Before coming to India, I've been to a few Hindu ceremonies. I didn't realize it at the time, but I guess I never took them seriously. Even at the temple, I never got the feeling that people took the ceremonies seriously. It seemed more like a chance to get together and catch up with people. It was great, I'd see people I wouldn't see that often, get some good food and feel proud of myself for being open about religions.
So now, in India, I'm exposed to people who really take it seriously, everywhere. A few examples:
- When coming home one day, we were held up in traffic due to a huge ceremony walking down the street.
- When I went to Thanjavur (for a different reason) we visited a lot of temples. The people I was with all went around and did all the prayers. I stood around awkwardly.
- My cousin's dad prays every morning. He has a special room to do his prayers. The door to the room has bells on it and as he closes the door each morning he carefully rings the bells many times.
Let me be clear. If someone has asked me directly "do you think Hinduism could be correct" I would definitely have said yes. Intellectually I considered all religions to be be "possible" and insofar as I could tell, no other religion seemed more likely. But when I spent time thinking about religion, Hinduism never really entered my head.
So, I guess I wonder, why didn't I take it seriously before?
A part of the answer definitely lies with the nature of Christianity. Christians are definitely more apt to talk about their religion (since conversion is an important part of the religion) and as a result I observed more Christians than members of any other religion. Even without that, a lot of American culture involves references to Christianity and an assumption that people know about it (see for example: http://www.vidoemo.com/yvideo.php?futurama-robot-hell-song=&i=UWl1V000cWuRpSUxPOGM).
However, another part of the problem has to do with Hinduisms similarity to other old religions that we generally don't take seriously anymore (how many people really still pray to Zeus?). Polytheistic religions with extraordinary stories of the gods coming down and fighting in great battles seem overly strange. Stories of the kings talking to gods, getting boons, using them for greedy purposes, etc... don't fit with the way we think about god. God should be at a level above us, not favoring once side, all loving, etc... At least, thats the feeling I got in the US.
So how many of you in the US have really seen Hinduism as a serious religion? Am I alone in this? Is it possible that I'm over analyzing this and this is a residual feeling from when I felt weird being the only Indian kid in school and as a result rejected all things Indian or am I on to something?
(Yes, I realize the questions at the end imply that people actually read this, which I have no evidence of, but oh well).
Nice post!
ReplyDeleteYour observations of Hinduism are spot on. But what has helped me evolve my views on this religion over the years is to change my viewpoint a little. I notice that the cultural interpretation of this religion is way stronger than the spiritual roots it emerges from. For example, what it takes to be a Hindu is very little spiritually. Culturally, it's all about the festivals and the temples (where we catch up with our social groups!) and the prayers in one's pooja room.
However the spiritual significance of the fables we are taught as children, of our festivals and our traditions are deep and need study. I've done this for a few years - and this has cemented by belief that it is a serious religion with much to impart.
Additionally a lot of our spiritual basis resounds with a lot of world religions - selflessness over selfishness, surrendering to the will of the divine, eschewing qualities such as greed and pride, brotherhood of man etc
I read your post. Your last sentence is a run-on ;-)
ReplyDeleteI have always regarded Hinduism as a religion. Well, maybe not "always" so much as beginning when I realized that Christianity wasn't the only game in town (age 15 maybe?). But, regardless, when new religions were first introduced to me, Hinduism definitely fell into that category.
What did you consider it if not a religion - just a part of the Indian culture?
I wonder if other Christians have a similar outlook and dismissing it as non-religious is more of a tendency for Indians...
Also, glad you posted this. I hope you are enjoying yourself over there.
@Sunil
ReplyDeleteIts a good point, I haven't spent a lot of time studying Hinduism (a result of the childhood rejection of it I suppose). I don't doubt that it has a lot to impart, but it was hard to even look into it because it wasn't really something that people discussed. (A part of this has to do with the kind of person I am, I love learning through discussion much more than learning through books). Do you have any good starting points?
@Rachel
Haha, I guess I should have expected someone to correct me. Keep it up, I want to improve my writing in general.
Its not that I didn't consider it a religion. I.e. I considered it:
a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. (from dictionary.com)
I don't think others consider it not a religion either, its just that I don't think people take it seriously. As a result, people don't know much about it and we get into a cycle of ignorance.
Note: I'm not Christian, I'm currently... I like to use the word confused/searching/wondering
Hari,
ReplyDeleteAs someone who was raised Christian, I can tell you that any polytheistic religion is taken less seriously by the majority of Christians. In public, your average Christian will say that they respect Hinduism, but it's mostly lip service. Christianity teaches very adamantly that there is one god. Consequently, the attitude toward Judaism and Islam by the Christian religion is something like, "They're incorrect, but maybe at least they're praying to the right entity." No such recourse is available for Hinduism.
I would say your attitude toward Hinduism is typical of Americans. They see it primarily as a cultural and social practice, whether they realize it or not. I also think your speculations as the origin of this attitude are spot on.
I think it'd be interesting to flip this around and try to get the perspective on Christianity from someone raised in an environment that only acknowledged Hinduism.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of good observations here, but I'm not sure how much of it is due to inherent practices in the religion and how much of it is due to simple human nature thinking that the familiar way of doing things is the right way.
Matt, Rodney
ReplyDeleteFirst off, sorry, I missed your responses to this. I have a bad habit of ignoring my own blog until I want to write something
@Matt
Thats a really good point. Any thoughts on
if this is okay? It seems to be a conflict between standing by your beliefs and being open minded. I instinctively believe in the latter, and have a horrible time relating to the former. However, there is this feeling that without solid beliefs that I stand by, I can't get much done...
@Rodney
I almost feel like its similar to a kind of racism that was practice in the US (and, in some ways, still is). Its a sort of, "sure, they are fine, but would you let your daughter marry one?" (I've hear almost that exact statement by the way...). There isn't discrimination in the workplace, etc... but its almost like, "those poor people, they don't get it."
Hari,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, your post is from December 11 and it is only December 10. Congratulations on your time travel. What is the future like?
Second, I find the traditional Christian attitude toward other religions intolerant, but the question of whether or not it is "okay" is a question of morality to an extent. Most religions include a system of morals, so clearly with regard to Christian system of morals, it's okay. You could argue that the Christian system of morals is itself immoral with regard to some more absolute standard of morality, but then you need some way of constructing that standard.
It's also a question of when you think tolerance is deserved and how much. By definition, tolerance of religion means you are tolerating a belief system to which you do not subscribe. There is something odd about this behavior though. In general, people don't tolerate things which they believe are untrue. If someone told you the sky was purple with green polka dots, you wouldn't tolerate it. You'd tell them they were wrong.
When dealing with religion, because no one can prove they are right, tolerance is the norm. I feel like it's a courtesy for the possibility that you're wrong. For every Christian or Hindu that truly and deeply believes in their religion, I would think their tolerance is at odds with their beliefs.
@Matt
ReplyDeleteIn the future people will speak a strange language called "Tamil" and only some of them will know English. Instead of Taxis you are used to, everyone uses auto-rickshaws where you need to negotiate the price in advance and the less you speak "Tamil" the more you get ripped off. In short, the future is great but has a distinct lack of either flying cars or robots with laser beams for arms (though I did see a robot with laser beams for eyes).
What your saying makes some sense. Its the exact reason I get unreasonably angry at people who say "I think everyone's beliefs are correct." You can't believe that because one person's beliefs say that the other person's beliefs are wrong.
As for tolerance... I partly disagree. With respect to the purple polka dot sky, you're right, I wouldn't tolerate that[1]. But thats precisely because I have direct and easily accessible proof. If instead, someone said that there is a green dragon that flies around alpha centauri, I'd probably think they are silly, but I wouldn't tell them they are wrong. I'd merely ask them how they know (and perhaps based on that I'd try to show that they are wrong).
Religion is closer to the green dragon than the purple sky. Its perhaps less absurd, and there are things you can claim as evidence (most of which is along the lines of "look how well the universe works"). However, most of the evidence equally supports all religions[2]. This is why I think tolerance makes sense.
So, the problem is with "truly and deeply believing." Once you do that, you mentally move belief in other religions from green dragon to purple polka dot sky. This is where I can't quite wrap my head around things. How can people truly and deeply believe something for which the evidence is so sketchy...? Most explanations I've heard, which make psychological sense, always seem in the end intellectually dishonest...
[1] As long as we stretch the meaning of tolerate a bit.
[2] Ok, so there is a type of evidence for which is this not true. Evidence along the lines of "because the Bible says so" only supports one religion. I'm discounting this to a degree though because a) its usually based on circular logic and b) many religions have their own version of this ("because the Koran says so", "because the Bhagavad Gita say so"). Some might have better historical backing than others but I'm not aware of this and anyway it doesn't seem convincing in the end.