THis article is important is that he is a informer and trying to do sociology studies on Indians for the westerner. He is also using the EJ language to describe Indians.devesh wrote:the Manu Joseph article is the most idiotic and brain dead that i've seen in a while. it sets a new record for its sheer intellectual laziness.
the opening sentence talks about how Swamis dress differently from the "common" people. he goes on to say how common Indians wear shirts and trousers but swamis wear different style of clothing....this, for him is conclusive proof of "alienation" of swamis from common population.
I don't even know where to begin with this argument of his. should I laugh for the sheer stupidity of the argument, or cry for the fact that the piece appears in a major American newspaper???
Swamis are a beacon/representation of age old Dharma, and so they wear dhotis and cover the upper body with a simple cloth to signify asceticism and Sanyasa. they must reject all the "showiness" of jewelry, etc. this is the meaning behind Swamis' clothing. this fact is known to everybody in India. any Hindu knows this. Manu Joseph knows this too. for all his pretensions, I'm sure he's aware of the "ideology" behind the clothing of Swamis. Gandhi's clothing was based on the same idea of renunciation. but he's deliberately framing the debate in an alien and crooked way for the foreign audience. what he's doing is perpetuating the fake and fallacious argument that "swamis are alienated from mainstream."
it is a lifafa/DIE article which propagates the kind of deracination that EJ's want Indians to believe about themselves. there is nothing "genuine" or "messengerly" about Joseph's article. it is deliberately fake arguments posing as "genuine concern."
In the 1980s and 1990s the sociology studies on India got hijacked by EJ people and lot of "secular" groups.
Lot of material on sociology by west have lot of problems and these are repeated by these same groups. Indians and media people now copy the same fiction now and they completely lose the narration.
This article is one of them. There is worry in the article and also trying to fit the new popular movement to some kind of past groups.
When ever the groups got media coverage we have noticed that EJs and secular groups have gone after the Hindu swami and have assaulted them in media and image. This secret groups who watch the growth of Hindu movements are the most dangerous. Western EJs work with these to target Indians.
The western reader actually asks for this kind of article which used to be provided by the Indian informer and sociologists.
A peculiar characteristic of Indian leaders who claim to represent the average man is that they dress very differently from him.
Behavior analysis
a brand of Hindu philosophy that is secular in nature.
The failure of Mr. Shankar to spread his influence beyond the affluent represents an inexplicable anomaly in a familiar pattern of Indian society. Usually, an elite obsession percolates down the layers to the masses. Most of Indian culture has spread this way, including food, rituals, music and cricket. But, for some reason, elite spiritual masters have made little impact on the masses.
Hindu society is being analysed by a western oriented socio psuedo. He is implying that spiritual things dont matter to the people.
This is again sociology comment trying to show something.
In most of the first world, an Indian has a better chance of being accepted as a spiritual leader than, say, a Hungarian. In several interviews, Mr. Shankar has emphasized the branding of India as the spiritual home of the world. It is one of the most enduring and absurd of myths.
This is where he shows his color.
These exotic gurus emerge because Hinduism is not a structured faith with a central authority or a chain of command. So there is more room for spiritual freelancers.
This is sociology analysis.
Still, the branding of Indian spirituality is so powerful that the young and the old from the West continue to come here in search of the “truth.”
This used to be talk of the leftist/marxist/communist. They want this to be mainstream opinion.
Using marxist language lot of EJ people abuse Hinduism. This needs to be watched.
? Do you deny the possibility of fake swamis and gurus in the society?
I did not know BRFites indulged in Lahori logic as well.