GV2…..Why we should not worry about death

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Let me continue with more verses from Bhagavad Gita in this episode, taking off from our previous discussion.

GV1…..Verses from Bhagavad Gita

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Starting today, I will be posting some select verses from ancient Indian scripture namely Bhagavad Gita. This holy book is so well known that it needs hardly any introduction. So, I will skip that.

QV20.....Conclusion of ‘Quranic verses’ series

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In the past several episodes, I had a wonderful time sharing my thoughts on some of the verses from Holy Quran. Picking some really illuminating verses from the Holy Quran, I have tried to show how lofty these fundamental ideas are.

QV19.....Faith cannot be forced on others

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There are people who believe that Islam was spread at the point of a sword. There are even some Muslims, who think that their faith should be forced on others.

QV18.....Caught in the jaws of time!

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All of us, however successful or great we think we are, have to exit one day. Time spares none. It is as if we are all trapped in the jaws of time and the time is slowly gnawing us one after the other.

QV17.....Don’t waste your time; surrender to God

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As I said in the very beginning, Islam is a path of complete surrender. In a previous post, I gave reasons why we should surrender to God.

This idea of surrender as a chosen and inevitable path, is not something new to Quran or Islam. Even before prophet Muhammad, many ancient great men talked about the same path.

QV16.....World is but one family

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Today we see some people identifying themselves with specific color, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion and so on. But they forget that all of us belong to one big family, i.e. the family of humans.

NewBook: Towards a better understanding of Islam

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I am happy to announce the release of my 19th book “Towards a better understanding of Islam”.

QV15.....We are not responsible for our mistakes

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All of us would love to say that. We always want to blame someone else or the circumstances for all our mistakes. Unfortunately, we can’t get away with such excuses all the time!

QV14.....What happens when one dies?

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I have dealt with this very question earlier, when I discussed various Indian scriptures, whether it is the Upanishads, or the Bhagavad Gita, or even the Buddhist Tipitakas.

Though there are differences in the details, most Indian schools of thought do believe in re-birth – either the soul entering another new body, or the ‘dying consciousness’ of the person getting transmitted to another newly formed body, and resulting in rebirth.

QV13.....Why should one surrender to God?

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As I said in the very beginning, Islam is a path of complete surrender. But why should one surrender to God? Just because some religious scripture asks us to?

QV12.....What is the purpose of life?

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Many of us rarely bother to ask this question. Some say that the purpose is to enjoy! And some others say that purpose is to attain ultimate liberation. And some even consider the world to be a play of God!

BookTalk: Five simple grafting techniques

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In Today’s book talk, I am going to discuss about my book “Five simple grafting techniques best suited for most exotic fruit plants”.

QV11.....Islam’s way of balanced living

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Islam promotes a simple way of living. But does it mean that it advocates ascetic way of living?

QV10.....Why should one do charity?

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Continuing our discussion on the five fundamental injunctions of Islam, today let us discuss the importance of charity.

QV09.....Importance of prayers

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We were discussing the essentials of Islam. The holy Quran lays lot of emphasis on regular prayers or Salat or Namaz as they are called.

QV08.....How should we speak?

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We were discussing the essentials of Islam. As a third commandment, the holy Quran says –

“Speak fair to the people”. 

What does ‘fair’ mean? Does it mean speaking sugar coated words as we see nowadays?

BookTalk: Upanishads – A journey into the unknown

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In Today’s book talk I am going to discuss about my book “Upanishads – A journey into the unknown”.

The original title for this book that was in mind was – “Upanishads – A journey into the unknowable”. But then I changed it to the current title to avoid sounding a bit oxymoronic! If something is ‘unknowable’, there is no way you can know it!

QV07.....Why should we care for our parents and those in need?

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Continuing our discussion on the 5 essential commandments of Islam as listed by the Holy Quran, today let us take up the second commandment namely

“Treat with kindness your parents and kindred, and orphans and those in need.”

QV06.....Why should one worship only Allah?

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Continuing our discussion on the 5 essential commandments of Islam as listed by the Holy Quran, let us now see the second part of the first commandment. Quran says that one should worship Allah and only Allah. It quotes several past incidents when people had worshiped others as God and they were severely punished.

QV05.....Is Allah the God of Muslims?

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We were discussing the 5 essential commandments of Islam as listed by the Holy Quran. Let us now see the first commandment, namely “Worship Allah”.

Many of us think that Allah is the God of Muslims. And so do even some Muslim. But is that the case?

Essence of Islam

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Quran spells out a long list of Do’s and Don't s to be adhered to by a devout Muslim. Among these I feel the most essential things are the following.

BookTalk: Figure carving - the ethnic style

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In Today’s book talk I am going to discuss about my book “Figure carving = the ethnic style”.

Show us the way

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When you are on a spiritual journey it is important that you know how to proceed towards your destination. There may be several paths. Some may be easy, some extremely difficult. And some, that may take you just in the opposite direction!

What do these mystic sounds mean?

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There are strange combination of mystic sounds in the beginning of some chapters of Quran. No one knows for sure what those sounds really mean or why they are there in the beginning. A devout Muslim just chants them with devotion without worrying about what they mean.

Path of complete surrender

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“As-salamu alaykum”

Probably you are surprised to hear some non English words in the very beginning!. These are Arabic words meant to convey peace to the other person – a beautiful way of greeting each other. Salaam means peace.

We are 'that'!

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For the past several episodes, we were discussing how father Uddalaka tries to explain the unity of whole existence to his son Swetaketu.

Uddalaka arrives at his conclusion by systematically following the modern scientific approach – observation, experimentation and reasoning.

BookTalk: Buddha’s Soul

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In Today’s book talk I am going to talk about my book “Buddha’s Soul’.

Forward reasoning

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In the previous episodes, we saw how father Uddalaka traces the origin of the existence by backward reasoning. He continues, to show the same unity among all the existence by forward reasoning as well.

Material things are not everything

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In the previous episode, we saw how father Uddalaka traces the origin of all material things to three basic components – Satva, Rajas and Tamas.

Various combinations of these three basic constituents result in various material forms that we see around us.

Our worldly science seems to say that material things are everything. But Upanishads disagree.