November 1987
Publisher's Desk
Subramuniyaswami, Sivaya
H.H.
It has been a very interesting
month since the last issue of our big/little newspaper went to press and
on from there into your homes. It's hard to believe how quickly the time
has gone by. In reflecting upon the state of the Hindu religion in the
world and the progress it has made in the past nine years, a very
interesting observation comes to mind.
Hinduism has blended with
science, fostered meditation and yoga in homes of almost every nationality
in most countries. It is far exceeding its own boundaries. Hinduism,
blending with parapsychology, has infiltrated the minds of the masses from
reincarnation to karma, astral projection to extraterrestrial. Through
teachers and books, TV and films, Hinduism is reaching far beyond
India.
Within the boundaries of Hinduism itself millions upon
millions of practicing devotees have newly built and flocked to temples
and cultural centers in almost every country of the world. The growth, in
less than a decade, has been phenomenal in this unorganized, highly
organized, disorganized, most ancient of all religions.
There have
been problems, of course, that our newspaper and editorial staff (from
left to right in picture: Siva Palaniswami, Siva Kumarswami who is on a
Hinduism Today lecture tour in Malaysia, Singapore and Mauritius, and your
publisher) have had to deal with. Sometimes messengers do not always bear
the best of news. In the ancient days, kings often killed the messenger
when he came as a bearer of bad news.
But today, in the spirit of
freedom of thought, speech and press-in this age where information is more
of a product and needed more than ever before-we no longer kill the
messenger. This is how Hinduism Today has served the thinking Hindus of
the world and many others beyond the boundaries of the religion itself-by
keeping them informed of the interrelated karmas, good, bad and mixed,
within and effecting our global religion.
Corrections are being
constantly made in societies, movements and homes on problems from the
illegalities of wife-beating to unfair proselytization. Whose making the
changes? The responsible elders and heads of religious organizations who
have been kept informed by our big/little newspaper.
No, we do not
want to kill the messenger, but use the message and find ways and means of
correcting problems as they arise. Write to offer a constructive opinion.
More importantly, write to the organization or individual
involved.
Here's another observation: society destroys what it
cannot absorb. This is very true in America. Look at the hippies for
example, absorbed back into the community and it only took ten years. The
cults, where are they today? Humanity, now coming into a New Age of shared
responsibilities, has no time for the elite groups who take all and give
nothing in return.
We are very happy to have the people from India
in the United States, but a gentle word of advice is in order. Give back
proportionately from what is earned and taken. The laws of karma grind
slowly but surely. And when an ethnic group takes all from a community and
nothing proportionately is given back in return, the community is
antagonized and everyone in the group suffers. Not long ago we attended a
religious ceremony in a Hindu Temple. There were several hundred Asian
Hindus there and a few "white" Americans came into the gathering to
worship. To everyone present, the Americans were not there, completely
ignored. Only one alert Indian swami went out of his way to be pleasant.
We felt very badly that so many there had greatly benefited from being in
this abundant country and could not smile and greet the "white" Americans
with love and trust. Why did they have to be regarded as intruders into
the Indian community? Perhaps Hindu dharma has to be looked at clearly in
the light of today. The temples may be open to those of all religions but
the hearts of the people within them certainly are not. Let's loosen our
heart strings and open our minds to giving, loving and winning acceptance,
lest matters worsen.
Article copyright Himalayan
Academy.
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