Namaste

Namaste is a Sanscrit word which means something like, “the divinity in me greets the divinity in you.” It is a common greeting for Hindus. Though the theology of that greeting runs somewhat counter to my own, I appreciate the sentiment behind it, especially when spoken from a friend. Srikanth Rajagopalan is such a friend. The following article was printed in our church news, following a dialogue with Sri regarding his Hindu background and faith.

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As he folded his hands together in a gesture of prayer before his face and nodded around the table, “Namaste… Namaste… Namaste,” and as I listened to Srikanth Rajagopalan talk about Krishna and Vishnu and Brahma, explain dharma and karma, expound upon the myriad views of God affirmed by nearly a billion people claiming Hinduism as their religion, I thought that I must be in the wrong place. Here sat eight protestant Christians, facing Gandhi (well, he looks like Gandhi – bronze-colored skin, distinct Indian features, bald head, no eyebrows…) and being taught by the soft-spoken, kind voice of a yoga instructor. Just as dislocating may have been the fact that as the Baptist pastor, a leader of this group, we were gathered in the recently-up-fitted surroundings of an English-style pub. (To my mother if she’s reading: please skip that last sentence!)
But the truth is that I felt quite at home. Sir Edmund Halley’s has re-opened, under new management, and the Iotas (“because nothing is too small to be a big deal!”), aka “Brews and Views,” are back in session. This winter and spring we will be hosting a number of guest speakers, who will join us around a table of fellowship to share their views on faith. Monday night’s start was intriguing and inspiring. Sri, the yoga instructor, is a friend of mine through the work of Mecklenburg Ministries. He is kind and warm-hearted. Knowledgeable and patient. And though his world view could hardly be any different from the picture painted onto the soul of this “son of a preacher man” – what I know is that we share more commitments and convictions than divide us. Such is the value of dialogue.
After this wonderful two-hour dialogue, which bounced from India to Hickory, NC (where Sri was raised), from reincarnation to “sacred cows,” from polytheism to Trintarianism, and much more… my head was swirling with new words and foreign concepts and a spectrum of colors which shades Hindu religious understanding from literal to metaphorical (does that sound familiar?). I came home from this awakening experience with this lasting impression. My world is not The World. It’s just one, very small corner of this large and impressive globe which we inhabit with practitioners of religious and intellectual and political and social practitioners of every stripe.
According to www.adherents.com 2.1 billion of us claim Christianity as our frame of reference. But that leaves about 4 billion people who see things differently – nearly a billion of us whose world view looks like Sri’s, and who would find my comfortable, logical, reliable, coherent world of Jesus and Sunday School and all-things-Baptist, well, just down-right weird! (Have you ever tried to explain it to a Hindu?) And it seems to me that as our world continues to get smaller, and as we increasingly meet “Sri” on every corner, this needs to matter to us. Our faith in Christ is real and powerful and life-giving. It is right and it is true. It is revelation from God. It needs to be experienced (really experienced) and lived and loved and shared. And it needs to be acknowledged as one of many experiences of God’s living presence among us. The knowledge that my experience is subjective and particular, in light of the varying and wildly-divergent understandings of our human reality, speaks of the beautiful diversity of our humanity and the incomprehensible creativity and majesty of God.
So as we continue to meet around that table, I will continue to be open to “their truth” and “their experience” as real and valid – and I will continue my commitment that in the sharing of our stories, my own experience is validated, even more, and is deepened immensely. If you are interested in exploring the beauty and diversity of faith, Matt Kinney and I invite you to join us for our next Iota’s at Sr. Ed’s, on February 7 at 8:00 pm. Speaker to be announced. Inspiration to be expected. Thanks, Sri.
Namaste…

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