Recent ordinance on Caste discrimination in Seattle has caused widespread concern among the Hindu American diaspora community throughout the United States. The legislation is viewed by many as anti-Indian American, divisive, and a violation of First Amendment rights. More than a thousand emails have gone to the councilors, and city council meetings have been flooded…
HOW EVERYONE CAN ADVANCE The proper observance of the Vedic system of Varnashrama-dharma is to help one’s growth and self-development. The great sages have explained that this system of division into varnas is the stepping-stone to civilization, providing a means so one can rise higher and higher in proportion to one’s learning and culture. Such…
When it comes to the sensitive topic of Varnashrama, or what many people call the caste system of India, we have seen so many talks over this issue, both pro and con, back and forth, this way and that. We all know that the Vedic system of Varnashrama has been mentioned in the Vedic literature…
What is Hindu advocacy? Hindu advocacy is an important tool for justice that seeks to ensure that our voices are heard on issues that are important to us, to protect and promote our rights, and to have our views and wishes genuinely considered when decisions are being made which affect our lives. Advocacy involves interaction…
My humble perception is that there exist limited publications or discourses in the current media about the Western Buddhism explained by Nepalese scholars. I am prompted to write something from what I have observed and learned in the United States of America hoping to offer some insights why Buddhism is so fascinating to the Western World….
Background In many American schools, the teaching curricula on Hinduism are built around an obsolete framework called the Aryan Invasion/Migration Theory (AIMT). This theory postulates that a group of cattle herders from Central Asia, called Aryans, settled in India around 1,500 BCE. This group of cattle herders, the theory suggests, were successful in imposing their…
Unlike every other religion, which is built on some historical character like Buddha, Christ, Mohammad, and so forth, Hinduism is based on principles. As Swami Vivekananda (or Swamiji) put it (Complete Works, v.3, 183-84), no person, man or woman, can claim to have created the Vedas. These Vedas are the embodiment of eternal principles; sages…
A sadness comes over me as I remember and pay my tributes to Dr. Maheshbhai Mehta, a wonderful person, friend, and committed philanthropist. Heavy is my heart today as the memories of Maheshbhai bring back the time when our association began 46 years ago in 1975 as the Emergency was imposed in India by Prime…
A friend asked me this question recently. Sanatana Dharma is so vast; it has so many aspects. How to put it briefly? Let me try: Sanatana means eternal and Dharm is difficult to translate. It means: to do what is right in a given situation, to do one’s duty. How to know what is right?…
