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Re: Religious unity and the word Hindu
kstuart@snowcrest.net wrote...
>Therefore Sanathana Dharma, popularly known as Hindusim, encompasses
>all of the religions of the world.
>
>Therefore the word "religion" is the same as Sanathana Dharma which is
>the same as "Hindu".
>
>Therefore:
>
> soc.religion.vaishnava
>
>is the same as
>
> soc.religion.hindu.vaishnava
>
>In fact, "soc.religion.hindu.vaishnava" is redundant, since "religion"
>and "hindu" mean the same thing.
Yes that seems about right. And that relates to my earlier statement that
usage of the word (label) Hindu may well become redundant. Whether that is a
good thing or not is another question.
>It is NOT that they feel more comfortable in SRV because they hate all
>the non-Vaishnavas.
>
>It's just because they want a forum, where they can discuss the minor
>details of Vaishnavism, without dealing with posts about Shaivism,
>Jainism or Bicycle Repair.
>
>It's nice to be able to tell your newsreader to fetch all the messages
>from a particular newsgroup, and then be able to read all those
>messages, knowing that all of them will be on the topic you want to
>read about.
>
>And, in fact, if one is a Vaishnava, one's spiritual practice will
>advance more by reading messages about the details of Vaishnavism than
>by reading about Shaivism, Jainism or Bicycle Repair.
This is purely academic but all of those objectives can still be achieved
from SRHV. Unless there is concern that, since V is a subset of H, other
irrelevant posts could get in. But the auto-moderation program is supposed
to take care of that.
Anyway, as I said, this is purely academic. We can include or drop 'Hindu'
from any or all groups as the proponents of the group choose.
>Reading other messages you've written, I'm really surprised to read
>this, since it SEEMS to show a very shallow concept of spirituality.
>
>Spirituality is solely one's own personal relationship with God.
You are right. That was uncalled for. My apologies.
Just for clarification, I was being sarcastic about the material basis for
wanting to be excluded from the label 'Hindu'. Spirituality appeared to be a
suitable opposite word. But it was in poor taste. Again my apologies.
>To judge others only by your own interpretations of what their actions
>seem to indicate to you, is exactly what your whole campaign of
>religious unity is trying to AVOID.
>
>Because you are judging the actions of another religion by the
>standards of YOUR religious beliefs, and condemning them for it.
>
>Isn't that the opposite of religious unity ??
Yes, any action or statement that stems out of a narrow view can only
generate, at the very least, irritation, and worst, anger and enmity and
even war.
'Hindu' has been and will remain a convenient label.
It can still serve as a focus for a gathering of diverse religious thinking.
All efforts to promote such cohesion should be supported.
If any feel inclined not to join, that is their privilege.
If any feel inclined to leave, that too is their prerogative.
We all do what we can.
Peace and blessings.
--
Singam
Minden, Penang
Malaysia
Truth, viewed from any angle, remains Truth.
Is the One Truth, Love?
Where does it hide?
Why?
