Bangalore Diaries

My Maths teacher, Prof. Jayaram sir always used to quote “ There is limit for everything except for limits themselves ”. Coupled with this used to be another quote : “ Change is the universal constan t”. These quotes transcend the simple academic barriers and apply equivocally to all facets of life. Little did I realise that these are philosophical. As I sit and think back, I understand the age old wisdom that everything requires a time and situation to comprehend the meaning completely. 2023 June was a life altering time for me. My Appa’s swargavaasa meant that there was a sudden void which was real, palpable and quite draining on mind. I have always thought, why did I feel like this after my Amma’s untimely demise? The only answer I always come up with is Appa. Dealing with his loss meant that I started spending a lot of time with myself, thinking, pondering & just numb. During this time, I re-read one of my favourite books, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin . He is one amaz...

    My salutations to the holy feet of the parama Jagadguru Sri Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada, H. H. Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyateertha Mahaswami and to the holy feet of the current Jagadgurus of Sringeri Sharada Peeta. This book is brought by Sri Vidyateertha foundation and contains 97 different parables / anecdotes which are Acharya’s benedictory addresses & private conversations with his sishyas. These parables address one or more specific area of life providing deep vedantic wisdom distilled in the form of stories or incidents from our itihasas and puranas. Stories are a very powerful medium to communicate a message, for it enables the reader to connect to the context and content. Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyateertha swami was a scholar par excellence whose depth and wide gamut of knowledge is a rich reservoir of wisdom, which we are blessed to experience through this book. In the introductory part of the book, there are some live incidents from Acharya’s life quoted that...

I am stationery freak or nerd or crazy or .. quite frankly I don't have a term for this. When I was searching for some good products to try out, I got gravitated towards the pocket notebook concept, specially Field Notes, Moleskine Cahier etc. There are tons of Youtube videos on how to use one and I found a very interesting pattern amongst a large majority of the users. Many long time users are utilizing their pocket notebooks to capture Psalms from Bible. An idea struck me !!! Why not implement a similar practice of writing one shloka from Srimad Bhagwad Geeta along with its meaning and keep reading it at leisure during travel or idle time.. thus, Nitya Geeta Sudha was born. Originally, I had planned to start this on Vijayadashami day, but planned to pull it in by a couple of days on the very auspicious day of Saraswati Pooja during Navaratri.  Invoking the blessings of the trinity, I have embarked on this journey starting today. I hope to remain true to my commitment of one ve...