Defenders of Hindu Dharma (Ross and co.)

[Mingle]

I am generally sympathetic to the Hindu right, but they need to allow scholars to publish books in India without getting banned, and they also need to accept that Aryan-migration is real.

I'm out. Life's too short. Cheers, bros.

How did you become Hindu?

Do you really believe in all the Hindu gods and goddesses or is it just a religion that you're very sympathetic to and hold in high moral value?

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

Did Buddhism ruin Richard Gere?

Richard Gere's Buddhism didn't become central in his work as an actor. It did for Kerouac (at least in the superficial). Anyway, you're a foreigner. You're not familiar with American literature.

[JohnSmith]

The Indians in those depictions are quite pale.

[JohnSmith]

I like how George Harrison was influenced by Hindu culture. The Beatles were a great bad and Harrison was a good guitar player.

[Mortimer]

The Indians in those depictions are quite pale.

they sometimes depict themselfes as blue too. artistical expression. stop talking shit that indians like white people or admire them.

[JohnSmith]

they sometimes depict themselfes as blue too. artistical expression. stop talking shit that indians like white people or admire them.

I do not talk shit,,, you have a short fuse. They do look blue not sure what that is all about.

[Mortimer]

I do not talk shit,,, you have a short fuse. They do look blue not sure what that is all about.

you said they depict themselfes as "pale" i understood it you play into the thing that indians want to be white like magnus and raine. they dont want to be white. blue is a irreal colour not real human colour. its artistic expression. also blue could stand for black, because sometimes very black people have a blueish tint.

[JohnSmith]

you said they depict themselfes as "pale" i understood it you play into the thing that indians want to be white like magnus and raine. they dont want to be white. blue is a irreal colour not real human colour. its artistic expression. also blue could stand for black, because sometimes very black people have a blueish tint.

umm no ,, I do not think that they want to be white. They do use whiting bleaches but so do Koreans it is a cultural thing, like how westerners go tanning. I do not have to explain myself to you. I have telling you for a while you need to see a psychologist.

[Óttar]

How did you become Hindu?

One must assimilate into Hinduism over time. There is an example of a Hindu king inviting some of the Yavanas (Greeks) to join the Hindu fold through performing certain Vedic rituals. Heliodoros, an ambassador of the Yavanas, was a member of a Vaishnava sect. One enters a Hindu tradition through diksha, initiation by a guru. In my own case, the proper guru has not manifested himself/herself yet. If we think of traditional, polytheistic religion (esp. Indo-European) as existing along a continuum, Hinduism is the one form of this type of religion which has maintained itself against the militant spread of Abrahamic religions. Unfortunately, I can no longer go to Greece and Rome and see the seasonal festivals, temples, and sacrifices.

Do you really believe in all the Hindu gods and goddesses or is it just a religion that you're very sympathetic to and hold in high moral value?

In traditional polytheistic religions, *belief* in the gods per se is secondary. It is not the same as in the Abrahamic religions. The gods are an integral part of one's culture. According to the Indian Supreme Court, a Hindu is one who accepts the authority of the Vedas and the Upanishads. Historically, schools of thought were divided into Astika (those who accept Vedic authority) and Nastika (those who reject Vedic authority e.g. Buddhists and others). Some of the schools (Darshanas, "viewpoints") accepted the authority of the Vedas, and yet rejected the idea of a personal god despite the actual text (Samhitas) of the Vedas being filled with references to gods. Why was this so? Because the acceptance of Vedic authority was in many ways a way of affirming one's cultural and spiritual allegiance.

From a devotional perspective, I am a Shakta. From an intellectual perspective, I am influenced by Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism). Through experience, I am what one of my friends would call a "methodological atheist." In Sanskrit, this is known as Carvaka, or Lokayata ("Worldly" i.e. One who accepts this world as one's only possible frame of reference). This may seem like a contradiction, but such a thing is permitted within the larger framework of 'Hinduism' as it does not function the way that Abrahamic religions do. In Indian (Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain) discourse, there exists a position called "multiplicity of views" (Anekantavada) and it is believed that sensory perceptions may appear vastly different depending on one's state of consciousness.

[Fractal]

Richard Gere's Buddhism didn't become central in his work as an actor. It did for Kerouac (at least in the superficial). Anyway, you're a foreigner. You're not familiar with American literature.

Stephen King is considered American literature, as is Tom Clancy.