This essay examines the Dharmic dimensions of gaze, self-presentation, and sensory restraint through the concepts of indriya-nigraha and viveka. Drawing upon the Bhagavad Gītā and the principles of deśa, kāla, and pātra, it distinguishes involuntary perception from deliberate conduct and moral agency. The discussion moves beyond simplistic notions of blame to consider the reciprocal responsibilities of individuals sharing a social space. It argues that Dharma neither denies human impulses nor permits them to govern conduct, but calls for conscious regulation, contextual discernment, and responsibility. Ultimately, the essay proposes that both seeing and being seen carry ethical dimensions within a Dharmic framework.
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The Enigma of Bhakti
This poem by Pornima Rajkarne traces the relationship shared by the author with Bhakti, one of the important paths of Adhyatma. She weaves together her personal experiences, fieldwork insights, and the academic discourse of Bhakti in this piece.

Why Are We This Way? A Guide to Rediscovering Hindu Shastras
Why do Hindus think differently about knowledge, duty, worship, time and existence? Why Are We This Way: A Guide to Hindu Shastras approaches these questions through the vast knowledge traditions of Sanatana Dharma. Rather than treating Hinduism as a collection of rituals or beliefs, the book introduces readers to the interconnected Shastric ecosystem underlying them. Its accessible treatment of complex traditions makes it particularly relevant to a generation increasingly disconnected from its scriptural inheritance. This review examines the book as a roadmap towards recovering that intellectual and civilizational memory.

Decolonizing IKS (“Indian Knowledge Systems”)
Delivered by Prof. Prakash Shah on behalf of Prof. Vamsee Juluri at the panel "Decolonisation, Public Discourse and IKS" during the IKSHA Conference at Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, this thought-provoking talk argues that decolonisation cannot be reduced to merely replacing Western knowledge with Indian knowledge. It challenges the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) movement to examine its own assumptions and recover the spiritual foundations of Bharatiya knowledge. The talk ultimately asks whether true decolonisation is possible if Bhagawan is removed from the centre of the civilizational worldview.

Scholarship and Sacred Truth
Can a civilization survive if all its sacred truths are judged solely by external academic standards? This essay argues that while historical inquiry has its place, Hindu Dharma must remain rooted in its own sacred framework of shraddha, sampradaya, and parampara. A living tradition cannot endure if its foundational beliefs are endlessly relativized. History may study a civilization from the outside, but only its sacred truths sustain it from within.
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Philosophical Systems Of India – A Primer – Part 3
In the third part of the 5-part series on Indian philosophical systems, Dr. Pingali Gopal discusses the most important differing point of Indian philosophies from Western philosophy: Perception as a valid means of obtaining knowledge regarding the objects of the senses. In Western philosophy, perception is unreliable, and in the Indian tradition, perception is the eldest of the proofs needed to understand reality.
Unlike the western notions of an unknowable noumenon where the perceived world loses its intrinsic character, in Indian philosophy a conceived object cannot be unknowable; and if unknowable, it becomes inconceivable as well.
Sanatana-Dharma/Hinduism in a Nutshell
A concise explanation of the essential principles of Sanatana-dharma or the Vedic path, which are based on universal spiritual truths that anyone can follow.
Varna And Birth
It is one of the strangest ironies that, despite being an intricate part of our daily lives, we do not have any theory explaining Varna, Jati, and Kula. It is also not clear whether caste, understood as a class system, can be the foundation for understanding the complex arrangement of Varnas and Jatis in Indian society. One of the biggest sources of contradictory strands is the issue of whether Varna is by birth or not.
Chittaranjan Naik concludes that birth is not the cause of Varna, as popularly understood; it is the identifier.
Why are the French angry?
The French hold liberal views about most things in life including religion, are secular and love to discuss Sartre and Camus. This time when I spoke to them, it was different. The mood, the tone was not what I had experienced in a long time
Oppenheimer – An Open Letter to Christopher Nolan
As we pass the 2025 Oscars, Charu Uppal recalls the grand success of the movie Oppenheimer in the 2024 Oscars. In this open letter to the director Christopher Nolan, she points out how the movie conspicuously avoids showing the suffering of the Japanese people, barely mentioning the names Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even more troubling is the decision to juxtapose the sacred Bhagavad Gita with an intimate scene — a choice that was neither accidental nor faithful to historical context. In an industry that does not shy away from showing violence, the film omits the human cost of the bomb while including a scene that offended millions. Creative freedom is vital, but so is cultural responsibility.
On the most iconic picture in Hinduism (Part II)
Lord Krishna's words help Arjuna face his fears and fight to protect Dharma.
A Reawakening of Bharat
Indians need to break free from the shackles forged by their own fears and ineptitude.
Philosophical Systems Of India – A Primer – Part 4
In the fourth part of the 5-part series on Indian philosophical systems, Dr. Pingali Gopal discusses the prominent Advaitic view on the notions of the Self and the non-Self. We shall also see the notion of cause and effect in the material world and how the Self interacts with the material world. It is a promise of Indian Darshanas that proper knowledge confers liberation to the striving individual.
A Timeline of Ayodhya – Part 1
A chronological order through what several disciplines — archaeology, epigraphy and history in particular — have contributed to our knowledge of the ancient city of Ayodhya.
Reviving a wounded civilisation – Śraddhā
Our defence of the sacred places was not borne out of violent sectarian fanaticism, but out of a gentle resolute śraddhā for the devas.
Nehru and Kashmir: A Relationship with Disruptive Consequences
Were Nehru's myopic decisions solely blunders or were they influenced by his personal friendships with the last British Governor-General Lord Mountbatten and the first CM of J&K Sheikh Abdullah? Jahnavi Naik explores in this article.
Unveiling The “Secular” Sheikh Mujib: The Butcher Of Bengali Hindus
Mujib was a true Muslim who saw Syed Ahmed Barelvi’s Wahabi movement as a justified rebellion and took pride in the fact that thousands of Muslim jihadists from Bengal marched barefoot to Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He believed Pakistan was a just demand for the emancipation of India's Muslims, who were oppressed by Hindu landlords and moneylenders.
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The tricky issue of religious conversion and proselytization in India(Part II)
The Balagangadhara school maintains that the problem of religion in India arises when we insist on converting our traditions more into religions.
Abolition of (Major Parts of) Section 377: A few observations and a rider
Though historically India has always had a place for homosexuals notwithstanding the view of the rest of the world, how does the political climate dictate the manner in which their presence is acknowledged?
Our Civilizational Imprints From Bharat To Japan: Limiting Boundaries Is Relinquishing Cultures
From the ancient times till present-day diplomacy, civilizational exchanges and acculturation have played a significant role in establishing and renewing inter-nationstate relationships. This article explores the relationship between Bharat and Japan within the purview of civilizational linkages and thus highlights upon the reach Bharat, as a civilization, has on the cultural land of Japan.
Ayodhya - Strategic Short-sightedness
The Ram Mandir project can only be deemed successful if it brings about a movement to reclaim, revive and restore all the temples that were destroyed by the invaders.
Recollecting a near forgotten Exodus
The exodus of Indians from Burma was a grave human tragedy whose story deserves to be told.
Śaṅkara Charitam – a re-telling – Chapter-12 – Śivaḥ kevalo’ham
Chapter 12 of Śaṅkara Charitam takes us through Śaṅkara’s meeting with his Guru, and the Guru's acceptance of Śaṅkara as his disciple.
Govinda Bhagavatpāda asks the boy standing at the foot of the cave, inside which he meditated for centuries, to introduce himself and Śaṅkara calls himself - "Śivaḥ kevalo’ham".
The life of Gauḍapāda as a Brahmarākṣasa and his meeting with Govinda Bhagavatpāda is also mentioned in this chapter.
S. L. Bhyrappa: A Tribute to The Man, His Life, and His Stories that Keep Flowing…
S.L. Bhyrappa’s life was a dialogue between art and existence, where suffering became insight and truth found voice through story. From a childhood scarred by loss to a literary career of rare depth, he turned pain into philosophy and realism into revelation. Even in his final words, he taught us that death too can be an act of grace, and meaning, the highest form of art.
India’s History: Part I, By Rabindranath Tagore
This is an English translation of the essay “Bharatbarsher Itihas” by Rabindranath Tagore, to be found in his anthology of Bengali essays entitled “Bharatavarsha”. The anthology contains several of Rabindranath’s longish essays concerning historical, cultural, and political dimensions of India, all written between 1901 and 1905, a period which can be described as the zenith of Bengal’s (and in turn, India’s) rebirth in the Modern Era. Each of these essays, though deeply embedded within the historical context of the author’s time and space, is largely relevant for all of India today.
Arya and Swastika
Maligned and associated with the Nazis, the Swastika symbol and the Aryan people have long been the sufferers of anti-Hindu rhetoric.
‘The Imperishable Seed’ By Bhaskar Kamble – A Summary Review
Dr. Pingali Gopal reviews 'The Imperishable Seed' By Bhaskar Kamble, a theoretical physicist from IIT Kanpur and presently a data scientist in Germany.
The linear progression of history from a primitive past to an advanced future, deeply entrenched in western philosophy, embeds itself in Indians even today as a classic case of ‘colonial consciousness’. Bhaskar has done a brilliant job of describing the history of mathematics, a much ignored subject in our educational systems, and tracing the roots of many subjects to the genius mathematicians of ancient and mediaeval India.
Linking Indian traditional wisdom with modernity
An enlightening interview with Shri Raghu Ananthanarayanan on the relevance of Indic knowledge in the world today.
Kama and the Nature of Sensual Desires
In this article, Rohan Raghav Sharma talks about degeneracy and blind gratification of carnal desires becoming the norm in the West and all modern societies inspired by the West, and suggests that the Hindu framework of the four Purusharthas - Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha; can provide guidance for a balanced view of life.
