Swami Vivekananda on Teachers and Teaching: It is an insult to a starving people to offer them religion; it is an insult to a starving man to teach him metaphysics. The whole gist of this teaching is that you should work like a master and not as a slave; work incessantly, but do not do … Read more
My notes from ‘Vedanta: Voice of Freedom” – a selected compilation from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. “Vedanta in Practice”, “Goal of Vedanta” and “Universality of Vedanta” – Chapter Highlights reproduced below: *** The less the thought of the body, the better. For it is the body that drags us down. It is attachment, … Read more
My latest book, ‘A Bend in the Road: Stories Inspired by a Road Trip’ is now available! Inspired by experiences on a Road Trip, A Bend in the Road is a thought-provoking, amusing and often surprising set of stories that will take you on a journey across India with a set of real characters and their somewhat imaginary stories. For lovers of short intriguing stories, this … Read more
Thimappa gathered the garbage with his shovel and pushed it on to the cloth sheet. It was at that time that he saw a small object shining through. He lifted one end of the cloth sheet and Santosh held the other end. Together they lifted the garbage, swung the sheet, and pushed the garbage into … Read more
“Tennis is a tough game,” Jigneshbhai said, wiping the sweat on his brow as he settled on his chair to have coffee the other day. Unlike our sojourn with badminton, the one with tennis never took off. Swami and I took our seats and ordered a cold coffee for a change. We couldn’t agree more … Read more
I see Ram Pyaare Yadav park his two-wheeler a few meters away from my shop. It is a three-wheeler actually, with brakes, gears, and the accelerator near his hand. There is a row of small chappal shops lining the lane at the end of which he parks it. Ram Pyaare Yadav doesn’t stop at any … Read more
“I hope I have not disturbed you in the middle of something that you deem to be more important than attending to the phone call of your retired, tired and a bit retarded uncle,” Jigneshbhai and I heard a voice on Swami’s phone when he put it on the speaker as his phone rang while … Read more
Swami Vivekananda on Rituals: In the world’s ritualistic symbols we have an expression of the religious thought of humanity. It is easy to say that there is no use of rituals and temples and all such paraphernalia; every baby says that in modern times. But it must be easy for all to see that those … Read more
The biggest challenge after I left my corporate job a few years back has been to do nothing when there is nothing to do. Not that when I was in a job, I had a lot to do all the time. But there was a constant focus on doing something. A lot of days even … Read more