Venky-Dedicated to you sweet heart!!
Have been thinking to pen down my thoughts for a long time now. Not really been able to steal time from the hectic schedule and the mechanical daily chores around. But during this span, a lot of things have conspired. Each day has been an experience. These have taught a lot of things and polished my thought process. Coming to the point, there is one topic that has been circling around for a long time now. Rationalising things!! should we rationalise or should we leave things as it is for the people around us to be happy?
Everything around us happens for a reason and there is one supreme power that takes control of these. Yes, I am talking about the Ultimate power for which we have given the name "GOD". We see God in the form of Shiva, Vishnu, Jesus, Allah and many more. We associate ourselves with one of these religions which comes as a package. Yes, they come as a set of rules that we need to follow without finding the rationale behind them. There are many medium to understand. But we fail to understand the underlying fact of what they try to convey and blindly follow these rules ultimately to hate the fellow human beings.
I have been on amongst the millions who follow the rules. Every time my husband tried to question me on certain customs, I've either ridiculed him or asked him not to question me b'cos I've had no answer questions. Subconsciously, I've ensured that things are done either my way or no way, stating, this is how I was brought up. I am a literate yet 've remained unenlightened! Many around me are like that as well. No doubt!! I am not happy but relieved that I am not alone. Coming back to customs, how many of us really know what we are doing and why we are doing certain things?
For e.g, from following the set of rules, to not questioning the practice, many of us have remained ignorant !! How many of us really think that we need to know what is what? We have our own principles(if at all we have one) or principles of the society and a way of life to which we want to stick on to. When we see someone who takes the first step to change things, we make a complete mockery of that person and call him/her an idiot. The general norm in the society is to follow what the society thinks is right and not to follow one's heart. When a person wants to find a rationale behind an act, those who are not able to answer his/her question just snub that person making him/her wonder what value he/she is going to add in all this by questioning everything. That person ultimately relents to peer pressure to only end up accepting what the society wants him/her to do! Poor souls. Are they that bad in asking us not to blindly follow certain things? I've realised my mistake and feel it is high time we started questioning the norms. The journey is not going to be smooth. Will have to face a lot of opposition. Questioning doesn't mean we are turning into an atheist. We are theists who want to find a reason behind the set of rules and who want to answer the questions put forth by the rationalists. With this "Know what/why you do" approach, we can build our knowledge as well pass on the knowledge and traditions to the future generations!!
Now, eagerly looking forward to getting inputs on why we follow certain customs and rules in Hinduism!! Can I get some?
Hi Sharan,
ReplyDeleteBe specific about your area of interest b'coz Hinduism is a very biggggggggggggggg ocean and each and every thing done there does have definitely a specific purpose and significance behind it.Nothing wrong in knowing things as long as you give due respect,appreciate and understand them better when u get a proper explanation
Amma, I know hinduism as a religion is vast. Shall start looking for the various reasons for the customs.. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi charan,
ReplyDeleteI will suggest you to read the ten volumes of "Arthamulla Indhumadham" written by Kannadasan. I will also send u soame inputs shortly....not my own ....compiled from the religious columns in the Hindu newspaper....pls await...
Hi Charan,
ReplyDeleteThis has haunted me too especially ever since I too started to have a home of my own. I am pulled between following traditions and what they mean. But, I just realized that religion is a way of life and a habit to pursue, which adds discipline and some purpose in your life. I tried to follow every festival and puja procedures in this past 1.5 yrs just to make sure I pass the tradition in 'my' home. It humbles me down to know that there is someone we can back on when I pray everyday.I dont complicate it, but I try to just follow a percentage of what our elders do. Its funny that I so admired the other religions having a single book to follow their way of life.So I started on my expedition to find a book , that I could start as a family time every evening, to read before dinner or something. So that my kids too would have an insight of whats good and right , when we read a couple of pages together everyday. On the course of selecting a single book..the first book I chanced was the Gita, it praises the lord and a story so well said on the victory of Good over Evil, but I still dint find it as the book I wanted. My grandmother suggested Bagavatham. Everything is a praise to the lord. I am looking for a book that could have short snippets and a moral at the end , reminding us to be good humans when we read it everyday. Now if you come across any suggestion let me know :-)Im still on the quest. I think I am going to settle on the thirukkural at last !!
""" religion is a way of life and a habit to pursue, which adds discipline and some purpose in your life """
ReplyDeletewas skimming through google reader and came across this post! For once i d like to say give yourself a break from so much thought! I know it is kinda stupid to say that, and can be questioned... but from what i 've inferred with all these thoughts is that, in all such thoughts we are lost, and loose the moment! so a thought from the wise man.. live the moment( it s good too one day you are happy the next day u r not, and the day after that u are happy again!)
@ the topic good one!!
@ priya's comment - WOW THAT WAS ONE AMONG THE BEST "WELL-PHRASED ARGUMENTS" FOR RELIGION THAT I've SEEN IN LONG TIME. There is no sarcasm, i was in a school where daily assembly prayer was such a racket(in the sense it would take 45 mins and we do a lot of stuff) but after coming to college and hostel, surely looking back that gave some regularity and a sense of discipline at the start of the day... And a lot of stuff that i ve been missing of our culture in the past 2 years due to various pretexts has made me a guy no better, so I'd say that religion when pursued with question like how and why would be ok if u r doing philosophy, otherwise if u think u r also one among the normal mortals, just stick on to the ground rules of the religion, maybe not the intricacies and other complicated stuff!
Sorry for the long post, i dont do that usually( i m really vetti @ blore with nothing to do! :))
also wanted to mention this.... forgot while typing out...
ReplyDeletei was pointed out by my physics prof ravi shankar that our system of education does not encourage questioning( which i dint question :P) but then i guess it doesn't, and by our nature many of us(i dunno where to draw the boundary) don't ask questions!.... That's invariably seeps in our homes too where we dont question what our parents did and even if we did we were put down saying "aii adhalam edhuku ippo onakku" or "enakum theriyuadhu onnala mudincha kandupidi" or "munnorgallam karanam illama senjirkamata" as the answer
our generation we need to find answers, not because of the desperation that we dunno answers, (i m fine with not knowing unless it affects my next step of action), but we shouldn't put down our kids like that!