Not for or from Indians who are in the West. But perception of Westerners to those among them who have become Hindus.
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What makes a Hindu a Hindu - Version 2
- Thread starter Vinayaka
- Start date
Hindu clothing? Dhoti? You wear dhoti?
Yes. of course. Many people do at the temple I go to do. It's the tradition. For sadhana at home for sure. Pants aren't comfortable for sitting cross legged.
I don't understand. BTW, where are you, and have you travelled extensively? There seems to be some naivety here.
I had lived in US for 10 years. I got the feeling, especially among American Christians, that they consider those white Americans who have converted to Hinduism as woolly headed eccentrics.
I have worn dhoti only twice...the last time during my wedding, and before that in the thread ceremony.
Nowadays, in India, ethnic dress means Kurta-Pajama or Sherwani.
Hah!, those American Christians simply have no idea where the real center lies!
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Oh, now I understand. I thought you were thinking about how Indian immigrants saw us. They're American Christians. What do you expect? If you get away from Bible belts it gets better, like In California around some westernised group like SRF. I wouldn't know. But I still don't wear forehead marks in public for this very reason, sure.
I've never expected westerners to get it. Many on this forum demonstrate that part.
I have worn dhoti only twice...the last time during my wedding, and before that in the thread ceremony.
Nowadays, in India, ethnic dress means Kurta-Pajama or Sherwani, which is an Islamic dress of course.
Try South India.
Yes, I was saying that Western Hindus are often chary of adopting the label because of how their Christians neighbors think about it.
That could be true. It's never been a problem for me, because like most Hindus, I don't wear it on my sleeve. The evangelical nosy neighbour on my block gets far more negative attention that I ever could.
But yeah, there was reaction when I changed my name. The interesting thing was that my students were far more receptive than staff was. (It was at a school, I came back from December break with a new name.)
Christians will often wear a crucifix around their neck, Muslims will fly flags with a moon sickle and five pointed star, Jews have their sixpointed star, we have our pratiik, a sixpointed star with rising sun and swastika. Do Hindus have such a symbol that they wear or show?
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
That is 'Ananda Marg'.
Veshti, Sayak.
Om, Swastika, or just a tattoo saying 'Jai Sri Ram' etc.
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The Preceptor's name is Shrii Shrii Anandamurti and the tantra-yoga path He founded is now called 'Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha', the organisation for the propagation of the Path of Bliss, also mentioned in the topic on 'So-called Hindu Reform Movements'.
It was founded in Jamalpur which I believe is culturally Bengali, but actually in the state of Bihar. I've never been there, but would like to one day pay it a visit.I wore a dhoti once while visiting Kolkata, it felt very odd but kinda nice.
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I wear a silver praṇava (ॐ) on a silver chain. I know a young woman who wears a gold one. I take mine off only at night only because I can't sleep with anything around my neck.
I have worn dhoti only twice...the last time during my wedding, and before that in the thread ceremony.
Nowadays, in India, ethnic dress means Kurta-Pajama or Sherwani.
Me. Usually I wear a collared dress shirt. Northern style dhoti w/ angavastram. I also wear it southern style.
Veshti, Sayak.
I say veshti for southern style and dhoti for northern. Does it make a difference? No idea, it's just a quirk of mine, among many.
Unfortunately I am guilty of doing just that, which I have come to regret. Not out of any sense of embarrassment, but I feel it's something I should have kept to myself. I have some framed deity pictures and tiny brass murtis in my work cube (some?
). My Indian coworkers were tickled pink when they first saw them. My western co-workers probably think "that's Jai just being Jai" (digression: my middle name is actually Jason, so Jay or Jai works). But now the proverbial genie is out of the bottle, so to scale back or dismantle my work "shrine" (no incense or diyas though.. yet ) would probably send a negative signal.One woman, on a bring-your-kid-to-work day, made a point of bringing her son to meet me and show him the images in my cube. I take that as full acceptance. I sometimes wear my om pendant over my t shirt, but I don't generally do it in the presence of other Hindus, if they are not wearing any religious jewelry. I feel I'm "trying too hard" and trying to out-Hindu other Hindus, especially being a white westerner.