World’s largest military medical center offers Hindu meals on request

World’s largest military medical center, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda (Maryland, USA), reportedly offers specialty Hindu meals to meet their dietary and religious requirements.

According to reports, special room service menus are available for religious diets, including vegetarian and vegan meals, for inpatients and staff. Hindu Service and Yoga is also held at WRNMMC on Thursdays, per its website. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, commended WRNMMC for offering choice of Hindu meals.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out: Consumption, preparation, transformation, offering, etc., of food had been pivotal in Hinduism since the Vedic times. Hindus believed that food developed the body in this and other worlds. Dharmasastras extensively talked about issues related to food consumption. It was believed that taking of pure food lead to mental purity, while consumption of improper foods was both spiritually and physically harmful. Foods had been classified into sattvic, rajasic and tamasic categories; depending on their effects on the human body.

Ancient Taittiriya Upanishad says—Food is Brahman (the supreme Godhead). From food are born all creatures, by food they grow, and to food they return; Rajan Zed noted.

WRNMMC, the flagship of military medicine, also known as the President’s hospital, on 243 acres with over 2.4 million square feet of clinical space, provides care and services to over one million beneficiaries annually. It states to represent “hope to those who enter its doorway”. It also provides care for the President and Vice-President of the United States, Members of Congress, and Justices of the Supreme Court. Its history goes back to 1909 and Rear Admiral David A. Lane is the Director.

Source: The Hans India

Do you realize now the sacred significance and the supreme importance of the guru's role in the evolution of man? It was not without reason that the India of the past carefully tended and kept alive the lamp of guru-tattva. It is therefore not without reason that India, year after year, age after age, commemorates anew this ancient concept of the guru, adores it and pays homage to it again and again, and thereby reaffirms its belief and allegiance to it. For the true Indian knows that the guru is the only guarantee for the individual to transcend the bondage of sorrow and death, and experience the Consciousness of the Reality.

-- Swami Sivananda (1887-1963), founder of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh

Why Lord Shiva is the ultimate grandmaster of yoga

1. 

The following article by Dr David Frawley

Lord Shiva, among the great deities of Hinduism, most personifies the practice of yoga. As Yogeshwar, the great lord of yoga, he rules over all aspects of yoga relative to body, mind and consciousness.

Shiva is the lord of asana practice with 84 lakhs of asanas said to have derived from his movements. As Nataraj, the lord of the dance, his dance and gestures also reflect yoga postures.

Shiva symbolises the immortal Prana, the undying force of eternal existence. He is honoured as Mrityunjaya, the one who conquers death. Tantric yoga teachings about Prana relate to Shiva, who holds the inner power of pranayama.

Shiva is the source of all mantras. He is Omkara, the primordial cosmic sound, and from his drum all the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet reverberate.

Shiva is the lord of meditation, depicted seated in deep meditation. In his Dakshinamurti or youthful form, he is the teacher of Jnana Yoga, the yoga of knowledge, through the power of the silent mind, enlightening all the great Rishis.


Shiva’s symbolism

Shiva is most famous as having three eyes or Tryambakam. The third eye of Shiva is the inner eye of unitary awareness and higher perception. Shiva as the lord of the mountain, the Himalayas and Kailas, represents the mountain of meditation.

The Ganga that flows down from Shiva’s head represents the immortal stream of higher yogic awareness. The Shiva Linga, his upward focused energy, represents the ascending power of yoga, the silent mind of Samadhi and the yogic state of transcendence.

Shiva’s consort as Devi or Shakti, the Divine Mother, is the Yoga Shakti, the power of yoga always honoured along with him. From the Kundalini Shakti in the human being to the power of consciousness (Chit-shakti) at a cosmic level, she mirrors his magnificence and allows us to experience it.

Shaivite yoga traditions

Many great yoga traditions arise from Shiva and honour him as their original guru. Most Himalayan sadhus are Shaivites. Shaivite Yoga includes the Nath traditions that form the main teachings of Hatha Yoga and Siddha Yoga. In Vedic times, Shiva was lauded as Rudra along with the Maruts, his wandering sages, and with great Rishis like Vasishta. Shiva Yogis maintain a special sacred fire in honour of this Vedic heritage.

Shaivite yoga in the Mahabharata is called Pashupata Yoga. The image of Shiva as Pashupati or the lord of the animals, with a three-headed form, is the most enduring image in Indian art, found as early as the Harappan era. Shiva represents the eternal presence of yoga behind the dharmic culture of India.

Shiva’s numerous shrines throughout India hold many yogic powers, from Kailas and Manasarovar in the north to Rameshwaram in the south, including the famous 12 Jyotir Lingas from Somnath to Kashi Vishwanath. A steady stream of pilgrims attends these sanctuaries regularly today as they have for thousands of years. The Kumbha Mela, the world’s largest religious gathering, provides a centre stage to his worship extending to tens of millions of devotees.

Shivaratri

Those who practice yoga should always remember Shiva, the great lord of yoga. If one can surrender to Lord Shiva inwardly, all the powers and insights of yoga will naturally be revealed at the appropriate time and manner. Shiva is the inner guru of yoga and all true gurus function with his grace and insight.

Shivaratri, the night of Shiva, is the most important day of the year to worship Lord Shiva. It occurs at the dark of the moon showing Shiva’s mastery over all the mysteries of the mind. One stays up all night performing special rituals and mantras to Shiva as the supreme reality to awaken his power within us.

Shiva dwells in the ever wakeful pure awareness that is our true self beyond waking, dream and deep sleep, such as the Upanishads proclaim. Where that Shiva state of peace and detachment prevails, the universe returns to its original state of overflowing bliss.

Moving into our own deeper Shiva nature we go beyond body and mind, time and space, into the immortal pure light of boundless awareness.

Om Namah Shivaya!

Africa is Ripe for a Strong Hindu Future

Black African swami evaluates the past and future impact of Eastern spirituality

Swami Ghananandji Saraswati

Western faiths are long embedded in Africa. Christianity came first through traders. They were followed by missionaries who opened schools and hospitals and formed societies for the propagation of the gospel, thus making Christianity deeply rooted on the continent. While Christians advanced from the coast inland, Islam came by conquest from the North. Because of the heterogeneous nature of African societies--each region and society having its own beliefs and aspirations--most traditional religions collapsed under this intense pressure from Christianity and Islam. While Christianity and Islam were expanding and getting the main hold on the African continent, the few Indians who arrived were merchants and workers interested purely in their businesses, not in portraying Hindu lifestyle. Today very few Indians in Africa live by Hindu tenets. Through their long severance from India and living in the diaspora, many have lost touch with their true culture and way of life. However, in a few places, like Accra, where I live, the Indians have a cultural center where they meet, discuss and worship. As a result, they have maintained their cultural identity. But because Christianity and Islam earlier gained such strong roots in Africa, Hinduism has hitherto had little or no impact.

The Indian community mixes little with other Africans. They tend to be inward looking and share only with Indians, rather than sharing the best things about Hinduism with Africans. As a result, Hinduism has a very low profile in Africa today. A few people have read aspects of Hinduism from books and practice Hinduism under the cloak of secret societies.

African religions and Hinduism have certain similarities. Traditional African religions recognize the many aspects of Brahman and worship God as Prithivi, Vayu, Varuna, Agni, etc., just as in Hinduism. Only Africans who have been exposed to Hinduism can appreciate these similarities which help them to better understand African beliefs and aspirations. In Africa, Christians and Muslims alike who want self-development and self-realization turn to Hinduism. When they do, most of their friends and relatives shun their company out of ignorance, misconception and misinformation. However, invariably they soon observe changes in the lives of these Africans and may even also switch to Hinduism.

No Indian swami made such a great impact on the African community as H.H. Swami Krishnanandji Saraswati (1899?1992), described as the "Swami of Africa." Swami belonged to the unbroken tradition of great souls who came to this ephemeral world with the eternal message of love and peace, of the divinity and brotherhood of man, of the virtue of selfless service and sacrifice. These great souls are the makers of civilization. They enrich culture. They create values and establish norms. They do not write history, but create it.

Krishnanandji looked upon selfless service as the essence of all religions' teachings. His life's motto was, "Service to man is service to God." He led the ascetic life of a Hindu sannyasi for over half a century, serving helpless, aged, crippled and sick people. He organized salvage operations and relief work for the benefit of refugees, war victims, riot sufferers, forsaken victims of droughts, floods and mass human exodus in numerous African countries, including: Togo, Nigeria, Gambia, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sudan, South Africa and many others, bringing health, sight and spiritual upliftment to the black peoples of Africa. He brought Hinduism to black Africa by initiating the first African into the holy order of sannyasa in the person of myself as "Swami Ghanananda Saraswati" in 1975. To support his good works, Krishnanand established the Hindu Monastery of Africa under my direction in Accra, Ghana.

In our lifetime, one of the prominent sages we have been blessed to see is Mahatma Ghandi, and to him we owe our freedom in South Africa. Since South Africa was the venue of his early formative years, his system of passive resistance had quite an impact on Nelson Mandela's peaceful struggle to topple the white apartheid regime. Mandela is a man of wisdom. He must have thought, if Gandhi's system succeeded in India, which is about ten times the size of South Africa, why will it not succeed in South Africa?

I believe that Hinduism will grow with time among both Indians and Africans. It is now time for India and Hindu masters to turn their attention to Africa, with swamis and brahmins coming to conduct workshops, etc., and thereby give Africa a chance to remove the veil of spiritual darkness that has given Africa the name "the dark continent." Other areas which will attract black Africans to Hinduism will be the establishment of schools, clinics and the promotion of social work and institutions of service. Hinduism, alongside other religions, must help in harmonizing the efforts of all religions to foster the needed peace for both material and spiritual development of the continent. Africa is still a poor continent, and what it needs are programs that are aimed at reducing hunger and poverty on the continent. India can place at the disposal of Africa its vast knowledge in agriculture and light industrial development which has made India today self-sufficient.

My advice to Hindus worldwide is that the Satguru will lead you through no darker rooms than he himself went through before; for he that comes into God's kingdom must enter by this door.

SWAMI GHANANANDJI, 61, was initiated by Swami Krishnanand of India in1975. He heads the Hindu Monastery of Africa in Accra, Ghana, regularly imparting spiritual guidance to devotees

US is poised to become a Hindu Country by 2100 AD !

Atul Kumar Mehta, India

The agenda for this century was set up in the very beginning itself by the BIN LADEN. There is no doubt that this century is going to witness a big tussle between the Religion( shell ) and the Spiritualism( Core) . Many religions will be exposed in this process and shall be proved only a Shell and nothing else. Islam shall be the first casualty and the process and debates are already on. Many liberal muslims and pseudo-secularists are trying hard to defend ISLAM thru their manipulated versions but it is impossible for them to create a CORE in Islam. Islam means no philosophy but some rituals only. Some of which are violent and cruel also.

After Islam ,Christianity may face revolt from within during this century since Christianity did not made its followers so wild and Barbarians as the majority of Muslims are. Islam shall be rejected and eliminated by the humanity from the world scene but Christianity will get submerged into Hinduism. The process is on and next century may not find any trace of Islam and Muslims in the world since all of them will be either converted or get destroyed in the WAR against Terrorism which may continue for many decades. Christianity will have a different fate since Christ will be honoured and remembered by the Hindus as a great person ( like an incarnation) .

But in this revolutuion India will not play the key role , rather it will be the US only which will play the lead role. Of course the Hindu Society of US will provide the required impetus and inspiration for such a movement which shall be very intensified after 50 years, when US will have a Hindu population of 20% thru migrations and thru self-motivated conversions of persons mainly belonging to Christian faith at present.

If one will look at the exponential growth rate of American Hindus in numbers and resources then he will be certainly agree with me that a Hindu population of 50% is not an impossible target for year 2100 AD for the USA. Unfortunately , India never offered opportunities for growth of Hinduism on last 2000 years since it was/is badly trapped in Casteism . And the result was an unparallel humiliation of Hindu society for 1000 years.India is facing all kinds of dilemma / contradictions/ problems since it had failed to evolve a true version of Hindutva. The version offered by Sangh Parivar is more inspired by the Islam/ Taliban than by the real and noble thoughts of Hindu Philosophy.

India is still unable to understand the virtues of Hinduism since Hindu society have compromised with corruption and criminalization lately besides the old drag of Casteism. It has so many versions of Hinduism that some people are right to some extent in commenting that Hinduism has no future in this country. In fact Caste system has proved itself an anti-thesis of Hinduism in India but in US there will be no such problem since it will be a CASTELESS HINDU SOCIETY which will emerge as a big force there ultimately .

Hindu Philosophy is not a property or asset which belongs to Hindus/ India alone. Similarly US will not belong to Christianity always since it is also not a property or asset but a country. Everything is evolving. US has evolved itself more on Hindu thoughts of KARMA, Justice and Democracy. US is dynamic and so the Hindu Philosophy. Both need each other in this hour of maturity but spiritual crisis in the world. Therefore ,it will not be an expansion of Hinduism but rather a convergence of Hinduism with the great democracy of the world which will be witnessed by the US in this century. India denied this chance to Hinduism which shall be provided by the US in coming years so that journey of mankind is not halted for want of spiritualism which will play the key role in not only in the development of humanity but also the SCIENCE requires spiritualism badly to understand more complex phenomenons it is facing now-a-days .

A little-known fact: Hinduism is the fastest-growing religion in both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia

Hinduism is also the fastest growing religion in Ireland and Italy.

It is common enough knowledge that Islam is growing massively in India. Sure, the alarmist concerns about Muslims overtaking Hindus are overblown, but the religion is still expanding significantly in India – as evidence by the Pew Research Centre's conclusion that by 2050, India will have the largest Muslim population of any country in the world. Beyond India too, Islam's ranks are swelling. But what that same report also shows is that Hinduism happens to be the fastest growing religion for a very motley set of countries.

Reddit user KaliKwad took the data from the Pew Research Centre's The Future of World Religions report, and turned it into a map of the world's fastest-growing religions.

Relative numbers

The map is based on relative, not absolute, numbers, so the religion picked is the one that will have the biggest jump in its share of each country's population. As an example, Islam happens to be the fastest growing religion in India, but its relative share of the total population is only going from 14.4% to 18.4% by 2050, not even coming close to challenging Hinduism's hold on the nation.

With that caveat aside, here is the map for Asia.

Kalikwad/Reddit

As is evident, Islam is growing fast everywhere. The report in fact predicts that, by 2050, Muslims will surpass Hindus as the largest religious group in the India-Pacific region from having just 24.3% share of the population up to nearly 30% mid-way through the century.

But Hinduism is also growing in unusual places. Again, remember, its relative growth outside India is tiny in absolute numbers – but that still means there are some countries that will have double the number of Hindus by 2050 than they did in 2010. In Saudi Arabia, Hindus currently make up about 1.1% of the population, a number that is expected to go up to 1.6% by 2050, largely on the back of migration. The report suggests nearly 1 million Hindus are expected to move to a different region over the next four decades.

The growth in Pakistan, however, is a slightly different matter and, ironically, is the result of a metric that often turns into an allegation in India: the fertility rate of Hindus. While the fertility rate of all religions globally is about 2.5 children per woman, and just 2.1 in the Asia-Pacific region, the Hindu fertility rate in Pakistan is 3.2, which happens to be the exact same as the Muslim fertility rate in India.

The third country in Asia where Hinduism is growing is Thailand, where it is slated to go up from 0.1% of the Thai population to 0.2% by 2050.

Europe happens to be even more interesting, for Hindus.

Kalikwad/Reddit

The four countries that turn up here are Ireland, Belgium, Italy and Greece, all places where Hindus are expected to grow primarily because of migration and the resulting fertility rate. This becomes even more significant because of Europe's population will actually be contracting by about 6% over the next 40 years, making the Hindu growth of 93% seem much larger even if the absolute numbers end up being still very small.

Buddhism, another religion that originates in India, is also growing tremendously quickly in parts of Europe, taking the top spot in Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria.

Hinduism growing in Africa

Hinduism growing in Africa without Proselytizing

Interestingly, Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in Ghana.  And no one is involved in the business of converting anyone.  Kwesi Anamoah, national president of the African Hindu Temple,discusses the spread of Hinduism within Ghana.

“Today, there are 2,000 to 3,000 families worshipping all over the country which is a big increase from the 24 people who participated in the first-ever training camp in 1976 to become disciples.  We have not achieved this through the winning of souls as other religions do, but have attracted people into the practice of Hinduism simply by the lives we lead.  Our lives shine in the community to attract people.”

Ghana’s 24 million population is primarily Christian (70%) and second most prevalent religious group is the Muslims. In an interesting paper ‘Returning to Our Spiritual Roots’: African Hindus in Ghana Negotiating Religious Space and Identity by Rev.Abamfo Ofori Atiemo, the writer discusses the spread of Hinduism and the form that it will take as it spreads and adapts to the local culture and historical milieu.  Here is the abstract from his paper:

 Hinduism, in its contemporary transnational form, has been widely noted as a phenomenon present in America, Europe and other parts of the world, including Africa, especially, East and South Africa. Discussions of the phenomenon with regard to Africa have, generally, focused on the Indian Diaspora. However, the developments that occurred in the 19^th and the 20^th Centuries, which resulted in the growth and spread of Hinduism through its reform movements in India and the Western world, also affected West Africa. The impact of these developments was not restricted to Indian migrants in the region; it extended to the indigenous Africans as well.  In Ghana, for example, there are indigenous Africans who identify with Hinduism, professing and practising it as their own religion. Several Hindu movements have been established in the country. They include the Divine Life Society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Brahma Kumaris and Sri Satya Sai Baba. There are also movements of Buddhist and Sikh origins such as the Maha Bodhi, Nichiren Shoshu, the Soka Gakkai and Guru Nanak. The presence of these traditions has significantly changed the religious landscape of the country. Previously, the religious space was occupied by only three traditions – the indigenous religions, Christianity and Islam.

All the movements of Asian origins have, to different degrees of success, attracted indigenous Ghanaians.  The Hindu groups appear the most successful.  For example, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has established a number of branches, and runs a basic school that is well-patronised by both Hindus and non-Hindus. There is also a Hindu Monastery of Africa (HMA), headed by an African Swami, who studied Vedanta at the Forest Academy of the Shivananda Ashram in Rishikesh, India. The latter has established more than seven branches throughout the country and two other branches in neighbouring Togo and the Ivory Coast. In 2010, it was reckoned that there were more than twenty thousand Hindus in Ghana, out which a little over two thousand were Indian migrants.

In this paper, I examine the phenomenon of the ‘African Hindu’ within the context of current discussions about the so-called ‘neo-Hinduism’ and ‘transnational Hinduism.’ I also discuss how these African Hindus resort to a reinterpretation of the history of their traditional religion and culture, in their attempt to find religious space in the almost choked religious environment of Ghana and, also, how they attempt to negotiate their new religious identity in relation to their identity as Africans (Ghanaians). I conclude with a prognosis of the form that Hinduism   is likely to assume in the near future on Ghanaian soil as its African converts attempt to live their faith in the context of their local culture.