Month: July 2011

As the dust after the death of Satya Sai Baba has largely settled, it is time to evaluate him, his work and its implications, objectively and unemotionally, for there is

The death of Satya Sai Baba, April 24th 2011, has created a big turmoil, not only amongst his followers but also amongst those who had more mundane things to look

When Sathya Sai Baba died this morning (24 April 2011) at the age of 85 years, he proved once again that miracles and predictions fail. He had predicted at a

Baba Ramdev has been probably most successful of God men of recent times. He claims to have a following of over a billion people. There are an infinite number of

Baba Ramdev who contorts his body into difficult positions is looked upon as a Yogi by the media and public. A person who simply has the capacity to twist his

At the risk of heresy, let me express my profound unease at the crescendo of euphoria surrounding the ‘Anna Hazare + Jan Lokpal Bill’ phenomenon as it has unfolded on

New Delhi : That’s the other K-channel on Indian TV, where theatrical babas and washed-up actors sell viewers elaborate amulets and a few false hopes “Are people falling ill around

FOR the past 20 years, I have immersed myself in the paranormal – the weird world where people claim they can predict the future, summon spirits and move objects with

On Thursday, March 31, Deepak Chopra and I squared off for a second time in person in a public venue, this time accompanied by the physicist Leonard Mlodinow on my

I’m fighting against religious practices that are 5,000 years old. I am asking people to rethink. European nations started doing this about 400 years ago, we did after Independence… but

Gopal Ganesh Agarkar’s (1856-95) ideas mark the apex of the secular rationalist trend during renaissance of nineteenth century Maharashtra. Arvind Ganashari’s book, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, the Secular Rationalist Reformer, clearly

Prize in the sky: The Templeton Foundation rewards “spiritual progress,” but what the heck is that? Is there such a thing as a spiritual fact? Finding? Discovery? Something roughly analogous

The article, “Religious factors and hippocampal atrophy in late life,” by Amy Owen and colleagues at Duke University represents an important advance in our growing understanding of the relationship between

Rakshit Sonawane’s account of how Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s son and the so-called followers of Babasaheb treated Dr. Savita  Mai makes very sad reading (Indian Express, Friday, 30th May, 2003). The