Hinduism v. Judaism

[Guest guest]

> Actually, I don't think I can label myself

> religiously as "Hindu" OR "Jewish."

 

By virtue of having "practiced" Hinduism for more than

a decade - studying the Gita and other Hindu

scriptures, singing Bhajans, learning Sanskrit, making

a pilgrimage to Vrindavan, Varanasi and other Hindu

holy sites, and of course, becoming Amma's child, I

would consider myself Hindu, or a devotee of the path

of Sanatan Dharma. I haven't formally "converted" to

Hinduism.. to my knowledge the only organization that

offers a formal conversion process is the Saiva

Siddhanta monastery in Hawaii of the late Satguru

Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (publisher of "Hinduism

Today"), himself an American-born convert.

 

I was even planning to identify myself as a Hindu on

the 2001 census of Canada, but there were no questions

about religion on the mail-in census form that I

received. It also didn't ask about ethnic/racial

origin. I would have said simply "Canadian", as I

don't feel strong enough ties to either Judaism or the

country in Europe from which my grandparents and

great-grandparents emigrated to attach it to -Canadian

with a hyphen (e.g. Jewish-Canadian,

Lithuanian-Canadian, etc.) Despite what neo-Nazis and

white supremacists may say, there is no such thing as

a "Jewish race". Jews were white enough for Apartheid

South Africa or the Jim Crow Deep South.

 

>

> I have to say, coming from a Jewish background...I

> think my family would be much

> more disturbed if I called myself a Christian than

> if I called myself a Hindu -- just

> because there is so much baggage between Judaism and

> Christianity that simply does

> not exist between Judaism and Hinduism. It'd be

> *weird* for them, but not offensive.

>

 

Same with my family, not that they're too enamoured of

Hinduism :0

 

There's never any shortage of Jewish people in

ashrams, yoga retreats, Amma's programs, and other

eastern-based spiritual paths. Way out of proportion

to the general population of whitebread westerners.

(around 2% of the U.S. population is Jewish, IIRC,

likely the same percentage in Canada) I don't dislike

the spiritual aspects of Judaism, even though I only

set foot in a synagogue twice a year in late September

or early October, or the cultural trappings such as

chicken soup and Yiddish borrowings. But it's the

politics of organized Judaism that have alienated me.

I have no use for defending Israel right or wrong or

for perpetuating the guilt trip of the Holocaust

almost 60 years since the end of WWII. Can't I at

least be grateful that my family was safely settled in

North America well before 1939??

 

Keval

 

P.S.. note a couple of additions to the Commandments:)

 

Thou shalt delete all text not relevant to thy reply.

 

Thou shalt change the subject line wherefore it shalt

reflect the topic of thy thread.

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

--- Mike Brooker <patria1818 wrote:

> > Actually, I don't think I can label myself

> > religiously as "Hindu" OR "Jewish."

>

> By virtue of having "practiced" Hinduism for more

to my knowledge the only organization

> that

> offers a formal conversion process is the Saiva

> Siddhanta monastery in Hawaii of the late Satguru

> Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (publisher of "Hinduism

> Today"), himself an American-born convert.

 

 

To add my Knwoledge, the popular organisation that

converts willing people in to Hindu fold is Arya

Samaj. Arya Samaj(not to be confused with Hitlers's

"Aryan")was established by Dayananda Saraswathi in

1875 at Mumbai(Bombay), that is nearly 75 years before

India got freedom. Naming ceremony is done by Vedic

Chanting accompanied with Yagna or Hawan.

 

Perhaps Arya Samajists are rare Hindus who does'nt

have caste and they are strict vegetarinas. Unlike

Sivaya Subramnyamswami's method where aspirant should

follow Shaivate path in order to enter Hindu fold, no

such strings are attached with Arya Samaj.

 

To my knwoledge, one of the brahamachari in Amma's

Ashram was a muslim by birth( I think he is the

astrologer? correct me if I am wrong), he embraced

Hinduism through Arya Samaj. He has to fight a tough

battle with his parents, since apostasy in Islam is

Death. David Frawley aka Vmadena Shasthri went through

Arya Samaj too.

 

By the way I am from Arya Samaj.

 

regards

Avinash.

 

Perhaps most interesting future

>

> I was even planning to identify myself as a Hindu on

> the 2001 census of Canada, but there were no

> questions

> about religion on the mail-in census form that I

> received. It also didn't ask about ethnic/racial

> origin. I would have said simply "Canadian", as I

> don't feel strong enough ties to either Judaism or

> the

> country in Europe from which my grandparents and

> great-grandparents emigrated to attach it to

> -Canadian

> with a hyphen (e.g. Jewish-Canadian,

> Lithuanian-Canadian, etc.) Despite what neo-Nazis

> and

> white supremacists may say, there is no such thing

> as

> a "Jewish race". Jews were white enough for

> Apartheid

> South Africa or the Jim Crow Deep South.

>

> >

> > I have to say, coming from a Jewish background...I

> > think my family would be much

> > more disturbed if I called myself a Christian than

> > if I called myself a Hindu -- just

> > because there is so much baggage between Judaism

> and

> > Christianity that simply does

> > not exist between Judaism and Hinduism. It'd be

> > *weird* for them, but not offensive.

> >

>

> Same with my family, not that they're too enamoured

> of

> Hinduism :0

>

> There's never any shortage of Jewish people in

> ashrams, yoga retreats, Amma's programs, and other

> eastern-based spiritual paths. Way out of

> proportion

> to the general population of whitebread westerners.

> (around 2% of the U.S. population is Jewish, IIRC,

> likely the same percentage in Canada) I don't

> dislike

> the spiritual aspects of Judaism, even though I only

> set foot in a synagogue twice a year in late

> September

> or early October, or the cultural trappings such as

> chicken soup and Yiddish borrowings. But it's the

> politics of organized Judaism that have alienated

> me.

> I have no use for defending Israel right or wrong or

> for perpetuating the guilt trip of the Holocaust

> almost 60 years since the end of WWII. Can't I at

> least be grateful that my family was safely settled

> in

> North America well before 1939??

>

> Keval

>

> P.S.. note a couple of additions to the

> Commandments:)

>

> Thou shalt delete all text not relevant to thy

> reply.

>

> Thou shalt change the subject line wherefore it

> shalt

> reflect the topic of thy thread.

>

>

>

>

> Protect your identity with Mail AddressGuard

> http://antispam./whatsnewfree

>

 

 

 

 

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