Ranjeet Chowdhury
The more I learn, the more I realize how much I do not know..
Today is the Result of Yesterday (Chapter 10)
Things may go wrong even when they’re in the most capable hands. PV Narsimha Rao was the first Prime Minister from South India. He was a scholar-intellectual and a polyglot who could speak as many as seventeen languages, including six languages in which he was fluent....
Woman of Easy Virtue
Does the fact that the victim was a bar-dancer or, for that matter, a woman of immoral character, as alleged in the 1997 gang-rape case, in any manner, gives right to the accused to rape her? Then, why did I feel relieved?
Vipassana – As I experienced it (Part-IV)
Concluding my instant write up, I would only say that to know the ‘unknown’ you have to start with what is ‘known’ – what you are familiar with and that “watching is the key”. You have the ‘body’ and you have the ‘breath’ – watch them; just watching would lead you to every secret this Universe holds including the ultimate truth – “you are not in this world, the world is in you”.
Ananya
“Even chance meetings are the result of karma… Things in life are fated by our previous lives. That even in the smallest events there’s no such thing as coincidence”.
Vipassana – As I experienced it (Part-III)
The effort we make to meditate is only a very tiny step forward towards opening of a whole world of infinite possibilities and the physical well-being we experience during the process is the smallest reward we could have out of this small effort on our part. What is the larger objective then?
Putting things in a different manner
So, sometimes just putting things in a little different manner really works wonders. In the instant case, I got the desired answer by putting up the question in a slightly different manner without having to feel embarrassed (now, one can well imagine the impression I would have given to my friend had I actually asked a direct question in the situation).
Vipassana – As I experienced it (Part-II)
As I said I did not find the experience at Igatpuri anywhere near ‘enriching’ however, the same did provide me with a lot to ponder about which led me to further clarity in my spiritual quest. The first thing I became aware of was that ‘you are not your mind’. I don’t...
Vipassana – As I experienced it (Part-I)
It was in the summers of 2016 when I took up the ten-day Vipassana meditation course along with my elder cousin and my aunt at Dhammagiri in Igatpuri (Maharashtra), where courses in Vipassana Meditation, as taught by SN Goenka in the tradition of his Burmese mentor...
India and the Capital Punishment (Part-II)
Further, with regard to the argument that death penalty denies criminals the chance to reform, I had observed that it would be a grave injustice to the victims, their families and the civil society as a whole, if our criminal justice system, instead of punishing the perpetrators, who evidently showed no regard for the life and dignity of their victims, puts all its efforts and energy to ‘reform’ them.
Laila
This small incident made me realize the big problem we human beings have – being judgmental about an action of other person, harbour the ill feeling arising out of the situation in our hearts and treat the person accordingly the whole life. In the instant matter, Laila might have felt ‘hurt’ at my being indifferent to her plight and for not helping her out; but the feeling was momentary and as soon as she got out of the trouble, she forgot everything about it and did what she considered her duty..
India and the Capital Punishment (Part-I)
We are all rational beings and due to this rationality everyone differs radically from one another. What is ‘sensible’ to one, might seem totally ‘nonsensical’ to others. Thus, at the cost of being fundamentally at odd with the widely held views in favour of abolition of death penalty, I would say that I do not see any reason, as far as India is concerned, to ‘formalize’ abolition of capital punishment on various counts.
Nirbhaya – India’s Daughter
The outward silence I was maintaining was agonizing me further, and to give vent to my enraged heart, I tried to put my feelings in ink more than once, but the overwhelming pain I felt each time, just at the thought of the incident, stopped me from going any further than writing a few lines. Even if time doesn’t heal all wounds, it certainly reduces the pain we feel; and here I am again sitting with my laptop on at the dead of the night putting my mind in words.
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Today is the Result of Yesterday (Chapter 10)
Things may go wrong even when they’re in the most capable hands. PV Narsimha Rao was the first Prime Minister from South India. He was a scholar-intellectual and a polyglot who could speak as many as seventeen languages, including six languages in which he was fluent....