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By Sonavi Desai [Gandhiji’s favourite bhajan, Vaishnava jana to, was composed by the 15th century poet-saint of Gujarat, Narsi Mehta.] Narsi Mehta, the 15th century poet-saint of Gujarat, began his spiritual journey with a highly mystical experience. One day, walking to the forest in deep contemplation, he came upon a secluded Shiva temple and sat down to pray. He spent seven days there, without food...

By Utkarsh Patel Indra and Surya are both important deities of the Vedic times. However, both are pitched against each other in the epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Let me explain this with the help of two myths from the two epics. The first one is from the epic Ramayana, related to the Kishkindha episode. Sugriv and Vali were brothers and Vali was...

A long cherished dream was coming true – on 11th September 2016, my husband and I embarked on our pilgrimage to the holy Kailas-Manasarovar. From Kochi to Delhi to Kathmandu. Then to Nepalgung, and further to Simikot. The next leg was by helicopter; it just landed on pebbles scattered everywhere. As the helicopter took off, we were surrounded by the beautiful mountains of...

Tender and transparentLike a flame of earthen lampA silky wing of a butterflyA very thin, soft layer…Like an echo from a valley…The wind just passes through it,Like a shadowthat passes through everythingWithout so much as a touch. .Gentle,Gentle like nothing…like breath…Aimlessly flying aroundMoving without  direction..all overLike the chirping of sparrows at dawn…A thin,a very thin layerA flame, an echo,a whisper,or a breeze…Life...

By S. Theodore Baskaran Nearly fifty years ago, to be precise in 1969, I was at Devarayan lake, about 15 km from where I lived in Tiruchi. It was a misty December morning. I was crouching by the bund, when a skein of bar-headed geese emerged from the foggy skies. Dropping their wings, they landed a few meters from where I was....

By Devasena Desai The world dragged me slowly into Alice in wonderland and I quite enjoyed the experience, everything was predictable, exciting and I was bestowed with luxuries. I could spend my time doing innumerable things and always labelled them as important the very existence of my happiness. But being born in the 70’s I knew that it is all just a...

By उदय कुलकर्णी १९६९च्या कधीतरी आधी आम्ही अमरावतीला राहत होतो तेव्हाची गोष्ट.  मी शाळकरी विद्यार्थी होतो. रुक्मिणीनगर ही अमरावतीतील मध्यमवर्गीयांची शांत वस्ती. तिथे शाळेतल्या मित्राकडे दुपारी क्रिकेट खेळायला आलो होतो. मैदान असं नव्हतं, परंतु मोकळी जागा होती तिथे आम्ही खेळत होतो. एका भक्कम बांध्याच्या गृहस्थांचे तिथे लूनावरून आगमन झाले. त्यावेळेस अमरावतीत लूना या अगदी छोट्याश्या दुचाकी वाहनाचा इतका सुळसुळाट झाला होता की अमरावतीनगरी...

By Dr.Prasenjit Sen The awakening call, “Arise, Awake and stop not till the goal is reached” by Swami Vivekananda had its magic effect in the mind of the youth at the beginning of the twentieth century. The country was in slumber, rose to a state of new consciousness and indeed the goal was reached in achieving the Independence of the country. Today,...

By Gayatri Pagdi This was somewhere in the early 90s. I was suffering from clinical depression and under siege of my own mind. I was desperate to be free, to live like everyone else with a normal mind. Along with medical help, I also constantly prayed to the divine to help me. At one point of time, along with my husband Praveen,...