“If I were asked under what sky the human mind…has most deeply pondered over the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions to some of them which well deserve the attention even of those who have studied Plato and Kant — I should point to India. And if I were to ask myself from what literature we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw the corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human a life…again I should point to India.”
— Max Müller, via the opening chapter on Hinduism in The World’s Religions.
Well, Ben, I certainly appreciate the sentiments, but a Muslim mausoleum is not the best symbol of the ancient “wisdom of India”.
The cosmology explicated in the Vedas of Hinduism, especially the Upanishads, is far more profound than the absurd creation-myths of the Judeo-Christian tradition and Islam, and makes them seem childish by comparison. The origins of space and time are described as occurring on a scale compatible with observations of the vastness of the universe by modern astrophysics.
If Terence McKenna was right, and the most likely candidate for the ritual drink of Vedic culture called Soma was made from the mushroom Psilocybe cubensis, then I should be a minor deity by now.;-) Soma being made from mushrooms would nicely complement the sacred status of cows in Hinduism, as that divine food of the gods grows in cow dung.
I’d like to hear what our friend Krishna has to say on the subject of the wisdom of India.
If you’re interested in learning about the World’s Religions, I suggest you study Jainism. A lot of what Jainism teaches is in line with the beliefs of modern scientists, astrophysicists, and even doctors.