Valkan - I believe you have misunderstood the intent of my post - specifically the use of the expression "traditional gyan". But my reply is going to be a long one.
You have confirmed what I believe to be true by saying the following - but you have misinterpreted the context.
Pray tell me WHAT incentive is there for the average Hindu to get 'traditional gyan' in a land where Hindus are in a majority ?
The specific answer to this is near the bottom of this post, but before that..
The lament on this forum was that Hinduism is under threat.
Under ordinary circumstances I would ask for "proof" of this. But I accept that overall - in about 1000 years, there has been a shrinkage of the area which Hindus are free to roam, so Hindus are under threat. So I assume that Hindus and Hinduism is under threat.
Why are Hindus under threat?
I am told that this is because of Evanjihadis and Islam.
That may be so, but I fear that there are deeper forces at work. The deeper forces are the replacement of Hindu society by a majority of Hindus brainwashed over the years (centuries) to forget, sideline an ignore a whole lot of knowledge related to Hinduism.
What proof do I have of this?
Apart from allegations made to this effect by members such as Acharya, it appears that there are other dribs and drabs of evidence suggesting that much knowledge has been lost from the general population. I ask elders for answers to simple questions and such answers are not readily available. I read of much Ayurvedic knowledge having been lost.
DISCLAIMER: I am not suggesting that the knowledge is gone forever. There are people and sources of information, but their concentration per unit Hindu is low.
I believe in a theory of evolution that suggests that when the population of a given characteristic (or species of animal) falls below some critical threshold, its numbers are destined to dwindle and disappear completely. (This is a dumbing down of a more complex theory - but it will do)
I do not know if this is happening to critical bodies of Hindu knowledge, but it *might* be happening. I believe that the risk of waiting to find out is costlier than implementing measures to stem it.
What can be done about this?
I see the "what can be done?" as involving many steps.
The first, easiest and most expedient step is to "revitalize" the Hindus who are at the greatest risk being lost altogether. These are the secular anglophones, the DIE , the elite. These are the "modern","short attention span" types who are most likely to respond to salesmanship and catchphrases. The cost of doing this is so ridiculously low and the benefits if any are so attractive that I believe this is something that needs implementation right away.
Step 2: How to explain Hinduism to anyone in a few easy words? This explanation is to be fed to the people who are looking for quickfire catchphrases and Hinduism for dummies books.
It was in my quest for an answer to this question that I made the following hypothesis:
"Because Hindus have never been asked to explain themselves or their belief system to anyone "in a nutshell" they (Hindus) have never figured out an answer to this question.
If this hypothesis of mine is wrong, I would appreciate proof of my being wrong by pointers to an ancient, already existing "traditional gyan" of "Hinduism for dummies" devised in the past. This was the context in which I used the term "traditional gyan"
Like I said, I believe that traditional gyan DOES NOT EXIST to explain what Hinduism is in 60 words (or some such limit)
We have to create it and disseminate it to make it generally known gyan.
I have more to say about why it may be a good idea - but I will leave that for some other post later. All this is completely unnecessary if Hinduism is not under threat.
IMHO, everyone of them (except Pakistani Punjabi Muslims) need to be re-converted.
