The last statement in the article God’s Slave (Jul/Aug/Sept 2004) on Swamiji Balamurugan Adimai has been very thought-provoking. I have not met Swamiji, but I have heard a lot about him. He is a great saint with innumerable inimitable qualities. You did a great job by publishing his story.
Venugopal Kota, Hyderabad, India, kota.venugopal@ge.com
Skewed Toward Saivism
In a letter printed in the April/May/June 2004 issue a reader expressed his concern over Hinduism Today’s being skewed toward Saivism. My guess would be that the majority of subscribers to Hinduism Today subscribe to it exactly because of its Saivite lineage. Most of Hinduism is so biased toward Vaishnavism and Smartism, so much so that often Smartism is considered to be the Hinduism. It is only in a handful of institutions such as Hinduism Today that Saivism gets some breathing space!
Renuka Kumarasamy, Edison, New Jersey, re_ku@hotmail.com
Hindu American Foundation
I recently had the honor of being invited to a presentation by the Hindu American Foundation. I think it is outrageous that some so-called intellectuals are teaching absurd fallacies about Hinduism. Hindus are rarely acknowledged in the media, yet there are many Sanskrit words used in the English language, such as pajamas, mantra and pundits, and then there are the television shows, such as Dharma and Gregg. At last, the Hindu American Foundation has been established to promote understanding, tolerance and pluralism. Every Hindu ought to visit their website at http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org [http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org]
Henry Karnilowicz, San Francisco, California, occexp@aol.com
Thanks for the Mention
I was thrilled to unexpectedly find your acclaim for my new website on the back cover of the new issue (Online Gallery, Digital Dharma, Jul/Aug/Sept 2004)! We have had a large team working on the new site for about a year, so it is wonderful to have that acknowledgement and exposure. My work, as always, is simply about trying to bring attention and appropriate respect to the cultures, traditions and peoples of South Asia, and most of that emphasis is Hindu. I am finding the Web to be an exciting new direction through which to develop information channels to easily reach a large mass. Your article can only help that outreach.
I have a young team of developers who are really delighted to be working on this site. Together we have many goals, and the site will keep growing and changing over the next months and years. Our aim is to gradually create a series of online audio slide lectures on aspects of Hinduism and Indian art and culture that will include QuickTime video clips as well. We will gradually develop those into packages that can be used as additional texts for high school and university programs.
Stephen Huyler, Camden, Maine, stiviji@aol.com
Outrageous Attacks
The temple attack report (Hindu Press International, July 7, 2004) is a really sad reflection on the state of affairs in India, in particular Tamil Nadu. Not only are Hindu philosophy, thought, Sanskrit language and heritage attacked in Tamil movies and other media regularly, now even the physical structures are under attack. Where is the king (government) who is supposed to protect the religion?
P. Balashanmugam, Cheras, Selangor, Malaysia balap@iwk.com.my
TEAMING UP FOR DHARMA
Since the very beginning, in 1979, readers have encouraged Hinduism Today to do more of what they feel it does best: presenting Hinduism’s culture and inner teachings with lucidity, relevance and impact. Parents, teachers, educators, spiritual leaders and seekers asked for more.
One way we responded was to reprint popular and useful articles for wider distribution. In the early 80’s, a point-by-point comparison of the world’s 12 major religions beliefs and practices proved relevant to so many that we reprinted it time and again over a 10-year period (now at: http://www.bnaiyer.com/studies/s-title.html [http://www.bnaiyer.com/studies/s-title.html]). In the Apr-May-Jun ’04 issue, an article gave trenchant answers to ten tough questions people ask about Hinduism (cows, caste, many Gods, etc.). It promised to be so important that many readers donated for a reprint pamphlet, and we eventually did print 85,000! Others volunteered to distribute them all over the globe at their own expense, or ordered quantities for their classroom, satsang or family (contact: pamphlets@hindu.org). We are delighted to have all these great souls working as a team with us.
And we’d like to invite you to join that team and help us do even better over the next 25 years. You can help greatly by donating to the Hinduism Today Production Fund, a part of Hindu Heritage Endowment which provides grants to enhance production capacity. Please consider becoming a Benefactor of Hinduism Today by making that fund the beneficiary of a gift of $5,000 or more in your estate plan.
For details, please contact us: http://www.hheonline.org/ht/plannedgiving/ [http://www.hheonline.org/ht/plannedgiving/ ]
808-822-3012, ext 244 — hhe@hindu.org