Recently we visited the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in New Mexico near Albuquerque and perused the exhibition on the Ancient Puebloan culture and history. We learned about the massive destruction of the Native Americans by successive waves of colonizing nations…
Author Archive for Dr. Mandar Pattekar
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | A lesson from the Tribals in western India
by Dr. Mandar Pattekar • • 6 Comments
Last month, I had the good fortune of surviving a stroke. Although it is devastating at any age, it was especially hard at the age of 50. After spending the first week in the hospital pondering “why me?” I came…
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | Happy Diwali everyone!
by Dr. Mandar Pattekar • • 0 Comments
As you may know, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Peoria chapter organizes an annual Diwali food drive for our local communities in need. This year, because of restrictions and safety concerns due to COVID, we can’t personally shop and deliver items. We…
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | Restoration of one of the holiest sites of Hindus: A story of loss and recovery
by Dr. Mandar Pattekar • • 0 Comments
Seldom does an event occur in the history of civilization that is the culmination of centuries of struggle and sacrifice by hundreds of thousands of people and perseverance in the belief in a system of law and order. Such an…
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | Freedom
by Dr. Mandar Pattekar • • 0 Comments
There is an ancient fable. One day a caravan of 100 camels and drivers is traveling in the desert. The caravan loses its way and ends up outside a village at dusk. The travelers put up their tents and start…
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | True nature of things (Swabhava)
by Dr. Mandar Pattekar • • 0 Comments
During adversity, a person’s true nature (Swa- self, bhaava- essence) gets exposed. In normalcy, many of us take on covering to fool others and sometimes ourselves. We take on roles to fit into what we believe is expected from us…
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | Charity
by Dr. Mandar Pattekar • • 0 Comments
There is a story of a famous poet Māgha in the 6th century who was carefree with his wealth and lived in poverty towards the end of his life. One day, a poor man came to his door asking for…
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | Detachment
by Dr. Mandar Pattekar • • 1 Comment
My new year’s resolution for 2020 is to internalize the principle of detachment. Over the years, as we meander along the path of self-realization, attachment to people, material things, achievements and identity have been a heavy ball and chain around…
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | Art of debate
by Dr. Mandar Pattekar • • 0 Comments
As our next presidential election looms closer, the sheer barbarism of the public arena vocalization filled me with great anguish. On the current political debate stages, behavior like blatant lying, interrupting the opponents, childish insults have become a norm for…
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | Lighting the light within
by Dr. Mandar Pattekar • • 1 Comment
My family has had some ancestors who were highly spiritually evolved individuals. My paternal grandmother’s father was a householder yogi (yogi- one who seeks union of individual consciousness with the Universal consciousness) who held a day job as a government…