[Advaita-l] Do Hindus have self-respect?

[vishwanthan Krishnamoorthy]

I have on many occasions ventured out to shopping
malls/restaurants/shop and stop etc... wearing a
veshti and the tripundra with chandan and kumkum here
in while visiting the temple here in Ashland. I feel
the overall acceptance has been amazing, not once have
I been asked to explain myself. 

My personal theory is that we being reared in a
secular environement are discouraged from an
ostentatious display of religion so as to not hurt the
sentiments of those who belong to other religions.

I however now feel that one should not compromise
one's individuality based on public opinion. This
restricts personal growth.

regards
Vishwanathan

--- "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 11 Jan 2005, S Jayanarayanan wrote:
> 
> > Jaldhar, I put a bit of vibhUti on my forehead and
> went to a grocery
> > store in the US, and people looked at me as though
> I came in from Mars!
> > A few even commented on "something stuck on my
> forehead". I'm talking
> > about just a tiny stripe, and even that generated
> reaction. Needless to
> > say, I haven't repeated that action for a long
> time now! Of course this
> > depends on how self-conscious one is, and one's
> capacity to handle
> > comments from passers-by.
> >
> 
> I do the full tripundra only in shravana and during
> utsavas (it is the
> family tradition to do it this way) and normally I
> just have a round
> tilaka of kumkum.  I spend most of my time in New
> York where people see
> ten times more weird things everyday :-) But even in
> rural areas where
> there is no Indian community I can't say it's been a
> problem.  Sure,
> people are curious but that's hardly the same thing
> as hostile.  Actually,
> the question I usually get is "does it mean you are
> married?"  Apparently
> many people know that Hindu women wear kumkum when
> they are married.
> Which reminds me, why does the so-called "weaker
> sex" not feel so
> self-conscious?
> 
> I also often see people wearing urdhvapundra (the
> vaishnava tilaka)  They
> are Gujarati followers of Swaminarayana sampradaya. 
> Their attitude is
> this is what Bhagavan wants so the rest of the world
> be damned.  An
> attitude we could learn from.
> 
> > In India, that's quite all right, but not so in
> the West.
> 
> Kartik, I must take you task for this insult to what
> are overall some of
> the most tolerant and generous people in the world.
> 
> -- 
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
> It's a boy! See the pictures -
> http://www.braincells.com/nilagriva/
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