I grew up in a Hindu household in the United States. The first child to freshly minted immigrants from India. My father, in his own way, is a Bhakta. He has a devotional and ritualistic practice of prayer to God that is part of  his everyday routine ever since I can remember. You will never catch him reading spiritual texts. My mother, on the other hand is a Jnani. She is all about obtaining knowledge and learning through texts. Idol worship is not her thing. They are both Hindus, practicing Hinduism. They agree that Hinduism is not a religion, but a way of life. Their personal practices could not be more different and they are like most Hindus I know. They tend to their spiritual needs in the way that best suits their nature (pakriti).  No one is persecuted for this.

 

To this day, I find Hinduism incredibly confusing. It is not a  philosophy of one person’s making. There is no one text to learn from. While its knowledge persists through time, time...