The Discover India Podcast by Professor Pankaj Jain: Bhārat Darśan

Prof Pankaj Jain
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Bhārat Darśan: The Discover India Podcast is about Indian Culture, Indian classical music, Sustainability, Hindu/Buddhist/Jain Studies, Film Studies, and Diaspora Studies. Episodes also include presentations at various conferences and webinars. Dr. Pankaj Jain is the Director of The India Centre and the Head of the Department of Humanities and Language at FLAME University. #India #Indology #IndianClassicalMusic #IndianCulture #IndianTraditions #India #Hinduism #Jainism #Buddhism #Dharma #Jainology #ReligionAndEcology #FilmStudies #Bollywood #IndianDiaspora #Dharmic #ManojGovindraj

  1. 3d ago

    The Ring and Saṃsāra: A Halloween Curse You Can't Pass On

    In Gore Verbinski's The Ring (2002), a cursed videotape starts a seven-day countdown, and the only way to survive is to pass the curse to someone else. Indian philosophy has an older name for a cycle like that: संसार saṃsāra. The word is not "wheel." It comes from sam, "together, completely," and √sṛ, "to flow, to wander," so saṃsāra is the wandering-on: birth, death and rebirth, carried forward by karma. The wheel came later, as a way of picturing it. The film offers a loophole. The classical traditions offer none, and the way out they describe, mokṣa or nirvāṇa, is understanding rather than a trick. Schools differ on what continues from life to life; this episode describes the broad shared picture. #Halloween #TheRing #Samsara #Karma #Sanskrit #IndianPhilosophy

  2. 5d ago

    A Day in Eight Ragas: Dawn to Midnight in Bollywood's Greatest Songs (Raag Vol. 2)

    Every raga in Indian classical music traditionally has an hour it belongs to — and Bollywood used all of them. This episode is a day in eight ragas, dawn to midnight, each sung live by tabla and sitar scholar Shri Manoj Govindraj and then heard again in the film song quietly built on it: Ahir Bhairav at first light, Bhairavi in the morning, Yaman at dusk, Darbari after midnight — with Pahadi and Kafi, the two that refuse the clock, in between. Volume 2 of the best of our 63-episode "Raag in Popular Music" series, with Prof. Pankaj Jain. 00:00 Cold open 00:27 Ahir Bhairav — Dawn (Ep 38) 02:59 Bhairavi — Morning (Ep 63) 05:13 Dhani — Late morning (Ep 27) 07:43 Bhimpalasi — Afternoon (Ep 39) 10:17 Pahadi — Any hour (Ep 56) 12:48 Kafi — The season raga, Holi (Ep 46) 15:08 Yaman Kalyan — Evening (Ep 14) 17:38 Darbari — Midnight (Ep 10) 19:46 Outro A note on the clock: the hour given for each raga is the traditional one. The time-theory of ragas (samay-siddhānta) is a convention of the Hindustani system, applied differently by different gharanas — and film composers never had to observe it. Where a song is said to be "based on" a raga, its mukhda sits on that raga's phrases; the antara may wander. ▶ Volume 1 — The Ragas Behind Bollywood's Greatest Songs: https://youtu.be/EYEviyo7Ves▶ The full 63-episode series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAvLthebN2HCvSMyUDnY1c_ZhgXrLyjqc Prof. Pankaj Jain is Professor and Chair of Philosophy and Director of The India Centre at FLAME University, and a scholar of Indian religions, Jain studies and Indology. Which hour's raga is yours? And which raga should Vol. 3 open with? #Raag #HindustaniClassical #Bollywood #IndianClassicalMusic #DiscoverIndia

  3. Oct 26

    Bagger Vance Is Bhagavān: The Gītā Inside a Golf Movie | Bhārat Darśan

    The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) looks like a golf film. Steven Pressfield, who wrote the novel, has said it is built on the Bhagavad Gītā. Bagger Vance echoes Bhagavān, R. Junuh echoes Arjuna, and the golfer’s “authentic swing” is the Gītā’s svadharma: one’s own path, walked without clinging to the result. Sources: Bhagavad Gītā 2.47, 3.35, 18.47; Steven Pressfield, The Legend of Bagger Vance (1995). 📖 My complete English Bhagavad Gītā series, all 18 chapters: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAvLthebN2HDFIKGhHIuoG93SI8jqLxpA 🎬 Watch the reel: [YouTube link] https://youtube.com/shorts/Tohy7UBfChQ

  4. Oct 24

    Eat Pray Love, Decoded: From Anna to Ānanda | Bhārat Darśan

    Pasta in Rome, an ashram in India, balance in Bali. Eat Pray Love is usually read as a travel story, but read alongside the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, its arc traces a much older map of the self. The Upaniṣad describes five layers, from the outermost inward: annamaya (food), prāṇamaya (breath), manomaya (mind), vijñānamaya (discernment), and ānandamaya (bliss). It begins with anna and ends in ānanda, and the film moves in the same direction: inward. Sources: Taittirīya Upaniṣad, Brahmānanda Vallī and Bhṛgu Vallī. The label “pañcakośa” is a later Vedāntic systematization. Different schools differ on the status of ānandamaya: Advaita treats it as the subtlest sheath, while Viśiṣṭādvaita reads it as brahman. The film parallel is an interpretive reading, not a claim about the author’s intent. 💬 Which layer are you living in right now: anna, prāṇa, or ānanda? 🙏 What does guru really mean? Watch the earlier decode: ▶️ YouTube: https://youtube.com/shorts/K982dcdZy0M?feature=share 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DbYRhsFD978/ #EatPrayLove #Upanishads #Sanskrit #IndianPhilosophy #Vedanta

  5. Oct 21

    Bhagavad Gita and the Psychology of Well-Being | Ancient Wisdom for Modern Mental Health

    How can the Bhagavad Gita help us cultivate a steady mind, discover purpose, and live a flourishing life?In this presentation, Prof. Pankaj Jain explores the Bhagavad Gita alongside contemporary psychology, examining how this ancient dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna addresses questions of emotional distress, resilience, happiness, and human well-being.Beginning with Arjuna’s crisis in Chapter 1, we explore how Krishna’s teachings offer insights into the challenges of modern life.Key topics covered:• Equanimity (Samatvam): Cultivating steadiness through success and failure • Nishkama Karma: Acting wholeheartedly without becoming attached to results • Sthita-prajña: The characteristics of a person established in steady wisdom • The restless mind: Understanding and interrupting the cycle of desire, anger, and delusion • Abhyāsa and Vairāgya: The role of practice and non-attachment in training the mind • The three Guṇas: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas as qualities shaping our mental states • Happiness and flourishing: Moving beyond fleeting pleasure toward meaning and contentment • Svadharma: Discovering purpose, authenticity, and one’s own calling • Karma Yoga: Finding fulfillment through skillful, wholehearted action • Practical applications: Daily practices and insights for educators, counsellors, and anyone interested in well-beingThe presentation also examines connections between the Bhagavad Gita and contemporary psychological approaches, including counselling and psychotherapy. It considers the potential contributions of Gita-based wisdom while emphasizing the importance of responsible interpretation, professional care when needed, and respect for individual beliefs.Five central lessons:1. Lasting happiness grows from how we live and act, not merely from arranging external circumstances.2. A steady mind can be cultivated through practice and non-attachment.3. Focus on sincere effort rather than becoming consumed by outcomes.4. Inner strength should be developed with compassion.5. Living according to one’s svadharma can provide meaning and purpose.This session invites us to read the Bhagavad Gita in its own voice while exploring its relevance to contemporary conversations about

  6. Oct 17

    Interstellar's Time Warp Has a Sanskrit Twin — yuga decoded

    In Interstellar, one hour on Miller's planet costs seven years on Earth. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa (9.3) tells a story with the same shape: King Kakudmī waits through one song in Brahmā's world and returns to find twenty-seven cycles of yugas gone. In this episode: the Kakudmī–Revatī story, what a yuga actually is (from √yuj, "to yoke," the beam that binds two oxen), its kinship with yoga, yugma and saṃyoga, and the Indo-European cousins iugum, zygón and yoke. Sources: Bhāgavata Purāṇa 9.3.30 and 9.3.32. Dating hedge: the Purāṇa is among the oldest layers of this story; precise dates are contested. Different schools read the yuga cycle differently. This is a scholar's decode, not a claim that the text anticipated relativity. Watch the video version: https://youtube.com/shorts/WCKkEgPEwgI?feature=share Full English Bhagavad Gītā series, all 18 chapters: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAvLthebN2HDFIKGhHIuoG93SI8jqLxpA Prof. Pankaj Jain · Discover India: Decoded · Bhārat Darśan

  7. Oct 14

    Oppenheimer Said “Death.” The Gītā Says “Time.” — kāla decoded

    “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Robert Oppenheimer later said this line from the Bhagavad Gītā came to him at the first atomic test in July 1945, and Christopher Nolan’s film gave it to a new generation. But the Sanskrit word he rendered as “Death” is काल, kāla — and kāla, first of all, means Time. In this short decode: the verse itself (Gītā 11.32, kālo ‘smi), why Arthur Ryder, Oppenheimer’s Sanskrit teacher at Berkeley, chose “Death” and why that was a real choice rather than a mistake, and what changes when you read one verse further, where Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna to be only the instrument. Three roles in one verse: Time, the god who reveals it, and the human who has to act. Oppenheimer gave himself the god’s line. Read the verse again, and his place is the other one. A few notes for the careful listener: “Death” is a long-standing secondary sense of kāla, and historians regard Ryder’s rendering as idiosyncratic but defensible. The reading of Oppenheimer as Arjuna rather than Kṛṣṇa is associated with James A. Hijiya (2000) and is offered here as a lens the verse invites, not a claim about his mind. Nothing in this episode rules on the decision to build or use the bomb, and it does not comment on the film’s scenes. Which line stays with you more — “I am become Death” or “I am Time”? I’ve recently launched my complete Bhagavad Gītā series on YouTube — all 18 chapters, verse by verse, in English. Anyone interested can start with Chapter 11, the cosmic form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLtoFGlgGls Full series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAvLthebN2HDFIKGhHIuoG93SI8jqLxpA Prof. Pankaj Jain · Discover India: Decoded · Bhārat Darśan

  8. Oct 10

    Inception and Turīya: Four States of the Self in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad

    In Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010), Dom Cobb goes down: dream inside dream inside dream. Then he has to scramble back up, never sure which layer is real. The Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, the shortest of the principal Upaniṣads at just 12 verses, maps the same territory differently. It counts four quarters of the self: जाग्रत् · jāgrat: wakingस्वप्न · svapna: dreamingसुषुप्ति · suṣupti: deep sleepतुरीय · turīya: “the fourth”Turīya is not a deeper dream level. The text describes it as the awareness present through all three states. The word itself is a count: turīya is related to Sanskrit catur, “four,” a cousin of Latin quattuor and English four. Nolan’s answer to “which layer is real?” is a spinning top. The Upaniṣad’s answer is simpler: the one watching the top was never asleep. A note on framing: the text’s date is debated, different schools of Vedānta read it very differently, and the film does not draw on it. This is a comparison of two similar questions, not a claim of influence. If you could witness your own deep sleep, who would be doing the witnessing? Watch the short on YouTube: https://youtube.com/shorts/yUwfnJCb2kc More from Prof. Pankaj Jain: linktr.ee/ProfPankajJain #Sanskrit #Inception #Upanishad #Consciousness #IndianPhilosophy #DiscoverIndia

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Bhārat Darśan: The Discover India Podcast is about Indian Culture, Indian classical music, Sustainability, Hindu/Buddhist/Jain Studies, Film Studies, and Diaspora Studies. Episodes also include presentations at various conferences and webinars. Dr. Pankaj Jain is the Director of The India Centre and the Head of the Department of Humanities and Language at FLAME University. #India #Indology #IndianClassicalMusic #IndianCulture #IndianTraditions #India #Hinduism #Jainism #Buddhism #Dharma #Jainology #ReligionAndEcology #FilmStudies #Bollywood #IndianDiaspora #Dharmic #ManojGovindraj

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