Menoculayshunal; Mornings - Early Mornings

Welllll... missed out on a Sunday post. Was too taken up with Eurovision songs and Curling matches!!! So am posting this one early as a kind of compensation. 

Every morning the bell clanged. Four in the a and m. The fact that it was lights out at 10 the previous evening did not necessarily mean that we had all managed to get in a full six hours of sleep. Particularly not for this menosomniac. Throughout the entire time at Sandeepany, I probably averaged about five hours of sleep in each 24 - with at least one of those being in the afternoon break. 

There was a sort of energy that came from all the Hari Om and all other such vibes that this did not feel like deprivation. 

Bell. Sit up. Stretch. Recite the rising prayers, the bathing prayer, the maha-mantra...

Oooooommmmmmm

bhur-buvaH svaH

tat-savitur-varenyam

bhargo devasya dhimahi

dhiyo yo naH prachodayaat.

(primordial sound - source of breath)

Body of all, mind of all, spirit of all

May we meditate upon the inner radiance

May that Self illuminate our thoughts.

Drape sari, a quick cup of tea, take up the mantra book and out to the mandir for morning practice by five a.m. 

In gurukula, the very... VERY... ancient technique of learning is applied. The acharya recites and the shishyas repeat. For as long as they do not get it right, the acharya will continue to recite a single pada (sentence). Historically, there were no written texts. Sanskrit, until about 3000 years ago, was essentially a spoken-word tradition. This was enhanced by the mantra method being applied to all the important works.** Nearly every text is couched in verses (called shlokas) and there are a number of standard chhandas ("tunes" - more correctly, rhythms) which can be applied, according to the length and purpose of the shlokas. 

What happens (in a surprisingly short time) is that one retains the words quite easily. The chhandas provides a certain power, also. It is energising. Whilst learning each mantra, the acharya also provides expansion of understanding - meanings, translations, contexts. When it is considered that the work is completed, then the chanting is done as a group together... here is a snippet of one of my recordings (sorry about my poor efforts in the foreground!)

In the winter, we arrived in the dark and left in the dark. Come summer, we could watch the sunrise, as we faced east. 

Chanting practice was for between 60 and 90 minutes, according to the needs of the work being studied. Following this class, we had until eight a.m. (breakfast) to return to our rooms and prepare for the rest of the day. 

**There is much debate about the age of the Sanskrit teachings, most academics wanting to keep it to the written words as proof of age. However, verbal tradition could be twice as ancient and even, it is now thought, as much as 10,000 years. The verbatim nature of lead and repeat has ensured the integrity of purpose that modern teaching could learn a great deal from.

Acharya = teacher, shishya = student.

NB = FFF coming up on Friday!!! Flex your writing muscles, select one of your photos and tell us about it in one way or another!!!