[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
Re: Milk for Lord Ganesha
-
Subject: Re: Milk for Lord Ganesha
-
From: aq974@lafn.org (Bon Giovanni)
-
Date: 12 Oct 1995 22:42:51 GMT
-
Approved: srh <srh@rbhatnagar>
-
Article: 386 of soc.religion.hindu
-
Newsgroups: alt.religion.vaisnava, soc.culture.indian, soc.religion.hindu
-
Organization: The Los Angeles Free-Net
-
References: <1995Oct7.051424.26458@lafn.org> tippy toeing up to a fascist and POW
-
Reply-To: aq974@lafn.org (Bon)
-
Xref: news.ece.uc.edu!babbage.ece.uc.edu alt.religion.vaisnava:4701 soc.culture.indian:228218 soc.religion.hindu:386
--@@@@-------------@@---------------------------
-@@--@@-----------------------------------------
-@@------@@@@-----@@@---@@-@@@---@@@@----@@-@@--
--@@@@------@@-----@@----@@@-@@-----@@--@@@@@@@-
-----@@--@@@@@-----@@----@@------@@@@@--@@-@-@@-
-@@--@@-@@--@@-----@@----@@-----@@--@@--@@-@-@@-
--@@@@---@@@-@@---@@@@--@@@@-----@@@-@@-@@---@@-
------------------------------------------------
When one knows thee, then alien there is none,
then no door is shut. Oh, grant me my prayer that
I may never lose the bliss of the touch of
the one in the play of many.
-Gitanjali
In a previous article, the humble Vaishnavite Sri Susarla
offers:
>>Most of the Iskcon devotees were not too surprised that Ganesha would
>>accept milk through his deity form. After all, unlike the modern day
>>mayavadis, we never accepted the bogus theory that the deity in the
>>temple is simply an inanimate mud statue.
Sri Susarla did not specify what modern day mayavadis do any such thing
as he alludes to, and I ask if he simply makes these things up as he
goes along. He goes along to add:
>>All this makes me quite uneasy. As far as the Vaisnavas are concerned,
>>we never denied Ganesha's existence, and so our faith has not really
>>been altered. But there are many people whose faith has come simply as
>>a result of this, and I have to wonder if such faith is healthy,
>>tempered by scriptural guidelines, or if it will be blind, as in the
>>case of those who follow India's many self-professed "Gods" who
>>manifest magic tricks to lure the naive.
My goodness, who can the fellow be referring to as a self professed
GOD who manifests magical fishing lines. And who do you suppose those
naive fish are? Could they be Vaishnavites, heaven forbid?
I think Sri Sri Sri Susarla is telling fish stories, but should I err, I
enclose a number of unattributed quotes from various sources. Those who
think, well, talk like Sri Susarla are welcome to show which quotes are
from Bon, which from Vaishavites, ISKCONites, or `mayavadin' or GODS doing
sleight of hands as the lad describes whomever that might be.
For the fun of it, no quote marks are shown, but all quotes in one
paragraph are from the same person. Lest it be too easy, the names Siva
Naryana, The Supreme, The Supreme Person etc, have all been changed to
either the Lord, or God, or the Omnipresent.
Enjoy.
*+*
1:
You must have been told that common people in Indian believe that, when
thunderclaps are threatening overhead, the recitation of Arjuna's Nine
Names in a row will save them for a bolt falling on them. This is proof
of the power not only in the Names of God, but also which that of His
devoted adherents- ever pure and in contact with the Absolute- has over
the elements. That is the reason why Aradhana or worship of the
Presence is offered even to great devotees like Thyagarja and Kabir.
They have no identity of their own, they have become one with the
limitless, through the worship of the limited.
*+*
2.
" There is only one God and He is omnipresent ". True; but to
concentrate on the omnipresent, some fixed point or preliminary form is
needed. And to conceive of the Divine as present everywhere at all
times the mind of man is to be clarified and purified by means of
certain psychological processes called Sadhanas. This is the reason
why not only among the followers of Hinduism but even among Christians
and Buddhists, regular rituals are prescribed for the worship of idols
of God. Cynics question the validity of the type of adoration and say
that will only confirm faith in a superstition. "Can God be a stone or
a piece of paper ?", they ask. This attitude is not correct. By
adhering to the traditionally laid down ritual worship, many aspirants
have attained the vision of the Omnipresent, and stayed in that
incommunicable bliss. In fact, puja (formal worship, at regular hours,
with the recitation of hymns and songs) is the very first step in the
spiritual pilgrimage. Many seekers have undoubtedly achieved an
awareness of God by years of asceticism among jungle caves. But,
starting early with Puja and continuing with scrupulous care, the rites
of Archana, Bhajana and Aradhana (offering of flowers with the
repetition of God's Name, singing His Glory, and adoring Him as a
Living Presence) are more fruitful and satisfying. Meerabai, Sakkubai,
Surdas, Kabirdas, Sankaracharya, and many other saints and realized
souls have proved in their lives that the t~me, attention and energy
spent in these religious practices are well spent. They were able by
Aradhana only to visualize the Divine in the specific form which they
used as the instrument.
*+*
3.
The entirety of English literature is made up of permutation and
combination of the 26 letters in the alphabet. The Puja, Archana,
Aradhana are as the letters of the spiritual alphabet. The collection in
time of the various items necessary for the worship needs hours-long
concentration on the Divine. The Puja itself may take another hour or two
of concentrated and purificatory attention, and the performer rises up,
after the recitations and the meditations, a stronger and steadier pilgrim
on the path.
*+*
4.
The Omnipresent is not absent in the icon or the picture. We do not
reduce God and shut Him up in a stone image; we affirm and realize
that He is in the icon also. We raise the image to the dimensions of
the Absolute, expand the picture far beyond its frame and through
the processes of sadhana we become aware that the picture can be made
a tool for the mind to escape from its limitations.
*+*
5.
The sixteen modes of worship laid down in the Sastras help to make the
aspirant aware that he is in the very Presence, and that every gesture
and movement of his has to be motivated by devotion and dedication.
This ensures the purification of the mind of man from ego and all its
brood of blemishes. This is Chitta-Suddhi, the cleansing of all
levels of one's consciousness.
*+*
6.
The basic chittha has to be freed from down-dragging impulses. Of what
good is it to cook a rare and costly dish in a vessel contaminated by
dirt? Of what good is it to plant a precious seed in rocky soil? Puja
or Archana offered without a purified heart is sheer waste of time.
But, even a short sincere session of Puja spent in Divine Awareness
yields much fruit. Thiruthondar, a Tamil saint, has confessed that he
engaged himself in the worship of the Lord's idol in order to
cleanse his mind. Care has to be taken that you do not notice the
stone- for that instant, the Divine will disappear from view. The
material and the Form are inseparable, but, the seeker must dwell on
the Form which he desires to be manifested in all its glory rather
than the material. He must dwell long and deep over the thought that
God is found through every particle in the universe, that He is not
bound by any limitations of space and time.
*+*
7.
When the Maharaja of Alwar in Rajasthan argued before Swami
Vivekananda that God can never be perceived in a picture drawn by an
artist, Vivekananda called upon the Prime Minister who was standing
reverently by, to get the Maharaja's portrait down from the wall and
spit on it! He said, "You need not hesitate. The Maharaja says it
is just a blotch of colors on a bit of canvas and that we should not
be confused with the idea that it is the Maharaja." But,
everyone at the Durbar withdrew in fear. The picture of the Maharaja
was for them an object worthy of adoration.
*+*
The authors will be shown soon, and the works from which these excerpts
were drawn.
Enjoy.
*+*
--
*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*
Whatever a fine person does, so will others do; people effect behaviour
by example. -Bhagavad Gita 3:21
*%*%*%*%*%*%*%**%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%**%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*%*
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Moderator: Ajay Shah Submissions: srh@rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu
Administrivia: srh-request@rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu
Archives: http://rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu:8080/soc_hindu_home.html
