Once during his Baroda years, Sri Aurobindo visited a Kali temple on the bank of the Narmada river. Recounting that visit, he later said: “With my Europeanised mind I had no faith in image worship and I hardly believed in the presence of God. I went to Kemali where there are several temples. There is… Continue reading The Great World-Mother
[The following is an excerpt from a longer essay titled ‘Hinduism and the Future of Inter-religious Harmony in India’ published in my e-book – The Thinking Indian: Essays on Indian Socio-cultural Matters in the Light of Sri Aurobindo.] Let us now go a bit deeper to see if Sri Aurobindo means something more… Continue reading A Note on the Future of Inter-religious Harmony in India
If one were to believe the Delhi-centric “national” media, a 20-year-old college student has become a household name in the last few days. That’s another matter that the media which claims to be “national” is neither interested in much news about the ‘nation’ beyond a few blocks of New Delhi nor does it bother to understand… Continue reading Meandering Musings
CONTINUED FROM PART 1 I became more at ease when I accepted a partly-colonized, partly-decolonized consciousness as part of the modern day educated Indian experience. I felt mentally calm enough to accept that it is part of how I interpret my experience and that of others. But I also realized that this was… Continue reading Reading Political Speeches – 2
Last week, in honour of the Indian Independence Day, a special article on Sri Aurobindo, the revolutionary was shared on our sister blog, Matriwords. This two-part reflective post may be seen as a continuation of that theme. May 2006. At my suburban home in the Midwestern United States. I was stuck in bed with a… Continue reading Reading Political Speeches – 1
A special post for the special occasion of August 15, the birthday of Sri Aurobindo (15 August, 1872- 5 December, 1950) as well as the Indian Independence day. A day meant to celebrate the spirit of freedom. The truer, inner freedom. A post that hopes to remind us of the various knots we tie around and… Continue reading Of Knots and Freedom
As far back as I can remember I have always had an aversion to the phrase ‘aam aadmi‘, the ‘common man’. Before anyone accuses me of elitism or snobbery, or labels me anti-equality or anti-democracy or haute bourgeois or anything else, let me explain. I dislike the phrase because it reduces all the great diversity inherent among and within individuals, sub-groups and… Continue reading The ‘aam aadmi’ obsession
Ma Durga is in news these days. No, not because it is Durga Puja time. But because the Asura is in news these days. A bunch of folks who see themselves as the voice of the marginalised, the advocate of the down-trodden, the champion of the oppressed have been made the ‘news of the hour’ by some vested… Continue reading She, who rides the Lion
A new post in Current Events Lately in India it has become fashionable among some self-styled intellectuals and their unthinking proteges and admirers to say that they don’t believe in the ‘idea’ of nation and nationalism. These can be found saying this sort of thing in some of our university campuses, TV studios, and also social… Continue reading Why Nationalism?
A new post in the series: Current Events Disclaimer: In the heat of ideological posturing often we are quick to see a view opposite to ours as something that it is not. Hence the need for this disclaimer. This is not, I repeat, NOT a defense of a much-reported and much-analysed barbaric and horrendous hate… Continue reading Enough with the Collective Shaming
“…India has always shown an incompetence for any free or sound political organisation and has been constantly a divided and for the most part of her long history a subject nation, that her economic system whatever its bygone merits, if it had any, remained an inelastic and static order that led in modern conditions to… Continue reading A Direct Question
New post in the series Satyam Shivam Sundaram Light, More Light Diwali, the day we invoke and worship the Mother, some as Ma Lakshmi, others as Ma Kali. Diwali, the day we remind ourselves, once again, to turn toward the Light, to remove the darkness and dullness within. Diwali, the day, we recall and rekindle,… Continue reading A Diwali Prayer
