June 2022

Wealth and Prosperity With respect to wealth and resources, it is true that they are showing more activity than India. The reason behind it is not the government. There are two other causes – 1. The innate sense of industriousness in people and 2. Resources that are available naturally. The United States of America is a great example for the latter. It has expansive areas of land, the handiness of rivers and oceans, large regions of forests...
The Necessity of Firm Decision Arjuna, if we analyse from the perspective of the supreme principle, it becomes clear that your doubts are baseless. Be firm about the ātmā. Do not entertain doubts in your mind. ajñaścāśraddhadhānaśca saṃśayātmā vinaśyati nāyaṃ loko’sti na paraṃ na sukhaṃ saṃśayātmanaḥ (BG 4.40) (One who does not know, doesn’t have faith or is filled with doubts in his mind, perishes. A doubtful man can neither live in this...
Mallinātha has made some insightful observations in commenting on this verse. According to him, there were pictures in the mansion of various episodes from the time that Rāma and Sītā spent in the forest. Among them were paintings that depicted Sītā’s abduction, Rāma’s lament, his search for Sītā, and so on. When Rāma and Sītā looked at these and mulled over the episodes once again, they were neither sad nor disturbed; instead, they were happy...
Volume Five (1949–1952) [1] DVG was an ardent devotee of literature. He laid great emphasis on the study of classics. After founding the Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs, he formed a weekly study circle to promote the study of classics in various genres and disciplines such as poetry, culture, history, economics, political science, and philosophy. Plato’s Dialogues was among the first batch of such classics. Socrates and Plato had an enduring...
Trivikramasena carried the dead body on his shoulder for a fourth time. The vetāla started narrating another story. A valorous king called Śūdraka lived in a town called Śobhāvatī. A brāhmaṇa named Vīravara, who hailed from the Mālava province came to him looking for a job. His wife was called Dharmavatī, son was Sattvavara and daughter was called Vīravatī. This was his family. He came to the king carrying a shield in his hand and a sword tied...
After P N Krishnamurti, V P Madhava Rao came to power as the Dewan. He was a smārta Deśastha brāhmaṇa from the Tanjore region. We could see a little bit of Sir K Seshadri Iyer’s mien in him. Employed by the Government of Mysore during Rungacharlu’s tenure as Dewan, Madhava Rao rose to prominence and became well known for his competence. He became successful as the Inspector General of Police. It was the period when the plague had struck for the...
Himalaya
The first relates to the word sampṛktau. The poet has preferred the rather rare word sampṛkti to the more common saṃyukti. Let us understand the nuances of these words. Sampṛkti is derived from the verbal root ‘pṛcī–samparke.’ It means union, mutuality and parity. On the other hand, the word saṃyukti simply means a merger or combination. The first evokes a feeling of compatibility and complementariness. The second does not. The union of sound...
Mantap-and-daughters
A Summary of our Productions The following is an overview of our productions. Bhāminī was our first production and I conceived it based on the concept of the aṣṭa-nāyikās as present in the Nāṭyaśāstra. There is hardly any storyline in this production. The reason for not including much of a storyline is the following: if much energy and time gets consumed merely to narrate the story, there will hardly be any energy or time left to get into the...
VikramVetaala
Trivikramasena, for the third time, took the dead body, placed it on his shoulders and set out. The vetāla started narrating another story:- There lived a king named Vikramakesari in the kingdom of Pāṭalīputra. He had a pet parrot named Vidagdhacūḍāmaṇi which was adept in all the śāstras. Following his wise counsel, he married a princess named Candraprabhā from Magadha. She also possessed a parrot called Somikā which was similarly well-versed in...
Rights In this manner, we started extending our rights according to what we felt was appropriate at a certain moment. All the rights that we have mentioned can be called ‘Theoretical Rights.’ These rights aren’t directly related to the everyday lives of people. The facilities that people need on a daily basis such as food, clothing, light [electricity or power], water, roads, schools, medical assistance, police on duty, judicial system to...