Ten Questions People Ask about Hinduism... and Ten Terrific Answers
Have you ever been put on the spot with a provocative question about
Hinduism, even one that really shouldn't be so hard to answer? If so, you are
not alone. It takes some good preparation and a little attitude adjustment to
confidently field queries on your faith—be they from friendly co-workers,
students, passersby or especially from Christian evangelists. Back in the spring
of 1990, a group of teens from the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, Lemont, sent
a request to Hinduism Today for "official answers" to nine questions
they were commonly asked by their peers. These questions had perplexed the Hindu
youth themselves; and their parents had no convincing answers. Satguru Sivaya
Subramuniyaswami took up the challenge and provided the following answers to the
nine questions. Perusing the list, we thought it crucial to add a tenth dialog
on caste, since that is the most relentless criticism Hinduism faces today.
Let's begin with advice on the attitudes to hold when responding. First, ask
yourself, "Who is asking the question?" Millions of people are
sincerely interested in Hinduism and the many Asian religions. So, when asked
about Hinduism, don't be defensive, even if the questioner seems
confrontational. Instead, assume that the person really wants to learn. Of
course, some only want to harass, badger and turn you to their view. If you
sense this is the case, feel free to smile and courteously dismiss yourself
without any attempt to answer, lest you simply add fuel to his fires.
With all this in mind, it is still best never to answer a question about
religion too boldly or too immediately. That might lead to confrontation. Offer
a prologue first, then come to the question, guiding the inquirer toward
understanding. Your poise and deliberateness gives assurance that you know what
you are talking about. It also gives you a moment to think and draw on your
intuitive knowing. Before going deeply into an answer, always ask the questioner
what his religion is. Knowing that, you can address his particular frame of mind
and make your answer most relevant. Another key: have confidence in yourself and
your ability to give a meaningful and polite response. Even to say "I am
sorry. I still have much to learn about my religion and I don't yet know the
answer to that" is a meaningful answer. Honesty is always appreciated.
Never be afraid to admit what you don't know, for this lends credibility to what
you do know.
Here are four prologues that can be used, according to the situation, before you
begin to actually answer a question. 1) "I am really pleased that you are
interested in my religion. You may not know that one out of every six people in
the world is a Hindu." 2) "Many people have asked me about my
tradition. I don't know everything, but I will try to answer your
question." 3) "First, you should know that in Hinduism, it is not
only belief and intellectual understanding that is important. Hindus place the
greatest value on experiencing each of these truths personally." 4) The
fourth type of prologue is to repeat the question to see if the person has
actually stated what he wants to know. Repeat the question in your own words and
ask if you have understood his query correctly. If it's a complicated question,
you might begin by saying, "Philosophers have spent lifetimes discussing
and pondering questions such as this, but I will do my best to explain."
Have courage. Speak from your inner mind. Sanatana Dharma is an experiential
path, not a dogma, so your experience in answering questions will help your own
spiritual unfoldment. You will learn from your answers if you listen to your
inner mind speak. This can actually be a lot of fun. The attentive teacher
always learns more than the student.
After the prologue, address the question without hesitation. If the person is
sincere, you can ask, "Do you have any other questions?" If he wants
to know more, then elaborate as best you can. Use easy, everyday examples. Share
what enlightened souls and scriptures of Hinduism have said on the subject.
Remember, we must not assume that everyone who asks about Hinduism is insincere
or is challenging our faith. Many are just being friendly or making conversation
to get to know you. So don't be on the defensive or take it all too seriously.
Smile when you give your response. Be open. If the second or third question is
on something you know nothing about, you can say, "I don't know. But if you
are really interested, I will find out, mail you some literature or lend you one
of my books." Smile and have confidence as you give these answers. Don't be
shy. There is no question that can be put to you in your birth karmas that you
cannot rise up to with a fine answer to fully satisfy the seeker. You may make
lifelong friends in this way.
Each of the ten answers is organized with a short response that can be committed
to memory, a longer answer, and a detailed explanation. Many questioners will be
content with the short, simple answer, so start with that first. Use the
explanation as background information for yourself, or as a contingency response
in case you end up in a deeper philosophical discussion.
A: Hindus all believe in one Supreme God who created the universe. He is all-pervasive. He created many Gods, highly advanced spiritual beings, to be His helpers.
Longer answer: Contrary to prevailing misconceptions, Hindus all worship
a one Supreme Being, though by different names. This is because the peoples of
India with different languages and cultures have understood the one God in their
own distinct way. Through history there arose four principal Hindu
denominations—Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and Smartism. For Sai-vites, God
is Siva. For Shaktas, Goddess Shakti is supreme. For Vaishnavites, Lord Vishnu
is God. For Smartas—who see all Deities as reflections of the One God—the
choice of Deity is left to the devotee. This liberal Smarta perspective is well
known, but it is not the prevailing Hindu view. Due to this diversity, Hindus
are profoundly tolerant of other religions, respecting the fact that each has
its own pathway to the one God.
One of the unique understandings in Hinduism is that God is not far away, living
in a remote heaven, but is inside each and every soul, in the heart and
consciousness, waiting to be discovered. This knowing that God is always with us
gives us hope and courage. Knowing the One Great God in this intimate and
experiential way is the goal of Hindu spirituality.
Elaboration: Hinduism is both monotheistic and henotheistic. Hindus were
never polytheistic, in the sense that there are many equal Gods. Henotheism
(literally "one God") better defines the Hindu view. It means the
worship of one God without denying the existence of other Gods. We Hindus
believe in the one all-pervasive God who energizes the entire universe. We can
see Him in the life shining out of the eyes of humans and all creatures. This
view of God as existing in and giving life to all things is called panentheism.
It is different from pantheism, which is the belief that God is the natural
universe and nothing more. It is also different from strict theism which says
God is only above the world, apart and transcendent. Panentheism is an
all-encompassing concept. It says that God is both in the world and beyond it,
both immanent and transcendent. That is the highest Hindu view. Hindus also
believe in many Gods who perform various functions, like executives in a large
corporation. These should not be confused with the Supreme God. These Divinities
are highly advanced beings who have specific duties and powers—not unlike the
heavenly spirits, overlords or archangels revered in other faiths. Each
denomination worships the Supreme God and its own pantheon of divine beings.
What is sometimes confusing to non-Hindus is that Hindus of various sects may
call the one God by many different names, according to their denomination or
regional tradition. Truth for the Hindu has many names, but that does not make
for many truths. Hinduism gives us the freedom to approach God in our own way,
encouraging a multiplicity of paths, not asking for conformity to just one.
There is much confusion about this subject, even among Hindus. Learn the right
terms and the subtle differences in them, and you can explain the profound ways
Hindus look at Divinity. Others will be delighted with the richness of the
Indian concepts of God. You may wish to mention that some Hindus believe only in
the formless Absolute Reality as God; others believe in God as personal Lord and
Creator. This freedom makes the understanding of God in Hinduism, the oldest
living religion, the richest in all of Earth's existing faiths.
A: Yes, we believe the soul is immortal and takes birth time and time
again. Through this process, we have experiences, learn lessons and evolve
spiritually. Finally we graduate from physical birth.
Longer answer: Carnate means "of flesh," and reincarnate means
to "reenter the flesh." Yes, Hindus believe in reincarnation. To us,
it explains the natural way the soul evolves from immaturity to spiritual
illumination. Life and death are realities for all of us. Hinduism believes that
the soul is immortal, that it never dies, but inhabits one body after another on
the Earth during its evolutionary journey. Like the caterpillar's transformation
into a butterfly, physical death is a most natural transition for the soul,
which survives and, guided by karma, continues its long pilgrimage until it is
one with God.
I myself have had many lives before this one and expect to have more. Finally,
when I have it all worked out and all the lessons have been learned, I will
attain enlightenment and moksha, liberation. This means I will still exist, but
will no longer be pulled back to be born in a physical body.
Even modern science is discovering reincarnation. There have been many cases of
individuals" remembering their past lives. These have been researched by
scientists, psychiatrists and parapsychologists during the past decades and
documented in good books and videos. Young children speak of vivid past-life
memories, which fade as they grow older, as the veils of individuality shroud
the soul's intuitive understanding. Great mystics speak of their past lives as
well. So do our ancient scriptures, the Vedas, reveal the reality of
reincarnation. Reincarnation is believed in by the Jains and the Sikhs, by the
Indians of the Americas, and by the Buddhists, certain Jewish sects, the Pagans
and the many indigenous faiths. Even Christianity originally taught
reincarnation, but formally renounced it in the twelfth century. It is, in fact,
one of the widest held articles of faith on planet Earth.
Elaboration: At death the soul leaves the physical body. But the soul
does not die. It lives on in a subtle body called the astral body. The astral
body exists in the nonphysical dimension called the astral plane, which is also
the world we are in during our dreams at night when we sleep. Here we continue
to have experiences until we are reborn again in another physical body as a
baby. Each reincarnating soul chooses a home and a family which can best fulfill
its next step of learning and maturation. After many lifetimes of following
dharma, the soul is fully matured in love, wisdom and knowledge of God. There is
no longer a need for physical birth, for all lessons have been learned, all
karmas fulfilled. That soul is then liberated, freed from the cycle of birth,
death and rebirth. Evolution then continues in the more refined spiritual
worlds. Similarly, after we graduate from elementary school we never have to go
back to the fifth grade. We have gone beyond that level in understanding. Thus,
life's ultimate goal is not money, not clothes, not sex, not power, not food or
any other of the instinctive needs. These are natural pursuits, but our real
purpose on this Earth is to know, to love and to serve God and the Gods. That
leads to the rare and priceless objects of life: enlightenment and liberation.
This Hindu view of the soul's evolution answers many otherwise bewildering
questions, removing the fear of death while giving assurance that each soul is
evolving toward the same spiritual destiny, for the Hindu believes that karma
and reincarnation are leading every single soul to God Realization.
A: Karma is the universal principle of cause and effect. Our actions,
both good and bad, come back to us in the future, helping us to learn from
life's lessons and become better people.
Longer answer: Karma is one of the nat- ural laws of the mind, just as
gravity is a law of matter. Just as God created gravity to bring order to the
physical world, He created karma as a divine system of justice that is
self-governing and infinitely fair. It automatically creates the appropriate
future experience in response to the current action. Karma simply means
"action" or "cause and effect." When something happens to us
that is apparently unfortunate or unjust, it is not God punishing us. It is the
result of our own past actions. The Vedas, Hinduism's revealed scripture, tell
us if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil.
Thus we create our own destiny through thought and action. And the divine law
is: whatever karma we are experiencing in our life is just what we need at the
moment, and nothing can happen but that we have the strength to meet it. Even
harsh karma, when faced in wisdom, can be the greatest catalyst for spiritual
growth. Understanding the way karma works, we seek to live a good and virtuous
life through right thought, right speech and right action. This is called
dharma.
Elaboration: Karma is basically energy. I throw energy out through
thoughts, words and deeds, and it comes back to me, in time, through other
people. Karma is our best teacher, for we must always face the consequences of
our actions and thus improve and refine our behavior, or suffer if we do not. We
Hindus look at time as a circle, as things cycle around again. Professor
Einstein came to the same conclusion. He saw time as a curve, and space as well.
This would eventually make a circle. Karma is a very just law which, like
gravity, treats everyone the same. Because we Hindus understand karma, we do not
hate or resent people who do us harm. We understand they are giving back the
effects of the causes we set in motion at an earlier time. The law of karma puts
man at the center of responsibility for everything he does and everything that
is done to him.
Karma is a word we hear quite often on television. 'this is my
karma," or "It must have been something I did in a past life to bring
such good karma to me." We hear karma simply defined as "What goes
around, comes around." In some schools of Hinduism, karma is looked upon as
something bad—perhaps because we are most aware of this law when we are facing
difficult karma, and not so aware of it when life is going smoothly. Even some
Hindus equate karma with sin, and this is what evangelical Christians preach
that it means. Many people believe that karma means "fate," a
preordained destiny over which one has no control, which is also untrue.
The process of action and reaction on all levels—physical, mental and
spiritual—is karma. Here is an example. I say kind words to you, and you feel
peaceful and happy. I say harsh words to you, and you become ruffled and upset.
The kindness and the harshness will return to me, through others, at a later
time. This is karma. An architect thinks creative, productive thoughts while
drawing plans for a new building. But were he to think destructive, unproductive
thoughts, he would soon not be able to accomplish any kind of positive task even
if he desired to do so. This is karma, a natural law of the mind. We must also
be very careful about our thoughts, because thought creates, and thoughts make
karmas—good, bad and mixed.
A: The cow represents the giving nature of life to every Hindu.
Honoring this gentle animal, who gives more than she takes, we honor all
creatures.
Longer answer: Hindus regard all living- creatures as sacred—mammals,
fishes, birds and more. We acknowledge this reverence for life in our special
affection for the cow. At festivals we decorate and honor her, but we do not
worship her in the sense that we worship the Deity. To the Hindu, the cow
symbolizes all other creatures. The cow is a symbol of the Earth, the nourisher,
the ever-giving, undemanding provider. The cow represents life and the
sustenance of life. The cow is so generous, taking nothing but water, grass and
grain. It gives and gives and gives of its milk, as does the liberated soul give
of his spiritual knowledge. The cow is so vital to life, the virtual sustainer
of life, for many humans. The cow is a symbol of grace and abundance. Veneration
of the cow instills in Hindus the virtues of gentleness, receptivity and
connectedness with nature.
Elaboration: Who is the greatest giver on planet Earth today? Who do we
see on every table in every country of the world—breakfast, lunch and dinner?
It is the cow. McDonald's cow-vending golden arches and their rivals have made
fortunes on the humble cow. The generous cow gives milk and cream, yogurt and
cheese, butter and ice cream, ghee and buttermilk. It gives entirely of itself
through sirloin, ribs, rump, porterhouse and beef stew. Its bones are the base
for soup broths and glues. It gives the world leather belts, leather seats,
leather coats and shoes, beef jerky, cowboy hats—you name it. The only
cow-question for Hindus is, "Why don't more people respect and protect this
remarkable creature?" Mahatma Gandhi once said, "One can measure the
greatness of a nation and its moral progress by the way it treats its animals.
Cow protection to me is not mere protection of the cow. It means protection of
all that lives and is helpless and weak in the world. The cow means the entire
subhuman world."
In the Hindu tradition, the cow is honored, garlanded and given special feedings
at festivals all over India, most importantly the annual Gopashtama festival.
Demonstrating how dearly Hindus love their cows, colorful cow jewelry and
clothing is sold at fairs all over the Indian countryside. From a young age,
Hindu children are taught to decorate the cow with garlands, paint and
ornaments. Her nature is epitomized in Kamadhenu, the divine, wish-fulfilling
cow. The cow and her sacred gifts—milk and ghee in particular—are essential
elements in Hindu worship, penance and rites of passage. In India, more than
3,000 institutions called Gaushalas, maintained by charitable trusts, care for
old and infirm cows. And while many Hindus are not vegetarians, most respect the
still widely held code of abstaining from eating beef. By her docile, tolerant
nature, the cow exemplifies the cardinal virtue of Hinduism, noninjury, known as
ahimsa. The cow also symbolizes dignity, strength, endurance, maternity and
selfless service. In the Vedas, cows represent wealth and joyous Earthly life.
From the Rig Veda (4.28.1;6) we read. 'the cows have come and have brought us
good fortune. In our stalls, contented, may they stay! May they bring forth
calves for us, many-colored, giving milk for Indra each day. You make, O cows,
the thin man sleek; to the unlovely you bring beauty. Rejoice our homestead with
pleasant lowing. In our assemblies we laud your vigor."
A: Hindus do not worship a stone or metal "idol" as God. We
worship God through the image. We invoke the presence of God from the higher,
unseen worlds, into the image so that we can commune with Him and receive His
blessings.
Longer answer: he stone or metal deity images in Hindu temples and
shrines are not mere symbols of the Gods. They are the form through which their
love, power and blessings flood forth into this world. We may lik-en this
mystery to our ability to communicate with others through the telephone. We do
not talk to the telephone; rather we use it as a means of communication with
another person. Without the telephone, we could not converse across long
distances; and without the sanctified icon in the temple, we cannot easily
commune with the Deity. Divinity can also be invoked and felt in a sacred fire,
or in a tree, or in the enlightened person of a satguru. In our temples, God is
invoked in the sanctum by highly trained priests. Through the practice of yoga,
or meditation, we invoke God inside ourself. Yoga means to yoke oneself to God
within. The image or icon of worship is a focus for our prayers and devotions.
Another way to explain icon worship is to acknowledge that Hindus believe God is
everywhere, in all things, whether stone, wood, creatures or people. So, it is
not surprising that they feel comfortable worshiping the Divine in His material
manifestation. The Hindu can see God in stone and water, fire, air and ether,
and inside his own soul. Indeed, there are Hindu temples which have in the
sanctum sanctorum no image at all but a yantra, a symbolic or mystic
diagram. However, the sight of the image en-hances the devotee's worship.
Elaboration: In Hinduism one of the ultimate attainments is when the
seeker transcends the need of all form and symbol. This is the yogi's goal. In
this way Hinduism is the least idol-oriented of all the religions of the world.
There is no religion that is more aware of the transcendent, timeless, formless,
causeless Truth. Nor is there any religion which uses more symbols to represent
Truth in preparation for that realization.
Humorously speaking, Hindus are not idle worshipers. I have never seen a Hindu
worship in a lazy or idle way. They worship with great vigor and devotion, with
unstinting regularity and constancy. There's nothing idle about our ways of
worship! (A little humor never hurts.) But, of course, the question is about
"graven images." All religions have their symbols of holiness through
which the sacred flows into the mundane. To name a few: the Christian cross, or
statues of Mother Mary and Saint Theresa, the holy Kaaba in Mecca, the Sikh Adi
Granth enshrined in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Arc and Torah of the
Jews, the image of a meditating Buddha, the totems of indigenous and Pagan
faiths, and the artifacts of the holy men and women of all religions. Such
icons, or graven images, are held in awe by the followers of the respective
faiths. The question is, does this make all such religionists idol worshipers?
The answer is, yes and no. From our perspective, idol worship is an intelligent,
mystical practice shared by all of the world's great faiths.
The human mind releases itself from suffering through the use of forms and
symbols that awaken reverence, evoke sanctity and spiritual wisdom. Even a
fundamentalist Christian who rejects all forms of idol worship, including those
of the Catholic and Episcopal churches, would resent someone who showed
disrespect for his Bible. This is because he considers it sacred. His book and
the Hindu's icon are much alike in this way.
A: Hindus teach vegetarianism as a way to live with a minimum of hurt
to other beings. But in today's world not all Hindus are vegetarians.
Longer answer: ur religion does not lay down rigid "do's and
don'ts." There are no commandments. Hinduism gives us the wisdom to make up
our own mind on what we put in our body, for it is the only one we have—in
this life, at least. Vegetarians are more numerous in the South of India than in
the North. This is because of the North's cooler climactic conditions and past
Islamic influence. Priests and religious leaders are definitely vegetarian, so
as to maintain a high level of purity and spiritual consciousness to fulfill
their responsibilities, and to awaken the refined areas of their nature.
Soldiers and law-enforcement officers are generally not vegetarians, because
they have to keep alive their aggressive forces in order to perform their work.
To practice yoga and be successful in meditation, it is mandatory to be
vegetarian. It is a matter of wisdom—the application of knowledge at any given
moment. Today, about twenty percent of all Hindus are vegetarians.
Elaboration: This can be a touchy subject. There are several ways to
respond, depending on who is asking and the background in which he was raised.
But the overlying principle that defines the Hindu answer to this query is
ahimsa—refraining from injuring, physically, mentally or emotionally, anyone
or any living creature. The Hindu who wishes to strictly follow the path of
noninjury naturally adopts a vegetarian diet. It's a matter of conscience more
than anything else.
When we eat meat, fish, fowl and eggs, we absorb the vibration of the
instinctive creatures into our nerve system. This chemically alters our
consciousness and amplifies our lower nature, which is prone to fear, anger,
jealousy, confusion, resentment and the like. Many Hindu swamis advise followers
to be well-established vegetarians prior to initiation into mantra, and to
remain vegetarian thereafter. But most do not insist upon vegetarianism for
those not seeking initiation. Swamis have learned that families who are
vegetarian have fewer problems than those who are not. Poignant scriptural
citations counsel against eating meat. The Yajur Veda (36.18) calls for
kindliness toward all creatures living on the Earth, in the air and in the
water. The Tirukural, a 2,200-year-old masterpiece of ethics, states, "When
a man realizes that meat is the butchered flesh of another creature, he will
abstain from eating it" (257). The Manu Dharma Shastras state, "Having
well considered the origin of flesh and the cruelty of fettering and slaying
corporeal beings, let one entirely abstain from eating flesh," and
"When the diet is pure, the mind and heart are pure." For guidance in
this and all matters, Hindus also rely on their own guru, community elders,
their own conscience and their knowledge of the benefits of abstaining from meat
and enjoying a wholesome vegetarian diet. Of course, there are good Hindus who
eat meat, and there are not-so-good Hindus who are vegetarians.
Today in America and Europe millions of people are vegetarians because they want
to live a long time and be healthy. Many feel a moral obligation to shun the
mentality of violence to which meat-eating gives rise. There are good books on
vegetarianism, such as Diet for a New America. There is also a fine magazine
called Vegetarian Times.
A: Our "Bible" is called the Veda. The Veda, which means
"wisdom," is comprised of four ancient and holy scriptures which all
Hindus revere as the revealed word of God.
Longer answer: Like the Taoist Tao te Ching, the Buddhist Dhammapada, the
Sikh Adi Granth, the Jewish Torah, the Christian Bible and the Muslim
Koran—the Veda is the Hindu holy book. The four books of the Vedas—Rig,
Yajur, Sama and Atharva—include over 100,000 verses. The knowledge imparted by
the Vedas ranges from earthy devotion to high philosophy. Their words and wisdom
permeate Hindu thought, ritual and meditation. The Vedas are the ultimate
scriptural authority for Hindus. Their oldest portions are said by some to date
back as far as 6,000 bce, orally transmitted for most of history and written
down in Sanskrit in the last few millennia, making them the world's longest and
most ancient scripture. The Vedas open a rare window into ancient Indian
society, proclaiming life's sacredness and the way to oneness with God.
Elaboration: For untold centuries unto today, the Vedas have remained the
sustaining force and authoritative doctrine, guiding followers in ways of
worship, duty and enlightenment. The Vedas are the meditative and philosophical
focus for millions of monks and a billion seekers. Their stanzas are chanted
from memory by priests and laymen daily as liturgy in temple worship and
domestic ritual. All Hindus wholeheartedly accept the Vedas, yet each draws
selectively, interprets freely and amplifies abundantly. Over time, this
tolerant allegiance has woven the varied tapestry of Indian Hindu Dharma.
Each of the four Vedas has four sections: Samhitas (hymn collections), Brahmanas
(priestly manuals), Aran-yakas (forest treatises) and Upanishads (enlightened
discourses). The Samhitas and Brah-manas affirm that God is immanent and
transcendent and prescribe ritual worship, mantra and devotional hymns to
establish communication with the spiritual worlds. The hymns are invocations to
the One Divine and to the Divinities of nature, such as the Sun, the Rain, the
Wind, the Fire and the Dawn—as well as prayers for matrimony, progeny,
prosperity, concord, protection, domestic rites and more.
The Aranyakas and Upanishads outline the soul's evolutionary journey, provide
yogic philosophical training and propound realization of man's oneness with God
as the destiny of all souls. Today, the Vedas are published in Sanskrit,
English, French, German and other languages. But it is the popular, metaphysical
Upanishads that have been most amply and ably translated. The Vedas advise:
"Let there be no neglect of Truth. Let there be no neglect of dharma. Let
there be no neglect of welfare. Let there be no neglect of prosperity. Let there
be no ne-glect of study and teaching. Let there be no neglect of the du-ties to
the Gods and the ancestors" (Taittiriya Upanishad 1.11.1). "United
your resolve, un-ited your hearts, may your spirits be one, that you may long
to-gether dwell in unity and concord!" (Rig Veda 10.191.4). 'there, where
there is no darkness, nor night, nor day, nor being, nor nonbeing, there is the
Auspicious One, alone, absolute and eternal. There is the glorious splendor of
that Light from whom in the beginning sprang ancient wisdom" (Shvetashvatara
Upanishad 4.18). 'taking as a bow the great weapon of the Upanishad, one should
put upon it an arrow sharpened by meditation. Stretching it with a thought
directed to the essence of That, penetrate that Imperishable as the mark, my
friend" (Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.3).
A: The dot worn on the forehead is a religious symbol. It represents
divine sight and shows that one is a Hindu. For women, it is also a beauty mark.
Longer answer: The dot worn between the eyes or in the middle of the
forehead is a sign that one is a Hindu. It is called the bindi in the Hindi
language, bindu in Sanskrit and pottu in Tamil. In olden days, all Hindu men and
women wore these marks, and they both also wore earrings. Today it is the women
who are most faithful in wearing the bindi.
The dot has a mystical meaning. It represents the third eye of spiritual sight,
which sees things the physical eyes cannot see. Hindus seek to awaken their
inner sight through yoga. The forehead dot is a reminder to use and cultivate
this spiritual vision to perceive and better understand life's inner
workings—to see things not just physically, but with the "mind's
eye" as well. The bindi is made of red powder (called sindur, traditionally
made from powdered turmeric and fresh lime juice), sandalpaste or cosmetics.
In addition to the simple dot, there are many types of forehead marks, known as
tilaka in Sanskrit. Each mark represents a particular sect or denomination of
our vast religion. We have four major sects: Saivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and
Smartism. Vaishnava Hindus, for example, wear a v-shaped tilaka made of white
clay. Elaborate tilakas are worn by Hindus mainly at religious events, though
many wear the simple bindi, indicating they are Hindu, even in the general
public. By these marks we know what a person believes, and therefore know how to
begin conversations.
For Hindu women, the forehead dot is also a beauty mark, not unlike the black
mark European and American women once wore on the cheek. The red bindi is
generally a sign of marriage. A black bindi is often worn before marriage to
ward off the evil eye. As an exotic fashion statement, the dot's color
complements the color of a lady's sari. Ornate bindis are even worn by actresses
in popular American TV shows.
Elaboration: Men and women of a particular religion wishing to identify
themselves to one another often do so by wearing distinctive religious symbols.
Often these are blessed in their temples, churches or synagogues. Christians
wear a cross on a necklace. Jewish boys wear small leather cases that hold
scriptural passages, and the round cap called yarmulka. Sikh men wear their hair
in a turban. In many countries, Muslim women cover their head with a scarf,
called hajib.
Do not be ashamed to wear the bindi on your forehead in the United States,
Canada, Europe or any country of the world. Wear it proudly. The forehead dot
will distinguish you from all other people as a very special person, a Hindu, a
knower of eternal truths. You will never be mistaken as belonging to another
nationality or religion. The sacred forehead dot is an easy way of
distinguishing Hindus from Muslims. And don't be intimidated when people ask you
what the dot means. Now you have lots of information to give a good answer,
which will probably lead to more questions about your venerable religion.
For both boys and girls, men and women, the dot can be small or large depending
on the circumstance, but should always be there when appropriate. Naturally, we
don't want to flaunt our religion in the face of others. We observe that many
Christian men and women take off or conceal their crosses in the corporate
business world. Some communities and institutions disallow wearing religious
symbols entirely.
A: It is true that God is often depicted with a spouse in our
traditional stories. However, on a deeper philosophical level, the Supreme Being
and the Gods are neither male nor female and are therefore not married.
Longer answer: In popular, village Hindu ism God is represented as male,
and God's energy, or Shakti, is personified as His spouse—for example, Vishnu
and Lakshmi. In Hindu temples, art and mythology, God is everywhere seen as the
beloved, divine couple. Philosophically, however, the caution is always made
that God and God's energy are One, and the metaphor of the inseparable divine
couple serves only to illustrate this Oneness.
Hinduism is taught on many levels to many different people, and to uneducated
people who are not able to understand high philosophy, Hinduism is taught in
story form. Because the temple is the center of every Hindu community, and
everyone is focused on the temple and the Gods within it, the Gods are the major
players in these stories. Hindus who understand the higher philosophy seek to
find God on the inside while also worshiping God in the temples. Simple folk
strive to be like a God, or like a Goddess. These tales, called Puranas, have
long been the basis of dance, plays and storytelling around the fire in the
homes to children as they are growing up. The stories illustrate how a family
should live, how they should raise their children, and much more. Before the
printing press, there were few books, and Hinduism was conveyed orally through
stories and parables. While these often violent children's tales should not be
perpetuated, there remains much of value in the extensive writings of the
Puranas.
Elaboration: Those who learn the higher Hindu philosophies know that Gods
are neither male nor female. In fact, attaining to that Godly level of being is
one of the mystical goals of yoga. This is accomplished by blending the feminine
and masculine currents, ida and pingala, into the spiritual current, sushumna,
in the center of the spine within each individual.
Hindus know that the Gods do not marry, that they are complete within
themselves. This unity is depicted in the traditional icon of Ardhanarishvara,
Siva as half man and half woman, and in the teaching that Siva and Shakti are
one, that Shakti is Siva's energy. Siva is dearly loved as our Father-Mother
God. Yet, sexual gender and matrimonial relations are of the physical and
emotional realms, whereas the Gods exist in a stratum that far supersedes these
levels of life. For that matter, the soul itself is neither male nor female.
Some modern swamis now urge devotees not to pay any attention to Puranic stories
about the Gods, saying that they have no relationship with the world
today—that they are misleading and confusing and should no longer be taught to
the children. Instead, they encourage followers to deepen themselves with the
higher philosophies of the Vedic Upanishads and the realizations of Hindu seers.
Other faiths sometimes criticize the Hindu religion as a sort of comic-book
religion, and we should not be part of perpetuating that image by passing on
such misconceptions as the marriage of the Gods. Other religions move and adjust
with the times. Hinduism must also do so. It must offer answers to the questions
about God, soul and world—answers that are reasonable, that can be understood
and accepted even by a child, that are coherent, sensible and strictly in accord
with scripture and tradition. This is necessary in the technological age,
necessary in order that Hinduism will be a religion of the future, not of the
past.
A: Caste is the hereditary division of Indian society based on
occu-pation. The lowest class, deemed untouchables, suffer from discrimination
and mistreatment. It is illegal in India to discriminate against, abuse or
insult anyone on the basis of caste.
Longer answer: Caste, from the Portu guese casta, meaning
"clan" or "lineage," refers to two systems within Hindu
society. The first is varna, the division of society into four groups: workers,
business people, lawmakers/law enforcers and priests. The second is jati,
the thousands of occupational guilds whose members follow a single profession.
Jati members usually marry within their own jati and follow traditions
associated with their jati. In urban areas they often enter other
occupations, but still usually arrange marriages within the jati.
Wealth, especially in urban areas, often trumps caste. Industrialization and
education have greatly altered India's jati system by eliminating or
changing the professions upon which it was originally based, and opening new
employment options. The jatis are evolving to function today less like guilds
and more like large clans of related families. At the bottom are the so-called
untouchables, who perform the dirtiest jobs and have suffered much like the
black people of America, who were freed from slavery just 138 years ago. Strong
laws have been passed in India to end caste-based discrimination. Modern Hindus
rightly deplore caste abuse and are working to set matters right. Just as in the
US, it is a difficult task that will take decades, especially in the villages.
Elaboration: Caste is, no doubt, the biggest stick that Hindus get beaten with.
It is taught as the defining attribute, or fatal flaw, of Hinduism in Western
schools. Untouchability as a formal system shocks Westerners. One response we
can make is to separate social stratification from the issue of racial/class
discrimination.
First issue: social stratification. India is one of the world's oldest
societies. It has sustained a continuity of culture and religion for thousands
of years. Europe, on the other hand, has seen millenniums of upheaval. Still,
one only has to go back to before the 17th-century industrial revolution to find
a social system that is similar to caste. European society then comprised the
landed elite (including royalty, a hereditary caste maintained to this day),
merchants, artisans and peasants. The artisans formed guilds, occupation-based
organizations that served both as closed unions and marketing monopolies. The
guild legacy remains in Western surnames such as Smith, a metal worker. There
was no public education system, and each generation learned at home the family
occupation. There was little technological change, so jobs were static.
Industrialization and public education altered (but did not destroy) this class
system in the West, just as they are changing caste and jati in India
today.
Second issue: racial/class discrimination. Most Indians are unfamiliar
with the extent of discrimination in the West today. In America, for example,
hundreds of thousands live destitute and homeless on city streets, as true
"untouchables." US cities are more racially segregated than before the
1950s Civil Rights Movement because of "white flight" to the suburbs.
Black Americans receive harsher sentences than white Americans for the same
crime. Many Native American Indians live at the bottom of society, destitute and
alcoholic, on barren Indian reservations. This kind of response—we can call it
the "You"re one, too" defense—doesn't mean Hindus should not
work much harder to end caste discrimination. But it reminds others that no
country in the world is yet free from racial discrimination.