Conversational Sanskrit

सुलभाः पुरुषा राजन् सततम् प्रिय वादिनः | अप्रियस्य च पथ्यस्य वक्ता श्रोता च दुर्लभः || ३-३७-२ Ravana was the mighty king of Lanka. A great scholar and a great warrior he had subdued Kubera the lord of wealth and had conquered Shani, a.k.a Saturn the producer of obstacles, who served as his slave and footstool. Ravana was the foremost devotee of Siva and was blessed by Siva with enormous powers. Ravana had a hundred wives, foremost amongst them Mandodari ( she with a narrow waist) who epitomized beauty and all that was the best in womanhood. Yet, this man with everything had taken a fancy to Sita the wife of Rama. At the time, it was widely known that Sita's husband Prince Rama was none else but an incarnation, an Avatar of Lord Vishnu who arrived on earth to rid the earth of the evil of the Rakshasha demons. His wife Sita, who was miraculously discovered as an infant buried in a field that was being plowed was clearly Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi the goddess of untold and infinite

  Speak the truth. Speak what is pleasing Do not speak the truth that is not pleasing Do not speak an untruth because it is pleasing This is the eternal truth This is from Manu the lawgiver.  Can we indeed live by this rule? सत्यं ब्रूसात् प्रियं ब्रूयात्   नब्रूयात् सत्यमप्रियं   प्रियमनृतं च एष धर्मः सनातन  

  Chanakya, the Machiavelli of Ancient India, was the master of statecraft and a kingmaker par excellence.  An unlikely champion of kindness in speech, he famously said;  All creatures are made happy by uttering kind words, so only kind words must be said; why be poor in the speaking of words? प्रियवाक्यप्रदानेन   सर्वे   तुष्यन्ति   जन्तवः   | तस्मात्तदेव   वक्तव्यं   वचने   का   दरिद्रता    ||                              - चाणक्य नीति ( १६ / १३ ) भावार्थ -        यदि अन्य व्यक्तियों से   प्रिय लगने वाली भाषा में बातचीत की जाये तो सभी को सन्तोष   प्राप्त होता है | इस लिये सदैव मधुर भाषा का व्यवहार करना चाहिये और ऐसा करने   में अपनी दरिद्रता क्यों प्रदर्शित की जाय ?  Priyavaakyapradaanena  sarve  tushyanti  jantaavah. Tasmaattadeva  vaktavyam  vachane  kaa  daridrata. Priya = liked, pleasing.  Vaakya = saying.   Pradaanena= delivering.    Sarve = all.    Tushyanti = are satisfied. Jantavah = persons.    Tasmaat =  therefore.     Tadeva= accordingly.

  You can take an Indian out of India, but you can never take out India from an Indian: An Ode to the Indian Immigrant We grew up in the ancient land of India you see But John Wayne and Bruce Lee Clinton Gore, Regan and Kennedy Jobs, Cooley, Gates and Dorsey Lived in our minds world you see The competition was brutal, and traffic a bore For everything we pleaded, can we have some more But we alway knew our secret core We know how to turn less into more And how everything at each step to pour Some called it jugad, an untranslatable Metaphor Or the distilled wisdom of India of yore And you can take an Indian out of India But you can never take out India from an Indian We aced the GRE and cracked the ECFMG We had a planned strategy For every great University On either side of the Mississippi And had advice from every uncle removed three And unshakeable at our Indian core Was the ability to turn less into more And everything into each step pour For you can take an Indian out of India But y