On May 15th, I went back to The Shri Lakshmi Narayan Mandir to meet with Pandit Jadonath. I arrived after the usual Sunday service. We sat in the basement and spoke. I asked him if he had ever visited India and he said yes (Pandit Jadonath is from the South American country Guyana). When I asked him what the differences were between Hindu life in India and Hindu life here in New York, He said in his opinion, one difference is in the rituals they do. He said there is more emphasis in the rituals here in New York because in India, since the language is Sanskrit, sometimes they take for granted the meaning and pujas are done quickly as if they are not interested. He also said that here, they follow one pattern, but India has different variations based on location – East, West, North & South. He said that religion has evolved and changed to suit the present day population. He said that’s where the biggest difference is – location and population. He said that Hindu life in New York is more hectic, but Hindu life in India and Guyana is much more peaceful. The villages there live their lives focused on God. He said that you don’t want to really change religion to focus on people because society is ever-changing. He said that we need to instill values and what needs to be changed is people’s way of thinking – people need to be more involved with their society. Pandit Jadonath said that one of the biggest dilemmas with Hinduism today is getting through to the younger generation. He said that young people focus more on the hustle of the world and material things. He said there is a need to get young people into basic Hindi classes because the language is important. He said that Hindus sing so many beautiful bhajans and the young people love them because of the tune, but imagine if they were able to understand what was being said – they’d love them even more. He said he believes in the saying “If you want to kill a religion, kill its language” because language is so important.
He said rituals can’t be changed, but they could be modified to suit the system. Pujas can be for hours, but we modify them to accommodate to the people. He said growing up with a father that was also a pandit, the change he sees is the language because when he was younger, all of the older people knew Hindi and understood the scriptures. Also, the culture is different because you have to work with the present society. People aren’t as dedicated to religion because of the busyness of the world. Services cannot go on for 5 or 6 hours anymore. They need to be short, sweet and understood. That’s where the challenge is.
When asked what things couldn’t be changed, he said definitely the rituals because they are laws established by great sages and saints who have had visions of the gods. He said “Who are we to change those? I sure cant – I haven’t seen God”. He said instead of changing rituals, they can be modified. For instance, instead of saying 4 prayers during a service, we can just say 2. He said the essence should still be intact.
He also said the texts can’t really be changed. There is one main text of Hinduism and that’s the Vedas. Over time, different texts for different times and practices have been added on. He said the Mahabharat deals with everyday life, so it is commonly used. The Ramayana tells us everything about how relationships should be so it’s also important. The Bhagavad-Gita tells us that God came as a baby and lived his life in various stages, which is also very important for us to know. He told me that he just found out that in Russian universities, there are courses on the Ramayana, not because it’s a religious text, but because it teaches such great messages
Pandit Jadonath said Hinduism is more modern because people are getting to know what Hinduism really is. Even non-Hindus are following it. There is no controversy in any of our texts that says “My God is better than your God “or criticizes any form of God. He said “The eternal way of life is based on goodness – not based on caste, creed or religion. Goodness transcends over all religions”. He then said “God is one” and gave a great analogy. He said “God is like gold, you can beat it, shape it and give it any name you want, but the essence is that it is still gold.” He said that “People think that Hindus believe in many Gods, but that’s not true. We don’t look at many gods, but we look at the different functions of God”.
There were other people waiting to speak with Pandit Jadonath, so we concluded our conversation. I thanked him for everything and he left me with this message: “Put God first. Let him be in front leading you. Then you will be successful”.