Hinduism in America

Poor little Not-Dead-Yet blog! I've been neglecting you, mostly because of a toxic combination of work, laziness, and a lack of bloggable material (lots of work + not wanting to blog about work makes Jack a dull blog).

But thankfully this post regarding commercial marketing of Dharmic (Hindu and Buddhist) religious beliefs at Sepia Mutiny forced me back in. The lovely and talented Cicatrix said:

But…but…but…I live in NY, land of the beautifully blonded yogis who teach classes on aligning chakras and smugly eat all-raw vegan meals while delicately puffing on their cigarettes. I’m wary of how easily complex Eastern philosophies become reduced to status items bought in a spiritual center’s gift shop. How easily the search for a harmonious understanding of one’s desires, relation to other people, and responsibilities in the world becomes transmuted into seeing oneself as a being superior to those who have not been enlightened.

I've always been really interested in the ways that people conceptualize and relate to the Dharmic faiths. It's complicated! It's particularly complicated because these faiths serve so many different, sometimes contradictory ends in the United States.

Ideas of Hinduism (I'm going to focus on Hinduism because it's my faith and I'm most familiar with it) designed to appeal to non-Indian Americans are distinct from those designed to appeal to Indian-born Hindus because they really try to market the faith. They focus on the exotic elements -- the polytheism, the rituals, the many famous traditions like yoga, Ayurveda, songs, etc... -- as well as spiritual-mystical elements that are supposed to restore balance to a heartless Western world by reorienting its chakras to sustain the atman (blah blah blah). I hope that these VERY shallow introductions to the faith will prompt people to explore the deep theological implications and vast diversity in traditions more deeply. But I doubt it. In my experience, they tend to attract people who think one yoga class at the Learning Annex entitles them to claim enlightenment. In short, this Western-oriented Hinduism often encourages a really noxious Orientalism. I'm not going to try to attribute motives to the people who teach these classes, but the net result is often to provide people a lifestyle accessory. A millenia-old religion as something you pick up in a gift shop.

But I think Hinduism is absolutely TERRIBLE at providing any sort of deeper alternative to people who did not grow up immersed in the faith. (A quick caveat here: my experience with Hinduism in America mostly consists of temples generally in the Vaishnav and Swaminaryan tradition in the Midwest and South, so I may be missing some huge cultural movement. If I'm wrong, please let me know.) The average Hindu temple offers virtually no access to people who feel most comfortable speaking English. They offer very little information about the theological underpinnings of the faith, and instead focus on the importance of staying true to the rituals and traditions of India. As a result, they serve as little more than a memorial of a lost life in India. Some have programs for American born youth, but these focus far more on maintaining traditional Indian cultural values (including the negative ones about caste, women, and skin color) than on understanding the theological implications of Hinduism. Now I don't want to sound too hostile here. Moving from India to the USA has to be a huge cultural shift, and it's important to have these institutions that make the transition easier. I know that it's especially important for older people, particularly since the temple has such a huge place in daily life in many Indian traditions.

But if the choices are theme park Orientalism for non-Indian Americans or a stuffy museum for Indian values, where do American-born Indians go? In particular, where do you go if some of your values differ greatly from traditional Indian ones? Where do you go if, for example, your strongest language is English (and you're ok with that)? Where do you go if you're in a relationship with someone who's not Desi (let alone in your caste)? Where do you go if you're not straight? Where do you go if you're a woman, and you think that women deserve to be treated equally?

I realize that all faiths have major moral lines, and that the exact point of these lines is often a subject of debate. In particular, I know that sexual orientation and gender issues are still major topics of debate in Western religious traditions. Gender equality is even a burgeoning field of debate in Islam (depending on the country, obviously). But I find it sad that (in my experience) there isn't even a debate about this stuff within a Hindu framework in the United States. People who feel strongly about any of these issues can either choose to silence their values, often in order to keep older relatives happy, or they can drop out of the faith altogether. I know that these discussions are happening in India, but I don't see them happening here. This is bad news because it leaves the millions of American-born Indians who have a mix of Western Enlightenment values and Indian Dharmic ones without a viable alternative.