Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children Book Cover.webp

Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now published after academic peer-review and available through open access.

In this book, we analyze the psycho-social consequences that Indian American children face after they are exposed to the school textbook discourse on Hinduism and ancient India. We show that there is an intimate connection―an almost exact correspondence―between James Mill’s ( a prominent politician in Britain and head of the British East India Company) colonial-racist discourse and the current school-textbook discourse. Consequently, this archaic and racist discourse, camouflaged under the cover of political correctness, produces in the Indian American children the same psychological impact as racism is known to produce: shame, inferiority, embarrassment, identity confusion, assimilation, and a phenomenon similar to racelessness where the children dissociate from the tradition and culture of their ancestors

This book is an outcome of 4 years of rigorous research as a part of our ongoing commitment at Hindupedia to challenge the representation of Hindu Dharma within Academia.

Pratikopāṣanā

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Pratikopāṣanā literally means ‘meditation on a symbol’.

Paramapuruṣārtha Definition[edit]

Though the word upāsanā literally means ‘sitting near God’, it is always used in the sense of worship or meditation. Religion posits mokṣa or liberation from transmigratory existence as the final goal of life. It is called paramapuruṣārtha.

Path leading to Paramapuruṣārtha[edit]

There are two royal paths leading to this:

Significance of Upāsanā[edit]

In both these paths upāsanā has an important place. In the Jñānayoga, the upāsanā has to be on the ātman[3] which is nirākāra[4] and nirguṇa,[5] but whose essence is sat-cit-ānanda.[6] Since this upāsanā or meditation is extremely difficult for the beginners or the ordinary aspirants, a pratika or a symbol is chosen for meditation. They are:

Pratikopāṣanā Definition[edit]

For those who find even this as a difficult path, Bhaktiyoga recommends meditation on the images of gods or goddesses. Here, the image is not considered God, but only as an aid to imagine in one’s own heart, God as a being of light and consciousness, lovingly responding to one’s prayers. Such meditations come under the category of pratikopāṣanā.


References[edit]

  1. ↑ It is called as knowledge.
  2. ↑ It is called as devotion.
  3. ↑ Ātman means the Self within.
  4. ↑ Nirākāra means formless.
  5. ↑ Nirguṇa means without any attribute.
  6. ↑ It is known as existence-consciousness bliss.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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