Swadharma » Sonali

Go Not To the Temple….

Sonali — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:24:28 +0000

A friend recently sent me this poem; I hadn’t read it before, but I really liked it — so I thought to share it! It definitely captures the way I think about religion, as something that should be applied to our lives, not as something restricted to what we do in a temple.

Go Not To The Temple

(A poem by Rabindranath Tagore)

Go not to the temple to put flowers upon the feet of God
First fill your own house with the Fragrance of love…

Go not to the temple to light candles before the altar of God,
First remove the darkness of sin from your heart…

Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer,
First learn to bow in humility before your fellowmen…

Go not to the temple to pray on bended knees,
First bend down to lift someone who is down-trodden. ..

Go not to the temple to ask for forgiveness for your sins,
First forgive from your heart those who have sinned against you.

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Who/What is God?

Sonali — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:01:31 +0000

In a post Saketh wrote a while ago, he asked us all what one of our objects of devotion was; he divided objects of devotion into 3 categories:

1. A deity

2. A person

3. A goal or inanimate object

Today, I want to bring up a similar question:

Hinduism is a religion with many different viewpoints — and consequently, many divisions and categories. In my experience, the division between dvaita (dualism, or the worship of a personal God that is separate from us) and advaita (non-dualism, or the worship of an impersonal God that is all-pervading, and part of us as well as everything around us) is a major one. I realize that one discussion may not suffice, but it is an important point to bring up:

How do you choose to think of God? Are dualism and non-dualism irreconcilable? And if so, does Hinduism, as a unified religion, actually even exist?

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A mother’s heart…

Sonali — Sun, 09 May 2010 18:11:12 +0000

Since today is Mother’s Day, I thought I’d share a poem I grew up reciting in Vivekananda Vidyapith, the Hindu weekend school for character-building education I attended when I was younger. It was written by Swami Vivekananda in a letter to one of his disciples in the West for her 23rd birthday.

The mother’s heart, the hero’s will,
The softest flower’s sweetest feel;
The charm and force that ever sway
The altar fire’s flaming play;
The strength that leads, in love obeys;
Far reaching dreams, and patient ways,
Eternal faith in Self, in all
The sight Divine in great in small;
All these, and more than I could see
Today may “Mother” grant to thee.

-Swami Vivekananda

The poem seems like the perfect expression of the Hindu view of the mother — a person who only wishes for the best for her children. It certainly encapsulates everything I’d hope to feel/be/achieve in my own life as well.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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Reason and Faith at Harvard

Sonali — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:50:10 +0000

At Harvard, there is a clear emphasis on the importance of reason – our General Education requirements include Ethical Reasoning, and before the establishment of the GenEd system, the Core required us to take a Moral Reasoning core; so even in creating requirements that parallel other colleges’ ‘religious ethics’ requirements, Harvard adds an emphasis on ‘reasoning!’ And this stress on reason tends to translate to our religious life as well – many of us take the intellectual approach to religion, rationalizing our practice of faith and defending our beliefs by showing their practicality and rationality.

In this atmosphere, what is the role of faith? Is reason, as Harvard’s culture seems to implicitly suggest, superior to faith? Are reason and faith really irreconcilable? What implications does this have on religious practice in our lives?

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Questions from Students at the Divinity School

Sonali — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:03:44 +0000

This week’s Swadharma discussion will focus on questions brought to us by Julie, Maytal and Willie, three students at the Harvard Divinity School who are doing a project on Hinduism this semester.

Their questions are designed to make us think critically about our experience as Hindus in America (which, coincidentally, is one of the purposes of Swadharma!), so I thought I’d share them now, so we can ponder this food for thought:

I. What is your current relationship to Hinduism and current religious practice?
II.     To what extent has your relationship to Hinduism changed or stayed the same since coming to college/grad school?
III.    How does your practice and conception of Hinduism differ from your parents’?
IV.     How do you or do you not present yourself as a Hindu to your friends, colleagues, professors and the university community?

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