Modernity and Mådhva Vedånta: The Beginning or the End of an Esoteric Tradition? Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Religious traditions are changing because of the overwhelming technological developments of modernity.1 Adherents are embracing
new ways to propagate doctrines and to follow their practices. Jet planes have allowed people to move around very quickly and visit pilgrimage sites that once took months or even years to reach. Communication technology (phones, the Internet, and so on) make it possible for theologians to think together and to exchange and disseminate ideas with one another and with diaspora communities despite formerly insurmountable distances. Such changes seem to be beneficial at first glance as evidence of “development,”
but, in fact, may have an “undermining” effect on the behaviors, practices, and doctrines that are integral to religious traditions. Nussbaum and Sen characterize “undermining” as having two forms:
It could be the case that objects of valuation that a particular traditional value system treasures—such as a particular lifestyle—may become more difficult to obtain and sustain as a result of material change. The other way that the values may be “undermined” is a weakening of the hold of those values themselves on the subjects.