By Subodh Gargya

Raisina Chronicles is a book based on the Raisina Dialogue, a multilateral conference on global politics and economy, which has been held every year in New Delhi since 2016.

The programme is organized by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF).

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and ORF President Samir Saran have edited Raisina Chronicles, a book marking the completion of 10 years of the Raisina Dialogue. It explains how the Raisina Dialogue is a medium for countries to discuss challenges facing them led by India.

The Raisina Dialogue’s message highlights India’s growing influence in the world. The book is a bird’s-eye view of geo-political events in the last decade and the views of world leaders on them. The book includes speeches given by world leaders during the Raisina Dialogue.

The first section describes the changes in the global system. This includes the speeches of PM Modi and UN Secretary General António Guterres. The second section explains how countries around the world have come together on some things. The third section dwells on new opportunities for Europe in the Indo-Pacific region. The fourth section discusses security around the world while the fifth explains how Covid-19 has given countries an opportunity to think anew. The sixth section outlines a new perspective on development. In the seventh and final section, it focuses on India’s role and the contribution of the Raisina Dialogue.

The book shares PM Narendra Modi’s view that in today’s time, listening is more important than speaking. Every idea should be heard, thus dialogue is the food of life.

Apart from communication between countries, the editors of the book clarify that its purpose is also to work on differences as the platform respects diversity in ideas. Leaders, business, media, journalists and people from civil society participate in the Raisina Dialogue.

The Power of Karma Yoga by Gopi Chandra Das (Jaico Books) is an attempt to unravel the mystique of the Bhagavad Gita in the contemporary context. Is Lord Krishna’s counsel to Arjuna still relevant in today’s time and social space ? How can the timeless teachings of Lord Krishna be adopted by people struggling to cope with the stresses and challenges of modern life? Is there a key teaching which can be easily adopted by stress-torn people? These and many more questions are answered by the author in his easy-to-read style.

The basic premise is that the stress is a function of identity; identity with ego or with role-playing. We all play roles in life: in the family, the office and in the social sphere. These roles demand close identification and exact their cost by way of fear, frustration and failures.

The way out is to ease one’s sense of identity with one’s temporal roles. At the metaphysical level, it means keeping oneself in a detached state from one’s ego. This requires sustained spiritual discipline, but automatically yields to mental distancing with mundane roles as well. No wonder the Katha Upanishad compares the spiritual path to a razor’s edge.

Lord Krishna sought to instil this detached perspective in Arjuna by underlining the perishable nature of the body and the transitory nature of the world. However, the key is to strike a balance between total detachment and total attachment. The golden mean is attained by letting go with discrimination. If we detach too much, it will become difficult to perform our duties; if we cling too much, the material will become a millstone. The idea is to be in the world and yet not be of it. As the Persian saint Abu Said said, “To buy and sell and yet never forget God.”

Detachment, however, doesn’t mean irresponsibility. On the contrary, it means working with utter responsibility; with a sense that the job at hand is a moment to glorify the divine. It is not only work for work’s sake; work is taken up as a tool for self-realization. This is more deeply grasped if we acknowledge that the Gita is not only a handbook of divine knowledge or spiritualised action but essentially a guidepost for the man treading the path of enlightenment.

Sri Aurobindo says: “The Gita is not a weapon for dia­lectical warfare; it is a gate opening on the whole world of spiritual truth and experience, and the view it gives us embraces all the provinces of that supreme region. It maps out, but it does not cut up or build walls or hedges to confine our vision.”

Or as Paramahansa Yoganananda puts it: Gita sheds light on any point of life in which the devotee finds himself in.

Delving yet further, Gopinath explains in the book that letting go is made easy by the practice of apagriha, or being unattached to desires with conscious control on attachment-driven strivings. In the process, one’s motive gets transformed from want-driven to purpose-driven. The aim, at the highest level, being self-realization: the acme of spiritual strivings. For all material strivings ought to be in essence spititual strivings.

When we shift from want-driven to purpose-driven action, the need for personal validation ceases. In our quest for a spiritual-centric action mode, yagna plays an important role. The concept of yagna is transposed from a religious fire-rite to diurnal mundane acts in which personal motives are quenched. As the borderline between the spiritual and the material gets increasingly dissolved, the quest for enlightenment becomes the summum bonum of life.

The direction and blessings of a sadguru is also needed in this eternal quest for soul freedom. In the ultimate sense, the material life and its duties become a stepping stone for a higher life which man embraces to achieve the state of kaivalya. The book lucidly interweaves real-life stories with philosophical concepts, which make for interesting reading.

Global popstar Justin Bieber brought the energy at Anant Ambani and Radhika Ambani’s pre-wedding sangeet on July 5 in Mumbai. The soon to be married couple (wedding in July 12^th) was spotted enjoying themselves as Bieber belted out his hits. While glimpses from the night went viral earlier, Bieber has now shared unseen photos and videos from his memorable trip to India.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9GAM8GI91F/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=24b3f57f-b3b7-4956-9144-a3e6c0230b27&img_index=1

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9GBcUqSJ0m/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=24b3f57f-b3b7-4956-9144-a3e6c0230b27&img_index=1

The heartwarming pictures show Justin Bieber bonding with Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant and their family. In one picture Justin stands with Anant and Radhika, all three dressed festively for the sangeet ceremony. Another photo captures a casual moment where Justin Bieber is seen chatting with Akash Ambani on a couch while Anant and Radhika are posing with him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9GANRboRp6/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=24b3f57f-b3b7-4956-9144-a3e6c0230b27&img_index=1

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9GA3DLywxs/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=24b3f57f-b3b7-4956-9144-a3e6c0230b27&img_index=1

The group also posed for a larger picture that included Shloka Mehta and Anand Piramal. The final photos show Justin Bieber and Anant Ambani engaged in a friendly conversation, solidifying the warm atmosphere of the visit. Justin’s trip to India started on Friday morning with his arrival in Mumbai.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9GAOBRoO00/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=24b3f57f-b3b7-4956-9144-a3e6c0230b27&img_index=1

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9FvfWxIpQX

That night Bieber transformed the Jio Convention Centre into a party zone with his hit songs and celebrities like Salman Khan and Alia Bhatt grooved along with him. Videos circulating on social media show Justin Bieber dancing with Orry and receiving a hug from Alaviaa Jaffrey( daughter of Javed Jaffrey). According to reports Justin Bieber has been paid $10million for this special performance.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9GAO8_I5NH/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=24b3f57f-b3b7-4956-9144-a3e6c0230b27&img_index=1

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9Fu5I5oxBm

Bieber’s energetic performance on Friday was the highlight of the sangeet ceremony, which took place at the Nita Ambani Convention Centre in Bandra, Mumbai. The singer made the guests groove on his songs Baby, Love Yourself, Peaches, Where Are You Now and Sorry. Bieber’s fresh off his triumphant return to the stage once again set the internet ablaze with his electrifying performance at Anant and Radhika’s sangeet ceremony.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9Fv2nuI1_e