Sunday, 10 November 2019

The English Educated, and Our own Narratives

Many times one sees the english educated Indian writing about the wisdom of the American Indian tribes.
Still waiting for one of them at least to write on the deep wisdom found in Indian villages.
Been waiting a very long time ...

Kirthi Jayakumar, Gangadharan Kumar and 17 others
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  • Sridhar Lakshmanan Me madam me , u forgot me
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    • Aparna Krishnan A wisdom, rooted in gods and dharmam.
    • Sridhar Lakshmanan Aparna Krishnan i said i wrote and you negate me , nobody gives credit that's why very few write 😥😥
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    • Aparna Krishnan Sridhar Lakshmanan U have not linked it to God and Dharmam. To which each practice is deeply linked. You need to believe to be able to see that, to write. Atheists miss that foundation stone of this land.
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    • Sridhar Lakshmanan Y shud i link it to God because you say so or see so, i see it all the time and observe it all the time but i don't think i am the only one who sees to me everyone sees not me or only me.its evident. I am no master with a scale 🙄, tribal versions of god and pagan practices to please God are quite soemtjing, do you want it to be followed or to be written ABT , then i become anti national. I sometimes feel that this is the basis of exploitation and sometimes the basis of emancipation, till such time iay choose not to write. But having seen how people react to your posts on that i decided that you are the poster person for that. Discretion is better that valour, plus I strongly believe not everything is for a discussion on fb or for posting soem are personal and need deep engagement.
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    • Aparna Krishnan no it does not need to be written about.
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  • Komakkambedu Himakiran Modern democracy is founded on the wisdom of the Native American tribes. The US Constitution starts out with the concepts found in the tribal society. Tribes all over are one and the same in terms of their harmonious life within nature.
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  • Kannan Thandapani The trouble is you don't read anything we write in Tamil. We admire the wisdom of Native Americans in English and our local wisdom in Tamil.
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    • Aparna Krishnan Kannan Thandapani my point is different.

      Also to understand the pulse of this land, a deeply religious land, whete each actbis linked to god, one needs to immerse. Modern education denies God, and after that that pulse becomes invisible.
    • Komakkambedu Himakiran Kannan has a point; you need to write and interact with people online in local languages.
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    • Aparna Krishnan I agree absolutely.

      Yet the point of the post is a little different.
    • Aparna Krishnan Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, writes in The Dance of Shiva,

      “It is hard to realize, how completely the continuity of Indian life has been severed. A single generation of English education suffices to break the threads of tradition and to create a nonde      script and superficial being deprived of all roots—a sort of intellectual pariah who does not belong to the East or the West.”

      I have seen this is myself juxttaposed with those who live and breate indianness, devidu and dharmam.. For three decades.

      To see it takes a decade. And then the way back is long and slow. And never fully possible.
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    • Sridhar Lakshmanan Y quote from tamil texts till then u r alien to us 😂😂😂😂
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    • Komakkambedu Himakiran Sridhar Lakshmanan she doesn't get this, she's been living here for how long now?!!!
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    • Sridhar Lakshmanan Komakkambedu Himakiran no no fights here this is a place to laugh at once own ignorance fool around look at one's own stupidity not others
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  • Rahul Banerjee If you care to go through my blog you will find umpteen posts on the wisdom of the Bhils and their worship of nature and none on that of the native americans ☺.
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    • Aparna Krishnan Devudu and Dharmam. Or the equivalent in other languages. Is where all practices are rooded in this land.

      To even see it needs immersion.That needs belief. Theism.
    Write a reply...

  • Kannan Thandapani I have to again question this theory of needing belief to understand belief and believers. Your belief is not the same as the belief of the villagers. You may believe in one god but you surely do not believe that there are thousands of gods and the pur…See More
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    • Rahul Banerjee seconded totally. if belief in the invincibility of modernity is flawed so is the belief in the greatness of tradition. such uncritical thinking will get us nowhere.
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    • Aparna Krishnan 1. It needs immersion. There is a vast difference between being an observer and a co traveller in the path of faith (as in all paths). And religiousness is the foundation stone of this land. Just check how many times Devudu (or kadavul) is mentioned in the course in 10 minutes chat in the village.

      2. How do I know that I don't believe in the itihasas and the puranas ? I have lived in the village for a long time. I now believe in many many things I had dismissed in my earlier life. I am a complete theist.

      3. Gandhi was a full blown theist. He beleived in Rama to the extent of dying with his name on his lips. I would not bother dissecting from his writings on whether he believed in a historical or a mythical Ram as. Anymore than I would from Nanak or Meera or Kabir.

      4. Of course one can serve. Bur to tune in to the pulse if this land one needs religion.

      5. Yes, you do not wear your atheism on your sleeve, and I respect you for that.

      There are however atheists who post,like, share memes mocking gods and believer. Who mock at the peoples and gods of this land. Who consider themselves wiser and superior to the peoples of this land. Them I don't waste any time on anymore. Their arrogance, their Karma.
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    • Aparna Krishnan Nobody is rooting for the uncritical support of tradition. Part of tradition is questioning all that is wrong also. From Guru Nanak to Narayana Guru. Punjab to Kerala.
    • Kannan Thandapani Observations about yourself - I have to accept what you say and leave it to you to see if what you believe in puranas is the same as what the villagers believe.

      But I am sorry, I have to question your observations on Gandhi. He was a believer, no dou      bt about it. But his belief was not the same as the others. He even said Vyasa should not have made Gita a part of Mahabharata, which has led to misinterpretation. His belief shunned rituals and ceremonies, except prayers and chanting. I am not dissecting and interpreting. There is ample proof in his writings. For example, when a person wrote about his lack of belief in doing 16th day ceremonies for his deceased father and instead sent the money to Gandhi, he published the letter approvingly, denouncing meaningless ceremonies and recommending ‘the example of the correspondent to those who are anxious to do only that which is right, and free themselves from self-deception’.
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    • Aparna Krishnan Kannan Thandapani you think believers don't question ? You think villagers don't question ? You think critical questioning is the forte of the modern educated ?

      Believers are not one single bloc. The only common thread is belief in God. But its an essential thread.

      "... what the villagers believe in". They are also incidentally not one large bloc !
    • Kannan Thandapani That is what I am also saying, except that it is not an essential thread.

      It is not me who is denouncing the believers. I am only responding to your denouncement of non-believers.
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    • Aparna Krishnan Kannan Thandapani it is an essential understanding to tune in to the soul of this land. That is my learning from my years in the village. Who wants it can take it, who wants to can reject it.

      Iam not denouncing anyone. No time or interest to !
    • Kannan Thandapani When you say one cannot understand Gandhi or India without being a believer, I find it highly objectionable. You may say I cannot function as efficiently as you, but understanding is different.
    • Aparna Krishnan Kannan Thandapani in my understanding it is needed, to get to the heart of the matter.

      Anyway never mind. I am not important, not are my words.
    • Rahul Banerjee Aparna Krishnan regularly makes sweeping statements which have little empirical validity☺.
    • Kannan Thandapani Aparna Krishnan You are a VVIP. That's why I argue with you to make myself feel important :-)
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    • Aparna Krishnan Kannan Thandapani now that is the most Gandhian response I have seen in a long time, I say !

      To smoothly get the enemy over to ones side !!
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    • Kannan Thandapani Aparna Krishnan To paraphrase a dialogue from the Making of the Mahatma, do you think Gandhism is the monopoly of believers? :-)
    • Aparna Krishnan Not at all. Gandhi belongs to all. Even to those who try and deny him, they seem most chained to him !

      My point here is different. Each person, each community, each history, each narrative, has an anchor point.

      This land, the peoples of this land, and the mahatmas of this land, including Gandhi, are rooted in religiousness. To get to the essence one needs to understand that, engage with that. by being part of that. Otherwise the rest is anyway there ... and that is vast and available to all of us.
    • Sridhar Lakshmanan I know many a atheist villager
    • Aparna Krishnan Please introduce.

      @Sunny has also not met a single one in his wanderings thro N India. Nor I.      …See More
    • Sridhar Lakshmanan Aparna Krishnan are they not villagers ???
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    • Aparna Krishnan Sridhar Lakshmanan ok fine, I have the answer.
    • Sridhar Lakshmanan Aparna Krishnan strange is the logic stranger is the argument, i know atheist villagers who belong to neither , u r yet to introduce me to your village 🙄, then we will go here
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    • Aparna Krishnan coming next week ? u r 2 busy between the beutiful NE and Nilgiris, what can a tiny village in rayalseema offer ??
    • Sridhar Lakshmanan Aparna Krishnan offer the bodhi tree under which aparna ji got enlightened on all Indian villages in a single.village , i seek that
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    • Aparna Krishnan there is a common thread. many common threads. if you dont want to see that religiousness is part of that, so be it.

      ad hominiem comments is neither here nor there !
    • Sridhar Lakshmanan Aparna Krishnan i want to see tahts why I am asking and i want you to see the other thread also as much you want to see this. If you don't want to see that thread alone that's also perfectly fine
    • Aparna Krishnan happy to see the many atheistic villagers, sure ! anytime.
    • Sridhar Lakshmanan Lemme see the theist villages first
    • Kannan Thandapani Aparna Krishnan Came across this link today... wanted to check with you if it is true. The earlier Kanchi Sankaracharya had said that as per Ayurveda, you should not treat atheists since it would only extend their sin of atheism. Ouch. http://www.kamakoti.org/tamil/3dk37.htm#main_body
      தெய்வப் பணியும் மக்கட் பணியும் : தெய்வத்தின் குரல் (மூன்றாம் பகுதி)
      KAMAKOTI.ORG
      தெய்வப் பணியும் மக்கட் பணியும் : தெய்வத்தின்…
      தெய்வப் பணியும் மக்கட் பணியும் : தெய்வத்தின் குரல் (மூன்றாம் பகுதி)
    • Aparna Krishnan Kannan Thandapani never heard of anything like this. No idea at all of the veracity of the quote or otherwise.

      No, the standard Ayurveda shastras have nothing like that.
    • Kannan Thandapani The quote (I mean, Kanchi Sankaracharya's) has to be authentic; it's from their website and is said to be part of his book, தெய்வத்தின் குரல். ”நாஸ்திகனுக்கு வைத்யம் பண்ணி ஆயுஸை நீடிக்கப்பண்ணினால் அவன் மேலும் நாஸ்திக பாபத்தை வ்ருத்தி செய்துகொள்ள இடம் தருவதாக ஆவதால் அவனுக்கு வைத்யம் பண்ணாதே!” என்று ஆயுர்வேத சாஸ்திரத்தில் சொல்லியிருக்கிறது.
    • Aparna Krishnan Kannan Thandapani

      No, the standard Ayurveda shastras have nothing like that.

      But I just referred to the post again. Do re read. All this has nothing to do with what I have written there. I stand by that.
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