Thoughts and Reflections, Ideas and Ideals
Trust is the first thing we surrender—and the last thing we learn to rebuild.
In God We Trust may be less a declaration of faith than humanity’s confession: we no longer know whom to cling to when the rain sets in.
A nine-day dialogue on the death of trust—and its possible resurrection.
Trust is the first thing we surrender—and the last thing we learn to rebuild.
From Eden’s broken trust to today’s trust deficit in governments, banks, media, and technology: nine dialogues on betrayal, entropy, and the possibility of resurrection through mahāviśvāsam.
Is “In God We Trust” a prayer—or a confession?
We print trust on currency, promise it in elections, demand it from banks, courts, doctors, journalists, and algorithms—then watch it thin beneath the winds of betrayal, spin, and institutional failure.
Beginning tomorrow: “In God We Trust: The Mother of All Trust Deficits—and the Death and Resurrection of Trust.”
Nine dialogues between two students of a Vedic university in South India—Ānanda, the restless sceptic, and Madhava, the contemplative Vedāntin—move from Eden’s first broken trust to the modern crisis of credibility, media, democracy, and institutional entropy.
At the centre lies a Sri Vaishnava question: when every earthly refuge trembles, can the soul find its final shelter in mahāviśvāsam—unshakeable trust in the Lord’s grace?
Nine days. Nine dialogues. One question: can Trust rise again?
Narayana! Narayana! Narayana!
Beyond the Sanctum: Preserving Sanatana in an Age of Too Many Temples
Temples and consecrated murtis have long been at the heart of Hindu devotion. But when temple-building becomes a measure of faith, do we risk forgetting what the murti was meant to awaken?
Nammazhvar begins the Tiruvaymozhi not by pointing to a shrine, but by telling the mind to rise: “O my mind, worship the radiant feet that end sorrow.”
This essay is not a case against archa murthy aradhana. It is a quiet plea to restore balance: to honour the visible Divine, while remembering that the highest sanctuary is consciousness itself.
by M.K. Sudarshan October 6, 2026: Chennai, India Faith is not a composite of human faculties like thought, emotion, or principle; it is an existential posture that begins precisely where the mind, intellect, and cerebration completely run out. We often treat faith as if it were a psychological Swiss Army knife—a neat combination of human faculties.Continue reading ““What is Faith?”: The Last Straw — Decentered Minds and the Shore of Salvation”
எழுதியவர்: Sudarshan Madabushi September 30, 2026: Chennai, India I. கீதையின் மர்மமான வாக்குறுதி பகவத்கீதையின் நான்காம் அத்தியாயத்தில், பகவான் கிருஷ்ணர் ஒரு அறிவிப்பை வெளியிடுகிறார்—அது நூற்றாண்டுகளான வியாக்கியானங்களிலும் பக்தியிலும் எதிரொலித்து வருகிறது: ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस् तथैव भजाम्य् अहम् |मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः ॥ ११ ॥யே யதா மாம் ப்ரபத்யந்தே தாம்ஸ் ததைவ பஜாம்ய் அஹம் |மம வர்த்மானுவர்தந்தே மனுஷ்யா: பார்த்த ஸர்வச: || “ஓContinue reading ““Tabula Occulta”: பகவத்கீதை, விசிஷ்டாத்வைதம், மற்றும் இறைவெளிப்பாட்டின் நிகழ்வியலில் உன்னிப்பின் பரிமாற்றம்”
Mind your language, please !
🕉️ New Essay: “Intentional Reciprocity”
What if Bhagavad-gītā 4.11 is not just a theological promise—but a metaphysical principle about the structure of consciousness itself?
Kṛṣṇa says: “In whatever way one worships Me, I reciprocate accordingly.”
Read through the lens of Edmond Husserl’s phenomenology and Rāmānuja’s Viśiṣṭādvaita, this verse reveals a profound truth:
✅ Consciousness is never ex nihilo—it’s eternally self-luminous.
✅ But its intentional reach (dharma-bhūta-jñāna) expands or contracts according to karma.
✅ Divine manifestation is proportional to the karmically shaped intentionality of the devotee.
✅ The real risk isn’t ex nihilo; it’s ex occulto—Bhagavān present but unrevealed.
For readers who love comparative philosophy, Vedānta, phenomenology, and the metaphysics of bhakti.
A brief WhatsApp exchange among Sri Indira Parthasarathy, Sri Amaruvi Devanathan, and the author becomes an imagined parlour conversation on Donna Tartt’s provocative claim that novels take us inside another soul while films leave us as voyeurs.
From Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy to Bhishma’s death in the Mahabharata and the sorrows of Ramanujacharya, the discussion asks what novels and cinema do differently to imagination, memory, and feeling.
Ever feel trapped in a cycle of silent resentment toward a toxic manager or a flawed institutional system? 💼
Standard advice tells us to “set boundaries” or “exit,” but modern clinical psychology often struggles to heal the underlying friction.
What if the solution isn’t to build higher walls around your ego, but to change the very source of authority you answer to?In our latest piece, we explore a fascinating dialogue between a practicing psychiatrist and a Vedantic philosopher.
Together, they map a revolutionary “Sixth Mode” of human behaviour derived from ancient Vishishtadvaita Vedanta—showing how true mental liberation in the workplace comes from an unexpected, vertical shift in perspective.
Read the full conversation here.