Newsletter Archive

"One of the travelers was a sadhu (saint). His reaction was opposite to the general one....There is no difference between god and his devotees....In the Mahabharata, Queen Draupadi once asked Krishna why he came so late to prevent her disrobing?....Here we recall Krishna, even though he is the supreme lord of the universe, running helplessly scared of his mother....When Radha woke up she saw him lying near her. From his whole form radiated her name: "Radhe Radhe." She too then fainted in intense ecstasy.....Chanting thus, she would toss one grain of rice into a bowl, and only use rice from that container for her consumption. She truly embodied the ideal of the Gita, where god says: "Whatever you eat, O Arjuna, do it as an offering to me"...."

"Rigveda acclaims that 'he who is described as male is as much the female....When invoking her in her entirety, describing her beauty, limb to limb, these hymns did not stop short of anything....Devi Bhagavata is the foremost of scriptures that consider Devi as the Adishakti, the divine power that preceded all things, all beings and all gods....Devi Mahatmya in the Markandeya Purana and other texts relate her origin to the elimination of Mahishasura, a mighty demon who once ruled the earth.....She also created her 'shaktis', subordinate powers.....As Kali she was ferocious, as Durga, valorous, and as Parvati, Uma or Gauri, lovable and incomparably beautiful."

"Krishna is realised in love and in his love reveals the supreme good; all fetters break and the loved one unites with him in absolute oneness....In between the period, when he left with Radha and made love with her, the child Krishna grows to such manhood as gives him competence to make love with a far matured woman. It was obviously a mystic magnification, not a growth on the scale of time....In the love-war passes the whole night...."

"To call anything beautiful is always the highest form of aesthetic praise....Sita was rendered mute like an untouched vina....Gold when heated shines in even greater splendor....Sita's braid is like a serpent, making it clear that it would be fatal for a man (except her husband) to touch her....Hanuman's quest is suggestive of a much deeper symbolism than a mere search for the 'physical' Sita....Bhakti is not a path, but the goal of life....The supreme feminine emotion is to nourish her children....Rama is beautiful because of Sita."

"Shiva is an embodiment of the three principal themes of Indian philosophy....The marriage of Shiva and Parvati was preceded by a long interval of courtship. It was no ordinary engagement however....Shiva was tempted enough to touch her, and Parvati, tantalizing him, withdrew....She would exist only as an intense flame burning for Shiva....Tapasya means to gradually start bringing restraint into our lives....She was no different from the way trees live in this world....Though he possesses nothing, he is the source of all possessions....Inevitable union between male and female…"

"Shiva is an embodiment of the three principal themes of Indian philosophy....The marriage of Shiva and Parvati was preceded by a long interval of courtship. It was no ordinary engagement however....Shiva was tempted enough to touch her, and Parvati, tantalizing him, withdrew....She would exist only as an intense flame burning for Shiva....Tapasya means to gradually start bringing restraint into our lives....She was no different from the way trees live in this world....Though he possesses nothing, he is the source of all possessions....Inevitable union between male and female…"

To understand Buddha's approach to death we have to go back to his life....Death is the only certainty in this uncertain world....The only way to defeat death was to die before death....suggesting each of us to live like islands, detached from the world...."Whether my body remains or I pass away - it will be the same, because even then my Dharmakaya (the Dharma preached by me) will remain in this world."....Out of compassion for his fellow beings, Buddha continued to survive physically even after Nirvana.

"Three conventionalised modes of clothing - one, for the divine female representing fertility, abundance and beauty; two, for an ecclesiastical being; and three, for an entertainer....defined his distinction, rank and role in society. Manu prescribes Brahmins' sacred thread to be made from cotton yarn. No two figures in Ajanta murals wear a similar costume. Ajanta damsels knew multifarious styles of putting on a sari. Ordinarily, a sari was tied on pelvis wrapping both legs....It was worn on body's middle part, that is, from breasts to knees....Designer Blouse from Ajanta which can be the Envy of any Modern Woman."

"With a guest come all the gods. If a guest is honored, so are they; if he goes away disappointed, they are disappointed too. The Bhagavad Gita calls such an opportunity a direct gateway to heaven. The householder dutifully bowed before the god arrived in the form of the dogs and their master. Buddhism lays special emphasis on placing oneself in the position of others. Dana is not only the act of giving, but the mental state of liberality as well. Fielding Hall, a British official in nineteenth-century Burma, once asked for a bill at what he had taken to be a village restaurant, and found that he had been fed as a guest in a private house. Little did he know that the simple-minded folk were just practicing one of Buddhism's fundamental ethical imperatives - the gesture of unconditioned giving.

Brahmin Shvetaketu... decided to unravel before the world an authoritative scripture channelising man's animal instincts into a disciplined practice of pleasure... he undertook to rearrange the text originally presented by Nandi, the bull of Shiva, in a thousand chapters... Vatsyayana, the celebrated author of the Kama Sutra, condensed it further into the thirty-six chapters that exist today... the intention of the Kama Sutra is to link pleasure with virtue, and it is all about not being a slave to sensual desire... The pleasure that arises at the time of the physical senses and the mind and the heart enjoying their natural objects, is Kama... In Dharma, Artha and Kama, the preceding one is better than the succeeding one... Vatsyayana establishes Kama as an independent branch of study, declaring physical desire to be an integral need of the body,... in ethical rhythm with Artha and Dharma.

Brahmin Shvetaketu... decided to unravel before the world an authoritative scripture channelising man's animal instincts into a disciplined practice of pleasure... he undertook to rearrange the text originally presented by Nandi, the bull of Shiva, in a thousand chapters... Vatsyayana, the celebrated author of the Kama Sutra, condensed it further into the thirty-six chapters that exist today... the intention of the Kama Sutra is to link pleasure with virtue, and it is all about not being a slave to sensual desire... The pleasure that arises at the time of the physical senses and the mind and the heart enjoying their natural objects, is Kama... In Dharma, Artha and Kama, the preceding one is better than the succeeding one... Vatsyayana establishes Kama as an independent branch of study, declaring physical desire to be an integral need of the body,... in ethical rhythm with Artha and Dharma.

"A virgin blooming with fresh youth, the luster of her body was like the rising sun. Three-eyed, her face was endowed with the beauty of ten million cupids (Kamadeva)...Blossoming breasts which surpassed even the buds of a lotus (in softness)...Wishing to pay obeisance to her, the gods then got down from their chariot and approached the goddess. No sooner had they done so than she transformed them all into beautiful, young maidens....A weak man is declared to be without any Shakti, nobody says that he is without Shiva, or without Vishnu. They are all called Shakti-less; no one says that this man is Shiva-less…"

"Coleridge is not known to have ever seen Ajanta but in his words reverberates the same mystique as one experiences when visiting Ajanta....imagery at times was closer to flesh rather than spirit....Even the figure of the monk Mahajanaka has been modeled much on sensuous lines.Ajanta sculptures reveal a conscious attempt at capturing the grace, sublimity and spirituality....Ajanta sculptures are mostly reliefs. The Mahayana variation of Buddhism promoted polytheism in Buddhism and with it the cult of worshipping Bodhisattvas emerged with an irresistible appeal. Endowed with humanistic qualities and spirit of self sacrifice, Bodhisattvas comprised more popular theme of Ajanta sculptures. As much significant is the presence of the child-eating evil spirited-goddess Hariti with a child in her lap. Most magnificent and glaring aspect of Ajanta is its mural art, which been the fountain-head of the entire painting tradition in India."

"The Buddhist art, which... revolutionized the art scenario of the entire ancient Indian sub-continent, was essentially a narrative art.... In that age with little literacy... oral and visual narration... was the traditional tool of... stimulating a mind to know; and, the Buddhist art seems to have best exploited it... Narration... was thus the prime or perhaps the only mode of communication in the entire ancient world, not India alone...Buddhist art was conceived thus more or less as a visual alternative of its scriptures, and narration was the essence of both...The legend of Buddha's life, in this birth as also in previous births, is the main subject-matter of Buddhist narratives...The events emerging...might belong to more than one story. This Buddhist model of narrative visual art...is the proto-model of India's visual narrative art."

"After having returned the clothes of the unclad maidens bathing in the sacred waters of river Yamuna, Krishna congratulated them for their unflinching devotion towards him and promised that he would sport with them during the forthcoming autumn nights...The gopis' escape from the shackles of worldly life was not however without event...Truly, Krishna is the ultimate attraction, much like a magnet draws iron files towards it...whatever emotion is directed towards god, it should be intense and continuous...the gopis puffed up with pride and each regarded herself as special...the gopis forgot their agony of separation (viraha), and on physical "contact with him (anga sanga) felt all their desires fulfilled..."

"Born in an era of social disparity, killing and violence ....Lord Mahavira emerged as a reformist, thinker, law-giver and guide....re-defined sanctity and potentialities of individual self - 'jiva' ...in attaining salvation - 'nirvana', by its own doing...the ultimate aim that he set before all 'jivas' was: 'parasparopagraha jeevanam'...Lord Mahavira was the last of the twenty-four 'Thirthankaras' of the concurrent eon...At about 30 years of age, he renounced the world after duly seeking his parents' permission...For over twelve years... he moved from one place to other, moving, knowing and meditating - all in simultaneity...Gautama with his ten Brahmin disciples was the first to convert to Mahavira's path...Mahavira's philosophy has eight principal cardinals...He also talks of Tri-ratnas - three gems, which are both, the means of the above as also their goal..."

"In Indian tradition dance was...a divine dimension of the man's act... The dancer...sublimated his own self...and united with the supreme Self... The ancient Indian mind...had unique reverence for dance... it conceived its gods as dancers discovering in dance the accomplishment of their assigned functions, ranging from creation to annihilation, and the divine grace - an essential attribute of gods... The tradition...acclaims Shiva as both, the first exponent of dance and the first linguist... Vishnu...is revered as the 'Adi-nratya-guru' along with Shiva and Kali... Dance has been classified under four categories...secular; ritual; abstract; and, interpretive... India's art imagery and sacred architecture found...in dance its most natural and intimate idiom..."

"(The) lotus...has more symbolic applications - material and spiritual, than has any other symbol in India's arts, religions and systems of thought... lotus as a flower had an early presence, at least during the Indus days if not before... (The) lotus attained great significance in Buddhism even before Buddha was born, and emperor Ashoka must have been acquainted with it when he chose a lotus motif for his pillars... (The) mystic character of lotus inspired the Buddhist mind...to bow to it in reverence... Puranas discovered its many new dimensions... lotus stood basically for the divine element in which were manifested fertility, prosperity, fruition, and riches, and hence when associated with a divinity, it multiplied such divinity's power also to propitiate... lotus represented the unfoldment of creation and upheld Brahma to effect it... Lotus defined the form of many of the 'yantras' and 'mandalas' - cosmic diagrams and graphics, revealing definite process of cosmic laws and energies which acted alike on sensible and supersensible levels.

"...'When an individual is firmly established in non-violence (ahimsa), all beings who come near him also cease to be hostile'... Patanjali is the author of the de facto text of yoga - 'The Yoga Sutra.'... Patanjali's scripture not only provides yoga with a thorough and consistent philosophical basis, but in the process, also clarifies many important esoteric concepts (like karma), common to all traditions of Indian thought... Patanjali's is a far-sighted vision of universal humanity... The desire not to harm others is an essential ingredient in cultivating a mental state recognizing the essential unity underlying all living beings, leading towards ultimate mystical union, envisaged as the final goal of yoga..."

"Shiva's...is the imagery and iconography that evolved over a period of five millennia - perhaps the longest period for an image, or worship tradition, to have evolved and sustained through... Shiva's imagery reveals wondrous unity and unique growth perspective... there is absolute unanimity in regard to the fact that he had iconic presence much before the Vedas came into being... Shiva has been conceived in visual arts as timeless youth, though sometimes with moustaches defining an advanced age and sometimes without them close to juvenescence..."

"The Bhagavad Gita consists of seven hundred verses. Out of these, a massive 574 have been uttered by Krishna himself, giving us an unparalleled insight into the true nature of divinity... (It) is in many ways God's picture album filled with self-portraits... The Great Teacher knows that human intellect is but naturally attracted to what it perceives to be extraordinary. This is made explicit when he defines himself to be 'the brilliance of all that is brilliant and the splendor of all that is splendid.'... God is present in all that is good and bad. The choice however remains ours... That is the reason he points out to us various specific and temporal manifestations of his otherwise endless and eternal glory.

It is frequently described as a love for all beings, equal in intensity to a mother's affection for her child... the defining symbol of...the Chinese assimilation of Buddhism...is the goddess...Kuan Yin...who with her sweet and merciful disposition, has won the hearts of not only the Chinese, but also profoundly affected even those who, belonging to a foreign tradition, have only had a fleeting interaction with her... Kuan Yin is the Chinese version of the male god Avalokiteshvara, whom the ancient texts eulogize as the patron deity of compassion... (She) is a symbol...of the many hued flavor of karuna, expressed through the softer wisdom of a woman... Though often images are encountered, which show her sporting a moustache, emphasizing masculinity; this is negated by the softness of her demeanor... Can anything be more subtly female than her graceful poise - modest and inward looking, yet potent enough to generate and compassionately nourish the whole outside world?"

"Senses delight all and have delighted always, but Indian theorists were perhaps the earliest to perceive the delight of senses as the essence of being - a phenomenon of mind sublimating spiritually... man's 'bhava-jagat'...(emotional world)...alone comprised the theme of poetry, drama, sculpture, or painting. The spectator - 'rasika', as he is called, witnesses a dramatic performance for the enjoyment of 'Rasa'... This 'Rasa'... - the delight which the spectator experienced when witnessing an emotion enacted on the stage, or represented into a medium, is the core of Indian aesthetic thought... As Bharat had it, a subject's instinctive nature comprising all sentiments and emotions - inherent and inborn, as well as concurrent and passing, alone could be the theme of arts... Bharat averred that arts were arts only when they excited the senses and aroused emotions, and created 'Rasa', in which the mind perpetually rejoiced. He prescribed ten conditions of good writing - 'gunas' as he called them; ten faults - 'doshas', a good writing should avoid; and, thirty-six characters of a literary writing. Bharat's perception was thus broad as well as minute and analytical..."

"Kapalika tantrikas believed that...instinct to love, Kama, was body's...enlivening strength...which charged in sexual union prepared body...soul and mind for harbouring all pleasurable sensations which finally led to parmananda...when...self united with and merged into universal or cosmic self...Khajuraho (was) its best laboratory... Khajuraho temples have hundreds of sculptures portraying various positions of coition and love making... which the modern mind would consider obscene and vulgar... (Khajuraho) temples were always thronged by crowds of mahantas and common devotees. Obviously, people those days thought of sex and love differently... (khajuraho temples are) amongst the finest works of art that man's creative genius might claim to have ever created on the earth... Whatsoever human imagination conceives, it will fall short of the magnificence that these stone structures breathe..."