Feast for Thought

Next time you hear anyone resort to 'conscience', or even if you are tempted to resort to your 'conscience', on matters that, well, matter, think about this -  " Why is conscience called one's "manahsaksi"? Conscience is fit to be only a witness(saksi), not to be a judge. A witness often gives false evidence. The mind, however, doesn't tell an untruth - indeed it knows the truth of all things. " There is no deceit that is hidden from the heart(mind), " says Auvvai. Conscience may be regarded as a witness. But nowadays it is brought in as a judge also in dharmic matters. As a witness it will give us a true report of what it sees or has seen. But on the basis of it we cannot give on what is just with any degree of finality. "What I think is right, " everybody would try to satisfy himself thus about his actions if he were to be guided only by his conscience. How can this be justified as the verdict of dharma? We often hear pe

Jerry Pinto's review of the book 'Smritichitre' by Lakshmibai Tilak (English translation by Shanta Gokhale) convinced me that i should buy it, and i did. Indeed a wonderful account of the people and the circustances in familiar places of Maharastra, the book covers the period from the last couple of decades of the 19th century, and the first three of the 20th century. Experience the author's angst as her spouse hastens steadily from one faith to another, and she ends up treading the same path. In the same newspaper edition as the review, i got to read another fascinating account  of one man's beloved collection of Tanjore paintings. " The gods and goddesses in the iconic paintings often have “stark staring eyes”. This is because, Singh suggests, in the Indian tradition of  darshan , you do not just look at the deity but the deity looks back at you. The box frames are a three-dimensional representation of a shrine. The religious cannot be disconnected from