Mira Prabhu's Blog, page 46
July 24, 2016
Smorgasbord Open House – Author Mira Prabhu
Sally Cronin never ceases to amaze me with her enthusiastic willingness to spread the work of other writers – this despite being busily creative herself and a hectic social life. Here’s her interview with yours truly…
Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life
My guest today, author Mira Prabhu, was born in Bangalore which a cosmopolitan city located in the south of India. In recent years there has been an influx of hi-tech companies which has changed the face of what was once called the Garden City. Mira is author of The Moksha Trilogy which we will find out about later in the interview.
Here is an excerpt from an interview that I did with Mira back in 2014
My British-educated parents were extremely conservative and enforced a strict gender double-standard I grew up resenting: We girls were groomed for the marriage market and expected to be pretty, docile creatures who kowtowed to the patriarchy. It didn’t take me long to realize I wanted nothing to do with this scenario.
Fortunately my parents insisted that both sons and daughters be highly educated. My father even ordered us to speak English at home…
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July 23, 2016
Day 7: KRISHNA’S COUNSEL – PLEASE NOMINATE ME ON KINDLE SCOUT!!!
Day 7 of a 30-day viewing of
Krishna’s Counsel
on Kindle Scout!
N
ominate
Krishna’s Counsel
,
and if Kindle Scout takes it on, you will not only get a free version but you will also warm the cockles of my heart.
P
lease click on this
link below
—
and
if you like what you see, be kind enough to nominate me:
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/11AA1JA16VAV5
.
Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 7:
Uncle began by speaking of the roots of their community. So much had been lost in the mists of time, he said, that it was impossible to pinpoint their exact origins. What he’d discovered via his own eccentric methods of research was that thousands of years ago the Saraswat Brahmins had settled in the fabled Indus Valley. Some held the view that they had migrated from the steppes of Europe and were a branch of the original Aryans, but Uncle said these theories were hard to corroborate. In any event, the Saraswat Brahmins had later been driven south by some great calamity, and many had settled in the rich coastal state of Goa. Centuries later, the lucrative Indian spice trade—controlled by Arab merchants who operated in Goa and thereabouts—had attracted the attention of the Portuguese. It was these avaricious foreigners who’d grabbed Goa out of Muslim hands and unleashed a long reign of terror.
Portuguese rule began in the sixteenth and ended in the twentieth century; during this time, Uncle said, their priests, backed by their monarch, employed brutal methods to stamp out local religions and culture. In 1546 Francis Xavier, a Basque Roman Catholic missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus, wrote to the Portuguese King, urging him to dispatch the Inquisition to Goa. Xavier’s efforts bore fruit only after his death in 1552, so the pious creep wasn’t around to witness the horrors he’d unleashed on poor Goa; however historians offered proof that Xavier was well aware of the ugly nature of the beast he was inviting into that rich region. “Beyond atrocious, eh?” Uncle said. “Evil in the name of God! Can you believe the Vatican later canonized that rogue? Actually made him patron saint of all Catholic missionaries!” Lila had looked up at him with a frown, and Uncle added, as if reading her mind, that religious zealots are a far cry from genuine spiritual seekers, who recognize the same essence in all beings and therefore cannot do such evil.
Please do me the massive favor of visiting my campaign page to NOMINATE this mystical thriller! You would also make my day if you share or reblog this post. Here again is the link: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/11AA1JA16VAV5 .
Greetings from Arunachala, Shiva in the form of a hill, who challenges us to fight our own darkness so we can realize our awesome divine potential! 
Eighteen Inches
What saved me from hibernating for too long? Among many things, regular Death Meditation – knowing the end could come at any point in time and that I had no time to waste…..thanks Atul Ranchod~!
No one can give someone their joy.
No one can take someone’s pain.
No amount of money
Can buy one single breath.
And yet we are caught in
So many concepts
That try to define us.
Why is happiness hard wired in us?
This eighteen inch journey
From brain to heart
Is by far the most
Challenging yet.
This potent source
From where the thirst is born,
And from where it can
Finally be quenched.
This is where my heart
Longs to be drenched.
I give myself permission
To dissolve away.
If in the final moments
As this air is whisked away,
There aren’t any words
To say.
What about now?
With no impending doom,
Have I made room
To experience this yet?
Then perhaps in the
Deepest silence,
Acknowledging
The ultimate recognition,
I embrace the most vital
Expression granted to a human.
Given with such utter kindness.
Analysis has…
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July 22, 2016
Albert Einstein’s Essay on Racial Bias in 1946
Brilliant and compassionate Albert Einstein speaks on the evil of racial bias…please read this moving post – and thank you for a timely post, Alk3r!
In the years after World War II, Albert Einstein took up the mantle of confronting racism in America. He became a good friend and comrade of the prominent opera singer Paul Robeson, co-chaired an anti-lynching campaign, and was an outspoken supporter of W.E.B. Du Bois.
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Day 6: KRISHNA’S COUNSEL – PLEASE NOMINATE ME ON KINDLE SCOUT!!!
Day 6 of a 30-day viewing of Krishna’s Counsel (my second novel in the Moksha Trilogy (moksha = freedom in Sanskrit) on Kindle Scout! Nominate Krishna’s Counsel (you just have to click a button), and if Kindle Scout takes it on, you will get a free version. So, if you have an Amazon.com account, please click on the link for my campaign and nominate me: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/11AA1JA16VAV5.
Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 6:
But how can we be sure of the best thing to do when we’re in trouble? Pia had asked. Her own volatile emotions drove her to behave in ways she often regretted and her secret fear was that she’d end up like Seb. Uncle had answered her by launching into a recital of a critical portion of the Bhagavad Gita, a saga set thousands of years ago in a north Indian realm studded with avatars, maharajas, sages and warriors. His eloquence had brought to life the events that had transpired on that ancient roiling battlefield, his words striking Pia like golden arrows, as if from God’s maw straight to her mortal ears.
The seeds of war between two sets of royal cousins had been sown, Uncle explained, when the hundred envious Kauravas began to scheme for the annihilation of the five supremely gifted Pandavas. Adhering to the doctrine of ahimsa or nonviolence, however, the Pandavas had not retaliated. So what finally provoked them into calling for a bloody resolution? Nothing less than the theft of all their wealth, personal enslavement and, most unforgivable of all, the sexual shaming of their entrancing common wife, Queen Draupadi, by Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava and heir to the throne of Hastinapura.
Both factions had enlisted the support of Lord Krishna, divine avatar and royal kinsman. Krishna had offered them a choice—either his military forces, or his services as an unarmed charioteer. Duryodhana had chosen Krishna’s army, while Arjuna had opted for Krishna alone—a wise move on his part because, later, when the Prince had shrunk back from slaughtering his own kinfolk, it was Krishna who had convinced him to fight his wicked cousins and then cannily guided the Pandavas to victory.
“Krishna’s message is clear,” Uncle had said in conclusion. “The spiritual warrior must first accept that the root of all suffering is a mind crazed by desire and fear. She then learns to still her mind, harness her unruly senses, and redirect her intellect towards pure consciousness—so that, when life throws down the next gauntlet, she can follow the best course of action, no matter the consequences.”
Please do me the massive favor of visiting my campaign page to NOMINATE this mystical thriller! You would also make my day if you share or reblog this post. Here again is the link: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/11AA1JA16VAV5 .
Greetings from Arunachala, Shiva in the form of a hill, who challenges us to fight our own darkness so we can realize our awesome divine potential!
July 21, 2016
Day 5: KRISHNA’S COUNSEL – PLEASE NOMINATE ME ON KINDLE SCOUT!!!
This is Day 5 of a 30-day viewing of
Krishna’s Counsel
(my second novel in the
Moksha Trilogy
(
moksha
= freedom in Sanskrit) on Kindle Scout!
(Kindle Scout is a portal into publication by Kindle Press.) Should you nominate Krishna’s Counsel , and if Kindle Scout takes it on, you will not only get a free version but you will also warm the cockles of my heart. So, if you have an Amazon.com account, please click on this link below—and if you like what you see, be kind enough to nominate me:
https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/11AA1JA16VAV5
.
Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 5:
“We humans are capable of anything.” Uncle’s face was grim. “But first we’ve got to admit we have a problem, and this is what your father’s monumental ego prevents him from doing. Besides, when drink gets mixed up with everything in one’s life, it’s not easy to disentangle yourself from its clutches. And admitting you have a serious problem is only a start—Nick would have to accept that he’s greatly harmed himself as well as hurt a host of innocent people before he can even begin to change.”
Uncle’s face was grave. “Burn these three steps of change into your minds—Awareness, Acceptance, and Action. The first is vital and leads to the other two. If you’re not willing to admit you have a problem, how can you change?” He shook his head in frustration. “I’ve given up trying to make your father see any sense about his situation. His fate is in the hands of a power much greater than any of us combined. Nina’s right to pray for him so fervently—my tackling him directly seems only to have made things worse.”
“Can we please talk about something else?” Lila cried. Her loyalty to their father would not permit her to consider the truth of Uncle’s verdict.
“Such as your flawless backstroke?” Pia asked mockingly.
Please do me the massive favor of visiting my campaign page to NOMINATE this mystical thriller! You would also make my day if you share or reblog this post. Here again is the link: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/11AA1JA16VAV5 .
Greetings from Arunachala, Shiva in the form of a hill, who challenges us to fight our own darkness so we can realize our awesome divine potential!
July 20, 2016
The Disease of Being Busy
The Disease of Being Busy…please read this excellent post…if we want to break free of our cage, there is real work to do and it requires dismantling our current matrix…the word that springs to my mind is “ruthless” – because that is what I became once I decided I wanted to spend my precious time in ways that led to spiritual evolution…thank you so much for this post, Alk3r (don’t know your name, sorry!) and to Chris Graham for bringing it to my attention…
I saw a dear friend a few days ago. I stopped by to ask her how she was doing, how her family was. She looked up, voice lowered, and just whimpered: “I’m so busy… I am so busy… have so much going on.”
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Can an animal attain Self-Realization?
Ramana Maharshi’s last words were “have you fed the peacocks?” His love for animals and indeed all creatures is the stuff of legend – and yet another reason why I adore the Sage of Tiruvannamalai. The knower of wisdom resides in Absolute reality where every being is perceived as divine. To keep this great truth constantly in mind – no matter our current state of consciousness, likes, dislikes, biases and preferences – can slowly or quickly lead us to the wonder of realizing who we are in truth – the immortal and blissful Self.
Thank you Harsh Luthar, for this profound post!
Bhagavan Ramana generally went along with the Hindu orthodox traditions and rarely contradicted them. But there were several notable exceptions.
One exception involved his own mother who lived with him despite the fact that Bhagavan was a Sadhu, a renunciate.
The second exception involved animals around him whom Bhagavan gave equality with human beings.
Once Bhagavan said, “It is not true that birth as a man is necessarily the highest, and that one must attain realisation only from being a man. Even an animal can attain Self-realisation”. (‘Day by Day with Bhagavan’ 2-9-46)
Day 4: KRISHNA’S COUNSEL – PLEASE NOMINATE ME ON KINDLE SCOUT!!!
This is Day 4 of a 30-day viewing of
Krishna’s Counsel
(my second novel in the
Moksha Trilogy
(
moksha
= freedom in Sanskrit) on Kindle Scout!
(Kindle Scout is a portal into publication by Kindle Press.) Should you nominate Krishna’s Counsel , and if Kindle Scout takes it on, you will not only get a free version but you will also warm the cockles of my heart. So, if you have an Amazon.com account, please click on this link below—and if you like what you see, be kind enough to nominate me: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/11AA1JA16VAV5
Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 4:
Twilight descended over the dense forest and she again saw the Tree of Good and Evil. Under its spreading branches her father Nick had posed in khakis, legs astride, wielding a whip, his face etched in stone. Clutching her woolen blanket, Granny stood skinny, pale and weak-kneed to his left while her mother stood beside Granny, shivering in an aquamarine sari bordered with gold. Lila, Anokhi and Pia cowered opposite them, separated by a yawning pit hissing and bubbling like a live thing. They were in Purgatory, Pia knew, while Heaven lay above, distant and perhaps unattainable.
Nick slashed at the frail old lady with his whip, driving her into the pit of Hell, then he turned on his wife, and the girls watched aghast as Nina’s slender body tumbled upside down into the pit. But it was only when Nick turned on Lila and Anokhi that Pia started shrieking, begging him to stop. Her father whirled around to face her. “Fool!” he roared. “Don’t you know that you alone will escape?”
Please do me the massive favor of visiting my campaign page to NOMINATE this mystical thriller! You would also make my day if you share or reblog this post. Here again is the link: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/11AA1JA16VAV5 .
Greetings from Arunachala, Shiva in the form of a hill, who challenges us to fight our own darkness so we can realize our awesome divine potential!
July 19, 2016
Day 3: KRISHNA’S COUNSEL – PLEASE NOMINATE ME ON KINDLE SCOUT!!!
This is Day 3 of a 30-day viewing of Krishna’s Counsel (my second novel in the Moksha Trilogy (moksha = freedom in Sanskrit) on Kindle Scout! (Kindle Scout is a portal into publication by Kindle Press.) Should you nominate Krishna’s Counsel , and if Kindle Scout takes it on, you will not only get a free version but you will also warm the cockles of my heart. So, if you have an Amazon.com account, please click on this link below—and if you like what you see, be kind enough to nominate me: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/11AA1JA16VAV5.
Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 3:
Without warning, Pia plunged into the shadows of her memory and imagination, shadows fragrant with myrrh and frankincense. The massive copper-studded door of the towering Protestant cathedral near Mahatma Gandhi Road that Lila and she had recently visited with Madira and Anokhi banged ominously shut behind them. The others had moved on, but she had lingered in the center of that preternaturally silent space, transfixed by the glowing pictures on the stained glass windows.
Despite the sunlight streaming in through the high windows, she had shivered with fear. Phosphorescent light had shone on the face of Satan—the scoundrel had winked at her and a grin had twisted his knowing face. He’d fluttered jeweled wings and saucily flicked a serpentine tail as if to say he’d get her, one devilish way or another. Terrified, Pia had swiveled around to stare at the portrait of Mary, whose bare feet crushed a garishly patterned serpent. Why did villains always strike her as more interesting than saints? These saints were uniformly lackluster in appearance, with dead eyes and golden halos that had reminded her of the orange jelabis dished up at the sweet shop off Commercial Street.
Please do me the massive favor of visiting my campaign page to NOMINATE this mystical thriller! You would also make my day if you share or reblog this post. Here again is the link: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/11AA1JA16VAV5 .
Greetings from Arunachala, Shiva in the form of a hill, who challenges us to fight our own darkness so we can realize our awesome divine potential!
