Reaching There

Vaisheshik Darshan  was written over two and a half thousand years ago (it is likely older than that). It is one of the earliest texts that delve into the nature of the physical world - thereby one of the oldest texts that can share the shelf space with other books on Physics.  It likely predates Greek and other Eastern philosophies that developed between the 4th and 2nd century BCE. What is all around us? Let's classify each and every existing entity!   One of the astounding aspects of Vaisheshika is that it's a combination of Ontology, Psychology, Ethics, Spiritualism, and Physics. Rishi Kanada embarked on a journey that sought an answer to the 'question of being' and he observed everything around him with the keenest eye.  The roots of the question 'of being' requires understanding everything around us through means of knowledge available to us normally; pratyaksha pramana (i.e. through our material senses) or when that's not possible then via anumana pr...

All of us desire to be remembered after our time is done in this lifetime. It is a foremost desire to pass on a legacy to the next generation. Whether it's a family heirloom, knowledge, letters or for a selected few an institution or a trust. We've a desire to be remembered, whether through our photographs or through our deeds. At a civilizational level the traditions pass on the legacy of previous generation to the generations to come. Traditions live among us in form of books of knowledge, prayers, general wisdom, and everything we do in our day to day live. At times new traditions are added which may or may not survive the test of time.  David Frawley states in his foreword to Sandeep Balakrishna's book '70 Years of Secularism' that "Indian intellectual today dislikes his own country, does not study or honor its cultural traditions". But, what should I be proud of?  It's a question we need to think sincerely and with utmost dignity. A question that...