Indian culture

[Guest guest]

> On Thu, 7 Mar 2002, Braja wrote:

> > I'm not sure I'd agree with that summation. Gurus seem to very much in

> > fashion these days, and the interest in all things Indian is enjoying

> > quite a revival.

>

> Time magazine recently did a big spiel on Yoga, which a surprising

> number of wealthy, famous, and influential people practice devotedly (if

> also quietly); some are even disarmingly conversant with it's traditional

> theory too--and know these Sanskrit sources.

 

Absolutely. It's not even much of a 'fad' anymore, but for a lot of people

it's something that they've actually adopted, at least parts of it. I

remember years ago walking through London, in Oxford Street and Kensington

Church Street, and so on, and the whole Indian fashion and home furnishings

revival was raging. Last year I was working there again, and the same thing

- it actually hasn't 'died down' as a fad, but maintained a very strong

foothold in the market. That to me indicates more than just a passing

interest.

 

> Ayurveda tags along this trend.

 

It's huge where we are. Last year I held Ayurvedic Cooking Classes, and they

were very popular. Anything with Ayurvedic in it attracts interest.

 

> Indian classical music (both theory and practice) is now taught in

> mainstream universities in both America and Europe, as are the South Asian

> languages. Indian restaurants can be found almost anywhere. There aren't

> fewer gurus than in the sixties and seventies either, though they're

> usually no better than the old ones; many Hollywood people still buy pet

> gurus too, and there will always be naive seekers, since there's one born

> every minute. Hindu temples built from scratch and designed on principles

> of traditional Hindu architecture exist worldwide today, although they are

> patronized mostly by NRIs, like ISKCON itself. Vastu-silpa also seems a

> growing interest (and business) among Westerners. With American based

> economic neocolonialism now firmly rooted in India, all this will probably

> continue for some time to come.

 

Exactly - it's more or less due to the global village effect - everything is

a mouse-click or a plane ride away. Look at travel statistics - people still

flock to India, and places like Jaipur (which is the only one I can speak of

from my experience of living there) has its main income as tourism. People

simply have not lost interest in all things Indian, not in the slightest.

 

Ys,

Braja Sevaki dd

>

> MDd

[Guest guest]

On Fri, 8 Mar 2002, Braja wrote:

> > Time magazine recently did a big spiel on Yoga, which a surprising

> > number of wealthy, famous, and influential people practice devotedly (if

> > also quietly); some are even disarmingly conversant with it's traditional

> > theory too--and know these Sanskrit sources.

> Absolutely. It's not even much of a 'fad' anymore, but for a lot of people

> it's something that they've actually adopted, at least parts of it.

 

I said "disarmingly" because the other day a colleague at work (in

Slavic Studies--not South Asia) told me something about a recognized yoga

institution she is familiar with, and she even knew the Sanskrit

terminology for a certain traditional practice I didn't recognize. I was

pretty surprised to hear this.

 

 

 

> Exactly - it's more or less due to the global village effect - everything is

> a mouse-click or a plane ride away.

 

...including terrorism. It works all ways. It seems that just as

governments have become somewhat irrelevent (sometimes practically being

displaced by multinational corporations and their private "security

forces"), so have traditional cultural boundaries. I guess those who are

sattvic, worldwide, will migrate toward godliness no matter where they

are, while the demons will invade all places as well. All this is ultimately

Krsna's play; He just likes to keep all His servants runnning around,

busily reacting to their own karma and/or His inscrutable plans.

 

MDd