In this episode, we discuss what it means to be a Hindu. We present some fundamental concepts that are important to an understanding of Hinduism. A knowledge of the basic framework will help us raise confident young Hindus. Show Notes 1:26: Murti puja 6:43: Ishta Devata 10:39: The Divine Feminine 14:00: Punarjanma 19:00: Karma 21:06: The Purusharthas Subscribers are requested to look for The Hindu Parenting Notification emails for new podcasts/posts in your email promotions/spam tab and personally move these into the main inbox. Thereafter all posts will be delivered to your main inbox. Thank you! For questions that you’d like us to address, please use the form below: Hindu Parenting Questions For comments and suggestions, please use the comments tab or write to us at [email protected] Please note that questions will not be answered on email. Transcript [0:04] Rekha: Namaste and welcome to the Hindu Parenting podcast episode One. I'm Rekha and today Shalini and I will be exploring the topic of what does it mean to be Hindu? Namaste Shalini! [0:19] Shalini: Namaste Rekha, carrying on from our first podcast or our launch episode, we are going to delve into what it means to be a Hindu. Just to start with, why is it important that we underline this: what it means to be a Hindu? Why is that so important? [0.35] Rekha: I think it ties right back into where we left off last time, which is the concept of identity. So, what it means to be Hindu is something that parents need to know to form a clear identity in their children. And this is important, I think for two reasons. First is to give you a structure, so that it can be a framework for you to hang your thoughts and actions on. The second important reason for knowing what it means to be Hindu is that it gives us a lens with which we can view the world. So, clarity and perspective both become very important. [1:24] Shalini: So, where are we going to start? [1:26] Rekha: We should start with something that Hindus are so commonly laughed at… this concept of murti puja or idol worship as it is commonly but wrongly known. So what are your thoughts on murti puja, Shalini? [1:45] Shalini: We are always told that we are worshipping idols. But I think that's the wrong way to look at that form of worship. Hindus are used to worshipping the divine along with a form and name as a representative image. And what sort of representative image? It's one that we think reflects ourselves. So I think that's what murti puja is about, and for us, a murti or a framed picture of a deity or a vigraha, normally vigraha is also called idol but prefer to use the word vigraha…because we do associate a living, breathing form in a persona that we worship. Vigraha is also consecrated in a temple, and they do prana pratishta, which means that you actually invoke the life force into the deity before it is consecrated. And hence, it's probably not even right to call it idol worship. And I think we should all start to call it as murti puja. [3:07] Rekha: That's an excellent point. And don't you think when it is called idol worship so commonly outside, there's a tendency to confuse vigraha, the concept of vigraha, with an idol as in a pop idol or a cricketing star or a film star? These two are so widely different. Would you like to talk a little bit about that? And, tell us in what way we can view them differently? [03:40] Shalini: Yeah, okay. When we talk about, you know, for me, this person is an idol or that cricketer is an idol, it is an aspiration. This person is somebody who's far away from us, but we aspire to be like him or her. There is a sense of distance from this idol that you're worshiping…worshiping or whatever, because you're very much looking up to him, you're very much in adoration of this person. So it's akin to, let's say, worship, and you're very far away from this person. So there is the aspect of distance. Whereas in when we when we worship the divine in the form of a murti, i