That's So Hindu

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In this episode HAF’s Raj Rao, Suhag Shukla, Vijay Satnarine, and Mat McDermott delve into how Hindu dharma traditions, for millennia, have recognized a Third Nature in gender and sexuality, how this framework both overlaps with contemporary LGBTQ categories and how it is distinct, as well as some guidance on how Third Nature individuals and their families can act compassionately rooted in dharma when addressing these issues. 

Read: HAF Policy Brief - LGBTQ Rights

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In this episode Mat McDermott speaks with filmmaker Prem Kumar about his documentary series on the sage Agastyamuni, his work educating Hindus about their heritage via his YouTube channel and in-person workshops.

PremKV on YouTube

Tatvamasi USA workshops 

Tatvamasi homestay

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In this episode Mat McDermott speaks with Raja Choudury, director of the film America’s First Guru, streaming now on PBS, which tells the story of Swami Vivekananda’s first trip to the United States and the effect it has continued to have more than a century later. 

WATCH: America's First Guru on PBS

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In this episode in the Hindu At Heart series, Indu Viswanathan speaks with Sneha Rao about her journey from the aviation industry to studying Hinduism, yoga, and Hinduphobia, and starting the Hindu Decoloniality group on Facebook.

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In this episode we speak with Shawn Binda, creator of the Hindu Lifestyle YouTube channel. We discuss his inspiration for starting the channel, his take on contemporary Hindu issues from his Indo-Caribbean Canadian perspective, and much more.

Watch: Hindu Lifestyle

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In this episode we have a moderated discussion about yoga, colonialism, attitudes about yoga that are coming out of the DEI space. Taking part in this discussion are HAF’s Vijay Satnarine and scholar Shyam Ranganathan, with Mat McDermott moderating.

Read more about Shyam Ranganathan https://www.yogaphilosophy.com/bio

Shyam’s latest book: Yoga-Anticolonial Philosophy 

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In this episode Suhag Shukla interviews author Nandini Patwardhan about her book Radical Spirits: India’s First Woman Doctor and her American Champions, a biography of Anandi-bai Joshee, who in 1883 as an 18-year old left Calcutta for the United States to study medicine, and who went on to become India’s first woman to earn a medical degree from an American college.

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In this episode, the first of our Hindu At Heart series of interviews, Indu Viswanathan speaks with author Aditi Banerjee on a wide range of issues: Hindu sacred geography in Ayodhya and Varanasi, growing up Hindu in America, and a variety of other topics.

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For this episode Mat McDermott has a conversation with Sandy Rao, Dr Vishnu Bisram, and Dr Indrani Ramprasad about the Indo-Carribean Hindu community, the lack of representation of the Caribbean Hindu diaspora in New York City school textbooks, the current situation for Hindus in Guyana and Trinidad, and more. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Viriah, Krishna Gubli

Making Children Hinduphobic: A Critical Review of McGraw Hill’s World History Textbooks, Kundan Singh, Krishna Maheshwari

Sanatana Dharma and Plantation Hinduism: Exploration and Reflections of an Indian Guyanese Hindu, Ramesh Gampat

Modern World History HMH Social Studies 2018 — used in John Adams High School Queens NY

American History HMH Social Studies 2018 — used in John Adams High School Queens NY

Fred Stella goes to Guyana, hears that Hindu gods are demons

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In this episode of That's So Hindu, our 100th, Samir Kalra speaks with Middle East Forum's Sam Westrop about their new report detailing how Hamas raises money through charitable organizations in the West, and the connections with funding for Islamist groups in India and South Asia more broadly.

Download the report here

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In the second part of this two-part episode, Suhag Shukla speaks with Sanjay Lazar who lost his entire family in the Air India Flight 182 bombing and was literally orphaned while still a child. This is the story of his life beyond the tragedy of the worst terrorist act in aviation history until 9/11.

Pre-order the first part of Sanjay's book series on his experience "On Angel's Wings" here.

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In the first part of this two-part episode, Suhag Shukla speaks with Sanjay Lazar who lost his entire family in the Air India Flight 182 bombing and was literally orphaned while still a child. This is the story of his life beyond the tragedy of the worst terrorist act in aviation history until 9/11.

Pre-order the first part of Sanjay's book series on his experience "On Angel's Wings" here.

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For this special two-part episode we’ve got something a little bit different. This time, Dr indu Viswanathan, who’s been a guest on the show twice, is on the other side of the interviewing equation. She’s speaking with a young Hindu man, who has a unique and important story to tell. Keshav was raised Hindu and began questing his beliefs, to the point that he converted to Islam and began publicly making stereotypical Hinduphobic comments and denouncing India. But Keshav had a change of heart and mind, and came back to Hinduism — only to receive threats for leaving Islam. At his request, we're calling him by the pseudonym 'Keshav' and disguising his voice.

Read a transcript of this episode here

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For this special two-part episode we’ve got something a little bit different. This time, Dr indu Viswanathan, who’s been a guest on the show twice, is on the other side of the interviewing equation. She’s speaking with a young Hindu man, who has a unique and important story to tell. Keshav was raised Hindu and began questing his beliefs, to the point that he converted to Islam and began publicly making stereotypical Hinduphobic comments and denouncing India. But Keshav had a change of heart and mind, and came back to Hinduism — only to receive threats for leaving Islam. At his request, we're calling him by the pseudonym 'Keshav' and disguising his voice.

Read a transcript of this episode here

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For this episode we have something a bit different for you. It’s a special episode for Navaratri. We've interviewed several members of our extended HAF team as well as members of the Hindu American community about how they celebrate Navaratri today, what they remember about the holiday growing up, and how their understanding of it has changed over the years. What you’ll hear are excepts from longer interviews our staff writer Syama Allard did with each person.

Here are the full versions of these interviews, as well as some interviews that didn't make it into the episode. If you don't see one mentioned in the episode, check back shortly. As the written versions get published we'll add them here.

https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/on-celebrating-navaratri-and-dussehra-through-the-lens-of-bhutanese-refugee-bhuwan-pyakurel

https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/on-celebrating-navaratri-and-dussehra-through-the-lens-of-hindu-american-samir-kalra

https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/on-celebrating-navaratri-and-dussehra-through-the-lens-of-iskcon-communications-director-anuttama-das

https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/on-celebrating-navaratri-and-dussehra-through-the-lens-of-hindu-american-kavita-pallod

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In this episode we speak with Akshar from The Emissary about an article he published earlier this year about Critical Caste Theory, as well as the activists who view Hinduism, Hindu culture, and India’s history and contemporary society through this very narrow lens.

Read the article that we're talking about here.

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In this episode we speak with Prof. David Haberman from Indiana University about his extensive work documenting how Hindus bring trees, stones, and mountains into their religious worship.

Buy the books we discuss: People Trees, Loving Stones

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In this episode we're speaking with film director Nico Oscoff on his latest project 1893: Year of the Yogi, a documentary currently planned to be released in 2024.

Learn more: https://www.instagram.com/1893yoty/

Donate to the film here.

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In this special episode Mat McDermott moderates a discussion between HAF Co-Founder Suhag Shukla and Managing Director Samir Kalra about the latest revelations in the case of alleged caste discrimination at the BAPS temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey, and how the connect to the similar allegations as Cisco Systems in California.

Please note: The audio quality on this one isn't quite up to our usual standards as the That's So Hindu recording studio is in the midst of being moved to another location. But we felt like this one couldn't wait so proceeded anyway.

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In this episode we speak with Ananda and Suguna Prathik, the husband and wife team behind the non-profit Behind Every Temple, who are are doing some really interesting work restoring ancient temples in Tamil Nadu.

Learn more: www.behindeverytemple.org

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In this episode we speak with Georgetown University's Brahmachari Vrajvihari Sharan about the tension between the internal diversity and pluralistic outlook of Hinduism and both the trend and sometimes need to present Hinduism as one thing to the non-Hindu world.

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In this episode we're speaking with Lavanya Vemsani, professor of history at Shawnee State University in Ohio, specializing in Indian history and religion. Her latest paper in the International Review of Modern Sociology is titled “Global Hinduphobia: Construed, Constructed, and Unleashed from the West” and that’s what we’re going to talk: Hinduphobia, the fallacy of Aryan Invasion Theory, and how to revamp the study of Hinduism so that a more accurate picture of Hinduisms past and present can glimpsed.

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In this episode we're speaking with Professor Jeffery D Long, who teaches religion and Asian studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. This his second time on the show. And today we’re discussing a recent paper he’s written on the connections between deep ecology and advaita vedanta. 

Read more: Advaita Vedanta and Its Implications for Deep Ecology

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Do you want to know more about Hinduism? Like actually understand what karma is? Or what dharma means? Do you want to know what the sacred texts of Hinduism are? Or, maybe, you just want to know why Hindu women wear a dot on their forehead? Or, perhaps, if all Hindus vegetarian? 

If so, then All About Hinduism is just what you’ve been waiting for.

We’ll give you an overview of Hinduism as a lived and contemporary spiritual path. We’ll explore the history of how Hinduism has come to be what it is today: the third-largest and oldest religious tradition in the world. We’ll also clear up some of the misconceptions out there about Hinduism,as well as unflinchingly address some of the more contentious issues in Hinduism’s past and present. 

All About Hinduism is the new podcast from the Hindu American Foundation.

Coming in 2023 to wherever you listen to podcasts.

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In this episode Suhag Shukla speaks with Andrew Jasko. Andrew was born into a minister’s family and became a preacher and missionary to India, after studying theology at Wheaton College and Princeton Seminary. After an agonizing crisis of faith, he rejected religion and spirituality. Later, after finding healing through practices like meditation, psychedelics, and breathwork, that introduced him to profound mystical experiences for the first time, he embraced Hinduism. He currently counsels people healing from religious trauma and is studying Sanskrit and Classical Indian religion at Oxford University. Suhag and Andrew discuss his journey, first to atheism, then Hinduism; how his time in India transformed in unexpected ways; what missionaries in India are really thinking; the lasting effects of intergenerational trauma, and much more. 

Find out more about Andrew at: https://lifeafterdogma.org/ 

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In this episode Samir Kalra speaks with Soundarya Balasubramani and Sameer Khedakar, co-authors of “Unshackled”, a practical guide for immigrants in the US to become entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, or just have more creative autonomy over their careers. 

https://curiousmaverick.com/unshackled/ 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soundarya/unshackled-a-guide-for-highly-skilled-immigrants-in-america 

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In this episode Samir Kalra speaks with Puneet Sahani, coordinator of Sikhs for Enlightenment Association, a volunteer effort of Sikh researchers across the world, who are pushing back against Khalistani propaganda. 

@puneet_sahani

@SikhsSeva 

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In this episode we’re bringing back HAF’s very own California Advocacy Director Easan Katir, who, doesn’t just do Hindu advocacy work, but rather since 1983 has provided wealth management for families, individuals, and retirement plans. Last time we spoke about Dharmic Investing in general. Today we’re talking about the current state of the financial markets, how to weather them, which sectors are doing well, and how to think about wealth management through the lens of dharma.

Learn more: www.easankatir.com 

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In this episode Suhag Shukla speaks with Keith Sarasin. Keith is a chef, three-time author, restauranteur, and public speaker who grew up in a small city in New Hampshire. Keith learned to cook Indian cuisine studying with a home cook, and went onto study with archeologists and food historians from across India. Keith currently runs Aatma, a pop-up tasting experience showcasing food from the Indian subcontinent. 

https://www.aatmarestaurant.com 

https://www.keithsarasin.com 

https://www.youtube.com/c/KeithSarasin1 

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In this episode, Deepali Kulkarni speaks to Dr Rajiv Pandit and Sidhi Raina about their reaction to seeing The Kashmir Files, the challenges in speaking up about the ethnic cleansing that the indigenous Hindus of Kashmir faced 30 years ago — including social media and real world professional harassment and doxing — and what they want the world to know about the Kashmiri Pandit Exodus. Follow them on Twitter: @sidhiraina, @rajiv_pandit

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In this one Mat McDermott speaks with Vira Tansey, an Ayurvedic healer and educator based in Florida about the practice of Marma therapy, how to use energetic pressure points in the body to heal, reduce tension, and live a more balanced life.

Learn more about Vira at www.thesisterscience.com. 

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