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.

Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad is a minor Upaniṣad assigned to the Sāmaveda. There are 49 sections comprising anuṣṭubh verses and also the passages in prose. It is in the form of a long dialogue between Kālāgni-rudra and sages like Bhusuṇḍa, Sanatkumāra, Jaḍabharata, Dattātreya, Kātyāyana, Vasiṣṭha and others.

Content of Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad[edit]

The topics dealt with may be summarized briefly as follows:[1]

  • Origin of rudrākṣa trees and beads[2]
  • Results of wearing the beads or doing japa with them[3]
  • Varieties of the rudrākṣa beads[4]
  • Methods of wearing the beads on the various parts of the body along with the appropriate mantras[5]
  • Rudrākṣas with one to fourteen faces and the results of wearing them[6]
  • Things to be given up or avoided by one who wears the beads[7]
  • Eulogy of wearing rudrākṣa on various occasions[8]
  • Greatness of rudrākṣa[9]
  • Eulogy of studying this Upaniṣad[10]

Noteworthy points of Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad[edit]

  • The Upaniṣad makes a special mention that one who wears the rudrākṣas must avoid eating meat, onion and garlic.
  • A person wearing this should not consume liquor.
  • A person if does not want to wear it on regular basis can wear it on special days like eclipses, during the ayanas or equinoxes and saṅkrāntis,[11] full-moon and new-moon days.


References[edit]

  1. The numbers in the brackets indicate the verses or sections.
  2. Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad 1-5
  3. Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad 6-7
  4. Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad 8-16
  5. Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad 17-25
  6. Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad 26-42
  7. Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad 43
  8. Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad 44-45
  9. Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad 46-48
  10. Rudrākṣa Jābāla Upaniṣad 49
  11. Saṅkrānti means passage of the sun into the next zodiacal sign.
  • The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore