Successful theological adaptation needs to be accompanied by a cultural foundation

 Collated by Tusar Nath Mohapatra

"American Hinduism" grounded in neo-vedAnta, RK-Mutt meditation rooms and English speaking engineer-turned-swamis is a non-starter

For various reasons

1. It is overly sanitized and "intellectual". It lacks a vibrant ritual tradition to back it and provide a mode of praxis to its lay practitioners

2. It might appeal to some small section of American elites, besides westernized elite Hindu NRIs / PIOs. But lacks genuine mass appeal. It cannot compete with rich western traditions like Catholicism or Judaism that have so much lore and history

3. It cannot even be the dominant religion for American Hindus, because Hindus in America are increasingly 1st gen H1B types from India who are used to a v vibrant religious life growing up (from festivals to temples to rituals at home)

Why would they shed all of that to turn to Swami Sarvapriyananda's lectures?

https://x.com/shrikanth_krish/status/1977434341908111794?t=7ziGJ98TfCYjq_5LKUIBKg&s=19

These are valid criticisms that I have discussed before. I am 2nd gen myself and that's where my interest primarily lies, and the fact is that the vast majority of 2nd gen Hindu Americans are alienated from temples. In fact, I participated in an event last summer in Houston hosted by a prominent temple about this issue in particular. While the steady stream of H1B's has given some of America's older temples a lifeline, management struggles to find 2nd gen Hindus who are interested and/or willing to take on management duties once they step down. Any successful theological adaptation needs to be accompanied by a cultural foundation that provides mass appeal, but it will necessarily be more Americanized in character. 

https://x.com/vjgtweets/status/1977436421201056066?t=Mvw-wnsC54--lgWBt_zJOQ&s=19