Vedic Shlokas - Learning Corner
Shloka, the Hindu form of epic verse, nonpareil, is based on syllables in construction, originating from ancient Sanskrit poetry, generally used in Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, Upanishads, Smritis, Samhitas.
The first ever shloka in Sanskrit was an extempore utterance by Maharshi Valmiki, in Ramayana, greatly hurt and angered at a hunter shooting one of two love-making birds. The shloka:
मानिषाद प्रतिष्ठां त्वं
अगमः शाश्वतीः समाः ।
यत् क्रौंचमिथुनादेकं
अवधीः काममोहितः ॥
(You hunter, you will suffer and repent for life, in restlessness and infamy for having killed a chaste and devoted Krauncha bird of the couple in love making)
Comparing the widowed bird’s trauma, with that of Sita’s owing to her separation from Shri Ram, Valmiki started the compilation of Ramayana in Shlokas.
Shlokas are integral to prayers, offerings to God, rituals, homas and yagnas. Be it a divine utterance getting up from bed, or retiring to bed, or a meandering ritual, it is shlokas all over.
Learning and reciting shlokas in a fast paced world of uncertainties imparts a soothingly positive environment and energy by relieving one from tension, anxiety, stress, and leads towards discipline, peace, profoundness and contentment.
Learning and reciting shlokas is not at all at variance with scientific temper. In fact, it conforms to scientific thinking and works in tandem. Didn’t the scientists world over, including NASA agree upon the power and positivity of chanting ‘AUM”?
Exposing our children to learning and reciting shlokas will finetune their sharpness, grasp, understanding, competitive spirit, winning quotient and keeps them agile and positive. The learning can start with certain basic ones of daily relevance, and once the children grasp this, they automatically graduate to higher learning up to regular puja performances, elaborate rituals, learning the Vedas and other Scriptures, ultimately disseminating their learning with others.
To begin with, a few daily-relevant shlokas can be taught to the children and aged alike:
Shlokas – as you wake up, as you step on the floor rising from bed, before taking bath, to the rising/setting Sun, morning prayers, tilak dharan, before and after eating, before starting studies, before embarking upon a job, before-during-after pujas, pradakshin, before going to sleep etc.
Counselling and Rituals have an experienced, erudite and committed team of Vedic Scholars who can teach you the fine nuances of mastering Shlokas, and reciting them to impeccable diction and devotion to reap the maximum happiness in both worlds.
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