On Swami Ramdev's new political party:
The plunge into politics by Gurus is not unprecedented; but to stay untainted, stay unmoved by the corruption caused by power, to stay untouched by the material claims of the world, and serve people, is indeed the real test of a Yogi. Physical exercise (the realm of asana), as we all perhaps know, is one of the minor ingredients of Yoga; control over breath is another minor one, but control over desires to the extent of negation (vairagya), control over 'karma' (deeds and thoughts), acquisition of vivek (rightful, aware discrimination), are harder. Swami Ramdev has taught millions how to rein in the physical part, the consciousness of body (chitta), but in politics his samskara (memory and imprint of every karma [action-thought], his santosh (contentment within), his vittiyan/pravittiyan (tendencies), his prakriti (nature) will be really tested. Mahapurush banna asaan nahin (It is not easy to be a mahapurusha) Purusha is the one who rises beyond the worldly needs and worries, beyond dukha (sorrow), and knows his prakriti (nature) so well that he reaches the vivek of shunyata (emptiness), the state of perfect union with Ishvara (divinity or infinity)!
On Arundhati's article about Maoists:
Rhetoric without logic, and histrionics with historical perspective, are good for publicity and getting more media attention, but to disgrace Gandhian methods (after participating in Narmada Movement), to expect us to treat the bloodthirsty Maoists with empathy and forget that they have an agenda that goes beyond justice, to expect us to think that she has any solutions beyond her howl, is too much to ask. More on this later (a long poem/ work in progress).
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi, by definition, waxes and wanes... Another Amavasya, follows after another Purnima... In the puddle of politics, some mud is bound to splatter on the thinker who steps into it! Rilke once remarked that the world is never hasty in making someone appear as heroic, one has to go through numerous, stringent tests. For Shashi, this is a battle lost, but then it will prepare him for bigger challenges. If he sinks now, it will just mean that he was only good to get so far; I hope he can swim to safety and reclaim a position where he can be the intellectual politician we all desire him to be.
Banabhatt ki Aatmkatha by Hazariprasad Dwivedi
After reading Banabhatta ki Aatmkatha by Hazari Prasad Dwivedi (Hindi Novel), the landscape of my imagination and words that fill it in Hindi, have transformed it from a desert into a rain-forest. Rich, lush, full of poetry and sound, picturesque and fragrant with Hindu philosophy. More on it in English/Hindi soon. {Bana was one of the great Sanskrit poets; 7th century AD).
