Global Dharma
I N D I A
India’s Religious Youth
IN
A POLL COMMISSIONED BY Hindustan Times in early August, one thousand randomly
selected Indian youth of all faiths, from six major metropolitan areas,
answered a variety of questions to reveal the role of religion in their lives.
Overall, the poll indicated religion is a significant component.
TO
THE QUESTION “Do you consider yourself religious?” Only nine percent said “no”
or “don’t care,” while 91% replied, “yes”—32%, “staunchly,” and 59%
“moderately/occasionally/so-so.” By comparison, a 2000 study by Barna Research
Group in the US indicated 64% of US teens say they are religious.
ASKED
WHETHER THEY HAD read their religious scriptures, only 15% said they had
personally read them, while 22% learned mostly from their parents and 33%
mostly from books, TV series and popular culture. To a related question, about
the formation of their religious beliefs, 68% credited their parents (whom most
considered more devout), 21% general society and 11% their own study and
understanding.
THE
YOUTH GOT MIXED grades for understanding and participation. Only 34% could
explain “the religious reasons behind rituals such as fasting,” and just 10%
said they dress according to their religious beliefs. On the other hand, 64%
visit a place of worship at least a few times a month.
THIRTY
PERCENT CONSUME food according to their religious belief, while 24% “follow
important tenets like praying as per your faith.”
THERE
WAS A SHARP DISTINCTION between men and women on marrying outside their faith.
Only 17% of the women said they would, compared to 32% of the men. Fully 89%
would encourage their children to be religious.
THE
POLL DID NOT TAKE INTO account the religion of the respondents. If it was a
cross section of Indian society, the group would be about 82% Hindu, 12%
Muslim, 2.5% Christian and 2% Sikh. There were significant indicators of a
desire for religious harmony: 77% want religion kept out of politics, and 65%
willingly take part in rituals and festivals of other religions.
MADHU
KHANNA, PROFESSOR, Centre for Comparative Religions and Civilizations, offered
her analysis of the results to the Hindustan Times: “The new generation is not
interested in the old form of religiosity. While some may believe practitioners
not knowing their beliefs is a sign of the decline of religion, it can also be
viewed as an emergence of an alternate way of practicing. In our country, there
are no avenues to understand the true leanings of religion. Every secular
nation has a department of religious studies at universities. India has none.”
OVERALL
THE POLL WAS ENCOURAGING. The vast majority of youth consider themselves
religious to a significant degree, most attend places of worship and nearly all
plan to encourage their children to be religious.
I N D I A
Kanwariyas’ Arduous Trek
THROUGHOUT
THE SACRED month of Shravan (July/August) millions pilgrimage to the Ganga to
fetch Her holy waters to bless their homes and lives. The trek is traditionally
done on foot, many walking hundreds of kilometers from their villages and
towns. Their name comes from the pole that each carries, known as a kanwar,
which holds a pot at each end to carry the water collected.
THE
JOURNEY IS ARDUOUS, involving blistered feet, little food and the dangers of
road accidents; each year a few are injured or killed. Even so, everyone still
considers it a powerful and uplifting experience.
SAID
ONE PILGRIM, “KANWARIYAS don’t undertake this journey for penance. They perform
it for two reasons—to thank God for fulfilling one’s wish, or to tell Him to
let things stay as they are. Kanwariyas are mostly satisfied people.”
U S A
California University Establishes Hindu Program
IN
AN AUGUST 24 PRESS RELEASE, Claremont Lincoln University in Southern California
announced that they and the Nalanda Confluence Institute had agreed to
establish a graduate program in Hindu Dharma studies at Claremont. The release
states, “Both institutions share the belief that when the world’s religious
traditions work together, instead of separately, they are much better equipped
to address the most urgent global issues that we face today.”
THE
PROGRAM WILL OFFER several degrees, including master’s degrees in Hindu
studies, Hindu clinical pastoral chaplaincy and Hindu theology/philosophy, as
well as a degree in Hindu contemplative, yogic and consciousness studies,
applied dharma, and other initiatives in partnership with Hindu spiritual
institutions and community organizations.
CLU
IS A DIVISION OF the accredited Claremont School of Theology founded by the
United Methodist Church. In recent years the School of Theology has expanded
with programs that are “interdisplinary, multicutural and multireligious.”
I N D I A
Prisoner-Produced Deities
AHMEDABAD’S
SABARMATI Central Jail has hit upon a satisfying and profitable inmate
activity: making eco-friendly clay Ganesha statues for sale during Ganesha
Chaturti in September of each year, with the profits going to benefit the
Prisoners’ Welfare Fund.
P.C.
THAKUR, A PRISON OFFICIAL, explained to the Times of India that they started
the project after the city banned Deities made of plaster of paris for
ecological reasons. Kishan Bhati, a convicted murderer from a family of deity
makers, was delighted. He helped to train eight others for the task, including
some Muslims who joined enthusiastically.
“WORK
IS LIKE WORSHIP FOR US,” Kailash told the Times. “We forget time and space when
immersed in the process. It is satisfying to learn that the deities made by us
will end up at people’s houses and will be revered.” The training program will
be expanded next year to meet the demand for the deities.
F A M O U S V E G E T A R I A N S
César Chávez, Labor Activist
CESAR
CHAVEZ (1927-1993) was a Latin American civil rights activist and cofounder of
The United Farm Workers. He led a historic movement for the rights, not only of
American farm workers, but also of working people in cities and towns across
the nation.
CHAVEZ
WAS INSPIRED BY MAHATMA GANDHI and Martin Luther King. Born to a family of
migrant farm workers, Chavez directly experienced the segregation and harsh
treatment of Mexican Americans working on California’s commercial farms. Using
Gandhi’s tactics of nonviolence, civil disobedience and even fasting, Chavez
organized a powerful national movement in the 1950s and 60s, eventually winning
significant rights for farm laborers.
IN
A SPEECH TO GRAPE PICKERS in California, he echoed Gandhi’s wisdom: “If someone
commits violence against us, it is much better we not react against the
violence but that we react in such a way as to get closer to our goal. People
don’t like to see a nonviolent movement subjected to violence, and there’s a
lot of support across the country for nonviolence. That’s the key point we have
going for us. We can change the world if we can do it nonviolently.”
IT IS NOT WIDELY
KNOWN THAT
Chavez was a vegetarian. In 1992, during his acceptance of a Lifetime
Achievement Award from In Defense of Animals (IDA), he explained his view: “We
need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to make all people understand
that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as
we love ourselves. And that’s the basis for peace. The basis for peace is respecting
all creatures. We cannot hope to have peace until we respect everyone—respect
ourselves and respect animals and all living things. We know we cannot defend
and be kind to animals until we stop exploiting them—exploiting them in the
name of science, exploiting animals in the name of sport, exploiting animals in
the name of fashion, and yes, exploiting animals in the name of food.”
W O R L D
Indian States Equal to Entire Countries!
IN
THE LAST 10 YEARS INDIA’S POPULATION HAS INCREASED by 181 million people,
reaching a total population of 1.21 billion as of 2011. At right we reproduce a
fascinating population chart that is circulating on the Internet. It compares
the population of India’s 15 largest states with that of entire countries. The
population of all those countries (shown in red on the map above) taken
together doesn’t equal India’s.
AS
DIVERSE AS THESE 15 NATIONS ARE, SO TOO ARE EACH OF these 15 Indian states. We
might consider why a country like Germany, with a population smaller than any
of the five most populous Indian states, takes up such a large amount of mental
real estate on the world stage, and especially in our education systems. Ask an
average Western student about Germany and you’ll learn of its medieval and
recent history, its aggression in the First and Second World Wars, its
engineers and beer, and you might even hear a few words of Deutsch. Ask that
same student about the far more populous Indian state of Bihar and you’ll get a
blank stare, or at best a mention of its tiger population. But Bihar, home of
the Maurya Empire and birthplace of Buddhism, surely deserves at least adequate
reference in the teaching of world history.
|
Indian State
|
Population
|
Country
|
Population
|
|
UTTAR PRADESH
|
166,052,859
|
PAKISTAN
|
176,745,364
|
|
MAHARASHTRA
|
112,372,972
|
PHILLIPPINES
|
92,337,852
|
|
BIHAR
|
103,804,637
|
GERMANY
|
81,799,600
|
|
WEST BENGAL
|
91,347,736
|
ETHIOPIA
|
84,320,987
|
|
ANDHRA PRADESH
|
84,655,533
|
IRAN
|
75,149,669
|
|
TAMIL NADU
|
72,138,958
|
UK
|
62,262,000
|
|
MADHYA PRADESH
|
72,597,565
|
ITALY
|
60,813,326
|
|
RAJASTHAN
|
68,621,012
|
FRANCE
|
65,350,000
|
|
KARNATAKA
|
61,130,704
|
SOUTH AFRICA
|
48,810,427
|
|
GUJARAT
|
60,383,628
|
SPAIN
|
47,190,493
|
|
ORISSA
|
41,947,358
|
ARGENTINA
|
41,281,631
|
|
KERALA
|
33,387,677
|
CANADA
|
34,928,000
|
|
JHARKHAND
|
32,966,238
|
SAUDI ARABIA
|
28,376,355
|
|
ASSAM
|
31,169,272
|
NORTH KOREA
|
24,554,000
|
|
PUNJAB
|
27,704,236
|
GHANA
|
24,233,431
|
|
HARYANA
|
25,353,081
|
AUSTRALIA
|
22,737,609
|
Immense India: The latest census shows India now makes up
over 17% of the world’s population, with 1.21 billion people. Its population is
still growing.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
(Continued...)
(My humble salutations to Sadguru Sri Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
ji, Satguru Bodhianatha Velayanswami ji, Hinduism
Today for the collection)
(The Blog is reverently for all the seekers of truth,
lovers of wisdom and to share the Hindu Dharma with others on the
spiritual path and also this is purely a non-commercial blog)
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