Curated playlist
Hindu philosophical concepts
- ReincarnationIf Buddhism says there is no self, what exactly is reborn? Its answer is a flame passing from one candle to another.
- DuḥkhaThe Sanskrit word dukkha may have first described a badly fitted cart wheel.
- Advaita VedantaAdvaita Vedanta says you are not different from ultimate reality. Only Brahman, "the one," is ultimately real.
- YogaYoga, in the words of the scholar David Gordon White, has "a wider range of meanings than nearly any other word in the entire Sanskrit lexicon." That is a surprising claim about a word many people now link mainly to exercise. Yoga is a…
- BrahmanScholar Jan Gonda concluded no modern Western word captures what Brahman means. Brahman is an ancient Hindu concept.
- UpanishadsThe Upanishads open with dogs chanting to mock priests. The ancient Sanskrit texts challenge sacred ritual.
- AhimsaAfter the Kalinga War, Emperor Ashoka turned ahimsa, nonviolence, into state policy.
- DānaIn ancient India, a smile could count as charity. The Tirukkural lists a beaming smile and kind words as giving.
- SatyaIndia's national emblem carries the motto "Satyameva Jayate," meaning truth alone triumphs.
- NirvanaNirvana means blown out, like a fire that stops burning. It ends the cycle of rebirth in several Indian traditions.
- PramanaA man is fat but never eats by day, so he must eat at night. That is the classic example of pramana in Indian logic.
- DharmaTranslating the Rigveda, Karl Friedrich Geldner needed 20 English words for dharma.
- UpādānaThe Buddhist word upādāna means both clinging and fuel. Its literal meaning ties a grasping mind to a burning fire.
- ṚtaṚta appears about 390 times in the Vedas, yet most people today have never heard of it.