Bhakto ‘si me sakha cheti rahasyam hyetad uttamam. In the fourth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna why he is teaching him the ancient knowledge of yoga. In the translation by Swami Mukundananda, Krishna reveals “the supreme secret” to Arjuna “because you are My friend as well as My devotee.” This is verse 4.3.
A Warning in Another Language
In the Mahabharata, Duryodhana has a palace of lacquer built at Varanavata. His plan is to set it on fire while his cousins, the Pandavas, sleep inside. Before the Pandavas leave for Varanavata, their uncle Vidura warns Yudhishthira of the plot. He does it cryptically, in a Mleccha language, and tells him of a means of escape.
Vidura then sends a skilled miner, who digs a tunnel from the palace to the bank of the Ganga. The Pandavas and their mother Kunti escape through it, and a boatman sent by Vidura carries them to safety.
The Oath Before the Fire
In the Valmiki Ramayana, the monkey king Sugriva sees Rama and Lakshmana in the forest and is afraid. He tells his ministers that his brother Vali “must have dispatched them.” His minister Hanuman reports to him about the two brothers.
Hanuman then brings them to Sugriva. Rama and Sugriva “take the oath of friendship before an altar of fire.” Only after this does Sugriva tell Rama that he saw Sita carried off through the sky. He shows him the ornaments she dropped, wrapped in her upper cloth.
To Count as One’s Own
Apna samajhna, to count someone as one’s own. The Rekhta dictionary defines it in Hindi as behaving without hesitation in a close or friendly relationship, and counting someone as dear, close, a companion or a confidant, vishvaspatra. Its second meaning is to regard something as one’s own property.
The Doscos
Former students of the Doon School are known as Doscos. Rajiv Gandhi and his brother Sanjay, ThePrint writes, “brought this elite network of ‘Doscos’ into vogue in politics.” Arun Singh, from the school’s 1959 batch, served in Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet.
In January 1985 the Christian Science Monitor described two men around the new prime minister: “One is a trusted cousin. The other, a former schoolmate.” The cousin was Arun Nehru. The schoolmate was Arun Singh.
The Kashmiri Mafia
P.N. Dhar served as an adviser to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. According to Wikipedia, he “was one of her close advisors, who were collectively known as the ‘Kashmiri Mafia’.”
Flag Bearer of Nepotism
In 2017 the actor Kangana Ranaut was a guest on Koffee with Karan, the talk show of the film director Karan Johar. On the show she called her host the “flagbearer of nepotism.” She also spoke of a “movie mafia.”
The phrase became part of a long debate in Hindi cinema about insiders and outsiders.
The Kitty Party
A kitty party is an informal savings club, usually of women. The members meet regularly and each pays into a common pot. At each meeting one member takes the whole amount. “The kitty usually works with a set amount, say Rs 5000, and a fixed number of members,” the Free Press Journal explains.
The paper adds that kitties help women “to build a network of reliable individuals for emotional support and motivation.”
Not for Everyone
Idam te natapaskaya nabhaktaya kadachana. Near the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna who may hear the teaching he has just given. In the translation by Swami Mukundananda: “This instruction should never be explained to those who are not austere or to those who are not devoted. It should also not be spoken to those who are averse to listening (to spiritual topics), and especially not to those who are envious of Me.” This is verse 18.67.
The Weapon Karna Forgot
In the Mahabharata, Karna learns the use of weapons from the sage Parashurama. To be accepted, he says he is a Brahmin. “It was for this that I introduced myself to thee as a person of thy own race,” he admits in the Ganguli translation.
When Parashurama discovers the deception, he curses him. Karna will forget the secret of the Brahmastra, the most powerful weapon, at the critical moment when he needs it against his enemy.