04-13-2007, 01:02 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->If a child, going to a convent school in India, comes back to it's parents and asks the parent - Why am I a Hindu? What is a Hindu? - can the parent actually give a simple definition that a child can understand.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
And here is where some thinking needs to be added to the "traditional narrative" to avoid parroting nonsense that destroys what some of us work so hard to build up.
I was recently at an event infested with medical doctors. I was terrified that if I ate a samosa my doc would hit me over the head with a punch ladle.
Several doctors were introduced to me with the same certificate:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> This is Dr. XXXX. He is a (cardiologist/gynecologist/...whateverologist) and a millionaire. XXXXXX is also a good Hindu<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
One such worthy millionaire MD expounded on exactly the question above.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> The school teacher told my son how great Christianity was.... He came home and asked me why I was a Hindu. I told him: Son, be proud that you are a Hindu. Every Tom D1ck and Harry can become a Christian or a Muslim, but you have to be BORN a Hindu. They cannot become Hindus<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I see! So the Hare Krishna devotees cannot be accepted as Hindus.
Other worthies (coming with their expertise through the Indian expertise) have declared that anyone born beyond the holy shores of India cannot be a Hindu - in fact several temples have been refusing admittance to "foreigners" (translation: someone born outside India) on the ground that they cannot be Hindus.
In my view, any "narrative" worth narrating, should very very clearly specify what is wrong with such superstitions. A way of belief that is valid for the "14 universes" and "all living and inanimate beings" cannot very well be limited to those who imagine themselves to be special by virtue of biological or geographical or political accident.
And here is where some thinking needs to be added to the "traditional narrative" to avoid parroting nonsense that destroys what some of us work so hard to build up.
I was recently at an event infested with medical doctors. I was terrified that if I ate a samosa my doc would hit me over the head with a punch ladle.
Several doctors were introduced to me with the same certificate:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> This is Dr. XXXX. He is a (cardiologist/gynecologist/...whateverologist) and a millionaire. XXXXXX is also a good Hindu<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
One such worthy millionaire MD expounded on exactly the question above.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> The school teacher told my son how great Christianity was.... He came home and asked me why I was a Hindu. I told him: Son, be proud that you are a Hindu. Every Tom D1ck and Harry can become a Christian or a Muslim, but you have to be BORN a Hindu. They cannot become Hindus<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I see! So the Hare Krishna devotees cannot be accepted as Hindus.
Other worthies (coming with their expertise through the Indian expertise) have declared that anyone born beyond the holy shores of India cannot be a Hindu - in fact several temples have been refusing admittance to "foreigners" (translation: someone born outside India) on the ground that they cannot be Hindus.
In my view, any "narrative" worth narrating, should very very clearly specify what is wrong with such superstitions. A way of belief that is valid for the "14 universes" and "all living and inanimate beings" cannot very well be limited to those who imagine themselves to be special by virtue of biological or geographical or political accident.