Om Swami's Blog, page 2

The Road to (Un)happiness

“I cannot recount the countless paths to fleeting happiness, O Ananda,” Buddha said, “they vary from one sentient being to another. But I can tell you the cause of suffering and the means to transcend it—these are universal to all.” ... Read more →

I Am Letting Go

Is anything ever immune to change? Everything dies, it transforms, it transmutes, never to be the same again. Whether we like it or not, every pore of our existence and everything around us is constantly undergoing a change of some ... Read more →

Thirteen Months in the Himalayas

I still remember vividly how it was when I first sat in my cave. It felt like a world that was whole, as if I needed nothing else. And it was like that. I had a roof over my head which was ... Read more →

Nirvana

A newly minted and wealthy disciple, Pukkusa brought with him two robes made from gold thread. This was not just an offering but his way of showing his allegiance to Buddha. “I beg you to do me the honor of ... Read more →

Healing Trauma

Before he turned into a sly fox wearing an eternally innocent mask, Rocky was a cute little puppy. You could swear by his guileless visage. I was eleven years old and he was a little marshmallow in the first month ... Read more →

It Didn’t Start With You

All women become like their mothers, that is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his. ~Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde may have unwittingly revealed one of the great truths of human psychology. The complete truth, however, is that we ... Read more →

Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

The other day I was sitting in the car when I read this phrase in the side view mirror. There was nothing special about it per se as I had come across that on numerous occasions earlier too. But somehow ... Read more →

Being Ordinary

More than ten years ago, I wrote a post on the secret of longevity. Titled, The Value of Nothing, it spoke about how a tree was spared chopping just because it was too big and that it had survived for ... Read more →

Crippled

The young man on the hospital bed came back to consciousness slowly and reluctantly, almost as though he knew and dreaded the shock that awaited him. He looked up at the ends of his arms, wrapped in bandages. He looked ... Read more →

The Clever Adulteress

In a certain village, a few thousand years ago, lived a poor man. He had a beautiful daughter whose beauty was only matched by her wisdom. She was a paragon of serenity and equipoise. The poor man also had two ... Read more →