Karma and Gender Differences

The Journal of Asian Studies, 2012

“Ananda Marga (‘the Path of Bliss’) is not a change merely due to the cycle of time, but a revolution – a radical change – in the true sense,” explains Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar. “Never before in the entire history of this world, or the universe, if that could be known to mortals, has a system of life embracing the economic, social, mental and spiritual spheres been correlated in a closely- knit society, as it has in Ananda Marga.” P. R. Sarkar explains how the basis for creating a universal society has been laid through the social, economic, metaphysical and spiritual approach of Ananda Marga. Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar (1921-1990) was the Dharma guru of the socio-spiritual movement Ananda Marga that he founded in 1955 and which became a global movement for a new society based on spirituality and neohumanism.

Religious Studies Review, 2009

Delivered at the Buddhist Philosophy Group's panel on Women and Buddhist Philosophy at the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting in 2015.

This slim booklet can therefore hope to provide no more than the merest outline of an approach to this vast field. However, even that may be useful, if only because an objective approach to the field as a whole has not been outlined so far. Most approaches to Indian spirituality provide only the approach of ONE person or tradition (whether that of an established tradition such as Arya Samaj or Vaishnavism, or that of an individual guru or scholar).

This is a collection of inspiring messages and guidelines for building a universal, spiritually-based society based on Neohumanism. Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar (1922-1990), also known as Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti, was a spiritual guru in the tradition of Shiva and Krishna. He founded the international socio-spiritual organization Ananda Marga (“Path of Bliss”) -- Richard Gauthier, Department of Chemistry and Physics, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, California, USA, December 24, 2020.

Aversion to women and misogyny in Theravada Buddhism, 2025

The Tripitaka contains statements conveying negative attitude towards women. To soften the impact of the words “negative attitude”, Theravada scholars use the expression of having “conflicting information” about the subject of attitude towards women. The following discussion examines the root cause of the mentioned “conflicting information” – and whether the negative view towards women originates from associating birth in this world with the start of life of suffering. Because of women’s natural function of motherhood and giving birth, women’s desire for giving birth becomes equated with facilitating a life of suffering, suffering that should be avoided. The most alarming matter in Tripitaka’s account on this subject is attributing to the Buddha statements that contradict the Buddha’s wisdom and compassion.

Nidān: International Journal for Indian Studies

Journal of Ritual Studies, 2010

Lawrence Babb has called upon anthropologists studying Indian culture to more closely examine the relevance of great tradition Hindu concepts like karma for the practice of popular Hinduism. He suggests that karma is only one of many explanations for misfortune in India, and that it is an ultimate explanation of misfortune, whereas Hindus are more inclined to think of more proximate causes. He notes that karma may serve as more than just a way to rationalize misfortune and take on or distance responsibility (e.g., "I inherited karma from a previous life"). It may also provide a sense of personal efficacy, since one can act to reduce one's karma. In other words, karmic reasoning may at once provide a model of misfortune in the past as well as a model for action in the present to influence the future. In this essay, we consider a case where a karmic reasoning is central to the actions of an Ayurvedic physician who sponsors a very elaborate and costly ritual. The reasons he gives for doing so lead us to reconsider the importance of two Hindu concepts: karma vipaka (the fruits of karma) and rna (debts) that one owes to persons, gods, and ancestors. The physician views his practice as social service and does not charge money to patients, but still sees his vocation as enmeshing him in the negative karma of his patients. The ritual is performed in order to counteract this karma, and also to pay off pending " debts" to the god Dhanvantri by deceased practitioners within his family. The efficacy of the ritual is discussed broadly in terms of its meaning to participants and attendees' , its visceral affect, its social impact in a family quarreling over the cultural capital of hereditary knowledge, and its role in establishing cosmological order as well as the moral identity of the physician.