the gods

[Adi Hastings]

On Thu, 29 May 1997, George Thompson wrote:

> 
> I'm prepared to be cordial. But let's be honest also. This is not about
> science and religion. It's about Howard's religion, and he doesn't want me
> to talk about it.
> 
> Fine. I won't talk about Howard's religion. I'll talk about Vedic,  
exclusively.
> 
> kRNo'mi satya'm Uta'ye...
> 
> George
> 

This anecdote is not entirely relevant, but it does touch on some of
the matters discussed in the current thread.
  When I was an undergraduate, a Sanskrit professor of mine said to me:
"Well, Max Mueller's theory of Rig Vedic religion being originally a cult
of the sun makes complete sense if you realize that he got up every
morning at the crack of dawn. He was one of those people who would today
call people up on the phone at 7 in the morning!" On another occasion, he
told me that Frits Staal's ideas about the meaninglessness of ritual stem
from his strict Calvinist upbringing.

Now these reported facts may or may not be true (although the do make some
amount of sense), but they do raise the question (pertinent to the matter
at hand) of the role of a scholar's personal biography in the work that
they do. 

Adi Hastings