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Mandukya Upanishad: Four States of Consciousness
Upanishads are philosophical-religious texts for Hindus. The word Upanishad is generally translated as to “sit down closely” as one would to listen attentively to instruction by a teacher or other authority figure — which is how the education system worked in ancient India. There are more than a hundred Upanishads, of which ten (sometimes thirteen)…
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A Brief History of News Media
It is difficult to pinpoint the exact starting point of the history of news media. Gossippers have existed ever since the first language arrived on the scene. In fact, gossip was one of the driving factors behind the evolution of language in human beings. Ibn Battuta, in his travel memoirs, tells us about some men…
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A Brief History of the Middle East (Part One)
‘The Middle East’ is a modern English term for one of the most ancient regions of human civilisation. The history of the Middle East, therefore, is as old as our civilisation. But, before we go there, let’s just briefly talk about the term itself. Before and during the First World War, ‘the Near East’, which…
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30-Year-Old Editorial Explains the Problems in Indian Secularism
India, to put the matter brusquely, has been a battleground between two civilisations (Hindu and Islamic) for well over a thousand years, and three (Hindu, Muslim and Western) for over two hundred years. None of them has ever won a decisive enough or a durable enough victory to oblige the other two to assimilate themselves…
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Horrors from the Diaries of the Auschwitz Commandant
I personally never hated the Jews. I considered them to be the enemy of our nation. However, that was precisely the reason to treat them the same way as other prisoners. I never made a distinction concerning this. Besides, the feeling of hatred is not in me, but I know what hate is, and how…
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A Stoic’s Guide: How to Deal with Anxiety
Stoicism was a philosophy that flourished for some 400 years in ancient Greece and Rome, gaining widespread support among all classes of society. It had one very large and highly practical ambition: to teach people how to be calm and brave in the face of overwhelming anxiety and pain. As it is easy to notice…
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Love at First Sight in Kalidasa’s Masterpiece Abhijnanashakuntalam
We may not have enough information about Kalidasa, the great Sanskrit poet and dramatist from ancient India, but his works speak for themselves. Two of his works, Meghadutam and Abhijnanashakuntalam, especially deserve our attention in this regard. At the same time many poets and writers, who lived after him, have often reminded us of his…
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