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Re: ARTICLE : Who decided that all vaishnavs are not hindus?
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To: soc-religion-hindu@uunet.uu.net
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Subject: Re: ARTICLE : Who decided that all vaishnavs are not hindus?
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From: dchakrav@netserv.unmc.edu (Dhruba Chakravarti)
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Date: 9 Aug 1996 10:27:45 -0500
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Newsgroups: soc.religion.hindu
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Organization: University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
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References: <4t1rf6$hba@babbage.ece.uc.edu> <ghenDv4vu2.K23@netcom.com> <ghenDvCC1H.HyG@netcom.com> <ghenDvE56q.JKH@netcom.com> <ghenDvp3AJ.5oI@netcom.com>
: >Rabeh Younes <cz186@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote:
: >>I am a moslem born vaisnava who worship Visnu as the Supreme Personality
: >>of Godhead. I am certainly not a hindu.
Dear Sri Rabeh Younes:
You are certainly free to identify yourself in whichever fashion you
choose, that is why we have the free-will. In the Bible, there are
references of some tensions among early Christians, especially among
the Roman Christians and the Jewish Christians, on the issue of circumcision.
The situation was similar, neither side wanted to change their ways. But
they were all Christians, because they followed Christ. There was scope
for this since Jesus accepted labels as 'King of the Jews' etc.
You became a vaishhNava by being initiated by Srila Prabhupada. It is in
Indian tradition that people identified themselves by their Gurus, thus
the system of gotra evolved. Thinking like an Indian, I would be more
inclined to think of you as whatever group Srila Prabhupada described
himself to belong to. I believe that is 'gauDiya vaishhNava', therefore
I would think that you are a gauDiya vaishhNava now, and have
adopted Hinduism, irrespecitve of the situation of your birth.
With best regards,
Dhruba.
