Category Archives: Applied Philosophy

According to Michael W. Passer & Ronald E. Smith, “emotions are feeling (or affect) states that involve a pattern of cognitive, physiological and behavioral reactions to events.” Charles Darwin believed that emotions serve many adaptive functions. For instance, experiencing the emotions of fear and alarm allows us to survive in life-threatening situations. The emotions of […]

In his 1992 book, The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate, Gary Chapman outlines the five ways to express and experience love. He calls these ways ‘languages of love’. Let’s look at each one of them! Words of Affirmation Solomon, author of ancient Hebrew Wisdom Literature, wrote, “The tongue has […]

As children, we were dependent on others for our emotional fulfillment. As adults, we have a choice – to live with the neglected wounds or to attend to them before they turn into scars. So here’s a list of things you can say to your inner child in order to kickstart the healing! 1. I […]

The word ‘Upanishad’ is derived from the root ‘sad’ which means to sit down, to destroy and to loosen. ‘Upa’ means ‘nearby’ and ‘ni’ means devotedly. The word therefore means the sitting down of a disciple near his teacher in a devoted manner to receive instruction about the highest reality which loosens all doubts and destroys all ignorance of the disciple.

Nandita Kochar Today, we revisit a much cherished tale of Osho’s about a Buddha and his black nose! Once there was a Buddhist nun with a Buddha made of gold. It was very beautifully carved and extremely pleasing to look at. The nun would carry it with wherever she went. Buddhist nuns and monks travel […]

Usually, these three terms are used to describe what’s on our plate and goes inside our stomachs. But Sattva, Rajas & Tamas originated as a part of bigger metaphysical explanation put forth by the Sankhya School of Indian Philosophy. Let’s see how!  According to this philosophy, everything in the world can be divided into two […]

Once a lady visited Kabir with her son. She complained of the boy eating heavy amounts of jaggery each day. Kabir listened to her problem patiently and then asked her to return to him with her son after one week. When the women did as asked, Kabir asked the boy to discontinue the practice.

The method in which the orientals have gone about preaching what they believed in is intriguingly different from the ways of the west – tea drinking ceremonies, walking in the shade of dense forests to drawing of intricate patterns only to have the mandalas entirely destroyed later on.