Colonial Discourse and the Suffering of Indian American Children is now freely available.
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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.

Vivekacuḍāmaṇi

From Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia

By Swami Harshananda

Vivekacuḍāmaṇi literally means ‘crest jewel of discrimination’.

Significance of Vivekacuḍāmaṇi[edit]

Vivekacuḍāmaṇi is one of the prakaraṇa-granthas or elementary treatises of Advaita Vedānta by Śaṅkara (A. D. 788- 820). It is in verses of various metres, the total number being 579. There is a balanced combination of philosophical acumen and literary grace in this work.

Content of Vivekacuḍāmaṇi[edit]

Vivekacuḍāmaṇi includes discussions on the following topics:

  • Importance of attaining mukti or liberation
  • Means of attaining it
  • Place of bhakti or devotion in the path of liberation
  • Importance of self-effort
  • Liberation can be attained only by the knowledge of the identity of jīvātman (the individual soul) and Paramātman (the Supreme Soul)
  • Māyā and its two powers
  • Nature of the ātman
  • Means of destroying the bondage of sansāra or transmigratory existence
  • Nature of Brahman, the Absolute
  • Explanation of the mahāvākya tat-tvam-asi
  • Fruit of ātmajñāna or realization of the ātman, the Self
  • Characteristics of the jīvanmukta, the liberated soul
  • Prārabdhakarma, karma that has started giving its results
  • Conclusion of the treatise

Commentaries on Vivekacuḍāmaṇi[edit]

  1. By Keśavācāryasvāmin of Muni-maṇḍala
  2. By Candraśekharabhāratī (A. D. 1892-1954), a former pontiff of the Sāradāpīṭha of Srñgerī

References[edit]

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

Contributors to this article

Krishna Maheshwari, Deval Sancheti

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