Love Nuke

Oscar winner Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman) is not the first entertainment celebrity to hug Hinduism or its concepts-symbols-terminology.

Golden Globe winner Marilyn Monroe (Some Like It Hot) once reportedly claimed that yoga (one of the six systems of orthodox Hindu philosophy) improved her legs.

Celebrities Greta Garbo, Marlon Brando, Cary Grant, Beatles, Gloria Swanson, Madonna, Mia Farrow, Shirley MacLaine, Britney Spears, John Coltrane, Yehudi Menuhin, George Harrison, Mary Tyler Moore, Donovan, Jennifer Jones, Leopold Stokowski, Sting, (the list goes on), sometime or the other reportedly had a crush on Hinduism or its concepts-symbols-terminology.

Noted Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, welcomed entertainment celebrities to immerse in Hinduism but taking it seriously and not just using it as a fashion statement. “Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly”, Zed stressed.

Zed, who is the President of Universal Society of Hinduism, further says that if entertainment bigwigs are really serious in their involvement with Hinduism, they are most welcome and he or other Hindu scholars will gladly provide these seekers the resources they need for their study and research.

Entertainment celebrities need to have more patience and go beyond the superficial because Hinduism concepts evolved over thousands of years and need serious study, Rajan Zed argues.

Zed suggests the Hinduism infatuated celebrities to realize the Self. Ancient Hindu scripture Katha Upanishad points out that when wise realize the Self, they go beyond sorrow. Self is supreme and those who meditate on Self are freed from the cycle of birth and death. When one realizes Self, there is nothing else to be known.

According to a report by Washington DC based prestigious Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life few months back, “24 percent Americans believe in Reincarnation, that people will be reborn in this world again and again”, which is basically a Hinduism concept. (ANI)

When Julia Roberts revealed that she is practicing the Hindu religion last week, it didn’t really seem much of a surprise.

“I practice. I practice at a lot of things,” Julia told George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America this morning of her discovery of the Hindu faith.  “Hinduism is something that I’m very intrigued by and very interested in.”

Her interest in the faith started after she found a photo of a Hindu guru.   ”I was so drawn to this picture of this person and I didn’t know who he was or what he was about, but I felt a very strong interest,” she explains. “That’s the way things come into our lives. They’re not these big, great, crashing moments. It’s just the little like, ‘Hmm, what is this about?’”

This step in her personal growth seems appropriate given her newest film, Eat Pray Love, focuses on a woman’s personal growth looking for a fresh start.

Fresh off a long break from work to spend time with her family - husband Danny Moder, twins Phinnaeus and Hazel, 5, and Henry, 3 – Roberts has put her professional ambition on hold.  She admits, “I’ve never thought of myself as an ambitious person.  Maybe I’m wrong.  The way that I think of ambition, there is a certain agressive intention.  I’ve always had a little bit of a lofty sense of destiny.

Whether it’s her string of professional successes or her apparent happiness with her family, it certainly appears there is a bit of destiny at work in Julia’s life.