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This article. There are so many things. I find. With this article…. You should not assume. I am not a wearer of the bindi. But I would love to be. I am into Buddhism,Fully understanding it and I am into Christianity…. Gorgeous to have as an accessory. So be it. I am not Indian. I am not South Asian. I am Jamaican. But I am sure many of those ethnicities simply would not mind if such piece was being worn by many others…especially if they desire to be into Hinduism.
Or Buddhism And even then if not. Imitation is a form of flattery. It means they love it. No one is gonna wear it if it were to be despised. Or a form of disrespect mind you……if it is thought to be beautiful. And simply lovely to have as just an accessory to most. No one. Is going to wear it if it were despised. In any way. It is not your place to assume and judge by what you see on the outside. Assuming to me. Is a form of disrespect. Because you have refused to so much as do any kind of research.
So much as talking to the person could reveal your answer. Assuming is disrespectful. In my small opinion. I believe it is…. The Largest most serious of things. To the smallest more not so serious of things…….. And taken. So far. In the most ridiculous of ways. I think there is absolutely no problem in any one else wearing a bindi. Unlike other religions, there is no concept of conversion in Hinduism.
Also, white folks have a strange obsession with buying ugly, glittery, massive bindis. No commoner in India actually wears those anyway. We wear bindis of colours and sizes matched to the occasion.
How about marrying into a Hindu family that wants a traditional wedding? Does she deject the bindi, sari, and the henna ink? Not looking to argue, just asking as a point. What is she supposed to do? Hello friend, so what about other Indian women and Afro Indian women who were born in the Caribbean and South America?
We are devout Hindus and have been wearing full East Indian garb for generations. The bindi or tikka is not just for South Indians although that is where my ancestors came from prior to becoming indentured laborers in the Caribbean. I think to say it is associated with Hinduism and Buddhism more than a particular race of people — South Indians will be a more accurate statement. Thank you. I was born with a bindi on my forehead. I started getting a lot of unwanted attention because of it, and without my approval, my family had it surgically removed.
I was about 4. Now as an adult, I have a degree in philosophy, and ended up becoming a Hindu. I understand I am ignorant to the contemporary meanings of the bindi, but well understand the ancient ones.
What a stupid article. Everything hurts your feelings Imitation is the biggest form of flattery. Who cares I want people to imitate my culture whatever they like , eat Indian food , sambar, savodana khichadi, lavanglara whatever. I wear a Bindi at home and when I go to temples. I refrain from wearing one at work to respect the work culture.
We are extremely happy to see the world wearing a Bindi! Wearing it as a fashion statement I think is just the beginning, for when they feel the blessing flow into their life, they will understand the significance and embrace it whole heartedly! When we realize that the culutres of the world have deeper meaning to the souls of those who practice their spiritual heritage we will realize the depth of the insult fashion does to all religions…crosses.. Catholics historically wore and still wear them, before preaching you own something do some research.
It is racism. You yourself wearing hijab sitting comfortably in western country full of makeup, feeling entitled to write article about bindi which represent 3rd eye. You feel you are a messenger that need to further spread hate towards white people.
All the people of colour want their culture respected in western countries what a hypocrisy. When a white person goes to other country needs to respect their culture. Funny that Hindu and Indian people in India have no problem with sharing their culture.
Only some westernised Asians living in western countries doing whatever they like, wearing western clothes makeup, why is that. Look at deeper issues why do you actually have a problem in a first place. Appropriating something and someone embracing the culture are two different things. Especially not to Muslim south Asian. Read about symbolism of Pinecones which represents a third eye all over the world.
This world is getting redicules. Looks like the people of colour try everything they can to punish modern white young people generation for past colonialism. Well for your information, not all white people were to blame and also young white people had nothing to do with it.
Just love each other. If your third eye is open and you want to be closer to god, drop your ego. No matter what color you are, be quiet and stop being hateful. Stop assuming hate. To hate is not to be close to your god. Ok so what if the wearer of a Bindi, Is White…. Religious fail. How do you Know in which purpose Somebody wears a bindi? I think it is not good to disrespekt anybody wearing a bindi. We are all human, and the Same. I dont mind ,why Somebody wears a Cross or bindi.
It is a single choice for every human , not a collective privileged group Status. I think it is a shame to even question why …. I went to India several years ago and I worn the bindi and learned the meaning and what it stood for, I embraced it then and still do today.
I have several things I wear which I have collected from around the world. All of you who have trashed this writer should be ashamed of yourselves. None of you have understood a word that they have said. What is this thing you call adopt the bindi and respect for that culture, there is no respect for the culture here. You have all taken offense to the article given. But nah, trash the writer because your precious feeling have just been trampled on. You neither practice nor do you understand where that red dot comes from.
You neither respect it nor do you understand it. In no way does it make the west weaker but rather stronger. At least show a little more respect here by trying to understand what has actually been said here. Have you every heard that immitation is the sincerest form of flattery? It could be a conversation starter, i. Do you know what the bindi represents? I love learning about other cultures and will adopt dress or traditions as appropriate and teach them to my kids and where they come from.
Pop culture tends to trivialize everything so…. I have been exposed to many different cultures and while I would never adopt anything of deep spiritual value without being converted to that belief I find many things I enjoy and love about other cultures that I can safely add to enrich my life. By the way, I stumbled across this site because saw bindi on sale on amazon and was wondering about the appropriateness of wearing one. Because it has a spiritual significance I would not wear one.
They are beautiful and I do admire it. People may simply not know any better than to adopt something they find beautiful. Not to trivialize, but to emulate. When I was a child I had a box of beautiful gems inside it. My favorite one was round and red. As I kid I always glued it to my forehead and felt it was supposed to be there. It was very special to me. After a while I stopped wearing it because my parents would ask me to take it off when we went in public.
I think they were afraid of people seeing it as a cultural offense. To me, the bindi still has great significance in my life. It is a symbol of not only my marriage to my husband but to myself, and the world. It reminds me that we are all one and that all I have to do is keep my third eye open to all the possibilities of this reality.
I respect the origins of which the bindi came from and even believe I could have once been a South Asian woman in a previous life. I think that the symbol of the bindi should be used by whoever feels called to wear it, no one possesses anything in this world. Hello, I really loved reading this. However, I would like to ask something… I read about the meaning of bindis and I really loved the meaning and symbolism of them. I wanted to get a piercing on my forehead thinking about the meaning of bindis because of the third eye meaning and search of awakening.
Besides the marriage meaning, I associated it to being commited to the search of that spiritual connection embracing everything in the universe. I really loved the meaning of the bindi. Would it be disrespectful if I get one? Yet I still hold my culture in me. Bottom line things are always changing. Nothing stays the same… and we jst have to open our minds and maybe teach and educate the ignorant behavior and I applaud you for standing up for what you believe in, its admiring in a woman.
Much love????? Do not ever say people are disrespecting your culture. I love your culture and how about why or how did you people come to my country in Jamaica and live and have kids in Jamaica. Jamaica is all cultured even we have Indian in us and Chinese and aribic.
My real dad is from Canada and his mother is French Canadian native Indian and my ancestry say I have Indian in me and more Asian in me so I have the right to wear a bindi and tika and henna and remember native Indians wear paint in there body as well. And head wear. Think about it before you judge. Look at your self in the mirror before you judge some one. Today I wore a bindi to work. As much as I think that being conscious of the history or significance of doing anything is important, sometimes we do things for ourselves- irrespective of what humankind chooses to label those things.
This is my body. I can choose to decorate my body as I choose. I trust that I am conscious enough not to offend. I trust that I am mature enough not to take offence to what rebuke there may be for my post. Wow- a 7 year old post Andy B And I honour the dissonance…and respect the many views. My beliefs are no better than yours- neither are yours. Many people of colour struggle to maintain their heritage in Western culture, a culture that is so eager to erase and assimilate them.
How does an article from a high school newspaper from seven years ago keep getting traction? Awesome topic. Embrace the cognitive dissonance. I find that despising bindi wearers for fashion is very close to fundamentalism.
I am a woman with mixed roots, European and Indian background, with greater reference to northern India, but my origin are ramified and I like it in his multiplicity.
I want to be able to wear an Indian dress and a bindi and also a miniskirt … so what? Nowadays are we still talking about these things? All our cultures are the result of mixtures and, moreover, the highlighting of the third eye is also done in other ancient cultures, as well as the sari is similar to the Roman toga and I could go on like this for dozens of lines … so what about when an African puts on a tie?
Do you really believe that all Indian girls wear bindi for spiritual purpose and not for fashion? If so there would be no billions of different bindi stickers! Even Christian women put the cross in jewelry and not all of them are fervent Catholics!
And the turban then? And in the end what do you say to mixed blood like me? Indian enough to wear a bindi? And if I come from a non religious family, it is ok or not? Bindi only for Hindus or only for Indians?
If the aim is criticize Western racism, you end up being the worst racist! But the real truth is that we are all one. We all come from the same place and we are all going to the same place, we are all brothers and sisters. So to wear something from another culture because you admire it is not a bad thing. Instead of using it to separate ourselves we should celebrate the fact that we are all, indeed, connected by the very life that we are.
We should give freely to each other the things that are important to us, that way we can experience the true connection that we are to each other and the world will be a more coherent peaceful place.
I know your article is an old one but I think as a Hindu woman with a colourful background I should share my opinion.
However, funny enough when I visit India as a tourist, knowing well that my roots lie in india as during the colonial period the British brought indian slaves to africa to work the sugar cane fields, we are sometimes looked upon with the same distaste by indian hindu people as I have read in your article, why?
Soon enough here in South Africa we will be celebrating heritage day, a day for everyone from mixed races to embrace each others cultures in goodwill, in fact I really love that time in our country because we learn a lot from each other, and thats the purpose of our religion isnt it? Save Word.
Definition of bindi. Thomas Minton The bindi is placed between the eyebrows, the place of the sixth chakra the seat of concealed wisdom. First Known Use of bindi , in the meaning defined above.
Learn More About bindi. Time Traveler for bindi The first known use of bindi was in See more words from the same year. Depending on the region or religious tradition, a bindi can come in a variety of shapes. The most common is a red circular dot; however, half moons, parallel stripes and "U" shapes are worn and carry different meanings. A bindi can also be called tika, sindoor, pottu, kumkum, tilak and tilakam.
The location of the bindi is considered a major nerve point to which Hindus place great significance. It is the spot where the ajna third eye chakra is located. This chakra is the center of intuitive knowledge.
Yogic practices, such as meditation and pranayam a, can activate this chakra's energy. To Hindus who attach religious significance to the bindi, it is believed to retain this energy and control levels of concentration. It is also a reminder to keep God foremost in one's life.
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