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

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.

Ākāśagamana

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Ākāśagamana is literally translated as ‘moving through space’.

Throughout the history of mankind it has been seen that people cherish the ambition to possess and to exercise extraordinary or supernatural powers. Yoga has dealt with this subject either directly or as a byproduct of some other discipline.

One such power that has fascinated man is the ability to fly through space. The Yogasutras of Patañjali refer to the power to fly in Ākāśa or space as residing both outside and inside the body[1]. This is accomplished by concentrating on this relationship through saṃyama[2]. Only when the exact nature of the relationship is realized will the technique of levitation be mastered. This will then give a clue to the means of cutting the bonds that binds the body down to the ordinary law of gravity.

Ākāśagamana can also be mastered by practicing sarṃyama on light objects like cotton. This will give the secret of that lightness which can then be superimposed on one’s own body.


References[edit]

  1. Patañjali 3.42
  2. Saṃyama is when dhāraṇā (fixing the mind on the object of concentration), dhyāna (meditation), and samādhi (super-conscious experience) are simultaneously achieved
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore