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Hark : a novel
In an America convulsed by political upheaval, cultural discord, environmental collapse, and spiritual confusion, many folks are searching for peace, salvation, and--perhaps most immediately--just a little damn focus. Enter Hark Morner, an unwitting guru whose technique of \"Mental Archery\"--a combination of mindfulness, mythology, fake history, yoga, and, well, archery--is set to captivate the masses and raise him to near-messiah status. It's a role he never asked for, and one he is woefully underprepared to take on. But his inner-circle of modern pilgrims have other plans, as do some suddenly powerful fringe players, including a renegade Ivy League ethicist, a gentle Swedish kidnapper, a crossbow-hunting veteran of jungle drug wars, a social media tycoon with an empire on the skids, and a mysteriously influential (but undeniably slimy) catfish. In this social satire of the highest order, Sam Lipsyte, the New York Times bestseller and master of the form, reaches new peaks of daring in a novel that revels in contemporary absurdity and the wild poetry of everyday language while exploring the emotional truths of his characters. Hark is a smart, incisive look at men, women, and children seeking meaning and dignity in a chaotic, ridiculous, and often dangerous world.
Book
Reflection and Disagreement
How should you take into account the opinions of an advisor? When you completely defer to the advisor's judgment (the manner in which she responds to her evidence), then you should treat the advisor as a guru. Roughly, that means you should believe what you expect she would believe, if supplied with your extra evidence. When the advisor is your own future self, the resulting principle amounts to a version of the Reflection Principle-a version amended to handle cases of information loss. When you count an advisor as an epistemic peer, you should give her conclusions the same weight as your own. Denying that view-call it the \"equal weight view\"-leads to absurdity: the absurdity that you could reasonably come to believe yourself to be an epistemic superior to an advisor simply by noting cases of disagreement with her, and taking it that she made most of the mistakes. Accepting the view seems to lead to another absurdity: that one should suspend judgment about everything that one's smart and well-informed friends disagree on, which means suspending judgment about almost everything interesting. But despite appearances, the equal weight view does not have this absurd consequence. Furthermore, the view can be generalized to handle cases involving not just epistemic peers, but also epistemic superiors and inferiors.
Journal Article
“IEveryone Drinks from the Same Well/I”: Charismatic Female Gurus as “Religious Feminist Influencers” in South Asian Hinduism
This article examines the emergent leadership of two female gurus in South Asia who have declared their status as Śaṅkarācāryās (i.e., heads of monastic institutions) based on revelatory experiences. They have done this in order to change patriarchal monastic (akhāṛā) culture and challenge entrenched ideas of women’s inferiority in Hindu society. By combining ethnographic data and a gender studies-centered analysis of their narratives and teachings, I shall investigate the role and impact of gendered charismatic authority on modern women’s monastic lives. Their self-declarations as Śaṅkarācāryās profoundly break the conventional patriarchal mold for the type of guru women can be and the kind of authorized religious power they can have in this male-dominated role; thus, I term these gurus as “religious feminist influencers”. I argue that the gurus invoke charismatic authority by emphasizing the immediacy of the personal realization of the divine, the potency of the female body, and religious emotions, such as radical love, as sources of revelation. By “performing [these] revelation[s],” they construct alternative ways of practicing Hinduism, defined around modernist ideals such as gender equality, inclusion, and women’s rights. Moreover, they promote the normalization of women’s institutional leadership at the pinnacle of the monastic hierarchy.
Journal Article
Zorba the Buddha
Zorba the Buddha is the first comprehensive study of the life, teachings, and following of the controversial Indian guru known in his youth as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and in his later years as Osho (1931-1990). Most Americans today remember him only as the \"sex guru\" and the \"Rolls Royce guru,\" who built a hugely successful but scandal-ridden utopian community in central Oregon during the 1980s. Yet Osho was arguably the first truly global guru of the twentieth century, creating a large transnational movement that traced a complex global circuit from post-Independence India of the 1960s to Reagan's America of the 1980s and back to a developing new India in the 1990s. The Osho movement embodies some of the most important economic and spiritual currents of the past forty years, emerging and adapting within an increasingly interconnected and conflicted late-capitalist world order. Based on extensive ethnographic and archival research, Hugh Urban has created a rich and powerful narrative that is a must-read for anyone interested in religion and globalization.
eBook
Measuring the university–industry–government collaboration in Indian research output
Universities, industry and government organizations all play an important role in growth and development of knowledge-based economies in the modern era. These institutions also play a significant role in knowledge creation and its deployment to the benefit of society at large. In this article, we measure and characterize the university–industry–government (UIG) relationship in the research and innovation landscape of India. Research output data for 10 years (2005–14) obtained from Web of Science have been analysed to measure collaboration among different actors of the UIG collaboration network. We have also measured the collaboration variations across different disciplines and identified significant UIG institutional networks. The article presents useful output and analysis, and an informative account of the UIG collaboration network at present.
Journal Article
Goddess, Guru, and Sanghajanani: The Authority and Ongoing Appeal of the Holy Mother Sarada Devi
Saradamani Mukhopadhyay (1853–1920), more widely known as Sarada Devi and, to her devotees, the Holy Mother, presents an illuminating case study of the various means by which, in many respects, a highly traditional and typical rural Hindu woman of her time, operating from within the categories of Bengali Hindu society, was able to navigate these categories in ways that did not undermine, but rather enhanced, her agency, enabling her to shape her social reality in creative and transformative ways. Inhabiting the traditional role of mother and nurturer while carrying it out in a highly non-traditional manner, Sarada Devi played a central, often behind-the-scenes, role as a major influencer of an important modern Hindu spiritual movement—indeed, the first such movement to be able to boast an international following. Having no biological children of her own, Sarada Devi became the mother to this movement and to the monastic order dedicated to carrying forward the vision of her husband, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836–1886), as interpreted both by herself and his disciples, the most prominent of whom was Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), who is well known for having brought Ramakrishna’s teachings to the Western world through his lectures in America, including at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893 and his founding of the first Vedanta Societies, starting in New York in 1894.
Journal Article
Viral Leadership: Algorithmic Amplification and the Rise of Leadership Fashions
This essay examines how AI-driven content curation reshapes leadership fashions through algorithmic amplification on social media platforms. Algorithms designed to maximize engagement selectively elevate certain leadership styles, such as authentic, servant, and transformational leadership, while marginalizing others, including transactional or directive approaches. Drawing on leadership fashion theory, an extension of management fashion theory, this essay analyzes how viral content, influencer dynamics, and algorithmic prioritization collectively construct contemporary leadership ideals. It highlights the central role of leadership gurus such as Simon Sinek, Brené Brown, and Gary Vaynerchuk, and critiques the risks of oversimplification and performative authenticity in algorithmically mediated leadership discourse. Using recent empirical findings and real-world examples, the analysis shows how emotionally resonant and morally charged content gains disproportionate visibility, potentially distorting leadership development and practice. This essay concludes by discussing implications for organizations, leadership education, and research, and calls for a renewed commitment to evidence-based leadership theory and practice in the face of algorithmic influence.
Journal Article
Srī Gurugītā: A Sanskrit Devotional Text and Musical Yogic Practice
This article investigates the Sanskrit hymn, ´Srī Gurugītā, from a scholarly, scriptural, historical, and ethnographic standpoint. Mystical yogic concepts such as chaitanya-shabda (Consciousness–sound) and shravana samadhi (absorption through reading or listening to holy texts) are introduced in the context of Gurugītā recitation. The history of diverse lineages that practice Gurugītā recitation and several historical dimensions of svadhyaya (long-text chanting) and namasankirtana (short chants) are briefly introduced, and the works of Jeremy Morse and Antonio Rigopoulos are closely considered. This article deals with the significant elements of yogic awakening referenced within the Gurugītā text and the goal of liberation cited therein. Many scholars have researched Hinduism, Tantra, Bhakti yoga, and devotion. This article investigates musical devotion in the context of yogic communities dedicated to Gurugītā recitation with the aim of experiencing the inner Self. The democratization and dissemination of this practice have global dimensions.
Journal Article