Anand Venkatraman

Hi there! I'm a neurologist with a wide range of interests. This page collects my writings, talks and interviews on various topics which caught my fancy (outside of clinical medicine). I'm looking to connect with like-minded folks from different disciplines.

Topics

Much of the work collated here deals with my evolving ideas on the Hindu sciences of mind, such as Tantra, Mantra and Kundalini Yoga.

I believe that the Hindu tradition contains within it detailed records of subjective, first-person explorations of Conscious experience by generations of advanced practitioners.

While modern science primarily comes at the universe from a third-person perspective, Hindu practice, by grounding the Observer squarely at the center, produces strikingly distinct takes on the same phenomena.

It is my belief that these takes are actually closer to the Truth than what can be ascertained through the third-person approach, though the third-person approach has certainly produced its own wonderful achievements.

I occasionally also get into cognition, AI, the history of science, and the long history of religious and cultural exchange across ancient civilizations.

After years of having all this scattered across the internet, I decided to put it all in one place to connect with people who may have shared interests.

Publications

Peer-reviewed and preprint work outside direct clinical neurology. For the complete list, see Google Scholar.

Hindu Introspective Traditions and Modern Cognitive Science

Hindu Ideas on Speech Production Anticipated Modern Scientific Findings
A. Venkatraman, M.G. Prasad, S. Kak, D.H. Mehta — Indian Journal of History of Science 60(2), 2025
Un-binding the Umwelt: The Differential Contributions of the Five Classical Senses Can Be Understood Through a Hindu Lens
A. Venkatraman, A. Viswanathan, S.S. Rao — Biosemiotics 18(1), 2025
A Qualia-Centric Approach to Ayurveda and Hindu Knowledge Systems Can Address Modern Science's Blind Spots
A. Venkatraman — Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 2024
Can Consciousness Cease? A Perspective from Hindu Contemplative Traditions
A. Iyer, A. Venkatraman, S. Pandit, R. Ananthanarayanan — OSF Preprints, 2023
Tantra and Modern Neurosciences: Is There Any Correlation?
A. Venkatraman, R. Nandy, S.S. Rao, D.H. Mehta, A. Viswanathan — Neurology India 67(5), 2019
Conceptualizing Consciousness as Arousal + Awareness: Historical Parallels from Indian Philosophy
A. Venkatraman, S. Timalsina, P. Opal — Neurology 92 (15 suppl), 2019
Parallels to the Modern Understanding of Speech Production in Indian Philosophical History
A. Venkatraman, P. Opal, M.G. Prasad — Neurology 92 (15 suppl), 2019
The Brainstem in Emotion: A Review
A. Venkatraman, B. Edlow, M.H. Immordino-Yang — Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 11, 2017

History

Unicorns and Dragons: Does the Bahaj Deeg Seal Link Chinese Religion, the Indus Valley, and Tamil Sangam Era Religious Practices?
A. Venkatraman — SSRN Working Paper, 2026

Commentary

Greater Freedom of Speech on Web 2.0 Correlates with Dominance of Views Linking Vaccines to Autism
A. Venkatraman, N. Kumar, N. Garg — Vaccine, 2015
Zika Virus Misinformation on the Internet
A. Venkatraman, D. Mukhija, N. Kumar, S.J.S. Nagpal — Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 14(4), 2016

Talks & Interviews

Full-length talks and conversations, mostly with research forums focused on Indology, classical Indian thought, and science.

Hindu Introspective Traditions and Modern Cognitive Science

Kashmir Shaivism As Neuroscience: Harvard Doctor Decodes Ancient Tantra
Sangam Talks — 1:01:06
Split Brains, Julian Jaynes: Neuroscience in Indology
Centre for Indic Studies — 1:49:54
Beyond Grammar: Esoteric Neuroscience of the Sanskrit Alphabet (with Giriratna Mishra)
Centre for Indic Studies — 2:17:50
Matrika, Malini and Mantra (with Giriratna Mishra)
Sangam Talks — 1:51:02
Mrityu (Death): The Great Journey to Self (with Giri Ratna Mishra)
Sangam Talks — 1:35:10
Meditation, Yoga and the Nervous System
Grand Rounds Lecture, UAB Neurology, 2017 — 23:35

Commentary

Politically Incorrect Questions About Science in India (with Prof. Gautam Desiraju)
Atharva Forum — 1:04:21
Interview of Yogesh Kalkonde for AINA
50:24
Brain Networks, Biological Cognition & AI (with Dr. Sharan Srinivasan)
Atharva Forum — 1:24:07

Background

I trained in medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, then completed neurology residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a neurocritical care fellowship at Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital), and a neuroendovascular surgery fellowship at Prisma Health / University of South Carolina.

The writing and talks on this site sit outside that clinical work. A fuller record, including peer-reviewed publications, is on my Google Scholar profile.

Earlier in life: a gold medal at the International Biology Olympiad (Beijing, 2005), attendance at the Indian National Chemistry Olympiad (2005), All India Rank 1 in the CBSE Class XII exams (2005), a National Talent Search Scholarship, and a KVPY scholarship. I'm also on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Clinical Practice

Day to day, I practice interventional and critical care neurology, treating acute stroke and neurological emergencies via telemedicine and in person.