What made me start writing…

I grew up exposed to a myriad of good and bad influences, and have made more than my fair share of mistakes along the way. Yet in this process of growing up, I was lucky enough (unlike most) to learn about Hinduism in its broadness, beauty and diversity. The Hinduism I imbibed was a living wisdom and gave me tremendous meaning and guidance in my life, and indeed steered me away from negativity and dangers.

I never felt that Hinduism sought to curtail my freedom of thought; indeed I was encouraged to ask a million and one probing questions. It wasn’t about closed minded adherence to customs and social conventions; it was Hinduism as I believed the Vedic sages would have intended it, and enlarged my vision of life. Credit goes to this man. Despite the fact that I no longer belong to his movement, it is only because of him I am able to offer anything worthwhile to anybody.

It was in my uni years that I was struck by the ignorance and lack of basic awareness prevalent amongst Hindus about Hinduism. So many of my Hindu friends seemed to understand Hinduism to be not much more than external customs, rituals and restrictive social conventions which were dying a natural death. This pained me because Hinduism is so much more than that. I wanted people to be able to glimpse Hinduism as I had seen it.

On the plus side it appeared to me that most Hindus had willingness and open mindedness to learn and discuss. As someone who knew a bit more than most, I was asked a lot of questions; I noticed a serious lack of basic easy-to-read articles and explanations on a range of Hindu subjects that people wanted to know about. This is what got me writing!