Week 202: Recent Podcasts, Hinduism in the Museum?, Gopuram Time!
10/28/2023 - Modern Hindu Content
Welcome to Eternal Path! This week we feature: recent Hinduism related podcasts, a feature on the Western Gaze on Hinduism, and an aesthetic!
Content Highlight:
We wanted to highlight a few audio podcast episodes on Hinduism that we found very educational recently:
That’s So Hindu 93 - What is Critical Caste Theory and why it’s a “dubious discourse” | Akshar from The Emissary - “In this episode we speak with Akshar from The Emissary about an article he published earlier this year about Critical Caste Theory, as well as the activists who view Hinduism, Hindu culture, and India’s history and contemporary society through this very narrow lens.” (Apple | Spotify | Acast)
Brown Pundits Browncast - Prof Vamsee Juluri on Hindus and Hindophobia - “In this episode Mukunda and I talk to Prof Vamsee Juluri, professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco and the author of several books, including “rearming Hinduism“. We asked him how he defines Hinduism, what is Hinduphobia and why (and how) Hindus should “re-arm” (or not).” (Libsyn, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher)
Meru Media - Sanskrit, Shastras, and Society: A Conversation with Dr. Satyan Sharma - “Join Mukunda as he speaks with Dr. Satyan Sharma. Dr. Sharma is a Professor of Sanskrit at the Panjab University in Chandigarh. He specializes in Vedanta, Indian Philosophy, and Dharma Shastras“ (Apple | Spotify | YouTube)
Philosophy Highlight: The Western Gaze on Hinduism
Ever wonder why there are so many articles criticizing the revival in Hinduism, of Hindus advocating for Hindu interests, or bizarre depictions of Hindus in textbooks? We think Hugh hits the topic on the nail.
To expand on this, for those of us in the diaspora, there are more favorable depictions of Roman and Greek mythology, than in Hindu history and cosmology, even though all three traditions are related Indo-European traditions. The former two are comfortably non-existent, their beliefs having no actual real world impact today, whether that be on policy, diplomacy, discourse, etc.
All Western thought is downstream of Abrahamic thought. Politicians in the United States hark on “our Judeo-Christian values”, and even the ascendant “religion” of the west, which some call “Secular Progressivism” and others “wokeness” is essentially a stripped-down Christianity of sorts and has its roots in the European Enlightenment. The idea of monotheism as the norm for religious belief, of texts being far and away the chief guiding platform of religion, and of top down organization are some ideas that Westerners associate closely with religion.
The remaining global civilizations that have not fully bowed down to one or more of these religions are India and China, and traditions from both have remained inscrutable to Westerners. The idea of a panoply of deities, of praxis arguably superseding belief, and of religious practice changing in an organic manner are among the concepts alien to these folks. They see many if not all Hindu practices as primitive and Hindu assertion of their identity as eroding “progress” in their worldview.
The challenge as Hindus in the 21st century is that we have to do three things to be effective in the discourse:
Define What Hinduism is - Understand the texts, but understand tradition, understand sampradaya, and engage in scholarly debate over what makes us, us.
Understand The Western Concept of Religion/Its Current State - Understand the 3 key Abrahamic faiths, and understand wokeism and its hijacking of the idea of “rationality”
Develop a plan for How to properly articulate Hinduism - As far as communicating Hinduism in the West, this likely involves deeper study of Greek and Roman philosophy, which has lots of parallels with Hinduism, and allows us to develop the proper terms to articulate ourselves, which lends itself to Hindus describing the world through a lens informed by the Hindu worldview, rather than us looking at Hinduism through the lens of Western “religion” or through Western academic thought.
Aesthetic: Murdeshwar Temple Gopuram
