Preface
One of the major and formidable criticisms of modernity has been that it has not only destroyed tradition, but also left the citizens of the Most Developed Countries (MDCs) shorn of any spiritual anchor or genuine spirituality. Indeed, in many of these countries - the USA, France, England- one finds an intense and hyper addiction to materialism, and an unwavering commitment to a narrowly and strictly defined science. There are some exceptions to this, and they lie in the demographic areas of the large and growing immigrant populations who bring with them their commitment to their various and varied traditional faiths and spirituality, often emanating from their forebears' original homelands, existing before the diasporic migrations in Africa and Asia, for example. In New York and California, where I have studied and written on these retentions - vodou, espiritismo, candomble, for example I have been researching ways in which these practices and forms can be interpreted to local authorities, thereby increasing intercultural understanding and ultimately absorption into appropriate social institutions such as religious, legal and medical, for example. Swami Veda Bharati's monograph can be seen as a major contributor to understanding the strength and source of diasporic spirituality. It looks incisively, but poignantly, at the ways in which the traditions, religions and spirituality of Africa bear striking resemblance to the similarly rich spiritual traditions in India. A Hindu monk, he has visited i.a. Africa and China regularly, and is therefore enabled in his attempts to draw on the centripetal ideas (forces) that unite peoples especially those from (West) Africa and India. Yoga and meditation, rituals and sacraments, protocols, perceptions and precepts are easily explained, compared and universalized. Swami Veda Bharati informs us of the syncretic nature of many current African traditions, and compares them with India's own experiences at amalgamating different religious traditions and customs. As such it is a book that is of importance not only to anthropologists, but also to sociologists and those students and scholars interested in religion, cultural issues and controversies, and wider spirituality. I see some further applications, especially in 'plural societies' such as Guyana, Trinidad, Surinam, etc., where diasporic African and East Indians are often locked in internecine political and other forms of conflict emanating, I would argue, from their continued and symbolic 'separateness'. Historically held in place by the military and police forces of colonial metropolitan powers England, these countries are now France, Holland, for example trying desperately to form a sense of nationhood, when the sense of unity and cultural understanding never existed wholly, or if it did, only in symbolical, flimsy forms and at the formats. At times also, purveyors of dissension governmental and private levels use these existing cultural and religious gulfs to further fragment nation building. Swami Veda Bharati's work is a step in leading to an understanding of the vast sameness which the African and East Indian cultures share, and which, if promulgated sensibly, would in my opinion, be a good base on which to build and buttress the important task of national unity in these societies. At a critical, global, geo-political juncture, where India and China are presumed to be poised to occupy major roles as pivotal actors on the world scene, and where the continent of Africa and its many nations seem to be more negatively skewed, the work of Swami Bharati also seems to have some applicability. It reminds us that there is a need for cadres of genuinely committed leaders at all levels that are focused on building intercultural understanding and on the principles of universal unity of humankind. It also helps remind these leaders of India, China and Africa that in trying to work towards economic sufficiency and development, they should not abandon their deep spiritual base, as the West seems to have done. The challenge is to balance these contending imperatives over the years. as a In my over thirty years in the academy in three of the largest educational systems in North America, and maybe the world; the City University of New York, State University of New York and the California State University professor, college dean, and vice president of academic affairs, I have found few books which are as simply written and illuminating culturally. I recommend it highly.
About The Book
Wanam AFRICA & INDIA
A Spiritual Dialogue Vodou is a spiritual belief system of faith and rituals practiced in many countries including Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Haiti. Vodou has spread in several forms to North and South America, the Caribbean and the Philippines. The use of the spelling Voodoo' has fallen out of practice. For this publication, the more academically acceptable 'Vodou' will be used. With a lower case 'v', 'vodou' refers to the spirits or gods. The views expressed by the many people the author met and spoke with are their own. Several of these conversations went through multiple translations and the translators have made every attempt to convey the essence of what the original speakers intended. Due to editing considerations, some portions of the lectures have been omitted.
About The Author
Swami Veda was born in a Sanskrit speaking family in India where he was vigorously trained in the meditative traditions of the Vedic and Upanishadic philosophies. He is a leading authority on Yoga and Meditation, is still lecturing globally having established centers as far as Africa and Hungary. He is an ardent devoted disciple of Swami Rama, who has initiated him in the highest mysteries of the Himalayan traditions of Meditation. As a teenager the future Swami Veda Bharati had already been fascinated by African culture during his visit to the East African coast in the early 1950's. Several years later, serving as a spiritual guide to thousands in Guyana, Surinam and Trinidad he felt a strong need to create an understanding of cultures between the Indogenic and Afrogenic peoples of those regions. A first hand experience of non-western African traditions needed to be researched. That opportunity came when This teachings took him to French West Africa to a conference - Bringing African and ndian Spirituality together organized by his students and sponsored by the Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso. Written from knowledge of personal intection with keepers of African traditions, this book explores a ritage of h gnored for far too long
Hindu (1764)
Philosophers (2329)
Aesthetics (317)
Comparative (68)
Dictionary (12)
Ethics (44)
Language (349)
Logic (80)
Mimamsa (58)
Nyaya (133)
Psychology (503)
Samkhya (60)
Shaivism (66)
Shankaracharya (233)
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