When India is mentioned, the most frequent image most people get is of the Taj Mahal, but there is an India much older and not as well known, yet no less wondrous. A cultural tradition that stretches back to the dawn of mankind itself. This video captures an often overlooked aspect of ancient India. Read the rest of this entry »
On the night of 26th November around 11:30, I was sitting online chatting with friends. Then, someone told me there has been terror attack on Mumbai. I thought it must be another bomb blast. I did not feel any emotions. After hearing of blasts every other day in different parts of India, it no longer has much of an effect on me. I felt cold, but I did not bother to even switch on the TV. Later around 12 am, the same guy told me to turn on the news. So, I switched on the TV hesitantly, while my mind was thinking about the insensitive government we have. The first thing I saw was that ATS chief dead. There is a hostage situation in Oberoi and Taj hotels. Read the rest of this entry »
Ramakrishna Parmahansa is perhaps the best known saint of nineteenth century India. He was born in a poor Brahmin family in 1836, in a small town near Calcutta, West Bengal. He adopted the role of a renunciate and learned a no dualist form of Vedanta philosophy from his mentor Totapuri, a yogi. In this system, God is understood to be the formless unmanifest energy that supports the cosmos. Ramakrishna explained on different occasions that god is both formed and formless and can appear to the devotee either way. He died of cancer of the throat in 1886. Read the rest of this entry »
Every sage-teacher, like a writer, has his own style and certain favorite expressions. Besides choosing a poetic medium, Yogeshwar Krishn has also repeatedly employed and stressed terms such as action (karm), yagya, varn, varnsankar, war, sphere (kshetr), and knowledge or discrimination (gyan) in the Geeta. These words are invested with unique meanings in the context and are certainly not divested of charm by frequent repetition. Metaphysical interpretations of these words are must to know to understand exactly what Sri Krishn intended in fact to preach to entire mankind. Read the rest of this entry »
All saints say more or less the same things: nobody wants wars, conflicts or aggressions, but still these are the things that go on everywhere. It is instructive to see two entirely different people advise the same thing. The famous Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, in his 1973 song “Live and Let Die,” expresses a message similar to that found in the Bhagavad Gita. This was a song, he was commissioned to write for the James Bond movie of the same name. For reference I will use the Bhagavad-Gita, translated in English by Eknath Easwaran and introductions written by Diana Morrison. Read the rest of this entry »
