Thursday, May 19, 2016

Sanskrit Shlokas on Mothers Day

Here are few lovely Sanskrit shloka on MOTHER to share with you on Mother's Day! This will help us realize how we treated or expected to be treated 'mother' and 'women' in our society during ancient days.

1. आयु: पुमान् यश: स्वर्ग कीर्ति पुण्यं बलं श्रियं ।
    पशु सुखं धनं धान्यं प्राप्नुयान्मातृ वन्दनात् ।।


A man who serve mother truthfully will be blessed with long life, success, haven, fame, Laxmi, wealth, cattle, food grain, and everything.



2. जननि जन्मभूमिश्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसि 

After Ravana's defeat, lord Rama said to Laxman, "Own Mother and birthplace are beautiful and greater than haven."
When Laxman, younger brother of Rama asked Lord Rama to acquire the kingdom (Sri-Lanka) after they had defeated and killed Ravana in the war, Lord Rama advised him to hand over the kingdom to Bibhishan, Ravana's younger brother, a rightful king as it was his mother land and Bibhishan inherited it after his elder brother's death. We must respect others' land or wealth (or women) without thinking of acquiring it in anyway. 

3. मातृपितृकृताभ्यासो गुणितामेति बालकः । 
    न गर्भच्युतिमात्रेण पुत्रो भवति पण्डितः ।।

Indian mother and father insist on studies so that their child gain adequate knowledge and skill to lead a respectable life. There is a saying - a king is respected within his kingdom, but a knowledgeable person is respected everywhere.

4. मातृवत परदारेषु परद्रव्येषु लोष्टवत्। आत्मवत् सर्वभूतेषु यः पश्यति स पंडितः।। 

A noble people treat and respect all the women (except his own wife) as mothers. They consider others' wealth as dust and have no intention of acquiring it in anyway. In addition, they also treat and love every living-being or creature and cause no harm to them in anyway.

5. माता मित्रं पिता चेति स्वभावात् त्रतयं हितम् |
    कार्यकारणतश्चान्ये भवन्ति हितबुद्धय: ||

Mother, father and friends are the only people who are interested in your well-being in real way. Thinking of 'good' about you is part of their nature and they do it without any condition or expectation or personal gain. So, value them as others in your life may have business/professional relationship based on certain spoken or unspoken terms and condition/benefits.

6. आदौ माता गुरौ पत्नी ब्राह्मणी राजपत्निका
    धेनुर्धात्री तथा प्रथ्वी सप्तैता मातरः स्मृतः

The ancient Indian tradition teaches us to respect our own mother first, then others in following order - teacher's wife (a brahmin lady), a queen, a cow, a foster mother and the mother earth.  We consider them as MOTHER and respect them at par...


7. मातृदेवीम नमस्तुभ्यं मम जन्मदात्रिम त्वम् नमो नमः ।
    बाल्यकाले मां पालन कृत्वा मातृकाभ्यो त्वम् नमाम्यहम ॥

I salute my mother who gave me birth; I also salute my other mothers (women) who added knowledge and wisdom to my actions and life to make me a good human being.

8. मातृ देवो भव् पितृ देवो भव्
    आचार्य देवो भव्, अतिथि देवो भव्

Let you be one who worships mother, father, teachers and guests as 'God'.

When we study our ancient scripture, we realize that there is profound respect given to mother and women in general. So, read the original scripture to know yourself.

Mother's Day

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Brahmagupta’s contribution to Mathematics - Rules for "zero"

Against the popular perception, I would say that none including Aryabhat has invented ‘zero’ because the concept of ‘zero’ was always part of our life in different way academically or professionally since the origin of the universe.

Brahagupata’s major contribution to modern science and technology was - how to use zero in mathematical calculations that is used as base to calculate every field. He has formed the set of rules in the mathematics for positive and negative number in addition to forming the rules for using zeros in calculations and that has become the basis of mathematics and rest of the field including economics, finance, physics, chemistry, astronomy and so on…

Brahmagupta was born in 598 CE and died in c. 670. He lived in during king Vyagrahamukha in Bhillamala (modern Bhinmal) a capital of Gurjaradesa Chapa dynasty, one of the largesst kingdoms of Western India in parts of southern Rajasthan and Northern Gujarat.

He studied 5 traditional siddhantas in Brahmapaska in one of top schools for the astronomy during those days.

He also studied his predecessors’ (Aryabhata I, Latadeva, Pradyumna, Varahamihira, Simha, Srisena, Vijayanandin and Vishnuchandra) work to continue their research work. His rules of zero is in continuation of Aryabhata I ‘s work.

Brahmagupta gave the solution of the general linear in chapter eighteen of Brahmasphutasiddhanta,

bx + c = dx + e equivalent to x =< (e−c) / (b-d)


In chapter eighteen of Brahmasphutasiddhanta, Brahmagupta describes operations on negative numbers. He first describes addition and subtraction,

18.30 (Additions)

· 3 + 4 = 7 (a positive number)

· -3 + (-4) = -7 (a negative number)

· -3 + 4 = 1 (positive number)

· 3 + (-4) = -1 (negative number)

· -3 + 3 = 0 (zero when both positive and negative numbers are same)

· -3 + 0 = -3 (negative number)

· 3 + 0 = 3 (positive number)

· 0 + 0 = 0 (no difference)

18.32 (subtractions)

· -3 – 0 = -3 (negative number)

· 3 – 0 = 3 (positive number)

· 0 - 0 = 0 (no difference)

· 3 - (-4) = -1 (negative number is added)

· -3 – 4 = - 7 (negative number is added)

18.33(Multiplication)

· 3 * - 4 = - 12 (one negative and one positive product becomes negative number)

· 3 * - 4 = 12 (two negative becomes positive)

· 3 * 0 = 0 (any number multiplied with zero is zero)

18.34 (Division)

·     3
     ----  = 1 (positive number)
      3

·    - 3
       ----  = 1 (positive number)
      -3

·    0
    ---  = 0 (zero)
     0

·     3
     --- = -1
     -3

·      -3
      ---  = -1
       3

·    √0   =  0

·    0 square   = 0

·    0
    ----
     0

·    3
    ---- = undefined
     0

Except the last definition of zero, we use all his rules in the modern mathematics.

Watch out this space for part II on his other contributions in calculating complex mathematical formulas.

References:

Brahmagupta (598–668)," Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University (British Columbia, Canada), http;//www.math.sfu.ca/histmath/India/7thCenturyAD/Brahmagupta.html (February 17, 2006).

"Brahmagupta (ca. 598–ca. 665)," Wolfram Research, http://www.scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Brahmagupta.html (February 17, 2006).

"Brahmagupta," School of Mathematics and Statistics, St. Andrews University, http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/∼history/Mathematicians/Brahmagupta.html (February 17, 2006).

"Brahmagupta," Vidyapatha, http://www.vidyapatha.com/scientists/brahmagupta.php (February 17, 2006).

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Brahmagupta.aspx

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Importance of visiting temple and following rituals.

I have been asked several times by my foreign  friends - Why Hindus visit temples?
After researching and talking to few experts, I found few reasons. Apart from spiritual need, people went to temple for social and scientific reasons.

Darshan: We visit temple for Darshana or see the 'sight' of the supreme lord. This helps the devotee to connect the god mentally and emotionally. It also help in concentrating fully with god and forgetting the rest of the universe around us. This 'Dhyana' or mediation creates vacuum in our continuous flow of thoughts that facilitate to attain peace.

Idol: God is humanized in the form of 'idol' that helps devotee to concentrate on an object. It gives a definite shape or form to our imaginary thoughts. In addition, every god or supreme power has certain characteristic to his/her personality and we ultimately wish to have them or improve in those area.

Rituals: Rituals in Hinduism are in different form. One set of rules are for temples and another for personal life. Temple rituals revolves around "pranpratishtha" or installing the idol of a deity in the temple with proper rituals of invoking god/goddess with sanskrit chanting, bathing the idol with milk, water, honey, clarified butter and yogurt (panchamrut i.e. 5 nectors or liquids), dressing up with cloth, flowers, ornaments, offering food and singing bhajan (devotional songs).

Every ritual invokes human 5 senses - touching(touching the deity), seeing(seeing the deity), tasting (panchamrut), smelling (flowers, camphor, and other things), hearing (the chanting, arti, bhanjan)...bring 'self' the present state or in temple completely.

On daily basis the worshiping is done in smaller scale to invoke and sleep the god in the form of idol. The same process is followed at home in much smaller scale.

There are other rituals in Hinduism are meant for social occasions such as marriage, and death and so on... this signifies the life and meaning we have for every part of the life and the way we accept and respect it. These rituals associated with the special occasions reminds us our duty or role or 'dharma' during that phase. Most of them are beneficial and scientifically  proven. For example, the silver toe rings are part of acupuncture  therapy that regulates uterus function in women and avoid diseases associated with. It also improve a sexual desire in women and therefore forbidden for unmarried  or widows to wear them.

Concept of Brahma: This concept remind us the value of I. I am Brahma. So do others. The temple may have one of more deities whom we worship or devote ourself with the concept of I am one part of the universe. I am also God. The devotion teaches us to let go off "I" that is main cause of stress and conflict in the personal and professional life.

Architecture: Most ancient temples have magnificent architecture that have scientific as well as spiritual significance. The scientific meaning of the temple architecture is associated with the scientific construction that includes the decor, angles, lights, the environment and the other things.

The common features of the temples are:
1. Central sanctum enshrines for the main deity
2. Secondary sanctums are for other deities such as Ganesha, Nandi and so on...
3. The space for the trained priest to perform rituals
4. The space in-front of the main deity is for devotees to stand/sit to worship or attend the Arti
5. The outside areas  either within the temple premises or outside the temple premises meant for public for attending social functions or discourse
6. There is additional space for devotees for pradkshana or parikrama or walk around the garbha graham or main section of the temple, but this is within the premises/external boundaries of the temple.

Pradaksihina or Parikrama: The reasons behind pradkshana is - we consider god is center part of our action, our thought and our world. When we go around, we keep the deity at the center of the gravity and consider it as the main focus of our existence. This concept usually helps devotees to consider to take life as it comes or consider this is devoted to the god /universe and we all are part of it. This is one of the ways to keep our mind balanced and peaceful by removing the focus from 'self' or 'I'.

The role Temples in Society: Temples, in general, played a larger role in the society that provided educational, social support in addition to providing them an emotional, and a spiritual support. Most temples in ancient India were also served as educational institutes or gurukul and the center for social gathering in the evening. The additional space within the temple is provided to people to held social rituals and ceremonies. The spiritual guru used the same space to give the discourse that taught most to stay away from materialistic, physical or emotional vices. The environment also helped to inculcate the basic virtue through friendship, forgiveness, humility, tolerance, courage, guidance and more...thus improving overall improvement.




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