--- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > New Morning, >
>I am > saying that I have no reason to believe that ancient India was > specially blessed with complete knowledge of how life works. Nor do I have such a reason to beleive they had "complete" knowledge. They probably didn't have complete knowledge of the human genome. Nor how to build an 80-core CPU. Or even how to do a google search. :) But that is quite different from a statement, which I subscribe to, and perhaps you do, that they may have been blessed (oops implies dieties) with some valid knowledge of some mechanics of some parts of life. And further, such knowledge may other than the totality of knowledge modern socity has uncovered and validated. > There > may be an effect from making offerings to statues and paintings that > transcends the obvious psychological and sociological effects. These > are highly testable,falsifiable claims. Yes and know. I don't know how to objectively (independent-party) test for "that thing" the so thick you can cut it with a knife shakti thing. Maybe someone will invent a shakti-ometer and we can test rate yagyas on a scale of 1-100. "Man, that yagya ri=ocked: 97.6 on the shaktiometer scale, dispersing with little decay for 800 miles." Other things such as claims that yagya A, performed by 7 pundits of x proficicency and training, for 7 days, will create a 40% increased probability that wealth will increase 20% in the next year. Of course no pundit goup makes such specific claims. That is a hurdle if yagya results are to be tested. Or open ended studies could be done. Do such yagya for 1000 people and track their wealth over the next year, control for known modern factors (age, education, career, economy), and perhaps for Jyotish factors (e.g., this guys saturn is so screwing with his 10th and 11th house he will never gain anything in the next year -- so factor him out as not jyotishly enabled to get proper benefit from the yagas ) and compare to the larger population / control group. Then more specific claims could be made, such as "for persons without severe saturn afflictions to 10 and 11 houses, within the ages of 30-50, who hold graduate degrees and have at least 5 years work experience, these yagyas increased wealth 28% over 12 months for 90% of the sample, with variations of =- 12%. > But I don't see the movement > offering the slightest interest in testing it. Lots of yagyas are done outside TMO. TMO perhaps does less than .1% world wide. > It is presented as a > given that they have successful yagya knowledge. yes, they and others are promising more than is warranted by the evidence. Though, actually, as i recall the forms, they are quite qualify any promise of specific outcomes. its more "reduce negative factors" kind of stuff. > We should not only have anecdotal evidence for something > that could be specifically tested. Well, as a potential consumer, you are stating you would like to see specific claims validated by a set of solid studies. You are a wise consumer. But everyone does all sorts of things based on patterns they see-- that are not backed by studies -- and may simply be random events. A popular unvalidated procedure is to bring your girl friend or wife flowers to increase your probability of getting laid. Does it work? NOT ONE STUDY VALIDATES THIS CLAIM. Per off's logic, it MUST be totally bogus then. But, hey, I bet you bring your gf flowers now and then. > I don't know if yagyas work, or if > the offerings to the gods of Egypt or Greece work. > I find the Norse gods are particulaly generous. > The world is an > amazing place. But to assert that ancient India had the best god > offering program out of all the versions in man's history seems highly > unlikely. I am not sure I have seen that claim. But if people make it, its unvalidated. Like many aspcts of any claims about yagyas. All I can say is my internal shakti-meter goes off the charts. Am i mis-interpreting things? Perhaps. Maybe its foo foo rays that go off the chart. Or woo woo rays. But something happens. Or perhaps I am hallucinating. Another possibility. but if 10 people feel similar things, we probably aren't all hallucinating. Unless we are at a 60's revival band gathering or our 40th HS reunion and drank the purple punch. > If it works it probably worked in other cultures too. I > say test them all! yes indeed. Power to the Testers! Hail to the researchers! > Now till that is done, some people will find it more credible and get > benefits from yagyas as you have described, and some, like myself, > will believe that people in the past were wrong about a bunch of > stuff, so I have to pick my battles of what I want to sort out. But have you had any done. Participated in any. Did you feel anything from doing puja? But yes, a set of research priorities is a good thing. >For > me testing the medical use of herbs in traditional cultures should be > at the top of the testing list. If yagyas prove to be part of our > growing knowledge about how life works, fantastic. And it will have > been open minded people like yourself who financed it way ahead of the > curve. I think the top priority should be research on herbs that make 50 year old men look attractive to 20ish women. (Oh, they already do, its MDMA. Just ask field researcher Harold Bloomfield) i think we are in genral agreement on most of these things. (Particualy the last point). 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! 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