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To: Editorial Office,
Newsweek Magazine
From: Aseem R. Shukla, M.D., Member, Board
of Directors, Hindu American Foundation, Inc.
Re: “Countless
Souls Cry Out to God”, by Kenneth Woodward,
January 10, 2005
Dear Editor:
Kenneth Woodward’s
depiction of the Hindu view of suffering after the devastating
South Asian tsunamis was deeply flawed (“Countless
Souls Cry Out to God,” January 10, 2005). Mr.
Woodward dismissed Hindu victims as “untutored”
animists who viewed the disaster as the hapless consequence
of “capricious deities” and compounded the error
by referring to Hindu perception of God by the lower case
“g.” In so doing, Mr. Woodward perpetuated the
most obsolete misconceptions of Hinduism. Followers of panentheistic
monotheism, Hindus believe that there is one God who is omnipotent
and omnipresent throughout the universe and worshipped by
people in different forms according to their individual perceptions.
Hardly capricious, Hindus perceive God’s grace as always
flowing and easily felt by those who open their minds to receive
that blessing.
Multiple millennia before
Buddhism, Hindu scripture defined the relationship between
reincarnation and karma. Recognizing an eternality of existence,
Hindus take comfort in the face of calamity knowing that while
the body may die and be shed as old clothes, the immortal
soul continues its journey in the next life along its path
towards God. Individuals are architects of their destiny,
and just as every action must have an equal reaction, Hindus
believe and take comfort that in suffering, a karmic account
that may have accumulated many lifetimes before has been cleared.
There is no cosmic interplay
of ambivalent, competing gods as the article implies, and
the Hindu view of suffering is much more nuanced and profound
then Mr. Woodward’s insulting depiction of an unpropitiated
ocean god unleashing fury. It was a disservice to your readers
to provide an erroneous depiction of a faith that inspires
more than a billion people and is a source of comfort to so
many of the tsunami victims.
Sincerely,
Aseem R. Shukla, M.D.
Member, Board of Directors
Hindu American Foundation |
