Re: REQUEST : Advice Sought re Talks to an Amewrican Audience

Posted By N. Tiwari (ntiwari@rs3.esm.vt.edu)
24 Mar 1997 16:25:00 GMT

Rajinder Nijjhar (gnostic@zetnet.co.uk) wrote:
: In message <ghenE6vtKH.y1@netcom.com>
: trivedi@yukawa.uchicago.edu (Anil Trivedi) writes:

: Tell them the exposition of Christianity from your eastern point of
: view. If you need material, I can supply you on the Royal Kingdom of
: God in which I have explained those who take to sword shall die by the sword.

: Rajinder Nijjhar

: > I have to give about five lectures on various subjects which
: > may encompass Hindu religion, society, history, and politics.

: > The audience will consist of 20-25 Americans, educated and
: > from all walks of life, who do not know much about Hindus and
: > Hinduism but have an interest.

: > Of course, I have a plan, :-) but my intention in making this
: > post is to ask *your* advice on what to include in such a
: > survey.

: > If you have an opinion about how Hinduism should be presented
: > to the wider world, or if you have a list of favorite books
: > or videos which should be used in such a setting, please tell
: > me. If you have lectured to a Western audience, please tell me
: > what your experience was. If you are an American with interest
: > in or knowledge about Hinduism, your perspective is of course
: > uniquely valuable.

I focus on:

a) Hinduism is a way, that can not only be talked about
but also lived. As that done by Gandhi.

b) It is an approach, which seeks to

Find a balance between desires and actual needs.
For instance, you might not need a lamborgini, but
will desire for it due to all sorts of pressures.
The Hindu way tells us to how to come at terms
with these excessive desires by the process of "shaman"
(burning away) and not by "daman" (suppression). So
that the desires dissolve off.

c) It is an approach, where divinity has feminine as well
as masculine aspects.

d) The importance of nature, for reasons of ecology as
well as spirituality.

e) Karuna, ahimsa, and seva.

f) Nyaya, satya and prema.

I would conciously try to not needlessly intellectualise
the discourse. Quite often, in such situations, we are not
sure as to what we are talking about.

--
Nachiketa Tiwari

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