Sutradhar
Literally, the holder of string. But also, the teller of stories in the world of classical Sanskrit. He is of this world of illusions – Maya. And yet he is the herald of truth – Satya.
Simultaneously looking forward and backwards, a Sutradhar is he who is the bridge between two worlds, two realities. He who owns nothing. But is the repository of all knowledge.
Paro’s Sutradhar is she who takes us towards our ancestral wisdom. The one who unearths and illuminates what we have forgotten. This is where we return to our roots and rituals. The stories are told in one voice. The stories are told in many voices. Because cultural knowledge is a shared heritage and we are all keepers and inheritors and messengers of that knowledge. We are all Sutradhars.
Shravana Ashtami
Source: Hindu Calendar by Drik Panchang
Kali: Decoding the Dark Goddess
Growing up in India we were always warned of the dark and mysterious goddess—Kali. Stories of this apocalyptic goddess centred around death and destruction, her sinister black tongue exposed to the world, fearless in her stultifying anti-beauty (not ugly)
Sanskrit: The Language of Sat Chit Ananda
Sanskrit, an ancient language that has existed for approximately 500 years is also called Devavani – the language of gods. It is perhaps the most sacred and the most scientific language in the world
5 Yoga Mudras for Daily Wellbeing
In the Vedic understanding of the human body, it is believed that our prana (life force) flows through the nadis (energy channels) in our body. There are said to be 72,000 nadis in our body, of which three – Ida, Pingala and Sushumna – are the most dominant
A Still Mind: The True Purpose of a Yoga Practice
The profound brevity of this sentence, written by Patanjali, takes us immediately into the heart of what Yoga practice is about and what it’s meant to achieve. To cease the thoughts that consume our every living moment, and instead be ‘thoughtless’ in order to reach a fulcrum of silence and awareness
Sandalwood: Oil of Purification & Spiritual Peace
Long before I qualified as an aromatherapist and became the resident Aromatherapy consultant at Paro New Delhi, I took a personal trip to Southern India and travelled through Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka in search of the rare and expensive liquid gold better known in these parts as Sandalwood
Jasmine: The Queen of Flowers
In The Sentiment of Flowers by Robert Tyas, Jasmine is described as the flower that seems to have been “created to express the quality of amiability”
Balancing Your Chakras With Essential Oils
The term Chakra is a Sanskrit word which literally means “wheel of light.” They have been described by many as a spinning wheel of light and colour located along the spine from the base to the crown of the head
Grishma Rtu: Season of Stillness & Longing
Grishma Rtu arrives in a blaze of light – searing, intense, scorching. The two lunar months of Jyeshta and Ashadha are quite possibly the two most difficult months in many parts of India
The Energy of A Human Body – A Vedic Perspective
The Vedas declare “Vag Vai Brahmeti”; Brahman is verily speech. The various sound waves which are eternally and endlessly born from the womb of Brahman involute or descend from the higher causal levels to subtle and then gross or manifest levels