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Re: ARTICLE : Just say no to "Hinduism" (was Re: ARTICLE : On attempting to define Hinduism)
Jaldhar H. Vyas (jaldhar@braincells.com) wrote:
: Vivekanand was no scholar either in the Western or the traditional sense.
: Being or if you like God. Truth as a noun is satya not sat. This is my
: third criticism of Modern Hindus. For people who claim to be
: intellectuals they show a stunning lack of intellect.
: The orthodox Mimamsaka view (also accepted by all
: Vedantins) is that the Shruti and Smrti is stringently binding on
: everyone.
: And the Gujarati Brahmans such as my self are staunch vegetarians. Am
: I going to be tolerant and allow a Kashmiri Pandit to eat fish in my
: house? Hell no! Chowgules commitment to his a priori view on Hinduism
: blinds him to what should be obvious to everyone. The Kashmiri and I
: practice two seperate religions. Eating some kinds of meat is
: permissable in his but forbidden in mine. Our religions may overlap
: elsewhere, but here there is an unbridgeable gulf.
: One could go on but the entire article is riddled with errors. Which is a
: crying shame because there _is_ a need for Hindu intellectuals.
: Unfortunately Chowgule falls far short of the mark. To repeat my
: criticisms, people of his ilk are ignorant, duplicitous, and incoherent.
: Just say no to their misbegotten ideologies.
:
Dear Sri Jaldhar H. Vyas:
Thank you for your comments, they are very interesting reading. I must
however say that I was not particularly happy to read your observations
on Swamiji's scholarship. I was wondering how else would you
translate 'ekam sadviprA vahudhA vadanti agniM yamaM mAtarishvAnmAhuH.
RigVeda 1.164.46).
Perhaps a case may be made for the view that purva-mimAMsA suggests
shruti and smR^iti to be binding, but I am not so certain about
uttara-mimAMsA.
As far as I know, Religion is not about eating preferences, in fact, as
you surely must know, the word 'religion' means re-connect, re-connect
with God, that is yoga. I am optimistic that you do not want to say that
yoga squarely consists of eating fish or eating vegetables. Eating habits
have their place in the life of the sAdhaka, but as I understand, do not
define religion. For evidence, I will say for now that, Swami Vivekanada
(who you seem to disagree with) characterized this attitude as 'my God is
in my kitchen' (or something like that). Many Gurus ask their disciples
to not eat non-vegetarian because a particular yogic method is not
compatible with non-vegetarian eating practices. Your observation that
eating preferences define different Hindu religions, is curious, but I am
not convinced that you are correct.
The teachings of Hinduism, whichever way you look at it, are expressly
against intellectual interpretations of Scriptures. The whole thing about
parA-vidyA is thus said to be yogic, that is, revealed knowledge. In
fact, we should be happy that intellectuals do not dominate our religion.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
