Dogma or Culture?

Have you ever heard of the term American born confused desis?
The second generation of Indian’s living in America are often called that.
The generation has parents who left India and as they looked for greener pastures in a foreign land held  to their culture, values, way of life dearly.

Connection to our roots, is connection to our source and very grounding as well.
The second generation started to loose that as their exposure to their culture reduced unless consciously catered to by their parents.

The western way of life , it’s modern and  individualistic qualities imbibed. 
The confusion begins in the mind when one feels they have to discard one for the other.
To make one right , you have to make the other wrong.
So, shunning all the ways of life and culture they reach for a western identity, discarding the eastern philosophy.

The confusion is created by what looks like a two pronged fork.
Which way is my path and  how far can I deviate from the path I originated from. 
Not realizing that one needn’t be discarded for the other.   

Let’s look closer to home. I too born in times of rising individualism, feminism, modernism started to question our traditional way of life.  What I did not understand, I did not make an attempt to understand. I simply discarded it as unnecessary and mindless. “I don’t believe all this”.  

“I cannot be bothered to do these outdated practices” were some of my reasons and justifications for turning into a new age , hip progressive individual. All this till I had children , all this till I opened my mind to know, seek and understand more. All this till I looked around me at the proof of decaying society, individual lives and confusion.

It occurred to me the other day when I had the fortune of learning about our ancient teachings, processes and how vital and relevant they are to everyday life even today. What makes a country which boasted of education institutions like Nalanda and Indraprastha for example to degenerate into the excuse of the education system we have today? It is the loss of our culture. Not only forgetting it, but also systematically destroying it with contempt.

Yes, we have a lot of atrocities, fake propagandas, thugs who under the garb of culture and tradition have led people into the gallows. Like every nation, culture and religion across time that shadow side exist.
The confusion in our Indian born confused Indians is that they have mistaken dogma for culture.
​Culture is enriching and dogma is not. Culture is rooted, dogma is not. Culture is  a knowing of your source, a contribution to the world, a respect for your ancestry, blessing for the future, a signature of your uniqueness and it’s cultivation the source of your life.

Before you shun culture and brand it in one clean sweep as dogma, do take time to invest in finding out the deeper meaning, the science and energy behind it. For energy sustains matter. While you may believe that all that is  matter , matters. The truth is far from it.

The Indian mind set had decayed over time. We are ashamed and apologetic about our culture. You are not backward if you don’t , you are certainly diminishing if you do.