Know Yourself and Be Happy!

Know Yourself and Be Happy!

Door of Happiness: तत्त्वमसि The door of true happiness is neither open nor closed. It appears open or closed when looked through the lens of likes and dislikes. Vedānta explains it clearly: In deep sleep, we are not aware of our body, name, fame, status, wealth...
Glory of Self-Knowledge

Glory of Self-Knowledge

THE KNOWLEDGE WORTH SACRIFICING EVERYTHING FOR! When Nalanda University was ransacked in c. 1200 CE, two surviving monks managed to salvage the most precious manuscripts from the pillaged library. While ferrying this priceless cargo, water started entering the boat....
Know Yourself and Be Happy!

Three Uses of Wealth?

A Sanskrit epigrammatic saying, Subhāṣita, explains various uses of wealth as follows: दानं भोगो नाशः तिस्रो गतयो भवन्ति वित्तस्य । यो न ददाति न भुङ्क्ते तस्य तृतीया गतिर्भवति ॥ dānaṁ bhogo nāśaḥ tisro gatayo bhavanti vittasya । yo na dadāti na bhuṅkte tasya tṛtīyā...
The Spiritual Quest of Steve Jobs

The Spiritual Quest of Steve Jobs

Gazing Forward, Glancing Back: Connecting the i-dots! By critical acclaim, Steve Jobs is considered to be a creative genius and a great visionary leader. More than one pundit, praising Steve’s ability to transform industries with his inventions, have called him a...
Path to Fulfillment

Path to Fulfillment

It is wonder of wonders that fulfillment or happiness is our intrinsic nature; we keep frantically looking for it outside. Self-knowledge puts an end to this life of relentless becoming by revealing a Self that is ever full, whole, and complete (pūraṇa). Anchored in...
Art of Fulfillment

Art of Fulfillment

Be Good and Do Good! If you can dream it, you can do it, quipped Walt Disney. Like most one-liners, this too seems to be only partially true. The world is full of dreamers who seldom do much. Likewise, we have people who do all sorts of stuff, including that which...
Happiness Talisman!

Happiness Talisman!

If there is one talisman, lucky charm, about happiness, it is this: Give what you want to get! If you want peace, be the harbinger of peace. If you want to be happy, make someone else happy. If you want fearlessness, cause fear to no one. If you want to be loved, be...
Calculus of Happiness

Calculus of Happiness

Analysis of Bliss Ānanda Mīmāṁsā in Taittirīya Upaniṣad In book two (Ananda Vallī), anuvāka eight of Taittirīya Upaniṣad, a wisdom text dealing with Self-knowledge, we come across a most detailed analysis, mīmāṁsā, of different levels of bliss, ānanda,...
The Knowledge that Liberates!

The Knowledge that Liberates!

भज गोविन्दंभजगोविन्दं भजगोविन्दं गोविन्दं भजमूढमते ।सम्प्राप्ते सन्निहिते काले नहि नहि रक्षति डुकृञ्करणे ॥ १॥bhaja govindaṁbhajagovindaṁ bhajagovindaṁ govindaṁ bhajamūḍhamate |samprāpte sannihite kale nahi nahi rakṣati ḍukṛñkaraṇe  ||1||Seek/attain the knowledge of...
The Rainbow Fish

The fundamental human problem

 Vedānta teaches us that the fundamental human problem is the lack of self-knowledge and the resultant extrovertedness of our search for happiness and the mistaken way we relate to the world. In all our quests, we approach people, objects, and situations through...