Girish's Blog

The one vital duty incumbent on you, if you really love your religion, if you really love your country, is that you must struggle hard to be up and doing, with this one great idea of bringing out the treasures from your closed books and delivering them over to their rightful heirs. - Swami Vivekananda, Lectures from Colombo to Almora The occasion of the re-establishment of the Sri Rama temple at the Shri Rama Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya on 22 January 2024 is a time to reflect on and learn from Sri Rama's life as depicted in Valmiki's Ramayana. The source of much of the content below is the two-volume publication of Srimad Valmiki Ramayanam by the Gita Press, Gorakhpur. E thics vs Duty: The slaying of the demoness Tataka One of the first conflicts that Sri Rama faced was when the sage Viswamitra asked him to kill the demoness Tataka. One of the codes of conduct for a Kshatriya was not to kill a woman. Tataka was a Yasksa woman, capable of assuming any form at will and possessing at...

Democracy has spread into most aspects in our lives. What I mean by democracy is not just the form of government, but equal rights for all, no special treatment for anybody and equal access to opportunities. While this is not seen throughout the world and in all aspects of life, it is definitely a state towards which people everywhere are aspiring. The first change we have seen is of course in the forms of government. Over the last few centuries, monarchies have toppled everywhere. The American and French Revolutions, the industrial revolution, access to education and news of what was happening in other parts of the world sparked the movement from monarchies to democracies. As Egypt's King Farouk said: “Soon there will be only five Kings left-the King of England, the King of Spades, The King of Clubs, the King of Hearts, and the King of Diamonds.”  The United States Declaration of Independence stated:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, th...

The Art of Giving is based on knowledge compiled from the Gita, the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, the Ramayana and the Upanishads. Why give Sri Krishna says : They are verily thieves who enjoy their gifts without giving their share in return. What to give Swami Vivekananda:   In the world take always the position of the giver. Give everything and look for no return. Give love, give help, give service, give any little thing you can, but keep out barter. Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us.  What is needed in this Yuga is giving, helping others. What is meant by Dana? The highest of gifts is the giving of spiritual knowledge, the next is the giving of secular knowledge, and the next is the saving of life, the last is giving food and drink. He who gives spiritual knowledge, saves the soul from many end many a birth. He who gives secular knowledge opens the eyes of human beings to wards spiritual knowledge, and far below these rank all other gifts, ev...

 Searching for happiness in an e-commerce website  returns a never-ending series of books with views from businessmen, journalists, lawyers, academics, and monks. Many of them have been #1 bestsellers and then dropped into the long tail of the the cavernous warehouses waiting for someone to rediscover them. People not only want to read about finding happiness, they want to hear about it too - just search for Happiness on Spotify podcasts. The fact that every few months a new tome or podcast appears claiming to have the recipe for happiness, shows that each of the prior trailblazers have only addressed a small portion of the hunt for happiness, It seems that we are blindfolded, in the dark and searching for a object that we have not idea how it looks. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his seminal book, Flow: The Psychology of Happiness says:    “I shall argue that the primary reason it is so difficult to achieve happiness centers on the fact that, contrary to the myths manki...

The British Library in London has organized an exhibition that our "secular" government would most likely ban, The Ramayana: Love and Valor in India . Over 100 gorgeous 17th-century Indian manuscript paintings are on display in this major exhibition. The brightly-coloured scenes are packed with incident: battle scenes with 10-headed Ravana, the monkey kingdom of Kishkindha, white elephants and exotic flora, and finally the moment when Rama and Sita are reunited. This exhibition explores the story and how it has been retold over the centuries. It is still performed in dance, drama, and shadow puppet theatre around the world. This is reflected in our imaginative events programme.