On February 14, 2010, three days after the 19th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela from the Robben Island prison; on the day the Proteas had not been able to capitalise on the centuries scored by Hashim Amla [of Asian origin] and Alviro Petersen [Cape Coloured], I watched the Morgan Freeman-starrer Invictus along with my wife.

Whether profit-seeking is a moral act or not, is one such question… More so, because in our present, intricately inter-related state of affairs, harmonisation of approaches is imperative for the sustainable development of all communities and societies.

There are some questions which can be answered with a simple “Aye” or “Nay.” There are others that can’t be. The latter give rise to zillions of bytes of rhetoric, and consume reams of newsprint — to explore the grey area and/or attempt to decipher traces of “black” or “white” in it.

Shankar-Jaikishan were exceptional. The power of their melodies evoke a distinctive feeling, replete with a perpetual velvety feel — of fragrance as everlasting as musk. This isn’t all. Their sophisticated luminosity, juxtaposed by swanky changes, in tune with the tides of time, or what people wanted, never ever lost its distinguished feel — you’d know S-J’s melodious benchmark and eternal appeal at the “drop” of a song. Most importantly, there’s an innate sense of transcendent divinity running through their compositions — like the eternal beating of the waves of the ocean, or the insidious blooming of a flower. A tribute.

In terms of scientific evolution, the bicycle has been one of mankind’s wondrous inventions — of sheer genius. This is precisely the reason why bicycle activists have now mobilised in the West lobbying transport departments for bicycle lanes, besides soliciting support from non-bike riders.
Pedalling is pure happiness. It is spiritual too. You’ve that closeness to nature, and the smell of grass, when you ride a bike; the joy of making it “work” through a busy intersection, or using it mainly as a health machine…

More than ever before, we are today flooded with urgent moral questions — and, like our society, we are in conflict with ourselves. Yet, in the shade of this exigency, there is also hope.

It is, however, ironical that the complexity of contemporary life does not yield itself to one-dimensional, prescribed solutions beloved of movies and soap operas. It confronts the moral reason and imagination with new challenges.

Is there, then, a way of coping with them? Perhaps. We should begin by taking a journey into the past, and consult the ancient traditions of wisdom — the Upanishads, the Gnostic scriptures etc., — that offer us the highest standards to sustain and also guide us.

There are a host of doctrines that concern the self, or the soul. These have been put forth and elucidated by different traditions.

Isn’t it time, while being on this Earthly stage, we took Time to be with God — especially when there is no Time?

Madhvacárya, or Madhva, in the template of Indian philosophy, holds a pre-eminent position as the exponent supreme of the Dvaita [Dualist] school of Vedanta.