Being Hindu in the Bible Belt
Ketki Shah recalls the day that classmates at her daughter’s school told the young girl she and her family were going to hell.
“That’s when we started meeting every week,” said Shah, a Hopkinsville resident and follower of the Hindu faith, as she spoke recently to students and staff gathered during an assembly at Hopkinsville Community College.
Featuring guest speaker Nandini Mahtani of Nashville, Tenn., the meeting was a part of the college’s ongoing Religion and Philosophy Club speaker series and included a brief presentation from Mahtani followed by a panel discussion.
Serving on the panel, in addition to Shah, were Dr. Manoj Majmudar, a local pulmonary physician, and Ragini Chirravuri, a Hopkinsville resident who grew up in India and attended a Catholic school as a child.
All of the panel members are students of the Bhagavad-Gita, which contains the words of the Hindu god Krishna.
The local group meets regularly to discuss the thoughts and ideas of the late Rev. Pandurang Athavale Shastri, founder of a Hindu group called Swadhyay which encourages people to let divine presence guide their actions.
The Hopkinsville group also is part of a larger organization known as Devotional Associates of Yogeshwar.
“There’s nothing peculiar or weird about our religion,” observed Chirravuri, who said she wanted those attending the recent meeting to have a better understanding of Hinduism.
Describing her religion as a wholesome one, she noted that Hindus are accepting of other religions and believe that it is OK for each person to follow his own spiritual path because all paths lead to God.
“I like talking about Indian culture and our religion,” added Chirravuri, who doesn’t often find people in Hopkinsville who are familiar with her religion.
Known as Swadhyay Parivar, the local group of about 23 families has, however, discovered an acceptance among the people of Christian County and other areas.
“I love to be here in Hopkinsville,” commented Dr. Prakesh Shah, who is a local physician and Ketki Shah’s husband. “The community is very nice, and (we have) no problem.”
Prakesh Shah said he’s encountered “no obstructions in the Bible Belt,” and he noted that Hindus tend to rely on the idea of putting sugar in milk to give it a sweet taste.
“That’s how we are,” he said. “We try to learn and accommodate everywhere we go.”
The panelists noted that, although their children have encountered some questions and issues at school, for instance, they have not really had a lot of challenges toward their worship.
And school has also been a boon, giving the families more exposure in the community and allowing people to get to know them, according to Majmudar.
The doctor suggested that people need a lot more education about religions in general, which he believes could help foster a better understanding among the different beliefs.
He noted that Hindus usually consider every day a day of worship, for example, although the local group to which he belongs meets each Sunday afternoon because it is a convenient time for its members to study.
Followers of the religion generally have a temple in their home, and those living in Hopkinsville will also go on occasion to the Ganesh Temple in nearby Nashville, Tenn.
Comparing Hinduism to Christianity, Mahtani noted that just as there are many western religions that identify themselves as Christian, so too there are many different groups that make up the Hindu religion.
“Hinduism is a huge umbrella,” observed Mahtani. “Under that umbrella, there are really many groups.”