What is the relationship between Advaita Vedānta and bhakti? A guest post by Patrick S. O’ Donnell

(You have probably already encountered Patrick on this blog, but in case you did not, his Academia page is here —be sure to check all the bibliographical tools. The following text is part of an email conversation between the two Continue reading What is the relationship between Advaita Vedānta and bhakti? A guest post by Patrick S. O’ Donnell

Erotic poetry will make you a better person

There is a bit in U.R. Ananthamurthy’s novel Samskara about a young brahman who listens to his teacher’s description of Śakuntalā and gets so hot and bothered that he runs off and jumps into the river, where he meets and Continue reading Erotic poetry will make you a better person

Anand Venkatkrishnan on Vedānta, bhakti and Mīmāṃsā through the history of the family of Āpadeva and Anantadeva in 16th–17th c. Banaras

When, where and how did bhakti become acceptable within the Indian intellectual élites?

You can now vote the best philosophical blogpost UPDATED

…among the ones selected at 3quarksdaily, here. In case you were wondering, there are at least three posts dealing with non-Western philosophy, namely: No. 10, Veṅkaṭanātha’s contribution to Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta (thank you very much, K., for suggesting it!) No. 17, Continue reading You can now vote the best philosophical blogpost UPDATED

Daya Krishna’s “Creative Encounters with Texts”

Daya Krishna was an Indian philosopher, a rationalist and iconoclast, who constantly tried to question and scrutinise acquired “truths”. The main place for such investigations was for him a saṃvāda ‘dialogue’. That’s why he also strived to organise structured saṃvāda Continue reading Daya Krishna’s “Creative Encounters with Texts”

What is a body? Veṅkaṭanātha on plants, rocks, and deities

In general, classical Indian philosophers tend to define śarīra ‘body’ as a tool for experience (bhogasādhana). Thus, most philosophers state that plants only seem to have bodies because of our anthropomorphic tendencies, which make us believe that they function like Continue reading What is a body? Veṅkaṭanātha on plants, rocks, and deities

Stephen Harris on Suffering and Buddhist Ethics

I just found out through Philpapers about a forthcoming article by “our” Stephen Harris, who perhaps might want to elaborate a little bit more about it here? The title is: Suffering and the Shape of Well-Being in Buddhist Ethics and Continue reading Stephen Harris on Suffering and Buddhist Ethics