Why Amar Celebrates Christmas

Once at school lunch time, Amar 11, was talking with his fellow student George who was also eleven. They were both fifth grade students at middle school in Arlington, VA, a cosmopolitan suburb of Washington, D.C., where both lived. This was just small talk about what Amar did over the weekend and George and his family did. George was describing how he and his family went to view fall-foliage and went all the way to West Virginia where the foliage was at its very peak. The foliage peak was a little late this year and was interesting that while the leaves had achieved their beauty and were not hesitant to display it, people had already started decorating their homes with lights and other items, especially the outdoors, for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, there was a mixture of colorful leaves and colorful lights providing delightful scenery at dusk.
In the middle of the conversation, George changed the subject and said, “Amar, I just remembered that I wanted to ask you an important question that my dad asked me just yesterday.” He asked me if I knew why your family celebrated Christmas even though you are not a Christian but a Hindu. Hindus celebrate Diwali, right? I saw you celebrated Diwali with lighting your house and you told me you had a family gathering and you celebrated with an elaborate feast and song and dance and of course Mithai (sweets) that you love, and so do I. Amar told him that he was correct in saying that they had just celebrated Diwali and told him that they were slowly doing few things now for Christmas. George said his father’s question arose because, while driving by Amar’s home, his dad had noticed un-lit lights outdoors and through the window he also that someone was putting up a Christmas tree. He was very curious and had asked the question that he did.
Amar had a sly smile and a chuckle as he tried to answer George’s question. He said that there are few reasons for the lights and the Christmas tree that George’s father had noticed. First if all, he, and his family love to celebrate the holidays and the lights and the tree are symbols of the holidays, as they are for George and his family. The tree is not a tree with any religion attached to it, it is, in a way, bringing greenery indoors while outdoors is dreary and all-brown. Amar said “we do not buy a “natural” tree removed from the ground but an artificial tree because my dad believes that uprooting or cutting a tree would be dis-respecting the nature. So, we believe that tree is symbol of the holiday season which that is made cheerful and more enjoyable with family and friends’ gathering (my uncles and their family come over and sometimes we even get visitors, like my grandparents from India) celebrated with tasty food and drinks, music and conversation that is always exciting and cheerful. We exchange news of the year and me and my cousins play games, and a wonderful time is had by all. I always look forward to the holiday season and according to my dad there are fourteen holidays of different religions in this period. But…. but…but…there is more to it, and we do not have time for it. I would like your dad to talk to my dad and he can explain to him lot better.
A couple of days later George’s dad (Sam) was passing by Amar’s house and he noticed that Amar’s dad (Krishiv) was outside in the front yard, having just finished the last lawn-mowing of the season). Sam waved to Krishiv, and he invited him over.
Sam was surprised to have been invited by Krishiv but at the same time he was happy to accept the invitation. Sam quickly texted his wife that he might be a little late coming home and he was with Amar’s dad for a little chat. Krishiv requested his wife to join them and prepare and bring some tea and light snacks. Sam was impressed with the informal invitation and thought that this was an excellent way of breaking the ice and getting to know each other. He felt at home, relaxed, and sensed the vibes of friendliness as if he had known Krishiv for a long time. After exchanging pleasantries and small talk about George and Amar’s friendship and their lunchtime conversation, the subject turned to the Christmas and the holiday season. Without beating around the bush too much, Krishiv told Sam “We also celebrate holiday season and Christmas in a little separate way. We light the inside and outside of the house to bring light of knowledge, wisdom, truth, kindness and piety and to dispel the darkness of ignorance, hate and jealousy, discrimination, and despair.” At Diwali time we do the same thing, we light the house to, conceptually invite, Lord Ram back after his victory over evil king Ravan, i.e., a victory of Good over Evil, Truth over deceit and wisdom over just knowledge. We believe Jesus Christ’s teachings are remarkably like the philosophy of Hindiusm with both teaching kindness, purity of heart and mind, helping the poor and remembering the Almighty every day. There is a story about Gandhiji of whom you must have heard of before. It goes like this—a nice Christian young man came to him and asked how he can become a Hindu. He had read about it, lived in India for a number of years and he was impressed with the religion and wanted very badly to convert. Gandhiji asked him if he as a Christian and he believed and practiced Jesus Christ’ s teachings of compassion, love, sacrifice and helping the poor. The young man said yes, he has done all that all his life. Gandhiji said if you believe and practice Jesus’ teachings you do not need to convert because a “Good Christian is also a Good Hindu.” The young man was overly impressed and left incredibly happy and satisfied.
Sam was still curious about Hindus,’ so he further said to Sam, that he must have heard about Hindus’ worshiping idols in their temple. Krishiv told him that Hindu’s worship idols, not as objects, but representation of deities. Each structure (a material object), before it is endowing on its pedestal, it is blessed by the all mighty in a ceremony —i.e., we invite the blessings of God into the idol, and it becomes a “Deity” instead of just a decorated piece of stone or work of art. We perceive God in the deity as a visible, perceptible symbol of God we put faith in it and ask for his/her blessings. We have male deities and female deities because we worship people equally and sometimes women more. Our Goddesses just like Gods, possess great strength as well as compassion and love. Sam, when we pray in front of our deities, we close our eyes and try to see the deity in our mind and in our mind, we ask for forgiveness of our sins, pray for the welfare of the entire world, and beg to attain the qualities conceptualized and symbolized in the deity. For example, deity of Sarasvati symbolizes purity (represented by white attire), wisdom (represented by her demeanor and calmness) and harmony and music (signified by Sitar she is holding). We have distinctive characteristics displayed in each deity of God and Goddess; therefore, we pray to lot of them to receive the maximum extent of blessings of good qualities. We honor animals as well and have animal activities to learn from too. For example, in Yoga we have Asanas (postures) that imitate animals (cow, cat, dog, alligator etc.) and deities of a cow for its nurturing nature, a lion for strength and destruction of evil etc. At the end of the prayer, we recite Om Shanti, Om Shanti, Om Shanti asking God to dispel all three kinds of our fears — physical, mental, and spiritual.
You might have heard that Hindu’s have three hundred million Gods. It is a myth. We believe in ONE GOD. The three hundred million ‘gods’ are the manifestations or forms of him/her, each with its own merit.
With that, Krishiv asked if Sam got a little hint of why we celebrate Christmas and about Hinduism and bid him farewell by uttering “Namaste” with folded hands. Sam reciprocated but looked a little inquisitive and requested to briefly tell him what Namaste means. Krishiv told him that Namaste means “the divine in me honors the divine in you,” since we believe that every human being is born with divinity.

— Ram Bajaj