A Sanctuary of Peace Atop a Bangkok Hill
Nora von Ingersleben goes off the beaten track in Bangkok, soaking in the serenity at an old hilltop temple.
And Now, Yoga Day (Why 21 June ?)
Discussing the significance of Yoga Day being held at the summer solstice and also the importance of yoga in the world today. It is indeed time for yoga.
The Alchemy of Suffering and Freedom
In this artful piece, Shruti Bakshi and Subhash Kak contemplate the alchemy programmed into the game of life where suffering must be turned into freedom. The story of the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan) is used as a metaphor to understand the existential meaning of the suffering inherent life.
A Song for the Neuroscientists (Avadhuta Gita)
Newsletter #2 with thoughts on the desultory attempts by scientists to understand and interpret mystical/spiritual experiences (e.g. Arun Shourie’s attempt in his recent book Two Saints). Includes a weekly round-up and other LWP updates.
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.
The ‘As You Like It’ Generation
Shakespeare couldn’t have had a clue that his one line would one day become a way of life! But is it wise to want life as you like it? LWP’s new LivLite section will showcase some light and casual musings on life such as this one so we can be reminded to not always take life so serious!
“We Won’t Always Have Paris”
This first weekly newsletter (4 Jun 2017) by LWP discusses the global concern over environmental issues with the US pulling out of the Paris Agreement. A weekly round-up of LWP articles is also included in case you missed them during the week.
The Need for India’s Spiritual Light: invoking Sri Aurobindo’s vision
In our modern times of stress and uncertainty, India’s spiritual light is more needed than ever. This article revisits Sri Aurobindo’s vision which is chillingly relevant a hundred years on.
Social Media in a Spiritual Context
‘Spirituality’ and ‘social media’ are two words that don’t naturally sit well together for most people. In fact they would more likely be used in the same sentence only to point out the inverse relationship between the two in terms of popularity. But I’m here to put forth a very different view. I believe that social media, while it has wreaked havoc on human minds in many ways, also holds the potential to facilitate our spiritual evolution. Here’s why.
Winding through the streets of Sanskardhani, Jabalpur
An insider’s account of the city of the Marble Rocks, the jewel in the crown of Ma Narmadey…
What India can learn from La France in cultural promotion
Their ability to convert a tiny unknown village with little more than a church to its name, into a sought after tourist destination by creating leafy café studded promenades, cute (if sometimes gratuitous) museums and by disseminating ample literature on local history and culture as well as neat maps proposing quaint walking trails, reveals incredible…
Tweeting our way to reform
As of May 2016, India ranked as the country with the second highest number of Twitter users (after the US) at 41 million users (as per Statista). For anyone with a healthy appetite for political discourse, this should come as no surprise as tweets have become almost synonymous with official public statements. As someone who…
The only way to deal with uncertainty
We humans don’t like uncertainty. In fact, in a way, all our civilisations have been built as an endeavour to reduce uncertainty – from the granaries of ancient times that helped deal with harvest uncertainties, to the modern day cell phone that provides more certainty about people and things you care about; from corporate structures to…
The Living Ganga
Recently back from a trip to the Himalayas, the birthplace of the river Ganga and on the occasion of World Water Day, I take the opportunity to write about the river Ganga, the life-giving Mother of India.
Be original, truly
Reflecting on what got me into exploring spirituality, one important aspect was not being able to take as a given, most ‘conventional wisdom’ doing the rounds. You know the witty poster quotations and the inspirational one-liners or often two-word-ers like ‘love yourself’, ‘be original’, yada, yada. Instead of readily accepting these exhortations, I wanted to know why? And moreover, I was a little annoyed at having to take advice from other people in the sense of, why don’t I know these things myself? This kind of questioning led me into a deeper understanding of human life and purpose.
In this post, I want to discuss one of the flighty aphorisms that many of us have grown up with and which, perhaps as in my case, makes you think of a sports-wear advertisement : ‘be original’. But instead of taking its casual, up-front meaning, I want to explore a more spiritual dimension.