Religious Practices and Empathy Gaps in Hinduism

This presentation discusses the religious practices and beliefs of Hinduism, with a focus on the importance of vegetarianism and the different deities worshipped in the religion. It also explores the empathy gaps that exist in Hinduism and the stereotypes associated with the religion. The presentation includes insights from a Hindu student, Sharmila, and explains the theory of mind and its relevance to understanding different beliefs and practices.

COMMUNICATION
AND DIVERSITY
Religious Practices

Slide1
Discussing selection of the topic, perceived empathy gaps and intention.
 People under-report eating meats particularly beef in India because of
the pressures from politics and culture of the country (Jha, 2014), and
(Kannabiran, 2012). This is according to US-based anthropologist Balmurli
Natrajan and economist Suraj Jacob who is also based in India. Only 20%
of Indians according to the researchers are actually vegetarians
(Kannabiran, 2012). Hindus who make up to 80% of the population of
Indian are said to be major meat-eaters. The selection of this topic is
based on the need to know the believes, values and practices of Hindu
religion and develop empathy and understanding toward the same.
 It should be known that in India exist Christians, Dalits, and Muslims who
consume meat. Goat is goat meat is quite expensive and over 70
communities of India living in Kerala prefer beef meat because it is cheap
(Jaffrelot, 2017) and (Wilson, 2010). Dr. Natrajan and Dr. Jacob conclude
that nearly 15% of Indians are consuming meat which is closer to 180
million people- eating beef (Frazier, 2011), and (Staples, 2017). This
according to them there is more than 96% higher estimate compared to
official estimates (Hall, 2017).

Slide 2
Describing the person of interest
 Sharmila is a friend who is a Hindu and a student and has agreed to discuss with me some
issues concerning her religious practices and some stereotypes that have been put across
by many people. She does not eat meat herself and believes that her religious believes
should be respected. She has been a Hindu for 5 years and has been practicing since. As I
get in the temple to see what happens with them, Sharmila seemed so welcoming and
approachable. I sit down close to her and tell her that I wanted to know some few facts
about her religion and agreed to share my beliefs with her. My intention is to know what
makes Hindu people not to eat meat. Know whether the perceived information on the
ground is true about eating the meat and not eating(Frazier, 2011). I also wanted to know
whether there is importance attached to not eating meat and whether I can borrow some
importance to accommodate in my beliefs. Hindus challenges my faith as to how can a
person remain without eating meat which is a favorite to billions of people in the world. I
would love to appreciate other peoples' believe and know whether their beliefs can be
considered as to why they do so.
 There have been Stereotypes that Hindus does not eat meat because meat is associated
with their gods (Agoramoorthy, and Hsu, 2012). Hindi religious does not eat meat but
some members of the religion eat meat secretly. India is a vegetarian nation (Jaffrelot,
2017). The fact is that Hinduism requires a vegetarian diet but many of them avoid eating
meat since they believe that, meat minimizes hurting other forms of lives (Kwon and
Tamang, 2015) and (Adcock, 2018). Vegetarianism is considered sattvic, which means
purification of the body and mind lifestyle in some Hindu texts.

Slide 3
Empathetic communication with Sharmila
 Many Hindus believes in the existence of one supreme god Braham. Braham is a supreme spirit and is of many
forms including human (male and female) and also animal. Braham is believed to exist in three forms Trimurti
which functions in three ways: Brahma is the source of all creation, Vishnu is responsible for bringing harmony and
all the good things on the earth when people need them, and also Shiva who is responsible for assisting in the
creation of all new things and ensures end of some for others to begin (Bhela, 2010). Many Hindus believe that
Vishnu or Shiva is the supreme deity. Hindus have a traditional greeting “Namaste” performed with joined palms
and bowed head which means, “I bow to the divine with you”.
 Hindus drive their strength from Shakti and is a female divine also referred to as Devi and Mata. There are many
forms of Shakti and include: Saraswati who is god of music inspiration, Lakshmi who gives happy family and
financial breakthrough. Parvati is the one who cares for others both the wise and patient(Kurtz, 2015). Image of
Shiva in Hinduism is always represented by female and male images and Parvati as halves of one person (Corbett,
2014). Another goddess is Durga and is a worrior symbolizing ‘hidden strength’ of women, and divine opposition of
evil. Other deities includes Lord LKrishna who is most popular and source of all legends, Prince Rama and Princess
Sita- a model of how people should live, Hanuman who is in the form of monkey and is recognized as brave and
loyal. Many Hindus prays for him to overcome difficulties (Kurtz, 2015), and (Achuthananda, 2013). Lord Ganesh is
depicted with the elephant’s head and represents wisdom and prosperity.
 The theory of mind explains the ability of another person to recognize and appreciate what other people think or
believes (Frazier, 2011). The theory was first used by Premack and Woodruff of mind in 1976. It was used to
explain Chimpanzee after the performance of many experiments (Hutchins, Prelock, and Bonazinga, 2012).
Different problem situations were presented with and two alternatives were given to solve one correct and the
other incorrect. In this, they conclude that chimpanzee was correctly able to solve problem situations and as he
was able to recognize the problem and the experimenter’s desire of it solved (Hutchins, Prelock, and Bonazinga,
2012). Premack and Woodruff established that chimpanzee was able to attribute a mental state of desire to the
problem (Hutchins, Prelock, and Bonazinga, 2012). The two coined the concept of the Theory of mind from the
above-explained facts.

References
 Achuthananda, S., 2013. Many Many Many Gods of Hinduism: Turning believers into non-believers and non-
believers into believers. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
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15.
 Agoramoorthy, G. and Hsu, M.J., 2012. The significance of cows in Indian society between sacredness and
economy. Anthropological Notebooks, 18(3), pp.5-12.
 Bhela, A., 2010. Globalization, Hinduism, and cultural change in India. Asia Journal of Global Studies, 4(2), pp.93-
102.
 Corbett, K., 2014. India: Behaviour, communication and culture. Culturescope, 104, p.24.
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 Kannabiran, K., 2012. Regulating Cultures through Food Policing. Hindu, 1.
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 Kwon, D.Y. and Tamang, J.P., 2015. Religious ethnic foods.
 Staples, J., 2017. Beef and beyond: exploring the meat consumption practices of Christians in India. Ethnos,
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 Wilson, C., 2010. ‘Eating, eating is always there’: food, consumerism and cardiovascular disease. Some evidence
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