Mumbai

The Asian subcontinent is often touted as a centuries-long (successful) experiment in the fruits of interfaith understanding, and for good reason. Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Parsis, and Jains are all a big part of the faith landscape of India. There are, of course, others, and next to the US, there is no other country as religiously diverse as India.

Still, there have been tough times. The 1947 Partition, the Gujarat riots, Kashmir and its importance to IndoPak relations, the continuing issues surrounding Ayodhya, and a number of earth-shattering assassinations have soiled the image of India as a multifaith haven.

And today/tonight, the attacks in Mumbai, the glitzy Maharashtran financial capital, add another high-profile case. Like the other instances of conflict and senseless violence, the attacks today have not been purely religious (religious violence seldom is), but their effects will be felt for a very long time.

No matter what the outcome of tonight's/today's/tomorrow's events may be, the memory of the attacks will inform attitudes and actions in India's communities for some time; it is a larger-scale incident with wall-to-wall media coverage. The DU Interfaith Student Alliance stands with people of all faiths in India and beyond. We hope that, as we always have, our human community can move beyond these horrid transgressions in the natural order and continue to grow together.

It's important to remember that in India, and indeed in every village and city in the world, our natural relation with people of different faiths is not predicated on violence, and certainly does not have to be.

Technorati Tags: mumbai, terrorism, interfaith

Dialogue and Grapes

The DU Interfaith Student Alliance ACTION TEAM (acronym forthcoming) traveled to the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of the Rockies last night for an evening of education and dialogue. The Interfaith Alliance of Colorado organized the event as part of its regular series, and Acharya ji Kailash Chandra Upadhyay, the head priest at the temple, was kind enough to host us.

We did a bit of background on dialogue work and various techniques for listening and voicing and such, and then Acharya Kailash spoke for some time about Hinduism and South Asian belief systems. We retreated downstairs and had a bunch of interesting food. There were many grapes, and they appeared in different forms in a few dishes. I've never seen so many grapes. This is why I mentioned them in the title.

We settled down into separate groups to dialogue about what it means to live in a "culture of fear," what fear means to us, and what we can do to allay both our own fear and the fear of others. We had about an hour of really good dialogue - the kind that doesn't necessarily blow one's mind but that does give one a more rounded idea of a particular thing. In this case, I gained a better understanding of how fear can affect the lives of those around me, even if I myself am oblivious to that fear.

It was all very nice, well-run, and re-warding. Fear is bad; grapes are good.

Technorati Tags: hinduism, interfaith

Soul Food

This post originally appeared at Aurora University's Monthly Musings archive in January 2007:


Soul Food

I enjoy visiting our local Hindu temple, especially on weekends. On Saturdays and Sundays, it’s full of people, and the place is awash in a rainbow of multi-colored saris and flower garlands. The aromas of burning incense waft about, and the Sanskrit prayers are a real treat. That makes sight, sound, and smell. Since it would be bad form to touch the statues, that only leaves one sense: taste.

The temple itself is only one part of the complex. There’s also an auditorium. But the real gem for me is the attached dining hall. On the weekends, the kitchen churns out all kinds of wonderful foods; chakkulus, murukulus, masala dosa, idly, mango lassi, and a host of other palate-defying tastes. I usually shoot for the tamarind rice with some chakkulus on the side. The rice is nice and spicy, and you get a lot of bang for your buck. But on my last visit, I was notoriously lacking in the “buck” department.

I hadn’t brought any cash, and the change in my pocket wasn’t going to cut it. The lady at the counter asked me if I wanted anything, and I told her that I would have to pass. And so I left. I was halfway across the parking lot when shouts from the temple entrance caught my ear. Someone was waving to me to come back. Uh oh. What did I do?

Apparently, word of my fiscal ineptitude had spread, and as I reentered the dining hall, I was led over to the kitchen and instructed to order whatever I felt like. I tried explaining that I could not pay, but the woman I had spoken to earlier smiled and said, “This is a temple. No one goes hungry here.”

And I didn’t go hungry. I had a large masala dosa with potatoes and sambar and chutney. People kept coming by and asking how I found the food. I had offers for mango lassi, which I declined, but I was brought water and more smiles.

As I drove away, satiated both physically and otherwise, I was reminded again just how deeply such generosity is built into our world’s religions. This wasn’t my first head-on collision with hospitality, and it certainly won’t be the last, but I am consistently floored by such tiny events. They always seem to reaffirm my hope for things and, in the case of munchies, give a whole new meaning to the term “soul food.”

Voting in America

From the Huffington Post, Amazing Voting Images.

I've included a few in particular because I find them particularly important for America:







Technorati Tags: islam, election, america, judaism

Jack O' Lanterns and Jesus Christ

For some strange reason, I felt it necessary to attend 6:30 a.m. Mass this morning at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception here in Denver. It's a beautiful place, and I don't stop by often enough. The crowd was sparse, as many early services tend to be, and was largely populated with the "older set," i.e. I was probably one of about 5 under the age of 25.

The usual rituals ensued, and continued up to the homily. The priest began by relating an archbishop's recent statements concerning the PAGAN FESTIVAL OF HALLOWEEN. It was the typical rehash of why it's really a hollow holiday, and should always, always be relegated to American "civil religion." Now the funny part: He contrasted it with today's celebration (All Souls Day) and how this is a day that, like Halloween, we are to honor our friends and relatives who have passed on. I forget exactly what differences he was pointing out. All Souls Day, like All Saints Day on November 1st, didn't happen by chance.

I giggled because I feel that the priest may have been willfully ignoring the ways in which pagan/nature holidays have informed, almost exactly, the calendar of the Catholic Church (and Christianity in general). All Souls and All Saints line up with Halloween, Christmas trees and Christmas time have their roots in Germanic myth, and the very word "Easter" may have been named after an old goddess figure. There are also a variety of ways in which Christian holidays fit in with the holidays of their Jewish ancestors. Many of them line up, in one way or another, with the observances of other faiths.

As I sat pondering all of this gobbledigook, the priest moved on to speak of Purgatory, and how we ought to be helping those friends and family who are waiting there. And how do we do this? The priest said, "Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting." Of course, as he spoke it, I was reciting the analogous terms in Islam: zakat, salat, sawm.

I left the church reminded again of the relative ease with which we can find points of convergence between and among our traditions, provided we are on the lookout for them. Happy Belated Halloween.