Normative Ethics II
Whenever I discuss the absence of normative ethics in India, people, especially Indians, get agitated. They hear me say that India has no ethics. Consequently, they want to show that…
Read moreReligion and Origin of Natural Sciences
My proposal addresses itself to the following observation: the natural sciences, as we know them today, arise in the western culture. What ‘natural sciences’ mean in the above statement is…
Read moreWhat is Anubhava? III
1. Let us retain the translation of ‘Anu’ as ‘appropriate’ or ‘apt’. Let us emphasize the active dimension of the word ‘Bhava’ to translate it as ‘coming into existence’. (‘Existence’…
Read moreWhat is experience? I
The biggest issue is: what is experience? All the Indian traditions have been busy with answering this question. But both posing this question and answering it are themselves experiential, as…
Read moreWhat is experience? IV
1. If we take our English language use as a reference point, it appears as though we can speak sensibly about experiencing our feelings (‘I experience sadness’), experiencing thoughts (‘I…
Read moreWhat is experience? II
1.1. Let us begin with the word “Anubhava”, which we use to translate the English word “experience”. There are two sub-words here: Anu and Bhava. ‘Anu’ can be translated as…
Read moreIs maaya an illusion? Is maaya real? Does maaya exist?
According to your account, Vedanta claims that the world is an illusion and that only the Brahman is real. If the world is an illusion, Vedanta has to deny the…
Read moreDoes Hinduism Exist?
(a) Which evidence (what kind of evidence) could prove the existence of Hinduism? (b) Idem. for the non-existence of Hinduism. I think these issues are far too important to allow…
Read moreYoga, shudras, and women
X says: Yoga practice of self attainment without the help of external deity worship so common in those days of Patanjali as today was restricted to very few as it required…
Read moreIndians’ Barren criticisms of Western translations
X says: “Wendy Doniger translates all the Sanskrit words into English and thereby ends up distorting their meaning. Dharma becomes religion, Varna becomes color, and apparently she ends up even…
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