Podcasts about lord ram

It's said that in the absolute reality, there are varieties of feeling—but all of them are of the same quality of transcendental bliss. How can what looks like heartbreak actually be an entry to the deepest spiritual joy? In today's episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha examine the profound teachings behind Lord Ram's separation from Sita, explore why material “love” is often the cause of fear, and reveal how the illusory love relationships of this world can be aligned with the spiritual reality. Forget the Hollywood endings—the Vedic sages offer a powerful upgrade in understanding the ways of love. Key Highlights: * Ram's heartbreak: a cosmic love story  * In union, the Beloved is seen in one place; in separation… everywhere. * Why material “love” comes with a side of fear * The oneness and the duality of the spiritual realm * You don't need a “you complete me” moment… you need a Supersoulmate. ✨ Jump into a discussion where ancient wisdom meets everyday neuroses — and discover why true love means learning to be blissful, even when life kicks you right in the shins.

It's said that in the absolute reality, there are varieties of feeling—but all of them are of the same quality of transcendental bliss. How can what looks like heartbreak actually be an entry to the deepest spiritual joy? In today's episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha examine the profound teachings behind Lord Ram's separation from Sita, explore why material “love” is often the cause of fear, and reveal how the illusory love relationships of this world can be aligned with the spiritual reality. Forget the Hollywood endings—the Vedic sages offer a powerful upgrade in understanding the ways of love. Key Highlights: * Ram's heartbreak: a cosmic love story  * In union, the Beloved is seen in one place; in separation… everywhere. * Why material “love” comes with a side of fear * The oneness and the duality of the spiritual realm * You don't need a “you complete me” moment… you need a Supersoulmate. ✨ Jump into a discussion where ancient wisdom meets everyday neuroses — and discover why true love means learning to be blissful, even when life kicks you right in the shins.

How do decades of spiritual practice shape your heart when death comes knocking? In this powerful episode, we hear from our longtime friend Yasso who, after forty years of devotion, is now facing terminal illness with stunning clarity and peace. What makes this conversation especially moving is how Yasso's fearless, attitude of gratitude so closely mirrors the timeless wisdom of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, where the dying King Parīkṣit embraces his final days with devotion, humility, and total absorption in the divine. Also in this episode: the epic homecoming of Lord Ram and the tear-jerking reunion with his brother Bharat, whose 14 years of radical simplicity (cow urine barley, anyone?) reflect the deepest brotherly devotion—zero envy, all love. And we also explore how devotional art can lift consciousness, using a vivid verse from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam as our canvas. This one goes deep—real life, real death, and real bhakti. Key Highlights: * A rare window into how a bhakti yogi prepares to leave this world * Lord Ram returns to Ayodhya—no one has ever waved a chadar with more love * No envy, no ego—just love: the bond between Ram and Bharat * Why Krishna art > overpriced splatter art * Chant Hare Krishna and don't criticize. Boom. That's it.

How do decades of spiritual practice shape your heart when death comes knocking? In this powerful episode, we hear from our longtime friend Yasso who, after forty years of devotion, is now facing terminal illness with stunning clarity and peace. What makes this conversation especially moving is how Yasso's fearless, attitude of gratitude so closely mirrors the timeless wisdom of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, where the dying King Parīkṣit embraces his final days with devotion, humility, and total absorption in the divine. Also in this episode: the epic homecoming of Lord Ram and the tear-jerking reunion with his brother Bharat, whose 14 years of radical simplicity (cow urine barley, anyone?) reflect the deepest brotherly devotion—zero envy, all love. And we also explore how devotional art can lift consciousness, using a vivid verse from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam as our canvas. This one goes deep—real life, real death, and real bhakti. Key Highlights: * A rare window into how a bhakti yogi prepares to leave this world * Lord Ram returns to Ayodhya—no one has ever waved a chadar with more love * No envy, no ego—just love: the bond between Ram and Bharat * Why Krishna art > overpriced splatter art * Chant Hare Krishna and don't criticize. Boom. That's it.

Every life holds a hidden epic. In this stirring episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha unlock the timeless teachings of the Ramayana and the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam to reveal how Lord Ram's divine story is far more than mythology—it's a living guide for our own transformation. Alongside the insights of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey, the sages explore what it truly means to conquer inner demons and rise to the occasion of your own sacred adventure. But this episode goes deeper than just inspiration. It offers a bold clarification of what līlā truly is—and what it's not. It's a common spiritual misstep to view the pain, confusion, and trauma of material life as brahman engaged in “divine play,” mistaking our suffering for the līlā of the Supreme. Raghunath and Kaustubha draw a clear line: true līlā is not the fractured experience of conditioned life, but the ecstatic, conscious, and love-saturated interactions of Krishna with His eternal energies—Ram and Sita, Radha and Krishna, Lakshman, Hanuman, and the gopīs, etc. To conflate the two is to miss the sweetness of bhakti, to remain trapped in illusion, and to miss the opportunity to enter into eternal līlā—the highest potential of the self. Key Highlights: * Why the Ramayana is more than story—it's a training ground for the soul * The crucial difference between true līlā and conditioned suffering * Why Lord Ram left without resentment—and how we can too * How to starve the inner Ravana and awaken your inner Hanuman * What it really means to return from the forest with “boons” for the world Join us and rediscover your highest potential—not by pretending to be the hero, but by walking the sacred path of one who's learning how to love.

Every life holds a hidden epic. In this stirring episode, Raghunath and Kaustubha unlock the timeless teachings of the Ramayana and the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam to reveal how Lord Ram's divine story is far more than mythology—it's a living guide for our own transformation. Alongside the insights of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey, the sages explore what it truly means to conquer inner demons and rise to the occasion of your own sacred adventure. But this episode goes deeper than just inspiration. It offers a bold clarification of what līlā truly is—and what it's not. It's a common spiritual misstep to view the pain, confusion, and trauma of material life as brahman engaged in “divine play,” mistaking our suffering for the līlā of the Supreme. Raghunath and Kaustubha draw a clear line: true līlā is not the fractured experience of conditioned life, but the ecstatic, conscious, and love-saturated interactions of Krishna with His eternal energies—Ram and Sita, Radha and Krishna, Lakshman, Hanuman, and the gopīs, etc. To conflate the two is to miss the sweetness of bhakti, to remain trapped in illusion, and to miss the opportunity to enter into eternal līlā—the highest potential of the self. Key Highlights: * Why the Ramayana is more than story—it's a training ground for the soul * The crucial difference between true līlā and conditioned suffering * Why Lord Ram left without resentment—and how we can too * How to starve the inner Ravana and awaken your inner Hanuman * What it really means to return from the forest with “boons” for the world Join us and rediscover your highest potential—not by pretending to be the hero, but by walking the sacred path of one who's learning how to love.

Why PM Modi needs to have a candid chat with Amit Shah over poll results, ThePrint's Political Editor explains in this episode of Politically Correct----more----Read this week's Politically Correct here: https://theprint.in/opinion/politically-correct/lord-ram-did-not-let-pm-modi-down-bjp-did/2121491/

Find me and the show on social media @DrWilmerLeon on X (Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube. Facebook page is www.facebook.com/Drwilmerleonctd   FULL TRANSCRIPT Wilmer Leon (00:00): Did you know that the world's largest democracy India is holding its lo Saba or lower house elections right now? And I don't think we can talk about India without talking about nuclear weapons. India is a nuclear power. How does that play out on the world stage? Announcer (00:32): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge. Wilmer Leon (00:41): Welcome to the Connecting the Dots podcast with Dr. Wilmer Leon. And I'm Wilmer Leon. We have a tendency to view current events as though they occur in a vacuum, failing to understand the broader historic context in which these events take place. During each episode of this podcast, my guests and I have probing, provocative, and in-depth discussions that connect the dots between these events and the broader historic context in which they occur. This enables you to better understand and analyze the events that impact the global village in which we live. On today's episode. The issues before us are what will the election results mean for India? What will the results mean for the global geopolitical landscape? And we'll throw in a few other things as well for insight into this. Let's turn to my guest. She's a professor in the Department of Political Studies and director of the Global Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg Canada. She's the author of numerous books. She's recently returned from a couple of trips to her home country of India. She is Dr. Rekha Desai. Dr. Desai, as always, welcome back to the show. Dr Rekha Desai (02:03): Great being with you again. Wilma Wilmer Leon (02:06): Narendra. Modi is a Indian politician. He has served as the 14th Prime Minister of India since May of 2014. He had a simple campaign slogan of Good Days are Coming. Those who support him seem to love him. His opponents argue he's done little to improve their quality of life and the quality of life across the country. What's going on with the current elections in India? Dr Rekha Desai (02:38): Well, this election has, it's actually, I should say that the election itself is not going on today. The election has been going on for the last seven odd weeks, 45 days. So it started more than 45 days ago and it ended, the last voting day was June the first. It was a seven phase election in which the Election Commission organized elections in different parts of the country over seven phases. The counting is what's going on today. It's not complete yet. So we basically have an idea mean roughly a little over half the votes have been counted, and we can say that pretty well. The trends seem to be set. Nothing has changed very much over the last two or three hours. And what we see here is that Mr. Modi has been humiliated. Let me explain why Mr. Modi went into this election campaign with the Hubristic slogan of this in Hindi, you say ispa. (03:49) So this time we will go beyond 400, 400 seats in a 543 member Loba or Parliament, the BJP at the moment, I mean that was for the larger alliance, the NDA, the National Democratic Alliance, of which the BJP is the biggest part by far. And the BJP itself was supposed to get about 370 seats. At the moment the BJP is at 240 seats, so that is 130 seats less than what they had projected to win. So that is a pretty big humiliation. What's worse for Mr. Modi is that it's going to be in the past two elections, what has been remarkable, and one of the facts which has permitted many people to say that he's some kind of very unique, amazing sort of leader who is much beloved by the country and so on. In 2014 and 2019, his party won a parliamentary majority that is more than 272 seats in the Parliament. (05:02) On its own, it didn't need its allies. And this is the first time a single party has won a majority since the election of 1984 when if you remember, Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated and the Congress party rode to power with the highest percentage of vote and highest seat count ever in its history on a sort of sympathy wave. And so since that time, no party has ever won a majority, and Mr. Modi won a majority twice. Now in this election, it does not look as though he's going to have a majority. If the present trends continue, he will be somewhere around two 40 seats and he needs 2 72 for a majority. This will be an even bigger humiliation for him. Wilmer Leon (05:49): What does this mean, if anything, in the context of governance? I understand in the parliamentary system that you can win and lose seats and that can be a humiliation as you've just indicated, but that doesn't necessarily translate into your ability to form coalitions, your ability to govern. And if you still have the ability to govern, how difficult does it become? So for example, we can look at Netanyahu in Israel and now you got Morich and others threatening to leave and that's going to break up his coalition. What does this mean for Prime Minister Modi in terms of governance? Dr Rekha Desai (06:34): Well, it means that he will have to concede a lot to his coalition partners if he needs them. But before we get there, let me just say two other things, which is that depending on how, what is the final result, two additional things may or one of two or two or more things may happen, which will put into question more these ability to form a government. The first thing is that if the BJP is truly humiliated as it seems to be, it is going to be, it is very possible that there will be big opposition within the party, within the BJP knives will come out for him because he has basically ruled again in this very hubristic fashion disdain pretty well, all the second level leadership of the party, disdain, all the other organizations with which his party is affiliated and so on. So we will have to wait and see what will happen. The second thing that could happen, I'm not sure that it will, but it could happen, is that his coalition partners who he now needs may abandon him particularly sensing that this Mr. Modi is going nowhere. Good. Wilmer Leon (07:54): So it's that dramatic. Dr Rekha Desai (07:57): It could be is what I'm saying. We are not sure at the moment I'm looking at it and it's still showing me BJP at two 40 leading in two 40 seats, 63 seats short of its previous tally. That's pretty bad when you are claiming, and you asked me another question, and I just want to throw this one thing in there, contrary to what has been reported in most of the mainstream media in the West and certainly in India, because in India, the Modi government has the mainstream media in its back pocket. So contrary to what these sources have reported, the Indian economy is doing exceedingly badly. It is not doing well. And if you ask me the most fundamental reason for the bad performance of the BJP and Mr. Modi is that imposing the kind of economic pain that he has imposed on the country for the last decade, I would say, and we can discuss what happened in 2019, why did he get reelected? But he has imposed nothing but economic pain on the ordinary Indian for the last decade. This cannot be electorally, costless. And this time around the cost has caught up with him. Wilmer Leon (09:14): So when you talk about economic pain, the word that comes to my mind, well, two words that come to my mind are neoconservative and austerity. Are those, because I also, if I looked at some of the data, I want to say that youth unemployment is incredibly, incredibly high in India. And when your youth unemployment is that high, boy, you're the economist, not me, but you're setting a groundwork for discontent going forward amongst your youth. Those youth grow into adults and they carry that mindset forward. Speak to that please. Dr Rekha Desai (10:03): Okay, so I would say that there are a number of points I want to make. Number one, India's growth figures are highly exaggerated. That's the first thing is that they have changed the way in which they compile growth statistics, which depending on which economist you are talking to is exaggerating. India's growth rate anywhere between two to 4%. And if you factor that in, then India's growth rate, which is often touted as being the fastest of any major developing country faster than China's, et cetera, does not have any of those qualifications. India should be growing much faster, has in the past grown much faster and Mr. Modi's performance is actually very poor. The second point I have to make is that even the growth we have has been powered by unsustainable stimuli and it has created exceedingly high levels of inequality. So that is a problem. (11:02) So growth is low, inequality is high, inflation is high, unemployment is high including youth unemployment. So the unemployment crisis in India is very high, even though India's labor force participation rate, that is to say the number of people who are actively either employed or seeking employment out of the working age population is actually quite low. So even with this sort of social, shall we say, benefit that India has, granted, the BJP unemployment levels are very high. Youth unemployment is so high that for individual jobs, maybe the government advertises or some company advertises a dozen jobs and there will be literally hundreds of thousands of applications for a dozen jobs. I'm not kidding you. And there have been riots around issues of employment and so on. So we can again discuss that. So unemployment is that. Now, if this whole litany is not bad enough, Mr. (12:10) Modi has willfully in order to show what a strong man he's who can take decisive decisions and actions has imposed pain on the Indian economy on at least three separate occasions, which is completely, it's uncalled for unnecessary. But again, to do this, the first was if you remember the demonetization exercise when overnight the government declared that currency notes over the value of 500 rupees were considered invalid and gave everybody a short period of time to go and exchange them for lower denomination notes. Now, for an economy which runs on cash primarily, this was a disaster. Remember that India's economy, the formal employment in India's economy is only about 7%. So 93% of Indians work in an informal economy where cash is king. These people were suddenly thrown into a crisis. People who had squid away savings in high denomination notes had to go and exchange them. And many very often they had to stand in long lines and it created a huge mess. Secondly, Wilmer Leon (13:25): Well, wait a minute, what was the objective of doing that? Dr Rekha Desai (13:28): Well, he claimed that he was going to try to create a cashless economy and remove the black money from the economy, et cetera, but none of this was proved true. I believe that he was simply talking to certain, shall we say, big financial wizards who want to introduce cashless payment systems in India and want to benefit from the bonanza. And he basically doesn't talk to a lot of people. So one or two people who have his ear can actually get him to take these decisions. I mean the demonetization exercise. And a third thing was that he was trying very desperately to win an election in the giant state of UTA Prade elections were due. And he thought that somehow by doing this, he would prevent the opposition from essentially spending any money. So then he declared a covid lockdown at a time when there was no covid detectable in India. (14:26) And then a year later when you saw all those bodies floating down the Ganges and all those funeral pies, he was nowhere to be seen. He was missing in action. There was no government policy. People just had to somehow make do with what they had. State governments did do a lot, but not, he did not. And then finally he imposed a goods and services tax, which again, given that India operates on so many small and tiny enterprises, it was simply another burden on people who are already too stretched to keep records in order to pay taxes. And moreover, it's a regressive tax. There is so much inequality that the need of the R is to tax the fabulously wealthy. So in India, we now have literally a two tier society where if you are one of the five or 10%, life's never been better. And if you are one of the 90 to 95%, it's really, really bad. Wilmer Leon (15:23): So please forgive my ignorance of Indian culture, but I understand that there's a cultural strata within India. So you add the economic strata to the cultural strata, and then I would think you have a big mess on your hands. Dr Rekha Desai (15:46): Well, it exacerbates the inequality. What you're referring to is the caste system, which is quite widely misunderstood. But let me just, I mean the caste system people think is a kind of a layered, like a many tiered wedding cake with a small number of, so-called twice born cast at the top and then everybody else. But in reality, caste works in the sense of having, there are various caste groups and each caste group is either higher or lower in the hierarchy and that, so a small number of caste groups are in the, so-called twice born casts that are essentially the high castes, and then there is a big fat middle of the middle casts. And then there are the, so-called untouchable cast, and then there is a group of tribals who are outside the caste structure. So the thing, I don't want to give a long disposition on that, but the thing to know about the class structure in India is that the upper cast are also generally the upper classes, the well to do. So, the cultural or social privilege and economic privilege largely coincide, not completely, but largely. So this creates an additional layer of resentment and so on. So that's the situation. Wilmer Leon (17:13): I want to get back to my austerity question because I know that Modi is very, very close to Joe Biden, and that's why when you mentioned early on about the economic issues, Neo Khan and austerity were the two words that came to my mind. So are there similarities between the objectives of Modi's economics and the economics of the West? Dr Rekha Desai (17:41): Yes. Essentially the Modi government, like the previous BJP government engages in a certain politics of neoliberalism or economic policy of neoliberalism where you privatize as much as you can, you reduce social expenditure, you reduce state capacity, you contract out, that sort of thing. And that has really penetrated very deep. Now the Indian economy, so for example, he has recently privatized Air India sold it off essentially, and many other state assets have been privatized. A lot of the way I look at it, I think that this would go for President Biden as well as Narin Modi, essentially they have a one point economic policy. The one point economic policy is to do what benefits the really big corporations. And India has a lot of big corporations, so that that's the economic policy Bohi has pursued. So essentially there is a handful of big titans who destroyed the Indian economy. (18:54) You must have heard of Gata Madani who is a particular favorite of the Prime Minister. There are the Bannis and a few others. And essentially what Mohi has done in terms of economic policy is initiate projects. For example, building roads or bridges or highways or ports or airports or what have you, which involve giving very lucrative contracts to a small number of big corporations. And that's, those are the ones who have benefited. Whereas he claimed that he had a make in India a policy or program which was going to expand the manufacturing sector. Well, if anything, the manufacturing sector has shrunk under Modi. So the kind of good jobs that manufacturing tends to create has actually shrunk under Modi rather than expanded. So this is the kind of economic policy you have. And of course that makes India all the more unequal, Wilmer Leon (19:52): As I have read, particularly in Western media, it's been portrayed over years that it was expected that India would rival China. That modi's objectives were to the one China policy, I'm sorry, the Belt and Road initiative and that China China's economy, one of the leading growth economies in the world, and that Modi was trying to rival China and in the West it was being portrayed as though he was actually successful in doing so. Speak to that, please. Dr Rekha Desai (20:33): Yeah, I mean the West would dearly love India to emerge as an economic giant and Wilmer Leon (20:40): Competitor to China. Dr Rekha Desai (20:41): Exactly, and a counterweights to China. And so India would be sort of in the Western camp and help count to China. Unfortunately, the West has had to swallow considerable amount of disillusionment because I noticed that even in some of the more mainstream western media, which would, as I say, which have been praising India until recently, there has been a certain amount of stepping back, realizing that Modi has been not as economically successful, and also realizing that Modi has been very authoritarian so that India's democracy is often has been rated by under, Modi has been rated by some international agencies as an electoral autocracy, the press freedom in India, India has been criticized on those grounds. And I think that if anything, the west has been forced to come to these conclusions and it has reluctantly come to these conclusions. And if anything, criticism of Modi is still much milder than it should be, but it is there because the facts are too difficult to look away from. (21:53) Having said that, as I said, the West's desire for India to be this counterweight to China has not gone away. And I should also add that particularly this party, the BJP to which Mr. Modi belongs, has historically pursued a policy of getting closer and closer to the United States. And I should also add in the process, getting closer to Israel, reversing a very longstanding Indian policy of anti-imperialist support for the Palestinian cause and so on. So these trends have certainly been exacerbated under Modi, and we'll have to see now what happens in the coming weeks and months and so on. Wilmer Leon (22:35): India shares, I want to say about a 2200 mile border with China. India is part of bricks, the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and now a number of other countries have joined that economic block. So it seems as though Modi is trying to walk a very fine line in terms of being a member of Brix, which means good relationships with China working, I'll say working, working relationships with China, working relationships with Russia, while at the same time trying to be the friend of the United States. Is that a fair assessment of his effort? And that I would think that's a very, very difficult and fine line to walk. Dr Rekha Desai (23:26): I think it is. And at the same time, Mr. Modi has not had much choice because for several reasons. Number one, Modi would really love to distance himself distance India from Russia, which of course has had longstanding economic ties as well as defense cooperation ties. Wilmer Leon (23:51): But wait a minute, let me jump in. And just to that point, didn't India just sign a huge oil and gas deal with Russia and they are buying Russian gas in rubles? Dr Rekha Desai (24:08): Yes. So let me exactly. I was about to come to that. Wilmer Leon (24:14): I'm channeling my inner, not Dr Rekha Desai (24:16): Really like that. But what has happened in the interim, of course, is that with the Ukraine crisis, India and the rise in the price of oil, and remember India imports a lot of oil and the rise in prices of oil in India has ripple effects throughout the economy because the cost of everything goes up because transport is a central part of the cost of anything. So inflation is already bad enough in India. If India did not have this oil deal with the Russians, then it would be even worse and it would tell on Modi even greater way. Secondly, some of his best paths like Mr. Adani and Mr. Banani and so on are actually engaged in the lucrative and shady practice of buying Russian oil at a discounted price and then processing it to power, not for that matter, and then selling it forward to essentially Europeans who can say, well, we are not buying Russian oil, but we are buying these oil or oil products from the Indians. (25:18) And so this India has become a sort of conduit for this oil trade and so on and gas trade with the Europeans. So that's another important thing and why India needs Russia. Secondly, India also has these border disputes with China, which go a long way. And Mr. Modi, of course, loves to sort of rattle his saber every so often in order to Ghana support across the border with China. But in India has also become dependent on cheap Chinese imports, inexpensive Chinese imports, I should say. I don't want to suggest that they're low quality, but because Indian manufacturing has declined and India's has become ever more reliant on importing cheap Chinese products. So in all of these ways, India's room for manure is actually shrinking largely thanks to the sad state of its economy, which Mr. Modi is doing nothing to improve. So in that sense, what Mr. Modi would like and what he must do are increasingly further apart. Wilmer Leon (26:33): Here comes a very basic simplistic question. India, I believe is the largest population in the most populous country in the world. That says to me that there's a very large accessible labor force. The United States is moving or trying to move off of Chinese labor and fine labor elsewhere. Allah, Haiti, why isn't Modi, or why isn't the US trying to tap into that unemployed labor force, expand production in the country? Because when we think of India, a lot of people in West think of, for example, call centers. They think about engineers, but not necessarily with IIT, for example, the Indian Institute of Technology, which is supposed to arrival. MIT, supposed to be one of the best engineering school in the world, but people don't necessarily think of engineering coming out of India. So why isn't the world or why isn't the west tapping into this labor force? Is that a sensible question to ask? Dr Rekha Desai (27:58): No, it's a good question to ask. So let me take another step back. You are right. India is the most populous country. India has a very large young population, and people often have been talking about the demographic dividend that India has the opportunity to employ these people and to grow much at a very fast rate and benefit from this. However, in order to harness or in order to benefit from India's demographic dividend, you have to invest in your young people. You have to educate them, you have to give them the skills Wilmer Leon (28:34): You need like China has done, Dr Rekha Desai (28:36): And then you have to create the larger kind of ecology, which will stimulate growth. None of these things are being done in India. Primary education is basically, I mean, as opposed to China, where the state puts in a lot of effort into primary education in public schools, what you have is essentially a proliferation of private schools, which if your parents can afford it, you're lucky, and otherwise you go to a sadly and badly run state school, which often does not even have a sufficient number of teachers or teachers who show up, et cetera, et cetera. So there is this problem. Then on top of that, increasingly what used to be a rather good university system has also been allowed to essentially be privatized the proliferation of private universities and colleges which charge enormous fees for questionable forms of education, which is also why you see an enormous flood of Indians, Indian young people leaving the country to obtain education abroad. (29:44) I mean, I was educated abroad, but as a graduate student, what's happening now is lots of Indian young people are leaving as undergraduates and going abroad to various, usually other English speaking countries, but also places as you, I don't know if you remember, but when the Ukraine war occurred, there was a crisis of Indian students having to return, and I had no idea that there were Indian students in Ukraine, but are, and there are Indian students all over the place. So the government is not doing anything. And finally, there is another problem, which is that in general, the Make India program was supposed to be, which Mr. Modi advertised with great fanfare. It was supposed to attract foreign direct investment into India, but then the idea was that India would then become a platform for producing export products for the whole world market, et cetera. (30:37) But in reality, in general, foreign direct investment only comes in when or only comes into countries like India because these countries, these investors are interested in selling to the Indian market. They don't particularly want to sell to the foreign market. And secondly, also, the contracting out where the kind of contracting out that happens with China, and increasingly now with Vietnam and so on, that also has not been particularly good because we basically don't have a layer of manufacturing firms that are able to deliver quality timeliness and all those sorts of things. So essentially we haven't had any kind of big flood of contracting out either. Wilmer Leon (31:27): I'm going to go back to the same question because as I was listening to you, this thought just popped in my head. When I look at again, the Belt and Road initiative from China, when I look at China meeting with African countries, India has, again, it's the largest most populous country in the world. That means markets, people are there to sell to and a labor force. So I'm wondering why, and I remember, I think when Modi came in in 2014, he met with President Xi. There was a, I think 20 billion of investment deals signed. I'm thinking about Russia wanting to come in. So there's an incredible growth opportunity there in terms of markets. So China can come in and build railroads. China can come in and build bridges, build electric infrastructure, build water infrastructure. Is that not happening? And if not, why not? Dr Rekha Desai (32:34): Well, because, well, okay, let me take Wilmer Leon (32:39): Again, is that a sensible question to ask? Dr Rekha Desai (32:42): Yeah, yeah. No, no, it is. So first of all, let me say that the Indian market, you talked about the Indian market markets are not just composed of people of people. Markets are composed of people who have money. And if you are running down your economy in the way that I've just described, ordinary people in India do not have the kind of money that makes India an attractive market. The market in India, as far as foreign capital is concerned, is basically a small sliver of the upper 10% or so of the Indian population. And that is not a very big market. I mean, India may have 1.4 billion people, but if only 140 million of them are capable of consuming at anything like the level of the rest of the world, and it's not, it may have a small one or two or 3% who are, Wilmer Leon (33:36): I should have used the word potential. Yes, I should have used the word potential. And what comes to my mind, and if I'm historically inaccurate, please correct me. Many economists and others will say, and this is maybe a stretch of an example, but one of the things that brought about the end of slavery or enslavement in the United States was an understanding we've got this newly formerly enslaved population. We need these people to be consumers, not a drag on the economy. So we're going to create an economic system that allows the manufacturing access to this labor force. So that's what was driving my question. Dr Rekha Desai (34:23): Well, exactly. And the thing is that unless you have adequate levels of employment, and not only adequate levels of employment, but adequately well compensated employment, that is to say with high wages, you're not going to create a market. You've got to create a sufficiently, you've got to create good jobs, essentially. And that is not something the government has done that, in fact, it has done everything to retard that process because as I said earlier, the government's policy is to favor a small number of big corporations. Now, the vast majority of the Indian economy is accounted for by what we call SMEs or small and medium enterprises. These are the guys who actually create the jobs. They may not be very high paying, but at the very least, they're paying jobs. And even that with the imposition of GST, for example, with demonetization, all for that matter, with covid policies in every possible way, the SME sector has been set back and it is not creating, it's not allowed to create the kind of employment that you do. And if you give a contract to Mr. Adani to build a port, that's not going to create a of employment because what Mr. Adani does is he has all the freedom in the world to import all the things that he needs. So he imports high technology products from the west and so on, and he creates a state-of-the-art port, but that is not going to create a lot of jobs for Indians. Wilmer Leon (35:54): Does he import labor as well, or does he access Indian labor, or does he import labor as well? Dr Rekha Desai (36:02): No, no. He accesses Indian labor, but it's a very small amount. It's a drop in the bucket compared to what Indians to actually absorb and to realize this demographic dividend, you need to create a lot more jobs, and they're not going to be created by Mr. Adani and his friends. And in fact, in the absence of such a strategy to really create a larger market, to create more employment, to create more opportunity in India, in the absence of a strategy to do those things, India is not going to enjoy a demographic dividend. India is at the moment sitting on a demographic time bomb because, and we have seen some of the results of that. Let me also give you an example. Not only does the government not create employment, it does the reverse. It creates, it removes good jobs and replaces them with bad jobs. (36:54) Consider the Indian army. Now, you think Indian army is one of the largest armies in the world. It's a large standing army, and that was one of the relatively secure forms of employment that people in many parts of India, young men in particular, but there are also women in the Indian Army would aspire to. What this government has done is replace the ordinary soldier's job, which could then you join the army as a soldier, and you move up the chain if you are good and so on, you get promotions to higher levels. This has kind of been the number of such jobs has been reduced, and they have been replaced by the so-called Agni vu scheme, which sounds very fancy. You are a fire hero or something. Anyway, this Agni Vu scheme essentially will hire soldiers for four years on a four year contract. So at the end of those four years, you could be let go. There is no guarantee of employment. Now, even if you are a right-wing, security obsessed nut, you will say this is the wrong way to have a good army. Wilmer Leon (38:00): But Dr Rekha Desai (38:01): That's Wilmer Leon (38:01): What you need career soldiers. Dr Rekha Desai (38:05): Exactly. Wilmer Leon (38:06): Exactly. And you don't form careers on four year contracts. Dr Rekha Desai (38:09): And in this election, I have noticed that in all the areas which have, traditionally in every country, there are some parts of the country that are recruitment from which the army recruits disproportionately, and there are such parts of India as well. And in all those parts of India, the BJP vote has gone down because people are so sore about this scheme. In fact, the other thing, because in India what happens is that when the counting takes place, they count the postal ballots first. And very often the postal ballots have a disproportionate number of army veterans or army people in them, because army people tend to get posted around and they use the postal ballot to vote in their place of registration. And so these postal ballots also showed a significant decline in the vote of the BJP. So that was quite interesting as well. So you see, Mr. (39:03) Modi thought that he could visit this kind of economic punishment on Indian people, but somehow then still win them over by showing them what a strong leader he is. And through spewing hate, because you see in the, as I told you, this is a seven phase election at the end of the first phase, which occurred on the 19th of April. That was the first day of voting within a couple of days, I'm sure the BJP, which is backed by the way, absolutely generously by the corporate elite of India. So they have plenty of money. They must have conducted exit polls for themselves. You're not allowed to publish them, but you can conduct exit polls how you're doing. And it became very clear to the BJP and to Mr. Modi that their party was doing badly. And so within two days of that, the entire campaign rhetoric changed. (40:00) It went from how we are going to create a developed India with a 5 trillion economy and the whatever, the third largest economy in the world, and all this completely castles in the economic castles in the air. But we've seen that to essentially demonizing Muslims, which is what the BJ does. Whenever they realize that they're in trouble, they shift to this anti-Muslim rhetoric. So this, and the kind of rhetoric that has issued from the mouth of Mr. Modi has been absolutely horrific. I mean, it has plumbed depth of, how can you say, of coarseness that has never been witnessed, ever. And people have criticized him, but it is very clear that they were already panicking, and now the results are out and they're panicking because as I say, this kind of economic pain that you are visiting on Indians cannot be electorally costless. And you see, in 2014, Mr. (41:04) Modi won. It was a novelty. He was fully backed by the corporate capitalist class. The propaganda machine was in full motion, and the opposition was divided. It was not united. In 2019, they would've lost, actually, many people were saying that they were going to lose. Many seasoned psychologists were saying that. But at the very last minute, Mr. Modi pulled a defense and security rabbit out of his hat. There was an incident in which he claimed to be striking, making strikes across the border on Pakistan, on a place called Bako. And that these strikes were going to show that India was ruled by a tough leader and who was not going to give into Pakistans dastardly infiltration, et cetera, et cetera, and terrorist activities and blah, blah and so on, all of which is heavily you should take with barrels of salt. But nevertheless, this apparently transformed the election campaign, and there was the pre court assessments and the post bar court assessments, and he won. And even then he won, but he added a mere 20 something seats to his tally. So it was not such a great thing. Even with the Bala coat effect this time around, he wanted to add fully 70 seats to his tally. It's not going to be that. It's not that easy, as you can see. So there were exceptional circumstances, and this many people are saying is a more normal election. And in this normal election, Mr. Modi, it looks is headed for a humiliating setback, if not defeat. We'll have to see. Wilmer Leon (42:43): And I don't think we can talk about India without talking about nuclear weapons. India is a nuclear power. How does that play out on the world stage, in spite of all the things that you've just articulated and very clearly, thank you very much. That's always in the background. India is a nuclear power. How does that play on the world stage as related? Go ahead. Dr Rekha Desai (43:15): Yeah, I mean, in India, so the India's nuclear weapons are really not very substantial or not very many. I think it matters most in the confrontation between India and Pakistan. Pakistan, but also to some extent this border of dispute that India has with China, which we can discuss. But historically, if you think about it, India went in for a nuclear weapons development program in the sixties after being defeated in the 1962 war with China, in which China did not take any territory. China inflicted defeat on India and then withdrew to the original position just to say, look, we don't wish to solve this problem militarily. We wish to solve it through negotiation. And the Chinese have more or less stuck to that. But China has always been a very big factor in India's nuclear program. And so as you know, in 1972, India had conducted its first nuclear test. (44:19) India has never joined the nuclear non-proliferation treatment. And then in 1998, when Mr. The Prime Minister who headed the previous JP government, BJP LED government, I should say, that was a coalition government, but the BJP was the leading element of that coalition. Mr. Wapa, within days of coming to office, conducted a second nuclear test and then wrote a letter, this was back in 1998, wrote a letter to President Clinton, more or less explicitly saying that India having conducted its next nuclear test, was available to the Americans as a counterweight to China. So that is the larger configuration. I don't think India imagines that it is going to win a war with China, but I hope they don't anyway, because it was certainly not going to. But the weapons are supposed to be some sort of a final defense. So the nuclear weapons matter to India vis-a-vis Pakistan, and to some extent vis-a-vis China. Wilmer Leon (45:25): And quickly you've made reference to the India China relationship. Elaborate on that before we get into the discussion about American domestic politics. Dr Rekha Desai (45:36): Well, very briefly, I would say that India is increasingly outclassed by China. China is economic dynamism, puts India to shame. I would say that the previous government, the UPA government that ruled India from 2004 to 2014 began to embark on a strategy of creating greater employment and putting more money into the pockets of ordinary Indians and taking care of basic needs and so on, which if continued, would have put India on a much better track. Certainly not as good as China, but certainly on a much better track. But of course, Mr. Modi interrupted that, and we've had 10 years of exceedingly harmful economic policies under Mr. Modi. So economically, India is outclassed by China, and I would say that India, whereas up until now 2014, when Mr. Modi was elected, India was making small progress in resolving some of the border disputes with China, which can easily be resolved. (46:46) Some progress was being made. Mr. Modi has largely reversed that progress. Now, very briefly, let me just say that really I think that if India were to give up its insistence on lines on the map, which were drawn by the colonial powers, and try to seek an amicable, try negotiate with China amicably in a way that takes the interest of the people in these border regions, places them foremost, rather than claim to this or that piece of territory, I think that India and China can easily resolve their border disputes. Think of it this way, China has many borders with many countries, and it has resolved all its border disputes with all its neighbors except the one with India. India by contrast also has many neighbors. It has many border disputes, and it has resolved none of them. So that's the one very simple way of looking at it. So India's position has been unreasonable that Unreason was beginning to be unraveled to considerable extent, I think under the previous Congress led government. But under Mr. Modi, all that progress has been reversed Wilmer Leon (48:04): In your explaining India's inability to resolve those conflicts is part of that, because in the minds of many leaders, conflict brings about coalition that Israel is an example of that. One of the tenets of Zionism is, and Netanyahu says this all the time, you all need me to protect you because the wolves are at the door, and if I'm not here, they'll devour us all. Joe Biden, many believe right now is in deep trouble and is trying to create himself to be a wartime president. Is that in any of the thinking or logic of why these border disputes are not being resolved? Dr Rekha Desai (48:52): Well, okay. So first of all, let me just say that I think conflict brings consolidation, consolidation of your social base, not necessarily coalition, because you have to remember one very important respect in which the Israeli electoral system is completely different from the Indian election. Wilmer Leon (49:08): Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I was speaking on a very broad level. Dr Rekha Desai (49:13): Well, because Israel has an exceedingly permissive form of proportional representation, so that parties with even a tiny number of votes can have representation in parliament. And this allows the more extreme parties, extreme right parties to also get representation in the Israeli parliament. India does not have a PR system at all. It has a first pass the post electoral system. And that of course, can translate a small, for example, in this election, a relatively small change in the percentage of the vote can translate into a very big change in the number of seats won by a given party. So India has this first pass, the post electoral system, and that has been very important in giving Mr. Modi his majorities. And yes, rattling the Sabre and raising the issues of defense and terrorism can certainly help. Mr. Modi has helped Mr. Modi in the past, in 2019 in particular, to essentially win a majority, again, even a slightly increased majority. So that certainly helps. And historically, yes, defense issues have been to consolidate a social base, but on the whole, I would say that the Congress has been much less willing to sort of weaponize defense issues. And the BJP has been much more willing to do. So Wilmer Leon (50:43): Switching to, well, is there anything else you want to be sure that we cover on this election issue before we move on? Dr Rekha Desai (50:50): No, I think it's good. Okay. Wilmer Leon (50:54): Okay. Alright. Well then with that, quickly, your thoughts on the current state of the Biden administration. His numbers are horrible. According to real clear politics, he has a 55.8, or we could say 56% disapproval rating. He has a 65.8 or 66% of those believe the country's on the wrong track. In the wake of Trump's guilty verdict in the New York Business Documents trial, Trump is still up by nine percentage points. And also when you look at the Battleground states eight, by many calculations, Joe Biden isn't winning one of them. It's becoming harder and harder to see how Joe Biden gets to the 270 electoral votes that he needs. Your thoughts? Dr Rekha Desai (51:58): Well, I think that what you're looking at in the United States is really the sort of cumulative result of following neoliberal policies basically, so that essentially neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Biden are anything other than neoliberal. Mr. Biden will pepper his neoliberalism with a certain amount of socially progressive politics, but that's the only difference between them. And so what you are seeing is on the one hand, a very large protest vote against these sorts of policies going to Mr. Trump because Mr. Trump is essentially saying to people, I know you guys are suffering and I know how to solve your problems. You're suffering because of China. So instead of saying that you're suffering because of neoliberalism, which he's not going to give up on, he's offering a false solution to the problems of the people. But nevertheless, this seems to work better than what Mr. Biden is saying, which is offering more of the same. (53:02) And Mr. Biden's. So-called omics is actually not working either. So that, because again, it is not that different by the way, from the policy pursued by Mr. Modi. Mr. Biden also pursues a policy whose overriding priority is to look after the interests of the big corporations of the United States, not to solve the employment crisis or solve the housing crisis or to solve the health and indebtedness crisis or anything like that. And in the United States, the only people who seem to be talking a different type of economic policy are the non duopoly candidates, chiefly Jill Stein, and of course to Dr. West. These are the people who are talking about progressive economic policies. The existing duopoly has nothing to offer the American people. And let me say that by contrast, one of the heartening things about this election and the last few years in India has been that Congress, which was, I would've faulted it in the past 10 years ago, for still being too neoliberal Congress, having suffered a drum in 2014. (54:15) And in 2019 has improved its game on two fronts very, very well. Number one, it has engaged in some major exercises of reconnecting with the people, particularly essentially this walking journey that that Rahul Gandhi did across the country from south to north, stopping in everywhere and literally walking thousands of miles. That was a very good way of reconnecting and re-energizing the Congress organization. And very importantly, they seem to have understood that if you are to win in India in the present circumstances, you need to proclaim and pursue a far more progressive set of economic policies that look at issues of employment. And I haven't even mentioned, you asked me whether there was something else I should mention. I haven't yet mentioned agrarian distress being squeezed on both sides on the one side, by rising prices of inputs, which are increasingly produced by big corporations, and on the other side by diminishing prices of outputs, which again, which are typically bought by big corporations. So you can see these poor farmers being squeezed. The spate of farmers suicides in India are very high. So Congress has learned from all this that you need progressive policies for farmers, for the urban sector, for creating employment, for dealing with debt issues, providing education, all of these things. And they have actually come out with a pretty decent manifesto. And I would say that if they were to get a chance to implement it, I'm sure that they will only go further in a progressive or left-wing direction rather than pull their punches. Wilmer Leon (56:07): Interesting. You mentioned that the suicide rate of farmers is up in India because the suicide rate is up dramatically, particularly among white males in the United States. You mentioned the omics, Joe Biden doesn't mention omics that much on the campaign trail, and we hear the American economy is doing so well. But to your point about Joe Biden as looking out for the elite, that's the financialized side of the American economy that is doing well. The banks are doing well, corporations are doing well, but the regular part of this economy, debt is up dramatically. Prices are up, inflation is up, and unemployment, if you really look at the numbers in terms of the number of people working compared to people here have a, I think, try to make a false equivalency that every job means one person working. What we're dealing with here is one person working multiple low wage jobs just to remain poor. Hence we see the unhoused, the rate of the unhoused in the United States is up. So when you look at the real numbers and speak to this, please, as an economist, when you look at the real numbers, things aren't going nearly as well as Joe Biden and the Biden administration would want people to believe. Dr Rekha Desai (57:55): Absolutely. I mean, the whole employment issue has long been a boondoggle in the United States. The United States loves to advertise itself as this job generating machine of an economy, but what is the quality of the jobs generated by them? If you have to have two or more jobs in order to keep body and soul together in order to feed your children, then what kind of a job is that? Wilmer Leon (58:18): And many of those jobs don't come with health benefits don't come with vacation. They're low wage. In Dr Rekha Desai (58:25): Fact, I don't know if you remember, but this is not a new problem. This goes back to the election of George Bush Jr. When he was running for reelection. Apparently some poor lady said to him that, oh, she was working three jobs and so on. And she said, look, she's such a great hero. She's working three jobs, completely missing the point that why should anyone have to juggle three jobs in order to make a living? And that too, as you rightly say, not really a living in order just to be poor. And this is the situation. And by the way, in India, as I say, a lot of people are also claiming that they are going to look at so many, there's so much entrepreneurship in India. There's so much self-employment, a lot of what is called self-employment in India isn't self-employment. It's desperation. If you have no job, of course you will do anything. You'll buy bottle brushes and go sell them on or buy peanuts and go sell them on the train for the few rupees you will make. And the difference between your buying costs and your selling costs. And that may still not give you anything more than a meal or maybe half a meal or two square meals a day if that. But what about clothing? What about food? What about what? I mean housing, what about education? All these things are not there for people. Wilmer Leon (59:43): It's the difference between living and existing. Dr Rekha Desai (59:46): Exactly. Exactly. So this is the situation in India, and I think that these election results are showing that. And as I say, I think by the way, there was another parallel between the American situation and the Indian situation. A lot of people felt essentially unenthused by this election. So they may not have those people who Modi was trying to enthus to support him, may have simply sat at home and said, we are not going out. And as you know, the election campaign was very long drawn out because it would give Mr. Moy a chance to campaign in each phase. You see, because he regards himself as the only board deliverer of his party, which means there is no second level leadership in the party, which Wilmer Leon (01:00:39): Is in fact, isn't he on record as saying, I don't have a successor. The people are my successor. Isn't he on record as saying something ridiculous like that? He's Dr Rekha Desai (01:00:50): Been saying some pretty peculiar things recently. In fact, one of the most outlandish things he said recently, he said some, he gave a spate of interviews just before the election, and in fact during the election, and the purpose of this was that some phoning media person who is not a tall critical, who throws them all sorts of soft balls in order to make him look good. So one particularly phoning interviewer asked him, Mr. Modi, where do you get your amazing energy from? You've been campaigning, blah, blah, et cetera. So he said, he says, well, as long as my mother was alive, I didn't quite credit this, but I have always felt that I'm not biological, essentially, that I have not been born of my mother, that the Almighty has created me and sent me here to fulfill a certain purpose. Now, I mean, just imagine the guys, I mean, it's, it's madness. If you told me this and you were a politician, I would say Wilma. Okay, it's all right. You told me this. But don't tell anyone else. Just keep quiet about it, even if you think so. Wilmer Leon (01:01:58): In fact, you'd say, I have a friend I'd like for you to talk to who is trained to talk to people like you. Dr Rekha Desai (01:02:10): So anyway, so he's been saying some completely nonsensical things recently because as I say, he has been in a panic mode and he'll say anything basically and trying to, so anyway, he's been trying to garner votes. And the other really interesting thing is that you will remember that in January, the Mr. Modi elaborately conducted this elaborately stage managed consecration of the temple to Lord Ram, which is being built on this moss that was destroyed back in 1992. It's a big vo. We can't discuss all of this. But let me just say that this consecration exercise, which was, as I say, carefully choreographed to highlight Mr. Modi and his role, and he was, in fact, it was not the priests who were consecrating it as though it was he who was consecrating it. And it was a practically fascistic exercise I'll have. And he thought that this was going to be his baah court, that in the now 2019, there were those strikes and that this would deliver him the votes. There was next to zero temple effect in the electorate. You asked people, most of them didn't bring it up. They said, where are the jobs? Look at the inflation. How are we supposed to eat well enough? Et cetera, et cetera. So this did not work. Wilmer Leon (01:03:34): And as we get out, you mentioned anticipated low voter turnout in India. I have been saying for a very long time that a huge problem that is on the horizon for President Biden is not going to be people changing parties, is going to be and voting for Donald Trump or voting for Joe Stein or Dr. West. It's going to be people staying home raking leaves. That's going to be his huge problem. Your Dr Rekha Desai (01:04:07): Thoughts. I think that certainly this year in India, the voter turnout is only marginally lower than the previous time. But given that it is in roughly two thirds of the people have voted in the last election and this one. But I suspect that it's a question of who votes, right? So maybe his supporters stay at home and the supporters of the India block, which is the Congress led coalition, came out and voted. It's very possible that that's kind of what's happening. Wilmer Leon (01:04:38): Well, let me say as always to you, Dr. Ika Desai, thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining me today. Dr Rekha Desai (01:04:48): It's always a great pleasure, Wilma. Wilmer Leon (01:04:50): Folks, thank you all so much for listening to the Connecting the Dots podcast with me, Dr. Wilmer Leon. Stay tuned for new episodes every week. And by the way, if there are issues, if there are topics that you need me to connect the dots on for you, then please provide your suggestions in the comments below. Also, please follow and subscribe. Leave a review, share the show, go to the Patreon account and please make a contribution. This is where analysis, culture, politics, and history converge. Talk without analysis is just chatter. And as you can see with brilliant guests like Dr. Desai, we do not chatter on connecting the dots. See you again next time. Until then, I'm Dr. Wilmer Leon. Have a great one. Peace. We're out Announcer (01:05:50): Connecting the dots with Dr. Wilmer Leon, where the analysis of politics, culture, and history converge.

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It's the 23rd of April and here are today's headlines.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a rally in Chhattisgarh, hit out at the Congress party again for “appeasement” and “vote bank” politics. He termed the opposition as a party that “divides the country on the  basis of religion.” He said the party skipped Ayodhya's Ram Mandir consecration ceremony because “they think they are bigger than Lord Ram”.Amidst reports about added sugar content in baby food sold by Nestle in India, the Supreme Court today asked the Centre about action taken regarding “misrepresenting advertisements for things like foods for babies, children, and elderly” sold by Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies. The raised the issue while hearing a contempt of court case against Patanjali Ayurved for allegedly flouting its orders. The  bench clarified that it is a PIL and is in the larger interest of the consumer public to know which way they are going and how and why they get misled and how agencies are acting to prevent that misuse.A Delhi court today extended the judicial custody of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) legislator K Kavitha till 7th of May 7 in the money-laundering case related to the excise policy. Kejriwal had been sent to Tihar Jail on April 1 after the court of Special Judge Kaveri Baweja sent him to judicial custody till April 15. His judicial custody was later extended till April 23. Meanwhile, Kavitha, a Telangana Member of the Legislative Council who has been under the scanner of central investigating agencies for almost two years, was arrested by the ED from Hyderabad on March 15.The Bombay High Court today dismissed a suit challenging Syedna Muffadal Saifuddin's position as the spiritual head of the Dawoodi Bohra community by his challenger Syedna Taher Fakhruddin. While pronouncing the verdict on Tuesday, Justice Patel clarified he has kept the verdict “as neutral as possible for personalities involved” as ‘feelings will run high' and he has decided the issue “on proof and not faith”. After the verdict, the Dawoodi Bohra community issued a press release praising the “landmark judgement”.As per the ‘State of the Climate in Asia 2023' report, Asia faced the most disasters in the world. In total 79 events of extreme weather, climate, and water-related hazards in 2023 affected over nine million people in the region, directly killing over 2,000 people. The report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said over 80 per cent of the reported hydrometeorological hazards in Asia were flood and storm events.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

Streamed live on Jul 4, 2020 #Yogananda #Guru #YogaMeditation The satsanga includes an opening prayer, a chant, a period of silent meditation, and an inspirational talk by Swami Smaranananda Giri on “The Need for a True Guru in One's Life.” It concludes with praying for all, the practice of Paramahansa Yogananda's healing technique, and a closing prayer. * * * A common man has a limited understanding of the need for a true guru on the spiritual path, and indeed for life itself. Swami Smaranananda shares insights into this topic during the talk. - The guru is the speaking voice of silent God. Also, the guru is the awakened God, awakening the sleeping God in the disciple. The guru creates equality with himself in the disciple. Hence the need for a true Guru in our lives. - A true guru who attained God-consciousness attunes himself with Bhagavan Krishna or Patanjali or Chaitanya or Christ and absorbs the real meaning of their teachings and guides us accordingly. - Even avatars and great ones like Lord Ram, Bhagavan Krishna, Adi Shankaracharya, and Saint Kabir had gurus. That is the spiritual law. - Swamiji also explains, through examples, that a devotee need not necessarily be in the physical presence of a guru to receive guidance - one may do so through devotional and mental attunement. * * * In his “how-to-live” teachings, Paramahansa Yogananda has given to people of all cultures, races, and creeds the means to free themselves from physical, mental, and spiritual inharmonies — to create for themselves a life of enduring happiness and all-round success. Learn more about Yogoda Satsanga Society of India and the path of Kriya Yoga meditation: https://yssofindia.org https://yogananda.org If you live in India, Nepal, or Sri Lanka, you can learn the science of Kriya Yoga by applying for the Yogoda Satsanga Lessons in Self-realization, the home-study course in the science of meditation and art of balanced spiritual living established by Paramahansa Yogananda: https://yssofindia.org/yss-lessons.php Residents of other countries around the world can apply for these same sacred teachings from Self-Realization Fellowship, the international headquarters of Paramahansa Yogananda's spiritual work: https://yogananda.org/lessons Learn more about Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda's spiritual classic: https://yssofindia.org/paramahansa-yo... Other books by Paramahansa Yogananda in eBook format - From YSS's bookstore: https://bookstore.yssofindia.org/topi... From SRF's bookstore: https://bookstore.yogananda-srf.org/p... If you would like to support the spiritual and humanitarian work of YSS, please click on this link: http://donateyss.org#HowToLive#Guru#YSSSRF#YogodaSatsangaSociety #Yogananda#SelfRealizationFellowship#YogaMeditation

First, we talk to Indian Express' Anand Mohan about the huge volume of Congress party leaders, members and workers who are now jumping ship and joining the BJP.Second, Indian Express' Rural Affairs Editor Harish Damodaran joins us to talk about the high-yielding varieties of paddy seeds that have led to some of the best varieties of Basmati rice in India making its way to Pakistan, illegally. (10:12)Lastly, we talk about BJP fielding Arun Govil, the actor who played the role of Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan, from Meerut in UP. (21:58)Hosted by Niharika NandaWritten and Produced by Shashank Bhargava and Niharika NandaEdited and Mixed by Suresh Pawar

Namaskar. In this episode we make further progress in Ramayan. Ram, Lakshman, Bharat, Shatrughna are growing as children. We are introdued to Rishi Vishwamitra. Ram and Lakshman, even though just mere children, go with him to defend and protect Vishwamitra's yagnas and ashram from the demons. We get to know of demons Tratika / Tadaka, Maarich, Subaahu and how they are defeated by Ram and Lakshman. We also get to know the story of Gautam Rishi, Devi Ahilya, and how Lord Ram frees Dvi Ahilya from her curse.

Namaskar. Welcome to Marathi stories by Sudheer Mahajani. In this episode we get to know the very beginning of the great epic of Tretayuga - Ramayan. We get to know the life of King Dashrath - the father of Lord Ram. 2 significant events happen in his youth that shape the course of Ramayan..

The Power of Shree Ram that Can Change your Destiny - Vibhishana Ramayana Story A common question among souls is - "I have accumulated Karmas of many lifetimes. Is it possible to change my destiny?." Find the decisive answer to this question from the Vibhishana story of Ramayana. Vibhishan, the brother of Demon Ravan, comes under the Shelter of Shree Ram.  Will Shree Ram Accept him?  Vibhishan is from a Demon Family. Is he eligible to receive God's Grace?  Listen fully to learn as Swami Mukundananda relates the story in detail

Shree Ram is God. God is always compassionate and ever willing to grace his devotees.  In other words, no matter who you are or what your occupation is, Lord Ram will reciprocate if you express true devotion to him. How? Watch more to learn as Swami Mukundananda relates the Heart-Melting Kevat-Ram Leela from Ramayan that will inspire you to develop Bhakti for Shree Ram.

You may not know it but Muslim poets writing in Urdu about Hindu epics have had a great impact on popular culture. There exists a vast body of shayari on Lord Ram, the Mahabarata was brought alive on the screen through the writing of Dr Rahi Masoom Raza, there are Ram Leelas performed in Urdu and even qawwali often refers to Hindu deities and epics. This is just one embodiment of India's syncretic culture, a vast confluence of faith and traditions. This episode was more personal and emotional than usual, a somewhat late reaction to the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Do listen and share the latest episode of All Indians Matter. Main Samay Hoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A-9Rwt8iMI_Krishna Aayega, from Yugandhar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hc2OiCGUhwMukhtiyar Ali's Man Kunto Maula: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP9Zmx5diVY

Did you know that some of the most beautiful poetry about Lord Ram has been written in Urdu?  While the Ram Temple consecration was a watershed moment for many Hindus across the country, we felt that the mainstream news coverage was limited to party politics and communal remarks. But in this episode of Urdunama, we want to use Ram as a unifying force. Let us embark on a fascinating journey to explore the rich tapestry of Urdu poetry dedicated to Lord Ram, a figure revered in Hinduism. Often shrouded in the misconception that Urdu belongs solely to one religion, this episode challenges that notion by showcasing the beautiful confluence of cultures and perspectives within the language. Listen till the end as Fabeha Syed reads iconic poems about Ram's 'vanvaas,' Diwali, and Ayodhya, by poets like Altaf Hussain, Arsh Malsiyani, and Javed Akhtar.

On the site of a destroyed mosque, India's Narendra Modi opened a huge temple dedicated to the Hindu god, Lord Ram. Is this a curtain-raiser to the national elections later this year?

It's Tuesday, January 23rd, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Kevin Swanson Chinese Communists sentence pastor to 14 years in prison A Chinese pastor with a large online presence has received a sentence of 14 years in prison. Kan Xiaoyong, his wife Wang, and four other church members all received prison sentences at the hands of the despotic communist government, reports Bitter Winter Magazine. Pastor Kan has supported the House Church movement with what he called the Home Discipleship Network for the last four years.  Both the pastor and his wife were tortured for two to three hours by Chinese authorities, reports Radio Free Asia.  Indian prime minister doubles down on Hinduism India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is moving more nationalist and more committed to a Hindu state. That will mean more persecution for Christians and those of other minority religions. His enthusiastic support for the false god “Lord Ram” and a new Hindu temple in northern India's Ayodhya is an attempt to create what Modi has called “The New India.” Hindus for Human Rights is protesting, calling this an attempt to “weaponize Hinduism in the name of the BJP's repressive nationalist ideology, ahead of national elections in May.” Brazil floods kill 32 Torrential rains in Brazil led to severe flooding last week, resulting in the deaths of at least 32 persons and the displacement of 5,000 others, according to The Brazilian Report. And The Christian Daily reports that the Rio de Janeiro flood left 12 dead. The Brazilian Evangelical Alliance is calling for prayers and volunteers to help with the clean up efforts for church communities affected by the flooding — reported to be the worst in 90 years.  Brazil critical of Israel Also, in relation to the Israeli-Hamas War, Brazil has joined South Africa and other Arab nations to bring charges of genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice for Israel's defending itself after being attacked by the Muslim terrorist group on October 7th. The United States, Canada, and Germany have criticized the motion. Ron DeSantis withdraws from presidential race Ahead of today's first-in-the nation primary in New Hampshire, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has pulled out of the presidential race, and he's putting his support behind former president Donald Trump. Listen. DeSANTIS: “I can't ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don't have a clear path to victory. Accordingly, I am today suspending my campaign. “It's clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watch his presidency gets stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfair to this day to attack him. While I've had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. “He has my endorsement because we can't go back to the old Republican Guard of yesteryear.” Trump leads Haley, 50-39%, in New Hampshire   A CNN poll finds that Trump's lead over second place Republican candidate Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina Governor, is now 50-39% in the New Hampshire primary today, where Haley has her best shot.  Real estate market hitting recession The real estate market has hit recession levels. Existing-home sales waned by 1 % in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.78 million, reports the National Association of Realtors. That's the lowest level since the 2010 recession. Court: 18 to 20-year-olds can carry guns The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the rights of 18 to 20-year-olds to carry arms.  The court ruled that a Pennsylvania law, which prohibits the right of these young adults from carrying firearms in public during a state of emergency, was unconstitutional.  U.S. Circuit Judge Kent Jordan wrote, “It is undisputed that 18 to 20-year-olds are among ‘the people' for other constitutional rights such as the right to vote, freedom of speech, peaceable assembly, government petitions, and the right against unreasonable government searches and seizures.” March for Life in D.C. and across America Pro-lifers held their March for Life events around the country over the weekend, connected to the January 22, 1973 date of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which effectively legalized abortion. As The Worldview reported yesterday, thousands braved snowy weather in Washington DC, to march and attend a rally with speakers including NFL player Benjamin Watson and House Speaker Mike Johnson – both of whom we quoted. Other speakers included Republican Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, Focus on the Family President Jim Daly, and Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship. Abortion rate up despite overturn of Roe Despite the reversal of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, the number of abortions appears to still be on the increase in America. The Guttmacher Institute reports that in the first 10 months of 2023 there were an estimated 878,000 abortions in the formal US health care system. That's a rate 12% higher than 2020's numbers. And that doesn't include the number of abortions produced by the Day After Pill, the IUD, and the unrecorded Abortion Kill Pill by Mail program.  Hear the Word of the Lord, for America,  from Isaiah 1:15-17. God said, “When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil,  Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.” Wrestler Hulk Hogan rescues teen after witnessing car accident And finally, famed wrestler Hulk Hogan has recently been in the headlines for getting baptized and speaking about his newfound Christian faith, reports FaithWire.com. But the former World Wrestling Entertainment star is now making headlines for “playing real-life superheroes” alongside one of his friends. A week ago Sunday night, Hogan was in Tampa, Florida when he witnessed a horrific crash and jumped into action. The accident reportedly involved a 17-year-old girl, whom Hogan rescued. After news of the incident broke, the wrestling icon's wife, Sky Daily Hogan, shared details of the event on her Facebook page. She said, “Last night, after we left dinner in Tampa, we saw a car flip in front of us! I truly admire my husband, @hulkhogan, and our good buddy, @jakerask, for springing into action, puncturing the girl's airbag, and getting her quickly out of the car.” According to Hogan, the victim was “unscathed,” though rattled. In the end, she called the entire ordeal “an absolute miracle.” The wrestler also confirmed the story on his Twitter feed, explaining how he was able to pop the airbag without a knife. He wrote, “The crazy part about the teenager that flipped her car was that, without a knife to puncture the airbags to get her out, an Indian Rocks Christian ballpoint pen came in really handy. Thank you, God, all is well.” Close And that's The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Tuesday, January 23rd in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

#中東戰爭 1/22英美聯軍再度對葉門叛軍胡塞武裝組織發動新一輪的攻擊，這是十天以來發動的第八次攻擊；中東戰爭的擴大似乎沒有一次爆發大戰的立即導火線，但卻有打不完的情況。上週伊朗突然砲火四射，分別朝敘利亞、伊拉克北部、巴基斯坦發射飛彈… #美國情勢 美國共和黨黨內初選本週二在新罕布夏州舉行，就在大選前兩天，1/21佛羅里達州州長桑堤斯（Ron DeSantis）宣布退選；去年看來，桑堤斯有意一路挑戰川普，然而上週在愛荷華州初選時表現不如預期，因此兩天前宣布退選並轉而支持川普，而今能挑戰川普的只剩前美國駐聯合國大使海莉（Nikki Haley）… #美中關係 1/21美國國務卿布林肯啟程訪問西非，此行計畫訪問維德角共和國、象牙海岸、奈及利亞與安哥拉，將討論經濟、安全等問題。而有意思的是，1/17王毅才剛訪問象牙海岸，顯見中美之間較勁的態勢非常清楚… #亞洲情勢 首先看東北亞，關於北韓，1/15-1/17北韓外務相崔善姬訪問俄羅斯，普丁親自接見且答應應金正恩的邀請訪問北韓，可見俄朝關係越走越近。東北亞另一個國家日本，1/19日本成功降落月球，意即在太空角逐戰中，目前成功登月的只有五國，美國、俄國、中國、印度與日本…此外，南亞情勢也值得關注，印度總理莫迪1/22在印度北部阿約提亞市出席了羅摩神廟神（Lord Ram）像的開工典禮，由於羅摩神在印度教當中地位舉足輕重，據說建廟之地就是祂的出生地…

Listen to our special report on the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

U.S. and British forces carried out a new round of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. India marked the consecration of a temple to the Hindu god Lord Ram on a site believed to be his birthplace. And the world's first routine vaccination program against malaria was launched in Cameroon.

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It's the 22nd of January and here are the headlines.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led the ‘Pran Pratishtha' in Ayodhya today said that it was an emotional moment for him as after years of wait, Lord Ram had finally arrived in Ayodhya. While addressing the invitees, he said, quote, “Ram Lalla will no longer reside in a tent as this great temple has been consecrated for him." Unquote. He said he would want to use the day to apologize to Lord Ram as it took them so many centuries to complete the consecration of the temple.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court today termed the reasons given by the Tamil Nadu Police as “atrocious”, while rejecting an application by a local temple in the state's Dindigul district seeking permission for almsgiving (annadanam) in connection with the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha event. The bench was hearing a plea which alleged that on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin had “issued oral orders/Directions to the Police Department not to permit any kind of Poojas, Archanas, Annadhanam, Live Telecast of Pran Prathishta, Bhajans and processions in the name of Lord Ram on the auspicious occasion of “Pran Prathista” of Lord Ram at Ayodhya, in all the Temples of Tamil Nadu.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, whose Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is currently passing through Assam, slammed the authorities for allegedly stopping him from visiting the Sri Sri Sankar Dev Satra temple in Nagaon. He said, quote, “It seems like only one person is allowed to enter a temple today. Will PM Modi decide who visits temples?" Unquote. The Congress will hold demonstrations across the country this evening over what it claimed to be “planned attacks” on the convoys of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Assam.Japan's Sony Group Corporation today called off the proposal to merge its Indian subsidiary Sony Pictures Networks India Private Ltd (SPNI), with Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. Sony Corporation issued a notice terminating the definitive agreements relating to the $10 billion merger, which was previously announced on 22nd of December 2021. While Sony cited the delay in the merger, there were conflicting views about the leadership of the combined entity by Zee's MD & CEO Punit Goenka. Air India will put into service its brand-new Airbus A350-900 today. The plane, which is also the first A350 aircraft in the country, was officially inaugurated at Wings India 2024 in Hyderabad last week. It will be initially deployed on domestic routes for a few months for crew familiarisation flights, before switching to international medium and long-haul routes by mid-2024.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

*) Death toll of Palestinians in Gaza from Israeli strikes passes 25,000 The death toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza has passed 25,000, Health officials in the enclave said amid heavy Israeli strikes. Gaza's Health Ministry said in a statement that 178 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, one of the deadliest days so far of the war. A total of 25,105 Palestinians have been killed and 62,681 have been injured in Israeli strikes since October 7, the statement said. *) Ram Temple inauguration: religious ceremony or political rally for Modi? A grand temple to Hindu god Lord Ram is set to open on a site in India millions believe is his birthplace. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the inauguration with a religious spectacle in Ayodhya, months before he seeks a rare third term in elections. The construction of the temple had been a political promise of Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP but the site has been contested for decades, with both Hindus and Muslims laying claim to it. *) More than 13,000 people killed in Sudan conflict: UN More than 13,000 people have been killed and 26,000 others injured in the ongoing conflict in Sudan since last year, the United Nations said. Fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group has been ongoing since April 2023. Several ceasefire agreements brokered by Saudi and US mediators have failed to end the violence. *) Dozens killed in Ukrainian strike on Donetsk — Russia At least 25 people have been killed and 20 others injured due to shelling in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, which is currently under Russian control. The injuries also included two children, according to Denis Pushilin, the Russian-affiliated head of the region. He also claimed the artillery shells were fired from the settlements of Kurakhove and Krasnohorivka, which are under Ukrainian control. Ukrainian officials have not yet commented on Pushilin's claim. And finally… *) Republican DeSantis suspends his presidential campaign, backs Trump Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nominee, throwing his support behind frontrunner Donald Trump. DeSantis said in a video on X that he could not “ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources” without “a clear path to victory.” His withdrawal from the race comes less than two days before the New Hampshire primary. Polls showed him far behind ex-president Trump and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.

The story of Ram Mandir revolves around the long-standing cultural and religious aspirations of millions of Hindus in India. Spanning centuries, it encompasses the historical significance of Lord Ram, the revered deity, and the disputed site in Ayodhya. The narrative traces legal battles, social movements, and political developments that culminate in the construction of the grand Ram Mandir at the disputed site, symbolizing a significant chapter in India's cultural and religious landscape. The temple stands as a testament to unity, faith, and the resilience of a diverse nation in embracing its rich heritage.

Top news of the day: Ayodhya is all set to welcome Lord Ram ,All the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case surrendered on late Sunday, Cricket test series between England and India will kickstart from January 25.

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This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It's the 19th of January and and here are the top stories of this week.Ram Lalla idol has been installed in sanctum sanctorum, at Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on Thursday.Union Minister Jitendra Singh announced that all central government offices will remain closed for half a day on 22nd of January on the occasion of the consecration ceremony. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday released commemorative postage stamps on the Ram temple in Ayodhya and a book of stamps issued on Lord Ram around the world.Rahul Gandhi kickstarted his Manipur to Mumbai Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Thoubal near Imphal on Sunday. Of about 100 Lok Sabha seats the Yatra would criss-cross, as per a tentative list The Indian Express has seen, as many as 58 are in the Hindi-speaking states. The Yatra will spend the maximum number of days – 11 – in UP – the politically most-crucial state with 80 seats where the Congress has failed to make a mark in the last two Lok Sabha elections.Suchana Seth, the Bengaluru-based CEO of a tech start-up accused of killing her four-year-old son in a Goa hotel, had visited the state with her child the previous week too and stayed at a five-star hotel for five days. A children's court in Panaji extended Suchana's police remand by five days on Tuesday. She was produced in court in Goa on Monday afternoon after her six-day police remand ended.Delhi airport was a scene of chaos after unprecedented foggy conditions hit operations on Sunday and Monday. Tempers soared on board a flight on Sunday when a man allegedly attacked an IndiGo pilot after the flight was purportedly delayed for 13 hours. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security issued show cause notices to IndiGo and Mumbai airport operator Mumbai International Airport Ltd after video of passengers having food on the tarmac beside an aircraft at the airport went viral on social media platforms. IndiGo was fined a total of Rs 1.20 crore for various violations, while Mumbai airport operator MIAL was fined Rs 60 lakh by BCAS.India's Sumit Nagal defeated World No 31 Alexander Bublik in straight sets to advance into the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday. He became the first Indian since Ramesh Krishnan at the 1989 Australian Open to beat a seeded player at a Grand Slam. But Nagal ran out of steam to lose to China's Shang Juncheng 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 4-6 in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.

On Jan. 22, a temple of Lord Ram will open its doors in Ayodhya, in northern India. The temple stands where the Babri mosque once existed, before it was torn down by a Hindu mob. The occasion marks a victory for Hindus and a sorrowful reminder for Muslims of the ongoing tensions between the two groups in a Hindu-majority country.

In ein paar Tagen wird Indiens Premierminister Modi den Tempel zu Ehren von Lord Ram einweihen. Schon jetzt sind hunderte Pilger in die Stadt Ayodhya geströmt. Peter berichtet von der Atmosphäre. Und Charlotte erzählt von ihrer Recherche.

Jul 4, 2020 #YogodaSatsangaSociety #Yogananda #Guru The satsanga includes an opening prayer, a chant, a period of silent meditation, and an inspirational talk by Swami Smaranananda Giri on “The Need for a True Guru in One's Life.” It concludes with praying for all, the practice of Paramahansa Yogananda's healing technique, and a closing prayer. * * * A common man has a limited understanding of the need for a true guru on the spiritual path, and indeed for life itself. Swami Smaranananda shares insights into this topic during the talk. - The guru is the speaking voice of silent God. Also, the guru is the awakened God, awakening the sleeping God in the disciple. The guru creates equality with himself in the disciple. Hence the need for a true Guru in our lives. - A true guru who attained God-consciousness attunes himself with Bhagavan Krishna or Patanjali or Chaitanya or Christ and absorbs the real meaning of their teachings and guides us accordingly. - Even avatars and great ones like Lord Ram, Bhagavan Krishna, Adi Shankaracharya, and Saint Kabir had gurus. That is the spiritual law. - Swamiji also explains, through examples, that a devotee need not necessarily be in the physical presence of a guru to receive guidance - one may do so through devotional and mental attunement. * * * In his “how-to-live” teachings, Paramahansa Yogananda has given to people of all cultures, races, and creeds the means to free themselves from physical, mental, and spiritual inharmonies — to create for themselves a life of enduring happiness and all-round success. Learn more about Yogoda Satsanga Society of India and the path of Kriya Yoga meditation: https://yssofindia.org https://yogananda.org If you live in India, Nepal, or Sri Lanka, you can learn the science of Kriya Yoga by applying for the Yogoda Satsanga Lessons in Self-realization, the home-study course in the science of meditation and art of balanced spiritual living established by Paramahansa Yogananda: https://yssofindia.org/yss-lessons.php Residents of other countries around the world can apply for these same sacred teachings from Self-Realization Fellowship, the international headquarters of Paramahansa Yogananda's spiritual work: https://yogananda.org/lessons Learn more about Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda's spiritual classic: https://yssofindia.org/paramahansa-yo... Other books by Paramahansa Yogananda in eBook format - From YSS's bookstore: https://bookstore.yssofindia.org/topi... From SRF's bookstore: https://bookstore.yogananda-srf.org/p... If you would like to support the spiritual and humanitarian work of YSS, please click on this link: http://donateyss.org#HowToLive#Guru#YSSSRF#YogodaSatsangaSociety #Yogananda#SelfRealizationFellowship#YogaMeditation

Ramayana, a holy scripture in India, is a story that has inspired so many people, and I am no exception. In this episode, I narrate an incident when Lord Ram meets his loyal devotee Hanuman for the very first time. In this episode, Lord Ram explains the communication principles to his younger brother Laxman through the example set by Hanuman's speech. Do listen to the entire 5 min episode, and let me know what you think. And if you have feedback or suggestions for me, please write to me on my Gmail, or simply DM me on the podcast's Instagram: E-Mail: adi4193@gmail.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/personalitydevelopmentpodcast/ You can also, give your valuable feedback on our website: https://personalitydevelopmentpodcast.com/

Learn about Law of Karma and how it works when we ask something from God.

On this auspicious Ram Navami week, Swami Mukundananda relates to us the untold story of the Divine Birth of Lord Ram. The virtuous and noble King of Ayodhya, Dasharatha has grown old and had a desire to have a child. He approached Sage Vasishtha and upon his instructions performed a Yagya or a ritual to please the Sun God to beget a child. The Yagya got completed successfully, the Fire god appeared after the Yagya and handed Dasharatha a pot of Kheer which Dasharatha distributed evenly to his three queens. The princes were conceived after the consumption of the Kheer. Months passed by after that and the time of the Divine Birth or the Avatar of Lord Ram came close. The Festivities started in Ayodhya in full swing, the river Sarayu was overflowing with joy and when the Sun reached its peak in the noon, in that auspicious moment, Kaushalya gave birth to Lord Ram. Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharata. Sumitra gave birth to Lakshmana and Shatrughna. King Dasharatha, the queens and the whole of Ayodhya was overjoyed to hear the news of the birth of the four sons. The Birthday of Lord Ram is celebrated as Ram Navami every year. It falls on the Ninth day of the Chaitra Navratri. On this special day, whoever prays to Lord Ram and Mother Sita with full Faith gets all the auspiciousness and their grace.

Ami Ganatra - Krishna, Ram Aur Sita Ki Ankahee Kahaniyaan: https://youtu.be/wtvuB8US2aU Check out my Meditation app: Level SuperMind https://levelsupermind.onelink.me/CsSR/youtube Join the Level Community Here: https://linktr.ee/levelsupermindcommunity नमस्ते दोस्तों! The Ranveer Show हिंदी के 139th Episode में आप सभी का स्वागत है। आज के Podcast में हमारे साथ जुड़ चुके हैं Ami Ganatra जी जो एक बेहतरीन Author है। इन्होंने Mahabharata Unravelled और Ramayan Unravelled किताबें लिखी हैं। इस Podcast में हम करेंगे ढ़ेर सारी बातें Mahabharat का सही Interpretation, Hinduism, अर्जुन की Personality, Sanskrit Language, चक्रव्यूह क्या होता है, Daily Practice की ताकत, Human History, द्वारका, Sufism क्या होता है, गीता का ज्ञान, Yoga का महत्व, अभिमन्यु के बारे में। साथ ही हम बात करेंगे Shri Ram और Hanuman का मिलन, Shri Krishna जी की Personality, क्या Mahabharat सच में हुआ था, Grey Characters, जरासंध की Kahaani, आचार्य द्रोण, शंकराचार्य के बारे में और भी ढ़ेर सारी बातें। मैं आशा करता हूँ ये Video आप सभी Viewers को पसंद आएगा। खास तौर पर उन सभी को जिन्हें Ramayan और Mahabharata के बारे में जानने में Interest है। Mahabharat की सच्चाई और पांडव की Superpowers जैसी चीज़ों के बारे में हम Discuss करेंगे इस Hindi Podcast में सिर्फ़ और सिर्फ़ आपके Favourite BeerBiceps Hindi Channel Ranveer Allahbadia पर। (00:00) : Episode की शुरूआत (02:50) : Mahabharat का सही Interpretation (25:58) : अर्जुन की Personality (31:29) : Shri Krishna की कहानी (01:05:34) : Mahabharat युद्ध के बाद क्या हुआ (01:35:48) : Mahabharat की Legacy (01:39:00) : Episode की समाप्ति

It's Story Time, our weekly walk through cricket history via your listener quiz challenges. This week Bharat Sundaresan joins Geoff on babysitting duty, and is the perfect guide through Indian mythology and princely states. Does any of it relate to cricket? You'll find out. We also try to unravel some cryptic clues and the movie Tenet, which are equally confusing. Your Nerd Pledge numbers this week: 1.30 - Mark Dixon & Daniel Price. 8.16 - Ramaswamy 3.76 - Dan O'Sullivan 5.78 - Jack Rule 2.56 - Ajay & Simon Ward 5.67 - Jon Rees & Bala Sivaraman 2.12 - Mike Brader & Alan Edgar Get on the Lord's Taverners mailing list here. Send us a Nerd Pledge at patreon.com/thefinalword Find other episodes at finalwordcricket.com 20% off primo WoodstockCricket.co.uk bats with the code TFW20 Title track by Urthboy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices