SIDH's Blog

Year: 2024

  • Intermediation

    by

    Arun Elassery

    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

    Arun Elassery

    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

    Arun Elassery

    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

    Arun Elassery

    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

    Arun Elassery

    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

    Arun Elassery

    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…

  • On Inadvertence

    by

    Arun Elassery

    The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Inadvertence as: a result of inattention. This word comes up many times in Nisargadatta Maharaj’s conversations collected together in ‘I am That’. I have been recently thinking that what Maharaj says about inadvertence or inattention gives pointers to a powerful spiritual practice. Take a look at the following excerpts and…

  • Learning is effortless

    by

    Arun Elassery

    Principle 1 of true teaching: Nothing can be taughtAll learning happens within the child. No teacher can have direct control over it. The teacher is a helper and a guide. They can only attempt to draw the attention of the student to where the knowledge lies and thus assist him/her to see it.– From ‘Learning…

  • Narayan Ashram Retreat

    by

    Arun Elassery

    I have just got back home from the SIDH retreat at Narayan Ashram. This retreat was unique in many ways. Firstly, Narayan Ashram set at an altitude of 9000 feet on the India-Nepal border is very difficult to get to. Our 35 participants arrived in many difficult ways but most of us reached Delhi from…

  • Materialism – The Cult of the Mother Goddess

    by

    Arun Elassery

    In a recent YouTube video, Dr Rupert Sheldrake discussed various aspects of matter. At around the 31 minute mark he proposed that Materialism, the worship of matter, was really the unconscious worship of the Great Mother. The relevant excerpt from the video is given below: “There is a mythological aspect of matter. The word ‘matter’…

  • On Tentativeness

    by

    Arun Elassery

    Lately I have been thinking about a child-like tentativeness in thought and behaviour as a desirable trait. I will quote two ancient Chinese sages and let them present the case for me. Take a look and let me know what you think… THE Sage has no interests of his own,But takes the interests of the…

  • Four Ideas on Education

    by

    Arun Elassery

    A friend with young school-going children was recently talking to me about education. Some ideas came up in the conversation that I thought were worth sharing here as this week’s blog post. Imagine a classroom with many children working on some set task and an adult sitting in the classroom busy with some work of…