[Reader-list] "We Are All Hindus Now"

Sun Aug 23 16:17:48 IST 2009

Dear Kshmendra,

My over reaction has a basis which unfortunately is absent in states of
america. here people seemingly die for the cause of religion. someone
writing an opinion piece reducing religiousity to a dehydrogenated packaged
lifestyle product is what i found stupid. i have no issues with anyone
posting dozens of such opinions on this list.

regards
anupam
On 8/23/09, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   Ahhhh!!!! But Satan also is Hindu!!!!!
>
> Dear Anupam
>
> I think you over-reacted to the (what I delibertately called) 'Opinion
> Piece'.
>
> I read the summing up "So lets all say "om" " as being tongue-in-cheek..
>
> Lisa herself says that America is NOT a Hindu nation. She does not say that
> Americans are turning towards "Hinduism".
>
> She does say  "conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like
> Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God,
> our selves, each other, and eternity."
>
> That is her opinion and she uses a couple of generally recognised "Hindu"
> precepts and rituals to make the "conceptually" comment.
>
> She also thinks that " A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. Jesus
> is one way, the Qur'an is another, yoga practice is a third. None is better
> than any other; all are equal."
>
> Venture Capitalists (to repeat what I have stated many a time before)
> follow the finest principles of Islamic Financing. That does not mean that I
> am stating that Venture Capitalists have become Muslims.
>
> Kshmendra
>
>
> --- On *Wed, 8/19/09, anupam chakravartty <c.anupam at gmail.com>* wrote:
>
>
>
> From: anupam chakravartty <c.anupam at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] "We Are All Hindus Now"
> To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 6:44 PM
>
> There is a hindu way of life, just as you have an islamic way of leading
> life, a buddhist, a christian monk. it might be blasphemous to say but
> often
> a large number of the so-called hindu practioners mix and match the
> teachings of various schools of indian thought, including the carvakas (the
> materialists) to justify their purpose. perhaps the only great thing about
> this religion are its liberal ethos, which has emerged over the years with
> arguments and counter arguments (basically through a critical
> understanding). however, in this very article conforming to certain styles
> of cremation or following a fixed set of rituals doesnt really show if the
> practioners are hindu in the approach towards their lives. it is neither a
> bad thing if more and more people are turning towards one particular
> religion relying on its principles, as the article tends to suggest.
> however, the examples used by the above article depending on the surveys is
> ridiculous. if i cite the number of the misdoings in the society from all
> parts of the world, there are large number of followers of Satan (be in
> semitic or otherwise), does that mean the world is slowly turning towards
> something evil? i am sure it doesnt. therefore i find such claims to bogus,
> and motivated in the communitarian lines.
>
> -anupam
>
> On 8/19/09, Rajendra Bhat Uppinangadi <rajen786uppinangady at gmail.com<http://us.mc572.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=rajen786uppinangady@gmail.com>>
> wrote:
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> >  the article submitted by Sri. Kshemendra truely reflects the ethos of a
> > faith, which has no claim to be superior, the only way to live and attain
> > salvation, recognises the different ways of life, including the one in
> which
> > the faith of non-existence of God is also a way of life.That is hindu way
> of
> > life, one likes it or not !
> >
> >
> >    Perhaps the hindu way of life is the way where all the good of
> different
> > ways are merged, to constantly change for better, to tolerate the
> > differences in different paths that any faith followers like to follow,
> and
> > that is the main reason, hindu way of life has no one single spokesperson
> > for the way of life, as each can have his way as right way, as the hold
> of
> > clergies is limited only to rituals in birth, marriage and death of
> > individuals, thus many godmen can live interpreting the scripture as they
> > like to enhance the standards of their life with air conditioned ashrams,
> > deluxe sedans and aircrafts to travel, without actually seating for the
> > work.! Not that other clergies of other faiths are any different as gods
> > preachers.!
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> >
> > Rajen.
> >
> >  On Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 4:17 PM, anupam chakravartty <
> c.anupam at gmail.com<http://us.mc572.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=c.anupam@gmail.com>
> >wrote:
> >
> >> Certainly it is one of most ridiculous articles i have read recently.
> this
> >> is what happens when devotion is confused with statistics. People in
> >> america
> >> have adopted cremation because in many of the cities there is a dearth
> of
> >> space and burial grounds.
> >>
> >> On 8/19/09, Kshmendra Kaul <kshmendra2005 at yahoo.com<http://us.mc572.mail..yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=kshmendra2005@yahoo.com>>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> > This is an Opinion-Piece regarding America, by an American.
> >> >
> >> > Kshmendra
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > "We Are All Hindus Now"
> >> > By Lisa Miller | NEWSWEEK
> >> > Published Aug 15, 2009
> >> > From the magazine issue dated Aug 31, 2009
> >> >
> >> > America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation
> founded
> >> by
> >> > Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of us continue
> to
> >> > identify as Christian (still, that's the lowest percentage in American
> >> > history). Of course, we are not a Hindu—or Muslim, or Jewish, or
> >> > Wiccan—nation, either. A million-plus Hindus live in the United
> States,
> >> a
> >> > fraction of the billion who live on Earth. But recent poll data show
> >> that
> >> > conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and
> less
> >> > like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, our
> selves,
> >> each
> >> > other, and eternity.
> >> >
> >> > The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: "Truth is
> >> One,
> >> > but the sages speak of it by many names." A Hindu believes there are
> >> many
> >> > paths to God. Jesus is one way, the Qur'an is another, yoga practice
> is
> >> a
> >> > third. None is better than any other; all are equal. The most
> >> traditional,
> >> > conservative Christians have not been taught to think like this. They
> >> learn
> >> > in Sunday school that their religion is true, and others are false.
> >> Jesus
> >> > said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
> father
> >> > except through me."
> >> >
> >> > Americans are no longer buying it. According to a 2008 Pew Forum
> survey,
> >> 65
> >> > percent of us believe that "many religions can lead to eternal
> >> > life"—including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most
> likely
> >> to
> >> > believe that salvation is theirs alone. Also, the number of people who
> >> seek
> >> > spiritual truth outside church is growing. Thirty percent of Americans
> >> call
> >> > themselves "spiritual, not religious," according to a 2009 NEWSWEEK
> >> Poll, up
> >> > from 24 percent in 2005. Stephen Prothero, religion professor at
> Boston
> >> > University, has long framed the American propensity for "the
> >> > divine-deli-cafeteria religion" as "very much in the spirit of
> Hinduism.
> >> > You're not picking and choosing from different religions, because
> >> they're
> >> > all the same," he says. "It isn't about orthodoxy. It's about whatever
> >> > works. If going to yoga works, great—and if going to Catholic mass
> >> works,
> >> > great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist
> >> retreat
> >> > works, that's
> >> > great, too."
> >> >
> >> > Then there's the question of what happens when you die. Christians
> >> > traditionally believe that bodies and souls are sacred, that together
> >> they
> >> > comprise the "self," and that at the end of time they will be reunited
> >> in
> >> > the Resurrection. You need both, in other words, and you need them
> >> forever.
> >> > Hindus believe no such thing. At death, the body burns on a pyre,
> while
> >> the
> >> > spirit—where identity resides—escapes. In reincarnation, central to
> >> > Hinduism, selves come back to earth again and again in different
> bodies.
> >> So
> >> > here is another way in which Americans are becoming more Hindu: 24
> >> percent
> >> > of Americans say they believe in reincarnation, according to a 2008
> >> Harris
> >> > poll. So agnostic are we about the ultimate fates of our bodies that
> >> we're
> >> > burning them—like Hindus—after death. More than a third of Americans
> now
> >> > choose cremation, according to the Cremation Association of North
> >> America,
> >> > up from 6 percent in 1975. "I do think the more spiritual role of
> >> religion
> >> > tends to deemphasize some of the more starkly literal interpretations
> of
> >> > the Resurrection," agrees Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion
> >> at
> >> > Harvard. So let us all say "om."
> >> >
> >> > http://www.newsweek.com/id/212155
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > _________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Rajen.
> >
> >
> >
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