Across India’s temple towns, rising tourist footfall, evolving governance structures, and new revenue models are reshaping how sacred sites are administered and preserved. Temples, once self-sustaining civilizational institutions, are increasingly treated as revenue-generating assets, with properties sold, offerings monetized, and darshan commodified. Rema Raghavan writes that this commercialization displaces local communities, erodes ritual continuity, and weakens the organic moral oversight once provided by resident devotees. As temples transform from living centers of worship into tourist spectacles, the intimate bond between deity, devotee, and community frays. Restoring temples as civilizational epicenters, she argues, requires accountable governance, empowered local participation, and an uncompromising commitment to ritual and heritage preservation.
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An Air of Social Doom: Political Propaganda Passed off as Moral Messaging
This article by Sriram Chellapilla, the fifth in a series of essays on the subject, argues that celebrity anguish over press freedom, NGOs, and society functions less as moral concern and more as selective political signaling. Using Naseeruddin Shah’s statements as a framing device, the author exposes how unelected NGOs, opaque media ownership, and celebrity activism often mask ideological agendas behind the language of freedom. Chellapilla contends that scrutiny of NGOs and media is neither new nor authoritarian, having been pursued by successive governments. What is troubling, he argues, is the hypocrisy of invoking free speech only when aligned with preferred politics, while remaining silent on censorship and intimidation by “secular” regimes.

Communal Echoes in ‘Secular’ Discourse : Tropes and Themes in Naseeruddin Shah’s ‘Secular’ Rants
In the next essay of the series of articles on minority-progressive celebrities, Sriram Chellapilla dissects Naseeruddin Shah’s polemics to expose a familiar pattern in India’s “secular” discourse: the distortion of arguments, selective outrage, and the reflexive defense of Mughal icons like Aurangzeb. Through close textual analysis and historical context, the essay shows how misrepresentation, straw-manning, and moral asymmetry function as tools of what the author terms the Minority-Progressive Celebrity (MPC) narrative. At its core, the piece interrogates how Hinduphobia is normalized under the guise of liberalism while minority fundamentalism is minimized or denied.

Citta-Vṛtti-Nirodhaḥ: The Discipline of Stillness in Pātañjala Yoga
The author explains that Yoga is not a technique of suppression but a disciplined process of stilling the mind’s fluctuations - Citta-Vṛtti-Nirodhaḥ. Drawing on Vyāsa’s Bhāṣya, nirodhaḥ is presented as a progressive settling of mental modifications back into their unmanifest source. As the vṛttis dissolve, puruṣa is no longer obscured by reflection in citta and abides in its own svarūpa. Yoga thus culminates not in transformation, but in the revelation of the seer’s ever-present clarity.

Explorations of Quantum Physics and Its Weave into Advaita Vedanta Tenets
In this article, the author Priyavrat Gadhvi argues that what we perceive as solid matter is not fundamental reality, but an effect generated by deeper, unseen quantum fields. At the most basic level, humans, objects, and even space itself are excitations within an all-pervasive field rather than independent substances. This understanding blurs the boundaries between physics, metaphysics, and philosophy, revealing reality as relational and emergent. Gadhvi contends that modern quantum field theory echoes Advaita Vedanta’s insight - that multiplicity is apparent, while the underlying essence of existence is singular and indivisible.
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Prithviraj Chauhan – Debunking Historical Myths Around The King (Part-2)
To sum up, ‘Traitors par sum Jayachandras’ is one of the filthiest crimes committed to History in modern times.
Arasavalli Suryanarayana Temple – Part 1
As control of Hindu temples by the government gets more widespread, temple priests find it harder and harder to continue their ancestral occupation.
How our ancient rishis preserved the Vedas flawlessly
With oral tradition as the method of passing knowledge through the generations, the ancient rishis truly developed a marvellous system to transmit our scriptures.
Hindu View of Christianity and Islam – Part 3
Prophetic religions believe that there is a special God who has a special people, and who is known only through their special intermediary.
The Beautiful Tree and Putana’s milk
A brief view of the history of education in India, the impact of Christian education and the attitudes that it inculcates.
Logic behind the perversion of caste
Caste in old India was a cooperative and cultural principle, but it is now being turned into a principle of social conflict.
The Autumn Wind
The haunting experience of returning to ones homeland from where you were once cast away.
Rock-cut temple and Jain-reliefs at Kazhugumalai, Tamil Nadu
The majestic Pandya rock-cut Shiva temple looks like a scale model of the Kailash temple at Ellora with rows of magnificent Jain bas-reliefs also present.
Indic Ideas in the Graeco-Roman World
The infusion of various Indic ideas and practices played a pivotal role in the development of the Graeco-Roman civilization.
Arya-Tibetan case for the OIT
New evidence has come to light in linguistics that undermines the AIT whose proponents mostly rely on genetic evidence.
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.
Abrogation of Article 370: Good in Law, better in Logic
The presidential order by the Indian government has much in common with actions of other political thinkers from across the world.
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नए जीवन की ओर (भाग २)
सुचिता के जीवन मे रमन का वापस आना उसके लिय बहुत उतार-चढ़ाव भरा समय होता हैं।
Śaṅkara Charitam – a re-telling – Chapter-11 – Patañjaliṃ-Gaudam-Govindaṃ
The boy Śaṅkara continues on his path, in search of his Guru. Meanwhile, Patañjali Mahaṛṣi, who is Śānta-svarūpa of the ugra-rūpa of Ādiśeṣa, aims to teach a thousand students at once; and places two conditions in front of his students. Both conditions are violated by his students, and the aftermath and its ramifications on the journey of Śaṅkara are discussed.
Challenging Western Universalism
What is universal cannot be sectarian but what is sectarian can be made to look like universal. In search of global domination, the western world has, for centuries, done just that with other peoples and cultures.
Abrogation of Article 370: Good in Law, better in Logic
The presidential order by the Indian government has much in common with actions of other political thinkers from across the world.
The Purpose of Defending Dharma
Dharmic principles form the bedrock upon which Indic civilization has thrived and hence need to be propagated as well as defended.
‘The Problem With Socialism’ by Thomas J. DiLorenzo: A Review-Summary
DiLorenzo's 'The Problem With Socialism' is a must-read for all the impressionable youth entering colleges preyed upon by heavily flawed discourses.
A Timeline of Ayodhya – Part 3
Ayodhya's significance has never waned in the minds of Hindus as they have continued their struggles to reclaim it for centuries on end.
Caste: Purusha and Varna
The dominant school of academic scholarship on the caste system makes very serious mistakes in understanding and conveying the meaning of the most fundamental Indic concepts of Purusha and Varna.
The Firekeepers of Jwalapuram
Bhagwan Hanuman's traits are what every person should hope to imbibe.
An Indian Classics Curriculum
Classical Indian texts need to be introduced into the curriculum so that students are made aware of the massive strides their ancestors took in all fields of intellectual rigour.
Dharmic significance of Sabarimala
The modern interpretation of the brahmacharya practice at Sabarimala has obfuscated the truth and made it all about gender equality.
