Comments on: Open Thread – Brown Pundits https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/ A discussion of all things Brown.. Wed, 15 Apr 2026 07:50:40 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Razib Khan https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/#comment-36539 Mon, 20 May 2019 05:48:15 +0000 https://www.brownpundits.com/?p=9565#comment-36539 i posted the new carl zha interview too for patrons.

also a pre-election discussion with zach vidhi kushal and me. and MJ.

]]> By: Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/#comment-36537 Mon, 20 May 2019 04:22:20 +0000 https://www.brownpundits.com/?p=9565#comment-36537 Trump: I don’t want war with Iran

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc4vYWJfJnE

]]> By: H.M. Brough https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/#comment-36499 Sun, 19 May 2019 15:20:16 +0000 https://www.brownpundits.com/?p=9565#comment-36499 In reply to H. M. Brough.

Well guys, the exit polls are giving it to the BJP. They could be very wrong (they were in 2004), but even redacting BJP seats from the tallies still results in NDA victory.

]]> By: INDTHINGS https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/#comment-36417 Sun, 19 May 2019 02:13:45 +0000 https://www.brownpundits.com/?p=9565#comment-36417 In reply to Dravidarya.

“Islam was brought by invaders/rulers which is why it couldn’t establish itself. ”

It was brought that way almost everywhere, and established itself in almost all those places. I don’t think this has much to do with Islam’s spread.

“Islam captured the peripheries of Bharavatvarsham”

For the thousandth time (though I don’t tire of repeating it), the Indus Valley (Sindh, Punjab) and Bengal were not ever a part of Bharavatvarsham, Bharat, Aryavarta, or all the other ancient names that referred exclusively to a section of North-India (UP, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, north Chattisgarh, and later Bihar).

]]> By: Razib Khan https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/#comment-36414 Sun, 19 May 2019 01:33:26 +0000 https://www.brownpundits.com/?p=9565#comment-36414 there are two podcasts for patrons. one on pre-islamic linguistics in arabia and another which is an interview of a white british grad student in beijing.

]]> By: Curious https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/#comment-36393 Sat, 18 May 2019 23:08:42 +0000 https://www.brownpundits.com/?p=9565#comment-36393 Please make the Indian elections thread sticky for the next week.

]]> By: Prats https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/#comment-36386 Sat, 18 May 2019 22:29:10 +0000 https://www.brownpundits.com/?p=9565#comment-36386 Sometimes I try to use my rudimentary Sanskrit skills to make sense of stuff that Slapstik writes. But the strange SMS type of alphabet confuses me so I convert it to Devanagari.

Found this tool to be of help: http://www.sanskrita.org/wiki/index.php?title=Converter

]]> By: Sumit https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/#comment-36385 Sat, 18 May 2019 22:14:52 +0000 https://www.brownpundits.com/?p=9565#comment-36385 In reply to Sumit.

“For eg. could attain supreme bliss, due to difference in view which lead to subtle clinging.”

Could attain supreme bliss, but not nirvana. Due to clinging to belief in atman / jiva.

]]> By: Sumit https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/#comment-36379 Sat, 18 May 2019 21:21:44 +0000 https://www.brownpundits.com/?p=9565#comment-36379 “Abrahamic faiths are spreading like wild fires among the lower classes of South or East Asia”

Not really spreading like wildfire in East Asia, outside of Korea. I am not sure about the class dynamic there.

“Anyways, why do abrahamic faiths sound condescending and curse ‘others’ to eternal hell?”

Dharmic religions are hugely influenced by the Sramana traditions.

Which privilege the 1st person, subjective experience of reality, as the ultimate source of truth.

Heaven and Hell are states of ones own subjective experience, not places you travel to.

Sometimes there will some infighting like some Buddhist scholars would argue Jain for eg. could attain supreme bliss, due to difference in view which lead to subtle clinging.

But at the end of the day, a highly developed Jain practitioner would still be considered to be closer to heaven, than a lay Buddhist.

]]> By: Dravidarya https://www.brownpundits.com/2019/05/18/open-thread-brown-pundits-30/#comment-36361 Sat, 18 May 2019 16:57:33 +0000 https://www.brownpundits.com/?p=9565#comment-36361 Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) are religions of masses (i.e lower classes) which is why they had spread like wild fires in the west (mid east and europe). In a similar way Communism is also a political doctrine of masses that had spread like wild fires in the East.

Even today, Abrahamic faiths are spreading like wild fires among the lower classes of South or East Asia. Once a good number of people have converted, the ruling class will slowly convert and then Abrahamic faiths slowly metamorphize into political doctrines! Islam was brought to India by invaders (i.e rulers) which is why I think it couldn’t establish itself firmly though it captured the peripheries of Bharavatvarsham! Western religions start as “cults” and then attain the “status of a religion”. These are my views about Abrahamic faiths.

Anyways, why do abrahamic faiths sound condescending and curse ‘others’ to eternal hell? Why don’t dharmic faiths, at least the dominant ones like Hinduism, Budhism, Jainism, Sikhism or even the Chinese ones like Daoism etc don’t sound like the western religions? What aspects motivated these two different groups(east vs west) of religions to go in different directions?

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