ask tags seem to have dwindled but I thought I’d swing for just one more!
Send me an ask with the numbers you’d like me to answer!
1) Which religion/spiritual path do you identify with?
2) When was the last time you prayed?
3) Have you ever doubted your faith?
4) Have you ever belonged to a different religion?
5) When do you feel closest to your deity/ies?
6) Do you have lots of religious paraphernalia?
7) If you could change one thing about your faith community, what would it be?
8) What is your favourite passage from your sacred text, if you have one?
9) Has your faith ever helped you through a crisis?
10) Do you have a favourite prayer/ritual?
11) Have you ever considered converting to another faith?
12) Were you born in a religious family?
13) Do you practise the majority faith of the place you live in?
14) Have you ever been discriminated against on the basis of your faith?
15) Have you ever had a divine experience?
1. Hinduism, Shaivite. My patron deity is Shiva.
When I was a baby, Dad commited me to Guan Yin.
2. Around 10pm, worried over seeing my debt on Paypal
3. Sometimes
4. I used to be Buddhist, then spent my teenage years being a Protestant Christian.
5. When I sometimes prayed to Shiva.
6. No. The only items I have to pray to Shiva are several downloaded pictures of Adiguru in my phone.
7. Perhaps work together with Christians, Muslims, and atheists, to turn people away from extremism towards cooperation. This can coexist with preserving Hinduism by simply refusing to convert.
8. “Om Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah” - “May everything be happy.”
9. Not very much. Last year, perhaps Shiva had led me into a decent job after around a year of joblessness due to the Covid lockdown. This year, one teaching in Hinduism suggested me to keep doing what I should be doing. I should leave my fears to the Gods, so that as I focus on them, they will be more likely to help me.
10. I like the Gayatri the most, because it is like a call towards the Gods for help. Aside from asking for wisdom, I read that it also invokes them to make things more favourable and safer in the future. Aside from these, I liked to observe Maha Shivaratri and Kali Puja, to honour my Gods.
11. Sometimes I considered reverting to Christianity should the Gods not help me. But I would rather not return to the faith that I felt to ruin my life. I associated Christianity with failure and loss, because its God seemed not to do something to improve my financial condition last year, nor did He stop Covid. I even thought that its God wanted me to fail to force me to worship and fear Him as a servant.
The fundie phase during my teenage years, along with abusive behaviour by US politicians, Christian leaders, and Internet trolls from America and Europe, were among the reasons why I gave up on Christianity. Hinduism has the same people too among the saffrons, but it is those “Christians” (and their “Islamist” counterparts) who became one reason why I did not join the saffron extremists.
12. Yes. My family, who is Chinese, is mostly Buddhist, but they are not too strict. They were tolerant of my Christian faith back then, but even though they did not approve my conversion to Hinduism, they did not punish me.
Sometimes I feel happier being one of the few Chinese Malaysians who are Hindu.
13. No. Malaysia is a Muslim country, but being a non-Muslim I was able to freely convert. When I gave up on Jesus, I considered reverting to Buddhism, but then I ended up with Hinduism when my best friend approved my suggestion.
14. Not very much. Most people are quite tolerant of me during my Christian years, except that one fundie phase when I tried to convert my Dad (out of fear of Hell). My parents scolded me and threw my Bible to the dustbin, mostly because I was late for home or due to my anger issues.
Although my family objected to me being Hindu, they still let me do as I please. Nonetheless, I could not observe certain fasts to avoid troubling them.
15. No, not a miracle or the direct presence of a God speaking or being with me. But my experience with scams made me consider helping more people.
Sometimes I feel like Kali Ma is driving me to be kind and fair to others, to hate injustice even more.
![Neck Deep - Kali Ma [X]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/a2ced2e4ee105acb3e5638aefbdbb374/tumblr_o9dvamy81Q1td61cdo1_1280.png "Neck Deep - Kali Ma [X]")
