What does power mean to you?

Someone asked on a group: What does power mean to you? 

She wrote that answering this question helped her understand herself better. 

Straight off, the first answer that came to me was: 

Vaishno Devi: Riding the lion in a bright red saree, with weapons in one hand and a lotus in another. Making an entire patriarchal society touch and wash the feet of the girl child, with love rather than conflict. That's what power means to me. Anne Frank. That's power. Power does not always have to mean conflict. In fact, the opposite - when your very presence leads to the desired outcome without you needing to lift a finger, and everyone does it willingly, out of a positive feeling like hope or love. That's power.

The power of Hitler, once over, is despised and regretted. The power of Martin Luther King and Gandhi, though long gone, is still a beacon to others. As people, they may have been imperfect, but their idea of power was based on something positive - love, inspiration, equality, non violence. And that is why, the power belongs to their ideals, and it is enduring. 

When we worship Laksmi, we worship the goddess. Same for Parvati and Saraswati. 

But in Vaishno, we, the North Indians, worship little girls as the embodiment of the goddess. This is a goddess that forces us to see the divine in that which is otherwise disadvantaged. We see that divinity, not because of fear, but because of our love of the goddess. That is power. 

Kriya - 2

पेङ जानता है,
 कि वह क्या कर रहा है।
घास भी जानती है,
कि वह क्या कर रही है।
तो फिर,
व्याकरण के रचयिता,
सर्वाधिक विवेकशील प्रजाति,
क्यों नहीं जानते,
कि
अस्मि, असि, अस्ति
संपूर्ण क्रियायें हैं?

होना,
सम्पूर्णता है. 
न होना भी 
शाश्वत, अटूट यथार्थ। 
**************
This version after Islaah from Arvind Joshi:
पेङ जानता है,
 कि वह क्या कर रहा है।
घास भी जानती है,
कि वह क्या कर रही है।
तो फिर,
व्याकरण के रचयिता,
सर्वाधिक विवेकशील प्रजाति,
क्यों नहीं जानते,
कि
अस्मि, असि, अस्ति
संपूर्ण क्रियायें हैं?



होना,
काफी है.

Sanskrit Lokoti

आचार: कुलमाख्याति देशमाख्याति भाषणम् 
संभ्रम: स्नेहमाख्याति वपुराख्याति भोजनम्


ब्यक्ति के आचरन से उसके परिवार का, बोलने से उसके देश का, व्यवहार से उसके मन का, और शरीर से उसके भोजन का पता चल जाता है। 


From a person's conduct, we can tell their family
From their language, we can tell their native land,
From their behaviour, their intentions,
and from their body, their food habits.

4 kos par paani badle, 8 kos par baani..

४ कोस पर पानी बदले, ८ कोस पर बाणी। 


This is an old saying from India that means, literally translated, "The quality of the groundwater will change after every 4 kos (12km app) , and the dialect will change at 8 kos (app 24 km) .


Here is what it means, specifically for the anthropologists:

 The 24 km diameter is a coherent unit of human habitation. Just like they found out that a person cannot have more than 150 "real" friends, someone extapolated that dialect must change beyond a certain point. A coherent, uniform settlement unit will use the same dialect.
 

I have found this one liner very useful when it comes to understanding differences in people - they grew up with different resources (4 kos par paani badle) and with different ideas, ideals and social structures (8 kos par baani)

3 Gems from Indian Education Techniques

In trying to find ways to enrich education, one of the things I started doing, was reading more about the Indian system of education in the pre Mughal era. And am surprised to know that there is so little information available on the Indian methods of education.

 

We have been fortunate, however, to pick up 3 gems that we will share here.

1. It’s not a lesson. Its a conversation.

Bhaskaracharya wrote a book called “Leelavati Beej Ganit” . The format of the book is a dialogue between Lilavati and the author of the book.

 

Indian books and lessons rely heavily on the concept of Story telling. If a complete story telling is not possible, we convert it into a conversation between two people, to make it interesting. All of Panchatantra is narrated as a conversation. All of Mahabharata is recorded as a narration from a disciple of Rishi Veda Vyaas to the descendants of the Kuru clan. We use this technique extensively in our books too!

 

2. The teacher does not teach. The teacher asks questions.

 

A beautiful thing that we found in addition to the technique of Vartalaap was the technique of asking the right questions. When a teacher wanted the student to learn something profound, they did not give the lesson to the student. They asked the student difficult questions. The student would attempt to answer the Guru’s questions in a satisfactory manner and through this process, would arrive at the answer / gyaan.

 

The most famous example of this technique perhaps appears again in the Mahabharata, in the espisode where Guru Drona takes the princes to a spot, makes them take aim, and asks them, “What do you see?” All the princes, except Arjuna, respond that they see the tree, the bird, the branches etc. Only Arjuna replies that he can see nothing but the eye of the bird, that he is supposed to shoot. The lesson was that you must focus only on your endgoal and completely eliminate all distractions from your senses. It was not given. It was taken.

 

3. We do not merely memorise. To be called learned, we must analyse.

 

It is often assumed, erroneously, that the native Indian method of learning involves, basically, rote learning. Ergo, the oral transmission of the Vedas and the oral tradition of Indian classical music and dance. But that’s simply not true! In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

We first learn enunciation. Then we learn the text. And THEN, the education begins.

Not only did learning involve a critique of the subject at hand, the best analyses were also published with the name of the author (A very rare thing in Ancient India). You might have heard of some books that are ‘Teekas” on a certain book. A Teeka improves upon an original work and adds new perspectives.

 

Another word that appears often, is “Shastrarth” - literally meaning - the meaning of the Shastras. Sanskrit being the magical language that it is, the same phrase could mean a lot of different things. The ONLY way you could be a scholar, was to interpret that text, and argue your interpretation with other scholars. If you could not do a Shastrarth, you were not a learned person at all.

 

And this has fuelled in us a hunger to understand more cultural learning aids from around the world. What did education mean before we universalised it to mean the 3 Rs all over the world? How was education imparted? If you know any resources that could help us understand, or if you remember education techniques from your own family, please do share.

sai ki kahaani

एक साईं था।  कहीं से आ कर , एक गाँव के पास रहने लगा. न किसी से दोस्ती, ना काहू से बैर. अपनी रौ में रहता था. लोग आ कर कुछ खाने को रख जाते, तो खा लेता. ना रखते, तो ना खाता. कभी मांगता न था. कुछ कहता भी ना था.

धीरे धीरे, लोग साईं को बड़ा मानने लगे. उसके डेरे पर लोग खाना रख जाते. सर झुकाते, और चले जाते.

उन्ही दिनों, गाँव की एक लड़की हामिला हो गयी. गाँव वालों ने बच्चे के पिता का नाम पूछा, तो डर के मारे उस ने साईं का नाम ले दिया. लोग बहुत नाराज़ हुए, बहुत गुस्से में आये. पर भगवन के बन्दे को मारें कैसे? बच्चा पैदा हुआ, तो लोग उसे साईं  के पास ले गए. साईं से ज़िम्मेदारी लेने  को कहा गया. साईं बोले, "मेरा है? छोड़ जाओ. "

लोग गुस्से में बुदबुदाते हुए, बच्चे को वहीँ छोड़ आ गए.

अब साईं रोज़ बच्चे के लिए दूध मांगने गाँव की ओर जाते थे . मर्द लोग तो हिकारत से मुंह फेर लेते. औरतें बच्चे के मुंह को कुछ दूध दे दिया करतीं।  साईं दूध बच्चे को पिलाते , उसे पुचकारते , और सुलाने की कोशिश करते . वह बच्चे का ख्याल रखने की पूरी कोशिश करते थे .

उधर बच्चे की माँ से रहा न गया. बच्चे का असली वालिद जब लौट कर गाँव आया, तो उन दोनों में बात हुई, और लड़की ने जा कर सारे गाँव को बता दिया की बच्चा असल में किस का है. उसने ये भी बता दिया कि साईं का नाम सिर्फ इसलिए लिया था, कि लोग उसे और बच्चे को मार ना डालें.

अब गाँव वालों को बड़ी ग्लानि हुई. बच्चा किसी और का, और हम ने यूँ ही साईं पर झूठा इलज़ाम लगाया!

बच्चे के माता पिता और गाँव वाले मिल कर साईं के पास  पहुंचे, उन्हें सारी बात बताई, और बच्चा ले जाने की बात कही. साईं ने सरल मन से कहा, "मेरा नहीं? ले जाओ!"

This is a folk tale that I heard as a child and it had a deep impact on me.

 

Bhanvar, Moh Maya, and Leela

भंवर
Once, there was a boy who entered a labyrinth. The deeper he entered, the more complex it became. The more he tried to understand it, the more confusing it got. Finally, he cried out to his teacher for help.

मोह माया
The teacher smiled, and told him that there are 2 ways to get out of the labyrinth. The first option, is to persevere, understand and find ways to exit.

लीला
The second, is to retrace your steps, understand the labyrinth for what it is, and walk around it. When you start, you know it is a game , but when you go in, it becomes your reality.


They are both noble choices. They both teach.

 

Radha Krishna..

I read this long long time ago, but understood this only today:

राधा से कृष्ण ने पूछा , " कोई ऐसी जगह है , जहां मैं नहीं हूँ? "
राधा बोली, " मेरे नसीब में . "

फिर राधा ने पूछा, " हमारा विवाह क्यूँ नहीं हुआ? "
कृष्ण बोले : " विवाह २ जीवों का मेल है. हम में तुम में, दूसरा कौन है राधे? "

 Krishna wasnt one man.. he is every man a woman ever loved.
Radha wasnt a woman. she is every woman who ever loved.

Tat Tvam asi.. sah aham asmi.. aham Brahma Asmi.

In science as we know it, there are living things and non living things.

What are the characteristics of living beings?
1. They grow.
2. They eat/consume .
3. They excrete.
4. They grow old.
5. They die.
6. They are born.

There are creatures that hibernate for centuries. Some hibernate for months. During this period, they do not eat or excrete. So, partial fulfilling of these conditions could still qualify as living, right?

Consider the human hair. It meets all the conditions above. Is the hair on our body a living thing?
Consider the things in our house. On a bad day, we find that things get misplaced more often. They are tired at the end of the day. They are better in the mornings.. even the air around us talks.

Can you imagine the difference in our perspective if we were to treat everything as if it were alive, like us? A part of the same Brahma ?

Tat tvam asi, means, you are That.

Sah Aham Asmi, means I am That.

Aham Brahma asmi, means, I am the Supreme Knowledge. I am the Brahma.

Between them, these three lines unite every living thing with each other, and with the Supreme Creator.

तत त्वम असि.
स: अहम अस्मि.
अहम ब्रह्मास्मि.

We Indians do not know our age.

Serious!

Till about 2 generations ago, few, if any, knew their age or the year of their birth. Large parts of the country still remember their birth as "It was some 3-4 days after the Poornima, in the season of spring." or "i was born the year we had the drought. My mother says there was no water for us." or simply, "Some year, at night. It was summers, my mother tells me."

I've been thinking of this - the lack of need to remember a birthday, a date and the year. What an awesome luxury!! You are old if you do not have your teeth any more. You are an adult if you start to do *ahem* adult things, and you are a child if you do not do hard labor in the fields. Simply put, when we remove that number, we remember our life by its REAL milestones - that I am a grandmother now, that my teeth have come, that i have started to lose hair, that it is now difficult to put hard labor in the fields.. the things that really matter.

When you do that, you can not hide behind a number to explain why you have cholesterol, why you cannot have any more children etc. Some months ago, there was this news item of a man who fathered a child at the reported age of 90. The mother of the child was then 45. How did she give birth to another child, in the middle of a village, at the age of 45? Simple, she had no idea that women are not supposed to give birth at 45. What's more, she did not know she was 45 and should be looking at menopause, not childbirth.

Having a number and a day next to our existence on earth is of great value. It helps us measure (and get a birth certificate). But doing away with that number has its advantages too.

Leela Hai!

Indians have two of the most amazing survival concepts known to me. They are "Karma" and "Leela/ Maya".

Karma, simply means Action. The concept of Karma means that whatever you do, will catch up with you. Since we do believe in cyclical birth, it means that one death does not mean the end of your ledger balance, and that death is no escape. You will have to face the results of your deeds anyway.

Leela is a little better than that. It is the theory that all the world is a stage on which the Gods are playing, and all the beings are pieces in this game being played by the Gods. Maya means that everything we see, is make believe.. just as the pieces in a game get killed, win, lose, but we all know that it all amounts to nothing. Its just a game. Likewise, human beings, and all other creatures, are pieces in a cosmic game. They lose, they win, they die, and they come back on the same board. But it all amounts to nothing.

Therefore, in the middle of a crisis, personal or public, the Indians are likely to go "Sab bhagwaan ki leela hai!" meaning.. it is all a game.. what does it matter? Such profound wisdom... so easily received!

Of course, this concept of life also gives us the Hindu Rate of Growth... :-)