--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltablues@...> wrote: > > This is such a nail down, thanks for posting this. It explains so much about > Maharishi's triumphalist approach to science. But deeper than that, since > time has marginalized the TM group, it reveals a major thinking flaw that > affects public policy. And given India's rise in the world, this is a key > part of understanding what we are dealing with as they crank out more and > more scientists and engineers at the top 1% of their classes than we have in > our whole video game playing student body.
Wayback: Very interesting post, Vaj. The use of science to validate spiritual experiences is one thing, but using the Vedic knowledge to justify all sorts of applications of science is something I had not considered, altho it all rings familiar. I wonder how prevalent this view is in India, really? Speaking of video gaming, I just learned of international competitions in a game called Star Craft 2. Lots of money to be made if you win. The best players on the planet are young Koreans, who actually spend every waking moment perfecting their strategy and their hand eye coordination. Apparently, Americans have gone to Korea to train with them and prepare for a big international playoff in February in Korea. Technology is changing society and our brains. Work places can no longer track the sites visited and amount of time spent when employees are on the job. With IPhones, you don't need to use the company computer. I see it at my job with a colleague addicted to her IPhone and texting her children - about half her day is spent texting (not an exaggeration) and her boss has no clue. Her college age children are connected to her all day long!! Businesses lose as employees really only work part-time, and our brains are being rewired as we get ultra social with many many people non-stop. Near constant multi-tasking with little real in depth thinking. Or our kids narrow their focus to video games for hours on end. Some are wistful - I spoke with a 7th grader the other day and he said he wished he lived back in the days before everyone had IPhones, and email. He has never known life without it all. He said it all overwhelms him with information and the expectation to be on top of things. And even when his family goes to the beach they are all constantly looking at their phones. It is not going away. > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Vaj <vajradhatu@> wrote: > > > > In this section, I want to revisit how dharma took over the bomb, or > > how Vedic metaphysics claimed nuclear physics. The rationale behind > > this episode is sympto- matic of a much larger problem. Treating > > modern science as just "another name" for Vedic science and vice > > versa has become the state's justification for introducing Hindu > > precepts and superstitions Vedic astrology, priest-craft, and faith > > healing, for example as part of science education in colleges and > > universities. Like "creation scientists" in the United States who > > have been trying to smuggle the Bible into public schools, Vedic > > science proponents are borrowing the prestige of sci- ence to smuggle > > in their own peculiar interpretation of Hindu scriptures into schools > > and other institutions in the public sphere. The situation in India > > is far more frightening because this Hinduization of education is > > taking place in the context of extreme Hindu chauvinism directed at > > Muslim and Christian minorities. > > > > To recapitulate from the last chapter, the test-explosion of nuclear > > devices in 1998 was experienced as a religious event by a large > > proportion of Indian people. Nuclear weapons were justified and > > packaged in dharmic terms by Hindutva ideologues allied with the > > ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. They claimed that the bomb was > > foretold by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita when he declared > > himself to be "the radiance of a thousand suns, the splendor of the > > Mighty One.... I am be- come Death." They celebrated the bomb by > > invoking gods and goddesses symbolizing shakti (power) and vigyan > > (science). Even the idols of Ganesh turned up with atomic halos > > around their elephant-heads, and guns in their hands! Invocation of > > gods in the context of nuclear weapons has become a constant feature > > of public discourse. During the 2002 stand-off between India and > > Pakistan, India's most popular newsmagazine, India Today, prefaced > > its tasteless warmongering with references to the Mahabharata and > > the "thousand suns." The net result of these references is to turn > > these ugly developments into something like the Mahabharata, in which > > God Krishna sided with the virtuous. > > > > The invocation of the goddesses of shakti and vigyan was not > > fortuitous. It was claimed at that time that the bombs were a symbol > > of India's advanced science and technology, the roots of which could > > be traced back to ancient Vedic texts. The idea of constructing a > > temple to the goddess of learning at the site of the explosion was > > meant to propagate the age-old popular myth that the Vedas presage > > all important discoveries of science, especially quantum and nuclear > > physics. A popular version of this myth was reported by Jonathan > > Parry in his ethnography of the holy city of Benaras: "In Benaras, I > > have often been told and I have heard variants of the same story > > elsewhere that Max Miiller stole chunks of the Sama-Veda from > > India, and it was by studying these that German scientists were able > > to develop the atom bomb. The ancient rishis (sages) not only knew > > about nuclear fission, but they also had supersonic airplanes and > > guided missiles" (Parry 1985, 206). > > > > Finding physics in the Vedas is a good illustration of Hinduism's > > peculiar dynamic: its tendency to claim for itself those elements of > > alien traditions that it needs for its own aggrandization. Agehananda > > Bharati, a.k.a. Leopold Fisher, a Viennese who spent many years as a > > Hindu ascetic in India,' coined a new term to describe this peculiar > > cultural dynamic. He called it the "pizza effect" (Bharati 1970, > > 273). The pizza was originally the staple of Italian and Sicilian > > peasants. It became a part of haute cuisine in Italy only after the > > Americans popularized it around the world. Like the humble pizza, > > Bharati argues, any traditional Hindu idea or practice, however > > obscure and irrational it might have been through its history, gets > > the honorific of "science" if it bears any resemblance at all, > > however remote, to an idea that is valued (even for the wrong > > reasons) in the West. Thus, obscure references in the Vedas get > > reinterpreted as referring to nuclear physics. By staking a phony > > priority, modern science gets domesticated; it was always contained > > in India's "wisdom" anyway. Whatever good they might do for national > > pride, such claims cannot cover up the fact that Indian people remain > > mired in a view of the world that is deeply irrational and > > objectively false. > > > > Nanda Meera > > Prophets Facing Backward > > >
