Literature

Swami Vivekananda: An Unfolding Dream

It is possible that his celebrated address at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago on September 11, 1893 did not have the effect that has been claimed by his apologists. For in those days, one did not go ‘viral’, nor had a marketing strategy for social media or Twitter handles with a huge following and likes. But it is definitely true that he had a greater impact on the Indian psyche and our self-confidence and belief in our own culture and darshana. His own letter about the event mentions that there were more than ‘five to seven thousand in the audience’. That seems to be a significant number. If we look at his tireless efforts in reaching out to the West, it does appear that he was able to create an awareness about the Indic civilization and values in Europe and the US. To me, it seems like the beginnings at the Gangotri, where drop by single drop, a glacier melts to gather eventually into the vast Ganges that nourishes almost 500 million people in its plains today.

by Pariksith Singh
Asia

The Stronger China Becomes, The Weaker it becomes – patterns in chinese history

China is a unique case. Peace leads to trade and prosperity in the interior of China. Prosperity leads to unequal distribution of wealth between the territories which benefitted from the trade and areas which didn’t benefit. While coast based trade means coast gets richer at the expense of the producer, land based trade means more raids from the Steppes. And more raids in the interior means more armies sent to fight the armies and more armies means more taxation. People are unhappy they are taxed more, armies are unhappy centre is not supporting them enough. And this erupts into a rebellion in China major enough to kill millions and lead to the collapse of whole Chinese Government. It’s not a one-off affair – it happened again and again. Almost every dynasty which ruled China ended because of disturbances in the interior. And Ladakh has a potential to trigger another Dynastic Cycle.

by cbkwgl
Culture

Who is Shiva?

To my understanding, Shiva is our highest possibility. Hinduism has always maintained that not only is it possible to experience and live the Divine, Divinity is our inherent nature. Shiva is the pure consciousness, without any attributes, other than absolute stillness upholding intensest activity, the ineffable, the formless and the all-pervasive. One of the highest realizations of Vedanta is Shivoham, that Shiva am I. It is only appropriate that he who is nothing, is also the dance of the cosmos as Nataraja, and the fourth state of awareness beyond waking, sleep and dream, known as turiya. And his oneness with Shakti gives us one of the profoundest symbols of male and female complementarity in the ardha-nareeshvara.

by Pariksith Singh
History

Rise of Russia and Fall of Persia in Eastern Caucasus

The Russian blood shed in Asia, on the shores of the Araks and the Caspian Sea, is no less precious than that shed in Europe on the shores of Moscow and the Seine, and the bullets of the Gauls and Persians cause the same suffering - Kotlyarevsky

by cbkwgl