In the nineteenth century Emerson echoed the voice of Socrates and Montaigne and went beyond the notion of self-consciousness to self-reliance. Other new age gurus like Gurdjieff, J.Krishnamurti and D.T Suzuki made self-consciousness, the basic premise of their systems of esoteric philosophy. In this history of the idea of self-consciousness, one name was missing. That […]
The story of self-consciousness is very long. It is in fact, as ancient as humankind. For the unique and special characteristic of humans is their self – consciousness. Man was the only animal who turned his gaze inside and saw his own self, mind and ideas. This reflective consciousness was the cause for the birth […]
The ancient civilizations created by Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romanians, and Indus Valley people are well famous in the world. Our ancient Tamil society is another such civilization that equaled the above civilizations. Our civilization gave the world the famous Sangam literature. Sangam literature is an immense treasure trove that provided many values to […]
As a Hindu, I am proud of certain things. My country, the ancient land called Bharatha was always tolerant towards all religious and ethnic groups. In the last millenniums, persecuted masses from various corners of the world have rushed to this blessed land seeking asylum and they have never been turned away. More importantly, they […]
On October 2nd 2019, the 150th anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi’s birth, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised both his supporters and detractors with a pean to the Mahatma in, of all newspapers, the New York Times. Mr. Modi heads a government that is ideologically linked to organizations that inspired Gandhi’s assassin and elected, recently, a […]
Jammu and Kashmir has faced many wars, terrorism and people’s protests ever since India gained independence. Today, this land is encountering another major political challenge. A state, which was given special status, has lost its special status, and moreover, has lost the status of a state, being split into two Union Territories. The political leaders […]
A young composer stands by the lift in his apartment building. He is fully dressed and carries a briefcase with him. He sheepishly nods his head and smiles to his neighbors who spot him there. His attempt is to pull a facade that he is waiting for the lift to come. Luckily for him there […]
Montaigne was a voracious and efficient reader. He took notes of whatever he had read. He collected them and classified them – anecdotes, ideas, strange facts and whatever was new and would startle the reader. He used all the knowledge he had garnered from his studies. “Read to use” was the famous dictum of Francis […]
Dust of Time Ubiquitous dust receiving erasing shape-shifting life’s footprints overcrowded never-ending yesterdays’ dust. Even distant snow mountain that turns to scorching stone on approach gives way to molten carcass of blood-red dust once crossed. I scooped up dirt and flung; It fell into my eyes irritating days reeking of minutes. Time and […]
The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides: Alex Michaelides is born in Cyprus to a Greek father and English Mother. Michaelides now lives in England. He is a screenplay writer. The Silent Patient is his debut novel. Story: Alicia Berenson is thirty-three years old. She adores her husband Gabriel. Gabriel is a photographer and Alicia is […]
Question: What is enlightenment? Answer: Again this is one of those words that have come from India – to be enlightened. To be enlightened about what? Please let us be rational. For instance, one is enlightened about one’s relationship with another. That is, one has understood that one’s relationship with another is based on one’s image […]
Question: What do you mean by love? Krishnamurti: We are going to discover by understanding what love is not, because, as love is the unknown, we must come to it by discarding the known. The unknown cannot be discovered by a mind that is full of the known. What we are going to do is […]