Ep 382: Kushal Mehra Dives Into Hindu Thought
The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
Unveiling the Journey to Atheism
This chapter explores the personal evolution towards atheism, tracing a path from skepticism to peaceful disbelief. The speaker shares insights on navigating atheism in different cultural contexts, contrasting Western atheism with the tranquil nature of atheism in India. They also critique new atheism and discuss the influence of religion on art, culture, and societal values.
He describes himself as a dharmik skeptic, and has written a book about how atheism evolved within Hindu philosophy. Kushal Mehra joins Amit Varma in episode 382 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his intellectual evolution-- and his journey as a podcaster. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Kushal Mehra on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and his own website. 2. Nastik: Why I Am Not an Atheist -- Kushal Mehra. 3. The Cārvāka Podcast -- Kushal Mehra's podcast on YouTube. 4. Kushal Mehra's YouTube monologues. 5. 'How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives' -- Amit Varma. 6. Hanlon's Razor. 7. Tim Urban's tweet on getting to know people. 8. The Harm Principle. 9. Deepak VS and the Man Behind His Face — Episode 373 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. A Life in Indian Politics — Episode 149 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Jayaprakash Narayan). 11. I, Pencil -- Leonard Read. 12. Why People Believe Weird Things -- Michael Shermer. 13. Richard Dawkins on the God of the Old Testament. 14. Vinamre Kasanaa and Prakhar Gupta on YouTube. 15. Kushal Mehra on Dostcast. 16. A Meditation on Form — Amit Varma. 17. Sowmya Dhanaraj Is Making a Difference -- Episode 380 of The Seen and the Unseen. 18. The God Delusion -- Richard Dawkins. 19. Robert Sapolsky’s biology lectures on YouTube. 20. The Evolution of Cooperation -- Robert Axelrod. 21. A Manual for Creating Atheists -- Peter Boghossian. 22. A Godless Congregation — Amit Varma. 23. Tell Me You Love Me -- Amit Varma. 24. Dr Chatterjee and therealnihal's Instagram post on friendship. 25. The New Atheism and the Four Horsemen. 26. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett on Amazon. 27. ‘Wet Streets Cause Rain’ — Michael Crichton. 28. The Big Questions -- Steven Landsburg. 29. Three cultures of atheism: on serious doubts about the existence of God -- Simon Glendinning. 30. Charvaka and Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa. 31. Tattvopaplavasiṃha — Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa. 32. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. Imagine There’s No Svarga: Rediscovering Cārvāka, India’s 2,700-Year-Old Atheistic Tradition -- Kushal Mehra on Quilette. 34. Moral Foundations Theory, proposed by Jonathan Haidt, Craig Joseph and Jesse Graham. 35. Hitchen's Razor. 36. Consciousness Explained -- Daniel Dennett. 37. Who We Are and How We Got Here — David Reich. 38. Soul and Sword: The History of Political Hinduism -- Hindol Sengupta. 39. Hind Swaraj -- MK Gandhi. 40. Yugank Goyal Is out of the Box — Episode 370 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Hindutva -- Vinayak Savarkar. 42. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India -- Akshaya Mukul. 43. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 44. Rangila Rasul. 45. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 46. The Populist Playbook -- Episode 42 of Everything is Everything. 47. Don't Insult Pasta (2007) -- Amit Varma. 48. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 49. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 50. The Progress of Humanity -- Episode 101 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Steven Pinker). 51. Colours of the Cage -- Arun Ferreira. 52. Modi's Domination: What We Often Overlook -- Keshava Guha. 53. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 54. Anand -- Hrishikesh Mukherjee. 55. How We Do the Small Things -- Amit Varma. 56. How Not To Get Trolled -- Amit Varma. 57. The Pursuit of Happyness -- Gabriele Muccino.. 58. Andaz Apna Apna -- Rajkumar Santoshi. 59. I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto -- Tupac Shakur. 60. Shiv Kumar Batalvi on Rekhta. 61. Bulleh Shah on Wikipedia. Amit’s newsletter is explosively active again. Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It’s free! Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Study’ by Simahina.
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