Nuggets of age-old Puranic wisdom

One of my favorite books is " The Difficulty of being Good " by Gurucharan Das, for it has had a deep impact on my thought process ever since I read it for the first time. For a long time, I yearned for an outlet, a free flowing, independent outlet of my mind thoughts and hence, I thought what better way than an ode to my favorite book. This series will generally cover my views on some common topics, centering around Good as theme and Dharma as the tenet. Obviously, the plurality of our dharma means that there is bound to be differing view points and perhaps, contradictory opinions. This is my perspective, perhaps an exercise of slugfest, within my own mind space to debate the quintessential eternal question.. What is Dharma? Social Media gives an outlet for everyone to voice an opinion, irrespective of one's aptitude, experience, relevance or expertise. While the nature of the forum is such, it does throw up some intriguing questions. Take for example, the 2 themes curre

With every passing day, one accumulates multiple experiences over and over again. These transform into lessons, memories, pains & reflections. Hindsight bias is so common that we always the "aha !!" moments multiple times in our lifetime. Based on my own observations, discussions with knowledgeable people & introspection, I believe all our experiences have a connect or rather a reason which we may or may not be able to fathom. Usually, it has been observed that the impact of the decisions or choices one makes or experiences one has is usually felt after 24-30 months i.e. 2.5 years. Age does get an illusion (maaya) of wisdom i.e. we think we are enlightened or we are wiser with our experiences. True introspection could be quite dark with startling revelations. Are we really wise? At a milestone of my own, I am now wondering, what if I went back in time and told myself to be different? What would that be? Let's come to this question a little later.  Shadripu i.e. 6

An extreme question for a title… Mortality has a certain reverence .. nah fear.. fear of an end of a life that we are yet to live fully. A recent tweet from a dear friend provoked me to reflect on this topic .. yet again? She asked “What would you do if you know that you will die in 24 hours?” Firstly I would consider that it is pure luck to know this. Personal experiences have shown that this certainty of life is almost uncertain and unpredictable. When, what can happen.. only the supreme Bhagwan above us knows all. While we can get into cliched, unique & intelligent answers, the stark reality of this question needs to be answered by one and all. So let’s look at some of the spheres of life and see what can be done. Finance is a field which is very touchy, highly personal & extremely sensitive. Well intentioned advice also is usually misconstrued and taken in the wrong context. Ensuring that family members who can take sound financial decisions and actions are kept in the loop

  At times, one finds inspiration / ideas from the most unlikely of sources. During my daily recital of Sriman Narayaneeyam , I crossed the story of Aniruddha, son of Krishna which led me to Banasura. Coincidentally, I was reading Sundara Kanda for some reference and stumbled upon Bana again. Out of these coincidences was born this idea to write threads on lesser-known Puranic characters and what way other than to start with Banasura.   Genealogy   In Siva Purana , Yuddha-kha ṇḍ a , Rudra-sa ṃ hitā , the story of Bana is explained in detail by Sanatkumara to Vyasa.   Banasura was the son of MahaBali whose ancestry is very rich being born in the lineage of the great Prahalada, Virochana and Bali.   Virochana was also a famous giver (daani) as can be seen below:   ವಿರೋಚನಃ ಸುತಸ್ತಸ್ಯ ಮಹಾದಾತೃವರೋSಭವತ್ ಶಕ್ರಾಯ ಸ್ವಶಿರೋ ಯೋSದಾದ್ಯಾಚಮನಾಯ ವಿಪ್ರತಃ   virōcana ḥ sutastasya mahādātr ̥ varōbhavat śakrāya svaśirō yōdādyācamanāya viprata ḥ ||Shiva