Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life: Unlocking Timeless Scriptures with Ami Ganatra

Know Your Scriptures Workshop

Timestamp Of Questions

3:04 – QUESTION 1: Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. What convincing arguments do we find in our scriptures that guide us to follow the path of dharma in spite of such disillusionment?

12:08 – QUESTION 2: Some people are stuck in victim mindset mode. They cite the example of Karna in Mahabharata. Poor thing he was abandoned as a child and he went through so much suffering… what is the answer we find for this?

22:10 – QUESTION 3: If Good Karma leads to good future, how does that explain children getting Cancer?

30:00 – QUESTION 4: Out Of 100’s Of Scriptures, how can one start understanding the essence of what has been taught? These are what a Hindu is looking at as far as the extent of scriptures goes.
i) Itihaasa (Ramayan, Mahabharata n Bhagwad Gita)
ii) Upanishads
iii) Vedas
iv) Upaveda
v) Puranas
vi) Dharmashastra
vii) Agama
viii) Vedanga
ix) Dharshanas

38:07 – QUESTION 5: My 18 year old is going to leave the nest. Can any kind of wisdom help me cope?

43:11 – QUESTION 6: Why is Arjuna’s focus considered supreme? How can we become distraction free? What do we need to do to develop such a focus?

50:08 – QUESTION 7: One of our greatest Heroes, Rama, kills Vali from behind. How is it justified?

56:00 – QUESTION 8: Draupadi laughs and invites punishment by Duryodhana. Why is Duryodhana’s actions against Draupadi justified this way?

59:33 – QUESTION 9: You have a nagging feeling that your loved one is suffering, but don’t have proof. How can you rescue yourself from the suffering of such perceived suffering?

1:02:53 – QUESTION 10: In Ramayana, Manthara advises Kaikeyi that she should insist Bharat should become the king. Otherwise the other queens may take vengeance for whatever insults she may have hurled at them earlier while she was the preferred spouse of Dasharatha. This was Manthara’s imagination that she projected and Kaikeyi began to feel it is real and she acted on that advice. We often feel someone is experiencing fear, anger, revenge, suffering. We livewith that belief which may not be true. How can you rescue yourself from the suffering of such perceived suffering?

1:06:32 – QUESTION 11: How does objectivity in decision making become easy?

1:09:15 – QUESTION 12: There are 1260 different manuscripts Of Mahabharata, which one is the authority?

1:15:03 – QUESTION 13: What is your take on the Ramacharit Manas controversy, is the book really anti dalit?

1:17:41 – QUESTION 14: How does Ayyappa becoming a Brahmachari help the universe?

Workshop Description

Day in and day out we go through existential crisis

If people suffer due to bad karma, why are some children born with cancer?  What have they done?

We do not remember our past sins in our past births, how do we believe that what we reap today is the result of what we did earlier?

Why should we follow the path of dharma and end up looking like fools when people who silence their conscience and manipulate truth get ahead in life?

How do we answer people who say your Krishna also did tricks to save Pandavas and did not follow the rules in the war?

Didn’t Draupadi invite trouble by laughing at Duryodhan and was not Dhrisdharashtra justified in feeling victimised?

To find answers to atleast a few of the plaguing questions, watch the above video now.

Listen to Ami Ganatra, the author of the two epoch-making books Demystifying Mahabharata and Demystifying Ramayana

Host: Ami Ganatra

Workshop Desc. Credit: Girijaa Deshhpande

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About Sanatana Dharma

ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः।
अनेन वेद्यं सच्छास्त्रमिति वेदान्तडिण्डिमः॥

Brahman alone is real; the universe is mithya – neither fully real nor unreal, but an appearance. The individual self (jiva) is none other than Brahman itself, not separate or different. This is the true teaching of the scriptures, as revealed by Vedanta. ~ Verse 20 from Brahma Jnānavali Māla