Anuradha Sridharan

  I heard this statement in a Vedanta discourse and it made so much sense. It helped me connect many dots. "As you gain more and more knowledge, you will have more and more dilemmas ". Let's unpack this statement. At first glance, it might sound - " It is better not to pursue more knowledge as it might be unproductive. Ignorance is bliss ". We arrive at this conclusion because of the belief that dilemmas are bad or unproductive. We consider the effect (dilemmas) "not good" and so we end up blaming the cause (more knowledge). Let's define the two terms in this statement: Knowledge - any input or information coming from an external source Dilemmas - having to decide between multiple options or choices Let's say, a person ABC is affected by diabetes, but he is unaware that he has diabetes. When a sweet is offered to him, he accepts without any hesitation. He might even go for a second helping. ABC now receives the knowledge through a routi...

 In the Gita chanting class yesterday, an elderly aunty joined in from the hospital. She said, "I underwent knee surgery and couldn't join the class yesterday. I'll be here for the next three days and will join the classes". It felt so inspiring to see her sincerity and commitment to attend the classes despite her present condition. I see many senior citizens participating in these classes with so much dedication.  Consistency becomes easier when we are enjoying the process rather than wondering (or worrying) about the end outcome.  The materialistic world has made us overly concerned about "What's in it for me? Does this give money, power, position, or fame? What's the use of putting in the effort? How do I extract value from a new idea/initiative? Is there a monetization opportunity?". Such a result-oriented mindset takes away the joy of doing. The pursuit of curiosity merely becomes a source of identifying business opportunities. Doing things just...

 Yesterday, I presented a day-long session on packaged foods and traditional food wisdom to a group of educators focused on sustainability.  It was an interactive session that was well-received by an enthusiastic audience. I was so glad to be in that state of "speaking" flow after a long time, sharing my thoughts on various topics I'm passionate about. While preparing the slides, I decided to reflect on my personal journey in the last 12 years and created this slide. My journey started with understanding about food and how food impacts our health. As I reflected, it feels like an organic shift from one area to the other. I felt guided and directed by the higher power while learning, embracing, and sharing about these aspects.  It also feels like the dots have connected beautifully when viewed through this lens of body-mind-intellect. As I re-read some of my older posts on food, nutrition, habits, etc, it brought a happy smile as this blog is a raw documentation of this jo...

 This happened a few months back. While attending in-person and online classes as part of my MSc Yoga, we had a hectic schedule with back-to-back sessions on various subjects.  One of the subjects was "Anatomy & Physiology". Our faculty had a lot of topics to cover in the limited time frame allocated to her. Most of us found the lectures hard to follow as it felt like too much information packed into a few classes. We also quickly passed judgments and comments that the faculty could have done a better job.  We got the recordings of all our classes and as we took time to go through them in the comfort of our homes at our own pace, we realized that the faculty has done a fabulous job of discussing the key points of all the major systems. Although the lectures felt super-fast during the sessions, they were easy to understand when we applied our complete focus and attention. As I reflected upon this experience, a few thoughts emerged: Many times, we make quick judgments b...

  Over the last few weeks, I have been following the political news more closely, thanks to the Lok Sabha election results. One of the tweets I came across on X said something on these lines -  "Politicians and political parties deliberately want people to remain poor so that they are dependent on freebies and vote promises." As I thought about this statement, I realized this strategy is equally relevant to the self-proclaimed gurus who have mushroomed on social media on various topics. They would want their followers to blindly follow what they convey through their posts/workshops/courses and remain poor in their intellectual abilities. As long as their followers remain intellectually poor, these false gurus can keep offering one course after another, minting money, and generating multiple revenue streams. How do they ensure their followers fall for the tricks in their playbook? Here are a few observations: Groupthink - Ensure more praises are sung by certain "loyal...

A long pending one and I finally decided to bid goodbye to Instagram, a platform where I've been actively creating content for the past 10 years. Here's the post I shared with the reasons that influenced this decision: --------------  This decision to quit Instagram has been running on my mind for the past few years, ever since the platform turned into a reel-based model.  The algorithm prioritizes content based on entertainment, gossip, fashion, lifestyle, and other topics, intending to increase materialistic desires in content consumers.  This platform is no longer relevant for someone like me who loves the written word and likes to express herself through words. Book reviews, perspectives on life, habits, routines, and other articles/links/references shared as Stories no longer reach the audience in the first place. Every article I write is first published on my blog, which then gets converted/customized to Instagram - creating the carousel posts, trimming the content ...

 What are you getting used to now that could be detrimental in the long run? A few years back, whenever I made idlis, I would look at the clock and remember the time to switch off after steaming for 10 min. The mind will have that active thought running, " Idlis on the stove, need to switch off at 7:25 ".  Then Google Home arrived (it was a gift). In the initial days, it felt so funny and uncomfortable to give commands, but over time, I got used to it. As soon as idli plates were placed in the steamer, I would yell from the kitchen - " OK google, timer for 10 minutes ", and I'd forget about it. After the timer rings, I'd go and switch off the stove. This is just a tiny behavioral change. And there is nothing wrong with relying on technology to ease our mental load. But what we lost in the bargain - being aware, time-conscious, and mindful. A similar change happened with remembering phone numbers. In the 2000s, I would have remembered at least 10 phone number...

 For any learning to happen effectively, there needs to be a strong purpose and a process.  Purpose inspires you to get started and continue the journey.  Process gives you guidance and direction. Both work hand-in-hand to help us reach our goal. Learning Bhagavad Gita is one of my wishes for this year and Krishna is graciously guiding me in that direction. March 4th is when I started my first class with Gita Parivar. The last 3 months have been such a beautiful journey of connecting with Krishna and diving into his teachings that is so relevant in today's times. I use this spreadsheet to track my learning progress. The plan and process just evolved during this journey. The priority is to learn the correct pronunciation and understand the meaning of each chapter taught in the class. Contemplating and imbibing the learnings happens and will continue to do so without much deliberate effort, as the seeds get planted in the subconscious. This is a life-long study, as we refle...