Hinduism in Canada and Canadian Multiculturalism Act - Essay Example

Hinduism in Canada This paper will seek to carefully examine the historical development of Hindu as a religion in Canada and how it has benefited from the Act of multiculturalism. The Hindu people found in Canada trace their ancestry origin back to India which they refer to as the homeland of the Hindu religion. In US, the Hindus are also referred to as Indians. Some of the Hindu people in Canada and US in general originate from various countries like the Caribbean, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, Mauritius and United Kingdom. In US, the Hindu migrated in two major streams. The first migration took place in 19th century and was composed of labor migrants and indentured workers who moved to the Caribbean, Surinam and Guyana. The second stream of migration took place in the 1960s and involved educated and skilled immigrants and their extended families. (Ember et al, 2005 p 445) Hinduism as a form of religion is comprised of the history of the Indians and thus there is no any belief or practice of the Indians that can be rejected or negated. The Hindu subscribe to the idea no old ideas or practices can be eliminated or transcended .The old ideas are practiced together with the more recent ones. Among the Hindu, divinity is respected and worshipped in its manifestation without any prejudice. The act of doctrine tolerance is ranked high among the Hindu when compared to other major religion. Therefore, a Hindu may worship non-Hindu gods and still remain a Hindu. The dispute between the Hindus who are monotheism and those that are polytheism do not divide the worshippers because they are seen as not being important in Hinduism. (Ember et al, 2005 p 445) Hinduism unlike other main historical religions, its emergency is not attributed to specific founder or a specific year of origin. Hindus usually trace their traditions back to the Veda which is a spiritual revelation that has no specific year of beginning and which governs everything that was spoken by seers at the beginning of the cycle of the universe. The Hindu for centuries never attempted to define the essentials of Hinduism not until they were challenged by Buddhists, Muslims or Christians. Traditional Hinduism sees no difference between the secular and the sacred, no significant variations between culture and religion and the separations of religious rituals from the normal daily activities. The Hindu also, lacks a common creed which must be believed in. Initially, subscription to Hinduism was limited to Hindu people who had been born within the Hindu family and the religion ideologies stated one could not cease to be a Hindu especially if one was born a Hindu. This initially held principle has only changed of recently .Membership to Hinduism among the Hindu community requires only the participation in the traditional rituals which constitutes the Hindu culture. Within the broad Hindu community, there are many different traditions of worshipping which have a way of life specifically prescribed to the followers in reference to diet, ritual, reading, and the rejecting of other Hindu worship traditions. Among the Hindu people, the light and the warmth of the morning sun is regarded to as a manifestation of divinity and the sound that comes from the morning chants of prayers by the Hindu and consequently rising to heaven is said to evoke the beginning of a new day. Thus, the seeing of the sunrise and the speaking of the verdict chants are an important and divine act among the Hindu. Bramadat and David notes that the Hindu people often specialize in seeing the divinity in the images of their god and goddess and also in the hearing of the divinity in the sounds of the day to day activities from the saying of morning prayer to the calling of the crow. All the sounds among the Hindu are seen as being divine since they all arise from one sacred origin. (Bramadat and David, 2009, p 31) Some sounds among the Hindu are perceived to be more powerful in evoking the divine, that is, the divine-seed sound OM which all other sounds are said to arise from and therefore the sound OM is taken as the sacred sound for the Veda and the other sounds in the universe. Sunrise among the Hindu signals the beginning of activities in many temples that are scattered in Banaras which are dedicated to the worship of many gods and goddesses of Hindu pantheon. Within the impressive temple of Vishvanath where god Shiva lies, the hereditary priests usually prepare every morning to do the puja or perform service to the deity. The devoted Hindu also goes to the temple every morning to view the image of god Shiva so as to receive blessing and take a glance of the colorful ceremony performed by the priests. The temples located in Banaras in Canada house many god and goddess which the Hindu people go to worship on daily basis. In the temples, the many gods and goddess reflects the richness of divinity among the Hindu tradition. In the temples, there is the Vishnu god who is seen as the heavenly king who descends to the people often in different incarnations to maintain cosmic stability; the Krishna, the god of love; god Shiva, the ascetic god who reside in the yogic meditation in Himalayas and responsible for releasing energy to the earth to maintain its vigour; Hanuman, the monkey god who represent courage, strength and loyalty; Durga, the warrior goddess who periodically fights and defeats the evil forces to protect the world; Ganesha, the elephant-headed god who keeps obstacles off the followers and the Kali who is the black mother goddess who lives in cremated grounds and keeps the soul after ones death. The Hindu people cremate their dead people as part of their culture. Therefore, on the banks of River Ganges in Canada, in the morning hours, many Hindus gather in the crematorium grounds. Many Hindus also believe that if one dies near the Ganges or Banaras, this results into the immediate liberation of a person from the endless cycles of birth, death and rebirth which is the ultimate goal of many Hindus after dying. The Hindu religion is made up of a caste system which is arranged in a hierarchical order. At the top we have the Brahmins who perform Vedic rituals in order to maintain the cosmic forces that keep the world a habitable place. Below the Brahmins are the Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers) and Vaishyas (merchants and trades people). These three groups are considered as qualified to study the Vedic and perform the Verdic rituals. The last group in the caste is the Shundras (servants) who support the higher caste to by performing tasks on their behalf. (Bramadat and David, 2009, p 32) The Hindus living in Canada who cannot be able to visit the Ganges in the morning are required to have a pot full of water form River Ganges in their altar in their homes to help during the morning prayers. The images of Vishnu, Shiva, Krishna, Ganesh, Durga and Kalii gods and goddess are also present in the altar found in the worshipping room which is mostly located in upstairs’ bedroom. In the worshipping room, family members or individuals pray by chanting prayers or mantaras and the repetition of OM as said in India by Hindus. The Hindu temples are found in many places within the Canadian cities and provide the Hindu families with places to gather during various ceremonial occasions. Cremation is also carried out in funeral homes apart from the Ganges region. Therefore, the Hindu religion is made up of a great diversity. (Bramadat and David, 2009, p 33) How does the Hindu religion benefit from the Multicultural Act in Canada? Thee commitment of Canadian government to religion diversity is seen in the Formulation of the Multicultural Act of 1988 and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 2(a) and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada lays out the rights to freedom of religion and equal treatment of all groups in Canada. The concept of freedom of religion in Canada involves the right to declare ones religious beliefs publicly and the right to manifest ones beliefs by worshipping and practicing and also by spreading the ideologies of a religion. (Barnett, 2004, p 9) The Multicultural Act of 1988 stipulates that multiculturalism is a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian identity and heritage. The extract from the Canadian Multicultural Act touching on religion reads as “whereas the government of Canada recognizes the diversity of Canadians as regard origin, national or ethnic origin, color, and religion as a fundamental characteristic of Canadian society and is committed to a policy of multiculturalism….” (laws.justice.gc.ca, 2011). The ideals on multiculturalism have supported the freedom of religious minorities groups like the Hindu to express their religious practices that are different from the mainstream religions. The Act on multiculturalism was greatly embraced by many immigrants groups in Canada including the Hindus. The Act guarantees tolerance to minority cultures as well as promoting the freedom of religion. In Canada, religion is viewed as an aspect of culture and thus the freedom of religion is viewed to as an aspect of cultural celebration. (Boyle and Juliet, 2009, p 101) Work Cited: Barnett, Laura. Freedom of Religion and Religious Symbols in Public Spheres. 2004, p 9. Retrieved on 19th November 2011 http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection- R/LoPBdP/PRB-e/PRB0441-e.pdf Boyle, Kevin and Juliet Sheen. Freedom of Religion and Belief: A World Report. Edition 2. Routledge, 1997, p 101. Bramadat, Paul and David Seljuk. Religion and Ethnicity in Canada. Edition illustrated. University of Toronto Press. 2009, pp 31-33. Ember, Melvin et al. Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures around the World. Springer. 2005, p 445. Laws.justice.gc.ca. Canadian Multiculturalism Act. (2004) .Retrieved on 19th November 2011 http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-18.7/FullText.html Read More