Loneliness is arguably the overarching theme of Naruto. At a high level, the anime follows the story of a boy who is shunned by most in his village because they are afraid of a demon fox is sealed within him. Naruto is a Ninja and, like many others in his village, is able to use […]
Category: Philosophy
The Power of Dailies
Of the many ways in which I have been wasting time over the years, a recent one is a game called Guild Wars 2 (GW2). This game employs some very interesting devices to engage players and make them come back to it. Of these, the most important in my opinion is a type of achievement […]
Humans of the Future
This is an age where you hear many talking about the Earth getting destroyed, about humans having to migrate to another planet. There are those who believe it possible and those who think otherwise. The answer to which of these is true can be known for sure only by humans of the future. How will […]
Importance of Going to Sleep and Waking up the Right Way
The previous post that gives a Vedantic perspective on artificial life, notes how important the thoughts we leave this world with are, in determining where we go or what we become. This final departure that we call death happens only once in a lifetime. It is a process by which we disconnect with the external body […]
Reconciling Artificial Life with Religion (Vedanta)
The day is not far when robots powered by artificial intelligence (AI) will walk among us. At some point, some of these might even come to life. Since such a possibility may not have been conceived at a time when most of today’s religions originated, or most religious texts were written, followers of some of […]
Is Procrastination Good? Benefits of Procrastination
Is procrastination good? I have been a chronic procrastinator; and a religious one at that. From childhood, I have heard how procrastination is a thief of time, killer of dreams, and destroyer of opportunities. While agreeing that this generally held view is not entirely without merit, life has shown me another, less explored, side of […]
What is Sattvic about Martial Arts
Reading my previous post on the three types of enjoyment, where I had classified Martial Arts practice as sattvic, my brother asked me if it was indeed the case. He said that, for some reason, he related martial arts to rajas. I insisted it was not so. Since there are many who associate martial arts with […]
On three types of Enjoyment – Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic Pleasures
In the previous post, while discussing the question of when to quit martial arts, it was observed that decisions made before and after practice are likely to be different. Martial arts practice is one of those activities that are initially difficult but become easy and pleasurable as you warm up. This is easy to appreciate in […]
Transformation – How the Mouse became Mouse Again
There is a story in Panchatantra of how a mouse became mouse again. For the sake of completeness and for the benefit of those who haven’t heard it, let me briefly recount it here. A little mouse once fell from a falcon’s beak into a sage’s hand. Considering the life of a mouse to be […]
Fallacy of Helping Others
People want to make themselves “useful”, and some are even addicted to finding purpose in helping others (as we have seen in an earlier post). The question that is generally overlooked, however, is to what extent it is possible for anyone to help another! I believe that there is little one can do, and here we […]