That is not what I meant when I said I had brought about change. I was saying that by saying what we say, we have altered the perceptions of the people in these forums. Of course I know that mere banter won’t affect any change in the long run, but in the short run, the ideas will be known (not necessarily accepted) for quite a while. You can’t deny that we have made an impact on these forums (semantics of the word impact aside).
We have certainly made an impact, and that is because of how passionately we argue and defend our points. But if you think this caused people on this forum and lurkers to re-evaluate their beliefs, you are mistaken. These changes do not come overnight, and they certainly do not come by being militant and billigerant against people and calling them white supremists and Christian fundamentalists - all that does is put people on the defensive and alienate them further from whatever you represent.
Imagine if Swami Vivekananda in his opening speech in Chicago said, “Sisters and brothers of America, I have come to save you from the curse of these Abrahamic religions which are feeding you false doctrines and techniques and leaving you in ignorance” Before he would have began his sentences on Hinduism, he would have lost all of his audience. If you want to make people listen to what you have to say, you do so by not offending them. If they will accept Hindu teachings, only if Vivekananda says, “All religions are paths leading to the same summit, some winding, some narrow, some straight” then that is the best course of action to take.
There is also something called spiritual diplomacy. If your purpose is simply to get the message across, you can do so even by using slight deceptions. Like even accepting Jesus as an Avatar. This was Yogananda’s approach.
The Hindu gurus were so succesful in bringing the teachings of Hinduism into the West, that the West itself is shocked when did it start becoming Hindu. They did it with the message of religious pluralrism. Today, mantra jaap meditation is being done in Churches. Evangalists are scratching their head and asking, “How did this happen!”
be touted as viable when almost every nation/race who subscribes to it is considered undeveloped and uncivilized by capitalist and Western standards respectively. That day is far off.
Again, India’s development or lack of development made no difference to the proliferation of Yoga, meditation, Vedanta, Samkhya, Indian philosophy, Ayurveda and Hindu gurus in the West. The average Westerner does not think, “Oh, this is from a poor country” In fact what most Westerners think about Eastern disciplines is that they have backing by science.
i’m not even white.