NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, September 18, 2025 (RNS) Law school\u2019s notorious stress takes a toll on even the most determined students. But for a group of 20-somethings at New York University School of Law, an ancient tradition offers a framework for handling the pressure. \u201cMany parts of Hinduism are so well-suited to being able to handle such a high-stress profession,\u201d said Roshni Yaradi, the co-chair of the new Hindu Law Students Association. \u201cLike, many times, you\u2019re handling literal life and death. \u201cPractices of Hinduism\u2014including yoga, meditation, breath work\u2014things that are so fundamental to the faith, are very stress-relieving and focusing techniques that I think any practicing lawyer should utilize.\u201d Yaradi and three other women, all Indian American, are the founding members of the only Hindu affinity group at any law school in the nation. HLSA officially started last spring, after taking some time to gain traction and the necessary 50 approval signatures.
Indian students are the second-highest population of international students at NYU, after those from China, with more than 4,700 undergraduate and graduate students coming from India to study at NYU in the 2023-2024 academic school year. \u201cI think it\u2019s a little bit of a reclamation project for us,\u201d said Rachita Bommakanti, Yaradi\u2019s co-chair, who hopes the HLSA will help grad-school-age Hindus, from India or the U.S., reconnect with their faith \u2014 and its resources for succeeding in the legal profession \u2014 while studying in the city. In these young women\u2019s eyes, HLSA is not meant to be the largest Hindu student organization in the nation, but a specially meaningful one, in which anyone feels welcome to discuss their differing opinions, values, practices and experiences with the Hindu faith. But the real project, they say, is changing the perception of what Hinduism can be for a young American. \u201cYou can be a Hindu and be cool,\u201d said Yaradi. \u201cWhatever impediment people feel to exercising Hinduism that is caused by this idea that, like, \u2018I\u2019m going to be weird,\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m not going to be normal,\u2019 I want to abolish that,\u201d added Bommakanti..
More at source.
https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2025\/09\/18\/for-the-first-time-a-law-school-has-a-space-just-for-hindus\/
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