The beauty of Sanaatan Dharma is that it does not condemn anybody. Even the presumed sinners or ‘fallen’ persons are not expected to be full of remorse and guilt, but rather cultivate an attitude, a desire to better themselves. Reassurance and acceptance to this effect is offered by the Divine himself in the Bhagavadagita, the best known and most glorious of Indian...
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Recently when a friend asked what I wanted for my birthday, my instant response was “World Peace” . Everyone present, including me, laughed, because it sounded like such a clichéd Beauty pageant response.🤩 Everyone was probably tickled by the image of a super model with tiara on her head👑, hands waving to an eager crowd. But for me, this has truly been an expressed desire since childhood! Some...
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This Article appeared in Speaking Tree on 24th June 2018 Listening to ‘Moko kahan dhoondhe re bande’ by Kabir in Bhupender’s voice on Vividh Bharti’s non-film song programme in childhood is one of my very fond memories. In the school curriculum too, the poetry of Kabir was easiest to memorise, one due to its meter and other because there were many songs in those days with Kabir’s dohas in Hindi...
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I was this rookie executive bracing myself for the Monday morning job meeting, seething from within. Soon after I had joined almost every job meeting ended with the boss saying – “Give it to Annu, let Annu do it”. It did not matter where the idea came from, the task always ended on my ever-growing job-list. I could see the reactions from others. While some were uncomfortable about handing over...
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If there is a day that deserves to be a ‘World day’, it is the World Health Day. Health and Holy share a common lineage, both come from the concept of ‘whole’; and that makes for the most beautiful understanding of health. To be healthy is to be whole, to be in awareness of the whole and that is what it is to be holy too. Of not being fragmented as only a physical entity...
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An Art teacher I had once approached to learn Calligraphy advised me to “share only that which is from my own garden”. He even wanted me not to paint Sufi dancers; just focus on painting Hindu deities! It was like someone was denying me access to Rumi. Can the beauty of a mystic be denied to those who do not belong to the same culture? I am writing not on Kabbalah, but my experience of...
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Is there another personification of peace as inspiring as the Buddha, wonders artist ANNU KALRA… Buddhism has often baffled me. Buddhists do not believe in the existence of any eternal soul, yet there are Jataka kathas about the previous lives of Gautama the Buddha, both in human as well as animal forms. Many a lessons have I learnt in childhood from reading those tales; lessons in...
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When the weary body rests in deep sleep, the true self rises to merge with its source and rest for a while. Upon awakening the same body –mind feels recharged, rejuvenated. Ready again to face the trials and tribulations of the manifest world. While we may seek pleasurable experiences and seek to avoid all that we deem sorrowful and sad, this soul is always rejoicing; Rejoicing in the...
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Shani or Saturn is one of the most feared planets in the Horoscope. Typically most people in power are feared, but the ones who do not succumb to sycophancy are feared even more. Shani is one such entity. He creates extreme circumstances in people lives where they are tried incessantly and they either collapse or transform . His brother Yama, also the son of Surya is responsible for judgment in...
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As a young kid watching mythological films and serials one thing that used to disturb me the most was the portrayal of Hanuman in Ramayan. I couldn’t understand what I thought was the servile attitude of the supposedly most powerful monkey man. This really powerful monkey man was shown singing praises and uttering the name of his most beloved Shri Ram. Though he was the one with the strength...
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