Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children Book Cover.webp

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.

Bandha, Bandhana

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Bandha, Bandhana literally means ‘bondage’.

These words which mean ‘bondage,’ have been used in the philosophical literature in a more technical sense. It refers to the bondage of the ātman (or soul) due to various factors.

Generally, all the six well-known schools of philosophy accept that bandha or bondage is caused by avidyā, ajñāna or mithyājñāna (ignorance or false knowledge of the Reality) and mokṣa or liberation comes through jñāna or right knowledge and experience of the Reality.

In Haṭhayoga, the word bandha or mudrā is used to indicate the various methods prescribed for controlling the prāṇa or the vital airs arousing the kuṇḍalinīśakti. kuṇḍalinīśakti is the basic psycho-spiritual energy situated at the root of the spinal column.


References[edit]

  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore