Modernism and education

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

The sad thing about this latest round in the endless debate about Dharma
and its' future direction is how ill-informed it is.  For example

K. Venkataramani wrote:

> Shastras were codified at certain point of time,

Which point of time?

> probably as a response to social conditions prevailing then.

What were the social conditions then?

> There is no need to adhere to them today.

On what basis is "need" established?

I don't wish to single out K. Venkataramani here, this is unfortunately
the norm in contemporary society.  Perhaps there aren't definitive answers
for some questions but at least there are solid facts to base an argument
on.  Why then is there so much "I think", "we should", "I feel"?  Attempts
to reform traditional Hinduism have been going on for 200 years now.  What
are the lessons to be learned from such experiments?  Repeating Communist
cant doesn't make you "progressive," understanding the lessons of history
does.

Jagannatha Chatterjee wrote:

> But I feel we will be better off defending ourselves with modern equipment
> than depending upon slings and bows and arrows.

This is the thing.  my opposition to such thinking is not because it is
too modern but because _it_is_not_modern_at_all_.  What passes for
"modern" Hinduism is just a hodge-podge of wooly-headed romanticism,
half-baked mysticism and wishful thinking.  Those who wish to be modern
should drop the Upanishads for a while and read Nietzche, Godel, Huxley,
Breton, Orwell, Sartre, Berlin, Levi-Strauss, Primo Levi and a host of
others.  Then you will understand what it means to be modern and how much
it is actually worth it.  But I don't see any attempt by the so-called
progressive Hindus to do.  Rather their philosophy seems to be "the last
10 times I hit my head against a brick wall, I got a headache but the 11th
time will be different..."

If any reader is seriously interested in improving the world and their
fellow man, they must seriously search for the truth.  Education whether
it is in Sanskrit, science, sociology, anthropology, and history or
preferably all of them is the key.  It will be hard work but one who is
not prepared to do hard work will never amount to anything.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/