Sufi poet and philosopher Bulleh Shah (1680-1757) says: “Parh parh alim fazil hoya, kadey apnay aap nun parhya he nai.” Translation and meaning: A person becomes knowledgeable or a scholar by endless reading and studying vast volumes of books, but he might not have ever read his inner self. Bulleh Shah’s marked observation sounds like…
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SEEKING WORLD PEACE THRU DEMOLITION OF BORDERS AND DEATH OF COUNTRIES
I begin this essay with words of wisdom and sanity taken from ancient Hindu scriptures and a Tamil poem written 2500 years ago. 1. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: meaning the world is one family (Maha Upanishad.) 2. Yathum Oore Yavarum Kelir: meaning every place is my home town; everyone is my kith and kin (poet Kanian Poongundranar.)…
COMPLAINTS, PROTESTS AND ‘SHIKWA’
Poet Sahir Ludhianvi says, “Aasman pe hai khuda aur zameen pe hum, the God is up there in the sky, and we are down here on earth.” “Aaj kal iss tarf dekhta hai kum, nowadays, He sees less down this way.” Not only in recent times, He seems have not glanced for long, decades or…
HOW WE SPEND TIME
How do we use time from the morning when we get up till bedtime? The question is simple in its response by tallying all the activities from daily routine to daily grind with occasional or regular breaks of recreation and entertainment. Work, study, walk and exercise, eat and sleep, and the everyday chores, etc., make…
“WHO IN THE WORLD AM I?”
That is a big puzzle that confronts us once in a while. The question does not relate to our standing or relevance in society. Nor does it search for an identity amid people. Or in the company of living and non-living environments, the universe, and the celestial world. It is just establishing and developing the…
THE CASE FOR WORLDWIDE ABOLISHING Of THE ARMED FORCES AND DISMANTLING OF ARM FACTORIES
In this article, I’m not going into the genesis of the Russia-Ukraine war. Neither do I debate if ‘de-Nazification’ in Ukraine carries any rationality. Or Ukraine battles the Russians to save its democracy. And around in the region from the onslaught of Putin’s autocracy. But to briefly re-portray the very nature of war and the…
Mindfulness Meditation In Walking
What is walking meditation? Brooke Schedneck, Rhodes College For Thich Nhat Hanh, the late Vietnamese monk who popularized mindfulness in the West, walking was not simply a way to get from one place to another, or an activity to be reserved for a perfect forest path. It could be a profound contemplative practice putting people in…
In God We Trust:
The four-word phrase appears on all American currency. The fact is, rather than God, the Trust lies in honouring the printed value of a currency note as promised by the signature of the U.S. treasury secretary. God does not play any role in the legality of the legal tender. So why does God’s commitment inscribed…
Progressive Hindu Dialogue 