Hinduism Today
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/
January-February-March, 2007
PUBLISHER'S DESK
What Is Hinduism?
This magazine previews our new book, which offers an
inclusive, user-friendly presentation of Sanatan Dharm
By Satguru Bodhinath Veylanswami
Our regular readers will already have noticed that this
installment of Hinduism Today is not in our standard
format. It is a special issue entirely devoted to a
singular topic: "What is Hinduism?" Our gatefold (pages 3,
4 and 5 of print edition) introduces the subject by
presenting the voices of prominent Hindu leaders offering
their responses to the question. I am sure you will enjoy
reading and reflecting on their varied answers which so
clearly show the diversity, inclusiveness and
comprehensiveness of the Sanatan Dharm. This magazine is a
condensed version of our latest book, What Is Hinduism? We
wanted to give you, as a reader of hinduism today, a sneak
preview of the book and share some of its finest chapters.
And here is the story behind it's creation.
All faiths are grappling with their self-definition as we
rev up to the breathtaking speed of the information age --
a period more intense and kinetic than any other in the
history of the world. Teachings and practices that were
once accepted without question are often now rejected
unless evidence and logic are marshalled to give them
plausibility. To survive, customs and traditions must bear
up under intellectual scrutiny, must prove themselves
helpful and immediately usable.
Hinduism is no exception. Hindu education for youth is
langui****ng, and communities around the world are
struggling to compose clear, concise presentations of the
dharm. It would be possible to spend an entire lifetime,
indeed, many lifetimes, absorbing and practicing the
teachings of just one sect or sampradaya of the Hindu
faith. Yet, there remains a need to understand this complex
conglomerate as a whole as well. There is a preeminent
need, the world over, for cogent, comprehensive
explanations of the various facets of Hinduism -- and the
shared features of its various sects -- from a mountaintop
perspective -- to answer the sincere questions of children,
coworkers, neighbors, critics and colleagues, and to
provide a nonacademic presentation for those of other
religions seeking insight into this ancient path.
Producing quality educational materials on Hinduism is
inherently difficult precisely because it is one of the
world's most paradoxical and easily misunderstood religious
traditions. It can be equally confounding to the outsider
and to those born in dharm's embrace. It is accurately a
conglomeration, union, a family, of many different faiths
and practices that share essential characteristics.
Most Hindus have an intuitive sense of but can't articulate
the "whys and wherefores" of their philosophy and
practices. The boldness to ask questions about such matters
has only recently developed. Just confer with Hindu parents
who have stumbled when confronted with the direct and
innocent questions posed by their own children, questions
they never voiced and therefore never learned satisfying
answers to.
What Is Hinduism? seeks to be a bridge between generations
of past centuries that grew up immersed in a pristine Hindu
culture -- with vast communal knowledge available to them -
- and current generations that have little or no access to
such knowledge. In those olden times, living in a
homogenous society with the faith's culture and traditions
interwoven in every aspect of daily life, one didn't need
to ask the whys of everything. He only needed to
participate, enjoy and absorb the nuances and meanings from
the inside out. In today's fragmented societies, we no
longer have such cocoon-like training for children, so
teachings must be rearticulated and presented in ways that
will make intellectually clear their purpose, relevance and
value in competition with the compelling flood of media
that youths and adults are subjected to day after day.
Hinduism must also compete in the arena of ideas with its
aggressively evangelical counterparts.
The idea of creating a book called "What Is Hinduism?" came
to me from the "inner sky " one day while I was meditating
on our faith's educational needs. It was as if the inner-
plane masters, among them our dear Gurudeva, Satguru Sivaya
Subramuniyaswami, were sending the thought form that such a
work would be just what is needed at this time. Approached
from scratch, the book in your hands would take years to
produce, especially with the amount of patience and care
that you will find here in each chapter. Thus, the
serendipitous beauty of the project was that the necessary
thousands of hours of loving attention had already gone
into researching and designing its chapters, as Educational
Insight sections over the last ten years by the talented
team of editiors, writers and photographers of our
international magazine, Hinduism Today. All that was needed
now, in 2007, was to choose the best features and put them
together in a way that offers a highly readable, yet
thorough, introduction to Hinduism. Voila!
As a small group of renunciate Hindu monks at Kauai's Hindu
Monastery in Hawaii, we have produced Hinduism Today for
more than a quarter century, tracking, monitoring and
encouraging the current renaissance of the grandfather
faith of the human race. One of the main reasons Gurudeva
founded the magazine was to help Hindus become more aware
of the activities of their Hindu brothers and sisters in
other parts of the world and thus draw strength and courage
from that knowledge. Another was to dispel myths and
misinformation promulgated by invaders and missionaries of
alien religions. A third was to present the beliefs and
practices common to all Hindus, as well as the teachings
and traditions of the individual sects, traditions and
lineages that together form this quilt of dharm. What Is
Hinduism? is an insider's look, honoring the beauties of
culture, tradition, celebration, wor****p, belief and
discipline.
In addition to the reams of scripture available to readers,
there are many books on Hinduism by Western scholars, and
by Eastern writers. But few offer much relief to the parent
looking for simple answers, or the social studies teacher
looking for an authentic overview of the faith. Texts by
Westerners, often academic in nature, tend to paint
Hinduism into the past and distort it by wrong emphasis,
dwelling on peripheral, controversial issues such as caste,
sati and the "Aryan Invasion." Those by Easterners
generally focus on just one sampradaya or lineage -- such
as Sankaran Vedanta, Madhva Vaishnavism or Shaiv Siddhant -
- often presenting its philosophy and tradition as if it
were the whole of Hinduism, which, of course, it is not.
When each sect and lineage is presented in this way, it is
no small wonder readers get confused.
Rare is the book that presents Hinduism in a comprehensive,
contem****ary, complementary way -- as a family of faiths
and philosophies -- that a modern, English-speaking
audience can relate to, understand and appreciate. What Is
Hinduism? is just such a rare gem. Exploring it, readers
now and then spontaneously stop and sigh, "Ahh, now I get
it. I now understand this basic concept of Hinduism." It is
an authoritative and inspired work, an inclusive,
sophisticated, user-friendly explanation of Sanatan Dharm.
Far from the arcane, sea-of-text descriptions of Hinduism,
this book is rich with potent images, traditional symbols
and photographs depicting each aspect of the culture and
faith. If one were to simply study the photos and art and
their captions, that would itself serve as a meaningful
glimpse into the Hindu heart.
This book is inspired by and draws heavily from the
remarkable spiritual legacy of Gurudeva, without doubt one
of the most significant Hindu saints and leaders of the
twentieth century. An American by birth, Gurudeva showed
the world by his pure and dedicated life that Hinduism is a
vibrant, relevant and living force. He renewed the pride of
Hindus in their faith and gave them guidelines for
following Hindu Dharm. He boldly spoke of Hinduism as the
greatest religion in the world and showed millions that
Hinduism is destined to teach our newly emerging global
civilization that coexisting in peace, mutual respect, and
with a deep sense of spiritual values, is not merely a
dream, but a living reality. We know that Gurudeva is
smiling approvingly at the creation of What Is Hinduism? We
believe it will be hailed as a classic, and hopefully a
best seller, so that uncounted souls may enjoy its
heartfelt messages.
In this special issue of the magazine we present nine of
the forty-six chapters from What Is Hinduism? which we hope
you enjoy as a representative selection that collectively
answers this enigmatic question. For a bit more about the
book and how to order, see page 16.
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2007/1-3/10-11_pub_desk.shtml
o o o o o o o o o
WHAT IS HINDUISM?
A Hindu Primer
A code of Practices, Beliefs and Attitudes Common to all
Hindu's
Loving Hindu parents worldwide, of various lineages, have
called for a common religious code to teach their sons and
daughters. They have asked, "What is the minimum I must do
to dispatch my duty to my religion and my children?" In
response, we have assembled this "Insight" with hard copy
illustrations by artist A. Manivel. It contains 1) an
overview of Hinduism; 2) nine basic beliefs; 3) Hinduism
from A to Z; 4) five essential precepts; 5) five
corresponding observances; and 6) five parenting
guidelines. The modern Hindu child raised up with these
principles and practices will be a fully functioning human
being, one who is tolerant, devotional, fair, fearless,
obedient, secure, happy, selfless, pure and traditional. As
you will see, these are sophisticated sections, written for
parents and teachers, to be stepped down and elucidated for
specific age groups. We apologize that, in our brevity, we
have inevitably blurred over subtleties in the rainbow of
Hindu views.
---------------------------------------------------------
A Bird's Eye View Of A Family Of Faiths
---------------------------------------------------------
Hinduism is our planet's original and oldest living
religion, with no single founder. For as long as man has
lived and roamed across Earth's land and water m*****,
breathed its air and wor****ped in awe its fire, the Sanatan
Dharm has been a guide of righteous life for evolving
souls. It is im****tant to note that today Hinduism has four
main denominations: Shaivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and
Smartism, each with hundreds of lineages. They represent a
broad range of beliefs, sadhanas and mystic goals.
While Hindus believe many diverse and exotic things, there
are several bedrock concepts on which virtually all concur.
All Hindus wor****p one Supreme Reality, though they call it
by many names, and teach that all souls will ultimately
realize the truth of the Ved and Agam. Hindus believe that
there is no eternal hell, no damnation. They concur that
there is no intrinsic evil. All is good. All is God. In
contrast, Western faiths postulate a living evil force,
embodied in Satan, that directly opposes the will of God.
Hindus believe that the universe was created out of God and
is permeated by Him -- a Supreme Being who both is form and
pervades form, who creates, sustains and destroys the
universe only to recreate it again in unending cycles.
Hindus accept all genuine spiritual paths. Each soul is
free to find his own way, whether by devotion, austerity,
meditation, yog or selfless service (seva). Hinduism's
three pillars are temple wor****p, scripture and the guru-
disciple tradition. Hinduism strongly declares the validity
of the three worlds of existence and the myriad Gods and
devas residing within them. Festivals, pilgrimage, chanting
of holy hymns and home wor****p are dynamic practices.
Family life is strong and precious. Love, nonviolence, good
conduct and the law of dharm define the Hindu path.
Hinduism explains that the soul reincarnates until all
karmas are resolved and God Realization is attained.
Hindus wear the sectarian marks, called tilak, on their
foreheads as sacred symbols, distinctive insignia of their
heritage. Hinduism is a mystical religion, leading devotees
to personally experience its eternal truths within
themselves, finally reaching the pinnacle of consciousness
where man and God are forever one. They prefer cremation of
the body upon death, rather than burial, believing that the
soul lives on and will inhabit a new body on Earth.
While Hindus have many sacred scriptures, all sects ascribe
the highest authority to the Ved and Agam, though their
Agam differ somewhat. Hinduism's nearly one billion
adherents have tens of thousands of sacred temples and
shrines, mostly in India, but now located around the world.
Its spiritual core is its holy men and women -- millions of
sadhus, yogis, swamis, vairagis, saints and satgurus who
have dedicated their lives to full-time service, devotion
and God Realization, and to proclaiming the eternal truths
of the Sanatan Dharm.
---------------------------------------------------------
Nine Beliefs of Hinduism
---------------------------------------------------------
1. Hindus believe in the divinity of the Ved, the world's
most ancient scripture, and venerate the Agam as equally
revealed. These primordial hymns are God's word and the
bedrock of Sanatan Dharm, the eternal religion which has
neither beginning nor end.
2. Hindus believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who
is both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and
Unmanifest Reality.
3. Hindus believe that the universe undergoes endless
cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution.
4. Hindus believe in karm, the law of cause and effect by
which each individual creates his own destiny by his
thoughts, words and deeds.
5. Hindus believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving
through many births until all karmas have been resolved,
and moksha, spiritual knowledge and liberation from the
cycle of rebirth, is attained. Not a single soul will be
eternally deprived of this destiny.
6. Hindus believe that divine beings exist in unseen worlds
and that temple wor****p, rituals, sacraments as well as
personal devotionals create a communion with these devas
and Gods.
7. Hindus believe that a spiritually awakened master, or
satguru, is essential to know the Transcendent Absolute, as
are personal discipline, good conduct, purification,
pilgrimage, self-inquiry and meditation.
8. Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and
revered, and therefore practice ahinsa, "noninjury."
9. Hindus believe that no particular religion teaches the
only way to salvation above all others, but that all
genuine religious paths are facets of God's Pure Love and
Light, deserving tolerance and understanding.
---------------------------------------------------------
Hinduism A to Z, a fun, illustrated alphabet designed as
twenty-six mini-lessons on Hindu thought and culture
---------------------------------------------------------
A is for Aum, the three-syllabled mantra that repre-sents
the Sacred Mystery in sound and vibration.
B is for bhakti, deep devotion and love for the Divine
which softens even hearts of stone.
C is for culture, the beauty of Hindu music, fine arts,
drama, dance, literature and architecture.
D is for dharm, which is righteousness, cosmic order and
duty, leading us on the right path.
E is for Earth, our lovely blue planet, which we treat as
sacred, protecting all its wonderful creatures.
F is for family, the precious cornerstone of Hindu life,
culture, service and tradition.
G is for guru, our enlightened master who, knowing Truth
himself, can guide us there.
H is for hatth yog, healthful physical science for
vitality, energy balancing and meditation.
I is for India, Bharat, Mother land to one-sixth of
humanity, holy land for Hindus everywhere.
J is for jup, repetitive, prayerful mantras which quiet
emotion and empower the mind.
K is for karm, the law of cause and effect by which we
determine our experience and destiny.
L is for lotus, the heart's inner shrine, where God dwells,
ever serene, ever perfect.
M is for maun, not talking, the inner silence known when
words, thoughts and actions are stilled.
N is for nonattachment, the art of living the simple life,
without too many needs or desires.
O is for open mindedness, the Hindu's tolerant freedom of
thought, inquiry and belief.
P is for pooja, mystic wor****p of the Divine in our home
shrine and holy temples and places.
Q is for quest, seeking to know, "Who am I? Where did I
come from? Where am I going?"
R is for reincarnation, our immortal soul's journey from
birth to rebirth. We do not fear death.
S is for sanskars, sacraments sanctifying life's passages:
name-giving, marriage, death and more.
T is for tilak, forehead marks worn in honor of our unique
and varied lineages.
U is for utsav, our many home and temple festivals, full of
bhakti, fun, feasting and family sharing.
V is for Ved, our oldest and holiest book, the word of God
recorded in 100,000 Sanskrit verses.
W is for wealth (artha), one of life's four goals, along
with love, dharm and enlightenment.
X is for xerophily, the ability of certain plants and
animals to thrive in India's hot, arid plains.
Y is for yog, union of the soul with God which brings
release from worldly bondage.
Z is for zeal, the fervor with which we perform service, go
on pilgrimage and greet our holy religious leaders.
---------------------------------------------------------
Five Precepts
THE MINIMAL HINDU BELIEFS. BY TEACHING THESE TO SONS AND
DAUGHTERS, PARENTS WORLDWIDE PASS ON THE SANATANA DHARM TO
THEIR CHILDREN.
---------------------------------------------------------
1. God Is All in All
The dear children are taught of one Supreme Being, all-
pervasive, transcendent, creator, preserver, destroyer,
manifesting in various forms, wor****ped in all religions by
many names, the immortal Self in all. They learn to be
tolerant, knowing the soul's Divinity and the unity of all
mankind.
2. Holy Temples
The dear children are taught that God, other divine beings
and highly evolved souls exist in unseen worlds. They learn
to be devoted, knowing that temple wor****p, fire
ceremonies, sacraments and devotionals open channels for
loving blessings, help and guidance from these beings.
3. Cosmic Justice
The dear children are taught of karm, the divine law of
cause and effect by which every thought, word and deed
justly returns to them in this or a future life. They learn
to be compassionate, knowing that each experience, good or
bad, is the self-created reward of prior expressions of
free will.
4. Liberation
The dear children are taught that souls experience
righteousness, wealth and pleasure in many births, while
maturing spiritually. They learn to be fearless, knowing
that all souls, without exception, will ultimately attain
Self Realization, liberation from rebirth and union with
God.
5. Scripture and Preceptor
The dear children are taught that God revealed the Ved and
Agam, which contain the eternal truths. They learn to be
obedient, following the precepts of these sacred scriptures
and awakened satgurus, whose guidance is absolutely
essential for spiritual progress and enlightenment.
---------------------------------------------------------
Five Practices
THE MINIMAL PRACTICES (ALSO KNOWN AS PANCHA NITYA KARMAS)
TO NURTURE FUTURE CITIZENS WHO ARE STRONG, RESPONSIBLE,
TOLERANT AND TRADITIONAL
---------------------------------------------------------
1. Wor****p
The dear children are taught daily wor****p in the family
shrine room -- rituals, disciplines, chants, yogas and
religious study. They learn to be secure through devotion
in home and temple, wearing traditional dress, bringing
forth love of the Divine and preparing the mind for serene
meditation.
2. Holy Days
The dear children are taught to participate in Hindu
festivals and holy days in the home and temple. They learn
to be happy through sweet communion with God at such
auspicious celebrations. Utsava includes fasting and
attending the temple on Monday or Friday and other holy
days.
3. Virtuous Living
The dear children are taught to live a life of duty and
good conduct. They learn to be selfless by thinking of
others first, being respectful of parents, elders and
swamis, following divine law, especially ahinsa, mental,
emotional and physical noninjury to all beings. Thus they
resolve karmas.
4. Pilgrimage
The dear children are taught the value of pilgrimage and
are taken at least once a year for darshan of holy persons,
temples and places, near or far. They learn to be detached
by setting aside worldly affairs and making God, Gods and
gurus life's singular focus during these journeys.
5. Rites of Passage
The dear children are taught to observe the many sacraments
which mark and sanctify their passages through life. They
learn to be traditional by celebrating the rites of birth,
name-giving, head-shaving, first feeding, ear-piercing,
first learning, coming of age, marriage and death.
---------------------------------------------------------
Five Parenting Guidelines
BEHAVIORAL PRINCIPLES TO LIVE BY TO NURTURE CHILDREN AND
TEACH THEM, VERBALLY AND BY EXAMPLE, TO FOLLOW THE PATH OF
DHARM
---------------------------------------------------------
1. Good Conduct
Loving fathers and mothers, knowing they are the greatest
influence in a child's life, behave the way their dear
children should when adults. They never anger or argue
before young ones. Father in a dhoti, mother in a sari at
home, all sing to God, Gods and guru.
2. Home Wor****p
Loving fathers and mothers establish a separate shrine room
in the home for God, Gods and guardian devas of the family.
Ideally it should be large enough for all the dear
children. It is a sacred place for scriptural study, a
refuge from the karmic storms of life.
3. Talking about Religion
Loving fathers and mothers speak Vedic precepts while
driving, eating and playing. This helps dear children
understand experiences in right perspective. Parents know
many worldly voices are blaring, and their dharmic voice
must be stronger.
4. Continuing Self-Study
Loving fathers and mothers keep informed by studying the
Ved, Agam and sacred literature, listening to swamis and
pandits. Youth face a world they will one day own, thus
parents prepare their dear children to guide their own
future progeny.
5. Following a Spiritual Preceptor
Loving fathers and mothers choose a preceptor, a
traditional satguru, and lineage to follow. They sup****t
their lineage with all their heart, energy and service. He
in turn provides them clear guidance for a successful life,
material and religious.
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2007/1-3/17-23_primer.shtml
o o o o o o o o o
WHAT IS HINDUISM?
Hinduism's Code of Conduct
Twenty keys for spiritual living in contem****y times How
often do you see a professional team of people misbehave on
the job? You're on a flight from San Francisco to
Singa****e. Do the stewardesses bicker in the aisle? No way.
In Singa****e you visit a classy publi****ng firm. Does the
receptionist talk back to the sale representative? No. Are
there emotional undertones among the group you meet with?
None. And you don't expect any. You know that people at
this level of business have control of their minds and
emotions. If they didn't, they would soon be replaced. When
they are on the job, at least, they follow a code of
conduct spelled out in detail by the cor****ation. It's not
unlike the moral code of any religion, outlining sound
ethics for respect and harmony among humans. Those seeking
to be successful in all avenues of life strive to fulfill a
moral code whether "on the job" or off. Does Hinduism have
such a code? Yes: twenty ethical guidelines called yum and
niyum, "restraints and observances." They are found in the
6,000 to 8,000-year-old Ved, mankind's oldest body of
scripture.
The twenty "do's" and "don'ts" are a common-sense code
recorded in the final section of the Ved, called
Upanishads, namely the Shandilya and the Varuha. They are
also found in the Hatth Yog Pradipika by Gorakshanatha, the
Tirumantiram of Tirumular and in the Yog Sootr of
Patanjali. The yum and niyum have been preserved through
the centuries as the foundation, the first and second
stage, of the eight-staged practice of yog. Yet, they are
fundamental to all beings, expected aims of everyone in
society, and assumed to be fully intact for anyone seeking
life's highest aim in the pursuit called yog. Sage
Patanjali (ca 200 bce), raja yog's foremost propounder,
told us, "These yum are not limited by class, country, time
(past, present or future) or situation. Hence they are
called the universal great vows." Yogic scholar Swami
Brahmananda Saraswati revealed the inner science of yum and
niyum. They are the means, he said, to control the
vitarkas, the cruel mental waves or thoughts, that when
acted upon result in injury to others, untruthfulness,
hoarding, discontent, indolence or selfishness. He stated,
"For each vitarka you have, you can create its opposite
through yum and niyum, and make your life successful." The
following paragraphs, with accompanying illustrations by A.
Manivel of Chennai, (please see hard copy) especially
prepared in July in honor of the Hindu Student's Council
and all similar youth movements, elucidate the yum and
niyum. Presented first are the ten yum, the do not's, which
harness the instinctive nature, with its governing impulses
of fear, anger, jealousy, selfishness, greed and lust.
Second are illustrated the ten niyum, the do's, the
religious observances that cultivate and bring forth the
refined soul qualities, lifting awareness into the
consciousness of the higher chakr of love, compassion,
selflessness, intelligence and bliss.
THE 10 VEDIC RESTRAINTS, YUM
YUM 1
Noninjury, Ahinsa
Practice noninjury, not harming others by thought, word or
deed, even in your dreams. Live a kindly life, revering all
beings as expressions of the One Divine energy. Let go of
fear and insecurity, the sources of abuse. Knowing that
harm caused to others unfailingly returns to oneself, live
peacefully with God's creation. Never be a source of dread,
pain or injury. Follow a vegetarian diet.
YUM 2
Truthfulness, Satya
Adhere to truthfulness, refraining from lying and betraying
promises. Speak only that which is true, kind, helpful and
necessary. Knowing that deception creates distance, don't
keep secrets from family or loved ones. Be fair, accurate
and frank in discussions, a stranger to deceit. Admit your
failings. Do not engage in slander, gossip or backbiting.
Do not bear false witness against another.
YUM 3
Nonstealing, Asteya
Uphold the virtue of nonstealing, neither thieving,
coveting nor failing to repay debt. Control your desires
and live within your means. Do not use borrowed resources
for unintended purposes or keep them past due. Do not
gamble or defraud others. Do not renege on promises. Do not
use others' name, words, resources or rights without
permission and acknowledgement.
YUM 4
Divine Conduct, Brahmacharya
Practice divine conduct, controlling lust by remaining
celibate when single and faithful in marriage. Before
marriage, use vital energies in study, and after marriage
in creating family success. Don't waste the sacred force by
promiscuity in thought, word or deed. Be restrained with
the opposite ***. Seek holy company. Dress and speak
modestly. Shun ****ography, ***ual humor and violence.
YUM 5
Patience, Kshama
Exercise patience, restraining intolerance with people and
impatience with cir***stances. Be agreeable. Let others
behave according to their nature, without adjusting to you.
Don't argue, dominate conversations or interrupt others.
Don't be in a hurry. Be patient with children and the
elderly. Minimize stress by keeping worries at bay. Remain
poised in good times and bad.
YUM 6
Steadfastness, Dhriti
Foster steadfastness, overcoming nonperseverance, fear,
indecision and changeableness. Achieve your goals with a
prayer, purpose, plan, persistence and push. Be firm in
your decisions. Avoid sloth and procrastination. Develop
willpower, courage and industriousness. Overcome obstacles.
Never carp or complain. Do not let opposition or fear of
failure result in changing strategies.
YUM 7
Compassion, Daya
Practice compassion, conquering callous, cruel and
insensitive feelings toward all beings. See God everywhere.
Be kind to people, animals, plants and the Earth itself.
Forgive those who apologize and show true remorse. Foster
sympathy for others' needs and suffering. Honor and assist
those who are weak, impoverished, aged or in pain. Oppose
family abuse and other cruelties.
YUM 8
Honesty, Arjava
Maintain honesty, renouncing deception and wrongdoing. Act
honorably even in hard times. Obey the laws of your nation
and locale. Pay your taxes. Be straightforward in business.
Do an honest day's work. Do not bribe or accept bribes. Do
not cheat, deceive or cir***vent to achieve an end. Be
frank with yourself. Face and accept your faults without
blaming them on others.
YUM 9
Moderate Appetite, Mitahara
Be moderate in appetite, neither eating too much nor
consuming meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs. Enjoy fresh,
wholesome vegetarian foods that vitalize the body. Avoid
junk food. Drink in moderation. Eat at regular times, only
when hungry, at a moderate pace, never between meals, in a
disturbed atmosphere or when upset. Follow a simple diet,
avoiding rich or fancy fare.
YUM 10
Purity, Shaucha
Uphold the ethic of purity, avoiding impurity in mind, body
and speech. Maintain a clean, healthy body. Keep a pure,
uncluttered home and workplace. Act virtuously. Keep good
company, never mixing with adulterers, thieves or other
impure people. Keep away from ****ography and violence.
Never use harsh, angered or indecent language. Wor****p
devoutly. Meditate daily.
Allow yourself the expression of remorse, being modest and
showing shame for misdeeds. Recognize your errors, confess
and make amends. Sincerely apologize to those hurt by your
words or deeds. Resolve all contention before sleep. Seek
out and correct your faults and bad habits. Welcome
correction as a means to bettering yourself. Do not boast.
Shun pride and pretension.
THE 10 VEDIC OBSERVANCES, NIYAM
NIYAM 1
Remorse, Hri
Allow yourself the expression of remorse, being modest and
showing shame for misdeeds. Recognize your errors, confess
and make amends. Sincerely apologize to those hurt by your
words or deeds. Resolve all contention before sleep. Seek
out and correct your faults and bad habits. Welcome
correction as a means to bettering yourself. Do not boast.
Shun pride and pretension.
NIYAM 2
Contentment, Santosh
Nurture contentment, seeking joy and serenity in life. Be
happy, smile and uplift others. Live in constant gratitude
for your health, your friends and your belongings, Don't
complain about what you don't possess. Identify with the
eternal You, rather than mind, body or emotions. Keep the
mountaintop view that life is an op****tunity for spiritual
progress. Live in the eternal now.
NIYAM 3
Giving, Daan
Be generous to a fault, giving liberally without thought of
reward. Tithe, offering one-tenth of your gross income
(dashamamsh), as God's money, to temples, ashrams and
spiritual organizations. Approach the temple with
offerings. Visit guru with gifts in hand. Donate religious
literature. Feed and give to those in need. Bestow your
time and talents without seeking praise. Treat guests as
God.
NIYAM 4
Faith, Astikya
Cultivate an unshakable faith. Believe firmly in God, Gods,
guru and your path to enlightenment. Trust in the words of
the masters, the scriptures and traditions. Practice
devotion and sadhana to inspire experiences that build
advanced faith. Be loyal to your lineage, one with your
satguru. Shun those who try to break your faith by argument
and accusation. Avoid doubt and despair.
NIYAM 5
Wor****p, Ishvarapoojana
Cultivate devotion through daily wor****p and meditation.
Set aside one room of your home as God's shrine. Offer
fruit, flowers or food daily. Learn a simple pooja and the
chants. Meditate after each pooja. Visit your shrine before
and after leaving the house. Wor****p in heartfelt devotion,
clearing the inner channels to God, Gods and guru so their
grace flows toward you and loved ones.
NIYAM 6
Scriptural Listening, Siddhant Shravana
Eagerly hear the scriptures, study the teachings and listen
to the wise of your lineage. Choose a guru, follow his path
and don't waste time exploring other ways. Read, study and,
above all, listen to readings and dissertations by which
wisdom flows from knower to seeker. Avoid secondary texts
that preach violence. Revere and study the revealed
scriptures, the Ved and Agam.
NIYAM 7
Cognition, Mati
Develop a spiritual will and intellect with your satguru's
guidance. Strive for knowledge of God, to awaken the light
within. Discover the hidden lesson in each experience to
develop a profound understanding of life and yourself.
Through meditation, cultivate intuition by listening to the
still, small voice within, by understanding the subtle
sciences, inner worlds and mystical texts.
NIYAM 8
Sacred Vows, Vrut
Embrace religious vows, rules and observances and never
waver in fulfilling them. Honor vows as spiritual contracts
with your soul, your community, with God, Gods and guru.
Take vows to harness the instinctive nature. Fast
periodically. Pilgrimage yearly. Uphold your vows strictly,
be they marriage, monasticism, nonaddiction, tithing,
loyalty to a lineage, vegetarianism or nonsmoking.
NIYAM 9
Recitation, Jup
Chant your holy mantra daily, reciting the sacred sound,
word or phrase given by your guru. Bathe first, quiet the
mind and concentrate fully to let jup harmonize, purify and
uplift you. Heed your instructions and chant the prescribed
repetitions without fail. Live free of anger so that jup
strengthens your higher nature. Let jup quell emotions and
quiet the rivers of thought.
NIYAM 10
Austerity, Tup
Practice austerity, serious disciplines, penance and
sacrifice. Be ardent in wor****p, meditation and pilgrimage.
Atone for misdeeds through penance (prayashchitta), such as
108 prostrations or fasting. Perform self-denial, giving up
cherished possessions, money or time. Fulfill severe
austerities at special times, under a satguru's guidance,
to ignite the inner fires of self-transformation.
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2007/1-3/24-27_conduct.shtml
o o o o o o o o o
WHAT IS HINDUISM?
Ahinsa: To Do No Harm
We Can Change the Way Mankind Behaves by Practicing
Nonviolence
By Satguru ****vaya Subhramuniyaswami
Hindu wisdom, which inspires humans to live the ideals of
compassion and nonviolence, is captured in one word,
ahinsa. In Sanskrit hinsa is doing harm or causing injury.
The "a" placed before the word negates it. Very simply,
ahinsa is abstaining from causing harm or injury. It is
gentleness and noninjury, whether physical, mental or
emotional. It is good to know that nonviolence speaks only
to the most extreme forms of forceful wrongdoing, while
ahinsa goes much deeper to prohibit even the subtle abuse
and the simple hurt.
Devout Hindus oppose killing for several reasons. Belief in
karm and reincarnation are strong forces at work in the
Hindu mind. They full well know that any thought, feeling
or action sent out from themself to another will return to
them through yet another in equal or amplified intensity.
What we have done to others will be done to us, if not in
this life then in another. The Hindu is thoroughly
convinced that violence which he commits will return to him
by a cosmic process that is unerring. Two thousand years
ago South India's weaver saint Tiruvalluvar said it so
simply, "All suffering recoils on the wrongdoer himself.
Thus, those desiring not to suffer refrain from causing
others pain" (Tirukural 320). A similar view can be found
in the Jain Acharanga Sutra: "To do harm to others is to do
harm to oneself. You are he whom you intend to kill. You
are he whom you intend to dominate. We corrupt ourselves as
soon as we intend to corrupt others. We kill ourselves as
soon as we intend to kill others."
Many today are wondering how we might move from violence to
nonviolence, how mankind might transform itself from
approval of killing to opposition to it. The Hindu knows
that at this time on this planet those of the lower nature,
unevolved people, are society's antagonists. Being
unevolved, they are of the lower nature, instinctive, self-
assertive, confused, possessive and protective of their
immediate environment. Others are their enemies. They are
jealous, angry, fearful. Many take s****t in killing for the
sake of killing, thieving for the sake of theft, even if
they do not need or use the spoils. This is the lower
nature, and it is equally distributed among the peoples of
the world, in every nation, society and neighborhood. Those
of the higher nature ten, fifteen or twenty percent of the
population live in protective environments. Their
occupation is research, memory, education, which is reason;
moving the world's goods here and there, which is will.
Those of yet an even higher nature delve into the mysteries
of the universe, and others work for universal peace and
love on Earth, as groups and individuals. The Hindu knows
that those of the lower nature will slowly, eventually,
over an experiential period of time, come into the higher
nature, and that those of the higher nature, who have
worked so hard to get there, will avoid the lower nature
and not allow themselves to be caught up in it again.
Hindus believe in the progress of humanity, from an old age
into a new age, from darkness into a consciousness of
divine light.
Nonviolence has long been central to the religious
traditions of India especially Hinduism, Buddhism and
Jainism. Religion in India has consistently upheld the
sanctity of life, whether human, animal or, in the case of
the Jains, elemental. There developed early in India an
unparalleled concern for harmony among different life
forms, and this led to a common ethos based on
noninjuriousness and a minimal consumption of natural
resources, in other words, to compassion and simplicity. If
Homo sapiens is to survive his present predicament, he will
have to rediscover these two primary ethical virtues.
In order to understand the pervasive practice of
nonviolence in Hinduism, one must investigate the meaning
of life. Why is life sacred? For India's ancient thinkers,
life is seen as the very stuff of the Divine, an emanation
of the Source and part of a cosmic continuum. The nature of
this continuum varies in Hindu thought. Some hold that the
individual evolves up through life forms, taking more and
more advanced incarnations which culminate in human life.
Others believe that according to one's karm and sanskars,
the process can even be reversed, that is, one can achieve
a "lower" birth. Even those Indians who do not believe in
reincarnation of an individual still hold that all that
exists abides in the Divine. They further hold that each
life form even water and trees possesses consciousness and
energy. Whether the belief is that the life force of
animals can evolve into human status, or that the opposite
can also take place, or simply that all things enjoy their
own consciousness, the result is the same a reverence for
life.
Not all of Earth's one billion Hindus are living in a
perfect state of ahinsa all of the time. Sometimes
conditions at hand may force a situation, a regrettable
exception, where violence or killing seems to be necessary.
Hindus, like other human beings, unfortunately do kill
people. In self-defense or in order to protect his family
or his village, the Hindu may have to hurt an intruder.
Even then he would harbor no hatred in his heart. Hindus
should never instigate an intrusion or instigate a death;
nor seek revenge, nor plot retaliation for injuries
received. They have their courts of justice, punishment for
crimes and agencies for defending against the aggressor or
the intruder. Before any personal use of force, so to
speak, all other avenues of persuasion and intelligence
would be looked into, as Hindus believe that intelligence
is their best weapon. In following dharm, the only rigid
rule is wisdom. My satguru, Siva Yogaswami, said, "It is a
sin to kill the tiger in the jungle. But if he comes into
the village, it may become your duty." A devout Hindu would
give warnings to scare the tiger or would try to capture
the tiger without injury. Probably it would be the most
unreligious person in the village who would come forward to
kill the tiger.
Many groups on the planet today advocate killing and
violence and war for a righteous cause. They not agree with
the idea that violence, hinsa, is necessarily of the lower
nature. But a righteous cause is only a matter of opinion,
and going to war affects the lives of a great many innocent
people. It's a big karmic responsibility. Combat through
war, righteous or not, is lower consciousness. Religious
values are left aside, to be picked up and continued when
the war is over, or in the next life or the one after that.
It is said that in ancient India meat would be fed to the
soldiers during military campaigns, especially before
combat, to bring them into lower consciousness so that they
would forget their religious values. Most higher
consciousness people will not fight even if their lives
depend on it. They are conscientious objectors, and there
have been many in every country who have been imprisoned or
killed because they would not take up arms against their
brother and sister humans. This is the strictest expression
of Hinduism's law of ahinsa.
One of the most famous of Hindu writings, the Bhagavad
Geeta, is often taken as Divine sanction for violence. It
basically says that for the kshatriya, or soldier, war is
dharm. Lord Krishna orders Arjun to fight and do his
kshatriya dharm in spite of his doubts and fears that what
he is about to do is wrong, despite his dread of killing
his own kinsmen. Hindus for a long time have taken this
text as justification for war and conflicts of all kinds,
including street riots and anarchy. But all that aside, no
matter how it is interpreted, let us not be mistaken that
the Bhagavad Geeta gives permission for violence. The
Mahabharat (of which the Geeta is a part) itself says,
"Ahinsa is the highest dharm. It is the highest
purification. It is also the highest truth from which all
dharm proceeds" (18.1125.25). An eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth is definitely not a part of true Hindu
doctrine.
In every country there is the army, the navy, air force,
police, the protectors of the country the collective force
of citizens that keep a country a country. This is dharm.
In protection of family and nation, in armies and police
forces which give security, it is indeed dharmic for
kshatriyas to do their lawful duty, to use necessary force,
even lethal force. But for this collective force of
protectors, of peacemakers, of peacekeepers which includes
the law courts and the central administrative authorities
who oversee the courts, the armies, the navies, the air
force would the priests be able to function? Would the
businessmen be able to acquire and sell their goods? Would
the farmers be able to plant their crops and harvest them?
Could the children play fearlessly in the streets and
countryside? No. The answer is obvious.
Those who take law into their own hands in the name of
dharm, citing their case upon the Mahabharat, are none but
the lawbreakers, anarchists, the arsonists, the terrorists.
The Mahabharat gives no permission for anarchy. The
Mahabharat gives no permission for terrorism. The
Mahabharat gives no permission for looting and diluting the
morals of society through prostitution, running drugs and
the selling and buying of illegal arms. The Pandavas, the
heroes of this ancient epic, were not rabble rousers. They
were not inciting riots. Nor were they participating in
extortion to run their war. Nor were they participating in
the sale of drugs to finance their war. Nor were they
participating in prostitution to win their war. Nor were
they participating in enlisting women to help them fight
their war. Nor were they having children learn to snare
their victims.
Yes, dharm does extend to protecting one's country. But
does it extend to taking a country from another, or to
stealing lands? That is lawlessness, blatant lawlessness.
In the modern age, to create a nation or even a business
enterprise upon the death of another, upon lands
confiscated, stolen, illegally acquired, usurped from
another's realm, is definitely not Hindu dharm, and this is
not Mahabharat.
In Gandhian philosophy ahinsa means nonviolent action which
leads to passive resistance in order to put a point across.
Basically, he taught, don't hit your opponent over the
head. If he tells you to do something, stall and don't obey
and don't do it and frustrate him into submission. And yet
he was not a pacifist prepared to accept any harm without
resistance. When a gang of tribals came in and raped the
women in a village, Gandhi said there should not have been
a man left alive in the village. They should have stood up
for the village and protected it with their lives.
So, to me, if an intruder breaks into your house to rape
the women or steal things, you have the right, even the
duty, to defend your own, but you don't have the right to
torture him. Ahinsa needs to be properly understood, in
moderation. To explain nonviolence, you have to explain
what violence is, as opposed to protecting yourself. Is it
violent to own a dog who would put his teeth to the throat
of a vicious intruder? I don't think it is. If nonviolence
is to be something that the world is going to respect, we
have to define it clearly and make it meaningful.
Achieving a nonviolent world would simply mean that all
individuals have to somehow or other reconcile their
differences enough that the stress those differences
produce can no longer take over their mind, body and
emotions, causing them to perform injurious acts. Again,
this would begin in the home. Peaceful homes breed gentle
people. Gentle people follow ahinsa.
What's the best way to teach peace to the world? The best
way is to first teach families to be peaceful within their
own home, to settle all arguments and contention before
they sleep at night, even if they stay up for three days,
so the children can see that peace can be attained and then
maintained through the use of intelligence. Humans do not
have horns or claws; nor do they have sharp teeth. Their
weapon is their intelligence. Children must be taught
through the example of parents and by learning the
undeniable facts of life, the basic tenets that an all-
pervasive force holds this universe together, that we
create with this force every minute, every hour, every day,
and because time is a cycle, what we create comes back to
us. Therefore, because we create in a physical universe
while in a physical body, we must return to a physical
body, in a new life after death, to face up to our
creations, good, bad or mixed. Once they learn this, they
are winners. It is up to the parents to create the
peacemakers of the future. It is always up to the parents.
And remember, we teach children in only one way by our own
example.
Parents must teach children to appreciate those who are
different, those who believe differently; teach them the
openness that they need to live in a pluralistic world
where others have their unique ways, their life and
culture; teach them the value of human diversity and the
narrow-mindedness of a provincial outlook; give them the
tools to live in a world of differences without feeling
threatened, without forcing their ways or their will on
others; teach them that it never helps to hurt another of
our brothers or sisters.
Vegetarianism is a natural and obvious way to live with a
minimum of hurt to other beings. Hindu scripture speaks
clearly and forcefully on vegetarianism. The Yajur Ved
dictates: "Do not injure the beings living on the Earth, in
the air and in the water." The beautiful Tirukural, a
widely-read 2,200-year-old masterpiece of ethics, speaks of
conscience: "When a man realizes that meat is the butchered
flesh of another creature, he will abstain from eating it"
(257). The Manu Samhita advises: "Having well considered
the origin of flesh and the cruelty of fettering and
slaying cor****eal beings, let one entirely abstain from
eating flesh," and "When the diet is pure, the mind and
heart are pure." In the yog-infused verses of the
Tirumantiram warning is given of how meat-eating holds the
mind in gross, adharmic states: "The ignoble ones who eat
flesh, death's agents bind them fast and push them quick
into the fiery jaws of the lower worlds" (199).
Vegetarianism is very im****tant. In my fifty years of
ministry, it has become quite evident that vegetarian
families have far fewer problems than those who are not
vegetarian. The abhorrence of killing of any kind leads
quite naturally to a vegetarian diet. If you think about
it, the meat-eater is participating indirectly in a violent
act against the animal kingdom. His desire for meat drives
another man to kill and provide that meat. The act of the
butcher begins with the desire of the consumer. When his
consciousness lifts and expands, he will abhor violence and
not be able to even digest the meat, fish and eggs he was
formerly consuming. India's greatest saints have confirmed
that one cannot eat meat and live a peaceful, harmonious
life. Man's appetite for meat inflicts devastating harm on
the Earth itself, stripping its precious forests to make
way for pastures. The opposite of causing injury to others
is compassion and love for all beings. The Tirukural puts
it nicely: "How can he practice true compassion who eats
the flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh"(251).
If children are raised as vegetarians, every day they are
exposed to noninjury as a principle of peace and
compassion. Every day as they are growing up, they are
remembering and being reminded to not kill. They won't even
kill another creature to feed themselves. And if you won't
kill another creature to feed yourself, then when you grow
up you will be much less likely to injure people.
Excerpted from Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's book,
Living with Siva.
---------------------------------------------------------
Taking Care of Business -- Nonviolently
---------------------------------------------------------
Ahinsa is not just a prohibition against physical and
emotional assault
By Satguru ****vaya Subhramuniyaswami
I was once asked for my insights on applying ahinsa in the
business world. Ahinsa in business is taught in a reverse
way on American television: Titans, The West Wing, Dynasty,
Falcon Crest, Dallas, Sopranos popular shows of our time.
Their scriptwriters promoted hinsa, injuriousness, in
business "Save the Falcon Crest farm at any cost, save
South Fork, save the cor****ation." Now the national news
media re****ts attempts to save Microsoft, save the tobacco
industry, save the hand gun manufacturers. The fight is on,
and real-life court battles have taken the place of TV
sitcoms which have long since been off the air. In both the
TV and the real-life conflicts, whatever you do to your
competitor is OK because it's only business. The plots
weave in and out, with one scene of mental and emotional
cruelty after another. The Hindu business ethic is very
clear. As the weaver Tiruvalluvar said, "Those businessmen
will prosper whose business protects as their own the
interests of others" (Tirukural 120). We should compete by
having a better product and better methodologies of
promoting and selling it, not by destroying our
competitor's product and reputation. Character
assassination is not part of ahinsa. It reaps bad benefits
to the accusers. That is practiced by many today, even by
Hindus who are off track in their perceptions of ahinsa.
Hindus worldwide must know that American television is not
the way business should be practiced. As some people teach
you what you should do and other people teach you what you
should not do, the popular television programs mentioned
above clearly teach us what we should not do. The
principles of ahinsa and other ethical teachings within
Hinduism show us a better way.
Many cor****ations today are large, in fact larger than many
small countries. Their management is like the deceptive,
dishonest, deceitful, arrogant, domineering autocrat, king,
or like the benevolent religious monarch, all depending on
whether there are people of lower consciousness or higher
consciousness in charge. Cities, districts, provinces,
counties, states and central governments all have many laws
for ethical business practices, and none of those laws
permits unfair trade, product assassination or inter-
business competitive fights to the death. Each business is
dharmically bound to serve the community, not take from the
community like a vulture. When the steward****ps of large
cor****ations follow the law of the land and the principles
of ahinsa, they put their energies into developing better
products and better community service. When the leader****p
has a mind for cor****ate espionage, its energies are
diverted, the products suffer and so does customer
relations. The immediate profits in the short term might be
gratifying, but in the long run, profits gained from wrong-
doings are generally spent on wrong-doings.
Ahinsa always has the same consequences. And we know these
benefits well. Himsa always has the same consequences, too.
It develops enemies, creates unseemly karmas which will
surely return and affect the destiny of the future of the
business enterprise. The perfect timing needed for success
is defeated by inner reactions to the wrong-doings. A
business enterprise which bases its strategies on
hurtfulness cannot in good judgment hire employees who are
in higher consciousness, lest they object to these tactics.
Therefore, they attract employees who are of the same
caliber as themselves, and they all practice hinsa among
one another. Trickery, deceitfulness and deception are of
the lower nature, products of the methodology of performing
hinsa, hurtfulness, mentally and emotionally. The profits
derived from hinsa policies are short-term and ill-spent.
The profits derived from ahinsa policies are long-term and
well spent.
Saints and Scriptures Speak on Ahinsa
---------------------------------------------------------
Ancient and modern voices extol the virtues of
noninjuriousness
---------------------------------------------------------
Nonviolence, truthfulness, nonstealing, purity, sense
control—this, in brief, says Manu, is the dharm of all the
four castes.
Dharm Shastr 10
You do not like to suffer yourself. How can you inflict
suffering on others? Every killing is a suicide. The
eternal, blissful and natural state has been smothered by
this life of ignorance. In this way the present life is due
to the killing of the eternal, pristine Being. Is it not a
case of suicide?
Ramana Mahari****
One should never do that to another which one regards as
injurious to one's own self. This, in brief, is the rule of
dharm. Yielding to desire and acting differently, one
becomes guilty of adharm.
Mahabharat 18:113.8
To be free from violence is the duty of every man. No
thought of revenge, hatred or ill will should arise in our
minds. Injuring others gives rise to hatred.
Swami ****vanand
If a man inflicts sorrow on another in the morning, sorrow
will come to him unbidden in the afternoon.
Tirukural 319
Refrain from killing knowingly even the trifling insects
like a louse, a bug or a mosquito. Use no violence even to
gain possession of a woman, wealth or kingdom. Never kill
any animals even for the purpose of sacrifice. Non-violence
is the greatest of all religions.
Swami Sahajanand
Ahinsa is the highest dharm. Ahinsa is the best tapas.
Ahinsa is the greatest gift. Ahinsa is the highest self-
control. Ahinsa is the highest sacrifice. Ahinsa is the
highest power. Ahinsa is the highest friend. Ahinsa is the
highest truth. Ahinsa is the highest teaching.
Mahabharat 18:116.37-41
By ahinsa Patanjali meant the removal of the desire to
kill. All forms of life have an equal right to the air of
maya. All men may understand this truth by overcoming the
passion for destruction.
Shri Yukteswar
Ahinsa is not causing pain to any living being at any time
through the actions of one's mind, speech or body.
Sandilya Upanishad
Those high-souled persons who desire beauty, faultlessness
of limbs, long life, understanding, mental and physical
strength and memory should abstain from acts of injury.
Mahabharat 18:115.8
When one is established in non-injury, beings give up their
mutual animosity in his presence.
Yog Sootr
The Hindu sage sees the whole of life. If he does not
fight, it is not because he rejects all fighting as futile,
but because he has finished his fights. He has overcome all
dissensions between himself and the world and is now at
rest.
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
---------------------------------------------------------
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
Harnessing Speech
---------------------------------------------------------
Inner contemplation and outer disciplineinsure ahinsa in
your daily interactions
---------------------------------------------------------
By Brahmacharini Maya Tiwari
The human voice as a divine instrument is a power-ful,
foundational tool for living a life of ahinsa. It is the
basis of our individuality and creative expression.
However, the human voice is our most misunderstood and
misused possession. We take our voice for granted using and
abusing it for the most mundane, trivial and hurtful
communications forgetting to honor it as the divine
instrument of ahinsa within us.
The seers emulated the primordial sound in order to fa****on
the first human expression, called sruti, the cosmic
revelation as heard by the ri****s. Sruti is also referred
to as the Word, and the song of Sama Ved informs us that,
"Verily, if there were no Word, there would be no knowledge
neither of right or wrong, nor of truth and untruth, nor of
the pleasing and unpleasing. The Word makes all this
known." This original Word informed Vedic ritual speech,
mantras, chants and music, which carry the cosmic rhythms
and memory of the universe's entire experience. The ri****s
declared the spoken word, sruti, as their most significant
contribution to humanity. Most ancient people left their
imprint on history through the medium of precious materials
gold, silver, bronze, onyx and granite. While time has
eroded these monuments, the Vedic tradition's rich legacy
of the spoken word, recited daily by an unbroken chain of
generations, still lives on.
Most of us are conscious of the foods we eat, the air we
breathe, the postures we emulate and other spiritual
practices we do to bring good health, yet we are unaware of
the negative impressions we imbibe by way of our senses
from unwholesome talk, chaotic interaction and the barrage
of discordant sounds we take into our personal lives
through television and other media. A mind that is
bombarded with violent impressions will become desensitized
and express itself in angry and insensitive ways. Eric's
story is a classical illustration of exactly this
challenge.
I met Eric several years ago at a meditation workshop in
New York. He was seventeen years old and had been recently
expelled from school for verbally abusing his teacher.
Eric's mother, Marion, was a prominent yog teacher. She
confided to me that Eric had been a quiet boy and an
excellent student until he fell in with a "bad crowd" in
the neighborhood.
After listening to Marion, I asked to speak with Eric
privately. As he slouched in the chair beside me, he
refused to make eye contact. I closed my eyes and waited
for him to speak. After several tense minutes, he broke the
silence. "She is always screaming at me, demanding that I
do the things that make her happy. But what about me? She
is so caught up in her work she doesn't even know who I am.
She pushes me to do all these health things. My friends
think I'm a sissy eating health food, wa****ng the dishes,
chanting...." For twenty minutes, or so, Eric blurted out
his story non-stop. All I could hear was the young man's
anger about being pushed by Marion's anger and his
frustration about feeling inadequate and not "fitting in"
with his friends. Marion had good intentions for her son,
but like many parents who underestimate their children's
intelligence she had missed the most im****tant lesson
listening to her son's needs and communicating with him.
The more she forced Eric to adhere to her values, the
farther away Eric ran. Suddenly, as he became a teenager,
he found a voice of violence in the popular culture that
had heard him and he began to retaliate against his
mother's tyranny. To compensate for the sup****t he felt he
was not getting at home, Eric had found negative
reinforcement from his street buddies and seized the
op****tunity to express himself. He was true to his voice of
anger. It was Marion who had not yet found her voice of
peace. Although she had been practicing yog for twelve
years, she has still not found the true meaning behind
spiritual practice the spirit of nonviolence and nonhurting
that would finally help her to communicate its wondrous
essence to her son.
I have developed the Vac Tapasya, "Speech Penance," to
evoke healthy, harmonious thoughts and bring forward
positive, pleasant words. Spend fifteen minutes at the end
of every day allowing your mind to run free. Notice
whatever negative, hurtful thoughts that may come up. Write
down those thoughts and the person or situations they
concern, without whitewa****ng or censoring them. Let
yourself be angry, judgmental and unkind. And above all, be
honest. Repeat each negative thought aloud. For example:
"Mary is so demanding. I can't bear to work with her." Then
recite the attitude of one seeking true inner knowledge: "I
know that every negative thought reflects my own inner
condition."
Now take responsibility for your feelings from which the
negative thought sprang: "I am being intolerant of Mary. It
will not be pleasant for Mary if I see her with this
attitude." This will help you learn to always carefully
consider your words before you speak them aloud to another
person, and to avoid an angry, accusatory or aggressive
tone. If you feel pressured to respond or speak in a way
that you think may be hurtful to another person, use your
notebook to tell this person your raw, unedited feelings in
the form of a letter that you do not send. Let the letter
sit for a week. Then, before you read it, make one small
change. Replace the name of the person to whom it is
addressed with your own name. This may help you understand
that the letter has less to do with the person with whom
you are angry, and is more about your hurt feelings, which
stem from your negative thoughts and feelings about your
own life. The Maitri Upanishad put it this way: "Words
cannot describe the joy of the spirit whose spirit is
cleansed in deep contemplation who is one with his/her own
Spirit. Only those who experience this joy knows what it
is."
Bri. Maya Tiwari is founder of the Wise Earth School and
the Mother Om Mission. Wise Earth, 90 Davis Creek Road,
Candler, North Carolina 28715 USA. Phone: 828.258.9999.
Email: health@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web: www.wisearth.org
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2007/1-3/28-33_ahimsa.shtml
o o o o o o o o o
WHAT IS HINDUISM?
The Meat-Free Life
---------------------------------------------------------
Five good reasons to be a vegetarian and 10 arguments
against eating meat
---------------------------------------------------------
There are more that a few Hindus today who guiltily
abandoned the vegetarian ways of their own parents and
grandparents when they decided to be "secular" and
"modern." But our ancient seers had it right when they
advocated living without killing animals for food. Today
vegetarianism is a worldwide movement, with adherents among
all religions, daily gaining converts through one or more
of the five basic reasons to adhere to a meatless diet:
dharm, karm, consciousness, health and environment. Each is
explored in this insight section, which concludes with the
famous essay, "How to win an argument with a meat-eater."
Just how widespread is this movement? In the UK, polls show
more than 15 percent of teenagers are vegetarians, and six
percent of the general population. In America, eight
percent of teens and three percent of the general
population declare themselves vegetarian. It is a movement
with a broad base, for one can find advocates as diverse as
philosophers Plato and Nietzsche, politicians Benjamin
Franklin and Gandhi, Beatle Paul McCartney and Rastifarian
singer Bob Marley, actresses Brooke ****elds, Drew
Barrymore, Alicia Silverstone, and actors David Duchovny,
Richard Gere and Brad Pitt. It's also helped that a
multitude of rigorous scientific studies have proven the
health benefits of the vegetarian diet.
Vegetarianism, an Ancient Hindu Ethic
Vegetarianism was for thousands of years a principle of
health and environmental ethics throughout India. Though
Muslim and Christian colonization radically undermined and
eroded this ideal, it remains to this day a cardinal ethic
of Hindu thought and practice. A subtle sense of guilt
persists among Hindus who eat meat, and even they will
abstain at special times. For India's ancient thinkers,
life is seen as the very stuff of the Divine, an emanation
of the Source and part of a cosmic continuum. They further
hold that each life form, even water and trees, possesses
consciousness and energy. Nonviolence, ahinsa, the primary
basis of vegetarianism, has long been central to the
religious traditions of India—especially Hinduism, Buddhism
and Jainism. Religion in India has consistently upheld the
sanctity of life, whether human or animal.
The Sanskrit word for vegetarianism is shakahar, and one
following a vegetarian diet is a sakahari. Hindu
vegetarians commonly consume milk products, but not eggs,
which are definitely a meat product, containing cholesterol
which is only present in animal flesh. The term for meat-
eating is mansahara, and the meat-eater is called
mansahari. Ahara means "to consume or eat," saka means
"vegetable," and mansa means "meat or flesh." The very word
mansa, "meat," conveys a deep appreciation of life's
sacredness and an understanding of the law of karm by which
the consequence of each action returns to the doer. As
explained in the 2,000-year-old Manu Dharm Shastr, 5.55,
"The learned declare that the meaning of mansa (flesh) is,
'he (sa) will eat me (mam) in the other world whose flesh I
eat here.' " There developed early in India an unparalleled
concern for harmony among life forms, and this led to a
common ethos based on noninjuriousness and a minimal
consumption of natural resources—in other words, to
compassion and simplicity. If Homo sapiens is to survive
his present predicament, he will have to rediscover these
two primary ethical virtues.
Is Vegetarianism Integral to Noninjury?
In Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's book, Dancing with
Siva, this question is addressed as follows: "Hindus teach
vegetarianism as a way to live with a minimum of hurt to
other beings, for to consume meat, fish, fowl or eggs is to
participate indirectly in acts of cruelty and violence
against the animal kingdom. The abhorrence of injury and
killing of any kind leads quite naturally to a vegetarian
diet, shakahar. The meat-eater's desire for meat drives
another to kill and provide that meat. The act of the
butcher begins with the desire of the consumer. Meat-eating
contributes to a mentality of violence, for with the
chemically complex meat ingested, one absorbs the
slaughtered creature's fear, pain and terror. These
qualities are nourished within the meat-eater, perpetuating
the cycle of cruelty and confusion. When the individual's
consciousness lifts and expands, he will abhor violence and
not be able to even digest the meat, fish, fowl and eggs he
was formerly consuming. India's greatest saints have
confirmed that one cannot eat meat and live a peaceful,
harmonious life. Man's appetite for meat inflicts
devastating harm on Earth itself, stripping its precious
forests to make way for pastures. The Tirukural candidly
states, 'How can he practice true compassion who eats the
flesh of an animal to fatten his own flesh? Greater than a
thousand ghee offerings consumed in sacrificial fires is
not to sacrifice and consume any living creature.' "
Amazingly, some people define vegetarian as a diet which
excludes the meat of animals but does permit fish and eggs.
But what really is vegetarianism? Vegetarian foods include
grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes and dairy products.
Natural, fresh foods, locally grown without insecticides or
chemical fertilizers are preferred. A vegetarian diet does
not include meat, fish, fowl, shellfish or eggs. For good
health, even certain vegetarian foods are minimized: frozen
and canned foods, highly processed foods, such as white
rice, white sugar and white flour; and "junk" foods and
beverages—those with abundant chemical additives, such as
artificial sweeteners, colorings, flavorings and
preservatives.
According to Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, "In my forty
years of ministry it has become quite evident that
vegetarian families have far fewer problems than those who
are not vegetarian. If children are raised as vegetarians,
every day they are exposed to nonviolence as a principle of
peace and compassion. Every day they are growing up they
are remembering and being reminded to not kill. They won't
even kill another creature to eat, to feed themselves. And
if they won't kill another creature to feed themselves,
they will be much less likely to do acts of violence
against people."
Vegetarian Animals
Vegetarians come in all sizes and shapes, but the elephant
is the largest of all, with a sophisticated social life,
loving and affectionately caring for its own. Elephants
live long, vigorous lives, have a very large brain and, of
course, are renowned for their excellent memory. They do
not suffer any weakness for not eating meat. In fact, so
many muscular and the most intelligent animals the horse,
the cow, giraffe, zebra, rhinoceros, the apes, and more—are
lifelong vegetarians and friends of men. Lean animals, thin
and wiry, who are feared by man and beasts alike, are all
hunters and killers and eaters of flesh—tigers, sharks,
hawks, wolves and the like. Similarly, no one fears a
gentle vegetarian, but all have reason to fear the
unpredictable meat-eater. Scriptures admonish that it is
wise to fear what should be feared.
Food and Consciousness
Food is the source of the body's chemistry, and what we
ingest affects our consciousness, emotions and experiential
patterns. If one wants to live in higher consciousnes, in
peace and happieness and love for all creatures, then he
cannot eat meat, fish, shellfish, fowl or eggs. By
ingesting the grosser chemistries of animal foods, one
introduces into the body and mind anger, jealousy, fear,
anxiety, suspicion and the terrible fear of death, all of
which is locked into the flesh of butchered creatures. It
is said that in ancient India meat would be fed to the
soldiers during military campaigns, especially before
combat, to bring them into lower consciousness so that they
would forget thier religious values. They performed these
deeds in fulfillment of a warrior's way—with not the least
restraint of conscience. The inner law is ever so
simple—not eating meat, fish, foul or eggs is essential to
awaken consciousness into the seven higher chakr (the
uttara-chakr), up to the crown. Nonkilling—and noneating of
that which is killed—is a must to pass from realms below.
Dharm
How many there are who resent the very mention of becoming
a vegetarian, being instinctively repulsed by the idea, for
they intuit the road ahead. They sense that once the more
sattvic diet of pure foods are taken in place of meats (and
other dead foods, packaged, processed and cellophane-
wrapped) they will feel a great guilt occasioned by their
transgressions of dharm, as they have so well perfected
over the years their adharmic ways. Adharma means all that
stands against Indian spirituality, against the path of the
good and the pure and the natural, against dharm in all of
its intricate dimensions. None of the other dharmas—stri
dharm, the duties of women; purusha dharm, the duties of
men; ashrama dharm, the responsibility of one's stage of
life; varna dharm, one's position in society; and
svadharma, one's own perfect pattern—even when performed
properly will have the same results without fulfilling this
virtue. Even Rita dharm, cosmic order, is upset by man's
insatiable, aggressive appetites expressed through flesh-
consuming.
Hindus Were the First Vegetarians
The book, Food for the Spirit, Vegetarianism and the World
Religions, observes: "Despite popular knowledge of meat-
eating's adverse effects, the nonvegetarian diet became
increasingly widespread among Hindus after the two major
invasions by foreign powers, first the Muslims and later
the British. With them came the desire to be 'civilized,'
to eat as did the saheeb. Those actually trained in Vedic
knowledge, however, never adopted a meat-oriented diet, and
the pious Hindu still observes vegetarian principles as a
matter of religious duty.
"That vegetarianism has always been widespread in India is
clear from the earliest Vedic texts. This was observed by
the ancient traveler Megasthenes and also by Fa-hsien, a
Chinese Buddhist monk who, in the fifth century, traveled
to India in order to obtain authentic copies of the
scriptures. These scriptures unambiguously sup****t the
meatless way of life. In the Mahabharat, for instance, the
great warrior Bhishma explains to Yudhishtira, eldest of
the Pandava princes, that the meat of animals is like the
flesh of one's own son, and that the foolish person who
eats meat must be considered the vilest of human beings
[Anu. 114.11]. The eating of 'dirty' food, it warns, is not
as terrible as the eating of flesh [Shanti. 141.88] (it
must be remembered that the Brahmins of ancient India
exalted cleanliness to a divine principle).
"Similarly, the Manusmriti declares that one should
'refrain from eating all kinds of meat,' for such eating
involves killing and leads to karmic bondage (bandha)
[5.49]. Elsewhere in the Vedic literature, the last of the
great Vedic kings, Maharaja Parik****, is quoted as saying
that 'only the animal-killer cannot relish the message of
the Absolute Truth [Shrimad Bhagavatam 10.1.4].'"
Common Dietary Concerns
Those considering a vegetarian diet generally worry about
getting enough nutrients, since the belief that meat is a
necessary part of keeping strong and healthy is still
extremely widespread. Recently a group of eminent doctors
called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
(PCRM), themselves members of the American Medical
Association, have decided to change the US consciousness on
human nutrition, particularly among the medical community.
The PCRM is a nonprofit organization based in Wa****ngton,
D.C., consisting of doctors and laypersons working together
for compassionate and effective medical practice, research
and health promotion. Founded in 1985, the PCRM is
sup****ted by over 3,000 physicians and 50,000 laypersons.
PCRM president (and vegetarian) Neal D. Barnard, M.D., is a
popular speaker and the author of The Power of Your Plate.
Armed with decades of nutritional research data, PCRM
addresses these dietary concerns head-on:
"The fact is, it is very easy to have a well-balanced diet
with vegetarian foods. Vegetarian foods provide plenty of
protein. Careful combining of foods is not necessary. Any
normal variety of plant foods provides more than enough
protein for the body's needs. Although there is somewhat
less protein in a vegetarian diet than a meat-eater's diet,
this is actually an advantage. Excess protein has been
linked to kidney stones, osteo****osis, and possibly heart
disease and some cancers. A diet focused on beans, whole
grains and vegetables contains adequate amounts of protein
without the 'overdose' most meat-eaters get."
Other concerns are allayed by the PCRM as follows:
1. Calcium is easy to find in a vegetarian diet. Many dark,
green leafy vegetables and beans are loaded with calcium,
and some orange juices and cereals are calcium-fortified.
Iron is plentiful in whole grains, beans and fruits.
2. Vitamin B12: There is a misconception that without
eating meat one cannot obtain sufficient vitamin B12, which
is an essential nutrient. This is simply not true. The PCRM
advises: "Although cases of B12 deficiency are very
uncommon, it is im****tant to make sure that one has a
reliable source of the vitamin. Good sources include all
common multiple vitamins (including vegetarian vitamins),
fortified cereals and soy milk."
3. During pregnancy nutritional needs increase. The
American Dietetic Association has found vegan diets
adequate for fulfilling nutritional needs during pregnancy,
but pregnant women and nursing mothers should supplement
their diets with vitamins B12 and D.
4. Vegetarian children also have high nutritional needs,
but these, too, are met with a vegetarian diet. A
vegetarian menu is "life-extending." As children,
vegetarians may grow more gradually, reach puberty somewhat
later, and live substantially longer than meat-eaters. Be
sure to include a reliable source of vitamin B12. Besides
the fortified cereals and soy milk mentioned above, vitamin
B12 is widely available in multiple vitamins, brewers yeast
and other potent dietary supplements.
Those interested in sup****ting or learning more about the
work of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
should visit: http://www.pcrm.org
Converting to Vegetarianism
Making the transition from carnivore to herbivore is not as
hard as you might think. According to the book, The New
Vegetarians, by Sonia Partridge and Paul Amato, 73% of
vegetarian converts stated that the transition was not
difficult. It is easier for people who do some homework on
the subject and have a bit of cooking skill. The time it
takes for people to totally convert varies greatly. About
70% of people make the transition gradually, while 30% stop
all at once. A year is the most transition time to stop
with red meat, which is almost always the first flesh to
go, followed more slowly by fowl and fish.
One recommended method for the transition is to set a
series of goals for yourself. Start simply with getting
through one day without meat. Then, try one weekend, then
one week. Make a realistic timetable for reaching them. Two
to three months might be reasonable for some people while
six months to a year might be better for others. Rewards
can also help. For a major accomplishment such as a week
without meat, treat yourself to a nice vegetarian meal out.
One can also take a formal Hindu vow of vegetarianism,
shakahar vrut, available on-line at
www.hinduismtoday.com/in-depth_issues/veggie_vow/
The vow may be taken privately, before elders or parents or
as part of a temple ceremony. It reads in part, "I accept
the principle of shakahar as the method by which I may
acknowledge my compassion, my karuna, for all living
beings. As an act of dedication, I am resolved this day to
begin (or continue) the regular practice of eating a strict
vegetarian diet and not eating meat, fish, shellfish, fowl
or eggs."
The most common problem with conversion is not knowing
enough about vegetarian diet. Some people who decide to be
vegetarian, have no idea what to eat and end up with soggy
vegetables and undercooked brown rice for breakfast, lunch
and dinner. They become discouraged and rightly wonder how
they will survive. But decent vegetarian food isn't boring.
A little reasearch with books and websites will put your
mind at ease. Get a vegetarian cookbook. Ask restaurant
waiters which menu items are vegetarian.
Vegetarians are often asked "Don't you miss eating meat?"
For about half of beginning vegetarians the answer is yes,
acording to The New Vegetarians. They miss the texture and
flavor of meat in the early weeks and months. Almost
everyone though, gets over this within six months to a year
and for many it becomes nauseating even to think about
eating meat. Eighty-two percent of fully adapted
vegetarians say there is no way they would consider eating
flesh again.
Conclusion
Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami writes, "Modern meats are
killed by chemical treatment of the animals, the hormones
of fear and chemistry of death before and during slaughter,
killed again by refrigerating them, killed again by
grinding them, killed again by preserving them, killed
again by packaging them, killed again by freezing them,
killed again by storing and ****pping them, and finally
really killed by cooking them to death. How can such so-
called food nourish a human being? Why should we ever think
of eating meat, fish, foul, eggs, anything with eyes or, as
some say, with two or more senses. The cock-a-doodle-doo
who wakes us up in the morning is dinner on the table at
night. How gruesome. How ruthless to thus forever close the
eyes of an animal, or have someone else do it for them in
order that they may buy the carcass, closing their eyes to
the fact, which is even worse, and keeping their own eyes
closed to that creature's suffering to consume it without
conscience during jovial small talk over the dinner table.
How easy in turn for such a person to turn and maim or kill
a fellow human in the same way in times of stress as a
natural reaction, in 'justifiable righteousness.'As the Rig
Ved (10.87.16) proclaims: 'One who partakes of human flesh,
the flesh of a horse or of another animal, and deprives
others of milk by slaughtering cows, O King, if such a
fiend does not desist by other means, then you should not
hesitate to cut off his head.'
---------------------------------------------------------
How to Win an Argument with Meat-Eater
---------------------------------------------------------
While it is certainly best to avoid an argument with the
aggressive meat-eater, a lively discussion provides them
useful information and could help save the environment,
their health and solve the world's hunger problem—maybe
even result in a "convert." But be forewarned, these
carnivores may regard nonmeat-eaters as a timid lot who
munch "rabbit food," and whose diet doesn't have the
substance to make them strong, productive human beings. The
following presentation explains the devastating effects of
meat-eating both on individuals and on our planet. It is
based on a poster entitled, "How to win an argument with a
meat-eater," published by Earthsave, of Felton, California,
giving facts from Pulitzer Prize nominee John Robbins'
book, Diet for a New America. HINDUISM TODAY'S version
details ten arguments against meat-eating and in favor of a
vegetarian diet.
The facts you need to change opinion
1. The Hunger Argument: Much of the world's massive hunger
problems could be solved by the reduction or elimination of
meat-eating because the needs of livestock pasture
drastically cuts into the acres of land which could
otherwise be used to grow food. Additionally, vast
quantities of food which could feed humans is fed to
livestock raised to produce meat.
This year alone, twenty million people worldwide will die
of malnutrition. One child dies of malnutrition every 2.3
seconds. One hundred million people could be adequately fed
using the land freed if Americans reduced their intake of
meat by a mere 10%. Eighty percent of the corn and 95% of
the oats grown in the US is eaten by livestock. The
percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through
livestock is calculated by experts as 90%. One acre of good
farmland can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes, or 250
pounds of beef. Fifty-six percent of all US farmland is
devoted to beef production, and to produce each pound of
beef requires 16 pounds of edible grain and soybeans, which
could be used to feed the hungry.
2. The Environmental Argument: Many of the world's massive
environmental problems could be solved by the reduction or
elimination of meat-eating, including global warming, loss
of topsoil, loss of rain forests and species extinction.
Trees, and especially the old-growth forests, are essential
to the survival of the planet. Their destruction is a major
cause of global warming and top soil loss. Meat-eating is
the number one driving force for the destruction of these
forests. Two-hundred and sixty million acres of US
forestland have been cleared for crop land to produce the
meat-centered diet. Fifty-five square feet of tropical rain
forest is consumed to produce every quarter-pound of rain
forest beef. An alarming 75% of all US topsoil has been
lost to date. Eighty-five percent of this loss is directly
related to livestock raising. Another devastating result of
deforestation is the loss of plant and animal species. Each
year 1,000 species disappear due to destruction of tropical
rain forests for cattle grazing and other uses—driven by US
demand. The rate is growing yearly.
3. The Cancer Argument: Those who eat flesh are far more
likely to contract cancer than those following a vegetarian
diet. The risk of contracting breast cancer is 3.8 times
greater for women who eat meat daily compared to less than
once a week; 2.8 times greater for women who eat eggs daily
compared to once a week; and 3.25 greater for women who eat
processed butter and cheese two to four times a week as
compared to once a week. The risk of fatal ovarian cancer
is three times greater for women who eat eggs three or more
times a week as compared with less than once a week. The
risk of fatal prostate cancer is 3.6 times greater for men
who consume meat, eggs, processed cheese and milk daily as
compared with sparingly or not at all.
4. The Cholesterol Argument: The average cholesterol
consumption of a meat-centered diet is 210 milligrams per
day. The chance of dying from heart disease if you are male
and your blood cholesterol intake is 210 milligrams a day
is greater than 50%.
It is strange but true that US physicians are as a rule
ill-educated in the single most im****tant factor of health,
namely diet and nutrition. As of 1987, of the 125 medical
schools in the US, only 30 required their students to take
a course in nutrition. The average nutrition training
received by the average US physician during four years in
school is only 2.5 hours. Thus doctors in the US are ill-
equipped to advise their patients in minimizing foods, such
as meat, that contain excessive amounts of cholesterol and
are known causes of heart attack. Heart attack is the most
common cause of death in the US, killing one person every
45 seconds. The male meat-eater's risk of death from heart
attack is 50%. The risk to men who eat no meat is 15%.
Reducing one's consumption of meat, processed dairy
products and eggs by 10% reduces the risk of heart attack
by 10%. Completely eliminating these products from one's
diet reduces the risk of heart attack by 90%.
5. The Natural Resources Argument: The world's natural
resources are being rapidly depleted as a result of meat-
eating. Raising livestock for their meat is a very
inefficient way of generating food. Pound for pound, far
more resources must be expended to produce meat than to
produce grains, fruits and vegetables. For example, more
than half of all water used for all purposes in the US is
consumed in livestock production. The amount of water used
in production of the average cow is sufficient to float a
destroyer (a large naval ****p). While 25 gallons of water
are needed to produce a pound of wheat, 5,000 gallons are
needed to produce a pound of California beef. That same
5,000 gallons of water can produce 200 pounds of wheat.
Thirty-three percent of all raw materials (base products of
farming, forestry and mining, including fossil fuels)
consumed by the US are devoted to the production of
livestock, as compared with two percent to produce a
complete vegetarian diet.
6. The Antibiotic Argument: Another danger of eating meat
is the fact that large amounts of antibiotics are fed to
livestock to control staphylococci (commonly called staph
infections). The animals being raised for meat in the
United States are diseased. The livestock industry attempts
to control this disease by feeding the animals huge
quantities of antibiotics. Of all antibiotics used in the
US, 55% are fed to livestock. But this is only partially
effective because the bacteria that cause disease are
rapidly becoming immune to the antibiotics. The percentage
of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin, for
example, has grown from 13% in 1960 to 91% in 1988. These
antibiotics and/or the bacteria they are intended to
destroy reside in the meat that goes to market. The
response of the European Economic Community to the routine
feeding of antibiotics to US livestock was to ban the
im****tation of US meat.
In February, 2001, Cornell University re****ted, "Bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow
disease, has now been officially identified in a dozen
European countries including the UK, France, Italy,
Germany, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Liechtenstein, ****tugal,
Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. As a result,
beef sales have fallen by as much as 50% in parts of
Europe." It was the common practice of feeding cows ground-
up sheep brains and parts infected with the related disease
of scarpie which is believed to have started the mad cow
epidemic.
7. The Pesticide Argument: Unknown to most meat-eaters, US-
produced meat contains dangerously high quantities of
deadly pesticides. The common belief is that the US
Department of Agriculture protects consumers' health
through regular and thorough meat inspection. In reality,
fewer than one out of every 250,000 slaughtered animals is
tested for toxic chemical residues. That these chemicals
are indeed ingested by the meat-eater is proven by the
following facts:
a. Ninety-nine percent of the milk of US meat-eating
mothers, contains significant levels of DDT. In stark
contrast, only 8% of US vegetarian mother's milk contains
significant levels of DDT. This shows that the primary
source of DDT is the meat ingested by the mothers.
b. The breast milk of meat-eating mothers has 35 times more
chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides than the milk of
nonmeat-eating mothers.
c. The average breast-fed American infant contains nine
times the permissible level of the pesticide Dieldrin.
8. The Ethical Argument: Many of those who have adopted a
vegetarian diet have done so because of the ethical
argument, either from reading about or personally
experiencing what goes on daily at any one of the thousands
of slaughterhouses in the US and other countries, where
animals suffer the cruel process of forced confinement,
manipulation and violent death. Their pain and terror is
beyond calculation. Most slaughterhouse workers are not on
the job for long and have the highest turnover rate of all
occupations. It also has the highest rate of on-the-job
injury.
In the US alone, 660,000 animals are killed for meat every
hour. The average per capita consumption of meat in the US,
Canada and Australia is 200 pounds per year! The average
American consumes in a 72-year lifetime approximately
eleven cattle, three lambs and sheep, 23 pigs, 45 turkeys,
1,100 chickens and 862 pounds of fish!
10. The Physiological Argument: The final and most
compelling argument against meat-eating is that humans are
physiologically not suited for a carnivorous diet. The book
Food for the Spirit, Vegetarianism in the World Religions,
summarizes this point of view as follows. "Many
nutritionists, biologists and physiologists offer
convincing evidence that humans are in fact not meant to
eat flesh." The book gives seven facts in sup****t of this
view:
1. Physiologically, people are more akin to plant-eaters,
foragers and grazers, such as monkeys, elephants and cows,
than to carnivora such as dogs, tigers and leopards.
2. For example, carnivora do not sweat through their skin;
body heat is controlled by rapid breathing and extrusion of
the tongue. Vegetarian animals, on the other hand, have
sweat ****es for heat control and the elimination of
impurities.
3. Carnivora have long teeth and claws for holding and
killing prey; vegetarian animals have short teeth and no
claws.
4. The saliva of carnivora contains no ptyalin and cannot
predigest starches; that of vegetarian animals contains
ptyalin for the predigestion of starches.
5. Flesh-eating animals secrete large quantities of
hydrochloric acid to help dissolve bones; vegetarian
animals secrete little hydrochloric acid.
6. The jaws of carnivora only open in an up and down
motion; those of vegetarian animals also move sideways for
additional kinds of chewing.
7. Carnivora must lap liquids (like a cat); vegetarian
animals take liquids in by suction through the teeth.
---------------------------------------------------------
More reasons for not eating meat:
Reason 1
Dharm
Vedic Scripture proclaims ahinsa, nonhurtfulness, is a
primary religious obligation in fulfillment of dharm,
divine law.
Reason 2
Karm
By involving oneself in the cycle of inflicting injury,
pain and death, even indirectly by eating other creatures,
one must in the future experience in equal measure the
suffering caused.
Reason 3
Consciousness
By ingesting the grosser chemistries of animal foods, one
introduces into the body and mind anger, jealousy, fear,
anxiety, suspicion and a terrible fear of death, all of
which are locked into the flesh of the butchered creatures.
Reason 4
Health
Vegetarians are less susceptible to all the major diseases
that afflict contem****ary humanity. Thus they live longer,
healthier, more productive lives. They have fewer physical
complaints, less frequent visits to the doctor, fewer
dental problems and smaller medical bills.
Reason 5
Environment
In large measure, the escalating loss of species,
destruction of ancient rain forests to create pasture lands
for livestock, loss of topsoil and the consequent increase
of water impurities and air pollution have all been traced
to the single fact of meat in the human diet.
---------------------------------------------------------
Saints and Scriptures Speak on Vegetarianism
---------------------------------------------------------
Ved, shastras and sutras alike decry the killing and eating
of animals
---------------------------------------------------------
Scriptures of all Hindu denominations speak clearly and
forcefully on nonkilling and vegetarianism. The roots of
noninjury, nonkilling and nonconsumption of meat are found
in the Ved, Dharm Shastr, Tirumurai, Yog Sootr, Tirukural
and dozens of other sacred texts of Hinduism. Perhaps
nowhere is the principle of nonmeat-eating so fully and
eloquently expressed as in the Tirukural, written in the
Tamil language by a simple weaver saint over 2,000 years
ago.
One who partakes of human flesh, the flesh of a horse or of
another animal, and deprives others of milk by slaughtering
cows, O King, if such a fiend does not desist by other
means, then you should not hesitate to cut off his head.
Rig Ved Samhita 10.87.16
Protect both our species, two-legged and four-legged. Both
food and water for their needs supply. May they with us
increase in stature and strength. Save us from hurt all our
days, O Powers!
Rig Ved Samhita 10.37.11
O vegetable, be succulent, wholesome, strengthening; and
thus, body, be fully grown.
Rig Ved
Those noble souls who practice meditation and other yogic
ways, who are ever careful about all beings, who protect
all animals, are the ones who are actually serious about
spiritual practices.
Atharva Ved Samhita 19.48.5
You must not use your God-given body for killing God's
creatures, whether they are human, animal or whatever.
Yajur Ved Samhita 12.32
The ignoble ones who eat flesh, death's agents bind them
fast and push them quick into the fiery jaws of hell
(Naraka, lower consciousness).
Tirumantiram
In waves of ahinsa, all living beings cease their enmity in
the presence of such a person.
Yog Sootr 2.35
Ahinsa is not causing pain to any living being at any time
through the actions of one's mind, speech or body.
Sandilya Upanishad
Having well considered the origin of flesh and the cruelty
of fettering and slaying of cor****eal beings, let one
entirely abstain from eating flesh.
Manu Samhita
The purchaser of flesh performs hinsa (violence) by his
wealth; he who eats flesh does so by enjoying its taste;
the killer does hinsa by actually tying and killing the
animal. Thus, there are three forms of killing: he who
brings flesh or sends for it, he who cuts off the limbs of
an animal, and he who purchases, sells or cooks flesh and
eats it—all of these are to be considered meat-eaters.
Mahabharat, Anu. 115.40
He who desires to augment his own flesh by eating the flesh
of other creatures lives in misery in whatever species he
may take his birth.
Mahabharat, Anu. 115.47
Those high-souled persons who desire beauty, faultlessness
of limbs, long life, understanding, mental and physical
strength and memory should abstain from acts of injury.
Mahabharat 18.115.8
How can he practice true compassion who eats the flesh of
an animal to fatten his own flesh?
Tirukural Verse 251
Riches cannot be found in the hands of the thriftless. Nor
can compassion be found in the hearts of those who eat
meat.
Tirukural Verse 252
Goodness is never one with the minds of these two: one who
wields a weapon and one who feasts on a creature's flesh.
Tirukural Verse 253
If you ask, "What is kindness and what is unkind?" it is
not killing and killing. Thus, eating flesh is never
virtuous.
Tirukural Verse 254
Life is perpetuated by not eating meat. The clenched jaws
of hell hold those who do.
Tirukural Verse 255
If the world did not purchase and consume meat, there would
be none to slaughter and offer meat for sale.
Tirukural Verse 256
When a man realizes that meat is the butchered flesh of
another creature, he must abstain from eating it.
Tirukural Verse 257
Greater than a thousand ghee offerings consumed in
sacrificial fires is to not sacrifice and consume any
living creature.
Tirukural Verse 259
All that lives will press palms together in prayerful
adoration of those who refuse to slaughter and savor meat.
Tirukural Verse 260
My opinion is well known. I do not regard flesh food as
necessary for us at any stage and under any clime in which
it is possible for human beings ordinarily to live. I hold
flesh-food to be unsuited to our species."
Mahatma Gandhi 1869 -1948
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2007/1-3/34-41_vegetarian.shtml
o o o o o o o o o
WHAT IS HINDUISM?
The Home Shrine
How and Why to establish a Holy Room for Wor****p and
Meditation
What is the center of your home? The kitchen, the workshop,
the living room or den? The ancients designated a crucial
part of the home as a sacred sanctuary, a fortress of
purity to which dwellers could retreat before dawn each
day, to commune with their higher nature and with God and
the Gods. This center of spiritual force is called
devatarchanam, the "place for honoring Divinity." Sacred
architecture places it in the northeast corner, the realm
of Isana, where its potency naturally flourishes.
Scriptures speak but little of this tradition, perhaps
because its necessity is taken for granted. Nevertheless,
the custom has lived on, and every prominent devout Hindu
home has a holy shrine room, often opulent, sometimes
austere, the domiciles' most auspicious quadrant, reserved
for religious pursuits, and like a miniature temple,
radiating blessings constantly through the abode and out to
the community.
Love and joy come to Hindu families who wor****p God in
their home through the traditional ceremony known as pooja,
meaning adoration or wor****p. Through such rites and the
divine energies invoked, each family makes the house a
sanctuary, a refuge from the concerns and worries of the
world. The center of that sanctuary, the site of pooja, is
the shrine, mystically tied to the temple to which they
pilgrimage weekly. Pooja is performed daily -- usually in
the early morning, but also in the afternoon or evening --
generally by the head of the house. All members of the
family attend. Rites can be as simple as lighting a lamp
and offering a flower at the Lord's holy feet, or they can
be most elaborate and detailed, with myriad Sanskrit chants
and offerings. The essential and indispensable part of any
pooja is devotion. Without love and reverence in the heart,
outer performance is of little value. But with true
devotion even simple gestures become sacred ritual.
As in a temple, the images or icons of God and Gods are the
focus of the shrine room. These are called murti in
Sanskrit, wor****ped and cared for as the physical body of
the the Divine. Hindus do not wor****p these "idols" per se.
They wor****p God and the Gods who by their infinite powers
spiritual hover over and indwell the image. Murtis of the
Gods are sanctified forms through which their love, power
and blessings flood forth to bless the family. The God's
vibration and presence can be felt in the image, and the
Divinity can use the images as a tem****ary physical place
body or channel. Hindus believe and expect that the God is
actually present and conscious in the murti during pooja,
aware of thoughts and feelings and even sensing the
wor****per's gentle touch on the metal or stone. The great
Adi Shankaracharya, while espousing a strict monism, wrote,
"Although Parabrahman is all pervading, to attain Him one
should accept that He is 'more' present in one particular
place, just as we see Vishnu in the Shaligrama, a small
round stone." The Vaishnava saint Ramanuja similarly
stated, "Although the Lord is all pervading, using His
omnipotent powers He appears before devotees to accept
their devotion through an image."
The Science of Ritual: Pooja is a ceremony in which the
ringing of bells, passing of flames, presenting of
offerings and chanting of mantras invoke the devas and
Gods, who then come to bless and help the devotees. Pooja
is holy communion, full of wonder and tender affections.
Thus the home shrine is a place of tremendous im****tance,
made more and more sacred by the culmulative power of
prayer. Daily pooja is the axis of religious life, and the
pooja room is the heart of the home. Chanting the Ved is
the magic enlivener. In the words of Shri
Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, "The Ved mantras being the
root cause of creation, the mere chanting of Ved mantras
would, by their vibrations, make the Devas appear in
person."
The home shrine is also the locus for private and group
meditation, prayer, mantra recitation and devotional
singing. Its sanctity is protected by never using it for
other purposes. This space is meticulously cared for, kept
immaculate and elaborately decorated to look like a small
temple. It should be well-lit and free from drafts and
household disturbances. The altar is generally close to the
floor, since most of the pooja is performed while seated.
But when there are small children in the home it is often
higher, as to be out of their reach. Pictured in this
Insight (please see hard copy) are "typical" altars
(slightly larger than life) of the four major Hindu
denominations: Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and
Smartism. In truth, Hinduism consists of ten thousand
lineages and more, each with its unique traditions, and as
many variations in home altars as well. Yet, there are many
similarities.
At a Ganesh shrine, for example, an icon, or murti, of the
elephant-headed God is placed at the center of the altar. A
metal or stone image is considered best, but if not
available there are two traditional alternatives: 1) a
framed picture, preferably with a sheet of copper on the
back, or 2) A kumbha, which is a symbol of Ganesh made by
placing a coconut on a brass pot of water with five mango
leaves inserted between the coconut and the pot. The
coconut is husked but the tuft of fibers at the top is not
removed. Most shrines also honor a picture of the guru of
the family lineage, either on the altar or adorning the
walls.
Bathing the God's image is often a central part of pooja.
For this, special arrangements are established at the altar
to catch the sacred water or milk as it pours off the icon.
Most simply, the murti may be placed in a deep tray to
catch the water. After the bath, the tray is removed and
the murti dried off, then dressed and decorated. More
elaborately, a drain is set up so the water flows into a
pot at the side of the altar. If devotees are in
attendance, this blessed water is later served by the
pujari (the person performing the ritual) who places a
small spoonful in each devotee's right palm.
Holy Accoutrements: Pooja implements for the shrine are
kept on large metal trays. On these are arranged ghee
lamps, bells, cups, spoons and pots to hold the various
sacraments. Available from Indian shops, these are
dedicated articles, never used for purposes other than
pooja. Their care, cleaning and poli****ng is considered a
sacred duty. Usual items include: 1) water cups and a small
spoon for offering water; 2) a brass vessel of unbroken,
uncooked rice (usually mixed with turmeric powder), also
for offering; 3) tray or basket of freshly picked flowers
(without stems) or loose flower petals; 4) a standing oil
lamp, dipastambha, that remains lit throughout the pooja;
ideally kept lit all day; 5) a dipa (or lamp with cotton
string wick) for waving light before the Deity; 6) a small
metal bell, ghanta; 7) an incense burner and a few sticks
of incense, agarbhatti; 8) sacraments of one's tradition,
such as holy ash, vibhuti; sandalwood paste, chandana; and
red powder, kumkuma (these are kept it polished brass or
silver containers); 9) naivedya, an offering for the Deity
of fresh fruit and-or a covered dish of freshly cooked
food, such as rice (never tasted during preparation); 10) a
camphor (karpura) burner for passing flame before the God
at the height of pooja; 11) brass or silver pots for
bathing the murti; 12) colorful clothing for dressing the
murti; 13) flower garlands; 14) additional oil lamps to
illumine and decorate the room; 15) a CD or tape player.
Purity: Before entering the shrine room, all attending the
ceremony bathe and dress in fresh, clean clothes. It is a
common practice to not partake of food at least an hour or
more before pooja. The best time for pooja is before dawn.
Each wor****per brings an offering of flowers or fruit
(prepared before the bath). Traditionally, women during
their monthly period refrain from attending pooja, entering
the home shrine or temple or approaching swamis or other
holy men. Also during this time women do not help in pooja
preparation, such as picking flowers or making prasada for
the Deity. Use of the home shrine is also restricted during
periods of retreat that follow the birth or death of a
family member.
Wor****pful Icons: As seen in the main illustrations, the
images enshrined on home altars vary according to lineage
and denomination. All icons, however, are either
anthropomorphic, meaning human in appearance;
theriomorphic, having animal characteristics (for example,
Lord Hanuman, the monkey God); or aniconic, meaning without
representational likeness, such as the element fire, or the
smooth Shaligrama stone, wor****ped as Lord Vishnu. Other
objects of enshrinement include divine emblems or
artifacts, including weapons, such as Durga's sword; animal
mounts, like ****v's bull; a full pot of water, indicating
the presence of the Devi; the sun disk, representing
Soorya; the holy footprints or sandals of a God or saint;
the standing oil lamp; the fire pit, mystic diagrams called
yantra; water from holy rivers; and sacred plants, such as
the tulsi tree. All these are honored as embodiments of the
God or Goddess. The Ved enjoin: "The Gods, led by the
spirit, honor faith in their wor****p. Faith is composed of
the heart's intention. Light comes through faith. Through
faith men come to prayer, faith in the morning, faith at
noon and at the setting of the sun. O Faith, give us
faith!"
---------------------------------------------------------
Do Hindus Wor****p Idols?
By Sadhu Shantipriyadas, Swaminarayana Fellow****p
From the moment the Vedic rites are completed and a statue
or painting of the Deity is consecrated, the Lord through
the image manifests all His glory and grace. He accepts
various devotions. He listens to prayers and woes. He is at
once a confidante and giver of blessings. Thus, an image
cannot be said to be merely a beautiful statue or doll, nor
an excellent painting. The image is God.
Said Swami Vivekananda, "It has become a trite saying that
idolatry is bad, and everyone swallows it at the present
time without questioning. I once thought so, and to pay the
penalty of that, I had to learn my lessons sitting at the
feet of a man who realized everything from idols. I allude
to Ramakrishna Paramahansa. Yet, idolatry is condemned.
Why? Some hundreds of years ago, some man of Jewish blood
happened to condemn it. He happened to condemn everybody
else's idols except his own. If God is represented in any
beautiful form or any symbolic form, said the Jew, it is
awfully bad; it is sin. But if He is represented in the
form of a chest with two angels sitting on either side, it
is the holiest of holies. If God comes in the form of a
dove, it is holy. But if He comes in the form of a cow, it
is heathen superstition, condemn it..."
Over the centuries, in their condescending haste and
missionary fervor to convert the rest of the world to the
"One and only correct faith, and to commit the souls of the
otherwise damned to God," various religions have condemned
image wor****p with fanatic zeal. This has led to a shallow
refutal of image wor****p and a misinterpretation of the
Hindu image wor****ped. To complicate the issue, image
wor****p is also frowned on by some professing Hindus.
The question of image wor****p will be debated for years to
come. Here it suffices to say that with the ancient Hindus
image wor****p was not left to be treated as an ignorant and
useless practice fit only for the ignorant and spiritually
immature; even the greatest visited mandirs and wor****ped
images, and these thinkers did not do so blindly or
unconsciously. A human necessity was recognized, the nature
of the necessity was understood, its psychology
systematically analyzed, the various phases of image
wor****p, mental and material, were defined. The modern
Hindu follows in footsteps of his forebearers. Through the
image, the eye is taught to see God, and not to seek God.
The first lesson received at the sanctum is to be applied
everywhere: see God in everything!
---------------------------------------------------------
A Hindu Home Is More than a House
By V. Ganapati Sthapati, Master Architect, Chennai
In Indian architecture, the dwelling is itself a shrine. A
home is called manushyalaya, literally, "human temple." It
is not merely a shelter for human beings in which to rest
and eat. The concept behind house design is the same as for
temple design, so sacred and spiritual are the two spaces.
The "open courtyard" system of house design was the
national pattern in India before Western models were
introduced. The order introduced into the "built space"
accounts for the creation of spiritual ambience required
for the indweller to enjoy spiritual well-being and
material welfare and prosperity.
At right (please see hard copy) is a typical layout of a
square building, with a grid of 9x9=81 squares, meant for
family persons (for yogis, scientists and artists, a grid
of 8x8=64 is prescribed). The space occupied by the central
3x3=9 squares is called Brahmasthanam, meaning the "nuclear
energy field." It should be kept unbuilt and open to the
sky so as to have contact with the outer space (akasha).
This central courtyard is likened to the lungs of the human
body. It is not for living purposes. Religious and cultural
events can be held here -- such as yajna (fire ritual),
music and dance performances and marriage.
The row of squares surrounding the Brahmasthanam is the
walkway. The corner spaces, occupying 2x2=4 squares, are
rooms with specific purposes. The northeast quarter is
called Isana, the southeast Agni, the southwest Niruthi and
northwest Vayu. These are said to possess the qualities of
four respective devatas or Gods -- Isa, Agni, Niruthi and
Vayu. Accordingly -- with due respect to ecological
friendliness with the subtle forces of the spirit -- those
spaces (quarters) are assigned as follows: northeast for
the home shrine, southeast for the kitchen, southwest for
master bedroom and northwest for the storage of grains. The
spaces lying between the corner zones, measuring 2x5=10
squares, are those of the north, east, south and west. They
are meant for multi purposes.
For home wor****p, griha pooja, the Deity icon should be
smaller in size than in a temple. The agreeable and
generally recommended height of the standing image without
pedestal is one's own fist (mushti) size, measured with the
thumb raised.
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2007/1-3/42-45_shrine.shtml
o o o o o o o o o
WHAT IS HINDUISM?
Visiting a Hindu Temple
A guide to the inner and outer workings of Hindu places of
wor****p
The Hindu temple is a sacred space where man and God
commune. It is the home of God and the Gods. Within these
sacred abodes, priests conduct pooja rites -- presenting
flowers, water, incense, lights, food and other choice
offerings -- to honor God and the Gods and invoke their
presence and blessings.
In this Insight, we explore the experience of attending a
temple, drawing from Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's
wisdom on the mysticism of Hindu wor****p. While basic
customs described here are common to temples of all
traditions, we focus mainly on the style of pooja done in
the temples of South India.
---------------------------------------------------------
God and the Gods are real beings; they are not mere symbols
or figments of imagination. If you could view the temple
from the inner worlds, you would see a brilliant ray coming
from the Third World right into the temple on the physical
plane. This ray allows communication similar to a live
video conference. The priest opens the connection by
performing pooja wor****p. When the pooja is performed with
loving devotion, the ray becomes strong and inner doors
open from God's world to ours; the angelic helpers, called
devas, hover around and through the temple, and blessings
pour out to the devotees. A Hindu temple's devonic rays
have the power to transform the course of karm, open inner
doors to new op****tunities, assuage long-held hurts and
provide inner visions equaling the fullness of devotion.
---------------------------------------------------------
Devotion in Hinduism is known as bhakti. it is an entire
realm of knowledge and practice unto itself, ranging from
the child-like wonder of the unknown and the mysterious to
the deep reverence which comes with understanding of the
esoteric interworkings of the three worlds. Hinduism views
existence as composed of three worlds. The First World is
the physical universe, the Second World is the subtle
astral or mental plane of existence in which the devas, or
angels, and spirits live, and the Third World is the
spiritual sphere of the Mahadevas, the Deities, the Gods.
Hinduism is the harmonious working together of these three
worlds. Religion blossoms for the Hindu as he awakens to
the existence of the Second and Third Worlds. These inner
worlds naturally inspire in man responses of love and
devotion and even awe. They are that wonderful.
Devotion in Hinduism occurs on many levels and at different
cycles of time in the evolution of the soul. All forms of
devotion are equally valid, and none claims itself as the
only proper form of wor****p. There is devotion to the
tribal Deities, to the scriptures, to the saints and to the
satguru. But the most prevalent expression of wor****p for
the Hindu comes as devotion to God and the Gods. In the
Hindu pantheon there are said to be 330 million Gods. Even
so, all Hindus believe in one Supreme Being who pervades
the entire universe.
The many Gods are perceived as divine creations of that one
Being. These Gods, or Mahadevas, are real beings, capable
of thought and feeling beyond the limited thought and
feeling of embodied man. So, Hinduism has one God, but it
has many Gods. There are only a few of these Gods for whom
temples are built and pujas conducted. Ganesh, ****v,
Subramaniam, Vishnu and Shakti are the most prominent
Deities in contem****ary Hinduism. Of course, there are many
others for whom certain rites or mantras are done in daily
ceremony, often in the home shrine. These include Brahm,
Soorya, Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Agni, Chandr, Ayyappan,
Hanuman, Mariyamman and others.
The Hindu traditionally adopts an Isht Devata. This is a
personal Deity chosen from the many Hindu Gods, often
according to the devotee's family background or the feeling
of closeness to one form of divine manifestation. It is the
unique and all-encompassing nature of Hinduism that one
devotee may be wor****ping Ganesh while his friend wor****ps
Subramaniam or Vishnu, and yet both honor the other's
choice and feel no sense of conflict. The profound
understanding and universal acceptance that are unique in
Hinduism are reflected in this faculty for accommodating
different approaches to the Divine, allowing for different
names and forms of God to be wor****ped side by side within
the temple walls. It may even happen that one may adopt a
different personal Deity through the years according to
one's spiritual unfoldment and inner needs.
The Hindu religion brings to us the gift of tolerance that
allows for different stages of wor****p, different and
personal expressions of devotion and even different Gods to
guide our life on this Earth. Yet, it is a one religion
under a single divine hierarchy that sees to the harmonious
working together of the three worlds. These intelligent
beings have evolved through eons of time and are able to
help mankind without themselves having to live in a
physical body. These great Mahadevas, with their multitudes
of angelic devas, live and work constantly and tirelessly
for the people of our religion, protecting and guiding
them, opening new doors and closing unused ones. The Gods
wor****ped by the Hindu abide in the Third World, aided by
the devas that inhabit the Second World.
It is in the Hindu temple that the three worlds meet and
devotees invoke the Gods of our religion. The temple is
built as a palace in which the Gods reside. It is the
visible home of the Gods, a sacred place unlike every other
place on the Earth. The Hindu must associate himself with
these Gods in a very sensitive way when he approaches the
temple.
Though the devotee rarely has the psychic vision of the
Deity, he is aware of the God's divine presence. He is
aware through feeling, through sensing the divine presence
within the temple. As he approaches the sanctum sanctorum,
the Hindu is fully aware that an intelligent being, greater
and more evolved than himself, is there. This God is
intently aware of him, safeguarding him, fully knowing his
inmost thought, fully capable of coping with any situation
the devotee may mentally lay at His holy feet. It is
im****tant that we approach the Deity in this way --
conscious and confident that our needs are known in the
inner spiritual worlds.
The physical representation of the God, be it a stone or
metal image, a yantra or other sacred form, simply marks
the place that the God will manifest in or hover above in
His etheric body. It can be conceived as an antenna to
receive the divine rays of the God or as the material body
in or through which the God manifests in this First World.
Man takes one body and then another in his progression
|
