There is only one such University in the world that teaches Hinduism to people of all lands and cultures and that University is situated in the United States of America.
I came to know about Hindu University in America when I participated in a course conducted by BSIS or, BHISHMA SCHOOL OF INDIC STUDIES https://www.bhishmaindics.org/
One faculty by name Narendra Joshi took classes for us in the BSIS was an alumnus of the Hindu University of America https://www.hua.edu/
The Hindu University of America conducts a lot of courses on Hinduism. One such course is 'Exploring Hinduism For Teens And Parents.' This course is conducted by Dr. D.K. Hari and Hema Hari.
The first time I came in contact with Dr. D.K. Hari was when he took a session on Kala Gnana or the calculation of the time some 8 years back.
That itself was a fascinating subject. Afterward, I had attended some short lectures regarding various aspects of Sanatan Dharma.
They both have created exhaustive content on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/BharathGyan They have a website called the https://bharathgyan.com/
They have also authored many books on the greatness of Bharat.
This is the first day of their course 'Exploring Hinduism for Teens and Parents'. The course was simply mind-blowing.
The first day took some time to settle down and get introduced to various features that are available to the students.
Once that part was over the classes took off well.
The question that was put was what was the original name of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The original name for the Arabian Sea was Sindhu Sagar because the river Sindhu drains into oceans there. The original name for the Bay of Bengal was Gangasagar.
Someone put a question as to why the Bay of Bengal is not called the Brahmaputra Sagar because it also drains into the oceans.
The teachers said that the Brahmaputra is called by different names throughout its region of flow. In one place it is called the Yarlung Tsangpo, Siang, Jamuna (not to be confused with the Yamuna) it merges with the river Padma as the Ganges is called in Bangladesh and then this is called the Meghna until it drains into the ocean.
I never knew that the Brahmaputra is also called the Jamuna. New information to me.
Then another interesting question was put; what is the meaning of Bharat. Our constitution names countries like India or Bharat. India is the name given to us by our western neighbors and the Europeans. The name India is derived from the name Sindhu. The Persians had a problem with the syllable S and wherever possible they substituted it with H. So the land that lied beyond the river Sindh came to be called by them Hindu instead of Sindhu.
The teachers it seems have traveled a lot of countries it seems and they say that we are called the Hind by the different cultures and nationalities.
On the other hand, the name 'Bharat' which is the name that we gave ourselves has a very interesting etymology.
'Bha' means light, like Bhaskar. 'Rath' means the chariot. 'Rath' is also closely related to the word 'Rathi' or delight.
That means we are people who are immersed in knowledge.
Sage Vishwamitra refers to our country as 'Bharat Janam' or the people living in Bharat. So the word of Bharat is there from the Vedic times.
How did this land come to be known as Bharat by our forefathers?
There are a lot of Bharathas' in our mythology. Sri Rama's brother was called the Bharatha, the son born to the Dushyantha, and Sakunthala was called Bharatha and there was also a King called the Jada Bharatha.
How did the other cultures call us?
The Chinese are also an ancient and parallel culture to ours.
The Chinese called the King of the Turks the King of Lions for their being ferocious.
They called the King of Persia the King of the Kings for their wealth, glory, and fertile lands.
They called the King of Rome to be King of Men. The Romans glorified physical strength. The Rome and the Greece was the birthplace of the Olympics. Who can forget the Pheidippides.
The Greek and the Romans believed in physical fitness, valor, courage etc. They ruled a vast area of the land for a very long time.
They enslaved people from different parts of the world. Spartacus is an example of the rebel slave. It is said that at one point there were about 10 slaves for every Greek.
But if you go to the Greece and Rome and ask them about their ancient culture, they would say that we do not know anything about that. Go to the museum and find it yourself.
If you go to the Persia and asked them about their past culture and religion which was called the Zorashtrians they would know nothing about that.
But if you came to India, you need not ask them about their past culture and religion. Yes. We have taken a beating, our land mass has come down. Originally the Bharat extended from the Afghanistan to Pakistan to Bharat, to Bangladesh and to the Burma.
Now our land mass has come down but still we essentially keep or preserve the ancient culture and the religion intact. We still see temples more than thousand years old and the practice of worshipping the departed, etc remains the same. We still worship the idols all over the country. The mantras that we utter are all the same throughout the length and the breadth of India.
That means our roots are strong and they go deep.
The first class was only an appetizer. Now awaiting the main course.
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