Perspectively Spiritual

MU professor gives Hickman religion class a glimpse of the practices and beliefs of the Hindu faith.

Hickman High School seniors Molly Trull, right, and Kaitlin Bruegenhemke listen yesterday to Vellore Gopalaratnam of the Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri during their Classical Ideas and World Religions class.

Vellore Gopalaratnam explained Hinduism to a group of teenagers yesterday in a way they could understand.

Gopalaratnam discusses Hinduism yesterday with George Frissell’s Classical Ideas and World Religions class at Hickman. The class will hear lectures from speakers on other religions in coming weeks.

He compared the religion to the Internet.

"There is a vast range of beliefs practiced by different pockets of people, and there is nobody controlling it," he said. "The lack of structure is part of its attractiveness," but it’s also why "there’s so much disinformation."

Gopalaratnam spoke to George Frissell’s Classical Ideas and World Religions classes yesterday at Hickman High School, part of a series of guests who will explain various religions to students throughout the school year.

Bringing in people who practice the religions is a way for teens to get a firsthand look at different beliefs, Frissell said.

"It allows students who want to go into more depth than they would in a survey class to do so," he said. "Instead of a text, we read primary sources and try to talk with practitioners or scholars about religious traditions."

Gopalaratnam, a civil engineering professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, hoped to dispel some of the myths about Hinduism during his hourlong presentations yesterday.

One of the biggest misconceptions, he said, is that Hindus worship many gods. Instead, Gopalaratnam said, Hindus believe in one supreme being that can take on different forms. That’s not a concept reserved for the spiritual world; Gopalaratnam said it applies to humans as well.

"To you, I’m a guest lecturer. To my daughter, I’m a father. To my students, I’m a professor. To my wife, I’m a husband," he said. "But I’m still the same person."

Gopalaratnam tried to use another real-world example to dispel the negative connotations surrounding idol worship. Idols of Hindu gods are only tools that help humans relate to religious abstracts. It’s no different than engineers using tools to visualize multidimensional ideas, he said.

Gopalaratnam also used his time with the class to plug the Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri’s Shanthi Mandir facility on Holly Avenue. The building houses performing arts events and programs that are open to the public. It’s also used by other religious groups in the community, he said.

The goal is to promote understanding and tolerance among all religions.

"If we can build a more tolerant Columbia, we can build a more tolerant Missouri; then we can build a more tolerant America and a more tolerant world," he said.

Senior Chrissie Merideth, 17, nodded in agreement with the sentiment.

Chrissie doesn’t practice a traditional religion but is interested in hearing from those who do. And learning about a religion is easier when it comes from someone who actually practices it, she said.

"I feel they have a better perspective," Chrissie said. "Mr. Frissell is a great teacher, but he’s never been part of that culture, so he can’t give us the kind of impression that someone who actually practices Hinduism can."

Frissell will host other religion speakers in coming weeks, including Robert Baum, who will provide information on indigenous African religions; Champa Lhunpo, a Buddhist monk; and Philip Clart, an MU religious studies professor who will speak about Confucianism.

Stephen Prothero, chairman of the department of religion at Boston University, kicked off the series last week with a presentation about religious literacy.