Right from my childhood, while other peers were busy in normal mundane affairs, my curiosity to know what a human body comprises of and to unravel the processes which made it diseased, always fascinated me. In this curious exercise, I got an opportunity to sift through varied subjects, which, in the normal course, were neither needed to be pursued for academic distinctions nor for any specific motive in mind. I was not sure whether what I inferred was, in fact, right or wrong, but whatever I acquired, with the Divine Grace, made me believe that what all of us call as a “man” is a product of “discursive formations” and of the “socio-political contingencies” of the various epochs of human history. The concept of “man” is beyond grammar and logic. “Man” is an invention of society, in the same way that “being” is an invention of metaphysics. While a famed

Before proceeding with penning down my musings on “Svadhyay” I find here an opportunity to profusely thank Venerable Meena Om ji, the originator and the exalted driving force behind this innovative platform of pranam.org, to have encouraged me to lay bare my personal experiences, which I think, are never ending to uphold the infinite concept of swadhyay. It would be pertinent to refer to what Swami Vivekanand once told a seeker when asked how many persons have been influenced by his sayings. He said that even if he can change only one person in his life time, it will make his life well lived for. As truth is eternal and multi faceted, therefore, Swami Vivekanand succinctly opined that “Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true." Through these musings what I am conveying about my personal experiences with “svadhyay” is true as well.

Now starts the step by step story of my journey in pursuing “svadhyay”. Between the age of 5 to 10 years, children played “gulli-danda” or “kanche” or flew kites, all my innate self drove me to collect herbs, plant flowers, fruits and roots, macerate them and put them in one “pateela” discarded by my mother. In the name of fire, I used to make a “desi chulha” by using three bricks in stand on position. Collect dried leaves and dried twigs from a number of trees growing in our house. In the boiling cauldron, some salt and some sarson oil was put to prepare medicine, which in my juvenile mind, perceived to cure humans and cattle of their ailments. Apart from my innocuous shenanigans with plants, I took to reading “Satyarth Prakash” by Swami Daya Nand, Books by Swami Vivekanand, Swami Ram Tirath and Swami Satya Nand. These books was

It was more than two and half years since I had been on Speaking Tree site of Times of India. I as a seeker was pulled to interact with spiritually inclined souls. Initially after seeing so many famous names in the Master’s category at Speaking Tree fourm, I felt I could interact with them and revive the spiritual knowledge which is dormant in me. I know many will agree with me that this was one of the criteria for becoming a member of that esteem site which is suppose to be the first spiritual site in this country.I understood the importance of having the association of a Master who is a true Saint, and then I naturally wanted to have a one to one contact with them. I started to blog my thoughts and send Personal Message to them as I would send to my other seekers. After say about

While walking towards the gate to catch my flight on Vande Bharat, the rescue mission Air India flight to New York. I stopped at the book store to pick up some magazines to occupy myself on the fifteen hour flight which was offering minimal in flight services. At the bookstore I also spent time looking for some healthy snacks for the flight. Ignoring my temptation for eating salted potato chips I settled for some roasted lotus seeds (makhanas) reading the label careful for the rock salt content, zero fat and protein along with an apricot almond bar and fresh juice. Tucking all the goodies in my bag I rushed to the gate for the flight. As expected the flight was full but the sight of the airline staff covered under the PPE suits was a bit surreal. Struggling to maintain the social distancing, dragging all the carry-on bags and feeling