Bṛhat is pleased to announce that we have been awarded an IKS Research project by the Ministry of Education’s IKS Division under the Bharatiya Gyan samvardhan scheme – 6. This will be led by Dr. Srinivas Jammalamadaka (@jamvasu), our Director IKS as the Principal Investigator and supported by our Founder & CEO, Sri. Raghava Krishna (@Anviksiki) as the Co-Principle Investigator.

The gṛhiṇī starts her day by cleaning and beautifying the space outside her front door.

Decorating her home's entrance with rangoli, muggu, kolam - geometric designs made of rice flour. Apart from the inviting aesthetic now imbued at her home's entrance, she is also feeding ants and sparrows - the smaller creatures present in her vicinity.

What did we learn from Prime Minister Śrī Narendra Modi's appearance on the Lex Fridman podcast?

We cover it in this thread, @lexfridman @narendramodi


🧵 To begin, this is arguably the first instance of a truly Hindu mind on a global, mainstream podcast.

Not simply Indian, or of Indian-origin, as a lip service. But a mind born and raised Hindu, that thinks and feels like a Hindu, and expresses it un-self-consciously.

The Veda Puruṣa has 6 parts, or aṅgas, which enable the seeker to know him better.

These are the Vedāṅgas (Śikṣā, Vyākaraṇa, Chandas, Nirukta, Jyotiṣa, and Kalpa), each of which highlights a specific aspect of the Vedas.

Let us explore- The nose: Śikṣā

The first aṅga, Śikṣā, is as vital to the Vedas as the organ for life-breath is to the body.

Enunciation (uccāraṇa), tone (svara), duration (mātrā), pitch (bala), evenness (sama), and compounding (saṃdhāna) are the parameters laid down by Śikṣā.

Can nation-states survive digital networks?

Is there a new Westphalia?

“Cosmopolitan living is being sacrificed at the altar of the digital.”

Samir Saran describes how technology can interrupt the communication of history to crumble a nation. Instead of history passing vertically down from ancestors to progeny, it spreads horizontally from peers on the internet.

This makes a society susceptible to fake narratives, with multiple channels dishing out multiple opinions.

More importantly, it makes the people historically neutral, a position where respect for one’s own society and its preservation also wanes.

Thoughts on Education: Arts in Curriculum

Engineering or Medicine?

That’s the ubiquitous question that confronts nearly every student completing school in Bhārata.

The disdain for arts is evident, and so is the obsession for STEM.

But what is the civilizational cost? Arts aren’t simply the output of frolic and leisure; they are enablers of the creative faculties of the mind.

While rote and repetition exercise the memory muscle, arts in education exercise the imagination sinew.

Why is it that despite perpetual terror attacks on Hindus, the community is ever asleep and unable to mobilize?

In his book 'An Indictment', Śrī Ram Swarup (SRS) analyzed what is missing in our approach, and offered suggestions for stock taking.

Some excerpts: When the Second World War passed without a whimper in India, he noted:

"A total world war, a crisis, of the highest magnitude in human affairs has passed away without touching India in the least... A total war which has changed the life of other countries... -

Dharma’s expansive multiple-life metaphysics, premised on the fundamental truth of consciousness rather than its materialist dismissal as an epiphenomenon, is its most unique, precious and indispensable philosophical contribution to the human experience.

A thread. To begin, let us examine the concept of ‘history.’

Contemporary enterprises such as Indology and philology are stymied by a uni-linear notion of time, itself derived from the historicism that was necessary to uphold the Judeo-Christian worldview.

How proximate is the BJP’s manifesto to Hindu aspirations?

As Hindus, we desire Order (rṭā, ṛṇa, dharma), Abundance (artha), Strength (bala) and Knowledge (bodha).

In light of these parameters, we take a brief look at the opportunities and needs: 1. Viksit Bharat: A vision is of great importance at this juncture, after the ‘planned’ cluelessness of decades.

Development, however, must be powered by dhārmika artha and dhārmika kāma.

VB provides great scope for reviving our institutions for this aim, keeping in mind, “When it is said that India shall be great, it is the Sanatana Dharma that shall be great.”

We are delighted to announce an Annual Summer Camp for children, "Ramavataram", in collaboration with @TheVedicPond and Sri Aurobindo International School, Hyderabad.

Our mission is to nurture holistic development, blending traditional wisdom with contemporary relevance.

1/6 The camp will enable children to navigate life with compassion, perspective, and resilience - through mix of classroom sessions, outdoor activities, and interactive learning grounded in our cultural ethos.

A transformative journey back to our roots, celebrating Śrī Rama.

2/6

The recent conversation between Adv. @jsaideepak and Anas Tanwir offers a great learning opportunity to develop Svayambodha and Śatrubodha along key dimensions.

Sai Deepak ji demonstrates the critical thinking habits of a Hindu Civilizationalist.

Hindu Heuristics: A Thread. These points shed light on the significant aspects of Svayambodha and Śatrubodha.

Moreover, they yield the clarity required for Hindus to articulate these ideas and engage in debates.

A cheat-sheet from the discussion.

|| A Thread on the Rising of Śrī Rāma Cetanā in Bhāratavarṣa ||

Today, Śrī Rāma Cetanā rises once again in the sacred land of Sanātana Dharma.

There have been other occasions in history where Śrī Rāma Cetanā has united all of us.

1/10 The first Rising of Śrī Rāma Cetanā came with His birth as an avatāra of Maryāda Puruṣottam.

He united India, north to south, with sacred principles.

He went through great hardship for this, but gave us Dharma through His living embodiment of it.

2/10

Rights vs Ṛṇa.

The modern bedrock of state polity and resultant policy formulations is anthropocentric. This primacy can trace its evolution originally to the Judeo-Christian understanding of the world, with humans being the prized Creation, meant to lord over others. However, life is infinitely rich and varied for such delusions to hold sway for long.
It is not the emphasis on rights but on ṛṇa, that enables us to savor life. Born into saṃsāra, we are indebted to 5 principalities for the gift of life: Manuṣya, Ṛṣi, Pitṛ, Deva, Bhūta.

On the occasion of 77th Independence Day, we revisit and reflect upon Śrī Aurobindo's vision of "Bhavani Bharati" which inspires us at @brhat_in. Śrī Aurobindo, a seer who saw with sublime clarity the role for India in forging a brilliant future for humanity. Inspiration that flows from his pen holds his work, which is a living throb and can guide us in our journey of self-fulfillment, as an individual and as a nation.

Our program, the Scrolls of Āryavarta, is an exploration of the Bhārata that once was, and that could have been, using the modes of AI art and historical fiction.

We are excited to present the latest chapter in this. The depictions, tales and timelines are fictionalized.

Settled comfortably in our penchant for English, it is easy to miss the essential role language plays in creating our world.

"The design principles of a civilization" become simple enough to understand, but the "saṃskāra of a saṃskṛti" sound obscure, even old-fashioned. A civilizationist can speculate on "civilizations being similar to organisms,"

but to speak of the civilization that is Bhārata possessing a consciousness that is Dharma- this acquires nationalist/ fundamentalist/ communal colors.

The civilizationist Matthew Melko contends that-

"Civilizations are distinct from primitive cultures, exercise greater control of the environment," and are characterized by agriculture, animal domestication, monumental architecture and complex political institutions. In sharp contrast is the definition by Prof. Yasuda Yoshinory-

"Civilization begins to appear when a workable system for living, that is a proper relationship between man and nature, is established in accord with the features of a given region."

Marā..Marā..Marā...Rāma..Rāma..Rāma

We are all familiar with the kathā of how Ratnākara was given the mantra of Rāma's name by Ṛṣi Nārada, which transformed him into the Ādi Kavi Ṛṣi Vālmīki.

Such is the transformative power of Rāmāyaṇa, whose tej still lights up our path. We recently had the soubhāgya to offer a session on Śrīmad Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa in collaboration with @6amiji. Śrī Rāma's persona presents such an amalgam of dharma and karma, that the ideal itself elevates the cetanā.

Here are some thoughts our learners shared post the course.

An unexpected metaphor from ancient India that throws light on the nature of reality 👇🏻

Neil deGrasse Tyson says the universe is an uncaring materialist accident.

Elon Musk says the universe is a simulation.

Atharva Veda says the universe is Indra’s Net. Indra’s Net paints the world to be an infinite web spreading in all directions.

At each intersection: a pearl that represents all individual action.

Every pearl reflects every other pearl - and the whole net!

Bauddhika Ātmanirbharatā, with reference to Science and Technology.

An initiative by the CoE-IKS @IITKgp and @ugc_india
to dispel the misleading belief about India's knowledge being divorced from the observational sciences.

@EduMinOfIndia It will also communicate and explain why India is fast becoming ātmanirbhara in civil, urban, peace and war technologies.

The FDP 2022 will support and strengthen the Government's resolve to create ātmanirbhara Bhārata.

A major update on the Bṛhat Open Library:

Purāṇa.

Colloquially, a fair translation of it is 'the old,' or 'from the ancient times.'

It works, but it evades a critical emic truth.

As we maintain at Bṛhat- history is to civilization, as memory is to consciousness. Not only did our ancestors possess history, they cared about it deeply.

Not the material, 'factual' history.

But as Prof. Adluri calls it, the "history that transcends historicism."

History that a civilization could converse with and learn from.

As we do from memory.