1980. It is defined by two prominent features: devotion to Shri Sai Baba, an Indian ‘godman,’ and the Krishna consciousness movement born out of New York City and
emphasizing Krishna as the supreme manifestation of God.
For those Balinese youths who come to question the different forms of Hinduism as best
contemporary suitors, they usually decide between the first two types. They ask
themselves whether they want to exercise a more exclusive village-based and distinct
Balinese form of Hinduism or a more inclusive, less ethnocentric model of the Indian
form. The former has a local social structure, while the latter’s is more endemic. Which is
more pliable or manipulable, within the context of ‘nation-building’ and solidarity,
depends on the how much they are affected from their tops, how self-possessed and
independently efficient they are, both as a unit and as spiritual individuals. But, overall,
it seems that Balinese youths will eventually choose the form or forms they practice
based on the question of which social identity they want to exercise through their
individuality.
This raises another question, however, regarding the cross-pollination of faiths and new
age practices characteristically being introduced, and developed or phased-out, here
in Bali.
One of the most interesting and integrative findings of the investigation is that half of
the youths surveyed from different religions—those of Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian
faiths—also pay homage to the Balinese gods by providing daily offerings (banten);
some of them offering banten a few times daily. Most of them were Buddhists. They
expressed agreeable feelings of meditative peace and tranquility from this practice.
Jovan, from Tabanan, said that in making offerings he “feel calm, quiet, and
comfortable.” A few religiously identify themselves as ‘Balinese Catholic’ and expressed
an active endearing admiration towards Balinese Hinduism. Christina, a Christian from
West Denpasar, for