I’ve been working at the grocery store for about a month now and it hasn’t been what I expected. Surprisingly, I actually really like it there. It’s getting me out of the house and also out of my own head, which is more of a blessing than I realized. I had no idea how deeply I’d been living in just rumination and mental exercise until I stepped out of it for a little bit each day and it was so... Read more
As I’ve said before, I know a lot of atheists and am very comfortable with most atheists. We have one really big thing in common: frustration at the way evangelical religions operate. So I enjoy atheist blogs because I can relate to that. It has always struck me as odd, though, that it seems like many atheists go from Christian to nothing and never consider any other possibilities! Once they stop believing in the Christian God it’s like there couldn’t... Read more
I was sent this delightful little book by the author in return for an honest review. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was totally inspired by him. At Ganapati’s Feet by David Dillard-Wright It has the simple eloquence that cuts right through you just like so many of Hinduism’s great spiritual leaders. It reminds me a lot of reading Eswaran commentary. The first part is the author’s story of how he became connected to Sri Ganesha along with... Read more
This is a post from my blog before it became a Patheos blog.. Thursday, May 10, 2012 Asking Permission When starting to practice a religion that is not your native one, it is natural to look to natives for insight. You want to learn how to behave and how best not to stick out as you master new practices.There is also a tendency to see ones self as lower than the “real” people of the religion. It feels as... Read more
It took me some time to think about how I feel about this film India’s Daughter so I’m late to the discussion. Having thought it through, here is my reaction… Number one, it frustrates me a lot that programs like this make it sound like India is this horrible “other” place where terrible things happen to women all the time. It gives the west a terrible impression of India and makes many westerners feel justified in looking down on India and Indians.... Read more
Two big tragedies in America came to light on the same day. One was the killing of three young Muslims in North Carolina and the other was police in Alabama beating a Hindu grandfather. As the media discusses Islamophobia in the North Carolina case some people have asked, why aren’t we calling the Alabama incident Hinduphobia? Why do we talk bout Islamophobia but never Hinduphobia? (http://swarajyamag.com/commentary/from-alabama-to-american-hinduphobia/) Personally, I do not think that what happened to Mr. Patel was Hinduphobia. I... Read more
Sati is the name given to a disturbing practice of Hindu women being so devoted to their husbands that when the husband died, the widow was so overcome with grief that she would leap onto the funeral pyre and burn herself alive. It seems that after a few cases of this it became, for some, a cultural tradition and there are rumors of women being forced onto their husband’s funeral pyres in historic Hinduism. So is this practice a part... Read more
“Conversion” is a very charged word for Hindus. It is exclusively associated with the predatory behavior of Abrahamic religions (Islam and Christianity) as they work to convert Hindus by any means necessary (including bribery, withholding medicine, tricks, and other coercion). For many Hindus it is only religions that teach exclusive access to Truth that need the concept of conversion. Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma is the original term for the faith) is a way of life and it doesn’t put the Truth... Read more
It is amazing to me that people could complain that Hinduism has too many rituals. Apparently these days rituals are out of vogue and and non-religious people scoff at the “superstition” of ritual while religious people emphasize spontaneous prayer. There is a time for spontaneous prayer, certainly, but there’s also a time for ritual prayer. To start off with I’d like to address this idea that believing in ritual makes you superstitious. The truth is, we are all superstitious. It’s... Read more
A couple of months ago I wrote a post about reclaiming this phrase “idol worship.” I still think that if it’s something people accuse us of, it’s fair to say: “So what? What’s it to you?” However, it turns out that I struck a nerve and a lot of Hindus are very upset at our murti being called idols. They pointed out to me that when someone says idol worship, they mean literally bowing down to the brass, plastic, plaster,... Read more
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