Sunday, February 24, 2019

Remain cool and composed.. come whatever may..



न पृथग्जनवच्छुचो वशं वशिनामुत्तम गन्तुमर्हसि।
द्रुमसानुमतां किमन्तरं यदि वायौ द्वितीयेऽपि ते चलाः॥ ९०

काळिदासमहाकविप्रणीते रघुवंशे अष्टमे सर्गे॥
na pṛthagjanavacchuco vaśaṁ vaśināmuttama gantumarhasi|
drumasānumatāṁ kimantaraṁ yadi vāyau dvitīyepi te calāḥ|| 90
kāḻidāsamahākavipraṇīte raghuvaṁśe aṣṭame sarge||

When a whirlwind blows, trees would shake and be uprooted.. But the mountains would just remain erect and unmoving.. 
The character of the great is revealed there..
This situation is driven home by the great poet Kalidasa in the eighth chapter of his great Kavyam.. Raghuvamsham

Aja a great emperor of the Solar Race ( He is the father of Dasharatha) married the beautiful princes Indumathi in a swayamvara.. and the couple lived happily for a long time.. 
The princess was actually a divine damsel who had come to earth due to the curse of a sage.. 
The release from the curse happened when a flower from the heaven fell on her.. 
Immediately she attained her divine form, left the earthly human bodies and joined the Apsaras in heaven..

Aja was overcome with unbearable grief.. 
His pathetic laments grieving the separation of his lady love is the legendary Aja Vilapam.. 
A masterpiece in literature of pathos in Sanskrit.

However, life had to go on.. 
Sage Vasishta, the purohita and guru of the Solar race came to know of the depressive state of mind suffered by the emperor.. The sage was in a Yajna Deeksha and could not visit the king in person and console him..
Therefore he left a message through one of his disciples..

The inevitability of death and departure was clearly underlined in the message..
Vasishta further reminds the Emperor that ordinary people had the choice to grieve but men of Aja's stature and nobility were expected to be stoic and bold and were expected to show boldness under any circumstances..
The sloka quoted above appears in the Raghuvamsha Mahakavyam in this context.
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Meaning.
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You, the noble king of a great dynasty, you who is expected to be the role model for other, you must not become slave to excessive grief, as is the habit of ordinary human beings.
Tell me, what is the difference between a tree standing on the groud and a mountain with many cliffs standing firm on the earth if both shake and fall when they face a torrential wind..
The tree can afford to fall and collapse.. not the mountain..
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In crisis situations men of character are expected to remain calm and stoic, come whatever may..
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word analysis 
वशिनां उत्तम oh best among exemplary people
त्वं you 
पृथक्जनवत् just like ordinary people 
शुचो of grief
वशं गन्तुं becoming dependent, getting overwhelme 
न अर्हसि do not deserve, should not permit yourself
द्रुम सानुमतां between a tree and a range of mountains 
किं अन्तरं what is the differnce 
यदि if 
वायौ in the wind, in the whirlwind or cyclone
ते द्वितीये both of them
अपि चलाः भवतः.become disturbed, move and sway, in a similar fashion..

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