Gotra System..गोत्र क्या है

Why should only Sons carry the Gotra of their father, why can’t daughters? How does the Gotra of a daughter change just because she marries a person belonging to a different Gotra? What is the necessity of maintaining only the man’s ancestry, why not maintain that of women too? This was the question that was puzzling me about this Gotra system till recently, until I found out the scientific reasoning behind the Gotra system by chance while studying a puzzle in modern Genetics for which the biologists are trying to find an answer!



The Hindu Gotra System – Male Lineage Identification

The Gotra is a system which associates a person with his most ancient or root ancestor in an unbroken male lineage. For instance if a person says that he belongs to the Bharadwaja Gotra then it means that he traces back his male ancestry to the ancient Rishi (Saint or Seer) Bharadwaja. So Gotra refers to the Root Person in a person’s male lineage.
The Gotra system is practiced amongst most Hindus. See here for a List of Hindu Gotras practiced by different sections of the Hindu Society
Brahmins identify their male lineage by considering themselves to be the descendants of the 8 great Rishis ie Saptarshis (The Seven Sacred Saints) + Bharadwaja Rishi. So the list of root Brahmin Gotras is as follows
  • Angirasa
  • Atri
  • Gautam
  • Kashyapa
  • Bhrigu
  • Vasistha
  • Kutsa
  • Bharadwaja
These 8 Rishis are called Gotrakarin meaning roots of Gotras. All other Brahmin Gotras evolved from one of the above Gotras. What this means is that the descendants of these Rishis over time started their own Gotras. The total number of established Gotras today is 49. However each of them finally trace back to one of the root Gotrakarin Rishi.
The word Gotra is formed from the two Sanskrit words Gau (meaning Cow) and Trahi (meaning Shed).
Note that the English word Cow is a derived word of the Sanskrit word Gau with the same meaning Gau.
So Gotra means Cowshed, where in the context is that Gotra is like the Cowshed protecting a particular male lineage. Cows are extremely important sacred animals to Hindus and there were a large number of best breeds of Cows that ancient Hindus reared and worshipped, and hence the name Gotra referring to the system of maintaining individual male lineages seems more appropriate.

A Girl and a Boy belonging to the same Gotra cannot marry!

This is the most important and the only rule in the Gotra system is I may say so. Yes, a Bride and a Bridegroom belonging to the same Gotra are considered to be siblings and hence it is prohibited for them to marry even if they belong to distant families. The reason given was since they belonged to the same ancestor, it will be like a brother marrying a sister which is known to cause genetic disorders in their offspring.
As I can see now, probably the prevention of marriages within the same Gotra was the only reason for the Gotra system to be created.
But again I used to think, what a crap, how can a boy and a girl belonging to two different families who haven’t met for centuries be considered as siblings?
Only until I was able to correlate a puzzle in modern Genetics to the Gotra system.
And now to the Science behind the Gotra System, but before that let us just check out one more additional rule related to marriages in the Gotra System.

Pravaras and the Gotras

Pravara is a list of most excellent Rishis in a Gotra lineage. As we saw earlier, some of the descendants of the most ancient Gotras started their own Gotras, however they maintained a list of Pravaras while doing so and attached the list of their most excellent Ancestors with this derived Gotras.
For instance the Vatsa Gotra has BhargavaChyavanaJamadagnya , Apnavana as their Pravaras. What this means is that Vatsa Gotra has in its lineage all these Gotras and traces back its root to Bhrigu Rishi in the list of Gotrakarins.
The idea behind this Pravara system is probably to ensure that the derived Gotras still maintain track of their root Gotras, and this in turn is used to ensure that Bride and Bridegroom from no two derived Gotras coming from the same root Gotra marry each other. Every Gotra which is a derived Gotra maintains a list of Pravaras attached to it.
This is because, the essence of the Gotra system is finally to prevent marriages within the same Gotra. Now consider two derived Gotras which came from the same Gotra, then it might happen that over time people might forget that both these Gotras came from the same root Gotra, and may allow marriages within these Gotras since their names are different! To prevent this, the derived Gotras maintained a list of Pravaras (which were the prominent junctions where the derived Gotras got created), and the additional rule in the Gotra system is that, even if the Bride and Bridegroom belong to different Gotras, they still cannot get married even if just one of their Gotra Pravara matches.
This makes sense as this prevents marriages between derived Gotras which belong to the same root Gotra. This reminds me of a similar logic in the modern Object Oriented Programming in Software Systems.
Derived Classes
Consider a Class B which is derived from Class A, and another Class C which is also derived from Class B. Now Consider another Class D which is derived from both Class B and Class C (multiple inheritance like in C++). If we look at the immediate ancestry of Class D, then it appears that Class B and Class Care the parents of Class D. But if you look at the ancestors of Class B and Class C, then they are the Children of Class A. Now if we replace the classes A, B and C with Gotras, then we can see that even if two Gotras B and C are different Gotras, if they share the same parent Gotra A (enlisted in the form of Pravaras), then they will become siblings, and hence the marriage between two different Gotras sharing the same Pravara is not allowed.
But again the question remained – what is the basis to prevent marriages within the same Gotras even after thousands of years later the roots separated? How can hundreds of generations later they can still be considered to be the children of same parents just because they belong to same Gotra (male lineage) or to different Gotras sharing the same Pravara (again the male lineage)?
Now to the Science behind the Gotra System, but before that let us refresh a bit of our knowledge about Genetics.
-Chromosomes and Genes
Humans have 23 pairs of Chromosomes and in each pair one Chromosome comes from the father and the other comes from the mother. So in all we have 46 Chromosomes in every cell, of which 23 come from the mother and 23 from the father.
Of these 23 pairs, there is one pair called the Sex Chromosomes which decide the gender of the person. During conception, if the resultant cell has XX sex chromosomes then the child will be a girl and if it is XY then the child will be a boy. X chromosome decides the female attributes of a person and Y Chromosome decides the male attributes of a person.
When the initial embryonic cell has XY chromosome, the female attributes get suppressed by the genes in the Y Chromosome and the embryo develops into a male child. Since only men have Y Chromosomes, son always gets his Y Chromosome from his father and the X Chromosome from his mother. On the other hand daughters always get their X Chromosomes, one each from both father and mother.
So the Y Chromosome is always preserved throughout a male lineage (Father – Son  -  Grandson etc) because a Son always gets it from his father, while the X Chromosome is not preserved in the female lineage (Mother, Daughter, Grand Daughter etc) because it comes from both father and mother.
A mother will pass either her mother’s X Chromosome to her Children or her father’s X Chromosome to her children or a combination of both because of both her X Chromosomes getting mixed (called as Crossover). On the other hand, a Son always gets his father’s Y Chromosome and that too almost intact without any changes because there is no corresponding another Y chromosome in his cells to do any mixing as his combination is XY, while that of females is XX which hence allows for mixing as both are X Chromosomes.

-Y Chromosome and Vedic Gotra System

By now you might have got a clue about the relation between Y Chromosome and the Hindu Vedic Gotra System 
Y Chromosome is the only Chromosome which gets passed down only between the men in a lineage. Women never get this Y Chromosome in their body. And hence Y Chromosome plays a crucial role in modern genetics in identifying the Genealogy ie male ancestry of a person. And the Gotra system was designed to track down the root Y Chromosome of a person quite easily. If a person belongs to Angirasa Gotra then it means that his Y Chromosome came all the way down over thousands of years of timespan from the Rishi Angirasa! And if a person belongs to a Gotra (say Bharadwaja) with Pravaras (Angirasa, Bhaarhaspatya, Bharadwaja), then it means that the person’s Y Chromosome came all the way down from Angirasa to Bhaarhaspatya to Bharadwaja to the person.
This also makes it clear why females are said to belong to the Gotra of their husbands after marriage. That is because women do not carry Y Chromosome, and their Sons will carry the Y Chromosome of the Father and hence the Gotra of a woman is said to be that of her husband after marriage. Pretty neat isn’t it?
All iz well so far, we now know the science behind the Gotra System. The ancient vedic Rishis hence very well knew the existence of the Y Chromosome and the paternal genetic material that was passed almost intact from father to Son, and hence created the Gotra system to identify their male lineages.Lord Buddha for instance belonged to Gautama Gotra which means that Buddha was a direct descendant of Rishi Gautama.
But then what is the reason to prevent marriages between individuals belonging to the same Gotra? 
Before that lets let's understand a bit more about the Y Chromosome.

Weakness of Y Chromosome

The Y Chromosome is the only Chromosome which does not have a similar pair in the human body. The pair of the Y Chromosome in humans is X Chromosome which is significantly different from Y Chromosome. Even the size of the Y Chromosome is just about one third the size of the X Chromosome. In other words throughout evolution the size of the Y Chromosome has been decreasing and it has lost most of its genes and has been reduced to its current size. Scientists are debating whether Y Chromosome will be able to survive for more than a few million years into the future or whether it will gradually vanish, and if it does so whether it will cause males to become extinct! Obviously because Y Chromosome is the one which makes a person male or a man. And if it becomes extinct, Biologists are not sure whether any other Chromosome in our body will be able to completely take over its functionality or not.
And the reason for all this is that unlike other Chromosomes, there is no way for Y Chromosome to repair itself by doing cross over with its Chromosomal pair. All other Chromosomes come in similar pairs and when there the DNA of one Chromosome gets damaged the cell can repair it by copying over the DNA from the other Chromosome in that pair as both the Chromosomes in all other pairs are almost identical in nature. This copying (or crossing over as it is called) also allows different combinations of mix and matches to happen between the genes of mother and father and allows the best of the matches to survive and hence make the Chromosomes stronger as they evolve in successive generations. Even X Chromosomes in female undergo this mix and match since there are two X Chromosomes in women.
However Y Chromosomes do not have any corresponding equivalent Chromosome in its pair. It can exist only in a XY Combination and X cannot mix and match with Y except for a small 5% of X which matches with Y, while the remaining 95% of Y Chromosome which is crucial in the development of a male have absolutely no match at all!. It is this 95% of the Y Chromosome which is completely responsible in humans for creating a male or a man.
But at the same time, Y Chromosome has to depend on itself to repair any of its injuries and for that it has created duplicate copies of its genes within itself. However this does not stop DNA damages in Y Chromosome which escape its local repair process from being propagated into the offspring males. This causes Y Chromosomes to accumulate more and more defects over a prolonged period of evolution and scientists believe that this is what is causing the Y Chromosome to keep losing its weight continuously.
As discussed earlier other Chromosomes do not face this issue because they have corresponding pairs from both the parents and the DNA damage could be easily corrected most of the time by the mix and match process that takes place between the two Chromosomes in a pair. This Chromosomal crossover process eliminates damaged genes and is one of the key processes in evolution of life.
So to summarize, Y Chromosome which is crucial for the creation and evolution of males has a fundamental weakness which is denying it participation in the normal process of evolution via Chromosomal mix and match to create better versions in every successive generation, and this weakness MAY lead to the extinction of Y Chromosome altogether over the next few million years, and if that happens scientists are not sure whether that would cause males to become extinct or not. And that is because Scientists are not sure whether any other Chromosome in the 23 pairs will be able to take over the role of the Y Chromosome or not. Is there is an specific end date for Y Chromosome sometime in the future?
On the other hand, it is not necessary that humanity will not be able to survive if males become extinct. Note that females do not need the Y Chromosome, and since all females have X Chromosomes, it would be still possible to create a mechanism where X Chromosomes from different females are used to create offspring, say like injecting the nuclei from the egg of one female into the egg of another female to fertilize it and that would grow into a girl child. So yes, that would be a humanity where only females exist.
Now I understand why Hinduism and its Vedic core regard Mother Goddess or female divinity to be more powerful than all male divinity put together 

Gotra System – Attempt to protect  Y Chromosome from becoming extinct ?

The Vedic Rishis had observed the degeneration of the Y Chromosome and they wanted to maintain as many individual healthy unique Y Chromosome lineages as possible. That would give a fair chance for males to continue to exist because Y Chromosomes get passed on over generations with almost negligible change in their genetic combinations, as they do not take part in mix and match with other Chromosome.
So if the Rishis could devise a mechanism where in a given Y Chromosome had very little chance of adding more genetic defects in it, then they could probably succeed in either slowing down further degeneration of the Y Chromosome or even probably completely stop any further degeneration of the Y Chromosome.
And the only way to stop that was to ensure that the 5% of the Y Chromosome which can be mixed and crossed over with its X counterpart be protected so that the remaining 95% which does not take part in the mix and match process (which self heals by having duplicate copies of its genes) stays healthy.
Now we know even in modern Genetics that marriages between cousins will increase the risk of causing genetic disorders. That is because, say suppose there is a recessive dangerous gene in one person. What this means is that say a person is carrying a dangerous abnormality causing gene in one of his chromosome, but whose effect has been hidden in that person (or is not being expressed) because the corresponding gene in the pairing Chromosome is stronger and hence is preventing this abnormality causing gene from activating.
Now there are fair chances that his offsprings will be carriers of these genes throughout successive generations. As long as they keep marrying outside his genetic imprint, there is a fair chance that the defective gene will remain inactive since others outside this person’s lineage most probably do not have that defective gene. Now if after 5-10 generations down the line say one of his descendants marries some other descendant who may be really far away cousins. But then there is a possibility that both of them are still carrying the defective gene, and in that case their children will definitely have the defective gene express itself and cause the genetic abnormality in them as both the Chromosomes in the pair have the defective genes. Hence, the marriages between cousins always have a chance of causing an otherwise recessive, defective genes to express themselves resulting in children with genetic abnormalities.
So if the Vedic Rishis had allowed marriages within the same Gotras, then there were chances that the resulting male can be a victim of such defective gene expression, and any such gene expressions which took place in the 5% exposed area of the Y Chromosome would be fatal for the continuity of that Y Chromosome. Even after hundreds of generations there would still be chances of any defective genes being propagated within these successive generations, and marriage within the same Gotra would provide a golden opportunity for these genes to express themselves, there by causing the genetic abnormality in the offspring.
And hence the ancient Vedic Rishis created the Gotra system where they barred marriage between a boy and a girl belonging to the same Gotra no matter how deep the lineage tree was, in a bid to prevent inbreeding and completely eliminate all recessive defective genes from the human DNA.

Why only the selected list of Rishis as root Gotras? Why not somebody else?

When we look at the list of the Gotrakarni Rishis (ie the root Gotras), you may note that almost all of these Rishis are also Prajapatis – Prajapatis are those who were the immediate descendants of Brahma (the Creator God) – who then went on to create their own progeny or lineage.
So having the Gotra system start from the very beginning of human lineage looks more apt and logical as this is where the chromosomes and genes are still pure and free of any possible genetic defects. Hence the Prajapatis were selected as the root of the Gotra System.
Note that genetic defects or disorders or bad genes get eventually picked up over time during evolution due to genetic mutations.






GOD


The trinity of Vedic Gods

G enerator – Brahma 
O bserver – Vishnu 
D estroyer – Shiva




Rigveda answers about speed of light.


तरणिर्विश्वदर्शतो जयोतिष्क्र्दसि सूर्य |
विश्वमा भासिरोचनम |
taraNir vishvadarshato jyotishkrdasi surya |
vishvamaa bhaasirochanam ||
which means
“Swift and all beautiful art thou, O Surya (Surya=Sun), maker of the light,
Illuming all the radiant realm.”
Above is fourth verse of the Rigvedic hymn 1:50 (50th hymn in book 1 of rigveda) 
Commenting on this verse in his Rigvedic commentary, Sayana who was a minister in the court of Bukka of the great Vijayanagar Empire of Karnataka in South India (in early 14th century) says:
tatha ca smaryate yojananam. sahasre dve dve sate dve ca yojane
ekena nimishardhena kramaman.
which means “It is remembered here that Sun (light) traverses 2,202 yojanas in half a nimisha”
NOTE: Nimisharda= half of a nimisha
In the vedas Yojana is a unit of distance and Nimisha is a unit of time.
Mathematical calculations of a research done by (S S De and P V Vartak on the speed of light) calculated using the Rigvedic hymns and commentaries on them. they say:

Imagine that archaeologists, digging a thousand year old virgin site in Antarctica, come across an inscription deep underground that shows the sun, and next to it the numbers 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light. What would the world do? More likely than not, this find will not be accepted by scholars. A fraud, they would say, committed for cheap fame. The reputation of the archaeologists will be ruined. If they didn't hold tenure, they will lose their jobs.
Only lunatics will support them, claiming that this proves that aliens have visited the earth from time to time. The high priests of the academy will say that even if the find was genuine it proves nothing; at best it is a coincidence.
But what an astonishing coincidence! Just the right number out of an infinite different numbers!
The speed of light was first determined in 1675 by Roemer who looked at the difference in the times that light from Io, one of the moons ofJupiter, takes to reach earth based on whether it is on the near side of Jupiter or the far side. Until then light was taken to travel with infinite velocity. Even Newton assumed so.
But why are we talking about the absurd scenario of the archaeologists in Antarctica? Because, we are confronted with a situation that is quite similar!
I am an archaeologist of texts. I read old texts from the point of view of history of science. One such book is the celebrated commentary on the Rigveda by Sayana (c. 1315-1387), a minister in the court of King Bukka I of the Vijayanagar Empire in South India.
In a hymn addressed to the sun, he says that it is "remembered that the sun traverses 2,202 yojanas in half a nimesha.''
This statement could either relate to the speed of the sun or to that of light. The units are well known. For example, the Indian epic "Mahabharata", conservatively dated to 400 BC - 400 AD, defines 1 nimesha to be equal to 16/75.3 seconds; 1 yojana is about 9 miles. Substituting in Sayana's statement we get 186,536 miles per second.
Unbelievable, you'd say! It cannot be the speed of light. Maybe it refers to the speed of the sun in its supposed orbit around the earth. But that places the orbit of the sun at a distance of over 2,550 million miles. The correct value is only 93 million miles and until the time of Roemer the distance to the sun used to be taken to be less than 4 million miles. This interpretation takes us nowhere.
What about the possibility of fraud? Sayana's statement was printed in1890 in the famous edition of Rigveda edited by Max Muller, the German Sanskritist. He claimed to have used several three or four hundred year old manuscripts of Sayana's commentary, written much before the time of Roemer.
Is it possible that Muller was duped by an Indian correspondent who slipped in the line about the speed? Unlikely, because Sayana's commentary is so well known that an interpolation would have been long discovered. And soon after Muller's "Rigveda'' was published, someone would have claimed that it contained this particular "secret'' knowledge. The fact that the speed in the text corresponds to the speed of light was pointed out only recently by S.S. De and P.V. Vartak. Also a copy of Sayana's manuscript, dated 1395 AD, is available.
Further support for the genuineness of the figure in the ancient book comes from another old book, the Vayu Purana. This is one of the earliest Puranas, considered to be at least 1,500 years old. (The same reference is to be found in the other Puranas as well.)
In Chapter 50 of this book, there is the statement that the sun moves 3.15 million yojanas in 48 minutes. This corresponds to about 10,000 miles per second if considered as speed of light, and 135 million miles for the distance to the sun, if considered as the speed of the sun. Sayana's speed of light is exactly 18 times greater than this speed of the sun! Mere numerology?
We must also not forget that the Puranas speak of the creation and destruction of the universe in cycles of 8.64 billion years, that is quite close to currently accepted value regarding the time of the big bang.
For the rationalists these numbers are a coincidence. Given the significance of these numbers, they'd look very carefully at the old manuscripts of Sayana's commentary.
There are others who would say that consciousness, acting on itself can find universal knowledge. Look, they'd say, by examining biological cycles one can know the periods of the sun and the moon. So why shouldn't it be possible to know other universal truths?
They'd add that ancient texts speak - and this is true - of embryo transplants, multiple births from the same fetus, air and space travel, slowing or speeding of time, weapons that can destroy the entire world. They'd say that it is more than ancient science fiction, it shows that the human imagination can envision all that can happen.
This brings us back to the question of whether the figure of 186,000 miles per second in Sayana's book is a astonishing coincidence, an example of the powers of intuition, or a meaningless number.
What do you think?






Amazing Sanskrit...


‘yamātārājabhānasalagam’
Pronounced as yamaataaraajabhaanasalagam and written in sanskrit as यमाताराजभानसलगं
This is a word used extensively throughout the ancient Sanskrit grammar works. The greatness of this word lies in the fact that
  • This is the world’s oldest Combinatoric formula
  • This is the world’s oldest known de Bruijn Sequence
  • This is the world’s oldest known ‘Shift Register’
  • This is one of the world’s oldest known memory wheel or mnemonic (because there are many other such memory wheels in ancient vedas)
First, let us see what this Sanskrit word represents. It represents a binary sequence as follows:
Consider the word ‘Canada’. This can be split into Ca-na-da where all three syllables require the same amount of time to pronounce.
Now consider the word ‘America’. This can be split into A-me-ri-ca where A-ri-ca require the same amount of time to pronounce where as ‘me’ in America requires twice the amount of time as ‘A’ or ‘ri’ or ‘ca’ to pronounce.
So in Sanskrit grammar we have short syllables (called Laghu) and long syllables (called Guru). Examples of laghu above are Ca,Na,Da in Canada and A,ri,ca in America. Example of Guru is the long syllable Me in America.
Short syllables are denoted by 1 and long syllables by 0. So we can write the syllables of the above mentioned sanskrit word ‘yamātārājabhānasalagam’ as 1000101110
Now let us see how this is a Combinatoric. Combinatorics is all about combinations. An example is, given 9 unique symbols, in how many unique ways can we pick a group of 3 symbols from it?
A second category of problems is a more tougher version of the above problem, given 3 unique symbols in how many unique ways can we pick a group of 9 symbols from it, by allowing repeated pick of a given symbol?
‘yamātārājabhānasalagam’ as a combinatoric represents a solution to one such problem of the second type where we have two symbols 0 and 1 and we have to find out as to how many unique groups of three can we pick up from it by allowing repeated picks?
The simple answer to the problem here is just divide the given formula into groups of three by shifting one place at a time as follows:
1000101110 = 100,000,001,010,101,011,111,110
Now this represents all the 8 possible combinations for the above mentioned problem of arranging 0 and 1 into groups of three! In other words, this is the list of all possible triplets of a binary sequence!
A Shift Register too!
Since the solution is in the form of shifting one place at a time from the left, this is also the world’s first ‘shift register’! Note that shift registers are used extensively in modern computers to speed up calculations. Software programmers friends like Jasdev, Saugata etc. might be aware of left shifts and right shifts << and >>
Mnemonic
The main purpose of this word is to use it as a mnemonic or a memory wheel. That would make it easy for one to remember and quickly recall all possible combinations. There are hundreds of such words that are used in Sanskrit as mnemonics to help people memorize mathematical numbers and formulae. The authors of these mnemonics have been so creative that they have created sacred hymns, short stories etc which initially look like genuine hymns or short stories or sentences or proverbs or riddles etc, but when you decrypt them into numbers you end up with a hashing algorithm, or the value of PI to infinite decimal places, or with a logarithm etc, or with a formula etc…
The first memory wheel in modern history of mathematics appears only in 1882 where one such memory wheel was created by the French Mathematician Emile Baudot!! Can you imagine how advanced ancient Indian grammar and mathematics was!! Sometimes I feel we are actually living in a technologically inferior era compared to ancient Indians where today we are just reinventing the wheel !!
De Bruijn Sequence
These are special types of sequences first studied in modern history by de Bruijn and are defined as ‘Given a set S of words of length n, a de Bruijn sequence of span n is a periodic sequence such that every word in S (and no other n-tuple) occurs exactly once.’ In simple terms, de Bruijn sequences are nothing but the shift registers mentioned above!
Where is ‘yamātārājabhānasalagam’ used?
In Sanskrit grammar this is used to divide poetry into a collection of three syllables called Gaṇas. ‘Yamātārājabhānasalagam’ defines all the 8 possible Ganas as follows
  • ‘Ya’ Gana is 100
  • ‘Ma’ Gana is 000
  • ‘Ta’ Gana is 001
  • ‘Ra’ Gana is 010
  • ‘Ja’ Gana is 101
  • ‘Ba’ Gana is 011
  • ‘Na’ Gana is 111
  • ‘Sa’ Gana is 110
The gana combinations are then used to define the rules for writing poetry. It is rules like these that form the basis of the most mathematical and scientific human spoken language – Sanskrit, which is why it was termed to be the only human spoken language with the ability to become a software programming language because of its precision – the research was done by the Forbes Magazine of Germany.
Which is why I have always felt that this language was not born on earth, but instead is of an alien origin, the language spoken by aliens with advanced technology and science. Those aliens were probably Type II or Type III civilizations!! Note that ancient vedic texts call Sanskrit as ‘Deva Bhaasha’ which means ‘A language of Divine (alien?) origin’

yug, mahaayug, manavaantar and kalp..युग, महायुग, मनवान्तर तथा कल्प


कल्प का अर्थ

‘कल्प’ शब्द का प्रयोग ऋग्वेद  में पाया जाता है। जहाँ कहा गया है कि - ‘सृष्टिकर्ता ने सूर्य, चंद्र, दिन, पृथ्वी एवं अंतरिक्ष की, पहले की तरह, सृष्टि की।’ निश्चित तिथि वाला अत्यंत प्राचीन प्रमाण अशोक के अनुशासनों में पाया जाता है, यथा गिरनार एवं कालसी के चौथे लेख तथा शहबाजगढ़ी एवं मानसेहरा के पांचवे लेख से यह सिद्ध होता है कि कल्प के विशाल विस्तार के सिद्धांत  तीसरी शती ई. पू. के बहुत पहले से ज्ञात थे। 
बौद्धों ने भी कल्पों के सिद्धांत को अपनाया था, यह 'महापरिनिब्बानसुत' से स्पष्ट है- ‘हे भगवन्, कृपा करके कल्प में रहें । हे महाभाग, असंख्य लोगों के कल्याण एवं सुख के लिए कल्प भर रहें।’ ऐसी मान्यता है कि आदि काल में मानव-समाज आदर्श रूप से अति उत्कृष्ट था और क्रमश: नैतिक बातों, स्वास्थ्य, जीवन-विस्तार आदि में क्रमिक रूप से अपकर्श (decline) होता चला गया और सुदूर भविष्य में पुन: नैतिक बातों आदि का स्वर्ण युग अवतरित होगा।

सृष्टिक्रम और विकास की गणना के लिए कल्प हिन्दुओं का एक परम प्रसिद्ध मापदंड है। जैसे मानव की साधारण आयु सौ वर्ष है, वैसे ही  सृष्टिकर्ता ब्रह्मा की भी आयु सौ वर्ष मानी गई है, परंतु दोनों गणनाओं में बड़ा अन्तर है। ब्रह्मा का एक दिन 'कल्प' कहलाता है, उसके बाद प्रलय होता है। प्रलय ब्रह्मा की एक रात है जिसके पश्चात्‌ फिर नई सृष्टि होती है।

महायुग
प्रत्येक मनवनतरा 27 महायुग का बना है। हम इस मनवान्तर 27सवें महायुग में हैं। 

वेद का कहना है। एक महायुग 4 युगों का एक संग्रह है। महा विशाल या बड़ा मतलब है।
4 युगों सत्य युग, त्रेता युग, द्वापर युग, कलयुग हैं। हम हमारे वर्तमान महायुग के कलियुग में हैं।

युग  
सत्य युग एक महायुग के 40% समय के लिए रहता है - इस समय मनुष्य परमात्मा के चरणों में रहता है। जहां मानव का भौतिक अस्तित्व का इतना मतलब है की "जरूरत है" और वह परमेश्वर के साथ सीधे संपर्क में हैं

त्रेता युग महायुग के 30% के लिए रहता है - यहां बुरे कर्मों के दिखने की शुरूआत होती है, परन्तु अभी भी वहाँ सत्य की बहुतायत होती है, वास्तव में इस उम्र के 3/4 भाग अभी भी अच्छाई है।

द्वापर युग अपने युग के तीसरे चरण मे आता है, तथा पूरे महायुग के 20 प्रतिशत इसका दूसरा मतलब है, जहां अच्छे और बुरे कर्म लगभग बराबर राशि के होते हैं 

कलयुग या काली युग (यहां काली का मतलब काली देवी नही काली रात से है) एक महायुग के 10% का समय अथवा 25% अच्छाई का युग होता है। सही भी है, आज के समय को देखते हुए सच भी है।

मनवान्तर
चार महायुगों का सम्मिलन एक मनवान्तर होता है और ऐसे 27 मनवान्तर का एक कल्प कहा जाता है। और ऐसे एक कल्प का ब्रह्मा का एक दिन और दूसरे कल्प की रात होती है।  

इतना ही ब्रह्मा का जीवन है, इसके पश्चात नये ब्रह्मा का सर्जन होगा, तथा रामचरितमानस मे कहा गया है कि अगले ब्रह्मा हनुमान होंगे। 



युगों की अवधि इस प्रकार है -
सत्युग 17,28,000 वर्ष
त्रेता 12,96,000 वर्ष
द्वापर 8,64,000 वर्ष 
और कलियुग 4,32,000 वर्ष। 

वेदों मे कहा गया है कि प्रत्येक महायुग कि समाप्ति तथा दूसरे महायुग के प्रारम्भ होने के बीच भी एक युग होता है जिसमें सब शून्य होता है।  

गिनियस बुक आफ़ वर्ल्ड रिकार्ड्स ने कल्प को समय का सर्वाधिक लम्बा मापन घोषित किया है।


Significance of Tulsi (तुलसी) (Basil)


Most of the times science contradicts religious beliefs but it is not the case when it comes to tulsi, a holy plant with great therapeutic powers. No other plant on the planet earth commands that reverence. This plant has put in high esteem in Hindu mythology as it is considered as Goddess Lakshmi a concert of lord Vishnu. The plant is one of the prime ingredients of most of the ceremonies performed by Hindus. In addition, it offers excellent remedies to a number of diseases. Owing to its various medicinal uses, this plant is called queen of the herbs. 

When it comes to the geographical distribution, the plant is commonly found in tropical and warmer regions. India, being home of this plant has developed a number of medicines from this plant to treat a wide array of diseases.  There are many medical significance of Tulsi. Even regular intake of tulsi tea is enough to keep one fit. The plant is a very good for the treatment of sore throat. It also offers relief from various respiratory elements like asthma and bronchitis. It also offers relief from cough and cold and mild fever. It has also been found effective in the treatment of malaria. 
"Modern scientific research offers impressive evidence that Tulsi reduces stress, enhances stamina, relieves inflammation, lowers cholesterol, eliminates toxins, protects against radiation, prevents gastric ulcers, lowers fevers, improves digestion and provide rich supply of antioxidants and other nutrients. Tulsi is especially effective in supportive the heart, blood vessels, liver and lungs and also regulates blood pressure and blood sugar."
Srimati Tulasi devi is one of the most exalted devotees of the Sri Krishna. All scriptures stress on the importance of getting the mercy of Tulasi devi if one has to make progress in the path of devotion. In the Skanda Purana it is said: ‘Tulasi is auspicious in all respects. Simply by seeing, simply by touching, simply by remembering, simply by praying to, simply by bowing before, simply by hearing about or simply by sowing this tree, there is always auspiciousness. Anyone who comes in touch with the Tulasi tree in the above-mentioned ways lives eternally in the Vaikuntha world."

Spiritual aspects 

Above this material world is the eternal spiritual world comprised of millions of Vaikuntha planets. The topmost planet in Vaikuntha is Goloka which is presided by Sri Krishna in His original form. Here resides Vrinda devi, an intimate associate of and an expansion of Srimati Radharani. Her partial expansion is Tulasi devi in the Vaikuntha planets and they are all considered non-different from her.


As the embodiment of the lila-sakti (pastime potency), Vrinda devi is the organizer of all the transcendental pastimes between Sri Krishna and Srimati Radharani. In Goloka every thing is animate (cit) and only for the pleasure of Sri Krishna. Vrinda devi makes this happen. She is assisted by many confidential associates (which include two parrots) and with their help she makes sure that every thing is pleasing to Sri Krishna. She controls how the wind blows, when and where it rains, how the trees bend, and so many other things for the pleasure of the Divine Couple.

The scriptures are full of pastimes that reveal the potency of Tulasi in developing devotion for the Lord.
The Srimad Bhagavatam talks about this pastime with the four Kumaras, the sons of Lord Brahma who were very much attached to the impersonal aspect of Godhead.

‘When the breeze carrying the aroma of tulasi leaves and saffron from the lotus feet of the lotus-eyed Personality of Godhead entered through the nostrils into the hearts of those sages [the Kumaras], they experienced a change in both body and mind, even though they were attached to the impersonal Brahman understanding.'

Thus by simply smelling the fragrance of the Tulasi leaves the four Kumaras became pure devotees of the Lord.

In Caitanya lila Srila Advaita Acarya was very much disturbed to see the growth of irreligiosity. Therefore He decided to call for the Personality of Godhead Krishna to descend by worshiping the Lord with tulasi leaves and the water of the Ganges. When Sri Krishna was please by this devotion He descended as Caitanya Mahaprabhu.




Importance and meaning of Saligram (सलिग्राम)


One can have a glimpse of a black stone called Saligramam (सलिग्राम) being worshipped in side  Vaishnavite's (वैष्नव) Pooja room. It's usually black in color with the symbol of sudarshana chakra सुदर्शन चक्र) . The chakras can be seen both outside and inside. The Saligram stone is not just an another stone found in the nature. It is found only at Gandaki River  (गन्दकि नदी)  situated high in the Himalayas in Nepal. It is believed that the chakra symbols are formed by river worms called Vajra Keeta. It is believed that these worms drill the stones, get inside and use the stones a dwelling place. 




There is a katha behind the origin of Saligramam. Once upon a time, Lord Siva was in a war with an asura called Jallundhara. The war seemed to be between two equals and not just another war of a God with a demon. It was in fact a test of chastity (
सतित्व) of their consorts. (It is a Hindu belief that chastity of the wife protects her husband even from death as Savitri brought back the life of her husband from the lord of death - Yumraj) Lord Siva knew that unless the chastity of Vrinda, Jallundhara's wife is spoiled, he cannot be killed as he will be protected by the power of her chastity. But it was against the nature of Gods to indulge in a heinous act like spoiling a woman's chastity. 

But there was no such taboo for the demon Jallundhara. He thought that by spoiling the chastity of Goddess Parvati he could defeat Lord Siva. But Goddess Parvati could see through Jallundhara's trick and ended his appearance.  She signaled Lord Krishna (Avatara of Lord Vishnu) that it was now just to spoil the chastity of Jallundhara's wife and it will not be a sin. Lord Krishna approached Vrinda in the guise of Jallundhana. She could not understand that it is not her husband and lost her chastity. 

Later when she came to know about this, she cursed Lord Vishnu to turn into grass, stone, tree and plant. It is believed that Kusha-grass, Saligram-stone, Pipal-tree and Tulsi-plant are incarnations of Lord Vishnu and worshipped henceforth. 

Padma purana (
पद्म पुराण) states that resident of a salagram is Lord Kesava himself and along with him reside all the devatas, asuaras, yakshas and the Universe. Hence, giving a salagrama, is the best form of charity. It also states that Lord Siva himself stays in the salagrama shila and thus worshipping it is important for both Vaishnav Sampradaya and Shiv Sampradaya. Even if a salagram is cracked, split, or broken it will have no harmful effect if it is worshiped with attention and love. It is said in Gautamiya Tantra  that merely by touching a shalagram one becomes freed from the sins of millions of births. In Skand puraan (स्कन्द पुराण), it is said that that any person who has seen salagram stone, paid obeisances to it, bathed and worship it, has achieved the results of performing ten million sacrifices and giving ten million cows in charity. According to Garud Puraan (गरुड़ पुराण), The Lord resides in many places in which he may be worshipped, but of all the places Salagram is the best.

Can we also name GOD, the Ultimate Power..... !!!!!




When we name the most negligible of things, we cause its existence to be deformed. We give a name, the boundary is formed and the existence changes for the lesser. The actual fact is, that we shall never be able to name the Ultimate Power (God). The reason is simply this, that: nowhere do our eyes perceive Him; nowhere do our hands touch Him; nor do the ears ever hear Him – nowhere is a meeting possible with Him. And yet those who have known say, ”Our eyes see Him alone, everywhere. Our ears hear His voice alone; whatever we touch, it is He we touch and whomever we meet, it is Him!” But these are people who know. 

Those who do not, see Him nowhere. Then how will they name Him? And how can those also, who know, who see and hear Him everywhere name Him? For only that can be named which is at one place. One person we call a Christian for he is found in the Church and not in Mandir (temple). But if this man is encountered again in a temple, then again in a Gurdwara and again in a Masjid; if he is found with a sandal-wood mark on his forehead performing Kirtan one day and found offering prayers in the Gurudwara the next day, it will be difficult to call him a Sikh. Then it becomes very difficult for you for wherever you go, you find the same man. It is now impossible to name him a Sikh. Those who know not, cannot name Him for they know not whom to name. And those who know, also cannot name Him, for they know all names are His. Everywhere, it is He and He and He!


Words and names, are all the creation of the mind. It is the mind that conceives and forms and Mind is ignorance. The mind knows nothing. But it creates even that which it does not know. Then we get a feeling of satisfaction that now we know. If I were to tell you that you know nothing about God, you will be terribly disturbed. But if I were to say, ”Why, you know everything about God?

The mantra ’Ram-Ram’ you repeat, that alone is His Name.” Then you will feel relieved. If I were to say, ”He has no name and remember, the name you have been repeating, has nothing to do with him,” then the mind falls into a turmoil, in a vacuum, in an emptiness! It finds no support to stand, to hold on. And the mind will quickly try and find a support. Once this is found, there is no need to seek further. The mind provides substitutes for Truth and makes full arrangements. It says, ”This is Truth. It will serve your purpose.” Those who stop at the mind, stop on the paths that are made by man.


adwait.... अद्वैत


एक समय की बात है, एक युवक हरिद्वार गया, वो एक आश्रम मे रुका, वहां के सन्यासी से वो पूछता था कि ईश्वर कैसे मिलेंगे, वो सन्यासी बहुत कम बोलते थे। उनके शब्द भी एक ही तरह के होते थे। युवक कुछ दिन रुका और एक रात उसने सोच लिया कि यहां कुछ नही मिलने वाला, कल सुबह मैं किसी दूसरे आश्रम मे चला जाउंगा, पर उस रात ऐसी घटना घटी कि वो युवक ताउम्र वहीं का हो गया।


उस रात एक और सन्यासी उस आश्रम मे आये, उन्होने करीब 2 घन्टे प्रवचन दिये, सारे लोग मन्त्रमुग्ध हो कर सुनते रहे। वो युवक भी उस सन्यासी से काफ़ी प्रभावित हुआ कयोंकि उन्होने पुरान, उपनिशद इत्यादि का सुक्ष्म विश्लेशण किया था। प्रवचन के बाद उन सन्यासी ने आश्रम के सन्यासी से पूंछा कि कैसे रहे प्रवचन। तो वो बुज़ुर्ग सन्यासी बोले "कि मैं 2 घन्टे तुम्हे देखता रहा, तुम तो कुछ बोले हि नही।" वो सन्यासी बड़ा हैरान हुआ, उसने कहा कि आप कैसी बात करते हैं, आपने सुना नही। सन्यासी बोले "मैने कुछ गीता सुनी, कुछ उपनिशद सुने, पर वो तो लिखी लिखाई बातें हैं, ये तो तुमने रट लिया और उगल दिया।  


पोथी पढ पढ जग मुआ, पन्डित भया ना कोए, ढाई आखर प्रेम का पढे सो पन्डित होए।


हमें जन्म लेते ही समझा दिया जाता है कि तुम हिन्ंदू, तुम सिख, तुम जैन। बचपन से पुराण, उपनिशद, गुरुग्रंथ इत्यादि बताये जाते हैं, और हम वही हो जाते हैं। पर किसी के द्वारा होने और खुद खोजने मे बहुत बढ़ा अंतर है। बुध, महावीर, कृष्ण, नानक आदि ने खुद पाया, किसी रटी रटाई बात को लकीर समझ कर उसका अनुकरण नही किया। गुरु नानक जी ने एक ओमकार सतनाम को समझा ना कि पोथियां रटीं। बुध ने बोधि व्रक्ष के नीचे बैठ कर आत्म चिंतन किया और पाया। 


कोई पंडित कभी प्रभू के द्वार पर नही पहुंचा, और जब वह खुद नही पहुंचा तो दूसरों को उस तक पहुंचाने का रास्ता कैसे दिखा सकता है। ये तो वही बात हुई कि खुद चौराहे पर खढा है और रास्ता गूगल अर्थ से खोज रहा है, और आने जाने वालों को विश्वास के साथ वहां का रास्ता बता रहा है.......



शेष बाद में........ 

अंतर्दृष्टि वास्तविक जीवन की शुरुआत है। अंतर्दृष्टि शुरू कैसे हो ?




ऐसे प्रारंभ करें। सड़क पर चलें, गवाह बनें। देखो शरीर चल रहा है..... और तुम अंतरतम के कोर से, बस देख रहे हो, साक्षी बनो, अचानक तुम पाओगे कि आजादी की भावना है। अचानक आप देखेंगे कि शरीर चल रहा है, आप नहीं चल रहे हैं।

कभी शरीर स्वस्थ है, कभी शरीर बीमार है। बस देखो, देखो और अचानक आपमें एक पूरी तरह से अलग गुणवत्ता की भावना होगी। आप शरीर नहीं हैं। बीमार शरीर है, ज़ाहिर है, लेकिन आप बीमार महसूस नहीं कर रहे हैं। शरीर स्वस्थ है, इसके लिये आपको कुछ नहीं करना है। आप केवल साक्षी, एक गवाह, दूर पहाड़ियों पर एक साक्षी की तरह।

ध्यान करने के लिए आपने खुद को शरीर से अलग रखना है। शाश्वत, जब आपका अपने शरीर का अवलोकन अधिक तीव्र हो जाये,  तब अपने मन के भीतर देखना शुरू करें। लेकिन शरीर का वो ध्यान जिसमें आप और आपका शरीर अलग है का मेजरमैंट करते रहिये, क्योंकि यह सकल (gross) है, और अधिक आसानी से देखा जा सकता है, इसके लिये ज्यादा जागरूकता की जरूरत नहीं होगी। एक बार जब आप अभ्यस्त हो जाते हैं, तो मन को देख शुरू करते हैं।

जो आप से अलग हो जाता है देखा जा सकता है। जो भी आप देख सकते हैं, आप यह नहीं कर रहे हैं। आप साक्षी चेतना हैं, आप गवाह (witness) हैं। , शरीर के भी और मन के भी, जब आप एक गवाह बन गये है। अचानक आप देखेंगे वहाँ कोई शरीर नहीं है और नकोई मन के साथ ।।। एक शुद्ध चेतना, बस सरल सरासर शुद्धता, मासूमियत, एक मिरर।

इस मासूमियत में, आपको पहली बार पता चलता है कि तुम कौन हो। इस शुद्धता में, पहली बार तुम अपने आस्तित्व को देखते हो, इसके पहले, तुम बस सो रहे थे, सपना देख रहे थे, अब आप कर रहे हैं वो जो जागर्त है। यही ध्यान की कड़ी जुड़नी शुरु होती है। इस क्रिया को धीरे धीरे बढायें।

What is Man...... "पुरुष"


In Sanskrit, for ‘man’ we have the word ‘purusha’. That word is tremendously beautiful. It is difficult to translate it because it has three meanings. It can be pronounced with three different emphases.

The word is purusha. It can be pronounced as pur u sha. Then it means ‘the dawn in the city… he who is filled with light’.

It can be pronounced as puru sha. Then it means ‘filled with wisdom and eternal happiness… a citizen of heaven’.

It can be pronounced as pu rusha. Then it means ‘whose passions are purified and who has become deathless’.

There are many possibilities within you, layer upon layer. The first layer is of the body. If you get identified with the body, you are getting identified with the temporal, the momentary. Then there is bound to be fear of death.

The body is a flux, like a river – continuously changing, moving. It has nothing of the eternal in it. Each moment the body is changing. In fact, the body is dying every moment. It is not that after seventy years suddenly one day you die. The body dies every day. Death continues for seventy years; it is a process.

Death is not an event; it is a long process. By and by, by and by, the body comes to a point where it cannot hold itself. It disintegrates. If you are identified with the body, of course the fear will be constantly there that death is approaching. You can live, but you can live only in fear. And what type of life is possible when one’s foundations are constantly shaking? and one is sitting on a volcano and death is possible any moment? And only one thing is certain – that death is coming – and everything else is uncertain. How can one live? How can one celebrate? How can one dance and sing and be? Impossible. The death won’t allow it. The death is too much and too close.

Then there is a second layer within you: that of the mind – which is even more temporal and more fleeting than the body. Mind is also continuously disintegrating. Mind is the inner part of the body and the body is the outer part of the mind. These are not two things. Mind and body is not a right expression. The right expression is mind-body. You are psychosomatic. Not that the body exists and the mind exists. The body is the gross mind, and the mind is the subtle body… aspects of the same coin – one outer, the second inner.

So there are people who are identified with the body. These are the materialists. They cannot live. Desperately they try, of course, but they cannot live. A materialist only pretends that he is living; he cannot live. His life cannot be very deep; it can only be superficial, shallow – because he is trying to live through the body which is continuously dying.He is living in a house which is on fire. He is trying to rest in a house which is on fire. How can you rest? How can you love?

The materialist can have only body, cannot love. Because body is temporal; love is something of the eternal. He can make hit-and-run contacts with people but he cannot relate. He is constantly running, because he is identified with the body. The body is never at rest; it is a continuous movement.