The Brahmin - Concluding Chapter of the Dhammapada of the Compassionate Buddha

19th-century brahmins (C) alamy

Cross the river bravely, Conquer all your passions, Go beyond the world of fragments, And know the deathless ground of life.

Cross the river bravely, Conquer all your passions, Go beyond your likes and dislikes And all fetters will fall away.



Who is a true brahmin? Him I call a brahmin Who has neither likes nor dislikes, And is free from the chains of fear.



Who is a true brahmin? Him I call a brahmin Who has trained his mind to be still And reached the supreme goal of life.



The sun shines in the day; In the night, the moon; The warrior shines in battle; In meditation, the brahmin.


But day and night the Buddha shines In radiance of love for all.
Him I call a brahmin Who has shed all evil. He is called samana, “the serene,” And pabbajita, “a pure one.”



Him I call a brahmin Who is never angry, Never causes harm to others Even when he is harmed by them.



Him I call a brahmin Who clings not to pleasure. Do not cause sorrow to others: No more sorrow will come to you.

Him I call a brahmin Who does not hurt others With unkind acts, words, or thoughts. His body and mind obey him.

Him I call a brahmin Who walks in the footsteps Of the Buddha. Light your torch too From the fire of his sacrifice.

Not matted hair nor birth Makes a man a brahmin, But the truth and love for all life With which his heart is full.

Of what use is matted hair? Of what use a skin of deer On which to sit in meditation, If your mind is seething with lust?

Saffron robe, outward show, Does not make a brahmin, But training of the mind and senses Through practice of meditation.

Not riches nor high caste Makes a man a brahmin. Free yourself from selfish desires And you will become a brahmin.

He has thrown off his chains; He trembles not in fear.
No selfish bonds can ensnare him, No impure thought pollute his mind.

Him I call a brahmin Who fears not jail nor death.

Wanting nothing at all, Doubting nothing at all, Master of his body and mind, He has gone beyond time and death.

Him I call a brahmin Who turns his back on himself. Homeless, he is ever at home; Egoless, he is ever full.

This is the concluding chapter of the Dhammapada of the Compassionate Buddha. The word brahmin literally means &ldqauoone who is worthy of knowing God” (Brahman). Translated by Eknath Easwaran in The Dhammapada (Petaluma, California: Nilgiri Press, 1985).

Machli - Tigress Vigour - Life Journey in a Gist

Tiger Vs Tigress - Tigress wins...and here stands in the Asian tropical forests of Indian sub-continent, a magnificient hunting beast and an untamed roaring cat that shakes the forest grounds of Ranthambore National Forest especially when is time "hunting". People and teh officials named her, Machli, for the fish-shaped mark that was spotted on her face. A cub that stepped into this forest in the year 1997 when marked by the officials with the "conservation code T-16", did not realise that they are recording "an everlasting memory". Every step of this tigress and her life turned out to be "forever in our memories" in their lives. This beast grew popular for her magnificience and grandeur hunting skills and propagation.

She roamed ever nook and corner of the forests leaving a mark of her presence:

a. The lakes turned out to be her favourites cooling rest spots and so Lady of the Lakes:



Chilling Out



She cooled herself

b. She shows off her elegance over these rocky enclaves and so Tigress Queen of Ranthambore:

Jungle Boy's Sharekhan

Queen's palace, Royal Bengal Tigree Machli

c. She gave birth to 11 cubs in her fertility years between 1999 to 2006, and her partners were Babu Ram, Nick Ear and X-male (twice); and so was favouritely called "Queen mother of Tigers" - 7 female and 4 male cubs; this attracted tourists to the forests to see her pride of her cubs and helped the officials to earn a name pointing her as effective conservation including 100 million US Dollars - therefore they honoured her with a "Lifetime Achievement Award":

Machli and her 3 cubs: T17, T18 and T19

d. She roamed the forests in agility and valoured her strenght in hunting for prey and saving her cubs:

Her hunting skills



e. Her feat in hunting was demonstrated when she preyed on a 14 feet muggler crocodile creating a world record and was then on known as "Corcodile Killer" with loss of two canine teeth:

World Record Hunter Tigress

Her life became a history and she turned into a renounced VVIP animal when BBC aired her life history documetnary in 2012 in the Natural World serial epsiode: "Queen of Tigers: Natural World Special" and Tiger Queen. Adding to her recognition, in 2013, Government of India honoured her with a commemorative postal cover and stamp.

She had a royal send off on 18th August 2016 when the forest officials, Y. K. Sahu was notified of her death in the Ama Ghati Checkpost after an official post-mortem. She lived a legendary life of 20 long years, the longest life span for the Roarer, Oldest Tigress in this decade.

Why Pussy 'Purr'?

Purr... Purr. I had a "purr...purr"...Thomas who turned during good days to Brigadier Thomas by standing tall on his heels over the intruder into his territory beside me where he sleeps against  Bully Boy Jim. Jim is such an unimaginable brute and a haughty cat who will climb the stairs and turn back with a malicious smiling stare and a wagging tale in anger at me...with the only person at whom he runs away like a scary cat being Jackie's brother, the dog in the neighborhood. Jackie's Lieutenant to Brigadier Thomas for he is all willing and coming forward to pounce on this bully boy Jim even over a closed gate, as he wished he could jump that tall and land safely....all this turned out to be  "Homeward Bound" for my little Brigadier Thomas...I miss all his purr these days.

Why does he Purr? When he Purrs?

1. He Purrs when he sleeps...and in extreme satisfaction even hugs me...

An unexpected hug

2. He Purss when he wants some food..and when he waits for his plate to be filled..and when he does not want me to disturb him amid his meal..until he can lick and show a satiated face with his tongue swirling around his cheeks and whiskers left to right and right to left...with gratitude "meownk you"...



Aren't I missing sipping the cup?

3. He Purrs to show his acceptance when I give him my hugs and I care actions...but not this one below...

How I learned to frighten little pests to both of us and chide brother Jackie from puffing up my fur?

I wanted to know what stirred the Purr sound? I felt all over him and found it was from the throbbing veins. I decided to do a little more reading and science behind this. I find people say the purr pushes or calms down the beast in him and lets him save on more energy that heals and makes him stronger. Science says the Purr heals his wounds and bones,  builds his muscles and tendons, lessens pain and swelling, and eases breathing. The Purr of a cat begins in the brain that stimulates neural oscillator messages to the laryngeal muscles which in turn causes the cat to twitch at the rate of 25 to 150 vibrations per second. This spontaneously leads the vocal chords to separate when the cat breathes in and out resulting in the production of involuntary noises and is what we hear as "Purr". I realized in the end that this is not his veins but his vocals that are rumbling.

Did you know? All cats don't Purr those that ROAR doesn't PURR.

All cats that Purr have completely ossified hyoid while the roars are bigger rumbles of magnified Purr that result due to incompletely ossified hyoid. So, what's more, is that Snow Leopard, an in-between, can do both, Roar and Purr. This is a "Purr" classification criterion in the cat species.

Do you want a Purr or a Roar??? I like my Purr.

The University of Minnesota Stroke Center states that the cat Purr helps to relieve stress and lowers blood pressure in owners more than any other pets.

Needless to say, Little Thomas working on his way to occupy the space of my mouse pad and replacing the mouse for himself makes life nothing more livable than for all the love he expresses for his mistress, no one inanimate but only himself.