Roots Archives Forum

Well Leggo...

I remember well bout those avatars or Godess... like Vishnu and Krishna with Shiva or semi Gods like Ganesh, son of Shiva and Parvati... or his friend Hanuman... but still you have many ways and my friend there isnt at all a mix of buddhism with a vedanta... He's maybe not very representative of the majority as his spiritual leader is Ram (and Sita his wife)and there is one and only one temple for him in the touristic city of Pushkar. And Ram isnt an avatar, as far as I remember. Dis is not so important, just to precise... And as far as I remember, every "monk" designed by God (its shoudnt be a choice) who escape the cast rule is called sadhu and live with an impersonalist thinking... and all the people who wear dreads are sadhus (except those who abuse the tourists or want to have the special rights hat have he sadhus...).

Anyway... I will probably travel back to India dis year... it'll be clearer for me! nice to see how wide you look for words of wisdom, Leggo. Like sean, I gave up the Baghdavita...

The Hinduism - Rasta debate has been had before on here or on blood+fire i think, they are very alike in some ways and there are books on it but i forget who by, i'll have to check that one u mentioned. My own personal beliefs are part Hindu and part Rasta i take a bit of both but thats how i most descibe my own beliefs, but as i probably know the different kinds of beliefs in the world of Sadhus is vast, there are so many different sects all with there own belief, india is by far the most advanced country in the world when it comes to religion i beleive. I think the main link is the dreadlocks, and i think u will always get that link where ever u are dealing with a religion whose beliefs are to live a natural life as nature intended as dreadlocks .go with not cutting your hair, but i don't really class Rastafari as a religion as such but more a way of life+ a belief than a full on religion, i think alot of Rasta's will probably say the same that it is not a religion.
Hindu's call this western worlds illusion of living Maya and teach you to be able to see this illusion for what it is, and i think this is similar to Rasta's Babylon and how they want nothing to do with any of it and how they try to take themselves out of it.
Interesting thread.......

Dug out the book I referred to earlier and, after a swift look in the index, was surprised to be unable to find any references to Rasta. Apologies for that. Could have sworn it did.

God may have made Man, but Man certainly made religion.........

therfore you will have many similarities.....
and very few real differences in the teachings and descriptions......
ie VIRGIN BIRTH....this is NOT such a unique thing as far as religion goes...

Boil it all down and it is as simple as

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"

The GITA is good reading and so is JOSEPH CAMPBELL

Nice post bwoyruff, I think we share a lot here.

And well said Selecta Bing. Too true.

Do you realise that we are all 'reasoning' via the Internet. Great isn't it?

Shame then that we are not all sat around a camp fire smoking herb with some drums, a guitar and someone with a good singing voice!

Bring back Stonehenge Free Festival. Glastonbury is Babylon.

Throw in a bass and I'm there! I've got an acoustic (guitar-style, not upright)--it's very portable, but not as loud as I'd like.

Jamacia and India were both colonies of the British Empire. There was a large migration (forced and otherwise, mostly forced I think) of Indian workers (possibly slaves, my facts are coming from conversations I had a year or two ago and are not cited). I would imagine that sadhu were on some of those ships, and the knowledge of sadhus was definitely on all of those ships brining Indians to the Caribbean to work on the plantations. Thus, the early Rastafarian practices could have been influenced by Sadhu practices.
I couldn't help but thinking that the very demeanor of the sadhus I met, their manner of walking, lighting their chillums with a incantation of God (Sadhu's say "Boom Shiva, Boom Shankar" or other names of God just as rastas say "Jah Rastafari" upon lighting the herb) are similar to the mannerisms of Jamacian rastafarians. Its an interesting thing to think about. The world is a very small place and we are all just human after all. And the nearest Sadhu will remind us, its all just an illusion anyway. Boom Jah.

I didnt read all those interesting posts but let me just add one information. There is a direct influence from India to Jamaica and rastas. NOt through Ethiopia and Africa as it was proposed but through the merchands and sailors that were leaving or coming in Jamaica in the 19th century.
Dreadlocks could have been introduced by them, ital food might also be inspired by indian vegeterian way of eating. It is even believed that the word "Jah" actually comes from an indian word "Jay", that is used in the same way: a strong exclamation to call for god;
Difficult to define those links with certitude and precision but for sure they exist. Indians still live in Jamaica, just like chinese;
Cheers, and Love