…I believe in the free expression of ideas with good conscience, and in a spirit of fearless enquiry. I am not sure how far you have to be politically correct and belief/culture sensitive in articulating ideas. But a skeptical caution and humility in making truth claims are valuable qualifications for a scholar. Psychoanalyzing/deconstructing Ramakrishna Paramahamsa may be a useful project if it helps us to plumb the mysteries of human psyche. We all have the right to offer counter points. The present dialogue is falling into the level of Jalpa [wrangling] and Vitanda (fundamentalist posers).
Freudian analysis has serious defects being reductionist and libido based. It doesn't lead to higher possibilities in terms of values, consciousness and sublime experiences. Maximum it can think of is of an adult personality, well-adjusted to the society. The Tantra concept of uniting sexual energy with consciousness leading to all-encompassing love and compassion is a much higher paradigm. But that should not blind us to what happens in different levels of interactions and the social impact of what people think and do.
I think that this is a field for scholars to enquire, research and debate, not for spiritual people to dabble. India and Hinduism need a lot of sustained work in knowledge construction and institution building. Arrogance is good, but humility is better. Teaching is a privilege, but learning is a better privilege.
Swami Bodhananda
From an email response to S M, 4 September 2002