Comments for Swadharma

Comment on The Ashramas of Life by Anjali

Anjali — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:22:19 +0000

In Zoroastrianism there is also a thread ceremony, the Navjote, except that it is not restrictive: neither by class, nor by gender.
Buddhism, similar to Hinduism in so many ways, also has this idea of the opanayiko, except that it is also open to all classes and genders.
Sikhism has a baptism of sorts, the amrit sanskar, which is also for every Sikh.
Islam has no type of inauguration for young Muslims, as long as they practice the fundamental tenets of Islam.
This idea of an inauguration highlights this disparity between Hinduism and most other religions. Hinduism remains one of the few religions NOT based upon equality of all persons.
In Christianity and Islam, while equality of course is not necessarily preserved, it seems to be a tenet of those faiths: that is precisely, perhaps, what makes them religions of the masses.
In Judaism, however, all Jews are above others, so therein lies a discrete inequality. Hinduism’s inequality is probably more continuous in nature.

Comment on The Ashramas of Life by Sonali

Sonali — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:40:37 +0000

In the post, you mention the idea of the upanayanam — from what I know, only guys go through this rite of passage. Somehow the inequality always bothered me. In Judaism and Christianity both males and females celebrate the transition into a new stage of life (whether adulthood, or legit participation in church tradition, or otherwise) — does this occur for both males and females in Hindu tradition as well?

Comment on Thoughts on Evangelism by JoPoFoSho

JoPoFoSho — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:01:16 +0000

It’s clear that certain forms of evangelism could be bad (the word “evangelism” certainly carries with it many negative connotations) – but we don’t believe it is wrong to share what we believe to be the truth with others in most circumstances. Why should attempting to share religious truths be any different?

Comment on Garuda Purana by Gokul Madhavan

Gokul Madhavan — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:03:38 +0000

I couldn’t make it to the discussion, and I’m curious to know what was said. So does this bother us? Has this changed our perception of Hinduism?

Comment on Resolving The Disconnect Between Desires by Sonali

Sonali — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:25:49 +0000

G, I agree with your point about semantics — my conflict is further confused though…because I don’t KNOW that those other things will make me happy, I’m just wondering whether they will. And I don’t know if its worth giving up the little progress I’ve made towards my higher goals to dabble in that stuff and find out, you know?

But then again — I wonder if having such doubts means that I haven’t really made any progress at all…