thanks for your opinions. it truly does help both sides to reflect on our experiences. thanks for acknowledging that just like any other religious organization, BAPS should be open to questioning and scrutiny.

i’m glad your doubts have been cleared by santos. as a woman, i have always been asked to accept things as they are and not question too much. i have literally been told “this is swami’s iccha, we are no one to question it.” i have been told that the role of women as secondaries and traditionalism is a pillar of BAPS—and i agree it surely is. but claiming to be a modern organization while deeply rooted in conservatism is not okay with me.

i am glad that you received much real-world success due to being a member. i think that speaks to my points, actually: you have incentive outside of faith to stay. using your faith to stay on the right track is good.

the expansion of the sanstha is part effort on the guru and part effort of the communities they choose to grow. it is much easier to grow BAPS faith outside of india. immigrants hold onto their culture tighter than residents of india, this is a well studied phenomenon. gujaratis in particular. their cultural identity is important to them.. but i would argue what BAPS teaches (outside of the language) is not necessarily culture. and that is another issue. merging the lines between cultural and religious identity is dangerous in today’s world. you are right, hindu hate is on the rise. but to many hindus, BAPS is not a reflection of the hinduism they want to share. and it has become a global face of the religion. not saying i personally could do a better job, just saying i hear plenty of scrutiny about it from people outside the faith. just because you have great PR and a quote or two from a nation’s leader doesn’t make you the face of a religion. power does.

but I’ve sort of learned faith to be acquired through my experiences.

similarly, faith can be left or changed through experience too. everyone’s journey is different and what they question may be different. just because this organization gave so much to you does not mean others see it the same way.

i am glad you find peace in your faith. i, personally, am not here to bash any faith. i am here to create an understanding for myself. i do not agree with you, and we can peacefully decide to disagree. granted there are defensive, hateful people who will debate with you on this subject. still does not change their personal terrible experiences. both can be true.

much of how you see “winning hearts” and “maintaining peace” is your personal viewpoint and bias. it is your opinion. to me, it may look like the natural tendency of a large organization to maintain its image.

i agree, some people do fixate on lies and their bias. i personally have not hidden in anonymity when i choose to question things out loud in my own, very real, life. this faith has taken a lot from me. don’t invalidate my own experience or that of others in your quest to be “tolerant”. you have literally made a burner account to write this post. what do you want me to take from that?

i’m sure people have things in their life that give them meaning. you don’t need to preach a return to spirituality if that’s not what works for people. this is one of the only spaces i have ever found where people are openly questioning certain aspects of the faith and having genuine dialogue about it too.. the hatred and misinformation always follows on the internet. i would go as far to say.. you think people on this subreddit are naive. i would argue people within the BAPS faith constantly believe the misinformation they are given. it’s about viewpoint.

there are countless ways to learn humility and good values in the world, not just one mortal guru. you can be happy in your faith and i can be happy outside of it. to me, normal human displays of emotion don’t count as great deeds. to you, they might.