Meditation can be harmful – and can even make mental health problems worse Miguel Farias, Coventry University Since mindfulness is something you can practise at home for free, it often sounds like the perfect tonic for stress and mental health issues. Mindfulness is a type of Buddhist-based meditation in which you focus on being aware of…

This is one of those pieces of mine that reads quietly but stays loudly in the mind. 18th-century Sufi poet and philosopher Baba Bulleh Shah placed self-knowledge far above scholarly accumulation. He warned that one could drown in books, and still remain a stranger to oneself: Parh parh alam te faazil hoyaTe kaday apnay aap…

I recall that, years ago, when I undertook a pilgrimage to a sacred shrine in India, I obtained a special permit to have my ‘darshan’ of the deity. The privilege obtained through personal ‘connection’ enabled me to bypass the miles-long queue of devotees behind me, who had been waiting for hours. Contrary to my pious…

Does Everything Have Consciousness—Or Only Us? Promod PuriDecember 2, 2025HinduismEdit”Does Everything Have Consciousness—Or Only Us?” Post navigation Previous What is the difference between you and me, and a spoon, a table, a stone, or any object or thing? All are physical matters. But we have consciousness; others don’t. Or maybe they have it, which we don’t assume….

Our mood, nature, style, and behaviour shape how we understand and interact with our family, friends, situations, and the society around us. A significant part of this comes from our physiology—the biology that underlies how the body works. This includes the physical and chemical processes, hormone activity, and brain functions that influence our level of…

Langar, the 500-year-old tradition introduced by Guru Nanak, is among the most sacred and transformative pillars of Sikhism. More than a kitchen and more than a meal, langar is a living expression of radical equality. As Guru Nanak declared, “Na koi bada na koi chhota”—no one is high, no one is low. The word langar…