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Preface: Why this book |
xiii |
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Introduction: Debating Hinduism |
1 |
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Overview |
1 |
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Two opposing camps: continuity vs. discontinuity; unity vs. disunity |
2 |
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We are all jewels in Indra’s Net |
4 |
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Indra’s Net and Buddhism |
13 |
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Influences on modern society |
15 |
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Who is a Hindu? |
18 |
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Hinduism: Surfing Indra’s Net |
20 |
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Framing the debate in three disciplines |
22 |
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Part 1 Purva PaksHa |
|
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(Examination of My Opponents’ Positions) |
|
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1. |
Eight Myths to be Challenged |
29 |
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Myth 1: India’s optimum state is Balkanization |
30 |
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Myth 2: Colonial Indology’s biases were turned into Hinduism |
31 |
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Myth 3: Hinduism was manufactured and did not grow organically |
32 |
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Myth 4: Yogic experience is not a valid path to enlightenment and tries to copy Western science |
33 |
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Myth 5: Western social ethics was incorporated as seva and karma yoga |
35 |
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Myth 6: Hinduism had no prior self-definition, unity or coherence |
36 |
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Myth 7: Hinduism is founded on oppression and sustained by it |
38 |
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Myth 8: Hinduism presumes the sameness of all religions |
39 |
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Summary of both sides of the debate |
39 |
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2. |
The Mythmakers: a Brief History |
44 |
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My wake-up call: How I discovered the myth |
44 |
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Missionary origins |
46 |
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Founders of the Myth of Neo-Hinduism |
48 |
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The Chorus Line |
55 |
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3. |
Paul Hacker’s construction of ‘neo-Hinduism’ |
62 |
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Initial romance with Advaita Vedanta and its personal influences on Hacker |
62 |
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Hacker starts his attack on contemporary Hinduism |
64 |
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Alleging political motives and appropriations from the West |
68 |
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Hacker on Vivekananda and the West |
70 |
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Allegation 1: Importance of Direct Experience |
72 |
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Allegation 2: ‘Tat Tvam Asi’ ethic |
74 |
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Allegation 3: Nationalist agenda |
77 |
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Allegation 4: Inclusivism and sameness |
79 |
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4. |
Agehananda Bharati on Neo-Hinduism as a ‘Pizza Effect’ |
81 |
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Pizza Effect: Indians copy Westerners |
82 |
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Hinduism deviates from Indian tradition |
84 |
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Fear of sexual impotence drives neo-Hindus |
85 |
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Bharati’s definition of neo-Hinduism tenets |
86 |
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5. |
Ursula king’s bridge from Hacker to rambachan |
88 |
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6. |
Rambachan’s argument to fragment Hinduism |
96 |
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Using Shankara to shoot down Vivekananda |
96 |
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Issues with methodology |
102 |
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Essentializing Shankara |
107 |
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Challenging the direct experience of the rishi-yogi |
110 |
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Is Rambachan fixated on Christian assumptions? |
113 |
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Allegation that yoga makes people less rational and intelligent |
117 |
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Political allegations |
118 |
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Western scholars’ support for Rambachan |
119 |
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Many scholars disagree with Rambachan |
120 |
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7. |
The Myth Goes viral |
125 |
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Richard King |
126 |
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Brian Pennington |
133 |
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Peter van der Veer, Sheldon Pollock and others |
137 |
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Hindu leaders echo the chorus |
143 |
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Some academic defenders of contemporary Hinduism |
145 |
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Part 2 uTTara PaksHa |
|
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(My response) |
|
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8. |
Historical Continuity and Colonial Disruption |
153 |
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Traditional categories of astika (those who affirm) and nastika (those who do not affirm) |
154 |
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Pre-Colonial Hindu Unifiers: Example of Vijnanabhikshu |
159 |
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From Vijnanabhikshu to Vivekananda |
162 |
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The colonial disruption |
163 |
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European debates: Are the Hindus Aryans or Pantheists? |
165 |
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Reduction into ‘Indian schools of thought’ |
167 |
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Post-modern and post-colonial distortions |
171 |
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Challenging the Neo-Hinduism thesis |
172 |
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9. |
Traditional Foundations of social Consciousness |
174 |
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Western methodological straitjacket misapplied to Vivekananda |
177 |
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The ‘world-negating’ misinterpretation of social problems |
181 |
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Origin of Christian Philanthropy |
183 |
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Conditions that led to the revival of Hindu seva |
185 |
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Sahajanand Swami and social activism in contemporary Hinduism |
187 |
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Swami Vivekananda’s sevayoga |
191 |
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Challenging the Neo-Hinduism thesis |
197 |
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10. |
Harmonizing vedanta and Yoga |
198 |
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Vedanta’s evolution at the time of Shankara |
201 |
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Theory of two realities |
206 |
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Yoga and classical texts |
208 |
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Shankara’s mentor’s writing |
209 |
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Upanishads |
209 |
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Bhagavad-Gita |
211 |
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Shankara’s own kind of yoga: cognitive shift without action |
213 |
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Systematic withdrawal from particular to universal |
213 |
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Dissolving the text/experience gap |
215 |
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Difference from Patanjali’s Yoga |
217 |
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No causation is involved |
218 |
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Flexibility on anubhava |
218 |
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Summarizing Shankara’s posture on anubhava/yoga |
222 |
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Respect for yoga |
222 |
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Yoga as preparation for higher practices |
223 |
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Comparing different levels of meditation, dhyana |
224 |
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Reasons for rejecting yoga at times |
225 |
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Advaita Vedanta beyond Shankara |
226 |
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Four historical periods |
227 |
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Vivekachudamani |
229 |
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Other later texts |
231 |
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Challenging the Neo-Hinduism thesis |
232 |
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11. |
Mithya, Open architecture and Cognitive science |
233 |
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The unity of all existence |
235 |
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Purna |
235 |
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Mithya as Relative Reality |
236 |
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Samavesha principle of integrality |
240 |
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Common toolbox and open architecture |
242 |
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Adhyatma-vidya |
246 |
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Rishis and cognitive science |
251 |
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Robustness of the ecosystem over time |
254 |
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Challenging the Neo-Hinduism thesis |
259 |
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12. |
Digestion and self-Destruction |
260 |
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The metabolism of digestion |
260 |
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The flea market of modern gurus |
264 |
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Digestion and the neo-Hinduism thesis |
268 |
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Conclusion: The ‘Poison Pill’ for Protection of Hinduism |
269 |
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Hinduism’s predicament today |
270 |
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The Porcupine Defence and the Poison Pill Protection |
273 |
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Astika and Nastika: Redefining the terms of the interfaith debate |
278 |
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The criteria for nastika: Principles that must be rejected |
283 |
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History Centrism |
283 |
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Disembodied knowing and self-alienation |
284 |
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Synthetic cosmology |
287 |
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Fear of chaos |
288 |
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Controversial Implications of the Astika/Nastika Approach |
289 |
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Refuting the myth of sameness |
295 |
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Poison pill versus digestion |
300 |
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How the poison pill strategy works |
303 |
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Notes |
310 |
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Bibliography |
351 |
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Acknowledgements |
363 |
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