An expansive approach to religion and culture

With the opening of the grand new Hindu temple in Dubai this week, the United Arab Emirates enhances its status in the short list of countries with progressive ideals that accommodate the spiritual longing of a religious minority. Such accommodation and understanding is all too rare in a world that is moving in the opposite direction, often insisting on acculturation and assimilation over open-mindedness and empathy. It shows both the country and the majority religion practiced there are open yet secure.

India, America, Britain, and Canada are among the countries that have an expansive, all-embracing approach to religion, although there are occasional aberrations in the most progressive, liberal countries. It is also no coincidence that these countries attract migrants from across the world, as does the UAE, which is now a global entrepot second-to-none.

Whether it is in the case of Russia-Ukraine or the many conflicts going on in Africa and Asia, the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities and competition over resources are among the leading causes of conflict.

In their effort to fire up old grievances, hyper-nationalists and religious extremists often forget that progressive countries not only permit the building of temples, churches, mosques, and synagogues, but also allow religious leaders to travel and give lectures and discourses to the faithful, inevitably leading to new devotees, even if they are not seeking to proselytize or convert. In the US, Swami Vivekananda kicked off the American fascination with Hindu mystics and Hinduism in the early 1880s. In the 1920s, Paramahamsa Yogananda became the first Indian public figure to be greeted at the White House (by President Calvin Coolidge), much before any political leader was. In the decades since, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Swami Satchidananda, Swami Rama, and Swami Muktananda among others spent years in the US promoting yoga, ayurveda, meditation and other aspects associated with Hinduism. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Jaggi Vasudev, Mata Amritanandamayi continue on the path.

The US template for the emergence or building of a Hindu temple follows a familiar pattern. Once the Indian immigrant population, a majority of whom are Hindus, reaches around 5,000 in any town or city, there is a yearning for a community centre, which often doubles up as a temple (usually after the first grocery store is established! ). By some accounts, there are more than a thousand Hindu temples in the US today – at least one in every major town – serving a population of more than four million. Many of them are basic structures, but some are so grand and ornate that they have engendered two glossy hardback coffee table books on temples of North America, not to mention a Bollywood movie where the hero wants to get married at the Pittsburgh Balaji temple.

A striking aspect of some of the early temples in America is that they incorporated elements of other religions, which is one way to defuse unease among locals. The Vedanta temple in San Francisco, the first recorded Hindu temple in America, developed and designed by Swami Trigunatitananda and architect Joseph Leonard, is a composite of Indian, Mughal and Western architectural styles, "intended to symbolize the harmony of all religions.” The Maha Vallabha Ganapati temple in Queens, New York, the first major Hindu place of worship on the east coast, has a circular logo that shows a Christian cross, a Jewish Star of David, an Islamic crescent and star, and the symbol of Om, which Hindus consider the primal sound of the universe. It demonstrates what the temple says is a belief in “the totality and fundamental unity at the core of all religions.”

Another striking aspect of Hindu temples is that they have an expansive remit that goes beyond religion. The Ganapati temple now has a wedding hall, an auditorium for concerts and special events, a banquet room, and a cafeteria whose dosa was once favourably reviewed in the New York Times. In fact, in keeping with the changing immigration dynamics that began in the mid-1960s, when more and more Indian professionals came to the U.S., the temple was founded by two senior Indian-origin officials at the United Nations – C.V.Narasimhan, who was an under-secretary-general and Alagappa Alagappan, a deputy director in the UN’s energy division. As a consequence of this professional influence, many large temples in America impart instruction in not just learning scriptures, dance, music, and yoga, but also offer classes for exams such as SAT!

The Ganapati temple itself was built on Bowne Street in Flushing, Queens, on a site once occupied by a Russian Orthodox church. Flushing was first settled in the 1600s by Quakers fleeing religious persecution. John Bowne, the man the street is named after, had fought for and won the right of Quakers and followers of other religions to worship freely in New York in the 17th century when it was still a Dutch colony. It is a struggle that continues to this day between sporadic attacks on religious places in America and across the world.

– The writer is a senior journalist based in Washington

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