Jagat

Yesterday I read Sunil Gangopadhyaya’s version of the Nala-Damayanti story. This is a rather famous story in the annals of Sanskrit literature originally found in the Mahābhārata , and I must surely have read it through before, but in this case I found that it was unfamiliar and new. And it still requires a bit of digestion, but on the whole it is a story of the glories of a woman’s love. Once she has picked her man, she remains faithful until death, no matter how lost her man becomes. Of course, by the intervention of the gods and the power of her devotion to her husband, all is well in the end. And she even becomes the power of compassion in her husband’s kingdom. The story is, briefly, as follows. Nala is the king of Nishadh. He has a half-brother Pushkar who has an unimportant role as a prince in the kingdom and he hates Nala for having received their father’s blessings. A swan acts as a go-between and brings Nala and Damayanti together at her svayamvara. Since the swan...

Just got off the train from Rishikesh, stopped at the FRRO in Mathura and made it back to the house feeling energetic. But the weather is quite different. Rishikesh has been rainy, and when not raining, overcast and cool even though humid. Here it is hot and humid, but no real signs of rain anywhere. In Rishikesh I did a lot of reading, but really stopped all my productive activities just for that, with perhaps only the exception of two classes in the Bhagavad-gita (Here is one .) I gave the two lectures mostly standing up, as though I was giving a talk on TED, or a Western style sales talk. It always comes out a bit rajasika. Can't give up my nature. I would love to be more sweet and charming. I would like to be more meditative, to create an atmosphere of calmness and love. The sadhu magic. But overall I was quite happy with my two classes in Rishikesh. Yogis make good listeners. They know how to be still and attentive. That is why all the musicians usually like to give ...