Puzzles

Puzzles have always been part of our day to day life since time immemorial. Many among us would have played riddles (Paheli) in childhood days and few would be still enjoying sharing information in cryptic ways.

There are hundreds of such incidents recorded as puzzles across the revered scriptures (Shastra). There are at least dozens of stories in Srimad Bhagavatam it self, which are narrated in very coded manner be it of King Puranjan who desired to dwell into the city of 9 gates or the enigmatic 10 questions of Naradamuni to the 10,000 sons of Daksha Prajapati (SB 6.5.6-to-8) followed by what they all voluntarily accepted the celibacy order of life.

So why do we need to puzzle ourselves? A more sophisticated query would be, (why our mind feels titillated even after) what part of our being feels titillated by putting our brain to work harder? Simple and precise answer could be it’s because of our Vigyanmaya Kosha. The fourth sheath among five sheaths of Panchkosha.

Just like our external body (Annamaya Kosha) needs food in terms of gross materials, our Vigyanmaya Kosha needs food in terms of subtle material. Let’s make it bit interesting, as one relishes the juicy Gulabjamun by putting it in the mouth and desires for one more, any situation that puts our intelligence at work gives pleasure to it. Since everybody do not consider Gulabjamun an epitome of their culinary satisfaction, much of brain work (puzzle solving) is not enjoyed by all. Someone has developed the taste for a particular type of food, so does one enjoys solving a particular type of puzzle. It could be tricking someone to guess for the dinner menu to filling up crossword puzzles to the worst consuming irrelevant Breaking News Headlines and deriving conclusions for them. In both the cases, what content is being fed matters a lot. A well fed intelligence helps making a wonderful character, Chanakya, Vivekananda, Ramanujan, C.V. Raman to name a few.

The puzzle series is offered to serve the Vigyanmaya Kosha of all the beautiful beings out there. Hope the little ones will enjoy it the same as we did while creating them.