Search Results

This chapter focuses on Karaikkal Ammaiyar, also know as Punitavati, one of the Tamil nayanmar, or Shaivite saints. Before Punitavati became Karaikkal Ammaiyar, she was married to a merchant, but her ardent devotion to Shiva conflicted with her ritual duties as a wife. Her husband became frightened by Shiva's response to her devotions and released her from marriage; she immediately made a devotional pilgrimage to the Himalayas, where Shiva granted her her wish to be given demon form and to be the eternal witness to his fierce dance in the cremation ground at Tiruvalankatu. There, she composed 143 verses, which represent the earliest Tamil poetry to Shiva. Karaikkal Ammaiyar's own life shows a shift in emphasis from the performance of wifely domestic rituals, normally the primary ritual domain of married women, to the understanding of her entire life as a ritual offering to Shiva.

The first panel evokes a set of stories about Daksha and his relations with Rudra Shiva, and the self‐immolation of Sati. The next panel continues the story of Daksha's daughter Aditi's son Vamana, called Upendra, and involves the insight that everything belongs to Vasudeva, and that “being true” involves the opposite in the Kali Yuga. The third panel concerns the cursing of Jaya and Vijaya by the four Kumaras. In the fourth panel, Bhadrashravas worships Hayagriva in the region of Bhadrashva; it implies the story of Matsya the Fish. The story of Hayagriva is connected to Esoteric Buddhism. The last two panels on the porch represent the stories of Rishabha and his son Bharata, and shed light on the development of the Bhagavata religion.

This chapter looks at the utopian character that siddha practitioners ascribe to siddha medicine. The features attributed to siddha medicine—egalitarianism, rationality, science, accordance with nature, and global applicability—qualify siddha to be the medicine of our global future. The details of this formulation took shape within the context of Tamil revivalism, and siddha practitioners have given rational and global qualities to even the more religious features of siddha medical discourse, such as its connection to Shaivism. These formulations of an effective, original, and natural medicine glorify Tamil civilization and give rise to a variety of desires and motivations among their authors and intended audiences, and they contribute to assertions of the contemporary relevance of Tamil civilization and tradition.

A doctrine of trinity known as trimūrti (‘The Three Forms’) in Sanskrit provides for the coexistence, as part of a single visionary conception, of the three gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. This trinity, a philosophical concept in modern Hinduism, is a convenient doctrine for relating God to the universe that undergoes the processes of manifestation, maintenance, and dissolution. Hindu metaphysical categories can give rise to several trinities. There is a trinity of the three ‘male’ gods which function in relation to Goddess (Devī), rather than God, as the ultimate principle. Pairing Íśvara and Devī can produce another trinity. In other words, the categories of modern Hindu thought are capable of forming several trinities, which confirms Hinduism's penchant for expansion, classification, and even infinite or at least indefinite extension.

Fears and anxieties as well as specific psycho-social strengths are rooted in the earliest ‘pre-verbal’ experiences and connections of life. It is this residual dark soil of infantile experience that erupts in psychopathology, that people mine in myth-making, and that underlies the strivings and disappointments of everyday life. This chapter explores the traces of infantile substratum in three different cultural/historical contexts: in two centuries-old religious cults that command the loyalty and devotion of millions of Indians; and in the life and work of one of the early prophets of a modern Indian identity. It discusses the cult and myths of Krishna, Shiva and Narcissus, and the childhood of Swami Vivekananda.

Indian intellectuals influenced by postmoderism such as Ashis Nandy and Vandana Shiva, put local folk beliefs on a par with science. Hindu nationalists, especially members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, following the lead of the historical figure Swami Vivekananda and the contemporary Subhash Kak, have developed what they call “Vedic Science”, including Vedic astrology and Vedic creationism. Although India welcomes new technology, it has for the most part rejected the values of modern science, thus embracing a stance of what might be called reactionary modernism.

This chapter begins the journal of the author's summer of 2008 on the Lower East Side, concentrating on synagogue observances related to the initial period of mourning for a parent. The Community Synagogue on New York's East Sixth Street is described.

In this chapter, the author recounts her visit to Benares, where she spent time resting and sight-seeing. She was escorted by Professor Mujeeb and stayed at the house of Dr Bhagavan Das. It was her first time to stay in a Hindu house, and witnessed Dr Bhagavan Das and family live like real Hindus. The author also met Babu Shiva Prasad, a multi-millionaire who lives as a poor Indian and spends his money on helping the older educational institutions or on founding new ones. Prasad thought that if religion separates, it can also unite. So he built a temple in Benares with India's Map as the supreme deity. The author's itinerary also included a visit to Benares Hindu University and to a kindergarten of Montessori type. She saw a temple dedicated to Vishnu, the largest in Benares, and met Abdul Majid, a Muslim notable.

This chapter explores several notes of ambiguity or self-correction in Hindu faith: the relationship between mystical certitude and discursive doubt in the Upanishads; bhakti (devotional faith) and the limitations of dharma in the epics; the questioning of assumptions about reality spurred by the doctrine of maya; and the paradoxical character of Hindu theism as reflected in the figure of Shiva. This fourfold examination illustrates ambiguities in a few of the very different strands of Hindu thought and practice. Behind all four thematic strands is a sense that beyond the worldly values of dharma teachings, the spiritual journey requires self-correction as part of the transformative experience of religious transcendence.

This chapter investigates wildness as the generative force of the universe. Vandana Shiva draws parallels between the Hindi word “Shakti” and wildness, with Shakti referring to energy as the “all-pervasive element of life.” That energy is harnessed through the “living energies” of the sun, dynamic soil, livestock and wildlife, plant diversity, and human labor. Shiva contrasts the living energies of Shakti with fossil fuels, which have “fossilized” our thinking about how to connect with the wildness of the universe. Shiva looks to a new economy that is not as dependent on fossil fuels for replacing living energies. Wildness, thus, is under threat from the fossil fuel economy—both in terms of how fossil fuels impact biodiversity through climate disturbance and through how fossil fuels obstruct human creativity and wildness in tapping those living energies to provide for our livelihood. Rather than seeing the wild as free of humans and the cultivated as free of nature, Shiva looks to the potential of humans as co-creators of wildness—referring to the 80,000 species of edible plants produced mostly by women throughout human history. Therefore, wildness as the self-organizing energy of the world can be reawakened through humans cultivating the wild.

This chapter examines how the multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto has attempted to re-brand itself from a chemical company to a food company through the elaboration of a highly interlaced, multi-platform on-line media strategy. This image enhancement operation is a response to its many critics—from citizen-based groups in India and Mexico to prominent food security activists like Michael Pollan and Vandana Shiva. At the center of analysis is how Monsanto has used the trope of “sustainability” to craft a proactive profile that is responsive to the challenges that the planet is facing. Foregrounding the issue of environmental agency, the chapter provides an assessment of what kinds of environmental discourses the company privileges through its media operations, and how these have been produced as a means to combat those who have challenged Monsanto’s vision of food production and “responsible” environmental stewardship.

In this section, Vandana Shiva reflects on her childhood, her parents, and her education. Her interest in nature began in the mountains of the Himalayas where she was born. Her spirituality is founded on the understanding that everyone is part of a bigger process. Talking about her love for nature and influence of books, Vandana remembers the influence of Albert Einstein, which helped her to develop an interest in science. In addition, she talks why she chose to take up quantum physics at the University of Western Ontario and about her dream of becoming an academic; her political activism when she was in North America; her involvement in the Chipko Movement in India; the power of the Chipko women; and formation of research foundation for science and technology, Navdanya (the nine seeds).

In this section, Vandana Shiva talks about Mahatma Gandhi, globalization, and non-violence. A follower of Gandhian activism, Vandana believes that she is philosophically attached to Gandhi’s thoughts—at all levels, not just spiritually through practicing Ahimsa in agriculture. Discussing the ‘Occupy Movement’ in North America, she demonstrates ways of fighting globalization in a non-violent way, as well as what is left of Gandhi in today’s India. Furthermore, she asserts that the new generation of the Indian middle class is largely oblivious of Gandhi. Besides, Vandana comments on the argument of some thinkers that India has failed to live up to the ideals of Gandhi. Moreover, she explains how one could be an instrument of change in today’s world. Finally, she questions the role of media for projecting Gandhi as an icon without completely understanding the ideals he stands for.

In this section, Vandana Shiva talks about what is left of Mahatma Gandhi’s India and her book India Divided. She argues that India underwent a transformation following the emergence of the new liberal paradigm, including the Structural Adjustment imposed by the World Bank in India. Commenting on strong resistance to globalization in India, Vandana throws light on Indian democracy, influence of media to create awareness on environment related issues, and how global solidarity could be achieved to help everyone become more aware of the importance of a sustainable planet. Moreover, she reflects on the movement led by Anna Hazare, swadeshi (village governance), the war against nature, and four types of insecurities (ecological, economical, political, and cultural). Finally, she talks about globalization’s adverse impact on environment, and how it causes many forms of insecurity that multiply and feed on each other.

In this section, Vandana Shiva talks about her book Ecofeminism, which offers a critique of patriarchal violence, capitalism, and colonialism. She comments on the reductive nature of scientific reasoning and argues that reductionism influences the way people think about the world around them. Discussing the connection between reduction and science, Vandana views eco-feminism as recognition of the conquest of nature and the conquest of human beings. She explains how reductionist science results in ignorance; how science is related to techno-science; and techno-science as a form of knowledge. Moreover, she emphasizes the role of mutual care and love in a global civil society; biodiversity and the plurality of knowledge in a community; how corporations and scientists are harming nature and biodiversity; eco-feminism and the feminism of ordinary women; poverty in India; how Indians can fight corruption; and the negative impact of globalization on spirituality and the ‘sacredness of life’.

In this section, Vandana Shiva talks about her book Staying Alive, which tackles three levels of exclusions of knowledge in terms of reductionist science—ontological, epistemological, and sociological. She discusses how capitalism, through patriarchal activity, promotes gender inequality, and how feminism could be revived as a means to prevent propagation of ‘maldevelopment’ that also creates inequality between the sexes. Vandana argues that privatization also leads to maldevelopment, citing the privatization of nature and water as an example. She explains the concept of ‘earth democracy’ and how globalization has changed the context of agricultural production and distribution. She laments how peasants and farmers could no longer defend their livelihood because they are brought under book when they initiate a protest even by democratic means. Furthermore, Vandana talks about how industrial patents and intellectual property rights have resulted in market distortion and government sanction monopoly, technology transfer, and her campaign against monocultures and globalization. Finally, she explains how chemical pesticides represent science but also profit and violence.

In this section, Vandana Shiva talks about how the Indian cow, a sacred animal, has been desacralized and killed due to eco-imperialism. She argues that the agricultural knowledge being taught in Indian universities is also part of a corporate domination. Besides, Vandana throws light on the Green Revolution in India, Indian identity, the five Swarajs, the Earth University as a classical university, her journal Bija (Seed), how Navdanya has contributed to the formation of a civil society in India, and how it has analyzed issues such as communism, casteism, and ethnicity in the country. Commenting on the peasants’ movement she brings to light the conflict between tradition and modernity.