That's So Hindu

That's So Hindu

The podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and activists, politicians and professors, journalists, entertainers, spiritual teachers, and more on how Hinduism shapes their work and lives. All American. So Hindu. Brought to you by the Hindu American Foundation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

December 31, 2025 31 mins
In this episode Mat McDermott speaks with Professor Pankaj Jain. Pankaj has been on the show before speaking about his area of professional expertise, Hinduism, Jainism and ecology. But today we’re speaking about something he’s become particularly passionate about: parenting. Specifically how Hindu parents can help their children develop a love of Hindu and Indian culture.

Hosted on Acas...

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In this episode HAF Board Member psychologist Dr Kavita Pallod Sekhsaria and HAF Executive Director Suhag Shukla have a wide ranging discussion about parenting as Hindus, the book Bad Therapy, how we can raise resilient children, the differences in parenting across the generations, and more.


This show was originally published on September 5, 2024


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

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In this episode Suhag Shukla speaks with historian Vikram Sampath (author of the two volume definitive biography of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar) about the origins of Hindutva and misunderstandings about, its relevance for Hindus living outside of India, and more.


This show originally was published on September 26, 2024.


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

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November 20, 2025 41 mins
In this episode Mat McDermott and Devala Rees discuss many frequently asked questions about sadhus. What are sadhus? How many female sadhus are there and what are they called? Why do many sadhus smoke marijuana as a spiritual practice? Why do some sadhus carry weapons? How do you become a sadhu? And more.

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

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In this episode Devala Rees lays out the similarities and differences between the ancient religion of Persia, Zoroastrianism — which is still practiced by a couple hundred thousand people today — and the Hindu Dharma Traditions. Their basic beliefs and practices, as well as when the traditions split off from one another.


Learn more: Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America


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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.



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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 t...

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September 25, 2025 32 mins

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 inter...

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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? Pink...

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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 ...

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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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for m...

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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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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 ...

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In this episode Samir Kalra speaks with Ahnaf Kalam, from the Middle East Forum. They talk about so-called Red Green Alliance between Islamists and Progressives, how Woke Right figures have started to side with Pakistan over India and Islamists groups in Bangladesh, how Mohammed Yunus is handling extremism in Bangladesh, how the Bangladeshi diaspora in the US view the situation there, and more.

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In this episode, Sheetal Shah has a wide ranging conversation with Swami Sarvapriyananda, from the Vedanta Society of New York, about the four traditional limbs of yoga (Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga, and Jnana Yoga), how these work together in spiritual seeking, the benefits of Hatha Yoga and asana practice for physical health and how that is key factor in spiritual life, and much more. 

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On the 40th anniversary of the worst act of air terrorism until the 9/11 attacks, the bombing of Air India flight 182 on June 23rd, 1985, Samir Kalra speaks with Sanjay Lazar, who lost his entire family in the bombing. They have a wide ranging conversation about the intelligence failures that allowed the bombing to happen, the struggle to this for bringing the Khalistani terrorist to justice, how the Khalistan movement is not ...

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In this episode, part of Indu Viswanathan’s Hindu at Heart series, she talks with Vindhya Adapa, an attorney at the US Treasury Department who is also a professional singer and producer, who merges her identities to create impactful music. Vindhya earned her JD at the University of Pennsylvania, and two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Maryland. 


Listen to Vindhya’s music on Spotify

Follow Vindhya on Instagram


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May 22, 2025 41 mins

In this special episode HAF Education Research Assistant Devala Rees explains the various ways Hindus have traditional kept track of the years, the months that make up those years, how the timing of different Hindu festivals and holidays are determined, and how to actually make sense of all the different puja timings displayed by one of the leading online Hindu calendar sites, Drik Panchang. 



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In this episode, part of Indu Viswanathan’s Hindu at Heart series, she talks with psychologist and HAF Board Member Dr. Kavita Pallod Sekhsaria. They discuss Kavita’s life growing up Hindu in Texas in the 1980s and 90s, her path into psychotherapy, some of the issues related to this specific to the Hindu American community, as well as some of the challenges she’s seen as the oppressor versus oppressed worldview now dominates the fi...

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In this episode Samir Kalra speaks with Michael Rubin about the parallels between Hamas’ attack on Israel on 10/7/23 and the most recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir; how Pakistan’s ISI and support for terror groups is an issue for Americans as well as Indians; what the US can do in support of India in their fight against terrorist groups, including why President Trump needs to make a visit to Kashmir to show the strength ...

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