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Re: what to say?
In article <4g0q0u$9i9@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
ntiwari@rs3.esm.vt.edu (N. Tiwari) wrote:
>Artee Nanji (ananji@ulc190.residence.gatech.edu) wrote:
>: okay, i am a young adult whose family is hindu but i am not sure that i am.
>: i mean, my parents never taught me a particular way to pray and when i
>: asked a "man of the cloth" how exactly i am supposed to pray he came up
>: with some BS. i am really confused. if one asks me "what do hindus
>: believe in" then i say "i seriously dont know." people come to me and ask
>: me why i dont eat meat and why cows are sacred in hinduism. i just tell
>: them because. i am a lost cause. but i really dont know what i believe.
>: i am sure that if i had some sort of guidance in my life , real guidance
>: (not those bullshit moneywanting "manof the clothe people") well anyway.
>: i just thought that i would post something that i need help in.
>
>This is a very serious problem among the 1st generation desis
>in America. In our race for power, acceptance and 'modernism'
>if there is one community that is increasingly failing to pass
>on their heritage to their kids, it is us. Artee's grudge is
>not uncommon amongst us. Perhaps one should take a cue from our
>Muslim/Jew equivalents, and learn something from them regarding
>the inculcation of a sense of identity amongst their progeny.
One of things the Muslims and Jews have, which Hindus don't seem to want, is a
fairly consistent set of beliefs and principles that makes it easy for them
to be passed on from parents to children. Hindus, on the other hand, have been
brought up to believe that the Vedas are simply a superstitious hodgepodge of
various contradictory truths. This trend started with the Western Indologists,
and continues even today with certain neo-advaitist types. As a result,
Hindus have very little faith in their own Vedic culture, and if they don't
have faith in it, how can they pass it on to their children? Without faith in
Vedic scripture, the stories and injunctions therein are simply taken by the
2nd generation to be mere myths and dogmas which can be ignored whenever
inconvenient.
It's hard today for any one person to say what Hindus are supposed to believe,
because as soon as someone does, it will become evident that there are Hindus
who don't believe in it. For example, you will find Hindus who are atheists,
Hindus who worship trees and ghosts, Hindus who think they are God, and
Hindus who think everything and everyone is God. So I am not all surprised
that there are many people out there who are confused. This is what happens
when mental speculators say that there are many interpretations which are nice
and good, but no one authoritative understanding which can be taken as a
paradigm by which to live one's spiritual life.
regards,
-- HKS
