Posts

On the Himalayas - Swami Ashokananda

 Swami Ashokananda, one of the preeminent monks of the Ramakrishna Order was the editor of their journal, the Prabuddha Bharata in the 1920s before he went to San Francisco where he lived the rest of his life at the monastery there. In the editorial of the January 1927, he has a wonderful passage on the Himalayas which evokes not only the beauty of the mountains but the spiritual significance it has for Hindus no matter where they live. He writes: As we write these lines, the snows are falling, falling steadily around us in the midst of a preternatural silence. The hills have become all white and the plants are covered and overladen with white flakes. There is not the slightest breath of wind, and the silence is so profoundly deep that we seem almost to hear the whispers of the gods, and to gaze on the effulgent white form of the Great God Shiva in the inner-most depths of meditation. We are no longer on the earth, we seem transported into the very heart of the Absolute! Wonderful ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Hindu Un-Manifesto

A manifesto typically puts out the the main points of belief of an organization or a movement. What this un-manifesto aims to do is to call out the things that Hindus do NOT believe in. Why is this relevant? Hinduism is a vast tree that has evolved over the millennia and it is embedded into every aspect - from education, arts, crafts, medicine, and statecraft. It is difficult to have a single book encompass the vastness of this. So rather than saying what Hinduism IS might be easier to say what it is NOT.
Post a Comment
Read more

European Travelog D4E2: The Labyrinths of the Louvre

Image
The Louvre is justifiably the most hyped museum in the world. It's got stuff, it's got history and it has an impeccable building to show off. Of course, many parts of the collection owe their origin to the Napoleonic looting of art that happened in the late 18th century, just as most of the British Museum in London was populated with loot from their colonies. The Louvre itself started life as a fortress in the 11th century, was transformed into a palace, and after the Revolution became a national museum. The numbers are staggering. It has close to half a million objects of which less than a tenth are displayed in over 750,000 square feet and it is estimated at at 30 seconds per object for 8 hours per day, it would take 36 days to view the entire collection.  Our first sight is the La Pyramide Inversée - the inverted pyramid. Appearing to float tantalizingly above the ground, it's the same size as the famous Pyramid outside the Louvre. Designed by I M Pei, its modernity and ...
Post a Comment
Read more