Bangalore Diaries

In the previous Sankhya Yoga, Sri Krishna described the nature of the soul, the interplay of the trigunas and how knowledge / buddhi can help one elevate themselves from the clutches of the indriyas (senses). The natural question that can spring in our minds was exactly the conundrum faced by Arjuna who asks Sri Krishna a very poignant question to start off with. अर्जुन उवाच ।
 ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन ।
 तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव ॥ 3.1॥
 व्यामिश्रेणेव वाक्येन बुद्धिं मोहयसीव मे ।
 तदेकं वद निश्चित्य येन श्रेयोऽहमाप्नुयाम् ॥ 3.2॥ Arjun said: O Janardan, if You consider knowledge superior to action, then why do You ask me to wage this terrible war? My intellect is bewildered by Your ambiguous advice. Please tell me decisively the one path by which I may attain the highest good. The answer to these questions forms the crux of Karma Yoga , the most intriguing and important part of Srimad Bhagwad Gita. In this chapter, Sri Krishna talks about the Yoga of Action ...

Krishna, what challenges do you pose for us mere mortals? One of the most complex chapters with multitudes of concepts, each one better than the other and amidst this myriad of these concepts, I have my own constraint: Find that One Verse that defines this chapter. This perhaps will be the most challenging task of mine and could potentially draw a lot of comments. The chapter has 72 verses which in itself is such a huge collection that it becomes a very challenging proposition. In order to arrive at what could be a representative verse as compared to the other famous ones, let’s first understand what is Sankhya Yoga . This chapter is actually a dual yoga chapter i.e. Sankhya Yoga and Buddhi Yoga . If we consider Sri Krishna’s words, एषा तेऽभिहिता साङ्ख्ये बुद्धिर्योगे त्विमां शृणु । बुद्ध्या युक्तो यया पार्थ कर्मबन्धं प्रहास्यसि ॥ 2.39॥ Hitherto, I have explained to you Sānkhya Yog, or analytic knowledge regarding the nature of the soul. Now listen, O Parth, as I reveal Buddhi Yog, or...

When I had posted about Nitya Geeta Sudha, a kind soul requested me to identify one verse that signifies or rather captures the entire essence of that chapter. This is a very challenging task as Srimad Bhagwad Gita speaks to individual in different ways at different times and to different individuals differently. It’s not an understatement to say that this indeed is an Herculean task.  Embarking on this journey, I first beg for forgiveness for the lapses and gaps in my understanding and invoke Sri Krishna to guide me on this arduous journey. In this series, I aim to identify and quantify exactly one SINGLE shloka / verse (not a compound verse i.e. 2 back-to-back verses) that I feel exactly captures the essence of the chapter. Along with this I aim to identify some notable mentions and some interesting aspects of other verses. This is just my attempt to put down my understanding of Sri Krishna’s words and I am quite certain that this in itself will be a learning and humbling experie...

  In Mahabharata, one of the most discussed events is the Draupadi Vastraharana. Among the many stories around this incident, I would like to draw attention to one of them. When Dushassana starts pulling the vastra of Draupadi, it seems she was holding onto the last shred of cloth and calling out to Krishna. There comes a point of time where she just lets go and surrenders herself to the almighty. Sri Krishna does come to the rescue of his sister and ensures her respect, dignity and honour are protected.  As humans, this is a great lesson of Bhakti and surrender. There comes multiple instances in one’s life where circumstances seem to compound on each other and there seems to be absolutely no way out of the pit we find ourselves in. In times of such hopelessness, naturally we turn to the almighty for emotional support, some sort of divine intervention or guidance. We hope or rather believe that Bhagwan or God ensures that he will take care of us in these testing periods and wo...

  No one can predict on how you come across divinity. No best laid plans can prepare you for the unthinkable, unexpected. During a random scrolling in Instagram, I found a wonderful clip of Sourabh Raaj Jain dancing as Krishna with Gopis. Ever inquisitive I dug a little more and found that this is part of a dramatical Mere Krishn. Instantly I was searching for the next show in Bengaluru and instinctively booked my tickets (knowing that the date had some pre-commitments that I can’t escape from). Come the day, all events concluded on time and I eagerly looked forward to the event. What I didn’t expect was the magic that was to unfold. First, a note about the venue : Prestige Center for Performing Arts (PCPA) - A magnificent venue with comfortable seating, excellent sound design and absolutely first-class experience.  At the start, the voice over at the starting requested everyone NOT to record during the show, but to feel it. Experience the show internally ( Anubhuti ) and perh...

 What an exhilarating experience it was !!! 3 hours and minutes of pure cinematic joy !!! There are so many nuances and layers to this movie, but I will try to capture my raw thoughts into this movie. However, let’s start with a few disclaimers. Is this a 18+ movie? Yes - Sexual references, language, violence  Is this an out and out YASH movie? - Without any iota of doubt !!! Is this a movie with good production values? - Good no - Great - Absolutely Yes !! Yash and Geethu Mohandas have literally unleashed a beast onto us. The movie is fast paced, with some quick cuts, quite a few central characters, loads of action i.e. WORLD CLASS action and moves across different timelines.  
Let’s start with the improvements. This is an audience view and I am not an overall expert on all aspects of movie making (though I do have a little expertise one of the points below). The audio could have been lot better. Some places I did feel silence could have worked much more magnificently th...