Food for progeny

दीपो भक्षयते द्वान्तं कज्जलञ्च प्रसूयते |
यदन्नं भक्षयेन्नित्यं जायते तादृशी प्रजा  ||

Deepo bhakShayate dvaantam kajjalaincha prasooyate
yadannam bhakShayennityam jaayate taaddashee prajaa

Meaning: The lamp devours darkness and emits (dark) smoke. (Similarly), whatever food is consumed regularly, such progeny is born.

This shloka brings out the importance of giving sanskar to our children right when they are in the womb. Sanskar is different from education. Sanskars are the imprints on the mind that define our character. Education caters to the intellect while sanskars build character. Therefore, Indian culture focuses very strongly on Garbha Sanskar. In fact, the first 3 of the 16 sanskars are done before the child is born.
 
In Mahabharat, not only did Abhimanyu learn the Chakra Vyuha in the womb, but more importantly, valor and courage were instilled into him which led him to fearlessly take the decision of fighting out all the Kauravas all alone. The Chakra Vyuha was just the technique but it was his mother's sanskars that made him fight valiantly till the end.

What we consume has a very strong effect on our psyche. Our mind takes the shape of the food we eat. Thus, what we eat, when we eat, with what thoughts do we eat- all these factors have a very strong say in defining our character. Food can be sattvik, taamasik or raajasik. We become what we eat.
 
An other aspect to this idea, is that food is not limited to the physical food that we eat. Food is whatever we consume through all our senses.

• What we read, what we see on TV, what we see when we see other humans, is all food.
• The kind of music we hear, the gossip that we hear, and all other sounds, is also food.
• What we speak - to ourselves, to God, to people, about people, is all food for our mind.
• The kind of thoughts we get when we touch others, is also food.
• The different odours we smell, also contribute in building the environment of our mind.

So it's very important to make sure that we are giving the right kind of food to our mind through our 5 senses. The nature of our food will determine our character, and that will have very strong, intrinsic imprints on our children. And these imprints are much more emphatic than all the education given later on in life. The later education may color the outside of the child to some extent, but the basic character has already been defined to quite a large extent by the intrinsic values that the child inherits from his/her parents.

That is probably why in our Indian culture, when we look for a prospective bride or bridegroom, we have the convention of first checking on how the parents are, how the family is. We can get a very fair idea about the boy or girl by knowing the nature and character of the parents. That custom makes so much more sense now. We also apply the same convention while choosing or evaluating friends of our children.

Our rishis rock ! Cheers !

Acquiring knowledge

अनेकशास्त्रं बहुवेदितव्यम् अल्पश्च कालो बहवश्च विघ्नाः |
यत् सारभूतं तदुपासितव्यं हंसो यथा क्षिरमिवाम्भुमध्यात् || 

Aneka-shaastram bahuveditavyam alpashcha kaalo bahavashcha vighnaa-haayat saarbhootam tadupaasitavyam hanso yathaa kshiramivaambhu-madhyaat

Meaning: There are many shastras (bodies of knowledge/doctrines) and abundance of knowledge. But we have limited time (alpa kaala) and a lot of obstacles (bahu vighna).
As a swan (hansa) extracts milk (kshira) from a mixture of milk and water, one should study the essence (saarabhuta) of the shastras (rather than studying each and every shastra to great details).

There is a lot of knowledge scattered all across the world in various forms. But we do not have the time and luxury of studying everything in detail, due to our day to day responsibilities. And, its not even important to know each detail of everything. More important is to extract the cream which is going to be useful to us in life. More important is to understand the fundamental principles being propounded by any body of knowledge, rather than its intricate details. If we understand the fundamentals, then we would easily be able to intelligently deduce its details, if necessary.

For example, if a computer programmer tries to learn & use each and every programming language existent in the world, he would have to give so much time that he won't have any other life. But instead, if he knows the basic programming principles, then he can easily write programs in any current or new language by simple deduction. Same with doctors, or engineers or any other profession. We should definitely have detailed knowledge of our field, but if we try to go in details of everything, then we would be nowhere.

The swan has the capability to distinguish and extract milk from a mixture of milk and water. We also should have such a discriminatory power of determining what is important for us  and what is not; and then concentrating only on the significant aspects of anything. This applies equally to students, pundits, researchers, seekers of knowledge as well as common mortals like me or you. The essence of any knowledge is the real reason why we study that body of knowledge. Knowledge or gnyaan is supposed to improve our quality of life, enhance our meaning of life; that would happen only when we go beyond the written word and grab the substance beneath.

Today there are so many villages in India where illiterate villagers (men & women) nonchalantly speak of Shankaracharya or Socrates or Karl Marx. Neither have they read, nor do they know each and every concept in the Advaita Vedanta Darshan of Shankaracharya. But they know the basic principle of 'universality of one God' propounded by Shankara, and the efforts he undertook to establish that in the very blood of India. They do not know the detailed philosophy of Socrates, but they know Socrates' fight for truth. They have not read books of Marx or Lenin, but they know communism, and have created a much more egalitarian society than was envisioned by communism. Not just egalitarian, but a harmonious and progressive society ! They know the essence and are leading joyous, blissful lives by implementing the core philosophical principles in their own lives & of others.

This is a live example of this subhaashit. Cheers!