Classical and Modern Philology

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to offer a comparative analysis of the mystical paths in Hinduism, (Advaita Vedanta and bhakti) and those in Islam, (Sufism) in terms of their purpose, personal union with the Divine (unio mistica), bearing unchanging bliss and religious ecstasy (ānanda). The main doctrines in Upanishads and Mysticisms of Personality and Infinity are examined. The concepts of fanā', annihilation and baqā', integration into Sufism with the concept of "not this, not that": de-identification from "limiting adjuncts" (kośa) are compared. Parallels are found in  the soteriological doctrines, those of the relationship of micro- and macrocosmos and the differentiation of the illusory from the true. For the purposes of the study, excerpts from Bhagavad Gita, some of the Principal Upanishads and commentaries by Adi Shankaracharya, Jalal al-Din Rumi, Ibn Arabi, Kabir were examined and compared. The observation shows worthy similarities, as well as some differences in the mystical traditions of Hinduism and Islam, as a path of knowledge or love, as evidence of a person's unified pursuit of unchanging happiness (ānanda).

In this study I concentrate on the etymology and semantic history of the word ānanda meaning joy, pleasure and bliss. Ānanda is one of the most common terms in the religious vocabulary of the Brahmanical and Hindu traditions in both Sanskrit and vernacular languages, both in monastic traditions such as Advaita Vedanta and in the bhakti and tantric traditions. The term indicates the intense feeling of joy that devotees experience in their loving devotion and service to God, and mystics, in their meditative trance or samādhi. Within the advaita and related traditions, it represents a central and essential "attribute" of Brahman. The term has found a place in the names or titles of religious figures in many Indian religious traditions. Mokṣa, the ultimate goal of human existence, is defined as Ānanda. Drawing on the few contemporary studies by scholars such as van Buitenen and Patrick Olivelle, new interpretations and uses of the term are found in the Rig and the Atharvaveda, Āranyakas and the Upaniṣads. I explore the development in the idea of ānanda in the 6th theme (adhikaraṇa) "The Blessed One" in the Brahmasūtra of the Bādarāyana and the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, and in the commentaries (bhāṣya) of the Ādi Śaṅkarācāracharya on them where the meaning of the blessed self, ānandamaya, is acquired,  along with the suffix mayat (change or abundance). Reaching of ānandamaya, is the result of knowledge and karma (action) and the final step in the process of  union with the Absolute- Brahman.

In this paper, an attempt is made to briefly introduce and compare the traditional
gurukul pedagogical system with the hybrid learning developed and widely applied as a
relatively new academic teaching methodology, during the pandemic of Covid-19. The
current presentation is aimed at discussing the limitations and benefits of hybrid teaching and
at proposing some creative solutions. My analysis is based on Ādi Śaṅkara‘s commentary
(bhāṣya) on Brahmasūtra (I. 6.) dedicated to the notion of ānanda.

In the present study an attempt is made to examine one of the basic concepts in Śaṅkarā’s Advaita
Vedanta philosophy (VIII c.), the five receptacles or sheaths of the soul (kośa). These sheaths are
often considered to be a product of ignorance and a product of māya, which must be rejected (not
this, not this), in order for the center, ātman, to manifest. Although a product of ignorance, these
sheaths are a manifestation of the primordial cause ātman, as a microcosmic correlate to the
absolute brahman, which is their essence and keeps them alive through the energy of ātman
(Ātmabodha 20). For the purpose of this study, portions of Shankara's commentaries on the
Taittirīya Upaniṣad, the Brahmānandavallī, the Brahmasūtra, chapter 1.6, and the Māṇḍukya
Kārikā have been examined. Excerpts from the treatises of the prakaraṇagrantha tradition,
Ātmabodha and Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, traditionally attributed to Shankara are also examined. The study
is supported by excerpts from the basic Upanishads.

В настоящия доклад е направен опит за анализ на темата за блаженството  (ānanda) в коментара  Брахмасутрабхашя (Brahmasūtrabhāṣya) на философа Ади Шанкара ачаря (8/9 в.) върху основополагащия за школата Веданта трактат на Бадараяна (3/4в.) Брахмасутра (Brahmasūtra, I.1.11- I.1.19). Разгледан е накратко въпросът за произхода на текста на Бадараяна. Представени са съществуващите изследвания върху коментара на Шанкара като акцентът е поставен върху спецификата на композирането на коментарите от типа bhāṣya. Доколкото в своя коментар на темата за блаженството в Брахмасутра, Шанкара се позовава най-вече на определени параграфи в Таиттирия Упанишад (Анандавали), съм се опитала да интерпретирам в сравнителен план този му коментар с коментара му върху упомената упанишада.  Основната ми изследователска цел е да проследя развитието в разбирането на Шанкара по отношение на тази ключова концепция в метафизиката на Веданта. 

The dissertation was discussed and proposed for public defense by the Department of Classical East at the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology of Sofia university "St. Kliment Ohridski". The dissertation consists of an introduction, five chapters, a conclusion, and refrenences. The research comprises 365 pages, with 351 pages main scholarly text. The references cover 178 titles, including 14 by Bulgarian authors.

Аза, атма́н проявяващ се като, дживатма (jīvātmā) в живата форма на индивидуалното същество, се разглежда във философията на адваита веданта като, присъстващ в поредица от „обвивки” (kośa) или последо­­вателни тела, представляващи многото варианти на неговото проявление. Ще се опитам да проследя етимологията и семантичната история на думата „кошa” в Ригведа и Атхарваведа Брахманите, основните Упанишади, и накратко коментарите на Шанкара към тях, за да разберем, защо точно този термин е използван в абстрактния си смисъл, като обозначение на „вместилище на бра́хман“ (ТУ 2.4), което ограничава изначалното му съвършенство и безпределност в рамките на човешкото същество. Концепцията панчакоша (páñcakośa) е въведена за първи път, както се смята от Шанкара в коментарите му на ТУ или по-рано в коментарите му на БАУ или БС 1.19. Вероятно терминът панчакоша е въведен от учителя на Шанкара, Гаудапада, поради това, че се среща в коментарите му на Манукия упанишад, Мандукя Карика.3.11. Представеното изследване e ново проучване в полето на Индологията.
Ключови думи: адвайта веданта, семантика, коша, Веди, Шанкара

Родният език на над 84% от населението на Република България е българският. Приемането му за официален език на държавата е израз на единството на нацията и е признато от всички политически сили, включително и от представителите на малцинствата. България не е подписала Европейската харта за регионалните или малцинствените езици. Конституцията на републиката не поддържа концептите регионален и малцинствен език, но гарантира езиковите права на всички граждани, чийто "майчин език е различен от български". Обучение по езиците на двете най-многобройни етнически малцинстватурски и циганскикакто и на традиционнитееврейски и арменские предвидено в училищните програми като задължително избираема подготовка. Българският опит в тази сфера представлява интересен пример за сериозните предизвикателства, свързани с осигуряването на качествено обучение по малцинствени езици, съобразено с нуждите и желанията на съответните групи.

Discourse markers have been defined and analyzed in many languages from many different perspectives. This article draws the attention to their borrowing or transfer in the Balkan languages (Hauge 2002) and more specifically to the derivatives of the Greek adjective μωρός, which are common for Greek and Bulgarian. This paper represents a preliminary investigation of these etymologically related markers in both languages, which are traditionally classified as ‘interjections’ or ‘vocative particles’ used only in familiar register. Principally it focuses on the semantics of the two most frequent Greek pragmatic particles βρε and ρε, and their Bulgarian equivalents.

The present paper is an attempt to provide a description of the semantics and some of the functions of the most common in Bulgarian colloquial speech pragmatic particle be. In the focus of the analysis are the speaker’s attitudes towards the addressee or towards the situation spoken about, his intentions and his emotions that are embodied in it. On this basis a comparison is made with its Greek functional equivalent – the particle re – in the context of the whole set of particles which are or could be considered as derivatives of the Greek adjective mōros. According to Wierzbicka’s view of particles as “modes of social interaction”, it is speculated that the choice of this type of linguistic means is related to some Balkan culture-specific communicative strategies.

The belief in the performative force, in the magic power of the written word is great and is behind a comparatively wide spread practice of pilgrimage in Christianity, which has not been examined in depth: namely the practice to leave written requests to saints in churches or other holy places. Piotr Kowalski (1995) and Natalia Gancarz (2007), who have studied the practice in Poland, use the term ‘recorded votive offerings’, ‘voting entries’ or ‘votive texts’. Proceeding from the Bulgarian linguistic material, I prefer the working definition ‘written requests/wishes’, and distinguish them from the votive gifts, which usually appear in the form of objects and have a different communicative purpose, namely expressing gratitude, symbolizing the essence of thanksgiving. The analysis of the forms and style of the Bulgarian messages shows a diversion from the genre of prayer or request. Beside ‘orders’ and ‘telegrams’, we find interesting headings of the type “Magda’s wish”. Some of the notes keep to the standard epistolary style with address (e.g. “Dear Ivan Rilski”), a signature, a post scriptum and sometimes even markers for sender and receiver (e.g. “For God from Dari”).
This phenomenon could be observed in a wider cultural, historical and linguistic context through the comparison of the respective pilgrimage practices not only of other Christian peoples, but in other religions. In Coptic monasteries in Egypt pilgrims from various parts of the world leave their written requests in the shrines with relics of saints. In Turkey the House of Virgin Mary on Bülbül Dagi near Ephesus is believed to have healing properties and is visited by the Moslems as well as the Christians who leave there together written requests and votive offerings to the Mother of God. In Jerusalem notes with requests or prayers are placed in the cracks of the Western Wall and here there is a belief that their content reaches the Judean God directly.
This paper presents a model of the communicative event and a brief discourse analysis of a number of ‘written requests/wishes’, presented to saints or to God, with a special focus on linguistic formulae. Using Dell Hymes’ S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model (1974), developed in the context of his Ethnography of Communication, Bulgarian contemporary supplicatory letters are compared to ancient Greek and Latin votive inscription as well as to prayers, we find in medieval Greek and Bulgarian donor’s dedicatory inscriptions in wall paintings and icons.

This paper presents the design, testing and student
evaluation of an experimental English Language
course introducing the use of the Internet for
instruction, as a source, and as medium. In order to
ascertain efficiency and facilitate autonomy in
increasing a dynamic vocabulary, different types of
Internet facilitated
learning tasks were developed
and implemented in the course design for students of
Informatics at Sofia University, Faculty of
Mathematics and Informatics. The tasks incorporated
in the course include: choosing and critically
evaluating Webbased
texts, summarizing articles or
writing a review of an Internet site, preparing a
glossary using Internet sources. Guidance and
monitoring on this process are provided to ensure the
quality of the chosen sources. Course evaluation
survey was conducted in order to ensure course
efficiency and to elicit suggestions for further
improvement of the course design.

remenska, A. (2009b). Measuring Student Attitudes and Motivation as a Result from Web-based Blended Learning. International Conference on e-Learning and the Knowledge Society - e-Learning’09. Berlin. Available at http://www.elearningconf09.comhard.eu/Files/e-LEARNING_09.pdf

Kremenska, A. (2006 c). Technology Enhanced Learning: Investigating Motivation in an ESP CALL Course. Presented at: International conference Pioneers of Bulgarian Mathematics, 8-10 June, 2006, Sofia, section Technology Enhanced Learning. Book of abstracts. 2006 (c)

Настоящото изследване се отнася към някои педагогически аспекти на прилагането на конструктивистката парадигма за чуждоезикови уеб базирани университетски курсове. Представено е описание на курс по специализиран английски език на две нива. На макро ниво са описани целите, учебното съдържание, очакваните резултати, формите на обучение и оценяването. На микро ниво са представени елементите на курса в съответствие с избрания модел на описание на уеб базирано чуждоезиково обучение.

Кременска, А. (2009d). Изследване на мотивацията на студентите при смесено (blended) обучение по специализиран английски език.  Научна сесия „120 години ФМИ”, състояла се на 24.20.2009, София. Достъпно на http://journal.e-center.uni-sofia.bg/page.php?3  ISSN 1314-0086

This paper is an attempt to present the whole process of designing web-based language courses on the grounds of three established models: PREEL (developed in the Institute of Education, London), Community of Inquiry Framework (Garrison), Beetham’s four staged of course design. In the second part, the stages of the design of a particular course in Academic Writing are described and illustrated. The third part contains comments on the piloting and evaluating of the course, and introduces criteria and tools for evaluation of the blended learning course quality on the basis of established guidelines in the field.

Кременска, А. (2010d). Приложение на модели (PREEL) за дизайн на уеббазиран университетски курс по чужд език. Списание на Софийския университет за електронно обучение, 3/2010. Достъпно на http://journal.e-center.uni-sofia.bg/f/downloads/2010/Broi%203/Kremenska_Br3.pdf  ISSN 1314-0086

Статията представя резултатите от изследване върху влиянието на интегрирането на уеббазирани технологии в обучението по Академично писане (на английски език) за студенти от хуманитарни специалности. Данните получени от участници в магистърска програма демонстрират предпочитанията към предложените инварианти на дизайна на дейности и отчитат факта, че студентите поставят традиционното обучение и неизползването на технологии на последно място като възможност. На базата на анализа са указани потенциално ефективните технологии за представяне на: учебно съдържание, последователност на дейностите (занятие), дейности за групова и за индивидуална работа и оценяване.

Кременска, А. (2011). Изследване на влиянието на инвариантни уеббазирани дейности за целите на обучение по чужд език в Софийския университет. Международна конференция „Електронно, дистанционно...или обучението на 21-ви век”, 6-8.04.2011, София. Сборник научни доклади, стр. 260-268. Достъпно на http://journal.e-center.uni-sofia.bg/page.php?23