While we just celebrated #Azaadikaamritmahotsav, the 75 years of independence, a thought crosses my mind, and perhaps yours too – Are we really free? Are we truly happy? Are these two co-related? If you are free, are you happy? Maybe yes, maybe no! So, what is happiness? By a definition in psychology, happiness is a […]
Category Archives: Applied Philosophy
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Aug
Aug
Happiness does not come with any dates of the calendar. It comes as a fresh breeze whenever it comes. Most of the time it depends on our acceptability and receptivity–how we receive and perceive it. And the real source is within us–eternally there, waiting to express itself. It is our own negative attitude towards life […]
17
Aug
Aug
Karwa Chauth is an Indian Festival where women observe a day-long fast (without water) for the long life & well-being of their husbands. It is a prominent festival of North India celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm, but other communities also observe similar festivals, though in a slightly different manner. In the last decades, we […]
17
Aug
Aug
lbert Camus, a 20th century French philosopher, gave a new turn to philosophical thought of the time by bringing attention to the absurdity of life with his existentialist perspective. Here are three prime lessons to take away from his work!
16
Aug
Aug
Nandita Kochar In the second (and concluding) part of the series, we continue looking at ideas offered by Western Philosophers, ideas that are meant to inspire the heart and lift some weight and weirdness off it. ‘Aus so krummem Holze, als woraus der Mensch gemacht ist, kann nichts ganz Gerades gezimmert werden’ (out of the […]
15
Aug
Aug
Actually, Pascal says, it might do us some greater good if we did nothing. If we just sat inside the four walls of our room and spent some time gazing into our own selves – clearing the negative thoughts and decorating the healthy ones, spending time in some thoughtful reveries or simply watching the clouds move.
14
Aug
Aug
And once our minds are made up, we seek out facts to support them. We have hundreds of strategies which help us avoid looking into the human heart. This saves us trouble; we do not have to worry about it.
13
Aug
Aug
We have missed the laughter of the heart because we have been trained to approach God with a serious and long face! To be religious does not mean we have to put on such a face! All religious practices are meant to unite us with God, in whatever form, but one God that goes without any controversy is the God of love and laughter.
12
Aug
Aug
But Frederich Nietzsche statement is only half: Nobody has tried to make it complete. It looks complete, but Frederich Nietzsche was not aware that there are religions in the world that have no God, Yet even those religions man is not free. He was not aware of Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism – the most profound religions of all.
11
Aug
Aug
So don’t try to be celibate just to avoid death because that too again is fear. The people who try to become celibate are afraid of death, and one who is afraid of death can never know what death is, can never know what deathlessness is. So don’t be afraid.