Hindu community leadership in Britain is at a crossroads. Young British Hindus care about many of the same issues as other young Britons -- pop music, the credit crunch, Bollywood, the environment, inflation, cultural identity and football. When community leaders do not speak the same language as the next generation, they begin to lose relevance. Many second and third generation Hindus, whose parents are from East Africa or India, have already ...

There are many good reasons for reading obituaries. Trolling for opportunities to proselytize is not among the good ones.

Holi (also known as Dol Jatra, Basantotsav) is the Hindu festival of colors. It is celebrated at the end of the winter season, on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna. In 2013, Holi will be celebrated on March 27.

In an attempt to rectify these flaws and help curb the rash of hate violence against Sikhs, Hindus and people of Arab origin in America, Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) has taken it upon himself to lead the charge on this issue. He has prepared an advisory letter for the Department of Justice urging them to begin collecting data on hate crimes against Arab, Hindu and Sikh Americans. At the ...

Swami Vivekananda also said, "The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women." By that measure -- and to carry his analogy further -- both the country of my birth and that of my ancestors are still in deep freeze. In America, a woman is sexually assaulted every two minutes; in the U.S. military, the Pentagon estimated that 19,000 incidents of unwanted sexual contact ...

In truth, the presence of Hindus of Indian descent is just the latest chapter in a story that spans more than two centuries of our history. The nation has been assimilating the universal spiritual teachings at the core of Hinduism ever since Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau had their minds blown by translations of sacred texts like the Bhagavad Gita. The transmission was accelerated by the efforts of ...

When Tulsi Gabbard takes her oath on the Bhagavad Gita, its political wisdom is not only instructive for her as a Hindu but also for all members of Congress. Increasingly, Americans believe that their representatives are more interested in short-terms personal victories than long-term political solutions, and this has led to record low approval ratings for Congress. In an age when billions of dollars are spent on campaigns that never ...

As a general rule, Hindu-Americans love milestones and photo opportunities. When photogenic Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu elected to U.S. Congress, is sworn in to office with her right hand resting on a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, we will get both. But we will also get something far more valuable: a congresswoman who reads and bases her life around the Gita. I hope that amid all the coverage ...

A study measuring religious bodies in the United States called the, “2010 U.S. Religious Census: Religious Congregations & Membership Study (RCMS)” was recently released by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB). The most comprehensive study of its kind, it provides detailed county by county information on congregations, members, adherents and attendance for 236 different faiths groups. (The survey differentiates between specific denominations within the same tradition.)

My colleagues at the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) and I have long argued that while America seems to have transcended race in politics, there still seems to remain a religious glass ceiling. The most prominent Indian American politicians elected to statewide office have won, but not without overtly and very publicly renouncing the Dharmic traditions of their birth. There's the example of an Indian American running for Congress some ...

I wanted, however, to make special mention of a community that is not often visible in portraits of Hindu-Americans -and the community to which I belong. The roots of our community are deeply embedded in the soil of the Caribbean. The ancestors of this community undertook a long and arduous journey from India, beginning in the early nineteenth century, to escape poverty and to replace freed African slaves on sugar ...

When Tulsi Gabbard, a Hawaii resident who made history this month at the first Hindu elected to Congress, attends her swearing in ceremony in January, she's poised to mark another first in American politics: Gabbard will take her oath over the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu text.

While no religious ceremony is legally required for those elected to Congress and the Senate, many choose to take oaths of office ...

"Why do we celebrate Diwali?" This is a question that many Hindu-Americans are asked during this time of year. Diwali, or Deepavali, literally means "row of lights," and most people do know of Diwali as the festival of lights. What they often don't understand is the symbolism behind the oil lamps, the fireworks, and the beautiful Rangoli sand art, all of which are hard to miss in most Hindu ...

In discussing the upcoming Indian festival of Diwali, a festival of lights observed by Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs, an Indian colleague asked me why so many Christian themes emerged in video games when rich narratives from other faiths do not?

KARACHI, Pakistan — They came after dusk and chanted into the night sky "Kill the Hindus, kill the children of the Hindus," as they smashed religious icons, ripped golden bangles off women's arms and flashed pistols. It wasn't the first time that the Hindu temple on the outskirts of Pakistan's largest city was attacked, and residents here fear it will not be the last.

 Tuesday's elections brought two historic firsts for religion in American politics: A Buddhist senator and a Hindu representative -- both from Hawaii -- will join Congress.

Democrat Mazie Hirono beat former Gov. Linda Lingle (R), making Hirono the first Buddhist in the Senate. In Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Tulsi Gabbard defeated Republican opponent Kawika Crowley, making Gabbard the first Hindu in Congress.

By a cosmic scheduling quirk, Hurricane Sandystruck New Jersey on Monday, coinciding with the first day of Kartik -- a sacred month on the Hindu calendar, packed full of religious observances and holy days.

As Fall approaches, Hindus are gearing up for their Holiday Season, which is celebrated in October and November. Each year, India comes alive for a month filled with Hindu festivals, rituals and celebration. It's the most auspicious time of the year!

Another good question that Hindus, especially North American diasporic Hindus, ought to ask themselves concerns the indispensability of Sanskrit for Hindu ritual and prayers, basically for Hindu liturgy. Though it is true that vernacular languages have played a significant role in regional and devotion forms of Hinduism, the version that has developed in North America are founded on the centrality and indispensability of Sanskrit in temple rituals, home services (sacraments ...

For the next two years (and perhaps beyond), I have the privilege of calling Union Theological Seminary my school and my home. Within these walls I will discover the deepening of my calling to God, in ways that will both strengthen and shake my very foundation, for Union is a institution where the very idea of the institution is called into question. This is not to tear down the walls ...

Once upon a time, in a past that now seems like ages ago, a goddess named Bharat Mata battled a demon king. The demon, whose own kingdom lay in a faraway island, had enslaved the goddess and her children for many days and nights. Now, the goddess -- draped in a majestic saffron-colored sari, and seated atop a roaring lion -- rose up and cast off her shackles. One of her sons ...

Hindu places of worship range from small shrines under trees, to temple complexes that contain thousands of smaller temples. Depending on the time period, region or philosophical school, the sacred sites can be simple with bare walls or meticulously detailed with ornate art and intricate carvings on the walls.

Some temples are dedicated to one deity, while others are dedicated to multiple deities with one presiding. The Khajuraho temple complex ...

In India, the full moon day in the lunar calendar's month of Ashadh (typically July here) is celebrated as Guru Purnima. The word guru has been loosely applied to all kinds of experts, but traditionally, and in this context, it refers to master spiritual teachers. On Guru Purnima devotees express gratitude to their own gurus and, more broadly, to the very concept of the guru as one who dispels ...

Today is Guru Purnima, and this spiritual festival takes on a very special resonance for me this year. Just a few weeks ago, I was formally initiated into the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition at a ceremony at our Radha-Krishna temple in Towaco, New Jersey. To be initiated in this way means to formally accept a teacher (in my case the wonderful Radhanath Swami) by offering vows of sobriety, chastity and ...