(RNS) — With more than 20 South Asian cultural and religious organizations on the campus of University of Illinois, where 25% of the student population is Asian, Connecticut native Rishabh Bhandari felt spoilt for choice as an eager freshman.
Yet despite the widespread popularity of large-scale Diwali and Holi events, Bhandari said he felt there was a lack of focus on Hindu practices.
“There was no, like, place where I could just go and either pray or have some place where we can do puja (rituals) or anything for those big holidays. So it kind of just became like you go to parties, rather than any religious aspect,” said the aerospace engineering major.
This sentiment — that Hindu holidays and teachings were being watered down in college life — led to the 2018 formation of the on-campus Hindu student center Vivekananda House on Iowa State’s campus. Since then, seven more U.S. college campuses have opened a Vivekananda House — University of Texas in Austin, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Virginia Tech, Purdue, Texas A&M and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Vivekananda Houses, named after the prolific guru Swami Vivekananda and modeled after successful religious campus organizations like the Jewish Hillel, offer a living and community space to young Hindus, including a home temple on the ground floor. Sometimes it’s the only accessible Hindu temple space anywhere near campus, said Bhandari.
“As we grow up, especially if we’re born and raised in America, slowly, slowly, especially at our age, it’s very hard to maintain a connection with the culture, because we’re all doing so many things,” said Bhandari, who lived in …
