Post No. 11,715
Date uploaded in London – – 26 JANUARY 2023
Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com
Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.
this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.
tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com
https://www.pustaka.co.in/home/author/london-swaminathan
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Hindus’ greatest treasures are in the Four Vedas, Ten Main Upanishads, Two Great Epics and 18 Puranas. They run in to millions of pages and billions of words with commentaries. It is not easy to dive deep into the ocean of Sanskrit books and recover pearls, corals and amber. So, I will just give some gems from one of the two epics known as Valmiki Ramayana. It has got seven sections called Bala, Ayodhya, Aranya, Kishkinda, Sundara , Yudhdha and Uttara Kandas.
Just a word about pronunciation_
Valmiki – Vaalmiiki; Bala Kanda- Baala Kaanda
Let us delve deep into the first section called Baala Kaanda:
Ascetic Valmiki asked Narada (Naarada) the following questions?
कोन्वस्मिन्साम्प्रतं लोके गुणवान्कश्च वीर्यवान् ।
धर्मज्ञश्च कृतज्ञश्च सत्यवाक्यो दृढव्रत:।।1.1.2।।
“Who in this world lives today endowed with excellent qualities, prowess, righteousness, gratitude, truthfulness and firmness in his vows?
चारित्रेण च को युक्तस्सर्वभूतेषु को हित: ।
विद्वान्क: कस्समर्थश्च कश्चैकप्रियदर्शन: ।।1.1.3।।
Who is that one gifted with good conduct, given to the wellbeing of all living creatures, learned in the lore (knowledge of all things that is known), capable of doing things which others can not do and singularly handsome?
आत्मवान्को जितक्रोधो द्युतिमान्कोऽनसूयक: ।
कस्य बिभ्यति देवाश्च जातरोषस्य संयुगे ।।1.1.4।।
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My comments
These three couplets list the good qualities valued by Hindus. What are they? If one goes through the Tamil Veda known as Tirukkural written by Tiru Valluvar, each of the above qualities is discussed by the poet Valluvar.
Prowess- 67, 68 Tirukkural
Righteousness- chapter 4
gratitude -chapter 11
truthfulness – 30
firmness- 47
good conduct- 14
wellbeing of all living creatures- 25,32
learned in the lore -40,42
capable of doing things which others can not do – 67,68
singularly handsome– 97 to 100
self restrained- 13,16
conquered anger-31
Who is endowed with brilliance –24
free from envy- 17
afraid of none -78
since Tirukkural is available on websites, I am not quoting them verbatim.
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Mahabharata which came after Ramayana contains some matters which are older than Valmiki’s. Vyasa in a great hurry, gathered all the older materials available at that time and put is as Mahabharata with 100,000 couplets. It has the Bhagavad Gita, the gist of Hinduism, in just 1400 lines. Lord Krishna also lists these qualities as divine qualities in chapters 16, 14 and 12 .
BG 16: 1-3 slokas list the following qualities
The Supreme Divine Personality said: O scion of Bharat, these are the saintly virtues of those endowed with a divine nature—fearlessness, purity of mind, steadfastness in spiritual knowledge, charity, control of the senses, sacrifice, study of the sacred books, austerity, and straightforwardness; non-violence, truthfulness, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, restraint from fault-finding, compassion toward all living beings, absence of covetousness, gentleness, modesty, and lack of fickleness; vigor, forgiveness, fortitude, cleanliness, bearing enmity toward none, and absence of vanity.
श्रीभगवानुवाच
अभयं सत्त्वसंशुद्धिर्ज्ञानयोगव्यवस्थितिः ।
दानं दमश्च यज्ञश्च स्वाध्यायस्तप आर्जवम् ॥१६- १॥BG 16-1
अहिंसा सत्यमक्रोधस्त्यागः शान्तिरपैशुनम् ।
दया भूतेष्वलोलुप्त्वं मार्दवं ह्रीरचापलम् ॥१६- २॥
तेजः क्षमा धृतिः शौचमद्रोहो नातिमानिता ।
भवन्ति संपदं दैवीमभिजातस्य भारत ॥१६- ३॥
Look at the amazing coincidence in Valmiki Ramayana, Tamil Veda Tirukkural and Mahabharata. Each one is from different Yuga (era) and different area.
From Himalayas to Kanyakumari, Hindu values have been same for thousands of years.
—subham —–
Divine qualities, virtues, gems, Bala kanda, Ramayana, BG 16-1/3
Tamil and Vedas 