Are travelling gurus Hindus?

Are travelling gurus Hindus?
Dr. Koenraad Elst

http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/books/wiah/ch6.htm

A somewhat special case is that of the travelling Hindu gurus in the
West.  They don't have to worry about Article 30 or the Communist
government in Kolkata, but they do have to fine-tune their
communication strategy vis-à-vis the Western public.  Usually they
claim that their yoga is "universal"43, often also that it "can be
combined with other religions".  Thus, in a popular self-presentation
video of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation (a.k.a. the
Science of Creative intelligence), a Christian pastor is interviewed
and he testifies that he has deepened his Christian faith with the
help of TM.  In the West, weary and wary of religious labels, this
seems to be a more successful strategy than an explicit attempt at
conversion would be.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) generally
denies that it is Hindu, in spite of practising purely Hindu rituals
and a purely Hindu lifestyle in the service of a purely Hindu god.44
That this policy is guided by petty calculations of self-interest is
clear from the cases where ISKCON exceptionally does claim to be
Hindu, viz. when collecting money from Hindus.

A former ISKCON member explains: that ISKCON is non-Hindu "is clearly
evident in the writings and lectures of Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON's
founder, as well as in the day-to-day preaching statements of its
members and current-day leaders.  What is especially troubling is that
ISKCON periodically does claim to be a Hindu organization.
Unfortunately, these claims on the part of ISKCON occur when, and only
when, it serves the legal and financial interests of the sect.
Thousands of unsuspecting Indian Hindus have been persuaded to
contribute funds to the group with the reassurance that they were
supporting 'Hinduism', 'Hindu' temples and the printing of 'Hindu'
books."45

But these peculiar elements of separatism in this sect or that can
only occur because of the general background of the depreciation of
Hindu identity.  In Christianity and Islam, only the reverse case
exists: sects claiming to be Christian (Mormons) or Muslim (Ahmadiyas,
Alevites) but being denied that label by the orthodox.  The day
Hinduism gets respected again, these sects will probably reaffirm
their Hindu identity, and the RK Mission will preface its publications
with Vivekananda's appeal: "Say with pride, We are Hindus!"


--
In the family of religions, Hinduism is the wise old all-knowing
mother. Its sacred books, the Vedas, claim, 'Truth is one, but sages
call it by different names.' If only Islam, and all the rest of the
monotheistic 'book' religions, had learned that lesson, all the horror
of history's religious wars could have been avoided. Which other
religion has its God say, as Krishna does in the Bhagavad Gita, 'All
paths lead to me.'

- Robert R. C. Zaehner (1913-1974) British historian of religion.

--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/