June 1, 2014

Hari OM.

Today, after prayers, we moved on to something totally different than vibhakti, or, declensions.

We discussed how to communicate cause and effect in sentences.

We first learned the usage of the avyaya: अतः meaning 'therefore', or, 'hence'. In the case of अतः , the cause, or कारणम्  is first stated. Then the result or effect is stated using अतः .

Examples: 

सा प्रतिदिनं संगीत-अभ्यासं करोति | अतः सा सम्यक् गायति |
She practices singing music everyday. Hence she sings good.

Please note that there are two separate sentences. Each sentence has a subject and a verb. 

तस्य मूलम् अधिकं अस्ति | अतः अहं तत्  न क्रीणामि |
The price of that (object) is very high. Hence I did not buy that.

सः शिरोवेदनाम्  अनुभवति | अतः सः क्रीडितुम् न आगच्च्छति |
He has a head-ache. Therefore he has not come to play.

विद्युत् नास्ति | अतः व्यजनम् न भ्रमति |
There is no power. Hence the fan is not moving.

After practising few more sentences using अतः, we moved on to a similar construct यतः, meaning 'because'. In this construct, the result or the effect, known as कार्यम् , is stated first. Then the cause or कारणम् is explained using यतः .

We took the same examples that we worked with अतः , and re-stated them using यतः .

सा सम्यक् गायति | यतः सा प्रतिदिनं संगीत-अभ्यासं करोति|
She sings good. Because she practices singing music every day.

Depending on what one would like to state first, the cause or the effect, either one of these constructs अतः  , or, यतः could be used to express the connection.

We then discussed how to state something that is dependent, or, contingent upon another event, using the यदा - तदा  construct, which is similar to the "when" conjunction usage in English. In this construct, there is an event or expression that is dependent upon a condition, that is stated in the condition clause, using yadaa. These two go together, hand-in-hand, as one unit.

यदा सूर्योदयः भवति तदा कमलं विकसति |
When the sun rises, the lotus blooms.

यदा सः श्रुणोति तदा सः श्रेष्ठः छात्रः |
When he listens, he is the best student.

Please know that, it is an incomplete sentence to just state the condition clause, or, the yadaa clause, without stating the central idea of the expression/sentence.

We had learned earlier that कदा also means "when". However there is a subtle difference in when कदा is used, as opposed to, यदा.  In affirmative sentences, यदा is used, and in interrogative sentences कदा is typically used to indicate "when".

Activity:

We then moved on to reading and understanding a simple story which uses these constructs. Click this link to read the story - का श्रेष्ठा ?

Hope that was fun.
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः |

May 18, 2014

हरिः ॐ  Hari OM.
We reviewed all the vibhakti forms for the shabda-s - raama, sitaa and vanam, that we have covered over the past few months. We have been focussing only on eka vacanam or singular number, to first understand the concept and correct usage.

Here is a summary of the declensions that we have learned, for the three genders:

विभक्तिः  Case	प्रातिपदिकम्  राम	प्रातिपदिकम्  सीता	प्रातिपदिकम्  वन
प्रथमा Nominative	रामः	सीता	वनम्
द्वितीया Accusative	रामम्	सीताम्	वनम्
तृतीया Instrumental	रामेण	सीतया	वनेन
चतुर्थी Dative	रामाय	सीतायै	वनाय
पञ्चमी Ablative	रामात्	सीतायाः	वनात्
षष्ठी Genitive	रामस्य	सीतायाः	वनस्य
सप्तमी	रामे	सीतायाम्	वने

We practiced translating few English sentences, applying our vibhakti knowledge.

[English] The horse eats the grass.
[संस्कृतम्] अश्वः तृणं खादति |
The kids were fascinated by the fact that changing the order of the sentence to
 तृणं अश्वः खादति |  does not mean "The grass eats the horse." What a relief!

[English]  I write a shloka on the white board with a marker.
[संस्कृतम्] अहम्  श्वेतफलके अङ्कन्या श्लोकं लिखामि |

We shall be attempting more translations in the next few classes, please review and memorize the vibhakti forms.

We then moved on to the last missing piece in the vibhakti puzzle:
संबोधना प्रथमा , or the vocative case.

In sanskrit, there is a special way to invoke or call out to someone, known as Vocative case in English. The dual and plural forms of vocative case are the same as prathamA vibhakti or nominative case for the shabda-s we are working on, however just the singluar form is specialized. Usually, as part of invocation, हे, or, रे  would be added. An exclamation mark added when translated in English.

Let us understand how to call out the names for the shabda-s that we have been working with so far, along with iikaaranta strIlinga shabda:

Hey Rama!  हे राम |
Hey SitA!  हे सीते |
Oh flower! हे पुष्प |
Hey Saraswati!  हे सरस्वति | Please note that the long I has been changed to short i

We then analyzed a shloka that we are quite familiar with, for examples of vocative case.

सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम्  वरदे कामरूपिणि |
विद्यारम्भम् करिष्यामि सिद्धिर्भवतु मे सदा |
Hey Saraswati! (सरस्वति) Giver of boons! (वरदे) Fulfiller of desires! (कामरूपिणि)
Salutations to you. (नमः तुभ्यम् )
I am going to commence my studies. (विद्यारम्भं  करिष्यामि  - implied अहम् )
May success be mine (मम सिद्धिः भवतु ), always! (सदा)

We also discussed few other shloka-s from Gita and Mukunda maalaa for applications of vocative case.

Here are few more examples:

Respected madam! आर्ये
Respected sir! आर्य
Hey mighty armed! महाबाहो
Hey, Conqueror of wealth!  धनञ्जय
Hey Lord of Parvati! हे पार्वतीपते
Hey Guru! हे गुरो
Hey Mom! हे अम्ब

We reviewed the examples given in Abhyaasapustakam for sambodhana prathama usage.

With that we concluded our session.
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः |