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Thread: First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

  1. #1
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    First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

    Namaste! I was alerted to this article through a friend on Facebook.

    Full article here:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...-onfaith-blog1

    To me, this is very exciting. While the voices of those who discriminate are loud, Washington needs more diversity, badly. I'm hoping she takes the win. The odds seem strong in her favor.

    Peace!
    "God will not have his work made manifest by cowards."
    ~Ralph Waldo Emerson


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    Re: First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

    I thought Obama was Hindu.

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    Re: First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

    LOL.. how is this woman "Hindu"? She never spoke about Hinduism at any of her speeches and now it becomes 'national news'?

    she is not a Hindu at all since her father is a Samoan catholic and her mother is a "convert" who is a westerner.

    When a real Hindu gets elected to office, then it'll be something noteworthy.

    Funny to see people go cross-eyed over this apparent diversity when there is nothing beneath. Obama is a half-black who was raised in America by whites and attended the top schools and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard.

    The diversity in a small village in India trumps the diversity in all of America several times over.

    Tulsi "Gabbard" is no Hindu. Please let us know how her lifestyle, habits, associations, friends, and education make her "Hindu".
    Last edited by satay; 07 November 2012 at 05:12 PM.

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    Re: First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

    Quote Originally Posted by TatTvamAsi View Post
    Obama is a half-black
    In the U.S., the term "Black" is traditionally used to apply to anyone with noticeable African ancestry; most "Blacks" in the U.S. have some White ancestry, and many have about 50% White ancestry. The term "Black" includes "half-black", by definition.

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    Re: First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

    I got this from wikipedia:

    Tulsi Gabbard was born in Leloaloa, American Samoa, the fourth of five children of Mike Gabbard, (educator, tennis pro, business owner and current 19th District Hawaii State Senator) and Carol Porter Gabbard (educator and business owner). In 1983, the family moved to Hawaii, where Tulsi grew up. Tulsi was homeschooled through High school, with the exception of two years spent at an all-girls missionary academy in the Philippines. She graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with a degree in international business.[4] Gabbard is a Hindu,and follows Gaudiya Vaishnavism.[1][5] Her mother embraced Hinduism when Tulsi was a teenager and gave her children Hindu names and raised them as vegetarians.[6][7]
    It appears she is a follower of the Hare Krishna Movement.

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    Re: First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

    Namaste Tat,
    Quote Originally Posted by TatTvamAsi View Post
    She is not a Hindu at all since her father is a Samoan catholic and her mother is a "convert" who is a westerner.

    When a real Hindu gets elected to office, then it'll be something noteworthy.
    If the acid test of being a Hindu is to have been born in India to Hindu parents, then it will be many centuries before you see a Hindu in the US Congress. In the mean time, why not rejoice in the fact that somebody Hindu, even a convert, who does not hide her religious affiliation GOT elected to the US Congress. What is wrong with incremental gains? What is wrong with sensitizing the general population that out there, there is another religion which will not force itself on you? What is wrong with just making people comfortable with the thought of a Hindu being in a position of power?

    I am sure you and many of us would like to see more Hindus in the political system. And her getting elected just might be a stepping stone in the right direction. Unfamiliarity breeds fear and having a non-threatening Hindu face to start off the process is not a bad thing to happen. So, let us look at the half cup full and not worry about the empty part of the cup. Inclusivity makes you more acceptable and exclusivity makes you a Republican.

    Pranam.

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    Re: First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

    Namaste,
    I earnestly hope she doesn’t have to meet ‘hindus’ like TTAin her life. A hindu with his kind of paranoia and ahankara wont make a good example ever. It is scary that if she gets to meet these wrong guys she might change her mind about announcing her faith openly. I read her interviews and she is much more serious hindu than most I have ever met. She in fact is a ‘too much’ of a hindu in my opinion. There are many hindus who have no idea what their doctrines are and what sadhana is all about, they simply live and die, a sad saga of unending monotony. She made some excellent declarations about the faith she respects from the bottom of her heart and the way she follows it in her day to day life, including her deployment time in Iraq. It is a great moral boost that Tulsi G is able to call herself a hindu in Washington’s citadels of power, I was aghast that converted Christians like Bobby Jindal and Nicky Haley have sent a wrong message to hindus up until now, partof the angst is thankfully neutralized by Tulsi G now. A sweet revenge of sorts if you will. Half of washington prostrates in front of the likes of Billy Graham for your info. Since she is from Hawaii she could win so handsomely, mainland America would have more than likely left her all bruised. Good luck Tulsi G ,enjoy your stay in DC.

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    Re: First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

    Quote Originally Posted by Believer View Post
    Namaste Tat,
    If the acid test of being a Hindu is to have been born in India to Hindu parents, then it will be many centuries before you see a Hindu in the US Congress. In the mean time, why not rejoice in the fact that somebody Hindu, even a convert, who does not hide her religious affiliation GOT elected to the US Congress. What is wrong with incremental gains? What is wrong with sensitizing the general population that out there, there is another religion which will not force itself on you? What is wrong with just making people comfortable with the thought of a Hindu being in a position of power?

    I am sure you and many of us would like to see more Hindus in the political system. And her getting elected just might be a stepping stone in the right direction. Unfamiliarity breeds fear and having a non-threatening Hindu face to start off the process is not a bad thing to happen. So, let us look at the half cup full and not worry about the empty part of the cup. Inclusivity makes you more acceptable and exclusivity makes you a Republican.

    Pranam.
    Namaste Believer,

    I suppose we should be happy that a nominal Hindu (whatever that means) got elected in the west. Yet, it is not her Hindutva that got her elected. She, like so many converts and even Indians here, are very secretive about their practice/beliefs. Why do you think they are trying to extricate Yoga from Hindu Dharma? To them, Hinduism is a bad word. It is a regressive religion that puts women down, keeps dalits out, and has no achievement of its own accord. The very term 'Hindu' is a turn off to westerners, albeit subliminally. So I make extra efforts to make sure I tell them I'm Hindu, Brahmin, did upanayana, and that they are mlecchas.

    I know, that is not the "Hindu" way for lack of a better term. Yet, the "Hindu way" should only be applied to Hindus. That was the mistake Gandhi made!

    To animals, you treat them as such. Quite simple, really.

    I would love to first see Hindus, real Hindus meaning lineage that can be traced to Bharatvarsh/India, first take control of Hindu studies in the west. This Neem-tree Gabbard or whatever is not going to help us Hindus in anyway. There is no Hindu agenda that she has enumerated or even hinted at. She is a person who got elected who happened to be Hindu, and that too a HK.

    This is the same case for these mooslums in America. Some black got elected to office who is a mooslum; except, he's a black who converted to that cult. Muslims whom I've spoken to personally are not jumping like these joker Hindus are because they know Keith Ellison (what a mooslum name) is not really a mooslum. Perhaps they will jump up and down when an Arab/Iranian gets elected to office who publicly proclaims his faith. Oh wait. That will never happen.

    The same thing for real Hindus. That is why Piyush 'Bobby' Jindal converted to that zombie worshiping cult. As did Namrata "Nikki" Randhawa. If they remained in their religions, they won't even be elected president of the local Dunkin Donuts. That is the "beauty" of the west/America.

    You probably won't believe me, but I've got to tell you (and others). When I was a kid in middle and high school, I was in a christian school and my parents were cautioning me about their wily ways. I used to argue with them saying you guys are paranoid and christians are "good" people! LOL My dad laughs at me now reminding me of this almost weekly! hahahha.. Life is strange is it not?

    Anyway, I just find it hilarious to see many Hindus' react like this. It's like a white guy wears a dhoti and a tilak and they immediately are like, "swami" ! hahahah.. gullible muppets. This is how many of them ingratiated themselves into learning under the gurus in India only to turn around later and spew hate/vitriol against Hinduism/India like that idiot mahahrada. Hindus (Indians) are too easily fooled by appearance and even apparent kindness. Being in business, I've learnt two important lessons in life; trust NOBODY, and make the most of the situation at hand to the best of your ability. This carries over to practicing Hinduism. If Yoga was not taught to all sorts of vermin in the west, we won't be having the problem we have now would we? There has to be a proper barometer for allowing people inside. That is one of the fundamental reasons for Varna. This will also keep these rats from writing erroneous translations (like so many of them have) and claiming that they are authentic when they are anything but! A mleccha can never be considered an authentic source for Hindu philosophy, interpretation or otherwise. This is the way to make sure that our scriptures remain under the purview of Hindus, not snakes in the grass who watch bollywood, wear bindi, and call themselves Hindoo.

    What does it take to declare oneself a Hindu? If I read a "book" on Physics am I a Physicist? If I read a book on US history, am I a historian? When the barrier to entry for such mundane things like the ones I've mentioned require a sincere and concerted effort for YEARS as a student and then as a researcher, who is to say that becoming Hindu is easier or is when you "think of yourself as one" like some clowns have stated? Becoming a Hindu is a journey; an evolution of the soul. There may be exceptions who are born elsewhere who have a mighty calling towards Dharma as Ramana Maharishi has stated, but not as common as many Hindus here (and elsewhere) claim. We CHOOSE where, when, to whom we are born - THAT IS HINDU PHILOSOPHY. To reject that is to reject Hinduism itself. After that, what's the point anyway? I might as well "think of myself" as POTUS.

    And the other funny thing is that ALL of my white friends are Republicans! Nature of being in Silicon Valley in the business community; materially successful people are generally Republican but thankfully, the ones I know reject the bible thumping garbage and only care about their taxes! XD
    Last edited by TatTvamAsi; 07 November 2012 at 11:40 PM.

  9. #9

    Re: First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

    Quote Originally Posted by TatTvamAsi View Post
    Namaste Believer,

    I suppose we should be happy that a nominal Hindu (whatever that means) got elected in the west. Yet, it is not her Hindutva that got her elected. She, like so many converts and even Indians here, are very secretive about their practice/beliefs. Why do you think they are trying to extricate Yoga from Hindu Dharma? To them, Hinduism is a bad word. It is a regressive religion that puts women down, keeps dalits out, and has no achievement of its own accord. The very term 'Hindu' is a turn off to westerners, albeit subliminally. So I make extra efforts to make sure I tell them I'm Hindu, Brahmin, did upanayana, and that they are mlecchas.
    This has little sense to it. Non-Indian Hindus might appear "secretive" sometimes (ie we don't go around yelling that we're Hindu from the rooftops, which I suppose is "secretive" if you want to put it in the blackest of possible terms for the purposes of whatever ideological axe you might have to grind) but not at all in this case: one can see "Hindu" prominently listed as this congresswoman-elect's religion on her wikipedia page, evidently enough she's not being "secretive" about it at all. Why would you insinuate as much contrary to readily observable facts? It does not reflect well on your intentions.

    Moving on, you can rest assured that Hinduism is neither a bad word nor a regressive religion to converts to Hinduism; from where did you conjure up this far-fetched idea?

    All that aside, she's a real Hindu, and it's a good thing that a real Hindu will now speak for her constituents from the floor of the US congress.

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    Re: First Hindu poised for election to United States Congress

    Namaste Jodhaa

    Tulsi won! And by a landslide big victory! Congratulations Tulsi!

    Nor does she hid the fact that she is a Hindu, it is well known and all over the press. She is a Vaishnav and neither parents are Indian, I do know her mother is a Hindu but I am not sure what her mother was but I suspect the Mother was ISKCON, so Tulsi may perhaps be HK because Tulsi said upon her victory she is happy that now she will visit India and she said, "As a Vaishnava, I especially look forward to visiting the holy sites of Vrindavan".

    Which is wonderful.

    Apparently the family visits both the Kauai Saiva Siddhanta Temple, and of course the Hawaii ISKCON Hare Krishna Temple. Actually, I go to the same Kauai Aadheenam Temple when ever I am in Hawaii.

    Here is a picture of her at the Hawaii ISKCON Temple:



    At the same gathering was Governor Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii and his wife Dr. Nancie Caraway, and State Senator Pohai Ryan. Here we see the Governor of Hawaii and others giving worship at the puja at the ISKCON temple:



    In 2004 prior to being elected, she was deployed to Baghdad as a medical operations specialist. After completing officers' training she deployed to Kuwait in 2008 to train the country's counter-terrorism units.

    By the way, Governor Abercrombie met SKCON Founder Srila Prabhupada while serving as a professor at the University of Hawaii in the 1970s.

    So while I am a Saiva Siddhanta, I will say here is another example of what Hindu leaders, Gurus and devotees of Hindu faith have made to America. And actually these are not the first, nor the last.

    We will see a Hindu as President of the United States, it will be sooner than some imagine. Even prior to this example, I know for a fact that Hinduism has been touching the hearts of some elected US representatives and some are looking first without being asked. The world is a very small place. So is the universe.

    Om Namah Sivaya

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