Year: 2024
-
Notes on Stepping-Out
by
(Based on a series of WhatsApp posts over the last few days) Modernity is embedded in the systems we are compelled to live in. Systems we cannot do anything about. That is a fact. More importantly, at the level of perceiving (drishti), modernity creates drishti doshas. Something can be done here at the individual level.…
-
Inaction Is Happiness
by
(The following are two excerpts from chapter 16 – ‘Mending the inborn nature’ and chapter 18 – ‘Supreme happiness’, from ‘The Complete Works of Zuangzi’, translated by Burton Watson. This is the third and final blog post of collected excerpts from this 2400 year old prose-poem by the Chinese sage Zhuangzi aka Chuang Tzu. Hope…
-
The Perfect Man
by
(The following is an excerpt from chapter 13 titled ‘The Way of Heaven’ from ‘The Complete Works of Zuangzi’, translated by Burton Watson. The book is a 2400 year old prose-poem by the Chinese sage Zhuangzi aka Chuang Tzu. I had shared a long excerpt from the book last week and I thought that I…
-
The Empty Boat
by
(Recently, on the SIDH WhatsApp group someone shared the translation of a 2400 year old prose-poem by Zhuangzi aka Chuang Tzu. I tracked down the original and thought it would be nice to share it here as a blog post. The following is an excerpt from Chapter 20 titled ‘The Mountain Tree’ from ‘The Complete…
-
Anubhav Se Judna
by
शब्द एक ध्वनि है। लिखें तो एक आकृति है। अस्तित्व में अनेक ध्वनियाँ हैं। कोई भी आवाज़ एक ध्वनि ही तो है। इसी प्रकार बहुत सी आकृतियाँ होती हैं। पर कुछ एक ही ध्वनियों का कोई खास अर्थ होता है। अनेक ध्वनियों का कोई अर्थ नहीं होता। इसी प्रकार आकृतियाँ। जो ध्वनियाँ और आकृतियाँ किसी…
-
Apne andar dekhna
by
अपने अंदर देखना। कितनी बार सुना है, पढ़ा है इस तरह की बातें। हमारे देश में तो आधुनिक गुरुओं से लेकर पता नहीं अतीत में कितने ही महापुरुषों ने ऐसी बातें की हैं। पर अंदर देखना क्या सिर्फ ‘निरपेक्ष’ संवेदनाओं, सांसों का या विचारों और भावों का ही होता है या इससे ज्यादा भी कुछ…
-
Intermediation
by
When I was growing up in a government colony, we had a grassy ‘ground’ between the rows of two-storey flats. This meant that in the fifty or so homes surrounding the ground there were enough children to play all sorts of games. The grassy ground was large enough to allow us to play football and…
-
India Wins the 2024 T20 World Cup
by
India beat South Africa by seven runs in Barbados to win the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup. I thought it was fitting to have this week’s blog post showcase the confidence that this unbeaten team showed throughout the tournament. The following are quotes from two of the Indian team stars. . . . Question: aakhri…
-
Ramana Maharshi on Mind
by
Maurice Frydman, who edited and compiled Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Marathi satsang recordings into ‘I Am That’, was also a devotee of Ramana Maharshi. Some of his dialogues with the Maharshi are available in a slim book called ‘Maharshi’s Gospel’. The following excerpt about the ‘mind’ is from this book. Devotee: How can I control the mind?…
-
Ramana Maharshi On Silence
by
Maurice Frydman, who edited and compiled Nisargadatta Maharaj’s Marathi satsang recordings into ‘I Am That’, was also a devotee of Ramana Maharshi. Some of his dialogues with the Maharshi are available in a slim book called ‘Maharshi’s Gospel’. I found out about this book recently and quickly bought myself a copy. Take a look at…
-
Rushing through life
by
I was recently on a superfast night train from Bangalore to my hometown in Kerala. I got up just before dawn and stood looking out of the door watching the land slowly wake up from sleep. The train was travelling very fast as we raced through the monsoon-wet, lush-green landscape. Nearby, streams wound their way…
-
A Self-Sufficient Civilization
by
In 2017 Dr Claude Alvares gave an entertaining, hard hitting talk at NIT Kozhikode about the disconnect between the subjects we study in college and the reality that we inhabit outside the classroom. We are a self-sufficient civilization, said Dr Alvares towards the end of this talk. This and many of the themes he highlights…