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Zakir Naik and Idol worship
The field of consciousness as we know has originated from the Indian sciences, expounded further by Sri Aurobindo and further propagated by westerners like Ken Wilber. It is a science which revolves around the art of detachment to free the mind from attachment to name, fame, power, lust, greed, anger etc which blinds the person from perceiving the truth and obstructs the psychological evolution. “tvamev matach pitach tvamev, tvamev bandhuch sakhasch tvamev, tvamev vidya dravidam tvamev, tvamev sarvam mam devdev” 1: You Truly are my Mother And You Truly are my Father . 2: You Truly are my Relative And You Truly are my Friend. 3: You Truly are my Knowledge and You Truly are my Wealth. 4: You Truly are my All, My God of Gods. The Indian thought perceives mother as divine (matri devo … Read entire article »
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Zakir Naik and Idol worship
The field of consciousness as we know has originated from the Indian sciences, expounded further by Sri Aurobindo and further propagated by westerners like Ken Wilber. It is a science which revolves … Read more »
A Middle-East Democracy; The Perfect Oxymoron!
What is really ‘The Arab Spring,’ their hope or ours? “… democracy is a product of western culture, and it cannot be applied to the Middle East which has a different cultural, religious, … Read more »
‘Chanakya’s Chant’ – An intelligent man’s guide to governance and foreign policy!
Had Chānakya been a Western philosopher (like Plato or Aristotle), history probably would have treated him with much more respect. His Arthaśāstra is easily the Earth‘s first treatise on statecraft, which dealt … Read more »
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Yoga, Indian Sciences, Vedas and Tradition – Koenraad Elst: Mistaken Identity?
The modern era is full of writers who expound the essence of Vedas, Upanishads, Mahabharat, Ramayan, Indian politics etc. Some sanskrit scholars did an indepth analysis and gave their own interpretations of … Read more »
All Free Nations Must Mandate Inquiry into Intolerant Faiths!
Editor’s note: On March 10, 2011 US Representative Peter King opened Congressional hearings about radicalization in the Muslim American community. The New York congressman says the threat of homegrown terrorism is on … Read more »
Adoption of The Bush Doctrine, a Must For Every Democracy!
A nation nurtured on pacifism can never be a superpower, and how the wisdom of tolerance has made India defenseless. [Author's preface: The only country, surrounded by Islamic countries that has NOT lost … Read more »
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Does Social Acceptance Equal Self-acceptance?
Written by: Raji Lukkoor | April 28th, 2012 | Add a Comment |Social acceptance—the need to fit in with those around—has always been central to human existence. It affects both genders and people of all ages, races, and faiths, regardless of rank or class. Self-acceptance is the concept of loving and being happy with who you are now, in spite of deficiencies. The Upside? Validation is vital to an individual’s existence as an independent entity. Most humans have three acquired needs based on sensory contact (through the six portals of sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch, and thought) with the external world: Identification with a group Language, culture, rites, rituals, communities, religions, political parties—all exist to nurture people’s sense of belonging, to create a forum for expressing shared views and experiences. Social integration is … Read entire article »
Bridging India’s skills gap with OER
Written by: Kishan Bhatia | April 14th, 2012 | Add a Comment |A star (*) means more info is offered in References and Notes section. This blog covers following topics: INDUSAPTI* and Demographic ICT Challenges Activities List Jobs Economic System Indian Economy Imparting skills through OER References and notes INDUSAPTI* and Demographic INDUSAPTI (INDUSA Practical Technologies Institute) is described in my blog “Emerging India”*. An objective of INDUSAPTI virtual school, an Open Educational Resource (OER)* is: “to let all visitors, especially rural youth and slum dwellers to develop the habits and culture of honoring their natural skills, which are the most valuable and only truly renewable resource in the world today.” For decades, people took dynamism and economic growth for granted and saw population growth as a problem. Now we’ve gone to the other extreme, and it’s clear … Read entire article »
Lessons for all from Election 2012
Written by: Narayanadas Upadhyayula | April 14th, 2012 | Add a Comment |“The one-eyed mollusc on the ocean floor and I have the same knowledge of the universe.” – Aldous Huxley (This could only be a rough approximation of what the great scientist had said of his knowledge of the universe as it is quoted from memory and may not be an exact reproduction.) If Huxley had the humility to confess the limitations of his knowledge of the universe, our psephologists and television presenters should be humbled by hubris – at least in hindsight – for getting half of it wrong in their predictions of Election 2012. After all the number crunching, panel discussions and marathon debates, for most of them it was a story of hits and misses. TheCongress (Indian … Read entire article »
Federalism and National Security
Written by: Narayanadas Upadhyayula | March 30th, 2012 | Add a Comment |No one can deny that the US has greater federalism than most nations and more certainly than India. Each of its fifty states is fiercely independent and zealously guards its turf. The US also has the strongest anti-terror laws in the world and sees no contradiction between federalism and national security. In the aftermath of a rare terrorist attack on US soil in September 2001, the US administration strengthened its intelligence gathering organs. The enactment of the PATRIOT Act in 2001 was the first step. In fact ‘PATRIOT’ is acronym for ‘Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism’. This was followed by enacting the Homeland Security Act in 2002. The objective of these … Read entire article »
Does “Instant Gratification” Qualify as a Virtue?
Written by: Raji Lukkoor | March 23rd, 2012 | Add a Comment |Patience used to be known as a virtue, but is virtually unheard of in the present-day culture of immediacy. Today’s children don’t even know the meaning of the word. People want everything, and they want it NOW! Investors expect instant wealth from their financial ventures. Customers expect that they’ll look skinny after spending a week at the health club. Students expect perfect scores on tests for which they study the night before. Short-term rewards, short-term gain, instant messaging, instant feedback, instant food, instant cures, even instant movie-watching—instant gratification has infected the world faster than AIDS. The Upside? The proliferation of technology and electronic devices—the epitome of instant gratification—revolutionized the transportation industry and transformed time management worldwide. Our ancestors … Read entire article »
The Dream of Vishnu (Part 2) – Nothingness?
Written by: Prashant Saxena | March 1st, 2012 | Add a Comment |The Dream of Vishnu (Part 2) Nothingness? The Buddhist conception of nothingness today is grossly misunderstood. Many people ask that if the ultimate reality consists of nothingness or emptiness, then why even do anything? People prescribing to such point of view also state that it is all maya, then why should we even do any dharmic actions? Such people see futility in doing their righteous duties for the welfare of the society or dharma. It is similar to the situation of a shattered Arjun who found it useless to fight his enemies on the battlefield consisting of relatives and friends. The war of mahabharat should not be judged as a good war or a bad war but … Read entire article »
Special Ops Military Strategies
Written by: Kishan Bhatia | February 26th, 2012 | Add a Comment |A star (*) after a sentence means references and notes should be consulted for additional info on the subject. The blog covers following topics. Introduction Contractors for and Goals of the US and Pakistan Armies Co-dependencies of Pakistan and the US Women Scorned The US Special Ops and the Obama Plans Concluding Remarks References and notes Introduction The blog focuses on special ops military strategies of two nations in last 50 years. A primal instinct is to dominate and for ambitious rulers and nations to dominate the world. A goal of warfare is to achieve dominance over enemy at minimum possible costs. The US special ops forces in the Af-Pak war (2008 to present) use highly skilled soldiers to conduct low cost high … Read entire article »
Does “Net Worth” Stack up against Sense of Worth?
Written by: Raji Lukkoor | February 18th, 2012 | 1 Comment |This haunting dialog from the 1975 Hindi movie Deewar captivated audiences (link below) and rocked the movie scriptwriting industry. The onscreen characters of Shashi Kapoor (SK)—the poor, but happy guy—and his brother, played by Amitabh Bachchan (AB)—the rich, but unhappy guy—are having a heated argument about SK’s “adarsh” (ideals) and “asool” (convictions) in contrast to AB’s flamboyance of wealth. AB arrogantly barks, “Aaj mere paas buildingay hai, property hai, bank balance hai, bangalay hai, gaadi hai. Kya hai tumhare paas?” [Translation: I possess buildings, property, a bank balance, mansions, and cars. What do you claim to possess?] SK utters with great pride, “Mere paas maa hai!” [Translation: I have my mother.] *** Who doesn’t want to reside in their dream house in … Read entire article »
Kashmiri Pandits: A Forsaken Minority
Written by: Narayanadas Upadhyayula | February 18th, 2012 | Add a Comment |Another anniversary of the exodus that made the Kashmiri Pandits orphans of history stared at us on January 19. The Pandits, were uprooted from their home and hearth and cast about as refugees in their own homeland. The tragedy and tribulations that befell this unfortunate community for the last twenty two years include some of the most heart-rending stories. Theirs is a story of humanitarian disaster of unprecedented magnitude, but strangely, had gone unnoticed by the rest of the world and more importantly by their own countrymen here in India. As K.P.S. Gill, former police chief of Punjab who rid his state of separatist militancy put it, “[...] one of the reasons for the apathy … Read entire article »
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