“Truth is one, though the wise call it by many names” –the Rig Veda<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n When I began planning for Project Conversion, my future Jain Mentor told me that “Hinduism is the United States of philosophy.” I didn’t get it at the time but now I understand. Hinduism, like the US of A, is an amalgam\u00a0of philosophies and theologies\u00a0joined by\u00a0a common religious “genetic” ancestor\u00a0or goal.\u00a0That’s what is meant by the\u00a0above quote from the Rig Veda and\u00a0arguably\u00a0the whole meaning\u00a0of Sanatana Dharma.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As I prepared for my month with Hinduism I felt overwhelmed. “So many gods,” I thought. “So many rituals, traditions, and history. Where do I begin?!” Because I grew up as\u00a0Christian and was accustomed to only one form of God (Jesus) and one scripture (the Bible), the notion that within one religion I had a choice<\/em> between different deities and holy scriptures was mind-blowing. Truth, it turned out, wasn’t relative, but a singular goal reached by many, many roads. But time was running out and I had to pick a road fast. I selected Shiva as my deity and thus narrowed down how my month would play out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Shiva is the third aspect of the Supreme Reality (God), Brahman. As Shiva, we understand the creative and destructive cycles of nature. Shiva also represents the detached\u00a0ascetic, persistent in meditation on the\u00a0pervasive\u00a0reality (the divine Self within and outside of us all), and covered in the ashes of burned sin (ignorance). He is represented by the lingam<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The lingam represents the formless, abstract reality of the divine. In Sanatana Dharma, there is freedom to use representations of the divine (murti<\/em>) in order to meditate and focus on God, however the aspirant is encourage to\u00a0develop his devotion to the point where such tools and methods are obsolete, as he reaches moksha<\/em>, the realized state in which all is Brahman–including ourselves.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n There are literally thousands of representations of the divine, each for one or more of its aspects. This is why figures like Jesus, the Buddha, and Krishna are all acceptable as projections of the divine within Hinduism.\u00a0Each are a way to Truth. When I began this month, I clearly thought that Hinduism was a polytheistic faith due to these various representations. Now I know that, depending on which school of thought a Hindu belongs to, they are either monotheists (God exists as a part of and\/or outside of creation and selects manifestations) or monist (the divine is manifest in all of creation).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Freedom of devotion also lends to the highly developed artistic acumen\u00a0of Hindus in general. Their culture is replete with visual, literary, and musical styles that convey every colorful\u00a0aspect of the divine. One revelation I experienced with this concept is that while Hinduism has its holy texts (i.e., the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, etc.), spiritual discourse is an ongoing development and the treatises that cover these lessons are held in the same esteem as the rishis (<\/em>holy men or seers)\u00a0of time immemorial.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n What Would I Do Differently?<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For the sake of efficiency, I decided to split each month into four categories: Rituals and practices, arts and culture, social issues, monthly reflection. While this gives a nice introduction into these different aspects of faith, they tend to limit the content I can share about what’s happening with me personally. Let’s face it, if you wanted a scholarly info dump, you could Google the\u00a0subject\u00a0and get it\u00a0anywhere. What makes Project Conversion interesting is that I’m displacing myself for a whole year and living a “day in the life.” Sure, I posted some personal content toward the end and I’ve also kept a hand-written journal of my daily experiences. Going forward, however, I think it would be fair and more beneficial to you if I offered you a more in depth view into my time living as a Hindu, Muslim, Baha’i, etc. So that’s that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n What Am I Taking From This\u00a0Into The Future?<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Meditation\/Yoga<\/em>. I’m a naturally stressed out guy. As a college student, a father, a husband, a writer, editor, and now Saying Goodbye<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Adopting Hinduism for the month has been like jumping naked\u00a0into freezing water. However, now that I’ve lived this way for almost a month, I can honestly say I’m going to miss everything. I don’t want to hang up my rudraksha\u00a0mala. I want to chant the mantras in the limited\u00a0Sanskrit I worked so hard to learn. I don’t want to stop visiting the temple and taking part in the classes, aarti, and prasad. I’ll miss the cool sensation of\u00a0bhasma<\/em>\u00a0ash drying on my forehead in the tripundra\u00a0stripes. The wisdom of the Upanishads has seeped into my heart and mind and though I must now move on, those poetic verses uttered so many millenia\u00a0ago will echo long beyond my first month of Project Conversion. No, I haven’t presented everything there is to know about Sanatan Dharma here, but then again, that was never the goal. My hope is that you learned enough to want to learn more, to no longer get nervous around a co-worker wearing a bindi<\/em> or tilak, <\/em>to ask questions and let one speak for themselves before you judge them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/projectconversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/shiva3.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a>One of the most amazing\u00a0results of Project Conversion was how quickly I was able to adapt. If you would have told me two months ago that I would embrace a vegetarian lifestyle I would have asked you what you were smoking and if I could have some. But now…Understand that Hinduism sees the presence of\u00a0the divine in all life and all creation. This is why the concept of non-injury is so crucial. Sure, it was tough whenever someone at a restaurant ordered a perfectly seasoned and seared New York strip, the scent of\u00a0which flooded my nose and thrust me into potential blood-lust. But I resisted. I held fast. And now that I know in vivid detail how meat is transformed from terrified animal to slaughtered flesh on a plate…yeah, I’m a vegetarian now and probably for the long haul. But I won’t judge someone who eats meat. To each their own, right?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>\u00a0in the midst of Project Conversion, it’s easy to see that my head could spin off\u00a0at any moment. Meditation\/yoga–a practice that transcends religious tradition–has become a powerful ally. I am calmer, far more patient, my passion is controlled\/guided,\u00a0and I see the positive in a situation far more readily than in the past. In fact, the results\u00a0have been so dramatic that\u00a0I haven’t used profanity(even in thought!) this whole month and\u00a0even my libido\u00a0is tamed.\u00a0Yes, I have a lot further to go, but I like my new disposition and I credit the trained focus of meditation\/yoga for that result.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n