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Recent content by bp789

  1. bp789

    can a swaminarayan devotee please tell me the sugnificance

    Kind of late, but the murtis would be dressed up depending on the occasion. The murtis are dressed as the Indian flag to celebrate Republic Day (as to why the flag is on the floor, I don't know). If the people in the temple want to celebrate their children graduating from high school or...
  2. bp789

    Is Isma'ilism a middle ground between Islam and Dharma?

    So, I have a lot of Ismaili friends where I live, and I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to say that they're a middle ground between Islam and Dharma (as least originally anyway). I asked one of my friends over why Ismaili Muslims are way more liberal than more traditional Muslims...
  3. bp789

    Vatican City Museum Houses Small Vishnu Temple

    Vatican Museums Display Replica of Temple to This Hindu God - World Religion News Thoughts about this?
  4. bp789

    4000 Year Old Lord Vishnu Statue

    As far as I am aware, the Afghan Hindus are descendants of Indian traders and merchants that settled in Afghanistan when Afghanistan was under the control of the Sikh Empire, which is why they speak languages like Punjabi and Sindhi, along with the local languages. There might be some...
  5. bp789

    Harihara as Supreme?

    As someone that was born into the sect, I should clarify that this doesn't really happen in practice. Even though one of the sectarian scriptures says that they are one, there is still a bias towards Vishnu and his incarnations, and Shiva is still treated as a deva. Plus, there isn't a separate...
  6. bp789

    The Caste System

    I wouldn't say it's that common in India. I know for North India, first cousin marriages are heavily looked down upon and viewed as incest. My parents are Gujarati and in Gujarat, marrying your first through seventh cousins is considered incestuous and unacceptable because many Indians live with...
  7. bp789

    Ancient Hindus Discoveries

    Actually, that quote by Macaulay is a hoax that's been spreading around the internet for so long. It says he made the speech at February 2, 1835, but he was in India at the time. There's no record of him saying this quote to the British Parliament at all. However, on that date, he did deliver a...
  8. bp789

    Gita Jayanti Message from Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard

    I thought that this was interesting enough to share :). It's nice that she doesn't shy away from talking about Hinduism in her videos. yOea-9ROyHU Tulsi, Gita Jayanti Message 2013 - YouTube She also has a video about Diwali in her channel too.
  9. bp789

    What exactly is the Swaminarayan faith?

    I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities, although I haven't really studied my family sect that in-depth. 1. Simply put, no. Most of the pujas, prayers, and rituals that go on inside the Swaminarayan temples are with the belief and perception that Swaminarayan is God. There are some...
  10. bp789

    Emphasis on Sanskrit and Hindu

    Actually, I'd say a good number of Hindus I know don't know what language the Hanuman Chalisa is in. The Hanuman Chalisa is sung in Awadhi, which is spoken among people in a certain part of Uttar Pradesh. I can't imagine many Indians in the west knowing what Awadhi is.
  11. bp789

    Mysticism?

    I've read on many posts on the forum that while mysticism has been restricted to small and persecuted sects of Abrahamic religions, mysticism is open and public in Hinduism and other Dharmic religions....but what the heck is mysticism? One definition I found of mysticism is that it is basically...
  12. bp789

    New deities

    Pretty much haha. I know that Hare Krishnas (ISKCON) also do the same thing in that they primarily worship Krishna. Their temples may have different forms of Krishna throughout their temple, but it's still Krishna. Actually it's not just ISKCON, but Vaishnava temples in general. Sometimes it's...
  13. bp789

    New deities

    For the most part yeah, we mostly visit our own Swaminarayan mandirs since that's we learn about the specific prayers, aartis, and philosophy of the sect. We mostly only visit other temples for things like Holi because their festivals are larger than the ones at the Swaminarayan temples. There...
  14. bp789

    New deities

    My experience has been the opposite actually in that we only worship one deity. Well to be specific, we don't only worship one deity, but we primarily worship one deity. For example, my family are Swaminarayan Hindus, and we worship Swaminarayan as God. When my parents due to their prayers...
  15. bp789

    does hinduism accept christ as a prophet/god

    Frankly, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this topic. It's typically only on the internet forums that I've seen people say that Hindus should have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus. My experience in real life is different. I agree that Jesus is completely irrelevant to Hinduism, and we...
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