User talk:Ash.banerjee@gmail.com

Ashish Banerjee
I am a Technology Evangelist Ashish Banerjee's Home I am software developer by profession and my hobbies include Indian Philosophy. I am an Atheist in Vedantic sense.

Slowly I will come by and write more about myself. Vist My Blog

Neo Vedanta
Hindu religion has been evolving even before the Aryans brought Rig Veda to India.

I believe that India had a form of Shaivism existing prior to the invasion of the Aryans. Images of Shiva and Nandi have been excavated from the Mohenjodaro and Harappa, which was a pre Aryan civilization. Also Rig Veda criticizes the Dravidian people for worshiping Phalus, which is an obvious reference to Shiva Linga. Also Rig Veda refers to Krishna as their enemy awaiting them across Yamuna with a 10,000 strong army. Also the Hindu mythology, including Ramayana is full of conflict between Devas and Daysus. The conflicts were resolved mostly by violent means and finally the caste system evolved as a solutions for peaceful co-existence.

Thus from multitude of gods and deities; emerged the Tri-Deva or the Hindu Triumvirate of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva, the destroyer (or the change agent).

The Triumvirate was then evolved to Shiva Shakti duality. In scientific terms Shiva is a metaphor of mass and Shakti, the metaphor of energy. The mass and energy interaction results in the creation (big bang), continuation (current expansion) and destruction(Black hole) of the Universe. This duality gave way to singularity, thereby emerged Vedanta which is a Monist religion.

Here it is worthy of mention, the famous sutra : अहं ब्रह्म अस्मि (Aham Brahma Asmi) or I am Brahman. This is not an egoistic statement but has a deeper meaning. It states that that, since Atamn = Brahman, it is the reflection of Brahman, that is our mind (or atman), creates this illusionary image of this world as it appears to us. Thus when we say that Bhraman created this world we mean that our mind is the creator of this illsionary world.

Our mind is Atman. Atman is an instance (or reflection) of Brahman. As we meditate on Brahman. The subject (Atman) and the object of meditation (Brahman) becomes one. The distinction between the object and subject melts away. This results in shunyata or nothingness.

This nothingness is everything.

There are two types of Maya (or illusion). Persistent Maya and impersistent Maya. Dream is an example of impersistent Maya whereas World is a persistent Maya, that is, it exists yet is unreal or an illusion.

In scientific terms, we perceive a crystal as an solid object yet at atomic dimensions it is mostly empty space. Thus our mind creates an illusion best suited for our survival in this illusionary yet persistent world.

Hinduism has a wide philosophical base and allows for questioning the basics, thus it allows for both theist and atheist practices and philosophies to peacefully co-exist and exchange ideas.

Scott Adams God's Debris is a good example of how Vedanta has influenced post modern western philosophic thought.

Religion
I am an Atheist Hindu!

Your messages
My apologies for not replying sooner (I must admit that I thought that you'd just left me an e-mail address, and that slowed my reponse; are you sure that it's a good idea to splach your address acorss Wikipedia? It's very likely to attract a large amount of spam).

Wikipedia tries to keep external links and reading lists to a minimum; items must be central and important (and, usually, shown to be so in the article). The trouble here is that there's nothing in the text to indicat that this work is of central importance. Perhaps you could start an article on the book... ah, as I wrote that, I thought to check, and I see that you have. In that case, why not add a link to the "see also" section?

In answer to your earlier question, I haven't read the book in question. I must say that my experience of novels, etc., is that they are rarely of genuine philosophical interest &mdash; they're the wrong form for philosophical investigation, and can at best present certain conclusions. In so far as they're good fiction, they're bad philosophy, and in so far as they're good philosophy, they're bad fiction. Still, as I say, that's my experience so far, together with my present thoughts on the matter; experience could force me to change my mind. --Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 21:59, 1 April 2006 (UTC) =Raja Yoga controversy= Dear Hinduism Project editors,

There is a controversy on the Hinduism regarding Raja Yoga. Please read the debate on the Hinduism discussion page. Your comments are requested on the Hinduism discussion page to help resolve the controversy. Thank you. 68.239.78.172 15:04, 8 October 2006 (UTC)