Life-en-treats

Why do Brahmins practice vegetarianism really? And not all of them do too! They are not exactly non-violent in other spheres of life...what really do these feudal residues mean anyway... one may wonder. What exactly is the traditional Indian argument about preferring vegetarian food? Lets see, here is how I can explain it... A google search would reveal a variety of definitions for Vasana, here is one: vasana: (Sanskrit) "Subconscious inclination." From vas, "living, remaining." The subliminal inclinations and habit patterns which, as driving forces, color and motivate one's attitudes and future actions. Vasanas are the conglomerate results of subconscious impressions (samskaras) created through experience. Samskaras, experiential impressions, combine in the subconscious to form vasanas, which thereafter contribute to mental fluctuations, called vritti. The most complex and emotionally charged vasanas are found in the dimension of mind called the s...

The astrologers I consulted before leaving for France, said that I could stay there for three years. I had apparently done some good deeds in this part of world in past lives. Had I fought for the French Revolution? He he! :) When I first returned from France, I was glanced at curiously that said “how are they?” from family and friends. It’s only then does one realize that meeting with a culture different from one’s own is no trivial task. My memory was pressed, faculties of thinking set into motion and exhausted and yet it remained an arduous task to explain another culture. In one of my urgent pronouncements, I had simply said, “They have big, powerful washing machines that one can use to wash a week’s full of clothes.” And friends in France were no less surprised about the Indian girl. They would ask with utter horror, “you don’t drink, how do you celebrate?!”, and were promptly met with answers that revealed that “drinking was a major taboo in middle-class India”. If you were ...

I was going to light lamps But it did not feel like that. The cotton wicks clung like lovers. It pained to tear them apart. They came in threes or fives; they were not couples. And I had to choose two, reshape them a little, soak and drown them in oil and light them.