{"id":2962,"date":"2010-04-23T06:51:32","date_gmt":"2010-04-23T06:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org?p=2959&preview_id=2959"},"modified":"2010-04-23T06:51:32","modified_gmt":"2010-04-23T06:51:32","slug":"why-are-hindus-so-uncomfortable-with-themselves-chakranews-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=2962","title":{"rendered":"Why are Hindus so Uncomfortable with Themselves? – ChakraNews.com"},"content":{"rendered":"
New York, USA (CHAKRA) \u2013 <\/strong>This article will attempt to analyze why Hindus quite often do not feel comfortable speaking about their religion or identifying with aspects of it.\u00a0 The average Muslim, Christian or Jew never has to even be asked about which faith they follow, rather they are upfront and open about their views and beliefs.\u00a0 However, this is not the case for many Hindus that I have come across.\u00a0 If the topic of religion even arises in a conversation, many Hindus do not want to discuss it.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The question is why? Is it because culturally and traditionally, Hindus are taught to exhibit respect for others that a Hindu chooses not to speak about religion, in fear of offending someone? Or is it that Hinduism is just a very complex religion which requires an immense amount of studying and research to get even a little grasp of? Or is it the essence of the religion itself which encompasses humility and self realization, causing a Hindu to choose not to speak about it and instead keep within oneself only?\u00a0Whatever the reason is, it is causing a great deal of damage to Hinduism. Whether a person chooses not to study the complex religion or fears offending someone, the avoidance of speaking out about ones views, identity or interest in the religion is bringing down the percentage of people that are seen to follow Hinduism.\u00a0 The less we speak and learn about our values of Hinduism, the less these values are known to others and thus the less they are recognized by society as a whole and in comparison to other religions.\u00a0 We must unite and take action to learn more. Combined minds always work better than a single mind.<\/p>\n

As Hindu\u2019s we can take pride in the fact that Hinduism is the only religion which does not promote conversions of any form and equally respects all religions.\u00a0 It is evident that many Christians and Muslims support the act of converting whether it is by standing outside a stranger\u2019s doorstep or in a coffee shop preaching of their own faith and the \u201cultimate path to salvation\u201d. One might say that saying the previous statement in itself is contradictory to the reality of Hinduism being a humble and all accepting religion.<\/p>\n

How can Hindus say they are all accepting yet find and share such flaws of other religions?\u00a0 Is that not participating in the exact same thing as other faiths are taking part in?\u00a0 Absolutely not. \u00a0It is one thing to manipulate disadvantaged people in society to follow one\u2019s own religious path and it is another to stand back and observe the clear flaws in any act of manipulation.\u00a0 As any research or field worker would observe and analyze to come to a conclusion without bias, a Hindu or a devout of any other religion may do the same.<\/p>\n

The more us Hindu\u2019s fail to be more proactive towards our religion, the less our religion and people are being recognized in society as followers of the Hindu faith.\u00a0 The people we become, whether we are first, second or third generation in the Western world, is in most cases a result of our religion.\u00a0 Sadly, we give no credit where it\u2019s due.\u00a0 We take pride in being educated, all rounded, and some of the kindest most accepting people on this planet, yet we fail to understand why we are the way we are and exactly what impacted our life decisions and outcomes.\u00a0 This is not to say, that other religions do not have a positive impact on its followers but instead these people attribute their actions to their religion.\u00a0 Instead the average Hindu tries whatever possible intentionally or unintentionally to disassociate themselves from their religion.\u00a0 For example, if one were to login to Facebook or any other networking website, it is rare to see a Hindu identify himself\/herself as a Hindu.\u00a0 Instead they fill up their facebook newsfeed with status updates such as \u201cEid Mubarak\u201d, \u201cMerry Christmas!\u201d \u201cMany innocent lives are being lost in the Muslim World\u2014Lets make change!\u201d This is all fine in the name of celebration, best wishes and humanitarian cause, but why not updates for Hindu celebrations or special events?\u00a0 Also, what about when the Mumbai attacks happened at the Taj Hotel and many other locations?\u00a0 It was rare to see a Hindu comment about this catastrophe.<\/p>\n

In the end, let\u2019s accept and we do\u2014that we are not here to compete and fight for who\u2019s better than who or which religious path is best but instead give our roots and the reason for who we are a chance.\u00a0 Care about others but in the act, do not forget our people who need our support first.\u00a0 A Hindu needs to remember that any Muslim or Christian or Jew, although helping other communities of people in need will help their own communities first and then others.\u00a0 We need to do the same.\u00a0 Help our religion and people unite and grow first and then help others. If our own community does not help each other then who will?\u00a0 In the end we will all be left with severe identity crises not knowing who we are and where we come from with no moral path to follow and identify with.\u00a0 We are deteriorating and participating in cultural suicide and whether we want to accept the truth is up to each one of us.\u00a0 Keep the world\u2019s most ancient religion alive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

This article was originally published on Chakra News<\/a>. Read the original article here<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York, USA (CHAKRA) \u2013 This article will attempt to analyze why Hindus quite often do not feel comfortable speaking about their religion or identifying with aspects of it.\u00a0 The average Muslim, Christian or Jew never has to even be asked about which faith they follow, rather they are upfront and open about their views […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1129,1130,1131,1132],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}