RMF Summary: Week of November 4-10, 2012

Happy Deepavali!

November 5:  (continuing discussion from October 28)

Is this digestion or appreciation This is a trick question about deciding whether an example of use of Indian terms is digestion or appreciation. I work in a research lab where various tools.. Latest Comment: Hindus should permit/support usage of their deva-devataa and Almighty names by anyone provided such use leads connecting the mind to the omnipresent divine, as in Garuda Indonesia or Krishna Ratha Beedhi. In general, this may not happen with a toilet cover or a footwear (but then it can for any sufficiently evolved mind) but it may happen with a DLTS setup or a car. Such usage may end up digestion in the reverse - by seeding the thought that divinity is omnipresent (thus displacing the currently dominant Western view that it is not). Rajiv Malhotra: This position can be applied consistently, rather than positions that discriminate the policy based on ethnicity, country etc. The question that arises is: how do we enforce November 5 (continuing discussion from October 28) how will we categorize osho? Latest Comment: I know a couple of osho sannyasins so i have taken interest in the matters of the current Osho International Foundation(OIF) and its effort to completely cut all the dharmic roots. 1) OIF has kicked the traditonal indian devotees out as they 'obscure' the true message of the master. This thrown out group has created a new organization called "Osho World" in Delhi completely made up of Indians.... November 6: New Thread English Education [Moderator's Note: Below news piece has some tangential relevance to both BD & BI. Western Universalism is generally 'sincere' about 'civilizing' the conquered / colonized 'natives'. This is truu[sic] below, as it is true for India, for the 'Aborigines' of Australia, Africa, etc.] Contributor: This article related to Native Americans appeared in CNN today:http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/05/us/crazy-horse-memorial/index.html?hpt=hp_rr\ _7 What caught my eye was the following line: "....Ziolkowski was dismayed by the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty, which handed the Black Hills over to the Lakota but required their children have an "English education" and failed to address gold rights, resulting in years of conflict." Note: BD = Being Different, BI = Breaking India November 7: New Thread Government of India officially issues "Missionary Visas" Instead of combating White Christian Missionaries from disrupting India's religious harmony, the Government of India officially issues "Missionary Visas" and thereby promotes Breaking India. See these two links below: Google Search on: India "Missionary Visa" http://passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/online/visaServices  November 7: (continuing discussion from October 24) Dharma and Karmakaand (ritualistic Worship) :: Anti Faith Law This thread has generated many comments and continues to generate an active discussion. Latest comment: and then they say that there is no [C]onspiracy....I am reminded of the song from early 1950's..."Kehni hai ik baat humein is desh ke pehreydaaron se, Sambhal ke rehna apney ghar mein chhipe hue gaddaaron se..." I may be wrong, but it seems that Nehru banned this song? Anyways, here's the song on YT. asas November 8: New Thread Islamic studies in American Universities Apropos Rajiv's long fight in the American Academy of Religion to correct distortions of Hinduism, I came across an interesting booklet produced by the.. November 10 (continuing discussion) Why mantra cannot be performed by a machine Rajiv Malhotra: I am involved in a private debate with some Sanskrit scholars who dispute my position that mantra requires a jiva - i.e. prana/consciousness. Implication of my...  Rajiv Malhotra's latest comment: Ravi Khanna, a Delhi based scholar and friend, sent the following elaboration on this issue, which I wish to pass along:------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 5 of BD quotes Sri Aurobindo as follows: "The Mantra is the word that carries the power of the godhead, that can bring [the godhead] into the consciousness and fix it there and its workings, awaken there the thrill of the infinite, the force of something absolute, perpetuate the miracle of the Supreme utterance." And earlier BD says: "The rishi does not compose hymns but hears or tunes into them. These hymns are called Mantras." Let me cite Kapil Kapoor's paper, "Vivarta & Pariṇāma – BhartriharÄ«'s Theory of Language" (1996), where he quotes Rig Veda I.164.41 as follows: gauriḥ mimāya  salilāni  takÅ›ati ekpadÄ«  dwipadÄ«  sā  catuá¹£padÄ« aÅ›tāpadÄ«  navpadÄ«  babhÅ«vuśī  sahasrākÅ›arā  parme  vyömaá¹… [Gauri is the symbol of vāk or speech, according to the shrutÄ«s …. the real significance is that the principle of vāk creates or fashions out the manifold forms out of the waters of the infinite `ocean of reality' … the parme vyöman. You cannot cut forms or draw lines in water, you can do that only in space; but reality like water is continuous, indivisible…]