A student of Pre-modern India, of virtually any Caste or tradition, could gain access to a thorough grounding in the spiritual philosophy and value system that supplemented the family traditions and practices, and provided a context for the cultural training and learning that was imparted at home by the family. Modern India has squandered that heritage […]
Never before in history has Indian culture been studied by more students than it is today in the curricula of formal education systems in America. It is an integral part of the today’s World Civilization and World History courses at both K-12 and college levels. Through these courses millions of students acquire “authoritative”—but questionable—knowledge about […]
One of the foundations of Indian Civilization (also called Indic or Bharatiya – to use a Sanskrit word) is the conception of the human potential for spiritual and transcendental realization. The primacy accorded this tendency towards the spiritual and transcendental, as well as the great plurality of perceptions of ultimate reality and the multiplicity of […]
Article 28-1 of the Indian constitution says that “No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly maintained out of State funds”. In other words, any State funded institution whether it is a Central University (like Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia or the Banaras Hindu University) or a State University like University […]
There are two dominant ideas of India, at least, playing out as the great Secular–Communal divide in the theater of India’s political battleground – its own modern day Kurukshetra. On the one hand is the idea that the entire past civilizational heritage of India, its spirituality, its religion, culture and traditional wisdom is an unnecessary […]