Dynamite.
L B S --- In [email protected], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Why Hindutva Loves "Science" > > Meera Nanda > > We can understand why the leading Hindutva ideas-men go around calling > themselves "intellectual Kshatriyas": they are at home in a > varna-defined world. But the Kshatriyas were only supposed to defend > dharma as a way of life. Why, then, are our Kshatriyas so bent upon > defending dharma as science? Why is it not enough for them to have > pulled off a coup against higher education in India by forcing such > absurdities as "Vedic astrology" into the college curricula? Why must > they also insist upon declaring astrology, and the entire Vedic > tradition, "scientific"? > > Why this sudden love for "science" in the saffron camp? > > ��������� We will solve this mystery as we go along. We will also > unearth a curious, although entirely unintended alliance between our > Vedic warriors and our postmodern Brahmins in universities and social > movements, both in India and abroad. We will find that postmodernist > condemnations of science and modernity, coupled with uncritical > celebration of "local knowledges" have created a climate in which > irrationalities of all kinds can thrive. > > But first: some friendly advice to help you cope with what lies > ahead�.. > > Get over whatever mental blocks you may have against this oxymoron > called "Vedic science," which pairs the archaic, mystical and > unfalsifiable worldview of the Vedas with science. Put away whatever > residual hopes you may still cherish that science could help demystify > and liberalize our culture�.. > > Instead, get used to the doublespeak of "Vedic science," for we are > going to hear a lot more of it. Be prepared for a flood of books, > TV-shows and even new computer programs extolling the virtues of Hindu > sciences. After all, big money is behind it: tax-payer's rupees and > large grants from private foundations (Hinduja Foundation, Infinity > Foundation) are pouring into "research centers" dedicated to showing > the scientificity of Hindu scriptures. If you thought that Vedic > astrology was merely a personal idiosyncrasy of Murli Manohar Joshi and > a handful of UGC bureaucrats, think again! > > Everything Vedic � from yagnas to the gods of all things, to > reincarnation, karma and parapsychology will make a claim for the > status of "science." And everything scientific � from the knowledge of > quantum physics, to the laws of molecular biology and ecology � will be > declared to be already there in the Vedas. Modern science will be > treated as a Western corruption of the non-dualist Vedic sciences which > can synthesize science with god, facts with values, etc. Mother India > will be called upon to heal the wounds inflicted on the entire world by > the "violence" of soul-less modern science. > > But � and here the plot begins to thicken � this will not stop the BJP > government from acquiring the most violent and the most destructive > products of modern science and technology. We are heading toward a > schizophrenic national culture in which the technological products of > modern science will be eagerly embraced, but the secular culture which > science was supposed to help create will be strenuously denied. Instead > of a genuine secular culture, which denies the existence of gods in > nature and the authority of god-men in culture, the intellectual > Kshatriyas are intent on declaring the dharmic worldview, with its > nature-gods and miracle-working gurus, to be the essence of a "higher" > science and "authentic" secularism. Symptoms of such schizophrenia are > already evident: > > 1.����� The nuclear bomb tests in 1988 were justified and packaged in > dharmic terms. Hindu ideologues claimed that the bomb was foretold by > Lord Krishna in the Bhagwat Gita when he declared himself to be "the > radiance of a thousand suns, the splendor of the Mighty One. ..I am > become Death." They celebrated the bomb by invoking gods and goddesses > symbolizing shakti and vigyan. Even Ganesha idols turned up with atomic > halos around their heads and with guns in their hands! > > 2.����� �In April 2001, the Indian Space Research Organization made > history by successfully putting a satellite into the geo-stationary > orbit, 36,000 km. above the earth. This same "space power" that takes > justified pride in its ability to touch the stars, will soon start > educating its youth in how to read our fortunes and misfortunes in the > stars and how to propitiate these stars through appropriate karmakanda. > For all we know, the satellites launched by the much-celebrated GSLV > might some day carry internet signals that will make horoscopes easier > to match! > > This is how the secularist dream ends: with nuclear bombs in the > silos, and the Vedas in the schools; with satellites in space, and > horoscopes in our lives down here on earth. > > This secularist nightmare is Hindutva's dream-come-true. From Bankim > Chandra to Vivekananda to today's Sangh-parivar, the neo-Hindus have > dreamt of uniting the industry and technology of the West with the > dharma of India. They have dreamt of a "Hindu modernity" in which > technology serves to glorify India's "natural" spirituality. > > This Hindu modernity, incidentally, bears a frightening similarity with > the reactionary modernism of Hitler's Germany, where high technology > was allowed to mix with a highly romanticized dream of recreating an > Aryan society. The Nazis, too, assumed that Germany could be both > technologically advanced and remain true to its "Aryan soul". > > But the Hindu ideologues face the same problem as the Nazis faced: how > to reconcile technological modernization with cultural conservatism? > How to prevent the science that goes into making the technology from > challenging the worldview sanctioned by religion and traditions? The > problem is truly serious for Hinduism, because modern science, if taken > seriously, can challenge the most fundamental axioms of dharma which > are based upon such "laws of nature" as karma, rebirth and hierarchy of > beings determined by karmic cause-and-effect. If it is given the > cultural authority as a superior way of knowing, modern science has the > potential to demystify the hallowed truths of Hinduism itself, to say > nothing of the countless miracles and superstitions that are a part of > everyday life of average Indians. It is thus imperative for Hindutva > that science remains limited to technological gizmos, and does not > spill over into the larger culture. > > Like the Nazi myth of "Aryan science," Hindutva is in the process of > creating a myth of "Vedic science" which can co-opt and absorb modern > science into Hindu traditions by simply declaring these traditions to > be scientific. Hindutva ideologues argue that just as modern "Western > science" is scientific from a Judeo-Christian perspective, Hindu > traditions of astrology, yagnas, ayurveda, vastu shastra, Hindu > ecology, Hindu meteorology etc. are scientific from a Hindu > perspective. Indeed "Vedic science" is declared to be ahead of modern > science, as it treats all entities in an integrated whole � never mind > that many of its "entities" (atman, the gunas, "hot" and "cold" > substances) and "subtle forces" (of mantras, meditation, planets, > karma) can't even be defined with any precision, let alone measured and > tested empirically with appropriate controls. But "mere" definitions, > measurements and controlled tests are declared to be Western. Hindu > sciences use "their own" methodology of meditation and direct > realization. > > So now we know why the saffron Kshatriyas are so keen on defending the > Vedic lore as science. This is their way of taming what threatens > Hinduism the most, i.e. modern science. Hinduism has always protected > itself form the new and the alien by turning it into an inferior aspect > of itself, quietly metabolizing it until it is absorbed into the > existing belief structure. Turning modern science into just a part of > Hindu wisdom is merely a continuation of this classic Hindu tradition > of self-defense and self-perpetuation. Hindutva gets a good name for > "openness" and "tolerance," while the end-result is as conservative as > the Taliban could've hoped for. In the end, the old decides what parts > of the new will be fitted where, and what parts will be unceremoniously > thrown out. In the end, the old has always won in India. > > But there remains a philosophical problem. How to convince the skeptics > that the Vedas are as scientific � and indeed, even more "objective" > and even more "advanced" � than modern science? Our Kshatriyas need > some arguments to back up their bold assertions. > > These arguments have been obligingly supplied by the secular, academic > critics of modern science and the Enlightenment. The leading trend in > sociology of science in the last couple of decades has been to deny > that modern science is a distinctive body of knowledge, which has > succeeded in attaining higher standards of objectivity and reliability > than other, pre-modern, magical-religious ways of understanding nature. > Abusing the ideas of Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend, two well-known > scholars of science, radical critics have claimed that non-Western, > traditional ways of knowing are as scientific in their social context > as modern science is in the Western context. > > These ideas have found great favor among prominent left-oriented > critics of the West in India associated with a host of populist > "alternative science" and "alternative development" movements, with > Gandhian, environmentalist, and even some Marxist elements. All these > groups believe that the problems of modernization in India stem from > the very nature of modern scientific ways of thinking about nature and > human beings. They see the content of science � and not just its > application � to be Western or Orientalist, and believe that real > decolonization will only come with development of indigenous sciences. > > Interestingly, Hindutva intellectuals make exactly the same arguments > in support of Vedic sciences that abound in the alternative/postmodern > science literature. Indeed, they often even cite the same sources > (especially the much-maligned late Thomas Kuhn), but only replace "the > people" or "the oppressed" with "Hindu" ways of knowing. > > Take for example the argument for scientificity of astrology. It is > the neo-Gandhian Ashis Nandy and his followers who have long argued > that astrology can't be condemned as a superstition. On the strength of > the argument that all "ethno-sciences" are equal, and that modern > science has no greater claim to objectivity, Nandy has argued that > modern science is the myth of the imperialist West, and astrology is > the myth of the weak, who are the victims of the West. If that is > granted, Nandy argues, the weak should have the right to challenge the > "myth" of science. > > One finds a similar argument in the Hindutva literature. They > criticize scientists for being closed-minded and Westernized for not > allowing Hindu science a chance to challenge the Western idea of > science, and for writing off astrology without studying it! (One > wonders how many more refutations will it take to satisfy the Hindu > ideologues? Astrology must the most rigorously falsified body of > "knowledge" in the entire history of ideas). > > The more sophisticated Hindutva advocates, including US-based/returned > scientists like Subhash Kak, David Frawley and N.S. Rajaram argue that > the conceptual categories and methods of science must be organically > connected to the rest of the culture of a society. On this account, > different cultures will have different idea of what is reasonable and > true: thus, the supernatural is declared to be real and true for Hindu > science. This idea that standards and methods of rationality differ > with different cultures is borrowed from the postmodernist critiques of > science. > > Secular intellectuals and progressive social movements, which should > have been at the forefront of defending scientific temper, have for too > long decried it as a ploy of Westernized elites. At a time when modern > science needed to establish its cultural authority so that it could set > new norms for public discourse and provide a more rational worldview, > it remained besieged from all sides. Ever since the scientific temper > debate in early 1980s, which marked the beginning of the end of the > Nehruvian consensus over secularism and modernity, there have been very > few voices in the public sphere that have actively challenged the many > signs of unreason and arbitrary authority in our society. Vedic > sciences are only the chickens coming home to roost. > > A recovery of secularism will need a recovery of respect for science > and scientific temper. The Vedic astrology episode ought to be a > wake-up call to all who are concerned about the future of a secular > India. > > Meera Nanda is a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies > at Columbia University, New York. She is the author of Prophets Facing > Backward: Postmodern Critiques of Science and the Rise Of Reactionary > Modernism in India, Forthcoming from Rutgers University Press (USA) and > Permanent Black (India). 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