I experimented with the proverbial Akhand Diya for the International Day of Yoga on 21st June, 2020. (here’s why & how) Since then the diya has been going strong. I have been able to manage the “akhand” or perpetual state of the diya quite well with only a few down times. I feel it has […]
Life
A Seemingly Random Triad, So Magical: Ayurveda, Agni, Aghora
This International Yoga Day of 2020, I explored an “Akhand Diya“. I planned to try to establish an unceasing diya for a few weeks to get an idea of it. As it happened, it is still ON 2 months later. These were the days of semi-lockdown. As many others in these days, I decided to […]
Ramana Maharshi’s Updesha Saram: Stanza 1: God’s will & Karma
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 […]
Doctors & Sant Sangati #1: Amba Hospital, Dada Bhagwan Ashram
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 […]
40 Life Lessons From Playing Chess
In Amdavad (Ahmedabad), I stay at the Dada Bhagwan Foundation ashram. A neighbourhood uncle, loves playing chess. And while I don’t play the game often, I do have a penchant for it. So the uncle looks out for me to play the game whenever I am there. He plays chess daily. Often more than one […]
6 AM blog post: My Efforts to Wake Up Early
A 6AM blog post to wake up early may be a fairly dumb idea. But I want to try it out nonetheless. I haven’t documented it here, but I have been looking to wake up early in the morning, consistently. Consistently is key, because I do wake up early on many days and do my […]
A Mahashivratri without Shiva
This year, I spent my Mahashivratri in Silence. This is not common for me. Every year since 2006, I spend it watching the SJV / Isha program via TV or web-streaming or live at the venue. Here’s how it happened, I was on my 2 month cycle tour in Thailand. This was during the Mahashivratri […]
Parents : A different viewpoint to ponder on
In our indic culture there is galores of stuff written and taught about parents. The most fundamental is respect towards older folks, specifically parents and grandparents. It is almost basic norm for us kids to touch feet of older folks. And some other respect related habits which only after seeing western or other very different […]