Tattva

A young college student is feverishly roaming around at Mumbai railway station. Reason? Simple enough—he has missed the train to his hometown in the state of Haryana. If he does not catch the next train which is in about half an hour, he will have to miss the marriage of one of his closest friends. What is the problem then? Why doesn’t he catch the next train? Before going any further, let us give him a name – Sidhartha. Read the rest of this entry »

Shaanthi, meaning “peace”, is a natural state of being. Disturbances are created either by others or us. For example, peace already exists in a place until someone makes noise. Therefore, peace underlies all our agitations. When agitations end, peace is naturally experienced since it was already there. Where there is peace, there is happiness. Therefore, everyone without exception desires peace in their lives. However, peace within or without seems very hard to attain because it is covered by our own agitations. A rare few manage to remain peaceful within even in the midst of external agitation and troubles. To invoke peace, we chant prayers. By chanting prayers, troubles end and peace is experienced internally, irrespective of the external disturbances. All such prayers end by chanting Shaanti thrice. Read the rest of this entry »

Our cultural motherland celebrated its 60th, ‘diamond’ year of independence this month. The past 60 years have quite possibly been the most tumultuous in our many-millennia-old history, with India rising from the status of the biggest jewel in the Colonial crown to being acknowledged on the world stage as a superpower in her own right. The rest of the world has much to thank India for: her material, intellectual and spiritual riches, all of which have benefited the world, not just her people alone. Read the rest of this entry »

When asked to think of scientifically advanced civilizations, most people think of Greece, Rome, and Europe. However, amazing scientific discoveries were also made in India thousands of years ago. In this article, we will explore some of the contributions that ancient India made in various fields of science.Scientific Knowledge in Vedic Times

Before the 16th century, the early Europeans believed that the earth was the center of the universe (Geo-centrism) and that it was created in the year 4004 BCE. After Copernicus’s and Galileo’s scientific investigations in the 16th and 17th centuries, they started believing in Helio-centrism, that the sun was the center of the universe. However, Harlow Shapely (1885-1972), an American astronomer, gave a big blow to this theory on April 26, 1920. He showed that the sun was not the center of our galaxy and that it was far on the outskirts of the galaxy (about 26,000 light years from the center). According to him, our position in our galaxy (the Milky Way) and the then supposed universe was eccentric. Today’s scientists believe that the universe is ever expanding, that it has no known center, and that the earth is millions of years old. Thousands of years ago, the ancient Vedic seers declared that the universe is “Ananta Koti Brahmanda,” meaning that the universe is made of billions of galaxies and heavenly bodies; this is very similar to our modern theories. In fact, many of today’s scientific theories match the knowledge documented in our ancient Hindu texts.

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