SHOULD WESTERNERS BE ALLOWED TO BECOME HINDUS?

By वेद कोविद दुर्गादास वर्मा-लिंगम (Ved Kovid, Durgadas)

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While the short answer is "yes", there are some reservations that we must observe within this answer itself.

For a start, there are largely what I classify as two types of Western Hindus:

1. Those who superimpose or transfer their religious zeal from Christianity onto Hinduism and go off the deep end, or become promoters of Hindu ideals in the extreme which often ignore tradition or revere the Guru as the Supreme and Final authority alone (i.e. ISKCON) due to this

2. Those who become Hindus but are limited by a Western sense of rationalism and Christian dating, such as those who find the Hindu Yuga timeframes and such too long and so reduce them as per their western ideals and concepts (or limitations) - yet contradict themselves by also embracing Jyotish, Tantra and belief in the Devatas!

These two types have contributed largely to the decline in Hinduism, and within this fold I also include those of Mussalman backgrounds who have been imported into Hinduism over the past 600 years or so, especially into the more liberal Vaishnava Movements and have contributed to the decline in viveka and pratyaksha in these systems, which has largely gone out the window!

As the Advaita tradition has been more or less austere and traditional as also preserved itself better against foreign elements and teachers - or those who pose as such and as threats to it's teachings and distortions, it has remained more or less in tact and free from these limitations, or rather, perversions!

We can argue that Hitler and the Nazis had the right idea about recreating an Aryan Civilisation - yet their ideas of the Nordic type alone being the highest as also their persecution of the Jews, Gypsies etc. was uncalled for and unwarranted! Yet, their idea of wiping out Semitic traces and religious dogmas was a good idea - yet as noted, they went the wrong way about it, and also - funnily enough, were tainted strongly by largely Semitic ideas in the first place, not Aryan (Vedic) as such!

Most Westerners have brought about the perverted attitudes and also misconceptions about systems such as Yoga, Ayurveda, Vedanta and Hinduism by learning a little bit themselves and then trying to become Gurus to the West, based upon their superficial knowledge!

The Christian samskaras - if we like, a "cultural DNA" remains inherit in all Westerners as a result of the past 2,000 years of Christianity, which has resulted in a Superiority complex in them which they cannot get beyond and often this asserts itself when they are challenged about tradition or orthodoxy within Hinduism - of which they try and take the (appearingly) moral high-ground, which in itself is a result of the Christocentric-complex in them that asserts "I am right as I believe in the Bible" - regardless of whether they are actually Christian, atheists, agnostics or Hindus! These samskaras still remain, regardless.

Much of this is to blame with silly - and I openly say silly, stupid and ignorant as well as egotistical "Mota Babas" in India - of which we have an abundance of, who seek to cash in on Westerners and feed them mixed teachings or 'tid bits' of Hinduism, which they disguise as representing the Integral path of Hinduism or the complete teachings.

Others, as we know, make themselves into avatars and may or may not possess siddhis to further their mass-appeal - but the point remains here also that siddhis don't denote a Realised personality, any more than a vision of Krishna, Vishnu, Shiva or Kali is a sign of spiritual progress - as that vision could even be of an asura or deva playing with us, or as a result of our own mind as per Yoga!

Yet, to the naive Westerner, who thinks that God alone can have this power and sent his only son 2,000 years back who alone performed such feats and miracles (unless, of course, of the Devil) - such displays of siddhis and sweet words by these manipulating Gurus can easily sway them into creating all sorts of stories and false beliefs (as they also did with the New Testament!).

There are hence many things that as Hindus, we need to be aware of with regards to Western Hindus, although there are are many good devoted Western Hindus who are actually Yogis of India reborn in the West! Yet, their own 'Hindu samskaras' and also 'Yogic samskaras' come out earlier in their life, permeate their teachings and also in their own activities and lives!

Perhaps what is the greatest issue of all is that Hindus today have no or little viveka-shakti or power of discrimination and as a whole (regardless of jati), act as the shastras spoke of lower-castes acting - in ignorance, naively bowing to anything / anyone appearing as spiritual and having no or little knowledge of Sanskrit, the shastras or of their own traditions!