(Source: Satyopanishad)
Meaning:
Discard the company of bad people,
Get in touch with noble company,
Bear in mind what is impermanent or transitory,
Do meritorious deeds day and night.

It was said by Einstein, “Tell me your company. I shall tell you what you are.” You imbibe the qualities of the company you keep. We should not get into bad company. Then we get bad thoughts. Run away from bad company. By living in the company of noble people, we raise our thought level, and get inspired to do good deeds naturally.

We should also distinguish that which is divine from the one that is temporal. We are gifted with intellect for discrimination and judgment to distinguish between what is transient, perishable and dual and what is eternal, immortal and nondual.

Ref: Sai Darshan

These are the preachings handed down to us by Taittirīya Upanishad. It means “Regard the mother as God, the father as God, the teacher as God, and the guest as God”.

We should show love & respect to our parents, and take care of them as much as we take care of our children. Any amount of prayer to Lord will not please him if we forget our parents. We should have the same gratitude for the teacher(acharya) as we have for the god. The importance and the role of a teacher is well emphasized in many of the sanskrit verses (see my earlier posts). Taking good care of our guests and honoring them has been a part of our ancient culture, and is well expressed in this verse.

To our dismay, we often find people fight with the mother, argue with the father, look down upon the teacher, and insult the guest. Lets try to educate them, and make sure we are not one among such people.

By Mr. Vardharajan

Speak truth in such a way that it should be pleasing to others. Never speak truth, which is unpleasant to others. Never speak untruth, which might be pleasant. This is the path of eternal morality, sanatana dharma.

To speak truth is an eternal value irrespective of time and place. But the expression of truth should be accompanied by two conditions. Firstly, it should be presented in a loving manner and secondly it should be spoken for the betterment of others. How you speak is as important as what is said. Priyam means speech that does not hurt others. Hitam is something that is said for the good or betterment of others. One should be careful of speaking truth but not hurting others.

We should be careful in speaking the truth. The purpose should be good and the words used and the manners in which they are spoken are important. So the value of truthfulness is relative to a situation. According to the Indian scriptures while living in the world of relativity truth can be interpreted in many ways.

Ref: Prajnanvani

(Source: Patanjali Yoga Sutra I. 33)

The essence:
Friendship, mercy, gladness, and indifference, being thought of in regard to subjects that are happy, unhappy, good, and evil respectively, shall pacify the Chitta.

We must have these four sorts of ideas. We must have friendship for all; be merciful towards those in misery; when people are happy, we ought to be happy; and to the wicked, we must be indifferent.

Same is the case with all subjects that comes before us. This aphorism of Patanjali indicates beautifully as to what kind of emotions or thoughts we will have to cultivate in our minds, in order to live peacefully with our surroundings.

Meaning:
With the cultivation of these sentiments of friendliness and loving kindness (maitri), mercy (karuna), joy and desire for the happiness of others (mudita), and equanimity (upeksanam) toward all beings and events, regardless if the events are auspicious or inauspicious (punya-apunya), or their conditional circumstances (visayanam), the underlying serenity and clarity of the citta (citta-prasadanam) is always cultivated and thus can manifest.

This powerful practice or cultivation (bhavanatas) as a attitudinal stance toward all beings and things in all circumstances will help maintain serenity and keep us centered in the heart (chitta-prasadanam). It will counteract polar imbalances of pleasure (sukha) or pain (dukha) caused by external events (visayanam), and prove to considerably enhance the continuous experience of the Eternal Reality — of All Our Relations.

Meaning: Let the whole world be happy.

We should propagate these noble ideas in every village, every street, and every house. Lets all observe unity in every activity of ours. As Sathya Sai Baba has said, we should believe in the dictum “Brotherhood of man and Fatherhood of God.” Our life becomes beautiful only when things around us are beautiful.

Adi Shankara, widely considered one of the most important figures of Indian intellectual history, begins his Gurustotram (Verses to the Guru) with the following Sanskrit Sloka:

Listen!

Meaning:
Guru is creator Brahma; Guru is preserver Vishnu; Guru is also the destroyer Siva and he is the source of the Absolute. I offer all my salutations to the Guru.

Also see my previous post on Guru’s role

Ref: Wikipedia

Listen!
(Source: Taitreya Upanishad)

Meaning:
Let us all grow together, enjoy together, perform heroic deeds together; let our strength of intellect come together, let the bright intellects shine, and let us live without any hatred.

In a nutshell Sahana is togetherness, and hence conveys the message “Unity is Divinity”

UPDATE: Here is another viewpoint of the above shanti mantra. This is in the light of student and the teacher (Guru).

Meaning:
Let both of us protect each other together (teacher and pupil), may both of us enjoy together (the knowledge & liberation), may both of us work together, let our study become radiant, let there be no hatred between us, OM Peace, Peace, Peace.

As the verse suggests, there should be a perfect harmony between the student and his teacher. To carry out a substantial research (spiritual or material), there is a great deal of mentoring required behind the scenes… and eventually results in the making of a great student.

I am reminded of how Swami Vivekananda brought glory to his master Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. A perfect disciple for a perfect guru.

Ref: Wikipedia

Meaning: Established in the Self, perform action

What is means is that we should perform action with a peaceful mind (not an agitated, stressed mind). Thats because an unsettled state of mind will promote stressful thoughts and as a result, thinking will not be creative or useful for the fulfilment of thought.

When all those engaged in management practice Transcendental Meditation, all their activity will be supported by Natural Law; it will be Vedic.

Ref: Maharishi’s Programmes

Meaning: The world is my family
(Source: Maha Upanishad 6.71)

Treating your fellow-human as one in your family is a perfect example of broad-mindedness. We should throw away race, color, & creed, and create a society of oneness.

Meaning:
Wherever there is absolute alertness, there is victory. Victory has its basics in the ‘Sattwic’ quality of intelligence.
(Source: Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.6)

The victory refers to the fulfillment of our desire. The Sattwic qualities include pure, integrated, self-referral, Yogic, Vedic, or Samhita. I am reminded of the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence, love, and compassion to get India her freedom.

UPDATE: Here is yet another interpretation…
Meaning: “Truth alone triumphs”

This is in the context of Dharma. The good will always have its victory over evil. It does not matter how much strong the evil force gets, the good will alway win over evil ultimately.

The simple meaning of satya is “truth”. But, Satya also means the ultimate reality symbolizing eternity. This is the beauty of Sanskrit language to have multiple meanings for a single word. Every word in the Holy Scripture has more than one meaning, a simple apparent meaning and a deeper, inner meaning.