BKS/BGP/IKS Semester 3

 

Importance of Oral Tradition in Indian Culture:-

Oral tradition means passing knowledge, stories, and culture by speaking instead of writing. In India, this has been very important to keep history, religion, and art alive.

Aspect of Importance	Description	Modern Relevance/Application
Cultural Preservation	Ancient Indian oral traditions, like the Vedas, epics (Ramayana, Mahabharata), folk tales, myths, and proverbs, were meticulously transmitted across generations without writing. This ensured the survival of a vast body of knowledge, values, and narratives.	Safeguarding Intangible Heritage: Many communities in India still preserve their unique histories, languages, and identities through oral narratives (e.g., tribal storytelling, regional folk songs). This helps combat cultural erosion in a globalized world and maintains linguistic diversity. UNESCO has recognized Vedic chanting as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Linguistic and Literary Legacy	The rigorous methods of oral transmission (e.g., Patha traditions in Vedic chanting) ensured unparalleled accuracy in preserving the phonetic and grammatical structures of Sanskrit. This foundation was crucial for the development of highly sophisticated linguistic sciences like Panini's grammar.	Understanding Sanskrit and Indian Languages: The preserved oral tradition provides critical insights into the evolution of Sanskrit and its influence on modern Indian languages. It aids in linguistic research, teaching ancient texts, and appreciating the deep linguistic roots of India. The meticulous preservation methods inspire contemporary efforts in language documentation and revitalization.
Educational Philosophy and Pedagogy	The Guru-Shishya parampara (teacher-disciple tradition) emphasized direct, experiential learning, memorization techniques, and a holistic approach to education, focusing on intellectual, moral, and spiritual development. Knowledge was "co-created" through dialogue and practice.	Holistic Learning Models: Modern education systems can draw inspiration from the gurukul system's emphasis on personalized mentorship, character building, and the integration of diverse subjects. The focus on deep understanding over rote learning and the strong teacher-student bond remain valuable pedagogical ideals. Techniques for memory and concentration embedded in oral traditions can inform modern learning strategies.
Moral and Ethical Values	Epics, Puranas, and folk tales, passed down orally, served as vehicles for transmitting ethical principles, social norms, and philosophical insights. They provided moral guidance and shaped societal values.	Ethical Frameworks for Society: These narratives continue to be a rich source of moral and ethical lessons, influencing contemporary literature, media, and popular culture (e.g., through adaptations in movies and TV shows). They offer timeless wisdom relevant to personal conduct, family values, and societal harmony.
Performing Arts and Storytelling	Oral tradition was intrinsically linked with performance arts like storytelling (Katha, Harikatha), drama, music (Samaveda as a root of Indian classical music), and dance. These forms were dynamic and often adapted to local contexts.	Vibrant Artistic Expressions: Ancient oral storytelling forms are still alive and evolving in contemporary India, often incorporating modern themes. They continue to be a source of entertainment, education, and social commentary. This tradition inspires modern performing arts, film, and digital storytelling, ensuring cultural continuity and innovation.
Historical and Genealogical Insight	While not always "history" in the modern sense, oral traditions contain rich historical memory, accounts of community origins, migrations, and significant events. Elders were considered reservoirs of this wisdom.	Tracing Ancestry and Community Histories: Oral histories complement written records, providing invaluable qualitative data for genealogical research and understanding regional and local histories, especially for communities with limited written documentation. They offer unique perspectives on past struggles, triumphs, and daily life.
Cognitive Development	The rigorous training involved in memorizing vast texts through specific chanting and recitation techniques (e.g., Jatapatha, Ghanapatha) fostered exceptional memory, concentration, and cognitive abilities.	Brain Training and Mental Discipline: The sophisticated mnemonic devices and recitation practices can offer insights for cognitive science and memory enhancement techniques. The discipline required for such transmission highlights the potential for developing mental acuity beyond conventional learning methods.

Vedangas and their importance

 

Vedanga	Meaning / Focus	Importance in Understanding Vedas	Analogy to Veda Purusha	Key Texts/Concepts
Linguistics
1. Shiksha (शिक्षा)	Phonetics, pronunciation, accentuation, and the science of proper articulation of Vedic sounds.	Ensures the correct recitation and intonation of Vedic mantras, which is believed to maintain their ritual purity and efficacy. Any change in sound can lead to a change in results.	Nose / Breath	Pratisakhyas (e.g., Rigveda-Pratisakhya, Paniniya Shiksha, Yajnavalkya Shiksha)
2. Vyakarana (व्याकरण)	Grammar, linguistic analysis, word formation, root words, and sentence structures.	Essential for understanding the structure and meaning of the Sanskrit language in which the Vedas are written. It provides insights into mastering the language and ensures correct interpretation.	Mouth	Panini’s Ashtadhyayi, along with commentaries by Vararuci and Patanjali (Mahabhashya).
3. Nirukta (निरुक्त)	Etymology, explanation of obscure, archaic, and symbolic terms found in the Vedas.	Helps in analyzing and interpreting the deeper meanings and symbolism of Vedic words, especially those with unclear ancient uses.	Ears	Yaska’s Nirukta, which is a commentary on Nighantu (a list of Vedic words).
4. Chhanda (छन्दस्)	Meter, prosody, and the study of poetic meters used in Vedic hymns.	Determines the poetic rhythm and meter of Vedic verses, guiding the context and usage of mantras and acting as an error-correcting tool for recitation.	Feet	Chandas Shastra (e.g., Pingala’s Chandahshastra)
Mathematics
5. Kalpa (कल्प)	Ritual rules, ordinances, and procedures for performing Vedic sacrifices and ceremonies.	Provides systematic guidelines and mnemonic tools (Sutras) for conducting complex Vedic rituals, ensuring their accurate execution. It's the applied science of the Vedas.	Arms	Kalpasutras (Shrauta Sutras, Grihya Sutras, Dharma Sutras, Shulba Sutras)
6. Jyotisha (ज्योतिष)	Astronomy and astrology, focusing on timekeeping and determining auspicious times for rituals.	Connects earthly events with cosmic movements, providing the knowledge to ascertain the proper and auspicious times (muhurta) for performing various Vedic rites and ceremonies based on celestial positions.	Eyes	Jyotisha Vedanga texts (e.g., Lagadha’s Vedanga Jyotisha)

Action Will Be Taken - Empathy Skills

 

Empathy Skills 

Action Will Be Taken by Heinrich Boll

Probably one of the strangest interludes in my life was the time I spent as an employee in Alfred Wunsiedel’s factory. By nature, I am inclined more to pensiveness and inactivity than to work, but now and again prolonged financial difficulties compel me – for pensiveness is no more profitable than inactivity – to take on a so-called job. Finding myself once again at a low ebb of this kind, I put myself in the hands of the employment office and was sent with seven other fellow-sufferers to Wunsiedel’s factory, where we were to undergo an aptitude test.

The exterior of the factory was enough to arouse my suspicions: the factory was built entirely of glass brick, and my aversion to well-lit buildings and well-lit rooms is as strong as my aversion to work. I became even more suspicious when we were immediately served breakfast in the well-lit, cheerful coffee shop: pretty waitresses brought us eggs, coffee and toast, orange juice was served in tastefully designed jugs, goldfish pressed their bored faces against the sides of pale-green aquariums. The waitresses were so cheerful that they appeared to be bursting with good cheer. Only a strong effort of will – so it seemed to me -restrained them from singing away all day long. They were as crammed with unsung songs as chickens with unlaid eggs.

Right away I realized something that my fellow-sufferers evidently failed to realize: that this breakfast was already part of the test; so I chewed away reverently, with the full appreciation of a person who knows he is supplying his body with valuable elements. I did something which normally no power on earth can make me do: I drank orange juice on an empty stomach, left the coffee and egg untouched, as well as most of the toast, got up, and paced up and down in the coffee shop, pregnant with action.

As a result I was the first to be ushered into the room where the questionnaires were spread out on attractive tables. The walls were done in a shade of green that would have summoned the word “delightful” to the lips of interior decoration enthusiasts. The room appeared to be empty, and yet I was so sure of being observed that I behaved as someone pregnant with action behaves when he believes himself unobserved: I ripped my pen impatiently from my pocket, unscrewed the top, sat down at the nearest table and pulled the questionnaire toward me, the way irritable customers snatch at the bill in a restaurant.

Question No. 1: Do you consider it right for a human being to possess only two arms, two legs, eyes, and ears?

Here for the first lime I reaped the harvest of my pensive nature and wrote without hesitation: “Even four arms, legs and ears would not be adequate for my driving energy. Human beings are very poorly equipped.”

Question No. 2: How many telephones can you handle at one time?

Here again the answer was as easy as simple arithmetic: “When there are only seven telephones,” I wrote, “I get impatient; there have to be nine before I feel I am working to capacity.”

Question No. 3: How do you spend your free time?

My answer: “I no longer acknowledge the term free time – on my fifteenth birthday I eliminated it from my vocabulary, for in the beginning was the act.”

I got the job. Even with nine telephones I really didn’t feel I was working to capacity. I shouted into the mouth-pieces: “Take immediate action!” or; “Do something! – We must have some action – Action will be taken – Action has been taken – Action should be taken.”  But as a rule – for I felt this was in keeping with the tone of the place – I used the imperative.

Of considerable interest were the noon-hour breaks, when we consumed nutritious foods in an atmosphere of silent good cheer.  Wunsiedel’s factory was swarming with people who were obsessed with telling you the story of their lives, as indeed vigorous personalities are fond of doing. The story of their lives is more important to them than their lives, you have only to press a button, and immediately it is covered with spewed-out exploits.

Wunsiedel had a right-hand man called Broschek, who had in turn made a name for himself by supporting seven children and a paralyzed wife by working night-shifts in his student days, and successfully carrying on four business agencies, besides which he had passed two examinations with honors in two years. When asked by reporters: “When do you sleep, Mr. Broschek?” he had replied: “It’s a crime to sleep!”

Wunsiedel’s secretary had supported a paralyzed husband and four children by knitting, at the same time graduating in psychology and German history as well as breeding shepherd dogs, and she had become famous as a night-club singer where she was known as Vamp Number Seven.

Wunsiedel himself was one of those people who every morning, as they open their eyes, make up their minds to act. “I must act,” they think as they briskly tie their bathrobe belts around them. “I must act,” they think as they shave, triumphantly watching their beard hairs being washed away with the lather: these hirsute vestiges are the first daily sacrifices to their driving energy. The more intimate functions also give these people a sense of satisfaction: water swishes, paper is used. Action has been taken. Bread get eaten, eggs are decapitated.

With Wunsiedel, the most trivial activity looked like action: the way he put on his hat, the way-quivering with energy – he buttoned up his overcoat, the kiss he gave his wife, everything was action.

When he arrived at his office he greeted his secretary with a cry of “Let’s have some action!” And in ringing tones she would call back: “Action will be taken!” Wunsiedel then went from department to department, calling out his cheerful: “Let’s have some action!” Everyone would answer: “Action will be taken!” And I would call back to him too, with a radiant smile, when he looked into my office: “Action will be Taken!”

Within a week I had increased the number of telephones on my desk to eleven, within two weeks to thirteen, and every morning on the streetcar I enjoyed thinking up new imperatives, or chasing the words take action through various tenses and modulations: for two whole days I kept saying the same sentence over and over again because I thought it sounded so marvelous: “Action ought to have been taken;” for another two days it was: “Such action ought not to have been taken.”

So I was really beginning to feel I was working to capacity when there actually was some action. One Tuesday morning – I had hardly settled down at my desk – Wunsiedel rushed into my office crying his “let’s have some action!” But an inexplicable something in his face made me hesitate to reply, in a cheerful gay voice as the rules dictated: “Action will be taken!” I must have paused too long, for Wunsiedel, who seldom raised his voice, shouted at me: “Answer! Answer, you know the rules!” And I answered, under my breath, reluctantly, like a child who is forced to say: I am a naughty child. It was only by a great effort that I managed to bring out the sentence: “Action will be taken,” and hardly had I uttered it when there really was some action: Wunsiedel dropped to the floor. As he fell he rolled over onto his side and lay right across the open doorway. I knew at once, and I confirmed it when I went slowly around my desk and approached the body on the floor: he was dead.

Shaking my head I stepped over Wunsiedel, walked slowly along the corridor to Broschek’s office, and entered without knocking.  Broschek was sitting at his desk, a telephone receiver in each hand, between his teeth a ballpoint pen with which he was making notes on a writing pad, while with his bare feet he was operating a knitting machine under the desk. In this way he helps to clothe his family. “We’ve had some action,” I said in a low voice.

Broschek spat out the ballpoint pen, put down the two receivers, reluctantly detached his toes from the knitting machine.

“What action?” he asked.

“Wunsiedel is dead,” I said.

“No,” said Broschek.

“Yes,” I said, “come and have a look!”

“No,” said Broschek, “that’s impossible,” but he put on his slippers and followed me along the corridor.

“No,” he said, when we stood beside Wunsiedel’s corpse, “no, no!”  I did not contradict him. I carefully turned Wunsiedel over onto his back, closed his eyes, and looked at him pensively.

I felt something like tenderness for him, and realized for the first time that I had never hated him. On his face was that expression which one sees on children who obstinately refuse to give up their faith in Santa Claus, even though the arguments of their playmates sound so convincing.

“No,” said Broschek, “no.”

“We must take action,” I said quietly to Broschek.

“Yes,” said Broschek, “we must take action”.

“We must take action;” I said quietly to Broschek. “Yes,” said Broschek, “we must take action.”

Action was taken: Wunsiedel was buried; and I was delegated to carry a wreath of artificial roses behind his coffin, for I am equipped with not only a penchant for pensiveness and inactivity but also a face and figure that go extremely well with dark suits. Apparently as I walked along behind Wunsiedel’s coffin carrying the wreath of artificial roses I looked superb. I received an offer from a fashionable firm of funeral directors to join their staff as a professional mourner. “You are a born mourner,” said the manager, “your outfit would be provided by the firm. Your face – simply superb!”

I handed in my notice to Broschek, explaining that I had never really felt I was working to capacity there; that, in spite of the thirteen telephones, some of my talents were going to waste. As soon as my first professional appearance as a mourner was over I knew: This is where I belong, this is what I am cut out for.

Pensively I stand behind the coffin in the funeral chapel, holding a simple bouquet, while the organ plays Handel’s Largo, a piece that does not receive nearly the respect it deserves. The cemetery café is my regular haunt; there I spend the intervals between my professional engagements, although sometimes I walk behind coffins which I have not been engaged to follow, I pay for flowers out of my own pocket and join the welfare worker who walks behind the coffin of some homeless person. From time to time I also visit Wunsiedel’s grave, for after all I owe it to him that I discovered my true vocation, a vocation in which pensiveness is essential and inactivity my duty.

It was not till much later that I realized I had never bothered to find out what was being produced in Wunsiedel’s factory. I expect it was soap.

Source   https://myshortstories.org/action-will-taken-heinrich-boll/

List of Proverbs based on Various Skills

Semester 1 

Proverbs on Listening skills 

a. Listening is the beginning of understanding.... Wisdom is the reward of a lifetime of listening.

b. Listening requires more intelligence than speaking.

c. To listen well is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversation.

d. Talk becomes an argument when one person stops listening.

e. Listening looks easy, but it is not simple. Every head is a world.

f. Who speaks sows; who listens reaps.

g. Eat what is cooked; listen to what is said.

h. Listen a hundred times; ponder a thousand times; speak once.

i. From listening comes wisdom and from speaking, repentance.

j. The wise man has long ears and a short tongue.

Proverbs on Teamwork skills 

a. United we stand, divided we fall.

b. Two heads are better than one.

c. Many hands make light work.

d. Many hands can shatter stout walls.

e. Gnats, in great numbers, can beat an elephant.

f. Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.

g. Every spark adds to the fire.

h. A monk cannot shave his own head.

i. A single tree cannot make a forest.

j. When a husband and wife agree with each other, they can dry up the ocean with buckets.

Proverbs on Emotional Intelligence skills 

a. Be civil to all; serviceable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none.

b. Do unto others as you would wish to be done unto you.

c. Faults are thick when love is thin.

d. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

e. If you know what hurts yourself, you know what hurts others.

f. A soft answer turns away anger.

g. Hate destroys the one who hates more than the one who is hated.

h. Anger is a bad adviser.

i. Where there is a will there is a way.

j. Good people think about the feelings of their animals.

Proverbs on Problem Solving skills 

a. Every cloud has a silver lining.

b. God helps those who help themselves.

c. There is no use crying over spilt milk.

d. Where there is a will there is a way.

e. Necessity is the mother of invention.

f. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

g. When you see an arrow that is not going to miss you, throw out your chest and meet it head on.

h. There are no cakes without work.

Semester 2

Proverbs on Assertive skills

a. He who asks is a fool for five minutes but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

b. Kill your enemies with your kindness.

c. If you cannot make a person think as you do, make a person do as you think.

d. Seek till you find and you will not lose labour.

e. We do not walk on our legs, but on our will.

f. A person who will not flee will make his foe flee.

g. He who does not cry does not get fed.

h. Put your feet down where you mean to stand.

i. Speak the truth in love.

j. Come and let us reason together.

Proverbs on Learning skills

a. He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning.

b. The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.

c. Only after learning, do you know what you do not know.

d. You are never too old to learn.

e. Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.

f. Keep the old, but learn the new.

g. You will not grow at all if you think you know it all.

h. If you study to remember you forget; but if you study to understand, you will remember.

i. Live and learn.

j. If the child is not learning the way you are teaching, then you must teach in the way the child learns.

Proverbs on Adaptability skills

a. Change yourself and you change the earth.

b. Times change and we with time.

c. A reed before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall.

d. Adversity makes strange bedfellows.

e. The unexpected happens.

f. New lords, new rules.

g. The wise adapt themselves to circumstances as water moulds itself to the pitcher.

h. Circumstances alter cases.

i. The dogs may bark but the caravan moves on.

j. To exist is to change; to change is to mature; to mature is to create oneself endlessly.

Proverbs on Non-verbal Communication skills

1. Action speaks louder than words
2. The face is the index of the mind.
3. Speeches and silence is golden.
4. A picture is worth thousand words.
5. Example is better than precept.
6. The eyes are the Windows to the soul.
7. Argument is the worst kind of communication.
8. Words may show a man’s wit, but action his meaning.
9. Attitudes are the real figures of speech

Semester 3

Proverbs on Empathy skills

Chapter: Action Will be Taken by Heinrich Boll

1. You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.
2. I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.
3. Whenever you feel like criticising anyone…Just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantageous that you’ve had.
4. I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display..
5. Yet, taught by time, my heart has learnt to glow for others’ good, and melt at others.
6. When a good man is hurt all who would be called good must suffer with him. (Euripides)
7. Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize? (Marcus Aurelius)
8. Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself. (Mohsin Hamid)
9. A prerequisite to empathy is simply paying attention to the person in pain.(Daniel Goleman)
10. Empathy needs no genius. (Toba Beta)

Proverbs on Positivity skills

Chapter: The Dispenser of Holy Water by Guy de Maupassant

a. He who has health has hope; and he who has hope, has everything. (Arabian)

b. It is never winter in the land of hope. (Russian)

c. To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive. (R. L. Stevenson)

d. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. (English)

e. If you can walk, you can dance. (Zimbabwean)

f. While there is life, there is hope. (Cicero)

g. A drowning man will clutch at a straw. (Thomas More)

h. If it were not for hope, the heart would break. (Thomas Fuller)

i. Hope lights up our darkness. (Celia Fremlin)

j. Every cloud has a silver lining. (John Milton)

Proverbs on Professional skills

Chapter: After Twenty Years by O. Henry

 

1.      Duty knows no family. (Japanese)
2.    He is not to blame who does his duty. (Mexican)
3.    The most beautiful things in the universe are the starry heavens above us and the feeling of duty within us. (Native American)
4.    Duty before devotion. (Mexican)
5.     Higher duties means greater responsibilities. (Albanian)
6.    A great position entails great responsibility. (Spanish)
7.     Never step over one duty to perform another. (English)
8.    Duty is the most sublime word in our language (Nordic)
9.    Duty done is the soul’s fireside. (American)
10.   It is a man’s duty to go as far as he can on the right road. (American)

Proverbs on Leadership skills

Chapter: The Power of a Plate of Rice by Ifeoma Okoye

1. If you can’t serve, you, can’t rule.
2. A ruler must sometimes humour as well as command.
3.  Even the largest army is nothing without a good general.
4. Great chief, prove their worthiness.
5. A leader who understands proverbs reconciles conflicts.
6.  One can make a difference.
7. The master of their people is their servant.
8.  If the townspeople are happy, look to the chief.
9.  He who dictate separates himself from others.
10.  A great one must have a long heart.