As Saketh mentioned yesterday, there seems to be an almost universal experience that Hindus in America go through — we have probably all, at some point, had to defend or explain our beliefs to others. Especially after coming to college, I have begun to realize how inadequate some of my explanations are; for example, I have yet to come up with a satisfactory explanation of Dharma’s monthly pujas — right now, my strategy is simply to say that a puja is an ritual in which we worship a particular God. But the word ritual automatically has a negative connotation in most Americans’ minds, as their minds wander to imagine all sorts of ritual sacrifice, and other forms of worship that are far from what a puja really is.
And, it is really difficult to explain the idea of the dual identity of Hinduism as a polytheistic and monotheistic religion. Personally, I think of Hinduism more in the monotheistic sense — that all of the Gods are simply the different representations of Brahman, and that each God is created to appeal to the various personality types of different people — but it is difficult to justify the existence of multiple Gods, especially since the strictly monotheistic Judeo-Christian tradition is so prevalent in America.
So, I ask — how do you explain these things? In your experience, what has been the best explanation for uniquely Hindu forms of worship and philosophy? Should we have to explain at all?
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I’ve honestly never been in a situation where I’ve explained Hindu beliefs to my (non-Hindu) friends, so I can’t answer your first question. But I’ll take a stab at your second one: should we have to explain at all?
Religion in general is a touchy issue, and it’s probably not worth explaining it to someone who seems closed-minded to begin with. But if a friend asks me, I owe them an explanation, not just as a duty to my faith, but as a duty to my friend.
This is a very interesting issue that many of us do experience. Despite the fact that I attend a school where almost 40% of the student body and faculty are composed of Indians (Hindus to be more specific), I still find myself in that situation at least once a week. I’ve had to explain to many of my non-Hindu friends what our beliefs and traditions are. As for describing what exactly a puja is, I don’t like to use ritual for the same reason that it has a negative connotation. Instead, I prefer to use tradition, which avoids the confusion and misinterpretation. Since these are pujas that are being performed once every month, they are, in fact, a tradition of Dharma.
As for the debate whether Hinduism is monotheistic or polytheistic, I agree with your definition that it is monotheistic. That is actually how I explain Hinduism to my friends- ‘that all of the Gods are simply the different representations of Brahman, and that each God is created to appeal to the various personality types of different people.’ Through this reasoning, it can be concluded that Hinduism is, indeed, a monotheistic religion and that all of the Gods we pray to are various forms of the Absolute, which we know as Brahman.
Your second question is a very interesting one. Should we have to explain it at all? Of course we should! When we are explaining to someone the beliefs and philosophies of our religion, we are simply passing on knowledge that we have obtained from our family and friends. Aneesh raises a good point, though. Religion is a very touchy subject. However, even to the close-minded, it is possible for us to explain to them our beliefs as long as we do not offend them in our explanation. Hinduism teaches that we must accept all other religions as true as well and that there is no single path to becoming one with God. Therefore, we must explain to others our beliefs and philosophies so that we may enlighten them about our religion without sermonizing or having any intentions of conversion.
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