Religious studies - Hinduism. 0. Introduction

I was born in Hyderabad-e-Deccan, India, into a Catholic family.  So read this as, born and raised as a Christian, in a city with a significant Islamic influence, in a majority Hindu country.  Thus I was exposed a little more than the average Indian, to all three religions from very early on.

My father had deep faith in his religion, so much so, that he named some of my older siblings based on the particular Christian religious book he was reading at that time. Three of his nephews, my first cousins, had gone on to serve the Church as priests. To this day, my cousins on my Dad's side are some of the most deeply Catholic folks that I know.

My Dad having been educated in the Urdu medium, while under the Nizam's rule in the state of Hyderabad, before India's independence, had just as deep a respect for the language, and the Muslim culture, as he did for his own religion. I remember, as child of less than 8 or so, attending 'Jagne ki Raat' events with my Dad, conducted by our local mosque in the open grounds near my house, filled likely religious teachings (which I don't remember any of), and a lot of 'Qawwali'  and 'Sher-O-Shaayari' (Urdu poetry), with the 'wah-wahs' that are an integral part of the mood building for the audience.  This was my exposure to the rich Muslim culture of Hyderabad of days gone by. At work, on the other hand Christians being a minority in India, he by default had a lot of Hindu friends as well. Dad had worked all his life for the Food Corporation of India. 

My mother on the other hand while I would say spiritual was likely leaning Hindu than Catholic, when it came to religion. I remember her radiant skin, with her deep brown curly hair, a striking contrast to the red Kumkuma (Vermillion) Bindi that adorned her beautiful face, an unmistakable symbol of a married Hindu woman. While she attended Church religiously, she just as happily attended Hindu pujas  (religious ceremonies) and took us along for the ride. Being the friendly, generous and considerate soul she was, she was quite popular in our neighborhood and had many friends, whose puja's were never complete, without my mother's presence.  At home, as all Indians do of course, we most celebrated Hindu festivals such as Sankranti, Ugadi, Rakhi, Vinayaka Chavithi, Dasara, Deepawali, with equal fervor as we did Christmas and Easter, as well as hungrily awaited the gifts of Kheer and Mutton Biryani from our muslim friends in the neighborhood, when Eid al Fitr, Eid al Zuha came around.


I speak of my parents in the past-tense, as they are no more, however, what lives on in me is their common streak of religious tolerance and a liberal attitude. Growing up thus, I did not see myself as bucketed into a religious silo either.

When I went on to do my Fellow Programme in Business Management, at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore,  as part of our introduction to Philosophy I was re-exposed to several religions in an academic setting. It was during this period that like my mother, I found my Hindu leaning, while respecting the Christian upbringing.

Fast forward to my mid-'40s (mid-life crisis?), post having raised my kids thru to high school and college now, I've been taking a deep interest in Hinduism once again, and the close relationship it has with many academic disciplines of mathematics, psychology, business management among others. 

I've always desired to read religious books to be able to learn about various religions. I've read the Bible (both Old and New Testament) twice and hope to re-read them once again. For now, I'm looking to jumping into the ocean of religious texts from Hinduism, which I have researched and found PDFs of on the internet. I hope to share my notes over here as I read and discover some sacred secrets of the universe.

Even as I jumped into reading and researching on Hinduism, I discovered the true meaning of the word 'catholic'. It is derived from the greek language. 'katholikos' comes from two Greek words: kata or kath (meaning “through” or “throughout”) and holos (meaning “whole”). Source: Catholic doesn't mean what you think it means.

So here's to being more 'catholic' as I explore Hinduism and other religions.

I do not publicize this blog, however, hope that those who have similar interests as me, will find their way to this. If you do, please do leave your comments. If you'd like to connect with me, please find me on LinkedIn. Happy reading!

See my next post: Religious studies - Hinduism. 1. Useful links.