As the year draws to a close, here’s a collection of the top 12 popular posts on LWP in 2017. Thank you for your interest, support and appreciation for this simple blog born out of a desire to share some wisdom to help people live more meaningfully.

In 2017, the first LWP Digest was also released in both e-book format and a glossy magazine format that would be a most beautiful addition to your coffee table. Click here to check it out.

In India we have different New Year days depending on the different regions and communities. Nonetheless, why miss the opportunity of the calendar New Year to remember to discard the old and ring in the new. Continually. Warm wishes for a joyous & prosperous New Year!

Om Shanti.

LWP’s TOP 12 of 2017

Vivekananda’s Message to the West and the Historic September 11 Speech

In 1893, Swami Vivekananda gave some of the most powerful speeches in history at the Parliament of World Religions. The speeches were an instant hit in America and still remembered the world over today. The article includes the text of his September 11 opening address at the conference.

Vedic Chanting: An Amazing World at the Intersection of Tones and Letters

Vedic chants are considered to be the oldest unbroken oral tradition in the world. They are incredibly sophisticated arrangements of tones and letters that have a profound impact on the consciousness of the listener. Here we have the fortune of having a trained practitioner and teacher of Vedic chants, Dr Sivaram Hariharan aka Sydney Kishore, who describes his experience of learning Vedic chanting and some of the technicalities involved.

Who is Krishna?

How can we understand this most colourful and attractive incarnation of the Divine? His exhalation is the Gita and his inhalation is the Leela, as Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev puts it. If we want to understand the nature of life, we must study the Gita but if we want to know the essence of Krishna, we must become his inhalation. We must approach with the devotion of Radha and Meera writes Shruti Bakshi.

India’s Struggle for Freedom and the Voice of God – Sri Aurobindo’s Speech

Sri Aurobindo played a crucial role in India’s freedom movement by raising the national consciousness. In this speech at Uttarpara in West Bengal, he talked about his communion with God during a jail sentence he served during the freedom struggle. The speech describes his realisation that nationalism had a spiritual purpose in India. It provides the context for Sri Aurobindo’s vision of raising India to raise Sanatana Dharma.

From Vedanta to Plato: the Deep Links between India and Europe

Vedanta and Plato. Mahabharata and Homeric poems. Venus and Vena. Kupros and Shukra. What’s behind the fascinating parallels? Professor Subhash Kak delves into the deep connections between India and the Graeco-Roman world which show up not only in language, but civilizational ideas, philosophy, mythology, astronomy and art. Read this insightful two-part series.

The Bhagavad Gita – the essence of India and its profound message for the world

Vedic teacher David Frawley explains how the Bhagavad Gita reflects India’s ethos and offers solutions for the human condition.

Details of the Infinite

Beloo Mehra walks us through the beauty and divinity of an Indian temple which is but an outer representation of the temple within. The sublimity of the Sun Temple at Modhera (Gujarat, India) comes alive in the lyrical prose and beautiful images infused with inspiration from Sri Aurobindo.