FB Discussions - India and multiplicities

(via Sunny Narang)

"We have to understand one simple thing about India . That it flows continuously like a river and many tributaries join it , changing it as it flows . Cultures and Civilizations are not blocks of matter , they are moving entities .

And after they merge , it will never be easy to separate strains of the past with the present . People will try , and that too is their practise , but the flow can never go back , it can only move ahead .

There are people who search for beauty and purpose in the past , many in the future . They are like sects of time .

I see all of cultures and civilizations as expressions of this flow of time , and all are valid in their niche in the ecology of time-geography .
The only way we can have a dialogue going is that we are open to multiple hybrids and synthesis .

In India what we call Hinduism , itself is a river of thousands of Sramans , Sampradaya and Lok Sanskriti . Then we have multiple hybrids with coming of Islam , leaving us with languages like Urdu, Dakhani , Hindustani and religions like Sikhism . We have poetry written in India in Persian and miniature schools of art and many craft and textile traditions evolving .

Then the coming of British and Christianity creates Bramho Samaj and hundreds of strains , with all kinds of Mughal-Anglo , Hindu-Anglo , Mughal-Anglo-Hindu cultures evolving , as well as multiple caste and puritanical religious movements ."

Then 1947 and Socialism and then Americanisation . The story keeps flowing . The coming back of Gurus and various religious upsurges .

To understand on how to even begin to understand India , we need to dive into its localities , or local regions , defined not by either national or state borders . They are both within a state and outside a Nation.

But it needs an empathy , a light touch and a deep wisdom .

Not blaming , no recriminations , just watching and seeing where we can go from here . With least possible harm to all involved .

That is true engagement . Not dry tolerance .