RE: future of india is in economic

[Guest guest]

>"Rajiv Malhotra" <Rajiv.malhotra

>"nick desai" <ndesai, <ABhargavaUSA,

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><richmond

>RE: future of india is in economic development not communalism

>Wed, 2 Aug 2000 22:18:01 -0400

>

>Economic power should be the top priority. But culture and heritage is a

>BIG

>business, and one must respect it as an economic asset, as the following

>examples show.

>

>Indians appreciate Indian cuisine; hence they popularized it, they own many

>restaurants, and it is a multi-billion dollar INDUSTRY for Indians. But

>Indians did not in the same manner respect yoga. Hence, while there are 10

>million Americans learning yoga and approximately 100,000 yoga teachers,

>98%

>OF ALL SUCH TEACHERS ARE AMERICANS. An average yoga teacher in California

>earns $200,000 annually. This translates into another multi-billion dollar

>industry, and one that is rapidly growing. But Indians, due to lack of

>appreciation for their own tradition, 'gave it away'.

>

>The largest factor drawing tourists to UK today is the aura of the royal

>family, which is entirely based on a subjective perception that has been

>created based on heritage. The British justify often the royal family as an

>economic asset based on this reasoning, i.e. it gives the country something

>special, which translates into self-esteem and hence into money. France's

>fashion, cosmetics, perfume, and art industries are among its major

>industries, and these depend on the aura of French style, beauty and

>culture. Recently, Indian women's success in beauty pageants is also being

>turned into opportunities for Indian ayurvedic beauty products, fashions,

>and other cultural exports.

>

>Until recent awakening stopped further exploitation, Indians gave away

>herbal and biological know how. (California is experimenting growing

>Kerala's spices; so in 10 years it could wipe out a major industry of

>Kerela, for example.) The list of India's contributions to the world is

>very

>long and there is little acknowledgment for it, much less compensation. It

>is Indians who lost appreciation for their own heritage.

>

>The majority of the valuation of NASDAQ and the stock market in general, is

>about know how and cultural assets, and not about physical assets.

>

>So the question is, how is Vedic heritage economically relevant to the

>future? A people who are conditioned to believe that theirs is an inferior

>civilization will not perform at the same level as those who have high

>self-esteem. This is found true in many cultural contexts. Self-esteem is

>therefore not something useless for future development. Many Indians I

>worked with failed to reach their potential because they felt inferior in a

>Western setting, especially in front of Westerners whose culture teaches

>them tremendous self-confidence, and outright superiority over others.

>Indians routinely invite Europeans to come over them as superiors even when

>the individual Europeans concerned are no better. (This is what led to the

>British Empire in the first place.) Indians today have confidence in their

>IT skill, and that's why they can do well at it. The same confidence should

>also be extended to other fields. This requires stopping the aping of the

>West mentality, that Macaulay wanted to create and succeeded.

>

>This means upgrading the portrayal of India's heritage so that our own

>young

>people are not under social pressure to abandon their identity. I

>respectfully disagree with the last two postings that seem to imply that

>Vedic studies are mainly about history and esoteric stuff, but of little

>practical value.

>

>Rajiv

>

>

>

>

>nick desai [ndesai]

>I agree. Study of Vedas has very little to do with current problems.

>Population explosion, corruption, break down of law and order, caste system

>are only few of the problems facing the nation. There won't be any

>conversions if the low castes were given equal rights and treatment. At the

>time of independence, India opted for secular state. Religion has no place

>in politics and public debates. It is a private matter for individuals and

>should be given very little importance, compared the other problems like

>poverty, drinking water, housing and infrastructure. In future WAVES is

>urged to keep out of politics of religion and concentrate on Vedas. Where

>in

>

>Vedas it says that we should put down other faiths?

>

>

>

 

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