Articles

Scientists are getting close to proving what yogis have held to be true for centuries — yoga and meditation can ward off stress and disease. John Denninger, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, is leading a five-year study on how the ancient practices affect genes and brain activity in the chronically stressed. His latest work [...]

The great Pandurang Shastri once said that that the most adharmic thing that anyone did in the entire Mahabharata was a message sent by King Dhritarashtra to Yudhisthir prior to the outbreak of the Great War. The message was along the lines of: [...]

Chennai: The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal in Chennai on Thursday halted a move to construct an international cricket stadium at the foot of the Tirumala hills, for which  Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy had laid the foundation stone on Wednesday. The bench, comprising judicial member Justice M. Chockalingam and expert member R. Nagendran [...]

Ahimsa is an important teaching within the Indian tradition. It has also been a term eagerly embraced by many new-age and metaphysical systems throughout the world.  Resulting in almost a placatory mentality toward certain types of action, which is also fueled by misinterpretations of Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance to the British occupation of India.  While ahimsa [...]

One of the biggest ill-effects of the post-colonial ‘Idea of India’ is the confusion it created in the Indian mind about the country, its culture, its nation and state. While clarity exists in the minds of learned men who studied Indian/Hindu culture, many simply lack it. The idea of this write-up is not to analyze [...]

iN HIS 1905 book, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”, Max Weber credited the Protestant ethic with giving rise to capitalism. Now it sometimes seems as if it is the Buddhist ethic that is keeping capitalism going. The Protestants stressed rational calculation and self-restraint. The Buddhists stress the importance of “mindfulness”—taking time out [...]

Most scientists would probably say that the concept of an afterlife is either nonsense, or at the very least unprovable.Yet one expert claims he has evidence to confirm an existence beyond the grave – and it lies in quantum physics.Professor Robert Lanza claims the theory of biocentrism teaches that death as we know it is [...]

As a child, I moved around frequently. My parents emigrated from India to the U.S. when I wasn’t even five years old, and we moved from place to place. Unfortunately for me, the schools I attended weren’t ever very religiously diverse. Christian kids usually made up the vast majority of my peers. In social studies [...]

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — A RM10 million budget to renovate a Hindu temple in Klang, Selangor has drawn the ire of Muslim activists who today claimed  the project promotes “infidel religions” and jeopardises Malaysia’s position as an “Islamic country”. Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) said the Sri Sundaraja Perumal temple renovation, if allowed to proceed, [...]

I bring positive greetings to you on this festive and most holy observance of Diwali. I have offered to make a small verbal contribution to this observance today on this Hindu holy occasion of Diwali and as such I would like to invite a few minutes of your attention as I proceed with this delivery, [...]