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Avazjan
08 June 2010, 01:43 PM
Namaste!

I was meditating today when the following idea occurred to me:

*What if HDF were to create a database of knowledge about sanatana dharma?

Like a wiki, or whatever else that works better - I don't know much about this kinda stuff. But I do have some ideas on how it could be organized.

As the entirety of dharma is contained in the bija "aum," branching from shabdabrahman into all mantras and all teachings, I see such a database as operating in a similar way.

Here are two pictures for example:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Tree_of_life_SVG.svg

http://www.utexas.edu/features/graphics/2008/tree/tree3.jpg

It represents the tree of life as conceived by modern biology studies.

I believe a similar model would work most excellently for organizing sanatana dharma in all its various forms across place and time.. I am not suggesting this model as the GUI, or for user navigation (although I think it would be work well for that,) but more as sort of an overall organizational scheme. To take it further would be to identify the ecologies of disparate teachings, and how various teachings are synthesized into coherent sadhanas and sampradayas, etc.

In this way all (or, realistically, a great deal) of the teachings, schools of philosophy, sampradayas, doctrines, texts, etc, can be displayed in an ever-expanding central database, well organized (and cross linked) and well referenced - one of the sources of which can be information synthesized from this forum by our many knowledgeable and resourceful posters.

I believe this would help a great many people understand sanatana dharma far more fully, and present an extreme expanse of information without overwhelming those who are being informed.

Is this something others would be interested in? I do not have the skills required.

If others show interest, I will post my preliminary organizational scheme.

Kumar_Das
08 June 2010, 02:56 PM
No thanks. Bad idea.

Those who search for Sanatana Dharma will find their way.

Putting it all out there for what? So that new agers and muslims can steal and claim that whatever sh*t they are practicing is the best?

Kumar_Das
08 June 2010, 02:58 PM
haha "I was meditating today and..."

The new agers steal completely from the wealth of spiritual knowledge of Hinduism.

Why make things easier for them? So they can hijack again, more?

Better to keep what we have to ourselves.

To make your religion available readily and completely would mean your enemies have an easier job.

Nice try but no thanks.

Many converts to Sanathana Dharma, usually have that natural brains and spiritual light that guides them properly. They know already what they want, and they know where to look for it. Once you already have the devotion, everything comes to you.

There already are enough websites out there for people to understand the fundamentals. If they like that, that takes them further.

I see no reason to overwhelm people. Yes thats exactly what you are proposing even though you are denying it. Putting it all in one place will result to confusion for any new comer.

The system for new converts that is already in place is perfectly fine.

They do research, they like the concepts. They dedicate themselves in learning more by using the internet forums or visiting temples and they choose which sect of worship.

They become just like any other Hindu. Then when they move on to more advanced stuff. They already are into it.





This is how it works

There is an unbroken lineage that continually dedicates itself to a certain school of thought / philosophy.

A proper guru who preaches you a specific way.

IMO your idea will only bring disaster.

But thanks for the offer though.

Avazjan
08 June 2010, 03:29 PM
Namaste

Are you concerned with blocking those you feel are unworthy of knowledge or serving those who are?

The entire purpose of making any teaching available is to facilitate the search of others. Otherwise there would be no teaching, and everyone would be left to fend for themselves.

By your logic, it seems that Bhagavad Gita should not have been written because that would be making spiritual wealth available to those who would squander it. Surely those who searched for Bhakti and the other great teachings contained therein would have attained it anyway!

On a second point, I'd like to call into question the idea that a well organized summation (and detailed exegesis) would facilitate religious appropriation. From my view, it is due to a lack of well defined and structured teachings that new agers and other religious "hijackers" have been able to abscond with what they have, and falsely purport their misunderstandings or disinformation as authentic, traditional knowledge.

Such an information base as proposed above would serve to curb that by making abundantly clearly which teachings are, and which teachings are not, of the sanatana dharma.

In fact, the thing with new ageism right now is that it isn't really drawing much more from Hinduism - the appropriation is already been completed, more or less. Now it's resynthesizing itself over and over again, degrading as it does so, as more falsity is transformed into ever more falsity.

Many a hapless Westerner wanders the spiritual supermarket desperately trying to find something real, and finding only the vacuous backwash of new age "woo woo" mummery and mimicry. Many more Hindus are in an even worse plight, ground into submission between the millstones of ignorance and poverty, and exploited due to these factors by Abrahamic proselytizers who do little more than bribe their conversion.

If you want to see Christians and Muslims stop preying on Indians then Indians must be educated about their own history and religion. If you want to see falsity stop posing as Hinduism, or Hinduism-inspired, then the world must be educated about Hinduism.

For those already sincere truth seekers, making information more readily available seems a worthy goal to me. Otherwise, why this forum with all of its excellent posts and posters?

Namaste.

Avazjan
08 June 2010, 03:39 PM
To make your religion available readily and completely would mean your enemies have an easier job.Why manufacture paranoia when there is no need? Do you think the forces of ignorance are greater than those of truth?



Many converts to Sanathana Dharma, usually have that natural brains and spiritual light that guides them properly. They know already what they want, and they know where to look for it. Once you already have the devotion, everything comes to you.How do you think it comes to you? What is the mechanism proposed? I'll tell you one of them: devotional service from other humans. That is why we organize ourselves as a spiritual society, so that we may assist others, not merely with temporal and economic needs, but spiritual ones as well.


There already are enough websites out there for people to understand the fundamentals. If they like that, that takes them further.There are plenty of websites out there, it's true, but none of them address it in this comprehensive way. Many of those sites would be extremely valuable resources and I would hope that their partnership in this endeavor would be sought.


I see no reason to overwhelm people. Yes thats exactly what you are proposing even though you are denying it. Putting it all in one place will result to confusion for any new comer.Is that why every other well developed knowledge database has done the same or similar to concentrate its knowledge? I know from my own experience that the overwhelm is due to a vast multitude of different sources saying a vast multitude of different things, without structure with which to see the place of each teaching, path, etc., in the overall framework of sanatana dharma.


The system for new converts that is already in place is perfectly fine.If it were fine then Hinduism wouldn't be one of the slower growing religions in the world, mostly due to a relatively huge conversion percentage taking place in India due to 'religious predation' perpetrated against Hindus, both poor and rural, and well-to-do and urban who are common in their lack of education and understanding of Hinduism.


They do research, they like the concepts. They dedicate themselves in learning more by using the internet forums or visiting temples and they choose which sect of worship.Self-evidently. So if we are going to have concentrated systems like temples, scriptures and websites, why not make things as comprehensive as possible? Is it not our duty to make the process of learning more expedient for those who follow after us, and for our peers? Should we not capitalize on the use of technology as much as possible?



This is how it works

There is an unbroken lineage that continually dedicates itself to a certain school of thought / philosophy.

A proper guru who preaches you a specific way.Yes, that is how the essence of the dharma is guarded and transmitted. Yet without sufficient interest and dedication, one does not find a correct sadhana much less a correct guru. Knowledge is an indispensable aid in this.


IMO your idea will only bring disaster.

Thank you for your opinion.

Namaste

Kumar_Das
08 June 2010, 04:01 PM
Your post makes alot of noise but its evident to what you are up to. Your proposal leads only to disaster for my religion.

I plead to those who can see through whats going on here to be careful.

Kumar_Das
08 June 2010, 04:13 PM
The basics are freely available on some websites in the internet.

Hinduism is far too diverse to compile and present in one box. This will only lead to confusion.

I have browsed other multi-religious forums, the followers of Sanathana Dharma there are able to stand firm with their beliefs and debate with others.

Some members from those other forums are also here like Odion and spiritual seeker.

There are fundamentals within every sect. The knowledge already are freely and easily available on the net. If those concepts make sense to people, they are already on their way to learning further.

My point here is that it already is as good as it is. Theres no need to make things more tedious and confusing.

Pranams

devotee
09 June 2010, 03:26 AM
No thanks. Bad idea.

Those who search for Sanatana Dharma will find their way.

Putting it all out there for what? So that new agers and muslims can steal and claim that whatever sh*t they are practicing is the best?

I don't think Avazhgan's idea is bad. I am surprised the way you are reacting over his post.

Why do you think his idea is bad ? What can go wrong ? Your logic that someone will steal the Hindu idea ... is too childish as the information anyway is not secret even now.

OM