The blog is now three years old

Wow, I can't believe that it is already three years since I started this amazing journey of sharing my thoughts with all of you. In the beginning, I didn't know what will be the path and how long will I manage to do this as I had no prior experience of writing. But there is no doubt this journey is a very rewarding and fulfilling experience for me. During this journey, encouragement and feedback from my readers helped me a lot to grow as a person. I wrote on many social, political, and personal issues, and I tried to cover almost each and every subject that felt relevant to me. A few old posts still keep on getting more comments and discussion is still going on some of those topics, especially topics related to Chanakya's controversial views about women and the issue of taboo associated with menstruation generated a lot of attention. I am glad that more and more people are becoming interested in these important topics and they are feeling confident in sharing their opinions about these issues. Most of the issues that we debate or discuss on this blog are quite complicated, many of them have been persistent in our societies for ages. We all know that there is no easy and quick solution for these things. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try. It is not the task of any one individual to solve these problems or create awareness about these things, we all need to do this work collectively then only we can expect to see any change. Expressing our opinion or raising our objections whenever we see some unjustified bias or injustice is very important for all of us. The technological revolution of the 21st century has provided us with many easily available platforms to raise our voices and share our opinions, we all need to make good use of this opportunity to tackle major social, personal, or political issues.

This year the frequency of posts might reduce a little bit, because of many other important things that need my personal attention. I know that the blog anniversary is not that of a big deal, it is like any other day and I am not a person who believes in celebrating birthdays or anniversaries, but this journey is very unique and rewarding for me and that is why I want to acknowledge the support of all my readers on this occasion. I am sure that we all will continue to work towards solving many of these social problems to the best of our capacity. I am extremely thankful for all your comments, whether positive or negative all comments encouraged me to continue my blogging journey and I thank you all for that from the bottom of my heart. Please keep on sharing your opinions, and remember that speaking up and raising questions is very important. Happy reading and keep asking questions.

 Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

New Beginning

This is a new beginning for me. I used to write my diary fairly regularly. I have so many of them stacked here and also in Pune, my hometown in India. I started writing a diary when I was in school and have most of my diaries with me, telling some stories at different stages of my life, and it's always very interesting to go back and read a few chapters from your own life. My life has been a very incredible journey so far, full of very interesting encounters and experiences.

For the last few months, I have been reading a lot in the field of mythology. My aim is to understand the deeper meaning of life. What is religion? What is God? Why do people believe or don’t believe in God? What is Moksha? Why do different people or sects advise different ways to achieve Moksha? What are the incarnations of Vishnu? Why were they necessary? And many, many questions like this, I can’t list all of them, but I have many more questions, and they keep on popping up in my mind so many times whenever I read a particular text or listen to some seminar on mythology, or attend any religious gathering. I see people around me and always think, why do most people follow certain rituals without understanding the logic behind them? Most of these rituals, when introduced, did have some sort of reasoning or logic behind them, but rarely do people try to understand it and analyze if it’s still valid or reasonable thing to do. Why do they believe in scriptures blindly without even trying to understand their meaning? Why?? I also wonder why these doubts or questions don’t come up in other people’s minds?…either they know the answer, or they are ignorant, or they don’t care, or they are incapable of thinking like I can…But I am also a normal person like most people around me, born and brought up in a very humble atmosphere, so why do these questions keep coming to me? My parents didn’t force me to follow any particular belief; they were busy setting up their life as immigrants in Pune, they tried to provide us a decent life to the best of their ability, and I am really grateful to them for that. They gave us a lot of freedom to choose our careers and also the way we want to live. I read many Marathi books during my college and school days, maybe these books had a profound effect on my thinking and behavior, so I consider myself lucky in this aspect.

I am reading and thinking a lot these days and trying to find answers to these questions myself, and I think I am heading somewhere. I am sure I will reach my destination, and I am determined to walk until I get there. This is not a road map or guide or mantra to achieve self-realization instantly; these are my thoughts, and you have the right to agree or totally disagree with them, debate about them, raise questions or concerns about them to me, and be sure that I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

I don't promise to answer everything. I am here merely to help you seek the right questions along with me. The answers lie within us. Wherever I interpret the scriptures or any writing, whether I understand their real meaning or not, is not my concern; if they help me and you uncover our minds and discover our reality, then this effort has served its purpose….Let the discovery begin...let's enjoy this journey together.

Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing.