Ethos And Culture
Jnana: Knowledge
– A Love of Inquiry and Learning
Ancient India generated the largest textual tradition in humanity, in its multitude of languages. Hindu University of America regards these texts as the common heritage of humanity and seeks to engage with this vast repository of texts and traditional knowledge systems of Hinduism not merely as the archives of a past era, but out of a commitment and concern for the wellbeing and future of humanity.
The Education offered by Hindu University of America engages the whole person, challenging the mind, nourishing the inner being, leading to the comprehensive development of the individual. Fostering learning as a lifelong pursuit, modulated in each life-stage in accordance with the concept of āśramadharma, Hindu University of America is dedicated to research study and dissemination of knowledge about the Vedic Hindu Civilization and Culture as a living tradition with a unique perspective on the cosmos and our place as humans within it.
Dharma: Responsibility
– Committed, Purpose-driven Lives
Grounded in the belief that Knowledge must enable a socially relevant, fully cultivated life, and, ultimately, awaken philosophical piety and an awareness of the inherent divinity of all living beings, Hindu University of America explores the Hindu worldview as a source of values, spiritual practice, and ultimate realization for millions around the world.
Hindu concept of Dharma sustained a thoughtful practice of living in balance with nature for millennia. The understanding of Karma acted as a check on human selfishness, hubris, and injustice and gave rise to the idea of Ahimsā i.e. non-violence as a primary principle of peaceful co-existence. The Hindu University of America seeks to enable purpose-driven lives anchored in the idea of Lokasamgraha that flower into responsible leadership for our contemporary humanity and planetary ecosystem.
Yoga: Transformation
– The Elevation of Consciousness
The Hindu University of America encourages students to see human life as a Yoga i.e. a creative, intellectual and spiritual encounter between the individual, the world and the divine and seeks to bring Vedic Hindu wisdom in service of healing and transformation to a world in need. It empowers its constituents to see themselves as both inheritors of a great and ancient family of traditions as well as participants and innovators for the future – in the unfolding story of not just the Hindu people, indigenous peoples everywhere and the spiritually inclined around the world, but of all humanity.
The Hindu University of America enables its students to embrace Yoga in all its variety – through discipline, diligent practice, self-control, earnest self-inquiry, meditation, mindfulness, music, literature, the visual and performing arts, self-development and, selfless service as vital modes of Hindu self-discovery, actualization, and expression.
Samvada: Dialog
– Engaging Diversity
The Hindu University of America values diversity, both within the traditions Sampradāyas of Hindu community and in other religions and traditions of this world. Hinduism encompasses a vast range of practices and traditions and avoids the pitfall of asserting that a single creed, church or temple possesses the absolute truth, which leads inevitably to antagonism and objectification of “other” cultures and traditions. Hindus accept the normative authority of different sacred texts (Śāstras) and relate to the divine as both single and multiple deities.
Hindu University of America endeavors to engage with a multiplicity of experiences and perspectives in an ethos of mutual respect and insightful dialog. It views the encounter with diverse world-views as a source of wisdom and embraces the possibility of finding solutions to seemingly intractable contemporary challenges in the light of the insight of the ancients.
Moksha: Freedom
– Breaking Through our Limitations
Students of the Hindu University of America emerge with greater freedom, clarity, and confidence through their education, and are enabled to grow into responsible agents of positive transformation in the world around them i.e. in their relationships, families, communities, institutions, and society.
The Hindu University of America recognizes the importance of freedom for all people and promotes a love for and the pursuit of ultimate freedom from the cycle of endless birth and rebirth, the never-ending reverberation of Karma across the eons of time.
