The five day Vedic ritual “Prana Prathishta” fills new Hindu temples with life and visitors with visions. Recently, the Bharatiya Temple of Metropolitan Detroit had a ceremony known as aPrana Prathishta, which was spread over five days as part of the expansion of a new Hindu house of worship. I have been an active volunteer at the temple over the last thirteen years, but I was not fully engaged in the expansion activity and the events around it. I have been concerned... Read more

When Hindus tie the knot, it’s not just a ceremony. Instead, it’s a life sacrament, and the “saptapadi” or “seven steps” is perhaps the most sacred and meaningful piece. The lazy, hazy days of summer bring to mind weddings—especially because it is during the hot summer months that Hindu weddings are often celebrated. While I have alreadywritten on the topic of marriage twice, I cannot resist revisiting the Hindu marriage rituals, particularly the sacred and beautiful saptapadi. As an important life sacrament,... Read more

An “either or” approach is very black and white and doesn’t easily allow for a colorful, vibrant, or fluid way to raise interfaith children. In my last essay, I talked about marriage and how, when I think of marriage in the Hindu-American context, it is of interfaith marriage, and especially the future. Just as I am unable to stop at one essay on marriage, KJ Dell’Antonia wrote twice in the New York Times, first about what happens when a Hindu marries a Catholic and... Read more

When I think of marriage in the Hindu-American context, it is not about history or the current context of same-sex marriage; it is of interfaith marriage, and especially the future. June is a month for weddings and wedding anniversaries, both in India and America. This June is especially poignant for me because of my in-laws’ fiftieth anniversary and our family’s inability to be together for it. Hindus celebrate weddings during auspicious times; a specific time for the rituals is set... Read more

For me, pluralism is a verb, like tolerate and understand. May is an eventful month for me in metro-Detroit’s interfaith landscape. In fact, the National Day of Prayer, traditionally held on the first Thursday in May, was what put me in a prominent place as an interfaith advocate. In my last column, I wrote about the Troy Community Coalition’s annual Faith Community Prayer Breakfast, which led to incidents that helped me co-found the Troy-area Interfaith Group. When this organization held... Read more

Real interfaith conversations can make us better at the faith we practice. In the Parliament of World Religions May 2012 newsletter, Phillipe Copeland writes, “According to the Abrahamic traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Baha’i Faith, the universe itself was spoken into being. This offers a fitting metaphor for the promise of interreligious dialogue, the promise of a new creation . . . to fulfill this promise requires attention to detail. We must be attentive not only to what... Read more

Vegetarianism is ahimsa in action, toward animals and the environment, and such ethical eating is at the heart of celebrating the Earth today and every day. This Earth Day, I found myself reading a New York Times interview with Colin Spencer, a great food historian, artist, novelist, analyst, activist, playwright, and journalist. According to Spencer, vegetarianism is “heretical” eating—it is “not simply a criticism of meat-eating but a criticism of power . . . Not to eat meat, or to frown on the... Read more

When I read about conversion on the other side of the world, and the lack of balance and awareness amongst those in power, it makes me question whether interfaith interaction can really work. This past week was spring break for my kids and this year we ended it at home, after visits that included northern California, Chicago, and western Michigan. The visits reminded me of how diverse our nation is in geography and outlook, just like the range of perspectives... Read more