Words do not have meanings, meanings are there inside us. English does not have words that can precisely and unambiguously express many of the concepts of Indian thought. We tend to use "nearest equivalent" terms but these make sense only if you already have the concept in you. Not otherwise. This is the big problem. For example, the western mind has only Truth and Falsity as a dichotomy whereas here you need to make a three-way distinction: sat, asat and mithya, which can only be translated roughly as Truth, Falsity and Illusion. Most of what modern science considers as Truth is actually not Truth but only mithya, at best an illusion. It is not easy to digest all this! You must have patience, perseverance and willingness to give up closely-held beliefs and biases. You must have a truely open mind. Then, with great difficulty you will be able to gradually understand everything.

The term dharma is often translated as righteousness. But we can talk of strii-dharma, aapat-dharma and so on but does it make sense to say women-righteousness or emergency-righteousness? It is not easy for a non-Indian to understand the concept of dharma. The bhagavadgiita says 'the real has no non-existence and the unreal has no existence'. How can you understand this if you do not have the proper understanding of the terms 'real' and 'existence', both of which have very specific, technical meanings, far different from the ordinary usage of these words in English? You should therefore expect fundamental difficulties.

If you do not know a language, you can hardly understand anything that is said in that language. If you have only a limited knowledge of the language, you may be be able to get some idea but your understanding will be definitely limited and possibly erroneous. Only more so, when it comes to deeply philosophical topics. Exactly the same thing happens with regard to culture. For example, a Christian will find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to fully and correctly understand a Hindu idea, even if there is no bias and a very honest attempt is made. Things can only get worse when there is bias, pre-conceived notions and a hidden agenda to somehow prove yourself right. This is what has happened in most cases, when western scholars, even the greatest of them, have tried to interpret Indian thought. If you cannot understand something, you will naturally conclude that it is all "imported" - people see themselves in others! Or that it is "worthless scholasticism, mere play upon words". If you do not have the meanings in you, of course the words will surely sound meaningless and worthless! The problem is not in the book, the problem is in you. You can get it right, if only you have an urge to know and a totally open mind.

You can train a dog, a horse or an elephant but not a goat or an ant or a crow. Because the dog already has it in it and the ant does not. You can train a dog to do certain things but not others. It can be trained if and only if it already has it in it. Knowledge cannot be given, it must be already present in us and it can only be invoked, roused, highlighted. Indians therefore argue that it is not worth talking to those who cannot understand. If others are ignorant, let them remain so. This attitude has caused great harm. A sincere aspirant, a true seeker of knowledge, should not be sent back however ignorant he or she may be. Arrogance arises out of ignorance and you may find the seeker to be ignorant, biased and arrogant too. Yet it becomes our duty to try and make them understand. Everybody has it in him/her. In some cases it is hidden too deeply and camouflaged too badly and hence a great deal of effort is required. It is OK is we fail but it is not OK to send them back. It is in this spirit that this whole web-site has been designed. Hope it will find some takers.

Read. Think. Discuss. Write-down. Think again. Keep thinking. Do not accept anything blindly. Question everything. Until you fully understand. Feel free to come back and ask questions. You will surely understand everything properly sooner or later. Best wishes!