Dear Tks,
Your post #534:
1. I think Boyd's work is an established science. Anthropology is indeed one.
2. The message in the Indian context is this:
Our ancestors in the distant past had wisely and for some reason(we can only speculate on this) chosen to form different groups among themselves and have chosen different cultures-includes food habits, ahimsa, being restrained, cultivating a strong inclination to delve into intellectual pursuits or martial (daggers drawn) kind of pursuits, money making pursuits, Supporting with excellent services etc., etc., Since there can be many I am not listing them all. Every behavior that was needed for the society to live prosperously and peacefully can be called a cultural facet here. These choices in course of time (thousands of years) got embedded into the genes. We understand from Boyd's research that genes, though they can be reduced to physical(or chemical!!) strands, had a knack of absorbing from their environment the cultural traits to modify what they had in their content. There is really no visible interface between the genes and the environment or the cultural aspects in the environment and we know that. But it appears the genes do have this ability. This is what Boyd has proved in his research work. To put it in one compact sentence will be to say, cultural elements impact on the genes over a period of time to modi fy them. Now the message can be that we should let this genetic evolution to be as it is. There is no need to destroy this path of evolution by an IC or IR marriage which will be equivalent to making a detour. May be our ancestors were more intelligent than the other races that lived on this globe in choosing this unique method of gene management. Whether they did this knowingly by observation and recording or they just got a feel of it and did it is a moot point. It is beautiful, brilliant and harmless. It is rather useful for humanity and society. Look at the frequency with which brilliance flashes in the B community and you will agree that I have a point.
I need to touch on two points here to complete this. a)I do not consider the culture of NB compared to B as some thing lower or undesirable or condemnable or less preferable. They are different and just that. b) Those IR and IC marriages that happen are also not to be condemned. But I would certainly prefer the marriages to be within the community for reasons I have given above. Marriages do not happen on the basis of scientific facts or societal welfare considerations. They happen between two individuals and there these are not reckoned with at all. But even in this our elders have chosen to be careful. The B marriages in which the parents play a very central role should also continue so that the mechanics of evolution in our community is not tampered with.
This in a nut shell is my argument. I have said enough about this. So I do not intend to write any more about this or enter into an argument or a lengthy conversation again. Thank you because you gave me an opportunity to sum up. Thanks.
Sri Vaagmi
Thanks for the details. I respect your wish to not write more on this topic.
Let me share with everyone my views - I do not expect a response from you. I have less than layman's notion of genes and even less of fields such as Anthropology. I do have opinions to offer though
1. I do not consider work in Anthropology, psychology and other disciplines to meet the level of rigor expected in certain accepted theories of Physics or Chemistry etc. There are many opinions and ideas in Physics also but to be accepted across the board they have to meet a very rigorous test.
2. Having said this let me also say that I had browsed Boyd's book back some years ago and thought he made compelling argument with statistical data for his proposal.
3. It is a leap of faith to apply this theory in my view to any culture to draw conclusions for the following reasons
a. We really have no definitive proof of how our ancestors lived. There could have been all kinds of mixes of races. After all there were warring factions and it is unclear what happened if a community was 'taken over' by force. We could make assumptions and I tend to assume like you do that they probably lived a life in accordance to the Dharma overall. In the end it is all based on assumptions.
b. To lead a life of Satvik Sadhaka one needs extensive understanding of our scriptures - I can say from my minimal experience that teachings embodied in Upanishads is precise and rigorous (and scientific though subject matter is not science). I did not sense that level of scholarship in many people that I remember from my childhood. For most part they represented the notion that 'it is all in our scriptures' without bothering to learn. Again it is a minimal sample. They all did some work to earn a living like everyone else. My unsubstantiated guess is that they exhibited many negative traits and now a days it is lot worse (e.g., false and unearned pride on silly things)
c. Even if there was a gene there is no reason how it is almost guaranteed to pass from generation to generation.
My points above fall in the category of opinions only.
I think all these concepts of Satvik genes is unnecessary contortion since it tends to mock the rigors of teaching in our scriptures. There are better ways to understand using these teachings why children born in families that embrace Dharma are likely to lead a conflict free life and embrace Dharmic lifestyle themselves.
No one grows up wanting to go for IC/IR marriages. It happens because of opportunity presented is higher in today's lifestyle and due to the inability to find suitable matches for some people.
I will encourage anyone to marry a person who has had similar long term views. It is risky to guide children to marry across cultures if one has a choice in the matter.
I have seen many cross cultural, and cross caste marriages that are somewhat successful. I have not seen many IR marriages to be all that successful in my limited sample.
Last week I attended wedding of a TB girl (born in USA but raised as a TB) . She married a Islamic family person that seem to have given up Islam having settled in the USA for more than three decades. The wedding function was abbreviated but conducted as a Vedic wedding by a qualified priest.
The boy and his family fully seem to have embraced the TB cultural aspects of the wedding. I know this girl from young age and her father was initially against this wedding for few months.
I found the boy to be Satvic, kind, compassionate and very mature - again based on limited conversation of 20 minutes. I think this marriage is likely to last given his parents also were very nice people. At least our blessings is that they lead a long and happy life.
The girl had a well known Gotra and the boy was given Vishnu Gotra by the priest .. Only vegetarian food was served and he plans to be a vegetarian at home for sure ..
Life goes on .. Change is the order of the day indeed and change is unstoppable