Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dharmanidhi Sarasvati

Dharmanidhi Sarasvati

I originally proposed this for deletion, but the proposal was challenged. There are claims of notability but it does not seem to establish notability per WP:ATT, so it fails WP:BIO. It also seems to be somehwat promotional in tone. Delete TheRingess (talk) 18:36, 8 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I challenged the proposal for deletion and I'm one of the primary contributors to the article. I've reviewed the WP:ATT page and the WP:BIO pages. I see that [Dharmanidhi Sarasvati] does not meet many of the criteria for notability laid out in WP:BIO, however I suggest that notability may be established by the fact that Dharmanidhi is a recognized lineage holder in the Sarasvati lineage under Swami Satyananda and Swami Niranjananda. There are hundreds of more popular Hatha Yoga teachers in the west, but most of them are not lineage holders, authorized by their guru's to teach authentic and classical yoga. Perhaps in this case can notability be established based on rarity?

Furthermore, although Dharmanidhi may not be popular, or highly referenced, he is a holder and teacher of accurate and verifiable information on yoga, classical tantra, and non-dual philosophy. In contrast the wikipedia entry on non-dual lists several people under the "Contemporary Teachers" heading who are self-proclaimed holders and teachers of information and systems that only they can verify as reliable, truthful, or accurate. Some of them are highly prolific writers and well known in popular culture and therefore have plenty of references, secondary sources, and third-party information about them. However, this doesn't actually mean that what they are offering to world has any alignment with reality or lasting value. I'm not making a judgement either way. I'm saying that no-one has verified the informtion that they are representing. Of course, this isn't the mandate of Wikipedia to exercise that kind of discrimination and I understand that.

By comparison, this is the importance and notability of a living lineage in the area of spirituality. First, the lineage has lasting value because it has demonstrated it by having a multi-generation history of masters who have demonstrated their mastery in one way or another. Second, a person who is an authentic lineage holder has verification from their teachers that they have reached a level of understanding and experiential attainment that matches that of their teacher's. So, the one thing that would obviously be useful to verify is that the assertion that Dharmanidhi is a lineage holder. Unfortunately, the relationship between teacher and disciple is in this case between the teacher and the disciple only, and the only present source of verification is the disciple (Dharmanidhi). My main point is that users will find it useful and helpful to find reference to an authentic, lineage authorized teacher (however rare and non-notable in the academic sense). There is a lot of incomplete or plain inaccurate information out there about spiritual topics. And there are a lot of spiritual teachers out there who, in contrast, have academic notability (references, prolific publications, and popularity) but the actual content of what they have to say is not backed up by anyone but themselves. This, I think, is the ultimate dis-service to Wikipedia users, to offer a notable source of un-tested information on spirituality, but not offer a reference to a source that is not notable in the encyclopedic sense but is a source of very well tested and refined information on spirituality. Ms2i 20:30, 8 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]