Inner Metamorphosis

After long I return to western philosophers (staple of my early works), for I accidentally stumbled upon a hitherto unexplored interpretation of philosopher Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s famous dialectic philosophy. The man is long dead, but his philosophical ground sprouted thoughts that stormed the world.   Karl Marx, the most influential thinker of modern times, was inspired by Hegel.   Hegelian Dialectic Explained So, the Hegel’s dialectic philosophy is about three stages of development: Thesis + Anti-thesis = Synthesis This leads to diametrically-opposite interpretations, Sanction of status-quo (present being considered as synthesis) Revolution against status-quo (present being interpreted as thesis, to which anti-thesis is legitimate reaction). On the surface this appears to be a discovery tool: trying to make sense of history using these categories. For example: Capitalism (thesis) + Communism (anti-thesis) = Mixed economy (synthesis) Not ...

Even those not particular about following political speeches were moved to tears listening to the now famous ” Yes, we can! ” victory speech by Barack Obama in 2008.  I remember having printed copies of the speech and distributing them to my study-circle.   US had come a long way since abolition of slavery, since Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement and the final nail on the racial coffin was the election of a black to the topmost position in the nation. Since, any further criticism on the continuing poor treatment of blacks is rebuffed with: “How can you talk about racism any longer, when a black man is the president, the most powerful human being on earth?”   At least this is how legitimate concerns about the enduring racial discrimination are papered down, feels author Richard Crasta. In his latest offering The Many Faces of Barack Obama and Race in America: An Immigrant's View the author of the path-breaking Impressing the Whites: The New Internationa...

Listening to a popular Telugu speaker on Hindu spiritualism on television, I was slightly shaken when he chided those taking sides in the Vaishnava-Shaiva rivalry and went on to suggest that Hindus do not need external enemies when we are so divided between ourselves. This reminded me of a chance encounter with an elderly, learned person few years ago, whose home could be mistaken for a library if other signs of family life weren’t so apparent. For few moments, we had a discussion about the books – mainly Hindu philosophical works – and he was making a powerful case for his chosen (belonged to Madhva sect) theory of Dvaita philosophy as against others, notably Advaita (my inherited line). He also claimed that whereas Advaita philosophy lulled Hindus into other-worldliness, rendering them susceptible to Islamic invasions, Dvaita philosophy gave rise to the powerful Vijayanagara Empire (more on this part later). While he was pretty strong in his choice of worlds, calling Adi Sankar...

Let’s test our knowledge of history: name 10 Hindu kings of India, quick! If you’re able to do so, you’ve have my admiration. But if you find yourself unequal to this task, don’t curse yourself, for this was the way our ‘eminent historians’ (Arun Shourie’s term for left-leaning historians who force-fitted history into their ideological template) designed the system. That Indians have no sense of their rich historical heritage, except when it can be used to shame them into disowning it as with caste system, sati, etc. In school curriculum, we (I speak of CBSE syllabus) had one chapter each for Moghul emperors with detailed description of the social, cultural and political scenario; we barely had equivalent treatment of the pre-Islamic India. While medieval history is detail-rich on the exploits of Delhi Sultanate and Moghul Empire, many southern empires are reduced to a footnote.  But nothing explains the shoddy portrayal of the one the most important empires of South Indi...

There are times when I read an interesting perspective, only to discover that I, too, had been tantalizingly close in my unpublished draft (there are many). Why didn’t I publish them then? Whatever little I had written was written overcoming time-scarcity, laziness, lethargy and sense of futility in one magical moment when ego momentarily triumphed humility.  What else explains a writer’s foolish endeavor to add more to the tomes of printed material accumulated since writing was invented! There were times when I had voluntarily silenced myself to escape the scathing disapproval I had come to expect from others.  When I later chanced upon a work that reinforced what I had always felt (but didn’t articulate), I couldn’t help feeling stupid to have not pursued that line of thought to the end. During one of my maths class back in school, I effortlessly waded through the complexities of the problem only to reach a dead-end and gave it up thinking I got it wrong somewhere....

A culture that deifies nation as Mother Goddess If one were to follow news of Sabarimala and Shani Shingnapur, he might be forgiven for presuming that Hinduism alone needs to be singled out for apparent misogynistic traditions while other religions have long transformed into egalitarian societies.  Here, we will take up the common charges levelled against Hinduism and scrutinize them. The greatest pitfall of Indian feminism is that most of their rallying points are Western imports lazily adapted to Indian scenario without sufficient homework. Let us begin with the most common feminist harping point - that men are afraid of women’s sexual agency and hence curtail it through patriarchal discipline - in Indian context. Behold the pancha-kanyas, whom ladies are urged to invoke at dawn: Ahalya Draupadi Kunti Tara Mandodari tatha Panchakanya smaranityam mahapataka nashaka (Ahalya, Draupadi, Kunti, Tara and Mandodari: constantly remembering these virgins...