hinduism in pittsburgh. 243
usually cloud the thinking process” and saw how special techniques like meditation,
yoga, music, and dancing pave “the way for unfolding the path to self-examination.”
The event was billed as “a supreme stress management program spiritual work-
shop.”^22 Similar language is seen in the interpretation of a vratam,a votive act usu-
ally observed by women, which is described as “human resource management.”^23
This form of self-inquiry is also seen in the youth camps that the temple has spon-
sored since 1981; in 1985, the camp theme was “positive thinking and living.” The
Chinmaya Mission West has sent volunteers to run the camp; Swami Sukhabod-
hananda, who ran the LIFE workshop, was sometimes in charge of the camp, and
at other times, people from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan have been responsible for camp
activities. An emphasis on “self-help” has also been evident in lectures sponsored by
the temple. Lecture titles have included the following: “Bhagavad Gita helps to re-
duce stress,” “Molding modern children with ancient Indian culture,” and “Value
systems for positive thinking.”^24
It is never easy to perceive oneself clearly and to articulate one ’s faith and tradi-
tion to oneself, one ’s children, and the community. It is especially difficult if one has
had no formal training or education in the field. Many Hindus in this country face
such a predicament. Growing up in India and being immersed in the Hindu religious
experience does not make one a specialist in it. Yet Hindus in the United States are
forced to articulate over and over again what it means to be a Hindu and an Indian
to their friends and children and often feel ill-equipped to do so (see figure 10). Fre-
quently, all a person remembers about a festival in India is the food that was pre-
pared for it; he or she was never called upon to explain Deepavali or Sankaranti, to
say nothing of Hinduism. In India, most people probably never thought much about
yoga, city dwellers had nothing more than a nodding acquaintance with the sacred
cow, and certainly meditation was considered to be the province of specially cho-
sen holy people. To conclude, I will try to give some sense of how Hindus perceive
themselves and how they portray their religion. In a sense, it is like Alice looking
through the “looking glass,” since I, a Hindu, am looking at Hindus looking at
themselves, or like Arjuna at the Viswarupa scene, looking at himself looking at
himself.
I have already identified three major areas of emphasis at the Penn Hills temple—
a symbolic or psychological explanation of religious phenomena, a syncretic ap-
proach to deities and rituals, and exploration of connections between religion, “self-
help,” and stress management. I see these focal points as part of a larger picture.
Many educated Hindus, here and in India, hold particular views about themselves,
which I would characterize as the “mythic structures” of the young urban profes-