AN ORDINARY SEEKER I am a seeker; I have been obliged to become a seeker by the pressure of all that is around me and my circumstances, external and internal. I am by any standard an ordinary person. I am not a thinker/ but I think; I do not have an oceanic heart, but I feel and sympathise; at times, greatly and deeply; I am not heroic, I must confess; often I act because I must; often I lose courage and feel ashamed; even when I dream, I do not act strenuously to realise -my dreams. I have been living much on the surface; I have heard that there are depths and widenesses of our being, but I am ignorant of them. My psychological existence is simple. A small but clamor

APPENDIX-I 1. The world and ourselves— these two basic phenomena are undeniable; that the world is observable and understandable by us is a fact, however mysterious may be the precise mechanism and however debatable may be the ultimate meaning we may attach to the world and our observing intelligence. 2. Our intelligence consists of the senses,—in the first place; but supreme over the senses is the mind; and supreme over the mind is the intelligent will, buddhi; that which is supreme over the intelligent will is he, the conscious self, the Purusha. (Mind is superior to senses because even if the senses are operative, but if the mind is not attentive to the operation of t

PREFACE The aim of this book is not to present a scholarly interpretation of the Bhagvadgita; the aim is to gather from that great book a few insights and to relate them to some of the needs of our own times. The fictional form in which this study has been presented is experimental in character; it was felt that this form might prove convenient in presenting helpful light from the Gita in an exploratory manner on some typical situations of our present day life. Among various books written on the Gita/ the one that has given me true illumination is Sri Aurobindo's "Essays on the Gita", and I shall feel rewarded if readers turn to that book. New Delhi 29.11.1995 Kireet J

The aim of this book is not to present a scholarly interpretation of the Bhagvadgita; the aim is to gather from that great book a few insights and to relate them to some of the needs of our own times. The fictional form in which this study has been presented is experimental in character; it was felt that this form might prove convenient in presenting helpful light from the Gita in an exploratory manner on some typical situations of our present day life. Dedicated to the upward effort of India to uncover its ancient spiritual knowledge and to build new paths of the future "We do not belong to the dawns of the past but t

WHAT IS EDUCATION? I "Father," I addressed him softly as he came out of the bath room, clad in his white dhoti and looking nowhere with his upward gaze. His lips were repeating the gayatri mantra and his feet were speeding towards the puja room, where he would soon perform his daily worship of ritual sandhya and havan, recitation of Vedic hymns and sacrifice by lighting fire in the tinders and offering to it the oblations of clarified butter and fragrant materials, herbs and grains. None was expected to stop him on his way to the worship, and it was unusual for me to dare to commit this impropriety. It had seemed to me that there was no alternative; I had

LAW AND LIFE My very first encounter with Law was at once embarrassing, instructive and fruitful. I was seeking admission to the Bombay Law College and I had to pass through an interview. It was 12th June 1951, and the interview began at 10.30 a.m. "Why have you chosen to study Law ?" This was the first question that Professor Chitle, the Principal of the College, threw at me. Frankly speaking, I did not have a clear and convincing reply. Basically, I had only two alternatives: to become a teacher or to become a lawyer. It seemed to me that I had a pre-dominant inclination to become a teacher; but the profession of teaching gave no prospects of financial prosperity

THE PRINCESS I It was 1967. I was introduced to her in April that year by one of the leading industrialists who had appointed me his adviser,—not for industrial enterprises, but for something else. He was Chairman of a number of charitable institutions, mostly devoted to education, health and social reforms. I was supposed to advise him on these matters. In that month of April, there was a Seminar at Geneva on "Modernising Management", and he was requested to preside over that Seminar. He had asked me to accompany him, and we came to stay in the famous hotel "Riviera". It was there that my Chairman had introduced me to her at the breakfast table, saying, "Meet my friend.

APPENDIX-II Being equal minded towards happiness and suffering, gain and loss, victory and defeat, engage yourself in the battle. 2.38 Become, O Arjuna, free from dualities, ever-balanced, unconcerned with acquisition and preservation and seated in the inmost self. 2.45 Perform action, O Arjuna, being fixed in Yoga, renouncing attachments and seated in equality in regard to success and failure. Equality is verily Yoga. 2.48 Page-311 He whose mind is not perturbed by adversity, who does not crave for happiness, -who is free from attachment, fear and honour, — he is the man of wisdom with intelligence fi