I'm Definitely A Hindu in Real Life

[Webimpulse]

Namaste Webimpulse,

I understand the Hindu reaction since in the past there have been people who defined themselves as Hindus and then decided to turn back to the religion of their origin. There are many Americans who have done this, and the reason is this, they were not taught the clear distinctions between their own religion and Hinduism. This is the reason why some Hindus can become suspicious of your intentions. Hence I would like to outline some points here.


1.Since you mentioned that you are a white American Male, I am guessing that you were born as a Christian, hence I will give the distinctions from this assumptions.

2. If you are a Hindu then you must completely give up the notion of original sin. You are not an original sinner you are originally divine, hence you problem is the manifestation of your own divinity not to be free from original sin.

3.There is a lot of difference between Avidya and original sin, Original Sin is a condition that was acquired due to an act against God and has consequences like eternal hell. The only way to absolve this is through an external agency like Jesus. Where as Avidya is merely a perception in error nothing more. This Avidya is corrected through right knowledge.

4.The way to know divinity is through embodied knowing, this means that you use your mind to explore the workings of your body and mind. Since the whole model of the cosmos is suppose to be inherent within you. Hence you fine tune your own mind cleanse it and use it as an instrument to explore your body and mind. As divinity is inherent you discover divinity not only within but in the cosmos itself. This is your connection with God. Where as in the Christian faith you can only have connection with God through Jesus Christ or the church. Jesus occurs only once not many times. But in Hinduism rishis and even Avataras occur many times.

5.Finally you will need to completely reject the Nicene Creed.

If you accept all of the 5 points above then yes, I consider you to be a proper Hindu. This is the require for you, ofcourse this is based on the 1st assumption.

Namaste Sriram257,

Yes, you are correct I was born a Christian...more specifically Unitarian Universalist. While I don't want to go too in-depth as to why I wanted to convert to Hinduism from there in this thread, let me just say when I found out about the teachings of Hinduism like the points you mentioned, I found it psychologically more satisfying to be a Hindu than a Christian. The points you mention above are ones I easily embrace because they're all about self-empowerment, as opposed to the self-effacing I've been taught most of my life.

I don't even know what the Nicene Creed is, so no worries there. It's important to note that I originally wanted to embrace Hinduism out of disillusionment of my background, i.e. my being white, male, American, etc. It was Hinduism that taught me that I didn't have to really "identify" as those identities, so to speak, because of the above points.

[Ram11]

Ram ji,

No, I find it very hard to remain faithful to Sri Vaishnavam. I used to frequent one Vinayaka temple as a youth every single day. For this reason and for the reason I like Lord Shiva very much, I still hold on to my affinity for them. My puja still has a small Ganapathi picture and though I am not reciting stotras anymore for Lord Shiva, I still recite a very small Ganapathi stotra before commencing my prayers and offer naivedyam to both Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva. I am not able to stop this practice even if I tell myself I have to practice monotheism like many devoted friends I look up to, do.

Cheers,

Viraja

Namaste Viraja Ji,

Yours is a good,middle path.
I don't think I will be able to become a sectarian monotheist,as one must develop dislike towards many deities,which I can't do.

Vannakkam: I think it's a matter of degree of focus. I, being a Saivite, have no problem going to Vaishnava temples. We're all in this together after all. But given two temples side by side, or acrosss the road from each other, we'll just naturally go to the one of our sect. That's where we would be drawn, even subconsciously, without thinking. So 90% is sectarian and quite hard-core, and the other 10% is being courteous, curious, friendly, etc.

But I don't have Vaishnava Gods in my shrine room.

BTW, we're well off topic here.

Aum Namasivaya

Namaste EM Ji,

What you said is true,subconsciously a devotee tends to be attracted to his/her Sampradaya.

P.S.Sorry for digressing from the OP.

[Sriram257]

Namaste Webimpulse,

In such a case you are absolutely more Hindu than any Hindu who was born a Hindu. In fact you could teach such Hindus to be more Hindu. It is people like you who explore the depth of the Dharma.

[smaranam]

Namaste Ram, you said "I will never be a sectarian monotheist because then I have to dislike other deities"
This is like saying "In order to realize my own Self I have to dislike other fellow-aspirants"

There is nothing wrong in focusing only on your IshTa Deva / Devi and not thinking of other deva devatA. It does not mean you dislike them.

Surrender to only ONE,
samarpaN (submission) should go to only ONE,
depend totally on only ONE,
glorify only ONE,
ask, request and confide in only ONE,
but respect and honour all devas, even be fond of them.
They are HIS so you are fond of them, as they are fond of you and happy for you.
It is their loving blessings that bring you closer to your IshTa.

In fact, without the blessings of Shiva, Parvati, GaNesh, Lakshmi, Saraswati, I would not be at Shri KRshNa's Lotus Feet.
I belong to Shri KRshNa and KRshNa alone and to me He is the Supreme Brahman. All tattva (divine principles) melt into Him and He transcends them to sweetness.
I admit that I have zero motivation to seek anyone or anything else but If I chance upon "others" I do not dislike them. Rather, feel this bond with them. A shared bond & reverence.

|| Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

[FollowerJunior]

Namaste WebImpulse,
Personally (speaking as a 14 year old Hindu), the Internet massively helped me in getting to know more about my religion and culture. Not only did I learn more about Hinduism - which I had drifted away from, being brought up in Western/international countries - it gave me the opportunity to connect with people like you. Surprisingly I even think the Internet has less prejudice! I can speak more comfortably to many followers, young, old, wise, diverse...in real life, this is much harder. But that's coming from a young, born Hindu perspective. Unfortunately there will always be people who are prejudiced, I think the best thing anyone can do is surround themselves with people that do support and accept a Hindu for a Hindu- no matter what race, skin colour, class etc.

[Banarasi]

Namaste Ram, you said "I will never be a sectarian monotheist because then I have to dislike other deities"
This is like saying "In order to realize my own Self I have to dislike other fellow-aspirants"

There is nothing wrong in focusing only on your IshTa Deva / Devi and not thinking of other deva devatA. It does not mean you dislike them.

Surrender to only ONE,
samarpaN (submission) should go to only ONE,
depend totally on only ONE,
glorify only ONE,
ask, request and confide in only ONE,
but respect and honour all devas, even be fond of them.
They are HIS so you are fond of them, as they are fond of you and happy for you.
It is their loving blessings that bring you closer to your IshTa.

In fact, without the blessings of Shiva, Parvati, GaNesh, Lakshmi, Saraswati, I would not be at Shri KRshNa's Lotus Feet.
I belong to Shri KRshNa and KRshNa alone and to me He is the Supreme Brahman. All tattva (divine principles) melt into Him and He transcends them to sweetness.
I admit that I have zero motivation to seek anyone or anything else but If I chance upon "others" I do not dislike them. Rather, feel this bond with them. A shared bond & reverence.

|| Shri KRshNArpaNamastu ||

Hi

I am back after a looong time. Feels good to be back. smaranam puts what i think nicely. To reinforce, the way I have been taught is that of the bhakts. The relationship between the bhakt and Ishtadevata is like that between a dutiful wife (as in olden days) and a husband. While she does not disrespect others, there is no doubt as who is supreme for her. However, this has to be from the inside and not forced as otherwise, the relationship may not be strong. How then to get this strong loyalty? I think this would be due to Bhagawat Kripa when Shri Krishna takes ownership. Till that time, one should follow the sampradaya/Guru and wait for the days when nothing else but the Ishta devata fills our mind. Fortunately, most accessible works are pleasing in that they reflect this (respect for all but ownership to one). For instance, in the Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas ji repeatedly mentions that no Shiva drohi would attainig Rama and vice versa. Even here, there are stories where the sincere devotee is sometimes deluded in that the total dedication to the Ishta devata makes him/her question the relevance of others. As long as the devotee is sincere, s/he is helped by the Ishtadevata. For example, the story of Narahari sonar of Pandharpur.

To summarize, complete surrender to the Ishta devata is a gift for which the devotee can wait (if not salready present) but in the meantime, one should be respectful of all traditions for hurting others is not going to benefit anyone.

Jai Sita Rama