To convert or not to convert.

Funny thing on news these days.. apparently we Hindus are are going out to reconvert converts!! Wow.. really? Can we convert into Hindu? When I was young, I accepted that I was born Hindu and that the cute Ganesh was savior. Today, I except the term Hindu to mean partly my ancient Indian culture, the way in which I pray (that includes praying inside the church with folded hands), traditions, the mythological stories and the philosophy of - for want of a better word - Hinduism, which is written in Vedas and summarized in the Bhagwath Gita.

For most Hindus being a Hindu stops at traditions. Few understand the philosophy of the Vedas / Bhagwath Gita, which describes nature of the universe and ourselves. If you were to ask group of 10 Hindus - how many have read the Gita? Hardly, a couple of hands would go up. Most don't even know that Gita is a part of the story of Mahabharata. On the other hand, most would have read the Bible. It is easy to read. It is available in English and most Indian languages. There are many people who will help you read it. You get to hear it in popular Movies, TV shows and specialized channels. It has stories and a simple message of peace and forgiveness and acceptance of Christ as your saviour. Hindu stories are abound but their message and philosophy does not come through in these and the traditions listed in them are found to be outdated for our modern age.

There does exist a forward movement by many fringe christian groups to actively push their faith / religion on others. You see it in Hospitals when they come to pray by your bed side, in their prayer meetings where they invite you, in subtle exchanges in charity movements, in provision of favour etc. and the outright talk of "Power of christian prayer" and questions of why we don't accept Christ as our savior. It exists. It happens. Having said that I must once again stress 'FRINGE GROUPS'. I study in a Christian College run by Roman Catholic Priests, where "Sri Maha Ganapathim" is sung as easily as a Christian Prayer song and every student is treated same regardless of their religion.

BUT CONVERSION DOES NOT EXIST IN HINDUISM!!!! Hell we don't know much about it to talk. And it cant because there is NO HINDU RELIGION. It is just a label placed upon us by people of other religions. There have been attempts to broadly classify religions such as Hinduism as animist against those borne of the holy texts in Mediterranean and Middle East. This is again going out of our way to over simplify Hinduism. It cant be done.

Seeing Hindus convert into other faiths sometimes makes me feel down. I feel number of people who do things the way I do may be reducing. A part of me wants to ask them to read the Gita (NOT ISKCON FUNNY VERSION!!!!) before converting. But this identification with my "fellow Hindus" goes against what I know about my faith. Gita is not for the faint of heart, the closed mind or the unquestioning character. You must be ready to question yourself, the world around you and the book, which is full of ambiguities. I don't know what each of you will get from that. What I got is a faith that I identify as my own which goes beyond idols, temples and agarbhatis, an understanding with almighty that is personal and a path that I am too afraid to follow.

I called myself a Hindu when I was young, leaned towards Christianity in my teens, became atheist for a short time and then I read the Gita. It is good book. I treat it as a holy relic. I don't think it is. I shouldn't mind using it as a foot rest. It is made up of paper pulp and has a publisher and a commentary that sees it from the view point of a Swami Chidbhavananda. Still I treat it as a holy relic and it never leaves my bed side table. Chubby Ganesha remains my savior and Krishna locket is constantly around my neck. You don't get it? You don't have to. I do. This is my faith. And I cant convert you to it.