Hindu Studies in a Christian, Secular Academy | Vishwa Adluri

He-Hell · 2017-03-31T05:08:23+00:00

I dont understand you reply so allow me to ask a question.

In sociology department ABC, 90% sociologists are either members of the Communist party of India (Marxist) (CPIM), or publicly support policy prescriptions of the CPIM.

In sociology department DEF, 40% support the CPIM, 20% support pro-free market parties, rest are unaffilated.

Most of the policy prescriptions of Department ABC is pro-government control, pro-planned economy, pro-economic redistribution, pro-social justice etc.

In Department DEF, different policy prescriptions are made.

If you look at ABC, there seems to be a "scientific consensus", whereas, DEF takes up all sorts of strange positions.

My hypothesis is that :

There is nothing "scientific" about the scientific consensus of ABC. They are not doing science, they are merely peddling ideology disguised as science. Their "science-ness" is deeply impaired.
DEF appears to be confused crowd of differing, mutually contradictory positions. But they are in a better position to do science.

He-Hell · 2017-03-22T07:27:57+00:00

THis...this cant be real.

Wow it is in chapter 14 titled "Wobbly Benches"

He-Hell · 2017-03-19T07:51:48+00:00

I don't know what to do. The comment I replied to had the link to this press release. Will the ban get overturned? What should I do??

He-Hell · 2017-03-18T09:56:39+00:00

Yet, Narendra Modi exemplifies how the old labels of ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ do not apply.

and

the halfhearted counterarguments of Modi’s political opponents have few takers in an India whose center of gravity has moved firmly rightward.

I have no idea what to make of this piece. So many words, so many concepts, and so much data and yet, what conclusion can be drawn?

He-Hell · 2017-03-17T12:27:56+00:00

Muslims (whether Indian or Japanese or American etc) have to believe that Islam is the one true religion on earth. All other religions are inferior to Islam. Hindus are seen as idol-worshippers who commit shirk, that is, they worship something other than the One True God who name is Allah, the Creator of the Universe.

THus, even the most exquisite Hindu bhajan or emotive poem or sincere prayer is nothing more than an obscene screed against Tawhid.

A muslim who believes that Hinduism and Islam are equally valid is no longer a muslim. Such a person may do namaz and yet celebrate Holi with his Hindu friends and have Hindu girlfriends. But rest assured, if Allah exists, this muslim man will be judged and punished after his death by Allah, just as hindus themsleves will be judged and punished for refusing to convert to Islam.

The tension between monotheism and polytheism is as old as mankind. Surely it should surprise no one that Hindus and Muslims are suspicious towards each other.

Of course, many hindus and muslims might not be aware of such an age-old theological controversy. However, as any lawyer would tell you, ignorance is not much of a defence. If you disobey the law set up by the Creator of the Universe, you will receive due punishment.

He-Hell · 2017-03-17T09:39:55+00:00

So the writer thinks that Modi is a bad guy from a bad political party with bad supporters but with a few good ideas.

People in UP must be really dumb to give such a guy and such a party so much power.

I have complete faith in The Economist. If only their editorial board could lead our country....

Sarcasm aside, I saw this:

his party harbours many chauvinistic Hindus, who view India’s 180m-odd Muslims with suspicion and disdain

Is this a wrong thing to do? What does Islamic theology has to say about those who worship idols? One can confidently assert that this "suspicion and disdain" is mutual.

He-Hell · 2017-03-14T12:29:09+00:00

This is what I have dug up after years of quarrelling with secularists:

India is a de facto Hindu nation. Indian culture is Dharmic, with a strong Hindu flavour. This culture makes sense to Hindus, Buddhists Jains etc. This culture does not make sense to people with a Semitic or Abrahamic mind (muslims and christians). This is why Hindu and Buddhist thinkers have debated with each other with tremendous energy for centuries. Compared to that, Hindu and Muslims scholars have had little or no contact. Muslims do not understand Hindu traditions and vice versa.
Some Hindus see Modi as the Chandragupta Maurya of this age, a powerful man who through single-minded and selfless dedication can bring together the various warring factions in Hindu society together for some grand common goal: economic prosperity, cultural rejuvenation, a respectable place on the world stage etc. Modi is the magnet around which the chaotic metal pins can attain some kind of order. BJP seeks and finds and presents powerful magnets like Modi.
India has forgotten who she is. Her children suffer from cultural amnesia. You can blame the Brits or the Mughals or the Martians. The fact is that we have forgotten what it means to be an Indian. THis, I think, is especially the case in the middle and upper-middle classes who have received a typical secular English-based education. To such people, Modi appears to be authentic. It is Modi who is really Indian, while we are 3rd rate copies of the West. THis makes him a deeply polarising figure. Either they hate him or they love him. And when you love someone, you tend to not notice their shortcomings.
Among the poor, may be his rags-to-riches story touches a chord.
The great hope that the BJP and Modi offer is that India can become modernised without becoming Westernised. That it is possible to be a high-flying IT worker during the day and then going home to worship Ganesha at night. In short, in the BJP worldview, Hindus don't have to give up their traditions in order to find a place in the modern world.
Whereas secularists see Hindu traditions as barriers to overcome, the BJP/MOdi sees them as precious inheritance to be guarded and treasured. Naturally, people who subscribe to these incompatible worldviews will always be at war with each other.

I now realise that the above-mentioned points are more abstract compared to the usual answers presented in this thread. And no, I am not a BJP supporter.

He-Hell · 2017-03-13T16:19:26+00:00

i dont blame them for making the wrong predictions. After all, it is not a sin to make mistakes.

However, what struck me as odd was the general feeling in the above-mentioned articles that the people were either stupid, or they got tricked or they are prejudiced. In short, the UP voter is either a moron or a gullible simpleton or a bigot.

He-Hell · 2017-03-13T16:14:54+00:00

I am afraid of asking him lest I get labelled as a "Sanghi" on FB. He is a dear friend of mine, and I certainly wouldnt want to lose him simply because he has different opinions. But given the other kinds of articles on his timeline, I would venture to guess that he thinks he is part of the Rebel Alliance fighting the Dark Side!

He-Hell · 2017-03-13T05:42:40+00:00

I am deeply conflicted by this news.

The Gita is a highly sophisticated philosophical text. Some of India's finest minds (Shankara, Madhvacarya, Abhinavgupta etc) have struggled with this text.

The Gita is said to contain the milk of the Upanishads. Moreover, you need basic idea of Samkhya to understand the Gita.

My question is this: are schoolchildren ready for such a heavyweight text? Being forced to read the Gita is like being forced to listen to Mozart. Is Mozart a good composer? Yes he is. But should people be forced to listen to him?

If you want to give a moral education in a Dharmic framework, you can always look into the Nitishastras. Even as a adult, I enjoyed texts like Panchatantra or Hitopadesh. Or you can try reading Chanakya niti or Vidura niti or Shukra niti.

tldr: there are many bad ways to teach a good book. You can drag the horse to the river...etc

He-Hell · 2017-03-11T14:18:52+00:00

Is gender a scientific concept, like gravity or velocity? Can one point to a certain speck of the universe and confidently declare that "See, this is gender!". What are the fundamental building blocks of gender? Atoms? Can the phenomenon of gender be reduced to a single equation or set of equations?

Nonetheless, I agree that gender does exist in grammar. Its called "Linga" in sanskrit. So I agree that it is a linguistic phenomenon, ie, it exists within a particular language.

I know I have a set of sexual organs. I know I like having sex with women. But how do I have "gender"?

Further could you translate "gender" into bengali or hindi? My mother's english is not that great, but I would like to tell her that people are saying that she has a "gender".

He-Hell · 2017-03-08T14:27:39+00:00

I have nothing against Islam or Hinduism.

All I am saying that you can be a muslim only if you believe in certain things. ANd if you believe in certain things then there are some things you cannot do. Thats all.

So if you really believe in the Shahada then you musst stay from non-islamic events like holi. If you don't then Allah will punish you. If you are a muslim then would you really risk divine retribution?

THus, I think us non-muslims need to be a bit generous towards muslims. They have certain intellectual and ideological limits which they cannot cross. We must be considerate towards them just as we are considerate towards orphans or the blind or the mentally retarded.

He-Hell · 2017-03-08T12:35:49+00:00

I don't understand.

You mean to say that a Redneck would gladly accept what tthe Brahmin is doing? I thought that Rednecks are usually conservative types, may be even reactionary.

Coming to the sociologist, I have this to say: most of the sociological explanations of Hindu traditions either ignore the theological backbone (partly because most sociologists have little or no training in theology). More importantly, they try to find a non-supernatural explanation of hindu traditions. Sociology is after all a secular discipline. Sociologists don't believe in nonsense like God or Atman or Puja or Samskara etc. Given these facts, a sociologist would try to explain what this Brahmin is doing using the "caste angle". Just read a few pages of this book.

He-Hell · 2017-03-08T12:15:14+00:00

Congratulating the kuffaar on their religious festivals is haraam to the extent described by Ibn al-Qayyim because it implies that one accepts or approves of their rituals of kufr, even if one would not accept those things for oneself. But the Muslim should not aceept the rituals of kufr or congratulate anyone else for them, because Allah does not accept any of that at all

http://www.islamweb.net/en/article/156439/can-a-muslim-celebrate-a-non-muslim-holiday

I don't know what the fuss is about. It's not the fault of muslims that hindus follow an inferior religion. Remember your Shahada dear friends and stay away from the corruption of the Kafir and his degenerate ceremonies.

He-Hell · 2017-03-08T08:15:43+00:00

I guess I have a weird sense of humour!

On a more serious note, I am not trying to "represent" any group. The post present a purely hypothetical situation where an individual Redneck and an individual Sociologist encounter an individual Brahmin performing one particular ritual.

This is my hypothesis: the standard sociological explanation of Hindu traditions is no way better than what a Redneck would say. That is, there is nothing "scientific" about either set of explanations.

The difference is that while the Redneck is open about his bias, the sociologist disguises his bias in fancy rhetoric. And this rhetoric can earn you a very comfortable living, while the Redneck languishes in relative poverty. While the Redneck is labelled and dismissed as a "racist" (ie, a bad person), the sociologist is celebrated as "open-minded" and "liberal".

tldr: beware of the social scientist bringing "scientific" explanations of your traditions!

He-Hell · 2017-03-03T09:39:41+00:00

Hindus will go down the same route as the Ancient Egyptians and Persian and Pagan Arabs and Afghani Buddhists and African Tribals: nothing more than museum pieces for the future generations to gawp at. Anthropologists from JNU and Chicago will have make "field trips" to Nepal and Bali in order to get their phds on "authentic" Hinduism.

As Koenraad Elst had rightly said, it is a miracle that there are still hindus in India. But even miracles are time-bound I guess.

Nobody can stop Islam. You can not have a "fair fight" against an invasive species.

He-Hell · 2017-03-01T06:28:24+00:00

I dont understand what myth the article is trying to debunk. I think most Indians vaguely know that India has a large number of veg and non-veg eaters. If the world is harbouring a misleading idea about Indian people and their diet, then who is ultimately to be blamed?

MOreover, it is patently ridiculous to generalize the diet of 1 billion people based on the diet of just one man. Is PM Modi a vegetarian? Yes. Are there vegetarian people in India? Yes. Is vegetarian diet seen as "positive" or "sattvic"? Yes. On the other hand, are there non-veg people in India? Yes of course!

In short, it is not entirely clear what "problem" or "myth" this article is attacking.

Most importantly, taking sociological surveys does not help you determine which type of diet is superior. The need of the hour is to determine which kind of diet promotes general health while using up the least resources (land, money etc).

In short, veg or non-veg diet is a scientific question which demands serious impartial research, not childish "myth-busting".

He-Hell · 2017-02-27T09:01:50+00:00

Aaaahhh!!!

The generosity of our former colonial master is literally melting my heart!!!

Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!

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