Current affairs, spirituality, heritage & lifestyle.
One not uncommonly comes across the opinion today that India was never really a nation but that its nationhood was only recently invented by the British through their definition of the region as part of their empire. Similarly we are told that Hinduism was up to recently not a religion at all but merely various […]
The great Pandurang Shastri once said that that the most adharmic thing that anyone did in the entire Mahabharata was a message sent by King Dhritirashtra to Yudhisthir prior to the outbreak of the Great War. The message was along the lines of: “Dear Yudhisthir. You are righteous, but my sons are foolish and stubborn. You […]
Reflections on the conduct of the Pandavas during the Gambling Match I’ve often felt that while Draupadi was being humiliated by Duryodhana and assaulted by Dushashana in the court of Hustinapur; why did her mighty warrior husbands not get up there and then and then and fight? Also, while Yuddhistira was gambling away recklessly, why […]
The Mahabharata is acknowledged as being the largest of the world epics, and the largest work of literature created before the advent of the printing press. It contains close to 100,000 verses (*1), and a full copy of the Mahabharata is thousands of pages long. Yet it was not always so. The Mahabharata itself claims […]
Veda Vyasa is a legendary Hindu sage, whose very name is synonymous to Hindus with knowledge. According to traditional Hindu accounts, he lived at the end of the Treta Yuga and early Kali Yuga (the date for the beginning of the Kali Yuga is 3102BC). Veda Vyasa is accredited with compiling the Vedas and writing […]
“To an individual, family, nation or even to plants and animals, dharma is ones true place in the cosmic process. The eternal principle of dharma determines the harmonious functions of the cosmic machine. In order that we fulfil our role in the divine play we must carry out our dharma. That is, we ought to do the right thing, at […]
The Mahabharata is arguably the greatest work of literature in the world. No other work brings out the complexity of human problems in such a profound and entertaining way. It shows us the application of philosophy when it comes to deciding between the right and wrong in such cases where the answer is not straightforward. […]
Intro Hinduism has traditionally regarded four basic aims of life. These are called “Purusharthas”, and are as follows: 1. Kama (pleasure and desire) 2. Artha (material wellbeing and wealth acquisition) 3. Dharma (righteousness, duty and order) 4. Moksha (spiritual liberation, union with the Supreme) This article gives an overview and further insight into the Four Purusharthas. Fulfilling and Balancing the Purusharthas The civilisation of the […]
Were Lord Krishna’s war ethics, which involved a disregard for the pre-ordained rules of warfare, justifiable? Was Krishna unfair and biased in the way that he dealt between the Pandavas and Kauravas? These are common questions that are brought up against Shri Krishna, particularly with regards to the unflinching help he gave to the Pandavas in […]
Kalidas is widely acclaimed as the greatest poet and dramatist in classical Sanskrit literature. The biographical details of his life are shrouded in mystery, but popular legend as well as the odd clue from his poems hints to us that he lived in the Gupta Era, and may have enjoyed the patronage of Vikramaditya (Chandragupta […]
This article put another perspective on a phenomenon that no-one usually dares to mention without putting on a grimace of horror and uttering shrieks of indignation: Chaturvarna, usually mistranslated as the caste system. Let me state from the outset that I am a firm believer in the Vedic verse “All men are brothers; no one […]
Hindu Perspective 