“I revere Krishna today as one of the first architects of a unified India. Yes, I believe he did exist in the obscure history of India…. Abhaya has been my window to explore and experience Krishna Vaasudeva.” This is how Saiswaroopa Iyer introduces the second lead of her debut novel, Abhaya, in... Continue Reading →
The Narasimha Avatar: Optimisation Gone Astray
"The Avatar is necessary when a special work is to be done and in crises of the evolution." ~ Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Vol. 28, p. 485. The story goes like this: The demon-king Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted revenge on Lord Viṣṇu and his followers. He undertook many years of austere penance to fulfill his desire. Lord Brahma... Continue Reading →
Hampi Continues to Live – Part 5
Continued from Part 4 Sri Krishna Temple After a tour of the remarkable Vittala temple in previous part, we now move on to another masterpiece, the Krishna temple of Hampi. The Krishna temple at Hampi -- which is now in ruins, though some renovations were underway when we visited -- was built by King Krishnadevaraya... Continue Reading →
Hampi Continues to Live – Part 4
Continued from Part 3 Vijay Vittala Temple "Spirituality is indeed the master-key of the Indian mind; the sense of the infinite is native to it." (Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, 20: 6) In our last part we wrote about Virupaksha Temple, situated on the banks of Tungabhadra River. Vijaya Vittala temple is north east of... Continue Reading →
Hampi Continues to Live – Part 3
Continued from Part 2 Virupaksha Temple On the banks of Tungabhadra River is the Virupaksha temple, dedicated to God Shiva, known in this area as Virupaksha, the consort of the local goddess Pampadevi. This is the oldest and the principal temple in Hampi. It is believed to be functioning uninterruptedly ever since the 7th... Continue Reading →
A Series Inspired by India’s Rebirth – 4
Author: Beloo Mehra (2019). Published under the title ‘When Young India Awakes’ in Sri Aurobindo’s Action, Vol. 50 (4), pp. 8-10 CONTINUED FROM Part 3 CHAPTER III Yuvaan had been in Kashi for only two days. And he was already on his way elsewhere — to Rishikesh. His mother had gone for... Continue Reading →
A Note on the Future of Inter-religious Harmony in India
Reblogged from the ‘Beauty’ blog – an excerpt from Matriwords e-book ‘The Thinking Indian’
[The following is an excerpt from a longer essay titled ‘Hinduism and the Future of Inter-religious Harmony in India’ published in my e-book – The Thinking Indian: Essays on Indian Socio-cultural Matters in the Light of Sri Aurobindo.]
Let us now go a bit deeper to see if Sri Aurobindo means something more when he says that Hinduism would have or could have taken religions like Islam and Christianity within itself. To do so it is also important to consider this assimilation process that is being spoken of here, and also what is meant when we say that Hinduism is an inclusive religion.
In order to remain inclusive, Hinduism should have the capacity to integrate the spiritual realizations, truths, and experiences revealed within the fold of other religious traditions, otherwise it is not inclusive at all. Going by historical record, we can see that what we now know as…
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A Series Inspired by India’s Rebirth – 3
Author: Beloo Mehra (2019). Published under the title ‘When Young India Awakes’ in Sri Aurobindo’s Action, Vol. 50 (2 & 3), pp. 16-19. Continued from Part 2 CHAPTER II The words that continued to float around in his mind that evening…. Sri Aurobindo’s words, words that he had read in that little book... Continue Reading →
A Series Inspired by India’s Rebirth – 2
A series written by Beloo Mehra for Sri Aurobindo's Action, about a young Indian's awakening to the soul of India, to himself.
A Series Inspired by India’s Rebirth – I
I feel fortunate to be given an opportunity to write a series of articles for Sri Aurobindo's Action: A Journal of India's Resurgence, a monthly journal that has been published from Pondicherry since 1970. Starting with January 2019, I have been writing the series titled "When Young India Awakes." This is an attempt to... Continue Reading →
Hampi Continues to Live – Part 2
Continued from Part 1 A Walk on Hemakuta Hilltop We began exploration of Hampi at the Sasivekalu Ganesha Temple, located on the Hemakuta Hill. As the story goes, one day, Lord Ganesha, being very fond of food, ate so much that he got concerned that his tummy might burst. So he caught a snake... Continue Reading →
Hampi Continues to Live – Part 1
In this several-part series, we relive a few moments from our recent trip to Hampi and surrounding areas. The pictures and the accompanying words weave a story of this magnificent city which continues to hold a prominent place in the Indian collective memory since ancient times. The place associated with Shiva and Parvati, Rama... Continue Reading →
Spirituality Lives in All of Us
We at Matriwords wish all our readers a very happy 2019. Last year saw sporadic activity on Matriwords, we hope to be more regular this year with monthly posts and photo-features. We open 2019 with an excerpt from an article written by Beloo Mehra and published recently in the 2018 Annual Issue of Sri Aurobindo... Continue Reading →
Hare Krishna
A special offering for Krishna Janamashtami -- my humble attempt to capture in photographs a few expressions of the Divinity and the Divine Personality of Sri Krishna. Hopefully these photographs do some justice in expressing some of the essence of the magnificent passage from Sri Aurobindo's Letters on Yoga. -- Suhas "Krishna consciousness... Continue Reading →
