Rajiv Malhotra on Gross Misrepresentation of Hindu Religion by Some US Academic Scholars of Hinduism
Here's a very interesting interview of Rajiv Malhotra on rediff detailing how some US academic scholars of Hinduism including distinguished Prof. Wendy Doniger have grossly misrepresented Hinduism, http://m.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-when-westerners-make-fun-of-our-gods-theyre-instigating-trouble/20140217.htm
Here are some salient points of the interview from my perspective.
Rajiv Malhotra sent an email to a mailing list (of which I am a recent addition) today about the rediff interview mentioned above. In the mail he provided the following links:
Given below are relevant extracts of a mail response I sent him today:
I would like to express my heart-felt gratitude to you for having taken up the cause of highlighting, and making efforts to correct in a completely non-violent and peaceful manner, mis-portrayal of Hindu religion and Hindu culture in US academic scholarship on these topics. I was shocked to the core to read about the horrifying mis-portrayal of Hinduism by a US senior and distinguished professor of Hindu religion, Prof. Wendy Doniger and other US academics who may be inspired by her. As US scholarship plays an important, if not dominant, role in world academic scholarship the implications for Hindu academic scholarship worldwide is horrifying to a staunch believer in Hinduism like me. As you have indicated in your recent rediff interview perhaps the crux of the problem is that most of the professors of Hinduism in the USA are not practitioners or believers of Hinduism.
I will be forwarding your mail to many of my contacts ---snip---.
I pray to Almighty God to shower His Grace on your efforts as well as efforts of others to correct, in a completely non-violent and peaceful way, the mis-portrayal of Hinduism in US (and world) academic scholarship. I further pray to Him that academic scholarship in Hinduism becomes more truthful in letter and spirit, and is infused by faith in the Sanathana Dharma approach to God.
I would also like to state that I have great respect and reverence for other faiths like Christianity and Islam. Vedanta teaches us, "Isa vasyam Idam Sarvam" (God dwells in all this). And so I view various faiths of the world as different pathways to the one and the same Divine power that permeates all of creation, which is referred to as God.
--- end mail extracts ---
Shri Rajiv Malhotra responded with "Thanks".
Here are some salient points of the interview from my perspective.
- Rajiv Malhotra got involved with this topic in 2000 when one of the teachers of his kids' school in the USA informed him that some American scholar had advised a teacher not to teach Ramakrishna and Vivekananda due to some negative stuff associated them!
- Some US academic Hinduism scholars use Freudian psychoanalysis to analyze Hinduism. [Ravi: and come to some weird conclusions which they spread as the truth]
- Most of the other religions in the USA have seminaries whose products become scholars of that religion in US universities. Hinduism in the USA does not have an equivalent seminary.
- Most Hinduism professors in the USA are not Hindu (in belief & practice).
- Rajiv Malhotra has been banned from all academic forums. [Ravi: Rajiv Malhotra has written books on Hinduism but perhaps is not considered to be an academic on Hinduism.]
Rajiv Malhotra sent an email to a mailing list (of which I am a recent addition) today about the rediff interview mentioned above. In the mail he provided the following links:
- RISA Lila - 1: Wendy's Child Syndrome by Rajiv Malhotra, http://creative.sulekha.com/risa-lila-1-wendy-s-child-syndrome_103338_blog
- RISA Lila - 2 - Limp Scholarship And Demonology by Rajiv Malhotra, http://creative.sulekha.com/risa-lila-2-limp-scholarship-and-demonology_103560_blog
- University of Chicago magazine, The interpretation of gods, http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0412/features/
- Hitchhiker's Guide to 'Invading The Sacred', https://beingdifferentforum.blogspot.com/2014/02/hitchhikers-guide-to-invading-sacred.html?m=1 [Rajiv Malhotra has made his book 'Invading The Sacred', "that rebuts such distorted works by non-practitioners of Hinduism freely downloadable to counter the continuing misrepresentations of Doniger & co."]
Given below are relevant extracts of a mail response I sent him today:
I would like to express my heart-felt gratitude to you for having taken up the cause of highlighting, and making efforts to correct in a completely non-violent and peaceful manner, mis-portrayal of Hindu religion and Hindu culture in US academic scholarship on these topics. I was shocked to the core to read about the horrifying mis-portrayal of Hinduism by a US senior and distinguished professor of Hindu religion, Prof. Wendy Doniger and other US academics who may be inspired by her. As US scholarship plays an important, if not dominant, role in world academic scholarship the implications for Hindu academic scholarship worldwide is horrifying to a staunch believer in Hinduism like me. As you have indicated in your recent rediff interview perhaps the crux of the problem is that most of the professors of Hinduism in the USA are not practitioners or believers of Hinduism.
I will be forwarding your mail to many of my contacts ---snip---.
I pray to Almighty God to shower His Grace on your efforts as well as efforts of others to correct, in a completely non-violent and peaceful way, the mis-portrayal of Hinduism in US (and world) academic scholarship. I further pray to Him that academic scholarship in Hinduism becomes more truthful in letter and spirit, and is infused by faith in the Sanathana Dharma approach to God.
I would also like to state that I have great respect and reverence for other faiths like Christianity and Islam. Vedanta teaches us, "Isa vasyam Idam Sarvam" (God dwells in all this). And so I view various faiths of the world as different pathways to the one and the same Divine power that permeates all of creation, which is referred to as God.
--- end mail extracts ---
Shri Rajiv Malhotra responded with "Thanks".
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