/lit/ - Literature

>>14663413
Guenon is a neovedantist, he can be worth reading if you want a light introduction to that westernized worldview of the Vedas, similar to Vivekananda. It's quite dated now however, it was basically the Indian national revival movements wanting to present Indian religion to the world as a great and coherent philosophical tradition.

It's just a shame that neovedantists picked the Advaita aspect of Hinduism, simply because it's the one Westerners most admired, alongside Buddhism. Westerners only admired it because it was protestant-like in its impersonalism & neoplatonic seeming in its metaphysics. That's why Guenon liked it too, he was a child of the fin de siecle who wanted to see the whole world as following the same "perennialist" metaphysics in different forms. Just the same old ideas Schleiermacher and everybody else had.

You should read the sources themselves definitely, but you should be aware there are more than you can read in a lifetime. That's why commentaries and summaries are necessary. Try reading a decent history of Indian philosophy, ideally a few of them, and getting a sense of the history of their development. An anon in this thread >>14649817 is arguing with the neovedanta/theosophy cultist about whether advaita is "the only correct interpretation of the vedas" so it might be a good place to get an introduction to how thorny these issues can be. Especially since many of the people writing on them are of course religious believers.

>>14663435
I told you, the images I'm posting are referring to scholars and other Hindu interpretations. If people want to read your Advaita dogma interpretations, which amount to "Advaita is right because its interpretations are right because Advaita interprets them as right" then they can do whatever they want. I only want to talk to you if you can do something other than repeating how right you are, you're acting like a bible-thumper.

>>14637219
mainly i am worried about the traditionalist interpretations of indian philosophy not being legitimate, especially because guenon's most famous student frithjof schuon (pic related, apparently he made his followers draw him naked all the time?) started a native american themed cult in indiana in the 1980s, and got indicted for pedophilia? this is what i read about him

>On October 11th 1991, Frithjof Schuon, the leader of an international religious order, was indicted on the felony charge of child molestation. committed under "cult pressure and influence". The indictment, passed down by a five member Grand Jury, headed by Lucy Cherbas, stated:
>"that Frithjof Schuon... did perform fondling or touching [on three girls] 15 years of age, 14 years of age and 13 years of age, respectively, with the intent to arouse or satisfy sexual desires of Frithjof Schuon, in violation of I.C. 35-42 43. [And that] said persons were compelled to submit to touching by force or imminent threat of force, to wit: by undue cult influences and cult pressures, in violation of 35-42-4-8."

>Jesus Garcia Varela, a high ranking inner circle member of the cult, had been investigated by the Louisville Police in 1991 for nude photos of his 2 young daughters. He escaped prosecution of this episode by claiming that it was a common practice in Spain to visually record a girl's puberty.

>Michael Fitzgerald's son was present at the Gatherings. The boy, then perhaps 14, had been made to watch his mother and her sister, Jennifer Casey, dance nude for Schuon at one of the Gatherings.

i'm worried because schuon's student, hossein seyyed nasr, is still arguably the leading traditionalist and he has never repudiated schuon's behavior. what if all this evil in the traditionalist movement is because guenon misunderstood shankara's cryptobuddhism as the philosophy of the upanishads?

Here's a painting of Schuon. He was obsessed with his own nudity. His ex-wife went public in 2018 with descriptions of the movements, saying he was an egomaniacal nudist who thought that it was a "blessing" for children and strangers to see his old man penis. And of course for him to rub up against those children and strangers with his penis.

Be careful about traditionalism, it's got some real weirdos in it!