Book Club: How To Become A Hindu (Introduction)

Other than this blog, the other really big resource for new Hindus is the Himalayan Academy and their books, magazine, and website. I have huge respect for them and I love their books. I’ve had How To Become a Hindu for many years. There are places where my approach differs from Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, but only a few. I think it will be very instructive for us to explore this handbook for born Hindus and new Hindus and discuss the ideas within.

Go to the bottom of this post for links to the discussion on each chapter!

Before we even get into the meat of the book, there’s an interesting introduction that gives some insight into who Subramuniyaswami is. He is an American convert to Hinduism! In fact, like me, he had a lot of Hindu influence in his early life. He moved to India as a young man and came back as a Hindu monk with a new name. This was in the late 1940s.

I am currently working on a book that is also an introduction to being a new Hindu and I think there are important differences between my book and this one. The first being that mine is designed for a more typical experience and a more modern experience. I love all that the Himalayan Academy has built, but I also think there is room for the voice of a Hindu who came to it a bit more recently than 1949.

The book How To Become a Hindu was published in 2000, so it has a lot of relevance for us today. I am not a Shivite, as the author of this book is, but I think there is a ton of value here for Hindus of all sects.

The first thing that caught my attention when reading the introduction was “While Hindus today are worried about Christian efforts to ‘save the Pagans,’ millions in the West are quietly adopting Hinduism in a remarkable and little-discussed silent conversion, a conversion no less powerful and far more extensive than in the past.”

It’s true, isn’t it? Whenever the word “convert” comes up, many Indian Hindus get very upset as to them that means only one thing: Christians tricking Hindus into leaving their native faith. It’s a tragedy that that does happen. I’m fine with people becoming Christian if it makes them happier (though it’s impossible for me to understand how it could!) but I have to agree that far too often Christians have been using underhanded tactics to scare or force Hindus into converting. But meanwhile, Hinduism is still growing. Hinduism offers the world so much and offers individuals so much, and so I have always been sure that it will never die out. It is the eternal truth, after all.

Hinduism has been slowly filtering to the west for 150 years or more and the effects of that are definitely starting to be seen. In people like me, for example. I grew up with a lot more Indian and Hindu belief than western beliefs.

So if the word “convert” only means leaving Hinduism, a lot of people don’t like that word applied to those of us coming to Hinduism. Hinduism is a way of life, they say. Your soul was always Hindu. You aren’t changing fundamentally. And indeed Subramuniyaswami addresses that too: “To the born Hindu of today, the question of entering Hinduism may seem unnecessary, for by one common definition Hinduism is a way of life, a culture, both religious and secular.” But, he explains why it is important to have a concept for conversion into Hinduism. If Hinduism is not a religion, “then it is not entitled tot he same rights and protections given to religion by the nations of the world.”

Personally, as a person coming to Hinduism and not born Hindu, being able to call myself a convert is helpful at times. I do think there are questions, issues, worries, and experiences that are unique to a non-native Hindu and it’s important to be able to discuss those. Subramuniyaswami says he has found it “useful to distinguish between the convert, a person with clearly defined prior commitments to another faith, and the adoptive, a person with no prior religious affiliations.” That’s a very good idea. I’m not sure which I would consider myself to be, but probably the adoptive.

Subramuniyaswami next makes the claim that Smartha branches of Hinduism don’t accept converts. Particularly the lineage represented by the Shankaracharyas of Sringeri and Puri. Now this is kind of hilarious to me and I don’t know what he means by “accept” converts, but I’m a Smartha and my guru and my parents’ guru is the Shankaracharya of Sringeri!

We visited him in 2011, stayed at the math and he gave me a blessing for a good marriage, which came to fruition shortly there after. I’d say that’s accepting!

Subramuniyaswami praises the way in which teachers of Hinduism offer presentations of belief but do not engage in “tearing down of other faiths and no active attempt to gain new followers.” Certainly I’ve never seen an active attempt to gain new followers (thank goodness! I agree that that is one of Hinduism’s strengths), but I’ve been saddened to see a lot of venom and hatred against other religions coming from Hindus. Not from the teachers, swamis, pandits, etc., though, and I hope it stays that way. There is nothing less becoming in a Hindu than hatred. I understand where it’s coming from. Many Hindus are feeling threatened and are lashing out at what they see as the threat. The internal threat of losing kindness and dharma is a much more dangerous one in my view.

“Many, I realized, had lived as Hindus in past lives, and now, born in the West, were merely rediscovering the religion of their soul.”

That is exactly how I feel about it! It has seemed clear to me that I must have been a native Hindu in another lifetime, probably a recent one. Hinduism is absolutely the religion of my soul and finding it felt a lot like coming home.

Subramuniyaswami says that in his research he found that “Hinduism does and always has accepted newcomers, though the issue is generally handled discreetly.” He saw people entering formally by going through a naming ceremony, as would be done for a baby. He had this done and was given his new name. He then set up a system to do the same for other people in the west and in fact claims that there is a new “gotra” (caste) of western Hindus. He calls it the Subramuniya Gotra.

I feel a little weird about him naming a caste after himself, but no matter.

In order to convert to Hinduism through his organization, a quite formal process is required. He does acknowledge that “self-declaration remains the basic way to enter the faith” but he feels it is important for their to be a formal process. His method makes a lot of sense, particularly the requirement to formally sever ties with former religions. He says that some people going through this step rediscover a love of their birth religion. “We were happy for all who rediscovered their path in life in this way, having reawakened their spiritual/religious nature through their participation in the vibrant and compellingly uplifting ceremonies of Hinduism. It was not a surprise to us, for Hinduism has such a power, such a magic, being the oldest living tradition.” I like his acceptance that Hinduism is not everyone’s religious destiny. I love Hinduism and it is absolutely the right religion for me, but I can’t say that it is the right religion for everyone. We are all different and need different things from a religion.

The one part of his formal process that trips me up is the name change. It isn’t required to be a Hindu (“Entering Hinduism has traditionally required little more than accepting and living the beliefs and codes of Hindus”) However, he makes the point that many western names are derived from Christianity and “signify a follower of Christianity. An individual who rejects belief in the doctrines of Christianity must also reject the name given him under that religion.” And he promises to explain more about that later.

You know me as Ambaa, but that is not the name most people know me by. My given name is Carolyn, which luckily for me is not an overtly Christian name. If I were named Mary or Leah then I might have a bigger drive to formally change my name. As it is, I am tempted. I have a pretty serious chip on my shoulder about Christianity and distance myself from it as much as I can. But I made the decision not to go by my Hindu name because I felt that it was 1) disrespectful to my parents who worked so hard to find the right name for me and 2) came across as awfully obnoxious. But then again, I plan to name my children Hindu names so they’ll be white people with Indian names. I still haven’t come to a firm decision on this. I’m getting ready to go through the process to formally change to my married name and it is tempting to change my first name too while I’m at it. But Carolyn Choate has a nice ring to it; more so than Ambaa Choate, I think.

The book next explains that it is a resource for both born Hindus and non-native Hindus. We can always refresh our commitment and our knowledge of Hinduism, after all. It also brings up a question that I’ve had in the past, whether one should take on both the principles of Hinduism and the culture. Subramuniyaswami says yes. “It’s a package deal.”

All these issues, I believe, will get explored more deeply as the book goes on. The introduction is quite thick, though, so I’m glad I didn’t skip it!

Are you a Hindu? the book asks.

“If you find yourself at home with Hindu beliefs, the attitudes they produce and the culture that is lived by a billion-plus souls, then obviously you are a Hindu. It is that easy…It must come from the heart, from a deep, inner sense, an inner knowing that this is the natural dharma of your soul…In summary, your religion is the group that you are the most comfortable with, those who think like you, share the same ideals, according to their similar philosophies.”