While visiting Hua Hin, a coastal city, south of Bangkok, I attended a seminar conducted by a Bhikkhuni (Buddhist nun) who spoke on why human beings are different from each other. Here is a gist of what she explained… The gross body of each human being is composed of five elements and since everybody has […]
Author: Ruby Lilaowala
‘Eye’s Right’ With Dr. Cyres Mehta
Ruby: Congratulations on winning the IIRSI gold medal for your expertise in Advanced Robotic Laser Cataract Surgery. How does the new CATALYS surgical laser system to remove the cataract differ from the one in use so far? Dr. Cyres: Until recently, we had to enter the eye and then break up the cataract with ultrasound […]
African Rain Queen
In all religions and cultures, there’s the belief of a specific deity behind the rains. In the Vedic tradition, yagnas are performed to invoke the rain-God. In our Zoroastrianism, we invoke Teshtar Tir Yazad. Similarly, while we were touring South Africa, a few years ago, a lady who was a mystic, told us about a […]
Esoteric Significance Of Navratri
I had a very dear Bengali friend in my class at St. Anne’s High School – Rupa Ganguly, daughter of the late veteran actor, Ashok Kumar and wife of actor Deven Verma. I think of Rupa every year on Dassera because once she had told me (in Std. VIII) that when you look into Goddess […]
Remembering The Screen Icon Of The 20th Century – Elizabeth Taylor
England lost many of its early actors to Hollywood. The likes of Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, Charles Laughton and Cary Grant and many others all found more scope and richer pastures in Hollywood. British actresses have also supplied Hollywood with an abundance of talent, notably Deborah Kerr and Vivien Leigh. But the most acclaimed and […]
The Heart – A Spark Of The Divine
The first beat of the heart means life and its last beat means death. The medium that the heart uses to act upon our body is blood, which combines with the breath to carry the life-principal, or prana, building up and maintaining the body in its endless circulations throughout life. Physiologically, the heart is the […]
Is It Worth Risking Your Marriage For An Affair?
A shocking head-line in the Hindustan Times of August 28, 2016 reads, “Most divorces among Parsis due to adultery.” Parsis never fail to amaze! The report goes on to say, “Adultery is the most common reason for divorce.” This report is based on a thorough examination of statistics and facts pertaining to the Parsi Matrimonial […]
Are Human Souls Mere Commodities
Last week, our External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj criticised Bollywood celebrities like Amir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan who opted for ‘surrogacy’ for making this procedure ‘fashionable’. This article is neither for nor against surrogacy – who are we to judge other people’s needs and compulsions? What is worrying is that surrogacy has become a […]
Are We Happier Than The Previous Generation?
Previous generations had a somewhat shorter life-expectancy compared to today’s but they led happy and contended lives compared to today’s stressed-out-in the lap-of- luxury generation. We live longer since science has pulled back the barriers of death but what is the quality of those extra years of life? What modern science cannot cure, it merely […]
Is There Reincarnation In Zoroastrianism?
Before I start this article, I must say that ‘Reincarnation’ has been a rather controversial subject with the Zoroastrians. Why so? Because our Priest-class and some scholars say there is no reincarnation in Zoroastrianism. Some base their dissent on actual study of the scriptures whereas many just go along because the priests says so. However, […]
Meherbai’s School Reunion
And so it came to pass (sounds Biblical) that our dear Meherbai received an invitation to her old girls’ association from her school. The invite was for the ex-students along with their respective spouses. Meherbai was overjoyed while her bitter-half, Meherwanji said, “Your friends will die with envy when they see you. You have the […]