Good morning: On Mar 15, 2005, at 10:56 PM, mark robert wrote:
> I'm not sure your points on fragmented Vedic history really > address the integrity of RV-Soma texts regarding the main theme. > Do you feel that the texts were so corrupted by the time they > were written, by a chaotic mixture of influences, that the basic > message of something external being prepared to produce an > enlightenment is a distortion? No that's not really the point I am making. The point is that Vedic recitation of Rig Veda exists really just as that: Brahmins reciting Rig Veda. It does not contain a lineal set of practices along with it regarding soma. The upanishads do talk somewhat on this, but they do not provide a set of spiritual practices for realization via "soma". It's not really about fragmented history either, because at some point in history "Hinduism" became a blend of Agamic and Vedic. What it is about is not claiming something is Vedic when it is well known that it is not. What it is about is Brahmin domination--and since the early middle ages, the rise of the merchant castes. It's also about the Hindatva movement. It's also about Vaishnavism and the mix of puritanical religions brought by the British Raj. What I seem to be coming up against is an entire movement of people who have been brainwashed into believing certain things are "Vedic" when in reality they never were. No matter what you say or explain, there response is "it's all Vedic". It's the Ved. As I said so many times before, there is very little left of Vedic religion. > I would like to suggest a better perspective. All "religions" are > far more fluid than they would like to "believe". According to > them, they are a finite set of inflexible doctrines. According to > us, there is little coherence to them. But it is looking more and > more like, amongst all the chaotic fluidity, there remains a > common theme hidden deep within them. As counterintuitive as it > is, the common theme would appear to be: "Take a drug and have a > religious experience". Sorry for the message being so depraved > and devaluing to human spirituality, but that is the essence of > the research that I continue to see more and more. I know it's > not a pleasant thought for many, but truth trumps all preference. Again this is simply not the case. There is a huge literature surrounding the use of some lunar, soma-substance and a corresponding set of inner practices. The two are always linked together, unless it is simply a substance for medicinal use. The practices are all Tantric, Agamic or of Dravidian origin--not Vedic. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
