How To Setup An Akhand Diya

akhand diya etymological meaning

This International Yoga Day, I started on a challenge to set up an Akhand Diya. “Akhand” implies unceasing, so a lamp that remains lit for decades if not longer. But I wasn’t aiming for a decade or anything that grand (Phew!). I basically wanted to keep one lit for a few days. So that I […]

Purush, Prakriti & Stri?

Today morning spark, as I was listening to someone talk about Purush – Prakriti, I realised that this premordial soup from which all existence began, came so much earlier. Way before all this male-female drama on the planet specifically in the human society. The chronology of this duality dance, First there was an Ishwara or […]

International Yoga Day 2020 Challenge: An Akhand Diya

a small lamp in my house

The International Day of Yoga is pretty significant for me. Every year, I do something to commemorate this day. The earlier years, I took up ambitious challenges like 108 Surya Namaskars and in recent years, I find myself quite caught up around this day so I take up smaller challenges like a cycle ride in […]

Milk Consumption & Related Animal Cruelty: So Many Points To Ponder On

Milk Consumption

Sadhguru recently answered a devotee on why milk is used despite the torture to the cows. Paraphrasing, he said that if they aren’t kept for the milk, then they will be sent to the slaughter house. As expected, it caused some outrage in vegan groups. I had experimented with being vegan a few years back. […]

What Decides Our Birth? Did “God” Judge Us?

God Judge Us

A lot of people say – “we get our birth as per our past life karma”. By itself is a simple enough statement. But there are many implications. One of them being that in a twisted way, privileged people sometimes justify not helping those poorer to them as per this reasoning. “It was their own […]

Ramana Maharshi’s Updesha Saram: Stanza 1: God’s will & Karma

Ramana's picture standing in forest and Updesha Saram stanza 1.

In my 3 months at Tiruvannamalai, I came across Ramana Maharshi’s Updesa Saram, literally it means the essence (saram) of his teachings (updesha). It became very dear to me very quickly. And I spent quite some time delving into it. Spending time in the amazing Ramana Maharshi ashram, I went through the entire song word […]

A Regret Requires Many Judgements

There are some matters where my thoughts differ significantly compared to others. One matter is that of Regrets. Regrets don’t make sense to me. However, other people seem to take regrets for granted. There is always something. “If only I had studied English in school then….” , “If my father would have allowed….” , “If […]

Janta Curfew & Social Distancing: A Tremendous Experience

Social Distancing

The day of Janta Curfew was an amazing one for me. The large public mass of India stayed at home, voluntarily. As soon as I woke up that day, the deep silence in the neighbourhood was palpable. It was not a day just like any other. People were tweeting pictures of how birds and other […]

Doctors & Sant Sangati #1: Amba Hospital, Dada Bhagwan Ashram

Manav Mandir, Amba Hospital

My thoughts and emotions towards doctors hold a fair bit of anger, disappointment, resentment and much frustration. The Allopathy doctors – the most common ones, with the whole medical infrastructure of testing and clinics and pharmacies all over the place. A few conversations with friends or not-so-much-friends who sneered at any alternative medicines. And claim […]

Should Women Go To The Crematorium When Loved Ones Die?

Many years back my Grand-dad died. It was one of the closest deaths for me. Other deaths had taken place but either I was too young, or I personally didn’t feel a major connect with the person. So this was one of the closest deaths for me. Naturally, I went with the men folk to […]