Author:
Publication: Hinduism Today
Date: October 17, 2007
URL: http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2007/10/17.shtml
What happens when 200 men and women, all sharing
a profound love of Hindu dharma, meet for three days in East Texas, site of
John Kennedy's assassination deep in the Bible Belt? The fifth annual Human
Empowerment Conference (HEC) concluded here today. The 200 spiritual and community
leaders, scholars, academicians and activists attended the intense, three-day
conclave, examining some of the most pressing issues facing the Hindu community
today. Sponsored by the Sanatana Dharma Foundation of Dallas, (click here),
the conference's name comes from the Vedic dictate, Krunvanto Vishwam Aryam,
"Ennoble all humanity."
Hinduism Today magazine and Hindu Press International
editors, Paramacharya Palaniswami and Sannyasin Arumugaswami, flew in from
Hawaii for the event and filed this report. The conference had dozens of parallel
sessions, so the report covers the ones they were actually present for, while
giving only an brief mention of the rest.
The sessions began midday on October 12 with
a welcome address from Kashi Viswanathan, president of the Sanatana Dharma
Foundation, followed by overviews of the ten major sessions:
1. Hindu Americans--An Inquest: Challenges
and Prospects for Generation Next
2. Traditional Knowledge and Integral Healthcare System
3. Chronology in Indian History: Identifying Characteristics of the Indic
Civilization
4. Pacifism as a Civilizational Dogma
5. Hindu Dharma and Media
6. Dharmic Youth Leadership
7. Organizational Networking and Leadership Development
8. Religious Freedom in India
9. Kerala Awareness Workshop
10. Education for Resurgence of Indic Consciousness.
The major presentations of the first afternoon
included the California textbook controversy given by Paramacharya Palaniswami
of Hinduism Today (click here for a short version of this presentation). This
was a broad overview of the contentious adoption of sixth grade social study
texts in California in which Hindus fought for parity so that Hinduism was
presented in the same positive manner as the other religions. It was followed
by a presentation of the educational initiatives of the India-based Shruti
Foundation given by Ms. Shruti, a remarkable attempt to inculcate pride in
Indic genius, particularly Hindu methodologies of integral living, education,
scientific thought, societal organization, ethics and work dynamics. She pointed
out that following India's independence, the communist parties sought and
were given control of the education system in the early 1950s. The long-term
consequence of this control is that academia in India is, even to this day,
permeated with Marxist philosophy which is extremely antagonistic toward any
religion, and Hinduism in particular. One aspect of this communist domination
is what she terms "Sanskritphobia," with a diminishing of Sanskrit
studies which she regards as a major reason for the decline of Hinduism. In
January, 2008, her foundation will hold a major conference in Delhi as part
of their efforts to rebuild pride and the knowledge base that was India's
in the past.
The evening sessions were focused around the
life's work of Sita Ram Goel, one of the great Hindu thinkers and activists
of the 20th century. The main lecture of the evening was by Dr. Valerie Tarico,
a Seattle psychologist specially invited by the organizers to speak on Christian
fundamentalism and evangelism. Her talk was riveting, as she herself came
from a family of evangelists and early in life was a "true believer."
She explained that it is these evangelists, the fundamentalists of Christianity,
who are trying to convert the people of India. They are driven in their attempts
by a belief in the Great Commission, the idea in the New Testament that Christians
are obliged to preach and convert all the peoples of the world.
Dr. Tarico did a scathing analysis of evangelical
beliefs, beginning with the monotheism/Trinity of God conundrum and ending
with their belief in Biblical inerrancy, that every single word of the Bible
is true, even the most horrible punishments and genocide ordered by God. "These
beliefs are not rational, not coherent," she boldly asserted.
She warned Hindus that evangelicals have the
power of American innovation behind them, marketing their product, Christian
fundamentalism, with all the savvy of the most sophisticated Western corporation.
She said Hindus should regard the belief system of these fundamentalists as
a force as deadly as drugs. In her conclusion, Dr. Tarico urged Hindus to
"be more evangelical about what you do and know, especially your religious
pluralism." "Right now, Hinduism is thought of as an antiquated
bunch of people who think statues are God. But I think Hinduism offers a path,
a power to sow the seeds of wisdom that we need. You need to evangelize the
ideal of dharma to counteract the existing stereotypes of Hindu belief."
There was an intermission for fundraising
by the organizers, which in a kinetic ten minutes succeeded in raising pledges
of over $15,000, matched by an anonymous patron to bring it to $30,000.
Sannyasin Arumugaswami, managing editor of
Hinduism Today, followed with a presentation on "Proselytization and
Religious Freedom" (click here for a video version) which complemented
Dr. Tarico's lecture with specifics on the methods of the evangelists.
Next came Dr. David Frawley's address on "The
Need for Pluralism in Religion." In explaining that Hindus from India
often do not understand Christianity in the West because, "The Christianity
found in India is much more backward than that found in the West."
The final talk of the evening was "Hinduphobia"
by Rajiv Malhotra. His wide-ranging and provocative discourse began with the
thesis that the California sixth grade social studies textbooks deliberately
hide the positive aspects of Hinduism, such as yoga, vegetarianism, music,
etc., in order to "demonize the culture." The whole of South Asian
studies today in the West, he stated, were divisive, emphasizing, and in some
cases, creating, division between Dalits and brahmins, Dravidians and Aryans,
women and men, minorities and Hindus. "India's problems are not seen
as historical, or economic, but the result of a flawed culture, a flawed DNA."
He explained how his analysis found three specialties in Hinduism: caste,
minorities and women, all of them negative. He complained about the tendency
toward deconstruction by scholars who claim "India is not even a nation
state at all." Those same scholars turn this same strategy against Hinduism
by claiming it is a product of 19th century British scholars and not a religion
at all. "India is the only major civilization whose study has been controlled
from the outside," he lamented, and compared the situation to that of
China, whose government has sponsored hundreds of Confucian institutions which
are the main force in scholastic investigation of China.
Malhotra pointed out that "to fight for
our rights is the American way," and encouraged Hindus to become more
active in supporting positive study on India and countering pervasive foreign
interpretations. "Once we were knowledge producers and exporters throughout
Asia," he said, "now we are consumers of knowledge about ourselves."
The Hinduism Today team in attendance made
presentations on conversion to Hinduism with special attention to the situation
of mixed religious marriages between a Hindu and a non-Hindu. The point made
was that in such marriages the children tend to grow up with no religion at
all, unless the non-Hindu spouse agrees to convert to Hinduism, or at least
to raise the children as Hindus. Too many couples, it was pointed out, leave
the choice of religion to the child, which usually results in the child's
choosing "none of the above." Intermarriage is a common issue for
all religions, with 40% of Catholics and Jewish children marrying outside
the faith (both of which actively discourage intermarriage). The children
of those marriages commonly growing up without religion.
A second presentation by Hinduism Today was
in the session on pacifism, the primary point being that the dharmic ideal
of ahimsa does not mean the individual Hindu or the Hindu state should be
pacifist. It is our duty to actively assure protection of the home and the
country. Participants in the session were deeply concerned about what they
consider a pacifist attitude in the conduct of Indian foreign and domestic
policy, which has result in the country's being threatened by internal rebellions
and external threats along her borders. The ideal of individual nonviolence
was affirmed by most present, while acknowledging that force may be necessary
to defend the homeland, and such force is not outside of dharma.
Palaniswami offered a graphically-rich presentation
on "Religion and the Media," explaining the pragmatic realities
of how the media works and how Hindus can best interact with it. (Click here
for a video of an earlier presentation given in Montreal, Canada). Hindus
were encouraged to understand the media, what it considers news, what its
biases and pressures are, so as to be able to work with the media and not
fight it. A proven and proactive approach is getting to know the religion
editor of the local newspaper, slowly creating strong relationships and making
inroads with the media. This can be amplified by a constant, low key, benign
presence of Hinduism in the local media. A fascinating aspect of this presentation
showed the covers of Time magazine from the 1930s (Gandhi) to the present
day, and how they reflected the good, the bad and the ugly of Western attitude
toward India.
Dr. Ramdas Lamb of the University of Hawaii
followed with a presentation on media and academia. He explained that the
professors of religion in the West are either Christians or Marxists. "If
you say something positive about Hinduism, you are immediately marginalized
and branded 'Hindutva.' The academic is as biased as the media." He explained
how academia is driven by funding, and how an academic study that would put
Hinduism in a positive light will simply not get funds, whereas one taking
a critical Marxist approach will. Because of this, he added, a lot of young
Hindu scholars either abandon Indology, get co-opted by the secular and Marxist
academics or, as he put it, "go into the closest," ie, hide their
Hindu personal life. As a result, he noted that hardly five percent of the
people who teach Hinduism in the West are practicing Hindus -- a situation
completely different than that of Jewish, Catholic, Black or woman's studies,
where nearly everyone is part of the tradition or community they study. Dr.
Lamb, who is openly Hindu, pleaded with the community to fund scholarships
and university chairs in Hindu studies. Asked if there is any school in America
where a practicing Hindu can get a PhD in Hinduism, he offered, "No,
but at my school you can get a master's."
On Saturday, the general session centerpiece
was a brilliant talk by Rajiv Malhotra, founder of the Infinity Foundation,
who unveiled his "U-Turn Theory," the phenomenon whereby Western
academics or scientists study something from India, and ultimately claim it
as their own. For example, there have been recent studies on the effect of
breathing techniques and meditation upon health and well-being. These techniques
were developed centuries ago by India's gifted yogis. But what happens today
is that a Western scientist studies such techniques in laboratories, determine
they work, publish a report and receive personal fame and glory (and money)
as if he had discovered the technique in the first place. The true genius,
the yogi who perfected the practice, is unnamed and unknown. "It is like
the referee holding the stopwatch at the Olympic 100 meter dash receiving
the gold medal because he timed the winning runner," quipped Malhotra.
He went on to inventory a massive list of such "discoveries," from
techniques of yoga and meditation to ayurveda. The catalog of inventions,
processes, techniques and wisdom insights that have been appropriated from
India was impressive, even startling.
As with all conferences, much of the real
action took place in crowded halls, fueled by animated discussions between
(and often during!) the general and parallel sessions. Over all, the conference
seemed to fulfill its mandate which is described as:
"The intersection between academicians,
scholars and activists represents a unique and potent combination that is
probably the most important distinguishing characteristic of the HEC conference.
It is not merely a place where ideas are shared, written into papers and published
into a magazine. Nor is it a convention of any specific activist organization,
which celebrates its internal victories and deliberates its challenges. The
confluence of 'Thought Leadership' and 'Activism Orientation' allows for the
germination of new ideas, their fructification into real world projects and
eventually into a measurable impact on the community at large." That's
what happened in the Lone Star State, land of the Cotton Bowl.
