Guest guest Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Dear group, The following article(see link below) titled " Calling India's freethinkers " appeared in The Hindu on May 22nd. The article while attacking Hindu fundamentalists also seems to imply that Swami Vivekananda and those related to Ramakrishna Mission are somehow responsible for vitiating rational thought and for willfully blurring the line between science and spirituality. http://www.hindu.com/2004/05/22/stories/2004052201691000.htm Would some of the well-informed persons in this group care to write a rebuttal if they deem it appropriate? Sincerely, Harish. Domains – Claim yours for only $14.70/year http://smallbusiness.promotions./offer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Dear Harish I had a glance at the article in the Hindu. What to say? The semi-intellectual author of this article does not have a clue about what Swami Vivekananda is all about nor what modern science is all about. Let me share a part of my presentation offered to students at King's college in London in February of this year. " The conceptual resolution required to resolve the almost impossible issue of what is Quantum Mechanics lies firmly with the teachings of Swami Vivekananda " I told the science students. I have devoted my life studying the works of Swami Vivekananda and I also possess science background. My postgraduate work was on Quantum Mechanics studied under Roger Penrose who together with Stephen Hawking are considered to be the top two physicists in the UK so what I am saying is not half baked waffle. It is a pity that a 'semi-intellectuals' with poor knowledge of both Swami Vivekananda and Modern Physics is allowed to portray her dribble in a paper going by the title of 'Hindu'. This is farcical. Today I spent some time with a major UK TV channel asking them to produce a documentary entitled, 'Death of materialism, yet to be reported.' The material will be resolution of Quantum Mechanics through the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. Hence the interesting title: 'Death of materialism, yet to be reported'. You are welcome to send these comments to the Hindu. jay Vivekananda Centre London - " Harish " <harish_gadde <ramakrishna > > Dear group, > > The following article(see link below) titled " Calling > India's freethinkers " appeared in The Hindu on May > 22nd. The article while attacking Hindu > fundamentalists also seems to imply that Swami > Vivekananda and those related to Ramakrishna Mission > are somehow responsible for > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 Although what follows is not a full reply, I suggest 3 ideas which other contributors can build upon to fashion a more comprehensive reply. 1. The limitations of 'secular' sciences: Western / Semitic tradition inspired sciences are based on accumulating knowledge from an " objective " point of view. The disasters wrought on society by this attempted separation of sciences from the sacred must be emphasized as we in India have no desire to re-create such tragedies. The underlying reason for this state of affairs is the refusal to consider the influence of the spiritual (i.e. non-material) aspects of the universe. 2. To people who have been seduced by this Western tradition of ignoring the non-material aspect of Nature, it is very tempting and quite easy to " disprove " the Vedic sciences like Ayurveda. The reason is that these Vedic sciences are extremely particularistic sciences: to make accurate predictions with these sciences one needs to know a whole lot of matter-based and non-matter based details - something that is beyond the mechanistic way in which scientists of Western tradition are trained. Even the full range of matter based details are not considered / studied / applied by most people who want to use these sciences, let alone the non-material aspects. The writer's misguided zealousness to keep the Vedic sciences locked up as before probably arises from the above lack of perspective. 3. Given these characteristics, is it fair of people like MM Joshi to use taxpayers' finances to revive these Vedic sciences? Only if there is a popular demand for it. This points to the fact that we, as a community who believe in Vedantic ideals, must be ready to debate the materialists. As India becomes more and more successful in integrating the material with the non-material, these debates will increase in number. So let us be prepared to engage with others. Abhijit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 The author of this article [in 'The Hindu' below] ignores the fact that Western scientists are if anything in the forefront of the movement towards a synthesis of science and spirituality. Complexity theory, after all, is about finding intricate underlying patterns rather than mechanical links, about a rounded, holistic view of the universe instead of a narrow, linear view. This perspective has much in common with Vedic - and Jain - cosmology, as well as the mystical traditions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism. And so the author is creating a false dichotomy. There is nothing new in the search for connections between spirituality and science, and the realisation that 'pure' reason, or 'pure' mechanics have distinct limitations. Jung's theory of synchronicity acknowledges that subtle connections exist in the universe which can only be described as 'spiritual' in character. R.D. Laing, surprisingly for a radical Marxist psychotherapist, wrote: 'Who could be so superstitious as to suppose that the soul does not exist merely because we cannot see it at the end of a microscope'. And three hundred years ago, Pascal wrote: 'The heart has reasons which reason does not understand'. There is, therefore, a Western tradition of finding connections between spirituality and science, which can find much common ground with Hinduism. Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo both recognised this. They saw that just as 'East' and 'West' both gain by interacting as equals, so 'Reason' and 'Faith' should balance and complement each other. Faith becomes superstition when it is not balanced by reason, reason becomes totalitarian tyranny when the spiritual dimension is suppressed. Best Wishes, Aidan Vivekananda Centre [vivekananda] 24 May 2004 23:22 Ramakrishna Re: [sri Ramakrishna] Hindu article Dear Harish I had a glance at the article in the Hindu. What to say? The semi-intellectual author of this article does not have a clue about what Swami Vivekananda is all about nor what modern science is all about. Let me share a part of my presentation offered to students at King's college in London in February of this year. " The conceptual resolution required to resolve the almost impossible issue of what is Quantum Mechanics lies firmly with the teachings of Swami Vivekananda " I told the science students. I have devoted my life studying the works of Swami Vivekananda and I also possess science background. My postgraduate work was on Quantum Mechanics studied under Roger Penrose who together with Stephen Hawking are considered to be the top two physicists in the UK so what I am saying is not half baked waffle. It is a pity that a 'semi-intellectuals' with poor knowledge of both Swami Vivekananda and Modern Physics is allowed to portray her dribble in a paper going by the title of 'Hindu'. This is farcical. Today I spent some time with a major UK TV channel asking them to produce a documentary entitled, 'Death of materialism, yet to be reported.' The material will be resolution of Quantum Mechanics through the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. Hence the interesting title: 'Death of materialism, yet to be reported'. You are welcome to send these comments to the Hindu. jay Vivekananda Centre London - " Harish " <harish_gadde <ramakrishna > > Dear group, > > The following article(see link below) titled " Calling > India's freethinkers " appeared in The Hindu on May > 22nd. The article while attacking Hindu > fundamentalists also seems to imply that Swami > Vivekananda and those related to Ramakrishna Mission > are somehow responsible for > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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