The Names of the Mahabharata

Adi Parva

Sabha Parva

Vana Parva 1

Vana Parva 2

Virata Parva

Go ahead download and see how many names are familiar to you. It is interesting how mentions of characters varies as the plot progresses. Vaisampayana is the narrator, hence the number of mentions. Arjuna establishes himself as key at the start and the end. In the middle sections Yudhisthira plays a bigger role and so on.

If there is interest I can release my code that did the basic entity recognition with some help from NLTK. In addition I also plan to put out a clickable version of this word cloud, so that curious folks can head to Wikipedia directly.

Let me know if this sort of analysis and visualization on Hindu scriptures and epics seems interesting to you.

Technical Notes:

The size of the image is based on the frequency of mentions in the text and normalized for overall word count. The top 200 names have been pulled out. As you can see the entity recognition could be a lot better. The list of left out names are much larger, I need to try another route to present all of them.

Credits to Python community, the awesome natural language processing library NLTK and Andreas Mueller for enabling this, would not have been possible otherwise.

Swami Vivekananda on Conversions

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Brief quote from a biography of Swami Vivekananda.

There were on the boat, among other passengers, two Christian missionaries who, in the course of a heated discussion with the Swami, lost their tempers and savagely criticized the Hindu religion. The Swami walked to one of them, seized him by the collar, and said menacingly, ‘If you abuse my religion again, I will throw you overboard.’

‘Let me go, sir,’ the frightened missionary apologized; ‘I’ll never do it again.’

Later, in the course of a conversation with a disciple in Calcutta, he asked, ‘What would you do if someone insulted your mother?’ The disciple answered, ‘I would fall upon him, sir, and teach him a good lesson.’

‘Bravo!’ said the Swami. ‘Now, if you had the same positive feeling for your religion, your true mother, you could never see any Hindu brother converted to Christianity. Yet you see this occurring every day, and you are quite indifferent. Where is your faith? Where is your patriotism? Every day Christian missionaries abuse Hinduism to your face, and yet how many are there amongst you whose blood boils with righteous indignation and who will stand up in its defense?’

Swami Vivekananda’s love for Bharath and its people should not be under dispute from any patriotic person regardless of current religious affiliation. It would serve us well to think why he thought conversions were bad and how he advocated holding our faith.

Read the biography. Perhaps our dormant faith and energy would wake up.

Appeal: History Repeats in Assam

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What happened to Bharath many times before is happening again.

Another country or thought system or religion is after us once more. Over 2,00,000 of our citizens have been displaced.

Imagine if it were to happen in our location; say Karnataka or Tamil Nadu or Gujarath or Maharashtra or Uttar Pradesh or Andhra Pradesh.

If foreigners had kicked me from my home then I could not have blogged and you could not have read this. Our families would have no home, no belongings, no money…nothing. Our children would have no future.

We would be like political refugees that we have read about in papers. We would know what Kashmiri Pandits felt like, what Red Indians felt like, or Incas felt when decimated, or thrown out, from their own land.

For now, for just a little while let us forget our differences. You and I can still hate each other eternally, for now let us lend a hand to our brothers and sisters.

You will have the eternal gratitude of all who love Bharath. If nothing you will have done the right thing for another human being, that should help for now and hereafter.

Param Foundation, associated with Seva Bharathi, is lending a hand on our behalf in Assam. I donated some money and got update below from them:

Present Activities by Seva Bharathi and condition in Assam:

Seva Bharathi has set up 3 base camps for medical relief exercise.
2 in Kokrajhar and 1 in Gossaigaon.
They have pressed 2 ambulances and two teams of doctors and helpers at these camps
Medicines are being given at these camps for contagious and water borne diseases.
Relief materials which are of immediate importance are being provided in these camps now.
Mosquito coils, bread, biscuits, bed sheets were distributed.
They expect that people will stay in relief camps for at least 20 days to a month as many areas are still under grip of violence
Curfew has been lifted only in few parts of Kokrajhar and Gossaigaon where violence has abated.
There are other areas and districts where violence is still happening and curfew is still in vogue. (Seva activities cannot reach them now)

You can make a difference now by donating any amount to Param Foundation or similar organizations. Details of Param Foundation is below:

Savings Account name: Param Foundation

Account number: 910010021117832

Bank: Axis bank, Chamarajpet branch, Bangalore

IFSC Code: UTIB0000558

Note: 80G receipts are available for the donors. Please send an email to info@paramfoundation.org with the address, email and telephone number of the donor. Receipts will be sent through the courier.

Contact: Radhakrishna Holla 09731264009

How did Prosperous Bharath Come to this?

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Famine during colonial rule of Bharath. Province of Madras.

During colonial rule there were at least some record as pictures. The 800 years before colonials were captured only in books, which have been forgotten or washed over by our ‘secular’ brethren.

On a positive note, Bharath has come a long way since. But poverty remains rooted, leaving way for charlatans with food and money on one hand, and dubious ideas on another. This nation is ours only in name, acidic ideas and people, both domestic and foreign, continue to tear us apart.

What you and I do today and after, however small and insignificant, will have bearing on what Bharath turns out to be.

Vande Mataram!

Yoga of Self-Organization

Prelude

Yoga is a joining of the individual self to the immanent yet all-pervading Divine. Why Yoga? For those who have felt the ache of the call, there is no need for an answer. For those yet to hear the call, know that riches of consciousness and harmony of existence that elude you now will become your natural state through Yoga.

Start of Yoga

If you adhere yourself to a certain rhythm and discipline, you will see a great change. Let us say that all our routine could be subject to this rhythmic inner movement and to a discipline still subject to the inner law. But this is not for the so called intellectual types with big egos. This is for those who are willing to serve the Divine and live for a divine purpose.

Discipline

There are many types of discipline; physical, vital and mental discipline but the one that we need most is a psychic discipline. It is a flowing spontaneity of action out of the inner Spirit, something natural and tremendously simple in manifestation without any artificial mental colours and intellectual deformities (which we call our natural traits!) and is possessed of the Divine Truth.

Method

We have to open ourselves to this inner Psychic Consciousness and organise all our activities around it, all that we do normally in our day-to-day life like reading or writing, work, conversation or even sleep. All must be gathered in a single great movement of aspiration towards the Divine. That’s how you begin into the path of integral yoga.

Inner or Outer

It is the inner conquest that is more difficult than the outer achievement. You may have progressed materially, built your career and even made a name for yourself in your own little world but a man without his spiritual consciousness at the front is more or less a neatly decorated carrion without any life in it. It is by the inner law that all external life must be governed or else your life will be subject to the play of forces and your soul will remain hidden from you and the true splendours of life along with it.

Hour of Light

In a word, to give ourselves in true self-giving to God and to nothing else and through Him possess the world for the sheer delight of existence. It is the hour of light, as we might call it, which has come to the our aid and we must welcome it with all our sincerity and truthfulness.

What Supports the Bhaktha and his Yoga?

Bhaktha and the Beloved

To the bhaktha, a lover of God, there is a sense of otherness, much like mortal love perhaps but here there is no hankering for a time-born being, no disturbance of the senses, no propensity to debase oneself by indulging in sensual gratification. Often the bhaktha faces downturns, old impulses return to claim their ancestral place, and they protest with vigor and vehemence. But to one whose inner being has woken up in however little a measure and tasted the unmixed delight of Divine intoxication, there can be no lasting fall..there is only a delay until the ultimate embrace with the Divine Beloved.

But until that final embrace occurs there are glimpses, whether frequent or rare, brief glimpses of the Divine. Like milestones strewn around on a highway, these markers arrive to provide solace to the soul on its long-winded journey. They arrive in a multitude of shapes, forms and ways. If there is any method at all, then it is one based on His infinite freedom and our ability to receive it.

A Curious Phenomena

All these little moments/events share a specific character in that they occur anywhere and everywhere. It seems as if they have no limitation of time or space or form. The Rishis and God Lovers of the Hindu tradition had observed the nature of this peculiar Power and Phenomena minutely.

The Rishi’s Habit

What the Rishi observed within or without, he named it. He knew that a Power or Phenomena when named, could be spoken about, could be meditated upon, could be invoked and even made manifest within an individual’s consciousness. This is what they did, the Heroes of the Hindu tradition. They watched and watched with eyes, ears and every sense available. When they reached the limit of the senses, they observed the instrument that observed, the mind. When the chaos of mind was stilled, they found even rarer phenomena. This climb, this reaching out to hidden territory, this journey and adventure within they named Yoga.

Alone and Not Alone

The Rishis found themselves, not unlike the scientist who peers into atoms and builds his models of String Theory or Quantum Physics and who is baffled by the inability of common untrained men to understand them, alone in their pursuit of the Unknown. Even in the crowd the God Lover, the Rishi, is alone. But even in this solitude amidst sense-driven men, the Rishi observed something that always was with him. That could wake up at the most common moments and let him know he was not alone, that the goal of his journeys was always nearby.

The Ever Present Guide

The Hindus had to name this phenomena. What was it that was everywhere? What stayed with them in waking and in dream? What climbed the soul’s stairs into rarer and rarer heights along with them? The name had to be personal, after all this was the Guide who ventured with them into territories no map could capture. And it had to describe the idea that the Phenomena was everywhere. To the Rishi, to name something was automatic..the Power they wanted to name always suggested what it aught to be called.

Sarvavyapi, they ended up calling this Phenomena. Sarva-vyapi, or Sarva-Vyaapi as its pronounced in Sanskrit. Sarva is ‘everything’. Vyaapi is ‘one who pervades’. Put together Sarvavyaapi is “One who pervades everything”.

The Sterile Heaven of Icarus

The nearest western equivalent would be Omnipresent. As with most things spiritual, the western heart had yet to soar into heights of bhakthi yoga. Icarus who tried to soar heavenward was made into a parable to not have men aspire too high. The Tower of Babel was struck because men aspired to heavens. The West was content to abandon ancient freedoms of the Greek spirit for something new. And the word Omnipresent, so remote and sterile.

Swaha

Sarvavyaapi, One who pervades everything. Sarvavyaapi pervades you and I, pervades all that is manifest whether perceived by us or not. May that Sarvavyaapi guide us, as He guided the Rishis of the Veda.

If Sri Krishna Were to Appear

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This post will not resonate with those who have not felt Bhakthi, if so apologies and I request you to return later.

I have wondered for almost two decades now, how would it feel to be in front of the Divine. To stand in front of Him, the goal of our toils and the heights of our aspiration. To see Him with bare eyes, not as intuition, not as an experience where the little self vanishes. But here and now, to see Him as one would a dear-most friend. Or as the realization of every tear shed over many lives, of every longing that wracks the heart, or the becoming of every song ever sung.

Of all the paths to the Divine, the one of Knowledge taken by the thinker, or the one of Works undertaken by the toiler or even the road taken by the royalty..the Raja Yoga they call it, the most sublime of all paths to the Divine conceived by the Hindu race, is the path of Devotion and such a mighty conception it is. To give the heart its complete realization, to consider every strain of love and longing that the human heart gives itself to and make it an instrument of Yoga. God as Father, as Ishwara. God as Mother, as Shakthi in Her many manifestations. God as Child, as Skanda or Muruga in the Tamizh Bhakthi path and so on..so many ways of adoring the Divine.

But right at the top of the devotional path is to see God as Beloved, as Sri Krishna, the one who captivates souls, the one who makes Meera sing songs of anguish, one who makes a Chaitanya roam with a kirtan on his lips. Sri Krishna, the one to whom even the most fallen send their adoration, to whom mortal hearts sprout speech only to utter, “My Beloved, My Lord, My Master”.

So I have wondered, what would I do if He appeared in front. Would I jump in joy, would I rush into His embrace never to return..oh what would I do I wonder. What I have realized is this though, if Sri Krishna did appear I would break down, not in relief it is all over but rather ask through tears what makes Him put souls through everything, for what purpose.

What is the point of this post? Well, I came across a picture that, to me, captures that anguish of seeing Him and silently asking, “Why?”. See the picture. Have not embedded it in the post because I wanted to set context.

Vedas, Upanishads and Us

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Our retelling of an episode from the Kenopanishad, raised a query on why we dipped into so remote a past of the Hindu tradition, what these works are and what we aim to accomplish by it.

Vedas

The Vedas constitute the bedrock of Hindu thought, culture and living. Every small and mighty edifice of this ancient race is infused through and through with the roar of victory voiced by Rishis more ancient than known history. Vedas were man’s first and perhaps the most profound attempt at Immortality. As with works of posterity whose origins and motivations are a mystery to the brief memory of men, there is a great cloud of ignorance that surrounds popular perception of the Veda. Like the proverbial blind trying to cognize an Elephant, each brings the limitations of his perception to interpreting and understanding the Veda. Add to it people whose goal in life was to show up the Hindu race as uncultured, because Hindus do not follow their particular strain of barbarism and you have a perfect storm of ignorance that makes any objective understanding of the Veda impossible.

Ambition Deficit

Part of the blame would have to lie with Hindus themselves, who due to ignorance, lack of courage and no great ambition kept the Veda on so high a pedestal as to keep it out of reach to the common man. The understanding of the Veda does not have to be via 2nd and 3rd hand translations, transcriptions, commentary and so on. We could reach out to the Veda indirectly via a simple Google search or go the direct route by aspiring to the immanent Divine. Both can act as catalysts to churn our consciousness and give birth to powers and potentialities that are unmistakably part of us, yet add immeasurably more than what we can imagine. This process of churning takes a moment or many lifetimes, depending on the intensity and purity of purpose we bring with our aspiration.

Upanishads

What about the Upanishads then? Well, the Upanishads constitute a later development that built upon the Veda. While the Veda is a mass of intuitions, a collective roadmap to immortality as discovered by the ancient Rishis. In contrast the Upanishads were the intuitions chopped and packed into neat parcels of logic that the reasoning mind would understand. The Veda was poetry of the spirit, the Vedic Rishis travelled as the Gods on their cars of intuition, while the Upanishadic Rishis chose reason as their vehicle to explore trails of consciousness.

Rishis and Seers

We know little of the Vedic & Upanishadic Rishis, apart from what was built around their names in the Puranas and Itihasas. The actual names have come down to us though- Angiras, Bharadwaj, Kanva, Vasishtha, Vishwamitra, Atri, Bhrigu, Kashyapa, Grtsamada, Agastya, Bharata. At times, when the passions of our trivial lives are quelled we hear these names echoing through our being. Each name marking an emperor of the spirit. Each name an adventure of the soul into immortal realms. Each name the reminder of a victory won through the luminous heavens of our being. Each Rishi a guide and preceptor to the aspiring soul of us.

Authorship

The Rishis did not consider themselves authors of the mantras they wrote, they were merely agents, transcribers who had the inner realizations and sang of it in verse. As such they are the undiluted essence of a particular experience. Hence the Veda is called Shruti, that which is heard. It was Sri Aurobindo who in modern times recovered and relived the essence of the Veda, as did the Varaha avatar to save earth from destruction by Hiranyaksha.

How to read Vedas and Upanishads

One has but to read these works. Not with the modern infantile mind that expects all to be given on a platter. The Veda and Upanishad demand a certain discipline of the being. After all if you were a scientist building a cyclotron, you would expect every machinery to be precise to the thousandth of a milli-meter. So it is with understanding of the Veda and Upanishads. Some would even say the mere act of reading the thoughts of a Rishi is an Yagna. No need for detailed paraphernalia, the instruments of external ritual. What the Veda wants is that inner engineering to be in order.

Aim of Kali’s Brood

The goal of Kali’s Brood is to re-acquaint Hindus to the living heart of their tradition. We will do this by providing snippets from the Vedas, Upanishads and other key works. We will get to the heart of its spirit and inner experience. This body of knowledge is not restricted to Hindus alone, it waits for all those who will open themselves to its vast synthesis of man, life and his immortal destiny.

Blade of Grass – Episode from Kenopanishad

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Om – May our journeys be auspicious!

Prelude

The time is right. Through many roads you and I have arrived here.

Now we shall do the ritual that reveals.

Preparation

Three things are required.

Eyes that see things that have no form. Ears that hear unsounded meaning. And a mind that learns from silence.

Begin

Let us begin now, this story shall be our Guru.

Long long ago in a realm different, yet very intimate with ours, there was a war. The Gods had won this round. Smug in victory they celebrated in their thoughts, the ancient ones – Indra, Vayu and Agni.

The Unnamable watched their thoughts. It took a form and appeared in front.

Agni

“What is this?”, wondered the Gods. “Agni, go forth and inquire”, they said. Agni rushed in front of It.

And That enquired, “Who art thou? What is thy power?”

“Agni am I. I am fire that burns Night. The many I burn away”, said the God.

“Then burn this”, replied That. And set forth a blade of grass, a mere tendril, in front.

Agni, with a crown of flame, rushed in. The blade stood drooped as ever. Not a blemish on its pale green skin.

“This being is hidden to me”, said crest fallen Agni.

Vayu

The Gods said, “Vayu, go forth and inquire”

Vayu moved swiftly in front of it. And That enquired, “Who art thou? What is thy power?”

“Vayu am I. I am breath that animates. The many I cast aside by my breath”, said the God.

“Then move this”, replied That. And set forth a blade of grass, a mere tendril, in front.

Vayu, with wings of wind, rushed in. The blade stood drooped as ever. Still as stone from earth’s deeps.

Crest fallen, Vayu returned, saying, “This being is hidden to me”

Indra

Now, the Gods said, “Indra, wisest among us, go forth and inquire”

Indra, mounting a chariot of thought, moved in front of it. And lo, the Being dissapeared.

Indra waited in a thoughtless prayer. In place of the Being, now he beheld Uma, daughter of higher realms.

Uma

“Who was that Being?”, Indra prayed to the Mother of them all.

“That is the Brahman”, She replied.

Brahman

“Agni burns with fire lent by the Brahman. Vayu animates with breath lent by the Brahman. Beyond words and thought is the Brahman, the source of all that is and is not”.

Indra learnt of that which cannot be learnt. And Uma, the Mother, had revealed it to Indra.

Swaha

Subtle are the ways of the Highest. Be vigilant. Watch for the unnamable. The Mother awaits us at the heights.

We shall part now, until the next whirl of time brings us together.

Om tat sat.

[Note: Our next post will explain the symbolic nature of this Upanishadic story and outline its relevance to aspiring souls.]

Anjaneya – The Beginning

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This was in a time before men were as now. More kin to animal than man. More raw instinct than thought. Every inflection of mind indulged without an overarching plan beyond the impulses of life. Mind was as a tail, twitching, dangling, swinging. All becoming was what She ordained. The leap from a branch to another, the teeth baring grin, the litany of postures were all Her. We knew everything it seemed.

I was the first. Out of my mother’s womb, I was bathed in glowing mane. Anjana, I heard them call, it would be while before I understood speech, but I knew..Anjana, it was her, the one who had consented to yield me, forever I would bear her name. Behind just one name which I would know much later.

Of all simians I could stay in place. Unmonkey-like they said, sick, will be nothing, will not see as many summers as fingers in our hands. I knew not why, this was within, this is what I was. I could stay still. Had no need for trees, or to jump..I saw a vaster forest in my mind, hints of wildness and power that fellow simians longed for, I saw unlimited monkeyness possible within..my antics were within. Where my brothers were content with meagre leaps between trees, I leapt to the Sun thinking it a ripe fruit. I was different.

It would be many years before I heard that name. A mere rumor, that travelled on the whims of men. A man who was more than man. God they said. Who in his stillness was more than all the chattering of men. Like me I thought. It was born then, an ardor, a flame within..and I wanted to see him. I, a monkey, a mere simian had loved something without seeing. The name, the syllables would soon be more than my mother. I said it once again in my mind, savoring each inflection of sound, “Rrraamaa, Rrraamaa”.

With those first utterances I would be bound to him forever. He Sri Rama and I Anjaneya, son of Anjana.

Paintings credits – Paritosh Sarda