Published articles

Now is our opportunity https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/oasis/now-is-our-opportunity-1152763.html During a quick sift through my childhood treasure trove, I chanced upon my school autograph book. My class teacher’s note got me thinking: “Past is best forgotten, present is your opportunity, and future is your hope.”  In other words, the past is nothing but memory on a recall while the future is the act of conjuring up the next moment that is not here yet. They both come to our experience right now. The yesterday which is in memory brings both the good and the bad for us to brood over now. The tendency though is to gravitate in the bad experiences and bring it into the active pane of now. A death in the family then, an accident of  yesteryear that has healed, and so on makes us feel sad or insecure or angry now.   Unfortunately, the memory that operates in the past influences and shapes the current moment. The tomorrow i...

Lessons from an unlikely teacher https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/right-in-the-middle/lessons-from-an-unlikely-teacher-1149185.html   Sound of divine music and flute stopped me in my tracks during my evening walk, recently. I have lived in the neighbourhood for two decades, but never had I heard music this melodious. I was convinced that this was my imagination at play as I had my  earphones on and was listening to a live spiritual session as I walked. Going around on the same path, I heard the melody again on my second round. There was nobody else other than a goods auto, which was parked on a side road with its nose against the compound of a house. The rear of the auto had a tarpaulin cover.   The tiny window of the driver’s cabin had a brown shirt for a cover and windshield was covered with a make-shift screen. I could not see beyond those covers. On my third round, overcome with curiosity, I approached the parked auto. Yes, that was the source of the music. A...

Happiness is infectious Removal of sadness causes happiness while removal of happiness invites sadness. Which among the two is the one we strive for in this mortal life? https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/oasis/happiness-is-infectious-1144215.html My friend was ecstatic when she informed me that their daughter-in-law delivered a healthy baby.  But they experienced anxious moments when the baby arrived since the baby did not cry at first.  Babies do cry right after birth as they come out of a secure environment in mother’s womb.  They spit out the fluids that block their airway and fill their lungs with air, facilitated and manifested in the act of crying. Adi Shankaracharya’s Bhaja Govindam verse explains thus: Being born again, dying again, and again lying in the mother’s womb; this samsara is extremely difficult to cross over. Save me, Oh Lord, through your infinite compassion. A learned Guru once explained that the baby cried saddened by its re-entry into th...

Matters of the mind Our state of (un)happiness can be attributed to the mind as a result of our actions which shape an outcome https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/oasis/matters-of-the-mind-1134687.html Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said: “Bondage is of the mind; freedom too is of the mind. If you say ‘I am a free soul. I am a son of God who can bind me’, free you shall be.”  Right said Thakur, an enlightened being who was born with a mortal body like all of us!   When I first heard this, it had to be repeated umpteen times to wedge open the door of my reservoir of  ajnana . The quote addressed the mind.  Before we read an Oasis article, our mind concocts its content and a compelling story from its title. With early involvement of mind – a subtle entity associated with each Jiva with an ability to expand beyond the brain folds to the faraway horizons , it functions to make us aware of the world and its myriad of experiences. Our state...

From darkness to light https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/oasis/from-darkness-to-light-1125488.html In a spiritual journey, the absence of knowledge or wrong knowledge of the Supreme makes us ignorant of the absolute truth and keeps us in darkness. Aren’t we the self-effulgent light so beautifully brought out by Adi Shankaracharya in his Eka  Shloki ? Do we experience darkness?  The answer is in the affirmative. After sunset, if there is a power shutdown, we plunge into darkness. But upon the passage of time, our eyes naturally start to adjust to the ambient light and things around us start to appear albeit a bit hazy. Do we know we are in darkness?    One evening as I prepared to enter a park from a well-lit street to walk along its tiled path, it appeared extremely dark. Nevertheless, as I entered my eyes adjusted to the surrounding which became visibly clear.  It was my mind that cognised the absence of light inside the park as darkness. We requir...

Finding milk https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/finding-milk/article65503554.ece   Being happy with what we have leads to satisfaction. The process of making ghee at home is one such instance, though it involves patience. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, cows were brought at dawn in front of our home. Family members, both young and old, would be out there to witness the milking. A few years later, however, it stopped and cow milk came to be delivered at the doorstep. The milkman knew us all, and if it was me at the doorstep to collect the milk poured into our vessel from a huge can, he would ask, “Is Amma doing allright today?” I would in turn have asked why his little daughter is here with him instead of attending school? Phew, how much we knew about each other’s family, without the help of Facebook. When warm milk in the vessel is boiled on the stove, a layer of cream is formed — if the cream was thicker, the assumption was that the milkman mixed less water. The question then...