Dilip Simeon's blog

NB:  This is the kind of detailed documentation that we require in India. Those interested in studying the jurisprudence of lawlessness further could read William Scheuerman's book:  The End of Law . DS Chris Hedges: Fascists in our midst Supreme Court rulings, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade, herald the ascendancy of Christian fascism in the United States... The Supreme Court is relentlessly funding and empowering Christian fascism. It not only overturned Roe v. Wade, ending a constitutional right to an abortion, but ruled on June 21 that Maine may not exclude religious schools from a state tuition program. It has ruled that a Montana state program to support private schools must include religious schools. It ruled that a 40-foot cross could remain on state property in suburban Maryland . It upheld the Trump administration regulation allowing employers to deny birth control coverage to female employees on religious grounds .  It ruled that employment discrim...

NB : The attack on a Gurdwara in Kabul is a tragedy. The communalisation of political culture all over South Asia does not manifest a love for the Divine but an expression of evil, and the impulse to violence. Here is a story of love for humanity in a Gurdwara:  Secularism in a house of God   Aik Alif | Noori & Saieen Zahoor Pur pur ilm te fazal hoyo Ve kadi apne aap nu parya nai! Bajh bajh varnaye.mandar-e-maseet e Va kadi mann apne vich varya nai. Larna Roz!...Shaitaan de naal Ve kadi nafs apne naal larya nai!! Bulleh shah.asmaani udhiyaan phiro nai Ve jera ghar betha.unhoun phariya nai Bas kari oh yaar ilmo Bas kari oh yaaar. Bas kari oh yaar ilmo. Bas kari oh yaar.... Bhala Huwa Mori Gagri Phooti - Kabir Hor Vi Neevan Ho | Noori Lagi Bina/Chal Mele Noon Challiye| Saieen Zahoor & Sanam Marvi Mahamrityunjaya Mantra उड जायेगा हंस अकेला // जग दर्शन का मेला Simi Mehta - Martin Luther King: Changing The World With Love   SECULARISM IN A HOUSE OF GOD Sarbp...

Over the past two centuries, most critiques of modernity have fallen into one of two camps. The first tends to see the modern age as the spawn of the tragic dissolution of Christian civilization, which had provided stable meaning and order for over a millennium, while the second emphasizes the failures of modernity to fulfill its liberatory ideals. In his mature thought, Illich articulated an alternative to both views, summed up in the phrase  corruptio optimi pessima  ('the corruption of the best is the worst'). For Illich, secular modernity is not a departure from Christianity, but an extension of profound transformations set in motion by the Church... Deschooling Society  was “an immediate cause célèbre” and “the most widely discussed and debated of all of Illich’s writings.” The project had its beginnings in Puerto Rico, where Illich had initially advocated for free primary schooling for the poor. But as he began to study the effects of the expansion of schooli...

What can an interfaith love story from an India in another time teach us today? That, in order to get married, it is enough to be in love; that families might not only not object but welcome such a union; that far from being a hurdle to this type of marriage, the state can actually be an enabler. If all of these seem self-evident, consider the quickness and frequency with which the term “love jihad” is invoked in the context of interfaith romances today. Consider also the speed with which states around the country are passing laws that - in effect, if not in actual words - render interfaith marriages impossible.  And then consider the marriage at the heart of Seema Chishti’s Sumitra and Anees: Tales and Recipes from a Khichdi Family, where a man and woman - despite the gulf of religion and culture between them- chose to spend the rest of their lives together.... https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/seema-chishti-new-book-sumitra-and-anees-tales-and-recipes-from-...

His Holiness the Dalai Lama's message for Vesak , the Buddhist celebration of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death on May 16, 2022 YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENs7rKB3MGI More posts on the Buddha An Auspicious Day from the Bhaddekaratta Sutta Middle Length Discourse 131 The Buddha said, Don’t chase the past Or long for the future. The past is left behind; The future is not yet reached. Right where it is, have insight Into whatever phenomena is present; Not faltering and not agitated,  By knowing it one develops the mind. Ardently do what should be done today – who knows, death may come tomorrow. There is no bargaining with Mortality  And his great army. Whoever dwells thus ardent,  – active day and night – Is, says the peaceful sage, One who has an auspicious day An Auspicious Day Dalai Lama: "I am fully committed to the oneness of humanity" Shobhit Mahajan: The ties that bind religion, popular culture Nikolai Berdyaev: The Religion of Communism ...

  Anyone who has ever genuinely immersed themselves in Ramcharitmanas will recognise the singular poignancy of one moment in the Sundarkand where Hanuman meets Sita. Until that point the story is hurtling towards disaster. Sita has been abducted. Ram is distraught and unsure of himself. But the moment Hanuman meets Sita is the point at which the epic turns; the confidence that order will be restored reappears. Hanuman drops Ram’s ring from the tree. Sita experiences contradictory emotions: Joy at recognition of the ring; fear about what its presence might mean.  (In Tulsidas’s rendition: Harsha vishaad hridya akulani). Sita is thinking many things. Suddenly Hanuman’s words of reassurance break out as he identifies himself. In all musical renditions, whether by Channulal Mishra or the underrated version by Mukesh, the gentle line “madhur vachana bole Hanumana (Hanuman spoke, his words like honey)”, always stops you in your tracks. Its power is not just the simple poetry but the...