Sunday, January 17, 2010

Religion or Dharam

Religion is not some universal category or universal existent, so that all cultures traditions should have a a correspondence. Religion is only a Semitic construct that is their truth claim. Indian traditions have category of Dharma, that just means "support like mother and support is also measure". Dharma of "something" is that what supports that "something" and is also its measure of reality. That is why Dharma has Dharma. The Dharma of Dharma is "Sat" (i.e ultimate existence). (Again "Sat does not mean truth but existence.). Or we have Dharma Patni but no religious wife. All existents have Dharma but no religion.

So if we do not have a concept of religion (as it does not exit), then translating Dharma as religion is a disastrous error in understanding categories. With the outcome we are facing crisis of misunderstandings hence rejections of cultural traditions lock stock and barrel. One cannot study Physics without maths likewise to understand Dharam Sanskrit is pre requisite because the English language is an inferior tool.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Hindus and Science

Aryan Scientific Contribution to Europe and other World Civilizations
Prior to Industrial Revolution

Many eyebrows were raised at the title of this seminar. Deep rooted
disbelief that how can earlier civilizations can be contributors to
any “Science”, as we understand it today? Science means rational,
logical, objective thinking, something which did not exist in the
earlier people in adequate quantity. The life of these earlier people
was governed by religion i.e. superstition, which is inherently,
devoid of “scientific temper” and ‘free will”, the hall mark and
pre-requisite of scientific development. Once this premise is accepted
without debate, then West as birth place of all Science is the forgone
conclusion.
Religion as anti science is 100% a modern western construct and we
need to understand this thoroughly well. Religion in this case is
Christian religion and Science means modern Western science. This
incompatibility of religion with science in the West automatically
gets grafted on non-Western religions and their relation with science.
Concept of Religion in West and East differs radically in many
respects. In the Western concept of religion, it must have a Prophet
and a Book and the followers must abide by the teaching of both. In
the eastern religion specially Hinduism, the concept of Dharma ,
incorporates no single Prophet or book and followers are free to
choose , accept or reject philosophy of life, which suits them best