Most of our exponents and proponents of Harsh Hindutva are not really well-learnt in Indian Epics, Scriptures and Philosophical Concepts. They are just idol worshippers. Idol worship methods are intended for at the persons who are at the lowest stage of intellectual development, and are intended to make them more interested into the path of Self-Realisation with advanced questions such as "Who am I, why did I come into the World, What is birth, What is death, Does life after death really exist, Do the so called cycles and recycles of Births and Deaths, really exist for the soul, what is my role in the Cosmos and Universe, What is Jagat, What is ephemeral, what is eternal?".
One can always question why these questions are needed for people of ordinary disposition? For this, one possible answer: A person spends a 10% of his life in babyhood and childhood, another 20-30% in acquiring money making and want fulfilling skills, another 20% in taking care of wife and offsprings, and when the persons find themselves in old age with disease, suddenly body and organs not listening to commands, they may enter into tumultous gyrations of ignorance and misunderstandings. Hence, there is a need for persons to realise one's true role on this Earth, in this society, nature of body, its strengths, weaknesses, and the most important thing of 'taking comforts and hardships with a view of equanimity (not stoic equanimity). It is not that money-making skills and taking care of family, are not important. They are important, but they are important within bounds.
Back to obsessive compulsion to idol-worship. Consequent to this Obsessive Compulsive Preoccupation with Decoration of Idols with gold, covering temples with gold, and idol-worship-related rituals and rites, Priests, Preceptors, and Monks have lost their direction. They have got themselves entangled into a minor question of Birthplace of a King who is considered as Incarnation of God. If some other religions are more obsessed about the Birthplaces of their Founding Prophets, it does not mean that the Enlightened Indian Culture should also get bogged down into a relatively low level question of building Temples. This degeneration might not have started during the Gupta Dynastic Rule (4th Century CE circa). It might have existed in the earliest migrant Aryans from the Baltics and the Iran-Iraq-South-Europe. Early pre-Aryan-Indians, were according to my perception, were philosophical explorers and thinkers of intellectual depth, when compared to early-migrant-Aryans who were just interested in performing sacrifices killing horses (Aswa mEtha) and other animals and birds. There was not much of a philosophy in that.
TODAY'S headlines: :
■BOTH NATIONAL AND REGIONAL MEDIA SEEMS TO BE KNEELING BEFORE THE GOVERNMENT, WHEN JUST SLIGHT BENDING MIGHT HAVE BEEN SUFFICIENT ♞:▲1. Today, we Indians seem to be living in an Environment where it will be dangerous, risky and slippery to express an independent opinion. ▼
▲2. Some Judges of Courts at Higher Level also seem to be hesitating to express their Opinions, but it seems to have become risky to criticise Government of Judges or their Judgements. ▼
▲3. For example, in many States Members of Legislative Assembly freely jumped from one Party to another for monetary or other benefits. There nearly no reports of Supreme Court having taken up any of them suo motu. In 2014-19 Residual Andhra Pradesh 23 MLAs of Opposition YSRCP Party jumped to the then Ruling TDP Party, and they even got Ministerial Berths. In Telangana State, almost all the TDP MLAs, and quite a significant number of Congress MLAs jumped into Ruling TRS Party. Their game went on for the full five years. The Speakers of those two Assemblies were blind and deaf to the Events. ▼
▲4. In Karnataka State, all the 17 Congress Party MLAs who resigned from their Party and remained unresponsive to calls made by Speaker Ramesh Kumar to attend the Assembly or send their explanations, forcing the Speaker to disqualify them, and also disentitle them from contesting to the Assembly till next Polls. ▼
▲5. Supreme Court Judgement does not seem to have taken into consideration the spirit of the decision of Mr. Ramesh Kumar. Those who can spend Millions of Rupees in their Elections, and re-Elections, because they get funds from the Political Parties which prompt them to resign, cause great inconvenience to the Electorate and great Expense to the Election Commission and the Respective State Governments. Therefore, making them to wait in the sidelines till the next General Election, is a reasonable decision on the part of the then Karnataka Speaker Mr. Ramesh Kumar. If the Supreme Court wants to follow only literal Interpretations of Laws in a rigid manner, critics need not be unhappy, as long as the Courts use Literal Interpretations consistently and continuously. If Ramesh Kumar's decision is beyond the rigidly defined Powers of a Speaker by the Constitution, then the Supreme Court striking down the Judicial Appointments Commission Act and sticking on to some Collegium System designed by themselves but not envisaged in Constitution should also be beyond the Scope of Supreme Court's Powers. ▼
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TODAY'S untrivia: :
■MUCH FUSS NOT NEEDED ABOUT INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH MEDIUM IN SCHOOLS OF RESIDUAL ANDHRA PRADESH ♞:▲1. YSRC Party, like the BJP Party at Centre, and the KCR Government in the neighboring Telangana State, adopts dictatorial and tyrannical methods, instead of approaching problems with practical and reconciliatory methods.▼
▲2. The latest example for this despotic approach is the Jagan Govt's edict to start teaching all subjects in English Medium in all the Government Schools in Residual Andhra Pradesh. After much Public Criticism, the Jagan Govt. has now temporarily limited the English Instruction of all subjects only upto 5th Standard, with an Order to expand it every year by one Class. ▼
▲3. Some BJP Leaders and some Newspapers seem to be nursing an anxiety that Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy is trying to create a Christian Vote Bank for himself through the Introduction of English Medium, and by restricting Telugu only to be a language subject. This is a controversial area which will have to be discussed separately in another blog post. ▼
▲4. As far as introduction of English Medium only for all subjects is concerned is : we can introduce bilingual Texts. On left side page Telugu Version can be printed. Whether it is science, maths, or social studies, or any other subject, its English Version can be printed in right hand side page. A discerning student will use his own intelligence, intellect and discretion to use either left page, right page or both pages, depending on his own capabilities, tastes, help he gets from his teachers, parents, co-students. Students can also be permitted liberally either to answer all the questions in English or Telugu or, some questions in English and some questions in Telugu, with maximum-optimum flexibility to him.▼
▲5. When bilingual text books are introduced, the cost of printing them, may get doubled. This should not be a cause for worry because, those teachers who are not confident enough to teach technical subjects like maths and science in English Medium, can compare the English and Telugu versions which are side by side, and improve their teaching skills. ▼
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS TEST No.
Here is a 10 Multiple Choice Question Test on your favorite subject. Some Qs are actual Examination Questions, ABRIDGED & EDITED for brevity, and to facilitate easier comprehension. Actual Exam. Qs were lengthy and circumlocutive. Qs can be answered online, and score can be checked by clicking ~showprogress~ box at the end of any Q. There are minus marks of 0.25 (quarter mark) for each wrong answer. If any Qs are left out, there will be no change in score. Answers for each Q can also be checked by moving your mouse on the word `mouse` at the end of each Q. You can try and retry any number of times.
TODAY'S BHARTRUHARI:
■sringara SATAKAM OF BHARTRUHARI: CUPID, servant of Lasses ♞:♛011. NUnam AgnAkaras tapyAha
subhruvO Makara Dhwajaha
Yatas tannEtra samcAra
sUcitEshu pravartatE.♝
♛Just as servants execute the commands of the master conveyed just through his looks, the Cupid goes and strikes those, whom the lasses chase with their looks.♝
TODAY'S ENGLISH GRAMMAR: :
■ENGLISH grammar: ADJECTIVES, PARTICIPLES, DANGLING PARTICIPLES ♞:♛also called Impersonal Absolute.♝
| Example | Observation |
| Standing at the gate, a snake bit him. | Was the snake standing at the gate? |
| Going up the hill, an old temple was seen | Was the temple climbing the hill? |
| Entering the room, the light was quite dazzling. | Who was entering the room? Subject should be clear. |
♛Permitted customary usages:♝
| Taking everything into consideration, the Magistrate was perfectly justified in issuing those orders. |
| Considering his abilities, he should have done better. |
| Roughly speaking, the distance from here to the nearest railway station is two miles. |
♛ unexpressed subject is indefinite. Thus, 'Roughly speaking' = If one speaks roughly.♝
TODAY'S QUOTE FROM KARL MARX: :
■Karl Marx & ENGELS♞:♛Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions.♝
♛It is the opium of the people.♝
One of the two main objects of life of this Blogger 'ybrao-a-donkey' is to get rid of religion from human lives. This donkey knows that it is nearly impossible. Yet, there is no alternative. Getting of religion is not one person's job. It will have to be a continuous effort from one generation to another generation, till the final goal is accomplished.
TODAY'S EPISODE FROM VYASA MAHABHARATA ENGL. TRANSL. :
■VYASA MAHABHARATA TRANSLATED BY Ganguli around 1900 AD-CE, BOOK3, BOOK OF FOREST/m03 133. being edited and updated by ybrao-a-donkey.♞:♛CONTEXT: The Mahabharata, Book 3: Vana Parva: Tirtha-yatra Parva (Book of Pilgrimages by Prince Arjuna). Yudhishthira and three of his brothers are in Forest, while Arjuna went on a pilgrimage, and also to acquire new arms, such as Shiva's Arrow (PAshupata). Sage LomaSa was narrating the story of Sage AshTAvakra to Displaced King YudhishThira, to ameliorate Yudhishthira's depressed condition.♝
♛" Ashtavakra said, 'O king, O leader of fierce legions, in this assembly of monarchs of unrivalled power who have met together, I am unable to find out Vandin, chief of the controversialists.♝
♛ But I am searching for him, even agangus one doth for a swan on a vast expanse of water.♝
♛ O Vandin, you regardest thyself as the foremost of controversialists.♝
♛ When though wilt engage with me in staking, you wilt not be able to flow like the current of a river.♝
♛ I am like a full-flaming fire.♝
♛ Be silent before me, O Vandin! Do not awaken a sleeping tiger.♝
♛ Know that you shalt not escape unstung, after trampling on the head of a venomous snake, licking the corners of its mouth with its tongue, and who hath been hurt by your foot.♝
♛ That weak man who, in pride of strength, attempts to strike a blow at a mountain, only gets his hands and nails hurt, but no wound is left on the mountain itself.♝
♛ As the other mountains are inferior to the Mainaka, and as calves are inferior to the ox, so are all other kings of the earth inferior to the lord of Mithila.♝
♛ And as Indra is the foremost of celestials, and as the Ganga is the best of rivers, so you alone art, O king, the greatest of monarchs.♝
♛ O king, cause Vandin to be brought to my presence.♝
♛"Lomasa said, 'Saying this, O Yudhishthira, wroth with Vandin, Ashtavakra thus thundered in the assembly, and addressed him in these words, 'Do you answer my questions, and I shall answer yours.♝
♛ Thereat Vandin said, 'One only fire blazeth forth in various shapes; one only sun illumineth this whole world; one only hero, Indra, the lord of celestials, destroys the enemies; and one only Yama is the sole lord of the Pitris (souls of dead ancestors).♝
♛Ashtavakra said, 'The two friends, Indra and Agni, ever move together; the two celestial sages are Narada and Parvata; twins are the Aswinikumaras; two is the number of the wheels of a car; and it is as a couple that husband and wife live together, as ordained by the deity.♝
♛Vandin said, 'Three kinds of born beings are produced by acts; the three Vedas together perform the sacrifice, Vajapeya; at three different times, the Adhwaryus (Managers and Leaders of Sacrifices) commence sacrificial rites; three is the number of words: and three also are the divine lights.♝
♛Ashtavakra said, 'Four are the Asramas of the Brahmanas; the four orders perform sacrifices; four are the cardinal points; four is the number of letters; and four also, as is ever known, are the legs of a cow.♝
♛Vandin said, 'Five is the number of fires; five are the feet of the metre called Punki; five are the sacrifices; five locks, it is said in the Vedas, are on the heads of the Apsaras; and five sacred rivers are known in the world.♝
♛Ashtavakra said.'Six cows, it is asserted by some, and paid as a gratuity on the occasion of establishing the sacred fire; six are the seasons belonging to the wheel of time; six is the number of the senses; six stars constitute the the constellation Kirtika; and six, it is found in all the Vedas, is the number of the Sadyaska sacrifice. ♝
♛Chapter m03 134.♝
♛Vandin said, 'Seven is the number of the domesticated animals; seven are the wild animals; seven metres are used in completing a sacrifice; seven are the Rishis, seven forms of paying homage are extant (in the world); and seven, it is known, are the strings of the Vina.♝
♛Ashtavakra said, 'Eight are the bags containing a hundred fold; eight is the number of the legs of the Sarabha, which preyeth upon lions; eight Vasus, as we hear, are amongst the celestials; and eight are the angles of yupa (stake to which sacrificial animals are tied, in all sacrificial rites).♝
♛Vandin said, 'Nine is the number of the mantras used in kindling the fire in sacrifices to the Pitris (Ancestors); nine are the appointed functions in the processes of creation; nine letters compose the foot of the metre, Brihati; and nine also is ever the number of the figures (in calculation).♝
♛Ashtavakra said, 'Ten is said to be the number of cardinal points, entering into the cognition of men in this world; ten times hundred make up a thousand; ten is the number of months, during which women bear; and ten are the teachers of true knowledge, and ten, the haters thereof, and ten again are those capable of learning it.♝
♛Vandin said, 'Eleven are the objects enjoyable by beings; eleven is the number of the yupas [stakes to which sacrificial animals are tied]; eleven are the changes of the natural state pertaining to those having life; and eleven are the Rudras among the gods in heaven.♝
♛Ashtavakra said, Twelve months compose the year; twelve letters go to the composition of a foot of the metre called Jagati; twelve are the minor sacrifices; and twelve, according to the learned, is the number of the Adityas.♝
♛Vandin means to say that the soul is not essentially free from the fetters of happiness and misery arising from the eleven objects of perception. In this world all men are subject to happiness and misery. We also hear that there are Rudras in heaven.♝
♛Vandin said: The thirteenth lunar day is considered the most auspicious; thirteen islands exist on earth.♝
♛Lomasa said, 'Having proceeded thus far, Vandin stopped.♝
♛ Thereupon Ashtavakra supplied the latter half of the sloka.♝
♛ Ashtavakra said, 'Thirteen sacrifices are presided over by Kesi; and thirteen are devoured by Ati-chhandas, (the longer metres) of the Veda. ♝
♛And seeing Ashtavakra speaking and the Suta's son (Vandin) silent, and pensive, and with head downcast, the assembly broke into a long uproar. And when the tumult thus arose in the splendid sacrifice performed by king Janaka, the Brahmanas [Priests] well pleased, and with joined hands, approached Ashtavakra, and began to pay him homage.♝
♛Thereupon Ashtavakra said, 'Before this, this man, defeating the Brahmanas in controversy, used to cast them into water. Let Vandin today meet with the same fate. Seize him and drown him in water.♝
♛Vandin said. 'O Janaka, I am the son of king Varuna.♝
♛ Simultaneously with your sacrifice, there also has commenced a sacrifice extending over twelve years. It is for this that I have despatched the principal Brahmanas thither. They have gone to witness Varuna's sacrifice. Lo! there they are returning.♝
♛ I pay homage to the worshipful Ashtavakra, by whose grace to-day I shall join him who has begot me.♝
♛Ashtavakra said, 'Defeating the Brahmanas either by words or subtlety. Vandin had cast them into the waters of the sea. That Vedic truth which he had suppressed by false arguments), have I to-day rescued.♝
I undertake English, Hindi, Telugu language Translations. My labor charges: Ind. Rs. 110 per input page. E-mail input files to y b h a s k at g m a i l .com. No need to phone. Some of the documents which I have translated earlier: Sale Deeds, Public Copies of Sale Deeds, Sale Agreements, Lease Agreements, Mortgage Deeds, Land Records such as pahani-chowfasla, 10-1Adangal, Legal Notices, Replies to Legal Notices, Court Decrees, Police FIRs, Inquest Reports, Market Brochures, Employee Standing Orders, Letters to Govt. Departments, Letters received from Govt. Departments, Birth Certificates, Death Certificates, Marks Lists, Ration Cards, Ration Card Name deletion Certificates, Adoption Agreements, Divorce Agreements etc. etc.
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