From the link in post 52 (dhu), interview of Prof. Balagangadhara:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Do you think part of the problem in understanding Hindu concepts like atman is that we donât speak Sanskrit any more? And most of our philosophical texts are in Sanskrit.
No, because Sanskrit, in the first place, was never a spoken language. It was a language of the literati who wrote the texts. It is not simply the absence of Sanskrit that creates a problem. The problem lies in transmitting words, but not their underlying meanings and theories. One could, of course, read up Patanjaliâs Yogasutra, but it is very difficult to agree with his theories of the gross body, the subtle body etc. These kinds of explanations are both inadequate and unscientific.
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I wish he clarified it more, why he thought patanjali's definitions to be 'inadequate and unscientific'. First of all, what patanjali is offering is hardly any explanation nor any 'theories' or hypothesis. He is merely providing what he has experienced, in a nutshell, as sutra-s - formulae of yoga.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Do you think part of the problem in understanding Hindu concepts like atman is that we donât speak Sanskrit any more? And most of our philosophical texts are in Sanskrit.
No, because Sanskrit, in the first place, was never a spoken language. It was a language of the literati who wrote the texts. It is not simply the absence of Sanskrit that creates a problem. The problem lies in transmitting words, but not their underlying meanings and theories. One could, of course, read up Patanjaliâs Yogasutra, but it is very difficult to agree with his theories of the gross body, the subtle body etc. These kinds of explanations are both inadequate and unscientific.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I wish he clarified it more, why he thought patanjali's definitions to be 'inadequate and unscientific'. First of all, what patanjali is offering is hardly any explanation nor any 'theories' or hypothesis. He is merely providing what he has experienced, in a nutshell, as sutra-s - formulae of yoga.