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Re: REQUEST : deteriorated state of hinduism
In article <ghenDxL7Kq.LBG@netcom.com>,
Balasubramaniam santhanam <santhan@ee.gatech.edu> wrote:
>I am interested in a sensible discussion on the deterioration of Hinduism
>and so called Hindu values as it relates to the topics of
>(i) Increase in the materialistic and Hedonistic values of people
> (as a result God is just a convenience for people).
Well, it's somewhat expected, since the "modern Hinduism" is
paralleling the "moral relativism" viewpoint popular among Western
academics. However, with the relativistic theories, they are usually
applied to cultures or races, not individuals. Within Hinduism, this
is not the case. As a result,
a) people are shying away from moral judgements, so much that any
standards for dharmic and adharmic behavior are becoming memories
of a bygone era
b) the "anti-intellectual" campaign is gaining hold. See some of the
recent discussions on SRH itself for proof of this.
c) debate or discussion of differences is usually frowned upon, under
the banner of "Hindu Unity". This also relates to (b)
>(ii) Prayer with petition (God is now a buissness person).
This has been going on for so long it's not really unique to modern
times.
>(iii) Tendency of so called revelutionaries to blame all the problems
>of society on the Hindu religion.
Actually, the flip side is much more interesting. The anti-religion
crowd has always existed, but look at what today's "religion crowd" is
doing:
a) rounding up people of other religions and kicking them out of
India, while at the same time talking about how "inclusive" Hindu
society is
b) whitewashing the actual lives of people who are now being declared
"saints" so that things like their meat-eating or smoking become a
distant memory
c) kicking out multinationals under the guise of religion, then
inviting those same companies back to shore up the economic base.
d) "remodeling masjids" while failing to do anything about the hatred
in their own hearts first
e) engaging in all sorts of unethical acts while claiming to "stand up"
for Hinduism. Basically, the mentality of "the ends justify the
means"
Sometimes, it seems that the anti-religion crowd shows exactly the
same respect for Hinduism as some of its "staunch supporters" do, and
vice versa.
-Vivek
