10/15/2020
Indigenous x Vedic
This summer I audited a course in Hinduism at UofT. It gave me the opportunity to explore my religion, of which I know I know so little, from a non-religious perspective.
Did it trigger me to know that the Aryans who got the Vedic traditions to Hindustan/India might have eaten meat? No, rather it piques my imagination.
I have stepped out of everything I knew to somehow become closer to everything that I am. I am proud to hold my ancestry, my rituals, and the scepticism that comes with it.
My belief has and always will transcend rules. I was always raised like that, my knowledge formed firmly to a liberal, modern, self-righteous, and extremely smart Father. To a sensitive, kind-hearted, god-loving, and follower of rituals Mother. And most deeply influenced by Arya Samaj roots of my Grandfather and Grandmother.
When I moved to Canada, only a few years ago, I would have never envisioned having found what I have.
Earlier this year I was given a gift, a gift of something new. When I sat in my first Cacao ceremony, when I received my first Sound Bath, I did not know how much things would move.
Today when I initiated my Medicine drum, I feel like a beneficiary of the accumulated histories of all the people and all the cultures.
I notice the similarities between Indigenous & Vedic people, the smudging, wearing scared threads, learning from the elders, and to be in union with the higher self/spirit.
Today I owe it to myself to carry this forward, not to an end, but through a long, beautiful journey. I am the keeper of my Vedic roots, without the inhibitions, and now I am the explorer of the intersections between Indigenous / Native rituals & Vedic rituals.
