Cause of Decline?

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

Here is an article from the Daily Pioneer on the cause of decline in

India (i.e. not being able to resist the Muslim and British

invasions). Two extremisms are discussed: the material and the

spiritual. The material is well known, but the spiritual less so.

It is basically the danger of taking the 'world as illusion' too

seriously. A reference is made to the Isa Upansihad. It seems to me

that this is suitable topic for discussion on this list. Would

anybody care to comment?

 

http://tinyurl.com/yqr3g

 

Hari Om!

Benjamin

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

> http://tinyurl.com/yqr3g

>

 

This url doesn't seem to work for me. If someone faces the same

problem they can try this instead (paste the complete url)-

 

http://www.dailypioneer.com/displayit1.asp?

pathit=/columnist/jhunjhunwala/jhunjhunwala45.txt

 

Regards

Raghavendra

[Guest guest]

Namaste Gautamji,

 

Thank you for your long and thoughtful reply.

>Krishna asked arjuna to fight but without having ego,

>hatred for anyone. that's why He saidto arjuna later

>to be alike to friends and enemies, but still fight,

>taking it as his duty

 

You are certainly right that Hinduism in the Gita avoids pacifism for

those whose duty it is to defend the country. This point sometimes

gets lost on those who stress Gandhi's love of peaceful methods of

conflict resolution (when possible).

 

However, I have read articles blaming, not Hinduism, but Buddhism for

India's failure to protect itself during the Muslim invasions:

 

http://www.atributetohinduism.com/articles_hinduism/116.htm

 

We must remember that Buddhism was still dominant around 1000 AD,

when the first invasions came. However, I have also read that India

was weak because the princes fought with each other too often. Maybe

all of these reasons and others have some truth to them.

 

Really, the ahimsa of Buddhism and Jainism is appropriate for monks

only. If Buddhism went wrong, it was in failing to distinguish

between the duties of monks and priests, on the one hand, and

citizens on the other.

 

However, I must disagree with you slightly in one respect. I do

believe that at the ultimate level, God's will controls all events.

However, this does not deny free-will at the phenomenal level. This

may seem like double-talk or playing with words. So if pressed, I

would say that there is no free-will, but we should behave as though

there is and do the right thing. This is a very deep topic, which

has generated much discussion in the past on this list.

 

What you said about the verse from the Isopanishad was interesting.

I did not know that Shankaracharya said that. I will look it up.

 

You are right about the bravery of Sikhs! I see the Sikhs as a

hopeful example of how the best of Hinduism and Islam can be united.

They seem to combine the spiritual wisdom of Hinduism with the

fighting prowess of Islam. I know there were problems in the recent

past with Indira Gandhi and the Golden Temple. I hope those problems

are over and forgotten! The Indian Army needs them to fight

terrorists.

 

You may be right about materialism. If Indians have a weakness, it

seems to be love of luxury and beautiful things. This is much better

than love of violence, but it can still lead to weakening of society.

 

Hari Om!

Benjamin

[Guest guest]

-dear ben,

you are extraordinarily perseptive.

excellent. thanq.

av.krshnan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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