[QUOTE=Surya Deva;51352]Dear Nietzche,
I think what we have established in this thread that both India and America have problems when it comes to things like discrimination and ignorance. We have also established that India is a developing country and its growth is similar to America’s several decades ago. It is a rising country, which means that most people still lack the basic living standards that we here in the West enjoy, but this situation will change in a few decades as the Indian economy grows.
My point is that you are wasting your time and energy by investing them in a developing country rather than a developed country. You complain so much about America, but it is easy for any objective person to see America is manifold times in a better state than India is in all areas: living standards, civil and human rights, infrastructure, welfare, social development. The West in general are high in these areas.
India is not ready for spiritualiy. America is. Again, you seem to be completely unaware of the growing spirituality in America and the West in general. I don’t know where to begin to put you in touch with this. I am very much in touch with the spirtual community in the West so I know the big changes that are happening in the West.
As much as I love and admire India, I am not limited to India. The world is my wider home and humanity is my wider family. I have the interests of humanity and the world in my mind, you have the interests of India in your mind. I am a humanist, you are a nationalist.[/QUOTE]
Agreed.
Of course, I do not deny this. They are better of in all material/infrastructural aspects.
That’s fine. People thought much the same of America back in the good ol’ days. The thing is, change will NEVER come in India if we fortunate and educated Indians do not use our education/skills to help our own people. Change will never come if we continually side with those who seek to undermine us. Change will never come if you just give up the fight against oppression and destitution so easily. You are seriously starting to remind me of the moderate white majority of America during the Civil Rights movement who deplored the actions of the supremacists and yet made no effort to change it. As always, it is from the oppressed from which a leader and the desire to change comes. It wasn’t the supposedly benevolent and well-off white people; it was the black Martin Luther King Jr.
I am sorry but I simply have to disagree with this fatalistic notion. As MLK said, time is neutral. Time alone does not cure all things. The people have to take the initiative to write their own destinies. Wallowing in your despair, suffering, and pessimism does nothing. In a similar manner, simply saying that India isn’t receptive enough for spirituality based off of some social theory and from negative experiences is simply false.
No, I believe is it you who is wasting your time by choosing to be on the waning side. The West, like the waning moon, is declining. The East, like the waxing moon, is rising. It is hard to see it now, but it will happen. At the end of the day, New Ager ideals won’t save the day; the people here are still too immersed in their Western esoteric traditions and dogma. You misunderstand the Western fabric of ideology here. They consume whatever pleases them but in the end, it all makes no impression upon them. At the end of the day, it is their rich and affluent society versus the poor and ignorant rest of the world. At the end of the day, it is their “right” way versus the rest of the world who is emulating their ways.
Have you ever lived in America? Do you know what is happening here? Are you aware of the societal changes taking place? Britain is not America. Far from it actually. Besides, I know of the Osho/ISKCON movement stuff here. They are not what they once were SD. They have gained much disrepute due to scandals and etc and have declined in popularity. There is an ISKCON temple my family visits all the time. I only see 1 Asian and 1 white devotee there, the same ones I have seen for 4 years. The main devotees are the Hindu Indians who literally dance and sing in the middle of the room, praising Krishna and Radha. Life in America goes as it always has these days. The only thing Americans care about now is themselves, their economy, their international power, and so forth.
I wish this was the case SD. I wish it was the time for Hinduism to go global. However, its not. America is still ridiculously bound by its Christian and Western dogma. Bible-thumpers abound everywhere. Even the most “progressive” Christians are still tied to their religious dogma. You don’t have to look further than Thomas to see that.
The truth is that no real progress will be made until its values and ideals are shown to be as ignorant and destructive as everyone else makes it out to be. They are convinced their way works, works the best in fact. They are convinced that they have the “right” ideas and the best ideas. Abrahamic and Dharmic ideals are opposed to one another. You cannot deny that. The latter set of ideals have weakened, but only slightly. The time is not ripe yet SD. More preliminary work must be done to show the validity of our ways. Otherwise, you will just be seen as nothing more than a fanciful pundit whose ways will not supersede the established order but rather be assimilated into it, without making any serious general changes.
I am simply a realist who is bound to my country. I see no need to help those who need no help and in fact, largely have no interest in reforming themselves.
