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Well, I'm a convert, and have never had a problem in 40+ years. In fact, I'd say we're more admired than not. Most Hindus I know love it when a white convert joins them in expressions of faith. But yes, experiences do differ, and I guess there may be a few people out there who don't really...

It's a complicated question. In India, caste is more social than religious, at least these days, and you see caste in both Christian and Muslim populations, although leaders will deny it. Originally it was called varna, and was intended to separate people by their natural inclinations, just as...

Personally, I have found it incredibly easy to be a vegetarian in the west, but then I don't eat out much. I think that many immigrants falsely associate vegetarianism with Indian food, when many cuisines of the world have great vegetarian dishes. It's sad that immigrants from Hindu countries...

Fire is an essential part of all Hindu ceremony. Waving of flames in front of the deity is called aarti, and the hand-held oil lamps can be single flamed, 5 flamed, or multi-flamed (called alankara deepams) up to over 100 flames. The priest waves the flame in patterns that trace letters, or have...

Absenteeism from meat, and absenteeism from sex? For most people, one is probably 100 times more difficult than the other. At least one third of India is vegetarian, whilst probably less than 500 000 souls take the old sannyasi path. But I digress. Yes, your world view creates your reality...

There are many valid viewpoints. Although I hold a particular viewpoint, I don't hold that it is the one and only correct one. So in that sense, I'm not up for debate. I've been taught that within the sushumna there are 14 separate nadis, all beginning at the muladhara, and culminating at the...

See, there you go. Main differences? Between which definition of yoga, and which definition of tantra? If I entered this discussion, I have high suspicions that we wouldn't at all be talking the same language. That was my point. It's like you're talking about agriculture in tropical Brazil, and...

Both yoga and tantra have several meanings, and in my experience discussion will bear no fruit unless such diverse words are narrowed down so any discussion participants are actually talking about the same thing.

It can get very complicated, or remain rather simple, all depending on how far you want to delve ito it, what you mean by Saivism, and what you mean by tantra . Here is an explanation of the 36 tattvas, for example, from a reputable site for exploring Saivism...

There is a lot on the net. I'm not sure what there is that's not on the net. Anyways, for Saivas, (any of the 6 traditional Saiva schools, not somebody from the Smarta tradition seeing Siva as his chose devata) Shiva is God. Brahman, Parabrahman, the whole thing. If you look at Nataraja, you...

Thanks, Thomas. I'm no expert but I can give it a shot. Firstly, I'm not an advaitin, nor a person who sees Shankara as infallible. However, historically, Advaita Vedanta has been the subsect of Hinduism that has made it to the west, for several reasons. One is that many of the original swamis...

An astute observation, ACOT. As you may have guessed, I struggle with it here all the time. However, what our friend was trying to get at wasn't really eastern in my POV, anyway. Very neo-advaita (a misunderstanding of traditional advaita, and common in the west, replacing the ego 'i' for the...

I believe this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiose_delusions is useful to those people who are trying or have tried to engage folks with these attributes who happen along. It adds clarity to the situation, I think.

Maybe a Jewish person could answer that. I'm a Hindu.

First time I've heard that. Not surprising though.

Depends on the advaitin. Some call Brahman God. Some don't. But yes, advaitins are atheisic to the idea of a personal dualistic God.

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to answer me. The individual organisation parallels the Hindu temple situation in the west, so that all sounds quite familiar. Our funding is all local too. I was intricately involved in one for awhile. Regarding visiting, given your warning, I won't...

haha, oh I know what you mean ... just hinting at the pointing of fingers and inability to see the larger picture ... the 'zealot' is generally the other guy. I could have been jailed and maybe executed back in about 1985 as a 'terrorist'.

Who gets to define zealot?

Thank you so much for the long and detailed response. Am I correct that ISGH is Islamic Society of Greater Houston? Then what is CAIR? We have the smaller strip mall ones as well, and they do seem more African. So it seems to me country of origin is important for sure in those cases. I assume...