HAF Published in News India Times: Hinduism Inspires Many to Lead Fulfilling Lives 

Dear Editor:

 

The article “White Hindus” quite accurately describes the experiences of many non-Indians who have converted to Hinduism.  But there is another demographic that is, inadvertently I’m sure, excluded.  The article discusses “white Hindus” as opposed to “born Hindus,” but your readers may be unaware that there is a community of non-Indians who are Hindu by birth rather than by conversion.  

 

My father, an Italian, born and raised in America, visited India in the 60’s as a curious, adventurous young man in his 20’s.  Like those mentioned in the article, and many other westerners at the time, he instantly felt a connection with India; he felt spiritually complete there.  For the next ten years of his life, he lived in India and absorbed as much as he could of Hindu belief, practice, language, and culture.  

 

Now, in 2009, he is back in America, married to a non-Indian, and has two adult children.  He is still a devout and practicing Hindu and, like any other parent would do, he passed his religious beliefs on to his kids.  My brother and I were raised Hindu and as adults we continue to practice the religion of our birth – I am also an advocate as a member of the Hindu American Foundation – but we are not of Indian decent.  I imagine many of the people of my father’s generation who converted to Hinduism are also raising their non-Indian children as Hindus.  

 

May I also respectfully suggest that the term “white Hindu,” if used as a generalized label for all non-Indian Hindus, is an inaccurate term because it excludes thousands of individuals of other races who have chosen to adopt Sanatana Dharma.  I am half Japanese and therefore, like so many others, do not fit into the category “white Hindu.”  The era in which it may have been accurate to assume that all people who were born as Hindus are Indian is long past. 

 

Sachi Lamb

Member, Executive Council

Hindu American Foundation