Welcoming Newcomers
Only if we bring seekers into Hinduism properly through the nāmakaraṇa saṁskāra, our name-giving sacrament, will they truly become a part of this time-honored tradition and be able to raise their children as Hindus. If we do not, they will have nothing to offer their children but an empty, negative abyss to slowly fall into when they grow up. We owe it to the next generation, the next, the next and the next to take these sincere Hindu souls in Western bodies fully into our religion, train them and help them to become established in one sect or another. It should be insisted upon that their children do not grow up without a religion, for that would prove harmful both to the individual and to Hindu society as a whole.
Societies which do not foster religion foster crime by default. Crime is very expensive for an individual, for a community and for a nation. When we neglect religious training, we allow crime to gain a foothold on the youth, and we pay for that neglect dearly. Therefore, I say that this next step must be taken, and taken fully, by all the swāmīs throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and around the world.
We beseech all Hindu organizations worldwide to open their hearts and doors to these fine souls. This is a very serious situation. There are hundreds of thousands of people who have been dislodged from their parents’ religion through their belief in reincarnation, karma and the knowledge of God’s all pervasiveness, and yet they have not been fully taken into the Hindu religion or its community of devotees. Why? Because of color? Yes, that is partly true. Many Indian people say, “You have to be born a Hindu to be a Hindu. You cannot adopt the Hindu religion. You have to be born a Hindu to be a Hindu.” This, of course, is not true. Other Indian Hindus say, “You have to be born in India and in a caste to be a Hindu.” This also is not true. What about all of you who were born and live here in Sri Lanka? What about the Hindus in Bali, those in Malaysia or the Hindus born in Trinidad, Nepal, Europe, Guyana, Suriname and elsewhere? Are they not Hindus?
We did some research on this erroneous statement: “You cannot convert to Hinduism.” We studied dozens of books and noted down all of the quotes that we could find that said, “You have to be born a Hindu to be a Hindu” or “You have to be born in India to be a Hindu.” We found that these two quotes were only in the books authored by Christians. These statements, we concluded, were nothing more than Christian propaganda against the Hindu religion. Presumably, the Christians knew that if they could stop or at least slow down the growth of Hinduism through conversion, they would make more progress in their own conversions and in a few generations perhaps destroy Hinduism. We did not find these statements in a single book written by a Hindu author.
In fact, eminent Hindu authors have said that you can convert to Hinduism. Swami Vivekananda proclaimed, “Born aliens have been converted in the past by crowds, and the process is still going on.” Even if you only adopt Hindu practices, believe in reincarnation and karma and do a pūjā once a day, you are a Hindu and will be accepted by Hindu society. Unfortunately, a minority of Hindus of Indian origin, educated in Christian schools, and even a few Western-influenced swāmīs and pandits and one or two Śaṅkarāchāryas, echo this misinformation with conviction. We can now see how the Christian propaganda has negatively influenced the growth of Hinduism worldwide. Their propaganda has infiltrated, diluted and destroyed the Hindu’s faith in his own religion.
NANDINATHA SŪTRA 361: THE SACRED DUTY OF MY ĀCHĀRYAS
My sannyāsins who are āchāryas are the supreme architects of our sampradāya’s future and the fulfillers of these Nandinātha Sūtras. They carry this responsibility on top of their head. Yea, they are chosen ones. Aum.