O Dharmaputri! Indian Heart, Yogic Wings

Let's face it. Every professional, seafarer, or otherwise is also a child, a parent, a cousin - and more often than not, we work mainly to provide for them. We're also someone's neighbour, and a citizen in society. Being a good, productive, well rounded human is essential to one's professional success.

This is what went though my mind in the autumn of 2024, as we prepared for our recently turned adult daughter, Uma, to go to university.

What life advise could we give her - after all, her journey would be unique, and of her own making? We remembered our own journey when we were in our teens- we were just going after the first degree, that first job, a house, a title, a relationship...without a meaningful understanding how this all could flow seamlessly and without friction in our lives.

How could we ensure that she wouldn’t make at least the same mistakes that we did? 

How could we help her find balance in her life?

How could we pass on the ethos of one of the world’s oldest continuing traditions? After all, didn’t Aristotle supposed to have said something like ‘good parents educate children well, as they not only give them life, but also the art of living well’?

My wife Vidhya and I set out to write a letter to Uma, expressing our thoughts and some guidance on life. But as our friends and family told us, there was a wider audience who felt that such a book could help families have deep conversations about life. That letter has since become a book for the world, on Dharma (a philosophy of righteous living), and Yoga (a process that helps in living happily and performing our duties in resonance with our environment and the situation).

Let me breakdown for you what the title means:

O: A poetic prefix when addressing someone, common in Sanskrit and other Indian languages.

Dharmaputri: A loving address to our daughter—not just Uma, but for the thousands like her. A Dharmaputri lives the path of 'dharma,' the natural duty towards herself, her loved ones, humanity, and nature.

Indian: Represents one of the oldest continuing civilizations on this planet, with its wholesome and humanitarian philosophy.

Heart: The heart is the seat of all action, and through our values, provides direction.

Yogic: The art, science, discipline and philosophy of Yoga that helps us elevate our consciousness.

Wings: That which carries us above the turbulence of everyday life and takes us forward, towards fulfilling our highest potential.

Even if you’re not Indian by ethnicity, you’ll find several universal themes explored here. After all didn’t Aristotle say that ‘it is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.’

Advance praise for the book has been extremely positive, reinforcing our belief that this book has been a meaningful project.

The book is available in Amazon and through the publishers Garuda Prakashan. Proceeds from the book are dedicated towards women's empowerment.

You can read more about the book at my other website Dharma-Life.com

Vazhga Valamudan! Live Long with Abundance!