Is Hinduism in Singapore Thriving? [Part 4/8]

TLDR: The scriptures are way ahead of us in terms of progressive ideas, we are struggling to showcase them in Singapore.

While we may be a tiny minority on a little red dot, it’s worth considering that over a billion Hindus look to Singapore as a utopia that heralds the future. Given this context, we need to be able to look at global trends and ideas and see how Hinduism links to it.

“Do not trouble trees. Do not uproot or cut them. They provide protection to animals, birds, and other living beings” — Rig Veda 6.48.17

The environment is an existential threat for most of mankind. Singapore has set goals to reach carbon neutrality by 2030. Hinduism provides an ideal framework for prioritizing the environment: Hinduism has an entire phase of life (Vanaprastha Ashram) dedicated to being in the forests, and our rituals regularly revolve around nature. Furthermore, Hindus are leaders in nature education and volunteerism. Despite these, it is disappointing that the community is not being more vocal in these issues. We are alienating the next generation of Hindus and doing a disservice to Mother Earth despite having so many resources at our hands.

Similarly, Hinduism has had progressive views on a range of issues such as transgenderism and consciousness in the age of AI as well. By ignoring the wisdom in our tradition, we are like misers who sit on their treasures but mourn their poverty. We undertook some difficult topics like casteism, which generated a lot of traction. While we produced a few other videos in conjunction with HEB and MCCY (this was way before TikTok became popular), we missed an opportunity during COVID to continue with this work. There is a desperate need for well-produced attractive videos to explain basics around Hinduism, festivals like Diwali and Shivaratri, our festive food, and the Hindu idea of world peace. While undertaking this seva is time intensive and difficult, we believe that providing Hindu Youths the opportunity will be an important outlet for them to experience seva.

Read the next part here.