Is there any spiritual reference for the meaning of ‘Bharata’ as ‘the land absorbed in light’?
From Syama Vihari P
Transcript
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observer thank you Hare Krishna question from Shyam Bihari Prabhu is there any spiritual reference for the meaning of the word Bharata Bharata as Bharata as land absorbed in light Bharata is sun and Ratha is absorbed answer etymology is not analyzed in spiritual texts so Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatam, Chaitanya Charita Amrit or even the other primary Puranas or Tihasas they don’t go into etymology that is done by in the Vedangas Nirukta is a book on etymology that has been written by Yaska which is a part of one of the Vedangas now the Vedangas themselves are not considered spiritual just like Ayurveda or Jyotishya they are material knowledge they are not considered spiritual but they are supplementary Vedic literature Vedanga as it is called so now Nirukta mentions the etymology of words and Bharata has a straight forward Sandivigraha that Bha is Bhaskara sun and Ratha is absorbed in that which is absorbed in light now the word Bharata in our scriptural tradition by our Acharyas has been explained also alternatively as coming from Bharata so Bharata was a great king and the land that is named after him is also called Bharata so both are applicable and when you take out Mahabharata it can also refer to both ways it can be the history of greater India which talks about Bharata being India and Maha referring to great and then we can say that it is the history of the land which is absorbed in light or it can also Mahabharata is not literally a history of King Bharata King Bharata so we could say that it is a history of the kings who are descendants of Bharata so there are multiple ways in which meanings can be given and that is the subject of etymology now sometimes our Acharyas also go into etymology but they do not focus primarily on etymology unless it goes directly with philosophy so I don’t primarily identify myself as an encyclopedia where I search for references within the spiritual canon for specific technical things so the primary point is it’s a simple Sanskrit grammar thing grammar etymological derivation and it’s not something which needs which is either controversial or needs to be substantiated in by looking for some reference within the text that we consider spiritual because it is a straightforward etymological derivation that comes from the meaning of the Sanskrit word then it does not contradict it is a alternative meaning it is not a contradictory meaning of the word Bharata thank you