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.

Jivanmukti

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Jivanmukti literally means ‘liberation even while living’.

Types of Mukti[edit]

The scriptures of Vedānta accept two types of mukti or liberation from trans-migratory existence. They are:

  1. Jīvanmukti : liberation even while living
  2. Videhamukti : liberation from all the bodies including the present one

Mukta Elucidation[edit]

When a person attains ātmajñāna or direct experience of one’s true nature as the ātman or Self, he is liberated from future births and hence he is called as a ‘mukta’.

Jīvanmukta[edit]

Since the prārabdhakarma that started the present body is still in existence, a mukta person continues to live with all the experiences brought about by that karma. But his reactions to those experiences are completely different. He already knows from his mystic experience that he is just the pure spirit and not the material body in which he has temporarily made his abode. Such a person is called a ‘jīvanmukta’. He is liberated even while living in the body.

Videhamukti[edit]

When the prārabdhakarma gets exhausted and the body falls, he attains ‘videhamukti’ which is like a river entering into an ocean and losing its identity.

References[edit]

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