An idea, a thought, an anecdote, a story or a poem a day!

  That morning, with some of my family members, I had come to Garh Ganga, which is a small town at the banks of the River Ganga. We had come there for the holy bath, an annual ritual, but due to shortage of time, instead of going to Haridwar, we had come here because it is the closest point for us, where we can dip in Ganga.  Ram, who is my uncle’s son, lives there, and though we had not met in years, he remembered me and was addressing me as  Didi,  big sister. He was guiding us around the town, and was quite protective of us, especially around the banks of the holy river, which were teaming with priests and pandas waiting for pilgrims like us for their daily business, getting their clients to recite Om, while washing off their sins in the holy water. There was a lot of Omkara, recitation of Om everywhere.  We finished our holy bath, and a short  puja,  a special morning religious ceremony, in which we recited Om, quite a few times. (1)...

  There is a difference between truth and knowledge.  Truth is what we want to know, but what we know, actually that is not the truth, it is just our knowledge   !  A quote from an ancient Indian classic, RigveD   presents this idea  succinctly,  - "Ekam sad vipraha bahuda vadanti", meaning “Truth is one; the wise describe ‘it’ in different ways”!  This quote can confuse us, disappoint us as we realise inadequacy  of our  knowledge , but actually it challenges us to question what we know and what we are told .  It tells us that we  should be seekers, active individuals finding our own truth, and not followers of someone else's truth which  is not the absolute truth .   As truth is one, but described in many dif ferent forms!