Why are Yoga & Hinduism Classes Taught by non-Hindus (mlecchas)?

Spirituality Religion
#1

This is a question that has rankled my mind for the past 10 years.

When I was doing my undergraduate work at a university in the US, I took a class on Hinduism and the professor was a westerner who was doing his Ph.D. in Sanskrit at UC Berkeley.

My first thought was, “What does this guy know about Hinduism?”

He was not a Hindu, but a Christian. How on earth can a mleccha (an untouchable) be allowed to learn, let alone teach, Hinduism? It is the greatest tragedy of recent times.

The same can be said about Yoga. Of course, the yoga classes in the west are absolute nonsense unless taught by an Indian/Hindu guru but that is not known to the wider public. They think any yoga “teacher” will suffice. In fact, this has led to theft of yoga like ‘Christian Yoga’ and ‘Jewish Yoga’.

How could a non-Hindu/non-Indian be allowed to learn and practice, and far worse, “teach”, yoga? Why aren’t the sAStrAs followed and tradition maintained? Kali Yuga is known for degradation of Sanatana Dharma and rise of asuric tendencies (non-Hindu) but is it this bad?

Going back to the first issue of non-Hindus/non-Indians teaching Hinduism, it is something that has to change ASAP. There must be huge protests and demonstrations that must require mlecchas to leave the halls of Hindu academy.

If you take Jewish Studies department, would you find any Muslim cleric as the head of the department? Would you find any Muslim as a “professor of Judaism” in any university? What about Islamic Studies? Are there Jews teaching Islam? Same goes for Christianity. How many non-Christians are teaching and leading departments of Christain Studies?

Why are Hindus allowing such nonsense to continue? In fact, we have filth like that fat Wendy Doniger, a jew, at Univ. of Chicago who is considered a ‘scholar’ (lol… a mleccha thinks it’s a scholar :D) on Hinduism. Animals like her and that turd Michael Witzel should be serving tea to Hindus in the universities. Instead, they are thought of as “professors of Hinduism”. Oh, the travesty!

Hindus must take control of the discourse, both public, private, and academic, on Hinduism, India, and anything related to that including Yoga. We now have idiot mlecchas in the west who are trying to separate Yoga from Hinduism. It isn’t too late to correct this.

Thankfully, some good Hindus like Rajiv Malhotra are already doing it; he is the founder of Infinity Foundation which is a pro-Dharmic think-tank based in Princeton.

There needs to be a more concerted effort in order to make sure that Hinduism studies is in the domain of Hindus, not untouchables.

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#2

I don’t think you mean that Hindus and Indians are the same. There are non-Indian Hindus in the world too like David Frawley, Stephen knapp.

We should never and I repeat never confuse Hindu with Indian nationality. A Hindu is anybody who accepts and practices Hindu dharma. There is no requirement to be Indian or to even go to India(although visiting India is important because it the spiritual motherland of Hinduism)

That said I completely agree academic studies of Hinduism, Indian/Hindu philosophy, Sanskrit, Indology and Yoga should be chaired by learned Hindus. It simply makes no sense at all why they are dominated by non-Hindus.

To remedy this we need more and more Hindus to join these fields. We also need to get Hindus gurus in India to form a professional academic body to review all material written on Hinduism and taking positions on the board of all Hindu-related academic programs.

Start the campaign now.

#3

I agree with SD and TTA. Hindus/Indians should have a voice in matters regarding THEIR OWN culture and shouldn’t let anti-Hindu bigots define it for them.

With that being said, I don’t think its a bad thing to spread our teachings, provided that we spread it to the [U]right[/U] people. For example, teaching Yoga to people on this forum who say “Ancient Hindus were cannibals,” “Yoga predated Hinduism,” and “Face the facts: without western civilization and Christianity, India and the vast cultures if the world would still be wrangling on or near the stone age; living, fighting and dying under primitive tribalism” is indeed a travesty. Teaching it to people like High Wolf however, is a step in the right direction.

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#4

[QUOTE=Surya Deva;61357]I don’t think you mean that Hindus and Indians are the same. There are non-Indian Hindus in the world too like David Frawley, Stephen knapp.

We should never and I repeat never confuse Hindu with Indian nationality. A Hindu is anybody who accepts and practices Hindu dharma. There is no requirement to be Indian or to even go to India(although visiting India is important because it the spiritual motherland of Hinduism)[/quote]

Surya,

Although there are exceptions of non-Indian Hindus around the world, they NEVER make the rule.

I completely disagree with the notion that India and Hinduism are separate. That is a nefarious idea put forth by many of these hippie scum who steal from Indian philosophy and then turn around and discard India. We must be very weary of such people.

India is called pUnyA bhUmI, the land where one’s karmA can be worked out and progress spiritually. India is the spiritual epicenter of the world. It is NOT a coincidence that so many hundreds of sages, rishis, and yOgIs were/are from India. The place is conducive to spiritual growth and learning. That is why any place outside India is called mleccha-deSa (land of barbarians).

In the ViSnU PurAnA, the land that is Bharat is described as the “crown that is the land of HimavAn (Himalayas) and the feet that are washed by ocean to the south (Kanyakumari)”. For thousands of years, India has been known as the land that was the subcontinent and of course included Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and some eastern parts of modern day Iran.

We must not confuse the “modern map” of India with the India of the scriptures. By that note, many Pakistanis could claim the rishis of yore were “Pakistani” and not “Indian”.

Also, I agree with you that being “Indian” in the modern sense of the word is not a ‘requirement’ per se, but being predisposed towards introspection, contemplation, and compassion are. Those traits are readily found in eastern cultures and are hardly so in their western counterparts. Many times, those are contrived much like the flim flam “green movement” of today – Let’s rape the planet. And then tell other nations they are spoiling the earth so create vague laws to punish those countries that are trying to progress. That’s what the west has done. They can never understand coexisting with nature because of their asuric nature; for them, it is “domination” or bust.

It isn’t a coincidence that vegetarianism as a cultural trait arose in India. It also isn’t a coincidence that India never invaded any country in its hoary history and engaged in genocide, looting, and destruction of cultures. The west, and even far-eastern cultures have done so. India is unique place; it is the spigot that brings forth spiritual knowledge on this plane/planet. That is why our mAtrUbhUmI is worthy of worship, not because we are ‘tribal’ as some of morons think.

Yes, there are exceptions as I said earlier but they in no way make the rule and they are still in the backdrop so to speak. What I mean is you might find some jews in Ethiopia. How many black rabbis do you see preaching in Jerusalem? There are black Catholics. When will a black Catholic become the Pope? When will a Chinese Muslim become the muazzin in Mecca?

Likewise, we Hindus, meaning Indian-Hindus, must be accepting of others but at the same time, know that India and Hinduism are inseparable and it is the Indian Hindus who will fight for both.

[QUOTE=Surya Deva;61357]That said I completely agree academic studies of Hinduism, Indian/Hindu philosophy, Sanskrit, Indology and Yoga should be chaired by learned Hindus. It simply makes no sense at all why they are dominated by non-Hindus.

To remedy this we need more and more Hindus to join these fields. We also need to get Hindus gurus in India to form a professional academic body to review all material written on Hinduism and taking positions on the board of all Hindu-related academic programs.

Start the campaign now.[/QUOTE]

I agree with you there. Although, when Hindus do raise a voice together, they are marginalized and labelled as Hindutva or Hindu fanatics. These dumb mlecchas need a proper thrashing.

#5

This is a question that has rankled my mind for the past 10 years.

and thus it has made you hateful - which is an asuric tendency.

#6

It is possible that some talented individuals could demonstrate great knowledge of one’s culture, and it won’t be surprising, say for a European Yoga practitioner to be far greater than an Indian Yoga practitioner. If that European person practices Yoga for 4 hours, regularly, everyday, and the Indian practitioner practices 4 hours but irregularly, I’d declare the European person as more fit for Yoga and teaching of the Yoga in university like places. You see where I am coming from? While yoga philosophy is the cultural victory of India, hence a reward to the world, it does not necessarily belong to India exclusively. It’s a transcendental practice.

And you should not compare Vedic dharma with Abrahamic religions on a sociocultural basis. You are asking questions like “when will a black christian become a Pope?” which I think might demonstrate extremists sentiments in some respects. Abrahamic religions are the most selfish belief systems ever established on this planet, contrary to the general belief. They’re notorious with their forced conversion. Of course they wouldn’t allow a black pope, because Christian Catholicism is a racist ideology.

But if I read Vedic dharma texts correctly, anyone with sound knowledge of Vedas will be qualified enough to transmit his knowledge to others regardless of nationality and culture. Hypothetically, if I was the head of a university’s English department, and I had an open professorship, and I had received two applications (one from an Indian, one from a British) for this post, I would have chosen the most suitable person: If Indian person’s skills were better than British, I’d have deemed that his/her knowledge would be of better use for the students, thusly, I’d have hired him as the professor of English. And same would’ve applied to British too.

Not all who are Western are as shallow as you think. So the point is, it is not good to make a hasty judgement with ideologically-driven sentiments. Ask yourself: what if you die tomorrow and immediately reincarnate at the heart of a Western culture, in America?

We need to start building more bridges as human race, or else our doom shall be decided soon enough.

#7

[QUOTE=High Wolf;61384]It is possible that some talented individuals could demonstrate great knowledge of one’s culture, and it won’t be surprising, say for a European Yoga practitioner to be far greater than an Indian Yoga practitioner. If that European person practices Yoga for 4 hours, regularly, everyday, and the Indian practitioner practices 4 hours but irregularly, I’d declare the European person as more fit for Yoga and teaching of the Yoga in university like places. You see where I am coming from? While yoga philosophy is the cultural victory of India, hence a reward to the world, it does not necessarily belong to India exclusively. It’s a transcendental practice.

And you should not compare Vedic dharma with Abrahamic religions on a sociocultural basis. You are asking questions like “when will a black christian become a Pope?” which I think might demonstrate extremists sentiments in some respects. Abrahamic religions are the most selfish belief systems ever established on this planet, contrary to the general belief. They’re notorious with their forced conversion. Of course they wouldn’t allow a black pope, because Christian Catholicism is a racist ideology.

But if I read Vedic dharma texts correctly, anyone with sound knowledge of Vedas will be qualified enough to transmit his knowledge to others regardless of nationality and culture. Hypothetically, if I was the head of a university’s English department, and I had an open professorship, and I had received two applications (one from an Indian, one from a British) for this post, I would have chosen the most suitable person: If Indian person’s skills were better than British, I’d have deemed that his/her knowledge would be of better use for the students, thusly, I’d have hired him as the professor of English. And same would’ve applied to British too.

Not all who are Western are as shallow as you think. So the point is, it is not good to make a hasty judgement with ideologically-driven sentiments. Ask yourself: what if you die tomorrow and immediately reincarnate at the heart of a Western culture, in America?

We need to start building more bridges as human race, or else our doom shall be decided soon enough.[/QUOTE]

TTA’s ultimate message was that Hindus should rise and learn to play an active role in matters regarding their culture. I agree with you in that we should not come to hasty conclusions regarding race and cultural biases.

However, we should not escape the fact that this is precisely the case in the Western world; charlatans and bigots are largely the primary people in the Western world who take up the mantle of an “Indologist” or a Yoga instructor with either the commercialization of Yoga or the defamation of Indian history and culture in mind. The fact that you have “spiritual” people running around in the Western world creating Christian Yoga, Bikram Yoga and clinging onto the Aryan Invasion theory is a clear indication of the shallowness and conceit of the Western world. In fact, I remember a newspaper article a year or two ago in which a Christian stated something like: “There are some elements of Yoga that are ‘inappropriate’ for Christianity; that is why I have created Yoga for Christians, which eliminates Hindu religious elements and focuses on exercise.” Of course there are wise and competent Western Yoga practitioners and historians, such as Koenraad Elst and David Frawley but the way they are marginalized shows the ignorance and bigotry of the larger Western world demographic.

You say we must start building bridges between all the different ethnicities, cultures, and religions in this world. However, would this be possible if bigots are teaching our history, religion, and language and insidiously disseminating anti-Hindu propaganda within the world’s media and academia? Is any sort of amalgamation possible with Abrahamics scorning all other religions and cultures? Is any sort of unity possible when Africans are treated as primitive savages?

If you really want to achieve this state of human consolidation, you should be supporting us. We Indians need to regain the foothold in academia and media to present our cultural and intellectual viewpoints; its a matter of authenticity. If you consider Western Indologists such as the racist Wendy Donniger and David Witzel superior to Hindu scholars and Indian historians, and if you really think, for example, an Islamic scholar can accurately teach Hinduism without any sort of bias…then thats merely another reason for us Indians/Hindus to pursue this goal.

#8

and High Wolf cranks one outta the park.

#9

[QUOTE=The Scales;61381]and thus it has made you hateful - which is an asuric tendency.[/QUOTE]

TTA says the truth. He may not say it in the nicest way but there it is:

Hindus need to play an active role in their culture as it pertains to media and academia.

#10

[QUOTE=The Scales;61387]^

and High Wolf cranks one outta the park.

Majestic . . .[/QUOTE]

The Scales, how come the light doesn’t shine green when you’re online?

#11

Live and Let live.

#12

[QUOTE=The Scales;61391]Live and Let live.[/QUOTE]

Sometimes, we should not let others live they way they want to. We should not let influential bigots and racists express themselves and spread their vitriol. We should not let Christian missionaries spread their propaganda and destroy other people’s cultures.

#13

Cause I’m going incognito aTm. Now I will be green. (changes it)

You see Fred I didn’t get ‘the message’ from the Op.

I got hate, bigotry, absolutes, and dissension. Which is pretty adharma if your asking me.

#14

[QUOTE=The Scales;61394]Cause I’m going incognito aTm. Now I will be green. (changes it)

You see Fred I didn’t get ‘the message’ from the Op.

I got hate, bigotry, absolutes, and dissension. Which is pretty adharma if your asking me.[/QUOTE]

Really? I never knew such a feature existed on these forums.

Or do you mean incognito as in “Google Incognito?”. (Check it out, its a good feature in Google Chrome).

There was obviously anger, resentment, and frustration in there. I can understand all of these considering the cultural subjugation we Hindus are undergoing? Hate? Definitely, directed at the bigoted and racist pseudo-intellectuals.

Absolutes? Perhaps, but at least he isn’t being politically correct.

Dissension? What do you mean?

#15

TTA says the truth. He may not say it in the nicest way but there it is:

Hindus need to play an active role in their culture as it pertains to media and academia.

I believe that truth to be subjective. Ask an eskimo and he might say HINDWHO?

If we truly wanted to stop spreading ignorance then we would all just all shut up. But that may be pretty unlikely.

[QUOTE=Nietzsche;61392]Sometimes, we should not let others live they way they want to. We should not let influential bigots and racists express themselves and spread their vitriol. We should not let Christian missionaries spread their propaganda and destroy other people’s cultures.[/QUOTE]

Whats good for the goose isn’t good for the gander?

#16

I thought it’d be funny to Google an Indian university and link to a class on Christianity being taught by an Indian.

Alas, I couldn’t find one.

Touche’

You all sure do like your engineering, science, and law classes though.

#17

I believe that truth to be subjective. Ask an eskimo and he might say HINDWHO?

Just like what we consider Dharma and Adharma, no?

The Inuit people have a beautiful culture…

If we truly wanted to stop spreading ignorance then we would all just all shut up. But that may be pretty unlikely.

Exactly. But it doesn’t happen. Thats why you protest and campaign for reform.

Whats good for the goose isn’t good for the gander?

ARGH, I didn’t grow up here, I don’t even know what half of these idioms and aphorisms mean.

Google Search

Well, it apparently means “What’s good for him isn’t good for her.”

But you obviously extrapolated that to encompass this particular context.

Regardless, I must respectfully disagree with you.

#18

Just like what we consider Dharma and Adharma, no?

Well played young sir.

but . . . .

Exactly. But it doesn’t happen. Thats why you protest and campaign for reform.
and you may do so without hate and violence.

Well, it apparently means “What’s good for him isn’t good for her.”

But you obviously extrapolated that to encompass this particular context.

Regardless, I must respectfully disagree with you.

I extrapolated on [I]your[/I] comment above me tidy quote. The original saying goes something like this “whats good for the goose is good for the gander.”

#19

[QUOTE=David;61399]I thought it’d be funny to Google an Indian university and link to a class on Christianity being taught by an Indian.

Alas, I couldn’t find one.

Touche’

You all sure do like your engineering, science, and law classes though.[/QUOTE]

There should be a lot. Although Christians miserably failed in converting all of India, Christian Indians do exist (courtesy of Christian genocides, forced conversions, and propaganda). In fact, some Indian universities are named after Christians, such as St. Francis Xavier the brute who ordered the Goa Inquisition, and are staffed almost completely by Christians.

YES! Finally SOMEONE understands. Math and Science are SUPREME!!!

Just look at them! Aren’t they gorgeous!!!

Math is power!!! Science is power!!! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!

#20

On a bit of a quest for power, are we?