Thoughts and Reflections, Ideas and Ideals
“We were not regenerating a new India; we were refurbishing the old one. Do not judge us for failing to be what we could not be.”
“The clearest gift I could give you was honesty: to call spades spades, to name the loss clearly so that you would not be burdened with false pretenses.”
By Sudarshan MadabushiSeptember 10, 2026, Chennai, India “நீ ப்ரணதார்த்திஹரனோடா? நீ ப்ரணதார்த்திகரனாக்கும்.”“Are you with the Lord who removes devotees’ distress?No—you’re the one who causes distress to those around you!” This was a Sanskrit teacher’s favourite way of reprimanding a naughty classmate while tweaking the boy’s ears — And the incident was narrated to me with nostalgicContinue reading “When Ideology Blinds Us to Beauty: In Defence of “Sangha Tamizh””
When Footnotes Pretend to Be History
Hindu philosophical traditions did not develop in a climate of uninterrupted harmony. Advaitins, Viśiṣṭādvaitins, Dvaitins, Buddhists, Jains, Śaivas, and Mīmāṃsakas often engaged in fierce—and sometimes deeply personal—polemics.
But a sectarian insult is not the whole history of a philosopher. A hostile hagiography is not a neutral biography. And a provocative footnote should not be presented as though it were a major chapter in the history of Indian thought.
From Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja to Vedānta Deśika and Madhva, the record reveals both acrimonious conflict and extraordinary intellectual creativity.
The real danger today is not that these old polemics are discussed. It is that social media detaches them from context, magnifies them, and turns historical trivia into historical truth.
When does a footnote become a distortion of history?
A Friendly Warning from India to the American Midwest The Sabbatical Solution: An Open Letter to the American Heartland What if the best way to save the American century is to step off the global chessboard entirely? Writing as a friend from India, “The Unknown Sri Vaishnava” delivers a blunt, numbers-backed warning to the averageContinue reading “The Sabbatical Solution (The Gorbachev Redux)”
by M.K.Sudarshan August 15, 2026 : Chennai, India This Op-Ed is dedicated to India on its Independence Day, 15 August 2026. America and India possess immense “soft power”, but they deploy it toward different ends. America has often used cultural attraction, political ideals, and diplomacy to legitimise global leadership and sustain a hegemonic order. India,Continue reading “INDIA INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL: The Dynamic Use of “Soft Power”: How America and India, in Their Own Ways, Have Enlarged Joseph Nye’s Theory”
by M.K.Sudarshan August 7, 2026: Chennai, India
by M. K. Sudarshan August 5, 2026: Chennai, India It would be entirely lawful and morally imperative for the rest of the world to demand that the United States and Israel pick up the tab for every single transit fee, insurance hike, and re-routing cost incurred in Hormuz. Part 1: The Institutional Collapse and theContinue reading “OP-ED: THE HORMUZ RANSOM—HOW UNCHECKED POWER IS SINKING THE GLOBAL COMMONS”
by M.K. Sudarshan July 28, 2026: Chennai, India An informal email group discussion following the much trumped about triumph at Jantar Mantar of the Cockroach Brigade’s street-side heroics against NEET Below is reproduced a very spirited discussion on the subject of Indian Education system that I had with a small group of very eminent andContinue reading ““Acharya devo bhava”: What ails the Indian Education system?””
by M.K.Sudarshan July 26, 2026: Chennai, India The forced resignation of Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is being trumpeted about by the youthful street agitators belonging to the Cockroach Janata Party of India as triumph of Youth. Other professional “social activists” like Yogendra Yadav , Arundhati Roy, Arvind Kejriwal , T.M.Krishna et al are waxing exuberant overContinue reading “A Movement of Youthful India or is it Urban Naxalism 2026 Model?”
by M.K.Sudarshan July 26, 2026: Chennai, India A comparative perspective on the Financial and Strategic Costs that America imposes on the whole world 1. Asymmetry of Engagement The financial and economic ledger of the ongoing conflict in West Asia reveals a starkly asymmetric distribution of costs across the three primary blocks involved as seen inContinue reading “How much does mankind spend on destroying itself ?”