The Label "Hindu"

[Vinidra]

I've been thinking about this for a while, but SalixIncendium's thread is what inspired me to post because I didn't want to hijack it.

For multiple reasons--none of which I will bore you with--even though I have been worshipping Devi in various forms for several years now, I still don't really feel comfortable calling myself a Hindu. It has nothing to do with wanting to distance myself from the label and everything to do with the fact that I don't feel "worthy" of it, so to speak.

Has anyone else ever felt this way? And if so, what did you do to overcome the feeling?

 

[Vinayaka]

I've been thinking about this for a while, but SalixIncendium's thread is what inspired me to post because I didn't want to hijack it.

For multiple reasons--none of which I will bore you with--even though I have been worshipping Devi in various forms for several years now, I still don't really feel comfortable calling myself a Hindu. It has nothing to do with wanting to distance myself from the label and everything to do with the fact that I don't feel "worthy" of it, so to speak.

Has anyone else ever felt this way? And if so, what did you do to overcome the feeling?

All the time.
Vairava is the gatekeeper to the Hindu temple I go to, and the warrior guardian of it. He holds the key. I've personally extended that to the religion and thank him each and every time I go there. "Thank you for letting me into this temple, and thank you for letting me into this religion," So maybe if you can find a Vairava somewhere, he can pull that thought up for you. Vairava, an aspect of Siva, is also worshipped just as a trident. We keep one near to the shrine room as well.) He might say, "I let you in, didn't I?"

I did put this to each of my 2 Gurus at one time or another. The first time it was "You're here aren't you?" which I had no response to, as he was right about that.

The second time was much later, and He said you have to look at the frequency. If you feel this way all the time, it's probably not good, but occasionally is fine, normal.

We're supposed to feel somewhat not worthy. Some of the apology prayers that end pujas say just that. "I know I'm not worthy, but please accept my apologies for that, and bless me for the efforts despite my unworthiness."

Hope this helps, I'd hate to lose a humble brother to this.

 

[Aupmanyav]

It has nothing to do with wanting to distance myself from the label and everything to do with the fact that I don't feel "worthy" of it, so to speak.

Do you think we all Hindus are 'worthies'? We are common people and we have our deficiencies. Some of us try to be worthy and succeed or fail to various extent. Even if not being completely 'worthy', we adjust to the situation.

 

[Jainarayan]

Has anyone else ever felt this way? And if so, what did you do to overcome the feeling?

Yes, all the time. Still working on it.

Playing armchair psychologist, I'm going to say that a lot of times with us non-Indians it's a feeling of (non-)acceptance by the Indian Hindus. It's almost always an unjustified or unfounded feeling. It's something one just has to fight. I don't think it's written anywhere that it is an easy feeling to shake. Maybe there's a certain amount of demonstration of dedication we think we need to show to use the title Hindu. But the longer you spend living and worshiping as a Hindu, the more you believe you are. It becomes second nature and ingrained in your psyche. Like so many other things, it's a marathon not a sprint.

 

[Vinidra]

All the time.
Vairava is the gatekeeper to the Hindu temple I go to, and the warrior guardian of it. He holds the key. I've personally extended that to the religion and thank him each and every time I go there. "Thank you for letting me into this temple, and thank you for letting me into this religion," So maybe if you can find a Vairava somewhere, he can pull that thought up for you. Vairava, an aspect of Siva, is also worshipped just as a trident. We keep one near to the shrine room as well.) He might say, "I let you in, didn't I?"

This is a great idea. I'm going to give it a shot.

I did put this to each of my 2 Gurus at one time or another. The first time it was "You're here aren't you?" which I had no response to, as he was right about that.

The second time was much later, and He said you have to look at the frequency. If you feel this way all the time, it's probably not good, but occasionally is fine, normal.

We're supposed to feel somewhat not worthy. Some of the apology prayers that end pujas say just that. "I know I'm not worthy, but please accept my apologies for that, and bless me for the efforts despite my unworthiness."

Hope this helps, I'd hate to lose a humble brother to this.

It does help. Tremendously. And not to worry, I'm not going anywhere.

Do you think we all Hindus are 'worthy'? We are common people and we have our deficiencies. Some of us try to be worthy and succeed or fail to various extents. Even if not being completely 'worthy', we adjust to the situation.

You're right about that, Aup. I'm probably just overthinking it. We're all just people doing the best we can, in the end.

Yes, all the time. Still working on it.

Playing armchair psychologist, I'm going to say that a lot of times with us non-Indians it's a feeling of (non-)acceptance by the Indian Hindus. It's almost always an unjustified or unfounded feeling. It's something one just has to fight. I don't think it's written anywhere that it is an easy feeling to shake. Maybe there's a certain amount of demonstration of dedication we think we need to show to use the title Hindu. But the longer you spend living and worshiping as a Hindu, the more you believe you are. It becomes second nature and ingrained in your psyche. Like so many other things, it's a marathon not a sprint.

That makes perfect sense. I'll just keep going like I've been going and hope it comes more naturally as time goes by.


Thanks, everyone!

 

[SomeRandom]

I've been thinking about this for a while, but SalixIncendium's thread is what inspired me to post because I didn't want to hijack it.

For multiple reasons--none of which I will bore you with--even though I have been worshipping Devi in various forms for several years now, I still don't really feel comfortable calling myself a Hindu. It has nothing to do with wanting to distance myself from the label and everything to do with the fact that I don't feel "worthy" of it, so to speak.

Has anyone else ever felt this way? And if so, what did you do to overcome the feeling?

Well why do you think you feel unworthy? Is this a matter of trying to fit in with a different culture and feeling like you don't measure up?
Is this perhaps a hangover from another teaching trying to instill living up to ideals?

What you call yourself is your own business. But labels are ultimately meaningless.

 

[Vinidra]

Well why do you think you feel unworthy? Is this a matter of trying to fit in with a different culture and feeling like you don't measure up?
Is this perhaps a hangover from another teaching trying to instill living up to ideals?

What you call yourself is your own business. But labels are ultimately meaningless.

It's Imposter Syndrome, mostly. Part of me feels like I'm running some kind of long con here, although for what purpose, I couldn't tell you.

 

[Shantanu]

I've been thinking about this for a while, but SalixIncendium's thread is what inspired me to post because I didn't want to hijack it.

For multiple reasons--none of which I will bore you with--even though I have been worshipping Devi in various forms for several years now, I still don't really feel comfortable calling myself a Hindu. It has nothing to do with wanting to distance myself from the label and everything to do with the fact that I don't feel "worthy" of it, so to speak.

Has anyone else ever felt this way? And if so, what did you do to overcome the feeling?

There is nothing to feel worthy about: Hinduism is diverse. What are your other beliefs that count against what Hinduism comprises of: eg dharma, gunas, yoga, vedas, advaita, appreciation of the epics Mahabharatta and Ramayana, etc. Of course if you have none of these other beliefs you are still a Hindu but not a worthy one in my honest opinion.

 

[SomeRandom]

It's Imposter Syndrome, mostly. Part of me feels like I'm running some kind of long con here, although for what purpose, I couldn't tell you.

You seem sincere to me, for what it’s worth

 

[Aupmanyav]

What you call yourself is your own business. But labels are ultimately meaningless.

I do not think labels are useless in practical world. Labels make people fit to them (If you get what I mean).

It's Imposter Syndrome, mostly. Part of me feels like I'm running some kind of long con here, although for what purpose, I couldn't tell you.

Cant understand this. Care to explain? If you feel like that why are you continuing it?

 

[Shantanu]

It really is not for anyone to claim to be a Hindu but for others to say whether that person is a Hindu or not. Am I a Hindu: I was certainly born as a Brahmin Hindu but became a Kshatriya to engage in dharmayudha

 

[Vinayaka]

It's Imposter Syndrome, mostly. Part of me feels like I'm running some kind of long con here, although for what purpose, I couldn't tell you.

How long have you been at this, if I may ask? It does take some time. I've been an all-in convert for 40 years now. the first 10 years or so may have had more of that. But now the unworthiness just comes from my human mistakes, little things like getting upset occasionally, and also the absolute divinity of the Gods. I feel just so inferiour to them.

 

[Shantanu]

How long have you been at this, if I may ask? It does take some time. I've been an all-in convert for 40 years now. the first 10 years or so may have had more of that. But now the unworthiness just comes from my human mistakes, little things like getting upset occasionally, and also the absolute divinity of the Gods. I feel just so inferiour to them.

I never make any mistakes: I regard all my 'mistakes' as divinely-engineered for a divine purpose that I need to determine the validity of and live accordingly. It is part of my Existentialism through the practice of satya-advaita (truth accommodation). That is to say that I am all the God I need to be so do not feel inferior as such because I acknowledge God's greatness and overriding directions to me through incidents (both direct and accidental) and appropriate rationalising thoughts.

 

[ajay0]

I've been thinking about this for a while, but SalixIncendium's thread is what inspired me to post because I didn't want to hijack it.

For multiple reasons--none of which I will bore you with--even though I have been worshipping Devi in various forms for several years now, I still don't really feel comfortable calling myself a Hindu. It has nothing to do with wanting to distance myself from the label and everything to do with the fact that I don't feel "worthy" of it, so to speak.

Has anyone else ever felt this way? And if so, what did you do to overcome the feeling?

Rather than being a Hindu or Muslim or Jew or Vaishnavite, I would say it is more important to be a good human being.This is the true focus of religion.

As per Advaita, our true identity is the Self, which is awareness or pure consciousness. This is our true identity, and one we should live up to through meditation, love and virtuous conduct. If one tries to live up to an artificial label, one is only conditioning oneself with beliefs, and harbor animosity to the opposing labels.

The true purpose of religion is to get rid off such false beliefs in order to attain the Self.

 

[Vinayaka]

I never make any mistakes: I regard all my 'mistakes' as divinely-engineered for a divine purpose that I need to determine the validity of and live accordingly. It is part of my Existentialism through the practice of satya-advaita (truth accommodation). That is to say that I am all the God I need to be so do not feel inferior as such because I acknowledge God's greatness and overriding directions to me through incidents (both direct and accidental) and appropriate rationalising thoughts.

I was asking Vinidra.

 

[Shantanu]

I was asking Vinidra.

Hmmm.

 

[SomeRandom]

I do not think labels are useless in practical world. Labels make people fit to them (If you get what I mean).

Labels are just another way to tribalise our species. Us vs them, me vs you. Apart from warning labels and self identifiers, I find them just another illusion. A barrier to separate us into arbitrary groups and separate us from the divine or reality or the universe or whatever the hell you want to call it.

 

[Valjean]

Labels are just another way to tribalise our species. Us vs them, me vs you. Apart from warning labels and self identifiers, I find them just another illusion. A barrier to separate us into arbitrary groups and separate us from the divine or reality or the universe or whatever the hell you want to call it.

Yet without these convenient, if simplistic, handles, it's hard to distinguish, discuss or work with these ideas.

 

[SomeRandom]

Yet without these convenient, if simplistic, handles, it's hard to distinguish, discuss or work with these ideas.

Oh well for discussion, true. But why put up more barriers between ourselves IRL?

 

[Valjean]

Oh well for discussion, true. But why put up more barriers between ourselves IRL?

Why stop there? We could give up language completely and just sit around grooming each other -- or flinging poo, depending...