[Advaita-l] A news item The most unfortunate thing

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Wed, 11 Apr 2012, Satish Arigela wrote:

> It is Jaldhar, Vidyasankar and others being unable to even smell any 
> foul play and make statements like "That is why sAmpradAya is important"

*sigh* way to miss the point completely.  But when I saw Vidyashankaras 
original mail on this topic I had a sinking feeling this is exactly what 
was going to happen.

You and Rajaram apparently missed that I wasn't talking about Hitler at 
all but about _us_.  I don't care what anyone else thought of the Gita, it 
is _our_ understanding that is important.  It is only a thorough 
understanding of what our guru parampara has said which can defend against 
the distorters.  This is the part which is important to advaita-l.  And 
please disabuse yourself of the notion that just because I say politics is 
not important to advaita-l it means I don't think it is important at all. 
In fact I taken part in anti-missionary efforts in my home town.  There 
are other forums for that kind of thing.

As for Rajiv Malhotra (who I have met) he is a clown.  Just because he is 
a pro-Hindu clown doesn't make him anymore worthy of attention.  He and 
his ilk are just as ready to distort Hinduism as "the church" (there is 
only one?) Is it any less apalling because his distortions are flattering 
instead of uncomplimentary?

Historically as well the romantic nationalism which in its most extreme 
form gave birth to Nazism was eagerly adopted by Indians trying to defend 
Hinduism by showing it is "modern" and "scientific"  This is a fact that 
cannot be ignored.  What I am saying is we should also resist hitching 
Hinduism to the trendy intellectual fads of today.


On Wed, 11 Apr 2012, Satish Arigela wrote:

> Obtain copies of these books and study them thoroughly. The study of
> gItA bhAShya, or brahma sUtra can wait for the moment.

If one lets Hitler, the church, or Rajiv Malhotra dictate ones sadhana 
they have already ceased to be Astikas and are now merely reactionaries.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>