The Hyphenated Hindus

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Hindus can learn a lot from Muslims

Are Hindu-Americans Creating A Mongrel Generation?

By Francis C. Assisi

First consider the following facts:

1. The media tends to present mostly the sensational and bizarre stories about Hindus and Hinduism. As a result negative stereotyping of Hinduism in North America is pervasive.

2. Indian-American students feel embarrassed and ashamed with their classroom discussions on Hinduism; they feel alienated from their religion and heritage. And, as a result, many of them end up becoming Hindu-hating Hindus.

3. Some of them develop resentment against Hinduism and Hindus, including their own parents and relatives. Some find it necessary (or expedient) to convert to Christianity in order to succeed.

4. Based on the negative portrayals of women in Indian culture, many young girls avoid marrying within the Hindu, Jain, or Sikh community. One widely reported statistic: 35% boys, 46% girls marry non-Indians.

5. Every temple or gurudwara has to put up a long court battle before construction is permitted. No one wants a temple or Gurudwara in their neighborhood.

SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA’S WARNING

Back in 1979, Swami Chinmayananda sent a no-holds-barred “special message to Indians living abroad” through his Mission mouthpiece Mananam. It subsequently appeared in India Abroad of March 23, 1979 under the heading “Retaining Indian moral values in the U.S.”

The swamiji’s main argument was that no matter where Indians lived, if they were not aware of their culture and if they did not adhere to that culture, they would have no strength, no vitality. “The individuals may be intelligent, rich, successful and morally good, but the community will have no purposeful strength, or distinct personality of its own.”

The problem, he noted, became acute when the members of the community, before they left their homeland, had no thorough grounding in the cultural and spiritual values of their heritage. He explained that a false education had created in us a misguided reverence for science and technology and the material prosperity of the suffocatingly restless West, enabling us to ignore the peaceful cheer and joy, mutual concern and family integrity, which are distinct beauties of the Hindu Culture.

“Exiled thus from both the Western and Eastern values we have become a pseudo-group with …no tradition to respect, no culture to bind us. Certainly we are individually successful, prosperous, and can command all the luxuries of life, but as a community we are weak, disjointed, scattered and poor in vitality and power.”

The swamiji made it clear that he was not just talking about having Indian food, clothing or language in foreign lands. Certainly, he noted, Indians must learn to play their games in their fields - but not at the expense of Hindu identity and individuality.

The swamiji exhorted: “Let us imitate, but not become; we cannot, and even if we do, they will never accept us fully. Let us be ourselves. We shall certainly command their respect. Let us live our values of intense family identity, foster our love for our children, develop their respect and reverence for their parents. Without excesses we must learn to live in self-control and family happiness. Let us learn our scriptures, understand something of our Hindu way of life, not so much for ourselves, but at least for the benefit of our children. Had they been born in India they would have picked it all up from the very atmosphere around them - just as you did.”

He went on: "At the altars of personal profit and success, we have every right to seek our fields of work, fulfillment and achievement. But what right have we to create a ******* generation out of our children, who are innocent? At best they may pick up all the vulgar tastes of an alien culture and grow up in a foreign land. Do you really believe that the American will accept you as an American?

“Let us be honest. Today they need us, and so they respect us. The day they no longer need us, will they have any hesitation to ask us to quit, or to make it impossible for us to continue living there in self-respect? Remember, whatever be your achievement, and whatever be your contribution to that nation, or to the world of science, art or literature, you can be a full citizen only in your own country. Everywhere else you are but a third-class citizen.”

This was not something that Indian immigrants wanted to hear. But the swamiji went on to call for building temples where immigrant Indian children can be taught to pray and can "grow to be Indian at heart.” The swamiji spoke of a school that the Chinmaya Mission planned to open for the children of NRIs: "I am doing it to avoid seeing a mongrel generation of Hindus being spawned all over the world as a by-product of intelligent Indians!“

He warned the Indians settled in America: “In our youth we may think in terms of “international relationships”, and allow our boys to marry foreign girls, and condone our girls marrying foreign men. We may appreciate such parents and their large heartedness, but we must condemn their lack of foresight to see what will happen to their children or their grandchildren.”

21st CENTURY CONCERNS

Twenty five years and 700 temples later, the first generation of Indian Americans are as concerned as ever about the future of Hindu identity and Hindu dharma in America.

Which is why, for the first time in North America, 400 participants representing more than 80 Hindu temples and religious organizations came together for a Dharma Summit on August 13-15, 2005. The most respected heads of various religious groups who addressed the summit held at Rutgers University over the weekend included Swami Dayananda Saraswati of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Saylorsburg, PA, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami of the Hindu Monastery in Kauai, and Gurudev Chitrabhanu ji of Jain Meditation Center, NY. Also, two of the most respected heads of religious orders in India - Swami Chidananda Saraswati (“Muniji”) of Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh and Dr. Pranav Pandya of Gayatri Pariwar, Haridwar - came to attend and address the summit. Sri Sri Ravishankar sent his personal message that was displayed with a video clip.

Swami Dayananda, a former disciple of Chinmayananda reminded the 400 Hindu leaders assembled at Rutgers University: “A deer has to find his food and protect itself from predators; Hindus are that poor deer. And most Hindus are lame, I tell you! Lame!”

Thus, the idea of the summit, according to Ved Chaudhary, was to focus on the future of Dharma in North America. Dr. Chaudhary organized the Summit to “bring together heads of all Devalayas, spiritual institutions, and Dharmic intellectuals in North America to exchange thoughts and ideas, and share experiences on how to impart spiritual and cultural education to our next generation and remove misperceptions about our faith traditions from the society in order to maintain our Dharmic traditions with dignity.” The conference included Hindus, Jains and Sikhs.

Among other things, Hindu American leaders expressed their concern about the stereotypes about India and Hinduism that are taught as fact in American classrooms and which negatively impact students of South Asian origin who are struggling to work out their identity in a multicultural, predominately Anglo-Christian environment. A local newspaper in New Jersey, The Star Ledger, noted that even though their numbers double every decade, Hindu American parents mostly worry about the overpowering influence of mainstream American culture on their progeny.

Those worries are real. “The accomplishments of our new generation in schools, colleges, and universities are commendable. However, most of them do not relate to the temples and gurdwaras we have so enthusiastically built. They tend to feel that these institutions hold no relevance in their lives," the August 15 weekend conference brochure noted. The Star Ledger’s headline summed it up: ‘Hindus share fear of lost traditions.’

Dharma Summit 2005 organizers admit that while the first generation of Indian Americans are successful professionals, and whereas the accomplishments of the second generation in schools, colleges, and universities are exceeding those of the first generation, their interest in cultural and spiritual traditions is far removed from their expectations. To put it bluntly, “Most of them do not relate to the temples and gurudwaras the first generation has so enthusiastically built. They tend to feel that these institutions were built by the first generation for the rituals that hold no relevance in the lives of the new generation.”

Moreover, the organizers acknowledge: “Our young generation does not have the opportunity to learn about our traditions from parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and older siblings, or from festivals and celebrations in families and neighborhoods, as we did growing up in India. Instead they learn distorted versions of our faith, culture and traditions from their teachers and textbooks in schools and colleges. Even highly reputed and world-class reference books like the Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia have presented a distorted and maligned image of Hinduism.”

As one of the observers at the Dharma Summit noted: “There is a subtle yet powerful Hindu ethos in India that is absent in America. Immersion in the ethos of Hinduism, of course, does not a Hindu make, but it does facilitate engagement with the religious aspects of the tradition if one so chooses. To learn about Hinduism in America, on the other hand, one has to be particularly proactive and wade through often inaccurate and biased scholarly work before arriving at balanced and authoritative texts. Temple priests are often so removed from the realities of the American experience that they end up turning off curious visitors rather than presenting the tenets of the faith in an accessible and attractive manner. Add to this the negative stereotypes prevalent about the religion and its poor representation within popular culture and the general media, and it is not at all surprising that the Hindu-American identity if present at all is weak. The result is that very few Hindus in America think of themselves as being Hindu.”

Another Hindu teacher explained: " As I travel the nation delivering lectures on Hindu philosophy and spirituality, I frequently encounter a repeated scenario. Hindu parents will often approach me after I’ve finished my lecture and timidly ask if they can have some advice. The often-repeated story goes somewhat like this: “We raised our son/daughter to be a good Hindu. We took them to the temple for important holidays. We even sent him/her to a Hindu camp for a weekend when they were 13. Now at the age of 23, our child has left Hinduism and converted to the (fill in the blank) religion. When we ask how could they have left the religion of their family, the answer that they throw back in our face is: ‘but mama/dada, you always taught us that all religions are the same, and that it doesn’t really matter how a person worships God. So what does it matter if we’ve followed your advice and switched to another religion?’”

POSITIVE ASPECTS

One of the positive aspects of the conference was an overwhelming demand for a collective initiative that will allow all Hindu religious organizations to work together to shape the future of Hinduism in North America, raise awareness of issues, and provide a platform for a united Hindu voice. Together they plan to address issues such as promoting changes to enhance the participation of the new generation, correcting biased and distorted views of Hindu traditions in educational institutions and the media, improving temple management, developing resources, enhancing the role of the temple, and helping the temples and religious organizations to reach out to the larger community with voluntary services (seva) and education.

Perhaps it was 14 year old Trisha Pascricha of Houston who touched a sensitive chord among Hindu Americans a couple of years ago when she wrote in a widely published article: “Every day, young desi children and teenagers are unreasonably tormented because of our perceived background. The school textbooks are half the cause. The average American doesn’t know squat about India, and with the help of poorly researched textbooks, they learn nonsense…All this is not going to change unless Hindu Americans become part of the solution."

Pasricha recalled what happened at the start of her 8th grade class where India and Hinduism are summed up in a few short sentences by the teacher and India is described as filled with pollution, cows, and poverty-stricken people. ‘“Do you speak Indian?” I’m asked at least two times a week. “I heard there were two thousand gods and every full moon you had to give a sacrifice to them. Do you do that?” No.I try to explain that all the gods are really aspects of one almighty being. I’ve never sacrificed anything except my dignity, which slowly dwindles with each question.’

Another voice was that of Aditi Banerjee a Law Student from Yale University, who delivered a speech at the ‘Hindu Ideological Empowerment Seminar’ in 2003 held in Chicago. Her words were prophetic: “The only way we can get to think of ourselves as Hindu is to understand first what it means to be Hindu. We need to learn more about our religion. I’ve read so little of our scriptures, and all of it has been in poorly translated English. My knowledge is fragmented: bits and pieces of the Puranas, selected verses of the Gita. But imagine the possibilities if we could all get together and put together our own fragments of knowledge–we’d be so many steps closer to a coherent understanding of the fundamentals of the religion. There are so many resources out there, and they’re best used if shared and as the products of collaboration…Interaction and dialogue are also key…Forums based on being Hindu rather than being of a certain ethnicity or nationality are important.”

In a recent article entitled ‘The Hyphenated Hindus,’ Banerjee explains: “In a world where being Hindu is seen as antithetical to being enlightened, progressive, and modern; where being Hindu is equated with Hindutva, it is not easy addressing the Hindu-American identity.”

She adds: “When I urge the adoption of a Hindu identity for self-designated Hindus living in America, I am not advocating for the expression of Hindu pride or for the simple labeling of oneself as Hindu. Identity is something richer and more nuanced than a fixed label with static meaning and content. It is a process of engagement, of self-searching, of questioning and viewing through a particular lens or perspective. Just as there is no monolithic thing as an Indian-American, there is no monolithic Hindu-American. This process of identity formation is the continuous asking of what does it mean to be Hindu? How am I Hindu and how am I not? It is the process of questioning that is important, not the answer that is rarely, if ever, found.”

In this context, the story of Congressman Bobby Jindal’s transformation from a devout young Hindu to a zealous Catholic offers an intriguing glimpse into the traumatic struggle of a young Indian American caught between his heritage and his parents on the one hand and his intellectual and emotional turmoil in America.

Using available documents, including a personal letter Jindal wrote to a friend, as well as his own words, I have elsewhere pieced together the story of his conversion.

http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=082805092758

From this analysis of Jindal’s spiritual trajectory, it is clear that Jindal sincerely sought and failed to find answers to his spiritual dilemma in Hinduism, because those around him were unable to answer his questions, or were firmly entrenched in the American rat race.