Here’s one man who has impressed me so much. Nobody knows who he was or much details about him. His work is compiled under a pseudonym. His work on Yoga is what I consider the best and many others do. When there is a such brilliant piece of work written by someone, the natural tendency for people many centuries ago was to associate this person with some divine powers. Hence Patañjali was known as reincarnation of Adisesa, the serpent used by Vishnu during meditation. Adisesa provides sthiram and sukham. Vishnu also has Garuda the eagle to take him anywhere he wants. The serpent and the eagle are such opposite forces, but they coexist here for Vishnu. The reasoning why Adisesa was chosen for Vishnu’s support for meditation was that Adisesa was associated with a mature personality who has gone through a lot in life. Adisesa is also supporting the Earth on his head and taking care of Vishnu, who has an important job to perform as the Preserver of the Universe. Vishnu  needs a strong support and wisdom as a guide in Adisesa. A lot of stories are symbolic in Hinduism. Kausthub Desikachar writes Patañjali Unplugged, an interesting article on Patañjali .

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This is a Vedic Chant to honor our teacher Sri Krishnamacharya, who opened the doors of Vedic Chanting to everyone. This post is for my classmate from KYM. This chant may not make sense to the rest of my regular readers of 0.0142, including Borat from Kazhakistan.

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Guru Purnima is a day to honor Veda Vyasa, who was born on this day. Veda Vyasa is a guru for Hindus for having compiled the Vedas, written Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita and others. This day is considered the best to progress and evolve in the spiritual path with your guru. Of course, one must have a guru for that.

I was eagerly looking for a guru, teacher, guide last year. Then I just abandoned it even though I like the concept of having  a teacher.  It was getting quite complex to find someone in that role. Most of the texts that I read say that one will find a guru, when the student is ready. May be, I am still not ready. In Sanskrit, the word anatha is used to describe someone without a teacher. In common usage, anatha means orphan. Although KYM has been a guiding force, still it is an institute and not a human being. Books will continue to be my guru. The more I read, there is so much more to read and understand out there. Funny, how that works.

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In the Vedic times, Saha navavatu was chanted by both teachers and students before starting the class. As the students and the teacher live together in the gurukul , this chant is essential and it asks that there not be any problems during the learning, so there is no break or misunderstanding.

Om saha nAVavatu | saha nau bhunaktu | saha VIryam karavAvahai |

tejasvinAvadhitamastu | mA vidvishAvahai |

Om shanthishanthishanthihi || (more…)