Articles

A common tenet of Hinduism is “Sarva Dharma Sambhava, which literally means that all Dharmas (truths) are equal to or harmonious with each other. In recent times this statement has been taken as meaning “all religions are the same” – that all religions are merely different paths to God or the same spiritual goal. Based [...]

The Ramakrishna debate, continued from part 1 The debate on the Ramakrishna Mission’s claim that Ramakrishna, the 19th-century Kali priest, also practiced Christianity and Islam, and that he distanced himself from Hinduism to found a new universal religion called Ramakrishnaism, has taken the form of some hostile reactions from sympathizers of the Mission. They may [...]

Jove's Oak ( Donar's Oak and therefore sometimes referred to as Thor's Oak) was a sacred tree of the Germanic pagans located in the region of Hesse, Germany. The Oak tree that once stood at the town of Geismar in central Germany was sacred to the pagan god Thor. We know this because the somewhat fanciful [...]

The central argument of the RK Mission for its non-Hindu character was that, unlike Hinduism, it upheld the ‘equal truth of all religions’ and the ‘equal respect for all religions’.  The latter slogan was popularized by Mahatma Gandhi as sarva-dharma-samabhâva, a formula officially approved and upheld in the BJP’s constitution.n 1983, RK Mission spokesman Swami [...]

I am an American like many other Americans, born into a family of mixed European and Native American ancestry. My interest in my own origins started early. I knew that my European ancestors were pagans who were converted to Abrahamic faiths, and that my Native ancestors were pagans mostly obliterated by those Europeans. I knew [...]

It is commonly believed that caste, i.e. the division of society in endogamous groups, is an exclusively Hindu institution. Thus, after briefly describing the system of the four varnas, Ambedkar writes: “This is called by the Hindus the Varna Vyavasthâ. It is the very soul of Hinduism. Without Varna Vyavasthâ there is nothing else in [...]

The terms left and right have been appropriated, especially in India but also western universities, by Marxist academics as progressive and regressive, respectively. Hence they are not explanatory, but laudatory and condemnatory. They are also problematic in the real world. If fascism never existed, Marxists would invent it as they have done with “Hindu fascism” [...]

To Hindus such imagery is not trivial but has meanings which the western mindset rarely fathoms. These icons and images are not chosen at random but have specific purpose. As Hindu author Stephen Knapp writes: Vedic paintings or symbols are unique in that they can deliver the same spiritual energy, vibration and insight that it [...]

Embrace the sacred, dump the secular The Kedarnath shrine should remain in the custody of its traditional guardians, including the Tehri Maharaja and the Lingayat Ravals. A Congress MLA, who entered the sanctum with his shoes on, must be punished Uttarakhand’s travails continue: The rain gods refuse to relent; hillsides crumble; missing pilgrims and villagers [...]

The Spread of the Monoculture Western civilization, in spite of claims to support diversity, is promoting a worldwide monoculture—the same basic values, institutions and points of view for everyone—which it calls ‘globalization’. Western commercial culture with its pursuit of markets and commodities eliminates all true culture, which is based on quality, not quantity. It creates [...]