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Re: what to say?
Hari Krishna Susarla (susarla.krishna@studentserver1.swmed.edu) wrote:
:One of things the Muslims and Jews have, which Hindus don't seem to want, is a
: fairly consistent set of beliefs and principles that makes it easy for them
: to be passed on from parents to children. Hindus, on the other hand, have been
: brought up to believe that the Vedas are simply a superstitious hodgepodge of
:various contradictory truths. This trend started with the Western Indologists,
: and continues even today with certain neo-advaitist types. As a result,
: Hindus have very little faith in their own Vedic culture, and if they don't
: have faith in it, how can they pass it on to their children? Without faith in
: Vedic scripture, the stories and injunctions therein are simply taken by the
: 2nd generation to be mere myths and dogmas which can be ignored whenever
: inconvenient.
: It's hard today for any one person to say what Hindus are supposed to believe,
: because as soon as someone does, it will become evident that there are Hindus
: who don't believe in it. For example, you will find Hindus who are atheists,
: Hindus who worship trees and ghosts, Hindus who think they are God, and
: Hindus who think everything and everyone is God. So I am not all surprised
: that there are many people out there who are confused. This is what happens
: when mental speculators say that there are many interpretations which are nice
: and good, but no one authoritative understanding which can be taken as a
: paradigm by which to live one's spiritual life.
: regards,
1. I agree with your observations reg. the mess the Westerners
have played with our history and culture. While you can argue
whether they did this knowingly or unknowingly, there can be
no doubt that things as of now are pretty much messed up.
2. I also agree that Hinduism, as we understand it has not definite
set of rules and guidelines.
3. Point # 2, however should not be an excuse to become lax. For instance,
we can all begin with, by educating our kids about our own respective
versions of Hindu Dharma. We can pass on that information. I know that
I recd. volumes of information, (in form of stories, jhankees, etc)
about Raama, Krsna, Sitaa, .... That was what my religion stood for
me, when I was a kid. Those were stories, and I liked hearing them
Then, with the expansion of my reading and understanding faculties,
I started reading, at the urgings of my parents. I read Ramayamn,
Mahabharata (Amar Chitra Kathaas) etc. When I grew up further, I
read the Gita Press version of Mahabharat (when I was in 5th std.)
I did that purely out of interests for stories. There were a
couple of thousands of pages, and I easilly skipped the less inter-
esting parts (Gita, and other philosophical discussions). I read
with interest about all those wars, miracles. ...
I guess that the readers will get the point. Learning begins with
fun. And if that is what we give to our next generation, I am sure
that the finer points will be picked up by our kids, once they
grow up. But atleast in America, I have rarely seen that happening.
--
Nachiketa Tiwari
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