Originally Posted by
Sahasranama
Selecting or rejecting an author to study is just the first step of this process as I see it. Yajvan ji says he has never rejected an author. I have a different experience, once I was reading a book on vedic astrology and after finding a lot of misinformation in the book I threw it in the garbage bin. That doesn't mean I look at everything black and white, good or bad, but sometimes an author just loses his credibility as someone who is knowledgable about what he is writing about and then I don't want to spend time studying his/her work.
I do not consider myself to be capable of separating every single information from misinformation when I am reading a book. If I was all-knowing I would not have to read any book. That's why I try to rely on credible sources of information. All science is learned like this, at least initially. When we go to school to learn properties of molecules we can not directly verify this information for ourselves, but we put our trust in the fact that the chemistry book was written by someone who is knowledge about the subject. Sure it may contain a few mistakes here and there that is picked up by the teacher or a clever student, but generally the book is considered a credible work written by a credible author.
Now if some nutjob from a mental asylum came up with his own theory that molecules are evil little creatures that are kept in controll by secret agencies of the government, but also adding some valid scientific knowledge to the mix, that book would be rejected by the scientific community. I don't see why this should be different in Hinduism when someone decides to write complete nonsense about Jesus and miracles and pseudo-avatars, added with some authentic information of Hinduism. Any self respecting Hindu should reject such a work on the spot. There is no shortage of authentic information on Hinduism, old shastras are rotting in obscure libraries, ancient traditions are dying, but people would rather read "the miracles of yogananda."
धिक्कार है धिक्कार है
Reply With Quote
Anyway, that was 10 years ago. I had gita by my side and read it hear and there and the english interpretation never made sense to me. MY DEEPEST DESIRE IS TO LEARN SANSKRIT. I listen to a lOT OF VEDIC CHANTS but don't know a word of any of it means. It sucks being from a small town --- no proper resources! 
Bookmarks