Naga's Ruminations and Reviews

                       Once Viswamitra who was a Rajarshi (a king who has become self realized) grew envious of Vashista who was a Brahmarshi (a sage who is enlightened and self realized) and decided to become a brahmarshi himself. He reasoned that if he also turned into a brahmarshi, he would become more respectable and sages like Vashista would treat him as an equal. He set off to a forest and started to perform deep penance. For a long time he performed his penance without interruption from the outside world. He grew content with each passing day that he was nearing his goal and would anyday seize the honor he so craved for.                                            Then one day a beautiful celestial maiden Menaka appeared near the hut where Viswamitra was undergoing his daily austerities. She had come to that ...

Rating 2/5 Genre: Investigative journalism, First hand reporting            I thought this is a mediocre tale. I am not sure if I can call it a tale, it is more like a collection of different stories of  women who are locked away in a mental asylum. The tone of the narrative was matter of fact and I would have liked it to have some emotional depth and a visceral quality. It felt like she was hurling the stories at the reader one after the other before there was enough time to process them.                           A journalist,Nellie Bly,pretending to be insane gains entry into a mental asylum on Blackwell's Island. She stays there for ten days and experiences the horrors of the place like the rest of inmates. After coming out, she publishes her report of what she saw and experienced. It causes quite a stir in the society. As a result of her efforts, the government increases fund...

             King of Himalayas Himavantha had two beautiful daughters Ganga and Uma with his wife Menu.  One day the gods of heaven approach Himavantha and his wife. They ask him to give  his daughter Ganga to them for the welfare and prosperity of the world. Himavantha happily accepts this request and sends Ganga away with the Gods. Ganga starts living among the other damsels and demigods in heaven.               King Bhagiratha is a ruler iof the Ikshvaku dynasty into which Lord Rama will be born later. Several of his ancestors try to bring Ganga to earth and die without succeeding. Bhagiratha is determined to bring Ganga down to earth so that her divine waters could liberate his ancestors. He leaves his kingdom to the management of his ministers and goes to perform severe penance and austerities in the forest. He spends hundreds of years in penance to impress God Brahma. Brahma becomes pleased with hi...

Rating 3/5  Genre thriller, paranormal, virus, mystery  Definitely a lot more engaging, horrifying and thrilling than most of Stephen King's works. I picked this book because I got to know that there is a mention of a virus called wuhan-400 that resembles the Corona virus covid-19 which is raging a war against the world at present. This wuhan 400 as the rumors go causes pneumonia like symptoms before killing the victims but i am disappointed to find that is not the case. Wuhan 400 in the story kills the victim in less than 24 hours by secreting a neuro toxin at the brain stem and causing failure of organs. These characteristics are in no way similar to Corona virus and the disease it causes, Covid-19.  The story is solid and well rounded. A woman in the show business in Las Vegas, Tina Evans thinks she has lost her son Danny in an accident. But he starts trying to reach out to her through dreams and other paranormal means. She dismisses them as wo...

Rating 4/5 Genre Religion,Spirituality, Evolution For starters, this is not a science book. It does not lay out a step by step plan for the construction of spacecrafts and satellites to help transmigrate masses of people between planetary systems. Why I am saying this is because the title can be misleading. Srila Prabhupada prescribes perfecting the art of meditation and bhakti yoga in order to develop an ability of moving to higher planets. He presents his case to the readers as to why they should opt the yoga method as opposed to scientific methods for traveling to other planets and calling them home. He calls the endeavours of scientists to reach other planets through spacecrafts a waste of time and whatever success they yearn for as meaningless. It is easy to see why this work of literature rubs a scientific minded person the wrong way. Those who are not acquainted with the teachings of iskcon or haven't read other works of Srila Prabhupada might call it a little extrem...

Krishna dancing in the midst of gopis is called rasa dance.  Krishna expands himself into multiple forms - one for each gopi and dances with them. Each gopi thinks that Krishna is dancing with her alone and with no one else. This is kind of a mental and physical illusion Krishna has created to ensure the contentment and happiness of those gopis. The climate is cool and the air is filled with aroma of different flowers of the vrindavan forest. Krishna dances with each gopi and when they are tired, they rest their heads on his shoulders. Krishna and the gopis exchange sweet tender kisses on neck, cheeks and drooping eye lids. Krishna places his hands on their thin waists, shoulders and passes crushed beetlenuts from his mouth to those of the gopis. The moon and heavenly demi gods watch this display of spiritual and transcendental love from the sky with great pleasure and amusement. After the dance, Krishna and the gopis wander off into the river yamuna and spend time splash...

'Atmarama' is someone who is self satisfied. Someone who doesn't depend on anyone else for love or affection and is content to be independent for his/herself.   Lord Krishna   Once gopis ask Krishna how many different types of lovers are there? What are those different types of lovers? What kind of a lover is he ?  And Krishna answers them as follows ( I am explaining it here succinctly):  1. The first kind of lover conducts love like a form of a business. He gives as much love as he is given and doesn't give anything when he gets nothing in return. This form of love is of no use for anyone.  2. The second is kind is a lover who loves his partner unconditionally.  Either the partner loves him or not, is agreeable to his tastes or not, he never stops showing his affection and love towards the partner.   3. The third kind is called atmarama and is self satisfied with himself. He doesn't look outside for love and is indif...