Fw: Item# 4

[Vidyasankar]

>Even a cursory glance at shastras shows that on a philosophical level,
>Astikas of whatever darshan were vehemently opposed to Buddhism.  How did
>such a stupid ideas as Buddhism is part of Hinduism ever become part of
>law?  What are Indian citizens doing to repeal that law?

This has been in the Indian constitution since day one. Not just Buddhists,
but Jains are also considered Hindu. Legally, it only matters for civil law
as the so-called Hindu civil law applies to Jains and Buddhists also, as
opposed to, for example, Muslim civil law that applies to Muslims.

On the other hand, I would like to request that, on this forum, we avoid
expanding on topics such as,

a. Scheduled castes and tribes
b. Conversions from Hinduism to Buddhism/Christianity/Islam
c. Untouchability
d. Dowry deaths
e. Hindu vs. Muslim fundamentalists and related social/political problems
f. ...

It is not that these issues are not worth discussing. However, there are
other public fora available where one can thrash out one or more of these
topics as much as one likes. On the Advaita list, it would be more
pertinent for us to minimize such discussions.

Vidyasankar