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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.


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Prahlāda

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Prahlāda, the king of child-devotees of Lord Viṣṇu, was the eldest son of Hiraṇyākaśipu, the powerful king of the daityas or demons. His mother was Kayādhu, the daughter of the demon-king Jambhāsura. She too, being initiated by the great sage Nārada, was a devotee of Viṣṇu. His story is delineated in details in the Bhāgavata[1] and the Viṣṇupurāṇa.[2]

He alienated his father, who was an inveterate hater of Lord Viṣṇu, by his matchless devotion to Viṣṇu. All the efforts of Hiraṇyakaśipu to get him killed were set at naught by the protection Viṣṇu gave him. Ultimately Viṣṇu killed Hiraṇyakaśipu by assuming the Narasiṅha[3] form. Prahlāda’s prayer to the Lord Narasiṅha liberated Hiraṇyakaśipu from all his sins.

Prahlāda’s teaching about the navavidhabhakti or the nine modes of devotion[4] is widely accepted and acclaimed. He had four brothers, three sons and a daughter. The famous king Bali who too was a great devotee of Viṣṇu, was his grandson. Prahlāda has been shown in the purāṇas to have many learned discussions with others like Bāli, Hansa, Indra and the sage Ajagara about dharma.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ Bhāgavata 7.4 to 8
  2. ↑ Viṣṇupurāṇa 1.17
  3. ↑ Narasiṅha means a Man-lion.
  4. ↑ Bhāgavata 7.5.23
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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