Balagangadhara

Colonial consciousness incorporates the following element: in making statements about the colonized, the colonizer thinks that he is describing the colonizer. The latter, for his part, takes such statements as true descriptions of himself. What is involved is not the authority of the explainer (the colonizer) but the truth-value of the statements. How do we know this to be the case? Because we …

What Aristotle is doing in my piece on the Indian traditions? He is doing many things actually. His presence is a continuation of my argument that the Antiquity (Greeks and the Romans) is not the cradle of western culture and civilization. Aristotelian ‘Eudemonia’ is my way of explaining his thought to the western public, which thinks that it understands Aristotle. There is a greater similarity …

Here is what I say in my article on ‘how to speak for the Indian traditions’: “Our middle-aged man is, thus, raising the question of Aristotle.“I have pursued many things in life. I have acquired wealth and status, and aimed with varying degrees of success to become powerful and famous. I have been successful in some of my endeavors, while failing in yet others. I thought these things would make …

If we want to speak about the meaning of human existence, at least one condition has to be met: such an existence (from birth to death at least) must embody a plan or a reason. Such a plan or reason cannot be that of the individual in question for the simple reason that his/her birth (at the least, not to speak of the first years of his/her existence) does not instantiate any of his/her plans. …

In “An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals”, David Hume, the philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment, raises a question, which has always been one of the basic concerns of ethical investigations in the modern western intellectual tradition: what theory of morals could serve any useful purpose, he asks, unless it can be shown that all the duties it recommends are also in the true …

While translating Russell L. Ackoff, you say that such a translation is “not a moral judgment now, but a statement about the state of the economy”. But your claim, according to Ackoff’s own argument, is untrue. Consider how he describes corruption: “We concluded that corruption occurs when one party, A (for example, a policeman), who has an obligation to a second party, B (for example, the …

I was invited by some Sadhus from Swami Narayan Temple (BAPS) to visit the temple and have a discussion with them. Because they practice very strict Brahmacharya (eight types of avoiding women, each correlated to an organ: it is called Ashtanga Brahmacharya), the Sadhus said that women could not be present during our discussions, while they were welcome to visit the temple. As I remember the …

Ideas have impact on people. Theological dilemmas have impact on those who formulate such dilemmas and on the future generations. They undertake actions (of whatever type) to solve these dilemmas, where and when these people find such dilemmas important. In this way, one can make some sense of the claim that Christological dilemma propels Christianity forward. However, this explanation cannot (at …

Question: why religion spreads among (some) human beings? What is it about them that enables the transmission of religion? This issue allows multiple answers. In this post, I would like to focus on the simplest answer to the question. In my theory, I presuppose an answer to the question: I assume that there is something in our constitution that allows religion to spread among human beings. The …

I want to go deeper into the claim of my earlier post that Shabnum Tejanis and Neera Chandhokes of this world do not think but merely talk. In other words, is it possible to identify the problems with their accounts (that explicates more clearly why I say that they do not think) in such a way that it is susceptible to some sort of solution? If, indeed, we can show that such people do not think and …

Vyasa’s argument (to the extent we can speak of an argument in this context) is quite subtle: When Urvasi comes to Arjuna at the behest of his father, and when she is possessed by desire, and when the Apsaras choose freely and unconfined, then (a) one cannot reject her; (b) and with the argument that she is a superior to him. If you split this conjunction and cast in normative terms, it says …

Let us begin with the assumption that our stories about Indra and the Gandharvas are just that: stories, authored by human beings, without truth-content. (That is to say, they are neither true nor false.) When human beings write stories, their imagination is (partially) constrained by their societies, cultures and the times they live in. None quite knows how exactly the latter constrain human …

Contrast sets have multiple functions depending on the contexts in which they are used. For instance, in the case of theories about some phenomena, they can be used to test the robustness of the theories: why do unsupported objects on earth fall downwards instead of floating? Why did the Primitive Man invent ‘religion’ instead of doing any number of other things he could have done? And so on. In …

X says: “Modern prostitution is a very specific institution with the features of pimps, forced sex, kidnapped women, drug addicted women, immigrants lured to foreign shores on false pretences, and so on. If we insist on precision in ideas, then it is counterproductive to confuse matters by calling Apsaras prostitutes without first showing that at least some of the above conditions hold true and …

In so far as the suggestion is that the English word ‘prostitute’ does not capture the connotations of the earlier uses of ‘Veshya’, as I said, I agree with all of you. In this sense, if you further suggest that ‘Apsara’ should not be considered as a synonym for ‘prostitute’, I would also agree. I do not suggest that ‘apsara’ and ‘prostitute’ are synonyms: for two words to be synonymous in this …

You suggest that calling Apsaras as “prostitutes in the court of Indra” is an extreme statement. Of course, you would be right if you mean that the English word does not carry all the connotations of ‘Veshya’ or even that our current usage of the word ‘Veshya’ is not as rich as the earlier uses of the same word were. You are right too when you point out that the word ‘Kama’, as a pursushartha, …

1.1. The Indian traditions did not have the same attitude as Christianity towards prostitution or adultery. And the Indians of yesteryears were not defenders of the Victorian (and Christian) morality. Of course, I approvingly said that the “Indians are not prudes” but this approval has to do with the thrust of Indian thought, as I have understood it: the impossibility of prohibiting or making …

Let me invite you to do a thought-experiment along with me. Imagine that all human beings seek happiness. Imagine too that they can all achieve this state of being. Because, as I said in one of my posts, there are no qualifications (or requirements) to reach this end-state; any and all ways are conducive to reach this end-state: thinking, meditation, music, dance, and, yes, even going to temples …

I think there is a simpler answer to why we do not eat beef: “we do not see it as food.” In the same way people in the Nazi concentration camps and the Ethiopians during the famine did not see fellow human beings as edible items, we do not see cows as food. (Contrast this with the story of a plane crash in the Andes Mountain some three decades ago, where the dead were cannibalized by the living in …

Traditions are inherited practices, which mean two things: they are both transmitted and learnt. The learning occurs through imitation, following instructions, through stories and so on. Consequently, traditions ‘change’ (i.e. undergo modifications) even as they are being transmitted and learnt. This makes traditions flexible and adaptive. Human practices conserve, that is, we do not go around …