Category Archives: India

Translating the Gita

Posted on January 7, 2014 by

The first translation of a Hindu sacred text into a European language — Charles Wilkins’ English version of the Gita, 1785 — marks the beginning of the inter-religious dialogue in its modern sense. Hindus as well as Christians and, of … Continue reading →

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January course in Berkeley: “The Bhagavad-Gita today”

Posted on December 26, 2013 by

Again this January, if any students sign up, I’ll be teaching a course on Hinduism. The theme this year is about the Bhagavad-Gita, India’s favorite scripture, as understood by four twentieth-century commentators. Here is the summary from the course syllabus: … Continue reading →

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A dream of Debussy / India and other passions

Posted on December 19, 2013 by

I seem to remember: in the past few days I briefly dreamed of meeting Claude Debussy. India is a great passion, in the best sense: that is, as an energy that brings forth an appetite deep in the soul. There … Continue reading →

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I’m always in India

Posted on November 24, 2013 by

Conversation with Karen Andrews, our oblate: I was speaking about a young Indian-American, who has been inquiring about staying in one of our guest rooms. This led me into talking about what India is for me. I last was there … Continue reading →

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Hindu Diaspora in America

Posted on January 16, 2013 by

9. Building a traditional Hindu presence in America: the arrival in greater numbers of Indian immigrants, the building of temples across the continent, where authentic vedic rites are celebrated by immigrant Brahmins. Some Hindu scholars and Brahmins are still of … Continue reading →

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From West to East: Vedic America returns to India

Posted on January 5, 2013 by

7.    From West to East: Western scholarship and comparative religious studies and their influence in India: Raimon Panikkar; Mircea Eliade and the Chicago school. The controversy surrounding Jeffrey J. Kripal’s reading of Sri Ramakrishna. The work of Georg Feuerstein on … Continue reading →

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Hinduism in Anglo-American cinema

Posted on January 2, 2013 by

5. Hinduism in Anglo-American cinema (e.g. “The Razor’s Edge”, “Around the World in Eighty Days”, “A Passage to India”) and pop culture; Reincarnation for the masses; Health-club Yoga; rock-stars and transcendental meditators; is the culture itself ‘spiritual but not religious’? … Continue reading →

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