How Can We Matter

We are all busy with the " struggle for existence " that refers to the competition for resources needed to survive, which can occur in human society or in nature. This survival process is best elaborated through a story. The Cow and the Tiger Once upon a time, a cow went to graze in the jungle. Suddenly, she saw a tiger racing towards her. Terrified, she fled, fearing the tiger would catch her at any moment. Desperately searching for a way to escape, she spotted a shallow pond. Just barely evading the tiger’s reach, she jumped into the pond, and in the heat of the chase, the tiger blindly followed her and fell into the pond. To their dismay, the pond where they landed was filled with deep mud. After tumbling over each other, the cow and the tiger found themselves stuck in the deep mud up to their necks, unable to free themselves despite their struggles. The tiger snarled at the cow, roaring, “I will enjoy crunching your bones between my teeth!” Do you have a master? Furiously...

Ishaara Restaurant Yesterday, we went to a unique restaurant by name Ishaara in Phoenix Marketcity, Bangalore. In order to understand what is exclusive about the restaurant you need to know the meaning of its name. Ishaara, a name steeped in Hindi heritage, means "signaling", "signs", and "symbols". Ishaara can also mean "hint", "clue", or "gesture" in Sanskrit. The Ishaara Menu From the outside, Ishaara appeared to be a fine-dining restaurant with elegant and alluring decor. When we sat down, we were presented with menu sheets of 11" x 17" size. At first glance it was a typical à la carte menu with separate prices for each item; an extensive list comprising dishes from across several regions of India. Ishaara Menu Initially I was concentrating on the different categories of food, several items under each category, their descriptions, and prices - in order to get a general idea about the value and quality of the off...

I am presently attending an online program of 40 days entitled Atma Chalisa Parayanam , conducted by Shri Vikas Varma. It is a spiritual practice for self-realization - a way of knowing ourselves and our life in a much better manner. Presently it is half way through and we, the program participants, are required to share our experiences in the group.  The learning process of this program involves three basic steps - Sravana, Manana and Nididhyāsana . Sravana is listening to what the teacher says very carefully. Manana is reflecting on what we heard in the class by trying to understand not only the superficial meaning but also the deeper meaning by reading in between the lines. Nididhyāsana is an extensive understanding of what we heard and reflected, probably by applying them in our life to reinforce the ideas and concepts and digesting them thoroughly. The final phase of this spiritual education, namely  Sakshatkara   (experiencing or realization) is when the contemplate...

I am not a religious person per se , but had taken keen interest in all religions, in order to understand their teachings, principles, common characteristics, and differences. As I was living in an Islamic country (UAE) for several years it was natural for me to find out more about the teachings of Islam . 

Woke up for my early morning walk to a new day in our lives, for a new view from our new flat, and one more day gone from our lives. Though every sunset gives us one day less to live, every sunrise gives us one day more to HOPE.  

An excellent book that I was fortunate to read recently, and write a review on! And I got 3 copies of the book as a reward, thanks to the author Visvanatha Krishnamurthy. 🙏☺

Watch a superlative performance by a 9-year old boy from Himachal Pradesh in front of superstar Amitabh Bachchan!

For those in the evenings of life, a 4-year period is a long duration with unhurried and slow changes.  But for teens, it is a period of accelerated learning on how to navigate 'change' in a fast paced world.

Can we find the truth behind any happening today? Political and commercial pressures have led todays' journalists to reconsider the value and meaning of objectivity. Is there an objective truth? 

Practise Dying! Yuck! What an eerie, strange, and frightening topic! Well, read on all of you, especially my senior comrades.

Yesterday I was blessed to receive an autographed copy of Professor Visvanatha Krishnamurthy's most recent book ' A Primer of Spirituality '. This was when I took my IIT Madras colleague, Prof K V Shantha Vasudevan, Retd Mathematics Professor of Miranda House University College for Women, Delhi to his house.

The words by a white American mother on Indian parenting set me thinking... What the American mother described as special qualities she observed in the children of Indian descent like being humble, intelligent, ambitious, focused, ... are fundamental characteristics of the Indian culture. 

If you believe in reincarnation or past life you know that your soul is immortal and that the only thing that is perishable is your body! Naturally, you might be curious to know who you might have been in the past lives. 

Thanks to Swaminathan Lakshminarayanan (VLS), I was able to locate and talk to my SAC-ISRO colleague Dr KS Rao, a Microwave Remote Sensing specialist, yesterday after a gap of 35 years! 

" Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. ” When you reread a book much later in life, it gives you newer insights; because you start seeing the world a little differently, as you get older. 

On this ' Eid Mubarak ' day, it is gratifying to listen to a speech on Bharathiyata (being an Indian), Sanatana Dharma (a way of living), and Arsha Bharata (Vedic way of life) by Dr MM Basheer , a retired medical doctor, scholar, and also a popular religious activist and speaker.

In today's context of the nation and people getting divided by the small-minded politicians and leaders with vested interests, I thought I shall share some of my personal experiences.

On Feb 26, 2019 evening PM Modi unveiled the world's largest Bhagavad Gita at Delhi's ISKCON temple. The giant book that ISKCON created weighs 800 kg, measures 2.8 m x  2 m , and runs into 670 pages! "Dubbed the Astounding Bhagavad Gita , it is billed as the largest principal sacred text ever to be printed," the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) said.

Is there any purpose or explanation at the core of our existence ? Is there God or any other transcendent force ? This is a rather long post touching on existential questions involving the meaning of life !  Well, if you are still interested read on.

Divine presence, presence of God, inner God, etc. is a concept in religion, spirituality, and theology that deals with the concept of a god "present" in human beings. We are all part of the human race and have the spark of God's light within us. All religions teach basically the same thing.