Year: 2016
Nature and spirituality in South India
October is not a fallen month in South India. Unlike in temperate lands, there is no surrendering of the leaves first to non-verdant hues and eventually to the ground. The trees don’t avert their gaze like they do in Paris in autumn, embarrassed by their state of undress
Commercialisation of spirituality
Ever since the Beatles starting chanting Om and Madonna started doing yoga, eastern spirituality has been quite fashionable and has been becoming even more so in recent years. While it’s no doubt good that people are taking up positive spiritual practices like yoga-asanas, the commercialisation of spirituality is undesirable and …
The one thing that grows the more you use it
We usually tend to associate use of something with its depletion. So our natural reflexes are to save, not expend beyond what we believe to be our means and to feel scared to use too much of a thing. But there’s one thing that only grows the more it is used and it’s intrinsic to meditation.
Aligning body and mind with yoga
The body is literally manufactured and sustained by mind.
– Parmahansa Yogananda (Autobiography of a Yogi)
The social impact of Demonitisation – towards a more equal society
I don’t usually write on current affairs but seeing as this current hot topic in India holds the key for great transformation of the society and ultimately human lives, I thought it relevant to share some of my thoughts on it on this blog. For those who don’t know what …
The right basis for action – enhance or dissolve?
To achieve or not to achieve? Is that the question?
And now, yoga
~ Excerpt from From Dior to Dharma by Shruti Bakshi. Available on Amazon. ***************Book excerpt start****************** Say what? I was already having trouble understanding the teacher’s German accented French, now I was supposed to understand her German accented Sanskrit! “Sit cross legged,” Michaela leaned over and whispered to me, translating …
From Dior to Dharma – an excerpt
An excerpt from Shruti Bakshi’s novel, From Dior to Dharma, Chapter 6: Burgundy Epiphanies: Enlightenment and Me?
Practical Meditation Tips
Do you know when the best time to meditate is? Or what you should wear for your meditation practice, how to sit comfortably and how to prepare your meditation corner? Check out these practical tips.
Empowering the feminine – a call from ancient times
On 2nd Novermber, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev gave a wonderful talk on ‘Empowering the feminine’ at an event organised by the Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO) in Delhi. It is a topic that’s close to my heart and I feel even more called to the cause after hearing Sadhguru speak about it. …
Why business school grads are wired for misery: Part 2 (lesson from the Bhagvad Gita)
This is the second post in a series in which I explore certain spiritual lackings specifically in the business and corporate world but more generally in modern society, based on my own experiences. If you haven’t read the previous post, please do so here. In this post, I talk about the second …
How the 4 yogas are the same
I’ve recently been pondering over the fact of the different spiritual paths in the yogic system, namely: Jnana yoga (knowledge/meditation), Bhakti yoga (devotion), Karma yoga (right action) and Kriya yoga (control of breath/life energy/prana). These paths correspond to the 4 aspects of a human being (in same order as above): …
The Divine Mother
Today is the first day of ‘Navratri‘, meaning nine nights, devoted to the Mother Goddess. This is one of the biggest festivals in India, perhaps second only to Diwali, the festival of lights. Having recently done a post on devotion, ‘The yoga of poets’, I wanted to take this opportunity to …
The Yoga of Poets
As has often been stressed on the Living-Wise Project, (e.g. see article What Yoga is Really About), yoga is not merely a set of physical exercises or postures. Yoga, meaning union, refers to any action that unites us with Consciousness. Many people may not be aware that there are four paths of yoga: …