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.

Ekākṣara Upanisad

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Content[edit]

Ekākṣara Upaniṣad is a minor Upaniṣad having 13 verses assigned to the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda. It deals with God or Brahman, the One (eka = one), who is akṣara or indestructible. It is in the form of a laudatory hymn.

Ritual[edit]

When the sādhaka or the spiritual aspirant meditates upon Śiva along with his consort Umā in his sahasrāra-cakra, at the top of the head and one with him (Śiva), he realizes his identity with Śiva. Śiva is the One without a second and the indestructible (akṣara) reality.

Overview[edit]

  • The Ekākṣara or the Supreme God, is the creator of this world.
  • He is the protector of the world.
  • Though unborn, he is all-pervading.
  • He is the fire.
  • He is the sacrifice.
  • He is Hiraṇyagarbha, the world-soul.
  • He is the sun.
  • He is Kumāra or Skanda.[1]
  • He is Indra, the wielder of the thunderbolt.
  • He is the desire of human beings and the mantras uttered in sacrificial rites to fulfill them.
  • He is the incarnations like the Varāha (Boar).
  • He is all the Vedas and the deity worshiped through the Vedic rites.
  • He has manifested himself as the eleven Rudras.
  • He is man, woman and child.
  • In fact there is nothing here that is not the Ekākṣara.
  • One who knows him, the ancient Lord who has become all, will attain the highest state.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Skanda means the commander of the gods.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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Deval Sancheti

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