David Frawley

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David Frawley (or Vāmadeva Śāstrī वामदेव शास्त्री), b. 1950, is an American Hindu teacher (acharya) and author, who has written more than thirty books on topics such as the Vedas, Hinduism, Yoga, Ayurveda and Vedic astrology, published both in India and in the United States. He is the founder and director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which offers educational information on Yoga philosophy, Ayurveda, and Vedic astrology. He works closely with the magazine Hinduism Today, where he is a frequent contributor.[1] He is associated with a number of Vedic organizations in several countries. He is a Vedic teacher (Vedacharya), Vaidya (Ayurvedic doctor), and a Jyotishi (Vedic astrologer).

In publications on ancient India such as In Search of the Cradle of Civilization (1995), Frawley along with Georg Feuerstein and Subhash Kak has defended theories of historical revisionism advocating the "Indigenous Aryans" ideology popular in Hindu nationalism and in traditional Yoga.

Contents

Career [edit]

In 2000, in his book How I Became a Hindu: My Discovery of Vedic Dharma, Frawley details his move from a Catholic upbringing to embracing Hinduism and Vedic knowledge. He discovered the Vedas through the work of Sri Aurobindo around 1970 as part of his examination of Yoga and Vedanta.[2] His first published translations of hymns from the Rigveda occurred in 1980-1984 in various Sri Aurobindo Ashram journals, under the auspices of M.P. Pandit.[3] His article Vedic Mysticism brought me into Hinduism occurs in the book How to Become a Hindu from the Himalayan Academy.[4]

In 1991, under the auspices of the Hindu teacher Avadhuta Shastri, he was named Vamadeva Shastri after the Vedic Rishi Vamadeva. In 1996 he was given the title of Pandit along with the Brahmachari Vishwanathji award in Mumbai, India.[5] He carries on the work of Kavyakantha Ganapati Muni, the chief disciple of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.[6] He is aligned with India Shaivite teacher Sadguru Sivananda Murty.[7]

In 1980, Frawley founded the Vedic Research Center, which he changed into the American Institute of Vedic Studies in 1988, of which he is the director. Through his institute, he offers information, resources and courses on Yoga philosophy, Vedic astrology (Jyotisha), Ayurveda, and Vedic studies.[8]

Frawley or Vamadeva Shastri has studied, written and taught extensively in the field of Ayurveda, starting with his work with Vasant Lad in 1983.[9] He works with multiple Ayurvedic institutions including: The Chopra Center of Deepak Chopra (where he is a Master Educator);[10] Kerala Ayurveda Academy (where he is an advisor);[11] The California College of Ayurveda (which he advised Marc Halpern during its formation); The Kripalu school of Yoga and Ayurveda;[12] The National Ayurvedic Medical Association, (where he has been one of the four main advisors since 2000);[13] and the Association of Ayurveda Professionals of North America (AAPNA, where he is an advisor).[14]

According to vedanet.com Frawley received a doctor's degree in Chinese medicine in 1987. He taught Chinese herbal medicine at the International Institute of Chinese Medicine from 1984-1990.[15]

Frawley’s was closely connected to the noted Indian astrologer Dr. B.V. Raman (Bangalore Venkata Raman).[16] He was one of the first Americans to receive the title of "Jyotish Kovid" from the Indian Council of Astrological Sciences (ICAS) in 1993, followed by “Jyotish Vachaspati” in 1996. He was a founder and first president of the American Council of Vedic Astrology (ACVA) from 1993-2003.[17] He uses astrology in his books on ancient history, following Sri Yukteswar (Yukteswar Giri) and emphasizing a current “Harmonization with the Galactic Center”, linking human events with cosmic time cycles.[18]

In his Vedic educational work he is associated with the Swaminarayan movement (BAPS, Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha) and their many temples throughout the world.[19]

In essays and books such as In Search of the Cradle of Civilization (1995), Frawley endorses the "Indigenous Aryans" scenario propagated in Hindu nationalism during the 1990s.[20]

Reception [edit]

In his book American Veda: How Indian Spirituality Changed the West, in the section "Passions for India", Philip Goldberg (2010) mentions David Frawley or Vamadeva Shastri as among three important teachers or acharyas of the Vedic tradition in the West today, along with Georg Feuerstein and Andrew Harvey.[21]

In its “Meet the Innovators” section, the magazine Yoga Journal, speaks of David Frawley as “one of the first Americans to bring Ayurvedic Medicine and Vedic Astrology to the West.” [22]

Rajiv Mehrotra (2003) of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi, India, interviewed Frawley as one of twenty important spiritual teachers in his book The Mind of the Guru.[23]

Frawley’s “Swami Vivekananda: The Maker of a New Era in Global Spirituality” occurs in a Ramakrishna Mission book anthology in honor of the one hundred and fiftieth birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.[24]

Bryant (2001) commented that Frawley's historical work is more successful in the popular arena, to which it is directed and where its impact "is by no means insignificant", rather than in academic study[25] and that "(Frawley) is committed to channeling a symbolic spiritual paradigm through a critical empirico rational one".[26]

Alternative archaeologist Graham Hancock (2002) quotes Frawley’s historical work extensively for the proposal of highly evolved ancient civilizations prior to our current estimate of history, including in India.[27] In addition, note Kreisburg 2012, for Frawley’s “The Vedic Literature and Its Many Secrets”.[28]

In a series of exchanges published in The Hindu, Michael Witzel rejects Frawley's linking of Vedic literature with the Harappan civilisation and a claimed lost city in the Gulf of Cambay, as misreading Vedic texts, ignoring or misunderstanding other evidence and motivated by antiquity frenzy. Witzel argues that Frawley's proposed "ecological approach" and "innovative theories" of the history of ancient India amount to propagating currently popular indigenist ideas.[29]

Bruce Lincoln attributes autochthonous ideas such as Frawley's to "parochial nationalism", terming them "exercises in scholarship ( = myth + footnotes)", where archaeological data spanning several millennia is selectively invoked, with no textual sources to control the inquiry, in support of the theorists' desired narrative.[30]

Partial bibliography [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ "Vamadeva Shastri and Shambhavi". Hinduism Today. 
  2. ^ David Frawley (2000). How I Became a Hindu: My Discovery of Vedic Dharma. Voice of India. pp. 44–47. ISBN 81-85990-60-3. 
  3. ^ David Frawley (2000). How I Became a Hindu: My Discovery of Vedic Dharma. Voice of India. pp. 51–53. ISBN 81-85990-60-3. 
  4. ^ Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (2000). How to Become a Hindu: A Guide for Seekers and Born Hindus. Himalayan Academy. pp. 92–101. ISBN 0-945497-82-2. 
  5. ^ David Frawley (2004). Yoga and the Sacred Fire: Self-realization and Planetary Transformation. Lotus Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-940985-75-6. 
  6. ^ David Frawley (1994). Tantric Yoga and the Wisdom Goddesses. Lotus Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 0-910261–39-3. 
  7. ^ Sivananda Murty (2009). Katha Yoga. Aditya Prakashan. pp. x–xvii. ISBN 978-81-7742-091-3. 
  8. ^ "About American Institute of Vedic Studies". American Institute of Vedic Studies. 
  9. ^ David Frawley, Vasant Lad (1986). Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine. Lotus Press. ISBN 978-0-9415-2424-7. 
  10. ^ "Chopra Center University Advisors". Chopra Center. 
  11. ^ "Kerala Ayurveda Academy Advisors". Kerala Ayurveda. 
  12. ^ "Kripalu Yoga and Ayurveda". Kripalu. 
  13. ^ "NAMA (Advisors)". National Ayurvedic Medical Association. 
  14. ^ "AAPNA board". Association of Ayurveda Professionals of North America. 
  15. ^ American Institute of Vedic Studies. Accessed July 11, 2008
  16. ^ David Frawley (2000). Astrology of the Seers: A Guide to Vedic (Hindu) Astrology, second edition. Lotus Press. pp. iii, vii–viii, xi–xii. ISBN 0-914955–89-6. 
  17. ^ "CVA testimonials". Council of Vedic Astrology. 
  18. ^ David Frawley (2000). Astrology of the Seers: A Guide to Vedic (Hindu) Astrology, second edition. Lotus Press. pp. 35–43. ISBN 0-914955–89-6. 
  19. ^ Frawley, David (2007). Hidden Horizons: Unearthing 10,000 Years of Indian Culture. Amdavad, India: Swaminarayan Aksharpith. p. xi-xiv. ISBN 978-81-7526-331-4. 
  20. ^ Arvidsson 2006:298 Arvidsson, Stefan (2006), Aryan Idols: Indo-European Mythology as Ideology and Science, translated by Sonia Wichmann, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
  21. ^ Philip Goldberg (2010). American Veda: How Indian Spirituality Changed the West. Harmony Books. p. 222-224. ISBN 978-0-385-52134-5. 
  22. ^ Journal, Yoga. "Yoga Journal". Yoga Journal. Retrieved 12 April 2013. 
  23. ^ Mehrotra, Rajiv (2003). The Mind of the Guru: Conversations with Spiritual Masters. New Delhi, India: Penguin Books. pp. 91–104. ISBN 0-67-004951-4. 
  24. ^ Ramakrishna Mission (2013). Swami Vivekananda: New Perspectives. Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture. pp. 544–551. ISBN 978-93-81325-23-0. 
  25. ^ Edwin Bryant (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. Oxford University Press. p. 291. ISBN 0-19-513777-9. 
  26. ^ Edwin Bryant (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. Oxford University Press. p. 347. ISBN 0-19-513777-9. 
  27. ^ Graham Hancock (2002). Underworld: Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age. Penguin books. pp. 137, 147–8, 157, 158, 166–7, 181, 182. ISBN 0-718-14400-7. 
  28. ^ Glenn Kreisburg (2012). Mysteries of the Ancient Past: A Graham Hancock Reader. Bear and Company. pp. 22–38. ISBN 978-159143155-8. 
  29. ^ David Frawley (June 18, 2002). Vedic literature and the Gulf of Cambay discovery. The Hindu [dead link]; M. Witzel (June 25, 2002). A maritime Rigveda? — How not to read ancient texts. The Hindu [dead link]; David Frawley (July 16, 2002). Witzel's vanishing ocean. The Hindu [dead link]; Michael Witzel (August 6, 2002). Philology vanished: Frawley's Rigveda — I. The Hindu [dead link]; Michael Witzel (August 13, 2002). Philology vanished: Frawley's Rigveda — II. The Hindu [dead link];David Frawley (August 20, 2002). Witzel's philology. The Hindu [dead link].
  30. ^ Bruce Lincoln (1999). Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship. University of Chicago Press. p. 215. ISBN 0-226-48201-4. 

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  • Arvidsson, Stefan (2006). Aryan Idols: Indo-European Mythology as Ideology and Science. translated by Sonia Wichmann. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-02860-6. 
  • Nussbaum, Martha (2007). The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-02482-6. 

External links [edit]
Topics
Reformers and
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