Not the ‘media-edited’ one that was published in Sunday Midday, 25 Oct 2009
For the ‘media-edited’ version click here
Anyone who is serious about studying Hinduism needs to study the works of Wendy Doniger (b.1940), who for over 40 years has been researching, translating, and commenting on Hindu scriptures and stories. Had it not been for her, I would not have had access to so many tales hidden in our scriptures. Her language is direct and simple, shorn of distracting ornamentation. But her interpretations and choice of words (like the insistence in using the word ‘evil’ even though no common Indian language has a synonym for it) though thought-provoking are not always satisfying.
A distinguished professor at the Divinity School, Chicago, with a PhD from Harvard and DPhil from Oxford and with several honorary doctorates to her credit, her first book, published in 1978, was the Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva. This year sees the release of her latest book The Hindus: an Alternative History, which puts together the various influences – beyond the Sanskrit texts – that have shaped Hindu thought over thousands of years. Despite the usual male-bashing and Brahmin-bashing, this is without doubt a monumental work that is awe-inspiring and humbling in its scale.
The Hindu Right has denounced her writings as being lewd and vulgar and disrespectful. An egg was thrown at her during a lecture in London. Mercifully, it missed her, struck the wall behind her, and, thankfully, propelled her name beyond academic circles, enabling more people to read the delightful stories she unearths. That this event which took place in 2003 is recounted again and again every time her name is mentioned makes one wonder if it is being milked for media mileage by various forces for it does give an act of immaturity more significance than it deserves. The Hindu Left, or should we say secular Left, would disagree vehemently as they bend over backward applauding her objectivity. The truth is, like all things human, somewhere in between the extreme reactions Wendy Doniger evokes. And this, I feel, is evident in her answers given to the questions I emailed her a few days ago.
In one of the questions, I had suggested that she enjoys intellectual heckling. It is an opinion I have held for long. I realise after reading her answer that it could be just a case of a different sensibilities. For example, the cover of her book shows (of the countless options Hindu art has to offer) Krishna riding a horse made up of naked women. This is a popular theme in Patta Paintings of Orissa; more often, the women collectively give shape to an elephant or a temple-shaped Kandarpa Ratha, chariot of the love-god. Such images have been around for a long time. The erotic content is often overlooked, or may occasionally evoke mild amusement. As the book discusses women and horses and patriarchy in the Hindu context, the image even seems appropriate. But when a Jewish American scholar puts it on her book about the Hindus, it can – in a time of political opportunism, religious intolerance, and scholastic puritanism – be construed as provocative and insensitive. But then, maybe, this priestess of Saraswati, having read and reread the Vedas and the Brahmanas and the Upanishads and the Shastras for over four decades, has more faith than I do in the maturity and wisdom of humanity.
What made a dancer trained under Martha Graham move into academic research?
There was no real connection, but a conflict: I had to give up dancing to study Sanskrit, and it was a hard choice to make, but I have never regretted it.
What is that first event that drew you towards Hindu scriptures?
I suppose it was the first time I saw my mother’s rubbings from Ankor Wat, that were on the walls of our house, and I asked her about them; or the time she gave me a copy of E M Forster’s A Passage to India; or when I read the Juan Mascaro translation of the Upanishads. I don’t know which one of these events came first, but they came together to ignite my interest in Hinduism.
Which of the many Hindu scriptures that you have translated over the years filled you awe, and which one filled you with disgust? Why?
I suppose the Rig Veda struck me with the most awe, such a beautiful, profound text and so old, but the one that fascinated me most was the Yoga-Vasishtha, with its brilliant stories. No Hindu texts have ever disgusted me; I got quite angry at Manu
from time to time while I was translating him, especially when he was particularly racist or sexist, but I never lost my respect for his enormous intelligence and his ability to put together into an integrated whole so many different aspects of dharma.
Your writings seem very left brained. Is that you, or simply the demands of academia?
I would say that I am more of a right-brain type, more intuitive; people sometimes complain, especially editors of early drafts of my books, that I make instinctive connections and fail to spell out, for the reader, the logical processes that led me from one point to another. I have to work hard at the left-brain, analytical processes.
My mother and aunts wonder why academicians refer to Shiva-linga as Shiva’s phallus. They feel it is not so. Whose truth is the truth – that of the believers or that of the research scholar?
There is no one correct truth here. Historically, the Shiva-linga was indeed understood as a representation of the phallus of Shiva; you can see this from visual representations like the Gudimallam linga and from stories in the Puranas about the origin of the linga from the body of Shiva. But since the 19th century reforms of Hinduism, many Hindus have entirely lost these historical associations and see the Shiva-linga as a purely abstract symbol. So your mother and aunts are right, but the scholars of the history of Hinduism are also right.
I feel Hindu scriptures use a lot of symbolic language so one is never sure what is ‘real’ and what is ‘representation’. Is the Ram of the Ramayana, a man, a god, a principle of metaphysics? What do you think?
The beauty of symbolic language is that a powerful symbol can be many things at once, and certainly the Ram of the Valmiki Ramayana is a man, a god, and a principle of metaphysics. At any moment, or in the mind of any particular reader or devotee, he may be more one than another, but all of the possibilities are always there. It is simultaneously “real” and “representation.”
Brahmin-bashing is a favorite pastime of the intellectual. Is there nothing redeeming about Brahmanism?
In my book, The Hindus, I demonstrated at length the great positive contribution that the Brahmins have made to Indian civilization and therefore to the civilization of the world. And there are many kinds of Brahmins; some are powerful and narrow-minded, and they have done a great deal of harm to people of other castes; but many are entirely open-minded, and they have opened the way for women and people of lower castes to contribute to traditional Hinduism. Brahmins are primarily responsible for Sanskrit literature, which is a glorious thing. But I also went out to point out how much the other castes have also contributed to Sanskrit literature in ways that have been overlooked.
Is Hinduism all about patriarchy and caste?
Certainly not. The basic structures are patriarchal and caste-oriented, but Hindu men and women from all castes have always transcended the boundaries of the basic structures and much of Hinduism has nothing at all to do with either patriarchy or caste.
What is the one consistent theme you find across the history of Hinduism?
I suppose there is no single theme; I’ve argued for clusters of basic themes rather than a single one. But the cluster would include karma, dharma, narratives, puja of one sort or another, and attention to the infinite diversity of possibilities for a human life.
How would you define dharma?
Again it includes so many things — justice, truth, law, religion — but I suppose I would define it as the way that one should live in harmony with other people and with nature.
When I read your books, I feel you enjoy heckling people. Your choice of words can be rather stark. I can almost feel you chuckle at the orthodox getting their knickers in a twist. Am I imagining this?
Yes, I think you are indeed imagining this, but apparently you are not the only one. Perhaps if you gave me an example of something that you regard as heckling or stark I could see where the misinterpretation has come in. My sense of humor, which is a New York Jewish sense of humor, sometimes is mistaken for flippancy. But I never ever write with the intention of making anyone angry. The only people I poke fun at in The Hindus are the scholars who generated such outlandish ideas about the Indus Valley on the basis of absolutely no evidence. I never ever poke fun at any Hindus. I sometimes see Hindu texts as themselves as funny, or as poking fun at other people, and I enjoy those texts and cite them. I certainly do not always agree with what the texts say. But I do not heckle them.
Unlike a guru-shishya tradition where information flow was customized to the student’s intellectual and emotional grasp, books are highly democratic. Uninitiated and uninformed readers can be in for a shock when they read some of the things you recount in your writings. Is that why there is outrage at some of your work by a section of Hindus?
This is a good point. It is indeed a shock to encounter information about your own tradition that you never heard when you were growing up. But this is an argument for making such information available earlier, not for avoiding it in order to avoid the shock. Uninformed readers need to become informed readers, and my hope is that once the initial shock wears off, they will come to appreciate their own tradition even more than they did when they thought it was narrower than it actually is.
Many people are uncomfortable with the secular left, and with the religious right. But they don’t have much of a voice. What do you have to say to them?
I believe in democracy, in everyone having a voice. As long as people are allowed to speak and write what they think, and to vote without fear of repercussions, they will have a voice, and they will be free to say what it is about the left or the right that makes them uncomfortable. India is a democracy, and the rights laid out in its Constitution must be preserved and defended. This is never easy to do, in the United States or in India or anywhere else, but it is very important to keep speech free.
There are people who believe that homosexuality is against Hindu culture. Is that scriptural or their imagination? Any references if breathing exercises cure homosexuality?
There is very little information about homosexual behavior in traditional Hindu Sanskrit texts. The dharma-texts briefly list homosexual acts as unnatural, and use a pejorative term (kliba) for people who deviate from a rather narrow definition of normal sexuality, but even those texts punish homosexual acts with very minor fines, in dramatic comparison with much more serious punishments for infringements of heterosexual customs [heavy punishment for rape, for instance]. The Kamasutra, by contrast, is entirely non-judgmental in its description of men who have oral sex with other men. So you could say that some parts of Hindu culture condemned it while other parts did not. I don’t know anything about those breathing exercises.
How certain are you about anything you write? Do you ever doubt your conclusions?
I always doubt my conclusions, and indeed I usually try to avoid making them at all; my editors are always begging me to write them at the end of books, where I really just prefer to tell the stories. I often change my mind after I’ve written something. But I always try to make the best sense of any thing I write about to the best of my knowledge at the time when I’m writing it.
What do you seek in a student?
Intelligence, of course. Enthusiasm. A pleasure in learning languages. A mind that comes up with ideas about the things it encounters, rather than just soaking up information. Humility, the constant realization that you never really know enough about anything to be sure of your conclusions.
No major monotheistic religion depicts God in female form. Why?
Well, there are just a few monotheistic religions, primarily the three Abrahamic religions, and even there the Christians have Mary, who is, for some, the most important figure. I think since men controlled the real world in those religions, they imagined that the ultimate control must be male too.
Do you feel the Hindu way under threat?
No more than any other tradition. Change happens. All religions that cling to old ways of doing things, all orthodoxies, have to struggle to maintain their worlds when all the rest of their culture is changing. Some aspects of Hinduism, such as the caste system, are under pressure to change, and new religious movements siphon off worshippers from more traditional forms of Hinduism. But Hinduism as a whole is certainly not under threat; it is thriving, precisely because it is changing.
Do you believe in rebirth?
Yes, but since very few people, if any, can remember their previous lives, I don’t find the concept of rebirth as nourishing or interesting as it would be if you could remember who you had been. Without that, it’s just an abstract idea, not something you can use in your life. But I think it’s a very good idea, and quite likely true. Everything else is recycled in nature, after all; why not the soul, the spark of life? But consciousness evidently is not recycled, and that’s the problem.
Do you pray? To whom?
Sometimes, but not to anyone in particular.
Who is your favorite god? Why?
Shiva, particularly as he is described in the Puranas. His qualities seem to me to explain the way the world is-—glorious, terrifying, unpredictable, passionate, but he is also brilliant and very much of an intellectual.
Who is your favourite goddess? Why?
Durga, particularly as she is worshipped in Bengal. I love the stories about her courage and beauty, and when I lived in Bengal I loved the rituals of Durga-puja, particularly the final immersion in the river amid all the floating lights.
Do you prefer God with form or without form?
With form, absolutely. I have little capacity for abstract thought; I like stories.
Can the world exist without religion?
Apparently not. It is everywhere, and has always been everywhere. This is not to say that everyone is religious; many people are not. But no culture has survived as a whole without religion.
Have the scriptures that you have read changed you? How?
Certainly reading the Hindu texts over the years has changed my worldview. In particular, the texts that I read when I was writing The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology helped me to come to terms with the death of my father, whom I had loved so much that at first I didn’t think I could go on without him. The Hindu understanding of death was a great comfort to me then, more than any Christian or Jewish texts had ever been.
Sanjay
Very good interview. Good questions and equally good answers. Enlightening.
Sanjay
Oct 27, 2009 @ 4:05 am
gautam malik
being a Hindu believing in doctrine of karma. i am not bothered by her attempts to malign Hinduism she will reap the fruit of her bad karma
Oct 27, 2009 @ 5:26 am
Meg26
Dear Dr. Patnaik,
I was introduced to your blog a couple of months ago. I very much enjoy your writings and find your insights on our mythological heritage very enlightening indeed.
The first post i read was ‘On Krishna’s chariot stands Shikhandi’ and found it very inspiring. The comments in the end on Baba Ramdev were quite amusing too. Since then i have read almost all your posts and now i feel that maybe the reference to ‘breathing exercises’ is cropping up too often, which is why i’m posing the question to you – Do you enjoy heckling people, or am I imagining it?
Regards
Oct 27, 2009 @ 10:14 am
Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik
too often?……this is the only reference to breathing exercises other than Shikhandi article…and surely an expert on scriptures must be asked
Oct 27, 2009 @ 12:19 pm
Sunjay
Well sir you missed an important question ….. why is she sooo obsessed with sex?
Oct 30, 2009 @ 1:06 am
Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik
She is also obsessed with the Vedas…..allow her her prejudices….see beyond that…it is good scholarship
Oct 30, 2009 @ 6:05 am
a.b.
Dear Dr.Pattnaik,
It would seem you desire to explore mythology,and possibly a deeper understanding of the symbols of the Sanatana Dharma, that attempt to convey elements that where words and syntax end.
Would you hearken to a humble request? Since you have been fascinated by Wendy and such Western interpreters of the Dharma, would it be possible for you to learn Bangala? It is not dissimilar to Oriya, both nearly identical in many respects, save the script.
A new universe may open up for you when you begin to read the essays of Shri Anirvan, a little-known figure in Bengal, a savant rather than a religious figure. it is necessary to carefully weigh the language of the original, because far too much is lost in the translation.
The probem with Wendy et.al., as I have remarked elsewhere, is an interesting word named HUBRIS. Shabdartha, marmartha, bhavartha, are very different beings! These are not games, not Ganikashastra, i.e. elements that make themselves available to the first comer. Wendy, having prosistuted herself for wordly gain, cannot ever find any meaning. You are much deluded whe you write that “anyone wishing to study Hinduism MUST read Wendy.” How sad! You remind me of a portent that Swami Vivekananda had spoken about: when our youth will eagerly turn and seek to learn from the (worst) of the foreigners about their own religion.
Devduttji, Wendy and her type, I do know very well, from close association with so called Indologists. It is sad that you, like so many Indians, cannot delve beneath the surface glitter, so that fool’s gold is valued immeasurably over the real, a star ruby appears to be a dull piece of rock! Why do you not go to the holy JOHN HUGHES, if you do need to learn about the Sanatana Dharma? What is this thing called Hinduism you speak of?
You are welcome to come and stay at my very humble home for as long as you care, with focused attention, and then determine for your own self what are the etymolgical, grammatical roots of the word LINGA, how it hasbeen used in the SHASTRAS through the ages, many different shastras, and then experience for yourself what it means.
That is something you cannot get from those who have been selling Dharma for personal name & fame. What is the meaning of Shiva & Durga? Do you know? Each meaning [samjnA] of
BrahmA, Vishnu, Shiva changes every single moment depending on where the conciousness of the individual is; this will change every second. There are issues difficult to explain in public or within a moment’s notice.
Some things may need a lifetime’s effort, and this is where people want to run away. They want quick and easy anwers, and such guru-types who will provide pre-digested pap. Not possible. For example, you hear a famous hymn about the efficacy of offering a single bilva leaf. Ah, true, but WHAT bilva leaf is that, they never tell you UP FRONT, with what WATER it needs to be washed, where to get it! That takes SO MUCH EFFORT, and it cannot be had by buying a train ticket, you know!!! And that Missy Darling can never give you a clue about. Ask her where she will be born, if she has spent her life usefully? Lotsawa means EYE, the Tibetan used this word for their Translators who carefully converted the Sanskrit to Tibetan that would endure for serious aspirants.
This woman causes BLINDNESS, she takes people and puts out their eyes, even though she has been given such talent. Then she creates this great fuss about upper castes and self-righteous, uptight people with limited vision.
Devduttji, you are a scientist. When you die, [which moment is never certain], you will have enough opportunity to test whether Wendy
was correct or I was [with the Holy Guru's grace]. Then what will you do, having lost the opportunity to find a human rebirth? Whom shall you blame?
Take this challenge. You were born a Dakshinatya Vaidika Brahman, most probably Shukla Yajur Veda, a Shatapathi. The 3rd verse begins the recital Su samidhAgnim…
Now, Wendy & fashionable people mock us: so take the lethal bet: play their game or ours, and you can safely say where you will be born. Our way says: You must dedicate yourself solely for others’ welfare, every thought, word, deed. The nature of self & other is the great mmystery of the Atiratra; you must live within it, within the Agnicayana moment to moment. That is why the SYV beginsnot at the beginning but with Susamidh.. You become the SusamidhAgnim …duvyasatah.
Much MUCH more—- things a translator cannot ever understand. You mean Shri Chaitanya and Shri Haridas were craven, blind, God-forsaken IDIOTS and you need to go to these people to learn DHARMA? DID your parents produce another modern-day Kalapahad? That one also was a great sadhaka like yourself: he too sought the wrong teachers! Tried to enter the sadhana of the Eight Nayikas to gain the strength & insight to protect the Dharma. You know what happened. So be careful where you learn your dharma from. Ask your mother that tale; it is well known in Orissa!!
There is a nuance between samjnanam [comprehension] & prajnanam [apprehension] of these moments, and these are things your scholar-friend has not an inkling about: dandramyamANA pariyanti mUdhA andhena nIyamAnA yathAndhA. Tell her that the first line of this sloka also applies very much to her, extremely so.
You seem to be bedazzled, like a junglee entering a market town for the first time sees in it the omphalos! Sadly, you may not have found people worthy to stimulate deep introspection on your part, or mayhap only the unworthy stimulate your heart! That too is a possibility.
Oct 30, 2009 @ 9:03 am
Bindu Tandon
Dr Pattanaik
I keep telling P L Us, and others,’don’t be so touchy’.
even if there is a conscious attempt, which in Wendy’s case is not so, even if there is to deliberately denigrate your tradition, don’t be touchy.
As for homosexuality and breathing exercises, give a thought to all those who practice pranayama and swear by its benefits.
If diabetes and blood pressure can be cured and paranoia and schizophrenia along with counseling and a change in lifestyle can be treated without drugs, perhaps some elements of homosexuality or the rough edges of it can certainly be altered.
Who knows?
I notice we ‘bloody liberals’ like to be obstructionists and a saffron dress is a red rag.
sad and not the way forward.
Oct 30, 2009 @ 10:56 am
Rahul
I would like to get in touch with Mr. a.b who made the post above as I have been finding myself extremely reluctant and suspicious of westerners writing about Hinduism. I would like to learn a few things about our way of life that is called “religion” by many.
TIA
Rahul
Oct 31, 2009 @ 12:31 pm
shanmugam
I have an alternative answer to your question about the Shiva Lingam. Around 12 years ago I as reading a book on the rituals associated with statues. The book said that any statue that is broken must not be worshiped, it must be discarded and a new statue installed, except the statue of Ganesh which could be worshipped even if any part is broken. The same book also said that Shiva should be worshiped only as a lingam and not as a statue with form like other Gods, as Shiva in the fullest form can only be installed as a lingam. The only exception to this is the Nataraja statue which is not considered as the full manifestation of Shiva. I read this and forgot and only remembered it again when there was a discussion in my class (I was doing BSc Physics) on the ability of specific shapes to withstand pressure. My lecturer was teaching that the ellipsoid has the ability to withstand the maximum pressure and so structures that have to withstand pressure are built in the shape of ellipsoids. It immediately reminded me of the theory that I read in that book about Shiva lingam.
Only later after many years did I read about the ‘phallic’ explanation of the westerners.
There is also the theory that the whole universe is itself in the shape of an ellipsoid, in Physics.
Why don’t the authors who say that the lingam is a male ‘phallic’ symbol don’t consider the fact that there are temples where Shakti is also worshiped in the form of a lingam like the famous Kollur Mookambika temple? Was the great AdiSankara who installed female Shakti in the form of a lingam and created the temple did not understand the true meaning of lingam that these authors alone understand?
These people say that they arrived at the conclusion that lingam is a phallic symbol based on stories. In Hinduism there are stories that contradict each other, one would say Shiva is supreme, the other would say Vishnu is supreme and the other would say Shakti is supreme much like a story that says Sita was the daughter of Ravana. If you really want to understand Hinduism you cannot do that through side stories.
I wonder why they don’t consider the angle I explained above. May be it will not serve their purpose, they analyze Hinduism as a religion of symbols and stories rather than having any true scientific reasoning. To even suggest that there may be science behind Hindu beliefs may invite so much criticism today.
Nov 02, 2009 @ 6:38 am
Hitesh
There are very few people those who understand Hinduism properly. I suggest to read Swami Vivekannda’s complete work to understand Hinduism.
Every religion has three main parts i.e. History, Rituals and Spiritualism.
Anybody interested to understand Hinduism must read Vedanta and Upanishad. History and Rituals (Vedas) are for primary level; proceed to next level of spiritualism ( Vedant) to understand Hinduism.
Nov 03, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
Ishrath
Wendy seems to be quite a spirit. I enjoyed this interview. Great post.
Nov 04, 2009 @ 2:01 pm
hardeep
O Lord!
1. Give us the understanding to comprehend the TRUTH (Absolute; SAT; ) – that what is beyond ‘words’.
2. Give us the wisdom to sieve the TRUTH (SAT) from Thy CREATION- of opposites: SAT and Asat.
Nov 08, 2009 @ 6:56 pm
rchandrasekaran
it is an interesting interview.i find no harm in anything that she said.we hindus always feel that we only know more about our religeon than a non hindu.same is the case with people of other religeons also.this is because of the fact
that we try to follow things said in our religeon blindly without questioning with the strong belief that it is said so for our good only.when others(non hindus) research and say something we find it unacceptable.
Nov 20, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
Monica
Wendy Doniger is staggeringly learned. Thank you for this interview.
Nov 21, 2009 @ 10:22 am
subas
Excellent interview and the discussion that followed. I saw Dr Pattnaik’s blog just today and am already a fan of him! I felt so proud and jealous of his effort. Being away from India(originally from Orissa) so long it was very nostalgic to see so many people so passionate about my culture and my religion! Hats off to this lady (Wendy D)spending almost all her life on studying Hinduism. The least we can do is to read her without any judgement. I have not read her works but I was sad to see such extreme reactions from some people in the posts(AB etc). They are surely learned people but quite impatient and frustrated. We may not agree with her views but must applaud her tenacity and enthusiasm. Subas
Nov 27, 2009 @ 10:05 am
Tathagata Mukherjee
Namaste Devdutt,
I am a general reader, enthused of Indian religion, culture, myths.
Yesterday, media mughal Pritish Nandy introduced your name to me in twitter. I am extremely excited and already finished many articles posted hear. Its great to hear your speech.
I am new to your world, but so far I have not seen Buddhist , Jain myths in your writings (may be they are already present and I am yet to find them). There are rich history of buddhist myths. I remember reading a book a while back by Sister Nivedita and Ananda K Coomerswamy on Hindu and Buddhist myth- it was great.
The first modern reserach institute in India , the Basu Vigyan Mandir of Sir Jagadish Bose, was designed by Sister Nivedita with lots of Buddhist and Hindu things in mind.
The efforts of yours at the Big Bazar is great and very important both politically, economically and culturally. Many are closely following your writings, book, methods. Let the blessings of Sarawati and Ganesha be always on you.
WENDY Doniger: India and Indians achived many things in the past few decades in the west, but one of our greatest failure is not to fund study of Hinduism in the West. People like Wendy represents continuation of colonial representation of Hinduism. She represents those of western scholarships, particularly from the USA, who have distorted, manipulated hinduism for their vested interest. A good analysis of how dangerous their view points are can be found in a well compiled book “Invading the sacred” published by Rupa and Co. A limited analysis of this book can be found at invadingthesacred.com
Wendy wrote – “The Bhagavad Gita is not as nice a book as some Americans think. Throughout the Mahabharata…Krishna goads human beings into all sorts of murderous and self-destructive behaviors such as war…The Gita is a dishonest book; it justifies war.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 19, 2000)
There are many such utterences. One of them even abused a saintly figure like Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa as some sexually perverted person who sexually swami vivekanand. Can anyone accept these sort of things in the name of scholarship?
In short, Wendy is deeply prejudiced in her analysis of Hinduism. Thankfully, Hindus of the USA has woken up and started cleansing the system at last. Amongst many other things, California court has upheld views of Hindu groups to be represented in the text book for school kids.
Tathagata Mukherjee
Calcutta/New York
Dec 10, 2009 @ 8:19 am
Tathagata Mukherjee
* The first modern reserach institute in India , the Basu Vigyan Mandir of Sir Jagadish Bose, was designed by Sister Nivedita with lots of Buddhist and Hindu symbols and symbolism in mind.
Dec 10, 2009 @ 8:21 am
Vijay Kumar
What is Dharma…? “Your right to do what is just and right and not what was destined”! The concept of Hindu dharma as detailed in sacred Bhagavad Gita is integral to all teachings of Hinduism! In absence of Dharma… the whole world simply could not exist! It is this inherent dharma (righteousness) that makes the world go round!
Dharma exists from times immemorial. Even before any religion existed in world… dharma existed! Dharma exists from times life came into existence on mother earth. Following our inner dictates… human beings controlled their life! Dharma is elixir vitae… sap of cosmic system! It is presence of dharma that makes journey of life worthwhile!
Mar 05, 2010 @ 12:56 pm