The post Uniting the Heart and Mind: Sacramento Hindu Unity Day (Part 2) appeared first on Hindu American Foundation ..read more

The post Uniting the Heart and Mind: Bay Area Hindu Unity Day (Part 1) appeared first on Hindu American Foundation ..read more

Happy International Yoga Day! Any day is good enough to write/share about yoga but it definitely feels special to write about it on a day like today, when the entire world celebrates it. Yoga’s root word in Sanskrit is “yuj” or “ to yoke” or “ to unify” — to unify with the Supreme, the Creator. And hence for such a gargantuan goal, yoga helps prepare the body, mind, and soul to be fit and focused. To my grandparents, yoga was essentially devotion. When I immigrated to the States decades ago, I experienced yoga as “asanas,” “yoga pants,” “ synthetic yoga mats,” and “ yoga studios.” Immi ..read more

For thousands of years Hindu temples have been constructed, allowing people to immerse themselves in an atmosphere where they can worship a particular form of God, gather with other devotees, and become more connected to the Absolute. Though most Hindu temples are usually open to the public, it is important to enter each one with the understanding that it is a sacred space. Being conscious of certain etiquettes can help one navigate the hallowed grounds of a temple respectfully. 1) Temple etiquette Before entering a temple, it is generally recommended to be clean and modestly dressed ..read more

I’ve been learning history all my life, but recently I got to be a part of it, by witnessing a historic event that took 500 years to come to fruition.  On Jan 22nd, 2024 the Pran Prathista (consecration) of the Ayodhya Ram Mandir in India was grandly celebrated. It is a rightful battle won after 500 years of blood and sweat, legal formalities, and entire generations watching with bated breath. My generation not only witnessed the consecration live but also got to celebrate it for months to come, irrespective of where on the globe we lived!  In the United States, Hindu Americans ..read more

“God is not here,” Family Guy’s Peter Griffin emphatically declares as the sights and stench of India assault him on the airport tarmac. “The river banks are dried sewage. The river water is liquid sewage. The faithful millions drink and bathe in the one,” Katherine Mayo concurs almost a century prior. “Millennia ago, Dalits…were forced into the degrading work of manual scavenging, the practice of cleaning excrement from toilets and open drains by hand in exchange for leftover food…This persists to this day,” narrates Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, playing the Pulitzer Prize winning protagonist I ..read more

Nataynajali Festival, April 7th, 2024, Sacramento – My heart is literally in my throat, beating so fast that I could pass out. But there’s no time to do so! I’m lined up, all dressed in traditional clothing and jewelry from head to toe, standing behind my dance mates, all set to enter the stage under huge spotlights. I am about to participate in Sacramento’s most prominent dance festival, Natyanjali, at the beautiful Capistrano Hall at California State University, Sacramento.   The speakers belt out the music, and it’s time to make the entry. As soon as I hear the beautiful va ..read more

Recently I reflected on the term Hinduism, and how the history of the use of the word has evolved and morphed over centuries and two periods of colonization. The reflection required grappling with how incorrect the word is, and also how I choose to adopt it all the same given the limitations of the world we live in, and the necessity of taking in the protection said term offers.  For some time, we’ve been watching a third wave of misunderstanding and misrepresenting what Hinduism is, markedly different from the last two colonial waves because of its determination to take an anti-colo ..read more

In an ironic way, being born and raised in the United States allowed me to engage in the most “Hindu” of practices in a way my father, born and raised in our spiritual homeland India, never did: I questioned everything. And I’ll give my father a lot of credit, he recognized this behavior as an opportunity to deepen my faith in a profound way and always encouraged me to do the work to find the answers. I’m grateful that he laid the foundation for me to find myself in the room where Acharya Vijay Satnarine was able to help me reflect on the question, why do we call ourselves Hindu? Why do w ..read more

Happy Puthandu (Tamil New Year) and Happy Vishu (Kerala New Year) to all those who celebrate and mark the beginning of a brand New Year today.  Unlike the Western calendar, which celebrates the New Year on January 1st, the Hindu calendar known as the Panchang marks its New Year mostly in the Chaitra month when the Sun descends into the zodiac sign of Aries. Known as Vikram Samwat, the Hindu Solar New Year mainly falls between March and April or spring, depending on which region of India one hails from. Each New Year has a name; this year, 2081, is called Krodhi.  I love the ide ..read more