Beloo Mehra's Blog, page 18

Book Review: The Thinking Indian (Guest Post: Gilu Mishra)

ॐ शरी गणेशाय नमः A perfect day to share the first detailed review of my e-book, The Thinking Indian


I am happy to host today, Gilu Mishra , a friend and a fellow lover and student of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Gilu and I first met several years ago in Pondicherry when she joined the institution where I was working at the time, to participate in some structured courses meant to help learners go deeper into some aspects of the wide-ranging thought and works of Sri Aurobindo. I had the pri...

सुमिरन कर ले मेरे मना…

आज, सितमबर, हिंदी दिवस के अवसर पर एक विशेष परसतुति


चितरकार: बिंदु पोपली 

संगीत जब उपासना की ओर ले जाए…कल सुबह के कुछ पल ऐसे ही थे…

एक दिवय अनुभूति थी जब गुरु नानक के भकति-भाव से भरे शबद पंडित जसराज के भावपूरण सुरों में और डॉ एल सुबरमणयम के मनमोहक वॉयलिन की तारों पर नाच रहे थे। इस परेमपूरण संगीत-उपासना में साथ दे रही थीं - कविता कृषणमूरती। और इस संगम में डुबकी लगाने का आनंद-अनुभव शायद शबदों में वरणननीय नहीं है।

परातः-काल की उस बेला में इस परकार का अनुभव वासतव में ही एक उपासना...

A Desi Secularist Dilemma (Or How to Secularize a Hindu Religious Festival)

A New Post in the Series: Current Events

If you are part of the so-called educated, English-speaking, urban/semi-urban sections of Indian populace, and spend any time on social media, you must have noticed all the status updating, tweeting, sharing etc. that happen on most of the so-called secular ‘holidays’ (since Americans call the festivals holidays, so naturally we must call them ‘holidays’) – be it Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, or others such.

Good. Always good to celebrate...

Hare Krishna

A new post  in the series: When a Picture Leads
A Krishna Janamashtami Special
For the last couple of weeks I have been reading and thinking about a few things on Indian Art, especially focusing on the theme of spirituality in Indian Art. It has been a wonderful learning so far, and someday hope to go deeper into what is now a very preliminary study. 
So naturally on this special occasion of Sri Krishna Janmashtami , what else would be on my mind but Krishna in art? Krishna, whose Divin...

Fabulous Bahubali: Some Musings

Late that I almost always am in watching the 'big name' movies, maybe everything that I thought or felt after watching Bahubali has already been said, contradicted, analysed, deconstructed, etc. But still I feel like sharing a few thoughts that came to me, as and after I watched this mega-film Bahubali.

Given the epic-like character of the film, it only makes sense to speak of a few larger points rather than the nitty-gritty details about this or that of the film. So here are my Big 8 musings...

Freedom: What is it for?

MUSINGS ON THIS 15 AUGUST


Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Tagore


August 15 is Sri Aurobindo's birthday. It is also India's Independence Day. What better day than today to recall and meditate on following words of his:

Our first necessity, if India is to survive and do her appointed work in the world, is that the youth of India should learn to think,—to think on all subjects, to think independently, fruitfully, going to the heart of things, not stopped by their surface, free of prejudgments, shearing...

Current Events 12: The Parliamentary Drama

I simply love it when my research and reading of some of the gems from Sri Aurobindo's extensive writings lead me to an extra-ordinarily exact and supremely succinct interpretation that helps me make sense of some recent phenomenon or observation which I have been mulling over. It is as if the Master himself was guiding me to that passage. Of course, He is, always.

The phenomenon I am speaking today is the drama that is being played out in, or rather outside, the halls of Indian Parliament.

The...

Quote UnQuote 3: Herd

Source

“Most people say that Shakespeare rocked merely because most people say that Shakespeare rocked.” 

― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Isn’t this a bitter truth?

Why this need to be liked that we pretend to like all those things – books-authors, art-artists, films-filmmakers – that must be “liked” if we are to be liked by the up-and-coming-socially-elite-politically-correct-economically-successful-newsmaker-of-the-day-types?

Confusing, no? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just make up our own minds after r...

Morality in Politics

A new post in the series Satyam Shivam Sundaram


The other day something led me to re-read some of the articles and commentaries Sri Aurobindo wrote during his 'active' political revolutionary days, when he was writing and editing the nationalist journal Bande Mataram during 1906-1908. 
For me it was a wonderful exercise to reflect upon the fact that some of the ideals, ideas and thoughts he was presenting more than a century ago are still highly relevant and perfectly applicable....

Quote UnQuote 2: Sleep

“I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?” ― Ernest Hemingway


Who doesn’t love sleep? All is well when one’s asleep. Wake up and you may discover there’s more to life than endless-entertainment-shopping-twitter-timepass-cappuccino-gourmet-brands-gossip-holidaying-more-more-more. Who wants any messy stuff beyond all this?

Waking up is serious work. All cherished notions of life, happiness, success, relationships, love, everything fall apart. Pain,...