I am all praise for efforts to correct worng notions the westerners hold against Hinduism.Those who call Ramayana a myth should better look at the evidences provided by NASA about existance of a man made bridge 1.3 million years ago(RAMAYANA ERA) which proves beyond doubt the existance of ARYAN/HINDU culture and history when existance of the race of these writers was nowhere in the HISTORY. N. S GOEL 128/136 H BLOCK KIDWAI NAGAR KANPUR
RE:demeaning hinduism by westerners
by Sachin Purohit on Jan 02, 2006 03:59 PM
This is a piece of lie being circulated in mail forwards. NASA has itself rubbished the claims made in its name. All that NASA had done was published the pictures of Adam's Bridge. All the later statements about its being built by Lord Rama had been added by some unknown elements. So, Lord Rama still remains a mythological character and if you read the interview carefully, Suhag Shukla has not contested Rama and Krishna being categorized as Mythological characters. She has objected to the double standards - that of referring to Jesus and other biblical characters as part of History whereas Rama and Krishna as mythology. In the absence of historical evidence, both of them are to be treated as Myth. Anyway, Hinduism does not need to prove the existence of Rama and Krishna for proving its greatness and originality. The wide spectrum of intellectual work in the form of Vedas, Upanishads, Gita, Puranas, Ayurveda, the contribution to mathematics and astronomy are enough to prove its greatness. Krishna may have been a fictional character but the Bhagwad Gita is not. It at least proves the greatness of the Rishi who wrote these beautiful verses.
Iam for re-writing the way this word Hinduism is ascribed to the way of Life of people of Bharathavarsha.
It is amazing as to how little we know about hinduism. Hinduism(I hate this word) is not a religion but a way of life, guided by principles of satya and dharma. This was refered as "Sanathana Dharma", the ancient way of righteousnes.
India, as we call it today was known as "Bharatha Varshs" not because of Bharatha, the king, but because of "Bharathi", the first of many names of Mother Saraswathi.
This land has been a blessed because of its freedom of speech that does not hurt any one, freedom of thought that respects individuality and freedom of faith and belief appreciating the idea that religion is apersonal issue and that all roads lead to the same divine.
If we cannot understand in this spirit, then we are hurting ourselves, blinded by the ideas of one religion called Hindu religion.
I never read this name("Hindu") in any of the scriptures, nor in the vedas. How can then this way of life be given a status of religion. It is more than a religion.
Please know, understand, contemplate, realize, experience and speak. Chaitanya
I dont believe that caste system was created with devious intent. Caste was linked to a person's vocation and a person's caste could change with change in occupation. This kind of social status being linked to a persons' vocation is not unique to Hindus & continues to this day in all developed societies. An American Professor in a university would get a heartburn if his daughter married a person not formally qualified even if he is a master craftsman - carpenter etc. This stems from the professor's feeling of his own social superiority which is the basis of 'caste' . Misinterpretation / exploitation of the original principle has caused untold misery to people & brought a bad name to the religion. Barriers have been created even among socially compatible people through the innumerable sub-castes. We (Hindus) should take the blame rather than fault people who lived 4000-5000 years back since we dont have a full picture of society as it was then. Maybe what they did was OK by their times.
Is it the discussion regarding 1. comparison between Hinduism or Western Culture or 2. is it regarding the image of Hinduism in US test book. If it is #1 I would not like to take part into the tug of war, If it is the other way around, then we should focus on the truth in the light of historical eveidence only. Every culture is having their dark and enlighted side. We should not keep ourselves busy in throwing stones to each other culture's dark side since everyone is having the dark chapter more or less.
It should not be in a way to say 'we killed 10 people and they killed 100, thereby we are good or they are bad'.
Important thing is to decide how we have to represent history in the text book, how much dark and how much enlighted part will be focussed and that rule should be unanimously applicable to all culture/religion's perspective.
The focus should not be in a specific culture or specific group of people, if we are searching for truth in the light of modern reserch, it must be applicable to all.Even as a human being also everyone is having strong points and week points. Sometimes within ourselves a fight continues between the evil and good entities.
