So whats happening in the Hinduism forum

Long time since I dropped in here

Looks like everyone's still around here ?
Except for ganjaprince I think...

So what you guys been upto all these months ?

 

i've mostly been into hindu fashion nowadays... you can get ganesha handbags and all this stuff now

 

fashion ought to be fun and express what you want to express. So hindu fashion is ok with me - although not quite my style. I have some nice Indian shirts though.

Anyway HH nice to see you're still around

I've been having an interesting time this summer - and I'm feeling a renewed sense of positivity in general. I'm also feeling very unlike trying to define anything too much - or seek to make any kind of 'definitive' statement -

 

Devi Mandir is still doing Chandi Path every day.

 

Good to hear from all you guys.

I think I might hang around here for a few weeks.

 

Trying to finish surviving the summer and returning to uni in 5 days (yay!)... Glad to see you again HH.

As for Hindu fashion... lol... I think tis fine if people can wear WWJD shirts lol

 

Yay? Booo!! Booo!!!

No offense, I can't believe the summer is over!, damn.

And Mr. Half Hippy, nice seeing you again and yes I see that hinduism is alive and well here, and the same can be said of India, maybe our communist brothers need to work a bit harder.

 

IMO a spiritual person would naturally see some form of communism, or at least socialism, as superior to capitalism. I don't mean along the old Soviet or contemporary Chinese models - but the ideology is generally more fair and just.

 

Unless one sees life as dependent upon life and not upon the ideals of a few humans. Just because Marx was here doesn't mean that anything on this Earth or in this Solar System follows Marx. Can anyone find any type of animal species which is Communist?

 

No. Let's just carry on being animals. competeing for rescources etc. until the world becomes an uninhabitable wasteland.

One could also turn this around and say that just because there was a man called Buddha and another called Krishna does that mean the world follows them? Hardly. Can one find any animal spieces that has compassion and enlightenment?

 

Now i am not going to say Hinduism supports capitalism, but there is a little thing in Hinduism called "Karma" , which could be translated into "you get what you deserve", taking such an option away as it is done in communism is not natural and such a system of government is doomed to fail.

 

We make our own karma. Karma isn't fixed but can be changed if we are prepared to work for it
.
Is capitalism 'natural'? It doesn't seem so. Why does big business running the world seem natural? In fact, the balance of the natural world is currently under immense threat from the activities of capitalists.

Also the 'you get what you deserve' attitude is one which is lacking in compassion, and is fatalistic in the end. If global warming etc leads to general disater in the next century which seems quite likely, then I guess humanity will have got what it deserves from adopting such an un just and basically cock-eyed system.

Even Srila Prabhupada spoke of 'spiritual communism'.

 

Talking about communists

I am involved with communist organisations as of now .

Aha guys will be back in some months when I have something more to share.

 

Too late. Capitalism won. We need something new.

 

No BBB , the left has certainly faced a setback but it is far from dead.

The toppling of the last Hindu King of Nepal is surely a noteworthy
and commendable achievement of the Maoists of Nepal.

Nepal could soon become the beacon of inspiration for
the extreme left.

But I do hope they have learnt from the errors of the past

 

It could only work, as Trotsky said, on a global level. Communism in one country isn't feasible. Look at the mess that was Soviet Russia.


Also - do remember that if we were living under the Soviets, we would not be having this exchange - the interent would be banned under such a totalitarian regieme. Even in China which is really going capitalist these days, there are big restrictions on internet access.
And look what they've done to Tibet. If the communists ever came to power in India, it would spell the end for Hinduism, as well as the other religions and cultures of the sub-continent.

If we want to see an equalization of wealth on a global level, and development in the world's poorer nations, it is only capitalism that can deliver the goods.
Communist countries such as Russia and the eastern european bloc were extremely 'grey' societies, where no criticism of the regieme was allowed and dissidents were shipped off to die in siberian labour camps. Individual freedom and freedom of belief and experssion were rigidly surpressed.
Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot were mass murderers of their own people -

The left is finished IMO. People want freedom, not rigid state thought control.

 

Bill just said everything I would regarding political communism...it's a failed ideology, and even the Chinese know this...their society is and will slowly continue to evolve away from it. It's the wingnut totalitarian communist states like North Korea that are keeping the legend alive. Cuba will be next...when old Fidel's gone and Bush is out of office, my guess is we'll see an opening up between Cuba and the USA.

 

So, what is the difference between socialism and communism? I thought socialism was a similar thing except without the loony dude leading everything... do you think there could be a possiblity for socialism in this world? Or a mix of both the best of socialism and capitalism?

 

I've always understood communism practically applied as the totalitarian-state, politically-unfree, heavy-ideology, Stalinist, Maoist, Castroist types of regimes...with the looney dictators running the show. A good current example is North Korea and their wierd little dictator.

Socialist states are along the lines of politically free but with very high taxes and lots of social service programs...western European countries are more-or-less like this but I don't know more facts offhand.

Personally, I think a free market economy, moderate taxes, and political freedom with adequate tax-funded social services is ideally the best system...capitalism with some socialism mixed in.

 

Just to add to that - One of the main things which differentiates the two is the fact that communism based on the philosophy of Karl Marx seeks its end through revolution and the overthrow of the capitalist order. Private properety is to be abolished, and in effect, the economy run and planned by the state.


In the UK our homegrown socialism owed very little to Marx. It developed gradually through the 19th century through the rise of trade unions, and intellectual movements such as the Fabian Society. The goal wasn't really to abolish capitalism, but to make society fairer.
As Spook said, it means a mix of capitalism and socialism - people and businesses are taxed to pay for social measures such as health, education, benefits etc.

In fairness to Marx, he got many of his ideas whilst observing the conditions of the working classes in mid 19th c. Britain. Their conditions were indeed pretty bad. Today's 'worker',at least in the developed world, is so much better off that it is hard to equate Marx's critique with contemporay life.
Marx economic theories, as well as his theory of history, so called 'dialectical materialism', are largely discredited these days. Sociologists still refer to Marx's social critique, but usually in a modified form - neo-marxism.