This is totally Mundane & Pointless, but all the religion debates in GD seem to center about the three major ones: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. How cool would it be if we had a regular contingent of Hindus/Buddhists/ and any other Eastern religions to debate & discuss?
Would it be possible to create such a thing, I wonder? It seems not, since the few times I have started a thread on anything remotely Hindu I get a handful of responses and then it dies on the vine. I’m not complaining about my threads dying, just wish there was more & varied responses on the boards.
Ah well. Wish in one hand & shit in the other and see which one gets filled first!
You need to head on over to Beliefnet. There are a whole host of religious discussions going on there, including a number on Hinduism. The discussion isn’t necessarily fast-paced, but I’ve found the place to be very educational on the whole.
I ahev a friend who is a Vedic Monk as well as a sociologist. Perhaps I should email her and ask her to join the Boards. Would she be of use to your discussions?
The average Indian internet user you’re going to bump into on these boards is a young yuppie-type. I don’t mean to be insulting, but we yuppie types probably know as much about Hindu philosophy as did Brer Rabbit. The only sections of Hindu belief that most of us are familiar with are the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and those only to the extent that the Doordarshan Sunday serials handled them. We know nothing about the Vedas or the Upanishads, nothing about Yoga dharma, and the absolute barest minimum about the Gita. Deplorable, yes, but true.
In sum, it’s unlikely you’re going to find significant debate about Hinduism here. Better to go to a forum that specialises in the topic.
That said, there are some posters whose input I never fail to read when the topics do come up. Gyan is one of them - the rare young Indian who seems to know what he’s talking about (when it comes to the deeper Hindu philosophies, anyway). Kimstu, Johanna and Tamerlane are also posters who have contributed notably in past threads. I am not sure how well-read any of these people are about Hinduim, but any time they’ve said something in a thread about the topic, their posts have been pertinent, credible, factually correct, and insightful. They’ve fought my ignorance on more occasion than one, for which I am truly grateful.
I have a good friend who is Indian and is the opposite of the above description, and is Jain. I’ll invite her to join and to contribute her personal, and Jain, perspective to whatever topics interest her.
I never thought about it before, but I see what you mean. I would be interested too. I’m not a Hindu, but I’ve been exposed to a bit of the religious culture of Hinduism. I find it a fascinating topic.
On one line you imply most yuppies know nothing about Hinduism.
Then you say it’s pointless to even try!
Then you say you enjoyed having your ignorance fought.
So why is it anathema to even try? I don’t understand this attitude, I really don’t. “We don’t know anything, so don’t even bother trying. Go somewhere else.”
Well, perhaps I’ll start a thread on the MahaBharat, since that is really what I wished to discuss.
Honestly, I’d love to have an episode-by-episode discussion on it. But there’s no other place that discusses things quite like here, with the same clarity of vision. Belief.Net is comprised of people who believe in God. It’s really hard to debate/discuss with someone who thinks the answer to a fascinating, in-depth question like:
Why, when Krishna was born on this Earth, was it necesary for him to have an older brother?
is:
Because he’s God and he felt like he needed one.
Sigh. The answer should be, IMO,
To show the proper way to show respect & reverence to your elder brother
That elders are not always right
And the respectful way to disagree with them when they’re not.
IMHO it would be better to discuss the actual Mahabharat, rather than B.R. Chopra’s version of it. The text can be found at http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/.
I cannot vouch for the exactness of the translation, neither can I verify it because I opted for German as my elective language in school instead of Sanskrit.
Happy reading.
Case in point, the story of Krishna itself is not part of the Mahabharat (I think). It was probably put in there because of its popularity. Artistic license - I have exercised it many times myself.
I’ll be back. This could take a while. I *have * read the Mahabharat in a book, but I have no clue if this is the version I read or not. Let me finish downloading, and will take a look.
Oh, I am so subscribing to this thread. The chance of reading some comparative-religion dialogues that may not actually spiral down into one-upmanship and name calling? Outstanding!
