Mirabai was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. I recite some of her poems in this podcast.

The Quran is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is widely regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic literature. It is organized in 114 chapters, which consist of verses. Since this is the month of Ramazan for Muslims, I decided to give a brief idea about the book to those who would want to read it.

"The Three Questions" is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy first published in 1885 as part of the collection What Men Live By, and Other Tales. The story takes the form of a parable, and it concerns a king who wants to find the answers to what he considers the three most important questions in life. I narrate the story in today's podcast.

Why I Am Not a Christian is an essay by the British philosopher Bertrand Russell. In this essay, he explores various arguments in support of existence of God and in Christian morality, and goes on to critique them. I narrate the essay in this podcast.

Chachnama, the story of Chach, tells the story of the early 8th-century conquests of Sindh (now in Pakistan) by the Umayyad general Muhammad bin Qasim. It is also sometimes called as The Conquest of Sindh or The History of Sindh and India. In this podcast, I narrate the story briefly in the words of V. S. Naipaul who wrote about it in his 1981 book called Among the Believers.

Arabian Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central and South Asia, and North Africa. The stories are inter-weaved brilliantly and contain countless events of magic and fantasy. I read out the beginning of this long tale in this podcast.

George Orwell's essay “Reflections on Gandhi” examines Gandhi's principal of non-violence, or Satyagraha ("holding on to the truth"), as a political tool. Orwell attempts to evaluate non-violence as a method of political leverage outside of the unique circumstances in which Gandhi successfully deployed his method. I narrate this essay in today's podcast.

In her collection of essays, Arundhati Roy critiques Indian government from multiple perspectives. I read a few pages from her essay called Azadi where she examines the question of freedom for Kashmiris, challenging us to reflect on the meaning of freedom in a country of growing right-wing influence.

Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy is a spiritual book by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. The book is intended to be a spiritual guide with practices for personal growth, and also a look at the author's own spiritual journey. The book talks about body, mind and energy, and how we can work on all three through Yoga practices. I talk about that book in this podcast.

The philosophy of Confucius—Confucianism—emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness, and sincerity. He remains a widely appreciated figure in the story of Chinese philosophy. I discuss it briefly.