Épisodes

  • For Hindus the natural world is more than sacred, its embodied Divinity itself | Prof. David Haberman
    Oct 23 2025

    In this episode, originally published in 2023, we speak with Prof. David Haberman from Indiana University about his extensive work documenting how Hindus bring trees, stones, and mountains into their religious worship.


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    34 min
  • What Hindu Americans need to know about immigration today
    Oct 9 2025

    In this episode HAF Legal Director Needhy Shah speaks with immigration attorney Akanksha Kalra. They have a wide ranging discussion on immigration issues particularly applicable to the Indian American and Hindu American community, what is changing under the Trump Administration, what laws that have existed for some time but are being more strictly enforced, issues regarding asylum claims, Indians arriving without documentation at the southern border, and more.


    NOTE: This episode was recorded just prior to the proclamation of September 19th on changes to the H-1B program, so other than a brief mention that is not addressed. Once we have greater clarity on those changes, what parts of President Trump’s proclamation actually go into effect, for example, we will revisit that if it seems needed.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 h et 15 min
  • How does the HAF team celebrate Navratri?
    Sep 25 2025

    For this episode we have something a bit different for you. It’s a special episode for Navratri, originally published in 2023. We've interviewed several members of our extended HAF team as well as members of the Hindu American community about how they celebrate Navratri today, what they remember about the holiday growing up, and how their understanding of it has changed over the years. What you’ll hear are excepts from longer interviews our staff writer Syama Allard did with each person.


    Here are the full versions of some of these interviews, as well as some interviews that didn't make it into the episode.


    https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/on-celebrating-navaratri-and-dussehra-through-the-lens-of-bhutanese-refugee-bhuwan-pyakurel

    https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/on-celebrating-navaratri-and-dussehra-through-the-lens-of-hindu-american-samir-kalra

    https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/on-celebrating-navaratri-and-dussehra-through-the-lens-of-iskcon-communications-director-anuttama-das

    https://www.hinduamerican.org/blog/on-celebrating-navaratri-and-dussehra-through-the-lens-of-hindu-american-kavita-pallod

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    33 min
  • Setting the record straight about the craziest things people say about HAF
    Sep 11 2025
    For the Hindu American Foundation’s organizational birthday, coming up later this month, Mat McDermott, Suhag Shukla, Samir Kalra, and Raj Rao sat down to discuss and debunk some of the craziest things activists and adversaries say HAF does, believes, and sets out to do. Is HAF funding genocide in India? Are we trying to hide the Nazi origins of Hindutva? Fighting to preserve the right of Hindus to discriminate based on caste? Pinkwashing our Hindu supremacy? Working for the Government of India? Hating Sikhs and Catholics? No, no, no, no, no, and no.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 h et 7 min
  • How was Indian society historically organized? Hint: It wasn't caste.
    Aug 28 2025
    Devala Rees is back with us this week for another informative, enlightening and hopefully entertaining discussion. This week we’re talking about how ancient Indian society organized itself, with the subtitle of “Hint: It wasn’t caste”. The different social groups that were traditionally used, and how these morphed into something else entirely once British administrators in the 19th century decided they wanted to try understand the people they ruled in India, and how this has implications today both in India and the diaspora. This is a must listen episode for, well, everyone Hindu and non-Hindu alike.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    38 min
  • How many Hindu Dharma Traditions are there?
    Aug 14 2025
    This week we’ve got another special episode with HAF’s Devala Rees. This time we’re talking about why HAF has been using the term Hindu Dharma Traditions wherever it makes sense, rather than Hinduism. Plus how many different traditions there are under that banner, their similarities, differences, and how they relate to other dharma traditions.

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    29 min
  • A dharmic investing take on Bitcoin | Easan Katir
    Jul 31 2025
    In this episode we speak with HAF’s own Easan Katir about cryptocurrency and Bitcoin investing from a dharmic perspective, plus AI, the energy demands of both of those, and more.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    32 min
  • Hindu at Heart: Naren K. Schreiner, Purohit
    Jul 17 2025
    In this episode, part of the Hindu at Heart series, Indu Viswanathan speaks with Naren K Schreiner, one of the purohits at the Kali Mandir in Laguna Beach, California. They discuss his background and entering into Hinduism, the similarities between practices of Hindu Dharma and Native traditions in what’s now the United States and Mexico, the nuances of the idea of religious tolerance, the importance and inclusivity of the opening of the new Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, the importance of gurus, and much much more.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 h et 29 min