Utah Hindu Fest

23 March

Utah Hindu FestThe longer I study Mormonism the less shocked I am about things that go on in this religion and its home base of Utah.  The other thing I’m sure of is that my grandmother and her fourteen siblings are probably rolling in their graves over this one – the majority of those siblings lived most of their lives in Spanish Fork.

What’s going on this month in Spanish Fork defies everything our Lord has told us not to do.

Exodus 20:3; “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”.

Yesterday the Salt Lake Trib’s headline caught my attention with its catchy play on words.  It said; “Utah Hindu fest passes the Mormon test with flying colors”.  Peggy Fletcher Stack was reporting on the Hindu “Holi Celebration” that will be taking place in Spanish Fork, UT on March 29, 2014.  Apparently this is the largest gathering and celebration of this festival in the U.S.

What is this you ask?  Don’t feel bad, I didn’t know either.

The Hindu Holi Celebration is also known as the Festival of Colors.  It’s when Hindus gather to celebrate the end of winter or the triumph of good over evil.  That sounds remotely familiar in Mormon teachings with their Yin-Yang theory that both things have to co-exist. 2 Nephi 2:11-14.

The article went on to say “The two-day event, which Das dubbed the “Festival of Colors,” derives from an ancient Hindu tradition…It, is common in southern India for friends and neighbors to gather in small groups around a bonfire and throw colored corn starch in the air.

For his Utah version, Das added “kirtan,” which in Saskrit means “to glorify or spread the name and fame of God’s love,” he says.”

FYI: Caru Das is the local Hindu temple priest.

So while the festival is expecting to have 70,000 visitors reveling in their festivities we need to pray!

Celebrations occur to commemorate or pay homage to an event, person, place or thing. Let’s take a quick look at just what or who they’re celebrating in the heart of Utah.

Hinduism is made up of a myriad of gods that we’re not going to explore here, suffice it to say the gods of this festival are Rama and Krishna.

Rama is the “seventh avatar” of the god Vishnu and is considered to be one of the most popular and important gods being worshiped throughout Nepal and India. In a few of the Ram-centric societies he is supreme. His consort is Krishna who is the eighth avatar in the consortium of Hindu gods.  Rama is considered to be the “perfect man” or “lord of self-control” or “lord of virtue”.  

The Sanatan Society defines Krishna this way;

“Lord Krishna is the embodiment of love and divine joy, that destroys all pain and sin. He is the protector of sacred utterances and cows. Krishna is an instigator of all forms of knowledge and born to establish the religion of love.”

As a quick side note here – to instigate something typically carries a negative connotation with it. Why is knowledge bad?  This god “instigated” knowledge…

The Trib quoted an Indian woman from the 2013 festival who said she’d be surprised if the BYU students who attended really knew what they were chanting when they kept singing out “Hare Rama” and “Hare Krishna”.  By the way, the word ‘hare’ is a chant extolling the praises of that god.

Unfortunately I have to agree with this woman.  A remark from another attendee who’s a student at BYU mentioned she wished she had known why they were celebrating because she thought “it was fascinating”.  Ugh. If she’s at university she’s obviously literate.  My advice: READ!

The Trib went on to say; “Das does sense spirituality in it, but of a more universal nature.

“We consider that when you chant the name of God, God is personally present,” he says. “Even a person who comes for the first time with a less-than-serious attitude is likely to feel something they just don’t feel in other areas.””

Yeah, I bet they are.  The reason why is because Mormonism is based on feelings.  Moroni 10:4-6 and D&C 9:7-9. They take this mindset with them no matter the scenario they find themselves in and apply it straightaway. There is no “studying it out in your mind” as their prophets urge because their prophets also teach it’s all about feelings.

The pretty colored cornstarch flying through the air with each chant has captured their attention and halted their critical thinking skills.

The Trib also quoted Das comparing the Bible with their Hindu gods;

“If you want to get biblical about it, Das says, the festival promotes the two most important Christian concepts: loving God and your fellow men. What, he wonders, could be more religious than that?”

It’s obvious he has no clue about Jesus and that’s really sad. Christianity isn’t “religious”.  His perception of Christianity is blinded by his false gods and another proof of this, if you will, is the comment made by another Hindu in attendance who remarked the Holi Festival in India has become very commercialized in southern India just as Christmas and Halloween has for the Christians.  How dismal.

They may try and trick people by stating this festival has no religious significance or prayers associated with it, but when you’re gathering to honor these false gods and engaged in Yoga while you’re there, it’s steeped in religious significance.

Pray for those who think this would be a great activity to attend.  Pray the God of the Bible intervenes in their lives and no one attends and that goes for the Indian people as well as the Mormons. Sadly it was noted the Mormons outnumbered the Hindus “4 to 2” in 2013.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

1 Cor 1:18

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