July 21, 2020
With the 2020 Olympic Games being cancelled we may seize the opportunity to reconnect with the spirit of this most famous and prestigious sporting event. For it has not always existed in the format we know it today, the ancient Olympics serving a vastly different purpose than the modern day Olympic Games. Just how far [...]July 21, 2020
The Legend of the Gordian Knot tells us of an ordinary man named Gordias who rode into the centre of the Phrygian kingdom on his simple ox-driven cart, unaware that a recent prophecy would announce him, as the newest arrival in town, to be declared King. So the capital was renamed Gordium and Gordias went [...]July 20, 2020
A child’s journey to adulthood is often a mixed bag. It’s a time of learning and challenges. Skills and abilities are developed, as are likes and dislikes. He quickly learns the rules of the world that he lives in. And facing a new world for the first time, his simplest obstacles look like gigantic monsters. [...]July 20, 2020
As I began to reflect on how our way of living had changed literally overnight when the lockdown was announced in Mumbai, I realised that like most people, I went through various stages of emotions, doubts, and concerns. There were moments of uncertainty, and confusion about the future, the health of loved ones, the suffering [...]July 20, 2020
The times that we have experienced together in the last few months have been unique. There is no doubt that it has been challenging for many, but my attempt in this article is to highlight the special opportunities that I discovered even in such moments. Due to the lockdown across the world, many were physically [...]July 20, 2020
Deeply inspired by great philanthropists in our times, one often struggles with the dilemma of how and what we can do in terms of charity or social service. Generally, such noble intentions first veer towards sending supplies and relief material to victims of natural disasters, accidents or riots. One might also perhaps commit a part [...]June 21, 2020
One thing that never fails to amaze me is how one and the same cause can bring about so many completely different experiences and consequent ‘realities’. The current pandemic is a good example of this. As I look around my wide circle of friends and family (in various different countries), colleagues, neighbours and acquaintances, I [...]June 21, 2020
During the course of the last two millennia, ripple effects from endless waves of invasions and migrations have contributed to the Irish identity of today, although preceding tales of misty legends and epics are still expressed by ancient structures, myths and culture. Ireland’s origins are of vague beginnings, with butchered bear bones carbon dated to [...]June 21, 2020
Samkhya is regarded as the oldest philosophical system in Hinduism and its teachings can be found in the Bhagavad Gita. Samkhya has a dualistic view based on two main components which constitute the whole of reality, namely, spirit (Purusha) and matter (Prakriti). Everything that exists is the result of the evolution of prakriti, but the first [...]June 13, 2020
When 2020 began, we did not yet know the extent of the difficult times we would have to face. A short time later came the spread of a pandemic, which affected most – if not all – countries in the world, showing that in such cases what we regard as differences do not exist. We [...]June 1, 2020
A Story of Exile The year was 65 AD, a little less than a hundred years after the assassination of Julius Caesar and the foundation of the Roman Empire. Musonius Rufus, the foremost Stoic philosopher of his times, known by some as the “Roman Socrates”, was accused by emperor Nero to have participated in a [...]April 26, 2020
There are two quotes from the book Altruism – the Science and Psychology of Kindness by Matthieu Ricard that sum up what is wrong with our world. “To change what we do because something is going to happen in one hundred years is, I would say, profoundly weird.” This was a comment made by the [...]