Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now freely available.
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In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences faced by Indian American children after exposure to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We demonstrate that there is an intimate connection—an almost exact correspondence—between James Mill’s colonial-racist discourse (Mill was the head of the British East India Company) and the current school textbook discourse. This racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces the same psychological impacts on Indian American children that racism typically causes: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon akin to racelessness, where children dissociate from the traditions and culture of their ancestors.


This book is the result of four years of rigorous research and academic peer-review, reflecting our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within academia.

Ātma-māyā

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Ātma-māyā literally means ‘inherent mysterious power’.

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa while describing his descent into the human form uses this word.[1] Though he is unborn, eternal and the Lord of all beings, he takes recourse to his ‘prakṛti’ and incarnates himself through ‘ātma-māyā’. He incarnates to re-establish and preserve dharma or righteousness by destroying the wicked and protecting the good.

Prakṛti comprise of the three guṇas:

  1. Sattva
  2. Rajas
  3. Tamas


It is the basic matrix out of which the whole universe is evolved. It is also called māyā which is variously interpreted as illusion, illusory or mysterious power and so on. The incarnation of God is not like the rebirth of ordinary jivas or beings who are forced into birth and suffering due to their past karma or deeds. He does it out of his free will exercising his mysterious power, which is inherent in Him. These powers are called as ‘ātma-māyā.’


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Bhagavadgitā 4.6
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Himanshu Bhatt, Deval Sancheti

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