We all come to this earth with a purpose. Our existence itself is for going through new experiences, making inferences out of them, learning, and moving on. In fact, at every step, we are seekers of knowledge. We have to learn and move on to the next Gigha plane. This goes on in our world's journey of self-completion. The day we realise our purpose for existence on this earth, that very day we become enlightened, or the learned one. The irony is that unlike our yesteryear education, where Gurukul Parampara existed and every learning was associated with a blessing from Guru, education in today's parlance has become commercial and money-oriented. From Guru to Shishya, everyone is seeking education to make money out of it. Lost are the traditions, the value system, and the orientation in education. It is time that educationists and academicians give it a serious thought, and reorient and revamp our education system.

Commentary on 'The Bhagavad Geeta' by Swami Mukundananda

The Bhagavadgita is one phase of the Tripod of Indian philosophy and culture, the other two phases being the Upanishads and the Brahmasutras. While the Upanishads lay the foundation of the loftiest reach possible for humanity and the Brahmasutras logically elucidate the intricate issues involved in the Upanishads, the Bhagavadgita blends together the Transcendent and the Immanent features of the Ultimate Reality, bringing together into an integrated whole knowledge and action, the inner and the outer, the individual and the society, man and God, all which are portrayed as facets of a universal Operation, presenting entire life and all life as a perfectly complete organic wholeness, leaving nothing unsaid and attempting to solve every problem of life.

The Bhagavad Gita is one of the most important scriptures of the Hindus. The very fact that this scripture has been commented upon by innumerable saints only highlights its great importance. This being the case, readers would find it deeply interesting to know what Swami Vivekananda had to say regarding it. In the pages of this booklet are found those wonderful ideas and authoritative statements regarding Gita by one who was aptly fit to bring out the hidden significance and essence of this great scripture. Published by Advaita Ashrama, a publication house of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, India.

Why should we be good? How should we be good? And how might we more deeply understand the moral and ethical failings--splashed across today's headlines--that have not only destroyed individual lives but caused widespread calamity as well, bringing communities, nations, and indeed the global economy to the brink of collapse? In The Difficulty of Being Good, Gurcharan Das seeks answers to these questions in an unlikely source: the 2,000 year-old Sanskrit epic, Mahabharata. A sprawling, witty, ironic, and delightful poem, the Mahabharata is obsessed with the elusive notion of dharma--in essence, doing the right thing. When a hero does something wrong in a Greek epic, he wastes little time on self-reflection; when a hero falters in the Mahabharata, the action stops and everyone weighs in with a different and often contradictory take on dharma. Each major character in the epic embodies a significant moral failing or virtue, and their struggles mirror with uncanny precision our own familiar emotions of anxiety, courage, despair, remorse, envy, compassion, vengefulness, and duty. Das explores the Mahabharata from many perspectives and compares the successes and failures of the poem's characters to those of contemporary individuals, many of them highly visible players in the world of economics, business, and politics. In every case, he finds striking parallels that carry lessons for everyone faced with ethical and moral dilemmas in today's complex world. Written with the flair and seemingly effortless erudition that have made Gurcharan Das a bestselling author around the world--and enlivened by Das's forthright discussion of his own personal search for a more meaningful life--The Difficulty of Being Good shines the light of an ancient poem on the most challenging moral ambiguities of modern life.