Gita my basis for counselling Hindus in U.S.

military
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/gita-my-basis-for-counselling-hindusin-us-military/article6605265.ece
Indian-American Pratima Dharm speaks of her deep links with India, and shares her
thoughts on Hindus in the U.S. military and the kind of leader she hopes Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi will be.
Indian-American Pratima Dharm has been a pioneer on multiple counts last month she was
appointed as the first ever Hindu chaplain of a U.S. university and in 2011 she made history after
the Pentagon named her as its first Hindu and inter-faith chaplain.
She served in the U.S. military through some of the hardest times faced by its soldiers in the
battlefields of Iraq, and she counselled many of them afflicted by PTSD, steering them away from
suicide, and helping them reclaim their familial relationships. She also participated in
humanitarian aid missions into the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq, an experience that left her
with a lasting ties to the people there.
In a conversation with Narayan Lakshman Ms. Dharm spoke of her deep links with India and
the principles of Hinduism that she associates with her upbringing in the country, and also shared
her thoughts on Hindus in the U.S. military and the kind of leader she hopes Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will be.
Your appointments as a Hindu chaplain at a major U.S. university, and before that as
an inter-faith chaplain in the U.S. army were unprecedented, and made headlines in
India. By way of background could you tell us about how you came to take up these
roles, and what links you have with India?
I grew up in northern India, primarily Maharashtra and some parts of Gujarat and I ended up doing
some parts of my schooling and my college education in Mumbai. So I still have ties with India
because I have family members from both from my side and my husbands side in India. My
husbands family is in Bangalore and Chennai. We visit India so that our children remain connected
to all their family in India.
My appointment in the U.S. army came about with my years of training as a chaplain, studying for it
in the U.S. I have a masters degree in psychology from India and in the U.S. I have a masters degree
in theology and years of training to become a chaplain.
I am hoping that many others could follow [the path of inter-faith chaplaincy in the U.S. military]
because I have always believed that there should be a freedom to choose whichever religion a person
wishes to follow as a path to god, or to understanding their lives or understanding themselves.

There were scores and scores of South Asians that practiced Hinduism [in the U.S. military] even
before I became a Hindu chaplain. But becoming a Hindu chaplain facilitates that mood and practice
of their faith by the celebration of various Hindu festivals, Hindu sacraments and the Hindu way of
life, which is very new here in the U.S.
As I transition out of active duty I have just accepted an offer to get into Georgetown University,
which I believe is the first [U.S.] university to have hired a Hindu chaplain.
Could you tell me more about the scores of Hindus in the U.S. army?
There is absolutely a growing number of Hindus, not just from India, but from Trinidad, Guyana,
Fiji, Surinam, and the West Indies. There are so many Hindus that come from all over the world and
they part of the U.S. military not just the army but the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard,
and the Public Health services.
All of them have a growing number of Hindus and there is that level or feeling of comfort that it is ok
to practice your faith openly.
Do you think that before you came on board or some years ago, it was harder for them
to practice their religion freely and if so is that changing now?
What I am referring to is a psychology or state of mind where you can practice your faith but when
you live in a majority surrounding that does not understand your faith, most people tend to keep it to
themselves.
For example they may celebrate Diwali at home or in temples but definitely not think of doing that in
the military, in the sense that they would not be understood.
Since I came on board, I admit that it has been a struggle for me, at least for the first three or four
years, just to get that educational piece out, so that [the non-Hindus in the military] could be
educated about Hinduism.
All they knew about Hinduism was yoga, which comes from swamijis, gurujis and various
sampradayas [religious tradition]. But Hinduism is really deep and is a way of life. It is very different
from most Western religions. It does not have the same set of boundaries in that one Hindu may
practice differently from the other.
It is really common that your sampradaya may be different or your family social history may be
different, and that determines how you practice your Hinduism. That is absolutely alright, because
there is so much variation in Hinduism because it is one of the oldest religions and over time it was
shaped and it has also taken in a lot.
The tendency in Hinduism has actually been to absorb over time it has taken in a lot of elements
and yet there is room enough for every kind of thought to float and exist at the same time, which is
very new for Western religions.

Do you think that Hinduism is gaining more acceptance and is becoming more widely
understood in the U.S., or in the military as youve seen it?
To answer you very honestly it will be years before it is understood more fully. There are a lot of
perception [issues] and my work is to work on the perception part of it and it can be a struggle
because sometimes you can feel frustrated that it is a big task. But I feel a call that it has to be
done. I feel it is a natural place for me to do that and I felt no regrets doing it. I pray that that would
create the space for many more Hindus to practice their faith and not feel conscious about it. That
has been the idea behind it.
Was there an option for you to continue this work or did you choose to leave active
service and move into a university setting?
I joined the army during the war and during a war you owe them a minimum of eight years of
service, which I have done.
You are referring specifically to which war or year?
The present war, which has been going on since 2001, in Afghanistan, and [more broadly] the war on
terror since 9/11.
Where were you deployed to?
I was deployed to Iraq, for a year.
Were you directly exposed to the pressures of combat operations there? If so, what did
you experience, and what was your role in that context, as an inter-faith chaplain?
Absolutely, yes. My role was exactly to take care of my soldiers, my command and all the soldiers
that fell under it, which is almost 5,000 soldiers. It was also to take care of my soldiers who were
spread out throughout the battlefield, and the battlefield was really huge it was spread throughout
Iraq.
So I would go either by road or by flight to reach out to the soldiers, to take care of them. There was a
lot of combat stress that you deal with in a war zone and when you take care of your soldiers you
work with them on many, many issues.
Suicide prevention is one of the highest areas of concentrated education and training, especially
within the army, because it has such a high rate of suicide particularly due to the effects of this war,
which has been very long.
It has taken its toll, physical and emotional, on the soldiers, and on their families as well. As a
chaplain I do a lot of individual counselling as well as counselling for families. Trying to save
marriages was honestly the bottom line because we wanted to make sure the soldiers were happy,
peaceful, in a fulfilling relationship so that when it comes to the mission, they are mission-ready,
emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

That is our job. So we come up with different programmes to enhance that, because the battlefield
breaks you down, a lot.
We also do worship services. I did a lot of humanitarian foreign aid missions for the Kurdish people,
almost 12 of them, to provide them with medical supplies, toys, musical instruments, clothes, shoes,
books, school supplies and a gamut of things we took to them. It was very well received.
Given your faith and background rooted in Hinduism, how do you help people deal
with the fallout of war that you mentioned?
I was trying to make sense of the war within my faith condition. War is not untoward even though
India particularly has not gone to war for thousands of years against any country.
Really you have the start [of India engaging in warfare] with the Mahabharata and the Ramayana
so we did have wars and we have a historical basis for that.
It is also very much part of the Bhagwat Gita how we make sense of war and what is your duty
towards that. We do have a lot support for that from the Hindu tradition, to make sense of war. For
me, that was my basis, to go to war and to be able to offer the best of myself.
In terms of the Bhagwat Gita, [the basis for war] is explained by the words of Shri Krishna to Arjuna
trying to bolster him and try to see the real from the unreal. Hinduism gives us that basis to live in
this world.
You have the four pillars of Hinduism dharma, artha, kama, and moksha those are the pillars on
which the entire faith stands. It is a guide to us [about] how we live in this world we are called to do
our duty, we are called to find a purpose in this world.
We are also called, in our daily duties, as we perform our dharma, to always remember where we
come from, and that is the only reality that we meditate upon, the ultimate truth, the Brahman.
That is our strength, to always be mindful of that. When we forget, we have conflict and there is an
unsteadiness as to how we respond to the current situation.
War, similarly, is very much a part of this world. Hinduism, like other religions, teaches that there is
no war beyond that, other than the reference that we see in the puranic scriptures to the battle
between the devas fighting with the demons.
But really, the guiding principle is to live in this world as if things are temporary. This too shall pass
and we are here to do our duty.
That basis is so much present in the words of Lord Shri Krishna. I am from the Vaishnava tradition
and the words of Lord Shri Krishna are so meaningful to me.
Thats what I gave to the soldiers, and yes, I did counsel Hindus during the war in Iraq. My basis was
the Bhagwat Gita.

Iraq was obviously an important part of your life and work earlier. What do you make
of the situation there now, for example the rise of Islamic State (IS) and the turmoil
that Iraq and Syria have been plunged into?
It is really sad, because that is a chapter that we closed when we came back. War is not something
that stops when you have left the war zone. You continue on with what you take away from the war.
And you always take away [something] from the war.
Its something like divorce. Divorce is like a war and a lot of my soldiers faced that. But even when
the judge and the couple have signed those papers the war is not over, or the marriage is not totally
over emotionally, for both sides. People tend to struggle with the remnants of divorce and its
aftereffects for years to come.
Similarly with war soldiers continue to carry a part of that [with them after they have left the
battlefield]. With me too it is normal to carry a part of that, and in my case it was the area that IS is
in right now, where I did a lot of humanitarian aid missions the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
My experience was the different faith groups there existed very peacefully and most of them had an
acceptance of each others differences Muslims, Christians and so-called pagans, who are actually
quite similar in their beliefs to a lot of sampradayas, even Hinduism.
So it is not sad from the religious point of view but the human perspective. That is, not so much that
a person of a similar religion is being affected, but that another human being is getting hurt and
theyre not able to live based on what they believe in.
I was very well received [in the Kurdish region] and they have a very positive view of Indian people. I
was very surprised to be invited into their homes they just opened their hearts and homes to me.
That was actually a very beautiful part of my war memories that I was able to have those
connections. The sadness is even more that I am not there [now] as a lot of the work that was done
then has been undone. My heart and my prayers go out to the people, that they would be safe. It is
quite heart-wrenching to see that.
Looking now at India, what do you think the recent election of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and the rise of the BJP means for Hinduism broadly? Do you have any
thoughts on the state of Hinduism as it is in India today, both as a religious concept or
as a political concept, increasingly?
I am very happy that Narendra Modi is [the Prime Minister], not because he is a Hindu or that he
represents Hinduism, but in terms of his righteousness. I pray, given what little I do know of him,
that he is indeed righteous.
Hinduism has had a lot of leaders in the past. Historically, our books are really about the righteous
leader and the one who is not righteous should not be on the throne.

That is what I carry forward with me the righteousness that I learnt from within my faith tradition,
the sanatan dharma. That is the strength of Hinduism. If that righteousness is carried forward, that
will be wonderful, not only because of the righteousness itself but because Hinduism can co-exist
with so many different religions.
I pray and my hope is that it will continue, because that is the greatness of India that it has
accommodated so many religions and that is the beauty, the heart and the greatness of Hindus and
Hinduism.
That is my war and fight here as well, and the struggle, that Hindus need to be accepted for who they
are, without changing and shaping their Hinduism for anyone; or that if Hindus became the majority
anyone else had to shape themselves. Really, we have to coexist.
So first, I stick to the fact that I pray that Narendra Modi proves himself and he has so far, and he
continues to prove himself on the grounds of being a righteous leader who fights for truth and stands
for truth, honesty and integrity.
My grandfather was a Gandhian and we have made a lot of sacrifices. The same thoughts and the
values continue with us even in the U.S., that we stand for integrity and honesty. These are also
principles given to me from the sanatan dharma, but do I say every Hindu is like that? No. Is every
Christian like that? No, but it is a choice that you make, even as a Hindu, to be righteous.
I pray that Narendra Modi would make that as a daily choice, which it seems like he does, and that
India would be able to follow true as a nation and be righteous as well. Our scriptures tell us that all
the time as a reminder, and people forget in a wave of passion but really, every leader will come and
go. Why do we remember Ram today? It is because he was righteous.
It is a very, very difficult place to be in, even Bhishma failed, because he took sides. The beauty of
Hinduism is that it teaches us not to take sides. It is such a beautiful religion and way of life that it
says You always pick the righteous, you always pick the right path, you always do the right thing.
There is no other way but that.