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.

Guru stotram

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

Translated by Ramesh Krishnamurthy

 akhaṇḍamaṇḍalākāraṁ vyāptaṁ yena carācaram 
tatpadaṁ darśitaṁ yena tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [1]

Salutations to that Guru, who has shown to me That undivided Whole, by which is pervaded all that which moves and that which does not move.

 ajñānatimirāndhasya jñānāñjanaśalākayā 
cakṣurunmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [2]

Salutations to that Guru, who has opened my eyes, by applying the divine collyrium (kājal) of knowledge, thus removing the blindness of ignorance.

 gururbrahmā gururviṣṇuḥ gururdevo maheśvaraḥ 
gururevaṁ paraṁ brahma tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [3]

Salutations to that Guru, who is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, who is verily the supreme Brahman.

 sthāvaraṁ jaṅgamaṁ vyāptaṁ yatkiṅcit sacarācaram 
tatpadaṁ darśitaṁ yena tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [4]

Salutations to that Guru, who has shown to me That, which pervades all that is animate/inanimate and movable/immovable.

 cinmayaṁ vyāpi yatsarvaṁ trailokyaṁ sacarācaram 
tatpadaṁ darśitaṁ yena tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [5]

Salutations to that Guru, who has shown to me That Pure Consciousness, which pervades all the three worlds, including all movable/immovable objects.

 sarvaśrutiśiroratna virajitapadāmbuja 
vedāntambujasūryo yaḥ tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [6]

Salutations to that Guru, who is like the Sun (which enables the blossoming of) the lotus of Vedanta, and at whose lotus feet abide the crown jewels of all the Veda-s.

 caitanyaḥ śāśvataḥ śāntaḥ vyomātīto nirañjanaḥ 
bindunādakalātītaḥ tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [7]

Salutations to that Guru, who is of the nature of Eternal Consciousness, taintless, and who transcends space, time, bindu (zero/nothingness), nāda (sound) and kalā (divisions).

 jñānaśaktisamārūḍhaḥ tattvamālāvibhūṣitaḥ 
bhuktimuktipradātā ca tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [8]

Salutations to that Guru, who is established in the power of knowledge, who is adorned by the garland of truth, and who is the giver of both mundane enjoyments (bhukti) and liberation (mukti).

 anekajanmasamprāpta karmabandhavidāhine 
ātmajñānapradānena tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [9]

Salutations to that Guru, who provides the knowledge of the Self, which burns away the bondage of karma accumulated over several births.

 śoṣaṇaṁ bhavasindhośca jñāpanaṁ sārasampadaḥ 
guroḥ pādodakaṁ samyak tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [10]

Salutations to that Guru, whose very pādodakaṁ (water left behind after washing the Guru's feet) provides knowledge of the True Wealth and dries up the ocean of saṁsāra.

 na guroradhikaṁ tattvaṁ na guroradhikaṁ tapaḥ 
tattvajñānāt paraṁ nāsti tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [11]

Salutations to that Guru, for there is no reality greater than the Guru, no penance greater than (service to) the Guru and nothing greater than the knowledge of Reality (taught by the Guru).

 mannāthaḥ jagannāthaḥ madguruḥ śrijagadguruḥ 
madātmā sarvabhūtātmā tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [12]

Salutations to that Guru, who is my lord and the lord of the universe, my teacher and the teacher of the world, my Self and the Self of all phenomena.

 gururādiranādiśca guruḥ paramadaivatam 
guroḥ parataraṁ nāsti tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ [13]

Salutations to that Guru, for the Guru is the beginning (of all) but is himself beginning-less, the Guru is the highest divinity, there is nothing greater than the Guru.

 brahmānandaṁ paramasukhadaṁ kevalaṁ jñānamūrtiṁ 
dvandvātītaṁ gaganasadṛśaṁ tattvamasyādilakṣyam
ekaṁ nityaṁ vimalamacalaṁ sarvadhīsākṣibhūtaṁ
bhāvātītaṁ triguṇarahitaṁ sadguruṁ taṁ namāmi [14]

I bow to the Guru, who is verily the joy of Brahman, the supreme happiness, the embodiment of knowledge, who is beyond all dualities, who is the like the sky and is pointed to by the mahāvākya-s such as tattvamasi, who is eternal and unmoving, who is the witness of all phenomena, who is beyond existence and the three guṇa-s.

 tvameva mātā ca pitā tvameva 
tvameva bandhuśca sakhā tvameva
tvameva vidyā draviṇaṁ tvameva
tvameva sarvaṁ mama devadeva [15]

You (the Guru) are the mother, you are the father. You are the brother, you are the friend. You are knowledge, you are wealth. You are everything, my lord of lords.

 iti śrīgurustotram samāptam

Thus ends the Guru stotram.