I came across the following anecdote in my reading of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. It may help the police and the government more generally speaking to maintain communal harmony whenever the Muslim community is offended because of insults to their faith and to the prophet. The anecdote involves not […]
Author Archives: nikhilmg
Commodus and the Sri Lankan crisis
I picked up my copy of Gibbon to research material for an article on Islam that I want to write. Going through the Table of Contents however I was intrigued by the chapter on the life and death of Emperor Commodus. Commodus was the villain in the movie in the blockbuster action movie Gladiator starring […]
Role of the Military in the Roman Empire
I had thought of reading Gibbon and writing a series of articles based on his Decline and Fall. But the book speaks for itself much better than I can ever do so. Less is more and I can do no better than to recommend anybody who is reading this article (and who is connected with […]
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
I have had my copy of the abridged version of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon for many years now. But it is only now that I have started to read it. I read just the Foreword, Introduction, Preface and the first chapter and was blown away by the insights […]
Bhagavad Gita on right attitude to Work
I would like to write on the right attitude to work or Karma as per the Bhagavad Gita. When I first read the Gita I was confused because I thought the Gita told us to not have desires. I thought it meant that we should not be motivated by desires when it comes to action. […]
Devil in a Good Man
I rarely link to articles in other websites but this blog is good. The author, Antti Vanhanen, is very popular at Quora with millions of views. Have a look: https://www.devilinagoodman.com/blog I’ll end here. Please explore this site for more articles on Spirituality, Self Help and Politics and let me have your comments. Feedback from my […]
On Fearing Death
This article explains how to deal with the fear of death. I’ll start with a couple of quotes from Shakespeare (Julius Caesar): CAESAR: Cowards die many times before their deaths: The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men […]
Gems from The Arabian Nights
Below is an extract from The Arabian Nights. It gives some excellent advice that will help all who have to deal with peers, superiors and inferiors; that is to say everybody. EXTRACT BEGINS HERE ‘What advice do you give yourself?’ asked Mu’awiya. ‘I plant my feet on the ground, move them slowly and keep my […]
The Path to Bliss
This article is based on something that I have experienced myself. About 15 to 16 years ago I was doing Vipassana meditation regularly. And I experienced what I can only describe as bliss or ecstasy on some lengths of time. I then suffered an emotional crisis and foolishly quit my meditation practice. And I have […]
Find a Worthwhile Reason to Suffer
What do I mean when I say, “Find a worthwhile reason to suffer.” What I have to say is a summary of chapter 7 of the book, Everything is F*cked by Mark Manson. The chapter starts with some academic studies that prove that no matter what the circumstances of our lives we will never be […]