I love that more of the world is accepting my culture and people, and striving to understand what it means to be Indian. But there's a part of me that reacts unhappily when I see a white person with an aum on them. It's not a calling card you can just use because you went to yoga that one time. It's the beginning of the universe, the first sound. Our prayers start and sometimes end with it, just as the universe will. It is the sound of the goddamn universe and you having it tattooed on your feet, or your back, is frankly insulting. Fight me on this, I dare you. Watch me get a tattoo of a cross on the bottom of my foot and see how the world reacts, see how they'd hate me for it.
When I say chakras, what comes to your head? Probably a young to middle aged white girl with dreadlocks and long skirts, constantly talking about how she's like, so in touch with herself now. I did too. I thought chakras were for people who hadn't heard of science, who had done one too many drugs at Woodstock and never let go of their totally rad experience.
That is not what chakras are. Chakras have been around as far back as the Upanishads (written starting in the 6th century BC), and have been interpreted by many in different ways. The current seven chakra system comes from Western translations of two main books discussing the topic, and are honestly extremely complicated. I'm not saying I even know what they are, because I'm currently learning them from my yoga teacher. Who is white. Who learned them from an Indian.
I don't mind you learning about Indian culture, reveling in its absolute gorgeousness and depth. I'm not saying just white people do this, I know that there are people of other races also fall into this trap. We've been around for thousands of years, and we know some things. I'm just begging you to take a look at the aum on your necklace, see what it means to you. If you're wearing it because it resonates with you, because there's something about the sound of the universe that seems right to you, I encourage you to research it and wear it appropriately. Don't get it as a tramp stamp, please. Be a Hindu. We're a pretty open group and we dont really have a conversion process, so learning and taking time to appreciate what we believe in beyond what you think shakti means could go a long way. If you're wearing it because it's pretty and exotic, I'd ask you to reconsider. Shift your perspective to look at it through the lens of five thousand years of prayer and devotion. Stop thinking of us as the guys who wrote that sex book and see the immense knowledge about body and universe we have coalesced.
Respect us.
