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.

Gorakhnāth

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

The Nātha sect, with its stress on Haṭhayoga and philosophy of advaita, preceded the Bhakti Movement. The sect recognizes 84 teachers known as Siddhas, out of which 9 are considered most important. The founder of this sect was Ādinātha, is considered to be an incarnation of Lord Śiva. Matsyendranātha was his disciple. Gorakhanāth (or Gorakṣanātha) was his chief disciple and successor.

His philosophy is akin to Śaivism and Advaita Vedānta. Guru and monastic disciplines have been given a place of supreme importance.


Birth[edit]

Very little information is available about his life or activities.

As per Tradition of Sect[edit]

According to the traditions of the cult, he was ‘born’ out of a cow-dung heap as a twelve-year old boy and joined his guru Matsyendranātha.

As per Scholars[edit]

According to some scholars, he belonged to the Northern Karnataka region and might have lived during the eleventh century A. D.

Powers[edit]

Many stories are current in the annals of the Nātha cult about his miraculous powers and yogic attainments. The Vīraśaiva tradition of Karnataka narrates an incident according to which Gorakhanāth was vanquished by Allama Prabhu in a test of Haṭhayogic powers and became his disciple.

Literary Works[edit]

Several works on various aspects of yoga, both in Sanskrit and Hindi languages are attributed to him. Some of them are:

In Sanskrit[edit]

  1. Amanaska
  2. Amaraugha-śāsana
  3. Goraksapaddhati
  4. Goraksaśataka
  5. Goraksasamhitā
  6. Siddha-siddhānta-paddhati

In Hindi[edit]

  1. Sabadi
  2. Gyāncautisā
  3. Gyāntilak
  4. Machindra-gorakh-bodh

There is reason to believe that there was a great tradition of esoteric yoga practices even before the time of Gorakhnāth. He might have built-upon these practices while composing his works.


References[edit]

  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore