Tag Archives: Bhagavad Gita

A Swami for a Sunday

Swami Satchidananda is my all-time favorite Hindu guru. His name consists of a combination of three terms that, taken together, sum up rather nicely the Hindu spiritual quest:  that which is (sat); that which is consciousness (chid); that which is bliss (ananda). … Continue reading

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The Tortoise Shell, the Umbrella, and Hindu Meditation

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna (Barbara Miller’s translation, pt. 2 stanzas 55-58): When he [the yogi] gives up desires in his mind, is content with the self within himself, then he is said to be a man whose insight … Continue reading

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If I don’t think Islam is an inherently violent religion, then what theory do I offer for explaining contemporary Islamic terrorism as a phenomenon?

I’ll offer one to start: the collapse of Marxism as an ideological force over the past 20 years has left the poor in formerly colonial powers at a loss for an ideological substitute for resistance to what they perceive as … Continue reading

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Freud’s Oceanic Feeling Associated with Brain Damage!

During meditation or prayer, have you ever had what Freud called (picking up the term from Romain Rolland) an “oceanic feeling“? In other words, have you felt your “little self” (the shrew of your ego) submerging harmoniously into the “Big Self”—the Atman—or the universe? Well, … Continue reading

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“Like a Tortoise Retracting Its Limbs”: The Bhagavad Gita as Literature, and Its Doctrine of the Two Selves

One of the most enduring pieces of world literature is the Bhaghavad Gita. And one of the keys to reading the Gita is to understand its doctrine of the two selves.  In the Gita the two selves are: the “big … Continue reading

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The Upanishads, the Bible, and Greek Tragedy: Would We Have Had These Great Works of Literature Without Dick Cheney-like Free Market Competition?

What role does competition play in the generation of imaginitive art and literature? Here are six things that suggest that competition plays a very large part indeed: First, in ancient Indian literature, particularly in the early formation of the Rig Veda … Continue reading

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