Ākāśāt Patitaṃ: Many Forms, One Reality

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Adi Shankara: The image that's stayed with me forever Sanskrit and shlokas have always fascinated me. The sheer vastness of Sanskrit literature is humbling. There are enough verses, texts, commentaries and traditions to occupy many lifetimes, and still leave one feeling that one has barely scratched the surface. But I didn't think much about any of this when I was growing up. I would recite shlokas in the morning and evening without fail. They were simply part of life. The words were there, the rituals were there, the temples were there—but much of it happened in the background. I was busy with academics. There was no time for Sanskrit or Vedanta. At least, that is what I used to tell myself. Of course, time was never really the problem. I could spend five days watching a Test match from morning to evening and somehow consider that perfectly legitimate use of my time! The truth was simpler: Sanskrit and Vedanta had not yet become priorities. Gr...
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The blind side

Pass me that bag lying in front of you.

In a rather intriguing way, I stretched my neck and strained my eyes to find out in the hardest possible way what was in front of me.  There was no way in the world that that bag was lying there.  My mind was blanked out and it was as though a black piece of cloth was wrapped around my eyes.  It is quite probable if that was the case, at least my other senses would have helped me in locating the bag.  Locating is actually a wrong word here, rather, it should be, seeing.

Praveen! It is right there, shrieked my wife.  

Where, where, I asked, in a pleading tone. 

I just wanted her to put an end to the aura of "invisibility" (definitely, I wouldn't use invincibility).  Looking at the number of words that are getting replaced, one shouldn't be faulted for thinking that this is some kind of a Find and Replace word editor.

She stood stoically, at least she tried to, but I was not sure whether her expression was completely bereft of even the minutest of emotions.  That seemed rather hard to believe.  She was staring at me, as though, she was ready to go to a couple of stores nearby, select the best looking bag and get it back home.  That had a better probability of getting a bag than out of me.  It was a hopeless situation to be in.  I did not, for even a second, imagine how I would have reacted if I was put in the same situation.

She emerged out of the reverie, ( I having fallen into one), knowing that the only way to save the situation was to stop expecting me to pick the bag, walked a few steps ahead of me, and picked the red bag that was lying right in front of me.  I obviously had a sheepish grin. 

How do you fail to see what is right in front of you?

It was a question I had faced innumerable times in my life.  Maybe, Google has just ravaged my life to such an instant, that when I Google, I don't want to find a link and get into a page,  I would rather read the snippet and find what I am looking for. 

I think it is too hard to find something that can be found easily, and that just adds so much pressure on the finder! I know that's such a useless explanation, but it is always good to have an explanation than not to have one at all.  I wish I can find things easily.  But then, there is an alternate way of looking at things.  My wife is learning too, and is doing a pretty good job.  She never asks me to fetch anything.  In hindsight, it is a good situation to be in actually.

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