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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:

: Apart from the fact they are both called Mimamsa there are other reasons
: to assume they are two parts of a unified system. 


Dear Jaldharji:

I dare say that there is good reason to think of these as part of an
unified system.  Certainly, by themselves, they appear to have little
in common.  But in the SBG, Sri kR^ishhNa Himself has unified these, at
least in spirit, and to some extent, in substance. 


: It's one of the things.  On certain matters we disagree with vegetarian
: groups too.  The yardstick is fidelity to Shruti, Smrti, and
: Shishtachara.

: I vehemently _disagree_ with this baseless statement.  It completely
: ignores the vast amount of polemic literature that has been written
: through the centuries.  This literature which was aimed at demolishing the
: views of rival schools _was_ based on intellectual interpretation of the
: scriptures.  Indeed logic was developed to an astonishingly high level. 
: Your own Bengal was the home of such decidedly non soft-headed people as
: Swami Madhusudan Sarasvati, Raghunatha Tarka Shiromani, Gadadhar
: Bhattacharya, and Jagdish Tarkalankara.

Thank you for pointing that out.  I am proud (and largely ignorant of all
their achievements) of the work they have done.  It is very true that they
did deal with the Scriptures, but it is my impression that these works
resulted in nyAya and tarka-shAstras, not what we consider as Scriptures.
On the other hand, the upanishhads do talk about the importance of yoga in
realizing viGYAna or parA-vidyA.


: Which is completely other-worldly.  If you wish to learn this knowledge by
: all means renounce everything and become a sannyasi.  As long as you
: maintain even one toe of one foot in this world you are bound by the rule
: of the shastras.

This is very new idea to me, I can not think of a reason why you would say
that.  If you'd be so kind, please elaborate on this point.


: _Your_ religion.  And we should grieve deeply as your religion has somehow
: become the official faith of secular India and for a nation of close to a
: billion people to be guided by such an apalling muddle puts us all in
: great peril.

I do not have a comment on this observation, but certainly, I do not
aspire to interfere with your beliefs, other than discuss them and it
would help if you kindly tell me how you anticipate such a danger.

With best regards,

Dhruba.
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