SV: SV: reviews and comments (Freud, Vishnu, Kali, Indus Samskrut)

[Lars Martin Fosse]

Swami Tyagananda [SMTP:tyag at EARTHLINK.NET] skrev 20. mars 2001 16:11:
> Here I would like to add that it is not always a matter of only
> sensitivity/insensitivity. Just as often there are issues of
misrepresentation
> and distortion (including mistranslation and misdocumentation as I
discovered
> in my study of Kripal's book Kali's Child).

I have read your critique, and as far as I can see (I do not know any
Bengali), you seem to have a fairly strong case. But then you use the
philological method :-).

I would like to add that judging from the description in the review, (and
provided the quotes are correct), this is not a book I would find extremely
convincing. Psychoanalysis of God does not strike me as a sensible pursuit.
For people who would like to criticize religion, there are a number of
approaches. Psycho-babble is in my opinion not one of them.

V.V. Raman wrote:

>But there is an important difference:
>Most of the critiques of <Western> traditions/religions come from Western
>scholars/thinkers/commentators, expressing themselves in a Western
language
>within a Western cultural matrix.
>In the Hindu context, however, these come most often from <alien>
>scholars/thinkers/commentators in a non-Hindu cultural matrix, who express
>themselves in the languages of the people who had for more than a century
>dominated the Hindu world politically, culturally, and economically.
>That is why, though offensive-to-a-tradition expositions are well within
the
>norms of enlightened scholarly discussions, feelings of hurt and anger on
the
>part of once-dominated/marginalized peoples tend to be harsh also.
>I would like to emphasize that I am not arguing for any restriction on
free
>thought or speech, but am trying to understand and explain the phenomenon
of
>cultural rage.
>There are/have been Hindu thinkers who engage(d) in criticism of their own
>culture/religion in Indian languages and within India. Responses to them
within
>the Hindu world are of a different nature.

Point well taken. Hindus and Muslims are now experiencing many of the
feelings of hurt and frustrations that Christians have had to live with for
the last century or so ever since they started to be attacked by their
secular critics. As you point out, the critics of the Eastern religions
sometimes come from societies with a more or less colonial past, which in
itself puts salt in the wounds. An interesting point here is that whereas
the colonial critics of Hinduism/Islam often were more or less fervent
Christians, the modern critic tends to be a secularized agnostic or
rationalist, influenced by sociological rather than theological thinking,
or by the natural sciences. The basis for the critique has thus changed
entirely, and the challenge for Hindus and Muslims lies in coming to terms
with "modern knowledge" and the "spirit of the enlightenment" if they want
to counter the criticism. I am afraid that such criticism is unavoidable in
open societies because the Eastern religions sometimes implicitly or
explicitly challenge ideas that are perceived as fundamental to Western
values and culture. Although it has been tried on a regular basis during
the last couple of centuries, it has proven itself well-nigh impossible to
emigrate to a different society, and yet remain within a cultural cocoon.
Emigrant groups have to work this out among themselves, and it is always
hard work.

Lars Martin Fosse

Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse
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