My day started at 6:45 with breakfast in bed from my husband! I don’t have a lot of family around to be part of the day with me, but Brad was happy to be supportive (particularly after reading the story of the woman who was tricked by seeing a false moon and her husband died because of it! I’m probably not going to run into Shiva on the road to ask for his resurrection). Brad also brought me a nice... Read more
I have a new series for you, which is a set of interviews with a variety of young people who are American but have Indian families. I feel like I have a lot in common with the children of immigrants from India. We both are struggling to understand culture and religion that is divorced from its origin. I have the advantage of being assumed to be American which is a pretty shitty thing, in my opinion. I hate that whiteness... Read more
Tomorrow is Karwa Chauth, a one day fast observed by women (mostly in Northern India). I’d say it’s kind of the Hindu Valentine’s Day although it has more of a focus on the bonding between women. It is a time when wives fast and pray for the long life and prosperity of their husbands. Unmarried women sometimes observe the fast for the sake of a future husband. This is a big day for me, as my first Karwa Chauth as... Read more
In the middle of the holiest time of the Hindu year, with nearly non-stop holidays, it’s strange to shift gears and remember that here in America, Halloween will leap right into the middle of the holiday season. I’m not really sure what to do with Halloween in my life. It’s been years, of course, since I “trick or treated” (and I tended to dislike the trick or treating, being shy and self-conscious about knocking on stranger’s doors and demanding things... Read more
Someone made a comment last week (and I can’t remember now where it was, whether here or Facebook) that western Hindus are all about philosophy and not bhakti, which is devotion practices. He has a point. Leaving aside ISKCON which is full of westerners practicing bhakti, many of us follow Advaita and the emphasis is on learning, reading, studying, intellectually understanding. In Hinduism it is said that there are three different channels of spiritual growth and each person (or each... Read more
Once-a-month-cooking is a trend among the frugal and stay-at-home mom blogs I love to read. The idea is that you set aside a day to prep a ton of meals and put them all in the freezer so that you can feed your family for a month without having to cook every day. From a Hindu perspective this idea is a bit problematic. Leftovers are not considered good food. Ideally in a Hindu home, full meals are prepared fresh every... Read more
My mom and my dad’s sisters collect Christmas figurines. Manger scene figures to create Christmas scenes in December. It can be nice for adult sisters and sister-in-laws to have collectibles that make for easy gifts. Relatives who aren’t too sure what you might want, know they can always get you a new figure for your tableaux. The figurines expand well beyond the traditional baby in a manger with parents and some angels and wise men. There are whole houses and... Read more
Here are some other blogs that you may want to take a look at… Hindu-Blog: SO informative. It has posts for every little holiday, festival, fast, etc. I love getting their updates on Facebook. Anju Bhargava is a blogger at The Huffington Post Western Hindu is a blogger friend of mine from WAY BACK! On his blog he highlights a number of non-Indian Hindu blogs. Take a look at the wide variety of ways people come to Hinduism and relate... Read more
This post is going to be long, complicated, and messy. Pretty much reflective of my relationship with money. I don’t know why I have such a difficult time with the concept of money. One of the goals of Hindu life is Artha: wealth and prosperity. Not just monetarily, but prosperity in lots of ways. It’s good to build abundance. Yet I feel crushing guilt over trying to do that. I want money. I’m scared of money. I’m scared of not... Read more
I didn’t have a hope chest for my wedding. Honestly, it’s not really a tradition that people are practicing anymore. I always liked the idea of it, but there is no way I would have been able to hold off on opening it up and pulling out those goodies in the thirteen years I’ve been waiting to get married! I’ve lived on my own and started my household a long time ago. A Baby Hope Chest is a project I... Read more
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