एकं सत्! Ekam sat!

The pursuit of सत्/ Sat or true knowledge of who we are is like climbing a mountain with innumerable trails all leading up to the same summit of knowledge.  To use this analogy for the four yog explained by Shri Krishna in the Geeta: Raj, Gyana, Karma and Bhakti, the Raj yog trail must be the most difficult and treacherous one on the cliff side of the mountain where a guide in the form of a guru is a must or there is great danger of the climber falling. Next in difficultly could be the Gnyan yog trail which is intense and perhaps the shortest path to the summit but it has many offshoot trails that can confuse, distract and lead one astray as the learner's ego too grows with the learning which can cause delusion. Then there is the Karma yog trail, a straight steady climb that may be tough sometimes but is still doable for everyone without doing anything extra. All that is required is just a change of perspective. Offering one's daily tasks in whatever job, profession they do, to...

A Sanskrit poet by name Daivajna Shri Surya Pandit (दैवज्ञश्रीसूर्यपण्डित) wrote a Sanskrit work by name “Ramakrishna Viloma Kaavyam (रामकृष्णविलोमकाव्यम्)” in the 14th century. The English-equivalent of the Sanskrit word ‘viloma’ is reverse order or inversion. This book has 36 shloka (a shloka is a Sanskrit verse or stanza). Each shloka makes sense both when read in from the beginning of the shloka to the end as well as from the end to the beginning of the shloka (a sort of palindrome). When each shloka is read in the forward direction, from the first to last letter, it describes Shri Ram and when read in the reverse direction, it describes Shri Krishna!  Here is the first shlok in that book: तं भूसुतामुक्तिमुदारहासं वन्दे यतो भव्यभवम् दयाश्रीः ।  श्रीयादवं भव्यभतोयदेवं संहारदामुक्तिमुतासुभूतम् ॥ Notice that the second line in the above shlok is simply the first line reversed! Given below is the पदच्छेद: and an attempt to translate the meaning in English First line (in forwar...

Yesterday at the SAATh festival , I was shocked and deeply offended as I watched the reading/performance of the play  " The misadventures of Lotus Brothers " whose script and direction was by Ms. Pampi Das. What deeply offended me is the blatant Hinduphobia rife in it coming from either a place of complete ignorance, at best, or mischief and malice, at worst.  There were visuals playing in the background with some art but what caught my eye is one banner that showed up that said "Hinduism is colonialism". What?! So the one ancient culture that survived 1000+ years of physical, emotional and psychological attacks and severe attempts at trampling and stamping it out of existence is now being labeled colonial?! Have you wondered why the Hindu culture is the most ancient in the world today? Because its peers were killed off. By colonialists. And no, these colonialists were not Hindu. In fact, not only did Hindus never go on colonizing campaigns trampling other cultures ...

Attempting a new series on "Mindful Conversations" which is me talking to myself! Sounds rather egotistic or self-centered, I know, but how can one explore the "Self" without being "Self-centered"?! I guess the difference is that one needs to be careful to not focus on the lower case "self" which is our physical/mental identity but instead on the upper case one, the limitless Paramaatmaa! The saints highly recommend this approach too. Sant Tukaram says in one of his abhangs: "तुका म्हणे होय मनाशी संवाद, आपुलाची वाद, आपणाशी" -- Tukaram says, the mind holds a conversation with itself, we debate with ourself. In another place Tukobaaraayaa (another name for Tukaram maharaj) says: "आपणचि तारी, आपणचि मारी, आपणचि उधारी आपणा" -- we only are responsible for saving or destroying ourselves, we only can uplift ourselves.  Samartha Ramadas Swami who was the spiritual and political Guru and advisor/guide of Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj has...

Unbelievable. That was the one word reaction I could give when asked after watching the movie, The Kashmir Files. It is unbelievable that we know so little about the scale of this exodus and genocide that destroyed the lives of half a million people. It is unbelievable how those of us who did know a little via the small amount of news coverage it got once in a while did not hold our elected government accountable asking them how an entire community becomes refugees in their own country, overnight, and continues to be even now 31 years later.  It is unbelievable how little we know about our history, not just the recent past of the Kashmiri Pandits but even our ancient past.  Why? Because we have been taught a different version, over generations. A version where we were the losers. The conquered. The subjugated. Slowly teaching us that this is what we deserved, this is what we've always been, second class citizens in our own land. The physical destruction started by the Mughals ...

Translating Jaati /जाति  and Varna/ वर्ण as caste is not only incorrect, it is completely misleading. Here's why. The Sanskrit texts refer to two words, one is  Jaati / जाति  which defines your or your familial profession/occupation which could be an engineer, doctor, jeweler, businessman, soldier etc. in the contemporary context.  Varna/ वर्ण  on the other hand is something entirely different. It has nothing to do with the family you are born in or any other aspect of your physical identity, but everything to do with your mental setup or Vrutti /वृत्ति.  Vrutti /वृत्ति  is loosely translatable as your mentality that makes up your  personality  that forms your  aptitude .  Vrutti /वृत्ति  is formed from your Sanskaar /संस्कार  and the karma /कर्म you do and these  Sanskaar /संस्कार feed back to shape your  Vrutti /वृत्ति forming a continuous loop .  Sanskaar /संस्कार  itself is a loaded term which essen...