Current affairs, spirituality, heritage & lifestyle.
Atheism, the idea that there is no God or Creator, is a conception of the human mind that occurs at various stages of mental and spiritual development. It may appear in undeveloped minds that cannot perceive a deeper reality than that of the physical world. It may also appear in more developed minds who see […]
Hindu nationalism The term “nation” is defined differently by various sources. One definition is: “A people who share common customs, origins, history, and frequently language.” Hindu nationalism can be defined as the tendency of Hindus to define themselves as a nation. It is often said that the late 1980’s and 90’s saw an upsurge of […]
Veda Vyasa is a legendary Hindu sage, whose very name is synonymous to Hindus with knowledge. According to traditional Hindu accounts, he lived at the end of the Treta Yuga and early Kali Yuga (the date for the beginning of the Kali Yuga is 3102BC). Veda Vyasa is accredited with compiling the Vedas and writing […]
The Mahabharata is arguably the greatest work of literature in the world. No other work brings out the complexity of human problems in such a profound and entertaining way. It shows us the application of philosophy when it comes to deciding between the right and wrong in such cases where the answer is not straightforward. […]
If there’s one man who’s remembered as a Western hero par-excellence, surely it’s Winston Churchill. He has been promoted not only in Britain but also throughout much of the world as the symbol of resistance against the most hideous war criminals in history, the Nazis. This reputation may be deserved. However there was another side […]
Recently(*) the Indian state of Rajasthan, supposedly the “Land of Kings”, was host to one of the worst bouts of “caste riots” that India has seen in recent years, leaving at least 9 dead and many more injured. Eventually the Indian armed forces had to be brought in to quell the situation. What is particularly […]
(originally written September 2006) (17/03/2013 – image removed, as this page was being blocked from some search engines browsers for being “adult content”) Recently, an article in The Times (a supposedly quality newspaper), carried a story provocatively titled ‘Why is a Hindu temple like a Soho phone box? Must I draw you a picture?’ The article was […]
The ‘Aryan Invasion Theory’ Pick up any textbook on Hinduism, and chances are that the beginning of Hinduism is identified with the ‘Aryan invasion of India’, dated around 1500 BCE, and their composition of the Rig Veda. According to this viewpoint, the ‘Aryans’ were a tall, fair skinned people who originated from outside India, and […]
(Originally published in Hindu Voice UK – July 2009) “Intelligent Life” (?!) Recently I received a copy of “Intelligent Life” (Spring 2009 Edition), a quarterly lifestyle magazine from The Economist Group. As its name suggests, the makers of the magazine fancy it to be a particularly intelligent magazine! The Economist Group of publications is a […]
An excellent and rare article on the Guardian website, by Afghan author Reza Mohammadi, gives a brief account of the present day state of the country’s Hindu minority. Says the author: “Hindus are clearly among the oldest inhabitants of Afghanistan. They are the native people, whom Islamic fundamentalism has turned into unprotected strangers. Strangers, who […]
The idea that British rule over India was a force for good is not uncommon in Britain and even in certain sections of westernised Indian elite. Read right-of-centre British newspapers and you will regularly find articles and columns that glorify Britain’s colonial past, giving the impression that Britain was spreading the light of Western Civilisation […]
An article published on a Chinese think tank’s website suggested that it would be in China’s interests to break up India into 20-30 smaller states, and this could be achieved with just a minimal push. The website called ‘International Institute for Strategic Studies’ said: “To split India, China can bring into its fold countries like […]
As the Indian and English cricket teams clash today, it can once again be seen that the overwhelming majority of Indians who live in the UK, including Indians born in Britain, passionately support India over England! This has annoyed some British politicians, who have proposed the “Cricket team test” to test loyalty of immigrants. They […]
A small band of Indian journalists, activists and politicians, all of who parade themselves as “Secularists” continuously malign Narendra Modi as being a symbol of everything bad in the world; to these same individuals Emperor Akbar, the third Mughal emperor of medieval India, is one of the great icons of Indian secularism. If we look […]
Over recent years ‘Asian’ has been the term used in Britain to refer to all people from the Indian subcontinent. Of course, ideally, Asian should also refer to Chinese, Malaysian, Arabs, Japanese, Vietnamese and many other groups, but that is not so in Britain. Hence, if you notice, ‘British Asian’ newspapers, such as Asian Age, […]
It was on the 6th August 1972 that the government of Uganda, then headed by the infamous Idi Amin, announced that all of the 80,000 Indian origin people living in the country had 90 days to depart, after which their businesses and homes would be handed over to native Ugandans. If any Indians were seen […]
Vast is That, divine, its form unthinkable; it shines out subtler than the subtle: very far and farther than farness, it is here close to us, for those who have the vision it is here even in this world; it is here, hidden in the secret heart. Mundaka Upanishad III.1.6 The biggest criticism of Hinduism […]
Hindu Perspective 