Table Of Content

HOW I BECAME A HINDU My Discovery of Vedic Dharma By David Frawley (Pandit Vamadeva Shastry) How I Became a Hindu – David Frawley Contents  Foreword  Preface  Introduction  Early Years  Spiritual Paths And Discovery of The Vedas  India and Hinduism, the Spiritual Traditions  Discovery Of Social And Political Hinduism  Journalistic Work  Ancient India And Vedic Knowledge  Hindu Groups In The West  Additional Studies Of Christianity And Islam  Return Of The Pagans  Debate With The Archbishop Of Hyderabad  The Debate Goes On  Systems Of Vedic Knowledge  Towards a New Western Hinduism  Conclusion  The Meaning Of The Term Hindu 2 How I Became a Hindu – David Frawley Foreword We live in the age of science. The frontiers of our knowledge are receding everyday. The method of science is empirical: it uses experiment to verify or to refute. Science has dispelled miracles from the physical world and it has shown that physical laws are universal. Technology had made astonishing advances and a lot that was the stuff of religious imagination has been brought under the ambit of science. Why should we then be interested in the subject of conversion to Hinduism? Isn't this the age of questioning old-style religion in the manner of Why I am not a Christian by the great British philosopher, Bertrand Russell, or the more recent Why I am not a Muslimby Ibn Warraq? David Frawley's remarkable spiritual autobiography answers this question and many more. In a fascinating narrative, he walks us through his own discovery of how the stereotype of Hinduism presented by schoolbooks as a tradition of worship of many gods, social inequity, and meaningless ritual is false. Not that there are not social problems in Hindu 3 How I Became a Hindu – David Frawley society, but these problems are a result of historical processes, India's political and economic vicissitudes of the last few centuries, and not central to the essence of Hinduism. Apart from this and, more significantly, he provides us a portrait of living Hinduism as mirrored by his own life experience. Just as there can be only one outer science, so there can be only one inner science of the spirit. One can only speak of levels of knowledge and understanding. The dichotomy of believers and non-believers, where the believers are rewarded in paradise and the non-believers suffer eternal damnation in hell, is naive. Also, since the physical universe itself is a manifestation of the divine, the notion of guilt related to our bodily existence is meaningless. Modern science, having mastered the outer reality, has reached the frontier of brain and mind. We comprehend the universe by our minds, but what is the nature of the mind? Are our descriptions of the physical world ultimately no more than a convoluted way of describing aspects of the mind –the instrument with which we see the outer world? Why don't the computing circuits of 4 How I Became a Hindu – David Frawley the computer develop self-awareness as happens in the circuitry of the brain? Why do we have free- will when science assumes that all systems are bound in a chain of cause-effect relationships? Academic science has no answers to these questions and it appears that it never will. On the other hand, Vedic science focuses on precisely these conundrums. And it does so by gracefully reconciling outer science to inner truth. By seeing the physical universe to be a manifestation of the transcendent spirit, Hindus find meditation on any aspect of this reality to be helpful in the acquisition of knowledge. But Hindus also declare that the notion that the universe consists of just the material reality to be false. Here Hindus are in the company of those scientists who believe that to understand reality one needs recognize consciousness as a principle that complements matter. We cannot study the outer in one pass; we must look at different portions of it and proceed in stages. Likewise, we cannot know the spirit in one pass; we must look at different manifestations of it and meditate on each to deepen understanding. 5 How I Became a Hindu – David Frawley There can be no regimentation in this practice. Hinduism, by its very nature, is a dharma of many paths. Thomas Jefferson would have approved. He once said, "Compulsion in religion is distinguished peculiarly from compulsion in every other thing. I may grow rich by an art I am compelled to follow; I may recover health by medicines I am compelled to take against my own judgment; but I cannot be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor.'' Not a straitjacket of narrow dogma, Hinduism enjoins us to worship any manifestation of the divine to which one is attuned. Yoga is the practical vehicle of Hinduism and certain forms of it, such as Hatha Yoga, have become extremely popular all over the world. This has prepared people to understand the deeper, more spiritual, aspects of Yoga, which lead through Vedanta and the Vedasto the whole Hindu tradition. Hindu ideas were central to the development of transcendentalism in America in the early decades of the 19th century. That movement played a significant role in the self-definition of America. Hindu ideas have also permeated to the popular consciousness in the West – albeit without an 6 How I Became a Hindu – David Frawley awareness of the source – through the works of leading writers and poets. In many ways Americans and other Westerners are already much more Hindu than they care to acknowledge. Consider the modern fascination with spirituality, self-knowledge, environment, multiculturalism; this ground was prepared over the last two hundred years by Hindu ideas. David Frawley is one of the most prominent Hindus of our times. He has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the Vedas; he has also written on Ayurveda and other Vedic sciences. Most importantly, he has urged a return to the Vedas as a means to unlock the secrets of the scriptures that followed. He has shown how this key can reveal the meaning behind the exuberant imagination of the Puranasand the Agamas. It also unlocks the mysteries of Hindu ritual. Frawley has also been at the forefront of questioning the old colonial paradigm within which Indian history and Hindu religion had been situated by nineteenth century Indologists. He has done this through his writings and lectures all over the world. His work shows the way not 7 How I Became a Hindu – David Frawley only for the Westerner who wishes to understand Hinduism but also for those Hindus who know their religion only through the interpretations of the Indologists. The Gita says, "Both renunciation of works and also their practice lead to the Supreme. But of these to act rather than to renounce is the better path.'' Frawley's life story is a testimony to this wisdom of following the path of action. Frawley's work is informed by deep meditation and awareness of larger forces of history. He is a modern rishi in the same spirit as Vivekananda and Aurobindo. Frawley's work has also shown the relevance of the Vedas for the rediscovery of the forgotten past of the Old Religion, pejoratively called paganism. Ancient Hindus, Greeks, Romans, Celts, and Babylonians knew that their religions were essentially the same. As the sole surviving member of the Old Religion, Hinduism provides us many insights to recognize the universality and perenniality of the spiritual quest. David Frawley's discovery of Hinduism for himself has eased the way for others who want to reach the same goal. 8 How I Became a Hindu – David Frawley His life story provides inspiration to all who wish to be reconnected to the wisdom of our ancestors everywhere. Subhash Kak Baton Rouge, Louisiana December 15, 1999 9