Cambridge,
MA. June 27-30 I was in Orlando, Florida, for the Seventh International
Conference of the World Association of Vedic Studies (WAVES). This is a
meeting of Hindus who meet every second year for a conference that is
in part a cultural event, in part a confidence-building gathering, and
in part an academic conference. Most of those who came reside in the
US, including a good number of young Hindus born in the West, but some
participants came all the way from India. Some are professors in
religious and philosophical studies, while others are professionals in
other fields, but nonetheless deeply committed to their religion's
well-being. I was there because I was invited to give the keynote
address on the first night, on "How the Hindu community can contribute
to religious life here in America." I stayed the entire weekend,
knowing that I would enjoy the gathering, and also learn much from the
papers given and from the conversations at meals and between sessions.
   
As an event, WAVES is a sign of a community that has "arrived" and is
big enough to sponsor serious conferences, and yet is stilling finding
its way. The Hindu community is well-established in the United States,
and is largely very successful in business, technology, and the
sciences; there are now Hindu temples in most large and medium-sized
American cities, as well as many educational organizations, cultural
centers, publications and websites, etc. If one also counts yoga as a
practice most closely connected to Hinduism, we can say that Hinduism
is already having a great impact in the United States, and this
influence is destined to increase in the next decades. In saying this,
I realize that some readers will be not used to thinking about the
Hindu community, since we usually think of Islam and Buddhism as the
"newly arrived" religions that are having the most influence on our
society. Perhaps it is a blessing, though, that Hindus are simply here
and flourishing, without any great fanfare or headlines.
    But of
course, with success there are also growing pains. One underlying theme
of the weekend was the need to keep continuity between Hindu life and
values in India and here in America -- a problem that surely every
immigrant group has faced. How do the venerable values of Hindu
traditions still matter in today's world? More implicitly, there seemed
to be an underlying concern to sort out a love-hate relationship with
the West: there is the legacy of colonialism, of centuries of Christian
attacks on idolatry, paganism, and the deficiencies of the Hindus, and
a feeling that even today, Indian culture and religion are little
appreciated and understood in the West. So how to become increasingly
American -- while yet having doubts about the good will and welcome of
the West and its Christian majority? How to fit in, while keeping
traditional values? Should the community keep its distance from the
American mainstream? Should Hindus try to build their own educational
system, as did Catholic immigrants in the 19th century? Do temple
worship and other ancient traditions need in some way to be
"Americanized"?
    The major point I tried to make in my opening
address was that Hindus are now well placed to play an important role
in the religious life of the United States, for reason such as these:
they come from India, a large, diverse democracy in which many
religions have long been present, and so our religious diversity is
less of a shock than it is for many others; Hindus bring with them
cultural and religious traditions that are complete, rich in literature
and poetry, philosophy and theology, ritual and art, and so can remind
us of how to live an integral familial and cultural life; the Hindu
traditions are intellectually as well as religiously rich, and Hindus
can bring intelligence to American conversations on religion, and
spiritual vigor to the intellectual life; although Hindu beliefs cover
a wide spectrum of views about the divine, many of the largest and most
vigorous are theistic traditions, dedicated to a supreme God, or
Goddess, or supreme divine couple -- and so, despite expectations to
the contrary, they can share with Christians a sense of God as Person,
and of God's will, grace, and salvific involvement in the world.
Everything is in a sense different, of course, and there will be points
of real contrast, but Hindus and Christians who believe in God can talk
to one another on many levels. So, I said, it is possible and important
for Hindus to make themselves heard in American life, showing that
their beliefs and values are not exotic but quite relevant as we look
to the future. I concluded by admitting that we -- Americans and
Catholics too -- can learn much from Hindus, and together we can work
to make our country a better, healthier, more spiritual environment.
   
Over the weekend, I had many conversations with individuals, and we did
in fact find much to talk about. It helped, of course, that I have
studied Hinduism for many years, but it was clear that we really did
have something in common. My being a Catholic priest and Jesuit was a
plus, not a negative, in part because Indians have great respect for
the Jesuit educational institutions of India, and also because they
have the highest respect for Jesus as a divine teacher. I would like to
think that my experience on the weekend, and similar positive
encounters across the country, indicate that the Hinduism is a
underestimated blessing in American culture, and that we should not
neglect Hindu-Christian relations even when other interreligious
relationships seem to press upon us more vigorously. The
Hindu-Christian dialogue is in a way the neglected dialogue that
promises to teach us much about ourselves and America and about our
Hindu sisters and brothers; I am confident it will grow during the
decades to come.
    Note to the reader: If you do not know much about Hinduism, you might start with Vasudha Narayanan's Hinduism: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places, and her edited collection (with Jack Hawley), The Life of Hinduism.

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