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Sunday 5 December 2010

Man Kunto Maula

Hazrat Amir Khusrow has written this Qawwali. Most of the famous qawwals over the generation have sung this manqawat (Qawwali in praise of Imam Ali) . The first stanza is poetic version of the hadith (Sayings of the Prophet) of the pond of Khumm. As per Shia Muslims here Mohammad proclaimed Ali as his successor. Prophet said that "Of whomsoever I had been Master(Mawla), Ali here is to be his Master." Sunnis have a different interpretation of this Hadith. 
 
Whem Hazrat Amir Khushro visited Sufi Saint Bu Ali Shah Qalandar he ask him to say something in honor of Imam Ali . Then Amir Khusrow said these verses  

अली इमाम-ए-मनस्तों मनम गुलाम-ए-अली
हज़ार जाँ-ए-गिरामी फ़िदा-ए-नाम-ए-अली 
[Ali is the master of all, I am the slave of Ali
thousands life are to be sacrificed for Ali. ]

शाह-ए-मर्दां, शेर-ये-येज्दां
कुव्वत-ए-परवरदिगार
ला फता इल्ला अली
ला सैफ इल्ला ज़ुल्फ़िकार
 [King of the brave, the Lion of God
The Strength for The Lord,
There is none like Ali,
There is no sword like Zulfiqaar (Sword of Ali)]

 
अली शाह-ए-मर्दां इमामों कबीरा
के बादश्त नबी शुद बसीरुष नजीरा
[Ali is the king of men, the great spiritual leader,
Cause after the Prophet he becamethe bearer of glad tidings and warner for mankind ]

मन कुन्तो मौला
ख्वाजा अली-उन मौला
[ "Whoever I am master to,Venerable Ali is his Master too."  hadith of the pond of Khumm]

दारा दिल-ए-दारा दिल-ए-दारे-ए-दानी
ओम तुम तानाना नाना, तानाना नाना रे
यालाली यालाली याला, याला रे
[ These words are sufi mystical chants. Many people have different interpretation.For instance, the highly esteemed singer and acclaimed authority on Hindustani music, Ustad Amir Khan (1912-1974), held the view that the syllables used in singing tarana-s are derived from the Persian language. According to him, a tarana phrase like “daaraa dil” would really mean “aa dar dil” (“Enter into the heart”]

हज़रत आमिर खुसरो 'देहलवी'  

Thursday 2 December 2010

halka halka suroor rehta hai..

उदी उदी सी घटायें आती हैं, मुतरिबों के नवायें  आती हैं,

किसके गेसू खुले हैं सावन में, महकी महकी सी हवाएं आती हैं,

आ सहन-ए-चमन में रस्क करें, साज़ ले के घटायें आती हैं,

देख कर उनकी अंख्दियों  को अदम, मैकदों को हयाएं आती हैं,

पास रहता है दूर रहता है, कोई दिल में ज़रूर रहता है,

जब से देखा है उनकी आँखों को, हल्का हल्का सुरूर रहता है,

वो मेरे दिल में हैं ऐसे, जैसे ज़ुल्मत में नूर रहता है,

अब अदम का ये हाल है हर वक़्त, मस्त रहता है चूर रहता है.

[उदी = purple, घटायें = clouds,मुतरिबों = musicians,नवायें = music, गेसू = tresses, सहन-ए-चमन = backyard of garden, रस्क = dance; ज़ुल्मत = darkness, नूर = light]

Tuesday 30 November 2010

saaki ke har nigaah pe balkhaa ke pee gaya..

साकी की हर निगाह पे बलखा के पी गया,
लहरों से खेलता हुआ लहरा के पी गया,

बेकैफियों के कैफ से घबरा के पी गया,
तौबा को तोड़ कर थर्रा के पी गया
[बेकैफियों = un intoxicating, कैफ = intoxicating, तौबा =pledge]

सरमस्ती-ए-अज़ल मुझे जब याद आ गयी,
दुनिया-ए-ऐतबार को ठुकरा के पी गया
[सरमस्ती-ए-अज़ल = fun from time immemorial ]

अए रहमत-ए-तमाम मेरी हर खता मुआफ,
मैं इंतहा-ए-शौक़ में घबरा के पी गया
[ इंतहा-ए-शौक़ = limits of desire]

पीता बैगैर इज़्न यह कब थी मेरी मजाल,
दर पर्दा  चस्म-ए-यार के सह पा के पी गया,
[इज़्न = permission/order; मजाल = dare; दर पर्दा = hidden; चस्म-ए-यार = beloved's eyes; सह = support]


ज़ाहिद यह मेरी शोखी-ए-रिन्दां ना देखना,
रहमत को बातों बातों में बहला के पी गया.
[ज़ाहिद = wise man; शोखी-ए-रिन्दां = mischief/restlessness of a drunk person; रहमत = benevolence]

उस जाँ-ए-मैकदा की कसम बारहा "जिगर"
कुल आलम-ए-बिसात पे मै छा के पी गया
[जाँ-ए-मैकदा = life of the bar refering to saaqi; बारहा = everytime; कुल = whole; आलम-ए-बिसात= complete universe]

जिगर 'मोरादाबादी'

I am adding a makhta to this ghazal.

 
तिशनागी कुछ  ऐसी उठी 'मुज़्तरिब' दिल में   
मैं जाँ को मय  में मिला के पी गया
[तिशनागी = thirst, जाँ= life, मय = wine] 

Friday 19 November 2010

nemat-e-khlalish lage hai ishrat kee tarah

साईल हाज़तमंद है तेरे  दर पे इस तरह
नेमत-ए-खलिश लगे है इशरत की तरह
[साईल = beggar; हाज़तमंद = needy ; नेमत-ए-खलिश = gift of pain; इशरत = happiness]

बाद फ़िराक-ए-यार में तन्हाई ना मिली
गम-ए-यार मेरे साथ है साए की तरह
[बाद फ़िराक-ए-यार = after seperation from beloved]

तीरगी तेज़तर  होती जाये है शब-बा-शब
याद-ए-खूबां  है बेनुरी में उजाले की तरह
[तीरगी = darkness; तेज़तर = sharp; शब-बा-शब = night by night ; याद-ए-खूबां = memories of the beauty; बेनुरी = darkness]

आरज़ू  है की दीद-ए-यार हों फिर से
तमन्ना उन्हें भी जगे कभी हमारी तरह
[दीद-ए-यार = vision of beloved]

कब से हरीम-ए-खल्वत का मकीं हूं
जुज़ तेरे  घर लगता है तुर्बत की तरह
[जुज़ = without ;हरीम-ए-खल्वत = house of solitude; मकीं= tenant; तुर्बत =tomb/grave]

एक इलाज़ है इस रोग का मेरे चारागर
दे ज़हर  अपने हाथों से दवा की तरह
[चारागर = doctor]

दिल जो आतिश-फिशां  था  कभी  'मुज़्तरिब'
सोज़-ए-खुस्ता  सर्द  है संग-ए-बर्फ की तरह
[आतिश-फिशां = volcano; सोज़-ए-खुस्ता = extinguished heat; सर्द = cold; संग-ए-बर्फ = stone of ice]

'मुज़्तरिब'

Sunday 31 October 2010

dekh to dil se ke jaan se uthta hai..

देख तो दिल से के जाँ से उठता है
यह धुआं कहाँ से उठता है

गोर किस दिलजले की है ये फलक
शोला एक सुभः यां से उठता है
[गोर = grave/tomb ;दिलजले = heart burnt; ]

खाना-ए-दिल से ज़िन्हार ना जा
कोई ऐसे मकाँ से उठता है

नाला सर खेंचता है जब मेरा
शोर एक असमान से उठता है
[नाला = lament]

लडती  है उस की चश्म-ए-शोख जहाँ
एक आशोब वां से उठता है
[आशोब = turmoil]

सुध ले घर की भी शोला-ए-आवाज़
दूद कुछ आशियाँ से उठता है
[दूद = smoke]

बैठने कौन दे है फिर उस को
जो तेरे आस्तां से उठता है
[आस्तां  = threshold]

यूँ उठे आह उस गली से हम
जैसे कोई जहाँ से उठता है
 
इश्क इक 'मीर' भारी पत्थर है
बोझ कब नातवां से उठता है
[नातवां = weak]
मीर ताकी 'मीर'


mujhse pehli si muhabbat mere mahboob na maang..

Below is a nazm by 'Faiz'. The translation is by Kuldeep Salil.

मुझसे पहली, सी मुहब्बत मेरे महबूब ना मांग
Ask me not for love, O dear like before

मैंने समझा था की तू है तो दरखशां है हयात
तेरा गम है तो गम-ए-दहर का झगडा क्या है
तेरी सूरत से है आलम में बहारों को सबात
तेरी आँखों के सिवा दुनिया में रखा क्या है
[दरखशां = bright, हयात = life, गम-ए-दहर = sorrows of life, सबात = permanence/stability ]

With you around, I had thought, life is all aglow,
when I sorrow for you, I need not bother about the sufferings of the world
your beauty gives permanence to the spring season
that nothing else is worthwhile in the world except your eyes, so I had thought

तू जो मिल जाए तो तकदीर निगू हों जाये
यूँ ना था, मैंने फकत चाहा था यूँ हों जाये
और भी दुःख हैं ज़माने में मोहब्बत के सिवा
राहतें और भी हैं वस्ल की राहत के सिवा
[निगू = supplicant/subservient, फकत = merely, वस्ल = meeting, राहतें = happiness ] 

But that is not it;
There are other sorrows too in world, apart from the sorrows of love
and other joy beside the joys of union

अनगिनत सदियों के तारीक बहीमाना तिलिस्म
रेशम-ओ-अतलस-ओ-कमख्वाब के बुनवाये हुए
जा-बा-जा बिकते हुए कूचा-ओ-बाज़ार में जिस्म
ख़ाक में लिथड़े हुए, खूं में नहलाये हुए
[तारीक = darkness, बहीमाना = dreadful/animalistic, तिलिस्म = magic
रेशम-ओ-अतलस-ओ-कमख्वाब = silk and satin and brocade, जा-बा-जा = here and there
कूचा-ओ-बाज़ार = lanes and markets]

A web of brutal darkness woven over centuries,
human bodies on sale in the street and the market place,
bodies bathed in dust and blood

जिस्म निकले हुए अमराज़ के तन्नूरों से
पीप बहती हुई गलते हुए नासूरों से
लौट जाती है उधर को भी नज़र, क्या कीजे
अब भी दिलकश  है तेरा हुश्न, मगर क्या कीजे
[अमराज़ = diseases,तन्नूरों = ovens , पीप = pus, नासूरों = ulcer, दिलकश = heart warming ]

Diseased bodies with festering wounds
The eye is arrested by all this, it cannot help;
your beauty though is as attractive as before

और भी दुःख हैं ज़माने में मुहब्बत के सिवा
राहतें और भी हैं वस्ल की राहत के सिवा
मुझसे पहली सी मुहब्बत मेरे महबूब ना मांग.

There are other sorrows also in the world beside the sorrows of love
and othe joys apart from joys of union
do not ask me, dear, for love like before.

फैज़ अहमद 'फैज़'

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Aaj Baazar mein paabajaulaa chaloo..

आज बाज़ार में पाबजौला चलो
चस्म-ए-नम , जाँ-ए-शोरीदा काफी नहीं
तोहम-ए-इश्क पोशीदा काफी नहीं
आज बाज़ार में पाबजौला चलो
[पाबजौला = in fetter, चस्म-ए-नम = moist eyes, जाँ-ए-शोरीदा = sad soul, पोशीदा = concealed]

दस्त-ए-अफशां चलो, मस्त-ओ-रक्सां चलो
खाक बरसर चलो खूबदामां चलो
राह ताकता है सब शहर-ए-जाना चलो
[दस्त-ए-अफशां = clapping/rotating hands; मस्त-ओ-रक्सां = mad dancers; खाक बरसर = laborers, खूबदामां = drenched in blood];

हाकिम-ए-शहर भी, मुहब-ए-आम भी
तीर-ए-इलज़ाम भी, संग-ए-दुशनाम भी
सुबह-ए-नाशाद भी, रोज़-ए-नाकाम भी
इनका दमसाज़ अपने सिवा कौन है
शहर-ए-जाना में अब वासफा कौन है
दस्त-ए-कातिल के शायां रहा कौन है
रुखसत-ए-दिल बाँध लो, दिलफिगारो चलो
फिर हमही क़त्ल हों आये यारो चलो |
[हाकिम-ए-शहर = officers of town, मुहब-ए-आम = common man, संग-ए-दुशनाम = infamous, शायां = capable, दिलफिगारो = wounded heart]
फैज़ अहमद 'फैज़'

Thursday 16 September 2010

jaan ka meri jaana na hua..

जाँ का मेरी जाना न हुआ,
अंजाम-ए-इश्क-ए-फ़साना न हुआ
[अंजाम-ए-इश्क-ए-फ़साना = end of love story]

यूँ तो फिरता हूं दर-ब-दर
पर तवाफ़-ए-कू-ए-जाना न हुआ
[तवाफ़-ए-कू-ए-जाना = circumbulation of beloved's lane ]

नम-ए-संग  हुआ है चस्म मेरा
आज फिर तेरा आना न हुआ
[नम-ए-संग = moist stone; चस्म = eyes]

हुए हैं कई कैस-ओ- फरहाद जहाँ में
'मुज़्तरिब' सा कोई दीवाना न हुआ
[कैस-ओ- फरहाद = Kaise (name of majnu) & Farhad]

'मुज़्तरिब'

Tuesday 7 September 2010

Wo walwale nahi rahi guftaari kee..

हुई थी क़रार जिनसे ताउम्र यारी की
पेशानी पे उनके शिकन है बेज़ारी की
[क़रार = pact; ताउम्र = for life, पेशानी = forehead, बेज़ारी = displeasure]

रक़्स करती थी जिंदगी इक इशारे पे
रही ना कुव्वत अब उस इख्तियारि की
[रक़्स = dance, कुव्वत = power; इख्तियारि = control]

हाल-ए-जीस्त की बयानी क्या करूँ
वो  वलवले  नही रही गुफ्तारी की
[हाल-ए-जीस्त = tale of life; बयानी = recite, वलवले = enthusiasm, गुफ्तारी = to speak]

लब पे हँसी लिए फिरते हो 'मुज़्तरिब'
बहुत जी चुके ये ज़िंदगी मुख्तारी की
[मुख्तारी = proxy]
'मुज़्तरिब'

Saturday 17 July 2010

tardeed hee sahi

तज़वीज़ मेरी गर तुझे मंज़ूर नहीं
पशेमानी मेरी पर तरदीद ही  सही
[तज़वीज़ = proposal, पशेमानी = shame, तरदीद = refutation/rejection]

दिल मुद्दई  है और खुदा मुखालिफ,
तवक्को  क्या रखे अब क्या बाकी रही
[मुद्दई= enemy, मुखालिफ = enemy,तवक्को = expectation]

कह रहा हूं फिर से आज वो बात,
बात जो ना तुमने कभी मुझसे कही

दिल-ए-गरां ना बैठ दर-ए-संग-ए-दिल पे,
कमबख्त उठ, चल चलें और कहीं
[दिल-ए-गरां = Heavy heart; दर-ए-संग-ए-दिल = Door of a stone heart; कमबख्त = unfortunate]
 
बेकसी जिसका मुक्क़दर बन गई
मैं हूँ बदनसीब 'मुज़्तरिब' वही
[बेकसी = helplessness/distress; मुक्क़दर = destiny; बदनसीब = unfortunate]
'मुज़्तरिब'

Wednesday 30 June 2010

Bukhaaraat

दूर से सराब  पास  आ रही है
कहीं से दबी हुई आवाज़ आ रही है
[सराब = illusion; ]

साँसों में गर्मी बदन में तपिश
आतिश-ए-दिल ज़बर पर आ रही है
[तपिश = heat; आतिश-ए-दिल = ambers from heart; ज़बर = above]

चस्म-ए-शम्स बरसाए शरारे    
सोज़-ओ-दूद  मेरे बदन से आ रही है
[चस्म-ए-शम्स = eyes which seem like sun, शरारे = ambers; सोज़-ओ-दूद = heat & smoke]

खर्जरों में गूंजती  हैं आवाजें
आवाजें दिल-ए-बियाँबान से आ रही है
[खर्जरों  = desolate]

 जल रहा मुज़्तरिब, बिन चिता बिन आग 
हों रहा है राख और फुगाँ आ रही है
[फुगाँ = wail]
'मुज़्तरिब'

Saturday 26 June 2010

Choomaha Dar Ardo Saman

This ghazal is written by famous Afghan sufi poet Jami. I was unable to find the meaning of the lyrics. The fourth and fifth stanza is used in many sufi songs.

Choomaha Dar Ardo Saman Taaban Tui Taban Tui
Rashke Malak Noore Khuda Insaan Tui Insaan Tui

Roshan Ze Rooyat Do Jahan Akse Ruqat Khursheed-o-Maan
Aye Noore Zaate Kibriya Rakhshaan Tui Rakhshaan Tui

Ayat-e-Quran Abroyat Tafseer-e-Quran Gaisuyat
Aye Roo-e-Tou Quran-e-Maan Iman Tui Iman Tui

Ya Mustafa Ya Mujataba Irhamlana Irhamlana
Dast-e-Hamaan Becharara Damaan Tui Damaan Tui

Man Asiyam Man Ajizam Man Bekasam Haal-e-Maraa
Ya Shafe-e-Roze Jaza Pursan Tui Pursan Tui

Jami Ravad Az Chashme Maan Jalwa Numaan Behre Khuda
Jano Dilam Har do Fida Jaana Tui Jaana Tui

 'Jami'

Protagoras and The Sophists

A sophist was a man who made his living by teaching things that would be useful to them and are not taught in regular curriculum. As there was no public provision for such education, the Sophists taught only to those who had private means. This tended to give them a certain class bias which was increased by political circumstances of the time.

In Athenian democracy, judges and most executive officers were chosen by lot and served for short periods. They were thus average citizens with their characteristic prejudices and lack of professionalism. The plaintiff and defendant or prosecutor and accused appeared in person, not through professional lawyers. Naturally, success and failure depended largely on oratorical skill in appealing to popular prejudices. Although a man had to deliver his own speech, he could hire an expert to write the speech for him, or, as many, preferred, he could pay for instruction in the arts required for success in the law courts. These arts the Sophists were supposed to teach. They taught the art of arguing, and as much knowledge as would help in this art. Broadly speaking, they were prepared, like modern lawyers, to show how to argue for or against any opinion and were not concerned to advocate conclusion of their own. Those, to whom philosophy was closely bound to religion, were naturally shocked; to them, the sophists appeared frivolous and immoral. The sophists were prepared to follow an argument wherever it might lead them. Often it led to skepticism. One of them, Gorgias, maintained that nothing exists; that if anything exists; and to be knowable by any one man, he could never communicate it to others.

Protagoras was most prominent amongst the sophists. Protagoras was born about 500 B.C; at Abdera in Thrace, the city from which Democritus came. He twice visited Athens. His second visit to Athens is described somewhat satirically in Plato’s Protagoras, and his doctrines are discussed seriously in Theaetetus. He is chiefly noted for his doctrine that “Man is measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are not.” This is interpreted as meaning that each man is the measure of all things and that when men differ there is no objective truth in virtue of which one is right and other is wrong. The doctrine is essentially skeptical and is presumably based on deceitfulness of the senses.

Russel quotes Plato, in the Theaetetus, to explain Protagoras. One opinion can be better than other but not necessarily truer. For e.g. when a man has jaundice everything looks yellower to him. There is no sense in saying that things are not really yellow, but the color they look to a healthy man, one can say, however that since health is better than sickness, the opinion of man in health is better than that of man who has jaundice. This point of view is akin to Pragmatism.

Wednesday 23 June 2010

tamaam umr ik lamhe ka intezaar kia..

तेरी रंजिश ने दिल को तार तार किया
इश्क में हमने इसे ज़ार ज़ार किया
[तार तार = shred; ज़ार ज़ार = wail copiously]

खुशफहमी-ए-शादगी है तुझे ए खूबां
क्या जिया जो ना तुमने कभी प्यार किया
[खुशफहमी-ए-शादगी = illusion of happiness; खूबां = beautiful]

तुम ना समझ पाए ज़ज्बात-ए-मुहब्बत
यूँ तो हमने सद हजारां आशकार किया
[सद हजारां = hundred thoushand; आशकार = reveal]

लो आज हों गए हम तुम से बाबस्ता
जाँ हमने तेरे दर पे वार किया
[बाबस्ता = associated ]

ना होगा कोई मुन्तज़िर 'मुज़्तरिब' सा
तमाम उम्र एक लम्हे का इंतज़ार किया
[मुन्तज़िर = awaiting]

'मुज़्तरिब' 

Sunday 20 June 2010

Leucippus and Democritus - The Atomist

Leucippus and Democritus are considered to be the founders of Atomism. Though Democritus place is later in the chronology, along with Socrates, he is generally considered along with Leucippus.

Leucippus seems to have flourished around 440 B.C. He comes from Miletus and carried on the rationalistic and scientific way of philosophy associated with the city. He was much influenced by Parmenides and Zeno. Epicurus, a later follower of Democritus doubted his existence. There are, however, a number of allusions to him by Aristotle and it seems incredible that these would have occurred if he had been merely a myth.

Democritus was from Abdera in Thrace. He flourished around 420 B.C. He travelled widely in eastern & southern lands in search of knowledge. He seems to have visited Egypt and Persia.

Leucippus, if not Democritus, was led to atomism in the attempt to mediate between monism as represented by Parmenides and pluralism as represented by Empedocles. Their theory is remarkably akin to modern physics. They believed that everything consists of atoms and atoms are physically invisible and indestructible. The atoms have always been in motion and there are infinite numbers of atoms. The space between two atoms is empty. Atoms have different shape and size. Whether Atomist considered atoms as weightless is debated. But there is considerable reason to think that weight was not an original property of atoms of Leucippus and Democritus.

It seems more probable that, on their view, atoms were originally moving at random. Democritus said that there was neither up nor down in the infinite void and compared the movement of atom in the soul to that of motes in sunbeam where there is no beam. As a result of collisions the collection of atoms comes to form Vortices.

Contrary to popular perception in antiquity, Atomists were strict deterministic, who believed that everything happens in accordance with the natural laws. Democritus explicitly denied that anything can happen by chance.

Aristotle and others reproached Leucippus and Democritus for not accounting for original motion of atoms (i.e. how the atoms got into motion), but in science causation must start from something, and wherever it starts no cause can be assigned for initial datum. The world may be attributed to a creator, but even the creator himself is unaccounted for.

The atomists sought to explain the world without introducing the notion of purpose or final cause. The “final cause” of an occurrence is an event in the future for the sake of which the occurrence takes place.

Taking an example if we ask, “Why are railways built?” the answer would be because people would travel. This is the “final cause” why railways are built. When we ask “Why” concerning an event, we may mean either of two things. We may mean “What purpose did this event serve?” or we may mean “What earlier circumstances caused this event?”

The answer to the former question is teleological explanation, or an explanation by final causes, the answer to the latter question is mechanistic explanation. The mechanistic question leads to scientific knowledge, while the teleological question does not. The atomist asked the mechanistic question and gave mechanistic answers. Their successors, until the renaissance, were more interested in teleological question, and thus led science up a blind alley.

As regards the teleological explanation, it eventually arrives at creator whose purpose is realized in the course of nature. But if a man is so obstinately teleological as to continue to ask what purpose is served by the Creator, it becomes impious. The conception of purpose, therefore, is only applicable within reality, not to reality as whole.

A similar argument applies to mechanistic explanations. One event is caused by another and other by third and so on. But if we ask for a cause of the whole, we are driven again to creator who must himself be uncaused. All causal explanations, there must have an arbitrary beginning. This is why it is no defect in the theory of atomist to have left the original movements of atoms unaccounted for.

Leucippus was concerned to find a way of reconciling the arguments of Parmenides with the obvious fact of motion and change. Leucippus thought he had a theory which harmonized with sense perception and would not abolish either coming to be and passing away or motion and the multiplicity of things. He made this concession on the facts of perception. On the other hand he conceded to the monists that there could be no motion without void. The result is a theory which he states as follow:

“The void is a “not being”, and no part of “What is” is a “not being”; for 'what is' in the strict sense of term is an absolute plenum. This plenum, however, is not one, on the contrary, it is many, infinite in number and invisible owing to the minuteness of the bulk. The many move in the void (for there is a void): and by coming together they produce coming to be, while by separating they produce passing away. Moreover, they act and suffer action whenever they chance to be in contact (for there they are not one) and they generate by being put together and becoming intertwined. For the genuinely one, on the other hand, there could never have come to be a multiplicity, nor from genuinely many a one: that is impossible.”

It will be seen that there was on which everybody so far was agreed, namely there could be no motion in the plenum. In this, all alike were mistaken. There can be cyclic motion in a plenum, provided it has always existed. The idea was that a thing could only move into an empty space, and that in a plenum, there are no empty spaces. It might be contended, perhaps validly, that motion could never begin in a plenum, but it cannot be validly maintained that it could not occur at all.

To the Greeks, however, it seemed that one must acquiesce in the unchanging world of Parmenides, or admit the void. One may put the Parmenidian position in this way: “You may say that there is the void; therefore the void is not nothing; therefore it is not the void.” It cannot be said that Atomists answered this argument; they merely proclaimed that they proposed to ignore it on the ground that motion is a fact of experience, therefore there must be a void, however difficult it may be to conceive.

Democritus worked out his theories in considerable details and some of the working out is interesting. Each atom, he said, was impenetrable and indivisible because it contained no void. When you use a knife to cut an apple, the knife has to find empty places where it can penetrate; if the apple contained no void, it would be infinitely hard and therefore physically indivisible. Each atom is internally unchanging, and in fact a Parmenidian one. The only thing that atoms do is to move and hit each other, and sometimes to combine. They are of all sorts of shapes; fire is composed of small spherical atoms; and so is the soul. Atoms, by collision produce vortices, which generates bodies and ultimately worlds. There are many worlds, some growing, some decaying; some may have no sun or moon, some several. Every world has a beginning and an end.

Life developed out of the primeval slime. There is some fire everywhere in a living body. Thought is a kind of motion and is thus able to cause motion elsewhere. Perception and thought are physical process. Perception is of two sorts, one of the sense and one of the understandings. Perception of the latter sort depend only on the things perceived, while those of the former sort depends also on our senses, and therefore apt to be deceptive. Like Locke, Democritus held that such qualities as warmth, taste, and color are not really in the object, but are due to our sense organs, while such qualities as weight, density and hardness are really in the object.

Democritus was through-going materialist; for him, the soul was composed of atoms and thought was physical process. There was no purpose in universe, there were only atoms governed by mechanical laws. He disbelieved in popular religion and argued against nous of Anaxagoras. In ethics he considered cheerfulness as the goal of life, and regarded moderation and culture as the best means to it. He disliked everything violent and passionate; he disapproved of sex, because he said, it involved the overwhelming of consciousness by pleasure.

Sunday 13 June 2010

aaj main gaya to laut ke phir na aaonga

आज  मैं गया
तो लौट के फिर ना आऊंगा

ये  आँखें ना रोक पायेंगी
ये आंसूं  ना रोक पायेंगे
तेरी बातें ना रोक पाएंगी
तेरी कसमें ना रोक पायेंगे
आज मैं गया
तो लौट के फिर ना आऊंगा

तेरी हंसी मैं भूल जाऊँगा
सारी ख़ुशी  मैं भूल जाऊँगा
सारे वादे मैं भूल जाऊँगा
सब इरादे मैं भूल जाऊँगा
आज मैं गया
तो लौट के फिर ना आऊंगा

अधजगी रातें मैं छोड़ जाऊँगा 
अनकही बातें मैं छोड़ जाऊँगा
अधूरी मुलाकातें मैं छोड़ जाऊँगा
अतृप्त ज़ज्बातें मैं छोड़ जाऊँगा
आज मैं गया
तो लौट के फिर ना आऊँगा

आधी रातो में  किसे जगाओगी
  वेवजह किसे सताओगी
कौन देखेगा राह तुम्हारी
किसे अपने किस्से सुनाओगी

रूठोगी, तो कौन तुम्हे मनायेगा
कौन अपने हाथों से खिलायेगा
कौन तुम्हे सब बातें समझायेगा
कौन तुम्हारे सपनो को अपना बनायेगा

फिर ये आँखें भर आयेंगी
और खर्जारों  से टकराएंगी
नज़र बार बार दरवाजे तक जायेंगी
पर मुझको ना ढूंढ पायेंगी

 अपने लिए ही सही
 रोक लो मुझको तुम आज, की
आज मैं गया
तो लौट के फिर ना आऊंगा 

'प्रशांत'

Thursday 10 June 2010

Anaxagoras

Anaxagoras was born at Clazomenae, in Ionia, about the year 500 B.C. He spent about thirty years of his life in Athens around 462 B.C to 432 B.C. He was probably induced to come by Pericles and was the first one to introduce philosophy to Athenians. As Pericles grew week his men, including Anaxagoras, were troubled by his enemies. What happened actually is not certain, except that Anaxagoras had to leave Athens. He returned to Ionia, where he founded a school.

Anaxagoras carried out on the scientific, rationalist tradition of Ionia. He was from the school of Anaximene. He was first to suggest mind as primary cause of physical change. Anaxagoras held that everything is infinitely divisible, and that even the smallest portion of matter contains some of each elements. Things appear to be that of which they continue most. For e.g. everything contains some fire but what we know as fire is one in which fire is preponderant.

Like Empedocles, he agrees against the void. His greatest achievement is that he differed from his predecessors in regarding mind (nous) as a substance that enters into the composition of living things and distinguishes them from dead matter. In everything, he says, there is portion of everything except mind. There are certain things which contains mind also. In such things mind has power over all things that have life; it is infinite and self ruled and is mixed with nothing. Mind is the source of all motion. It causes a rotation, which is gradually spreading throughout the world, and is causing the lightest things to go to the center and the heaviest to fall towards centre. Mind is uniform and is just as good in animals as in man. Man’s apparent superiority is due to the fact that he has hands; all seeming differences of intelligence are really due to bodily differences.

Aristotle and Socrates complain that Anaxagoras, after introducing mind, makes very little use of it. Aristotle points out that Anaxagoras introduces mind as a cause when he know no other. Wherever he can, he gives mechanical explanation.

In cosmology he had great achievements. If we discount Parmenides cryptic suggestion, Anaxagoras was the first to explain that moon shines by reflected light. He gave the correct theory of eclipse. The sun and stars, he said, are fiery stones, but we do not feel the heat of stars as they are distant. The sun is larger than Peloponnesus, the moon has mountains and inhabitants.

Bertrand Russell summarizes Anaxagoras contribution as:

Anaxagoras kept alive the rationalist and the scientific tradition of Ionians. One does not find in him the ethical and religious preoccupations which, passing from Pythagoras to Socrates and from Socrates to Plato, brought an obscurantist bias in Greek Philosophy. He is not quite in the first rank, but he is important as the first to bring philosophy to Athens, and one of the influences that helped to form Socrates.”

Tuesday 8 June 2010

A brief history of Athens

Attica at the beginning of the historical period was a self supporting agricultural region. It's capital was a small town inhabited by artisans and craftsmen. The town was called Athens.



In the Homeric age Attica, like other Greek cities, was a monarchy. Over the period the king became just a titular power and the control passed to aristocracy. The aristocrats oppressed both the artisans and the countrymen. A compromise in the direction of the democracy was affected by Solon early in the sixth century, and much of his work survived through a subsequent period of tyranny under Peisistratus and his sons. When the tyranny became week the aristocrats, as an opponent of tyranny, advocated democracy. Democratic process gave power back to aristocracy.

The greatness of Athens begins at the time of the two Persian wars (490 B.C and 480-79 B.C). Before this Ionia and Magna Graecia, which comprised of cities of South Italy and Sicily, were center of learning which produced great men.

The victory of Athens against the Persian king Darius at Marathon (490 B.C) and combined Greek fleet against his son Xerexes (480 B.C) under the Athenian leadership gave Athens great Prestige.

The Persian occupied Ionia and a part of mainland Asia Minor rebelled after the Persian were driven out of mainland Greece by the combined Greek force. Athens became the leader against the war against Persia. The other cities gave Athens the monetary help and Athens provided them with soldiers and ships. Gradually Athens acquired naval supremacy over the other empire and gradually transformed the empire into Athenian empire.

Athens became rich and prosperous under the leadership of Pericles, who governed by the free choice of people. The age of Pericles was the glorious time in the Greek history. Literature and Philosophy made a great Leap.

Pericles rebuilt the temple on Acropolis which was destroyed by Xerxes. He also built the Parthenon at the end of this period. Athens was most beautiful and splendid city of Hellenic world. In Philosophy, Athens contributes only two great names, Socrates and Plato. Plato belonged to later period but Socrates passed his youth and early manhood under Pericles. Pericles ruled for 30 years until his fall in 430 BC.

Until the fall of Pericles, democratic process gave power to the aristocracy. But towards the end of his life the leaders of Athenian democracy began to demand a larger share of Political power. At the same time, his imperialist policy caused increasing friction with Sparta, leading to Peloponnesian war (431 – 404 B.C) in which Athens was completely destroyed.

Thursday 3 June 2010

Atma Shatakam - Chidanand roopah shivoham shivoham

In this post my aim is to explain Atma shatakam, a poem summarizing the concept of Advaita Vedanta, written by Sri Adi Shankaracharya. To do that I will first explain about the Advaita philosophy and then I’ll put up the explanation of Atma shatakam sholkas. The content of this post is mainly aggregated from Wikipedia, My earlier post, ‘Hindu Philosophy’ by Theos Bernard and the exposition of Atma shatakam by C.V Reddy published on Sri Ramakrishna math’s website.

Vedanta: The Vedanta is one of the six schools of Hindu Philosophy (Darshana). The others being Nyaya, Vaisesika, Smakhya & Yoga. A more elaborate description I have posted here. The Vedanta is technically classified as Uttaramimamsa. ‘Uttara’ means last; ‘mimamsa’ means “investigation, examination, discussion or consideration”; therefore, the last consideration of Vedas. This system of thoughts is commonly referred to as Vedanta, composed of Veda and Anta, “end’; literally, “the end of the Vedas”. Because the central topic is the Universal Spirit; called ‘Brahma’, the name Brahmasutra and Brahmamimamsa are frequently used. Another title is Sarirakamimamsa, an enquiry into embodied spirit.

Tradition attributes the Vedanta sutra to Badarayana whose actual date is quite unknown. The dates range from 500 B.C. to as late as 200 A.D. Some scholars contend that Badarayana is the alias for Vyasa the sage who wrote ‘Mahabharata’. The central theme of Vedantasutra is the philosophical teachings of Upanishads concerning the nature and relationship of the three principles, that is, God, the world, and the soul, this also includes relationship between Universal soul and individual soul.

Three schools have developed from the interpretation of the Vedantasutra. They are: The Advaita (non dualism); Visistadvaita (qualified non dualism) and Dvaita (dualism) propounded respectively by Shankaracharya (8th century), Ramanujacharya (11th century) and Madhavacharya (12th century). The Advaita school contends that all phenomenal existence is an illusion called maya, and that only the Ultimate Principle (Brahma) is real, the Visistadvaita system maintains that there is only one Reality, but that in the objective world it manifests itself as duality; the Dwaita schools treats the evolutionary scheme in the same way as Samkhya. Its only contribution is the way in which it deals with the supreme Deity.

Shri Adi Shankaracharya and Advaita Vedanta: Adi Shankaracharya consolidated the Advaita Vedanta treaties. In his ‘Vivekachudamani ‘, a famous work that expounds Advaita Vedanta philosophy, he succinctly summarizes this philosophy as:

‘Brahma satyam jagat mithyā, jīvo brahmaiva nāparah’

(Brahma is the only truth, the world is illusion, and there is ultimately no difference between Brahman and individual self)

According to Adi Shankara, God, the Supreme Cosmic Spirit or Brahman, nominative singular Brahma, is the One, the whole and the only reality. Other than Brahman, everything else, including the universe, material objects and individuals, are false. Brahman is at best described as that infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, incorporeal, impersonal, transcendent reality that is the divine ground of all Being. Brahman is often described as ‘neti neti’ meaning "not this, not this" because Brahman cannot be correctly described as this or that. 'It' (grammatically neutral, but exceptionally treated as masculine) is the origin of this and that, the origin of forces, substances, all of existence, the undefined, the basis of all, unborn, the essential truth, unchanging, eternal, the absolute. How can it be properly described as something in the material world when it is the basis of reality? Brahman is also beyond the senses, it would be akin a blind man trying to correctly describe color. It, though not necessarily a form of physical matter, is the substrate of the material world, which in turn is its illusory transformation. Brahman is not the effect of the world. Brahman is said to be the purest knowledge itself, and is illuminant like a source of infinite light.

Due to ignorance (avidyā), the Brahman is visible as the material world and its objects. The actual Brahman is attributeless and formless (Nirguna Brahman). It is the Self-existent, the Absolute and the Imperishable. Brahman is actually indescribable. It is at best "Satchidananda" (merging "Sat" + "Chit" + "Ananda", i.e., Infinite Truth, Infinite Consciousness and Infinite Bliss). Also, Brahman is free from any kind of differences or differentiation. It does not have any sajātīya (homogeneous) differentiation because there is no second Brahman. It does not have any vijātīya (heterogeneous) differentiation because there is nobody in reality existing other than Brahman. It has neither svagata (internal) differences, because Brahman is itself homogeneous. In Islamic parlance the verse ‘wahdahu la sharika lahu’ (GOD is one and he has no partner) is what Advaita philosophy is about.

According to Adi Shankara, Māyā is the complex illusionary power of Brahman which causes the Brahman to be seen as the material world of separate forms. Maya has two main functions — one is to "hide" Brahman from ordinary human perception, and the other is to present the material world in its (Brahmam) place. Māyā is also said to be indescribable, though it may be said that all sense data entering ones awareness via the five senses are Māyā, since the fundamental reality underlying sensory perception is completely hidden. It is also said that Māyā is neither completely real nor completely unreal, hence it is indescribable. Its shelter is Brahman, but Brahman itself is untouched by the illusion of Māyā, just like a magician is not tricked by his own magic. Māyā is temporary and is transcended with "true knowledge," or perception of the more fundamental reality which permeates Māyā.

Since according to the Upanishads only Brahman is real, and yet the material world is seen as real, Adi Shankara explained the anomaly by the concept of this illusionary power of Māyā.

According to Advaita Vedanta, when man tries to know the attributeless Brahman with his mind, under the influence of Maya, Brahman becomes the Lord. Ishvara is Brahman with Maya — the manifested form of Brahman. Adi Shankara uses a metaphor that when the "reflection" of the Cosmic Spirit falls upon the mirror of Maya, it appears as the Ishvara or Supreme Lord. The Ishvara is true only in the pragmatic level. God's actual form in the transcendental level is the Cosmic Spirit.

Ishvara can be described as Saguna Brahman or Brahman with attributes that may be regarded to have a personality with human and Godly attributes. This concept of Ishvara is also used to visualize and worship in anthropomorphic form deities such as Shiva, Vishnu or Devi by the Dvaitins which leads to immense confusion in the understanding of a monistic concept of God apart from polytheistic worship of Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti in Hinduism .

To think that there is no place for a personal God (Ishvara) in Advaita Vedanta is not a misunderstanding of the philosophy. Ishvara is, in an ultimate sense, described as "false" because Brahman appears as Ishvara only due to the curtain of Maya. However, just as the world is true in the pragmatic level, similarly, Ishvara is also pragmatically true. Just as the world is not absolutely false, Ishvara is also not absolutely false. He is the distributor of the fruits of one's Karma.

The soul or the self (Ataman) is identical with Brahman. It is not a part of Brahman that ultimately dissolves into Brahman, but the whole Brahman itself. Now the arguers ask how the individual soul, which is limited and one in each body, can be the same as Brahman? Adi Shankara explains that the Self is not an individual concept. Atman is only one and unique. Indeed Atman alone is {Ekaatma Vaadam}. It is a false concept that there are several Atmans {Anekaatma Vaadam}. Adi Shankara says that just as the same moon appears as several moons on its reflections on the surface of water covered with bubbles, the one Atman appears as multiple atmans in our bodies because of Maya. Atman is self-proven, however, some proofs are discussed—e.g., a person says "I am blind", "I am happy", "I am fat" etc. The common and constant factor, which permeates all these statements is the "I" which is but the Immutable Consciousness. When the blindness, happiness, fatness are inquired and negated, "I" the common factor which, indeed, alone exists in all three states of consciousness and in all three periods of time, shines forth. This proves the existence of Atman, and that Consciousness, Reality and Bliss are its characteristics. Atman, being the silent witness of all the modifications, is free and beyond sin and merit. It does not experience happiness or pain because it is beyond the triad of Experiencer, Experienced and Experiencing. It does not do any Karma because it is Aaptakaama. It is incorporeal and independent.

When the reflection of atman falls on Avidya (ignorance), atman becomes jīva — a living being with a body and senses. Each jiva feels as if he has his own, unique and distinct Atman, called jivatman. The concept of jiva is true only in the pragmatic level. In the transcendental level, only the one Atman, equal to Brahman, is true.

Atma Shatakam or Nirvana shatakam: Nirvana shatakam, attributed to Adi Shankaracharya. It is a hymn popular with all those who feel drawn to the practice of Vedantic spiritual practices. It is also recited on important occasions in Hindu temples, prayers meetings, and satsangs. As this is a dhyana stotra, a hymn for meditation, it is of special significance and importance.  
The word shatakam means six and the word nirvana means freedom or liberation. It is thus a hymn of six verses on liberation, each of which is like a jewel in the garland of Vedanta. It is also called as atma shatakam or six verses on the nature of the Self. The first three lines in each of the first five verses negate all that is not Atman, while the last line in each verse strongly affirms what atman is.

मनोबुद्धिअहन्कार्चित्तनि नाहं  न च श्रोताजिह्वे  न च घ्राणनेत्रे
न च व्योम्भुमिर्ण  तेजो  न  वायु चिदानंदरूपः शिवोहं  शिवोहं 

manobuddhy-ahamkara chittani naham na cha shrotra jihve na cha ghrana netre
na cha vyomabhumirna tejo na vayuh chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham

manah mind buddhih intellect ahamkarah ego (I-consciousness) chittani memory na not aham I na not cha and shrotra ear (organ of hearing) jihve tongue na not; cha and ghrana nose (organ of smell) netre eyes; na not cha and vyomah space bhumih earth na not tejah fire (light) na not vayuh air chidananda rupah nature of pure consciousness shiva Shiva aham I shiva Shiva aham I
1. I am not the mind, intellect, ego, or memory; nor the ear or tongue; nor the nose nor eye; nor the space, earth, fire, or air (and water), I am of the nature of Pure Consciousness-Bliss-Absolute, I am Shiva, I am (verily) Shiva.

Notes: Mind (manah), intellect (buddhih), ego (ahamkara), and memory (chittani) together are referred to by the technical term antah karana or internal instrument. Ear, tongue, nose, eyes, and skin together are the five jnana indriyas. Space, earth, fire, air, and water are the five elements (pancha bhutas).

न  च  प्रानसंगयो  न  वै पंचावायु  न  वा सप्ताधतुर्ना  वा  पंचाकोशः 
न  वाक्पानिपादम   न  चोपस्थापायु  चिदानंदरूपः  शिवोहं   शिवोहं

na cha prana-samjno na vai panchavayuh na va saptadhaturna va panchakosah
na vakpanipadam na chopasthapayu chidanandarupah shivoham shivoham
na not cha and pranah life-breath samjnah sign na vai neither pancha vayuh five vital airs na not va or sapta dhatuh seven basic elements (of the body) na not va or panchakoshah five sheaths na not vak organ of speech pani hand padam foot (or leg) na not cha and upasthapayuh generative and excretory organs chidananda rupah nature of pure consciousness shivo Shiva (the auspicious one) aham shivo shiva aham I

2. I am not indicated by prana, nor the five-fold vital airs nor the seven elements (sapta dhatuh) of the body, nor the five sheaths; nor the organs of speech, nor hand, nor leg; and not generative or excretory organs, I am of the nature of Pure Consciousness-Bliss-Absolute, I am Shiva, I am (verily) Shiva. 
Notes: Five vital airs are : Prana (controls respiratory system), Apana (controls excretory system), Vyana (controls circulatory system); Samana (controls digestive system), and Udana (controls ejection of the prana from the physical body). Seven basic elements (sapta dhatuh) consist of: skin, flesh, fat, bone, blood, bone marrow, and semen. Five sheaths (pancha kosha) are believed to veil our understanding of the atman include, in order from
gross (outer most) to the subtle (inner most): annamaya kosha (food sheath); pranamaya kosha (vital air sheath);
manomaya kosha (mind sheath); vijnanamaya kosha (intellectual sheath); and anandamaya kosha (bliss sheath).

न  में  द्वेषरागौ  न  में  लोभमोहौ  मदों  नैव  में  नैव  मात्सर्यभावः
न  धर्मो  न चार्थो  न  कामो  न  मोक्षः   चिदानंदरूपः  शिवोहं  शिवोहं
na me dvesha-ragau na me lobha mohau mado naiva me naiva matsaryabhavah
na dharmo nacha-artho na kamo na mokshah chidanandarupah shivoham shivoham

na not me to me dvesah hatred (aversion) ragah attachment na not me to me lobhah greed mohah delusion madah arrogance na not eva only me na eva not to me matsarya bhavah feeling of jealousy na not dharmah dharma na not cha and arthah wealth (money) na not kamah desire  na not mokshah liberation chidananda rupah nature of pure consciousness shiva Shiva aham I shiva Shiva aham I
3. I have neither aversion nor attachment, neither greed nor delusion; I have neither arrogance nor jealousy; I have no duty (to perform) nor any wealth (to acquire); neither desire nor liberation; I am of the nature of Pure Consciousness-Bliss Absolute, I am Shiva, I am (verily) Shiva

Notes: Greed, delusion, pride and jealousy together with lust and anger constitute shad ripu (also called ari shad varga), the six-fold internal enemies of a human being. Dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth), kama (desire), and moksha (liberation) are together known as purusharthas, the four objectives of a human being.

न  पुण्यं  न  पापं  न  सौख्यं  न दुखं  न  मंत्रो  न  तीर्थं  न  वेदा  न  यज्ञं
अहम्  भोजनं  नैव  भोज्यं  न  भोक्ता  चिदानंदरूपः  शिवोहं  शिवोहं 

na punyam na papam na saukhyam na duhkham na mantro na tirtham na veda na yajnah
aham bhojanam naiva bhojyam na bhokta chidanandarupah shivoham shivoham

na punyam not virtue na papam not sin na saukhyam not pleasure (material happiness) na duhkham not sorrow (pain) na mantrah not a sacred chant; na tirtham not a holy place of pilgrimage na veda not Vedas (not scriptures) na yajnah not sacrificial fire rituals aham I bhojanam na eva not the act of enjoying bhojyam (nor) the object of enjoyment na bhokta not the enjoyer chidananda rupah nature of pure consciousness shiva Shiva aham I shiva Shiva aham I
4. Neither virtue (punyam) nor sin (papam) nor happiness nor sorrow; nor a holy chant nor a holy place of pilgrimage nor Veda nor sacrifice; I am neither enjoyment, nor enjoyable object, nor the enjoyer; I am of the nature of Pure Consciousness-Bliss Absolute, I am Shiva, I am (verily) Shiva.

न  में  मृत्युशंका  न  में  जाति  भेदः  पिता  नैव  में  नैव  माता  न  जन्मः   
न  बंधुर्ना  मित्रं  गुरुर्नैवा  शिष्यः  चिदानंदरूपः  शिवोहं  शिवोहं

na me mrityushanka na me jati bhedah pita naiva me naiva mata na janma
na bandhurna mitram gururnaiva shishyah chidanandarupah shivoham shivoham

na me not to me mrityuh shanka fear of death na me not to me jati caste (and creed) bhedah distinction pita father na eva not either me to me na eva mata nor mother na janma not (even) birth na bandhuh nor relation na mitram nor a friend guruh guru na eva not either shishyah a disciple chidananda rupah nature of pure consciousness; shiva Shiva aham I shiva Shiva aham I
5. I have no apprehension of death; neither do I have any distinction of caste (or creed); I have neither father, nor mother, nor (even) birth; neither friend nor kith and kin; neither teacher (guru) nor disciple; I am of the nature of Pure Consciousness-Bliss-Absolute, I am Shiva, I am (verily) Shiva.


अहम्  निर्विकल्पो  निराकार्रुपो   विभुर्व्याप्य  सर्वत्र  सर्वेंद्रियानाम  
सदा  में  समत्वं  न  मुक्तिर्न  बन्धः  चिदानंदरूपः  शिवोहं  शिवोहं
aham nirvikalpo nirakararupo vibhurvyapya sarvatra sarvendriyanam
sada me samatvam na muktirna bandhah chidanandarupah shivoham shivoham

aham I nirvikalpah without dualities nirakara rupah without a form; vibhuh omnipresent; vyapya pervading (spread out) sarvatra everywhere sarva all indriyanam sense organs sada always; me samatvam I am equanimous na muktih neither liberation na bandha not bondage chidananda rupah nature of pure consciousness; shiva Shiva aham I shiva Shiva aham I

6. I have neither dualities nor shape or form; I am present everywhere (omnipresent) and pervade all the senses; I am always equanimous; I am neither liberation nor bondage; I am of the nature of Pure Consciousness-Bliss-Absolute, I am Shiva, I am (verily) Shiva.

Sunday 30 May 2010

Empedocles

Empedocles lived around 440 BC in Acreages’, on the south coast of Sicily. He was a younger contemporary of Parmenides, though his doctrines were somehow akin to Heraclitus.

In most Greek cities, including Sicily, there was a constant conflict between democracy and tyranny. The leader of whichever party was defeated was executed or exiled. Those exiled seldom scrupled to enter into negotiation with the enemies of Greece-Persia in the east and Carthage in the west. Empedocles who was a democrat didn’t choose any of them after his banishment and rather preferred a life of sage.

Empedocles was a queer mixture of a scientist, a philosopher and a heretic.

Science: His most important contribution to science was his discovery of air as a separate substance. This he proved by the observation that when a bucket or any similar vessel is put upside down into water, the water does not enter into the bucket. He also discovered an example of centrifugal force: that if a cup of water is whirled round at the end of a string, the water does not come out. He had his own theory for evolution and the survival of the fittest. He also believed that moon and sun shines from the reflected light.

Cosmology: He established that the earth, air, fire and water are four basic elements. Each of these is ever lasting and every other thing in this world is a compound of these basic elements. These substances are combined by Love and Strife. Love and Strife are also basic substances along with the four. Period of dominance of love and strife keeps changing. Every compound substance is temporary; only the elements together with love and strife are everlasting.

Empedocles held that the material world is a sphere; that in golden age strife was outside the sphere and love inside and then gradually strife starts entering the sphere and displacing love at worst completely outing it. The process then reverses.

Religion: He had an orphic/Pythagorean view of religion. At times he speaks himself exuberantly as God and at other as a great sinner undergoing expiation for his impiety. It is said that he jumped into the crater of Mount Etna to prove that he is God.

Saturday 29 May 2010

Tanam farsooda jaa paara

A Qawwali is a sufi devotional song. A Qawwali can be classified into several categories:
  • Hamd: A song in praise of Allah. Traditionally a Qawwali begins with a Hamd.
  • Naat: A song in praise of Prophet Muhammad. A Hamd is followed by a Naat.
  • Manqabat : A song in praise of Imam Ali.
  • Marsiya: An elegy sung as lamentation over the death of much of Imam Husayn's family in the Battle of Karbala
I am writing down one of the most popular naats. The language is Persian. 

marhawa salle alla hastam sana khaane rasool
sad salaaam-e-man bazisne paak per jaane rasool
aye saba be pe ke mustaaka badar gaahe nabi
wo salaam dast basta peshe haiwanee rasool

(I am unable to find the meaning of above verses. I'll be grateful if anyone explains it to me.)

This naat is wriiten by Moulana Abd-ar-rahmaan Jaami.  Listen to Ustaad NFAK singing this naat.
 
Tanam Farsooda jaa para
Ze Hijra Ya Rasulullah
Dillam Paz Murda Aawara
Ze Isyaa. Ya Rasulullah!

( My body is dissolving in your separation
And my soul is breaking into pieces.
Due to my sins, My heart is weak and becoming enticed. Ya Rasulullah! )

Choon Soo’e Mun Guzar Aari
Manne Miskeen Zanaa Daari
Fida-E-Naqsh-E-Nalainat
Kunam Ja. Ya Rasulullah!

( When you pass by me
Then even in my immense poverty, ecstatically,
I must sacrifice my soul on your blessed sandal. Ya Rasulullah! ) 

Ze Jaame Hubb To Mustam
Ba Zanjeere To Dil Bustam
Nu’mi Goyam Ke Mun Bustum
Sukun Daa. Ya Rasulullah!

( I am drowned in the taste of your love
And the chain of your love binds my heart.
Yet I don’t say that I know this language (of love). Ya Rasulullah! )

Ze Kharda Khaish Hairaanam
Siyaa Shud Roze Isyaanam
Pashemaanam, Pashemaanam, Pashemaanam. Ya Rasulullah!  

( I am worried due to my misdeeds;
And I feel that my sins have blackened my heart.
I am in distress! I am in distress! I am in distress! Ya Rasulullah!)

Choon Baazoo’e Shafaa’at Raa
Khushaa’I Bar Gunaagara
Makun Mahruume Jaami Raa
Daraa Aan. Ya Rasulullah!

( When you spread your hands
to intercede for the sinners,
Then do not deprive Jaami of your
exalted intercession. Ya Rasulullah! )

(The transaltion is taken from net.)

Monday 24 May 2010

Parmenides

Parmenides was native of Elea, in southern Italy. His date is uncertain but it is said that young Socrates met him when Parmenides was 65 years of age. This makes his birth around 515 BCE. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy.The southern Italian & Sicilian philosophy was more related to mysticism unlike the Ionian philosophy which was scientific and skeptical in nature. Mathematics, under the influence of Pythagoras, flourished in Magna Gracie in southern Italy and was entangled with mysticism and was not scientific as it is today.
Parmenides was influenced by Pythagoras but the extent to this influence is conjectural. Parmenides is historically important as he is considered to be inventor of Logic but what he really invented was metaphysics based on Logic.
His doctrine is divided into two parts “the way of truth” and the “the way of opinion”. The Way of Truth discusses that which is real, which contrasts in some way with the argument of the Way of Opinion, which discusses that which is illusory. In his poem ‘In Nature’ he illustrates his doctrine .He considered the senses deceptive, and condemned the multitude of sensible things as mere illusion. The only true being is “the One” which is infinite and indivisible. It is not, as in Heraclitus, a union of opposites, since there are no opposites. He apparently thought for instance, “Cold” means only “not Hot”, and “Dark” means only “not light”. “The One” of Parmenides is different from “The God” we conceive because Parmenides considered the one as a material and extended, for he speaks of it as a sphere present everywhere, encompassing everything hence indivisible and indestructible. Heraclitus maintained that everything changes; Parmenides retorted that nothing changes. The essentials of his teaching as follow:

Thou canst not know what is not-that is impossible-nor utter it; for it is the same thing that can be thought and that can be

How, then, can what is be going to be in future? Or how could it come into being? If it came into being, it is not, nor is it if it is going to be in the future. Thus is becoming extinguished and passing away not to be heard of."

"The thing that can be thought and that for the sake of which the thought exists is the same; for you cannot find thought without something that is, as to which it is uttered.”

Bertrand Russell explains this argument as:

“When you think you think of something; when you use a name, it must be the name of something. Therefore both thought and language requires objects outside themselves. And since you can think of a thing or speak of it at one time as well as at another, whatever can be thought of or spoken of must exist at all the time. Consequently there can be no change, since change consists in things coming into being or ceasing to be”

Parmenides contends that, since we know what is commonly regarded as past, it cannot be really be past, but must, in some sense , exist now. Hence he infers that there is no such thing as change.

Sunday 23 May 2010

jahaaz ka panchi

मर कर भी मुझको कहाँ चैन आया,
पंछी हूं जहाज़ का वापस जहाज़ पे आया

गोश-ए-मुहब्बत ना सुने तल्खियाँ ज़माने की
दर पे संगदिल के फिर से लौट कर आया
[गोश-ए-मुहब्बत = deaf love; तल्खियाँ = bitterness]

इश्क-ओ-दर्द को लफ़्ज़ों में बयाँ रखा है  
पर  ख़त भेजूं  कैसे  कासिद आज नहीं आया
[इश्क-ओ-दर्द = love and pain; कासिद = messenger]

बड़ी उम्मीद से माँगा था खुदा से मैंने तुम्हे
रुसवाई के सिवा कुछ और ना हाथ आया

तलाशती है निगाहें मेरी तुम्हें इस शहर में
दहर में मुझे बस बियांबां ही  नज़र आया
[दहर = life; बियांबां = vacuum/emptiness]

 तंग-ए-दिल से कोई जीस्त गुरेज़ हुआ है आज
इस  हादसे से 'मुज़्तरिब' तू बहुत याद आया 
[तंग-ए-दिल =  troubled heart, जीस्त गुरेज़ = escape from life]
'मुज़्तरिब'

Thursday 20 May 2010

Xenophanes & Heraclitus

Xenophanes’ date is uncertain between c 570 - 475 BCE. He was from Colophon, a city in the region of Lydia, but lived most of his life in southern Italy. He lived in between the times of Pythagoras and Heraclitus. This is concurred as he alludes to Pythagoras and Heraclitus alludes to him.

Xenophanes philosophy shows a streak of skepticism. He satirized the polytheistic beliefs of the Greeks. He believed in one God and considered it as formless. He argued that if Horses and Cows could paint they would paint God as themselves just like Humans give a humanly form to god. The Ethiopian God is black and the Thracian god is blue eyed with red hairs. Xenophanes is often seen as one of the first monotheists, in the Western philosophy of religion.

His epistemology held that there exists a truth of reality, but that humans as mortals are unable to know it. Therefore, it is possible to act only on the basis of working hypotheses - we may act as if we knew the truth, as long as we know that this is extremely unlikely. This aspect of Xenophanes is the basis of Critical rationalism. Xenophanes can be considered the first amongst the rationalists.

Xenophanes ridiculed Pythagoras’ theory of transmigration. Xenophanes considered that all things are made up of earth and water.

Heraclitus flourished around 500 B.C. He was citizen of Ephesus in Ionia. Though an Ionian, he didn’t belong to the scientific schools of Miletus. From the solitary and melancholic life he led, and still more from the riddling nature of his philosophy and his contempt for humankind in general, he was called "The Obscure," and the "Weeping Philosopher." He was a mystic of different type. He regarded fire as the primordial substance. He is famous for his doctrine of flux and doctrine of strife.

Doctrine of Flux: The doctrine that everything is in the state of flux is most famous of Heraclitus.

This world, which is same for all, no one of gods or men has made; but it was ever, is now, and ever shall be an ever living fire, with measures kindling and measures going out. The transformed fire are , first of all, sea, and half of the sea is earth, half whirlwind.”

Such a world, Heraclitus believed, is always in a state of flux.

“You cannot step twice into the same river ; for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you.”

Doctrine of Strife: This doctrine is about mingling of opposites to create harmony. “Men do not know”, he says, “how what is at variance agrees with itself. It is and attunement of opposite tensions, like that of bow and lyre”. His belief in strife is connected with this theory, for in strife opposite combines to produce motion which is in harmony. There is unity in the world, but it is unity resulting from diversity. This doctrine contains the germ of Hegel’s Philosophy, which proceeds by synthesizing of opposites. The metaphysics of Heraclitus, like that of ‘Anaximander’ is dominated by a conception of cosmic justice, which prevents the strife of opposite from ever issuing in the complete victory of either.

Heraclitus’s ethics is a kind of proud asceticism, very similar to Nietzsche’s. He regards the soul as a mixture of fire and water, the fire being the noble and the water being ignoble. The soul that has most fire he calls “dry”. “The dry soul is the wisest and the best”. It is pleasure to soul to become moist. It is death to soul to become water.

Sunday 16 May 2010

shab-o-roz tumhari yaad aayi

शब्-ओ-रोज़ तुम्हारी  याद आयी
माह-ओ-साल तुम्हारी याद  आयी
[शब्-ओ-रोज़ = days and nights; माह-ओ-साल = months and years]

आब-ए-अब्र-ए-दैजूर में भींग कर
मुझे तुम्हारी नम आँखें याद आयी
[आब = water; अब्र = cloud; दैजूर = pitch dark; आब-ए-अब्र-ए-दैजूर =rains from dark cloud]

अटखेलती अल्हर दरिया के साहील पे
मुझे तुम्हारी पेच-ओ-ख़म बातें  याद आयी 
[दरिया = river; साहील = riverside; पेच-ओ-ख़म =  twist n turn]

नीम स्याह  रातों के साए में
मुझे तुम्हारी सर-ए-काकुल की याद आयी
[नीम स्याह = dark black; सर-ए-काकुल = curls of hair]

तिफ्ल-ए-शाद के कहकहे सुन
मुझे तुम्हारी मासूमियत  याद आयी
[तिफ्ल-ए-शाद = happy child; कहकहे = laughter]

नूर-ए-माह-ए-कामिल को देखा तो
मुझे तुम्हारी रुख-ए-रौशन  की याद आयी
[नूर = light; माह-ए-कामिल = full moon; रुख-ए-रौशन = bright face]

शम्स-ए-नीमरोज़ की ताब से
मुझे तुम्हारी सर्गारानियाँ याद आयी
[शम्स-ए-नीमरोज़ = midday sun; ताब = heat; सर्गारानियाँ = anger]

पहली बारिश की भीगी हवाओं में
मुझे तुम्हारी खद-ए-मुस्क्बार की याद आयी
[खद-ए-मुस्क्बार = body smelling like musk]

माना की है मजाज़ी ,पर 'मुज़्तरिब' को
जानेमन हर पल तुम्हारी बहुत याद आयी
[मजाज़ी = illusioned; ]
'मुज़्तरिब'