Hindu Chaplaincy in US Higher Education Summary and Guidelines

Prepared for Sharon M.K. Kugler Yale University Chaplain

By Asha C. Shipman Director of Hindu Life Yale University Chaplain’s Office

May 2018

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I. Social and spiritual context of the Hindu population in the US

“… is no longer a religion tucked ten thousand miles away safely from our shores where it can be ignored but a vital and growing part of the American religious landscape. To learn something about Hinduism is to learn something about your neighbor, your co-worker, your new son-in-law.” – Anne Monius1 There is an increasing awareness among Higher Education professionals that to fully serve our students our institutions should include among their goals a firm commitment to supporting students’ religious, spiritual and secular identities2. Spiritual support for Hindu students is in a nascent stage; though my parents find it amazing that such a job exists today. To gain an understanding of the spiritual support offered Hindu students on US campuses I explored the history of Hindu Americans in the US and reached out to colleagues in the field of chaplaincy and student affairs3. Chaplains and spiritual advisors recounted to me how they came to support (or are attempting to support) Hindu students at their various institutions – from small liberal arts colleges to business schools and large universities. As I navigate these new waters I am blessed with the company of a growing number of Hindu Chaplain colleagues. Their roles vary depending on the time and resources they are allotted. Consistent among us, however, is the belief that our presence on our campuses serves a vital need for the Hindu population we support while at the same time enhancing the wider campus community. In this paper I hope to share some examples of programming support for on US campuses and to detail the parameters of the Hindu Life program at Yale University. In the early 1960s my parents attended the University of Iowa as graduate students; my father co- founded the UI India Association which hosted a celebration. They were part of a second wave of Indian immigrants, many of whom settled in the US after finishing their degrees. While the first wave of Indians had worked mainly in the California agricultural industry with few civil rights; they were not allowed to purchase land or marry an American citizen. The second wave was allowed a route to citizenship, so they stayed4. The number of Indians in the US increased sharply by two-thirds in the most recent wave of technically-trained Indian IT workers initially recruited into the US in 1999 to work on the Y2K crisis5. At first the relationship between the host nation and these immigrants was restrictive, isolationist, and minimal but the increasing

1 Monius, Anne. “On the Question of Relevance: Why Twelfth-Century India and Haitian Voudou Matter.” Harvard Divinity School Convocation address, 17 Sept. 2007, https://youtu.be/MrDzmIvEo6o. 2 Convergence on Campus Our Story offers a summary of studies on spirituality in higher education (https://convergenceoncampus.org/our-story/). Also see Lindholm, Jennifer A. A Guidebook of Promising Practices. Regents of the University of California, 2011 as an example of responses to these studies. 3 Including currently employed Hindu chaplains in US university and hospital chaplaincy and members of the National Association of College and University Chaplains, Association of College and University Religious Affairs and NASPA. 4 Leonard, Karen Isaksen. The South Asian Americans. Greenwood Press, 1997. The Luce-Cellar bill (Public Law 483) allowed Indians living in the US at the time citizenship through naturalization, thereby allowing Indians to own land. In 1965 the US Immigration and Naturalization Act widened the gates for South Asian immigrants in general. 5 Columbia Business School “A Singular Population: Indian Immigrants in America.” 22 Feb. 2017, https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/articles/chazen-global-insights/singular-population-indian-immigrants-america

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population numbers have brought about a discernable effect on American culture and society. In turn, as might be expected, living in the US has begun to alter the lives of the immigrant population along social, cultural, ethnic and religious lines.

Hindus in the US today As Dr. Monius expresses in the quote above, Hindus and Indian Americans in general are becoming more prominent in the US population. For a while they were most visible in the medical profession, as taxi drivers and 7-11 store owners6 but headliners now exist in Silicon Valley, the US Congress and major US corporations, elevating attention on this population in the national radar. How many Hindus live in the US? What are some key demographics of this population? Can data on the overall US Hindu population provide useful insights on Hindu students matriculating at US campuses? The Pew Research Center conducted a series of surveys from 2010-2014 targeting Asian Indian, specifically Hindu, adults living in the United States. Useful to note from the start is that of the Indian American respondents to a 2012 survey, 51% reported that they are Hindu7. This percentage is surprising because in India 81% of the population is Hindu and it has been widely assumed that this pattern would hold among immigrants from India to the US8. Language barriers, unfamiliarity with phone surveys and concerns about citizenship may skew the survey responses but as will be discussed below, the new data are worth considering. Overall the Hindu population in the US is estimated to be 0.7% of the US population or 2,230,000 people8,9. Data collected from the Pew Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study10 indicate that the US Hindu population is fairly young. The majority (56%) are 30-49 years old; followed by 34% who are the ostensibly college aged, 18-29. Interestingly the Hindu population in the US is represented mostly by recent immigrants (87%) while only 9% of the respondents are second generation. Moreover, this population is highly educated; 29% have 4-year college degrees and 48% have post-graduate degrees. This correlates to a trend among Indian Americans who have “2.5 times the rate [of four-year degrees] among the overall U.S. population5.” The age range and high percentage of Hindu graduate degree holders is likely a consequence of the US government’s continuing H1-B visa program and an immigration process that favors wealthier applicants11. Students pursuing graduate and professional degrees also contribute to this

6 Unfortunately epitomized by Apu, the stereotype convenience store owner character in The Simpsons television show. See Balaji, Murali. “Hank Azaria offers to stop doing Apu. So…thank you?” Religion Dispatches, 27 Apr. 2018, http://religiondispatches.org/hank-azaria-offers-to-stop-doing-apu-so-thank-you/ 7 DeSilver, Drew. “5 Facts about Indian Americans.” Sept. 30 2014, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact- tank/2014/09/30/5-facts-about-indian-americans/# Fact Tank - Our Lives in Numbers 8 Hinduism Today. “So How Many Hindus are there in the US?” Jan/Feb/Mar. 2008, https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1584 9 Wikipedia. Hinduism in the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_the_United_States 10 Pew Research Center. Religious Landscape Study, Hindus. 2014, http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape- study/religious-tradition/hindu/ 11 Gjelten, Tom.“Study Shows The U.S. Attracts An Elite Muslim And Hindu Population.” NPR,13 Dec. 2016, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/13/505427739/study-shows-the-u-s-attracts-an-elite-muslim-and- hindu-population. 3

population; India ranks second among countries sending students to the US for advanced degrees12. Turning again to the 2014 Pew Center study findings, socio-economically Hindus do very well; 34% earn $50,000-$99,999 and 36% earn $100,000 or more. These results paint a socio- economic portrait of a population that values higher education and has the resources to pursue it. Though age is not reported, the facet addressing spirituality is quite intriguing. Here are a few highlights from the 2014 Pew Center study:

• 41% believe in God with absolute certainty; 34% report fair certainty • 53% say religion is fairly important in their lives; 26% say religion is very important in their lives • 51% pray at least daily • 60% attend religious services once/twice a month/few times a year; 18% attend weekly religious services • The majority seldom/never read scriptures, attend any form of religious discussion group or meditate

Thus, the population is quite pious while at the same time very private regarding their religiosity. Temple attendance is linked to celebrating major Hindu holidays, which are also big social events in this country. Faith has a way of centering people, offering them a foundation of happiness in good times, resilience in times of duress and tools to turn challenges into opportunities for intellectual and spiritual growth13. Yet being outwardly devout in the US, particularly as a non-Christian, has its potential pitfalls and the Hindu community has largely aimed to outwardly assimilate with the predominant cultural norms (e.g., not pushing for observances of major religious holidays).

Hindu identity formation Children of immigrants respond to the spiritual and cultural traditions of their homeland differently than their parents. Parents may prefer to remain more solidly in the comfort of the values and customs which they find familiar and comforting while children naturally gravitate to the activities and traditions of their peers in order to gain a sense of belonging. This process is called acculturation. As they grow older, children may feel pulled between parents who place a higher value on traditional customs and practices and their own need to assimilate into the normative culture14. Another source of confusion and alienation comes from the way academic textbooks in the US have traditionally portrayed Hinduism as an ancient, outdated pantheistic

12 IIE. Open Doors Executive Summary. 2017, https://www.iie.org/en/Why-IIE/Announcements/2017-11-13-Open- Doors-2017-Executive-Summary) 13 Snowdon, Kathryn. Official ‘Well-Being’ Statistics Show Religious People are Happier Than Atheists. The Huffington Post UK, 2 Feb. 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/02/02/office-for-national-statistics-well- being-data_n_9138076.html 14 Thomas, Sheeba P. “Asian Indian College Students: Relationship between Parent–Child Communication Difficulties and Internalization.” Dissertation, U. of Antioch, 2014, http://aura.antioch.edu/etds/169 4

creed. Textbook presentations of Hinduism focus unduly on social evils such as the caste system, dowry deaths and female infanticide while ignoring the actual religious tenets and global contributions, spiritual, humanitarian and scientific, originating in India.

Hindu parents in the US attempt to impart their value system and a sense of their cultural traditions to their children, though it can be a struggle15. Some parents teach lessons at home, others send their children for religious education to the growing number of Hindu summer camps offered by ashrams and temples across the county. As a result, most Hindus growing up in the US do have enough background knowledge about the religion to recognize when the representations of Hinduism and India are biased towards presenting archaic social customs. More recently Hindu Americans have become more vocal about their experiences defending their faith in school, particularly in classes which address global cultural and political issues in their curriculum16. Hindu students in the middle and high school years sometimes find themselves carrying the impossible burden of defending the entire history of India and Hinduism in their classes and during social interactions that veer into faith affiliation. These mischaracterizations alienate Hindu students from their peers and/or their parents and may have harmful personal consequences. As reported by the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), “Hindu American students are being singled out, bullied, and ostracized by their peers, largely due to academic curricula that reinforce negative and inaccurate stereotypes17. Personal pride in their faith tradition can be hard or impossible to outwardly express and even harder to maintain internally under such adverse conditions. As HAF reports, for many young Hindus the response is to publicly downplay their faith adherence in order to blend in and avoid being bullied. For Hindus untrained in liturgical Sanskrit – and that is most of the Hindu population – the sacred texts themselves present a challenge. English translations have their own political motivations (many popular editions date from the nineteenth century and exist in near-Biblical language), may be semantically vague or impenetrable. Divergence among translations makes it difficult to perceive which are authentic representations. Products of their eras, many texts include hierarchical, patriarchic ideals that contradict each other and turn people off. Internet resources are easier to access but with unverifiable authorship. Some temples and Hindu ashrams offer discourses, classes and summer camps to help parse the literature, particularly the . This is useful when led by a skilled teacher. However, numerous philosophical streams are lost in translation. Few Hindu adults – lay or religiously trained – are schooled broadly enough in Hinduism, religious studies and global history to offer a nuanced, contextualized sense of the religion or how the wisdom found in the scriptures can relate to contemporary issues. Too often the message delivered is that the texts are divinely revealed and

15 Balaji, Murali. “For a New Generation of Hindu American Parents, a Changing Model of Religion and Culture.” Huffington Post, 28 Aug. 2014, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/murali-balaji/for-a-new-generation-of- h_b_5732380.html 16 Pallod, Kavita. “I'm Hindu. I knew my textbook was wrong. Life is hard for Hindu tweens. Texas schoolbooks make it worse.” Houston Chronicle, July 5, 2016, https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/The- textbook-said-things-about-India-I-knew-were-8331986.php 17 Hindu American Foundation. Classroom Subjected: Bullying & Bias Against Hindu students in American Schools. 2 May 2016, https://www.hafsite.org/resources/classroom-subjected 5 must be accepted as so without question. This rigidity puts people off. Thus, it is not surprising that the Pew Center10 reports 60% of Hindu adults in the US disagree that the Hindu scriptures are the literal word of God and that the majority seldom/never read scriptures or attend any form of religious discussion group. Also missing from Temples is any sort of community pastoral support. Away from the public gaze, ritual practices and traditions have played and still continue to play a central role in anchoring and sustaining the lives of Hindu families in the US. Without such sentiments none of the Hindu mandirs in the US would have been built and their children’s camps would not be flourishing. For Generation Z entering college today, the relationship with their faith is different than that of their parents. They are the most diverse generation in American history and very connected with each other and the rest of the world. They are also more actively and publicly devout than preceding generations; 78% asserting their belief in God and 47% participate in organized religious events18. When students matriculate as college and university students they are leaving the family structure and adding the new dimension of “College Student” to their social identity. They often quite naturally re-create family roles (e.g., brother, sister, cousin) but these roles operate within a social structure with often very different parameters and social expectations. The degree of alignment with the patterns of a normative culture is called cultural consonance. The closer the alignment (i.e., the more acculturated the person is), the easier it is for the individual to navigate. the systems and feel successful and content. People naturally want to feel like they belong and are valued by the people in the spaces and places they occupy.

In my experience Hindu students initially find their way to my office because they are struggling to acculturate in their new environment. College students are naturally curious about other students’ lives and ask many questions. A first-year student setting up a small altar in her room may face queries from her suite-mates about her beliefs. This situation is much more sophisticated than the snarky “cow and snake worshipper” schoolyard-level accusation but it may present a quandary and/or psychologically land the student right back to middle school. This is where chaplaincy proves its value. Working with the student so she can eloquently express her beliefs and experiences provides her with the tools to go deeper into her own spiritual inquiry as well as the ability to confidently participate in a dialogue about religious beliefs.

Another potential challenge for Hindu students is their experiences while growing up may not have included mainstream US social practices such as dating or unstructured activities outside the home. Counseling students regarding their own boundaries, safe practices and alternative programming eases their uncertainty and makes it easier for them to join in the social scene at their own pace. Sometimes students who were at the top of their class in high school struggle in an academic environment replete with high-achievers. Strategies they relied on to be admitted to the university may need refining as they adjust to a faster-paced and more competitive mode of learning. While in conversation students may express how they are feeling challenged which allows me to first assure them that they are in good company and then direct them to appropriate

18 Seemiller, Corey and Meghan Grace. Generation Z Goes to College. John Wiley & Sons, 2016. 6 individuals and resources as needed. I also support students who are grieving the passing of a family member. They may find comfort in sharing memories, in talking about family dynamics and traditions. They may want to chant related to the soul’s passage and they want to ponder larger questions about death and mourning. I strive to offer students a comfortable, safe space where they can pour out their worries, hopes and fears to someone familiar with their full context; their Hindu/Indian family traditions and cultural norms and those of the campus culture. Such pastoral counseling, particularly when it enlarges students’ understandings of their cultural context, improves their sense of well-being and can also insulate them from anxiety and depression19. I often characterize that part of my work as nurturing the hearts and souls of the students so that they can attain the clarity and certainty to succeed – not only as students – but as whole persons.

19 Noh, Eliza. “Casualties of the Model Minority Myth: The Role of Racial Ideology in Asian American Female Suicidality.” 12 Apr. 2013. Invited lecture sponsored by the Connecticut Asian Pacific American Affairs Commission. 7

II. Hindu Chaplaincy

We’re at a crossroads,” said [Adeel] Zeb, who was elected recently as the first Muslim to lead [a] national group of college chaplains. “If you start defining a chaplain as a spiritual healer, an ethical leader and emotional healer on campus, regardless of anyone's faith traditions, if you start focusing on the human emotions and the human spirit, it enables more diverse possibilities20.

What initiates campus support for Hindu programming? Most often the campus population of Hindu students (undergraduate and/or graduate) reach a critical mass. They may – or may not – form an association such as a Hindu Students Organization, Hindu Students Association or South Asian Society. Sometimes the campus office of Spiritual Life forms an interfaith student group and recruits Hindu students. More often than not the first programs the Hindu students wish to celebrate are pan-Indian favorites: Diwali (aka Divali, Deepavali), the Hindu Festival of Lights celebrated in the Fall and , a spring festival with agrarian roots marked by flinging colored powders. In such cases funding comes through the Student Life part of campus. If my own research is any indicator, culturally-oriented events remain focal for these groups. In 1990 Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, a Hindu social organization in the US, formed as its youth wing the Hindu Student Council, with the goal of reinvigorating Hinduism among Hindu youth in the US. This national organization endures although its affiliation with VHPA has ended. According to the organization’s website the major goals include increasing awareness of Hindu traditions and culture, discussing current issues affecting Hindus and offering service opportunities21. University chapters receive national support; institutional support includes faculty, community members and chaplains 22. Chaplains observing a growing Hindu population on their campuses may wonder how to fit Hinduism within a multi-faith environment and how the community’s needs may evolve. Currently of the very few Hindus hired to provide support for Hindu students on US campuses most are part-time; sometimes paid and sometimes voluntary. These individuals vary occupationally; some are Hindu monks, some have faculty appointments, some are graduate students, and some are lay-persons leading otherwise full professional lives. The University of Southern California (USC) likely has the largest campus population of Hindu students – around 2300 – in the US. Their Office of Religious Life chaplains (of which there are more than 60) are mostly part-time volunteers. Three Hindu chaplains support very different program streams. Bharathwaj Nandakumar has a part-time paid appointment; he advises the Hindu Student Organization and leads USC’s pujas (worship services). The two volunteer part-time positions are funded externally; one held by Swami Atmavidyananda, a monk of the Order

20 Xia, Rosanna. “Most college head chaplains are Christian. At USC, a Hindu leads the way.” LA Times 3 Apr. 2017, http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-usc-chaplain-20170403-story.html. Adeel Zeb is the current President of NACUC. 21 Hindu Students Council. https://hindustudentscouncil.org 22 Per email with current National HSC President Parth Parihar, 26 Apr. 2018. 8 who heads the nearby Society and another new position held by Tahil Sharma exploring Hinduism and social justice. Several external Hindu organizations also offer programming to USC’s Hindu student population. By contrast Wellesley College has approximately 100 Hindu students and Hindu Chaplain Shrestha Singh is a staff member of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. She supports Darshana, a Hindu undergraduate group, along with South Asian groups interested in promoting culture, dance, and LGBTQ issues. Only three institutions, Yale, Princeton and Georgetown, currently staff a full-time Hindu chaplain. Georgetown and Princeton’s chaplaincies mainly support undergraduates; the populations range between 200-300 Hindu students. The Hindu Life programming at Yale supports undergraduate (around 250 students) as well as graduate and professional students and post-docs (500-700 students). Princeton supports the longest-running full time academic Hindu chaplaincy in the US. Vineet Chander, the Coordinator for Hindu Life at Princeton, took on his full-time role in 2008. In 2016 two other academic institutions hired full-time Hindu chaplains; my position at Yale University as Director of Hindu Life evolved into full-time and at Georgetown University Brahmachari Vrajvihari Sharan, PhD became their Director of Hindu Life. Each of us are employees of our university. Thus, while our primary support is towards our Hindu communities we function as full-time staff in our chaplaincies offering support to students regardless of their faith affiliation(s).

Building a Hindu Life program at Yale University When I joined Yale University in 2013 my primary role was to develop a Hindu Life program that supported members of the Hindu community at Yale. The Chaplain’s Office, placed squarely in the Student Life side in the hierarchy of the Yale University Secretary’s Office, mainly supports undergraduates. Thus, the focal point at that time was to foster the Yale Hindu Students Council (HSC) which consisted of – and remains – an undergraduate organization affiliated with the office since 2005. They hosted small and large events on campus relating to Hinduism and Indian culture. Until that point the events were enthusiastically attended by a fairly limited number of people and two graduate students in succession had advised the HSC Board. By 2012 burgeoning interest in HSC events, particularly Diwali puja, motivated the Chaplain to create a part-time staff position modeling off Princeton’s Office of Religious Life hire of a Coordinator of Hindu Life in 2008. At this point in their organizational evolution the HSC Board members needed guidance developing intra-organizational coherence as well as the shape and scope of their programming. During my first exploratory phone call with University Chaplain Sharon Kugler I admitted how unclear I was about what the job position Hindu Fellow, which sounded like a post-doc opportunity, might actually entail. Calling it Hindu Chaplain didn’t elucidate much either. I had little understanding of the role of a University Chaplain and how that might relate to Hinduism. In my mind, the word chaplain evoked a chapel – a Christian structure with a constellation of assumptions and expectations surrounding it – including a congregation of worshipers. This understanding was informed by my fond memories of singing in Mount Holyoke College’s beautiful Abbey Chapel as a member of the Glee Club. But there had been no Hindu affiliate in 9

the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life or to the Chapel so setting the word Hindu alongside chaplain presented a great conundrum. What I learned is that the mission of the Yale Chaplain’s Office is to foster respect and mutual understanding within a spiritually and ethnically diverse campus community largely by providing religious resources and supporting groups on campus dedicated to spiritual inquiry and dialogue for the common good. Programming hinges on the concept of radical hospitality and included study breaks, lectures, celebrations, service projects and discussions centering on big questions around meaning, purpose, success and happiness. Hospitality plays a central role among Hindus so that was a huge hook. Learning that Hindus were included among the specific religious groups supported on campus was simultaneously astonishing and delightful. My background fit surprisingly well. I grew up in the diasporic Hindu community in Connecticut as a first generation Indian American. As a course of my affiliation with the Connecticut Valley Society I was experienced in coordinating large religious events and had helped establish a Hindu Sunday School. My scholarly work centered on Indian social norms and values and religiosity among Indian American youth. When I met the Hindu Students Council Board during a second interview I asked them what they were looking for in a Hindu chaplain. They already had a colorfully decorated Hindu prayer room equipped with a cabinet of (statues of various gods and goddesses; See Appendix). The response was that they needed “someone to be there for us” who understood what being a Hindu undergraduate in the US felt like. That I certainly felt I could do. Hindus are ethnic and religious minorities in this country – very successful by most metrics but there are issues that can feel hard to explain to a non-Hindu or someone unfamiliar with Indian culture and family structures3. It became clear that the students were seeking a kind and knowledgeable sounding board as they navigated through the university’s social structures. They needed a mentor fluent enough in the tradition to be able to contextualize it and thereby help them thoughtfully consider how spirituality fits in their lives as humans with hearts and souls and minds. Moreover, they needed a role model of how to be a Hindu with grounded values who is integrated into the campus community, comfortable with befriending people of different faith and cultural traditions, who is open to intellectual and spiritual exploration, who is socially adept and – most important – steadfastly real. During our first retreat I asked the Board members to consider the role HSC should play on the Yale University campus. At that time there existed the Yale South Asian Society – a largely cultural organization, the South Asian Graduate and Professional Association, similar to SAS but supporting a different echelon of the community, and several South Asian performance groups. Where did HSC fit into this mosaic? An association with the Chaplain’s Office meant automatic categorization as a religious group. However, for Hindus it is often the case that the religion and culture intertwine. The Board members felt that HSC should celebrate the diversity of Hindu beliefs and practices by offering culturally relevant and significant activities to students that reinforced a sense of identity, community, and comfort (sense of home and nostalgia). Students felt that offering ritual services celebrating holy days (festivals) occurring during the academic year and religiously themed talks was important because their religion kept them grounded and 10

offered a valuable perspective in an otherwise hectic and challenging environment. Hinduism frames universal processes as cyclical, represented by the wheel of depicted on the Indian flag so I asked the students to imagine the organization in terms of overlapping circles. Given that the organization exists in an institution of higher education the central theme was Vid, knowledge. We then brainstormed on activities to host and how those fit into the organizational framework. The activities fell under three major categories: religious, cultural and social. Ritual worship, text study and invited speakers addressing aspects of and ritual practice fell under the scope of religious activities. Celebrations of Holi and Diwali were considered pan-Indian cultural events likely to draw wider participation. Social activities included presentations of Bollywood movies, Mehendi Night and social mixers that included an interfaith dimension. The last task of the retreat was to form a mission statement to reflect the values and intentions of the organization. Periodically the statement gets re-evaluated but it has remained essentially the same. “The Yale Hindu Students Council aims to foster an environment of Hindu spirituality through an open community of religious practice and cultural expression. We organize events throughout the year to promote an awareness of Hinduism within the Yale and New Haven community. Our events are open to all, meant to stimulate an exchange of ideas on religion, and are above all educational.” One example of the educational mission is that we create printed puja programs for attendees with clear translations for the mantras. Prior to the puja one of the students will go through the sections and provide some explanations for the rituals. This makes it easier for students wishing to share their traditions with their suite-mates to feel comfortable inviting them to programs. It also serves to ease apprehensions for Hindu students who might feel that they “ought to know” more about their faith. Participation becomes an opportunity to gain a broader understanding of the diverse practices within the faith tradition.

Hindu Holy Days

“But if there is a festival – everyone is there. It isn’t the free food…it is feeling close to home.” Bharathwaj Nandkumar, Hindu chaplain, USC

Expanding the religious festival observances seemed an excellent means to broaden participation by members of the Hindu community. Students were concerned about constructing worship services that honor the diversity of Hindu/Indian beliefs while still maintaining consistency and coherence. With Navami – an important holy day on the horizon – I proposed we hold a puja workshop intended to discuss the philosophy and meaning behind this form of ritual worship and to prepare us for hosting this specific puja. I invited Dr. A. V. Srinivasan, a leader in 11

the Connecticut Hindu community for over 40 years, to conduct this workshop. He has formed three organizations in the state including the Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society which specifically focused on building the first Hindu temple in Connecticut. The Sri Satyanarayana Temple is home to many aspects of the Divine, representing the diversity of Hindu practices among the diasporic community. Prior to the consecration of the Temple Dr. Srinivasan served a priestly role for the community. More recently he is the author of many books on Hindu philosophy and ritual worship including How-To books for celebrating major Hindu holy days23 and Hindu weddings and Hinduism for Dummies24. The philosophy behind the How-To books is that anyone should be able to conduct a puja and this dovetailed nicely with the HSC students’ tradition of student-led, participatory pujas. Given that Dr. Srinivasan also happens to be my father I found it fairly easy to secure this first guest speaker! During the workshop we discussed the philosophy and mechanics of puja-style worship, read through Dr. Srinivasan’s Puja to Sri Ramachandra book and (appropriate for ) and practiced chanting the Sanskrit mantras. Based on the Dr. Srinivasan’s puja book and workshop the students felt fully prepared to host a Rama Navami puja. We crafted a program with the Sanskrit mantras transliterated and translated so that anyone joining in could pronounce the words, follow the meaning and the flow of the service. Using a stainless-steel plate, beaded mirrors and tea light holders from Pier One I fashioned what I jokingly refer to as a Yankee Iyengar aarati plate – a ritual accessory that met the institutional standards for fire safety and our need for flames burning on a wick to honor the deity during the service. We did a dress rehearsal practice, sent event announcements via email, web sites, and the HSC Facebook page and ordered a catered vegetarian Indian dinner from a local restaurant. Our first festival celebration drew a large crowd that included American-born undergraduates, international graduate and professional students, faculty and staff. The prayer room reverberated with sacred sounds. Celebrations of holy days continue to expand and be tweaked due to shifting dates following the lunar calendar and as different students take on the role of Religious Chair for HSC. For example, September 2018 will be the first time since my arrival at Yale that we celebrate Janmashtami, followed closely by . When those holy days fall in August we instead begin the academic year with a puja to Maha the patron Goddess of learning, wisdom, music and speech. We also end each semester with a puja or aarati to Maha Saraswati in advance of exams. The major holy days we celebrate include , the nine- night festival celebrating the Goddess in her various aspects, Diwali, Gita Jayanthi, Shivaratri, Holi, Jayanthi and Rama Navami. I encourage students to incorporate family practices into the religious programming; for example, one year we included a special aarati during the Navaratri .

23 For example: Srinivasan, A. V. How to Conduct Puja to Sri Ramachandra. Parijata Publications, Periplus Line LLC (www.periplusbooks.com), 1999 -2009. 24 Srinivasan, A.V. Hinduism for Dummies. Wiley, 2011. 12

Hindu spiritual programming on other US campuses Sometimes the impetus for celebrating major Hindu holy days is initiated by Religious Life offices rather than students. Syma Sheik is an Intercultural Community Advisor at Hampshire College with a part-time appointment. Initially hired as an Islamic advisor, she expanded her programming to include Hindu, Bahai, Sikh, Jain, Parsi and Zoroastrian students. First Sheik assessed the holiday calendars for these faith traditions and then she spent time in the Hampshire dining hall talking with students about how they celebrated at home and the foods associated with the festivities. International students were keen to participate, and the informal conversations morphed into planning sessions as students became eager to share their experiences with the wider campus community. The intersection with the students and the Office of RL remains centrally focused on the festival calendar with a degree of linguistically-oriented pastoral support. Sheik, fluent in Urdu and Hindi, emphasizes the power of conversing with international students in their native tongue which allows them to convey emotions and ideas that do not easily translate into English. The international student population has grown, and Sheik’s events have gained a following among students within the local Five College system, many of whom eagerly anticipate Hampshire’s Holi celebration. Reverend Kate Smanik, Director of the Center for Spiritual Life at DePauw University describes the evolution thus far of her office’s support for Hindu students as including field trips to the closest Hindu temple, Bollywood movie nights, and celebrations of Diwali, Holi and Navaratri. Rev. Smanik relates how getting things off the ground felt a bit tenuous. There were – and continue to be – a very small number of Hindu students on campus. At the time Diwali was organized by the International Student Association and Holi was organized by students who had gone to India on trips with faculty members with the goal of bringing that particular festival experience back to campus. That first year at DePauw she began a student program called Interfaith Internship, drawing one representative from each religion. It was in her third year that programming for Hindus expanded because a Hindu student joined the Interfaith Internship and a new temporary hire in her office came with experience organizing Diwali on another campus. She deputized them both to organize that year’s Diwali celebration. The staff member’s influence during the one-year appointment was significant. They catered from a restaurant in Indianapolis and secured permission from public safety to do ground fireworks, which is apparently easy to do in Indiana! “I think it was puja, meal, fireworks…The students needed a vocabulary, and one good solid experience. [That year at Diwali we hosted] 40-50 people – it felt like a massive win.” Since then the celebrations at DePauw have expanded in scope and nature, adding even more fireworks and drawing increasing numbers of participants. The program at DePauw is an example of a multifaith approach dictated very much by student numbers and interest. “They absolutely will not form a Hindu Students Association. They refuse, saying: ‘Our religious practice is too varied, too different, we don’t really know what we’d organize around. We really like getting together for Diwali and Holi. That’s what matters. That’s all we want.’” 13

Deepening spiritual engagement Why might that be? Festivals are fond reminders of home and family. Past experience, unfamiliarity with the modern chaplaincy model, and the maelstrom of everyday college life may all contribute to minimizing spiritual engagement. Further, their families likely made it very clear that they expect their child to focus on academics rather than extra-curricular activities. A strong Hindu Life program, however, offers students an opportunity for spiritual and community engagement that will support identity formation and emotional wellbeing. Creating forums that sanction exploring, questioning, and open grappling over aspects of the philosophy with skilled teachers and role models encourages students to be more comfortable with their spirituality and see how it fits into the rest of their lives. At USC Bharatwaj Nandakumar mentors the HSO and leads their pujas. Dean Soni recruited him specifically because Nandakumar had participated in HSO events as a graduate student so was familiar with the campus culture and because Soni felt that students might relate better with someone from an entirely non-academic perspective. Nandakumar related: “[A] number of students … came to speak to me during orientation.... I work on Call of Duty (a popular video game) [so they see me at orientation where] when I wear game t-shirts [and then later] they get a shock when they see me do the puja.” The t-shirts may indeed open the door for conversations about faith, particularly among students who more culturally self-identify as Hindus. Nandakumar encourages students to question and critique the practices as a part of their personal faith journey. He asserts “…I am happy to fit into that role to explain that you can follow whatever religion you want – you can be an atheist – you are exploring.” A full-time appointment has allowed me the opportunity to more deeply engage with the University community by developing relationships with administrators, faculty and staff from a variety of campus organizations including Pierson College where I am now a Fellow. There are a number of Yale professors and scholars whose research addresses India and aspects of Hinduism. For example, the Yale South Asian Studies Council professors teach courses including those examining political, cultural and social trends in India, Hindu epic literature and Sanskrit and Hindi language classes. In addition, there are many Hindu professors in other departments across the university. I try to promote Indian cultural and spiritual happenings on campus with students I work with. Hindu students enjoy personally inviting their professors to major Hindu Life events; faculty presence adds a special dimension to the celebration and furthermore validates the importance of faith in students’ minds. At Georgetown, Br. Sharan finds that the Hindu students prefer learning about Hinduism from an academic perspective and he is well equipped to meet that need. A Hindu monk of the Vaishnavite Nimbarka tradition with a PhD in Sanskrit from the University of Edinburgh, Br. Sharan offers classes with a rigorous grounding in Hindu theology that provide Hindu students a common vocabulary with which to engage in interfaith dialogue. This approach is particularly suited to Georgetown, a firmly Jesuit institution with a high student participation in organized religion and interfaith work. There is a delicate balance to event-planning at Yale where we veer more left and secular than Georgetown and are most definitely over-programmed. Yet particularly important in the 14

ontology of the Yale Hindu Life program has been the practice of inviting speakers who offer balanced portrayals of Hinduism and are themselves role models for how to be a practicing Hindu while deeply and fully engaged in contemporary American life as a doctor, lawyer, activist, scholar – basically an every-day normal person. Thus far sponsored speakers through Yale’s Hindu Life program have addressed a wide variety of topics including Indus Valley archeological research, India-US economic ties, , and healing and meditative practices. Student interest has driven much of the programming that also includes informal and formal text-based philosophical discussions. In spring 2018, after brain-storming with students about topics they might want to explore, I initiated a Dharmic Discussion Series set in our Hindu prayer room. Given that the Speaker Series occurred in April, the busiest month on campus, all three included a catered Indian dinner to amp attendance. Murali Balaji, PhD spoke on the intersection of Hinduism and social justice, a topic deeply informed by his work as a journalist and with the Hindu American Foundation. His talk “Searching for praxis: Are faith and social justice movements irreconcilably disconnected from one another?” explored the history of social justice movements in the US and how Mahatma Gandhi and teachings in the Bhagavad Gita inspired activists such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. The topic was spurred by reaction to a programming proposal from earlier in the year which offered Hindu students the opportunity to work on a climate change project from a Hindu perspective. The lack of interest suggested that students struggled with pairing Hinduism with the concept of environmental and social activism. Conversations with students confirmed the disconnect. Co-sponsorship with the South Asian Society certainly drew a higher attendance and will potentially increase interest in the climate change program. The following week Vineet Chander shared anecdotes from his personal spiritual trajectory and offered insights from his ten years in Hindu chaplaincy. Chander’s inspirational Princeton Hindu Life programming has certainly changed over its ten years and he explains that experimenting keeps the programming fresh. He has sponsored numerous scholars presenting on topics that include arts, Gandhi, environmental and social justice, and the movement. Chander’s latest project is called the Living Dharma series for which he is the speaker. He applies concepts from Hinduism onto real life issues such as dating, partying, failure, vocation. Chander calls his approach a bit subversive in that it is not a reckoning of do’s and don’ts. Instead, for example, he looks for tools in the Gita that he can apply to more complex issues. He describes it in this way: “My take is that there is a lot of wisdom in the tradition…[my focus is] how to do it well rather than trying to identify the right answer. I think students appreciate that. It is not so cut and dried… This is not what your grandma hosted in her basement. It’s cool.” Chander took his Living Dharma series on tour to Yale, presenting on “Balancing spiritual values and contemporary campus life.” Students absorbed lessons from this contemporarily-grounded theological discussion of spiritual progression.

Our third speaker Sujata Prasad, an internist and clinical instructor at the Yale School of Medicine presented on “ in the Slums: A personal journey volunteering with FXB 15

Suraksha.” Dr. Prasad offered a vivid portrait of slums and the disadvantaged but admirably durable people she supports during her volunteer trips to India. She offered examples of the cases FXB pursues and spoke of her experiences as transformational. All three presenters demystified Hindu concepts and offered insights as to how Hindu theology and praxis are globally active and relevant. Moreover, in an outwardly secular campus where professors rarely discuss their personal faith adherence, the Hindu prayer room has formally developed into a space where practice and scholarship coexist. An example of bridging of scholarship and practice specifically within the campus community comes from Emory University’s Office of Spiritual and Religious Life. The OSRL draws from their cadre of graduate students to fill the role of Religious Life Scholar directed at supporting Hindu, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist undergraduate student groups. Because they research within their faith tradition they are able to offer students a more academic perspective. As Rev. Lisa Garvin, Associate Dean of the Chapel and Religious Life, relates: “They are bridging study and practice and providing this advisory support to student organizations. They really… lean more to the scholar role. It’s very organic depending on the [particular Religious Life Scholar]….[The support] differs based on the tradition and what the students need.” Early in his tenure, Ved Patel, Emory’s Hindu RLS in 2017, sensed that the undergraduate Hindu students had no relationship with Religion faculty at Emory who specialized in Hinduism. He arranged a faculty lecture series addressing topics of student interest including “How Hindu Scriptures Influence Everyday Life.” In this way he encouraged students to ponder the relevancy and agency of their faith tradition.

Bridging connections among religious, spiritual and secular identities In Fall 2017 the Hindu Life Program, with the collaboration of five other campus organizations, sponsored “A Muslim in the Midst,” a play written by Anand Rao. The play aligned with a key mission of our Chaplain’s office which is to promote cross-cultural dialogue as a means towards common understanding and, ultimately, respect and healing. What drove me to push for this project were my observations as a chaplain and an anthropologist of the seismic social cracks in our nation and on our campuses in the past few years. They center around the issues debated in this play: faith, political ideologies, class, gender, race and educational inequity, and feelings of alienation. Across our campus community many have suffered deep hurts that they struggle to share or articulate while friends who want to reach out may not know how. This play presented the opportunity for discourse on current events but through the lens of history, rendering it in a somewhat softer though very direct and often humorous way. Set in Bangalore, India three days after 9/11, a Hindu and Muslim couple from very different backgrounds struggle to find common ground. The central message is that interfaith dialogue may happen at any time in the course of one’s normal day and that while overcoming internal biases and understanding another person’s lived experience is a struggle, it a is vitally important skill as we navigate our increasingly diverse world. This message is particularly important for our Hindu students to hear. There can be an ironic inherent disconnect among Hindus regarding interfaith dialogue. Because a key tenet of Hinduism is the acceptance of all faiths as legitimate and true paths to the Creator, Hindus 16

often gloss over the need to be able to explain their beliefs in terms comprehensible to people of other faiths and they may not invest much time learning about other faiths. Huge opportunities to connect with others may go unnoticed. A lively discussion with cast, crew and audience members followed the show, indicating that the play absolutely met its marks and students felt that they had a useful real-world model of inter-personal interfaith engagement. Also important in fostering interfaith engagement is encouraging students to express their beliefs within the context of their own personal journey rather than as exemplars of their religion. The Yale Chaplain’s Office hosts IFFY, the Interfaith Forum at Yale25. The goal of IFFY is to bring together undergraduate students who are interested in grappling with life questions from a deeply personal spiritual perspective. Many of the Hindu students who participate in Hindu Students Council events also enjoy participating in IFFY because it offers a safe space for self-expression and an opportunity to gain multiple perspectives. Rev. Kate Smanik aptly encapsulates the appeal of this type of program: “To identify with any of these religious communities has always been inherently dangerous and is now more so. And on top of it they all require things of our students that our students are not always complying with and they don’t always know how to navigate the emotional fallout of that.” Because many of these questions and challenges are shared across faith traditions and because students have grown up living in a religious plurality pondering these particular issues within an interfaith setting makes perfect sense. Contemplations on expansive matters such as success, happiness and relationships serve to broaden their perspectives. Social mixers also present a wonderful opportunity to bridge connections between faith communities and student populations. A very popular event co-hosted by HSC, the Chaplain’s Office and sometimes the Yale Muslim Students Association, is a social mixer called “Chat, Chaat and Chai” featuring Indian street foods and chai. Chaat recipes range from buffet do-it- yourself style samosa chaats to kati rolls and masala fries. Chai ranges from slow-cooked when time allows to powdered mixes or poured out of the box. Timing the event with the first cold nip in the air usually draws a crowd. The flavors draw South Asians from the undergraduate, graduate, post-doc and faculty echelons of the community who bring along their spice-loving friends.

Supporting Graduate & Professional Students and Post-Docs The discussion thus far has mainly focused on undergraduate support however the Hindu Life program at Yale also supports post-graduate Hindu students. This largest segment of the Hindu population at Yale remains statistically unaccounted for. Most come from abroad and the university only publishes data on country of origin, not religious affiliation. The most recently published data is from 2016 when 150 students from India were enrolled in Yale graduate

25 Yale Chaplain’s Office. http://chaplain.yale.edu/interfaith-forum-yale-iffy 17

programs26. My best guess, based on event attendance, is that there are 500+ Hindu graduate and professional students, post-docs and associate researchers in the Yale community. At the 2017 Diwali puja 58% of the attendees (out of 386 traceable ticket-holders) were post-graduate non- faculty appointments. I recognized only a fraction of them from my previous programming and interestingly 31% were associated in some way with the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). There is some degree of overlap in the kind of support this population might need; acculturation issues certainly arise as do circumstances involving discrimination and harassment. Theological discussions about Hindu identity are much rarer. Community-building is the most important element for this demographic. Post docs may feel quite isolated because they are often still single (and not in the mode to date) or pursuing their research while their families remain at home. Also, their projects are independent rather than part of a coordinated academic program with built-in student support. Beyond their affiliation with their lab, they may feel little connection with the university. In the 2015-16 academic year, with the support of a colleague who works with the postgraduate population, I began systematically reaching out to South Asian graduate student groups about the Hindu Life and Chaplain’s Office programs. We met with students in the South Asian Business Forum at the School of Management and student leadership from the EQUID (Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity) Committee at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (FES). I also re-connected with the South Asian Studies Council program coordinators and the new Board members of SAGA. This gave me a better sense of the population and the best publicity conduits and platforms. That next Fall the numbers of post- graduate students at our events noticeably increased. One program in particular in Fall 2016 drew students from the Law School, Medical School, FES, as well as post-docs from biology and chemistry science labs. Related to our celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi I publicized a clay -making activity where participants could either follow provided directions for molding a small statue or take full creative license. The would be brought to the Hindu prayer room and set alongside the Ganesha for the duration of the puja that evening and then taken home as a souvenir. There is a tradition in India of Hindu communities jointly fashioning a clay murti for Ganesh Chaturthi. Some community members collect clay, others fashion the internal structure, still others shape, color and decorate. The ephemeral ritual object is worshiped and then immersed in a body of water. The ritual symbolizes the transitive nature of the body and the connections between the sacred and secular while accentuating unity within the community. We held the clay-making activity in our technology-free arts and crafts zone called Breathing Space which in the basement of an undergraduate dormitory in Old Campus. Twenty-five hardy souls found their way to us and spent about 2 hours kneading, rolling, pinching and pressing clay while laughing and sharing familial Ganesh Chaturthi traditions and their experiences with various schools and departments on campus. The undergraduates listened intently to these stories, particularly the rare personal insights into graduate life. At dinner after the puja the

26 Yale University Office of Institutional Research. https://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/w020_internl_enroll_bycitz_0.pdf 18

conversations continued and many of these participants have made a point of coming to festival celebrations and social mixers since then. Another event which draws out this community is SAGA’s Rangoli event held in the Fall. Members gather on the stone patio in front of Sterling Memorial Library and create intricate designs with chalk and colored powders. Some participants bring their parents, others bring their small children. I sponsor chai and samosas and soak up the sun while catching up with members or meeting those newly-arrived and wondering what life will be like for the ensuing few years. Such programs and events are where my pastoral care initiates and sometimes solely exists for this postgraduate community. We discuss challenges and celebrate milestones – academically and socially – such as Visa applications, lab dynamics, research, writing, conference presentations, job offers, marriages and babies….and soul-searching regarding all or any of these when they fail to manifest as expected. Whether or not they follow up with a conversation in my office or at a local café my goal is that they see me as a resource who understands their cultural and spiritual background as well as the bumpy nature of graduate life. They also discover a vibrant Hindu community they can connect with while at Yale.

Summary US campuses are microcosmic laboratories of social, intellectual and spiritual inquiry and practice. Events in the world affect the population at Yale University; students’ experiences at Yale University will eventually have global repercussions as they graduate and enter the larger society. Part of the Yale University Mission Statement includes a commitment to providing opportunities for students through a “free exchange of ideas in an ethical, interdependent, and diverse community of faculty, staff, students and alumni27.” The communities are far more diverse than in previous history, making the Chaplain’s Office mission “fostering respect and mutual understanding among people of different faiths and cultures as well as actively promoting dialogue within the University” vitally important. As the world grows increasingly interconnected the ability to authentically connect with others from vastly different cultures and worldviews will be a fundamental precursor for success. Having a Hindu chaplain enhances a university mission and community in three essential ways.

• Vedantic philosophy teaches that all faiths are true paths to the Creator thus a Hindu chaplain should be very comfortable working within a multi-faith environment. A Hindu chaplain who can engage with people from various religious, spiritual and secular communities presents Hindu students with a role model for how to successfully navigate the pluralistic social environments that comprise our global community.

• A Hindu chaplain who can clearly articulate and contextualize Hindu beliefs and practices – and offer a safe, explorative forum to do so – will be able to guide Hindu students in their personal discernment. Acknowledging and nurturing themselves

27 Yale University. https://www.yale.edu/about-yale/mission-statement 19

holistically will enhance students’ emotional balance and improve their college experience. This will also offer them a foundation and perspective for engaging in interfaith dialogue. In a similar vein, a Hindu chaplain can help demystify and correct Hindu concepts for non-Hindus.

• By cultivating a Hindu community, a Hindu chaplain provides a sense of a home away from home for Hindu students. This bolsters their confidence in exploring and more deeply engaging with curricular and co-curricular offerings. It also diminishes feelings of alienation and loneliness. As Br. Sharan adeptly affirms: “…[T]here are benefits across the board – whether you talk about faith, mental health, emotional health of students or the depth of perspectives they are exposed to at University. All is augmented by having a Hindu Chaplain around.” The core of my work at Yale has been to build and nurture a vibrant Hindu campus community. The programming I offer is designed to be spiritually uplifting and to connect students and post- graduates with like-minded individuals who share their beliefs, values, cultural and ethnic traditions, and cuisine. Participation offers opportunities for ritual observances and to strengthen a sense of identity in a communal, fun and caring way. It takes some time for a program to gain momentum and for things to seem less tenuous while yet remaining experimental and accommodating. Five years down the road I have a sense that this fertile ground I’ve been laying is finally bearing fruit. Each year the number of first-year students self-identifying as Hindu students has increased and the programming has a wider reach into the campus community. Diwali puja tickets sell out in days and Holi is widely anticipated as a spring event. Also steadily increasing among the members of the Hindu community at Yale is an interest in actively interrogating and mining our vast Hindu traditions towards an understanding of how faith contributes to an authentic, meaningful and happy life.

20

Appendix

A Campus Hindu Prayer Space

Om asato maa sad-gamaya | tamaso maa jyotir-gamaya | mrtyor-maa amrtam gamaya | shaantih shaantih shaantih ||

Translation: Om. Lead us from unreality of transitory existence to the reality of the eternal Self, Lead us from the darkness of ignorance to the light of spiritual knowledge, Lead us from the fear of death to the knowledge of immortality. Om. Peace Peace

This is one of a number of shanti mantras; chants invoking peace, and has its origins in the Brihadaranyaka (1.3.28). It is commonly chanted in Indian schools, as a personal and during pujas. The peace referred to can include peace on Earth as well as peace of mind through the vehicle of self-knowledge and spiritual inquiry.

For most of us, accessing inner light and peace requires a physically serene space. Hindu temple structures (mandirs) include a combination of mathematically and mystically [cosmically?] inspired architectural elements all with the purpose of creating a space that elevates the mind, body and soul of the devotee. A Hindu sacred space on college and university campus has a similar goal of being a space that kindles a sense of one-ness [universal connectivity] and inner tranquility which inspire to feelings of joy and belonging [community].

In conversation with Rev. Cynthia Terry at Goucher College we mused over the different forms of institutional sacred spaces as well as the needs associated with creating a Hindu prayer space in particular. Cynthia asked an excellent question: “Can you talk to me about the gods and goddesses and the statues of them? I have been told that they are the god and goddess and they reside in this space. What kind of home do they need?”

First it is important to set the context. As already mentioned there is a difference between a mandir and a Hindu prayer space situated within an institution. Mandirs typically house anthropomorphic stone statues of gods and goddesses. The statues, which are called murtis, are not worshiped in themselves. They are particularly powerful focal points into which the Divine is invoked, for a period of time, and in a particular form. Here it is worth reiterating that Hindus believe in a single Creator who manifests and is worshiped in many forms, usually anthropomorphic male and female, sometimes animal, and sometimes in an elemental form such as flame or stone. When a mandir is consecrated very complex ceremonies must be performed by Hindu priests to prepare the statues as fit receptacles for the Creator. Thereafter certain rituals must be performed every day to sustain the sanctity and power of the murti. This is not necessary or required for a Hindu prayer room in a university; instead we follow a model akin to the prayer spaces commonly found in Hindu homes. These prayer spaces vary in size and the choice of 21

deities on the altar depends on the family denomination and personal preferences. The family may be Vaishnavas and therefore worship God in the form of , Rama or -Krishna or they may be Smartas and worship six forms of God: Ganesha, , , Vishnu, Surya and another Vishnu avatar of their choice. When Hindus perform a puja we specifically invoke the deity into whatever physical focus we are using: murti, poster, flame, etc. Usually, like in a mandir, it is an anthropomorphic form made of metal or stone. Until certain prayers are uttered it is just a statue. The mantras invoke, honor and beseech God for protection, guidance, blessings, love and enlightenment. At the end of the ceremony there are mantras to release the deity from the focal channel. Because God does not exist in that structure at all times the statues can either be displayed openly or be carefully stored in a cabinet between prayer services. In homes, there is a typically a door or curtain that is drawn closed to delineate the sacred space. In Yale University’s Hindu prayer room we have a beautiful wooden storage cabinet – with doors – in which we store the murtis. It is particularly important to keep puja materials stored separately if a prayer space is shared. There are many gods and goddesses representing the Creator and their influence varies regionally across India. There are annual festivals to the major deities throughout the year following a Lunar calendar so a Hindu prayer space in a college or university will require a small collection of murtis. For an institution of higher learning the most important Hindu deity is Maha Saraswati (aka Saraswati), the goddess of learning, speech and music. Prayers to Saraswati are highly recommended at the beginning of every semester and at the end, just before finals. Second most popular is the elephant-headed god Ganesha. His festival, Ganesh Chaturthi occurs in August or September. Because He is known as the Remover of Obstacles (and thus a very popular dashboard adornment in India) he is typically prayed to in the beginning of every puja. Thus, His image may be included on the altar of any puja, though it is not required. As a reference, in our Hindu prayer room at Yale we have 19 statues of gods and goddesses. Throughout the academic year there are opportunities to worship both the feminine and masculine aspects of God. During Navaratri, the goddess is worshiped in the form of Saraswati, , and Durga. Lakshmi, as the goddess of wealth, is the primary deity during Diwali (Hindu Festival of Light) festivities. There is regional variation; Rama (an avatar of Vishnu) is also worshiped during Diwali in northern India. The spring semester major festivals are Shivaratri, Rama Navami and Hanuman Jayanthi. It is helpful that the murtis be made of metal because offerings are typically sprinkled onto them. However, it is not imperative as offerings can alternatively be made into a bowl or metal plate in front of the statue. Pujas require many accessories, most of which will need to be stored in a safe place. The murti cabinet we use at Yale University includes a large drawer where we store materials for pujas. These materials can usually be found in Indian/Asian grocery stores or online and include:

• A small brass bell • Stick incense (aka agarbattis) • Incense holders 22

• Candles – we use small unscented white tea lights • Kumkum • Sandal paste • Sacred ash (for Shivaratri) • Thread – usually red, specifically for pujas • Various small metal vessels for holding water • A small metal cup and spoon (this can be simple or specific ones are sold at Indian grocery stores) • Small round stainless steel trays and bowls to hold small offerings such as juice, coins, bangles, etc. • Large stainless steel rimmed round trays upon which the statues are placed during pujas • Small cloth offering • Colorful cloths for backdrops and floor covers • Akshata – uncooked rice that is mixed with turmeric – this is a major offering during a puja • Prasaada – blessed food to be shared after the puja • Sugar • Honey • Bangles (for offering to goddesses) • Coins • Lighters • Aarati plate. This is a plate which traditionally holds wells for oil and cotton wicks. It is used during the last portion of a puja to wave lights in front of a deity and it is very important. The university generally frowns upon open flames (and the traditionally ones are brass and can get hot and messy). When I joined Yale University, I fashioned an aarati plate using a small rimmed stainless-steel plate onto which I glued three beaded mirrors from Pier One along the circumference at one end. On top of the mirrors I glued three small clear glass tea light holders. White unscented tea lights go into the holders and voilà – an aarati plate for the contemporary US campus.

Other items are purchased fresh for pujas. We have a fridge close to the Prayer room that I use for storing milk, yogurt, fruit, juice, and betal leaves which are offered during the pujas. I also purchase fresh flowers that are used as offerings and to decorate. After a puja, we share in the prasaada but we also order at least samosas because sharing food and fellowship is such an important aspect of our culture.

Most of the specific items are sold at Indian grocery stores – they always have an area for puja materials because many Hindu families have a puja space in their homes. Students will come with a variety of family traditions but this list reflects a staple set of needs. Access to drinking water and a sink is also required as water plays an important role in pujas and there is a lot of washing up to do afterwards. Electrical outlets allow for playing music during and after the puja.

23

A Hindu prayer space should include some type of altar – a raised area where images of gods and goddesses may be placed for worship. At Yale University, we drape the storage cabinet with a very decorative cloth to serve as a backdrop for the puja. We place a small painted square wooden table (which I purchased from an Indian grocery store) in front of the cabinet. This table is where the murti will sit, atop a large stainless-steel rimmed round plate. In front of the altar on the floor we lay another colorful cloth where we place the offerings (arranged in cups, plates and bowls) and other puja materials.

Ideally a Hindu prayer space provides a vibrant while cozy and heart-warming atmosphere. In the Yale Hindu prayer room, the walls are painted orange and yellow and the carpet is deep blue. We have hung framed posters of Hindu gods and goddesses and inspirational quotes from Hindu visionaries on the walls. To make it comfortable to sit on the floor to pray we often cover the carpet with red sheets and provide small, colorful pillows to sit on. When we begin pujas often students still have the day’s burdens on their shoulders. As we sit in this space, surrounded by warm colors and chant the mantras, the offerings and the hymns, they visibly straighten and the vibration in the room becomes calm and joyous.

Keeping in mind that a Hindu Prayer space may be shared it is worth noting that Hindus share space fairly easily. Within mandirs there are often sanctums for worship by Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs. The space, including the floor, should be kept clean and the murtis and puja materials should be stored separately or carefully displayed. It is preferred that items like bowls and plates that are specifically used for rituals not be shared. Shoes should be stowed away from the puja altar area during set up, for the duration of the puja and until the altar is taken down. Also, non- vegetarian foods should not be present in the area during pujas.

In determining the open hours for the Hindu Prayer space consider the diversity among Hindus with respect to how and when they worship. Some worship in the morning, some have evening prayers. Though there is no mandate that these prayers always happen in a dedicated prayer space; many of the Hindu students do their prayers in their rooms. However, students may voice a preference to be in the prayer space. At Yale University, the Hindu prayer room is open to students during the business day and then until 11 pm Sunday through Thursday. Generally, Hindus try to celebrate their festivals on the assigned day. There is flexibility so if a festival falls on a Friday which conflicts with another service then it is acceptable to choose a different date within the span of a few days. There are times of the day that are more or less auspicious for worship services. Some Hindus are more orthodox and will want to time their celebrations accordingly. The use of the space will evolve as the students become more accustomed to having it. How it ought to be used should be carefully considered and re-evaluated from time to time.