hermit's chronicles

Since I tend to chant a lot, I had always reckoned that when the end finally came, God’s name would spring naturally to my lips. Then one day, a few years ago, I was returning by cab from South Bombay, accompanied by my business partner. It was raining in sheets, the afternoon sky was brooding dark and the roads were glistening wet. Our cab was right out there in the front at the traffic signal at Mahim Church junction. The minute the signal changed, our cab lunged forward and made for the Mahim causeway in a streak. And then it happened. The cab skidded hopelessly, twirling like a tipsy top right in the middle of the road. The brakes weren’t working and in a slow blur I saw the road divider rushing towards us, then the cab rotated counter-clockwise and I saw a white Esteem rushing at us, then the cab rotated again and the dividers rushed at us even faster and then the cab rotated another arc and I saw a red double-decker bus bounding down at us, just a few feet away. Through the slow ...

So long as the child remains engrossed with its toys, the mother looks after her cooking and other household duties. But when the child no longer relishes the toys, it throws them aside and yells for its mother. Then the mother takes the rice-pot down from the hearth, runs in haste, and takes the child in her arms. ~ Can you weep for Him with intense longing of heart? Men shed a jugful of tears for the sake of their children, for their wives, or for money. But who weeps for God? ~ When the head of a goat is severed from its body, the trunk struggles for some time, still showing signs of life. Similarly, though ahamkara (egotism) is slain in the perfect man, yet enough of its vitality is left to make him carry on the functions of physical life; but it is not sufficient to bind him again into the world. ~ As a piece of rope, when burnt, retains its form, but cannot serve to bind, so is the ego which is burnt by the fire of Supreme Knowledge. ~ You may try thousands of times, but nothing...