What is here is found elsewhere.

What is not here is nowhere.

—Mahabharata I.56.34−35

 If you believe in God, and He turns out to exist, then you have obviously made a good
decision; however, if He does not exist, and you still believe in Him, you haven’t lost
anything; but if you don’t believe in Him and he does exist, then you are in serious
trouble.
 One of Hinduism’s attractive features is of multiple goals to the good life. The first goal
is to come to grips with kama, ‘human desire’. It is reassuring that pleasure has a valued
place in the good life. A second goal is
artha, ‘material wellbeing’, which makes sense, for how can one be happy in conditions
of extreme deprivation? A third objective of life is
dharma or moral wellbeing. The final goal is moksha, ‘spiritual
liberation’ from our fragmented, finite and suffering existence. I have always felt that
Indians are sensible, like Aristotle, in believing in multiple paths to a flourishing life.
 Books which illuminate four aims of life: 1.
When it came to desire, Kamasutra, the text on erotic love and sex, was the obvious
choice. 2. The Arthashastra, a text of politics & economics, would help me with the
second goal of artha 3. Mahabharata would help me in third goal of Dharma and 4.
Upanishads in fourth goal, Moksha.
 Manusmriti, the law book by Manu, which tries to reconcile the first three ends.
 The stories from the Kathasaritsagara would instruct me on how to live.
 ‘It is not enough to do well. Someone has to lose, and you must be the one to win’.
 To save the family, abandon an individual. To save the village, abandon a family; to save
the country, abandon a village. To save the soul, abandon the earth.
 Successful and prosperous are good reasons for one to be envied.
 ‘Whenever a friend succeeds a little,’ ‘something in me dies.’
 ‘We are all in the gutter. But some of us are looking at the stars.’
 Brahmin is a person of contemplation, Vysya is a person of calculation, Kshatriya is a
person of action and Sudra is a person of
 Virtue is a skill. It can be learnt & practiced to perfection. Good or bad is your choice.
 Power and Virtuosity do not go hand in hand.