I referred to this quote attributed to Wittgenstein recently. Worth elaborating in the context of the Rigveda.pdf worldview.
"Tradition is not something a man can learn; nor a thread he can pick up when he feels like it; any more than a man can choose his own ancestors"
+
"Tradition is not something a man can learn; nor a thread he can pick up when he feels like it; any more than a man can choose his own ancestors"
+
Most non-missionary / non-proselytising religions operate this way. Even the proselytizing ones work this way for your progeny once you jump ship.
+
+
However in case of Hindus and other indigenous faiths world over there is no explicit urge to convert others. Hence no urge to codify or uniformize customs into a book based religion and say look here's the book. This is the entirety and essence of my faith.
+
+
Come join me. Come follow the book.
Hindu Dharma is not something you can pick up when you feel like it.
It is not architected that way although there are recent attempts to mould it that way.
+
Hindu Dharma is not something you can pick up when you feel like it.
It is not architected that way although there are recent attempts to mould it that way.
+
You can't choose to learn it at some point in time and convert. Again there are recent attempts at this. But the norm is to be born into the religion and live it.
+
+
Now it is acknowledged so much changed in the past 200 years of colonialism. Particularly the connection to a living parampara is broken for many.
+
+
But whatever people practice even to this day is a complex mesh of their Acharas (family, location, lineage, Kulam etc), their ancestral memory, what is contained in Sruti, Smriti, Puranas (Astha dasha, Jati, Kula, Sthala etc) , Itihasas etc. It is a mesh. It is not one book.
+
+
You start this search for roots for every practice you may or may not find answers in the form you expect always. That is how non-book traditions operate. You may find a line in Vedas or Gita that has many interpretations in many sampradayas.
+
+
You may find some references to some practice in some Smriti some Puranas etc. You can't go back hunting for some paragraph in Rigveda to trace the exact root cause. It doesn't work that way.
+
+
This expectation to find something akin to a biblical - Matthew 1:18-25 verse or a Quranic verse in the Hindu context is Juvenile.
There is no one book to refer to here.
+
There is no one book to refer to here.
+
Brother... Both are not same!
+
+
Oh times have changed we should change is a different argument.
To say .. Oh all my ancestors were fools. This doesn't exist in Rigveda.pdf they are all wrong is a very insane stance to take.
+
To say .. Oh all my ancestors were fools. This doesn't exist in Rigveda.pdf they are all wrong is a very insane stance to take.
+
Traditional interpretation and explanation exists for so many of our "smart alec" questions of today.
Just that we don't like those answers.
We want a different answer from the traditional commentators.
Answer is decided already but explanation needs to be force fitted.
+
Just that we don't like those answers.
We want a different answer from the traditional commentators.
Answer is decided already but explanation needs to be force fitted.
+
Doesn't work.
This urge to insult the collective IQ of generations of our ancestors to say their interpretation is wrong but mine is correct doesn't reflect well on our own religiosity really.
+
This urge to insult the collective IQ of generations of our ancestors to say their interpretation is wrong but mine is correct doesn't reflect well on our own religiosity really.
+
Traditionally irreconcilable differences were resolved by creation of new sampradayas or it needed very enlightened souls like Adi Shankaracharya to do some form of a reform or reconciliation from within.
+
+
I don't see that happening at the moment.
For now let us atleast cultivate some humility towards our ancestors and stop being smart alecs.
/End
For now let us atleast cultivate some humility towards our ancestors and stop being smart alecs.
/End
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
