Hinduism Today Reviewed by
New Delhi's Weekend Issue of The Observer

The Monthly Journal Hinduism Today Reveals
the International Face of Hinduism

by Ram Swarup
October 24th, 1998,
The Observer, New Delhi, India

Hinduism Today has now been in existence for quite some
time and it is possible to assess it on the basis of what it
has been and what it has done. No need to make subjective
claims or to go by them. Hindu communities are now found in
many countries, but with the exception of Hinduism Today,
there is no journal dealing with their problems and
opportunities. In this respect, this journal is unique. It
reveals to us an important face of Hinduism, its
international face. Every time one picks up its copy, one
becomes aware of Hindus not only in India but also in Fiji,
Mauritius, Trinidad, South Africa, South East Asia and now
also increasingly in Europe and North America. Its pages
bring them together so often under the same roof that they
begin to feel and live together.

This face tended to be neglected by Hindus in India in
the past. For centuries they were under great pressure and
could not spare much thought for anything beyond the problem
of survival. But things are changing now and there is
awareness of a larger Hindu world, Hindu Vishva. However the
old resistances are still at work and there is a strong
tendency to make Hindus into purely an Indian phenomenon.
Definitions of Hinduism are proposed which make Hindu and
bharatiya co-terminus though we know that not all Indians
are Hindus--some in fact take pride in the fact that India
has the largest Muslim population in the world. The latest
definition highly esteemed in the Hindutva circles is that
Hinduism is "geo-cultural", in which "geo" is frankly
territorial and "cultural" is really "composite-cultural";
it is really the current definition of the secularists and
Marxists but reworded and made to look academic and
intellectual.

But Hinduism Today makes us aware of Hindus beyond India
and does it in its own way, not as NRIs--the way successive
Governments in India have learnt to take notice of them
after they began to do well economically--but as part of a
family, as brothers and sisters united in a common spiritual
perception and feeling.

Hinduism Today takes us on a journey and extends our
horizon both in space and in time. It tells us of Hindus and
Hinduism abroad not only at present but also in the past.
It finds Hinduism an old phenomenon, and not a seventeenth
century construct as some would-be orientalists would have
it but an ancient and great civilization whose influence had
travelled far and wide. But in the succeeding centuries ,
India fell on evil days and the Hindu mind and psyche began
to shrink and Hindus tended to forget this side of their
history. Hinduism Today is helping them in reviving those
lost memories. As it travels back in time, it finds no Aryan
invasion of India but reports of Hindu presence in Europe
and even Americas. From its scholarly special articles on
Plotinus and Druids, we learn of intimate spiritual contact
between India and Europe at an early date. Its recent
article on old Inca and Mayan buildings reveals remarkable
similarities with old Indian architecture which points to an
early pre-Columbus contact between the Hindus and the
peoples of South and Central America.

The journal avoids politics and politicians, in itself
quite a relief. On the other hand, it reports what is
happening in the Hindu religious world; it tells us of Hindu
philosophy, doctrines, modes of worship, rites; it tells us
of Hindu festivals, calendar, places of pilgrimage; it tells
us of temples and educational centers that are being built
by Hindu communities in different corners of the world--it
is itself in the process of building a grand all-granite
stone Siva temple in Hawaii with its 4000 stones weighing
four million pounds all hand carved in South India and to be
shipped to the site of the construction; it tells us about
the great Hindu personalities and about non-Hindu friends of
Hinduism; it tells us of Hindus who are distinguishing
themselves in different fields all over the world; it gives
prominence to Hindu sannyasins; and though the class has
undoubtedly its black sheep and charlatans, the change in
orientation is itself important. Some sannyasins have done
great work in projecting Hindu India to which official India
has been allergic. A few persons like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
and Swami Prabhupada have done more in putting India on the
map of the world than all our white elephant embassies put
together.

Teachers like Sri Aurobindo and Vivekananda thought that
revival of Hindu people could come only through the revival
of their religion. Hinduism Today seems to share this view
and emphasizes religious Hinduism. It presents the Hinduism
of the Vedas, the Agamas, the Puranas, the Yogas as well as
the Hinduism of temple worship and rituals; it also takes
into account many popular expressions of Hinduism like the
kewarha; in fact, it did not neglect even the milk-miracles
of the last year and reported it amply. Anything that
interests Hindus also interests it. It is promoting
vegetarianism, a great value taught by Hinduism. Some Vedic
sciences like Ayur-veda and Astronomy are honoured.

It serves Indian Hindus by informing them about
themselves. It reports about men and institutions we neglect
or do not take particular notice of. For example, it wrote
about Motilal Benarsidasa whom most of us knew only as
commercial publishers probably specializing in oriental
literature but knew nothing about the original inspiration
of its founders. Similarly, it wrote on Hindujas whom we
knew mostly from the negative reports of the press. But from
Hinduism Today, we came to know about their Hindu
commitment. It seems it does not suffer from the current
socialist suspicion of the vaishyas.

The journal has probably yet to pay tribute on behalf of
us all to the Birlas, the great builders and renovators of
temples. The late Jugal Kishore Birla built the well-known
Lakshminarayana Temple in Delhi in the late thirties,
probably the first presentable structure after more than 700
years--tokens of infidelity were not allowed to be built
during the long Muslim rule. J.K. was more than a man with
money; he had a vision of a greater Hinduism, and freely
helped all members belonging to the larger Hindu family:
Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Arya Samajists, etc. He built
Buddhist temples and supported their institutions in India
in a big way. Luckily, the younger members of his family
shared his views and continued his work. Any faithful
account of Hindu renaissance would include not only its
great visionaries and intellectuals but also its great
vaishyas though the current fashion is not to take them into
account. But they deserve our full honour.

Hindus in India continue to be overwhelmed by their own
problems and have little energy and time to spare for their
brethren abroad, but Hinduism Today keeps serving them as
best as it can. For example, in their hour of distress the
Fiji Hindus found in this journal a dependable friend

In the US and Canada, the journal helps Hindus to retain
their identity which could be easily lost in a very
different cultural environment. But a family which receives
a copy of Hinduism Today would find in it a great protective
shield. The journal helps them in many different ways. It
brings their problems into the open and discusses them
frankly and tries to find Hindu-cultural answers to them. It
shows Hindu men and women at work facing new challenges; the
problems of Hindu boys and girls at schools learning and
coping with peer pressures, trying to look and be like
others; the problems of dating and new sexual mores, the
problem of aged parents briefly visiting them or living with
them.

Any answer to these and similar problems which Hinduism
has to offer is important not only to the Hindu repatriates
but also to their other American neighbours too. For they
all face similar problems: problems of an individualistic,
competitive, permissive and consumerist society,
over-emphasis on success and acquisitions, disintegrating
family life, loneliness of the old and the neglect of
children, inner sickness in the midst of a developed health
care system, and emptiness in the midst of increasing
sensations and images. Any solution that Hinduism offers
should help all.

Mention should also be made of the journal's excellent
production. It is soothing to the eyes and maintains a
high standard of workmanship and skill. It is sattvika in
appeal and maintains this quality even in its advertisement
columns.

From Hinduism Today, let us turn to those who run it.
They are not NRIs. They are mainly white
Americans--converts, Hindus by choice, and sannyasins at
that. Those of us Hindu by birth tend to take Hinduism for
granted and neglect its deeper, spiritual categories. But it
is different with those who embrace it after much reflection
and self-searching. They are seekers and sadhakas; they are
interested in the problems of God, of Self, of inner life,
of dharma and mukti. These concerns find ample expression in
Hinduism Today and other publications at Hawaii, and this
fact has given them a special quality and flavour.

Hitherto, Hindus knew only two categories: Hindus born
in India and Hindu emigrants who went overseas during the
last few centuries often under very adverse conditions. But
now we have also a new, fast-growing third category of those
who adopt Hinduism by free choice. This is an important
category and traditional Hinduism should become aware of
them. Their contribution to Hinduism is notable. Who could,
for example, forget the name of the Hare Krishna Movement in
this connection?

Hindu influence however goes far beyond this category.
Hindu thought is changing the intellectual-religious contour
of Europe and America and attracting their best minds. In
this thought, they also find the principle of their own
self-discovery and recovery. The new religion of these
countries is now really the "New Age" which is greatly
worrying the Christian establishment. The Pope sees "eastern
influences" in this new development. Pat Robertson, an
influential American evangelist, finds that "the New Age and
Hinduism-- it is the same thing". He complains, "We are
importing Hinduism into America."

I have often found that those who publish Hinduism Today
show better awareness of some very important problems
Hinduism faces than most of us do here. For example, I have
felt that one great problem of Hinduism is the poverty and
illiteracy of its priests. But have you ever heard a party
of Hindutva in India discussing it? On the other hand, those
around Hinduism Today are concerned with the problem, and as
early as 1984, held an "International Conference of Saivite
Priesthood" to deliberate over it.

For obvious reasons, Hindus in India are occupied--some
say "over-occupied"--with Christianity and Islam. When they
speak of "harmony of all religions", they mean them though
the doctrine ill-applies to them for they seek not harmony
but hegemony. On purely spiritual grounds, Hindus should
learn to take more notice of other religious traditions
closer to their own, for example, like those of China and
Japan, of old Egypt and Iran, of Pre-Christian pagan Europe,
and of indigenous Americas.

The journal rightly stands for peace among the followers
of all religious persuasions without being called upon to
preach an artificial and indiscriminate ideology of "harmony
of all religions." Nor do the monks of the journal feel any
pressing need to prove their universality by disowning their
Hindu identity. In an editorial, the journal chides monks
visiting the West who are Hindu in everything--dress,
teaching, lineage--but when asked about their Hindu identity
deny it and become non-Hindu universals. Its own monks take
pride in being Hindus and teach us to do the same.

I believe that America is waiting to be
rediscovered--not as in the past by outside adventurers who
came and occupied the "promised land" and enslaved its
people, who were arrogant and thought they had nothing to
learn but only to teach. The new discovery would require a
different spirit, a reverent and compassionate spirit, the
Vedantic spirit, which sees goodness and godliness around,
which sees one's own self in all. This spirit would reveal
another America, another people whose way of intuiting man,
nature and deity is still valid and could help the other
America to renew itself at a deeper level. Should the "Great
Spirit" of these people return, America's rivers, forests,
mountains would recover their sacredness and be the abodes
of Gods again; nature would cease to be a mindless
mechanism, the earth a mere resource for man to use; they
would become "living" and "soulful" again . I believe that
the establishment of an alert Hindu Ashrama at Hawaii would
help this process; it would help the indigenous people in
their religious and cultural revival; which in turn would
help the revival of America itself.

Hinduism Today represents a new force. While
consolidating Hindus, it also projects the great ideas and
ideals of Sanatana dharma. I believe that Satguru Sivaya
Subramuniyaswami who has inspired and who presides over this
movement will have a honoured place in the history of Hindu
revival and would be remembered for extending the frontiers
of the Vedic dharma; and Hawaii itself, his field of
activity (karmabhoomi) is likely to become a significant
religious site, a place of special manifestation of Siva in
this part of the world.

I welcome the journal and the people around it; I
welcome their work and their role. Hinduism needs their
service, dedication, sadhana, their skill (kaushala), talent
and intelligence, their leadership. My mind appreciates
their work and my heart blesses them.

Hinduism Today is a monthly journal published from

107 Kaholalele Road,
Kapaa, Hawaii, 96746-9304, USA.

Indian distributors:

Central News Agency,
Subscription Department,
4E/4 Jhandewalan EXtN, New Delhi
110055.

1YR--565 Rupees

(Ram Swarup)

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