PERSPECTIVES

Swamiji Chinmayananda’s eloquence always had a peculiar allure, one that gently pulled me into the depths of Advaita Vedanta. Thus, when the chance to visit Chinmaya Tapovanam in Uttarkashi presented itself, it felt less like a coincidence and more like a predestined moment. I can still recall that evening, stepping into the ashram under a sky brushed with the colors of twilight, the world around pregnant with a calm expectation. The ashram itself, nestled by the banks of the Ganges, greeted visitors with the murmuring sounds of the river, as if whispering secrets from centuries past. Beside the reception, there stood a small, tiled house of just one room, aging yet dignified. It was here that Chinmayananda’s guru once lived, at the time young Chinmayananda became his disciple. The lineage of gurus, this unbroken chain of wisdom and enlightenment, resonated deeply within the subcontinent's spirit, its essence vital for the spread of their venerable teachings. My stay wa...

In the dimly lit corridors of Victoria College, Palakkad where the dust motes play in slants of light streaming through high, arched windows, the Latin motto "Labuntur et imputantur" is inscribed above the grand entrance, its letters carved deeply into the weathered stone. It whispers a truth, subtle yet persistent as the tick of a clock in an empty room: "The moments slip away and are laid to your account." In an enigmatic world, this phrase would unfurl like the slow, deliberate opening of a drawer in an antique desk. Inside, among the scent of old wood and hints of forgotten ink, lies a collection of watches—each stopped at different hours, minutes, and seconds, yet all silently speaking of the same irreversible passage. The students walk these halls, their footsteps echoing softly, not yet understanding how these moments are accruing silently in the ledgers of their lives. At a small café just off-campus, a retired professor—once a teacher at Victori...