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“Are you Hindu Sunni or Hindu Shia?” Seven years ago, this was the shocking question that greeted the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) delegation during a visit to a Congressional office.  More perplexing than the question itself was the dilemma of how to reply diplomatically without making the Congressman feel, well, dumb. We’ve come a long…

Growing up in a Hindu household, I’ve heard about Swami Vivekananda, and his guru Ramakrishna Paramahansa, for as long as I can remember.  At the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), we remember Vivekananda for his famous speech in 1893 at the Parliament of the World’s Religions, where he first introduced Hinduism to the West.   HAF…

Manhattan is one lucky island.  Irene came and went this past weekend and largely left us unscathed.  The residents in my building, which is in lower Manhattan and rather close to Battery Park, were told to evacuate, and many of us did.  It turned out to be unnecessary – we never lost power, the elevators…

Today, Hindus around the world celebrate Krishna Janmashtami, the birth of Krishna, avatar of Lord Vishnu.  Like so many, I have a particular fondness for Lord Krishna, which largely stems from my love of the great Hindu epic Mahabharata.  Krishna plays countless roles – son, step-son, husband, friend, advisor, charioteer, and God.  He is a…

As a school child, I often found myself embarrassed by the exoticized description of my faith.  With those days long behind me and being far more confident, as an adult, I often find myself forced to face descriptions in magazines and newspapers which would make the average American wonder, “What sort of weird religion is…

As a child, I always dreaded the world’s religions portion of social studies.  In particular, it was the section on Hinduism that made me shudder, because it was always portrayed as weird, exotic, and discriminatory.  There I was, the only Hindu in my classroom, wishing I had Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak so I wouldn’t have…

Continuing the guru-shishya discussion is my friend and HAF Executive Council member, Padma Kuppa, who wrote a fabulous and timely piece on the relationship between Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore.  The relationship between Harry and Dumbledore is one of the most touching and beautiful in the series.   And it demonstrates a number of qualities…

My last blog that cited from the Mahabharata drew upon the actions of Dronacharya, the childhood guru of the Pandava and Kaurava princes.  As expected, I received a handful of interesting comments about the great guru.  The reason that I love the Mahabharata is that when one begins to analyze and dissect its characters, it…

Just a few weeks ago, the Hindu Students Association (HSA) released a beautifully animated short film on the four yogas of Hinduism:  bhakti yoga, karma yoga, jnana yoga, and raja yoga.   The four minute film concisely and effectively highlights the basics of the four yogas. It’s definitely worth a watch: 

Today, Hindus celebrate Guru Purnima, a festival in which one pays homage and respect to her guru, or teacher. Traditionally in India, when a child reached an appropriate age, he would move out of his parents’ home to commence his studies at a gurukul.  Here, he, along with a number of other students, or shishyas,…
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