This document is centered on compassionate care through self-awareness. It weaves the protocols and guidelines for chaplaincy into guidance for self-awareness from Vedanta and the Bhagavad Gita as the growth-node for compassion. It also brings into view the perspective of HSCI, an all-Hindu, non-sampradayik institution in service of all. Primary audience: HSCI chaplains and spiritual care providers.
Rachel Naomi Remen draws a powerful distinction between helping and serving:
Chaplaincy is being in another's presence: ready to serve, with an open mind, being non-judgmental, wanting to listen with attention and mindfulness, being aware of one's own internal thoughts and sensations, and the external environment, context, and situation a care-recipient is in.
The challenge of snap judgements: You enter a room and form impressions right away. When you form impressions right away, you don't have the facts yet to verify, so there is a chance your impressions could be incorrect or misleading. These impressions then skew your judgement of the person or situation. Humans have an innate need to classify and categorize, which we often do with snap judgements. Humans also have an innate need to be NOT wrong. With judgement already formed, the opportunity to learn is closed.
Building it back up: Leave your faith, beliefs, and bias at the door. Enter the room with an empty mind, ready to receive fully so you are able to serve wholly. It is important to allow for engaged inquiry without judgement.
Self-awareness is fundamental: know yourself and your boundaries. Know what you are comfortable with and not comfortable with. For example: "I'm comfortable with / not comfortable with conversations about domestic violence, suicide, rape, atheistic ideals," etc.
Tools and techniques to hone your EQ, to navigate complex emotional scenarios:
Empathy: Know the difference between empathy and sympathy. Empathy is the ability to be in another's emotional and sacred space as an equal. It may seem counter-intuitive, but as your empathy grows and you open yourself to diverse views, so do your own faith and values get more firm and grounded.
Social Skills: Awareness of social norms, verbal and non-verbal communications. You practice listening without judgement; communicating with mindfulness; being present with the care seeker with a sense of awe, gratitude, and humility.
Being Vulnerable: It is okay not knowing. You don't have to be the expert with all of the answers. Allow the care recipient's own "knowing" to unfold in the moment through discussion and exploration. Have a learning mindset not a fixed mindset. Be like a flute, let the divine presence flow through you and guide you.
Being Intentional: Intentional listening and being intentional in your thoughts — being open.
How to provide trauma-informed care:
Caring is part of your spiritual growth. Identify your stage (these stages are fluid, not rigid):
Stage 1: The baby/toddler connects Bhagwan to something superior through playful activities. This stage is mere association between a name heard and a picture.
Stage 2: Being a disciple, learning slokas, hearing stories — probably till preteen years.
Stage 3: Participating in community rituals, building relationships through shared beliefs and customs, learning about God as a "follower," through what is "told" to you. Most people spend their lives in this stage. This assures a safe and secure path to "liberation."
Stage 4: Getting ready for chaplaincy. Reflection and introspection are usually triggered by drastic events that send you looking for answers. When you seek answers, explore beyond the comfort zone you are living in. This is the stage at which you recognize that respecting diversity is not destruction of your world-view, but a widening and a growing of you — preparing you to serve.
Stage 5: You recognize that Brahman pervades everything, all aspects of life; akin to the quality of sannyas. One becomes pure and truly all-compassionate.
When you choose chaplaincy you have embarked on Stage 4 of your spiritual development, which is exploring and serving beyond the comfort of your homogenous community of faith.
A caregiver practicing non-judgmental compassion is reaching for and into their own divinity.
Dharma is not a rigid set of rules separating right from wrong. There are as many definitions as there have been human beings. For animals and other forms of life, Dharma is instinctive — it flows naturally, requiring no thought. For humans, Dharma is built through awareness and choice. Dharma is to stop and reflect, then to act or refrain from action, consciously and courageously. Our choices become the measure of our Dharma.
Artha and Kama are gaining wealth and enjoying pleasure within Dharma, not mutually exclusive from Moksha, more like growing through your varnashramas. A litmus test for your own spiritual growth: does the wealth and pleasure you pursue leave a lingering positive or negative energy? Can you detach from the pleasure just as the tongue detaches from the taste once the food is swallowed?
The Srimad Bhagavad Gita — the essence of Vedanta — is the bedrock of Hindu chaplaincy: the intellectual, spiritual, and emotional experience. The Gita provides the guidelines:
Nishkama Karma as:
Yoga means union or yoking, stemming from the Sanskrit word "yuj." The modern usage is restricted to performance of asanas or poses, but the ancient science is a powerful tool for self-care. Practice of yoga is about:
Compassion is universal; only, our seers identified and defined compassion a few thousand years ahead of the west. Collectivism was born of individualism, and became more embedded in the Hindu culture.
HSCI has experts and resources to support as needed.
Hindu chaplaincy must address these with intellectual honesty, positioning ourselves as a truly non-denominational, caring entity:
Gender: You are not your gender. Shift self-identity to your spiritual core. The body, however, has its dharma. Take good care of it.
Geography/Language: Diversity is woven into the fabric of the Indian sub-continent and respected as such.
Our Puranas and Itihasas paint detailed pictures of the consequences of practicing discrimination of any and every kind. Reflect on the end results and you will have your lessons in values.
Caste is not a Hindu term. In practice, caste became social groups based on Jati but using names of Varna. There is a distinction:
Rituals create a sacred space of positive energy. Inviting people to rituals creates positive energy that is not transitory.
Karma (aka karam) is action and the fruits of that action. These karmic actions can lead to fruits which can be either beneficial (punya) or not (paapa). Karma yoga is performing beneficial actions with no desire or interest in the results, offering the results to the divine. Practicing karma yoga is one method of depleting paapa and punya to zero, which releases one from the cycle of birth and death.
The Bhagavad Gita discusses tattva-trayam, the three truths: the achit which is morphous matter that is indestructible, the atma that perceives the achit with intellect, and the Eshwara which governs both. There is no reference to gender. Gender pertains merely to physical adaptations of the body assumed at birth, for a specific purpose.
In ancient times women did stand toe to toe with men. Out of the 600 rishis who contributed to the Vedas, 30 were women, able to perform the intense penance required of rishis. Over the last two thousand years, as communities grew, the role and definition of women changed to match collective need.
Vedanta is about the individual's journey through samsara and the next steps to attain moksha or liberation from the cycle of birth and death. Sampradayas arose at different times and locations as a collective answer to a specific negative situation or issue; they are traditional religious, philosophical, and spiritual schools of thought with their own distinct practices and observances. This focus on the individual's choice makes Hindus innately secular and tolerant of other religions and faiths.
"33 crore gods" is actually a misunderstanding stemming from the Sanskrit word "koti," which can mean either "types/categories" or "crore" (ten million). Ancient Vedic texts refer to 33 supreme deities (not 330 million): 12 Adityas (solar deities), 11 Rudras (associated with Shiva and transformation), 8 Vasus (natural elements), and 2 Ashwini Kumars (celestial healers). Our Vedic texts say even these 33 gods are still part of the same Brahman/divine.
Different forms (murtis) symbolize ideals and invoke devotion — they are symbols of the same divine which resides in all.
Each hand and head of a murti has specific symbolism. This symbolism is a reiteration of the qualities we need to cultivate and the qualities to renounce. Symbolisms and stories are used extensively to illuminate and illustrate truths.
Swastika in Sanskrit means "that which brings good luck or well-being for all." It is mentioned in the Rig Veda (at least 7,000 years ago) as a mantra for well-being of all. It symbolizes the four goals of human life (Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha) and represents the cyclic nature of time. The Benedictine Monastery had it (Hakenkreuz — translated to "hooked cross") as a symbol, which was then misappropriated for the Nazi flag in the 1930s. The Swastika is an example of how context, truth, and mistranslations misrepresent the original symbolism.
Hindu care-seekers need to know some of their rights within Hinduism. Karma yoga, rebirth, and moksha are tenets all Hindus are familiar with, at different levels of understanding and practice. Our cultural or communal differences, our sampradayik differences, and the different sects we may belong to notwithstanding, a Hindu enjoys the freedom to choose their unique path to liberation from rebirth.
A person planning to enter an interfaith marriage should explore the possibility that they may be giving up this choice — for themselves and the children and grandchildren they will have. Encourage the service-seeker to thoroughly understand what they have, what they may be forced to give up, and the impact of the marriage on progeny.
For detailed guidance, see HSCI's Marriage Series.
Rama's svadharma: Sri Rama, often called Purushottam — the ideal man — as the king of Ayodhya, prioritized his sense of duty towards his subjects above even his duty to his beloved wife.
Sita's svadharma was equally well-developed and at least as strong as Rama's. She acts from conviction rather than passive obedience. She accompanied Rama into exile as his partner, not his dependent. In Ravana's captivity, she endured shame with quiet resilience. When Hanuman offered to carry her off from captivity, she chose to wait for Rama to claim her as a victor, on principle alone.
After defeating Ravana, Rama offered her the choice of the protection of his brothers or Sugriva or Vibhishana, or to go her own way. Sita did not quietly acquiesce. She ordered Lakshmana to prepare a fire for her to walk through. Invoking Agni, she declared that if she were impure, the fire should consume her. Her trial by fire was not pacification but a proclaiming of her integrity before the doubting world.
Again later, when placed in a position of having to prove her purity, she invoked the earth to take her back if she were pure. This was not an act of despair but a refusal to live by diminished terms.
In spite of systemic constraint, Sita chose her words and actions in accordance with her own svadharma. She remained bold, articulate, and firm in asserting her will.
Author: Usha Narasimhan • Hindu Spiritual Care Institute • 2024
Back to Research & Publications
Your gift — no matter what size — supports the training of Hindu chaplains worldwide
Support Hindu Chaplaincy