The illusory mind

Does the mind really exist? Is it not just an illusion? An advaitin will emphatically answer "yes", but that's not the point of view from which this question is being asked. According to Advaita Vedanta, everything except Brahman is an illusion. However, as long as one is aware of the existence of the body, it is hard to say that the material world is an illusion. After all, are we not perceiving the beautiful colors of the rainbow, the soft murmur of the winds and the music of the water as it flows down the valley? The body exists and so does everything else in the material world. It is also not hard to accept that there is something called consciousness that exists and differentiates the living and the non-living. And this consciousness is also most certainly not the same as matter. It is something beyond this material world. But what about the mind? Where does it reside? Does it have any definitive existence or is it just a figment of our imagination?

Destiny: A physics perspective

Destiny and free-will (or karma) are considered to be opposites by many people. It is commonly believed that only one of these can hold in this world. Either we are all mere puppets controlled by an unseen hand, or we are totally free to do whatever we want.

Kahaani, the story

I had been waiting for the release of the hindi movie, Kahaani, since the last few months but could not go to watch it while it was still running in a nearby theatre. I finally got to watch this movie on my laptop sometime last week. After the movie got over, my first reaction was: paise bach gaye! I mean, the movie is not bad at all, but it is definitely not as great as portrayed by all the hype around it. I wonder if this movie would have been this big a hit if it was not riding on the recent success of Vidya Balan in The Dirty Picture.