Many amongst you would remember the story of DharmaRaj and the “Yaksha Prashna” (Questions of the “Yaksha*”). I stumbled on these questions a few weeks ago on a Dr Srinivasan’s website . Dr Srinivasan has used the “Yaksha Prashna” as an anchor to write a primer aimed at inculcating moral and ethical values amongst the young and the children. I had almost forgotten this story until I re-read it a few weeks ago. It is a story worth telling. Some excerpts from “Yaksha Prashna” by Dr A Srinivasan
This episode is …

The final part of  “What is Dharma” by Harapriya. Today, can one fight a dharma yudh against adharma?
*** What is “Dharma”? – Concluding Part by K Harapriya ***

Can one fight a dharma yudh against adharma?
The Mahabharata gives a pretty clear answer —-yes, we can fight a dharmic war mostly although some acts of adharma will be committed.
This will seem like equivocation to most people because we tend to believe two prevailing myths:   one, that dharmic people should be held to much higher standards than the totally adharmic;   and two,  that …

Continuing from Part-I that appeared earlier this week. Today, lessons from the MahaBharata.
*** What is “Dharma”? – Part II by K Harapriya ***

Lessons of the Mahabharata
One epic which still holds profound lessons for us,  is the Mahabharata.  Here is an epic where a central character, Duryodhana, is an ambitious king who seeks wealth and power.  These desires, in themselves,   are the hallmark of a kshatriya and therefore befitting a king.  He, as the first born son of the first born Dhritarashtra ,  considers himself the rightful heir to Hastinapura.  Leaving …

Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this guest post on “Dharma” by K Harapriya. I will be posting this in three parts. At the outset, I am grateful to her for a very well articulated exposition of a difficult concept. Please read and share widely. Today, a definition of “Dharma” and the role of Itihaasa in the Hindu value system (formatting and emphasis is mine).
*** What is “Dharma”? by K Harapriya ***

In the last great battle of the Kurukshetra war, Bhima is engaged in a fight to death …

The first post of 2010 – a brief excerpt from Chapter 3,  The Way of Action (emphasis mine):
Arjuna asked:
Hey God, if you feel that, wisdom is superior to action,
Why are you pushing me to do this savage war? 1
You seem to enchant my brain by your conflicting words,
Please tell me decisively that, by which I will get fame. 2

Lord said:
Oh sinless one, in the times ancient, I had taught
Two distinct ways of paths to follow,
The path of wisdom for the discriminatory and
The path of action to those performers of action. …

Courtesy, Sridhar Pai:
The MP High Court orders government *not* to make Surya Namaskar and Pranayam mandatory for students…
…even as yoga for kids is now being taught in studios from Minnetonka, USA to Moscow in Russia.
Sigh.
.
Related Posts:
Super Brain Yoga – I want to trademark this!
High-Tech Pranayama
No more “Christian Yoga”
After Christian Yoga, Islamic Yoga*…

A few weeks ago, I came across Sanjeev Sabhlok’s article on how (and why) the ideas of liberty – so celebrated in the western world today – may actually have had their origins in India.
Sanjeev has lucidly argued for the case and there is really nothing much I can add – except to say that this aspect is certainly worthy of further research and will help us shape the pieces defining the extraordinary civilisation and culture that flourished milleniums ago in this ancient land.
Below, excerpts from Sanjeev’s article on …

This post on Raj-Dharma should be read as a sequel to my recent post on Dharma. Like the previous one, this too is a collection of excerpts and notes on the subject from a variety of sources. I am currently reading a long and thought-provoking article on Raj-Dharma by Dr V Nagarajan. I will post excerpts from that too – perhaps as Part III.
My first note is from a site curiously called Indian Officer. The excerpt below is a precis of Chapter XIX, “The Duties of a King” in …

To all my readers I owe a big apology. I have long been promising a definition of the word “Dharma” – a word that crops up every now and then in many discussions on this blog – and is also the part of my blog’s sub-title. But as I started to write this post, I realised that this should actually have been one of my first posts, if not the first. Anyways, better late than never.
As I began to do some background reading on this subject, I realised that it …

Thanks to Sh Ashok Chowgule-ji for alerting me to this excerpt from an interview of Prof Amartya Sen in a recent issue of Outlook (emphasis added):
Question: In your new book, The Idea of Justice, you speak a lot about the difference between niti (institutional justice) and nyaya (realised justice). Do you think we have too much niti in India and too little nyaya?
Prof Amrtya Sen: The short answer is yes. Niti has huge appeal and this applies to the great as well as to the non-great. In the Bhagavad …

Stumbled on this as I was cleaning up my archives and found it utterly fascinating…Pl. read on.
*** Excerpts from “Why Darwin was wrong about the tree of life” (emphasis mine) ***
In July 1837, Charles Darwin had a flash of inspiration. In his study at his house in London, he turned to a new page in his red leather notebook and wrote, “I think”. Then he drew a spindly sketch of a tree.
As far as we know, this was the first time Darwin toyed with the concept of a “tree of …

Start your weekend by reading about the “Renaissance man of India – Shri Aurobindo” – written by Shri Jagmohan (Former Governer,J&K), from which a brief excerpt:
Out of the stalwarts of renaissance, Sri Aurobindo emerged as the strongest champion of the Indian spirit and expressed the highest confidence in its underlying strength. In no uncertain terms, he declared: “India cannot perish, our race cannot become extinct, because among all the divisions of mankind it is to India that is reserved the highest and most splendid destiny, the most essential to the …

A beautiful parable for our times, courtesy Sh Anand Sharma who sent this to me in an email. Extracts follow.
*** The Importance of Small and Power of Insignificant ***
Those Hindus who have studied Ramayan or listened carefully to the particular episode of construction of Setubandh Rameshwaram, may recollect that there is one instance when the big monkeys were carrying in big stones from far away places to the site and then after getting touched by hands of Nal and Neel, arranging them to make the floating bridge.
A monkey saw a …

PM Manmohan Singh quoted in The Pioneer*:

The riots (of 1984) were painful, but cannot be kept alive for ever…

Some questions that come to mind:
How long does it take to forget pain? Can “memories” really be forgotten?
How does one seek forgiveness? Can one be forgiven or is punishment the only option?
How does one seek atonement for something like this?
What would be the correct “Dharma” of a leader in such a situation?
Thoughts and comments welcome as always.
Related: All the past Quotes of the Week here.
*Front Page story titled: “Nitish suitors turn baiters” …

This is a lazy post i.e. one made up entirely of comments by other readers. It is an offshoot of the discussion on the post re. attack  on an Army convoy in Tamil Nadu.
Somewhere along the line, the discussion on the Tamil Nadu post branched off into a debate on Atheism, Theism, Spritualism, Humanism, Agnosticism etc.  Read on to see how…and please share your thoughts, futher comments etc below.

I first read this post by Rajiv Malhotra many many months ago but somehow never got around to making excerpts and publishing them on this blog…Late today afternoon, something else reminded me of it…I finally dug it out of my archives…and I am glad that I did…
From the very readable The Westernized side of my background by Rajiv Malhotra:
*** Excerpts Begin ***
Since this matter keeps getting raised by some very narrow-minded Hindus in the middle of any and every kind of column, here is what I have to say:
My upbringing in family, …

*** GUEST POST by Sh RAJU MALIGER ***
In my previous article (pl. see A rebuttal to Abul Kasem – “Women in Hinduism” by R Maliger), I had refuted Abul Kasem’s derogatory views on women in Vedic culture. In this article, I would like to emphasize on how Vedas glorify Mother Goddess and women.
When we enter Hindu temples, it is a blissful scene to observe a female deity worshipped alongside a male deity. Common examples of such deities are Vishnu-Lakshmi, Radha-Krishna, and Shiva-Parvati. Vedas consider male and female of all …

Lord Curzon, the late Viceroy of India, in an address delivered at the Delhi Durbar in 1901:
Powerful Empires existed and flourished here [in India] while Englishmen were still wandering painted in the woods, and while the British Colonies were a wilderness and a jungle.
India has left a deeper mark upon the history, the philosophy, and the religion of mankind, than any other terrestrial unit in the universe. [ link ]
Related Posts:
The Myth of a Benevolent “Raj” 
India in the 1820s
Loot – in search of East India Co. (excerpts) 
Clearing the dust off …

I am experimenting with a different reading format this weekend…dispensing with extracts…(and) instead letting you *pick and choose* from a few links on different topics…
Pl. let me know what you think of this…As some of you may have immediately noticed, it does save me time!
Comments/ suggestions and feedback welcome.
***
First off this weekend, read why Spiritual Kids may be Healthier.
Next a profile of Sh Narendra Modi from The Atlantic (which had also carried a profile of Sh Lalu Yadav some weeks ago) – not particularly flattering.
Read Matthew Omolesky’s exploration of ”the contemporary meaning of Miltonic freedom …

Some of you may have come across an article on Islam-watch recently that contained several derogatory references – supposedly from vedic texts – towards women and their position in ancient Hindu society. I was first alerted to it a few weeks ago by Jagmohan.
While I was still trying to compile references and source material to refute the claims made in the article, Parama Karuna-ji introduced me to Raju Maliger who forwarded me his rebuttal to Abul Kasem.
I would put this essay by Sh Maliger in the category of *Must read*. …