05-20-2005, 08:17 PM
Carl had mentioned in the other thread that 70% of Hindus profess to be vaishnavas etc. I would like to see how this survey was conducted. But here are my guesses.
If you ask people in India about their favorite male deities, most common names you would get would be Rama, Krishna, and Shiva. Ganesha, Hanuman and Kartikeya would be next. If people on the whole were equally divided amongst Krishna, Rama and Shiva you would get 2/3rd (or about 70%) for Krishna and Rama, avatars of Vishnu.
But this kind of survey could be thoroughly misleading. A person may hold Rama or Krishna as his main deity, but did that person also say he doesn't worship Shiva at all? I doubt it strongly.
It was also interesting to see that Shakti or Devi was left out of the reckoning.
Another point which was jarring was strong ridiculing of Budhists shunyavada and praise for Islamic monotheism. As far as philosophy proper is concerned, Budhism has produced giants and I found it a bit surprizing that Islam, which doesn't really officially endorse much philosophizing, was held superior to Budhism. Rumi and khayyam and some other Sufi texts have gained popularity. But in an honest appraisal, Budhists have written the encyclopoedia in philosophy while Sufis have in comparision produced only a booklet.
Nagarjuna's shunyavada has been criticized heavily by Shankaracharya and others, but many people accept that after his awe inspiring dialectics in Madhyamaka-shastra, it was Nagarjuna who defined the debate for a long while to come. Gaudapada and Shankara were very much reacting to the plan that had been laid by Nagarjuna. His genius shouldn't be scorned upon even though one may not agree with him. It would be like a freshly minted high school graduate ridiculing Newton because he has learnt from somewhere that Einstein has shown Newton to be wrong. People who delve in Newton's works know him for the true genius he was and how his work was and is still relevant.
If you ask people in India about their favorite male deities, most common names you would get would be Rama, Krishna, and Shiva. Ganesha, Hanuman and Kartikeya would be next. If people on the whole were equally divided amongst Krishna, Rama and Shiva you would get 2/3rd (or about 70%) for Krishna and Rama, avatars of Vishnu.
But this kind of survey could be thoroughly misleading. A person may hold Rama or Krishna as his main deity, but did that person also say he doesn't worship Shiva at all? I doubt it strongly.
It was also interesting to see that Shakti or Devi was left out of the reckoning.
Another point which was jarring was strong ridiculing of Budhists shunyavada and praise for Islamic monotheism. As far as philosophy proper is concerned, Budhism has produced giants and I found it a bit surprizing that Islam, which doesn't really officially endorse much philosophizing, was held superior to Budhism. Rumi and khayyam and some other Sufi texts have gained popularity. But in an honest appraisal, Budhists have written the encyclopoedia in philosophy while Sufis have in comparision produced only a booklet.
Nagarjuna's shunyavada has been criticized heavily by Shankaracharya and others, but many people accept that after his awe inspiring dialectics in Madhyamaka-shastra, it was Nagarjuna who defined the debate for a long while to come. Gaudapada and Shankara were very much reacting to the plan that had been laid by Nagarjuna. His genius shouldn't be scorned upon even though one may not agree with him. It would be like a freshly minted high school graduate ridiculing Newton because he has learnt from somewhere that Einstein has shown Newton to be wrong. People who delve in Newton's works know him for the true genius he was and how his work was and is still relevant.