Article in the Times equating Hindu temples to Soho telephone booths

[Guest guest]

Dear Brad and Alan

 

Thanks for your comments. In fact since that article in the Times we have seen an email exchange with Dr Kealey where he comes off very poorly. I am not going to repeat that exchange here, suffice to say that his research was based on some articles he read up in Wikipedia encyclopaedia. Hardly the sign of any masterful scholarly research.

 

The real worry we have with the Media is its fixation in presenting Hinduism in its poorest form and ignoring to highlight the important contribution it will make for revitalising spirituality for a modern science oriented multi-faith world.

 

Despite many presentations we make to the BBC to allow us to portray the dynamic aspects of Hinduism, we get nowhere. While the likes of Terence Kealey get their denigrating articles about Hinduism published at the drop of a hat. On every public platform I get, I continue to emphasis the key role Hinduism can play in addressing the serious issues we face this century. The journalists at these meetings make a note but are not convinced, "How can this weird Hindu religion help?" is how they view my comments. The reason for such poor thinking has been the missionary version of Hinduism that continues to be promoted as Hinduism in the West.

 

Some of our recent day 'suspect Gurus' have not helped, and as Brad pointed out what we see happening in modern India is very worrying. Bollywood has displaced Hinduism as the religion of modern India.

 

Despite all these obstacles, it is in the UK we hope to revitalise and replenish Hinduism and from here it will be broadcast to the rest of the world, including India. This is not empty rhetoric, I can actually see this happening everyday. For example, today I spent the whole day recording at Durga temple. The project is financed by the UK government, the DVDs' that will be produced will be used by English School children studying Hinduism. They will for the first time discover the idea of God not as a father figure but as a mother figure. Such material generates a great deal of excitement and interest in studying religion.

 

We are working away. You can view the work we do by clicking http://www.vivekananda.co.uk

 

jay