Podcasts about Sanskrit

In this divinely mad satsang, Shunyamurti journeys through his interpretation of the Sanskrit words written in Chapters 14 and 15 of the Ashtavakra Samhita. He clarifies the nuances and idiosyncrasies that are missed by other translators, about becoming established in shunyachitta with an empty and sattvic mind. One must let go of all worries about worldly matters, dissociate from the ego, and have a distaste for objects in order to taste divine presence. The joy of expanding into infinite intelligence, potency, and power is available to all but unimaginable to the ego. The choice is yours. Why not abide in stillness now?

In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom podcast, host Stewart Alsop sits down with Kelvin Lwin for their second conversation exploring the fascinating intersection of AI and Buddhist cosmology. Lwin brings his unique perspective as both a technologist with deep Silicon Valley experience and a serious meditation practitioner who's spent decades studying Buddhist philosophy. Together, they examine how AI development fits into ancient spiritual prophecies, discuss the dangerous allure of LLMs as potentially "asura weapons" that can mislead users, and explore verification methods for enlightenment claims in our modern digital age. The conversation ranges from technical discussions about the need for better AI compilers and world models to profound questions about humanity's role in what Lwin sees as an inevitable technological crucible that will determine our collective spiritual evolution. For more information about Kelvin's work on attention training and AI, visit his website at alin.ai. You can also join Kelvin for live meditation sessions twice daily on Clubhouse at clubhouse.com/house/neowise.Timestamps00:00 Exploring AI and Spirituality05:56 The Quest for Enlightenment Verification11:58 AI's Impact on Spirituality and Reality17:51 The 500-Year Prophecy of Buddhism23:36 The Future of AI and Business Innovation32:15 Exploring Language and Communication34:54 Programming Languages and Human Interaction36:23 AI and the Crucible of Change39:20 World Models and Physical AI41:27 The Role of Ontologies in AI44:25 The Asura and Deva: A Battle for Supremacy48:15 The Future of Humanity and AI51:08 Persuasion and the Power of LLMs55:29 Navigating the New Age of TechnologyKey Insights1. The Rarity of Polymath AI-Spirituality Perspectives: Kelvin argues that very few people are approaching AI through spiritual frameworks because it requires being a polymath with deep knowledge across multiple domains. Most people specialize in one field, and combining AI expertise with Buddhist cosmology requires significant time, resources, and academic background that few possess.2. Traditional Enlightenment Verification vs. Modern Claims: There are established methods for verifying enlightenment claims in Buddhist traditions, including adherence to the five precepts and overcoming hell rebirth through karmic resolution. Many modern Western practitioners claiming enlightenment fail these traditional tests, often changing the criteria when they can't meet the original requirements.3. The 500-Year Buddhist Prophecy and Current Timing: We are approximately 60 years into a prophesied 500-year period where enlightenment becomes possible again. This "startup phase of Buddhism revival" coincides with technological developments like the internet and AI, which are seen as integral to this spiritual renaissance rather than obstacles to it.4. LLMs as UI Solution, Not Reasoning Engine: While LLMs have solved the user interface problem of capturing human intent, they fundamentally cannot reason or make decisions due to their token-based architecture. The technology works well enough to create illusion of capability, leading people down an asymptotic path away from true solutions.5. The Need for New Programming Paradigms: Current AI development caters too much to human cognitive limitations through familiar programming structures. True advancement requires moving beyond human-readable code toward agent-generated languages that prioritize efficiency over human comprehension, similar to how compilers already translate high-level code.6. AI as Asura Weapon in Spiritual Warfare: From Buddhist cosmological perspective, AI represents an asura (demon-realm) tool that appears helpful but is fundamentally wasteful and disruptive to human consciousness. Humanity exists as the battleground between divine and demonic forces, with AI serving as a weapon that both sides employ in this cosmic conflict.7. 2029 as Critical Convergence Point: Multiple technological and spiritual trends point toward 2029 as when various systems will reach breaking points, forcing humanity to either transcend current limitations or be consumed by them. This timing aligns with both technological development curves and spiritual prophecies about transformation periods.

“There's nothing dead about the Indian classics. It's not a revival of anything. It's not a museum piece. I think our classical tradition is alive through the stories our parents and grandparents told us…[and through popular culture]…..but with few exceptions, we don't know about the classics from our neighboring state, right? I always hope that the girl in Chandigarh can read a Mangal Kavya from Bengal, a boy in Patna can read a Telugu classic. Someone sitting in your old hometown, Pune can read Bulleh Shah.”

For the first regular episode of the year (excepting our New Year's recap) we take a look at the New Year Traditions at Temmu's court.  How did the court celebrate the New Year in the late 7th century? For more, check out our blogpost:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-141 Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 141: Temmu's New Year's Traditions   The chill winter air meant that most of the assembled crowd had donned multiple layers of robes.  Men and women had assembled together, upon the open, rock-covered courtyard, both to see and be seen.  To the north and east of the courtyard were the walls and gates of the buildings that made up the royal palace, the rooves of the buildings just visible beyond the gates. The onlookers stood arrayed around the open lanes that had been created for the event—at one end of the rocky field were targets, while at the other were archers, also arrayed in their finest outfits.  While technically they wore hunting robes, cut to allow greater movement in the arm, many of these fabrics had no business being anywhere near a moor or the dirt of open fields.  After all, this wasn't just some hunt:  They were demonstrating their skills in the center of the State.  At the officials' command, the archers let loose their arrows.  The crowd murmured at the soft crack of the bowstring, the faint whisper of arrow as the fletchings cut through the air, and the thud as the arrows struck their targets.  Looking downrange, approval bubbled through the crowd: the targets were well-struck.  Behind the archers on the field, another group awaited their turn. The events of the day would be the talk of the court, from the lowest clerk to the highest prince , for days to come.   Not just the well-placed shot, but also the grace and poise of the one who had let loose an arrow of particular note.  And heaven forbid an arrow miss its target.  Even kicking up stones or scraping the earth could have negative social consequences.  A particularly good showing could inspire poetry, and beyond the prizes being offered to the winner, could also bring notice to those from more obscure backgrounds. The new year had just started, and a good performance might be just what was needed to help put the rest of the year on a good footing.     Welcome back!  This is the first episode of the new year, 2026, and we are still going through the reign of Ohoama, aka Temmu Tenno, covering the period from 672 to 686. Before we get started, though, a quick shout out to Suzuki for supporting us on Patreon.  It means a lot and helps us keep this thing going.  If you would like to support us or our efforts to maintain the website, where we also have the Armor manual, clothing, and a miscellany on various topics, we have information at Sengokudaimyo.com and we will have more information at the end of this and every episode.  Support is appreciated as I really do want to try and minimize ads—I don't put any into the podcast myself, though some platforms may place ads around the podcast, which I cannot always control.  Now we've covered a lot this reign, but this episode we are going to cover three things in particular.  First off, and perhaps a bit of a tangent, we'll talk about some of the issues with the Chronicles when it comes to reading it,especially in translation.  It seems quite clear to me that even the sources that the Chroniclers were using weren't always in agreement with each other on how they spelled certain things or even in properly recording when things happened. After that we'll cover the major topics of this episode, focusing primarily on the New Year traditions of the court—we'll look at the major events of the first month for each year in the reign, allowing us to see some of the similarities, and differences. Finally, we'll look at the last year of Ohoama's reign, particularly as he grew ill, because it can be a fascinating question:  What did people do when disease struck before we had modern medicine?  Here the Chronicles reveal a lot about not only the beliefs of the time, but of their syncretism: how people were willing to reach out to whatever power they could in order to cure disease.  Whether it was Yin-yang divination, beseeching the local kami, or attempting to make merit, all of these things were on the table when it came to illness and mortality. And so, let's get into it. One of the first things I want to talk about is the problem that we have in trying to read the Chronicles, both in the way they are written and then the translation issue on top of that.  Even in Japanese the Chronicles have to be translated out of an ancient form of kanbun—basically a Japanese version of Chinese, using Sinitic characters.  Like any document written by non-native speakers, the Chronicles have their idiosyncrasies that make it different from what someone in Chang'an might be writing at the same time.  There are times and places where it is clear that something is meant to be read in the Japanese pronunciation, which itself was different from modern Japanese.  Add to this the fact that there are many times that different Sinitic characters sound alike in Japanese—especially in modern Japanese.  So any English translation of the Chronicles which doesn't give the actual characters in the source text can add to the confusion.  This is why I like to consult either the Japanese Historical Text Initiative or an electronic version of the National History series text—though even those have issues at times when the characters used in the text don't exist in modern character sets, though that seems to be less and less of a problem. One example I want to give of the complexities of reading the Chronicles, and the need to dive deeper into the original language and consult multiple versions, is a set of records for Ki no Omi no Abemaro and others.  He is our first mention of a member of the Ki family: on the 9th day of the 8th month of 673, the first year since Ohoama's ascension and one year after the Jinshin no Ran, we are told that Ki no Omi no Abemaro and others were given favors and rewards for their service during the war in Iga province.  Indeed, Ki no Omi no Abemaro is listed prominently in the records of the Jinshin no Ran and appears to have been one of the generals for Ohoama and the Yoshino faction in general.  Less than a year later, on the 28th day of the 2nd month, Ki no Omi no Abemaro died and was posthumously awarded the rank of Daishi, which was 5th from the top in the old system of 26 ranks.  A rather respectable rank, to be sure. Later that same year we get a note that Ki no Omi no KATAmaro—another member of the family, apparently--was appointed, along with a "Prince Mino" as a commissioner for the erection of the Great Temple of Takechi. Two years later, however, we get a record on the 22nd day of the 4th month of 676 that the sovereign, Ohoama, sent an order to the Governor of Mino telling him to let the children of Ki no Omi no Abemaro, resident in the district of Toki, be removed to the East country and become peasants in that country.  On the face of it, this appears to be an incredible fall from grace.  Ki no Omi no Abemaro is basically one of the top generals and heroes of the Jinshin no Ran, but his children are so unruly that they are banished to the East and stripped of their noble status?  There has to be a story there, right? Then in 679, on the 3rd day of the 2nd month, we are told that Ki no Omi no Katamaro died.  For his service in the Jinshin War he received the posthumous rank of Upper Daikin.  That would have been roughly the 7th rank—two below Ki no Abemaro.  So was the Ki family back in the good graces of the court?  What is going on? First off, when we go to the original text, we see that Aston, whose translation of the Nihon Shoki we've been working on Ihas made an apparent error in translation.  Remember, Aston was translating the Chronicles back in 1896, without the aid of modern computers, along with a lot of other research that has happened since then, and I can hardly fault him for missing things here and there.  This is why, if you cannot check the original, you may want to also look at the new translation from John Bentley.  Here we can see that he translates the name not as "Ki no Omi no Abemaro", but rather that of "Ki no Omi no KASAmaro".  And if we compare Ki no Omi no KaSAmaro with the previous entry on Ki no Omi no KaTAmaro we can see that these are actually the exact same names except for a single character.  Which leads us to the question:  Are these the same person, and the scribes simply miswrote one of the characters in the name?  It may not even be on the Chroniclers so much as whatever texts they were, themselves, working on.  This isn't helped by the fact that we later on see another entry for Ki no KATAmaro, but that one uses character for "KATA", meaning "hard", using the kun'yomi, or Japanese reading, rather than using two phonetic characters in the on'yomi reading.  So is this just another way to write "KATAmaro" or is this a different person altogether? Ultimately, we cannot be entirely sure.  It does seem wild that there would be two "Ki no Omi no Katamaro" at court at the same time and nobody otherwise distinguished the two.  The question about KaSAmaro and KaTAmaro, and whose kids were sent into exile, is a bit harder to untangle. And, truth be told, it is ultimately a minor point.  We have only a couple of lines here, and maybe these passages will help illuminate something later in the histories, but for now, they are just fragments of the story of what was happening.  Parts of the tattered tapestry from which the royal history was ripped out and restitched together, the rest of the story largely discarded, unless it made its way to us through other means. The Chronicles may be flawed, but they are still our main source for the period, and while we might challenge individual items, we still get a glimpse at how things operated back at this time.  For instance, if we look at the events happening around the New Year, we can see some common threads. The New Year is an important tradition in many cultures.  Whether it was a solar or lunar cycle—or some combination—the new year indicated a new cycle, and was often accompanied by associated symbols and rituals.  Today in the US it is often celebrated with fireworks and champagne, followed by making resolutions for the new year.  In Japan, people will often go to their local shrine or temple for an important first visit, and temple bells will ring out 108 times. Another tradition is the osechi-ryori, the  traditional new years foods.  This has grown over time from a tradition of eating a large bowl of rice to various other foods that are seen as auspicious or having special properties, such as the hardening of teeth—a major concern before the era of modern dental hygiene!  Then there are traditions such as the Kagami Biraki, or opening of the mirror, and the creation of special mochi, or rice cakes for the purpose.  Of course all of these traditions started somewhere and have evolved over time, so what do we know about the New Year celebrations during the late 7th century? One caveat: in the Chronicles, we only really see what was happening in the court, and the Yamato court at that.  There may have been local traditions that others were following that, unless we find documentation about them, we likely would never know.  But many of the court traditions were passed down to later generations. These traditions appear to include the giving of gifts; large, celebratory banquets; and the annual archery tournament. Banquets are some of the first and most common things we see.  We see a banquet as Ohoama assumed the throne in 673—which probably was the event that overshadowed anything else they might have done that year.  The following year, 674, there doesn't seem to have been much recorded, and I wonder if they were still pulling everything together after the turmoil of Ohoama's ascension.  And so it is that in the first month of 675 we really get to see the annual new year's events in their full form.  On the second day of that year, from the Royal Princes on down, all of the public functionaries presented their respects to the sovereign.  I suspect that this was a large ceremony, where everyone gathered in the courtyard of the palace together or something similar, not that each person individually went up and presented their respects—I doubt Ohoama would have wanted to sit through all of that.  Also, as we've already seen, there were limits on what parts of the palace different functionaries were allowed to enter.  So some of these well-wishers may have been "outside", others in the courtyard, and others in the palace building itself, depending on their rank and importance in the bureaucratic hierarchy. On the following day, all public functionaries, from the initial rank upwards, presented firewood.  Aston notes that this is the first mention of what would become a yearly practice.  Firewood may not seem like much, but it would have likely been important to keeping things running, especially given how early people were supposed to arrive at the palace and administrative complex each day.  This wasn't firewood for a fireplace—they didn't have those—but probably would have been used either for cooking or, I suspect, for the large braziers that burned with wood and pitch to light the darkness, particularly in the winter months.  Firewood could also be processed into smaller pieces of coal for other uses.  It is interesting that for the first ceremony, the Chronicles describe the court from the Royal Princes on down, while for the giving of firewood the order is from the initial—which is to say the lowest—ranks upwards.  This could indicate the order in which things progressed in these cases. Several days after that, on the 7th day of the first month, a banquet was given at court for the Ministers—so only the higher ranking functionaries.  But ten days later, on the 17th, everyone of rank—the Ministers of State; the Daibu, or high officials; and all of the public functionaries from the initial rank upwards had an archery meeting in the Court of the Western Gate. Archery and archery contests had been important to the Yamato people for ages—and the same on the continent.  Confucius, in his day, suggested that archery was a martial skill that even nobles should cultivate.  I believe we've noted before how archery could be used both for warfare and for just feeding your family.  As such, it was considered a particularly useful skill for just about everyone to have.  It probably also helped that it was a martial skill that noblemen and others could use to show off without actually risking any injury to themselves in the process.  I'm just saying.  And as we described at the top of the episode, this particular archery contest would, for both participants and spectators, likely have been a chance to show off the top of their game, whether in martial prowess, clothing, or behavior. And since we are looking at the new year's celebrations, let's keep this going and look at later years in Ohoama's reign. As I go through these you'll start to see the patterns, where the events I've just described will generally recur year after year, but not identically, sometimes with a shuffle in the schedule. In 676, we see that the Ministers and public functionaries pay their respects on the first day of the new year.  On the 4th day, the sovereign granted gifts to the higher level officials, from Royal Prince Takechi, down to the high officials, or Daibu, of Shoukin rank.  Their not so secret Santa gifts included robes, hakama, lined garments, obi for their waist, leg straps, and staves, or walking sticks.  We are also told that everyone above the rank of Shoukin also got an armrest thrown in, as well.  Further gifts or grants were given out several days later, on the 7th, to everyone from Shoukin on up, based on their individual circumstances.  Then, on the 15th, we again see all of the functionaries present firewood and then they were all entertained at a court banquet. The following day they held the annual new year's archery contest, with prizes, at the court of the western gate.  Those who hit the target received prizes of different values.  In his recent translation of the Nihon Shoki, Bentley references Kuroita on Article 41 of Miscellaneous Statutes, saying that this archery event was apparently a regular new year's occurrence, and even the prizes were noted as varying over time. The same day they held the archery contest, that year, Ohoama held a banquet at the Shima Palace.  Shima was the name given to the Soga Prime Minister, back in the day, so I assume that this was at or near the site of the old Soga residence? In 677, by comparison, we don't see nearly as much referenced.  There is archery at the South Gate, vice the west gate, but that is it.  The festivities in 678 similarly only talk about the archery at the south gate.  There is also mention of a preparation for worshipping the kami of heaven and earth, for which a purification was held throughout the state.  In addition, an abstinence palace, or saiguu, was erected on the bank of the Kurahashi river.  Kurahashi appears to refer to a tributary of the Ohara river, in Sakurai.  This feels less like a New Year's celebration, however, and more like a sign of merit-making.  The Saiguu would have likely been to prepare for a trip to Ise shrine, and three months later Ohoama was preparing to go to the Saiguu, but that is when Princess Towochi suddenly died, and they scuttled the plans. In 679, the court greeted the New Year with a new decree.  Ohoama declared that Princes, Ministers, and public functionaries—anyone in service to the government, basically, were to refrain from paying respects during New Years or other ceremonies to anyone except relatives of the grade of elder brother, elder sister, and above, or to the senior members of the Houses.  Princes weren't even to pay respects to their own mothers unless they were, themselves, princesses.  Ministers were likewise not to pay respects to their mothers if they were of "mean" rank.  In other words, if they were commoners. These kinds of statutes are interesting.  First of all, you ask yourself why?  In all likelihood, there were various local traditions and individuals paid respects to their parents as well as to others to whom they owed respect for one reason or another.  Here the State is ordering society such that there is a clear hierarchy, at least among the members of the court.   Since women often found advancement by marrying up, it was usual for one's mother to have been born a lower rank in society than oneself.  And so we see them enforcing the social order. That new order was based on Confucian concepts of hierarchy, and this seems to go along with those same ideas. What we don't really see is how this was enforced—if at all.  The day after that, the yearly archery competition took place at the West Gate of the palace. The next year, 680, we see a New Year's Banquet at the Court of the Great Hall.  Ohoama himself occupied the Mukai-kodono, which appears to refer to one of the smaller wings.  Based on the palace layout that we see in the posthole remains, this probably means that he was set up in the smaller wing, likely in a more intimate space, while most of the other guests were in the large hall, maintaining that crucial separation of sovereign and subjects. This New Year's archery event included Princes of the Blood all the way down to the rank of Shouken—the very lowest rank in the court—and it was held at the South Gate. You may be noticing a pattern, that the archery competition is listed as being held at either the south or west gates.  The south gate probably refers to the main gate of the later Okamoto—aka the Kiyomihara—palace.  The West gate refers to the west gate of the Ebinoko enclosure.   We talked about these and the general layout of the palace back in Episode 134, and you can check out that podcast blog post for some images of what things looked like, as well.  These gates were on the north and east sides of a large, rectangular courtyard, which was likely the actual event location.  So it isn't as if these were separate areas, just a difference of where things were set up in what was otherwise the same relative space. The following year, 681, we see similar ceremonies.  We see offerings made to the kami of Heaven and Earth, and we once again see a note about various functionaries paying their respects at court.  Even though this wasn't mentioned every year, it could have been an annual thing and just wasn't always recorded so the Chroniclers just wrote down what they had records for.  There are certainly other things we don't necessarily witness in the records, such as the annual promotions and promulgations.  We see irregular promotions, of course, such as on someone's passing, but the regular administration of the government and promotions of people to new positions is not something we really see regularly documented, since it doesn't really shed much light on the sovereign and the royal household.  And so we sometimes see things if they get mentioned, but otherwise we only see glimpses.  That would change as records became more administrative and the histories were more about simply recording what was happening—though still from a particular angle.  At this point, however, we aren't dealing with a single court record, but rather with numerous records, stories, and recollections.  That same year, 681, we also see another banquet, with Ohoama situated in the Mukai no Kodono, while the Princes of the Blood and non-royal Princes were both introduced into the inner reception chamber.  Ministers attended in the outer reception chamber.  They all received sake and musical performances, and rank advancements were given out.  Kusakabe no Kihi no Ohogata was graduated from the rank of Upper Daisen to Lower Daikin, and given the title of Naniwa no Muraji.  A few days later, Sakahibe no Muraji no Iwazumi was granted a fief with 60 horses and received presents of coarse silk, floss silk, cloth, and one hundred mattocks—the last one being a rather interesting gift, I have to admit.  Of course, in true Chronicles fashion, we have no idea why these gifts were made—we don't even have another reference to Iwazumi around there, but he must have done something. We are later told that there was the annual archery shoot, and then a decree, possibly unrelated to New Years, that the various provinces were ordered to repair the shrines to the kami of heaven and earth. The year 682 is an anomaly.  There is no mention of a banquet, nor of an archery tournament.  I wonder if this may have to do with some of the sad events of that first month.  While it started fine—Toneri no Miyatsuko no Nukamushi was raised from Daisen to Lower Shoukin—we are told that on the 18th, Lady Higami, one of Ohoama's consorts, died in the palace.  The next day there was an earthquake, and she was buried on the 27th.  A prominent illness and death may have put a pall on the ceremonies, and could explain why we don't see any mention of them for that year. It is also possible that some of this New Year tradition had become so routine that people were no longer commenting on it, and therefore the Chroniclers weren't including references to it. The following year, in 683, we again see the functionaries paying their respects.  We also see the presentation of a three legged sparrow by the Viceroy of Tsukushi, Tajihi no Mabito no Shima, along with others.  A three legged sparrow would have been something: it is reminiscent of the three legged crow, often depicted in the sun.  It is unclear if it was still alive, but that wasn't the point.  They invited the Princes of the Blood down to the Ministers to great hall, the Daigokuden, for a banquet, where the three legged sparrow was displayed. .  Later that month, Ohoama issued a decree in regards to all of the auspicious omens and made presents to everyone, from Shouken rank upwards.  There was also a general amnesty—all crimes were pardoned, from capital offenses on down, and all forced labor was remitted, so that people didn't have to provide the normal service.  The phrasing for this particular entry is intriguing.  Ohoama is mentioned as Yamato Neko Sumera no Mikoto and is specifically called a "God Incarnate".  This is one of the rare times that we see the Chronicles explicitly call out the sovereign as a living deity.  Of course, they trace the royal lineage back to Amaterasu, but there isn't a lot suggesting that the sovereign is necessarily a deity. And in reality, this was probably something that was more honorific than anything else.  Heck, at times in Japanese history we would see sovereigns selling their calligraphy to help keep the royal palace funded while warriors went around actually being in charge of things.  However, this divine language did show up in the 19th and 20th century, especially as the Tennou, now called Emperor in English terminology, once again was recognized as the Head of State, and people would actually pray to him.  Not necessarily like praying at a shrine, but out of respect.  And remember, a lot of time the Tennou was kept out of sight of regular people and hidden, much like the way that the kami were treated.  The concept of the Emperor's divinity was very much tied up in the elevation of the State and the general sense of Nationalism that had gripped Japan in the early half of the 20th century.  And so the allies quite explicitly had Emperor Showa renounce his divinity after Japan  World War II. Those studying Japanese history have probably heard of this concept, and so it is interesting to see evidence of it here, as well as the nature of the royal house, where the sovereign is kept at a distance from those of lower rank, unless they are directly serving him.  But it was not as though the sovereign was a god in the sense of being all powerful.  Even if he were considered a living, visible kami, the kami were not omnipotent, and there was no getting over the fact that our particular sovereign, Ohoama, was getting older.  Only a year or so earlier, he had suffered a rather bad illness, so he clearly was not invincible.  And it is of course possible that this language was simply royal exaggeration, rather than any attempt to define the sovereign as something more than he was.  Still, that concept would continue to play a part throughout Japanese history. The same day in 683 that Ohoama issued the pardons, we are told that there was a special performance at the Woharida Court of dance and music from Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla—the "Three Countries" of the Korean peninsula, even if only one of them was still going strong.  The Woharida palace is thought to have been north, along the banks of the Asuka River.  It may have been moved over time—there appears to have been a palace in the Furumiya area, near Toyoura, but there is also evidence of a palace by a shared name over by Ikazuchi-no-oka, on the other side of the river.  Excavations at Ikazuchi no oka revealed pottery with the name of the palace, suggesting that this was the site, but even then, that pottery was from the later Tempyo era.  Regardless, it seems that the Asuka valley was just chock full of palaces, new and old, though the older ones were not as regularly used for government functions, one assumes. The following year, 684, we again get told about the annual archery shoot.  It took place in the Eastern court this time, with Ministers in attendance.  Apparently they had men skilled in archery shooting alongside palace attendants and little people—the word used in Japanese is "Shuju" or "Hikihito".  This word is often translated as "dwarf"; it appears to be a derogatory term for anyone considered short of stature, though it is also used to refer more generally to those seen as either lacking wit or to actors and performers. This isn't the first time we see the term.  Back in 675, about 9 years prior, Ohoama had sent orders to a number of regions near the capital, from Awaji to Tamba, to Afumi and to Mino and Wohari, among others, to send as tribute common people who could sing, shuju—or dwarfs—and jugglers.  More generally they seem to be referring to entertainers, and it strikes me that could be what is meant here.  Either way, the entertainment industry was hardly a lucrative one, and we can see that performers are almost more of a commodity, to be "paid" as tribute, rather than a professional who is "hired" to work.  I suspect that, as in many other times and places, individuals who were shorter than average often found work as entertainers in this sense—whether they wished it or not. The year 685 we don't see any mention of archery, though it probably still happened.  Instead the Chronicles focus on the various government officials paying their respects to their sovereign.  The rest of the entries for the month are largely concerned with changes to the rank system as of that year. The year 686, we get the last records of various new years festivals—four months later, the sovereign would grow terribly ill, and he would eventually pass away later that year.  However, for those still celebrating the new year in 686, that was all in the future. The last year of Ohoama's reign started out relatively like others. Ohoama went to the Daigokuden, the Great Hall of Audience, and gave a banquet to the Princes and High Officials.  There he decided to have something of a riddle challenge.  He would ask riddles, and then offer prizes for the correct answer. And no, unfortunately we don't have any of the riddles, at least that I have seen.  Aston calls these "conundrums" and notes that they are specifically nonsensical questions, and provides examples such as "Why does a horse, after a rapid run, listen to the earth? Why does a dog, when he goes slowly, raise his leg?"  Ohoama's son, Prince Takechi, answered correctly, and so did Prince Ise.  Their prizes differed in content, but in both cases were pretty extensive.  The winners received ceremonial robes, brocade or purple hakama, numerous bolts of coarse silk, many pounds of thread, hundreds of pounds of flossed Silk, and hundreds of bolts of cloth. I think that makes it quite a bit more lucrative than any of the quiz nights I've ever been to. Later that month, there was another banquet, this time for nine Buddhist monks of Daikan-daiji. Besides its status as a national temple, this may have also been related to the year before, when Ohoama had fallen ill, and prayers had been offered at Daikandaiji for his recovery.  The courthad likewise provided gifts to the temple in the last month of the previous year, and then, at the banquet, gave to the attending monks silk and cloth, based on their rank. But that wasn't the end of the gifts.  The following day the Princes and High Officials all received upper garments and hakama—likely referring to official garments—each getting one suit, each. Then, on the 13th day of the new year, the court invited 20 exceptional individuals to a banquet.  These were talented people, professors, divination specialists, and physicians.  They were also wined and dined and presented various gifts. On the 16th day, the Princes and High Officials were then invited to a banquet in the Daigokuden.  They were given gifts of silk and cloth, based on their rank.  Then they held another riddle competition, with correct answers rewarded with gifts of coarse and flossed silk. This was only a short time after disaster had struck, though a bit removed—two days earlier, in the evening, the royal storehouse at Naniwa had caught fire, eventually burning the entire Toyosaki palace complex to the ground.  Some claimed that it was actually started at a private residence,  that of Ato no Muraji no Kusuri, and then spread to the Palace.  In the end, only the military storehouse was spared. This would have been quite the tragedy for the government, but it did not halt the festivities happening down in Asuka.  The Naniwa Palace appears to have been a major government center for the administration of the state, but it was not the royal court which had been in Asuka for over a decade.  Indeed, I imagine that the news probably reached Asuka around the time of the Banquet itself. And yet, rather than putting a damper on the festivities, they continued another couple of days – presumably everything was already prepared and there was no point in canceling.  On the 17th, the court sponsored a banquet in the rear palace, presumably for the Queen and members of the imperial family.  Then the following day there was a great revel at the palace.  Ohoama took his place in front of the royal muro and made presents to performers, as well as to the singers.  As before everything varied according to rank. Asuka wasn't the only place to get in on the festivities.  The same month, the court also sponsored a banquet for the Silla envoys in Tsukushi, sending Prince Kawachi and others. Regrettably, that would be the last new year that Ohoama would see.  In the fifth month, he grew ill, and what we see in the Chronicles after that is an interesting look into how people of the time dealt with sickness. First, the court had the Sutra of Yakushi expounded at Kawaradera and held a Buddhist retreat in the palace, inviting monks to come and expound Buddhist teachings.  Yakushi, or Yakushi Nyorai—Bhaisajyaguru in Sanskrit—was known as the Medicine Buddha, and his name in Sinitic characters was basically "Master of Medicine".  It is said that he was responsible for the Eastern Pure Land, and that, as a Bodhisattva, he had made 12 great vows to cure the illnesses of all living beings in the world.  For that reason, Yakushi Nyorai was often called upon to cure illness.  In fact, six years earlier, when the Queen, Uno no Sarara Hime, had taken ill, Ohoama erected an entire temple to Yakushi Nyorai, known as Yakushiji.  He then had 100 people take vows as priests, and they attributed her recovery to this effort. In this case, however, it seems that it didn't have quite such an effect, and Ohoama remained under the weather.  We are also told that the court sent Palace Attendants, the Oho-toneri, to clean the pagodas of various temples and that a general amnesty was announced for all under heaven, emptying the prisons.  All of this points to the idea of making merit in the hope of bringing good karma, and thus healing. But the following month, Ohoama was still ill.  Divination was performed by the Onmyoji, the court diviners, and they claimed that there was a curse from Kusanagi, the sword that is considered one of the three main royal symbols.  This is the sword that was said to have been found by Susanowo in the tale of Yamata no Worochi, and which gained its name, Kusanagi, when used by Yamato Takeru, cutting down the grass to save him when his enemies tried to catch him by setting fire to the field where he was hunting.  For more on that, check out Episodes 34 and 35. Given the importance of Kusanagi, I suspect that the idea of destroying it to remove the curse was out of the question, and so it was sent to Atsuta Shrine, where it was enshrined and would largely stay except when needed for enthronement ceremonies.  And yet, even after the sword was taken away, the illness remained.  Six days later, on the 16th day of the 6th month, the court sent Prince Ise and officials to Asukadera and asked the monks there to make and oath with the Buddha to make Ohoama whole through the power of the Three Treasures of Buddhism.   For their work, the three Buddhist Officers, the Master of the Law, and the Upadhyaya and temple directors, as well as those monks with the rank of "master" each received a donation of one robe and one cover, or "Ohi". Three days later, the court ordered the hundred officials to go to Kawaradera and perfom the ceremony of lighting lanterns and giving offerings to Buddha.  Then they held a great feast and offered repentance for their transgressions.  All of this sounds like a continued attempt to make merit for the state, and thus for Ohoama. We then see the court granting the monks Hounin and Gishou 30 stipend-households to provide for them in their old age, which may be more merit-making, or possibly was related to some of the many other activities so far.  There are a few issues with this entry, and Aston and Bentley don't seem to agree on the actual date.  Bentley has it on the 28th, but that seems odd as it comes before the entry for the 22nd of the same month.  Aston has it as the 20th, but then claimes that there is something odd about the date of the 22nd. On the 22nd, we are simply told that the district kitchen of Nabari caught fire.  Aston notes that this would have been the official government arm in the district gathering food to supply the royal household—rather than being a kitchen in terms of a place to prepare food. Merit-making continued into the 7th month.  We see the Soujou and Soudzu, the primary and secondary prelates of the Asukadera, performing ritual repentance.  The following day there is another general amnesty, and Aston specifically mentions performing a Oho-harai, or cleansing. The day after taxes were halved from the provinces and corvee labor with local conscripted labor was exempted for the year.  Then we see the court presenting paper offerings to the Kunikasu Kami in Ki provinces, as well as the four shrines in Asuka and the Great Suminoe—aka Sumiyoshi—shrine. On the 8th day of the 7th month, 100 monks were invited to the court to read the Golden Light Sutra—Konkoymyou kyou.  And on the 15th there was another court issued amnesty. Despite all of these attempts to make merit and intercede with the Buddha or with various kami, Ohoama's illness continued.  We see that the court issued a decree that all things that should occur, great or small, should be reported to the queen and the crown prince—presumably because Ohoama was no longer in a state to be able to do so. Continuing with their efforts, the court declared that destitute commoners who had been forced to borrow rice seed or money before the 12th month of the previous year would be exempted from repayment.  And then the court changed the name of the year to Akami-tori, or Shuuchou.  They also renamed the palace in Asuka to "Kiyomihara"—again, go check Episode 134 for more on the palace.  "Shuuchou" is the Red Bird, likely referring to Suzaku, though Aston also points out that "Asuka" here is given as "flying bird", as well, and there had been numerous bird-related omens reported throughout the reign. Although these names would not have been used prior to this point—the 7th month of the final year of the reign—the Chroniclers applied the nengo, Shuuchou, to all of the entries for this year, and the name of the palace is often given as "Kiyomihara" is given to distinguish it from the Later Okamoto Palace, even though it was simply the latter palace with the addition of the Ebinoko enclosure. The changing of the era name was likely another attempt to change the seemingly inauspicious year, along with all of the merit-making that the court had been undergoing. And yet they kept going. The court selected 70 people who were diligent in keeping Buddhist laws and had them take the tonsure, and they sponsored a feast—or festival—in the Royal Muro of the Palace. At the same time the various princes had a statue of the Boddhisatva of Compassion, Kannon, made for the sovereign and had the Lotus sutra—the sutra where Kannon is first mentioned—read out at Daikandaiji. Kannon, or Avalokitesvara, was originally seen as a male Boddhisatva, but is often depicted as a woman.  They are also known as Guanyin, from which we get Kannon in Japanese.  Guanyin is also seen as Goddess of Mercy, and is one of the most popular figures across multiple sects of Buddhism and even outside of the Buddhist faith, where she is still seen as a goddess.  In this case, however, it seems clear that the princes were seeking compassion to relieve the sovereign of his affliction. And yet it persisted. They had 80 more people take the tonsure, and then 100 more men and women, placed 100 statues of the Boddhisatva, Kannon, in the palace, and then read out 200 volumes of the Lotus Sutra. And then they made prayers to the kami of Heaven and Earth.  And they dispatched Hata no Imiki no Iwakatsu to present paper offerings to the Tosa great shrine.  Nothing seemed to be working. In the 9th month, we see the royal princes and others, down to the various ministers, all gathered at Kawaradera making oaths for the health of the sovereigns.  This last ditch effort would go unrewarded.  Five days later, and Ohoama would pass away.  Of course, they couldn't just say that he died:  The Chronicles actually say that he divinely departed.  After all, didn't they call him an incarnate kami? Two days later, the court began the ritual of mourning, raising voices in lamentation, and setting up a temporary palace of interment in the courtyard, south of the palace.  Ohoama's body was placed there some thirteen days later, and people mourned his passing. For the rituals, we see monks and nuns performing ritual lamentation in the courtyard between 3 and 5 am, around the time that court officials would normally be waiting at the gates.  Over the next several days, various ceremonies were held and eulogies given.  We are told that the court presented offerings of food for the dead for the first time, and over the next several days monks and nuns would offer their laments and then various individuals would provide their eulogies.  Finally, on the last day of the ninth month, the eulogies concluded with Nyang-u, a Baekje prince, who pronounced a eulogy on behalf of his father, and then the Miyatsuko of various provinces came and did likewise.  There were also performances of all manner of singing and dancing. With that, the reign of Ohoama would come to an end.  The government would continue under his wife, the Queen, and Crown Prince.  We'll get into the succession in a later episode.  For now I'll just say that he was eventually buried in a large tomb in the modern Noguchi area of Asuka, and you can still go see it. And while that does bring us to the end of the reign, we still have a few more things that I want to discuss.   This episode just seemed a good time to talk about all of the various new years ceremonies, and that seemed to lead naturally into the very last year, but there is still more to discuss.  For one thing, we still haven't quite covered the spread of Buddhism and the changes in the structure.  There are also various laws and punishments that are worth covering.  Finally, there are the Chronicles themselves: we've talked about it all along, but the Nihon Shoki and the Kojiki are attributed to this era, as is the start of what would become the capital of Fujiwara-kyo—many works that Ohoama would not live to see to the end, but is largely held responsible for starting. But until then, if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  

How is Odysseus like the heroes of Indian literature?And how did two cultures, separated by vast time and distances, come to have such remarkably similar stories?Today Anya is joined by Roberto Morales to discuss the parallels between ancient Greek, Roman, and Indian literature. They discuss what caused these parallels, and what we can learn from them today...Roberto Morales is Associate Professor of Sanskrit and Head of the Department of Classical Philology at the University of Costa Rica, and author of The Embassy, the Ambush, and the Ogre, which they discuss. You can buy it here: https://www.amazon.com/Embassy-Ambush-Ogre-Greco-Roman-Influence/dp/1805113615Hosted by Anya Leonard of Classical Wisdom. To learn more about Classical Wisdom, and sign up for our free newsletter, please go to https://classicalwisdom.substack.com/

Deep Cosmopolitanism: Kutiyattam, Dynamic Tradition, and Globalizing Heritage in Kerala, India explores the extraordinary past and present of Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater, the world's oldest continuously performed theater. Recognized as India's first UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of humanity, the matrilineal temple art of Kutiyattam has been performed by men and women in Kerala, India, since the tenth century C.E. This book illustrates how Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater has encountered multiple forms of cosmopolitanism over the course of its thousand-year history. Exploring how Kutiyattam artists create meaning out of their deep past through everyday narratives and reflections, author Leah Lowthorp traces the art's cosmopolitan encounters over time, from the premodern Sanskrit cosmopolis to Muslim sultans, British colonialists, Communist politics, and UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. In so doing, Lowthorp fundamentally rethinks the notion of cosmopolitanism from a non-Western perspective with premodern roots and offers a critique of the colonialist undertones of how international heritage organizations like UNESCO conceptualize peoples and traditions around the world. Diving into an ethnographic exploration that considers Kutiyattam's multiple cosmopolitanisms over a period of one thousand years, Deep Cosmopolitanism offers a model for decolonizing modernity and challenges us to rethink what it means to be cosmopolitan, traditional, and modern in the world today. Indiana University Press generiously make this book freely available as an Open Access monograph. To read, please visit here. Leah Lowthorp is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at the University of Oregon. She is a cultural anthropologist and a folklorist. She is editor (with Frank J. Korom) of South Asian Folklore in Transition: Crafting New Horizons (Routledge, 2019). Her email address is lowthorp@uoregon.edu. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of political ecology, critical development studies, and the anthropology of time. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Welcome to today's episode of Wisdom Talk Radio! This is where we explore the depths of conscious living and how to live an expanded life. Join us to be inspired, encouraged, transformed and to tap into a deeper experience of joy and possibility. For quite some time now much of the world has been an experience of rolling crises. 2026 is already shaping up to be a powerful year of change. “With Saturn deep in Pisces and Jupiter exalted all year long, we're standing on the brink of both global crisis and the beginning of a great spiritual renaissance. Everyone is eager for predictions and strategies to face the challenges and embrace the opportunities of the year ahead.” Stay tuned for Vedic astrologer Dr. Katy Jane's second visit to Wisdom Talk Radio.I'm Laurie Seymour, host of Wisdom Talk Radio and CEO and founder of The Baca Institute, home of the Quantum Connection Process. You can go there to discover your unique connection with the essence of who you are by taking the Quantum Connection quiz. Why quantum connection? We are each designed to directly connect with Source in our own way. Knowing your own archetype style opens a deeper connection for you with the Universe. It's the secret to creating what you truly want in your life. Because who you are is exactly who is needed.Named one of the top 75 yogis who are shifting the planet by Origin Magazine, Dr. Katy Jane is a Sanskrit & Vedic scholar and skilled Vedic astrologer who traveled India interviewing saints and yogis for her doctoral research. She gives trainings in Sanskrit, the Vedas and classical yoga to help yoga practitioners access the wisdom teachings at the core of their practice. She also coaches seekers at crucial transitions to develop successful life strategies. She divides her time between the United States and India where she leads spiritual retreats to the holy Himalayas. Her latest book is Moon Signs for the Soul: A Guide to Healing and Self-Discovery at Life's Turning Points with the 27 Vedic Moon Signs.Find Dr. Katy Jane at www.drkatyjane.com  https://www.facebook.com/VedicAstrologyLifeInsight/Find Laurie Seymour at https://thebacainstitute.com/ .Follow Wisdom Talk Radio on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wisdomtalkradio Subscribe on Apple.Want to reach out to me? You can email me directly at laurie@thebacainstitute.com If you are enjoying our show and you'd like to spread the love, please subscribe, download, comment, and tell your friends and family about us. We want to thank you for your continued support. We really appreciate it! Find more episodes of Wisdom Talk Radio HERE Discover your Quantum Connection Style! (QUIZ)The first step to mastering your Quantum Connection is to know your natural style of being in the world.We are each designed to connect with Source differently. Knowing your style, with both your superpowers and your learning edge, is the first step of aligning with your inner guidance at a deeper level than you ever thought you could. It's the doorway to creating what you truly want in your life.Click here to take the quiz now: Quantum Connection QuizFind Laurie's new book, Unconditional Remembrance: Your Connection to Source HEREGet Laurie's New Book, Unconditional Remembrance: Your Connection to Source: https://mybook.to/UnconditionalRememSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wisdom-talk-radio/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Deep Cosmopolitanism: Kutiyattam, Dynamic Tradition, and Globalizing Heritage in Kerala, India explores the extraordinary past and present of Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater, the world's oldest continuously performed theater. Recognized as India's first UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of humanity, the matrilineal temple art of Kutiyattam has been performed by men and women in Kerala, India, since the tenth century C.E. This book illustrates how Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater has encountered multiple forms of cosmopolitanism over the course of its thousand-year history. Exploring how Kutiyattam artists create meaning out of their deep past through everyday narratives and reflections, author Leah Lowthorp traces the art's cosmopolitan encounters over time, from the premodern Sanskrit cosmopolis to Muslim sultans, British colonialists, Communist politics, and UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. In so doing, Lowthorp fundamentally rethinks the notion of cosmopolitanism from a non-Western perspective with premodern roots and offers a critique of the colonialist undertones of how international heritage organizations like UNESCO conceptualize peoples and traditions around the world. Diving into an ethnographic exploration that considers Kutiyattam's multiple cosmopolitanisms over a period of one thousand years, Deep Cosmopolitanism offers a model for decolonizing modernity and challenges us to rethink what it means to be cosmopolitan, traditional, and modern in the world today. Indiana University Press generiously make this book freely available as an Open Access monograph. To read, please visit here. Leah Lowthorp is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at the University of Oregon. She is a cultural anthropologist and a folklorist. She is editor (with Frank J. Korom) of South Asian Folklore in Transition: Crafting New Horizons (Routledge, 2019). Her email address is lowthorp@uoregon.edu. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of political ecology, critical development studies, and the anthropology of time. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/folkore

Deep Cosmopolitanism: Kutiyattam, Dynamic Tradition, and Globalizing Heritage in Kerala, India explores the extraordinary past and present of Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater, the world's oldest continuously performed theater. Recognized as India's first UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of humanity, the matrilineal temple art of Kutiyattam has been performed by men and women in Kerala, India, since the tenth century C.E. This book illustrates how Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater has encountered multiple forms of cosmopolitanism over the course of its thousand-year history. Exploring how Kutiyattam artists create meaning out of their deep past through everyday narratives and reflections, author Leah Lowthorp traces the art's cosmopolitan encounters over time, from the premodern Sanskrit cosmopolis to Muslim sultans, British colonialists, Communist politics, and UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. In so doing, Lowthorp fundamentally rethinks the notion of cosmopolitanism from a non-Western perspective with premodern roots and offers a critique of the colonialist undertones of how international heritage organizations like UNESCO conceptualize peoples and traditions around the world. Diving into an ethnographic exploration that considers Kutiyattam's multiple cosmopolitanisms over a period of one thousand years, Deep Cosmopolitanism offers a model for decolonizing modernity and challenges us to rethink what it means to be cosmopolitan, traditional, and modern in the world today. Indiana University Press generiously make this book freely available as an Open Access monograph. To read, please visit here. Leah Lowthorp is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at the University of Oregon. She is a cultural anthropologist and a folklorist. She is editor (with Frank J. Korom) of South Asian Folklore in Transition: Crafting New Horizons (Routledge, 2019). Her email address is lowthorp@uoregon.edu. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of political ecology, critical development studies, and the anthropology of time. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

Deep Cosmopolitanism: Kutiyattam, Dynamic Tradition, and Globalizing Heritage in Kerala, India explores the extraordinary past and present of Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater, the world's oldest continuously performed theater. Recognized as India's first UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of humanity, the matrilineal temple art of Kutiyattam has been performed by men and women in Kerala, India, since the tenth century C.E. This book illustrates how Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater has encountered multiple forms of cosmopolitanism over the course of its thousand-year history. Exploring how Kutiyattam artists create meaning out of their deep past through everyday narratives and reflections, author Leah Lowthorp traces the art's cosmopolitan encounters over time, from the premodern Sanskrit cosmopolis to Muslim sultans, British colonialists, Communist politics, and UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. In so doing, Lowthorp fundamentally rethinks the notion of cosmopolitanism from a non-Western perspective with premodern roots and offers a critique of the colonialist undertones of how international heritage organizations like UNESCO conceptualize peoples and traditions around the world. Diving into an ethnographic exploration that considers Kutiyattam's multiple cosmopolitanisms over a period of one thousand years, Deep Cosmopolitanism offers a model for decolonizing modernity and challenges us to rethink what it means to be cosmopolitan, traditional, and modern in the world today. Indiana University Press generiously make this book freely available as an Open Access monograph. To read, please visit here. Leah Lowthorp is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at the University of Oregon. She is a cultural anthropologist and a folklorist. She is editor (with Frank J. Korom) of South Asian Folklore in Transition: Crafting New Horizons (Routledge, 2019). Her email address is lowthorp@uoregon.edu. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of political ecology, critical development studies, and the anthropology of time. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Deep Cosmopolitanism: Kutiyattam, Dynamic Tradition, and Globalizing Heritage in Kerala, India explores the extraordinary past and present of Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater, the world's oldest continuously performed theater. Recognized as India's first UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of humanity, the matrilineal temple art of Kutiyattam has been performed by men and women in Kerala, India, since the tenth century C.E. This book illustrates how Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater has encountered multiple forms of cosmopolitanism over the course of its thousand-year history. Exploring how Kutiyattam artists create meaning out of their deep past through everyday narratives and reflections, author Leah Lowthorp traces the art's cosmopolitan encounters over time, from the premodern Sanskrit cosmopolis to Muslim sultans, British colonialists, Communist politics, and UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. In so doing, Lowthorp fundamentally rethinks the notion of cosmopolitanism from a non-Western perspective with premodern roots and offers a critique of the colonialist undertones of how international heritage organizations like UNESCO conceptualize peoples and traditions around the world. Diving into an ethnographic exploration that considers Kutiyattam's multiple cosmopolitanisms over a period of one thousand years, Deep Cosmopolitanism offers a model for decolonizing modernity and challenges us to rethink what it means to be cosmopolitan, traditional, and modern in the world today. Indiana University Press generiously make this book freely available as an Open Access monograph. To read, please visit here. Leah Lowthorp is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at the University of Oregon. She is a cultural anthropologist and a folklorist. She is editor (with Frank J. Korom) of South Asian Folklore in Transition: Crafting New Horizons (Routledge, 2019). Her email address is lowthorp@uoregon.edu. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of political ecology, critical development studies, and the anthropology of time. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Deep Cosmopolitanism: Kutiyattam, Dynamic Tradition, and Globalizing Heritage in Kerala, India explores the extraordinary past and present of Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater, the world's oldest continuously performed theater. Recognized as India's first UNESCO intangible cultural heritage of humanity, the matrilineal temple art of Kutiyattam has been performed by men and women in Kerala, India, since the tenth century C.E. This book illustrates how Kutiyattam Sanskrit theater has encountered multiple forms of cosmopolitanism over the course of its thousand-year history. Exploring how Kutiyattam artists create meaning out of their deep past through everyday narratives and reflections, author Leah Lowthorp traces the art's cosmopolitan encounters over time, from the premodern Sanskrit cosmopolis to Muslim sultans, British colonialists, Communist politics, and UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. In so doing, Lowthorp fundamentally rethinks the notion of cosmopolitanism from a non-Western perspective with premodern roots and offers a critique of the colonialist undertones of how international heritage organizations like UNESCO conceptualize peoples and traditions around the world. Diving into an ethnographic exploration that considers Kutiyattam's multiple cosmopolitanisms over a period of one thousand years, Deep Cosmopolitanism offers a model for decolonizing modernity and challenges us to rethink what it means to be cosmopolitan, traditional, and modern in the world today. Indiana University Press generiously make this book freely available as an Open Access monograph. To read, please visit here. Leah Lowthorp is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Folklore at the University of Oregon. She is a cultural anthropologist and a folklorist. She is editor (with Frank J. Korom) of South Asian Folklore in Transition: Crafting New Horizons (Routledge, 2019). Her email address is lowthorp@uoregon.edu. Yadong Li is an anthropologist-in-training. He is a PhD candidate of Socio-cultural Anthropology at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of political ecology, critical development studies, and the anthropology of time. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

MAYA TIWARI is a spiritual teacher, humanitarian, and pioneer of Ayurveda whose life's work centers on awakening the spirit of ahimsa—inner harmony and peaceful living. Born in Guyana under British rule, she moved to New York as a teenager, studied acting with Stella Adler, and quickly became a successful fashion designer before turning toward a deeper spiritual calling. Returning to India, she spent a decade immersed in Sanskrit, Vedanta, Ayurveda, Yoga, and Vastu under the guidance of Swami Dayananda Sarasvati, setting the foundation for a lifetime of service, writing, and teaching. She went on to found the Wise Earth School of Ayurveda—the first of its kind in North America—and later the Mother Om Mission, helping thousands of women, families, and communities heal from trauma, disease, and despair.   For more than thirty years, Maya has inspired global audiences through her books, teachings, and humanitarian outreach. A former Vedic monk of the revered Veda Vyasa lineage, she has spoken at the Parliament of the World's Religions and major interfaith gatherings worldwide, and is the recipient of the Dhanvatari and Rishi Awards for her contributions to Ayurvedic medicine. In 2010, she renounced her monastic title, choosing instead a simpler, more accessible life devoted to compassionate service and the healing of those most in need.   I Am Shakti: Reclaiming Women's Innate Power to Heal Themselves and Restore Balance, Health, Prosperity, and Joy for All Being by Maya Tiwari.  

Send us a textIn this New Year episode of Nourish the Nervous System, we explore winter not as a time for pushing forward or reinventing ourselves, but as a season of subtlety, listening, and inward refinement.Rather than loud resolutions or high-energy goals, winter invites a quieter kind of awareness — one that whispers instead of shouts. Through the Ayurvedic lens of Vata dosha and the Sanskrit quality sukshma (the subtle), we explore how this season affects the nervous system, our emotions, and our inner rhythms.This episode is an invitation to slow down, tune in, and honor sensitivity as a form of strength — not fragility.In this episode, we explore:Why New Year's energy can feel misaligned in the deep of winterThe contrast between summer's outward buzz and winter's inward stillnessVata dosha in winter, with a focus on sukshma (the subtle quality)How winter heightens nervous system sensitivity and perceptionSubtle signs many people notice this time of year, including:quiet or lingering fatiguelow-grade anxietyemotional waves without a clear storyincreased sensitivity to sound, light, and conversationTranslating Ayurveda into modern language:sensory processingnervous system loadWhy “subtle” does not mean weak — it means attunedHow winter can surface emotional material without anything being “wrong”The cultural pressure to feel “up” and productive — even in winterHonoring rest without slipping into stagnation or disconnectionPractical ways to support sukshma energy in winter:Softening the edges of your day and reducing transitionsCreating sensory nourishment with dim lighting, quiet, and warmthUsing warm oil (especially on the feet) to ground the nervous systemStaying connected to intuition through journaling, somatic awareness, or creative expressionBalancing subtlety with sthula (the gross, tangible quality) through grounding movement:strength-based exercisewalking outdoorsusing larger muscle groupsgetting fresh air and natural lightReflection questions for the week:What feels louder now that life is quieter?What is asking for attention?What no longer fits?You're invited to sit with these questions gently — through journaling, meditation, or simply noticing what arises.Mentioned in this episode:Gentle Ayurvedic Guide to Perimenopause Rhythm & Ritual — a small-group seasonal cohort for perimenopause, Ayurveda, and somatic supportSpring and Fall cohortsFocused on rhythm, nervous system regulation, and seasonal wisdomJoin the waitlist to learn moreWinter doesn't ask us to fix ourselves. It Resources:Ayurvedic Dosha Quick Reference Guide Abhyanga Self Massage Guide Weekend Nervous System Reset Nourished For Resilience Workbook Find me at www.nourishednervoussystem.comand @nourishednervoussytem on Instagram

In this insightful episode of SoundPractice, host Mike Sacopulos sits down with Vivek Iyer, an internationally recognized executive coach and principal of Swanvesha Executive Coaching. The Significance of Swanvesha: Derived from Sanskrit, "Swanvesha" means "self-enquiry," embodying the fundamental principle of coaching — that true, lasting solutions arise from introspection and focusing on what lies within one's control. Vivek shares his journey from corporate strategist to certified coach, offering valuable perspectives on how coaching can transform physician leaders facing the unique challenges of healthcare leadership. With extensive experience in strategic planning and process improvement at firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and A.C. Nielsen, Vivek offers a unique global perspective, shaped by his experiences living in four countries and fluency in six languages. Whether you are considering working with a coach, curious about its transformative impact, or seeking to understand how strategic planning and facilitation can strengthen healthcare organizations, this episode delivers practical wisdom and actionable strategies for leaders at every stage of their journey. Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.org.

A modern seeker walks away from a high-pressure career and an ancient Sanskrit text tells a story about giving up one's egoistic false strength. Recorded live from Govardhan Eco-Village, this episode brings together Grace's journey from corporate life to devotional service and Krishna's confrontation with the serpent Kāliya—revealing how inner clarity often arrives when our usual strategies fail. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

A modern seeker walks away from a high-pressure career and an ancient Sanskrit text tells a story about giving up one's egoistic false strength. Recorded live from Govardhan Eco-Village, this episode brings together Grace's journey from corporate life to devotional service and Krishna's confrontation with the serpent Kāliya—revealing how inner clarity often arrives when our usual strategies fail. ******************************************************************** LOVE THE PODCAST? WE ARE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AND WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN! Go to https://www.wisdomofthesages.com WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@WisdomoftheSages LISTEN ON ITUNES: https://podcasts/apple.com/us/podcast/wisdom-of-the-sages/id1493055485 CONNECT ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/wisdomofthesages108 *********************************************************************

Microcosmos Records presents Gati, a new album by Six Dead Bulgarians — a deep, ritualistic journey where ambient electronics, ethnic instrumentation, and archaic memory dissolve into one continuous flow. The word Gati comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as movement, path, passage, destiny, the migration of the soul. It reflects a worldview where life unfolds as an endless current of transitions and rebirths. This idea resonates with the geography of the Russian North, where countless rivers carry names ending in "-ga" — Volga, Onega, Pinega, Vaga — as if echoing an ancient linguistic and cultural source. Musically, Gati is dense yet meditative. Analog synthesizer drones pulse like slow breathing, while flutes, didgeridoo, trumpet, guitar, ethnic percussion, and deeply rooted folk vocals form a living, organic texture. Field recordings from the archives of Kenozero National Park add a documentary layer, grounding the album in real landscapes, voices, and time. The album's concept revolves around the life and fate of a Russian woman during times of hardship — not as a narrative, but as a state of being. Each track feels like a fragment of memory: intimate, restrained, and quietly powerful. Despite its depth, Gati remains surprisingly accessible — music that can accompany daily life while subtly shifting perception.

Microcosmos Records presents Gati, a new album by Six Dead Bulgarians — a deep, ritualistic journey where ambient electronics, ethnic instrumentation, and archaic memory dissolve into one continuous flow. The word Gati comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as movement, path, passage, destiny, the migration of the soul. It reflects a worldview where life unfolds as an endless current of transitions and rebirths. This idea resonates with the geography of the Russian North, where countless rivers carry names ending in "-ga" — Volga, Onega, Pinega, Vaga — as if echoing an ancient linguistic and cultural source. Musically, Gati is dense yet meditative. Analog synthesizer drones pulse like slow breathing, while flutes, didgeridoo, trumpet, guitar, ethnic percussion, and deeply rooted folk vocals form a living, organic texture. Field recordings from the archives of Kenozero National Park add a documentary layer, grounding the album in real landscapes, voices, and time. The album's concept revolves around the life and fate of a Russian woman during times of hardship — not as a narrative, but as a state of being. Each track feels like a fragment of memory: intimate, restrained, and quietly powerful. Despite its depth, Gati remains surprisingly accessible — music that can accompany daily life while subtly shifting perception.

Microcosmos Records presents Gati, a new album by Six Dead Bulgarians — a deep, ritualistic journey where ambient electronics, ethnic instrumentation, and archaic memory dissolve into one continuous flow. The word Gati comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as movement, path, passage, destiny, the migration of the soul. It reflects a worldview where life unfolds as an endless current of transitions and rebirths. This idea resonates with the geography of the Russian North, where countless rivers carry names ending in "-ga" — Volga, Onega, Pinega, Vaga — as if echoing an ancient linguistic and cultural source. Musically, Gati is dense yet meditative. Analog synthesizer drones pulse like slow breathing, while flutes, didgeridoo, trumpet, guitar, ethnic percussion, and deeply rooted folk vocals form a living, organic texture. Field recordings from the archives of Kenozero National Park add a documentary layer, grounding the album in real landscapes, voices, and time. The album's concept revolves around the life and fate of a Russian woman during times of hardship — not as a narrative, but as a state of being. Each track feels like a fragment of memory: intimate, restrained, and quietly powerful. Despite its depth, Gati remains surprisingly accessible — music that can accompany daily life while subtly shifting perception.

Microcosmos Records presents Gati, a new album by Six Dead Bulgarians — a deep, ritualistic journey where ambient electronics, ethnic instrumentation, and archaic memory dissolve into one continuous flow. The word Gati comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as movement, path, passage, destiny, the migration of the soul. It reflects a worldview where life unfolds as an endless current of transitions and rebirths. This idea resonates with the geography of the Russian North, where countless rivers carry names ending in "-ga" — Volga, Onega, Pinega, Vaga — as if echoing an ancient linguistic and cultural source. Musically, Gati is dense yet meditative. Analog synthesizer drones pulse like slow breathing, while flutes, didgeridoo, trumpet, guitar, ethnic percussion, and deeply rooted folk vocals form a living, organic texture. Field recordings from the archives of Kenozero National Park add a documentary layer, grounding the album in real landscapes, voices, and time. The album's concept revolves around the life and fate of a Russian woman during times of hardship — not as a narrative, but as a state of being. Each track feels like a fragment of memory: intimate, restrained, and quietly powerful. Despite its depth, Gati remains surprisingly accessible — music that can accompany daily life while subtly shifting perception.

Microcosmos Records presents Gati, a new album by Six Dead Bulgarians — a deep, ritualistic journey where ambient electronics, ethnic instrumentation, and archaic memory dissolve into one continuous flow. The word Gati comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as movement, path, passage, destiny, the migration of the soul. It reflects a worldview where life unfolds as an endless current of transitions and rebirths. This idea resonates with the geography of the Russian North, where countless rivers carry names ending in "-ga" — Volga, Onega, Pinega, Vaga — as if echoing an ancient linguistic and cultural source. Musically, Gati is dense yet meditative. Analog synthesizer drones pulse like slow breathing, while flutes, didgeridoo, trumpet, guitar, ethnic percussion, and deeply rooted folk vocals form a living, organic texture. Field recordings from the archives of Kenozero National Park add a documentary layer, grounding the album in real landscapes, voices, and time. The album's concept revolves around the life and fate of a Russian woman during times of hardship — not as a narrative, but as a state of being. Each track feels like a fragment of memory: intimate, restrained, and quietly powerful. Despite its depth, Gati remains surprisingly accessible — music that can accompany daily life while subtly shifting perception.

Microcosmos Records presents Gati, a new album by Six Dead Bulgarians — a deep, ritualistic journey where ambient electronics, ethnic instrumentation, and archaic memory dissolve into one continuous flow. The word Gati comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as movement, path, passage, destiny, the migration of the soul. It reflects a worldview where life unfolds as an endless current of transitions and rebirths. This idea resonates with the geography of the Russian North, where countless rivers carry names ending in "-ga" — Volga, Onega, Pinega, Vaga — as if echoing an ancient linguistic and cultural source. Musically, Gati is dense yet meditative. Analog synthesizer drones pulse like slow breathing, while flutes, didgeridoo, trumpet, guitar, ethnic percussion, and deeply rooted folk vocals form a living, organic texture. Field recordings from the archives of Kenozero National Park add a documentary layer, grounding the album in real landscapes, voices, and time. The album's concept revolves around the life and fate of a Russian woman during times of hardship — not as a narrative, but as a state of being. Each track feels like a fragment of memory: intimate, restrained, and quietly powerful. Despite its depth, Gati remains surprisingly accessible — music that can accompany daily life while subtly shifting perception.

Microcosmos Records presents Gati, a new album by Six Dead Bulgarians — a deep, ritualistic journey where ambient electronics, ethnic instrumentation, and archaic memory dissolve into one continuous flow. The word Gati comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as movement, path, passage, destiny, the migration of the soul. It reflects a worldview where life unfolds as an endless current of transitions and rebirths. This idea resonates with the geography of the Russian North, where countless rivers carry names ending in "-ga" — Volga, Onega, Pinega, Vaga — as if echoing an ancient linguistic and cultural source. Musically, Gati is dense yet meditative. Analog synthesizer drones pulse like slow breathing, while flutes, didgeridoo, trumpet, guitar, ethnic percussion, and deeply rooted folk vocals form a living, organic texture. Field recordings from the archives of Kenozero National Park add a documentary layer, grounding the album in real landscapes, voices, and time. The album's concept revolves around the life and fate of a Russian woman during times of hardship — not as a narrative, but as a state of being. Each track feels like a fragment of memory: intimate, restrained, and quietly powerful. Despite its depth, Gati remains surprisingly accessible — music that can accompany daily life while subtly shifting perception.

Microcosmos Records presents Gati, a new album by Six Dead Bulgarians — a deep, ritualistic journey where ambient electronics, ethnic instrumentation, and archaic memory dissolve into one continuous flow. The word Gati comes from Sanskrit and can be translated as movement, path, passage, destiny, the migration of the soul. It reflects a worldview where life unfolds as an endless current of transitions and rebirths. This idea resonates with the geography of the Russian North, where countless rivers carry names ending in "-ga" — Volga, Onega, Pinega, Vaga — as if echoing an ancient linguistic and cultural source. Musically, Gati is dense yet meditative. Analog synthesizer drones pulse like slow breathing, while flutes, didgeridoo, trumpet, guitar, ethnic percussion, and deeply rooted folk vocals form a living, organic texture. Field recordings from the archives of Kenozero National Park add a documentary layer, grounding the album in real landscapes, voices, and time. The album's concept revolves around the life and fate of a Russian woman during times of hardship — not as a narrative, but as a state of being. Each track feels like a fragment of memory: intimate, restrained, and quietly powerful. Despite its depth, Gati remains surprisingly accessible — music that can accompany daily life while subtly shifting perception.

Why is religion today so often associated with giving and taking offense? To answer this question, Slandering the Sacred: Blasphemy Law and Religious Affect in Colonial India (U Chicago Press, 2023) invites us to consider how colonial infrastructures shaped our globalized world. Through the origin and afterlives of a 1927 British imperial law (Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code), J. Barton Scott weaves a globe-trotting narrative about secularism, empire, insult, and outrage. Decentering white martyrs to free thought, his story calls for new histories of blasphemy that return these thinkers to their imperial context, dismantle the cultural boundaries of the West, and transgress the borders between the secular and the sacred as well as the public and the private. Raj Balkaran is a scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts. He teaches at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and at his own virtual School of Indian Wisdom. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In our second episode on the Ramayana, which began to be written down in Sanskrit c. 350 BCE, we dive deeper into the theme of dharma. We explore some of the many different meanings of this term and trace the development of the three oldest dharmic faiths: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. We also compare how Buddhist and Jain retellings of the Ramayana differ from the one revered by today's Hindus. Finally, we fangirl out over Hanuman a little more. Want to read the transcript? Click here. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review us—and share with your friends! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Vishuddha Chakra, or Throat Chakra, governs communication, self-expression, and truth. It empowers us to articulate our needs and share our unique resonance through sound and language. Associated with Lord Dakshinamurthy, a form of Shiva symbolising wisdom and inner guidance, this chakra fosters clarity and authentic expression. The mantra honouring him seeks his blessings for truth and wisdom.The Vishuddha Chakra is symbolised by a light blue lotus with sixteen petals, representing the elements of speech and sound, and the Sanskrit vowels that enable clear communication. Its yantra features a full moon with a silver ring, emphasising clarity and spiritual growth, and a downward triangle representing creative expression.The Bija mantra "HAM" resonates with the element of space, facilitating harmonious expression. The white elephant symbolises purity, wisdom, and discernment, reminding us to detach from outcomes and practice mindful speech. By balancing Vishnu Granthi, we cultivate sattvic expression—thoughtful, helpful, inspiring, necessary, and kind.To read more and to practice with Zephyr Wildman, click here. To support Zephyr Yoga Podcast, donate here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why is religion today so often associated with giving and taking offense? To answer this question, Slandering the Sacred: Blasphemy Law and Religious Affect in Colonial India (U Chicago Press, 2023) invites us to consider how colonial infrastructures shaped our globalized world. Through the origin and afterlives of a 1927 British imperial law (Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code), J. Barton Scott weaves a globe-trotting narrative about secularism, empire, insult, and outrage. Decentering white martyrs to free thought, his story calls for new histories of blasphemy that return these thinkers to their imperial context, dismantle the cultural boundaries of the West, and transgress the borders between the secular and the sacred as well as the public and the private. Raj Balkaran is a scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts. He teaches at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and at his own virtual School of Indian Wisdom. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

Why is religion today so often associated with giving and taking offense? To answer this question, Slandering the Sacred: Blasphemy Law and Religious Affect in Colonial India (U Chicago Press, 2023) invites us to consider how colonial infrastructures shaped our globalized world. Through the origin and afterlives of a 1927 British imperial law (Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code), J. Barton Scott weaves a globe-trotting narrative about secularism, empire, insult, and outrage. Decentering white martyrs to free thought, his story calls for new histories of blasphemy that return these thinkers to their imperial context, dismantle the cultural boundaries of the West, and transgress the borders between the secular and the sacred as well as the public and the private. Raj Balkaran is a scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts. He teaches at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and at his own virtual School of Indian Wisdom. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Why is religion today so often associated with giving and taking offense? To answer this question, Slandering the Sacred: Blasphemy Law and Religious Affect in Colonial India (U Chicago Press, 2023) invites us to consider how colonial infrastructures shaped our globalized world. Through the origin and afterlives of a 1927 British imperial law (Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code), J. Barton Scott weaves a globe-trotting narrative about secularism, empire, insult, and outrage. Decentering white martyrs to free thought, his story calls for new histories of blasphemy that return these thinkers to their imperial context, dismantle the cultural boundaries of the West, and transgress the borders between the secular and the sacred as well as the public and the private. Raj Balkaran is a scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts. He teaches at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and at his own virtual School of Indian Wisdom. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law

In this episode of Shift with CJ, I step into the guest seat on Dr. Jameel Rizwana Hussain's podcast Let the Soul Speak. Riz is a spiritual and manifestation coach, and together we explore what it really means to “upgrade your human”—going beyond biohacking tools and into purpose, spirituality, and inner fulfillment.We talk about how my journey into health didn't start with supplements or saunas. It started with pain. Growing up obese and being bullied pushed me toward martial arts, then fitness, CrossFit, and physical mastery. From the outside, things looked great—but inside, I felt hollow. That gap led me to search for happiness, peace, and meaning beyond the body.Biohacking gave me the science and language to understand longevity, energy, and performance. But over time, I realized something important: spirituality begins where biohacking ends. Biohacking can optimize sleep, HRV, and physical health, but it can't fill what I call the “eternal hole in the heart.” That's where spirituality comes in.RZ and I revisit a powerful idea we shared years ago: we are not human beings having a spiritual experience—we are spiritual beings having a human experience. This perspective reframes how we approach health, success, and suffering.We also dive into the meaning of my name, Chiranjivi, which in Sanskrit means “eternal” or “one who works toward longevity and well-being.” Once something I resisted, it later felt like a calling. I share my most spiritually transformative experience at the Maha Kumbh Mela and during Mahashivratri in Varanasi, where I experienced deep inner calm, heightened intuition, and a profound connection to Krishna.A key theme throughout the episode is moderation. Extremes—even in wellness—eventually backfire. The middle way, as taught by the Buddha, is what sustains health, clarity, and peace.Looking forward, my mission is to simplify biohacking, make optimization accessible to more people, and personally go much deeper into the spiritual path.Key TakeawaysBiohacking optimizes the body, spirituality fulfills the soul.Physical fitness alone doesn't guarantee inner peace.We are spiritual beings having a human experience.Moderation is the foundation of long-term wellness.Inner anchoring leads to clarity, joy, and fulfillment.5 Things You Can Start Doing TodaySpend time on inner work and find your spiritual anchor.Practice moderation in food, training, work, and habits.Wake up earlier and move your body daily.Connect with people and spend time outdoors.Get sunlight, ground yourself, and prioritize quality sleep.

Russell T. McCutcheon's essay collection Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion (Routledge, 2023) argues that the study of religion must be rethought as an ordinary aspect of social, historical existence, a stance that makes the scholar of religion a critic of cultural and historical practices rather than a caretaker of religious tradition or a font of timeless wisdom and deep meaning. Raj Balkaran is a scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts. He teaches at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and at his own virtual School of Indian Wisdom. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

Russell T. McCutcheon's essay collection Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion (Routledge, 2023) argues that the study of religion must be rethought as an ordinary aspect of social, historical existence, a stance that makes the scholar of religion a critic of cultural and historical practices rather than a caretaker of religious tradition or a font of timeless wisdom and deep meaning. Raj Balkaran is a scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts. He teaches at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and at his own virtual School of Indian Wisdom. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Russell T. McCutcheon's essay collection Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion (Routledge, 2023) argues that the study of religion must be rethought as an ordinary aspect of social, historical existence, a stance that makes the scholar of religion a critic of cultural and historical practices rather than a caretaker of religious tradition or a font of timeless wisdom and deep meaning. Raj Balkaran is a scholar of Sanskrit narrative texts. He teaches at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and at his own virtual School of Indian Wisdom. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

Imagine for a second that Eckhart Tolle wasn't a spiritual teacher, but a deep cover operative with a gun to his head. And just for a second, pretend that Tolle’s Power of Now wasn't a way to find peace, but a survival mechanism used to slow down time when your reality is collapsing. And your memory has been utterly destroyed by forces beyond your control. Until a good friend helps you rebuild it from the ground up. These are the exact feelings and sense of positive transformation I tried to capture in a project I believe is critical for future autodidacts, polymaths and traditional learners: Vitamin X, a novel in which the world’s only blind memory champion helps a detective use memory techniques and eventually achieve enlightenment. It’s also a story about accomplishing big goals, even in a fast-paced and incredibly challenging world. In the Magnetic Memory Method community at large, we talk a lot about the habits of geniuses like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. We obsess over their reading lists and their daily routines because we want that same level of clarity and intellectual power. But there's a trap in studying genius that too many people fall into: Passivity. And helping people escape passive learning is one of several reasons I’ve studied the science behind a variety of fictional learning projects where stories have been tested as agents of change. Ready to learn more about Vitamin X and the various scientific findings I’ve uncovered in order to better help you learn? Let’s dive in! Defeating the Many Traps of Passive Learning We can read about how Lincoln sharpened his axe for hours before trying to cut down a single tree. And that's great. But something's still not quite right. To this day, tons of people nod their heads at that famous old story about Lincoln. Yet, they still never sharpen their own axes, let alone swing them. Likewise, people email me every day regarding something I've taught about focus, concentration or a particular mnemonic device. They know the techniques work, including under extreme pressure. But their minds still fracture the instant they're faced with distraction. As a result, they never wind up getting the memory improvement results I know they can achieve. So, as happy as I am with all the help my books like The Victorious Mind and SMARTER have helped create in this world, I’m fairly confident that those titles will be my final memory improvement textbooks. Instead, I am now focused on creating what you might call learning simulations. Enter Vitamin X, the Memory Detective Series & Teaching Through Immersion Because here's the thing: If I really want to teach you how to become a polymath, I can't just carry on producing yet another list of tips. I have to drop you into scenarios where you actually feel what it's like to use memory techniques. That's why I started the Memory Detective initiative. It began with a novel called Flyboy. It’s been well-received and now part two is out. And it’s as close to Eckhart Tolle meeting a Spy Thriller on LSD as I could possibly make it. Why? To teach through immersion. Except, it's not really about LSD. No, the second Memory Detective novel centers around a substance called Vitamin X. On the surface, it's a thriller about a detective named David Williams going deep undercover. In actuality, it's a cognitive training protocol disguised as a novel. But one built on a body of research that shows stories can change what people remember, believe, and do. And that's both the opportunity and the danger. To give you the memory science and learning research in one sentence: Stories are a delivery system. We see this delivery system at work in the massive success of Olly Richards’ StoryLearning books for language learners. Richards built his empire on the same mechanism Pimsleur utilized to great effect long before their famous audio recordings became the industry standard: using narrative to make raw data stick. However, a quick distinction is necessary. In the memory world, we often talk about the Story Method. This approach involves linking disparate pieces of information together in a chain using a simple narrative vignette (e.g., a giant cat eating a toaster to remember a grocery list). That is a powerful mnemonic tool, and you will see Detective Williams use short vignettes in the Memory Detective series. But Vitamin X is what I call ‘Magnetic Fiction.’ It's not a vignette. It's a macro-narrative designed to carry the weight of many memory techniques itself. It simulates the pressure required to forge the skill, showing you how and why to use the story method within a larger, immersive context. So with that in mind, let's unpack the topic of fiction and teaching a bit further. That way, you'll know more of what I have in mind for my readers. And perhaps you'll become interested in some memory science experiments I plan to run in the near future. Illustration of “Cafe Mnemonic,” a fun memory training location the Memory Detective David Williams wants to establish once he has enough funds. Fiction as a Teaching Technology: What the Research Says This intersection of story and memory isn't new territory for me. Long before I gave my popular TEDx Talk on memory or helped thousands of people through the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass, live workshops and my books, I served as a Mercator award-winning Film Studies professor. In this role, I often analyzed and published material regarding how narratives shape our cognition. Actually, my research into the persuasion of memory goes back to my scholarly contribution to the anthology The Theme of Cultural Adaptation in American History, Literature and Film. In my chapter, “Cryptomnesia or Cryptomancy? Subconscious Adaptations of 9/11,” I examined specifically how cultural narratives influence memory formation, forgetting, and the subconscious acceptance of information. That academic background drives the thinking and the learning protocols baked into Vitamin X. As does the work of researchers who have studied narrative influence for decades. Throughout their scientific findings, one idea keeps reappearing in different forms: When a story pulls you in, you experience some kind of “transportation.” It can be that you find yourself deeply immersed in the life of a character. Or you find your palms sweating as your brain tricks you into believing you're undergoing some kind of existential threat. When such experiences happen, you stop processing information like you would an argument through critical thinking. Instead, you start processing the information in the story almost as if they were really happening. As a result, these kinds of transportation can change beliefs and intentions, sometimes without the reader noticing the change happening. That's why fiction has been used for: teaching therapy religion civic formation advertising propaganda Even many national anthems contain stories that create change, something I experienced recently when I became an Australian citizen. As I was telling John Michael Greer during our latest podcast recording, I impulsively took both the atheist and the religious oath and sang the anthem at the ceremony. All of these pieces contain stories and those stories changed how I think, feel and process the world. Another way of looking at story is summed up in this simple statement: All stories have the same basic mechanism. But many stories have wildly different ethics. My ethics: Teach memory improvement methods robustly. Protect the tradition. And help people think for themselves using the best available critical thinking tools. And story is one of them. 6 Key Research Insights on Educational Fiction Now, when it comes to the research that shows just how powerful story is, we can break it down into buckets. Some of the main categories of research on fiction for pedagogy include: 1) Narrative transportation and persuasion As these researchers explain in The Role of Transportation in the Persuasiveness of Public Narratives, transportation describes how absorbed a reader becomes in a story. Psychologists use transportation models to show how story immersion drives belief change. It works because vivid imagery paired with emotion and focused attention make story-consistent ideas easier to accept. This study of how narratives were used in helping people improve their health support the basic point: Narratives produce average shifts in attitudes, beliefs, intentions, and sometimes behavior. Of course, the exact effects vary by topic and the design of the scientific study in question. But the point remains that fiction doesn't merely entertain. It can also train and persuade. 2) Entertainment-Education (EE) EE involves deliberately embedding education into popular media, often with pro-social aims. In another health-based study, researchers found that EE can influence knowledge, attitudes, intentions, behavior, and self-efficacy. Researchers in Brazil have also used large-scale observational work on soap operas and social outcomes (like fertility). As this study demonstrates, mass narrative exposure can shape real-world behavior at scale within a population. Stories can alter norms, not just transfer facts from one mind to another. You’ll encounter this theme throughout Vitamin X, especially when Detective Williams tangles with protestors who hold beliefs he does not share, but seem to be taking over the world. 3) Narrative vs expository learning (a key warning) Here's the part most “educational fiction” ignores: Informative narratives often increase interest, but they don't automatically improve comprehension. As this study found, entertainment can actually cause readers to overestimate how well they understood the material. This is why “edutainment” often produces big problems: You can wind up feeling smarter because you enjoyed an experience. But just because you feel that way doesn't mean you gain a skill you can reliably use. That’s why I have some suggestions for you below about how to make sure Vitamin X actually helps you learn to use memory techniques better. 4) Seductive details (another warning) There's also the problem of effects created by what scientists call seductive details. Unlike the “luminous details” I discussed with Brad Kelly on his Madness and Method podcast, seductive details are interesting but irrelevant material. They typically distract attention and reduce learning of what actually matters. As a result, these details divert attention through interference and by adding working memory demands. The research I’ve read suggests that when story authors don't engineer their work with learning targets in mind, their efforts backfire. What was intended to help learners actually becomes a sabotage device. I've done my best to avoid sabotaging my own pedagogical efforts in the Memory Detective stories so far. That's why they include study guides and simulations of using the Memory Palace technique, linking and number mnemonics like the Major System. In the series finale, which is just entering the third draft now, the 00-99 PAO and Giordano Bruno's Statue technique are the learning targets I’ve set up for you. They are much harder, and that’s why even though there are inevitable seductive details throughout the Memory Detective series, the focus on memory techniques gets increasingly more advanced. My hope is that your focus and attention will be sharpened as a result. 5) Learning misinformation from fiction (the dark side) People don't just learn from fiction. They learn false facts from fiction too. In this study, researchers found that participants often treated story-embedded misinformation as if it were true knowledge. This is one reason using narrative as a teaching tool is so ethically loaded. It can bypass the mental posture we use for skepticism. 6) Narrative “correctives” (using story against misinformation) The good news is that narratives can also reduce misbelief. This study on “narrative correctives” found that stories can sometimes decrease false beliefs and misinformed intentions, though results are mixed. The key point is that story itself is neither “good” or “bad.” It's a tool for leverage, and this is one of the major themes I built into Vitamin X. My key concern is that people would confuse me with any of my characters. Rather, I was trying to create a portrait of our perilous world where many conflicts unfold every day. Some people use tools for bad, others for good, and even that binary can be difficult for people to agree upon. Pros & Cons of Teaching with Fiction Let’s start with the pros. Attention and completion: A good story can keep people engaged, which is a prerequisite for any learning to occur. The transportation model I cited above helps explain why. The Positive Side of Escapism Entering a simulation also creates escapism that is actually valuable. This is because fiction gives you “experience” without real-world consequences when it comes to facing judgment, ethics, identity, and pressure-handling. This is one reason why story has always been used for moral education, not just entertainment. However, I’ve also used story in my Memory Detective games, such as “The Velo Gang Murders.” Just because story was involved did not mean people did not face judgement. But it was lower than my experiments with “Magnetic Variety,” a non-narrative game I’ll be releasing in the future. Lower Reactance Stories can reduce counterarguing compared with overt persuasion, which can be useful for resistant audiences. In other words, you’re on your own in the narrative world. Worst case scenario, you’ll have a bone to pick with the author. This happened to me the other day when someone emailed to “complain” about how I sometimes discuss Sherlock Holmes. Fortunately, the exchange turned into a good-hearted debate, something I attribute to having story as the core foundation of our exchange. Compare this to Reddit discussions like this one, where discussing aspects of the techniques in a mostly abstract way leads to ad hominem attacks. Now for the cons: Propaganda Risk The same reduction in counterarguing and squabbling with groups that you experience when reading stories is exactly what makes narratives useful for manipulation. When you’re not discussing what you’re reading with others, you can wind up ruminating on certain ideas. This can lead to negative outcomes where people not only believe incorrect things. They sometimes act out negatively in the world. The Illusion of Understanding Informative narratives can produce high interest but weaker comprehension and inflated metacomprehension. I’ve certainly had this myself, thinking I understand various points in logic after reading Alice in Wonderland. In reality, I still needed to do a lot more study. And still need more. In fact, “understanding” is not a destination so much as it is a process. Misinformation Uptake People sometimes acquire false beliefs from stories and struggle to discount fiction as a source. We see this often in religion due to implicit memory. Darrel Ray has shown how this happens extensively in his book, The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture. His book helped explain something that happened to me after I first started memorizing Sanskrit phrases and feeling the benefits of long-form meditation. For a brief period, implicit memory and the primacy effect made me start to consider that the religion I’d grown up with was in fact true and real. Luckily, I shook that temporary effect. But many others aren’t quite so lucky. And in case it isn’t obvious, I’ll point out that the Bible is not only packed with stories. Some of those stories contain mnemonic properties, something Eran Katz pointed out in his excellent book, Where Did Noah Park the Ark? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhQlcMHhF3w The “Reefer Madness” Problem While working on Vitamin X, I thought often about Reefer Madness. In case you haven’t seen it, Reefer Madness began as an “educational” morality tale about cannabis. It's now famous largely because it's an over-the-top artifact of moral panic, an example of how fear-based fiction can be used to shape public belief under the guise of protection. I don’t want to make that mistake in my Memory Detective series. But there is a relationship because Vitamin X does tackle nootropics, a realm of substances for memory I am asked to comment on frequently. In this case, I'm not trying to protect people from nootropics, per se. But as I have regularly talked about over the years, tackling issues like brain fog by taking memory supplements or vitamins for memory is fraught with danger. And since fiction is one of the most efficient way to smuggle ideas past the mind's filters, I am trying to raise some critical thinking around supplementation for memory. But to do it in a way that's educational without trying to exploit anyone. I did my best to create the story so that you wind up thinking for yourself. What I'm doing differently with Vitamin X & the Memory Detective Series I'm not pretending fiction automatically teaches. I'm treating fiction as a delivery system for how various mnemonic methods work and as a kind of cheerleading mechanism that encourages you to engage in proper, deliberate practice. Practice of what? 1) Concentration meditation. Throughout the story, Detective Williams struggles to learn and embrace the memory-based meditation methods of his mentor, Jerome. You get to learn more about these as you read the story. 2) Memory Palaces as anchors for sanity, not party tricks. In the library sequence, Williams tries to launch a mnemonic “boomerang” into a Memory Palace while hallucinatory imagery floods the environment. Taking influence from the ancient mnemonist, Hugh of St. Victor, Noah's Ark becomes a mnemonic structure. Mnemonic images surge and help Detective Williams combat his PTSD. To make this concrete, I've utilized the illustrations within the book itself. Just as the ancients used paintings and architectural drawings to encode knowledge, the artwork in Vitamin X isn’t just decoration. During the live bootcamp I’m running to celebrate the launch, I show you how to treat the illustrations as ‘Painting Memory Palaces.’ This effectively turns the book in your hands into a functioning mnemonic device, allowing you to practice the method of loci on the page before you even step out into the real world. Then there’s the self-help element, which takes the form of how memory work can help restore sanity. A PTSD theme runs throughout the Memory Detective series for two deliberate reasons. First, Detective Williams is partly based on Nic Castle. He's a former police officer who found symptom relief for his PTSD from using memory techniques. He shared his story on this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast years ago. Second, Nic's anecdotal experience is backed up by research. And even if you don't have PTSD, the modern world is attacking many of us in ways that clearly create similar symptom-like issues far worse than the digital amnesia I've been warning about for years. We get mentally hijacked by feeds, anxiety loops, and synthetic urgency. We lose our grip on reality and wonder why we can't remember what we read five minutes ago. That's just one more reason I made memory techniques function as reality-tests inside Vitamin X. 3) The critical safeguard: I explicitly separate fiction from technique. In Flyboy's afterword, I put it plainly: The plot is fictional, but the memory techniques are real. And because they're real, they require study and practice. I believe this boundary matters because research shows how easily readers absorb false “facts” from fiction. 4) To help you practice, I included a study guide. At the end of both Flyboy and Vitamin X, there are study guides. In Vitamin X, you'll find a concrete method for creating a Mnemonic Calendar. This is not the world's most perfect memory technique. But it's helpful and a bit more advanced than a technique I learned from Jim Samuels many years ago. In his version, he had his clients divide the days of the week into a Memory Palace. For his senior citizens in particular, he had them divide the kitchen. So if they had to take a particular pill on Monday, they would imagine the pill as a giant moon in the sink. Using the method of loci, this location would always serve as their mnemonic station for Monday. In Vitamin X, the detective uses a number-shape system. Either way, these kinds of techniques for remembering schedules are the antidote to the “illusion of understanding” problem, provided that you put them to use. They can be very difficult to understand if you don't. Why My Magnetic Fiction Solves the “Hobbyist” Problem A lot of memory training fails for one reason: People treat it as a hobby. They “learn” techniques the way people “learn” guitar: By watching a few videos and buying a book. While the study material sits on a shelf or lost in a hard drive, the consumer winds up never rehearsing. Never putting any skill to the test. And as a result, never enjoying integration with the techniques. What fiction can do is create: emotional stakes situational context identity consistency (“this is what I do now”) and enough momentum to carry you into real practice That's the point of the simulation. You're not just reading about a detective and his mentor using Memory Palaces and other memory techniques. You're watching what happens when a mind uses a Memory Palace to stay oriented. And you can feel that urgency in your own nervous system while you read. That's the “cognitive gym” effect, I'm going for. It's also why I love this note from Andy, because it highlights the exact design target I'm going for: “I finished Flyboy last night. Great book! I thought it was eminently creative, working the memory lessons into a surprisingly intricate and entertaining crime mystery. Well done!” Or as the real-life Sherlock Holmes Ben Cardall put it the Memory Detective stories are: …rare pieces of fiction that encourages reflection in the reader. You don’t just get the drama, the tension and the excitement from the exploits of its characters. You also get a look at your own capabilities as though Anthony is able to make you hold a mirror up to yourself and think ‘what else am I capable of’? A Practical Way to Read These Novels for Memory Training If you want the benefits without the traps we've discussed today: Read Vitamin X for immersion first (let transportation do its job). Then read it again with a simple study goal. This re-reading strategy is important because study-goal framing will improve comprehension and reduce overconfidence. During this second read-through, actually use the Mnemonic Calendar. Then, test yourself by writing out what you remember from the story. If you make a mistake, don't judge yourself. Simply use analytical thinking to determine what went wrong and work out how you can improve. The Future: Learning Through Story is About to Intensify Here's the uncomfortable forecast: Even though I’m generally pro-AI for all kinds of outcomes and grateful for my discussions with Andrew Mayne about it (host of the OpenAI Podcast), AI could make the generation of personalized narratives that target your fears, identity, and desires trivial. That means there’s the risk that AI will also easily transform your beliefs. The same machinery that can create “education you can't stop reading” can also create persuasion you barely notice. Or, as Michael Connelly described in his novel, The Proving Ground, we might notice the effects of this persuasion far more than we’d like. My research on narrative persuasion and misinformation underscores why this potential outcome is not hypothetical. So the real question isn't “Should we teach with fiction?” The question is: Will we build fiction that creates personal agency… or engineer stories that steal it? My aim with Flyboy, Vitamin X and the series finale is simple and focused on optimizing your ability: to use story as a motivation engine to convert that motivation into deliberate practice to make a wide range of memory techniques feel as exciting for you as they are for me and to give your attention interesting tests in a world engineered to fragment it. If you want better memory, this is your challenge: Don't read Vitamin X for entertainment alone. Read it to see if you can hold on to reality while the world spins out of control. When you do, you'll be doing something far rarer than collecting tips. You'll be swinging the axe. A very sharp axe indeed. And best of all, your axe for learning and remembering more information at greater speed will be Magnetic.

The Masterclass Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood: India's Encounters with Languages explores three defining moments in India's linguistic journey: the arrival of Sanskrit, Persian, and English. Each language came from beyond India's borders, gained a foothold, and extended its influence across diverse cultures, communities, and tongues. Their dominance shaped not only communication but also identity, politics, and thought. Thus, becoming inseparable from the larger story of India itself. These lectures will trace how each language consolidated its power, how resistance took form, and how new voices emerged in the process. Strikingly, in every encounter, it was not the imperial language that endured, but the languages rooted in the soil (the desa, the nadu) that reshaped and redefined the cultural landscape. As we step into an uncertain digital future, this series asks whether India's linguistic resilience will once again carry it forward, as it has so often before. Language and Hegemony Explore how Sanskrit, Persian, and English reshaped India across centuries. Each entered from outside, claimed cultural power, and ruled the imagination, but India remained a linguistic civilization defined by diversity. This talk uncovers why language became both a tool of hegemony and the essence of India's selfhood. In this episode of BIC Talks, G N Devy delivers a masterclass. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

The Masterclass Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood: India's Encounters with Languages explores three defining moments in India's linguistic journey: the arrival of Sanskrit, Persian, and English. Each language came from beyond India's borders, gained a foothold, and extended its influence across diverse cultures, communities, and tongues. Their dominance shaped not only communication but also identity, politics, and thought. Thus, becoming inseparable from the larger story of India itself. These lectures will trace how each language consolidated its power, how resistance took form, and how new voices emerged in the process. Strikingly, in every encounter, it was not the imperial language that endured, but the languages rooted in the soil (the desa, the nadu) that reshaped and redefined the cultural landscape. As we step into an uncertain digital future, this series asks whether India's linguistic resilience will once again carry it forward, as it has so often before. Decline and Transformation Sanskrit reigned for millennia, Persian for centuries, English for decades. Yet, none endured unchallenged. Each gave way to the resilient desi-bhashas, rooted in the land and people. This lecture traces the rise, fall, and transformation of languages in India, and what these shifts reveal about power and imagination.

The Masterclass Hegemony, Revolt and Selfhood: India's Encounters with Languages explores three defining moments in India's linguistic journey: the arrival of Sanskrit, Persian, and English. Each language came from beyond India's borders, gained a foothold, and extended its influence across diverse cultures, communities, and tongues. Their dominance shaped not only communication but also identity, politics, and thought. Thus, becoming inseparable from the larger story of India itself. These lectures will trace how each language consolidated its power, how resistance took form, and how new voices emerged in the process. Strikingly, in every encounter, it was not the imperial language that endured, but the languages rooted in the soil (the desa, the nadu) that reshaped and redefined the cultural landscape. As we step into an uncertain digital future, this series asks whether India's linguistic resilience will once again carry it forward, as it has so often before. Language between Nationalism and Technology In today's charged climate, languages carry the weight of both nationalism and digital futures. This session asks how India's linguistic diversity will evolve in the twenty-first century, and whether the voices of many can thrive amid the pulls of technology, identity, and the search for cultural belonging. In this episode of BIC Talks, G N Devy delivers a masterclass. This is an excerpt from a conversation that took place in the BIC premises in Sep 2025. Subscribe to the BIC Talks Podcast on your favourite podcast app! BIC Talks is available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Overcast, Audible, and Amazon Music.

Fluent Fiction - Hindi: Unlocking Ancient Secrets: A Snowy Quest in the Ruins Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/hi/episode/2025-12-24-23-34-02-hi Story Transcript:Hi: सर्दियों की ठंडी सुबह थी।En: It was a cold winter morning.Hi: सूर्य की किरणें प्राचीन खंडहरों पर कोमलता से पड़ रही थीं।En: The sun's rays were gently falling on the ancient ruins.Hi: चारों ओर बर्फ की सफेद चादर बिछी थी, जिससे हर चीज़ में एक रहस्मय आकर्षण आ गया था।En: A white sheet of snow covered everything, giving a mysterious allure to the surroundings.Hi: अनिका, रोहन और देव उन खंडहरों के बीच खड़े थे, सांसों में ठंडी हवा की चुभन महसूस हो रही थी।En: Anika, Rohan, and Dev stood among those ruins, feeling the sting of the cold air in their breaths.Hi: अनिका इतिहास की गहरी प्रेमी थी।En: Anika had a deep love for history.Hi: उसके मन में हमेशा से इन खंडहरों का आकर्षण था।En: She had always been fascinated by these ruins.Hi: उसने बड़े उत्साह से कहा, "यहां का रहस्य सुलझाना चाहिए।En: With great enthusiasm, she said, "We should solve the mystery here.Hi: हमें वह पुराना कलात्मक अवशेष खोजना होगा।En: We need to find the old artistic relic."Hi: "रोहन ने सिर हिलाया।En: Rohan shook his head.Hi: "तुम्हें इन कथाओं पर विश्वास नहीं करना चाहिए, अनिका।En: "You shouldn't believe these tales, Anika.Hi: ये केवल कहानियाँ हैं।En: They are just stories."Hi: "देव ने सहमति जताई, "हाँ, लेकिन मुझे भी इन रहस्यों को जानने की उत्सुकता है।En: Dev agreed, "Yes, but I am also curious to know these mysteries.Hi: यह भूला बिसरा खंडहर कुछ तो कहता होगा।En: These forgotten ruins must say something."Hi: "वे तीनों आगे बढ़े।En: The trio moved forward.Hi: बर्फ के बीच, पुरानी दीवारों पर उगी बेलें लहराते हाथों सी प्रतीत होती थीं।En: Amidst the snow, the old vines growing on walls seemed like waving arms.Hi: अचानक, एक जगह उन्हें एक प्राचीन कलात्मक वस्तु मिली।En: Suddenly, they found an ancient artistic object at one spot.Hi: स्थानीय लोग कहते थे कि यह शापित है।En: The locals said it was cursed.Hi: कई दशकों से लोग इसे छूने से डरते आए थे।En: For decades, people had been afraid to touch it.Hi: अनिका ने कहा, "हमें इसे सावधानी से देखना होगा।En: Anika said, "We need to examine it carefully.Hi: मैं मानती हूँ कि इसका कोई वैज्ञानिक कारण होगा।En: I believe there must be some scientific reason."Hi: "लेकिन तभी, आस पास की हवाएँ तेज़ हो गईं।En: But just then, the winds around them intensified.Hi: खंडहरों की छांव उन्हीं पर फैलने लगी।En: The shadows of the ruins began to envelop them.Hi: तीनों साथी थोड़े घबरा गए, लेकिन अनिका की उत्सुकता अभी भी ज़िंदा थी।En: The three companions got a little nervous, but Anika's curiosity was still alive.Hi: उसने आगे बढ़ कर वस्तु पर हाथ बढ़ाया।En: She stepped forward and reached out her hand towards the object.Hi: रोहन और देव उसके पीछे खड़े सोच रहे थे, "क्या हमें यहाँ से चले जाना चाहिए?En: Rohan and Dev stood behind her thinking, "Should we leave this place?"Hi: "अचानक, एक हल्की सी चमक हुई और ध्वनि गूंजने लगी।En: Suddenly, there was a slight flash and a sound echoed.Hi: ऐसा लगा जैसे पत्थरों का जीवन जाग उठा हो।En: It felt as if the stones had come to life.Hi: रोहन ने कहा, "शायद यह कोई पुराना यंत्र है जो अब भी सक्रिय हो सकता है।En: Rohan said, "Maybe it's some old device that can still be active."Hi: "तभी अनिका को एक छोटे से पत्थर के नीचे एक धातु की पट्टी दिखी जिस पर कुछ उत्कीर्ण था।En: Then, Anika saw a metal plaque under a small stone with some engravings.Hi: वह पढ़ते हुए बोली, "यह तो प्राचीन संस्कृत में है।En: She read aloud, "This is in ancient Sanskrit.Hi: इसका अर्थ है - 'संसार एक भ्रम है, और उसके रहस्य समय के सर्प को चुनौती देते हैं।En: It means - 'The world is an illusion, and its mysteries challenge the serpent of time.'"Hi: '"अनिका ने ध्यान से पढ़ा।En: Anika read attentively.Hi: स्थानीय कथाओं में उलझकर रहस्यों को समझने में उन्हें देर नहीं लगी।En: It didn't take them long to unravel the mysteries entwined in local legends.Hi: वे समझे कि वस्तु की बनावट और मेटल इंस्ट्रूमेंट्स का समन्वय था।En: They understood that the object was a blend of design and metal instruments.Hi: किसी समय यह वस्तु आकाश के नक्शे दिखाने के लिए इस्तेमाल होती होगी।En: At one time, this object might have been used to show maps of the sky.Hi: खंडहरों के रहस्यमय अनुभव के बाद, अनिका ने हाथ जोड़कर खंडहरों को धन्यवाद दिया।En: After the mysterious experience at the ruins, Anika folded her hands in gratitude.Hi: अब उन्हें समझ आ गया कि अज्ञात परियों की कहानियों में भी कहीं न कहीं विज्ञान छिपा होता है।En: They now understood that somewhere within the tales of unknown fairies, there is science hidden.Hi: वापस आते समय, अनिका ने कहा, "अब मुझे समझ आया कि हर कहावत का सम्मान आवश्यक है।En: On their way back, Anika said, "Now I understand that respecting every saying is necessary.Hi: हम इतिहास से बहुत कुछ सीख सकते हैं।En: We can learn a lot from history."Hi: "रोहन हँस दिया।En: Rohan laughed.Hi: "अब मुझे भी इन पुरानी धरोहरों का सम्मान करना है।En: "Now I too must respect these old heritages."Hi: "देव मुस्कुराया।En: Dev smiled.Hi: "हमने एक अद्भुत अनुभव साझा किया है।En: "We have shared a wonderful experience.Hi: यह क्रिसमस इन खंडहरों की तरह हमेशा यादगार रहेगा।En: This Christmas will always be memorable, just like these ruins."Hi: "यह सर्दियों की सुबह उनके लिए ज्ञान और समझ का नया अध्याय लेकर आई थी।En: This winter morning brought a new chapter of knowledge and understanding for them.Hi: प्राचीन वस्तु का रहस्य सुलझाकर उन्होंने न केवल शाप की कहानी का अंत किया, बल्कि अपने भीतर भी एक नई शुरुआत की।En: By unraveling the mystery of the ancient object, they not only ended the tale of the curse but also started a new beginning within themselves.Hi: ⛄En: ⛄ Vocabulary Words:sting: चुभनallure: आकर्षणancient: प्राचीनartistic: कलात्मकrelic: अवशेषvines: बेलेंcursed: शापितintensified: तेज़envelop: फैलनाechoed: गूंजाengraving: उत्कीर्णillusion: भ्रमserpent: सर्पgratitude: धन्यवादheritages: धरोहरोंmemorable: यादगारcompanion: साथीunravel: सुलझानाchallenge: चुनौतीblend: समन्वयmysterious: रहस्यमयcuriosity: उत्सुकताlegends: कथाएँscientific: वैज्ञानिकplaque: पट्टीattentively: ध्यान सेdebris: मलबाbreaths: सांसोंamidst: बीचmetal: धातु

One on One Video Call W/George https://tidycal.com/georgepmonty/60-minute-meetingSupport the show:https://www.paypal.me/Truelifepodcast?locale.x=en_USTrue Life Podcast Episode DescriptionIn this powerful return conversation, host George welcomes back Remzi Bajrami, co-founder of Common Planet, to dive deep into the future of economics and human coordination.Remzi introduces Creditism — a bold alternative economic system designed to replace debt-based capitalism with pure credit, eliminating scarcity mindsets and enabling true abundance. Drawing from a decade of research across finance, philosophy, game theory, and systems design, Remzi breaks down:•  How modern banking actually works (and why banks are privileged debt creators)•  The hidden truths about government “debt” and infinite money creation•  Why capitalism, socialism, and communism all fail at the same foundational level: pre-distributing Earth's commons to a privileged few•  The core principles of Creditism: unconditional income, activity-based credit creation, democratic bonus metrics for production, and currency deletion upon spending•  The planetary membership project IU (“life” in Sanskrit) — a decentralized network launching soon to co-create digital tools for governance, record-keeping, and a new infinite gameThis episode challenges everything you thought you knew about money, power, and possibility. If we're going to solve the metacrisis — ecological collapse, inequality, endless conflict — we need a fundamental evolution in how value is created and distributed.Remzi and his team are going public now: Substack launching tomorrow, YouTube in January, and the IU app in early 2026.Join the conversation. The old game is breaking. It's time to build the one that comes next.

PURANA Media is an annual, peer-reviewed, open access journal focused on modes of cultural production encompassed by the term purāṇa (a Sanskrit word designating things 'ancient' or 'primordial'). Populated by deities, sages, and a host of other more-than-human agents, the purāṇic past has been disseminated through a wide range of media and forms of embodied knowledge. As an authoritative discourse, purāṇa has been integral to the shaping of history and cultural memory in early South and Southeast Asia. In the contemporary world this discourse continues to (re)create the past as a social, political, and affective force. The journal approaches purāṇa as a way of worldmaking that uses memories of a distant past to meaningfully anchor the relative present and envision a future possible. PURANA Media adopts a broad methodological and regional scope. The journal integrates scholarship on primary historical sources (textual, visual, and material) and their contexts, critical reflections on heritage-making and museum studies, as well as contributions in art, design, photography, and other media. Open Access: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

PURANA Media is an annual, peer-reviewed, open access journal focused on modes of cultural production encompassed by the term purāṇa (a Sanskrit word designating things 'ancient' or 'primordial'). Populated by deities, sages, and a host of other more-than-human agents, the purāṇic past has been disseminated through a wide range of media and forms of embodied knowledge. As an authoritative discourse, purāṇa has been integral to the shaping of history and cultural memory in early South and Southeast Asia. In the contemporary world this discourse continues to (re)create the past as a social, political, and affective force. The journal approaches purāṇa as a way of worldmaking that uses memories of a distant past to meaningfully anchor the relative present and envision a future possible. PURANA Media adopts a broad methodological and regional scope. The journal integrates scholarship on primary historical sources (textual, visual, and material) and their contexts, critical reflections on heritage-making and museum studies, as well as contributions in art, design, photography, and other media. Open Access: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

PURANA Media is an annual, peer-reviewed, open access journal focused on modes of cultural production encompassed by the term purāṇa (a Sanskrit word designating things 'ancient' or 'primordial'). Populated by deities, sages, and a host of other more-than-human agents, the purāṇic past has been disseminated through a wide range of media and forms of embodied knowledge. As an authoritative discourse, purāṇa has been integral to the shaping of history and cultural memory in early South and Southeast Asia. In the contemporary world this discourse continues to (re)create the past as a social, political, and affective force. The journal approaches purāṇa as a way of worldmaking that uses memories of a distant past to meaningfully anchor the relative present and envision a future possible. PURANA Media adopts a broad methodological and regional scope. The journal integrates scholarship on primary historical sources (textual, visual, and material) and their contexts, critical reflections on heritage-making and museum studies, as well as contributions in art, design, photography, and other media. Open Access: here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/indian-religions

Send us a textBuy Jill's book, Sacred Sound Formulas to Awaken the Modern Mind @ jilljardine.comBook a reading with Jill to find out what 2026 has in store for you!  www.jilljardineastrology.comBuy the Sacred Rays of God by Paul of Venus: https://www.thesacredraysofgod.com/What if awakening is gentle—a soft opening into the same place with a different space? We sit down with Paul of Venus to discuss his book, The Sacred Rays of God. Paul describes the Sacred Rays as living streams of consciousness that heal fear, organize the heart, and guide a calm transition into the New Earth. From the first days of raw surrender on Mount Shasta to vivid encounters with Saint Germain, this story moves from brokenness to embodiment and shows how alchemy happens through feeling, not bypassing.We trace the lineage behind the work—Theosophy's seven rays, Elizabeth Clare Prophet's teachings, and deeper roots in Lemuria and Sanat Kumara—then widen into an expanded spectrum that includes hybrid rays and refined frequencies for modern times. Paula shares the Threefold Flame of will, wisdom, and love as the core template in every heart, and explains how the blue will of God coordinates with allies like Archangel Michael, Pleiadians, and Arcturians to steady courage and purpose. You'll hear how forgiveness on the violet ray dissolves karmic tangles, why the ruby ray ignites peace and sacred service, and how the emerald ray anchors truth behind the noise of personality.Beyond myth, we get practical. Paul of Venus describes field-tested tools received on the mountain: stepping outside time and space, quieting human interference to reveal true frequency, and working with imagination as a lawful interface to light. The book, The Sacred Rays of God, emerges from journaled activations inside etheric retreats—Telos, Shambhala, and the Ascended Masters' sanctuaries—and reads like a transmission designed to activate, not just inform. We connect light and sound technology too, linking Sanskrit mantra practice with the tonal aspect of the rays to stabilize change at the nervous system level.If you're feeling the squeeze of this moment, consider this a clear path forward: forgive relentlessly, align to the will of God, listen inside the heart's silence, and let the rays organize your life. The New Earth is already braided into our world; the choice is whether to step into it.The Sacred Rays of God unveils the ancient wisdom of the Divine Rays—powerful streams of celestial energy that illuminate the path to healing, enlightenment, and ascension. Channeled through automatic writing during profound encounters on Mount Shasta, author Paul of Venus shares direct transmissions from the Ascended Masters, including revelations about the secret Rays of Venus never before disclosed to humanity. From the Blue Ray of Divine Will to the transformative Violet Ray, each stream of God-consciousness carries specific gifts of cosmic wisdom waiting to be awakened within you. This groundbreaking work offers practical guidance for embodying these sacred frequencies in your daily life, while unveiling mysteries from Shambala, Telos, and the first city of the New Earth. More than a book, this is a living transmission of light itself—each page infused with the authentic frequency of Saint Germain's Divine guidance and the wisdom of Mount Shasta's Ascended Masters, designed to awaken you to your true nature as a Divine creator.Listen, share with someone who needs hope, and leave a review so more seekers can find this work. Subscribe for upcoming transmissions and on-mountain activations.Support the show

Each year, under the bright full moon of Guru Purnima, yoga practitioners and seekers around the world pause to honor the timeless presence of the Guru, the teacher who removes darkness and reveals the light that has always been within us. But what does it truly mean to walk in the light of the Guru? In the ancient yoga tradition, the Guru is far more than just a transmitter of techniques or philosophy. The Guru is the living embodiment of wisdom, a steady flame passed from teacher to student, generation after generation. The Guru: Not Just a Teacher, but a Living Embodiment Our ancient texts speak clearly about this. The Mundaka Upanishad (1.2.12) tells us: तद्विज्ञानार्थं स गुरुमेवाभिगच्छेत समित्पाणिः श्रोत्रियं ब्रह्मनिष्ठम् ॥ Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet Samit-panih srotriyam brahma-nishtham "To realize that Supreme Knowledge, one must approach a Guru alone, carrying fuel in hand, who is learned in the scriptures (srotriya) and firmly established in Brahman (brahma-nistha)." These two qualities, srotriya and brahma-nistha, reveal the heart of the true Guru. Srotriya (श्रोत्रिय) comes from sruti (श्रुति), meaning "that which is heard," the revealed wisdom of the Vedas and Upanishads. Etymologically, sru means to hear and -triya means possessor of. A srotriya is one who has fully mastered the sacred teachings, the outer mastery of scripture, tradition, and precise method. Brahma-nistha (ब्रह्मनिष्ठ) brings us deeper still. Brahman is the undivided reality, the ultimate truth. Nistha means "firmly established," from nis (down, firm) and stha (to stand). A brahma-nistha is one who stands unshakably rooted in the living truth of Brahman. This is the inner realization that breathes life into the outer knowledge. Together, they remind us: Without srotriya, the teaching drifts. Without brahma-nistha, the teaching is lifeless. How the Guru Lives in Our Lineage In the Ashtanga Yoga tradition, we have seen these qualities alive in the teachers who came before us. K. Pattabhi Jois was a true srotriya, deeply rooted in Sanskrit, the Vedas, and the subtle method of Ashtanga Yoga. Yet his real power came from being brahma-nistha too: his whole life was practice, devotion, and direct living example. He did not just talk about yoga, he was yoga, every dawn, every breath, every student who came to him. Sharath Jois, Guruji's grandson, embodies this same living thread. His srotriya shines through in the precise count, the unwavering discipline, the commitment to preserve the parampara, the unbroken lineage. But what touches people most is his brahma-nistha: the quiet steadiness, the humility, the simple, living truth that shows through his presence and service to this path. A true Guru does not make you a follower. A true Guru shows you how to find the light that has always been yours. The Guru Cultivates the Inner Flame As Patanjali reminds us in the Yoga Sutra (1.20): श्रद्धावीर्यस्मृतिसमाधिप्रज्ञापूर्वक इतरेषाम् ॥ १.२० ॥ Sraddha-virya-smrti-samadhi-prajna-purvaka itaresam "For others, samadhi comes through faith (sraddha), vigor (virya), remembrance (smrti), deep absorption (samadhi), and wisdom (prajna)." These qualities are the hidden garden the Guru nourishes in us: Sraddha: faith, the quiet trust that steadies us when doubt arises. Virya: courageous effort, the strength to keep going. Smrti: remembrance of who we really are and why we practice. Samadhi: deep absorption, the merging of mind, breath, and heart. Prajna: clear insight, the wisdom that sees through illusion. The outer Guru lights this lamp. The inner Guru keeps it burning. A Prayer on Guru Purnima When we bow on Guru Purnima, we do not bow only to a person, we bow to the entire living thread that connects us to truth: our teachers, our daily practice, our inner wisdom. May our lives be our offering back, our sraddha, our virya, our willingness to stand firm in the truth when the world wavers. May we carry this flame forward, bright and steady, for all those who will come after us, seeking the same light that our Gurus kept alive for us. ॐ श्रीगुरुभ्यो नमः। Pranam to all Gurus, visible and invisible, past, present, and yet to come. Closing Thought May Guru Purnima remind you that the Guru is not far away. The true Guru lives in your daily breath, your sincere effort, and the quiet voice inside that whispers, keep going. May we keep this light alive, together. Practice LIVE with me exclusively on Omstars. Start your journey today with a 7-day trial at omstars.com. Stay connected with us on social @omstarsofficial and @kinoyoga. Practice with me in person for workshops, classes, retreats, trainings and Mysore seasons. Find out more about where I am teaching at kinoyoga.com and sign up for our Mysore season in Miami at www.miamilifecenter.com .

The Serpent's Tale: Kundalini, Yoga, and the History of an Experience (Columbia UP, 2025) traces the intricate global histories of Kuṇḍalinī, from its Sanskrit origins to its popularity in the West. Ranging from esoteric texts to global gurus, from the cliffs of California to the charnel grounds of Assam, they show that there has never been one single “authentic” model of Kuṇḍalinī but a multiplicity of visions. Bridging the gaps between textual and historical analysis and the complexities of embodied practice, Borkataky-Varma and Foxen reflect on the narration and transmission of experiences, including their own. Lively, accessible, and nuanced, The Serpent's Tale offers rich insights for scholars, practitioners, and all readers drawn to Kuṇḍalinī. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Welcome to the Spiritually Fit Yoga podcast with Amelia Andaleon! In episode three of my 30-day December mini meditations, we explore Aparigraha, a Sanskrit word meaning "non-possessiveness," "non-attachment," or "non-greed," and is the fifth of the ⁠five Yamas⁠ (ethical restraints) in ⁠Patanjali's Yoga Sutras⁠. It involves taking only what you need, letting go of excessive material possessions, and releasing emotional attachments to things, outcomes, and the past. Aparigraha asks us: What are you gripping tightly?  What are you trying to control?  Who are you having a hard time emotionally letting go of?  Are you attached to any outcomes, results or expectations?--------------------------I'd love to hear what you are experiencing practicing these mini meditation episodes. Connect with me by leaving a comment or DM me on Instagram @spirituallyfityoga. If you found this episode valuable, please share with others. Your 5-star reviews are always appreciated.Learn more about me at ⁠⁠http://SpirituallyFitYoga.com. ⁠⁠ Check out my upcoming events and yoga retreats.Subscribe to my VIP newsletter for special offers and discounts only sent via email to my subscribers:⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/sfityoga-subscribe⁠⁠In Gratitude,Amelia AndaleonYoga & meditation teacher, lead trainer and owner of the Spiritually Fit Yoga school (RYS)

Most people think they know what the Hare Krishna movement is, until they actually speak with a monk living the lifestyle. In this eye-opening conversation recorded at Spirit Fest USA, we sit down with Jadardana Krishna Das, a modern monk who breaks down the truth behind one of the world's most misunderstood spiritual traditions. If you've ever wondered what the robes mean, why monks shave their heads, what Krishna Consciousness actually teaches, or whether the Bhagavad Gita has anything to offer someone who isn't Hindu…this episode will challenge your assumptions and force you to see spiritual awakening in a completely different light. This isn't dogma. This isn't recruitment. This is practical mind-training, ancient consciousness science, and a path toward inner clarity that anyone, any faith, any background, can explore. What You'll Learn in This Episode:✔ What the Hare Krishna movement really teaches Not the stereotypes. Not the assumptions. The actual mission: raising consciousness, reconnecting with the soul, and empowering people from any background to develop a spiritual foundation. ✔ The surprising truth about the Bhagavad Gita It's not a “Hindu book.” It predates Hinduism and Buddhism and offers universal teachings on the mind, the self, and the battlefield within.  ✔ Why monks shave their heads & wear orange robes Purification, simplicity, detachment, spiritual focus, and yes, hygiene. The symbolic meaning goes far deeper than most people realize.  ✔ What the forehead markings really represent Not decoration...purification, protection, and identity within a specific philosophical lineage.  ✔ Are Hare Krishnas trying to convert people? Short answer: no. Long answer: this episode explains why the movement focuses on knowledge, not recruitment.  ✔ How chanting really works Why anyone, child or adult, any religion or none, can chant Hare Krishna and experience its effects anytime, anywhere.  ✔ The monk's personal journey From sports, movies, and a secular upbringing…to a life-changing realization in college that led him to choose a life of spiritual training. Why This Conversation Matters:This isn't a fringe movement. This is one of the oldest consciousness-expansion systems on Earth. And it speaks directly to the problems modern seekers face:mental overwhelmlack of meaningdisconnection from selfthe inner “battlefield” the Gita describes so wellthe pressure of material lifethe desire for spiritual grounding without dogmaJadardana shows how these teachings are not about escaping life...they're about engaging with it from a higher state of awareness.Resources Mentioned:• Bhagavad Gita As It Is The recommended version with Sanskrit, translation, and commentary used in the Hare Krishna tradition. Available online, in libraries, and in print.  • Local Hare Krishna Temples & Centers Found in most major cities. Offer meditation, classes, and free vegetarian food. Ideal For Listeners Seeking:Spiritual AwakeningConsciousness ExpansionMysticism & Esoteric KnowledgeMind-Body ConnectionAlternative SpiritualityExploring the UnknownPractical Meditation & Higher Self WorkNon-dogmatic paths to spiritual growthListen Now This episode will shift the way you think about spirituality, identity, and what it means to live a conscious life, whether you resonate with the Hare Krishna path or not. Subscribe, Rate & Review! If you found this episode enlightening, mind-expanding, or even just thought-provoking (see what we did there?), please take a moment to rate and review us. Your feedback helps us bring more transformative guests and topics your way! Subscribe to The Skeptic Metaphysicians on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube for more deep dives into spiritual awakening, consciousness, spirituality, metaphysical science, and mind-body evolution.Connect with Us: 

Register for the Austin listener meetup Donald S. Lopez Jr. is among the foremost scholars of Buddhism, whose work consistently distinguishes Buddhist reality from Western fantasy. A professor at the University of Michigan and author of numerous essential books on Buddhist thought and practice, he's spent decades studying Sanskrit and Tibetan texts, including a formative year spent living in a Tibetan monastery in India. His latest book, The Buddha: Biography of a Myth, tackles the formidable challenge of understanding what we can actually know about the historical Buddha. Tyler and Donald discuss the Buddha's 32 bodily marks, whether he died of dysentery, what sets the limits of the Buddha's omniscience, the theological puzzle of sacred power in an atheistic religion, Buddhism's elaborate system of hells and hungry ghosts, how 19th-century European atheists invented the "peaceful" Buddhism we know today, whether the axial age theory holds up, what happened to the Buddha's son Rahula, Buddhism's global decline, the evidently effective succession process for Dalai Lamas, how a guy from New Jersey created the Tibetan Book of the Dead, what makes Zen Buddhism theologically unique, why Thailand is the wealthiest Buddhist country, where to go on a three-week Buddhist pilgrimage, how Donald became a scholar of Buddhism after abandoning his plans to study Shakespeare, his dream of translating Buddhist stories into new dramatic forms, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel. Recorded October 6th, 2025. Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Sign up for our newsletter Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here.