Impact of mantra recital, etc.

[Shrisha Rao]

On Tue, 16 May 2000, Robert Zydenbos wrote:

> I would actually go one step further than Vidyasankar Sundaresan
> and assume that the "politics", "marketing" etc. are crucial in
> determining the effectiveness and personal desirability of a method.
> For instance, speaking for myself: I find it suspect that an
> organisation that says so much about ancient Indian and 'Vedic'

For some time now, there has been a tendency in certain political circles
that anything labeled "Vedic" is assumed to be somehow authentic,
wonderful, and superior.  The adjective thus gets misused a lot.  Perhaps
this is a reaction to perceived Western undervaluation of India's
heritage, which is a stretch, but even then the results are anything but
funny.  I remember distinctly that some years ago, there was a discussion
about so-called "Vedic mathematics" on another forum; at that time, I
caused quite a bit of ire among some by stating that in my opinion, there
was nothing "Vedic"  about the same, and it wasn't even very interesting
mathematics, no matter what the source.

Regards,

Shrisha Rao

> RZ