SuSanskrit

नीतिवर्णन परत्व संस्कृत ग्रंथो में, चाणक्य-नीतिदर्पण का महत्वपूर्ण स्थान है । जीवन को सुखमय एवं ध्येयपूर्ण बनाने के लिए, नाना विषयों का वर्णन इसमें सूत्रात्मक शैली से सुबोध रूप में प्राप्त होता है । व्यवहार संबंधी सूत्रों के साथ-साथ, राजनीति संबंधी श्लोकों का भी इनमें समावेश होता है । आचार्य चाणक्य भारत का महान गौरव है, और उनके इतिहास पर भारत को गर्व है । तो इससे पूर्व कि हम नीति-दर्पण की ओर बढें, चलिए पहले इस महान शिक्षक, प्रखर राजनीतिज्ञ एवं अर्थशास्त्रकार के बारे में थोड़ा जानने का प्रयास करें ।

 प्राचीन संस्कृत शास्त्रज्ञों की परंपरा में, आचार्य चणक के पुत्र विष्णुगुप्त-चाणक्य का स्थान विशेष है । वे गुणवान, राजनीति कुशल, आचार और व्यवहार में मर्मज्ञ, कूटनीति के सूक्ष्मदर्शी प्रणेता, और अर्थशास्त्र के विद्वान माने जाते हैं ।

हिमालय की गोद में एक ऋषि का सुंदर आश्रम था । उस आश्रम में ऋषि के साथ अनेक शिष्य भी रहते थे । वे आश्रम के दैनिक नित्यक्रम में रहकर ऋषि के मार्गदर्शन से जीवन की शिक्षा लेते थे॑ । आश्रम का सारा काम शिष्य ही संभालते थे । साथ मिलकर रहना और काम करना यही अपने आप में एक बडा़ शिक्षण था । इसके अलावा ऋषि के साथ बैठकर जीवन के अलग अलग पाठ सिखने का अवसर भी मिलता ।

चिन्ताज्वरो मनुष्याणां क्षुधां निद्रां बलं हरेत् ।
रूपमुत्साहबुध्दिं श्रीं जीवितं च न संशयः ॥

The fever of worry snatches away hunger, sleep, strength, beauty, enthusiasm, mind, wealth and life itself - there is no doubt.

"चिंता" स्वरुप ज्वर (बुखार) भूख, नींद, बल, सौंदर्य, उत्साह, बुद्धि, समृद्धि और स्वयं जीवन को भी हर लेता है ।

नाभिषेको न संस्कारः सिंहस्य क्रियते वने ।
विक्रमार्जितसत्त्वस्य स्वयमेव मृगेंद्रता ॥

There is no official coronation (RaajyaBhishek) ceremony held or any samskar performed to declare that Lion is the king of jungle. He becomes king by his own attributes and heroism ('Parakram').

सिंह को जंगल का राजा नियुक्त करने के लिए न तो कोई अभिषेक किया जाता है, न कोई संस्कार । अपने गुण और पराक्रम से वह खुद ही मृगेंद्रपद प्राप्त करता है ।

Indian culture has accepted various philosophical tenets as part of its rich heritage encompassing diverse ways to spirituality. One of the powerful philosophies that was born out of this culture is that of Buddhism. Gautam Buddha is well known as the founder of Buddhism. "Buddha" literally means the "awakened one" or "enlightened one". Even today, his teachings are revered and followed by millions of people across the world, who have embraced the Buddhist way of life. Indian culture considers Gautam Buddha as one of the reincarnations (avatar) of the Almighty.

Sahibzada Fateh Singh was the youngest of Guru Gobind Singh's four sons. He and his older brother, Sahibzada Zorawar Singh are among the most hallowed martyrs in Sikhism. Fateh Singh is probably the youngest recorded martyr in history who knowingly laid down his life at the very tender age of 6 years.

As the story goes, the Mughal army had besieged the Sikh town of Anandpur Sahib on the orders of emperor Aurangzeb. The stock of food in the town was running out. The Mughals promised to leave the Sikhs alone if they would hand over the fortress of Anandpur. Guru Gobind reluctantly agreed and left the fortress with his family and a small band of retainers.

Near the Ashram where the Pandavas were taking lessons from Guru Dronacharya, there lived a small but valiant boy named Eklavya. He belonged to a class of wanderers and hence was never a part of formal education system of the ‘Gurukul'.

Young Eklavya was a determined and courageous boy. He wanted to learn archery from Guru Dronacharya but was also aware that Guru Dronacharya was the official teacher to the prince of the royal family of Hastinapur and would not accept anybody else as his disciple.

Great personalities form the cloth that engulfs the human mind in its search for an ideal. From early childhood days, we idolize people around us and try to imitate their ways of behaviour and action. This imitation goes a long way, along with our environment, in shaping our character, way of thinking and actions. Just like a child needs someone to hold its hand when it takes a first step, so do we in our quest for perfection.

In the past we have taught our child to identify an alphabet with objects that are in routine use, e.g. A is associated with Apple, B is associated with Ball, and so on. We thought instead let’s teach our children to associate the alphabets with great characters from our immediate past and our glorious ancient history.