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I am a Hindu boy growing up in the United States. Most of my friends belong to different Nationalities and follow different religions. However, I dont feel any different than my friends and I feel I am just another friend to them, not a Hindu friend. In school, we dont really talk much about our religion except during social studies when we learn about all the different cultures and how they came about. Other than Social studies, I learn about Hinduism at the temple religion class and in Ramayana and Mahabharata classes. So far I have learnt that like other cultures we all have to respect elders and pray to god(s), should do what youre told and do your duty. Hinduism believes that a person will reach God after his lifetime if he or she does his/her duty. Hinduism is the oldest known religion in the world and developed out of Brahmanism. It has no founder and dates back to prehistoric times. Hindus believe in reincarnation and most other religions do not. Hindus respect all creatures and worship the cow as it gives us milk. Therefore, hindus do not eat beef and we do not eat pork either. There are other religions that dont encourage a person to eat pig meat as well. These are the few differences that I could think of between my religion and my friends. I have learnt that in the Christian culture they do the Holy Communion which is an important ceremony in which the person receives Blessed Lord in the Eucharist. These are a lot like the thread ceremony in our culture except that only hindu boys do this ceremony. In fact this was the only time I ever had an issue because of my tradition or religion. This happened when I was changing for gym class and another boy asked me what is that thread? I was kind of unsure what to say because if I said something that the other boy could make fun of me and I would be totally embarrassed. I went home and did some research on the significance of the thread that I wear all the time. I understood the deep beauty and significance of the thread

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ceremony known in sanskrit as upanayanam . The real purpose of the thread ceremony is that it signifies a young boys formal entrance into the first stage of life, that of the student. The boy is officially qualified to learn the sacred mantra that describes the nature of truth. This mantra is passed on by the father to the son and is called Brahmopadesam. This is a significant ceremony and I felt that it was my responsibility to tell my friends about how sacred the thread was and that it was important that they respect it. Then it struck me that it is just like when Jewish kids have a Bar Mitzvah or a Bat Mitzvah. I was then able to come up with an answer and I said it is when a guru places a sacred thread on your left shoulder and symbolizes the transference of spiritual knowledge, like when Jewish kids go through the Rite of Passage. The only other question I have ever had was in social studies when we learned about Hinduism as a world religion. Many of my friends asked me why does your culture have so many gods? I always answer by saying that we believe in many forms of one eternal god, namely Brahman. We believe in division of labor and the various forms of the same God and Goddess have individual special tasks, for example Ganesha, the elephant headed God he is the remover of obstacles and Saraswathi is the Goddess of knowledge. Other than these two situations, I have not faced any other issues with being a Hindu boy. In fact, I take pride in belonging to a religion that is very flexible and allows us the freedom to practice this religion the way it suits us. I will always be proud of my religion and my sacred thread, which I believe is protecting me.

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Works Cited Ellis, Elisabeth G., Anthony Esler, and Burton F. Beers. Prentice Hall World History: Connections to Today. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003. Print.
"Upanayanam." Sulekha.com. N.p., 2010. Web. 3 Apr. 2013. <creative.sulekha.com/upanayanamexplained_512696_blog>.

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