God: Early Concepts

A.N.Moorthy Rao    Thousands of years ago, when self-consciousness blossomed in man and he began to look at the world around him with curiosity, what did he see? Volcanic flames leaping into the sky: molten lava racing down, reducing to ashes everything in its way: blinding lightning: forests devoured by huge fires: turbulent oceans, and fierce waves dashing against the shores : and the roar of the thunders and crash of the thunder-storms! "How am I going to survive in this terrifying world?",...

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The Lokayata School

S.K.Belvalkar R.D.Ranade The Lokayata is a school with a very venerable ancestry, Brihaspati the preceptor of the gods being regarded as its first Founder. The doctrine is sometimes styled the Bhutavada, as well as the Lokayata, and from the numerous references to it in orthodox as well as non-­orthodox works, it would seem that the doctrine was more than mere tendency: that it had, in other words, early developed into an orderly system of thinking. It, for instance, accepted direct perception...

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Satya Sai Baba Miracle: Producing Shiva Linga from the Mouth

B Premanand On the night of Shivarathri, while the devotees are engaged in singing bhajans, Satya Sai Baba goes into labour. He squirms with pain, his right hand pressing on his stomach, heart and neck. While wiping the tears sweat and saliva with a towel, he suddenly "gives birth" to an oval gold or stone linga from his mouth. Experiment: 68 Efect: Shiva Linga emerging from the mouth. Props: An oval stone, one bath towel, ell starched, and a flower-pot. Sai Baba regurgitating...

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Vicious Cycle of Islamophobia

Ram Puniyani We are going through strange times. While the science, technology and rationalism has given us physical and intellectual tools to better the lot of humanity, we are witnessing the production of provocative material, literature and films in particular, which demonize the particular religion, Islam to be precise, and the prophet of Islam. On the other hand there is a section of community, feeling threatened and insecure coming to the streets to protest against such humiliation and insult...

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Materialism in Indian Philosophy

S.K.Belvalkar R.D.Ranade “Materialism” metaphysically denotes that system of thought which refuses to recognize, as the source of the created manifold, a First Cause other and higher than the mere working out of the forces and tendencies inherent in the non-sentient matter qua matter, unsupervised by any non­material power or principle like the Atman or the Deity. And as a consequence it recognizes for the human being no ethical goal higher than a life of pleasure or happiness to the end...

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Promoting Scientific Temper – A Letter to the Chairman, ISRO

Nikhil Joshi We reproduce an email Dr. Nikhil Joshi sent (on 17 September 2012) to the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after witnessing the nauseating spectacle of none other than the ISRO Chairman himself carrying a replica of PSLV-C21 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle - C21) to a hill shrine at Tirupati and placing it in front of the presiding deity of the temple praying for its successful launch! : carvaka4india Sir, I protest against ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan...

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Ajita Kesa-Kambalin

S.K.Belvalkar R.D.Ranade In the Samannaphala Sutta and elsewhere the following doctrine is ascribed to the philosopher Ajita, nicknamed[1] “of the Hair-garment,” very probably because he and his followers affected that mode of dress – “There is no such thing as alms or sacrifice or offering. There is neither fruit nor result of good or evil deeds. There is no such thing as this world or the next. There is neither father nor mother, nor beings springing into life without them (opapatika)....

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Producing Vibhuti on Satya Sai Baba's Photographs 'miraculously'!

B Premanand Satya Sai Baba's paternal uncle (father's younger brother, Chinna Venkappa Raju) was a magician and it was he who taught him magic tricks. The first trick which Satya Sai Baba performed at his school was to take out pencils, rubber, sweets etc., from an empty bag and surprise his class-fellows and teachers. Then since he did not have the idea of acting as an avatar of god, he explained these tricks as done by nature gods like other magicians. The fact that one needs a bag to produce...

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Striving for Just Society

Ram Puniyani The verdict of magistrate Dr. Jyotsna Yagnik, sentencing Dr. Maya Kodnani, Babu Bajrangi and others to long imprisonment (31 August, 2012) has come as a big relief to the victims of Naroda Patiya, for whom it was like return of Eid to their houses. Naroda Patiya had witnessed horrific carnage and acts of rape in 2002 and this judgment will give a solace to the victims and their near and dear ones’. This judgment came as a culmination of the mammoth efforts of the human...

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