Book Review: Jeffery Long Presents A Thorough And Vivid Description Of Hinduism In America

In 2020, 127 years after that declaration of universal brotherhood of all humanity by Swami Vivekananda, Hinduism in America – a Convergence of Worlds, a book by Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies at Elizabethtown College, in Pennsylvania, explores where do things stand with respect to Hindu Dharma in the United States.

The present book is more structured like a textbook though is not one. It takes a historic overview of how Hindu Dharma first came to the United States as a strong influence, right from the transcendentalists to the counter-culture and Guru phenomenon to the present day challenges.

Each chapter comes with a summary and outline in the beginning and a set of study questions as well as a list of suggested books for further reading in the end. This structure makes the book a comprehensive guide for deeper exploration into the subject for those interested.

Of particular interest is the chapter 3 titled ‘'Hinduism Invades America': the Early Twentieth Century’.

For us, the usual picture is that of Vivekananda establishing the greatness of Hinduism to an American audience hitherto ignorant about Hinduism and then conducting successful tours.

The picture is true in its own way but that was only the beginning. The Hindu community was already there even before the arrival of Hindu gurus. They had mostly come as indentured labourers. They faced problems of racism in the US.

Was there also anti-Semitism-like hatred towards Hindus and Hinduism? It is interesting to note that the ‘South Asian’ scholars whom Prof. Long quotes do not seem to worry about this. Rather, here, the related research seems to be oblivious to the religious dimension in a strategic manner.

Prof. Long gives the instance of one Hindu spiritual teacher - A.K. Mozumdar who lost ‘his American citizenship in 1923, and eventually, to the Asian Exclusion Act.’ But pointing out Mozumdar’s worshipful nature towards Jesus Prof. Long writes that it was more because Mozumdar was an Indian than because of his religion that he was sent out. But the author does not miss out how racism and Christian anti-Hindu bigotry mutually reinforced each other. And that is why the book is important because it gently prods into the subject – not rhetorically nor forcefully but definitely in a way that points out the connection and leaves it at that:

This aspect is also brought out even more forcefully in the case of Berkeley Vedanta Society. This case played out during the time of Swami Ashokananda (1893-1969).

The case was taken to a court hearing in which contemporary American hatred against Hinduism was in full bloom with all its racist plumage in display.

That particular court hearing, explained in detail by Sister Gargi (Marie Louis Burke 1912-2004) in her book A heart poured out : a story of Swami Ashokananda (Kalpa Tree Press, 2003, pp.238-245), is also a testimony to the resilience of democracy in the US against racism and the religious bigotry in American society.

The approach of Prof. Long is both historical and multi-dimensional. In the discussion on the Guru phenomenon, the problem of abuse by self-styled 'gurus' figures a lot. From the beginning it has been one of the favoured sticks to beat Hindu spiritual movements with.

In dealing with this aspect Dr. Long asks:

In this connection, one remembers Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who not only encouraged his disciples to always test the Guru ‘like a goldsmith tests the jewel for its gold content’ but appreciated when he found them observing his behaviour closely.

Such a study has been long overdue. Dr. Long presents an analysis of the Hindu characters in popular media: Apu in Simpsons, Rajesh in the The Big Bang Theory and Mindy Kaling (Vera Mindy Chokalingam) in The Office (originally a BBC series):

This is actually a worrisome development. Hindus being perceived as selfish, unethical and money-minded on the one side and nerdy, intelligent etc., on the other is exactly how Jews were (and are still in some influential quarters) stereotyped in pre-holocaust Christendom.

The book also explains the way Hindutva is used as a contemptuous label to attack any Hindu activism in the United States. Early in the book itself Prof. Long tries to differentiate between Hindutva and Sanatana Dharma thus:

To the present reviewer, this differentiation, however well-intentioned, is problematic.

'Hindutva' was the term used by Rabindranath Tagore at least a decade before Veer Savarkar. Savarkar himself was an anti-racist way ahead of his time, claiming universal humanity as the only reality and calling out all claims of race and racial purity as fiction. His Hindutva was anchored to the sacredness of, and rootedness to, India. Yet, a narrative has been successful in projecting Hindutva as a kind of Indian version of racist rightwing politics.

Savarkar himself stated that at the height of one’s Hinduness one ceases to be a Hindu and embraces all universe as his or her home. Now that is as universal as it can get.

In chapter eight, ‘Identity and Engagement’, he takes up the same issue in the context of Hindu American Foundation (HAF). He quotes quite a few responses of HAF members and volunteers with regard to the problem of them getting labelled as followers of Hindutva. One of the respondents explains:

One can call this Siddhartha-Hamsa Nyaya. The one who cares for Hindu Dharma and Hindus when they are attacked and hurt naturally has a right to speak for them.

Swami Dayananda Saraswati was also then the head of Dharma Rakshna Samiti (DRS), an organisation closely aligned with the RSS. The opposition to the HAF came more from the traditionalists, for traditionalist reasons and not from the Hindutva side.

In fact, long before HAF, a similar undertaking had been taken by the VHP. Functionally, traditionalists and Hindutvaites are overlapping circles but yet they have crucial areas which lie outside intersecting circles.

Prof. Long writes that ‘the issue of gay rights had emerged as a major dividing line in the Indian context.’ In reality, the Hindutva organisations were conspicuous by their non-opposition when the Indian Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality.

Again, there have been individual voices for and against homosexuality but the Hindutva movement in India set an example for the religious movements in the world as to how to respond or keep silent about individual sex preferences.

One important aspect of the book is the caution that it gives to Hindus in the conclusion. The prejudices against the Hindus are not going to go. They are too deep-seated. Hindus have a tough path before them. They should not fall into the wrong comforts of believing the American Right-Wing just because of the Hindu-phobic nature and hypocrisy of the Left.

At the same time, one also needs to caution even sympathetic Hindu academics against falling to the charm of the Leftist-fashion statements of the groups like Sadhana Coalition which even goes against restoration of gay-rights and the rights of Dalits in Jammu and Kashmir.

The talisman for Hindus can then be rightly the words of Swami Vivekananda with which Prof. Long ends his book: