Turq: "Me, I'm more comfortable with that approach, and that level of honesty. But others really prefer to believe that they are pursuing a spiritual path that is based on some kind of science, and not gods and goddesses and attracting their benevolent attention. Can't fault them for that, and for preferring to believe that. But to think that *Maharishi* believes it is IMO silly."
Me: I agree that TMO would be coming from a more honest place if they would just let their inner Hindu hang out and stop trying to claim that it is through the window of science... That way they could just let people know all the beliefs upfront and people could make a more informed choice about it all. But I guess that is a pretty moot point with Google and all. Interesting stuff about how the Buddhists deal with Westerners. Ethnocentrism is found in every culture more or less. Remember the Japanese with their "we come from Gods, everyone else came from monkeys" line! Nice one. --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > > > > > Spraig: " Sigh, talk about projecting western ideas. The devas > > > are NOT gods in the western sense of the word. They are > > > anthromorphisms of laws of nature." > > > > Me: MMY has never denied the more anthropomorphic view of the gods > > and devas contained in the Hindu scriptures. I sat with him as he > > waved flowers and made offerings to pictures of Goddesses while > > using terms like "I bow down to the glorious...", a phrase that > > is also invoked when riding on the back of a deva back to its > > source, according to MMY describing TM. > > So true. Anyone who believes that Maharishi does *not* > consider these gods and goddesses real gods and goddesses > just hasn't spent any time around him. > > > If you want to ascribe > > some scientific value to making offerings to statues and pictures > > then you have a little work to do in the proof area. > > IMO Maharishi doesn't really deal in "proof." He says > things that his devoted followers (those whose devotion > has overshadowed their critical faculties) will believe > and repeat in public when the subject comes up. IMO he > doesn't believe a word of the "laws of nature" rap, but > he knows that Westerners have to have something to hang > onto when they deal with other Westerners. > > > The analogies made by movement scientists between modern scientific > > concepts and Vedic Gods are just that, analogies. That is not proof > > that any of these concepts are actually descriptions of the laws of > > nature. > > Or that such "laws" actually exist. > > > It is the imposition of our country's values onto a cultural > > tradition of India. And the reason it is being imposed is laid > > out in the Science of Being by MMY, marketing to the West. > > Exactly. > > > This view that somehow Indian culture thousands of years ago was > > uniquely brilliant, so that its scriptures are the most capable > > in the world to instruct man about how nature works in detail, > > is just Indio-centric bragging by MMY. > > I agree that he cannot see past his own ethnocentrism, > but to be fair, the TMO is far from the only Eastern- > originated trip in which this ethnocentrism arises. I've > seen the same thing in Tibetan Buddhism, although I > rarely see them trying to "de-ethnocentricize" it via > "scientific" jargon. My experience is that when Tibetan > Buddhists believe that a technique works because it just > works on a cause-and-effect level with no belief required, > that's what they say, and if they believe that another > technique works because some superhuman entity gets > involved and belief is definitely required, *that* is > what they say. > > Me, I'm more comfortable with that approach, and that > level of honesty. But others really prefer to believe > that they are pursuing a spiritual path that is based > on some kind of science, and not gods and goddesses > and attracting their benevolent attention. Can't fault > them for that, and for preferring to believe that. But > to think that *Maharishi* believes it is IMO silly. > 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/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> 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/
