Attachments

Human beings are inherently complex. For centuries, mankind has engaged in research to unravel the mysteries of human thought and behavior. While such studies may establish broad patterns and psychological truths, they often seem to lose their relevance when applied to individuals, where lived experience can appear to contradict established facts. Against this backdrop, the subject of attachment emerges as particularly significant.

As the word attachment is invoked, the panorama of one’s relationships—spanning from birth to the present—naturally comes to mind. Each relationship carries its own meaning, fulfilling different needs, yet a recurring thread weaves them together: the yearning for belongingness and the desire to be acknowledged. Although these are universal human needs, for this individual, they stand out as dominant themes that have defined much of their relational history.

In striving to secure acknowledgment and a sense of belonging, there were instances where self-worth was gradually compromised. This self-demeaning was not always overt or dramatic; it could be as subtle as silently enduring small jokes that appeared trivial to others but pierced deeply within. The fear of losing acknowledgment led to silence, compliance, and a pattern of over-agreeableness—an existence marked by “walking on eggshells.”

At one stage, friendships and acquaintances began to take precedence over familial relationships. Yet, with time, it became evident that family bonds often possess a permanence that friendships may lack—not merely due to physical proximity, but also because family members hold an unparalleled familiarity with one’s true self.

Another realization arose concerning the nature of expectations. It is common for individuals to think, “I did this for them, so they should do the same for me.” However, if an act is performed solely with the anticipation of reciprocity, it ceases to be a genuine deed. Here, the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita resonates profoundly: “Karma karo, phal ki chinta mat karo”—perform one’s duty without attachment to the fruits of action. After all, no one truly owes another anything, especially when actions were undertaken without promise of return.

Ultimately, a powerful truth revealed itself: the only constant companion throughout life, until the final breath, is oneself. Thus, as long as one lives authentically—ensuring that one’s existence does not bring harm or nuisance to others—life can be considered meaningfully and successfully lived.

Joe is all I think about

If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?

“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott is a wonderfully written book, focusing in the era where male dominance was prominent. The book focuses on how parents raise their children during dire situations like one parent living far away and working in military, mother alone raising their children. Still the children are so understanding of their situations and helping their mother any way they can. A pinch of drama, a hint of reality and a spoonful of love and affection; is what summarises the book.

The character I like the most or rather the character I would want to be is Joe. A very colourful yet thoughtful character. Extremely great at writing and a wonderful woman. A child who always understood her parents and made sure that they do not feel raising five girls to be a burden. The development of the character throughout the novel has been very inspiring. She knew what she wanted to do, where to live and with whom she would want to spend her whole life, very clear in what she ever wanted and needed. The reason for this is that she understood what is it to have any sort of luxury and how it is different from a need.

It was very evident throughout the novel that parenting does play a very important role in developing a child to become a responsible adult. This was graciously portrayed by the character of Joe’s mother Marmee. It’s she, who inculcated the kind of qualities in her children, the ones she wanted in herself. This shows how emotionally intelligent Joe was. The kind of dedication and hard working attitude she had is something I always admire and wish to develop myself.

This novel though revolving around female is a good read and definitely helps us realise what all one can achieve when rightly put the mind at work.

Yatra Naryastu Pujyante Ramante Tatra Devata

The above lines mean that God resides wherever women are respected. As I was reading this book a cartoon made its existence felt; The PowerPuff Girls. I don’t know how many of you recall this but it took over my entire childhood and I feel the way I’m right now has something to do with it.

A person creates chemicalized girls by fluke who have superpowers and that man or scientist became their father. Those girls became the saviour of the world. Whenever disaster fell over the people these girls came for the rescue and succeeded every time. This book “The Daughter from a Wishing Tree” by Sudha Murty gave me such vibes. Describing women in Hindu mythology who saved the world from horrid catastrophes.

A single-life starts from a woman’s womb. If she can give birth she can do anything and everything. Though being able to bring life into existence, this including all other endeavours women are undermined the majority of the time. This book highlights the anecdotes which talk about the efforts by women to protect our world.

Here are some facts which I found to be very interesting:

1. Goddess Lakshmi manifests in eight forms known as AshtaLakshmi. Ashta means eight in Sanskrit. The manifestations are Adi Lakshmi (represents compassion, love and affection), Dhaanya Lakshmi (represents grains and in turn represents prosperity in terms of food), Dhairya Lakshmi (represents courage), Gaja Lakshmi (represents good fortune), Santaana Lakshmi (represents the provider of a child for childless couples), Vijaya Lakshmi (represents victory and bravery), Vidya Lakshmi (represents knowledge and education) and the last form Dhana Lakshmi (represents wealth).

2. Well, the concept of cloning was first introduced by a woman called Sanjana who was the wife to God Surya (Sun). She was the daughter of Vishwakarma who was the engineer and architect of the heavens. The Sun God and Sanjana had almost five children. First was Yama (son) who was to protect Dharma or justice and was to rule the Mrityuloka (underworld) waiting to give punishment to all the people who die based on their karma. Then came Yami (daughter) flowing on earth as river Yamuna, around which Lord Vishnu’s avatar Krishna grew up. Bathing in her waters washed people’s sins and women who prayed for the well-being of siblings came true. Then came Shani who was known to hold the hardest responsibility of giving punishments or rewards during people’s lifetime so they could improve. He also was given the position of a planet called Saturn. Then came Ashwini Kumars who are considered the first morning rays from the sun and are considered to be a great source of Vitamin D.

3. There is a place called Chamundi Hills in Mysuru, Karnataka where Goddess Parvati killed an Asura (monster) named Mahishasura (Mahisha means Buffalo in Sanskrit). She fought that Asura for almost 9 days on that hill.

4. Goddess Parvati not only had two sons but she also had a daughter from a wishing tree known as Kalpavriksha. The daughter was named Ashokasundari which meant a beautiful woman who reduced loneliness.

Few stories talk about how love in terms of devotion is more appreciated than love in terms of possession. In the majority of stories, the themes of love, sacrifice, devotion, obedience and making hard decisions are very common.

The writing, as always has been very simple to understand and it’s an advantage as mythology can’t be understood properly with complicated language usage.

The Distorted Mirror

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman also known as R K Laxman born in Mysore, Karnataka was a great political caricaturist/cartoonist. He started drawing cartoons from a very young age. In 1947 he drew cartoons for ‘The Free Press Journal’ in Bombay along with Bal Thackeray.

R K Laxman won many awards; Padma Bhushan in 1973, the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1984 and a Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism by CNN IBN TV18 in 2008.

He wrote sketches, short stories and travelogues in a collection called “The Distorted Mirror” published in 2003.

Laxman’s drawings or cartoons carry an air of satire on political institutions and politicians and the same goes for his writings. His writing style involved humour, elegance, simplicity and grace. In this book, his short stories revolve around children and their perspectives. Travelogues have given some wonderful insights into human life. Sketches are short, shorter than a short story, with little or no plot at all.

Just like his elder brother R K Narayan, Laxman also tried depicting the simplicity of human life with a punch of anecdotes from the common man’s life.

This book has my heart. The more I read Indian writers, the more I fall in love with them and their writings.

Let’s get to know more

What book are you reading right now?

Currently I am reading “The Holy Vedas” translated to English by Bibek Debroy and Dipavali Debroy.

It’s an ancient Indian text, comprising of all topics one can fathom about, right from human flesh to information about the whole universe.

Vedas consists of 4 portions; first RIG VEDA (considered to be the oldest). Second YAJUR VEDA. Third SAMA VEDA and last one is ATHARVA VEDA. All the Vedas are written in complete Sanskrit and in a very complicated way. It has two meanings; one is the latent and another is the manifest. Latent is the deep hidden meaning as in reading between lines kind of. Manifest is the visible meaning.

One thing which is very interesting to be noted that Vedas were not invented, those were discovered. It is said that the knowledge in that was transmitted from one generation to another, through oral instructions know as Shruti in Sanskrit. The who learns Veda thoroughly, is said to practice some unique way to memorise the shlokas from Vedas. One is supposed to practice it everyday.

Vedas are considerably difficult to understand than Upanishads. One can actually try reading Upanishads before they start with Vedas. I read only some small derivation of Upanishads which just scratched its surface. The concepts in it are pretty fascinating too.

I have just started to read it and I have understood nothing in it yet. I’m still on manifest level. It will take a lot of time to reach to the latent meaning.

Who Wants to Marry a Mamma’s Boy

Life is very simple when it is seen through the right lens. We humans are the only ones on this planet who can think and act rationally. And during this expedition, we face a lot of issues yet we have the resilience to stand head fast during such tremulous times. It’s no less than a miracle that we experience such things in our lives and yet are ignorant enough to not learn from those ventures.

There are eight stories in total. In the majority of the stories, the theme revolves around love and marriage; issues while searching for a match, getting married at an age which is somewhere between late and very late, issues of losing the first love, reuniting with that love, issues facing after getting married, remarrying if divorced and concept of virginity, etc. whereas it covers only 2 stories which focus on somewhat sub-themes.

One can find the common thread among these anecdotes is that of love and kindness. Love between husband and wife, between parents and children, love among siblings, kindness towards poor people and their children, kindness towards one’s family members and accepting them, etc.

The stories written by Manjula Pal has captured simplicity of life and her language has retained it.

Rig Veda says “ Welcome old age, accept all of life… We worship Rudra who spreads fragrance and increases abundance. May He release me from mortal life but not from immortality”.

I have started to read more and more of spiritual and mythological books. These days I’m just getting attracted to such genre. Recently I had such few reads which got me curious and contemplating. This is one such book; “Vedas & Upanishads, Greatest Spiritual Wisdom” by Pranay.

For a person who is diving in this stream for the first time it gets a bit difficult to decipher. And trust me, it took me a month to even understand this superficially. Here are few things that I took from this read:

1. It is said that the Vedas are actually transmitted directly from the higher power to the sages. So that transmission is called ‘Shruti’.

2. The concept of spiritual well-being is very prevalent. It calls one’s attention to become deeply perceptive of their situations and how to maintain a calm composure throughout crises by energising one’s consciousness.

3. There is one more theme that caught my notice, the concept of ‘immortality’. Very interesting yet bewildering. Vedas say that living for 100 years is just metaphorical, it basically means being established in present moment to create an awareness so firmly that a timeless energy flows in one’s life, realising a deeper sense of living, and manifesting all that one need within a lifetime.

Sometimes I wonder whether immortality means our consciousness being immortal. In terms as whatever we see, think, talk, analyse and believe remains forever in the universe through other people remembering it, and taking those forward. For example the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, his teachings are still being followed which makes him immortal.

4. Vedas and Upanishads talk about realising self-potential. These scriptures states that there is not limit to who we are and what we can do, that given it does not mean that one should do wrong.

5. I’m sure many of us have heard that one must first come in terms with oneself and then the whole world falls in place. Vedas promotes this idea of finding peace within oneself and then automatically world becomes a beautiful place.

6. It is a common tendency of humans to search or become more curious of the things which do not have much evidence to it. In Vedas, God or the higher power is a recurring theme. Vedas say that it is our obligation to contribute a part of our consciousness to the higher power. So there are places where Vedas claim that there is such an existence and there are places where it talks that it is nothing but just a concept.

7. The concept which propagates that a human is the ultimate and absolute truth “Aham Brahmasmi” , talks how human and God are not separate entities rather are a part of each other.

Actually there are a lot more interpretations which I’m currently unable to decipher. But if you realise that you need to get in touch with our scriptures then Vedas and Upanishads are the initial stop.

The future won’t change

Story line, same as the previous book; time traveling. But reading this book i faced a revelation of themes.
● selfless love or unconditional love
● unabashed positiveness
● moving on from trauma
● getting rid of guilt
● change in perception
● attempting things though the fact that it would change nothing

These are some themes which I came across in the novel.
One more question it raised in my consciousness, why we, humans try at things which we know for a fact that it would change nothing at all?
I’m searching for the answer or answers as it is completely a subjective attempt so answer might differ from person to person.
Over all this book gives a lot of insights and who knows it may answer some questions of a reader.

Shikhandi

“Vikrati evam Prakriti” translates into anything that is different should be included into nature or is nature. Shikhandi is a book that focuses on queerness seen or observed in Hindu Mythology.
Contemporary world is facing issues to adjust with queerness but when we turn the pages of past there are multiple instances proving so.
A character in Mahabharat, Shikhandi was said to be queer in nature. Though being in a man’s body, inhabited a woman’s soul.
A good start to commence questioning whether queer is really something to be ashamed of or not.

“Brahma had five faces.”

Well I’m no scholar and cannot decipher the original scripts so only such books can be informational source of Hindu Mythology. This book “The Man From The Egg”, is all about small accounts of the Trinity; Brahma(the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Shiva (the destroyer; not as in negative sense but in a way that talks about life and death cycle of all living organisms).Wonderful stories to walk through and the author’s language make it very simple to understand.

Stories filled with multiple themes and learning; arrogance can be one’s destruction, diplomacy, finding loopholes in boons(ultimately making sure to avoid giving boons to dangerous people), avoiding ignorance, considering that everything happens for a reason, and one more thing that I understood is that one must always think a lot before saying anything to anyone or about anyone, as whatever one says keeps echoing the world and might take you by surprise.