Are we behaving like true Indians?

Good post! I do have felt it many times. Because I am a person who is love with Indian culture, traditions and Hinduism. The only thing (practical) that we can do to the person who criticizes Hinduism is 'we need to strongly stick to our values, beliefs & culture.

We need to wait patiently till the western scientist(people strongly believe them only) finds and proofs that Hindu's beliefs, practices and culture are not just traditions, but everything has a very deep meaning in it. For eg,. there are many health benefits because of fasting & when you dont eat non veg on a particular day, it boosts your determination and are many things like that list keeps going.

Animals can live however they want. They sleep whenever they want! they do whatever they want. Since we are human beings, we should live life in a particular way.

And even I have heard people praising India for its culture, Hinduism, food and much more. May be they are able to appreciate but the locals cant.

So we just need to follow everything and wait patiently. But I afraid before people prove, Whole Indians will end up getting immersed into western culture losing their originality.

 

Hi,

Good discussion topic.

Not sure whether the title should be ' Are we good Human beings? ', JMO.

Well, what they lack is probably intolerance towards other cultures, traditions, religions and beliefs. That is the reason for asking sarcastic questions. Any number of logical explanation is not going to sway those people unless they have conscience.
Why do we have to explain ourselves to such people? If they are inquisitive about our culture/ tradition there would be point in explaining those things. Otherwise I would just ignore their remarks and walk away.

Just because a person is born or brought up in a particular country, region or culture, endorse that person as true to that country. Any person from any country can take up any culture/tradition/religion and follow it and if they do so becomes one among that community irrespective of the place of birth. So the answer is there, complete faith. That is probably what is lacking in that person/ persons and we can't change them at all.

Let's say we are abroad and we take up their citizenship overseas, the respective countries would definitely expect us to abide by their rules and regulations, be more tolerant towards other cultural practices, be non judgemental regarding a lot of issues and at the same time will allow us to practice our own culture within the permissible levels of the country rules. So we amalgamate ourselves within their cultures. So we need to be tolerant towards cultures of other people and societies.

Not everyone has the same level of adjustment and are receptive towards such practices. But if you do so then it is better for the society. Those individuals who are not, are probably the ones who have hard core beliefs in their own practices.

Your colleagues / friends are like that. They are not flexible and intolerant individuals. Moreover they find it happy to taunt other cultures, and mostly people from Indian origin would not talk back, in such situations. So they take advantage of it and continue criticizing. On the other hand ask the same person to talk like that to westerner ( no offence) they would hide away.

If you are the one who can argue back, then do so, if not tell politely that you would like to stop that conversation as it is none of his worries and that you are not interested in discussing it any longer with him/her.

I digressed as usual from the original topic. Apologies for that.
Regards,
Vaidehi

 

It can be annoying but the best weapon is to make the boor feel like he/ she is a boor. Some responses could be

1. Is there a question?
2. We are like that only....
3. What is the fun if everyone is the same?
4. If our religion did everything yours did, then it will not be called "X" instead it will be "Y"

Feel free to be sweet, sarcastic or sweetly sarcastic.....

But why should any comments about south Indian hurt? I speak as a south Indian when I say, my pride in my culture and background is not reliant on what some boorish and ill mannered person has to say. Such names are very silly and immature. I am appalled that grown adults talk like that. That seem like school bully immaturity. I would just say that and ask the person to grow up.

Our pride in who we are should not be more because someone compliments us and similarly, uncomplimentary comments should not bother us too much either.

I would sincerely recommend changing such "friends". Life is too short to be involved with such heels as friends.

P. S- In UK, we would be the foreigners ....Frankly the "foreigner" or any sane person present, will be thinking how utterly awful your friend is rather than about unity or lack thereof among Indians.

 

Rude people exist everywhere. Some just love to hear the sound of their own voices, regardless of the quality of words emanating.
Unless I judge it worthwhile, I generally do not engage with these types. Most sane people are not impressed with this behavior anyway, and it just reflects poorly on the peresons themselves.
We should be confident enough in our culture and values, and if people have different opinions they are free to hold them unless they are personally insulting me. I just make a mental note to minimize interactions with them.

 

I don't think your friend was curious about your religious practice, rather she/he wanted to compare your faith with hers/his, and to ensure yours is bad. Perhaps, this is her/his understanding about your faith.
Perhaps this is something to do with her roots, and past experience. Whatsoever, you shouldn't feel insulted or upset about the comparison.
As long as you have logical answers to convince her about your deep faith, why bother so much about these questions. In fact, if I were you, I would welcome such comments/misunderstandings to be cleared up.

I am Christian. I have a lot of Hindu friends and I love Hindu culture and India so much.
However, I have very bad experience with some of the Hindus, with whom I have shared my life in the past.
Eg: Insulting customs, such as not allowing my widowed mom to sit in the front chair at the wedding, meet the newborns, newly wedded and consider her as a bad luck.
Different understanding... Not allowing the poor people, may be due to their cast to enter into the worship place. I am not talking about the regular poojas, but when we had a war in SL, and we had many war victims of all races, caste etc... and whenever we wanted to accommodate those poor victims in the common places like Mosques, churches, and temples, we were conditioned by the temple people about this. The victims were considered impure. Although most of the victims followed Hindu faith.

When there was a huge "Annadhanam" going on in a temple, and we wanted to make sure some of our orphan kids at the temporary war shelter to benefit from them (Those were the days when we didn't have international donors), the temple authorities chased them out. The "annadhanam" was shared among the middle class regular temple attendants, those who could cook and eat at their houses.

So, obviously as a person from a different faith I had loads of questions about Hinduism and its practices. Yes, I did compare the religions, and asked the followers as to why it is different.
And yes, the most common question about why women are not allowed to enter into the temple during menstruation times.

Some of my friends were offended with this, because of the obvious reason that they didn't have any answers to my questions. They didn't want to confess their shallow faith, rather they label me as a religious intolerant person, which is not true.

However, I had clear and complete answers from some of my dear friends, who were patient enough to listen to my concerns, and explain the answers in detail. So that I would never repeat the same question again. Also, with their answers, I have got a very clear picture about Hindu faith; hence my respect towards Hinduism and Hindus grew up.

For ex: For the most common questions that every Hindu would have faced from a non-hindu - The menstrual times.
Yes, it has some logic.
In ancient times, there were no attach bathrooms with tap water facilities. No kitchen with electric appliances. No working women; hence no need to step out of the house frequently.
People took bath from the rivers, which was the main drinking water source.
Without proper sanitary napkins, could you imagine how difficult it would be to get out of the house with bleeding legs, cloths. Imagine how impure it will be to take bath in the river, and drink the same water eventually.

Can any woman do the traditional cooking like grinding, mixing with those stone age methods, that too for a big chunk of people (joint family) during that time? Probably not.
Those were the days when we had no pain killers and hormone controller medicines.
So, actually the ancient Hindus respected their women. Gave them break from whatever the chores they were doing at home. They had alternate women (like MIL, SIL etc) to do the chore when one woman is on break.
They didn't want to embarrass their women by sending them out (to temple or any place) with that bleeding condition without proper protection (napkins). That's why they locked her into an outside room, and washed the area after her periods. Imagine.. how it would be to wash your entire house every now and then as one after the other each woman (in joint family) gets periods, if they are allowed to roam everywhere?

Spreading turmeric after period was considered disinfecting the area after that. It was a natural antibody.

So, there was nothing to be ashamed of that culture. In fact, it was a great culture that had given so much respect and love for their women. Each and every practice had a logical reason.
But following the same in this 21st century when you have all the facilities is illogical, and it is definitely a matter to be ashamed of.(Unless you have a valid reason to explain).

So learnt your religion, and be ready to answer any kind of questions as they come, Your confidence will chase them out.

For ex: I am Christian and I have been asked n no of times about the rape and abuse scandal among the priest all over the world, and specially in Vatican. My answer would be always the same. They are priest, and they teach you the religion. Beyond that they are not Gods or God's people. If they commit any crimes, they should be considered criminals.
Criminals has no place in my religion. Just because a criminal is Christian, it doesn't mean Christianity is a religion of criminals. Simple.

 

Nice, thought-provoking thread @kcb Reading your post I could only think, United we stand and divided we fall. When we are outside the country at least we should be united (ideally speaking, always united). I was told on several occasions that Indians are more closer to each other outside the country than in the country so your post was an eye-opener to me.

 

Obviously the other person believes his faith is superior than the rest of the faiths, that's why he/she is still having faith in it. So, as you said accept this and move on.

At the same time, tell the other person that you are different, and you believe your faith is somewhat superior to his/other's faith. If not, you would have converted already.

See, some people follow a faith, just because their family or ancestors followed it. But, they still dislike certain parts of it, and feel compelled to follow. At the same time, they have zero knowledge about other faith; hence never follow them. It is their ignorance.
But some people really learn about other faiths, compares and place themselves to the most appropriate faiths. This way, they have solid answers to what they believe in.

I assume, you are one such person, who knows what you are doing.
Don't get disturbed about these others. Tell them, you don't think alike them. That's why you are following Hinduism.
If I were you, I would have told that person only one thing.

"oh.. friend... I understand where are you coming to...Yes, the best part of my religion is not to disrespect others. I thought it is the same with other religions too. But, it seems not. Anyways, I am not impressed with the values you are trying to project about your faith. May be it is just me, may be not. But I like to worship in such a way, and my faith gives me complete fulfillment there.

I am not disrespecting or hurting other persons because of my faith. For me, this is enough. You better try to convince some other person who may have shallow faith; hence can get carried away with your comparison. Not me... Sorry"