಾದದ ಸಂಗತಿಯೆಂದರೆ, ಇಷ್ಟು ಗಾಢವಾದ ಸಂಬಂಧವಿದ್ದರೂ ಕನ್ನಡನಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಶಂಕರರ ಗ್ರಂಥಗಳು ೨೦ನೆಯ ಶತಮಾನದ ಮಧ್ಯಭಾಗದವರೆಗೂ ಹೊರಬರಲಿಲ್ಲವೆಂಬುದು.
साहित्ये सुकुमारवस्तुनि दृढन्यायग्रहग्रन्थिले
तर्के वा मयि संविधातरि समं लीलायते भारती ।
शय्या वास्तु मृदूत्तरच्छदवती दर्भाङ्कुरैरास्तृता
भूमिर्वा हृदयङ्गमो यदि पतिस्तुल्या रतिर्योषिताम् ॥