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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.

Istadevatā

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Istadevatā literally means ‘deity of contemplation dear to oneself ’.

Though God is one, his aspects for contemplation are many. The path of bhakti gives the freedom to the spiritual aspirants to choose any of these aspects for the purpose of meditation. Any one of these aspects which the aspirant chooses becomes his ‘iṣṭadevatā’.[1]

The general rule is that the aspirant has to stick to one iṣṭadevatā and should receive and repeat one mantra pertaining to it till he gets realization. For this he should have only one guru or spiritual teacher. Traditionally, the guru gives the mantra along with certain ritualistic instructions like:

  • Nyāsa - purificatory processes
  • Dhyānaśloka - hymn of contemplation
  • Mantra in which the bīja (seed letter) is imbibed


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Iṣṭadevatā means chosen deity dear to oneself.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Apurva Mahendra Bhangdia, Deval Sancheti

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