Tantrik

Published on 6th December, 2020, in Mid-day. Buddhism has a vast history of 2,500 years. The earliest form of Buddhism is called Theravada Buddhism. Here, Buddha is visualised as a monk. Gautam Buddha was a prince, who abandoned his kingdom and his family in search of the answer to life’s suffering. He concluded that all suffering comes from attachment to impermanent things. This early form of Buddhism transformed a thousand years later into what is came to be known as Mahayana Buddhism. The focus was not just on outgrowing suffering, but also on compassion. Mahayana Buddhism introduces us to the concept of the Bodhisatva. The ..

Published on 24th December, 2017, in Mumbai Mirror. The Hindutva brigade despises Christian missionaries, though Hindus have always valued missionary schools. Secular media would like to reduce Hindutva attacks on missionaries into a simple villain-victim narrative, but those interested in going deeper will realise it has much to do with the incompatibility of their respective mythologies. Missionaries speak of One God and rejection of ‘false’ gods. They cannot accommodate multiple manifestations of the divine. By contrast, Hinduism celebrates diversity, many gods, which some people view as polytheism and others as qualified monotheism where the same one God manifests as multiple gods. A Hindu has no ..

Published on 30th September, 2016, on www.dailyo.in . The answer depends on what feelings are evoked in you by these four words: yogi, wild, erotic and witch. Does "yogi" evoke a sense of tranquility resulting from letting go? Or does it evoke feelings of righteous puritanism, associated with disgust for sex and sensuality? Are you repulsed by words such as "wild", "erotic" and "witch", or intrigued by them? Some Hindus are (sadly) puritanical — ashamed of all things sexual. These are Victoria’s children, still stuck in the 19th century, still striving hard to convince Queen Victoria that they are not effeminate luxury-loving sensuous Hindoos that ..