October 2020
Udayana started reigning over the kingdom which he inherited from his father on a prosperous note. However, he gradually handed it over to Yaugandharāyaṇa and the other ministers and became preoccupied with hunting and playing the vīṇā. The vīṇā playing used to take place every day, all day. Also, with the enthralling power of the vīṇā, he used to ensnare rut elephants. He did have this constant refrain though: ‘I don’t see anywhere a bride who...
English Reader
In doing so, Iyer would also explain the classification of nouns in English, the usage of tenses, structure of singular and plural forms, and also additionally mention their Kannada equivalents. Among the concepts in English, the toughest is the usage of prepositions. This is a special feature of the English language. The root word ‘get’ associates itself with different prepositions to form idioms like ‘get in,’ ‘get on,’ and ‘get...
Moral Values
In those days, four or five of us met up every evening at the Century club in Sheshadri memorial club. We chatted, had discussions, and had light refreshments -- this was our routine. One evening three or four friends joined us. That evening, at 6:30 PM there was a discourse arranged at the YMCA assembly hall. The discourse was given by a famous European woman from Madras. We planned to reach the assembly hall in time for the...
Śrīdatta went in search of water for her. As he looked for a source of water, it got dark. While he found water roaming around the forest, he had lost his way. The next morning, anxious to see his beloved, he arrived at the spot where the dead horse lay. He however, did not find Mṛṅgākavatī or his friends at the spot. Therefore, distracted, he placed his sword down and he climbed up a tree looking around when the leader of a Śabara clan came to...
Prerequisites to the Study of the Gītā
A word of caution before we begin. All parts of the Gītā cannot be understood at the same level of clarity by everyone. Shouldn’t instruction befit the aspirant’s qualification? The amount of benefit we derive from the Gītā is directly proportional to our levels of faith, moral readiness, and intellectual ability. Anything beyond our capability might not be understood by us. So it would simply be our loss...