(Left) Tulsi Gabbard; (right) Tulsi Gabbard with husband Abraham Williams. (Photo: Instagram/tulsigabbard)
Tulsi Gabbardformer US congressman, has officially endorsed Donald TrumpTrump’s presidential campaign has been a prominent figure in American Politicsand its status has helped to elevate Hindu Representation on the national political stage. When she first ran for Congress in her home state of Hawaii, her Republican opponent, David “Kawika” Crowley, ridiculed her for adhering to a religion that “does not align with the constitutional foundations of the United States government.”
A month later, however, Gabbard became the first — and only — practicing Hindu elected to Congress.
He symbolized Hindu pride in America by taking the oath on his copy of the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most sacred and prominent Hindu texts. In an official press release in 2013, he said, “My Bhagavad Gita has been a tremendous source of inner peace and strength throughout many difficult challenges in life, including being in the midst of death and turmoil while serving our country in the Middle East. When I was deployed to Iraq, the only real refuge for me was my bhakti yoga practice and the Bhagavad Gita’s message of the eternity of the soul and the unconditional love of God.”
Gabbard is not what we normally assume most Hindus to be: from India or of Indian descent. She was born in American Samoa and raised in Hawaii by a Catholic father and a practicing Hindu mother.
Gabbard is affiliated with a branch of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism, which is related to the Hare Krishna Movement in the West. During a presidential town hall meeting in 2019, he explained the Gaudiya Vaishnava branch of Hinduism when asked, “Can you describe your faith in relation to the Hare Krishna “Tradition?” To which she replied, “The teachings and practices that I live in my daily life, and that I am taught not only by my teachers but by the teachers who preceded them, involve the practice of what is called Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga. Bhakti Yoga is developing a loving relationship with God. It is a very deeply personal relationship. And Karma Yoga is about how I can dedicate my energy, skills, and time to the service of others, and there are many ways that we can do that.”
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