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Showing posts from June, 2008

Angulimala: The wearer of finger garland

Angulimala was the son of the Brahmin Bhaggawa and Mantani. Bhaggawa was a loyal advisor to king Pasenadi of Kosala(an ancient kingdom in India). He was born under thieves' constellation, and on the night of his birth, all the armours and weapons in the town shone brightly. The king was so disturbed by this, and next morning he called upon his advisors and asked them why are the armours shinny. So Bhaggawa answered, “My wife have given birth to a son and according to his birth signs, he would become a lonely bandit”. The king ordered that the child be sacrificed but Bhaggawa advised the king that since he will be alone, they can catch him easily in the future if it turns out to be true. Bhaggawa named the child “Himsaka” which means “harmful” in pali, but later changed it to “Ahimsaka(harmless)”. When he was old enough, Bhaggawa sent Ahimsaka to University of Taxila, then the Ox-bridge of India. At Taxila, he was the most strongest, brightest and obedient among all students and exc

The World I know

W hat can I say that might be of interest and relevance? Let me answer this question by taking a journey all the way from the time when I was a little child just eagerly waiting to be enrolled in school to today. The most formative and influential years of my life were those which I spent as a kid. Every word that I hear and every action that I see others perform has some influence on me. That is the period where my mind is free of skepticism and I believed in everything. That is the period where I followed everything that my elders do and my peers suggested with neither the fear nor analyzing it’s effect. That is the period when I didn’t know how to discriminate people on the basis of race, sex, wealth, region, ethnicity and religion. I never prayed to God to give me the courage to speak the truth, yet I was able to speak it whether it is good or bad, but the truth. The power of reason is almost unknown, for I didn’t care whether my parents can effort to buy me toys or give me five ng