I’ve been back in the States for about five days now and, to be completely honest, it’s taken me just about that long to even begin to process the last 15 days of my life spent in India.
There are 1.252 billion people living in India. To put that in perspective, there are only 316.5 million people in the U.S. Additionally the land mass of India is only about 1/3 of the size of the U.S. So, imagine 1.252 billion people occupying a space 1/3 the size of the United States—it pretty much goes without saying that there are people literally everywhere.
With that many individuals, one would think that there are vast amounts of opinion and disagreement. However, one thing I found incredibly interesting about the Indian culture is though there may be bickering on little things (price, directions etc) there is an obvious understanding that everyone agrees on fundamentals.
The sole reason I wanted to travel to India is because of how much I was fascinated with a culture that is so dedicated to what they believe; in fact, everything they do is a function of what they believe. The most obvious example is religion. The majority of the Indian population is Hindu. The Hindus are so devoted to their religion that it influences things like what they can and cannot eat, what women can wear and how and when they pray.
If you walk down the street in India you see women dressed head to toe in beautiful and elaborate fabric dresses, called Saris. The Hindus don’t eat beef because they believe the cow is a sacred animal (because of their belief in reincarnation, they think they literally could be eating one of their dead relatives who has been reincarnated as a cow). Additionally, they don’t kill cows, dogs, mice, monkeys and other indigenous animals (because, again, they could be a relative) so you will see these wild animals casually trotting down the streets and highways all over the country. Finally, it is common for people not to wear shoes because you are not permitted to enter temples with them on. So, one can imagine it is a fairly dirty, animal infested, trash-filled, people inhabited country.
It is crazy to me that these individuals would live such a life of devotion that it would impair their living standards to such a grotesque level. But, it does. And from the outside it seems disgusting, but on a deeper, more philosophical level it is an incredible realization.
America is not like that. In fact, I would say that America is the opposite of that. We are so self-focused and egocentric as a society, that it seems absurd that any culture would dedicate themselves to what they believe to the extent that the Indians do. We pride ourselves on cleanliness, modern living and keeping up with the ever-changing pace of the culture regardless of the sacrifices it might mean to our personal beliefs.
I concede that American ideals are not founded on Hinduism. Therefore, we do not need to take our shoes off in public, wear saris around and let animals roam free. But, the idea behind why they do it is the profound part. And further, it’s the realization that how they live is not lunacy, but rather devotion.
Why would we stray from that?
What if we allowed what we believe to so radically change us like it does the Indians? Would your life look different? I know mine would.
As a Christian, we are called to show others our faith through our actions. But daily, I fail at that. If I lived out exactly what I said I believe in every aspect of my life, at every single moment I would hope people would see my devotion to God, as I see the Indians devotion to theirs; that the craziness of every choice I make, regardless of how ridiculous it may seem to the outside world, would be a choice based off of my personal ideals and beliefs; and that my dedication would be so deep that peoples' opinions of why I do what I do no longer affect me because of the knowledge of a greater eternal accomplishment I am striving for.
This is how the Indians live and this is the mindset I hope to maintain through all of my future endeavors.
