Now and Forever

The genius of Ramanujan was unparalleled and wrapped in mystique. He could devise theorems and conjectures on the fly. I do not know how he could do that, but I know what his name means. And that’s what we are going to learn today.
Ramanujan ( Rama + Anujan) means Younger brother of Rama. This name is specifically used for Lakshmana, however Bharata and the usually ignored Shatrughana also qualify for the same.
Anuja means younger brother and it comes from the fact that Anu means ‘following’ and Ja means birth. One who follows in birth is Anuja. The opposite to Anuja is Agraja, where Agra means ‘ahead’ and ‘ja’ means birth giving us the meaning ‘elder brother’.
The ‘ja’ syllable stands for the happening of birth. It gives us names like —
Neeraj (born in water) , Pankaj (born in mud), Saroj (born in lake). It gives us words like ‘janma’ (birth), ‘nijam’(unborn), ‘ajam’(without birth) and ‘janani’ (mother).
In European languages, ‘ja’ syllable often comes in the form of words like ‘Genesis’, ‘Generate’, ‘General’ and even “kind” (as in race).

The ‘ja’ part of Anu-ja seems clear now, but why does ‘Anu’ mean ‘following’.
For that we might have to break ‘anu’ further.
Anu is a popular prefix in Hindi and is made up of two syllables. ‘a’ and ‘nu’.
The syllable ‘a’ means not.
The syllable ‘nu’ means now.
Yes, the word “now”, derives itself from the syllable ‘nu’.

The syllable ‘nu’ gives rise to forms like “nava”, “novo”, “new”. And unsurprisingly, all of them mean — new.
What comes later is nava. Perhaps this is the reason why 9 is called “nava” in Sanskrit. For the very same reason, 9 is called “nov” in Roman, giving us “November”.
November, for all reasons should have been the ninth month of the year, but after Christianity thrived in Rome, Christmas had to be the harbinger of new year. Hence, December (10th month) became the 12th month of the year.

Anu means next, upcoming or following because “Nu” means now.
A lot of Indians have names in which Anu is used — Anurag, Anuradha, etc.
There are a lot of words as well — Anuvaad, Anusaar, Anugaman, etc.
I leave those words to your exploration.

Nu is not a simple thing. As mystics might say, “Now” is the only thing that really exists. The past, the future might just be simulations running continuously in our heads. These simulations often take a hit when — we have a long wait, we eat Bhaang or just before an accident.
This reminds me of two books — Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and Be here and Now by Ram Dass and of course ..

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery. But today is a gift, that’s why it’s called the Present. — Master Oooogway

Yazidis might have forgotten this, but this old emblem of Tawuz Melek has the Sumerian sign of “ANU” printed on it. Anu was a Sumerian Diety and it has nothing to do with Sanskrit Anu.
The cult of Yazidis and that of Murugan have similarities that cannot be ignored. I have after a lot of check-ups, round-ups and bias removals think that Yazids are worshipping none other than Subramanyam Swamy. When and how in history did this happen ?, that will take some time.
But time, what is it really ?.

Stay Present.

Stay Awesome.