You might be interested in my friend, Kanniks Kannikeswaran, who is from India and a Hindu, and among other endeavors is a composer and director.
He's conducting a mixed choir (Indian and Western) in Cincinnati this April 5th -- perhaps a group would like to go (full disclosure: I'm volunteering for him to work on some PR and to greet guest on the day of the performance). Here's a link to the Shanti choir website.
Address at least one below (note that more questions will be posted after today's presentation); respond to at least one other post.
Q1: What are some of the major tenets or practices of Hinduism? What's the diagnosis of human nature?
Q2: What's the prescription of human nature according to the Hindu tradition?
Q3: What metaphors were most helpful in understanding more about the tradition?
I did not see the presentation but I am familiar with a few Hindu metaphors. One metaphor is about a boy who walks into a dark tent. He sees something that looks like a coiled up snake. He is extremely scared but after a closer look her realizes it is not a snake but a harmless coiled up rope. ""We believe that the world has certain kinds of objective basis of reality to it, but upon closer examination, the world does not have the reality we think it is, the ultimate reality, but is in fact, a derived reality. And therefore, we don't have ability to see the world clearly." So it's a metaphor for the world viewed falsely. We think we see a snake, but actually it's a rope. We think we see the world as it really is, and really we do not and so forth." I really like this concept because it's true. We each see the world through a different lens and that lens is based on your own experiences, environments and values.
ReplyDeleteThe prescription of human nature according to the Hindu tradition is acquisition of a special kind of knowledge. They state that this knowledge is different from ordinary knowledge. Ordinary knowledge is used to operate in the conventional world, however, this knowledge is unless fore reaching the ultimate nature of reality and the self. There is no clear path to follow to attain this special knowledge, however, one must withdraw from the ordinary way of being and meditate on the atman, the inner self or soul.
ReplyDelete