What is True to You at This Moment? - An Inquiry of One's Tradition(s) to Become Aware of Acculturation

Global occurrences from the past and present such as colonization and globalization play a part in current realities. With the advent of such events, a false belief seems to have been created that in order to be modern, relatable to the present trend and global, it is mandatory to be Westernized and/or Americanized. This document focuses on the issues behind some Indians’ perception of their own culture(s), its traditions and values and how that perception might impact their everyday life. It aims to create an awareness that such a false belief seems to exist and wants to encourage the youth of India to develop their own preferred ways of connecting with their culture and its traditions. It requests and encourages every individual to question and inquire into traditions, practices, rituals, stories, songs, etc.Since India has diverse philosophies, practices, values and principles and approaches to life to offer, and coming from South India, my first two steps to be a part of this futuristic movement involve 1) studying initial works under Saiva Siddhantham - a philosophy that is unpopular, about 800 years old and believes in godliness as an energy-oriented existence, experience and way of life rather than a worship of form-based mythological characters solitarily, and 2) decoding and analyzing/interpreting characters and stories from mythologies, to understand if and how they might relate to the contemporary world. Bharatanatyam and oral storytelling have been used as artforms to represent issues, and shine an interpretative rather than mystical perspective on historical mythologies. The question “What is True to you at this Moment?” is also sought after as a way of honoring multiple ways of living and epistemologies.