Friday, January 1, 2010

Dohas from school

Dear Children,

When I was in school from third standard to seventh standard, I was fortunate to study Hindi as the third language. This meant that I had English, Hindi and Special Hindi as my three languages as opposed to English, Hindi and Gujarati.

It also meant that I was forced to memorize “dohas” or two liners from the poet-saints of Medieval India, like Kabir, Rahim, Tulsi, Nanak, Raskhan etc. In fact I enjoyed memorizing them.

Some days ago, Shruti mentioned that there were some dohas, she had trouble understanding. I presume she would have got them cleared from her teacher. But the thought gave me an idea for the children series - I will write a few dohas from memory and their explanation in English for Jignyaasaa. If you like them then you can memorize them for fun and in turn write some of what you have read. This way hopefully we will have a good journey together.

1. “Tulsi ya sansar main, sab se miliye dhay,

Na Jaane Kis Bhes mein Narayan Mil Jaay”

Bhes - Ves as in Ves bhusha – Dress or Appearance

Tulsidas, says that in this world meet everyone with love, for you do not know in what dress/appearance the Lord Narayan will come before you.

2. “Maati Kahe Kumbhar se, Tu kya rondhe mohe,

Ek din aisa aayega, main rondhungi tohe”

Maati – Clay, Kumbhar – Potter, Rondhna – to knead – knead is the word used for the act of converting flour into batter.

The clay says to the potter, “Do not think that you are kneading me, for a day shall come when I will knead you”

3. “Rahiman dekhi baden ko, laghu na deejiye daari,

Jahan kaam aavai suee, kaha karai tarvari”

Laghu – Small, Suee – needle, tarvari – sword.

Rahim says, “Do not look just at the bigger, and scorn the small, for where the needle is useful, the sword is useless”

Then there is the Meera Bhajan which I heard when I was your age, in the sixth or eighth standard

4. “Maine Leeno amolat mol, Mairi maine leeno govind mol….

Prabhu aavat hai Prem ke mol, Mairi maine leeno govind mol”

Meera says, “ O Mother, I have valued the invaluable, I have put a value on Govinda…. The Lord comes for a measure of Love”.

And the last in this series is from Ras khan , a favorite of mine, which is a four-line or a choupayee,

5. “Ses Mahes Dines Ganes Suresahu jahi nirantar gaavain,

Jahi anaadi anant akhand ached abhed suved batavain

Narad se suk, vyas rattain, pachihare taunpuni paar na paavain ,

Tahi ahir ki chohariyan,chachiya bhari chach pe nach nachavain”

Anaadi – Without Beginnning, Anant – Without End, Akhand – Total ,without cracks, Ached – that which cannot be pierced, Abhed – that which is without distinguishable parts

Suk-Sukar , the son of vyas, rattain – rattna – to utter repeatedly, pachihare taupuni paar – to do many austerities , paavain- attain, Jahi – That which , Tahi - Such

Ras khan says “Whom we regularly proclaim as Ses(Adi Sesha), Mahesh, Dinesh, Ganesh and Suresh, Whom the vedas call Without beginning, Without end, Total, Impenetrable, Indistinguishable, That which sages like Narada, Suks, Vyasa and others do many austerities to achieve or experience, Such a One (Bala Krishna) is made to run by the young girls of Ahir (A village near Brindavan or the cowherd community) for a glass of buttermilk”.

I love to recite these even today, do you like them?

8 comments:

  1. the last one is even my favourite, though its in brijbhash..which i do not understand that well.. however ur explanation cleared a misconception i had.. i thought "suk" meant parrot.. and therfore i thought that the line implied that "whose name Narad munni repeats like a parrot"

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  2. I am happy to see a new member to the Jignyaasaa satsangh; a Juhi Srivastava.She says her misconception about "suk" is now cleared.
    But when I read her original conception of "suk" and the line itself implying Narad muni's repetition like a parrot, it appeals to me even more than Ras Khan's interpretation as "sukha Muni", though the latter is probably the right one.
    Such fresh and illuminating inputs can come only thru God's grace is my belief. I feel therefore I must thank Juhi for her posting, and in the absence of her mail id, I can only hope she sees this response, and continues to contribute in future also.

    Love and god bless us all

    Vichu

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  4. Shuk muni was not son of mahrishi vyas., the line says from narad to shuk and even vyas couldn't get him by repeatedly saying his name

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    Replies
    1. Dear Koshal,

      This was a family blog where interest waned, till you spruced it up with your comment.

      The 'Suk' that you refer to ( as also mentioned by a previous commentator, Juhi) comes possibly from the Guru Granth Sahib where you find similar allegory to the best of my recollection. Please check it out for my memory is known not only to play truant but also do a Narad Muni on me :)

      My reference to 'Suk' comes from the Srimad Bhagavatam, who is undoubtedly the son of Maharishi Vyasa, and born as a realized soul. Again this is based on stories told to me by my parents and you may check this out too.

      In this sense, both you and Juhi maybe correct, which would imply the transmission of the Bhakti marga from Narad Muni to Maharishi Vyasa through a parrot. Also, Raskhan's closeness to North India lends credence to this interpretation. Lastly, to the credit of your position also goes the feelings of, Mrs Bhatnagar, my Hindi teacher, who was always annoyed by unconventional interpretation of classical poetry based on parts of mythology that she was unaware of, yet had great respect for.

      Irrespective of the reference, the beauty of the juxtaposition of effortless love and effort-laden bhakti, comes thru' prominently.

      Once again, thanks for rejuvenating, a dying platform

      UmaNaresh

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  5. Thank you indeed for poating this. I cannot thank you enough for posting the last on by Ibrahim Ras Khan.

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