Of the three gunas that constitute all of manifest existence, Sattva — the quality of luminosity, harmony, and knowledge — is the most seductive bondage. Unlike Tamas, which crushes, or Rajas, which burns, Sattva seduces with bliss, ethical refinement, and the pleasures of understanding. Ramakrishna’s parable of the three robbers captures this with surgical precision: the sattvic robber alone unties the traveller and shows him the path home — but does not take him there. The finest veil is still a veil.
The Mundaka Upanishad’s distinction between Apara Vidya — all systematized human knowledge, from the sciences to the humanities — and Para Vidya, the knowledge by which the Imperishable is realized, frames this predicament with extraordinary clarity. No accumulation of apara vidya, however refined and sattvic, can answer the question the Upanishad’s Shaunaka poses at the outset: by knowing what does everything become known? That question dissolves the knower, and no object of knowledge can accomplish that.
Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, and J. Krishnamurti — approaching from different angles — converge on a single insight: the final obstacle to liberation is not ignorance or desire, but the subtle, luminous, deeply respectable self that knows.
Category: Political Philosophy
“I will go wherever my argument leads me”
“Follow the argument wherever it leads” — drawn from Plato’s Republic — stands as the cornerstone of the Socratic method. It reflects a profound commitment to pursuing truth through rational dialogue, even when conclusions challenge our deepest assumptions. Socrates held that intellectual honesty demands we set aside bias and comfort in favor of objective reasoning. Through dialectic — the art of reasoned questioning — he pushed interlocutors to confront contradictions in their own beliefs. This relentless pursuit of truth over reputation ultimately led to his trial in Athens, yet he never wavered. Philosophy, at its best, asks us to do the same.
I Know a Man, by Robert Creeley
I Love You, Marx
“…to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I … More
The “Weeping Philosopher” and the “Laughing Philosopher”
Heraclitus (the “Weeping Philosopher”) and Democritus (the “Laughing Philosopher”) are ancient Greek philosophers often paired in art and literature to represent opposing reactions to … More
“You Cannot Save a World You’re Still Trapped In” — Nisargadatta Maharaj on Desire, Help, and Liberation
What does it truly mean to help the world? In this piercing dialogue from I Am That, Nisargadatta Maharaj dismantles our noblest intentions — revealing that the urge to save others is itself rooted in the same ignorance that creates suffering. Desire builds worlds; worlds breed pain; and the one who wishes to help is often the one most in need of waking up. From the nature of creation to the limits of avatars and saviours, Maharaj offers something more radical than solutions: a mirror. “Get out of the picture,” he says, “and see whether there is anything left to save.”
The Sacred Withdrawal: When Spiritual Sadhana Becomes Your Raison d’être
What looks like retreat to the world is often the most courageous advance inward. In this deeply personal reflection, I address a well-meaning piece of advice — that I shouldn’t “shut my door” simply because someone hurt me. But my withdrawal from worldly engagement is neither sudden nor born of wounded pride. It is the culmination of a 50-year spiritual quest, a decision quietly forming since December 2021, now firmly made. Drawing on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, I explore how most of us mistake the shadows of the material world for ultimate reality — and how spiritual sadhana is the very act of breaking free from those chains. As Rousseau reminds us, man is born free, yet lives everywhere in bondage. True freedom isn’t found in the world’s noise; it is discovered in the sunlit stillness beyond the cave. This is not an escape. This is a homecoming.
Sirivennela talks about “Jagamanta Kutumbam Naadi”
The Entrepreneur — Wealth-Seeker or Dharmic Agent? Why the Bhagavad Gita Sees Business as Sacred Yajna
The popular imagination has long cast the businessman as a necessary evil — someone who accumulates wealth while society grudgingly tolerates him. But this is a profound distortion of the Dharmic vision.
The Bhagavad Gita does not treat any profession as spiritually inferior. What it insists upon is svadharma — the faithful and selfless execution of one’s ordained function in the cosmic order. The entrepreneur’s svadharma is not merely profit; it is artha-srishti, the creation of the material conditions of civilizational life. Without him, no temple gets built, no scholarship gets patronized, no army gets fed.
In Chapter 3, Krishna establishes that all action must be performed in the spirit of yajna — sacrifice. The businessman who creates genuine value, employs livelihoods, and takes risk so others may have security is performing a yajna. His enterprise, when rightly oriented, is a sacrificial act in the cosmic order.
As Kautilya declares in the Arthashastra: Dharmasya mulam arthah — the root of dharma is artha. The society that dishonors its wealth-creators dishonors its own life-force. The Gita asks not that the businessman renounce his activity, but that he transfigure it — from mere acquisition into sacred function.
My Interpretation of the Cover of My Book “Sammary of the Bhagavad Gita”
My cousin asked me, “What is the cover picture?”, referring to my book “Sammary of the Bhagavad Gita”: https://www.amazon.in/Sammary-Bhagavad-Gita-Samarender-Reddy-ebook/dp/B0GT7313VL/ I … More
Know Thyself 