Demilitarizing the Rigveda (Part 2): A scrutiny of Vedic Chariots
By the time of the Katha Upanishad, the metaphor of the horse, though slightly altered from the Rgvedic imagery, had become perfectly explicit: “Know the self to be the chariot’s master, and the body, the chariot itself; know the intellect to be the charioteer, and the mind, the reins. “The horses”, the Upanishad continues, “are the five senses which must be reined in by our intellect and higher mind, and ultimately the self”. The chariot, here, stands for the body or our external being.Read More
Michel DaninoJanuary 26, 2023 
Demilitarizing the Rigveda (Part 1): A scrutiny of Vedic Horses
The fundamental assumption behind the horse argument is that asva, in the Rgveda, is a purely “Aryan” animal. But is that what the text actually says? No doubt, numerous references place asva, whatever the word means in the rishis’ mind, squarely on the side of the gods, the rishis or their helpers. But it turns out that there are quite a few revealing exceptions: the Dasyus and Panis also possess asvas, generally together with cows and treasures.Read More
Michel DaninoJanuary 13, 2023 
The Critical Edition as Art: Exploring the Ways to understand Mahabharata
Kupka saw in the cosmic rhythms and repetitions a truth that the artist experienced in his visions, and it was the artist’s task to go beyond representing the objects given to the senses and rather depict the intellectual perception of the connections between the fragmentarily given sense data. Concomitant with this purely intellectual approach was a spiritual orientation, which included self- cultivation and a refusal to accept the crude empiricism of modernity.Read More
Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep BagcheeJanuary 11, 2023 
Madalsa and Ritudhwaj: An ancient love story of union and re-union from Markandeya Purana
Nothing was visible inside. But the horse moved slowly into the obscure passage and eventually entered the Patal-loka or underworld with his master. After struggling for a long time a little glimpse of light was seen coming from a distance.“But where is the bloody monster?”, the prince exclaimed. At once, they got the sight of a beautiful town with a nice gorgeous palace that left him surprised and mesmerized at the same time. He whispered, “Wow! a wonderful town indeed. It reminds me of Indra’s abode. Isn’t it Kubalaya?”.Read More
Rajabhishek DeyJanuary 1, 2023 
Luther Burbank – A Saint Amidst the Roses
Though the form of Burbank lies in Santa Rosa under a Lebanon cedar that he planted years ago in his garden, his soul is enshrined for me in every wide-eyed flower that blooms by the wayside. Withdrawn for a time into the spacious spirit of nature, is that not Luther whispering in her winds, walking her dawns?Read More
Paramahansa YoganandaDecember 30, 2022 
Self and Self-Becoming in Individual and World: The Fourth Brahmana from first Adhyaya of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (Part 2)
Right in the beginning, there was Atman alone in the shape of a person. It looked around and saw nothing other than itself. This act of ‘looked around and saw’ or this looking around is the chakravartin. This is the solar traversal. It is measuring itself by a certain outlook.Read More
Debashish BanerjiDecember 24, 2022 
Self and Self-Becoming in Individual and World: The Fourth Brahmana from first Adhyaya of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (Part 1)
The hunger of "death" exists because it is seeking immortality. This is the only food that will satisfy it. It is seeking immortality because it remembers immortality at its root. It remembers the immortal horse that has been sacrificed.Read More
Debashish BanerjiDecember 13, 2022 
The wonder of Abhinav Gupta (Part 2)
If Bhartṛhari gives a cognitive science of language, Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta give a recognitive science. What we need is a recognitive science which is not yet there. In the west, there is cognitive science but there is no recognitive science… And it took thousand years after Abhinavgupta for contemporary Particle Physics to figure out that if these two questions are answered together, the product of their error will be constant. And, that principle is popularly called the Uncertainty Principle. Read More
Arindam ChakrabartiDecember 8, 2022 
What is God? Where is God? (Part 2)
The God is present in a thousand different ways, revealing Himself, Herself, Itself, in a thousand different ways in this world. This is Brahma prakasha. It is the radiance of divinity. Look around you. These beings are present and we relate to them as human beings. But, in-depth they are nothing but that same one Brahman, shining forth in all these ways.Read More
Swami SarvapriyanandaDecember 6, 2022 
What is God? Where is God? (Part 1)
The Upanishads represent such a revolution and paradigm shift in human thought that the history of civilization and mankind should not be dated as AD and BC. This is very ethnocentric. Rather it should be dated as before the Upanishads and after the Upanishads.Read More
Swami SarvapriyanandaDecember 1, 2022