Krish

Krish, a practicing Hindu, discusses how his faith shapes his perspective on suffering and provides coping mechanisms like chanting hymns and dancing. He believes in reincarnation and feels more concerned about others' mortality than his own. He struggles with the lack of clarity in practicing Hinduism and finds certain aspects, like heteronormative patriarchal expectations and the politicization of goddesses, challenging. Krish's faith encourages him to let go of negativity, but his depression and anxiety make it difficult. Dance, prayers, and family contribute to his overall life satisfaction. He doesn't have a strong community rooted in Hindu practice, partly due to cultural influences. Gratitude is expressed through prayer and eating sweets. Krish is mainly motivated to participate in religious practice due to family expectations. It provides him comfort and a sense of reliance. Okay, I'm here with my friend Krish, who is a practicing Hindu. Hello, my name is Krish. I'm a practicing Hindu. Can you hold the phone? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my first question for you is how does your faith shape your perspective and your approach to suffering? So I'm haunted by a combination of karma and mother. Karma is a well-known term. Mother is more of like... I guess the English version says things a lot, in a sense, which is more cultural than religious, but it keeps me from sharing too much joy. Very interesting. What specific coping mechanisms has your religion provided to you? The most I do when it comes to coping is chanting hymns, which is kind of our version of like, I guess, Bible quotes, and dancing. I specifically learn Prachipati because it is rooted in Hindu mythology and it is a way for me to be more devotional without feeling anxious. Oh, that's very cool. And so it sounds like maybe that's like an anxiety reduction strategy. Yeah, also it helps with stress and stuff. Yeah, very cool. So this next one is kind of a big topic, but I'm just going to go ahead and ask. How do you feel about death and what are some faith-based ideas or practices that have kind of shaped your perspective on death? I think more about others' mortality than my own. I find it helpful to pray for those, but I'm afraid to lose. It's permanently bad. Gotcha. And how about your feelings about the afterlife and life after death? I believe in reincarnation. I'm not necessarily scared of it or embracing it. It's just there for me. Gotcha. So how strictly would you say that you adhere to the teachings of your religion? Do you feel as though you have been encouraged to interpret sacred texts for your own meaning and your own life, or do you feel like they are straightforward enough that it generally aligns to one interpretation? So, Hinduism is dense and convoluted. Convoluted? English isn't my first language. It's okay. The region of India really practices the same way. For this reason, I feel insecure in my practices because there's no way I was necessarily raised to practice. It's like my mother taught us one way and then my aunt did it a different way, or my grandmother did it a different way. I forget myself because nobody really knows the single source of how to do it, and I abide by the values of courage, love, and respect, and those are sacred to me. That's very cool. Do you feel like there are any aspects of your faith that have caused internal conflict or anything you find challenging? So there's a lot of heteronormative patriarchal expectations rooted in marriage ceremonies to be harmful and regressive, for example. It's like I don't think I've ever heard of two gay Hindus getting married, for example. It is something that still plagues families even after migrating away from India or other places in South Asia to practice. I also don't really like the politicization of goddesses in modern day retellings of Hindu stories to be more palatable. They are enshrined to be smaller and less critical in these stories. Interesting. How has your faith influenced your approach to forgiveness or letting go of negativity in your life? My faith would tell me to let go and let God with negative emotions. My depression and anxiety suggest otherwise. Which aspects of your faith do you feel like have contributed most to your overall life satisfaction? Dance, prayers, and family in general. Gratitude for what I have experienced and what's become contribute to my life satisfaction. Okay. How has your faith affected your relationships with others or your sense of community? Outside of dance, the dance my family mainly do, we're Punjabi so we do Bhangra. I don't have much of a community rooted in Hindu practice. It's partially my own aversion to Hinduism, policing done by elders and not endorsed by our religion and the shame in sharing my interpretation. Again, this is more cultural than more religious, but it impacts my public practice of faith. Interesting. What role does gratitude play in your religious practice? I'd say probably just prayer and eating sweets. Eating sweets. Can I turn that off? Got it. Thank you. What motivates you to participate in religious practice? I'm going to say it's mainly stress from family. Oh, okay. For example, I raised in a very strict household, so obviously my mother is more Sikh than Hindu, but she also has her own, she wants us to be a certain way. Same thing with my grandmother and my late grandmother and my father. They all have certain expectations that we all have to follow. That's mainly what motivates us towards participating in pujas, which is kind of like our version of not church, but it's prayer. It's like our version of prayer. For example, my sisters, they wouldn't really do puja every morning if it wasn't our mother calling them to ask, and you do puja. Or going to the temple, our mother goes to the temple and we don't go unless our mother tells us to. It's not that we don't believe in it, it's that we're just not as devoted as them. I guess, I didn't tell you this one, but sort of intrinsically, is there a specific aspect of your own psychological well-being that you feel like is most benefited by your religious practice? Can you say what I'm saying? Yeah, so within your own internal representations, like your own emotions, your own conception of yourself and your life, separate from thinking that you're a good son because you did what your mom wanted you to do. How intrinsically does this religious practice contribute to whatever aspects of your psychological well-being? I guess it makes me feel comforted. It makes me feel comforted in a sense to rely on something, if that makes sense. I feel like that's a common thing in most religions. It's nice having someone to just rely on. I'd say that primarily. Just to clarify, the thing that you find comfort in relying on is the belief systems of karma and samsara? Yeah, like knowing it will eventually be returned. Yeah, that makes sense. Very cool. I think those are all the questions I have for you. Thank you so much for everything. Bye.