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Jan - Mar 2004

Struggle and triumph

When Ahmed was born after just seven-and-a-half months of gestation, he weighed a meagre 1.2 kg, had immature lungs that required him to breathe with a ventilator, and developed meningitis. A tough call for a baby just..... More >>

Also In This Issue

The many times my mother died
by Jeffrey Sharlet
Everybody has a mother, and they all die. Mine did; yours will too. When she does, you’ll be sorely tempted to make sense of what has happened. Ten years ago, a few years after my mother died, I asked my grandmother for my... More >>
This precious life
by Pallavi Bhatacharya
“I know what I have to do now. I have to keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?”
—Tom Hanks in ‘Castaway’

Twenty-five-year old Kabi had... More >>
Mindful living mindful dying
by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
It’s only when people are faced with a fatal illness that they start thinking about meditation, and often by that point it’s too late to get fully prepared. It’s best to be prepared, to practise the skills you’ll need when... More >>
Essence of immortality
by Swami Veda Bharati
From time immemorial, humanity has attempted to solve the riddle of birth, growth, old age and death. Nothing has been more mysterious for the human mind than death. In fact, religions of ancient man had their basis in death... More >>
From man to superman
by Bindu Mohanty
Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950), regarded as one of India’s greatest philosopher-sages, formulated a scientific and spiritual vision of evolution that envisages a complete transformation of the world and the birth of a new... More >>
We shall overcome
by Vimala Thakar
We in India look upon Godhood or Divinity as a living mystery. Divinity for us is all-inclusive existence. It indicates matter and consciousness simultaneously. For us Divinity manifests itself by producing matter out of its... More >>
Triumph over tragedy
by Aalif Surti
Blessings in disguise
I am falling off the cliff. The moment I think I will hit the ground, I wake up. It was just a dream. A month later. I am really falling off the cliff, with a paraglider. I apply... More >>
Source of true courage
by Barbara Briggs
It was four o’clock in the morning when I stepped outside the front door. No one saw me leave the ashram. The street was dark. My heart beat rapidly as I walked toward Shankaracharya Chowk in Hardwar. I was determined to bathe... More >>
The song finally sung
by Carolyn Stearns
My friend Cynthia contracted leukaemia ten years ago. I interrupted my performing career and teaching obligations as a dancer and went from Connecticut to California (in USA) to teach her what I knew about dietary changes and... More >>
Roll of honour
by Aalif Surti
Helen Keller
Blind and deaf from a young age, Helen Keller typifies the power of the human spirit despite physical (dis)abilities. Through her life, she showed that disability need not be the end of... More >>
Growing through grief
by Jasjit Mansingh
Spirituality’ has become an almost suspect word in the high-tech world of instant communication today, which encourages more consumption. Yet there is something missing for most people in this, and ‘spirituality’ is seen as a... More >>
You can change the world!
by Anita Vasudeva
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
—Margaret Mead, anthropologist

Every real and good change of significance,... More >>
Revolutionary of the spirit
by Alan Clements
Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi is, in the words of Vaclav Havel, one of the outstanding examples of the power of the powerless. She told me her own story in many conversations at her home in Rangoon. It was a journey into the soul... More >>
The cellist of Sarajevo
by Swati Chopra
A musician walks on stage to the sound of deafening applause. He is in his coattails, dressed in black. He bows, sits down on a concert chair and takes an instrument in his hands. Let’s say it’s an old cello the colour of... More >>
My reasons for hope
by Jane Goodall
When I began my research of chimpanzees in 1960, I don’t think I could have imagined that it would be continuing more than 40 years later, which it is, under a team of scientists and Tanzanian field assistants. We still find... More >>
For our children’s sake
by Deryk Houston
In 1999, I sat with a very sick young boy in Baghdad and painfully watched as he struggled against the leukaemia destroying his body. I had travelled to Iraq seeking the truth as to why these children were dying by the tens of... More >>
A fine balance
by Nishtha Shukla
The woman of today is an achiever who is secure in knowing that she has rightfully earned her place in the sun. She has walked the uphill road to success doggedly, yet gracefully. Today, there are more women CEOs in India than... More >>
Finding life’s meaning
by Dayal Mirchandani
Everything can be taken from a man but the last of the human freedoms to choose one attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one own way.

Dr Viktor Frankl

After the... More >>
The unburdened heart
by Ritu Bhatia
The statement ‘to forgive and forget’ had been sitting in my head for many years before I even began to contemplate what it meant. As a child one had to ‘forgive’ slights inflicted by other children, petty meanness and the... More >>
The power of the self
by Ritu Bhatia
Honour your own Self
Meditate on your own Self
Worship your own Self
Kneel to your own Self
Understand your own Self
Your God dwells within you as you.

—Swami... More >>
Opening the door on autism
by Merry Barua
When I got to know that my son was autistic, I was confused, as I had not known about autism before. I had guessed by then that Neeraj might be ‘slow’, since as an infant, he had no social smile, no deep interest in me. He... More >>
How I kicked the habit
by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
For the last three years, it has become one of my favourite not-so-clever one-liners—if I weren’t still an atheist, I would have called myself a born-again Hindu. Some of my god-fearing acquaintances find my remark in poor... More >>
FROM AGONY TO ECSTASY
by Osho
Pain and pleasure are intrinsic parts of life. People are so much afraid of pain that they repress pain, they avoid any situation that brings pain, they go on dodging pain. And finally they stumble upon the fact that... More >>
A matter of courage
by Lt. Gen. Vijay Oberoi
In August 1965, Pakistan launched a covert attack in Jammu and Kashmir. My battalion, the First Battalion of the famous Maratha Light Infantry, the ‘Jangi Paltan’, was moved into the area. As adjutant, my task was of... More >>
A foot-shaped miracle
by Swati Chopra
More than 30 years ago, a barely literate artisan and an orthopaedic surgeon created a miracle—a light, cheap and durable artificial limb that has since then enabled approximately six and a half lakh amputees lead a normal... More >>
How I reclaimed my life
by Ananth Shenoy
On April 20, 2000, I was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. I was 42, married, with two children. Cancer was bad enough but for it to have been diagnosed in the fourth stage was the ultimate nightmare.

My name... More >>
Living with cancer, meaningfully
by Pallavi Bhatacharya
Surubhi is a shy nine-year-old suffering from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She is finally on the road to recovery and is waiting for her hair to grow back so that she can dress up again. Surubhi dreams of growing up to be a doctor. ... More >>
Radical path to wholeness
by Anuradha Vashisht
On the sixth morning of October 2003, I woke up with a heavy feeling in my body. By afternoon I was moving towards high fever. Into the third day, I lost all sense of time and body. My head, torso, legs, eyes, all shrunk into... More >>
What makes a life worth living?
by Lata Mani
It is probably just as well that she died, even though it was so unexpected,” says the woman who is trimming my hair. “She was pretty miserable, you know, couldn’t leave her bed, became incontinent. What kind of a life is... More >>
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