The Past Tense

The Past Tense July 14, 2014

I noticed something the other day that I think might be an issue almost unique to Hinduism. It is both an ancient religion and a current religion. That doesn’t happen very often!

I read an article about bed sheets that were printed with Ganesha’s image and how offensive it was, but even the person speaking for those who were offended said that Ganesha was one of the most universally worshiped Gods in Hinduism. Was. But He still is!

There’s a show on Netflix examining Angkor Wat, which is an ancient temple. So like all shows about ancient times there’s lots of discussion of what life was like thousands of years ago and it’s all very in the past. But this is a temple to Vishnu, a God still worshiped today. (Though the temple later became a Buddhist one).

There are some Gods that were worshiped in ancient times and now aren’t anymore. We can talk about the cultures back then in a distanced way (I’m thinking of some of the rival Gods mentioned in the Bible, for example). Those people back then, they used to think, they used to believe, etc.

Hinduism is an unbroken tradition connecting us to ancient times.

I think a lot of people today think of Hinduism as something old, far away, exotic, and ancient. Though it is ancient, it is also modern. People here seem to forget that a lot. It’s like when someone in a design studio decides to print the image of Ganesha on a bed sheet or Lakshmi on a bikini, they are entirely unaware that these images are still sacred. They are not ancient Gods that no one connects to anymore. They are in fact ancient Gods that people are still very deeply connected to today.

http://srieconnections.blogspot.com/2012/09/proper-way-to-worship-lord-ganesha.html

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