A group blog of scholars exploring Indian philosophy
This Friday, while I was taking my lunch break from work, my mother called to let me know that my father, Jayant Lele, had peacefully passed away. (I am posting this here because he was, in the last analysis, an Continue reading My last months with my father
On May 15, Harry Falk announced on the Indology mailing list that Johannes Bronkhorst had “left this world”. In the following weeks the mailing list (and, I am sure, other online forums) has been virtually monopolised by people remembering the Continue reading Thinking about Johannes Bronkhorst (with small updates)
The second round of funding calls for the Global Philosophy of Religion 2 project are now open. These include: More information is available here: https://globalphilosophyofreligion.com/grants/
I’m delighted to be giving a talk at Psychedelic Science 2025, the annual conference of the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies. The conference (June 17-20 in Denver) promises to be really fun and stimulating. If you can make it, I’d Continue reading After mystical experiences
Swami, Mahāmahopādhyāya Bhadreshdas. Svāminārāyaṇasiddhāntasudhā. 3rd ed., Swaminarayan Aksharpith, July 2024, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, pp. 468. Sanskrit. ₹ 600. Digital Copy (Open Access): https://research.baps.org/publications/books/swaminarayan_siddhant_sudha/ The landscape of Indian philosophy continues to evolve with the arrival of a new vādagrantha—a philosophical treatise that Continue reading Book Review of Svāminārāyaṇasiddhāntasudhā by Mahāmahopādhyāya Bhadreshdas Swami (Reviewed by Aksharananddas Swami)
John Nemec has just published a new book (see here). He kindly agreed to present it to our audience in the post below. How much philosophy is there in story? How do stories relate ideas? How do they animate them Continue reading Brahmins and Kings, political philosophy in the Sanskrit Narratives (a guest post by John Nemec)
Thank you, Elisa, Amod, and Ethan, for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts on your fantastic blog! I’m a researcher in the field of South Asian Studies working with Vedic and Sanskrit texts. Since writing my dissertation on Continue reading Mantras and the inadequacy of language (guest post by Dominik Haas)
The analogy between Indian caste and American race – an analogy recognized by Martin Luther King, among others – is important for a number of reasons. Not least of these is that when you observe how a different society handles Continue reading Annihilation of caste and race
Early in the first Trump administration, I preached the importance of disengaged Buddhists’ lessons: to refrain from anger, to remind ourselves that some things are more important than politics. I think that that was easier to do the first time Continue reading Disengaged Buddhism in the second era of Trump
One of the things that really surprises me about contemporary mindfulness meditation is how rarely – especially at the beginning – they highlight what, as far as I can tell, is the most beneficial aspect of the practice. It’s not Continue reading The secret of mindfulness meditation