Musings on Reason, Religion and Reform
A few months back, around Diwali to be more specific, we heard/read/watched all sorts of ‘concern’ about environment and pleas to ban firecrackers. Soon we will be again hearing similar voices, this time More...
Demonetisation – A Dharmic Perspective
Demonetisation is the reneging by a government of its promissory undertaking in regard to currency. The recent scrapping of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes is not demonetisation because the government still promises More...
Bhakti brings Happiness: A discourse by Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha
This is the English translation of the Anugraha Bhashanam delivered originally in Tamil by 35th Peethadhipati of Sringeri, Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamigal during 1982 Chennai Vijaya Yatra. The discourse More...
Book Review- ‘Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left’ by Roger Scruton
Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left by Roger Scruton can be purchased from Amazon. The left brand of philosophy can be very obscure and is subjected to random interpretation depending on the More...
Book Review: Harivamsha, translated by Dr. Bibek Debroy
The Harivamsha is the final, final part of the Mahabharata. Not quite a part of itihaasa – which the Mahabharata and Ramayana are – nor quite a Purana, the Harivamsha nonetheless gets by being called More...
The Grand JNU Narrative
I arrived in JNU on a clear, balmy August afternoon of 1990. The subsequent 4 years I spent there, first as an MA then as an M. Phil student in Linguistics, were one of the most formative for a middle-class next-door More...
Book Review: Tunnel of Varanavat by Gautam Chikermane
The readers of Mahabharata would find its subaltern universe as fascinating as the main plot line of ‘Jaya’. The sermons on Dharma by the nameless housewife and of the butcher Dharmavyadha to a learned Brahmin More...
Citizen Responsibility: Invoking the Sacred
My fellow Indians, Unless you are living on another planet you have all probably heard, read, watched most of the news and analyses there is about the recent bold step introduced by the Government of India led by More...
From Darkness to Light
Deepavali or the festival of lights is one of the most important festival in Hindu tradition, with many important events, such as the slaying of Narakasura, returning of Rama and Sita to Ayodhya, Nachiketa’s immortal More...
Why Varna is Not Caste
The Four Varna system of ancient India was originally based upon the idea of an organic social order that remains relevant today. What is called caste today should not be confused with it. The Vedas arose five thousand More...