2019
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Behold, I Make All Things New : How Judaism, Christianity and Islam affirm the dignity of queer identities and sexualities
In 2015, a historic panel discussion took place at the global Festival of Theology held in Sweden. Its objective was to examine what the sacred texts of the Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — had to say about…
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Messaging Modes – Hearing, Overhearing
Published on 29th December, 2019, in the Economic Times In Abrahamic mythology, God communicates with humanity through messengers. Judaism informs us how God spoke to Moses, Christianity informs us how God spoke to Jesus, and Islam informs us how God…
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Goddess of “X” factor
Published on 29th December, 2019, in Mid-day In temples like Jagannath Puri and in many South Indian temples, Vishnu is flanked by two forms of Lakshmi: Sridevi and Bhoodevi. What is the difference between the two? Bhoodevi is the goddess…
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Did Cain really kill Abel?
Published on 26th December, 2019, in The Times of India Two hundred years ago, in America, many white people justified the slavery of Africans arguing that their black skin was the ‘mark of Cain’. That they descended from the first…
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Hindu Conversion: A New Idea
Published on 22nd December, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror Once, Hinduism was inclusive, and memorising hymns didn’t turn you into an ‘instant Brahmin’ Christianity and Islam spread through conversion. A Christian missionary comes to the village and speaks of the virtues…
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Gods Love Water
Published on 22nd December, 2019, in Mid-day Hindu mythology is full of symbols associated with water which link all the gods to water. The oldest symbol of these are serpents. During the rainy season, water fills the holes where the…
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Spot the difference between sign and symbol
Published on 16th December, 2019, in The Hindu The symbol of India in Indian passports and Indian currency notes has been a lion and a spoked-wheel or chakra, both from the Ashoka pillar. Now the government has introduced the lotus…
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Measuring Realised Souls: How Does One Know If Someone Is Awakened Or Not?
Published on 15th December, 2019, in The Economic Times Nowadays, India is full of gurus. Most are self-appointed, but their followers insist their guru has magical powers, that he was initiated and anointed by secret mystical forces. There was a…
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The Crocodile-Wrestling Hero
Published on 15th December, 2019, in Mid-day In Egyptian, Persian, Assyrian and Sumerian imagery, kings are often shown hunting lions and defeating them with their bows to establish their power. Images of the epic hero Gilgamesh often show him holding…
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Persian Chakravarti
Published on 8th December, 2019, in Mid-day Persia refers to countries now known as Iran and Iraq. In ancient days, Iraq was called Mesopotamia, the fertile river crescent where one of the first civilisations was built around farming. Because of…
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King of the Blink
Published on 1st December, 2019, in Mid-day If you travel to Lucknow, it is possible that you will pass a forest known by the name of Naimish-aranya, the forest of king Nimi, on the banks of the river Gomti. This…
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Shakti within, Durga without: Different aspects of power
Published on 29th November, 2019, in The Economic Times Shakti and Durga are two words that can be used interchangeably for the mother goddess. However, when we observe these words carefully, we realise they represent two different aspects of power.…
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Ram and Rain
Published on 24th November, 2019, in Mid-day In the Tulsi Ramcharitmanas, which was composed 500 years ago in the Gangetic plains, in the Awadhi language, we find a beautiful description of rain in Ram’s own words. He speaks during the…
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Hinduism in Nepal
Published on 24th November, 2019, in Mumbai Mirror There are primarily three differences that one observes. First, you notice that Hinduism and Buddhism are not separated from each other within the local population. Second, one does not find any influence…
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Vedantic attachment and Islamic Idolatry
Published on 21st November, 2019, in The Hindu In Mecca, a large number of historic sites, including mosques, and even sites associated with Prophet Muhammad’s life, are being broken by the guardians of the Kaaba. This is being done to…