The “Bhagavad Gita”: A Biography by Richard H. Davis My rating: 5 of 5 stars There have been many translations of the Bhagavad Gita, which is perhaps the most famous of all Indian scriptures, but this book is not one of them. Rather, Richard traces the journey of the Gita, from its oral renderings to when it appeared …
Bharata, or India, is not short of a miracle in itself. While Bharatvarsha has existed for thousands of years, it has seldom functioned as a single, unified unit. In 1947, India was created as a modern nation by reorganizing 530 odd princely territories into Part A, Part B and Part C states. In 1956, these …
Two important days coming up. The 77th day of our independence on the 15th (tomorrow), and Sri Krishna Janmashtami in the first week of September. Two events that shaped the future of our nation. The birth of Sri Krishna was an important pillar in the foundation of our spiritual journey, and obtaining independence from foreign …
The reading habit is fast dying…its decline hastened by, among other things, our decreasing attention spans (thank you Social Media) and availability of lesser alternatives (thank you OTT). Having said that, for many, reading has also made a transition – from paperback to electronic versions. I prefer the e-book mainly for its convenience (try carrying …
An elderly couple lived in great poverty, on the brink of a huge forest. They used to walk through the forest everyday, to gather firewood for their daily needs. One day, Shiva and Parvati were also walking through the same forest, when Parvati happened to see the couple. She was filled with compassion for them, …
I am a new parent, and so I am experiencing everything for the first time. A lot of questions that I had, are now being answered. A lot of thoughts that I had, are now been addressed. Everyone has heard this dialogue from their parents – You will know one day, when you become a …
Today is World Lion Day. And so here is a lion story! Education ranks lower than common sense, and so seek intelligence. Senseless Brahmins in their pride of being educated, made a lion, and then they died. “How did that happen”, said VairāgyaKumar. TruptaKumar replied… सिंहकारकमूर्खब्राह्मणकथा The story of the foolish Brahmins who made a …
“According to Manusmiriti, there are six policies of dealing with such an issue – Sandhi (peace treaty), Vigraha (war), Yaana (preparation for war), Asana (neutrality), Samsraya (forming alliances) and Dvaidhibhava (double-dealing or pretending to be friendly). So please discuss among yourselves and let us reach a consensus on how we are going to tackle this situation.” अपृष्टेनापि वक्तव्यं सचिवेनात्र किंचन ।पृष्टेन तु विशेषेण वाच्यं पथ्यं महीपतेः ॥ …
भोगा न भुक्ता वयमेव भुक्ताः, तपो न तप्तं वयमेव तप्ताः । कालो न यातो वयमेव याताः तृष्णा न जीर्णा वयमेव जीर्णाः ॥ bhogā na bhuktā vayameva bhuktāḥ, tapo na taptaṃ vayameva taptāḥ ।kālo na yāto vayameva yātāḥ, tṛṣṇā na jīrṇā vayameva jīrṇāḥ ॥ Vairagya Shatakam by Bhartṛhari Pleasures aren’t satisfied, only we are consumed by our …
Physics describes patterns in spacetime that correspond to particles moving around. If the particle arrangements obey certain principles, they give rise to emergent phenomena that are pretty independent of the particle substrate, and have a totally different feel to them. A great example of this is information processing, in computronium. But we’ve now taken this …
