Understanding Navaratri through Vedanta
Navaratri or the festival of nine nights is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Hindus across the world. There is a diversity in the way the festival is celebrated in various parts of the country, More...
Prana, desha, anna: the origins of spiritual agriculture- I
“Pressed (by men at the helm of affairs) in the words ‘Let food be given again and again and (also) article of wearing apparel of various kinds’ many men in that sacrifice did as they were told More...
Importance of Pitr Karma
Every year during the second fortnight of the lunar month of Bhardrapada, right after the Ganesha puja, a period of 14 days is set aside for offering reverence to ancestors, known as pitrpaksha. During this time, More...
Understanding Modi’s Sanskrit Epithets – Part II
Have you noticed that Modi’s speeches are sprinkled with many phrases that are not in Hindi? Here is an occasion, worth watching, where he quoted several verses in succession, as his Idea of India, like “Tena More...
Hindu roots of modern ‘ecology’
One of the first lessons a student of ecology is taught is that this science is relatively new, that the term ‘ecology’ was only first defined in 1866 by Ernst Haeckel. Among the sciences, it has become sought More...
Veda and Yoga are One
Veda, from the root “vid” to know, refers to Knowledge in the highest sense as direct perception of the Eternal and Infinite Consciousness called Brahman. Brahman is present as the Atman or inner Self of all More...
An Open Letter to Ananya Vajpeyi on Sanskrit
Dear Ananya, On a first look, I could have safely ignored your article published in World Policy Journal as just another leftist rant, but since you mentioned JNU and its Sanskrit center, I had to jot down some More...
In the Beginning -II: Are Vedic texts outcome of speculations or first-hand experiences?
[contextly_sidebar id=”8VyPrFhqai9CRVtNmhJTfzVdaBOf5mVX”] Western scholars like to speculate and so import speculation, even in places where none exists. Almost all who have dealt with the early aspect More...
Sanskritization: A New Model of Language Development
The Current Indo-European Model: The Migration of the Proto-Indo-Europeans The primary model used today for explaining the close relationships that exist between Indo-European languages is a migration theory. It More...
Understanding Modi’s Sanskrit Epithets-I
Have you noticed that Modi’s speeches are sprinkled with many phrases that are not in Hindi, like “Ahimsa Paramo DharmaH”? Most of these are in “Samskritam”, or “Sanskrit” in Anglicized form. What More...