Here today ... gone tomorrow?

Every time I say goodbye to the folks and the aunts, I always think, "what if it turns out to be the last time ever that I see them?"

Death can happen any moment.
At any age.
You think that the passengers in that Air Asia plane considered the possibility that they were departing forever?

But, we don't seem to live our life with an understanding that death awaits us.
Awaits each and every one of us.
Rich or poor.
Young or old.
Healthy or otherwise.
Death awaits.

The following couplet from the old country says it best:

नाकाले म्रियते जंतुः विद्धः शरशतैरपि । 
कुशकंटकविद्धोऽपि प्राप्तकालो न जीवति ॥ 
When your time is not yet up, even if one throws a hundred arrows at you – nothing happens to you.
However, when it is up, even a blade of grass can kill you.

Or, to put you at ease (!) we could say it in a different form:

मृत्योर्बिभेषि किं बाल न स भीतं विमुंचति । 
अद्यवाब्दशतांते वा मृत्युर्वै प्राणिनां ध्रुवः ॥ 
Oh boy! why are you afraid of death? Death does not spare those who are afraid. 
It may happen right now or after a hundred years. But it is certain. 

I would think that there will be wonderful clarity about one's life if only we viewed our existence that way.
Would we really care to spend that additional hour at work?
Would we bother to yell at the driver who sped past on a foggy early morning?
Or the shopper who jumps into the line ahead of those waiting?
Who cares, right?  Because, we have much better things to do with the precious few seconds or decades that we have.

Life is one game of probabilities, my friend, over which you have no control.  You think otherwise and want to comment?  There is no certainty that I will even be around to read your comments on this post--though, I am fairly confident that I will be around to debate with you!

Because there is no certainty that we will be around, let the people you care for know how much you really care for them.
Right now.
Stop reading this post.
Go, go, go ... shoooooooo ...

The wisdom of working out--the body and the senses

It has now been two days of snow falling steadily.  So unusual that this robin did not care about me, and was more worried about the snow and the cold.

you see the bird?

I have not stirred out of the neighborhood since I reached home almost forty-eight hours ago. Fearing such a house-arrest, I made sure I picked up the absolutely needed grocery items back on Wednesday.  You don't have to be an eager-beaver Boy Scout to be prepared!  Thanks to that, I can sit out another two days or more. Heck, I have enough coffee to last me a week. And then there is tea--genuine Darjeeling tea, thanks to Ramesh. So, the weather gods can keep sending snow this way, but I will outlast this modern day Vienna siege! ;)

But, I do miss walking around.

Walking for three miles. Or four. Or five.

And hiking.

If only I had the winter gear to venture out in the snow!

In the latest issue of National Geographic, Garrison Keillor remarks that "Winter is miserable only for people who don’t know what to wear."  Aha!  I will be prepared then before the next winter arrives.

I suppose the body is used to the endorphins that walking and hiking generate. It is an endorphin withdrawal that I am suffering from, to some extent. It is not that I am a fitness maniac either. I fully understand that physical health is merely one component of an existence in which the happiness endorphins come from different places.  Furthermore, there is this wisdom from the old country:

शरीर पोषणार्थि सन् यु आत्मानं दिदृक्षति ।
ग्राहं दारुधिया धृत्वा नदीं तुर्तुं स गच्छति ॥

-विवेकचूडामणि

Some people are interested in nurturing their body well assuming that it make their soul also happy.
Such people are kidding themselves; trying to cross a river on a crocodile taking that to be a log.

- Vivekachudamani

This atheist does not care about the soul, but does understand that there is immensely more to life than a fixation on the physical appearance and health.

Stuck at home, am eating more than I probably should.  If this is my behavior when seven inches of snow fall over two days, I should be thankful then that I don't live where it is feet of snow over the winter months!

Eat I did, like this one:

Melted cheese with chives, and salsa .. the halves combine to make me one with everything ;)

Of course, I don't live to eat, but eat to live. Eat healthily and colorfully to live ;)

I know enough not to fall victim to eating.  Again, from the old country:

शब्दादिभिः पंचभिरेव पंचपंचत्वमापुः स्वगुणेन बद्धाः ।
कुरंग मातंग पतंग मीन भृंगा नरः पंचभिरंचितः किम् ॥

- विवेकचूडामणि

The five senses are sound, touch, sight, taste and smell. Animals that are slaves of any one of them often pay the price by their life. A deer follows the sound (of its calf) and becomes a prey. An elephant is enslaved by its vulnerability of touch behind the head. A moth is driven to the flame by its sight. A fish is baited by its longing for taste. A bee loses its life when it gets trapped in the lotus which attracted it by smell. What can now be told of a man who is driven by all the five senses?

- Vivekachudamani

The sound of silence of the falling snow is a wonderful background to think about life, even through such everyday activities.

Thinking is one awesome workout.

The best.

My favorite!

Why I owe my friends nothing. Yep, nothing at all!

One friend messaged me inquiring why I hadn't blogged for more than a day.  I know it is not really the blog post itself as much as it to make sure that I was alive and well.

Another "concerned friend," as he signed off in the email, issued an all-points-bulletin on me as a missing person, which deserves special recognition here:

Missing – Sriram Khé
Has a professorial air and sports a beard (sort of)
Last seen 2 days ago with two women
Missing from the blog for 48 hours which is highly unusual
Last seen wearing T shirt of indeterminate colour although it was – 20 outside
Is likely to discourse on the origins of life if wished Good Morning
Possibly lost meandering along the Willamette chasing goslings
Could also have got lost driving on a country road
He’s a nice bloke; so if anybody sights him anywhere, please Tweet “All hail Congoboy”

48 hours? When all I skipped was one day of blogging!!!

How can I ever complain about life with friends like these (and more,) right?

Yet, in the title of this post, I make it clear I don't owe them a damn thing.

I am not being heartless.

Allow me to explain by drawing on the following wonderful words of wisdom from the old country.

मय्येव जीर्णतां यातु यत्त्वयोपकृतं मम ।
नरः प्रत्युपकारार्थी विपत्तिमनुकांक्षति ॥

- सुभाषितसुधानिधि

I do not wish to repay the help that you have done to me.
Any person who wishes to do so, is actually wishing that you get into trouble so that he can help you back.

- Subhashitasudhanidhi

Aha, you say now!

Patience, dear reader, have patience.  Do not ever judge a blog post by its title!

Friends who would worry about your welfare. They wonder if everything is alright with you.  They worry.  They even nag the crap out of you all because they care.

To them, I owe nothing. Nada. Zippo. Zilch.

And now you know why.

BTW, will you now please cancel that missing person report? ;)

Do yourself a favor: feel sorry for yourself!

A colleague stopped me in the hallway last week.

"I forgot to tell you" she said.

"About what?"

"I wanted to tell you about a performance in Seattle.  It was not the Mahabharata, but the other one."

"You mean the Ramayana?"

"Yes, that one.  But, now it is too late--it is over."

"They are both amazingly complex stories with plots that crisscross, and with characters that are so well developed" I replied.

I loved those epics.  Phenomenal works of literature from centuries ago.  What I read were mere re-telling; I can easily imagine that the works in the original will be quite a treat for those well-versed in Sanskrit.  The Mahabharata, which I prefer a tad over the Ramayana, was Rajaji's version that I read and it was one gripping page turner when I read that as a kid.

Of course, those are more than stories to the true believers.  For the atheist me, as much as I draw lessons on life from a Hemingway or a Tolstoy, there are many wonderful lessons I could draw from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

One of the words of wisdom that appealed to me, especially when I have to resolve issues within, is this advice from the Ramayana:

आत्मानमनुशोच त्वं किमन्यमनुशोचसि ।
आयुस्ते क्षीयते यस्य स्थितस्य च गतस्य च ॥

- रामायण, अयोध्या

You should think (and feel sad) for yourself. Why do you grieve for others?
Your life gets eroded everyday irrespective of who stays with you or leaves you.

- Ramayana, Ayodhya

It is not crass selfishness that is being referred to here.  But, a deeper understanding that life is finite, and that the passing of every second, every day, is also one second, one day less from whatever that finite number is.  And, therefore, it is up to each and every one of us to contemplate on what exactly it is that we want to do with our lives.

But, mere mortals we are, and we worry about the small stuff and about others.  But, hey that is also what makes us human!

Wondering how to live your life? Like so!

दृष्टिपूतं न्यसेत्पादं पस्त्रपूतं जलं पिबेत् ।
सत्यपूतां वदेद्वाचं मनःपूतं समाचरेत् ॥

- मनुस्मृति

One must set foot only after seeing (cleared after an inspection by the eye).
One must drink water only after passing through a cloth.
One must utter words that pass through the truth filter.
One's actions must pass the conscience test.

- Manu Smriti

Truth filter.  Conscience test.  If only!

Or, how about the following one?

प्रथमे नार्जिता विद्या द्वितीये नार्जितं धनम् ।
तृतीये नार्जितं पुण्यं चतुर्थे किं करिष्यसि ॥

- सुभाषितरत्नभाण्डागार

If you did not:
    Study in your early life,
    Earn wealth in your youth,
    Do noble deeds during old age –
then how are you going to face death honorably?

- Subhashitaratnabhandagara

Of course, I select only the secular ones, and leave out the religious from this wonderful collection. (I have reformatted the translations.)

No money, no respect? Even from family?

The verse I have borrowed from this blog reminds us that things now are not all that different from a long time ago.  Am not sure whether this is a good thing or otherwise!

यावद्वित्तोपार्जनसक्तः
    तावन्निजपरिवारो रक्तः ।
पश्चाज्जर्जरभूते देहे
    वार्तां कोऽपि न पृच्छति गेहे ॥

- भजगोविन्द स्तोत्र

As long as you are earning money,
your family loves you.
When you stop earning and the body becomes weak,
no one in the house want to hear about you.

- Bhajagovinda Stotra

As a kid growing up in a fairly traditional/religious family, I recall memorizing the "Bhajagovindam" verses that were rendered as music by the late MS Subbulakshmi.  But, I don't recall reading along with a translation of what those Sanskrit words meant.  So, it was more a rote memorization of 1,200 year old verses by Adi Shankara!

There was a great uncle, "RM"--a mixed-bag like all of us--who was at ease in quoting many of these ancient words of wisdom.  Well, he could quote and recite--from an understanding, not mere memorization--verses from Sanskrit, Tamil, and English.  Dad too does that to quite an extent.  I suppose there has been quite a generational shift since then.  Yet again, I am reminded of Tennyson's "knowledge comes, wisdom lingers."

On life and death: A couplet from Kalidasa

All I have been able to do is merely sample Kalidasa's works, and that too in translations and not in the Sanskrit.  It will be a lot more wonderful a world if only the poetry and observations of Kalidasa's were widely appreciated.

The following couplet is from Kalidasa's Raghuvamsha via Subhashitani... Evey time I come across a verse authored by Kalidasa, I never cease to be amazed that such a prodigal poet lived and wrote 1600 years ago.

In the few years I learnt Sanskrit, while in high school, we barely picked up a few aspects of the language.  But, I do remember well the teacher's comments praising Kalidasa's epic poems, including Raghuvamsha and Kumarasambhava. 

Here is the couplet from Raghuvamsha:

मरणं प्रकृतिः शरीरिणां विकृतिर्जीवितमुच्यते बुधैः ।
क्षणमप्यवतिष्ठते श्वसन् यदि जन्तुर्ननु लाभावानसौ ॥

- रघुवंश

Death is the natural steady state of nature. Life is an aberration. Wise men realize this.
Even if one is alive for just a second, he must consider himself in profit.

- Raghuvamsha

Yes, go ahead and celebrate the fact that you are alive. Kalidasa said so.

The attributes of an intellectual scholar? Really?

Am not so sure about this old saying:

अत्यंतमतिमेधावी त्रयाणां एकमश्नुते ।
अल्पायुर्वा दरिद्रो वा ह्यनपत्यो न संशयः ॥

A very highly intellectual scholar will have at least one of the below three misfortunes - short life, or poverty, or childless.
Fate some how ensures that his wisdom is not carried forward to future generations.

Source

I suppose we could posit that wisdom is not something that is necessarily genetically carried forward. After all, if that were to be the case, then the world would have been flooded by Da Vincis and Einsteins, instead of blokes like me!

Without wisdom being passed down genetically, well, Hollywood has already covered that scenario--Idiocracy :)

I am a fool, not a wise man :(

शोकस्थानसहस्राणि दुःखस्थानशतानि च ।
दिवसे दिवसे मूढमाविशन्ति न पण्डितम् ॥

- महाभारत, अरण्य

Everyday there are thousand reasons to feel sad, hundred reasons to worry.
Such things only bother fools; not wise men.

Mahabharata, Aranya

Source

What does fate have to do with it?

Robert Frost coined the famous phrase of the road not taken.  Every fork in the road means that decisions have consequences.  The following old couplet takes the idea one step further (ht): 

विषमां हि दशां प्राप्य दैवं गर्हयते नरः ।
आत्मनः कर्मदोषांस्तु नैव जानात्यपण्डितः ॥

- हितोपदेश, सन्धि

When a fool is in trouble, he will start blaming fate. A fool will never understand that his present state is the result of his past actions.

- Hitopadesha

It does not come easily

कष्टं कर्मेति दुर्मेधाः कर्तव्याद्विनिवर्तते ।
न साहसमनारभ्य श्रेयः समुपलभ्यते ॥

- हरिहर सुभाषित

Idiots give up on a task assuming it would be tough to complete it. They do not understand that fame/success can come only when you start tasks (and complete it).

- Harihara Subhashita

Source

A simple explanation for the loud talk shows on TV and radio

And the explanation comes from centuries before modern communication technologies were even invented!

उच्चैरुच्चरितव्यं यत्किंचिदजानतापि पुरुषेण ।
मूर्खा बहु मन्यन्ते विदुषामपि संशयो भवति ॥

- सुभाषितसुधानिधि

One must talk loudly even when talking about whatever little you know. Fools will think you are right and the wise may also be put in doubt.

- Subhashitasudhanidhi

So, whither NPR and PBS? :)

A late advice for the US in Iraq and Afghanistan

Well, not late in terms of when the words were written--two millennia ago!  

यस्मिन् देशे य आचारो व्यवहारः कुलस्थितिः ।
तथैव परिपाल्योऽसौ यदा वशमुपागतः ॥

- याज्ञवल्क्य

When a king conquers another state, he must rule that state as per the laws and customs prevailing in that state. He must uphold the dignity of the families in that state. He must ensure that business runs as usual.

- Yajnavalkya

BTW, a note on Yajnavalkya:

Yajnavalkya was one of the greatest sages ever known. His precepts as contained in the Upanishads (the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad) stand foremost as the crest-jewel of the highest teachings on knowledge of Brahman^[1]. Most of the Hindu Laws today are based on the Yajnavalkya Smriti.

Sanskrit poem (couplet) of the day: on helping

मय्येव जीर्णतां यातु यत्त्वयोपकृतं मम ।
नरः प्रत्युपकारार्थी विपत्तिमनुकांक्षति ॥

- सुभाषितसुधानिधि

I do not wish to repay the help that you have done to me. Any person who wishes to do so, is actually wishing that you get into trouble so that he can help you back.

- Subhashitasudhanidhi

What a fantastic message!

The "five mothers" mystery is solved :)

So, a few days ago I blogged about searching for the Sanskrit verse about five mothers in a person's life.  I noted there that I could not locate the original verse.

A helpful reader emailed me a note earlier today:

Sanskrit Pearls has put up the verse that you were looking for:

And included the URL of that one.  My thanks to the reader for that feedback.
(Hey editor: see, we have proof on consecutive days that there are people reading this blog.  Pay me now, will ya!)

Here is the verse I was looking for:

राजपत्नी गुरोः पत्नी मित्रपत्नी तथैव च
पत्नीमाता स्वमाता च पञ्चैता मातरः स्मृताः
- चाणक्य नीति

Transliteration:
raajapatnI guroH patnI mitrapatnI tathaiva cha
patnImaataa svamaataa cha pa~nchaitaa maataraH smRutaaH
- chaaNakya nIti

Meaning of the subhAShita:
The king's wife, the teacher's wife, friend's wife, wife's mother and his own birth mother - these 5 should be deemed as mother figures

Hey, my memory was not bad, after all ... Score!  The site has a commentary on the deeper meanings of this verse.

Poverty, generosity, and respect

Another gem from Subhashitani:

दाता लघुरपि सेव्यो भवति न कृपणो महानपि समृद्ध्या ।
कूपोऽतः स्वादुजलः प्रीत्यै लोकस्य न समुद्रः ॥

- पञ्चतंत्र, मित्रसंप्राप्ति

Even if a generous person is poor, he is to be treated with respect. A miser deserves no respect even if he is rich and prosperous. People like water from a small well but not from the mighty ocean.

- Panchatantra, Mitrasamprapti