Haptic Tech History

Appropriately accounting for the Earth’s precession, as the Sun ️ spends its second last day in Taurus for this year as per our observation deck, it’s Atmakora Satyadheera Theerthara aradhane. Today’s post will be in the form of an interesting dialogue that I recently had on a necessarily touchy but unnecessarily controversial topic. I have taken the liberty to suitably edit it for public consumption.

One of my respected family elders had remarked “Hinduism dies if un-touchability lives, and un-touchability has to die if Hinduism is to live.”

I responded “So true. But, more light-heartedly, with the social distancing norms of the covid era (CE), every one of us is an untouchable in the world!!!”

He continued “Interestingly, the Coronavirus pandemic encourages horizontal untouchability over vertical untouchability that is caste-based. The former refers to the touch/contact of ‘one body with another body’, whereas the latter refers to a ‘high-low’ caste hierarchy. Thanks to the pandemic that rewinds our mind to our old ‘Madi-Acharam’ culture practiced by our elders. It is time for us to reset and restore such practices that have been forsaken in blind copying of the West. In my view, this pandemic may surely transform us from ‘caste-public’ to ‘bio-public’ at least for a reasonable time. Let us welcome such healthy discrimination and say good-bye to socially prejudicial practices. Hope you agree!”

I could not but agree: “We need to introspect & weed out the terrible practices that’ve been shamelessly paraded in the garb of Hinduism over the ages & untouchability is definitely one of them. But, in my eyes, untouchability is just one of the symptoms of a much more chronic disease which is ‘identification with our body’ & therefore, with our birth & the genetical & other inheritances thereof. Just by treating the symptoms like ‘untouchability’ alone, we can’t have a permanent cure. The symptoms might disappear only to reappear sooner or later. So we’ve to eradicate the underlying disease as a whole by reaching out to its roots of ‘mistaken identity.’ That said, even if we look at un-touch-ability literally, etymologically or from a scientific/spiritual perspective, there’re a lot of benefits in what you beautifully termed as “horizontal untouchability.” It’s not just coronavirus which has brought that up, but there’s an elaborate Vedic science of runa-anu-bandha which expounds the influences of coming in physical contacts of various kinds & the effects they have on us. That’s why our special way of greeting with an Anjali mudra of namaskaar or namaste  instead of a handshake or a hug is so significant, while casual live-in relationships are so burdensome in the long run. Our birth involves the deepest touch ever possible between two bodies called mother & foetus. Next, for us to procreate requires a different kind of deep touch too. All of these & many other kinds of even simple physical touches all result in runanubandhas, some superficially & some deeply, which have to be understood beyond the pure & efficient division of labour that the caste system was originally intended to be in the Manu dharma shastras. So there’s a scientific dimension to many of our practices which have over the ages been misunderstood, misinterpreted, degenerated & propagandised, especially because of a millennium of grossly harsh Islamic ️ & subtly harsher Christian ️ influences. Most westerners still go by family names of their ancestors’ professions such as Potter, Smith, Carter, Sultan et al. While we need to uproot these imported pandemics, there’s no point in being too harsh on the patient, the real “Hinduism” or what I prefer to call Sanatana Dharma.”

As the elder, he of course had the last word, by referring to my next few posts: “Your narration about the influence of New Moon & Full Moon on us is remarkable. Your abundance of spiritual knowledge, coupled with your sharing abilities, makes people like me proud in conversing with you. Your perspiring to inspire others reminds me of the quote, “The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” – Mark Van Doren. I find fewer words to add more to you. You always deserve the blessings from the Almighty. Stay blessed & stay tuned in sending more modulated signals through your intellectual antennae. The world needs your scientific & spiritual propagation. You can always count on my wishes & support, if you need any. I am refreshed to read your tutorials which enlighten me on many things. I am reminded here of a message which I read long back. I quote the same here: This is the about the serpent Adi-Ananta-Sesha on whose coils Narayana reclines. This serpent literally means Primal-Limitless-Residue, which is numerically represented as One-Infinity-Zero.