Today I hosted a Spiritual Discussion on impermanence and attachment. Through the discussion and conversation, I think we found a potential way of limiting attachment in our day to day lives- something that’s practical, simple, achievable, probably already used by many people, and effective. Real quick- based on our discussion, we came to a definition… Continue reading A Practical Solution for Attachment

I.  So I have to admit— I was one of those people who Googled “end of the world” last week. Even after a week of open discourse, I think we are all imagining different futures for the next four years; our collective imagination seems to be disjointed into different wavelengths. Now, think about this: imagine… Continue reading There is Always Something to be Happy About?

This past summer, I visited India as a part-spiritual retreat, part-restocking-on-khakara-trip. It’s a trip the family has been making frequently with a very similar routine each time. Land in Mumbai, meet grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, second cousins, people that are close enough to be called cousins, and the fruit stand man that’s been the same… Continue reading Silver Linings

Jains recall a story of their 23rd Tirthankara Parsvanatha as follows: About 3,000 years ago, a popular monk named Kamath practiced severe penances using sacrificial fires. Parsva, a newly devout monk came to know of these fire sacrifices and the violence they caused. When he noticed a snake burning in Kamath’s fire, he intervened to… Continue reading In the Face of Adversity

During the first half of the episode “The Message of the Myth” (part of “The Power of Myth” television series), interviewer Bill Moyers appears somewhat uncomfortable with comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell’s metaphorical treatment of religion.  It feels as though Moyers only grudgingly accepts Campbell’s views, particularly when applied to Moyers’s own religion.  However, Moyers eventually… Continue reading Thinking Mythically

Serving as Paryushan Chair this semester on Penn’s Hindu and Jain Association was a very spiritual and rewarding experience for me. Paryushan is an 8-10 day Jain holiday to renew faith where people take the time to think about their year, contemplate their spirituality, and ask forgiveness for any harms caused through their words, thoughts,… Continue reading Value in Virtues

A few weeks ago, a student at Penn took her life. I didn’t know her, but I felt the damp, uneasy chill that permeated the campus that day and for the rest of the week. I was shaken, but not shocked—between alumni of my high school and stories from Penn, student deaths have become all… Continue reading Introspection

I love the summer, which is what we call a time in Earth’s orbit when it’s tilted a certain way. Imagine if the planet froze in its orbit during a season that wasn’t summer. The planet slowed down without anybody noticing and then stopped in its tracks. It was so gradual that nobody noticed it… Continue reading Summer

We are all involved in practices that foster personal growth; my main form of growth before college, or as I was writing about flying in a hot air balloon for my Common App essay, was through introspection. However, over the last three years in college, I have been shaped by my leadership roles and have… Continue reading Inside Out: How Leadership Makes a Double Impact

When children look at something, their interpretation is often based off of the pure reality of things “as they are”. During their younger years, most kids have not yet been conditioned to act in a certain way just because ‘everyone else does so’. But through adolescence and a few years into adulthood, we pick up… Continue reading In Plain Sight: The Innocent Minds of Children