I am all in for a rational response. I just did not see the writer of the book say as such. I also do not think that a response can be rational if it is focused on finding holes in another religion's philosophy or theory. A sound rational debate is centered around the merits of the philosophy that we have faith in. A negative attack like - "your faith also has these negatives in it, so why do you focus on our negatives alone?" is not rational debate. A good approach is to state that the negatives in our philospphy are mis-understood and provide logical structure why they have been either mis-understood or mis-interpreted. Anyhow, I see the reason why you might want to put the document in the files area. I personally think that the Ramanuja group should not stoop down to the levels of defending "negative tharka vada" and should focus instead on "nyAya vada" Anytime we start to highlight the negatives of another religion to gloss over any perceived negatives in our own will only lead to unhealthy debate. adiyEn nArAyana vEda dAsan Rajesh Elayavalli ----- Original Message ----- From: "tavaradhan" <tavaradhan@xxxxxxxxx> To: <ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 1:51 PM Subject: [ramanuja] Re: book request re: christian pUrvapaksha and arguments against it > > > > > --srI rAjEsh eLAyavaLLi wrote > > 1. Why should we even "care to know" to know the "worst in another > > religion?" > > 2. Why should we engage in defending the "worst things in our > Sanatana > > Dharma?" If they are truly worse (within context that is), should > we not > > try and address them rather than defend them blindly? > ----- > > I do not think anyone is advocating the defense of "worst things in > our sanAtana dharma". > > --- > > 3. I truly believe that the purpose of our religion is to share > our > > knowledge when asked and not "proselytize" contrasting another > religion with > > others. > ----- > > The purpose of the book is not to proselytize. It is to provide > information that can be used in arguments when our sanAtana dharma > is denigrated by others. > > ------ > > By putting such a text in the files area of this group, are we > leaning > > towards "offense is the best form of defense" theory? Is our > philosophy so > > weak that we cannot defend its theories? > ------ > > No. By putting such a text in the files area, we are leaning > towards "Knowledge of the opponents argument/background is better in > debates" theory. > > > I personally do not think so and I > > am sure most here in this forum will agree. If not, I would > welcome > > alternative thinking as to why we should embrace this document, > post in the > > files area, and use it to defend us. > > The reason why I said I will put it in the files section is so that > we do not receive 100 messages in our digest asking "how can I get > the book". > > Beyond that, I think it is a valuable resource for those who have > been debating with missionaries. PErsonally, I have had several > conversations with missionaries who attempt to denigrate our > religion without tru basis in front of large audiences - espeically > in universities, and I believe that having a rational response is > something that is necessary for anyone who is interested in > providing our viewpoint in the debate. > > > adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan, > varadhan > > > > > > adiyEn, > > nArAyana vEda dAsan > > Rajesh Elayavalli > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "tavaradhan" <tavaradhan@xxxx> > > To: <ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > > Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 12:15 PM > > Subject: [ramanuja] book request re: christian pUrvapaksha and > arguments > > against it > > > > > > > > > > > > > dear devotees, > > > > > > As is evident, there is a good demand for the book written by > srI. > > > Rama Ramanuja AchArya. Thanks to him for having written this, as > > > this is a very valuable work for us to go through. > > > > > > I will get a copy from srI rAmA rAmAnuja AchArya and post in in > the > > > files section of the ramanuja list. > > > > > > adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan, > > > varadhan > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ramanuja/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: ramanuja-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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