त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव। त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव।
twameve maata ch pita twameve | twameve bandhushch sakha twameve |
त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव। त्वमेव सर्वं मम देव देव॥
twameve vidya dravinam twameve | twameve sarvam mum dev dev ||From what you already know, this should be simple to translate and understand. “Eva” is difficult to translate. It only adds emphasis and the meaning varies marginally, depending on context. This is a prayer to the God of all gods. You are my mother. You are also my father. You are my “bandhu”. You are also my friend. You are knowledge. You are strength (or prosperity). You are everything. Notice that I have not translated “bandhu”. Whenever I ask people what “bandhu” means, they say that it means “friend”. It does mean friend in Sanskrit, as it does in many Indian languages. But “sakhaa” also means friend. If “bandhu” also means friend, then why am I saying “friend” twice? Words in Sanskrit have multiple meanings and when trying to understand something written in Sanskrit, one should be careful that one has got the right meaning. Don’t artificially apply a meaning you think is right, without checking it with a dictionary. The primary meaning of “bandhu” is not friend, but relative, as in blood-relative. That’s the sense in which one should interpret it here, not in the sense of “friend”. In the Bhagavad Gita, you won’t find Krishna and Arjuna addressing each other as “bandhu”. They aren’t blood-relatives. They address each other as “sakhaa”. What’s “baandhava”? Again, “friend” and “relative” are tempting translations that aren’t incorrect. However, “baandhava” is better translated as a relative with whom one doesn’t have a blood relationship, such as an in-law. Krishna and Arjuna are “baandhava”s. “Mitra” is also a friend. Time to confuse you.
मित्र: मित्रम पश्यति। मित्रम मित्रम पश्यति।
mitrah mitram pashyati | mitram mitram pashyati |
What’s the difference between these two sentences? The intention was to confuse you and I am certain I have succeeded. The word “mitra” means sun. It also means friend. When it means sun, it is masculine gender, mitrah. When it means friend, it is neuter gender, mitram. The first sentence means that the sun is looking at a friend or the sun is looking at another sun, assuming a second sun were to exist. The second sentence means that a friend is looking at the sun, or at another friend. Got it? There is a famous shloka that I am not going to burden you with now. It says that a “mitram” is someone you work with. A “sakhaa” is someone you share kinship of heart with, a true friend. A “bandhu” is someone from whom you cannot bear to be separated. A “suhrida” is someone who is always devoted to you. A “baandhava” is someone who accompanies you to the king’s palace and to the cremation-ground (when you are dead).
Kalidasa was a great Sanskrit poet and we will return to Kalidasa’s poetry later. One of his poems is titled “Raghuvamsha” and is about the lineage of Raghu, Rama’s ancestor. That is the reason Rama is also known as Raghava. Raghu’s son was Aja and his queen was Indumati. When Indumati died, Aja lamented and that lamentation is often cited. In the first part of this lamentation, Aja describes Indumati as grihini (housewife), sachivah (adviser), sakhi (feminine of sakhaa) and mitah (mitram).
Back to words and their meanings. I have given you an image and it is one that all of you will be able to identify. It is an image of the Bhagavad Gita and we have Krishna and Arjuna on the chariot. Can you detect anything wrong in this picture? Arjuna had several names and one of these was Savyasachi. When I ask people why Arjuna was called Savyasachi, they invariably say this was because he was ambidextrous. “Savya” actually means left and Arjuna was known as Savyasachi because he was left-handed. The Mahabharata doesn’t tell us that he was ambidextrous. That’s a deduced or derived meaning. Therefore, contrary to every depiction that you see of Arjuna, the bow should be held in the right hand and he should be taking the arrow out with the left. “Asavya” or “dakshina” means right. And “dakshina” also means south. In many societies and cultures, the left side is inauspicious. Take the word “sinister” for example. It means inauspicious. But it originally meant the left-side. Have you done a “pradakshina” of temples? Why do we do this clock-wise? Why not counter clock-wise? If you do it clock-wise, the deity will always be on your right. If you do it counter clock-wise, the deity will be on your left.
The word “vaam” means left and the word “vaamaa” means lady or wife. But do not take this to mean that a woman in inauspicious. Look at all the images of Shiva-Parvati that you can find. Or Lakshmi-Narayana. You will always find Parvati to Shiva’s left and Lakshmi to Narayana’s left. There is one exception though. Sometimes, there are depictions of Shiva and Parvati’s marriage. In those cases, you will find Parvati to Shiva’s right before the marriage and to Shiva’s left after the marriage. Therefore, by looking at the image, you will be able to determine whether the marriage has happened or not. Next time you have a picture taken, be careful, depending on whether it is a spouse or a girl friend/boy friend.
Sanskrit is rich in words and vocabulary. But there are some English words for which a satisfactory Sanskrit term is difficult to find. Take “boredom”. It is difficult to find a good Sanskrit term for boredom. You will find a word like “avinoda”, but that’s an approximation. It is not quite boredom. You will never be bored in Sanskrit.
By the end of this course, you should be able to read the Bhagavad Gita (BG) in Sanskrit on your own. You won’t be able to understand everything, because in addition to Sanskrit, you need to know some concepts. However, with a dictionary to help, you shouldn’t have any problems with the Sanskrit of BG. Try it out just now. Check out 1.31, 6.37, 11.32 and 13.28 and see it you can identify the verb and the subject. The first number refers to the chapter number and the second number to the shloka number. You won’t understand much else of the shlokas yet. But the fact that you understand some parts in Sanskrit should give you confidence.
त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव। त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव।
त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव। त्वमेव सर्वं मम देव देव॥
अगर आप हिंदी समझते हैं तो इस श्लोक को समझने में अधिक प्रयास नहीं करना पड़ेगा । "एव" का अर्थ बताना थोड़ा कठिन है । यह किसी बात पर अधिक जोर देने के लिए प्रयोग होता है । यह प्रार्थना उस सर्वशक्तिमान को है । तुम्ही माता हो, तुम्ही पिता भी हो । तुम्ही हो बधु और सखा भी तुम्ही हो । तुम्ही विद्या और तुम्ही मेरी समृद्धि हो । तुम ही सब कुछ हो । जब भी मैं किसी से "बंधू" का मतलब पूछता हूँ, वे कहते हैं, मित्र । संस्कृत में बंधू का मतलब मित्र भी होता है परन्तु अगर "बंधू" यहाँ पर मित्र है तो हम यहाँ दो बार मित्र क्यों कह रहे हैं ? संस्कृत मैं शब्दों के कई अर्थ होते हैं और संस्कृत पढ़ते समय हमें सही अर्थ जानने के लिए सचेत रहना चाहिए । अपने आप किसी शब्द का अर्थ वाक्य में ना लगा कर पहले शब्दकोष से सन्दर्भ लेना चाहिए । "बंधू" का प्राथमिक अर्थ "मित्र" नहीं अपितु संबधी(सगा संबधी) होता है और इसी अर्थ को इस श्लोक में भी लिया गया है । भगवद गीता में किसी भी भाग में कृष्ण और अर्जुन एक दुसरे को "बंधू" कह कर सम्बोधित नहीं करते क्योंकि वे सगे सम्बन्धी नहीं हैं । वे एक दुसरे को "सखा" सम्बोधित करते हैं ।
"बांधव" क्या होता है ? एक बार फिर ध्यान "मित्र" या "सम्बन्धी" की ओर जाता है, और यह गलत भी नहीं हैं परन्तु "बांधव" का सही अर्थ ऐसा सम्बन्धी होता है जो खून से न जुड़ा हो । जैसे समधी, वधू । कृष्ण और अर्जुन "बांधव" हैं । अब एक भ्रमित करने वाला वाक्य ।
मित्र: मित्रम पश्यति। मित्रम मित्रम पश्यति।
कालिदास एक महान कवि थे । "रघुवंश" उनकी रचनाओं में से एक है और रघु की वंशावली के बारे में है जो की श्री राम के पूर्वज थे । यही कारण है की श्री राम को राघव भी कहते हैं । रघु के पुत्र थे अज और उनकी रानी का नाम था इंदुमती । जब इंदुमती की मृत्यु हुई तो विलाप करते हुए अज ने इंदुमती को गृहणी, सचिव, सखी और मितः वर्णित किया ।
अब शब्दार्थ देखते हैं । जो छवि आप देख रहे हैं उसे पहचानना कठिन नहीं । यह भगवद गीता है तथा कृष्ण और अर्जुन रथ पर हैं । क्या आप इस छवि के कुछ गड़बड़ देख सकते हैं? अर्जुन के बहुत से नाम थे, "सव्यसाची" उनमे से एक था । जब मैं किसी से पूछता हूँ की अर्जुन को सव्यसाची क्यों कहते हैं तो हमेशा ही यह उत्तर मिलता है की अर्जुन "उभयहस्त" थे, यानि वे दो ही हाथो से, समान दक्षता से धनुष चला सकते थे । "सव्य" का अर्थ होता है बांया और अर्जुन "सव्यसाची" थे क्योंकि वह बाए हाथ से धनुष चलाते थे । महाभारत यह कहीं नहीं दर्शाती की अर्जुन उभयहस्त थे । यह एक मनगढंत अर्थ है । इसलिए अर्जुन के किसी भी चित्रण के विपरीत अर्जुन का धनुष दांये हाँथ में होना चाहिए और तीर बांये हाँथ में । "असव्य" या "दक्षिण" का अर्थ दांया होता है और "दक्षिण" दिशा भी होती है । बहुत सी संस्कृतियों में बांये को अशुभ माना जाता है । अंग्रेजी शब्द "सिनिस्टर" का अर्थ होता है अशुभ परन्तु मूल रूप से इसका अर्थ "बांया" होता है । क्या आपने मंदिर में प्रदक्षिणा करी है ? हम प्रदक्षिणा हमेश बांयी ओर से क्यों करते हैं? दांयी ओर से क्यों नहीं? जब हम बांयी ओर से प्रदक्षिणा देते हैं तो पूज्य हमारे दांयी ओर होते हैं और अगर हम इसे दांयी ओर से प्रदक्षिणा दें तो पूज्य हमारे बांयी ओर होंगे ।
संस्कृत, शब्द और शब्दावली समृद्ध है परन्तु अंग्रेजी के कुछ शब्दों के लिए संस्कृत अनुवाद मिलना कठिन होता है । जैसे "boredome" । संस्कृत में इस शब्द का पर्यायवाची मिलना कठिन है । "अविनोद" पर्यायवाची तो नहीं परन्तु सन्निकट है । आप संस्कृत में कभी "bore" नहीं हो सकते।
Credit: Shri Bibek Debroy
Content is provided as is without any alteration but with translation in hindi and with minor additions wherever needed.
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