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Thread: Good day

  1. #1

    Good day

    Namaste!

    My name is Rajesh, but since that name is already taken I will go by Ramakrishna on here. I have been a Hindu my entire life, but over the past few years I have been learning more about my faith and becoming more devout. Over the past month or so I have especially become devout, and I hope I will remain so for the rest of my life.

    Here's a little about me. As I said, my name is Rajesh. I live in Tennessee in the United States of America. I am a first generation American of Indo-Guyanese descent. My parents and grandparents were born in the South American country of Guyana, and everybody from my great-grandparents back were from India. I am 17 years old, turning 18 in April. I will be attending college this fall, although I am not sure yet which university. I plan on majoring in history and then likely going on to law school after that.

    I'll finish off this introduction talking about my faith. Everybody in my immediate family and most of my extended family are Hindu. For many years we would always celebrate Diwali, Holi, and maybe occasionally a few other holidays. However, that would usually be the only time I would really pray or express my faith. For years I would also do nightly japa in my bed before I went to sleep. I did this almost every night, but I wouldn't really think about what I was doing or put much faith into it. But hey, I was still a kid then.
    Starting in about 10th grade (2 years ago), I started looking more into my faith. I read a lot about the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, and they really appealed to me. I went down to my family's altar and brought a copy of the Bhagavad Gita up to my room and I would read it. I began learning a lot more about my religion, mainly through the internet. I learned a lot more and began to better understand core Hindu concepts such as reincarnation, karma, dharma, etc. I had a firmer understanding of Hinduism, and pretty much from that time up until very recently I would go through what I like to call "religious spells". By that I mean that there would be a period of a few days or a few weeks when I would be very devout, some days constantly chanting the Maha Mantra well over 108 times. Then, I would go another few days or a few weeks without ever thinking of the Lord. I wouldn't chant the Maha Mantra throughout the day, except for my nightly japa which I never put much thought into anyway. Sometimes it would be because I honestly forgot to pray and be devout to God, but other times I would actually remember the Lord and I would think about chanting, but ultimately decide against it. Eventually I would exit that un-religious spell and enter into another devout spell. This cycle would go on and on over the next couple of years.
    About a month ago, I started learning more about my religion again. I was not sure if I even knew the concept of God in Hinduism. I did hours and hours of research, predominantly on the internet. I also took out a few books from my school library and read them. I just read about anything and everything related to Hinduism, really. I read about karma, dharma, reincarnation, the Hindu scriptures, and the concept of God. By concept of God I mean how many gods there are in Hinduism. I have heard so many people call Hinduism a polytheistic religion while some places I would read that there is only one supreme God, who is manifested in many forms. I would ultimately confirm that. Anyway, I just spent hours and hours over pretty much the entire month of January just reading and learning a ton about Hinduism. I read about some of the great Hindu figures throughout history. I was particularly fascinated with Ramakrishna, the namesake on the website.
    Now that I look back on it, I'm not really sure what made me begin to learn more about my religion. It wasn't one specific moment when I just decided to look into my religion. It's not like I was going through a particularly tough time and I decided I needed God or something. I guess my body, mind, and soul just matured more and I began to realize how life isn't all about fun and games anymore. I began to take everything more seriously, and I thought about how I called myself a Hindu my entire life, but I never really knew much about my religion. Whenever people at school would ask my questions about Hinduism, I would shy away. I was embarrassed and I would act like I didn't know much about my religion. Well, I wasn't really acting, because I really didn't know much about my religion. So really there have been two times in my life where I learned a ton about Hinduism. Two years ago, when I first started looking more into Hinduism, and last month, when I learned even more about Hinduism.
    When I first started studying Hinduism two years ago, I became particularly interested in ISKCON. I would pray almost exclusively to Krishna over the next two years. However, now I believe that it is necessary to pray to Brahman's other forms as well. I do believe that Krishna is the most supreme and complete form of Brahman, which is pretty much the central aspect of ISKCON. I will continue to devote most of my prayers and devotion towards Krishna, but I will also be praying more the Shiva, Rama, Hanuman, and Ganesha. I think one of the most beautiful things about Hinduism is that there are so many gods, but ultimately they all are Brahman. Hinduism is not polytheistic, and I have heard been classified as monotheistic, henotheistic, and pantheistic. I sort of subscribe to the monotheistic or pantheistic view, but at this point I don't really care about labeling my religion. I believe that the most important thing is that I understand the concept of God, and how everything really is Brahman. Any labeling, classification, categorizations or whatnot is not really necessary.

    This introduction has gone on far longer than I intended it to be! I look to learn more about Hinduism in this forum, ask questions I have, and just have discussions with fellow Hindus or whoever else is on here. Outside of my family, I do not know that many Hindus. As I said, I live in Tennessee, right in the buckle of the Bible Belt! Anyway, if you have read this far I thank you. I hope to have a great time on these forums!

  2. #2
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    Re: Good day

    Hi Ramakrishna, nice to meet you. Thank you for this long and detailed introduction. I myself am in a similar position. I am from a Hindu family and have always been a Hindu. Unfortunately, for almost all of my life I have been even less devout than you were. It's only recently that I've decided to take my religion seriously. I think you'll like it here on HDF. There are many knowledgable Hindus here who have helped provide answers to many of my questions about Hinduism.

  3. #3
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    Re: Good day

    Welcome Ramakrishna:

    I actually enjoyed reading about your introduction. It was a lot better than most. At least we have a better sense of which parts of Hinduism work for you. This is a lot better than some who come on and say:

    "New here. I'm a Hindu. Aum"

    Well, you get the picture. Thanks for taking the time.

    Aum Namasivaya

  4. #4

    Re: Good day

    Thank you very much for the welcomes! This looks like a great site!

  5. #5
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    Re: Good day

    hari o
    ~~~~~~

    namasté

    Quote Originally Posted by Ramakrishna View Post
    Namaste!

    My name is Rajesh,
    Hello and welcome... your name has interesting roots.

    We can look at rajesh as rāj+īś (राजीश् or राजीश्ः)

    rāj+īś

    rāj - to be illustrious or resplendent , shine , glitter ; many see this word as king, royalty and this is correct;

    īś- can mean 'belonging to' ; it also means master, to rule or reign; this īś is also a noun for śiva, as we know Hm as īśvara

    Hence we can see this name as:
    • the one that belongs to (īś) to the to radiant, (rāj) the luminaries
    • the illumined royalty (one)
    • the most resplendent and illumined śiva

    praṇām
    यतसà¥à¤¤à¥à¤µà¤‚ शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṠśivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

  6. #6

    Re: Good day

    Thank you for that information, yajvan!

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