A prayer for health from the Atharva Veda

May I have voice in my mouth, breath in my nostrils, sight in
mine eyes, hearing in mine ears, hair that has not turned
gray, teeth free from yellowness, and much strength in my
arms.
May I have power in my thighs, swiftness in my legs, steadfast-
ness in my feet. May all my limbs be uninjured and my
soul unimpaired.

Life and death

'It matters little to these countless beings which are continually being born only to be destroyed, whether the noble and kind-hearted grieve or delight over their fate. The widespread illusion called samsara [world or worldliness] is an arena for incessant births and incessant deaths. Neither exhilaration nor bemoaning is called for from any quarter.'
Yoga Vasishtha, 14.34-35, trans. by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

Were the Harappans Akkadians?

Malati J Shendge, in her book, The Language of the Harappans from Akkadian to Sanskrit, and in other works, claims that the Harappans were Akkadians, and were those described in the Rig Veda as asuras, rakshas, pishachas etc, but particularly asuras.
She finds correspondences between Sanskrit and Akkadian, and explains names of the Rig vedic rishis through the languages of Sumer and Akkad. She says the Harappans may have been multi-lingual, but their dominant language was Akkadian and they were migrants from the Tigris-Euphrates region.
This is a different twist to the whole question of the identity of the people of the Harappan civilisation, and their relationship with the Vedic people [the so-called Indo-aryans]. As far as I know, this theory has few supporters.

Brother Lawrence

[ born Nicolas Herman in 1614 in France, d.1691.]
At the age of 18 he had a sudden cosmic intuition of the grandeur and presence of God. One day in winter while looking at a tree stripped of its leaves, he realised that in a little while its leaves would reappear, followed by its flowers and fruit. This gave him a profound insight into God's providence, that was never erased from his soul, and was not surpassed throughout his life. This was the beginning of his life-long association with God. He later joined a Carmelite monastery as a lay brother, and worked mainly in the kitchen. There was an aura of peace about him, which led people to come and meet him. His conversations and letters were later compiled into a book, The Practice of the Presence of God.
Even while performing ordinary tasks, he said, ‘I began to live as if there was no one but God and me in this world.’

Tranquilty

'Tranquility of the mind does not come through discipline, through control, through subjugation, but only when the problems, which are the projections of oneself, are completely understood.'
J Krishnamurti, 1950.

India: Languages

Twenty-two languages are officially recognised in India in addition to English. Apart from this there are numerous dialects and the 1961 census (which had extra details) listed 1,652 languages used as mother tongues in India. Of these, thirty-three are spoken by over one lakh [100,000] people.
At the time of independence, Hindi in Devanagari script was recognised as the official language of India, with English being recognised as the authoritative legislative and judicial language. Regional languages were recognised as the official languages of the states. The Eighth Schedule was added to the constitution which listed recognised languages. These were: (1) Assamese; (2) Bengali; (3) Gujarati; (4) Hindi; (5) Kannada; (6) Kashmiri; (7) Malayalam; (8) Marathi; (9) Oriya; (10) Punjabi; (11) Sanskrit; (12) Tamil; (13) Telugu (14) Urdu. In 1967 the Twenty-first amendment to the constitution added the Sindhi language to the list.
In 1992, Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were added to these, by the seventy-seventh amendment to the constitution; bringing the total up to eighteen. In 2003 the 92nd constitutional amendment added four more languages: Bodo, Maithili. Dogri and Santali.
Other languages spoken by over one million people are i, Gondi, Bhili/Bhilodi, Kurukh/Oraon, Tulu and Ho.
The languages and dialects of India, can be classified into four main language groups. These are Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic or Austric and Sino-Tibetan/Tibeto Burman. There are also some languages of other languages families, spoken by small groups. Of the languages mentioned above, the following are Indo-Aryan: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kashmiri, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Urdu, Konkani, Nepali and Dogri. This is the largest language group in India and accounts for 74 per cent of the Population.
Dravidian languages include Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, Kurukh/Oraon and Gondi. Manipuri is a Sino-Tibetan language, whereas Santali and Ho belong to the Austro-Asiatic group.

India: States and union territories

Population: 1.210 million in 2011.
This is the second largest population in the world.
India is a parliamentary democracy. Based on population, it is the largest democracy in the world.
India has a federal government with a unitary bias. While the central or union government has certain exclusive powers, the states can also formulate laws and policies on several subjects.
The capital of India, and the seat of the union government is New Delhi.
There are twenty-eight states and seven union territories. These are:

States
1. Andhra Pradesh
2. Arunachal Pradesh
3. Assam
4. Bihar
5. Chhatisgarh
6. Goa
7. Gujarat
8. Haryana
9. Himachal Pradesh
10. Jammu and Kashmir
11. Jharkhand
12. Karnataka
13. Kerala
14. Madhya Pradesh
15. Maharashtra
16. Manipur
17. Meghalaya
18. Mizoram
19. Nagaland
20. Orissa
21. Punjab
22. Rajasthan
23. Sikkim
24. Tamil Nadu
25. Tripura
26. Uttar Pradesh
27. Uttaranchal
28. West Bengal

Union territories:
1. Delhi (National Capital Territory)
2. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
3. Chandigarh
4. Dadra and Nagar Haveli
5. Daman and Diu
6. Lakshadweep
7. Pondicherry