Vivekananda was an extraordinary man. He came to the US in the 1890s not knowing a soul and ended by winning everyone over so completely that he became not just widely admired but loved. He had movie star looks and a brilliant mind and was the perfect figure to expound Hinduism to the West. His writings are marvelously alive and his English is first-rate. He deserves to be better remembered for the pivotal role he played.
As for explaining to yoga class attenders that they don't know what yoga is, forget it. Someone I met once brilliantly said: "The east never came west. What came west was a western version of the east." In particular, Western interest in Eastern religion (as well as in supposedly non-religious practices like yoga and meditation) has everything to do with Western societies' reaction against their own religions. It's self-referential.
We prefer to get our religion unconsciously these days.
"Western interest in Eastern religion (as well as supposedly non-religious practices like yoga and meditation) has everything to do with the reaction against Western religion"
I think this is only true among people who don't actually understand what religion is, which admittedly is probably the vast majority of Americans. There definitely are though a lot of people in the west who are interested in yoga, meditation, psychedelics, etc. specifically because of their religious nature. Even among most of these people there is a lot of orientalism, but this isn't the same as a reaction against religion per se. If you watch the documentary about Ram Dass or else that new movie Crazy Wisdom that just came out, you'll see though that these movements definitely did start because people were seeking primary religious experience rather than fleeing from it.
this isn't the same as a reaction against religion per se
I'm saying it's fundamentally a reaction against Christianity on the part of Christians and Judaism on the part of Jews.
But I see that my comment was ambiguous because I also said "we prefer to get our religion unconsciously". I suppose what I think is that some people who engage in these practices believe that they've transcended religion altogether while others believe they've found a better religion. In both cases, though, it's a reaction against the traditional (Christianity and Judaism) - it's our reaction against our traditions, so it's really about us and the contradictions in our own society.
Vivekananda was an extraordinary man. He came to the US in the 1890s not knowing a soul and ended by winning everyone over so completely that he became not just widely admired but loved. He had movie star looks and a brilliant mind and was the perfect figure to expound Hinduism to the West. His writings are marvelously alive and his English is first-rate. He deserves to be better remembered for the pivotal role he played.
As for explaining to yoga class attenders that they don't know what yoga is, forget it. Someone I met once brilliantly said: "The east never came west. What came west was a western version of the east." In particular, Western interest in Eastern religion (as well as in supposedly non-religious practices like yoga and meditation) has everything to do with Western societies' reaction against their own religions. It's self-referential.
We prefer to get our religion unconsciously these days.