GURU WON D ER

Any belief system or religion that discriminates or divides humanity into 'us versus them' is not a religion but a cult. True religion also known as Spirituality embraces all of existence, and not only respects but celebrates life. It recognises that Creation is infinite energy beyond description etc. It accepts the contradictions of our existence, good and bad, night and day, evil and good, flowers and thorns etc. It is not hostile to what is different nor does it discrimi

Depending on our experiences and our learning both formal and informal, religious, social or otherwise we come to generally believe in the East that 'I am a soul with a body' or in the West, 'I am a body with a soul'. Atheists believe different things or disbelieve almost everything. Who am I? Almost all of us will never know the answer though many will seek to know so we can only believe. I believe, 'I am nothing more than energy concentrated in the form of an eternal soul,

All organisations are political in nature and organised religions are just the same. This politicisation of religion by rulers, governments, politicians and priests, distances the individual from his or her spiritual quest. No organised religion can be exempt from this curse of corruption. Older the religion greater the corruption, and it must be rejuvenated from time to time. Over time a materially and spiritually rich India became spiritually parched by follies and weakness

With a greeting I presented my ticket to the young lady at the Check-in counter at Kolkata airport with a request to please allot me a window seat. She replied, "I am sorry Sir, but we have only middle seats left. Do you have any row preference?" I replied "It does not matter. Any row will do. There are no strangers, just friends, we have never met." The girl looked at me, surprised. Then she stood up and smiled, as she handed me my boarding pass. "Sir, that was so deep and w

Many people are worried that the vaccines now being used to inoculate people against COVID-19 Coronavirus are not safe. They ask, 'how could a process that usually takes 10 years be now completed in less than a year?' Were there some safety compromises made in bringing the vaccine to market so rapidly? Not at all. It is the result of great leadership, financial management, technology and coordination between everyone concerned and good old opportunism. Developing a vaccine is

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February 14th marks the feast of Saint Valentine. It is one of the most celebrated festivals in the Christian world and widely copied elsewhere. Caught in the intoxication of desire, love and revelry we are clueless as to the origins and significance of Valentine's day. Incidents become notes, notes become history, history creates legends and legends become myths. So it is with St. Valentine's day. The celebration began in ancient Rome as Lupercalia around 6th century B.C.E.

Politicians always claim to work for the benefit of the poor, and the opposition parties claim to save the people from from their own government. Farmers make up a large part of the electorate and actively wooed for their votes. Trusting and passionate farmers are easily manipulated. I recall the time when opposition politicians misled the farmers near Delhi stating that "The government is so evil, they have set up hydroelectric power projects on the river where they extract

In all societies, animal or human, communication is so vital, that without it, the society would simply collapse. We may not realise it but all communication is actually designed to get others to do something. Why is it that so much teaching and messaging never gets through and we fail to see any action? Erroneously most people believe that a broadcast is communication. A broadcast is simply the emission or sending a message, whereas communication is a two step process, where

A number of vaccines are now out to provide immunity from Coronavirus COVID-19 virus. The most popular are the Indian 'Covaxin' and 'Covidshield', Russia's 'Gamaleya', American BioNTech (Pfizer) and another from Moderna. Since data on Chinese vaccines is opaque and the great controversy surrounding them they have not been considered. Considering that a brand new vaccine created for a brand new disease rushed in and out of production, It is but natural that with so much negat

Every human being is preoccupied with three simultaneous quests. Knowing oneself, their relationship with their fellow beings and his or her relationship with an all knowing, all powerful super being we usually call 'God'. A God who will answer all our prayers, make our fantasies come true, cater to all our wants and free us from fear and distress. We have come to seek God in the most absurd of places. We look for God everywhere in our world, in crucifixes, shrines, stones,

The way people make a living, shapes the economic and social character of a society and determines their prosperity and success. Indians in general are clever and enterprising, which is often visible by the manner in which they respond to situations and exploit opportunities. When India gained re-independence in 1947, entrepreneurship witnessed a boom. A large number of people began some enterprise or the other. Many industrial and trading businesses mushroomed surrounded by

The so called 'secrets of success' are no secrets at all. They are actually keys consisting of attitudes, skills, knowledge and discipline. One of the keys to success in any and every field is managing processes. What is a process? A process could be defined as a series of actions directed to some end. We may not realise it but everything we humans do is a process. In fact, every human initiated activity whether by design or default is a process. Life becomes easy when we ha

Creation, life, death, the universe, love, hate, jealousy, desire, etc. each one of us it seems has countless questions about many aspects of our existence. In a sense everyone at heart is some sort of a philosopher. We delve into philosophy whenever we can, but the pressures of work, and society, formal education and entertaining ourselves leaves most of us little time to contemplate about or discuss philosophical issues. Modern existence is focussed primarily on material is

Wish you Happy, Happy ..., Happy This, Happy That. Seasons greetings, are more common this time of the year. Yet in spite of the brave faces and the plastic smiles, hardly anyone feels particularly cheerful or happy. Instead of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, the tone is definitely Merry Crisis and a Happy New Fear. Fear is driving a wedge between us. We have grown distant from one another over the past year and even more from ourselves, because of genuine but more so d

Conversations about stress and de-stressing, seem to dominate our lives. To talk about stress has become a fashionable but necessary need First thing to appreciate is that not all stress is bad. Without some stress we would not even be alive, an excess of stress incapacitates us. Too little or too much stress over a period of time can kill us. For a person to admit that he or she is not stressed is often considered an admission of non striving and the hallmark of a non-achiev

"The unexamined life is not worth living", a profound statement from the great philosopher, Socrates. From a practical stand point it is more relevant, that an un-lived life is not worth examining. A well lived life is not one of having possessed or consumed in excess, rather it is a life filled with experiences. Experience is something that touches the innermost depths of our heart, stirs the soul, pushes the body and challenges the intellect, permitting us to awaken and

Ever wondered what is this 'Rat Race'? Well this video provides a good idea. Many of us can relate to this depiction for the answer. We run in the race because of FOMO (fear of missing out). How can we escape the Rat Race? Simple. Don't run in the race, but what does that imply? We can escape if we focus on our needs rather than wants, because our needs are limited, whereas our wants are infinite. Our inner being speaks to us, telling us what really appeals to us, suits us a

A rain drop from the sky: if it is caught by clean hands, is pure enough for drinking. If it falls in the gutter, its value drops so much that it can’t be used even for washing our feet. If it falls on a hot surface, it will evaporate... If it falls on a lotus leaf, it shines like a pearl... If it falls on an oyster, it becomes a pearl... The drop is the same, but its existence and worth depends on whom and what it is associated with.” If we look carefully we will notice a ph

30th November 2020 was the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak ji, whose disciples are known as the Sikhs. A few acquaintances of ours wanted to accompany and join us in the celebrations of the Guru's birthday. So we set off for the 'Gurudwara', (Sikh congregation hall) where they could partake in the prayers and the singing of hymns and receive some prasad. I remembered a similar visit of Gurpurab about a decade ago. My chest expanded with pride, as I answered their questions ab