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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.

Dipana

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Dipana literally means ‘lighting up’.

In ritual and spiritual practices, mantras play a very important part. These mantras have to be received in either in dikṣā or spiritual initiation from a competent guru or teacher.

The tantras proclaim that an effective mantra should pass through a purification process. This process is called as ‘mantra-sanskāra’. It is of ten types, of which ‘dipana’ or ‘dipani’ is also one. There are two views regarding the usage of 'dipana'. They are:

  1. the bijamantra or seed-letter has to be repeated seven times with the praṇava (Om) preceding and following it. This is ‘dipana’ for that mantra. For instance, ‘Gaṇ’ is the bijamantra for Gaṇapati. In dipana, ‘Om gaṇ Om’ has to be repeated seven times.
  2. the dipana has to be done with the formula ‘Om hrīm śrī’ the details have to be learned from the guru.


References[edit]

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

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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