Culture

Yugadi, also called Ugadi, is a well-known festival in India. Though it is often considered as a South Indian festival, textual evidences and local practices clearly indicate that it has a pan-Indian perspective. ‘युग’ in Sanskrit means ‘an era’. It also has many more meanings like ‘a couple’, ‘unit of time’, ‘yoke’, ‘age’, ‘generation’ and ‘lifespan’. ‘उग’ means ‘star’ or a glowing celestial body. Yugadi or Ugadi means the beginning of these. i.e, start of a year or in general a unit of time.

The Sanskrit word for wedding is विवाह (vivaaha). Vivaaha also means ‘marriage.’  Basically it refers to “supporting dharma.” Dharma is a Sanskrit word that means ‘harmony,’ ‘sustainability,’ ‘righteousness,’ ‘welfare at large’ – in essence, ‘that which is most beneficial to the world.’ The wife is referred to as sahadharmini, an equal partner in upholding dharma and treading the right path. The wedding is typically performed with mantras from the Vedas.

Interview with Dr. R Ganesh –Dr. Arundhati Sundar and Arjun Bharadwaj

Arjun Bharadwaj interviewed Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh on the upcoming Summer School at Chinmaya International Foundation on the Theme of Vyāsa - Vālmīki - Kālidāsa: Realizing the Spirit of Indian Culture through their Creations – A Ten-day intensive residential course. http://summerschool2017.chinfo.org/#

Petra is a UNESCO world heritage site, three hours from Jordan’s capital, Amman. We enter it through a Siq (pronounced ‘seek’) – a narrow, naturally-formed sandstone gorge that is 2 km long that suddenly opens into the imposing “treasury building.” A road between the Dushare mountains takes you to the street of the façades, with nearly a hundred façades carved into the sandstone gorge on either side. Travel further and you cross Roman remains and finally after an hour’s climb reach the breathtaking façade of the “monastery.”

"Meditations of Marcus Aurelius" by the ancient Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius is one of the great books, which has an all-time relevance because of the practical knowledge, philosophical maxims and psychological insights that are expounded there. The worth of these observations will be more enhanced as Marcus Aurelius as an emperor had to face the problems of his government, had to lead his soldiers against outlandish tribes, and had to participate in the wars also.

IV

The books on Ayurveda and related topics can be largely divided into five categories based on the level of the reader – for the lay person, for the student of Ayurveda, for the Ayurvedic practitioner, for the scholar (the advanced student), and for the researcher.

The student of Ayurveda needs to acquire familiarity with Sanskrit. This is best accomplished by a study of Sri Satchidanandendra Sarasvati’s Sanskrit self-study books (Adhyatma Prakasha Karyalaya).