Prisoners of the book!

random notes....

Does it not confound your minds, how can all the wisdom of mankind and all the infinite knowledge of the Universe both known and unknown, yet to be discovered, yet to be fathomed and measured and comprehended can be captured in one single book of few hundred pages. How can one single individual declare finality of knowledge in a single book?

Even the books on science in thousands of pages have not been able to declare finality of knowledge on any given subject. Even today we discover new things about single celled creatures, the most basic of all living things. So how can everything be trapped in one single book, how can we allow ourselves be trapped inside this book?! 

Why god, via his prophets of course, not given us knowledge about the Universe, what constitutes the Universe, who else lives there, if at all. Why he does not tell us there are others in the Universe who look to him as their creator. The answer of the book is '...in time' or humans are not ready yet, or some such thing which belittles human achievements and makes us look like children. I think such answers are an insult to humanity and its achievements.

The fallacy of Indian 'secularist' with respect to Hinduism

Genuine secularism in the west was a reaction to Christianity, demanding separation of the State from the Church. Most Indian so called 'secularist' do not have clear understanding of Hinduism and project onto it the notions of religion which they picked from Western text books whose authors had Christianity in mind when discussing religion and secularism. It will be sensible to avoid the trap of trying to catch Hinduism in a doctrinal definition meant for Christianity.

Thus the application of the term secularism in context with Hinduism is erroneous.

Discussions with Dr. Koenraad Elst, December 2010, Asterisk in Bharopiyasthan.
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Also read The Myth of the Hindu Right by David Frawley