Hindu Samskriti - How to Become a Hindu -3
Posted in Labels: Hindu Samskriti - How to Become a Hindu -3
How to Become a Hindu
From
the Masonic Order and Roman Catholicism
Shyamadeva and Peshanidevi Dandapani, both
age 60, live in Anchorage,
Alaska. Shyamadeva is a commercial real estate broker
specializing in site acquisitions and leasing
for local, regional and
national real estate clients. Peshanidevi is
a retired nurse, “domestic
engineer” and homemaker.
We pilgrimaged to Kauai
in November of 1994
for
Krittika Dipam. During this pilgrimage, we
truly
began to embrace the Sanatana Dharma and
returned
home to Alaska to talk to our family and
friends about becoming Hindus, and to begin
merging with the Hindu community in Anchorage.
For the most part, everyone was tolerant of
our enthusiasm
about becoming Hindus.
We had already leased out our house in
preparation for moving to
Kauai, so we rented an apartment, continued our
studies and began
the conversion and severance process. It was
our in-depth study to
review our lives, to determine our true
beliefs, where they came
from and if they were still valid for us.
There were many rewrites
and surprises. We returned to our previous
influences (myself to
the Freemasons and Peshanidevi
to the Catholic Church), studying
and participating with them again to be positive
that we wanted
to change our path. I returned to the Masonic
Lodge and fully embraced
Freemasonry for the next thirty days. I
attended the lodge
and participated fully in all its ceremonies
and rituals. At the end of
the thirty days, I was completely convinced
that I no longer held the
inherent beliefs of the Masonic Order. Even
with all the years of being
a very active Mason I knew it was neither my
belief nor my path.
The Masons say, “Once a Mason, always a
Mason.” The only way to
sever the vows was to become a self-imposed
apostate. I prepared
a letter declaring that I was a self-imposed
apostate to the Masonic
vows and beliefs, and that I was converting
fully to Hinduism. I read
the letter in open lodge before all the
members present and a copy
was given to the secretary to be recorded
into the minutes of the
meeting on June 8, 1995, at Kenai Lodge No. 11.
Peshanidevi returned to the Midwest
to attend mass and meet
with the priest who had given her
instructions for being baptized a
Catholic. Two hours of discussion did not
produce a letter of release,
because, he said, “Once a Catholic, always a
Catholic.” He took it
very personally but promised a letter to
follow. A month later it arrived
(above left). The fire was strong but the
bond was broken.
We applied for our legal name change and
announced it in the
newspapers. On the auspicious day of July 9, 1995, in Kadavul Hinthis
du Temple
we made the irrevocable step of having our namakarana
samskara. We felt the blessings of Lord Siva pour forth on us as
we sat before God, Gods and our guru and took
this momentous,
life-changing step. We had come home to the
religion of our souls.
We experienced so much love, joy and emotion, and it affirmed our
beliefs that we are Hindu souls.
The name change made our conversion very real
to others, and
many were quite alarmed. Our daughter was
visibly frightened to
enter our shrine room, and she forbid her
young children to spend
the night with us anymore. She was willing to
use our new names
and said that whatever we wanted to do was
okay, but it was not for
her. She would not accept any literature or
talk about Hinduism.
The two sons said about the same but were
less rigid. My parents
and siblings felt total rejection because of
the family name, and they
disowned us. They said that if their name was
not good enough for
us, then they had no son and daughter.
My wife’s grandmother and her brother were
the only family
members who were really happy for us. And
they showed it by immediately
beginning to learn how to pronounce and then
use our
new names. In my work, a few close friends
fully accepted our new
names and life without question. However,
there was a period of
about one year where I faced a lot of fire
and testing.
Our
Release from Judaism
Vel Alahan, 58, is a partner in a home
building center in Vail, Colorado.
His wife is Valli Alahan.
I was nervous as I sat with my former rabbi
to discuss
my change of religion. We explained what we
were doing, and he gave arguments in
response.
He wanted us to give him a chance to start
over.
But I explained what we had been through and
that we could not refute the inner knowing
that
had come from within about the truth of our
Hinduism.
We told him that based on our own inner
experience we believed in Hinduism. Based on
the fact that I was a
normal person, successful in the business
world, with a family and
children, he believed what I said and
respected my convictions.
I explained to him why I had come: because I
needed to A) test
myself in the face of my former religious
commitments and B) in
the presence of my former rabbi and Jewish
inner plane hierarchy,
in the Jewish institution, state my inner
commitment and my desire
to leave Judaism. He had his arguments. We
just had to stay strong.
I held fast to my inner commitment. My outer
mind was fluxing and
swaying a bit, but I always had the inner
part to hold onto.
He would not write a letter of severance. He
felt that by writing
such a letter he would be doing a wrong act
himself. But he wished
us well, gave his blessings and complimented
us on a fine intellectual
knowledge of our religion and of Judaism. I
introduced
the witness
and explained why we had brought a witness,
so that in the event
that the rabbi would not write a letter, the
witness could write a letter
stating what had happened. We were well
prepared,
and that is
a key point. If one were to go unkempt,
unemployed, he would not
get the respect. And if you are unprepared,
you will fumble a bit.
After the meeting was over, I felt a sense of
release. I felt wonderful.
And we did not hurt the rabbi’s feelings;
though he did say he
was sad to lose one of his fold and expressed
his view that “Once a
Jew, always a Jew.” But he had never faced
anything like this before.
When we reached the stage to contact the
Hindu community,
we
made an appointment to meet with the
Gangadharam family, Pattisapu
and Sakunthala. They talked with us and took
us into the
community. They became our appa and amma and
treated us very
nicely. We explained that we intended to have
a namakarana
samskara later, and they immediately said,
“We will do it. We insist. It
will be good for the community as a whole.”
Mrs. Gangadharam planned the day according to
Hindu astrology.
And a priest was there from the Pittsburgh Temple, Panduranga
Rao. Many people were there. A new sari was
given to my wife
to wear and a shirt and veshti was given to
me. It was very nice
the way they took care of us. During the
ceremony, our “parents”
signed our names in rice and repeated the
required words before
the community and Gods. Then we walked around
and touched the
feet of anyone who was an elder and gestured namaskara to anyone
younger. Food was served afterwards, prasadam from the puja.
Being
Refused Communion Was the Test
Aran Sendan, 56, is a builder and general
contractor from Canada
living in the Hawaiian
islands. He and his wife Valli entered Hinduism
formally on February 14, 1980.
I was in the process of formally converting
from
Roman Catholicism
to Hinduism. I had resolved
that, indeed,
I felt more comfortable with Hindu
beliefs than those of Catholicism or
Christianity. I
needed a clean break with Catholicism, so
went
back to Sacred Heart
Church, the parish in
which
I was baptized, confirmed and received my
first
holy communion. I had an appointment with the
monsignor and met with him in the rectory
office.
I would have preferred a frank and rational
discussion along the
lines of the point-counterpoint; I was ready
for that, but we were
not going there. He was non-plussed by my
statements, like it really
wasn’t happening, and said that, well,
Buddhists or whatever
were good people, too, and if I wanted to
study, that it was alright
with him. I insisted that he write “declared
apostate” next to my
name in the Parish record book where my
baptism, confirmation
and first holy communion dates were recorded.
He wouldn’t do it,
but allowed me to. I wrote “declared
apostate” and dated it. I left
the meeting unsatisfied by the interaction
and felt that I needed to
do something else.
I decided to attend mass the next morning and
went up to the
communion rail where the same priest was
giving out holy communion
to the faithful. It seemed to me that his
faith would prevent
him from giving me holy communion and thus my
point would be
made. At the rail he asked if I “believed in
Jesus Christ as the son
of God and the savior of mankind.” I said
that I didn’t and that he
couldn’t give me holy communion. At that
moment it became real.
I could feel the Catholic angels withdrawing
from me as clearly
as I could feel the wind. I now understood
Catholicism better than
I had ever understood it before. It isn’t a
religion of belief. It’s a religion
of faith, and clearly not my faith. I was no
longer a Catholic.
Comments
from Hindu Leaders on Becoming a Hindu
“All those who find their roots in the Vedas,
who
believe that India is a pious land, who have
sympathy
and believe in protecting the cow can become
Hindus, while keeping others’ welfare in
mind, and
is acceptable to His Holiness as a Hindu.
Those who
have been proselytized by deceptive methods
or by
physical force must be permitted to go back
to their
original religion on the principles of human
rights.”
Srimadjagadguru Shankaracharya, Goverdhan
Math, Puri, Orissa,
India, Sri Swami Nischalananda Saraswatiji Maharaj
“Revered Maharaj points out that the doors of
Hinduism had been
kept closed to ‘outsiders’ for centuries.
Swami Vivekananda himself
gave his famous call to Hindus to broaden
their outlook. There are
many devotees associated with the Ramakrishna
Order who were not born into the Hindu faith
but have accepted Hindu names of their
own accord. Scores among them have gone on to
take, and faithfully
keep, formal lifelong vows of brahmacharya and sannyasa.”
Swami Asimatmananda, for Srimat Swami
Ranganathanandaji,
President, Belur Ramakrishna Math and Mission, West Bengal,
India
“The Hindu religion has a long history of
accepting
anyone and everyone who is on the path toward
eternal truth. Hinduism does not discriminate
against any sincere seeker. Whosoever is
devoted to
the search for that Eternal Truth is embraced
by
Hinduism. Therefore, it is perhaps the most
universal
and welcoming faith of all time.”
H.H. Sri Swami Satchidananda,
Founder/Spiritual
Head of Satchidananda Ashram; Founder, Light
of Truth Universal
Shrine (LOTUS); Yogaville, Virginia
“True conversion is not a mere change of
label but
an inner transformation of mind and heart.
The
great task that lies ahead of us is that of
converting
Hindus—in India and abroad—into true Hindus,
acutely aware of the rich heritage that belongs
to
them. When the Hindus bear witness in deeds
of
daily living to the great ideals of Sanatana
Dharma,
then indeed will India shine once again in the
splendor of the new morning sun. Hindus have
forgotten how to live
as Hindus. They need to be taught the truths
proclaimed by their
prophets and avataras. Millions of Hindus are waiting to be
converted
into true Hindus. I am one of them.”
H.H. Dada J.P. Vaswani, head of the worldwide
Sadhu Vaswani
Mission, renowned Sindhi religious leader and
lecturer, Pune, India
“Hinduism does not proselytize. However,
nothing
keeps it from defending itself from the
obsessing
and devouring invasion of those religions
that
live under the flag of proselytism. A line of
defense
can be the correct popularization of how
you can become a Hindu and profess your
religious
beliefs appropriately. Hinduism would
certainly
be more solid and of greater utility for
humanity
if every Hindu professed his own religious
beliefs with
pride, asserting his spiritual principles,
cultivating them in his own
family and becoming an example for society.
Or still, if every organization
or group of Hindu devotees in the world
collaborated with
one another, without egoism and exaggerated
pride, to carry out a
common task of spreading Hinduism, its
spiritual traditions and
culture, without superficiality.”
Sri Svami Yogananda Giri, Founder and
Spiritual Head of Unione
Induista Italiana, Sanatana Dharma Samgha,
Gitananda Ashram,
Carcare, Italy
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(My
humble salutations to Sadguru Sri Sivaya
Subramuniyaswami
ji, Hinduism Today dot com for the collection)
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