Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today I will share yet another tale from this monumental book The Panćatantra, tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”), faced with the challenge of educating three unlettered princes, to awaken their intelligence, Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”) evolved a unique pedagogy – for his aim was to teach the princes how to think, not what to think.

You can buy your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any on-line portal selling books or also by clicking the following link:

Before we embark on this wonder filled, journey I want to draw your attention to these wise words of a Storyteller which I have extracted from yet another monumental work which has been inspired from “The Panćatantra”:

My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.

Excerpt from Doctor’s orders:

Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 – Ramsay Wood

The tale of ‘The Bird who dropped golden turd’

On one side of a certain mountain grew a mighty tree in which nested a fabulous bird whose droppings turned to pure gold. One day a fowler came along to that spot and right in front of him, suddenly, the bird let fall its droppings. And imagine his amazement when the droppings turned into gold as soon it fell on the ground. ‘Good gracious,’ exclaimed the fowler. ‘For eighty long years, right from the time I was a mere child I have pursued my favourite pastime of snaring birds. Yet, in all this time, never have I seen bird droppings that turned to gold.’ He decided to snare the bird, and set a trap in the tree.

Later, the unwary bird came to its accustomed place with complete confidence and sat there only to find itself trapped. The fowler cut the strings in which it was entangled, shut it up in a cage and took it home. Then he fell to thinking. ‘This bird bodes evil for me; what am I doing bringing it home? Supposing that at some time or other someone finds out about the strangeness of this bird and reports it to the king. My life would be in danger then. I had better take this bird to the king myself and report the strange fact about it.’ Having decided that this was a wise course to follow, he took the bird to the king. No sooner had the king set eyes on it than he became ecstatic, with his eyes widening in delight like newly blossomed lotuses. ‘Who’s there? Hey guards, come quick,’ he called out, ‘See this bird is looked after with utmost care; give it whatever it needs to eat and drink, as much as it wants.’

The minister interposed at this point. Oh! My lord! What’s all this! What do you want with this thing hatched from an egg that you have accepted on trust based merely on some preposterous claim made by some fowler that its droppings turn to pure gold. Let this bird be released from its cage and set free.’

The king taking his minister’s counsel seriously, opened the cage and let the bird out. The bird flew up to the topmost arch of the gateway, sat on it just long enough to drop some turd which immediately turned to gold.        

The Panćatantra (Of Crows and Owls) – The Bird who dropped golden turd – Vişņu Śarma

Translated from the Sanskrit by Chandra Rajan

Let us remember: Our life experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to.

Namaste Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation) I am Sunil Rao here. Today I would like to share with you an excerpt from “New World New Mind” first published in 1989 co-authored by Dr. Robert Ornstein & Dr. Paul Ehrlich

You can purchase your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any online portal that sell this book or by clicking on the link below:

https://www.malorbooks.com/new-world-new-mind.html

About the authors

Robert Ornstein, was the president of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge, conducted extensive research on the human brain and authored numerous articles in publications such as Psychology Today and Encyclopedia Britannica.

Paul R. Ehrlich is Bing Professor of Population Studies, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University. He is an expert in the fields of evolution, ecology, taxonomy, and population biology.

The authors hope that the information presented in this book will stimulate the people to think about the roots of the ‘human predicament’, and how we might begin to adapt our society where we can learn to evolve consciously and address the challenges accordingly.

Excerpt

Human beings have always been the most adaptable creatures on the planet, and they should be able to chart a new course for themselves. Some of that charting is already being done. The old mind today is being challenged and changed by many scattered efforts.

All non-human species evolved to fit into their physical habitats, and people originally evolved to do this as well. Human beings, however, have changed the world more in the last ten thousand years than their ancestors did in the preceding 4 million. Much more than any other species, we have turned the tables on the physical environment and made it change to fit us. Clothing, fire, dwellings, and agriculture all enabled people to live where none could before.

We don’t perceive the world as it is, because our nervous system evolved to select only a small extract of reality and to ignore the rest.

Instead of conveying everything about the world, our nervous system is “impressed” only by dramatic changes. This internal spotlight makes us sensitive to the beginnings and endings of almost every event more than the changes, whether gigantic or tiny, in the middle.

Why, on a planet that has an exploding population, a deteriorating environment, and massive social problems, has the only genuinely creative species invested so much time, energy, and genius in building arsenals that can only be used to destroy it-self? Why has humanity not redirected its efforts instead into seeking ways for people to live together without conflict and to limiting the size of its population so that everyone can lead a meaningful life? Why hasn’t humanity tried vigorously to preserve the earth that people and all living species depend upon? The answers to these kinds of questions are not simple. The problem has much deeper roots than most people envision. To trace its history will take us into the world in which our species evolved, into the world that made us. That world has produced in us certain ways of interpreting our surroundings, ways that once enhanced our survival. But these “old ways” are not necessarily adaptive in a world that is utterly different from the one in which our ancestors lived.

More importantly, human beings have built entirely new environments: farms, villages, towns, crowded cities, ocean liners, even underwater dwellings, and more. Human beings can even live for brief periods away from earth itself.

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today I will share yet another tale from this monumental book The Panćatantra, tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”), faced with the challenge of educating three unlettered princes, to awaken their intelligence, Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”) evolved a unique pedagogy – for his aim was to teach the princes how to think, not what to think.

You can buy your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any on-line portal selling books or also by clicking the following link:

Before we embark on this wonder filled, journey I want to draw your attention to these wise words of a Storyteller which I have extracted from yet another monumental work which has been inspired from “The Panćatantra”:

My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.

Excerpt from Doctor’s orders:

Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 – Ramsay Wood

The tale of ‘The Snake in the Prince’s belly’

In a certain city there ruled a king named Shining Power whose son wasted away every limb because a snake had made his belly its home in place of an anthill. Overcome by acute depression, the prince decided to leave home and go to some distant land. He made his home in a great temple in one of the cities of the kingdom he came to and lived by begging for alms.

The ruler of that kingdom, King Bounteous, had two daughters who had just entered womanhood. One of them approached the king each morning and bowing at his feet greeted him with, ‘May His Majesty be ever victorious!’ while the other simply said, ‘Enjoy your just desserts, Your Majesty!’ This greeting finally angered the king so much that he summoned his ministers one day and said, ‘Honourable Counsellors, take this princess away, for her words grate on my ears. Marry her to some foreigner and let her enjoy her just desserts.’

Acquiescing in the royal whim, the ministers took the princess waited upon by a mere handful of attendants, to the temple where the unfortunate prince had taken sanctuary; and they gave the princess in marriage to him.

The princess joyously accepted the ailing prince as her husband and looked upon him as a god. She accompanied him to another country. There, in one of the great cities, they found a dwelling house situated at the edge of a large pond. Leaving her husband in charge of the house, the princess accompanied by her maids went to the market to buy butter and oil, salt, species and rice and other necessary household supplies.

When the princess returned with the maids after completing all her shopping, what did she see but the prince fast asleep with his head resting against an anthill. And from his mouth emerged the hood head of a snake taking the air. Likewise another snake had emerged from the anthill and was taking the air.

As the two snakes confronted each other their eyes reddened with anger. The snake that had emerged from the anthill, was the first to speak. ‘Oh! You vile creature! How can you torment this prince, who is so perfectly handsome, in this cruel manner?’ The snake standing within the prince’s mouth hissed furiously and said, ‘Vile creature yourself! How can you defile those two pots filled with magic drink that are hidden within the anthill?’

 And so, the two snakes lashing out at each other revealed each other’s secrets....

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today I will share yet another tale from this monumental book The Panćatantra, tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”), faced with the challenge of educating three unlettered princes, to awaken their intelligence, Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”) evolved a unique pedagogy – for his aim was to teach the princes how to think, not what to think.

You can buy your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any on-line portal selling books or also by clicking the following link:

Before we embark on this wonder filled, journey I want to draw your attention to these wise words of a Storyteller which I have extracted from yet another monumental work which has been inspired from “The Panćatantra”:

My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.

Excerpt from Doctor’s orders:

Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 – Ramsay Wood

The tale of ‘The Golden Geese of Lotus Lake’

In a certain kingdom lived a king by the name of Bright Chariot who possessed a lake named Lotus Lake which his warriors guarded with greatest care, for it abounded with golden, wild geese that paid the king the tribute of one tail-feather apiece, every six months.

Now, it happened that a great bird, all golden, flew into that lake one day. At once the wild geese spoke sharply to it saying,’ look here, you have no right to come here and live in our midst, because we live in this lake by right of giving the king a gift of one golden tail-feather apiece once in six months.’ To make it brief, soon, a raging dispute rose between the two parties.

The great bird now sought the king’s presence to plead for his intercession. ‘Lord,’ it began, ‘this is what the birds in your lake say: “Go, we shall not give you an inch of space here to stay. What can the king do to us?” Then I answered them, lord, and said this, “It is not right that you speak so discourteously. I shall go and complain to the king.” Now it is for His Majesty to make the decision.’

The king summoned his attendants and commanded them as follows: ‘Fellows! Go; kill all those birds in the lake and bring them to me without delay.’

Receiving the royal command, the attendants left at once and set out for the lake. Seeing the king’s men come marching, cudgel in hand, one ancient wild goose spoke as follows. ‘Well, my dear kinsfolk; this is not at all pleasant prospect. So, let us all be of one mind and fly away together.’ The wild geese did precisely that.   

The Panćatantra (Of Crows and Owls) – The Golden Geese of Lotus Lake – Vişņu Śarma

Translated from the Sanskrit by Chandra Rajan

Let us remember:

Our life experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to. Attention: is important and most of the times we are so indifferent to it. It is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. We feed the hunger blindly. Once the mechanism is brought to our attention and we begin to study it, it is as if a veil has been stripped off ordinary life, and we become freer in our action and choices.

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today I will share yet another tale from this monumental book The Panćatantra, tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”), faced with the challenge of educating three unlettered princes, to awaken their intelligence, Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”) evolved a unique pedagogy – for his aim was to teach the princes how to think, not what to think.

You can buy your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any on-line portal selling books or also by clicking the following link:

Before we embark on this wonder filled, journey I want to draw your attention to these wise words of a Storyteller which I have extracted from yet another monumental work which has been inspired from “The Panćatantra”:

My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.

Excerpt from Doctor’s orders:

Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 – Ramsay Wood

The tale of ‘The Ants who killed the Snake’

In a certain anthill lived an enormous black snake named Haughty. One day instead of following the usual path he attempted to crawl out of his hide-out through a very narrow crevice. Because his body was huge and the crevice so narrow and because fate willed it to be so, he suffered a gash in his body as he was wriggling out. The smell of the blood oozing from the wound drew a whole host of small red ants to that spot. They surrounded the poor snake from all sides and their assaults on his body tormented him beyond all endurance. He thrashed around killing many and crushing many more. But they were such a large and formidable force that they stung him all over until his body was a mass of wounds; and Haughty died. 

The Panćatantra (Of Crows and Owls) – The Ants Who killed the Snake – Vişņu Śarma

Translated from the Sanskrit by Chandra Rajan

Let us remember: Our life experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to. Attention: is important and most of the times we are so indifferent to it. It is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering about, seeking ways to assuage the craving, instead of learning how to provide ourselves with what we need, sensibly and calmly. We feed the hunger blindly. Once the mechanism is brought to our attention and we begin to study it, it is as if a veil has been stripped off ordinary life, and we become freer in our action and choices.

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today I will share yet another tale from this monumental book The Panćatantra, tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”), faced with the challenge of educating three unlettered princes, to awaken their intelligence, Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”) evolved a unique pedagogy – for his aim was to teach the princes how to think, not what to think.

You can buy your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any on-line portal selling books or also by clicking the following link:

Before we embark on this wonder filled, journey I want to draw your attention to these wise words of a Storyteller which I have extracted from yet another monumental work which has been inspired from “The Panćatantra”:

My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.

Excerpt from Doctor’s orders:

Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 – Ramsay Wood

The tale of ‘The Cat’s Judgement’

Once in the past I lived in a certain tree. At the base of the same tree a partridge had its home. From sharing a common residence a firm friendship sprang up between the two of us. Every day, after having our food and taken our airings, we spent the evening together sharing our diversions such as retailing witty sayings, telling each other tales and legends from old chronicles, setting each other problems to solve, posing riddles and exchanging gifts.

One day the partridge went foraging with other birds to a place where abundant rice grew ripening. But he did not return at the usual time. I was sick with worry wondering what had happened, repeatedly asking myself; ‘Oh, why has my friend, the partridge not returned this evening? Has he been trapped?’

Many days passed with such thoughts churning in my heart as I grieved in my loneliness, suffering the privation of separation from my friend, until one day a hare named Speedy came along and went into the hollow where the partridge had nested. And I did nothing to stop him because I had lost all hope of ever seeing the partridge again.

Then one day, the partridge, now grown nice and plump after eating a lot of rice, returned, remembering his old home.

When the partridge saw the hare now settled comfortably in his old home he chided him bitterly. ‘Hey there, you hare; you have done a mean thing in occupying my home. Come now, get out, leave at once.’ To which the hare replied, ‘You bumbling fool! Don’t you know that a residence belongs to its current occupant?’

‘Is that so?’ retorted the partridge. ‘Let us go ask our neighbours; for it is stated in the lawbooks:

Wherever a dispute arises

Over land, house, well, groove or field,

The claim will always be settled

On the testimony of a neighbor.’  

‘Oh, you blockhead,’ retorted the hare. ‘And have you not heard what the precedent laid down in the memorial law says?

Any place occupied personally

By one for ten years successively

Belongs to him, legal texts

And eyewitness, notwithstanding.

‘So, even if this was your home, the fact is that it was unoccupied when I moved in.

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today I will share yet another tale from this monumental book The Panćatantra, tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”), faced with the challenge of educating three unlettered princes, to awaken their intelligence, Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”) evolved a unique pedagogy – for his aim was to teach the princes how to think, not what to think.

You can buy your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any on-line portal selling books or also by clicking the following link:

Before we embark on this wonder filled, journey I want to draw your attention to these wise words of a Storyteller which I have extracted from yet another monumental work which has been inspired from “The Panćatantra”:

My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.

Excerpt from Doctor’s orders:

Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 – Ramsay Wood

The tale of ‘The Mice that freed the Elephants’

There was once a land where the people, their houses, as well as the places of worship had fallen into decay. The mice who were old settlers in that land, occupied the chinks in the floors of mansions, with sons, grandsons, grandchildren born of daughters and the like. Successive generations of mice as they were born made their homes in that region. And they spent their days and nights in supreme comfort and happiness, enjoying themselves in a variety of activities: feasts and festivals, weddings, banquets and drink parties dramatic performances and the like. And so time passed.

One day, a bull-elephant, lord of a thousand elephants, came there surrounded by his herd, to drink at the lake of which he had heard much praise, that it was ever full. As he passed with his herd through Mouse Town, the mice that were in the way were trampled upon; faces, head, necks, all crushed.

The mice that survived this disaster, now called a council of war. ‘We are being slaughtered by these vicious elephants that come lumbering through our settlement,’ they cried. ‘And they are sure to come again. In the end there will not even be a few of us left to start a new generation.

‘Therefore, let us decide on an effective plan of action to cope with this crisis.’

When they had decided on a plan, a few of the mice went down to the lake, bowed to the Lord of Elephants and pleaded humbly, ‘Lord: not far from here is our settlement inherited over a long period of time and coming down in orderly succession from our forefathers. Living there we have prospered and increased over generations of sons and grandsons. Your Honours passing through our settlement on your way to the lake to water have trampled upon and destroyed thousands of our community, If Your Honours do this once more, there will not be one mouse left, not even for seed. Therefore, if Your Honours feel the slightest compassion for us, we beseech you, pray follow some other path to the lake. Sirs, please bear in mind that even creatures our size might be of some help sometime to Your Honours.’

The lord of the herd listened to their words and recognized that there was sound sense in what the mice said and agreed to their request. ‘It shall be so; never otherwise,’ he said.

As time passed, one day, a certain king ordered his elephant keepers to go out and trap some elephants.

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today I will share yet another tale from this monumental book The Panćatantra, tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”), faced with the challenge of educating three unlettered princes, to awaken their intelligence, Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”) evolved a unique pedagogy – for his aim was to teach the princes how to think, not what to think.

You can buy your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any on-line portal selling books or also by clicking the following link:

Before we embark on this wonder filled, journey I want to draw your attention to these wise words of a Storyteller which I have extracted from yet another monumental work which has been inspired from “The Panćatantra”:

My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.

Excerpt from Doctor’s orders:

Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 – Ramsay Wood

The tale of ‘The Greedy Jackal’

In a certain country there lived a man of the Pulinda tribe who set out one day in search of more sins to add to his stock. As he walked along he encountered a wild boar who seemed the very image of the peak of the Great Sooty Mountain. Seeing the boar the hunter drew his bowstring right back to his ear as he recited this verse:

‘He sees my bow and the fitted arrow,

Yet no signs of alarm does he show.

As I watch his resolve I am sure,

It is Death that has directed him here.’

The hunter then shot a sharp arrow into the animal who in turn charged in fury and tore open his entrails with the sharp point of his tusk that shone like the crescent-moon. The man drooped dead. Having killed the hunter, the wild boar convulsed with pain from the fatal arrow-wound and died.

At this juncture, a starving jackal whose death was imminent arrived at that place in the course of his wanderings here and there in search of food. When he saw a hunter and a boar both lying dead his joy knew no bounds as he reflected deeply: ‘Ah! Fortune is in my favour for she has provided this unexpected feast for me; ‘Now, I shall consume this food in such a way that it lasts for many days to sustain my life. So let me start with this nice clump of muscle caught at the bow’s curved end and eat it slowly holding it between my paws:

Bit by bit, the wise enjoy,

The wealth they earn, slowly, very slowly,

As some precious elixir is savoured

Drop by drop, not gulped unceremoniously.’

Having resolved how to do this, the jackal seized the meat hanging from the bow’s tip and started gnawing it. When the ligament he was chewing on snapped, the tip of the arrow pierced the roof of his mouth and came out through the centre of his skull forming a crest on the top of his head. Writhing in violent pain he fell dead.

The Panćatantra (Winning of Friends) – The Greedy Jackal – Vişņu Śarma

Translated from the Sanskrit by Chandra Rajan

Let us remember:

Our life experience would ultimately amount to whatever we had paid attention to. Attention: is important and most of the times we are so indifferent to it. It is as fundamental as food; and we go blundering abou...

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today I will share yet another tale from this monumental book The Panćatantra, tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”), faced with the challenge of educating three unlettered princes, to awaken their intelligence, Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of Bliss”) evolved a unique pedagogy – for his aim was to teach the princes how to think, not what to think.

You can buy your copy from any of the bookstores near you or via any on-line portal selling books or also by clicking the following link:

Before we embark on this wonder filled, journey I want to draw your attention to these wise words of a Storyteller which I have extracted from yet another monumental work which has been inspired from “The Panćatantra”:

My stories require, at this stage, no extra commentary, imaginings, or guesswork by you, me, or anyone else. The very worst would be that of moralizing. To explain away is to forget. Thus, let the stories which you can remember do their own work by their very diversity. Familiarize yourself with them.

Excerpt from Doctor’s orders:

Kalila Wa Dimna; Vol.1 – Ramsay Wood

The tale of ‘Bharunda Birds’

‘Beside a certain lake, there lived a species of birds known as Bharunda. They each had two necks but only one stomach. Now, one day, one of these birds, was rambling around happily when one of his necks chanced upon some ambrosia spilt somewhere there; whereupon his other neck pleaded, ‘Give me half of that.’ When the first neck refused outright the second neck, mad with rage began searching for poison and finding some, ingested it. As the bird had only one stomach it dropped dead.

The Panćatantra (Winning of Friends) – Bharunda Birds – Vişņu ŚarmaTranslated from the Sanskrit by Chandra Rajan

Namaste, Welcome to SAM-VAD (Together In Conversation), today I will share yet another tale from this monumental book The Panćatantra, tradition ascribes this fabulous work to Vişņu Śarma (“Preserver of […]