Podcasts about kshatriyas

The evolution of life is a product of divisions and differences. But there is  'oneness' behind these divisions like an invisible thread supporting different pearls to form a necklace (7.7, 7.8). The game is to develop the ability to see that 'oneness' among the illogical and unreasonable divisiveness we see around us. This can be attained through awareness about 'oneness' and by attaining balance in our actions (2.38, 6.16). Krishna mentioned about four divisions that happen based on gunas and karmas. He says, "Tranquility, restraint, austerity, purity, patience, integrity, knowledge, wisdom, and faith —are the natural qualities of a Bhramana springing from their own nature (18.42). Valor, strength, fortitude, dexterity, not fleeing from battle, charity, and leadership abilities are the natural qualities of Kshatriyas springing from their own nature (18.43). Agriculture, dairy farming, and commerce are the natural qualities of Vaishyas. Actions that are service oriented are the natural quality of Shudras" (18.44). Firstly, these divisions are neither based on birth nor are they hierarchical nor are they indicators of competence. As in the case of gunas where the game is to transcend them to be Guna-ateeth, the challenge is to transcend these divisions to be with ''oneness' especially when we are identified with one of these divisions. Secondly, One guna broadly dominates us throughout our lives. But we keep wading through different gunas in a day. The same thing happens with these divisions. Thirdly, sometimes we help ourselves to gain knowledge, power or money and sometimes we serve others like family, friends, coworkers etc. This reflects that we keep oscillating between these divisions with time. Fourthly, in the past century, the world has moved from an agrarian economy to an industrial one to a service oriented economy. Thus, since external factors also keep changing with time there is no place for one quality or division to dominate.

Krishna says, "I have created four varnas (divisions) based on differentiation of gunas and karmas, but know Me to be the non-doer and immutable (4.13). Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras perform karmas according to the gunas springing from their nature" (18.41). Firstly, our divisive mind builds hierarchies around us. Secondly, falsehood is nothing but a manipulated truth. Together, a falsehood was built that the divisions are based on birth and are hierarchical. But, the simple truth is that humans are of four types because of the gunas and karmas. Moreover, this division is not a tool to judge a person. These facts need to be kept in mind while understanding verses dealing with varnas or castes which still dominate the social and political fabric of our society. While explaining gunas, Krishna says, "Three gunas of satva, rajas and tamas bind the soul (14.5). Satva binds through attachment to knowledge (14.6). Rajas binds the embodied soul through attachment to action (14.7). Tamas binds through sleep" (14.8). Essentially, each guna binds us in one way or another. One guna may be dominant in us throughout our lives determining our personality. But, each day of our life is a product of the interplay of these gunas.  For example, when we are given a task in the office which requires additional knowledge, satva helps us to attain it. Rajas is the desire to execute tasks as per the deadline. By the end of the day when we get tired, tamas helps us with sleep. Similarly, if we are driving to a new place, knowing the direction is satvik and driving is rajas. Binding is another name for guna and dependence on them is bondage. Golden handcuffs don't make bondage any better than iron ones. Guna-ateeth is transcending this bondage to attain ultimate freedom where gunas become tools.

The ContrThe Controversial Nature of Intellectual kshatriya | Rajiv Malhotra at CoHna -CYAN (Cohna Youth Action Network)An insightful keynote by Rajiv Malhotra, founder of the Infinity Foundation, at the CoHNA 2024 event, where he explores the essence of being different, the power of controversy, and the need for resilience in challenging established paradigms. Malhotra critiques Shashi Tharoor's ideas of a passive, introverted Hinduism, instead of a more assertive and proactive approach. Drawing parallels to figures like Jesus Christ, Buddha, and Gandhi, Malhotra highlights the necessity of intellectual disruption and resilience when confronting opposition. He also addresses key themes in Hindu philosophy, leadership, and combating "Hinduphobia" in academia and society, while introducing the Diksha Academy, a platform for training future intellectual Kshatriyas. Through this talk, gain insight into Hinduism's modern relevance and the challenge of defending cultural identity against adversarial forces.Battle For Consciousness Theory : battleforconsciousnesstheory.comSnakes in the Ganga - http://www.snakesintheganga.comVarna Jati Caste - http://www.varnajaticaste.comThe Battle For IIT's - http://www.battleforiits.comPower of future Machines - http://www.poweroffuturemachines.com10 heads of Ravana - http://www.tenheadsofravana.comTo support Infinity Foundation's projects including the continuation of such episodes and the research we do:इनफिनिटी फ़ौंडेशन की परियोजनाओं को अनुदान देने के लिए व इस प्रकार के एपिसोड और हमारे द्वारा किये जाने वाले शोध को जारी रखने के लिए: http://infinityfoundation.com/donate-2/oversial Nature of Intellectual kshatriya | Rajiv Malhotra at CoHna -CYAN

Speaking at the Satish Dhawan Auditorium at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, Rajiv Malhotra discusses the influence of the illustrious scientist and mathematician Satish Dhawan on his own childhood and journey into the philosophy of science. He recounts how his Theory of Digestion came to be formulated, the gross distortions of Dharmic concepts and entities that he fought against, which led to major breakthroughs in creating new frameworks in Indology. Rajiv's actions, though, began to be seen as controversial by those who preferred inaction as a response instead of challenging the disfigurement of Dharmic concepts.Battle For Consciousness Theory : battleforconsciousnesstheory.comSnakes in the Ganga - http://www.snakesintheganga.comVarna Jati Caste - http://www.varnajaticaste.comThe Battle For IIT's - http://www.battleforiits.comPower of future Machines - http://www.poweroffuturemachines.com10 heads of Ravana - http://www.tenheadsofravana.comTo support Infinity Foundation's projects including the continuation of such episodes and the research we do:इनफिनिटी फ़ौंडेशन की परियोजनाओं को अनुदान देने के लिए व इस प्रकार के एपिसोड और हमारे द्वारा किये जाने वाले शोध को जारी रखने के लिए: http://infinityfoundation.com/donate-2/

Intellectual Kshatriya Divya Reddy is ushering in Navratri and Dussehra with a special celebration. On this auspicious occasion, she enlightens us about how our intellectual Kshatriyas have identified modern Ravanas and Mahishasuras. Divya Reddy, along with her peers, has penned a milestone book titled 'Ten Heads of Ravana,' where they vividly outline and explain strategies to combat adharma. Snakes in the Ganga - http://www.snakesintheganga.com Varna Jati Caste - http://www.varnajaticaste.com The Battle For IIT's - http://www.battleforiits.com Power of future Machines - http://www.poweroffuturemachines.com 10 heads of Ravana - http://www.tenheadsofravana.com To support Infinity Foundation's projects including the continuation of such episodes and the research we do: इनफिनिटी फ़ौंडेशन की परियोजनाओं को अनुदान देने के लिए व इस प्रकार के एपिसोड और हमारे द्वारा किये जाने वाले शोध को जारी रखने के लिए: http://infinityfoundation.com/donate-2/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rajivmalhotrapodcast/support

The varnas created by Shri Krishna Shri Krishna says that he created the four categories of occupations according to people's qualities and activities. What we need to understand is that Krishna, as he is saying, created these categories of occupations based on the people's qualities or gunas, not based just on birth. In olden times, even the son's of kings had to prove themselves and pass various tests before becoming eligible to rule. It was only corrupt and weak kings who eventually made it a hereditary affair. A great example is Chandragupta Maurya. One of the most successful kings and leaders of all time. He was born of low caste and adopted by the great Chanakya and groomed to become one of the best kings that India ever produced. That was the concept of caste system which Krishna had created. Where people became Kshatriyas or Brahmanas or Vaishyas or Shudras based on their gunas.  If you notice, most avatars of Krishna lived the lives of Vaishyas and Kshatriyas. Buddha was born a Kshatriya and eventually went on to become the most successful preacher of all times although preaching was the domain of Brahmins. Nobody should be proud simply because they were born Brahmins or feel inferior because they were born in lower castes. What is important is how we cultivate our gunas and how we conduct ourselves. Our ultimate success on the spiritual path and liberation is determined by our gunas and karmic activities along with faith and devotion and not based on our caste or race. As Krishna himself has said, he is the creator of Maya however he is not impacted by Maya. He is the creator of the caste system however he is above all castes. He is also a perfect soul who is above the laws of karma and not bound by the cycles of cause and effect. As we read in chapter 3, the sages and saints who are self realized are content in the Atman and are qualified to give up all action. Then, why do they still perform various activities like preaching, writing books, performing devotional service, etc.? The reason is that they wish to serve God, and are inspired to do works for his pleasure.  The other reason is that they feel compassion on seeing the sufferings of the materially bound souls who are lacking God consciousness, and they work for their spiritual elevation. That is the example set by Krishna where he performed various duties and actions with the intent of helping humanity find the path to liberation. Gautama Buddha once said, “After attaining enlightenment, you have two options—either you do nothing (Bhajananandi), or you help others attain enlightenment (Sevanandi).” As we read in earlier chapters, doing your duties without achment and working in devotion attracts the grace of God. Shree Krishna is advising Arjun to also do the same, to perform actions as a service to God, without any attachment. Maya is Shri Krishna's own energy but He is not impacted by itAction and Inaction

 Wake up… It is not possible that you can get everything that you want…The theories if I can get it everybody can get it, …when you apply what was working for me  … Will not work, because you are different and in a different situation… These positive thinking strategies can work out… but how high is the success rate? There exist 4 different paths to get what you want and only 2 are successful ..1. The golden path… without efforts you get what you want…For instance, God wanted me to sail again and buy a Catamaran..I was totally against that… I had to get the international Yacht license. I could not prepare enough for the Yacht license. Still, I made it even under the worst circumstances. I was one of the best and 80% failed. I didn't visualize my success or even believed that I could make it, I rather prevent it from happening. This was a joke… Because God wanted it so.. The same for the Catamaran… Easy, Easy, Easy…2. The never give up path… Since I was a child I wanted to become an engineer …But I was too bad in school… I worked very hard to get that degree…Afterward I was so ill … 3. The frustration path. You do everything but you can't make it…At least you learn very much. Learning is the most important thing!!!!4. The easy doing path … You do something but not enough … You don't make it…Still, you can learn something.What will work? Not everything that you want is good for you…Let God decide what is good  for you.Remember “his will should happen”!Ask first God, what he wants from you… With the power of the Lord you will accomplish the thing or not… And these B.S. in the Religious scriptures forget:  That Money or Sex is evil…That everything is Karma.That Your whole life is determined or destiny … Even that is true, but you don't know what is determined so you always try your best… Like in the Mahabharata, where Krishna tried his best to prevent that devastating war from happening. Even Krishna knew that it was God's will to kill these arrogant Kshatriyas (soldiers cast) who became a burden for the world. Forget that, and enjoy your life, take your chances and do what you like without harming other people… And learn and learn… My Video: How to get what you want? https://youtu.be/4TGXXdub4ckMy Audio: https://divinesuccess.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/Podcast1/How-to-get-what-you-want.mp3

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 817, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: ranks and measures 1: In the U.S. this document is the highest law in the land. the Constitution. 2: Amplified rock music and a very close thunderclap hit 120 on this noise scale. decibel scale. 3: A low grade of copier paper, it's also the weight for a standard bowling ball. 16 pounds. 4: What the British call a billion, a 1 followed by 12 zeros, we call this. trillion. 5: In the old Hindu caste system the twice-born castes were the Vaisyas, the Kshatriyas and this, which included priests. Brahmins. Round 2. Category: variety pack 1: In 1956 this Brynner played King Mongkut on screen. Yul Brynner. 2: This log traditionally goes into the fireplace at Christmas. yule log. 3: In the '70s this Gibbons became the spokesman for the health benefits of Grape-Nuts cereals. Euell Gibbons. 4: It's the first word in the title of the original name of the show on which Phil Silvers played Sgt. Bilko. You'll (Never Get Rich). 5: Off Detroit, you'll find Belle this. Isle. Round 3. Category: legends 1: The man whom Miles Standish asked to have a chat with Priscilla. John Alden. 2: This legendary outlaw was said to be an early name Robert Fitz-ooth, born in Nottinghamshire. Robin Hood. 3: Scottish water spirits called Kelpies take the shape of these animals and drown their riders. horses. 4: Calamity Jane boasted that she rode for this short-lived delivery service. Pony Express. 5: Container Mary Hays used to bring water to the troops at the Battle of Monmouth. pitcher (hence the name "Molly Pitcher"). Round 4. Category: perils 1: Jean Lussier and William Fitzgerald are among those who've gone over this landmark in a barrel and survived. Niagara Falls. 2: On April 13, 1970, this space mission turned perilous as Haise, Lovell and Swigert had to abandon the main ship. Apollo 13. 3: In the highest helicopter rescue ever, American Seaborne Weathers was plucked from this mountain in 1996. Everest. 4: In 1974 his chute released early, causing him to plunge into a river canyon, not rocket across it. Evel Knievel. 5: Aleksandr Pushkin, Stephen Decatur and Button Gwinnett all died from wounds received in one of these. duel. Round 5. Category: well, duh! 1: The English word for this animal comes from the Greek "kamelos". camel. 2: Joan Embery reports that all birds have these, "A characteristic shared by no other type of animal". Feathers. 3: Waswahili are people who speak this language as their sole mother tongue. Swahili. 4: This brand of oats uses a man in Quaker garb in its logo. Quaker Oats. 5: The name of this fruit comes from its clusters' resemblance to a bunch of grapes. grapefruit. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia! Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/

Each year, Yulin in the Guangxi province of China catches the worlds attention for its dog meat festival, and receives harsh criticism. Closer home, activists have been trying to ban the dog meat among the tribes of Nagaland, even though the tribes enjoy protection under section 371A of the constitution. This week, we travel back in time, browse through the Manumriti and the Upanishads, discover the connections between dog eating and caste, and why we must not judge people for their food choices. Till then Check out the other episodes, Anne Frank, Lootera and Endless Life of TreesThe Trees that built VeniceElm Trees, National Revolutions and Modern PaperEuropean Impressionism, Japanese Nationalism and Cherry Blossom TreesThe tree that built New ZealandLiving Fossils, National Identities and 200 MM year old trees You can check previous episodes of 'Podcasts from Nowhere' on IVM Podcasts websitehttps://ivm.today/3xuayw9You can reach out to our host Utsav on Instagram: @whywetravel42(https://www.instagram.com/whywetravel42 )You can listen to this show and other awesome shows on the IVM Podcasts app on Android: IVM Podcasts - Apps on Google Play or all other major audio platforms.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guests featured in this episode:Mukulika Banerjee, Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science where she was also the inaugural director of its South Asia Centre from 2015 to 2020. Working at the intersection of social anthropology, politics, and history, Mukulika has published widely on South Asia. She edits also the excellent Routledge series, exploring the political in South Asia. Her most relevant publications to this episode are;  Why India Votes [2014]  and  Cultivating Democracy, Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India.[2021]GlossaryWhat is the caste system in India?(16:15 or p.4 in the transcript)In South Asia, the caste system has been a dominating aspect of social organization for thousands of years. A caste, generally designated by the term jati (“birth”), refers to a strictly regulated social community into which one is born. Some jatis have occupational names, but the connection between caste and occupational specialization is limited. In general, a person is expected to marry someone within the same jati, follow a particular set of rules for proper behavior (in such matters as kinship, occupation, and diet), and interact with other jatis according to the group's position in the social hierarchy. In India virtually all nontribal Hindus and many adherents of other faiths (even Muslims, for whom caste is theoretically anathema) recognize their membership in one of the hereditary social communities. Among Hindus, jatis are usually assigned to one of four large caste clusters, called varnas, each of which has a traditional social function: Brahmans (priests), at the top of the social hierarchy, and, in descending prestige, Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (originally peasants but later merchants), and Shudras (artisans and laborers). The particular varna in which a jati is ranked depends in part on its relative level of “impurity,” determined by the group's traditional contact with any of a number of “pollutants,” including blood, menstrual flow, saliva, dung, leather, dirt, and hair. Intercaste restrictions were established to prevent the relative purity of a particular jati from being corrupted by the pollution of a lower caste. A fifth group, the Panchamas (from Sanskrit panch, “five”), theoretically were excluded from the system because their occupations and ways of life typically brought them in contact with such impurities. They were formerly called the untouchables (because their touch, believed by the upper castes to transmit pollution, was avoided), but the nationalist leader Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi referred to them as Harijan (“Children of God”), a name that for a time gained popular usage. More recently, members of that class have adopted the term Dalit (“Oppressed”) to describe themselves. Officially, such groups are referred to as Scheduled Castes. Those in Scheduled Castes, collectively accounting for roughly one-sixth of India's total population, are generally landless and perform most of the agricultural labor, as well as a number of ritually polluting caste occupations (e.g., leatherwork, among the Chamars, the largest Scheduled Caste). sourceWhat is a panchayat?(26:03 or p.7 in the transcript)Panchayat is the most important adjudicating and licensing agency in the self-government of an Indian caste. There are two types: permanent and impermanent. Literally, a panchayat (from Sanskrit pañca, “five”) consists of five members, but usually there are more; the panchayat has a policy committee, however, often numbering five. The panchayat sits as a court of law. Cases are heard in open meetings in which all members of the caste group concerned are entitled to take part. Any evidence that has any conceivable bearing on the case is admissible; it can be produced by either party, by onlookers, or by members of the council. Types of offenses adjudicated in meetings of the panchayat are breaches of eating, drinking, or smoking restrictions; infractions of marriage rules; breaches of a caste's customs in feast; breaches of its trade rules; the killing of certain animals, notably cows; and the injury of a Brahman. Less commonly, the panchayat handles criminal and civil cases actionable before a court of law. Panchayats of Muslim castes try only a few of the offenses, as the rest fall under fiqh, or Islāmic law. Penalties take the form of fines (paid by distributing sweets to a caste group or by contributing to a caste fund), the obligation to offer a feast to the berādarī (family brotherhood) or to Brahmans, and temporary or permanent excommunication. Pilgrimage and self-humiliation are sometimes levied, but physical punishment is now uncommon. The passing of the Evidence Act by the British in 1872, with its strict rules of admissible evidence, led to a bypassing of the panchayat by some caste members who began to take their cases directly to the state court (see Indian Evidence Act). Some castes try cases that have come up before a state court or retry them after the verdict of the state court has been given. The Congress Party in India made a point of creating village panchayats as local instruments of government, the so-called panchayat raj, or government by panchayats. source Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:• Central European University: CEU• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD• The Podcast Company: Novel Follow us on social media!• Central European University: @CEU• Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentreSubscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Taking leave of Janaka and Dasharatha, Vishvamitra returns to his own hermitage and, accepting large presents, Dasharatha too turns back to Ayodhya along with his sons and their newly-wedded brides. On the way the irascible and redoubtable Parashurama, a sworn enemy of the Kshatriyas, suddenly appears before them, axe in hand, and Vasishta and the other sages accompanying the party offer worship to him. Recitation: 00:00 - 03:50 Translation: 03:51 - 09:56

If one removes the Goggles of regionalism and linguistic chauvinism, one can understand Indian history in its splendor. Though the people of Kerala formed a part of Tamil kingdom Chera, the Nairs of Kerala had a social system of their own. Nair comes from the word Nayaka meaning chieftain or a leader. They were the leaders of a group of army of the Cheras. ‘The Nambudiri Brahmins were at the top of the ritual caste hierarchy and in that system outranked even the kings. They regarded all Nairs as shudra. Below the Nambudiris came the Tamil Brahmins and other later immigrants of the Brahmin varna. Beyond this, the precise ranking is subject to some difference in opinion. Kodoth has placed the Samantan caste below the Kshatriya rank but above the Nairs, but Gough considers that the Pushpagans and Chakyars, both of which were the highest ranked in the group of temple servants known as Ambalavasis, were ranked between the Brahmins and the Nairs, as were several other members of the Ambalavasi group. She also believes that some Nairs adopted the title of Samantan in order to emphasise their superiority over others in their caste. The unwillingness of the higher varnas to engage in what they considered to be the polluting activities of industrial and commercial activity has been cited as a reason for the region's relatively limited economic development' ‘A theory has been proposed for the origins of the caste system in the Kerala region based on the actions of the Aryan Jains introducing such distinctions prior to the 8th-century AD. This argues that the Jains needed protection when they arrived in the area and recruited sympathetic local people to provide it. These people were then distinguished from others in the local population by their occupation as protectors, with the others all being classed as out-caste. The cross-disciplinary historian Cyriac Pullapilly describes that this meant they “… were given kshatriya functions, but only shudra status. Thus originated the Nair .Taking into consideration the caste  system of Sanatana Dharma was practiced by The Tamils , Cheras were Tamils,there was no discrimination in the Tamil land on the basis of caste , the views by western authors seem to be based on the Myth of Aryan dDravidian Theory which is now proved to be false and is a piece of disinformation to divide the people of India. The fact that the Group who are currently called as Nairs were entrusted with Military duties , they were Kshatriyas. The Nairs, Chera Period. Some people think the name itself is derived from nayaka, an honorific meaning “leader of the people”, while others believe it stems from the community's association with the Naga cult of serpent worship. Christopher Fuller, an anthropologist, has said that it is likely that the first reference to the Nair community was made by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, dating from 77 AD. That work describes what is probably the Malabar coast area wherein could be found the “Nareae, who are shut in by the Capitalis range, the highest of all the mountains in India”. Fuller believes it probable that the Nareae referred to the Nairs and the Capitalis range is the Western Ghats.' Matrilineal Society. Nairs operated a matrilineal (marumakkathayam) joint family structure called tharavad, whereby descendant families of one common ancestress lived under a single roof. Tharavads consisting of 50 to 80 members were not uncommon and some with membership as high as 200 have been reported. Only the women lived in the main house; men lived in separate rooms[clarification needed] and, on some occasions, lived in a separate house nearby. The families split on instances when they became unwieldy and during crisis among its members. When it split, the family property was separated along the female lines. The karnavan, the oldest male member in the tharavad, had the decision-making authority including the power to manage common property. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ramanispodcast/message

Gotra system prevailing in India is a system of linking one to his ancestors. It is also one's identity. Gotra is referred to for all family functions, both auspicious and inauspicious. It is one of the parameters for fixing marriages. Gotra also let's one to know which Veda,Branch one belongs to. I have written on Gotra and list of Gotras of Brahmins,Vaisyas and Kshatriyas. Gotras have one,Two,Three ,Five or Seven Rishis in the Pravara. For more details please Google Gotra/Pravara ramanan50. The Varnas,wrongly called as Castes are based on Disposition and Character. Not By Birth. Each has Gotras. Many Rishis occur in different Gotras. This is because at times,the profession/ conduct of the Rishi changes. Accordingly,the offspring from the Rishi,is assigned a Gotra based on the character, Conduct, Disposition of the Rishi at the time of the conception of the child. Thus,we find Kausika and Vishwamitra Gotras,though both denote Viswamitra. Viswamitra was a Kshatriya by Disposition,as he was a king;he was assigned the Brahmana Varna on his realisation of Brahman. So we have two Gotras under him. And as later development,people have started using the Geographical locations,their professons as a part of their name. This had resulted in confusion about one's Gotra. It is difficult to trace the gotra when all the above are mixed up. Since people change professions,their Gotras change, though the founder is one of the Seven Eternal Rishis. These Rishis change for Each Manvantara. For the present Manvantara,Vaiwasvatha,the Seven Rishis are, Atri, Bhrigu Kutsa, Vasishta, Gautama, Kashyap and Angirasa. All Gotras originate from these Rishis. When one's gotra is not clear or one does not know the Gotra,it is customary to assign Kasyapa Gotra as he is the progenitor of both Mankind and Devas. ‘ For those who do not know their Gotras, either because the family lost knowledge of the same, or if a person became an orphan in childhood – the Gotra and Pravara of the family purohita becomes their Gotra. आचार्यगोत्रप्रवरानभिज्ञस्तु द्विजः स्वयम् | दत्त्वात्मानं तु कस्मैचित्तद्गोत्रप्रवरो भवेत् || Another solution given in the shastras is to accept the Kashyapa Gotra since the Shrutis declare Kashyapa as the forefather of all humanity. गोत्रस्यत्वपरिज्ञाने काश्यपं गोत्रमुच्यते | यस्मादाह श्रुतिः सर्वाः प्रजाः कश्यपसंभवाः || There is also a practice of assigning Vishnu Gotra to people who belong to Kshatriya Varna and Jambu Maharishi Gotra to Vaisyas. And there is the practice of assigning Siva Gotra to one who worships Siva. Reference and citations. Smruti muktavali – Shodasha Karma Prakarana – By Sri Krishnacharya, Shishya of Sri Raghavendra SwamijiMatsya Purana.Markandeya Purana.Valmiki Ramayana.“Rishigalu” – A book in Kannada by Sri Be. Na.https://ramanisblog.in/2019/10/18/what-is-the-gotra-if-you-do-not-know/ Vijayeendracharya, published by Sri Harivayu Prakashana, First edition, 2014 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ramanispodcast/message

Naming a newly born child is given priority in Hinduism.It is one of the most  important of the Basic 40 Duties-Samskaras. Who and When? All Varnas(loosely called as Caste now)-for explanation of this concept please read my blog ‘Caste' ,filed under Hinduism.-20th Day from the date of Birth of The Child. Sudras-21st Day. Vaisyas-16h Day. Kshatriyas-12th Day Brahmins-10th Day. In addition to this the,Namakarana or Naming ceremony may be performed on the following Nakshatras(Days on which the Stars are indicated). Aswini,Rohini,Mrigasira,Punarvasu,Pushya(Poosam), Makam,Uthiram,Hastham,Chithirai,Swathi,Anusham,Moolam,Uthiradam, Thirunonam,Avittam,Sadayam,Uthirattathi and Revathi. The First Letter of the name to begin with. Aswini-su,che cho,laa. Barani-vi,loo,le,low. Kaarthgai-a,e,oo,ea. Rohini-o,va,vi,voo. Mrigasira-ve,vo,ka,ki. Thiruvaadirai-ku, ka,nga,chcha. Punarvasu-ke,ko,ha,hi Poosam-he,hee,ho,da. Ayilyam-ti,to,de,doo. Makam-ma,mi,mu,mea. Pooram-mo,ta,ti,to Uthiram-te,to,pppa,Bi. Hastam-pu,ksha,nna,tta. Chithirai-pe,bo,ra.ri. Swathi-ru,Re,Row,ttha. Visakam-thee.,thu,they,ththo. Anusham-na,ne,noo,nea. Kettai-no,ya,yi,you. Moolam-ye,yo,ppha,phi. Pooradam-poo,ththa,ppha,.tta. Uthiraadam-be,.ppo.ja,ji. Thiruvonam-Ge,Gi,gay,go. Avittam-ga,.kki,.kku,.kke. Sadayam-go,sa,si,ssu. Poorattadhi-se,so,dha.dhi. Uthirattadhi-thu,sa,ca,tha. Revathi-the,tho,cha,chi. It is customary to name the first-born the name of the Family deity,the Second the name of the Father's Father  or Mother. The above guidelines are recommended. Nick name may be anything so long as it does not contain any inauspicious words or sounds. It is customary to name the first-born the name of the Family deity,the Second the name of the Father's Father  or Mother. The above guidelines are recommended. Nick name may be anything. https://ramanisblog-in.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/ramanisblog.in/2011/09/25/when-and-how-to-name-a-child/amp/?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16444971572363&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Framanisblog.in%2F2011%2F09%2F25%2Fwhen-and-how-to-name-a-child%2F --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ramanispodcast/message

Mike Isaacson: Ride the tiger, bro. [Theme song] Nazi SS UFOsLizards wearing human clothesHinduism's secret codesThese are nazi lies Race and IQ are in genesWarfare keeps the nation cleanWhiteness is an AIDS vaccineThese are nazi lies Hollow earth, white genocideMuslim's rampant femicideShooting suspects named Sam HydeHiter lived and no Jews died Army, navy, and the copsSecret service, special opsThey protect us, not sweatshopsThese are nazi lies Mike Isaacson: Thanks for joining us for another episode of The Nazi Lies Podcast. You can support the podcast by subscribing to our Patreon or donating to our PayPal or CashApp. Today, we're going to touch on esoteric fascism by talking to someone who actually knows something about Hinduism. Shyam Ranganathan is a translation theorist and philosopher at York University in Canada. He is the author of several books including his most recent, Hinduism: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation. Thanks for coming on the podcast Dr. Ranganathan. Shyam Ranganathan: Thanks for having me. Mike Isaacson: Okay. So the central contention in your book is that the West has gotten Hinduism wrong. How does the West get Hinduism wrong? Shyam Ranganathan: Right. It's an even weirder contention. There are two parts to this. There's first a historical observation that religious identity is actually a creation of Western colonialism. You wouldn't know this if you only paid attention to the exemplars from the Western tradition, but even then the evidence is pretty much there. Jesus was crucified by the Romans, and Christian identity was formed within the context of Roman imperialism. So even that isn't really an exception to this rule, and of course Jews were colonized by the Egyptians and the Romans and it's within the context of Roman imperialism that we first get this idea of religion, which is the precursor to our idea of religion. So the Romans had this idea that there was some type of acceptable traditional practice but wasn't the standard practice. There's some type of standard practice that everybody has to be involved in, and that evolves into our idea of secularism and then there are these kind of traditions that are tolerated. Overtime what happens is this then gets converted into a way of making sense of the European tradition as a kind of universal standard, and then anything that's got origins outside of Europe, any origins at all, ends up being called religion. Now this is most obvious, I mean, it's kind of stark when you look at the development to religious identity in Asia, because prior to Western colonialism there was no religious identity. So one of the things I point out is that if you look at the history of South Asian philosophy, they disagreed about the right and the good, and that's just what you disagree about in moral philosophy. They had a word Dharma that they use to disagree about the right or the good, and that was just how they got along. They had different views on Dharma, and some people were really famous like the Buddha. He had a very influential view and lots of followers. But under Western colonialism, there's this need to box in the people that are being colonized. And so the British end up using a Persian word for South Asia Hinduism or rather Hindu was the Persian word. And it has a similar route to our word India, and there's a place in Northern India called the Sindu, and these are all cognates. So anyways, the Persians had this way of talking to South Asians and the British decided to use that as a word for all indigenous South Asian religion, whatever that is, and it was a way to try and make sense of South Asians in contradistinction to Islam, which has a long history, but not a very ancient history in South Asia. So the British wanted to try and just have a word to refer to some type of native or indigenous practice. Now the thing is prior to this, no South Asian called themselves a Hindu, and then overnight you have like millions of people calling themselves Hindus because it happened under a condition of colonialism where people had to conform to these expectations in order to be recognized. So there's a kind of before and after moment when we want to study Hinduism, because there's the before moment where there's the entire history of South Asian philosophy and everybody was just happy to disagree with each other. And then there's the moment of naming this tradition of religion Hinduism, and then there's the after history that we have inherited where South Asians and everybody else tries to make sense of the indigenous tradition in terms of religious categories. And then they read these categories backwards into the history of South Asia. So people ask nonsensical questions like what did Hindus disagree with? What were the disagreements between Buddhists and Hindus in ancient times? There were no Hindus, there were just people who disagreed about how to live and what to do. So in so far as there's a misunderstanding, it's a misunderstanding that comes from taking really seriously these artifacts of colonialism. One of the things I point out is that religious identity is just a precursor to racial identity. So racial identity is born out of the West treating itself as a kind of standard of what it is to be a full fledged person, and then everybody's judged by way of their conformity or deviation to that. And so brown people of color we get this funny expression. Europeans don't have any color, everybody else does. And religion is the same thing, it's the racialization of BIPOC intellectual traditions. What people don't often realize is the same position said by Plato, for instance, that there's a God and afterlife. And in fact, reincarnation is treated as secular philosophy because there's no extra European origin. But if it's said by a brown guy from the Middle East, it's religion, and you can find all sorts of Atheist positions in South Asia where there's no God, history of reality is just the evolution of matter. If it's said by a brown guy 2000 years ago in Sanskrit, it's Hinduism. If it said by someone of European descent today on the basis of Democritus or something, it's secular philosophy. So the misunderstanding then is in a way a matter of taking these artifacts of Western colonialism seriously as though they map out the way things really are when in reality they're just artifacts of colonialism. Mike Isaacson: In the book, you said that Hinduism basically encapsulates four separate traditions, at least. There's the Vedic tradition, there's the Dravidian tradition, the Adivasi tradition, and then there was one other one that I forgot. Shyam Ranganathan: Oh, I see. Well, in the sense that... I didn't say that, van Buitenen said that. [The book gives the citation as Klostermaier] But I was pointing out that there is... If you try to harvest all the things that get called Hindu, there's basically nothing that's left out of it. So my analogy here is that it's an odd kind of category, a class category like fruit salad. So some categories are kind categories, and in a kind category the criterion of inclusion is also exemplified by its members. So red is a kind category. So the category of red things is the set of things that display redness. But fruit salad is a collection of different pieces of fruit, so it doesn't follow that a piece of fruit salad is a collection of different pieces of fruit. A piece of fruit salad could be a piece of apple or an orange, but when you put them together, fruit salad. And so if we want to think about Hinduism, we can certainly catalog different traditions that go into it. But I think what's really illuminating is that it wasn't created by a matter of self representation, in exactly the way racial categories are created, they were created as a way for a hostile outsider to box people in. So I just describe it, I say the founding membership criterion of something being Hindu is South Asian, no common founder. So this leads to funny logical properties like so you could be a Hindu and say a Christian in so far as you could be a Christian South Asian, but you couldn't be a Christian first and a Hindu second because Christianity is a kind category. So all Christian things are going to display some type of commitment to Jesus, etc. But just in the same way that a piece of fruit salad can be an apple but a piece of an apple is not fruit salad. So we have to just appreciate there's more than one kind of category that we're invoking when we talk about religion. And so Hinduism, even though all religious identity is really a creation or function of Western colonialism, Hinduism is odd in simply being the disagreements of philosophy. There's no common position or text or commitment that defines what it is to be Hindu. So I argue that thinking about Hinduism historically, not what comes after people try to make sense of it as a religion, but historically has just this openness to diversity of philosophical disagreement is a model for us to think about how we can move forward from a Westernized world where there's one tradition that's used as a standard to judge everything else. Mike Isaacson: Okay. So let's jump into the part that everybody's looking for, the fascist part. So esoteric fascists make a lot of noise about living in the Kali Yuga. “We're living in the Kali Yuga. Everything's fucked. Ride the tiger.” So what is the Kali Yuga? What is a yuga? Are we in the Kali Yuga? And what would that mean for us? Shyam Ranganathan: So a yuga is a period or an aeon. It's a large increment of time. And in many stories that are part of the Hindu tradition, there are these cosmologies that divide up time into the cyclical patterns. Just like Monday will repeat itself next week and so will Saturday, the yuga as well too, but they're large scale increments of time. And according to one very popular cosmology, there are four basic yugas and it starts off with the best yuga, where it's all based on truth. And then it's a slow descent to the fourth, which we're supposed to be in Kali Yuga. And so what defines Kali Yuga in a lot of descriptions is that it's just this moral degradation. And but by moral degradation, the descriptions usually turn on violence, fear and anger as being defining features of Kali Yuga. So I think it's funny the fascists like this because they're actually evidence that we're in Kali cause they trade in things like fear and anger. So if we're in Kali Yuga, it's their fault, we can blame them for it. Mike Isaacson: Okay. You ready for some fascist lore? Shyam Ranganathan: Sure, yeah. Mike Isaacson: Okay. Strap in for this one. So Greco-French Nazi and self-styled Hindu Savitri Devi like to claim that Hitler was an avatar of Vishnu, specifically the ninth avatar, describing him as a man against time and the greatest European who ever lived. I don't want to spend too much time on Hitler but I do want to talk about his Vishnu and his avatars. So what kinds of people were Vishnu's avatars and what did they do in life? Shyam Ranganathan: Yeah, so I want to take a step back before I answer this question and just provide some context for deities from South Asia. So one of the important traditions of philosophy in South Asia, and we don't have this philosophical theory anywhere else is yoga or sometimes called devotion. And so I'm going to distinguish yoga from three very common ethical theories we have and three very common theories in the Western tradition. One is virtue ethics, the idea that in order to know the right thing to do you have to be a good person. So theism is a version of virtue ethics, God is the ultimately good person whose preferences are what we should follow. Then there's consequentialism, this idea that there are these good ends that we should aim for and then the right thing to do is instrumental to that. And then there's deontology, the idea that there are a bunch of good things that we can do, but only some of them we have special reason to do. These are very popular, salient, iconic, ethical theories in the Western tradition. We find them also in South Asia, but South Asians also had a fourth ethical theory, namely that... Well, the right thing to do involves devotion to an ideal of right doing, and then as you perfect that devotional practice, you bring about the good, but the good is just the success of that practice. So when we look at deities in South Asia, they often play a role not as good agents whose preferences are what we should follow, but rather as procedural ideals, ways of living or choosing that when we are devoted to we work on emulating those kinds of procedures ourselves. So Vishnu represents one of the essential features of the ultimate procedural ideal according to yoga, which is unconservatism, so self-challenge, not being ruled by one's own past choices, working through difficulties, and his partner Lakshmi is the goddess of self-determination, she's depicted as a lotus who sits on herself. And these two, being unconservative and self-governing, make up the ideal of what it is to be a person in the yoga tradition. So when you read a lot of the stuff about Vishnu, it makes more sense when you realize that he's that procedural ideal. Now there's a story as to why he has to have avatars, I'm sure there's lots of stories. But one story is that he was just kind of doing his own thing his realm. And these youthful people who look like kids approached the gate and he had entrusted these two guards to act as sentries, and the guards wouldn't let them in to see Vishnu because they assumed they were... They claimed to be sages, but they looked too young. And so they barred entry to these very useful looking child-like figures. But they were really sages and they look really young because of their personal work and transformation. And so they curse the gatekeepers and then Vishnu has to take responsibility for that for empowering those gatekeepers. Now, one of the interesting features of this story is that it's a criticism of patriarchy. Patriarchy is the theory that, well, not only are men superior to women, but importantly, age is an important factor in authority or being taken seriously. So the older are treated as though they are to be deferred to over the anger. But also there's this prejudice that set foot, it's a prejudice against novelty. So this story is a metaphor for that, that there are these kind of novel-looking people come along and they're not allowed to see Vishnu. So then he has to... So the story goes... Anyway, these are all thought experiments, they're just ways to think about what these ideals are like. The story goes that he has to take on these life experiences to work through basically all the issues and prejudices and problems that gave rise to that encounter. And so he has lots of different incarnations or avatars. They span species. And they choose to kind of mimic a bit of our understanding of evolution, starts with a fish and an eternal amphibian and then a boar and then half-lion half man, small man. And in every case, in virtually every incarnation, there are some themes about Vishnu. First, he is a deity of working on problems, overcoming challenges, but there's always a theme of friendship, loyalty, and diversity. So Vishnu himself presents in these diverse ways. And his friends are diverse too, and they come from all sorts of different walks of life and species. So it's really weird that fascists think that Hitler could be an avatar of Vishnu because Hitler wasn't really interested in diversity, and he also wasn't really interested in overcoming his prejudices and his assumptions. So that's entirely bizarre. And another thing that's entirely bizarre is that Vishnu as someone who's challenging himself is aware of himself by self triangulation. And that triangulation is when you look at something from two different points, but then he also triangulates the activity of triangulation. And that's actually represented as a disc. But if you look at the disc, it's got superimposed triangles that look like the star of David. So that's even weirder that Nazis would think that there's anything going on with Vishnu there. So, yeah, so I would say that as a kind of character in the stories is he's compassionate, social relationships are important and so is diversity. And one of the themes of a lot of the stories where Vishnu is concerned is that you make room for yourself or Vishnu makes room for himself by making room for other people. So he's the preserver of a world of diverse beings. Mike Isaacson: Okay. Now surprise, surprise, there's a big reverence for caste among the esoteric fascists. So what is caste? Where did caste come from? What place does it hold in Hinduism? Shyam Ranganathan: All right. So caste, there's two things going on. There's three things actually, I think, going on when we think about caste. First of all, I think it's really important to note, and I'm always surprised that people don't talk about this, they're not aware of this, that clearest philosophical defense of caste is to be found in Plato's Republic. And Plato argues there that there are three castes. There's kind of work or appetitive class and there's kind of implementing motivative class and then the philosophers who rules. And the state is on Plato's account the soul writ large. So just as the soul has to be, the individual soul has to be governed with reason at the top providing both motivation and appetite their proper place, so to in society should there be this hierarchy, and the hierarchy should be a kind of meritocracy. Now, one of the really important features of Plato's theory of caste, well, there's a couple of interesting features. First of all, it's hierarchical. So it's really important in the Plato story that there are some people who really should be in the position of telling other people what to do. And other people would really be smart to listen to what these wise people have to tell them, but because they're not smart, they're not going to be able to recognize that. So Plato actually thinks you have to lie to them, and you have to tell them a noble lie that they were all created by the same loving God. So I think when people think about caste, a lot of times their idea of caste is actually this Platonic idea where there are people who need to be directed, and then there are people who need to do the directing. Now in South Asia, caste goes all the way back to the start of the Indo-European peoples there. So you can find in the Vedas that caste there, I think, was different because one of the things that's really different about South Asia or rather one of the things that's really peculiar about the Western tradition is that in the Western tradition community was the basic category of political explanation. So not the individual, it was community. So you understood your place, what to do by understanding your place in your society. So we find this in Plato, find it in Aristotle, and there's a long tradition of thinking just this way in the Western tradition. But in South Asia community was not the basic unit of explanation. So if you were going to understand caste, caste allows people to have a vocational identity that they can pass, that they can inherit and then pass down, but it allows them to be modular. So they can actually float in and out of different societies because they understand what kind of contribution they could make if they were part of a society. And so that way of thinking about caste takes away a lot of the hierarchy only because it's not tied to community in the way you find it in Plato. Now in South Asia, there is a long tradition of one caste, the Brahmins, of them doing all the writing. So what ends up happening and the Brahmins are kind of the intelligentsia, the literati, and they're tasked with conserving the Vedas, which is this kind of ancient corpus of the Indo-European peoples. But they're also often the intellectuals and the advisers and stuff, but they have a class interest in making themselves seem like they're top of the [heap 26.23]. So in most of the literature that was created by Brahmins, you get this story of a hierarchy where the Brahmins are supposed to be regarded as the most important. Now the funny thing about the Brahmins is that they weren't a rich group. They didn't have a lot of money. Just that most had the ability to legitimize and influence political leaders. So if you could get a Brahmin on board, it was like saying, "Oh, well, this intellectual approves of what I'm doing." So in Brahminical literature, there's a lot of propaganda where these Brahmins try to tell the story of themselves at the top of this heap. And like most people before I started doing, well, becoming a scholar of South Asia, I believed that that's what caste was. And I remember very clearly sitting in my historiography class in Master's in South Asian studies and we're doing the history of history-- is what historiography is— and I learned for the first time that even though there's a chart for your class, which is a martial class that's supposed to be the ruling class, there were lots of kings from various castes. There were kings in dynasties from the Shudra caste, which is according to Brahminical reckoning, the lowest caste because they do all the kind of the hard labor, etc. So there's this kind of story that gets told in literature, and then there's the reality of how people related to each other. And so the story that gets told in literature is this very stylized for caste story where there is the Brahmin intellectuals, and then there are the warrior Kshatriyas, and then there are these kind of merchant class folks, and then there's a fourth caste which are the Shudras, who kind of do the heavy lifting. But the reality of South Asia is there's just a million castes. Everybody has their own story about how important they are and everybody has a caste. So Jews, Christians, Muslims, Jains, Buddhists, it's just kind of what South Asians do. They have this history of understanding themselves in terms of this idea of inherited vocation. So when the British come along and they decide that they need to figure out what's going on with these South Asians, they turn to the Brahmins and the literati who have all these stories. And so one of the funny things that starts to happen is these stories and these ritual manuals that were largely just part fantasy, part propaganda, part self idealization, gets legitimized as Hindu law. So these books where you see Brahmins talking about ritual purity and how they're so important gets retold in the colonial period as what was law for Hindus prior to colonialism. Now, there are lots of funny things about that. First of all, there was no Hinduism before British colonialism. And second of all, you have this writing of a history based on the literature of a small group of people who had a class interest. Now once this gets created as the narrative, it starts to become more and more real. And so colonialism really then ends up weaponizing caste in ways that it was probably far more benign. I'm not saying that it was perfect, people use distinctions as a way to be crappy to each other all the time, but it gets ramped up in terms of its weaponization because it gets part of the official story that people believe under colonialism and then it just ends up being what people inherit. And so there's this fantasy or myth that colonialism in South Asia is over, it's not cause people still believe all these things that were formulated during that time. Mike Isaacson: Okay. So lastly, you reserve an entire chapter in your book to discuss what you call the global alt-right. How has the alt-right interacted with Hinduism? Shyam Ranganathan: Yeah, so that chapter is me providing an explanation for how conservativism and xenophobia and this idea of the new conservatives, so more conservative than conservatives, it's this kind of contemporary invention of some type of path that doesn't really exist except in these people's heads. How does that happen at all? So as I was writing it, things were starting to get pretty wild in the US with the rise of the far right. And for South Asianist it wasn't anything particularly new because South Asianists have been watching the rise of the far right in South Asia for some time. And so in this chapter, I'm thinking about or I'm asking the question of how is this a global... In what way is this a global phenomenon? Or how can you account for the same weird thing happening in different places? Now in the case of South Asia, it's particularly weird because South Asians historically were super open to diversity. So people fleeing persecution elsewhere often had a place to settle down in South Asia. I don't know how old the Bene Israel is, but there's a group of Jews who've been there for some reckonings to millennia in India. And then the Farsis when Iran became Islamicized, they had to leave and a large number of those folks settled down in India, and Christians came and it was just... And the thing about South Asia traditionally, which is something that I was interested in in this book and in this chapter, was a place where two things happened. People were okay with disagreeing and they also thought that they were right. So everybody thought that they were right and everybody else was wrong, but they were also okay for that just to be the way things are. So they were okay that they thought that they were right and everybody was wrong, and they were okay to live like that, which meant that they were really okay with diversity. So diversity for them wasn't this kind of liberal relativism or skepticism that you see now, where people go, "Oh, it's just all about your perspective." People took their philosophical commitment seriously, but they also had this long tradition of not thinking that somehow the existence of other people who didn't agree with them was a problem for them. Most people thought, "Oh, well, it's a problem..." If I was really committed to some philosophical position, I might think it's a problem for the people who don't agree with me cause they're just going to lose out. But the reality is that I'm just still going to do my own thing. And that was really a very dominant feature of the history of South Asia. And I think it's quite historically unique amongst the three major philosophical traditions with ancient roots. So in China you have Confucianism from ancient times really stressed the importance of social cohesion and conformity. And then there was Daoism that also rejected that, but there is a strong tradition in Chinese thinking about the importance of social agreement and practice. That's a major mind in Confucian thinking. And if you go back all the way to the beginning of the Western tradition with Plato and Aristotle, it was all about the centralization of all decisions in a community in the hands of a few elevated individuals. But in South Asia there was always this kind of decentralized idea. There were empires and there were kingdoms, but they tended to be fluid and people were just far more okay with diversity and disagreement. So one of the questions I ask is how is it that South Asians can go from being so comfortable with diversity in descent to being so fascist and xenophobic? So in South Asia with the rise of the Hindu right, you see all this Islamophobia, and there's this creation of this kind of very strange Brahminical Hinduism that tries to deny caste and historical injustices against marginalized peoples. And there's also just this rise of violence and lynchings or perceived slights against being Hindu. So it's remarkable, within a span of few hundred years, a whole continent, sub-continent where people knew how to get along with diversity, a large number of those people lost the ability. They went from being reasonable about diversity to being progressively and increasingly unreasonable. Not everybody but enough people to cement a new political reality of the Hindu right. So most people who try to write about these things, the phenomena fascism in the far right, etc, they'll focus on the values of the people in question. And my account of this is that it's not about the values that people say they profess because so many times you would have say Christians talking about love and then participating in genocide or forced conversion, colonialism, and kind of horrible... There's a kind of disconnect between the values that people pass and what they're actually doing. And so my story says, well, let's look at what model of thought people are operating with, not the values that they claim to endorse, but how they model thought. And so there's two options that I compare. One option is the option that the model of thought that characterizes the Western tradition, there's no second model of thought in the Western tradition. There's this default model of thought. And it's the idea that thought is the same as linguistic meaning or the meaning of what you say. And I started to realize that this was just this hegemonic view when I was writing my dissertation on translation. And the connection between thought and speech goes back all the way to the Greeks who had one word for thought, reason, speech, logos. So if you believe that thought is the meaning of what you say, then you're going to have difficulty understanding what you wouldn't say. So everything then becomes assessable by way of whatever your culture in codes and its language. And at the same time, you lose the ability to understand alternative perspectives because understanding for you becomes a matter of explanation in terms of what you agree to. So it's a very debilitating model. I started to realize not only that it was ubiquitous, but it causes all these technical problems in trying to make sense of translation, etc. And I was thinking about alternative models of thought, and there's a South Asian model of thought that avoids all these problems where you think about thought as what you can do with something meaningful. And so I set up this thought experiment. The thought experiment is... I've written about it in a few different places, some places planted ethics, some places planted subcontinent Dharma, but the thought experiment goes like this: You have a large area where there's several different communities and each community has a national ethical identity. And in every community, the ethical identity is going to be different, it's going to be distinctive, and their word ethics or morality in the case in South Asia Dharma is going to be defined in their language, in their intellect, as their national theory. So you could imagine a place where ethics or morality is just whatever Jesus said. So that ends up you have this kind of Christian nation. Then next to them, you would have this thing you could imagine a Muslim nation where it's whatever Muhammad said. And then in the thought experiment in the South Asian version, I just populate this place with all sorts of different ethical theories, Dharma theories, that people entertained in South Asia. And I asked, "Well, how are they going to understand each other?" Because when everybody says something like hitting your neighbor is not Dharma, they actually are saying something with the different meaning because Dharma means something different in each of their languages. So if you adopt this yogic approach to thought, you would say, "Well, the thought isn't actually the linguistic meaning, but it's the disciplinary use that we can make of it. So insofar as all of those sentences could be used to articulate a philosophical thought about hitting your neighbor being inappropriate, everybody could use their native intellectual resources without having to buy the values of their culture, and it would allow them to also be critical of the values of their culture. But let's say we assume the standard Western account of thought, where thought is just the meaning of what you say, anybody who operates with this will never be able to understand anything except for the values encoded into their language as just the only possible answer. And so what that then does for people is it makes them incapable of operating successfully in a world of diversity because everybody else will seem like a threat to their moral identity. And so what I argue is that the rise of the far right if you really want to understand it, you have to understand it in terms of this adoption of a really bad model of understanding. And I think it's actually a pretty good explanation. So for instance, one of the things I talk about is antithematism, them as in t h e m. And the thems are a bunch of people who are dispersed, and they have two linguistic identities. They have the linguistic identity of the society they live in, and then they have some historical them identity. And if we operated with the yoga model of thought, it would be fine. We could understand them just like we could understand anybody else. But if we switch to the Western models thought, where thought is the meaning of what you say, these people start to seem like double agents because once they participate, they seem to participate in your culture's linguistic practices, but they also have an allegiance to another value system in another language. So I think, for instance, it explains things like an antisemitism, why was there antisemitism in Europe but not in South Asia? Why does, for instance, why were South Asians generally okay with Muslims and then once they started becoming westernized by adopting this linguistic model of thought, all of a sudden Islamophobia becomes increasingly a problem?. So a lot of people might not be aware of this, but there was one language Hindustani, and then when the British came along and gave South Asians this idea that they had a religious identity or at least there was such a thing as Hindus, then they had to split up the language into two languages, a Muslim language and a Hindu language. And so that's where you get the birth of Urdu, a Muslim language written with an Arabic script in Hindi which is supposed to be a Hindu language written in Devanagari. But it's the same language which is just kind of remarkable. But this is what colonialism does, it convinces people that they are tied to their cultural identity by way of some kind of external threat. And then once they're tied to this cultural identity, they then experience the world from this corner of terror where everyone else is out to get them. And so that's my explanation for what we're seeing in South Asia, but also I think this explains ways in which the far right in Europe and in North America is a continuation of Western colonialism. Mike Isaacson: Antithematism, I like it. Shyam Ranganathan: Antithematism, yeah. They were the thems and everybody would refer to them as the thems. And whether you were scared or creeped out depended upon what model of thought you adopted. Mike Isaacson: Okay. Well, Dr. Ranganathan, thank you so much for coming on The Nazi Lies Podcast to talk to us about Hinduism. Again, the book is Hinduism: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation out from Routledge. Thanks again. Shyam Ranganathan: Thank you so much. Mike Isaacson: If you want to support the guest fees and transcription fees we pay to run The Nazi Lies Podcast, subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/nazilies and we'll send you some stickers and stuff. If you'd like to make a one time donation, you can send your payment via PayPal or CashApp to user NaziLies. Include your mailing address so I can throw you some merch.  [Theme song]

This classification into four tiers of social structure can be understood in different contexts. One way of looking at it is, those who did not take responsibility for their own lives or those who did not take responsibility with the situations in which they lived in, such people were termed as #Shudras; he is taking responsibility only for his survival, nothing more. The #Vaishya is somebody who takes responsibility for himself, his family and his community. So trading was given to him. Today, the whole system, the whole business atmosphere is very different, but in those times the trader is somebody who stored up grains and all the necessary things that people would need. When there was a scarcity, he gave it out to the community. So in every community there were #Vaishyas who took care of this aspect of life – they stored commodities and gave it out when it was needed. These are people who took responsibility for their family and to some extent the smaller community around them. Kshatriyas were people who took responsibility for the whole community or the country. They were the people who bore arms to defend their nation and community and were willing to die to protect the people. They were given administration, and the military apparatus were in their hands. The brahmins were given education. Spiritual processes and religion were in his hands because the word ‘brahmin' itself comes from this, that it is somebody who has realized that he is the Brahman or the ‘Divine.' So a #brahmin comes from an ultimate sense of responsibility, an unlimited sense of responsibility. Only a person who has an unlimited sense of responsibility should handle education and religion because they were considered as the most vital aspects of any society. #indiapodcast #ashishpmishra #trendingpodcast #hindipodcast --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ashish-p-mishra/support

This classification into four tiers of social structure can be understood in different contexts. One way of looking at it is, those who did not take responsibility for their own lives or those who did not take responsibility with the situations in which they lived in, such people were termed as #Shudras; he is taking responsibility only for his survival, nothing more. The #Vaishya is somebody who takes responsibility for himself, his family and his community. So trading was given to him. Today, the whole system, the whole business atmosphere is very different, but in those times the trader is somebody who stored up grains and all the necessary things that people would need. When there was a scarcity, he gave it out to the community. So in every community there were #Vaishyas who took care of this aspect of life – they stored commodities and gave it out when it was needed. These are people who took responsibility for their family and to some extent the smaller community around them. Kshatriyas were people who took responsibility for the whole community or the country. They were the people who bore arms to defend their nation and community and were willing to die to protect the people. They were given administration, and the military apparatus were in their hands. The brahmins were given education. Spiritual processes and religion were in his hands because the word ‘brahmin' itself comes from this, that it is somebody who has realized that he is the Brahman or the ‘Divine.' So a #brahmin comes from an ultimate sense of responsibility, an unlimited sense of responsibility. Only a person who has an unlimited sense of responsibility should handle education and religion because they were considered as the most vital aspects of any society. #indiapodcast #ashishpmishra #trendingpodcast #hindipodcast --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ashish-p-mishra/support

In this episode, host Donna Truong speaks with Dr. Avinash Singh about "What even is the Caste System in India?" Dr. Singh explains:How did the caste system beginThe different castes - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, and Dalits (Untouchables)How are people categorized into these castesEffects of caste system in contemporary India And more!Dr. Avinash Singh grew up in India and has experienced the caste system firsthand. He went to Panjab University and earned his Ph.D. in English Literature and later went to  Brandeis University and earned his Ph.D. in History with a specialty in Modern South Asia. He currently works as a history, South Asian studies, and  International and Global Studies Program professor at his alma mater Brandeis University.A huge thank you to Joseph McDade for letting us use his song Elevation as his theme song!Don't forget to rate, review, and follow this podcast! And, follow us on Instagram to get updated on our latest episodes and have easy access to DM us about a topic that makes you wonder "What even is that?"

Parashurama, one of the 10 avatars of Vishnu, was born to the Brahmin sage Jamadagni and Princess Renuka, a Kshatriya. Suspecting Renuka of infidelity, Jamadagni ordered Parashurama to behead her, which he did. When his father was slain by a Kshatriya, he killed all the male Kshatriyas who lived on earth 21 successive times. (including the new generations). The Gayatri Mantra of Lord Parasurama is believed to improve the relationship among family members, especially parents. It also makes one courageous and victorious. The best time to chant it is Ekadasi thithi and Saturdays. It should be recited 11, 108, or 1008 times.   If you would like to find out more about your chart or have a question about astrology you would love the answer to, please do connect with us at www.astroved.com Follow AstroVed on IG, Twitter, and FB @AstroVed

Parashurama, one of the 10 avatars of Vishnu, was born to the Brahmin sage Jamadagni and Princess Renuka, a Kshatriya. Suspecting Renuka of infidelity, Jamadagni ordered Parashurama to behead her, which he did. When his father was slain by a Kshatriya, he killed all the male Kshatriyas who lived on earth 21 successive times. (including the new generations). The Gayatri Mantra of Lord Parasurama is believed to improve the relationship among family members, especially parents. It also makes one courageous and victorious. The best time to chant it is Ekadasi thithi and Saturdays. It should be recited 11, 108, or 1008 times.   If you would like to find out more about your chart or have a question about astrology you would love the answer to, please do connect with us at www.astroved.com Follow AstroVed on IG, Twitter, and FB @AstroVed

Os Pândavas estão vivos! E a notícia chega a Hastinapura.

The connection between the Greeks and Sanatana Dharma ,Hinduism goes back a long time. The Vedic Literature,Puranas, Tamil Sangam Literature and Tamil Epics speak of Greeks, their riches and their valor. It is also noted that the Greeks lived among the Vedic Hindus. The Greeks were known as Yonas and Yavanas. The Yavanas, Greeks  were a part of those people considered as Mielchas, meaning those who strayed from the Vedic Dharma. Thee were initially following the Sanatana Dharma. They had caste system along the lines of Hinduism. Many of them were considered to be Kshatriyas and Vaisyas. ‘ Yavanas were described to be beyond Gandhara. There was another country mentioned in the epic as Parama Yona, in the far west of Yavana. This could be the Ionia ofGreece, somehow related to Indian Ionians or Yavanas. The name Yavana could be the Sanskritized form of the name Ionia. Yavanas, Sakas, Pahlavas and Hunas were sometimes described as Mlechhas. Sometimes along with them, the Madras, Kambojas, Kekeyas, Sindhus and Gandharas were included. This name was used to indicate their cultural differences with the Vedic culture, prevailed in the Kuru-Panchala Kingdoms. “… in the ports of southern India, where the early Tamil poems of uncertain date speak of a settlement of the Yavanas.”(1) The same author (2) does not follow the assumption that Yavanas were Roman traders, although she points out that between the first-second cent BC up to and included the third-fourth cent AD, rightly or wrongly “the term yavana denoted an Ionian Greek”.(3) On pages 83–5 she makes mention of early Indian literature where foreigners were dubbed “yavana”, and points to an Asokan inscription where a border-people is given this appellation. In central and western India, she says, Yavana “figure prominently as donors to the Buddhist Sangha”.(4) (1) H.P.Ray, The Winds of Change, Delhi, 1994:49, 84; (2) ibid p. 52; (3) ibid p. 54; (4) ibid p. 84.. Thus the Vedic society acknowledged their extra ordinary skills, but kept them as outcasts. An account in the epic depicts Yavanas as the descendants of Turvasu, one of the cursed sons of king Yayati. Only the fifth son Puru's line was considered to be the successors of Yayati's throne, as he cursed the other four sons and denied them kingship. Pauravas inherited the Yayati's original empire and stayed in the Gangatic plain who later created the Kuru and Panchala Kingdoms. They were the followers of proper Vedic culture. Yavana was the name of one of the sons of Maharaja Yayati who was given the part of the world known as Turkey to rule. Therefore the Turks are Yavanas due to being descendants of Maharaja Yavana. The Yavanas were therefore kshatriyas, and later on, by giving up the brahminical culture, they became mleccha-yavanas. Descriptions of the Yavanas are in the Mahabharata (Adi-parva 85.34). Another prince called Turvasu was also known as Yavana, and his country was conquered by Sahadeva, one of thePandavas. The western Yavana joined with Duryodhana in the Battle of Kurukshetra under the pressure of Karna. It is also foretold that these Yavanas also would invadeIndia in the Kaliyuga . (Srimad Bhagavatam 2.4.18 [1])Examples of direct association of these with the Greeks include: The mention of the “Yona king Antiochus” in the Edicts of Ashoka (280 BCE) The mention of the “Yona king Antialcidas” in the Heliodorus pillar in Vidisha (110 BCE) King Menander and his bodyguard of “500 Yonas” in the Milinda Panha. The description of Greek astrology and Greek terminology in the Yavanajataka (“Sayings of the Yavanas”) (150 CE). The mention of “Alexandria, the city of the Yonas” in the Mahavamsa, Chapter 29 (4th century CE). https://ramanisblog.in/2015/04/16/greeks-yavanas-of-turvasu-yayatis-son-fought-mahabharata-war/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ramanispodcast/message

Im 18. Kapitel der Bhagavad Gita wird uns der Yoga der Unterscheidung zwischen dem Feld und dem Kenner des Feldes gelehrt. Swami Sivananda erläutert dir diesen Vers des 13. Kapitels der Bhagavad Gita, der großartigen Schrift über Yoga, über spirituelles Leben und Meditation. Lies hier den Kommentar: http://schriften.yoga-vidya.de/bhagavad-gita/. Seminare zu Bhagavad Gita und indischen Schriften https://www.yoga-vidya.de/seminare/interessengebiet/indische-schriften.html. Alles zum Thema Bhagavad Gita zu finden auf http://schriften.yoga-vidya.de/bhagavad-gita. Besuche unsere Online Seminare:www.yoga-vidya.de/live-online/ und unterstütze Yoga Vidya mit Deiner Spende: www.yoga-vidya.de/spenden.

Im 18. Kapitel der Bhagavad Gita wird uns der Yoga der Unterscheidung zwischen dem Feld und dem Kenner des Feldes gelehrt. Swami Sivananda erläutert dir diesen Vers des 13. Kapitels der Bhagavad Gita, der großartigen Schrift über Yoga, über spirituelles Leben und Meditation. Lies hier den Kommentar: http://schriften.yoga-vidya.de/bhagavad-gita/. Seminare zu Bhagavad Gita und indischen Schriften https://www.yoga-vidya.de/seminare/interessengebiet/indische-schriften.html. Alles zum Thema Bhagavad Gita zu finden auf http://schriften.yoga-vidya.de/bhagavad-gita. Besuche unsere Online Seminare:www.yoga-vidya.de/live-online/ und unterstütze Yoga Vidya mit Deiner Spende: www.yoga-vidya.de/spenden.

Im 18. Kapitel der Bhagavad Gita wird uns der Yoga der Unterscheidung zwischen dem Feld und dem Kenner des Feldes gelehrt. Swami Sivananda erläutert dir diesen Vers des 13. Kapitels der Bhagavad Gita, der großartigen Schrift über Yoga, über spirituelles Leben und Meditation. Lies hier den Kommentar: http://schriften.yoga-vidya.de/bhagavad-gita/. Seminare zu Bhagavad Gita und indischen Schriften https://www.yoga-vidya.de/seminare/interessengebiet/indische-schriften.html. Alles zum Thema Bhagavad Gita zu finden auf http://schriften.yoga-vidya.de/bhagavad-gita. Besuche unsere Online Seminare:www.yoga-vidya.de/live-online/ und unterstütze Yoga Vidya mit Deiner Spende: www.yoga-vidya.de/spenden.

 Parashurama kills Kartavirya According to the Hindu scriptures, Lord Vishnu appeared on earth nine times to purge the earth of evil (his 10th appearance is yet to happen). Parashurama was the sixth incarnation. In this episode, Rishi Lomasha tells the Pandavas the story of Parashurama and how he passed his father Rishi Jamadagni's cruel test and later killed the evil King KartyaVirya who had a thousand arms. Parashurama later went on to cleanse the earth of the evil Kshatriyas for twenty-one times before retiring to his hermitage in the Mahendra Mountains. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mahabharatastories/support

This is the story of Babruvahana. He was the son of the almighty warrior prince Arjun and went on to defeat him in a battle. Born to Arjun and Chitrangadha of Manipur, he had to do fight his war to keep the pride of Kshatriyas alive and also to relieve Arjun from a curse given by Bishma's mother during the Mahabharata. Arjun was then bought to life again using the magical gem Sanjeevani.  Join us as the Katha Kuteera team narrates the story of the son of Arjun, Babruvahana, in a format that kids can relate to. www.chimesradio.comhttps://www.facebook.com/chimesradio/https://www.instagram.com/vrchimesradio/https://twitter.com/ChimesRadio Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/chimesradio See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While this episode is controversial because of the wrong way caste system is implemented in Indian society since age immemorial, our scriptures are very clear: four castes exist because of the differing mental attributes and the preference to the type of work we all have, and NOT determined by birth. The head of the Brahman is imagined as brahmana (brahmin or the knowledge sharer, the shoulders as Kshatriyas (or protectors), the thighs as vysyas or traders and the feet as sudras or people who serve other three. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/happilyoga/message

The Self is that for whom the Brahmanas and Kshatriyas are like boiled rice and death is like a pickle. What is the significance of this analogy? This is the last mantra of Chapter 1 Valli 2 Mantra 25 Valli 3 begins with the description of Jiva and Ishwara being in our heart, enjoying the results of the action. The knowers of Brahman and ritualists both agree on this. But in them, the Jiva is the doer and enjoyer. Ishwara is not. The purpose of this description is to elaborate on the path of vidya and avidya and the results that one will attain through this path. This sets the background to elaborate on the chariot analogy which is the main theme of this valli.

Krishna präsentiert Arjuna die vor ihm liegende Situation als herausragende Möglichkeit, die mit seiner weltlichen Rolle als Kshatriya verbundenen Aufgaben zu erfüllen. Mit diesem Kampf würde er sein Karma erfüllen, dieses ausfüllen. Mehr Informationen über Yoga, Meditation und Spiritualität findest du hier.

Krishna präsentiert Arjuna die vor ihm liegende Situation als herausragende Möglichkeit, die mit seiner weltlichen Rolle als Kshatriya verbundenen Aufgaben zu erfüllen. Mit diesem Kampf würde er sein Karma erfüllen, dieses ausfüllen. Mehr Informationen über Yoga, Meditation und Spiritualität findest du hier.

Sukadev liest verschiedene Karma Yoga Verse aus der Bhagavad Gita, die darauf hinweisen, wie man seine eigene Wesensnatur bzw. seine eigene Lebensaufgabe oder Pflicht herausbekommt, wie sie entsteht und wie man diese am besten erfüllt. Diese Verse sind: Kap. 18, Vers 41: `Die Pflichten von Brahmanen, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas und auch von Shudras sind so verteilt, wie es den sich aus ihrem Wesen ergebenden Eigenschaften entspricht.´ Kap. 18, Vers 47: `Besser ist die eigene Pflicht, (sogar) ohne Verdienst, als die richtig erfüllte Pflicht eines anderen. Wer die Pflicht erfüllt, die von der eigenen Natur bestimmt ist, sündigt nicht.´ Der Beitrag YVS120 – Wesensnatur (Swarupa, Prakriti, Swabhava) und eigene Pflicht (Dharma) erschien zuerst auf Yoga Vidya Blog - Yoga, Meditation und Ayurveda.

Sukadev liest verschiedene Karma Yoga Verse aus der Bhagavad Gita, die darauf hinweisen, wie man seine eigene Wesensnatur bzw. seine eigene Lebensaufgabe oder Pflicht herausbekommt, wie sie entsteht und wie man diese am besten erfüllt. Diese Verse sind: Kap. 18, Vers 41: `Die Pflichten von Brahmanen, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas und auch von Shudras sind so verteilt, wie es den sich aus ihrem Wesen ergebenden Eigenschaften entspricht.´Kap. 18, Vers 47: `Besser ist die eigene Pflicht, (sogar) ohne Verdienst, als die richtig erfüllte Pflicht eines anderen. Wer die Pflicht erfüllt, die von der eigenen Natur bestimmt ist, sündigt nicht.´Kap. 18, Vers 60: `Oh Arjuna, durch das aus deiner Natur stammende Karma gebunden, wirst du auch das hilflos tun, was du aus Täuschung nicht zu tun wünschst.´ Was beinhaltet Swarupa, Prakriti, Swabhava = die eigene Wesensnatur? TalenteFähigkeitenCharakter, Persönlichkeit, TemperamentStärken/SchwächenInnere Stimme, Herz Swabhava ist nicht zu verwechseln mit Raga bzw. Dwesha. Es meint vielmehr das, wofür du brennst. Folge der Stimme deines Herzens. Aber folge ihm, ohne `mögen´ und `nicht mögen´. Sei dir bewusst: Wofür brennst du?Was gibt dir Energie? Wo ist deine Freude? Die Bhagavad Gita sagt: Lebe deine Natur (Prakriti) Im Ayurveda heißt es: Übertreibe es nicht - sonst kommst du in die Vikriti.Hänge aber auch nicht daran, denn Svadharma ergibt sich aus Svarupa bzw. Swabhava und Svakarma. Dieses ist ein Vortrag aus der Vortragsreihe „Yoga Vidya Schulung – Der ganzheitliche Yogaweg“ sowie ein Teil der 2-jährigen Yogalehrerausbildung , ein Vortrag im Rahmen der „Karma-Yoga-Reihe“ und ein Vortrag im Rahmen der „Bhagavad Gita Vortragsreihe“.

Sukadev liest verschiedene Karma Yoga Verse aus der Bhagavad Gita, die darauf hinweisen, wie man seine eigene Wesensnatur bzw. seine eigene Lebensaufgabe oder Pflicht herausbekommt, wie sie entsteht und wie man diese am besten erfüllt. Diese Verse sind: Kap. 18, Vers 41: `Die Pflichten von Brahmanen, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas und auch von Shudras sind so verteilt, wie es den sich aus ihrem Wesen ergebenden Eigenschaften entspricht.´Kap. 18, Vers 47: `Besser ist die eigene Pflicht, (sogar) ohne Verdienst, als die richtig erfüllte Pflicht eines anderen. Wer die Pflicht erfüllt, die von der eigenen Natur bestimmt ist, sündigt nicht.´Kap. 18, Vers 60: `Oh Arjuna, durch das aus deiner Natur stammende Karma gebunden, wirst du auch das hilflos tun, was du aus Täuschung nicht zu tun wünschst.´ Was beinhaltet Swarupa, Prakriti, Swabhava = die eigene Wesensnatur? TalenteFähigkeitenCharakter, Persönlichkeit, TemperamentStärken/SchwächenInnere Stimme, Herz Swabhava ist nicht zu verwechseln mit Raga bzw. Dwesha. Es meint vielmehr das, wofür du brennst. Folge der Stimme deines Herzens. Aber folge ihm, ohne `mögen´ und `nicht mögen´. Sei dir bewusst: Wofür brennst du?Was gibt dir Energie? Wo ist deine Freude? Die Bhagavad Gita sagt: Lebe deine Natur (Prakriti) Im Ayurveda heißt es: Übertreibe es nicht - sonst kommst du in die Vikriti.Hänge aber auch nicht daran, denn Svadharma ergibt sich aus Svarupa bzw. Swabhava und Svakarma. Dieses ist ein Vortrag aus der Vortragsreihe „Yoga Vidya Schulung – Der ganzheitliche Yogaweg“ sowie ein Teil der 2-jährigen Yogalehrerausbildung , ein Vortrag im Rahmen der „Karma-Yoga-Reihe“ und ein Vortrag im Rahmen der „Bhagavad Gita Vortragsreihe“.

Episode 19 - This episode, Yuddistira gets it into his head that he should be King of the World! As he has been inclined to do since becoming king, he calls for Krishna to advise him on how to accomplish this task. Krishna tells him to send Bhima and Arjun to Magadha and get rid of his main rival to the imperial title, King Jarasandh.And so, Krishna, Bhima and Arjun go down to Magadha and pick a fight with Jarasandh. Bhima wrestles the old guy for fourteen days and finally body-slams him, killing him instantly. This whole Rajasuya thing will result in 13 years of misery for the Pandavas, and finally the destruction of nearly the entire race of Kshatriyas. Since dieing on the battlefield is one of the surest means of getting to heaven, I guess it all worked out OK for the men. All those widows probably wished Yuddistira had stuck to his little kingdom of Indraprastha, and been content with his reservation at Lord Yama's palace...Sorry I've slowed down my production lately. I've had some musical commitments that have eaten up my free time. That's mostly over, so hopefully things will pick up a bit from now on! If you'd like to encourage me, please send a message; it certainly helps morale. Also, it would be great if you were to go into iTunes and rate my podcast. It would help increase its visibility for other potential listeners. Thanks!

Episode 31 - The Pandavas continue their pilgrimage to all the holy sites of India.  With Lomasha as their guide & storyteller, they hear the stories of Rshyashrnga and then the story of Rama Jamadagnya, or "Battle-Axe" Rama, who cut his own mother's head off and single-handedly killed off the entire race of Kshatriyas 21 times!Also, J.A.B. Van Buitenen, our translator for most of the podcast so far, gives us a hypothesis that the story of Rshyashrnga made its way to Medieval Europe in the form of the Unicorn myth.  It is certainly interesting that it took a virgin to capture the unicorn for the king.

Episode 87 - Yuddistira is finally convinced that he should remain king, and he gets down to business.  He marches straight to the palace and has himself anointed and consecrated.  He appoints his council and gets his kingdom in order.  As soon as he has a chance to catch his breath, Krishna suggests that they hurry over to uncle Bhisma, who isn't long for this world.Along the way, Krishna tells the story of Battleaxe Rama, who wiped out the race of Kshatriyas 21 times in succession.The podcast may be taking something of a hiatus after this episode.  We are now entering the section of the Mahabharata that is dedicated to Bhisma's teaching on Dharma.  This constitutes nearly one-third of the entire text, and from what I've seen so far, is extremely legalistic and detailed.  This means I will need to pour over a lot of text to extract enough information to make a full episode.  That may take a while.On the positive side, once we are through this section of Bhisma's teachings, we are almost at the end of the story!Thanks for sticking with me on this long journey.  I'll be sure to keep you posted as things develop.  Just keep watching this blog!

In Indien hat sich in Jahrtausenden ein System von Varnas und Jatis entwickelt. Varnas sind die die vier Färbungen der Gesellschaft, die vier Stände, in welche zahlreiche Jatis, Untergruppierungen bzw. Sippen eingeordnet sind. Die Kshatriyas sind eine der vier Varnas. Meist wird Kshatriya als Krieger übersetzt. Allerdings sind die Kshatriyas nicht hauptsächlich Krieger sondern Verwaltungsbeamte, … „Kshatriya – Krieger Kaste“ weiterlesen