Setting Right The Narrative | Hindu University Of America
The Hindu University of America offers courses in a system of Hindu philosophy that emphasizes critical thinking, morality, and introspection. It trains students for service, leadership and engagement in the world by promoting Hindu culture and traditions in an academically independent environment. Hindu University of America offers many courses such as: Vedas Courses, Sanskrit Courses, Vedic Studies Courses, Hindu Vedas.
How does one straighten out an agenda-driven narrative that has not only been widely disseminated, but also widely bought into by young minds? By asking uncomfortable questions and leaving them to be answered by expert faculty, Krishna Kavita avers ji.
It is quite a blessing to have found an institution like the Hindu University of America at this stage of my life after searching for a safe space to be myself and express my thoughts without fear. A Hindu who practices and believes in the welfare of all beings, you think, poses no threat to anyone. Sorry, you are very wrong!
But for the course I took with HUA: Race and Modern Hinduism by Dr. Joydeep Bagchee in January 2021, I would not understand why there is so much hatred and mistrust directed towards Hindus, especially in the US where this is happening. being the most educated and wealthiest of the minorities who are also the most law abiding.
Given that Dr. Joydeep Bagchee and Dr. Vishwa Adluri are two of the leading Hindu practicing philosophers and thinkers in the world today, as well as German Indology experts who fearlessly speak the truth about race studies, I decided to take this course. . It was one of the best decisions of my life because it answered many questions that have been bothering me for many years.
Yes, it pushed many buttons and boundaries, but Dr. Bagchee, in addition to being a very erudite and demanding professor, is also very generous with his time and sharing his knowledge. Like Dr. Adluri, who lectures Dr. Bagchee spiced it up with his deep insights.
HUA has been at the forefront of providing a great platform for such civilizationally important and meaningful courses. I am glad I came across this and Shri Kalyan Viswanathan ji was kind enough to offer me a scholarship for the same.
A borrowed story called "History" originating from German Indologists was introduced in India and the original Indian story was shot down. Unfortunately, Indians have accepted this narrative and say that we now have to talk about the history of the sacred texts to make them real. Dr. Bagchee talks about all of this and more effortlessly, having studied the subject for decades and co-authored a book with Dr. Adluri - Nay Science - on the same.
My own past experiences and unanswered questions led me to take this course. If Indians belong to the same genetic pool, as has recently been demonstrated, where did this idea of an Aryan invasion come from and why?
Given how deeply rooted this concept is in India and still taught as hard fact in schools today, given the confusion still caused by dividing people of one nation from another, I decided to devote a semester to learning the cause. Before listing my findings, I want to take the time to talk a little about my personal experiences that set the stage for such a study.
During my years at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), where I taught Indian language and culture, I watched helplessly as narratives about Hindus and Hinduism were created by non-practitioners. Distorted ideas about our habits and customs (and therefore politics) were commonly taught to Foreign Service officers going to posts in India.
Many students came with their own baggage, learning either Hindi or South Asian studies at the feet of Hindu baiters like Wendy Doniger and her ilk. Labeling the RSS as a fascist organization or Baba Ramdev as an impostor, the dissemination of brutal literature by Dalit Solidarity groups all helped to create an atmosphere of intimidation.
Negative messages from India were constantly being sent (the implicit blame always falls on the Hindus for all these ills) by one person in particular with strong LTTE connections. While Roza and Iftar were an integral part of students learning the culture of their host country, any overt Hindu celebration was frowned upon, in fact every Hindu celebration was reduced to a boisterous Bollywood party, specifically for Holi or Diwali, with religious or toned down philosophical elements. This was done by the Hindu instructors themselves as a matter of self-indulgence.
While Islam received all respect and the fear of Islamophobia prevented any critical analysis by the student, not so Hindu Dharma which was open to criticism and ridicule from all sides. The school I was contracted to, the Global Language Center, was also very averse to Hinduism - they had an annual Christmas party that was all about beef and drinks and wouldn't dare serve pork, and all year-end raffle prizes were split between their chosen ones . people, I was neither praised nor gifted like them my other Muslim counterparts even though I was also a minority instructor, the only Hindu.
During daily classes, every Indian institution was torn apart by students who constantly tried to find problems with anything 'Hindu' without labeling it as such. Arranged marriages, of course caste, vegetarianism, Modi and so on.
Everything was also only viewed through a feminist lens - so a wife cooking for her husband was considered patriarchal and backward, women who chose to wear sarees or bindis were illiberal or brainwashed, loving and standing for one's country became fascism and ultra-nationalism .
The language and culture course soon became a social justice battleground for the US FSOs who of course fed off the narrative that India was backward, superstitious, backward, etc., along with other subliminal messages played out through the largely anti-Hindu/anti-Indian media in USA
Not one of them (maybe one or two exceptions in ten years) had a sincere interest in knowing the views of a Hindu practitioner, that is me, without coming with an innate bias, a willingness to learn and a genuine humble curiosity for "the other". It puzzled me then as it does now – what are the criteria for being in the foreign service if you lack the basic quality of love to explore foreign territory?
No attempt has been made to understand or appreciate the Hindu point of view. Weren't these students here to learn what they were paid to do? No. They seemed neither curious nor interested. In fact, they hated being corrected. They did not respect someone like me who represented a 'Hindu face' to them.
This sad situation did not change even with George Washington. In the humanities section, whether I was taking courses in intercultural communication or indigenous development or even climate change and energy policy, the prejudices of the professors, the prescribed books and the lies that were propagated against Hindus and India were staggering. The oft-repeated, biggest lie of all is the Aryan Invasion Theory.
All this while the insidiousness of Christianity on campus was totally overlooked or overlooked. For example, at the annual Inter-Faith Dialogue dinner, I heard one of the key representatives of this.
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