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Haindava Keralam - global community of dedicated Hindu Keralites with a peace mission
- Parents' Dilemma
As I travel the nation delivering lectures on Hindu philosophy and spirituality, I frequently encounter a repeated scenario. Hindu parents will often approach me after I've finished my lecture and timidly ask if they can have some advice. The often-repeated story goes somewhat like this:
" We raised our son/daughter to be a good Hindu. We took them to the temple for important holidays. We even sent him/her to a Hindu camp for a weekend when they were 13. Now at the age of 23, our child has left Hinduism and converted to the (fill in the blank) religion. When we ask how could they have left the religion of their family, the answer that they throw back in our face is: 'but mama/dada, you always taught us that all religions are the same, and that it doesn't really matter how a person worships God. So what does it matter if we've followed your advice and switched to another religion?'"
Many of you currently reading this article have probably been similarly approached by parents expressing this same dilemma. - In modern Hinduism, we hear from a variety of sources this claim that all religions are equal. Unfortunately, the most damaging source of this fallacy is none other than the many un-informed spiritual leaders of the Hindu community itself. I have been to innumerable pravachanas, for example, where a benignly grinning guruji will provide his audience with the following tediously parroted metaphor, what I call the Mountain Metaphor.
The Mountain Metaphor
" Truth (or God or Brahman) lies at the summit of a very high mountain. There are many diverse paths to reach the top of the mountain, and thus attain the one supreme goal. Some paths are shorter, some longer. The path itself, however, is unimportant. The only truly important thing is that seekers all reach the top of the mountain." - No Radical Universalism, Please!
Each and every time a Hindu upholds Radical Universalism, and bombastically proclaims that "all religions are the same", she does so at the dire expense of the very Hinduism she claims to love. To deny the uniqueness and greatness of Hinduism leads, in turn, to a very unhealthy psychological state of self-loathing, a sense of unworthiness and a schizophrenic confusion on the part of anyone who wishes to consider themselves Hindu. - (DR. FRANK MORALES -Also known as Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya, Dr. Frank Gaetano Morales was born in New York and has been practicing the ancient tradition of Yoga spirituality for over 30 years. After living the life of a celibate monk for years, he was ordained as a "brahmana" (a spiritual teacher and priest) in 1986. He is one of the few non-Indian spiritual teachers to be accepted by both the orthodox Indian Hindu community, in addition to Western spiritual seekers, as being a fully authentic and recognized spiritual teacher. Dr. Morales is widely renowned for his unapologetically authentic and traditional approach to teaching Hinduism.)
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