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

Sun Aug 30 04:00:06 IST 2009

I am afraid i dont even accept that there is one islamic way of life, even
if it is a thing that has been announced on drums in south asia &... even
just the variations in karachi are overwhelming...

the cultural circumnavigations within the main streams [!] as well as the
streaming borderline sects are enormous. the same applies to christianity i
am afraid.

in fact i accept the many paths without bothering about salvation, and an
accidental fortune teller told me i was hindu without saying why. (the
idiot's claim rested on having told BB's fortune once [!].

this discussion reeks of a desi social studies textbook [!]

the religion does seem to have a very curious harmony for VCs, but then
shylock wasn't carved by one. and pathan sharks are lethal.

dismissive.

yasir

On Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 5:51 PM, Murali V <murali.chalam at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yes sir. Every human being has some god thoughts and some evil
> thoughts in him/her and when the balance tilts completely towards
> evil, then one becomes a satan and if good thoughts and deeds has
> completly control over the evil thoughts then one tends towards being
> a perfect human being. Those are also ways of life.
>
> Regards,
> V Murali
>
> On Sun, Aug 23, 2009 at 4:07 PM, 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>
> 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>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> 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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> >>> Critiques & Collaborations
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> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Rajen.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> > _________________________________________
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> > Critiques & Collaborations
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> >
> >
> > _________________________________________
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> > Critiques & Collaborations
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