Promod Puri's Blog: Hinduism:beyond rituals,customs and traditions, page 53

REMEMBERING POET SHAILENDRA

In simple words, poet Shailendra wrote great poetry with deepest thoughts, feelings, and emotions. His ‘shikva’ meaning complaint to God is one of my favourite compositions. “Duniya banane wale kaya tera mann main samai, kahe to duniya banai.” Shailendra was a poet par excellent. He weaved the words in the language of common man expressing his sorrows and joys, struggles and hopes, awareness and inspiration. “kisi ke muskuraahato pe ho nisaar, kisee ka dard mil sake to le udhaar, kisee ke vaste ho tere dil me pyaar, jeena isee kaa naam hai.” Born into a Dalit family of Chamaar at …

MY MEMORIES WITH GRAMOPHONE

They say Vinyl is back. With that news, my memory goes back to the golden era of listening to music through gramophone technology. The 12-inch circular disc on the turntable with its soft feel of grooves was music in motion. Gently placing the needle on the black disc, the sound of music emanated. My listening pleasure was mostly with the popular film songs being played thru the vinyl record and full blast from the neighbourhood’s loudspeakers on special occasions. Connected through long wires, loudspeakers placed on rooftops, and music spread was all around. I remember, out of curiosity, I once …

CUBANS ON THE STREET

Communists and Leftists all over the globe are fanatically in love with Cuba’s leadership. Their only source of information about this island nation is its propaganda machinery, an effective weapon of misinformation used by authoritarian rulers.

Caste, Colour, Creed, And Nationalities Clog World Peace

Nationality, caste, colour, creed, ritual-based religion: do we still have to wear these badges? When these identities become obsolete, dead, and gone? Nations across the globe have become or becoming cosmopolitan in both the physical and virtual worlds. Political boundaries are only relevant to the administrative and bureaucratic functioning of governments. But not for propping up nationalism and its related precept of patriotism. In a universal temperament, caste, colour, creed, and ritual-based religion are irrelevant. Instead these antiquated social and faith-based divisions clog the advance of peace and harmony in our lives. By Promod Puri

Remembering Raj Kapoor

I was sitting by myself in the neighbourhood community centre’s Sauna room when a man walked in. “Good morning, how are you.” “Good morning. I’m fine. Thank you.” “Are you from India?” “Yes, I’m.” “I’m from Russia, immigrated to Canada many years ago. I love India, especially Indian films and Hindi songs. You know what, Raj Kapoor was my favourite. I still hum one or two of his popular songs.” The little conversation delighted me and took me back to Hindi films’ golden era when Raj Kapoor was a towering personality both as an actor and film producer. December 14, …

Beyond the farm laws, protesting Indian farmers are sowing the seeds of revolution against authoritarianism.

TRUMP’S LEGACY: BREEDING TRUTHS OUT OF LIES

Conceived opinions and judgments influence our mindset viewpoint. And most of the time, our actions and reactions are based on retrieving the intellect from the installed position.

The Essence Of Hinduism Lies On Just Two Very Basic Principles

In its theology, Hinduism generated a range of systematic ideologies covering various studies in ethical and metaphysical perceptions. Within these profound discernments, Hinduism’s outstanding feature is the doctrine of “Purusarthas,” advocating four complementary engagements in an individual’s life.

MY PASSION WITH IRONING

Taking advantage of the Black Friday shopping bargains at Walmart, we bought a long overdue ironing board. Till now, we were using a spare computer table with a spread of thick cotton sheets for some cushioning on its top. With adjustable height, the new ironing board has all that buffer plus the parking space to hold the press. I love ironing with a meditative passion. Since my early teen years, I mastered the pressing job shoulder to shoulder, top to bottom, inside, outside for every kind of wear. My love affair with the hot press, later along with newspaper and …

Does God Play Role In Our Karmas

by Promod Puri Karma is one of the most fundamentals of Hinduism.  The actual word is ‘Karm’ with a firm stop at the last letter ‘m’. As usual, many Sanskrit or Hindi words, for some reason or without reason, are stretched by hooking up with the letter ‘a’: for example, Krishna, Rama, Ayurveda etc.  In any case, Karma or Karm represents action, deed or work. It is an act of doing something. And that involves two more factors, the doer and the result(s) of work performed. Together, action, doer and result, constitute Karma, which starts with a verb and ends …