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Understanding Political Systems Of India – Part 2 – The Political Trajectory Of Post-Independent India
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July 5, 2023July 5, 2023POLITICS, COMMENTARY, PHILOSOPHY

Understanding Political Systems Of India – Part 2 – The Political Trajectory Of Post-Independent India

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"Much of today’s normative ‘liberal democracy’ has clear theological roots and may not make sense outside the Western world. Universalising and secularising a theological theme may be problematic when applied to Indian culture. Independent India, ignoring indigenous political philosophy, inherited Western values, creating a story of contradictions clashing with the intensely traditional society of India."

In the second installment of the series titled "Understanding Political Systems Of India", Dr. Pingali Gopal brings us a summary of essays of Professor Bhikhu Parekh where he assesses post-Independent Nehruvian India.
Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister from 1947 to 1964, constantly looked at the West as a template for India’s future, rejecting the indigenous past. The article analyses the effects of implementation of Western political thought and primarily British laws in the Indian society which wasn't structured the same way as the West. When implemented in India, the institutions of Western law encourage just the opposite of what such laws are meant to do: a vengeful, spiteful, and ‘selfish’ citizenry. Instead of promoting a cohesive society, such laws encourage divisiveness and conflict in society.

Understanding Political Systems Of India – Part 1 – Political Ideologies – A Dummy’s Understanding of Background Western Theories
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July 3, 2023July 3, 2023POLITICS, COMMENTARY, PHILOSOPHY

Understanding Political Systems Of India – Part 1 – Political Ideologies – A Dummy’s Understanding of Background Western Theories

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"The political spectrum teaches absurdly that opposites are the same. The two ‘positions’ - Left and Right - are the mixing of incoherent, unrelated, and constantly shifting ideas lumped together by the accident of history. Aggressive military positioning hardly connects to a free-market philosophy. Defenders acknowledge this variation but claim an underlying essence: the Right (conservatives), ‘backward looking’, want to conserve; the Left (progressives), ‘forward looking,' want change. Both wings' policies, in fact, are ‘backward-looking’ and marked by nostalgia, depending on the issue."
In the first installment of the series titled "Understanding Political Systems Of India", Dr. Pingali Gopal analyses the multiple prevalent political systems and ideologies of the West, that define world politics as we know it today. These systems have been allowed to influence Indian politics and policy making after independence, with complete disregard to the ancient political systems of India.
The broad classification of political ideology as Right or Left is nebulous at best - one can falsify every proposed essence of right or left, which shows us that ideologies are nothing but social constructs. these Right-Left political ideas do not make sense either in the Western context or in the Indian context, and yet, for decades, we have held on to them. We need to understand our past political systems better, and we need to transcend the paradigm.

Agrāharas – The Building Blocks of Dharmik Economy
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June 15, 2023August 29, 2024COMMENTARY, Temple

Agrāharas – The Building Blocks of Dharmik Economy

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Agrahāras have long been associated with the Hindu temple, popularly understood as residential housing schemes for brāhmaṇa families around the main temple. Popular narrative has sought to classify them as elitist brahminical dwellings designed to keep non-brāhmaṇas out. The notion, however, deviates from the reality - the primary right of the king over land is exercised by collecting a portion of produce as a ‘prime’ (agra) tax. When such tax revenue is gifted to a donee resulting in a ‘loss’ (hāra) to the state, it is called agrahāra. The lands gifted to brāhmaṇas are called brahmadéyas. These lands are typically agricultural lands that were already brought to revenue. Gifting of such lands has the effect of transferring the tax revenue therefrom to the donees. The brahmadéyas, are also not exclusively brahminical settlements.
Lakshmi Prasad J explores all this, and the importance and position of agrahāras in the ancient dharmik economy, in the first part of this series.

Śaṅkara Charitam – a re-telling – Chapter -14 – Aja Bakṣiṭha Bāśyaṃ
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April 17, 2023April 17, 2023COMMENTARY, HISTORY

Śaṅkara Charitam – a re-telling – Chapter -14 – Aja Bakṣiṭha Bāśyaṃ

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Chapter 14 of Śaṅkara Charitam, titled Aja Bakṣiṭha Bāśyaṃ, takes us through the experience of Śaṅkara’s Guru Govinda Bhagavatpāda learning from Gauḍapāda, cursed to be in the form of Brahmarākṣasa. What happens after the lessons are over, where destiny takes each of them - Śaṅkara, his Guru Govinda Bhagavatpāda, and his Guru's Guru Gauḍapāda; will be revealed in this chapter.

Philosophical Systems Of India – A Primer – Part 5
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April 13, 2023April 13, 2023COMMENTARY, ESSAY, PHILOSOPHY

Philosophical Systems Of India – A Primer – Part 5

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The problems in Western philosophical traditions arise due to many factors, mainly the confusion of the relation between mind and matter; and making philosophy subservient to scientific dogma. Indian philosophy is not a dry intellectual exercise and holds a definite purpose to propel humans into the highest realms of bliss. Indian and Western philosophical traditions run on two parallel tracks consequently.

Philosophical Systems Of India – A Primer – Part 4
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April 10, 2023April 13, 2023COMMENTARY, ESSAY, PHILOSOPHY

Philosophical Systems Of India – A Primer – Part 4

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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.

Philosophical Systems Of India – A Primer – Part 3
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April 3, 2023April 5, 2023COMMENTARY, ESSAY, PHILOSOPHY

Philosophical Systems Of India – A Primer – Part 3

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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.

Śaṅkara Charitam – a re-telling – Chapter-13 – At the feet of the Guru
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March 30, 2023April 10, 2023HISTORY, COMMENTARY

Śaṅkara Charitam – a re-telling – Chapter-13 – At the feet of the Guru

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Chapter 13 of Śaṅkara Charitam takes us through Śaṅkara’s experience with his Guru, Govinda Bhagavatpāda, the completion of his education, and Guru's blessings and final teachings for Śaṅkara to take with him in the world and tackle the thick forest of ignorance enveloping the minds of the people.
Gauḍapāda as Brahmarākṣasa finds Govinda Bhagavatpāda acceptable as a disciple, and the teaching starts atop the pipal tree in which the Brahmarākṣasa resides..........

Philosophical Systems Of India – A Primer – Part 2
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March 27, 2023March 29, 2023COMMENTARY, ESSAY, PHILOSOPHY

Philosophical Systems Of India – A Primer – Part 2

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In the second part of the 5-part series on Indian philosophical systems, Dr. Pingali Gopal discusses the basics as well as the three categories of Indian philosophy, Advaita Vedanta, Vishishtadvaita Vedanta, and Dvaita Vedanta. He also deals with the root cause of the West's outlook on Indian philosophy and presents a rebuttal to some of the popular ideas of disharmony among schools of Indian philosophical thought that have been promulgated by the West.