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.

Citsukha, Citsukhi

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Origin of Citsukha[edit]

Post-Śaṅkara literature on Advaita Vedānta has grown enormously. It has improved in quantity, quality and subtlety. Citsukha is one of the well-known writers on Advaita Vedānta of this period. He lived in the early part of the thirteenth century. He was a pupil of Gauḍeśvarācārya also known as Jñānottama. His works are:

  1. Bhāsya-bhāva-prakāśikā - a commentary on the Brahmasutrabhāsya of Śaṅkara
  2. Abhiprāya-prakāśikā - commentary on the Brahmasiddhi of Maṇḍana
  3. Commentaries on the Naiskarmyasiddhi of Sureśvara
  4. Nyāyamakaranda of Ānandabodha
  5. Khandana-khanda-khādya of Śriharṣa

Significance of Tattvapradīpikā[edit]

However his most important work is Tattvapradīpikā commonly known as Citsukhi. It is a unique work for two reasons:

  1. It effectively refutes the categories of the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika schools
  2. It establishes some of the fundamental points of Sankara’s advaita by carrying out a subtle analysis and interpretation of them.

Significance of Citsukhi[edit]

Citsukhi comprises of four chapters.

  • The first chapter deals with:
    1. The Vedāntic concepts like the ātman being self-luminous and pure consciousness
    2. Nature of avidyā (nescience or ignorance)
    3. Mithyātva (nature of falsity of the world)
    4. Nature of illusions
    5. Etc.
  • The second chapter deals with:
    1. Analysis of the various concepts and categories of the Nyāya and the Vaiśeṣika systems
    2. Refuting guṇa (quality), karma (action), sāmānya (generality), samavāya (inherence) and so on
  • The third chapter deals with:
    1. The possibility of realization of Brahman
    2. The nature of mukti (liberation) through jñāna (knowledge)
  • The fourth chapter deals with the nature of the ultimate state of liberation.

References[edit]

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