Finding Nemo

Mahabharata has many stories and many heroes. Some of the stories have been narrated to us from ages and are imbibed into our beliefs. However, there are a few stories that have lost the attention even though they have carried enormous amount of knowledge and meaning for all of us. One such story is of the greatest warrior Karna. Karna’s archery skills were as illustrious as his teacher Parashurama and other students of his teacher – Bhishma and Dronacharya. Having learnt the art of war from Parashurama himself, he was second to none. His skills were noted even by Bhishma and Sri Krishna. He was acknowledged as undefeatable and surpassed Arjuna on many counts except one – Sri Krishna’s closeness. Along with being a great warrior he was a great man of principles too. Devotion and principles were just as great assets to himself as his weapons. It was his devotion to his friendship that made him stand in the court of Hastinapur when Draupadi was disrobed. An act, that Karna regretted th...

I was listening to the radio this morning and was stuck with a nice quote – “I hate you since I do not know you.” Quite true, isn’t it? In the last few weeks, I read Rajiv Malhotra’s “Being Different” and listened to my all-time favorite Dr Devdutt Pattnaik. While their story telling is a little different, the central idea remains the same – “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder” and the measure of ugliness or beautifulness actually represents the mental state of the observer not the subject itself. Love, Hope, Fear, Hate are all the different attributes of human emotions that come into play when different people come in contact. Different mixes of these emotions help one formulate their stand during the interaction. This is the same concept as commonly referred to as “Stereotyping” or “Forming Opinions”. The interesting point however is which emotion is stronger? Like it or not the first default reaction of a human towards anything is of Fear. The fear of the unknown ...

On the occassion of Mother's Day, I would like to share a few lines that I read long ago. These words are powerful and meaningful. so HANDLE WITH CARE माओं को  मखमल पे रखो  झूला दो  फूलों पे  वे हैं आज  मगर होंगी कल ना  सोचो तब  क्या क्या  खो जाएगा  जीवन से ? सोचो ना ! फिर सोचो 

Once Dronacharya sent Yudhisthira and Duryodhana to go in the city of Hastinapura and bring to him the most corrupt of all citizens. Yudhisthira returned empty handed, while Duryodhana returned with so many prisoners that it needed him almost an army to control. Dronacharya was the teacher of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. He had a difficult job! He had two competing factions of students – Pandavas, who were trying to gain their excellence and kingdom that they lost upon the demise of Pandu; and Kauravas, who were hell bent on roving themselves worthy of the throne that their father Dhritrashtra sat upon since Pandu’s demise. Dronacharya’s task was to impart the education impartially and then choose the better successor for the throne of Hastinapur. So who should he choose – Yudhishthra, who found to corruptipn or Duryodhana, who basically ransacked the entire kingdom for the corrupt people? The question is much deeper than the visible statements. Yudhishthira fo...

I have been writing a lot about Brahma. But please do not assume my writing as if I am pro-Brahma or against Brahma. I am just trying to understand the universe created by him and the universe we all live in. As I said, the journey is my quest and not the goal itself, because there are many goals depending upon one’s thoughts and mights. Looking back at some of the ideas as discussed in the previous posts, Brahman comes from the summation of two words – Briha and Manas. While Brih means expansion and Manas means the mind. Thus I understand a Brahman to be a person who helps expand the mind. At the same time, he is able to expand his mind trough knowledge as well. The process of expansion is understood by the thoughts provoked and understood by the mind – which is the seat of thinking and imagination. Imagination is quite beautiful and also awful. Imagination helps the humans to understand their future and the life they want to lead within the realm of nature. Imagination also helps th...

I wrote about the fifth head of Brahma and also on understanding the Brahmin . Today, I just wanted to touch upon the same very topics with a fresh new idea! Brahma is the creator but is not worshiped. He is considered and is admired as a supreme God along with Shiva and Vishnu, but does not has any dedicated temple or even a faith for himself compared to Shaivites or Vaishnavites! However, wikipedia article  mentions a Brahma Sampradaya and very few dedicated temples for Brahma. Thinking of which, the question arises - why? Brahma in his quest for knowledge of his existence, created the anomaly called COMPARISONS and hence led to rat race we are all competing in even today. It was one such competition where in he lied to Shiva and Vishnu to have reached the end of and endless fire pillar (Shiva himself) to win over Vishnu. Brahma realizing his mistake, resorted to learning and enchanting Vedas to absolve himself. The Brahma Sampraday is dedicated towards extending the knowledg...

On the occasion of Navratri, we got together to venerate the forms of the goddess in our little girls. During the veneration ceremony, the girls asked us the meaning and significance of this festival. While there is a lot of information already available on this topic, I thought of sharing it one more time. Navratri is a festival celebrated for nine nights worshipping the Shakti or goddess Durga in different forms. Navratri festival is celebrated in many different forms all across India with basic belief of worshipping the primal energy – Shakti being the same. Of all the many stories around the festival, there two most prominent ones are as follows – During the Ramayana war, Sri Rama would cut Ravana’s head or limbs multiple times. However, Ravana’s head and libs would grow immediately causing despair to Sri Rama. It was said that Ravana had amrit or the nectar of life in his heart. At the same time, Ravana also had thoughts of Sita in his heart and hence Rama couldn’t aim at his...