Dr.King - Author of books on Yoga, Spirituality and Indology

[Quick links] [Pause]       Honestly , I don’t know what many of the modern Gurus mean when they say that they are ‘realized’. Someone attains realization while sitting casually on a rock, another gets it when waiting for a train in a busy railway station, and so on!

[Quick links] [Pause]   I was once asked this question when I wrote my first book on Yoga. Well, let me remind that by Yoga I meant some meditative practice, and not the physical discipline that the word represents these days 😉 I was a bit irritated by that question. I was a purist who believed that Yoga is beyond experiencing, beyond mystifying. It is a journey beyond the mind. Hankering for som...

[Quick links] [Pause] In the last episode we saw how the Varna and caste system in India developed over a period of time. Its main drawback was that it became more and more dependent on the birth of an individual rather than on his/her nature or profession as originally envisaged.

[Quick links] [Pause]   In the previous episode , we discussed the Varna system that was prevalent in India. It is this Varna system that later gave rise to the often-criticized caste system.

[Quick links] [Pause] In one of his talks, the well-known Hindu revivalist namely Mr. Rajiv Malhotra almost accuses India’s past colonial rulers for giving rise to the caste system in India. This great scholar based in US, with several books to his credit, goes into the genesis of the word ‘caste’ and tries to absolve India from this dark spot which has always tarnished the glorious past of India.

[Quick links] [Pause]       I had an Indian friend who lived in US for a while. She was working in IT industry like most Indians who migrate to US. She told me an interesting incident.

[Quick links] [Pause]             Most westerners brush aside Hinduism as a polytheistic religion with idol worship at its core. People of Abrahamic religions pride themselves as practitioners of monotheistic faith. That they feel, makes their faith superior to ‘the rest of the Pagan’ faith systems. If you have followed my previous posts and or many of my earlier posts, you will agree that monothe...

[Quick links] [Pause] Upanishads are the ancient Indian texts believed to be dating back to at least 5000 years. They are parts of the Vedas . They formed the main philosophic texts of Ancient India, at least before the advent of Buddhism. Some of the thoughts expressed in these Upanishads are amazing, seen even from today’s point of view. My intention is not to say that whatever expressed in them...

[Quick links] [Pause] Most religions have a creator God. This creator God is the one who is believed to have created this world. If you are a believer, you just accept this without asking questions. But the modern Atheists like Richard Dawkins don’t agree that any such God exists. In that case, how did this world come into existence?

[Quick links] [Pause] I recently had an interaction with a young Indian friend of mine, a teenager with a rather religious Hindu background. This young man was sure that God does not exist since there is no proof that he does. On second thoughts, he however, chose to categorize himself as agnostic rather than atheist 😉

[Quick links] [Pause] Why does one slog for 10 hours a day, may be 5 days a week? Obviously, to earn money and enjoy! We acquire things, amass wealth, with a single point agenda – enjoyment. All our focus in life is around enjoyment! Whether it is a street dog or an advanced Yogi, all want to enjoy. It is just that each has a different definition for enjoyment 😉

[Quick links] [Pause]     Sometime last year, on August 18th 2022, to be precise, I started my new series of talks based on the ancient Indian scripture namely the Bhagavata . That day happened to be the birth day of Krishna who was the focus of my talks. That series went on for 33 weeks and finally concluded this year i.e. on March 30th 2023.

[Quick links] [Pause]                 You remember the circumstances in which God agreed to appear on earth? We discussed that in the very beginning . It was to put an end to many tyrants who were wreaking havoc on earth and tormenting helpless people. With the killing of Kamsa, Chanura, Jarasandha, Duryodhana and so on, God’s purpose of coming to earth was successfully completed. Now it is time t...

[Quick links] [Pause] Ancient India had her own atomic theory propagated by sage KaNaada . That theory talked about atoms, sub-atomic particles and their combinations. But did those Indians have nuclear missiles too? Based on superficial similarities, many commentators of ancient Indian scriptures tend to believe so. What they really had is something difficult to guess, but it appears as if they h...

[Quick links] [Pause] We often justify our wrong ways by quoting this adage. Many of the wars fought these days stealthily follow this principle. Even the terrorists use this to justify their dastardly acts. They even claim the support of their religious scriptures which apparently preach them that way!

[Quick links] [Pause] I was talking about war preparations and all of a sudden, I now am talking about Bhagavad Geetha! Were you surprised?

[Quick links] [Pause]   Having failed to convince Duryodhana about the futility of the war, Krishna set out on the next strategy namely Bheda or ‘divide and rule’. He wanted to weaken Duryodhana and force him to give up war.

[Quick links] [Pause] We were discussing the plans of Krishna to go to Hastinapur as a peace maker. It was a strange situation. On one hand, Krishna very well knew how futile his attempts were. He also predicted the end game and assured Draupadi that war was going to happen and her revenge would be taken. On the other hand, Krishna wanted to play his role as a human being. He set off to Hastinapur...

[Quick links] [Pause] As we discussed in the previous episode, Sanjaya reaches Upaplavya with a message from the Kauravas. He informs the Pandavas, that Dhritarastra wants peace and not war. The only condition is that the Pandavas should forget whatever had happened and live in peace with Duryodhana. But there was no talk about giving back their kingdom to them which Duryodhana had snatched from t...

[Quick links] [Pause]               The Pandavas finally completed their 13 years of exile. They went through lot of hardships both when they spent their 12 years in the forests as well as when they spent a year incognito. Especially the last year was quite tough.

[Quick links] [Pause]                 In a gender biased world, one’s gender is usually associated with what that person is. Normally men are considered to be brave, logical and dashing; while women are assumed to be emotional, weak and indecisive. Though this characterization is baseless, we often tend to unknowingly use this generalization.

[Quick links] [Pause]   In the previous episode, we saw how the wicked Dhushasana dragged Draupadi, the Queen of the Pandavas, to a fully assembled court. Her husbands had lost not only themselves but also her, to Duryodhana. As per the rules of the unfair dice game, all of them were now the slaves of Duryodhana who could treat them in whatever manner he felt right. Draupadi was pleading for help....

[Quick links] [Pause]   The purpose of Bhagavata was to instill devotion in God and assure helpless people that God would always come to their rescue. But Mahabharata had a different focus. It was a complex plot where intricate ideas of right and wrong are dissected and contrasted to bring out the subtle nuances of righteousness. Many a times it is difficult to give a verdict on what is right in a...

[Quick links] [Pause]                 We were discussing about Krishna’s stories from Bhagavata. Now all of a sudden, I seem to shift from Bhagavata to another Indian Epic namely Mahabharata. It is not without reason though.

[Quick links] [Pause] We were discussing the interesting story of Avadhoota – a completely liberated person who was moving around like a mad man completely nude. Though Avadhoota had attained the ultimate knowledge, he never had any specific Guru. He imbibed whatever he knew from various sources which he considered as his Gurus. Some of these were not even human. In the previous episode, we saw 8...