Why Hindus visit temple?

I have been asked several times by my foreign  friends - Why Hindus visit temples?
After researching and talking to few experts, I found few reasons. Apart from spiritual need, people went to temple for social and scientific reasons.

Darshan: We visit temple for Darshana or see the 'sight' of the supreme lord. This helps the devotee to connect the god mentally and emotionally. It also help in concentrating fully with god and forgetting the rest of the universe around us. This 'Dhyana' or mediation creates vacuum in our continuous flow of thoughts that facilitate to attain peace.

Idol: God is humanized in the form of 'idol' that helps devotee to concentrate on an object. It gives a definite shape or form to our imaginary thoughts. In addition, every god or supreme power has certain characteristic to his/her personality and we ultimately wish to have them or improve in those area.

Rituals: Rituals in Hinduism are in different form. One set of rules are for temples and another for personal life. Temple rituals revolves around "pranpratishtha" or installing the idol of a deity in the temple with proper rituals of invoking god/goddess with sanskrit chanting, bathing the idol with milk, water, honey, clarified butter and yogurt (panchamrut i.e. 5 nectors or liquids), dressing up with cloth, flowers, ornaments, offering food and singing bhajan (devotional songs).

Every ritual invokes human 5 senses - touching(touching the deity), seeing(seeing the deity), tasting (panchamrut), smelling (flowers, camphor, and other things), hearing (the chanting, arti, bhanjan)...bring 'self' the present state or in temple completely.

On daily basis the worshiping is done in smaller scale to invoke and sleep the god in the form of idol. The same process is followed at home in much smaller scale.

There are other rituals in Hinduism are meant for social occasions such as marriage, and death and so on... this signifies the life and meaning we have for every part of the life and the way we accept and respect it. These rituals associated with the special occasions reminds us our duty or role or 'dharma' during that phase. Most of them are beneficial and scientifically  proven. For example, the silver toe rings are part of acupuncture  therapy that regulates uterus function in women and avoid diseases associated with. It also improve a sexual desire in women and therefore forbidden for unmarried  or widows to wear them.

Concept of Brahma: This concept remind us the value of I. I am Brahma. So do others. The temple may have one of more deities whom we worship or devote ourself with the concept of I am one part of the universe. I am also God. The devotion teaches us to let go off "I" that is main cause of stress and conflict in the personal and professional life.

Architecture: Most ancient temples have magnificent architecture that have scientific as well as spiritual significance. The scientific meaning of the temple architecture is associated with the scientific construction that includes the decor, angles, lights, the environment and the other things.

The common features of the temples are:
1. Central sanctum enshrines for the main deity
2. Secondary sanctums are for other deities such as Ganesha, Nandi and so on...
3. The space for the trained priest to perform rituals
4. The space in-front of the main deity is for devotees to stand/sit to worship or attend the Arti
5. The outside areas  either within the temple premises or outside the temple premises meant for public for attending social functions or discourse
6. There is additional space for devotees for pradkshana or parikrama or walk around the garbha graham or main section of the temple, but this is within the premises/external boundaries of the temple.

Pradaksihina or Parikrama: The reasons behind pradkshana is - we consider god is center part of our action, our thought and our world. When we go around, we keep the deity at the center of the gravity and consider it as the main focus of our existence. This concept usually helps devotees to consider to take life as it comes or consider this is devoted to the god /universe and we all are part of it. This is one of the ways to keep our mind balanced and peaceful by removing the focus from 'self' or 'I'.

The role Temples in Society: Temples, in general, played a larger role in the society that provided educational, social support in addition to providing them an emotional, and a spiritual support. Most temples in ancient India were also served as educational institutes or gurukul and the center for social gathering in the evening. The additional space within the temple is provided to people to held social rituals and ceremonies. The spiritual guru used the same space to give the discourse that taught most to stay away from materialistic, physical or emotional vices. The environment also helped to inculcate the basic virtue through friendship, forgiveness, humility, tolerance, courage, guidance and more...thus improving overall improvement.

Don't glorify suicide; just glorify heroism

Glorifying the Suicide: It is tragic loss of life when ‪#‎PratyushaBanerjee‬ made a decision (or pushed into). However, she was responsible for it when other options were also available to her. Instead of fighting, she chose to flight...This is not a decision that can be rectified once made. Life is precious, god given and expected to make it meaningful. 

Friends and family knew (who are now talking on TV) are equally responsible along with her boyfriend as they could have provided better support system for her to get out of bad relationship. I wonder if the 'false ego' or 'extreme pride' makes a person inhumane that teaches to boost only success and avoid talking about issues/failures, then it is useless. We are failing to create the support system for our close friends and family to confide their fears, failure, issues in their lives. 

Respect the Life...this message would be more appropriate than glorifying the suicide. Otherwise, nonsense 24/7 senseless coverage would do more harm to the society than good to encourage a weak person to take such route. 

Although Hema Malini said correctly, "One must come out of odds & emerge successfully, not succumb under pressure. The world admire fighter, not loser", her last part was bit harsh as none knew the reality what a person went through to take such drastic decision. But, definitely she is right on - Be A Fighter.

Every person faces 'ups and downs' in life and we learn from public figure how they face the setbacks gracefully and emerge as winner. I remember Amitabh Bacchan's interview with Simi Garewal where he was talking about transition from superhero to character role and his life before 'kaun banega crorepati' and they way he narrated was so humbling, intense and inspiring. This teaches how successful people face the downfall and rise again in their life...

When we learn how to become successful, why we forget to learn how to face setbacks...

Fight, don't Flight...

#life #suicide #love #career #fight #inspiration #success 

Second Spring by Sandhya Jane: A Reader's view

This is an extensive analysis about "Second Spring" written by Ankita Chauhan. 

INTRO 

When I took a first glance of this book, literally I thought “Second Spring” is nothing but another love story that makes you travel a bit into dreamy land and ends with some obvious happy ending. But here author surprised me this book is lot more than just a love story. Not only you enjoy every bit of it plus you learn from every twist and turns of its protagonist life.

STRUCTURE 

Basically it is a story of a single mother, Avantika who is bold and beautiful in every aspect of life. She always believed in “not to lean on others shoulder” but when she met Rohan Rana she felt a sudden urge towards him due to his innocence. She got confused first but later on the connection been made. Though the feeling was mutual yet their relation couldn’t work out and they separated. 

No matter how much you try feelings take time to overcome. Avantika was trying to get over that pain with some spiritual learning and she accomplished it… suddenly Rohan reappeared and how things changed..? 

NARRATION 

Here I want to say that I admired the way Author narrated the whole story. The way she creates scenes is stupendous. While reading the whole image was in front of my eyes.. it was like a smooth journey where I met few interesting characters which made me realize about balance in life through their experiences. 

CORE 

Sometimes you don’t want to read just to get more stories, you read because you want to enjoy their little lovely or dark moments. If you feel the same, this book is for you cause author tried to create a whole life in front of us, you feel their pain, you smile with their happy moments. So I loved the book. Must say it is a healthy one but you couldn’t stop once you get started reading it. 

Generally we can’t take interest or we don’t have that much power to perceive what is happening behind the lighted glimmering world of corporate. This book is passage for you to know about their personal life. How they face challenges when it comes to relation. 

Source:

http://soundingwords.blogspot.hk/2016/02/book-review-second-spring-by-sandhya.html

Second Spring - READER’S MOMENT

This is copied from Ankita Chauhan's Blog

• Love in Life is never a battle of 'win' or 'loss' but a journey of unconditional acceptance.” 
• Love has a tendency to go out of the window when promises go awry, reality sets in, and responsibilities take over.
• Women are emotional and proud creatures. They need to be respected and cherished in a relationship or else things don’t work out. 
• Life comes with no guarantees. Who knows whether the next day’s sun will dawn at all? Best to savor everything right now. 
• I loved the anonymity that a mega city brought to my life. Nobody cared who you were or what you did, you were just a speck in the crowd. 
• Loving someone selflessly would mean praying for his or her happiness whether you are part of that happiness or not.
• If you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt. Once we cross the deepest part of hurt, it doesn’t hurt anymore. You become part of the eternal journey of love… no hurt, no worries, and one just prays for the wellbeing of other person —that’s true love for you. Innumerable poets and philosophers throughout history have tried to figure it out— partially or incompletely. Love is a destined journey. 
• Perfect maturity is to understand why your loved one did what they did, although their actions hurt you, hurting them back is not an option. 

Overall, It’s an light hearted fiction, If you want to spend a beautiful weekend. Go For it.

http://soundingwords.blogspot.hk/2016/02/book-review-second-spring-by-sandhya.html

Business Analysis: Feasibility Study in Business analysis

Business Analysis: Feasibility Study in Business analysis

Richard, Thank you for your feedback. Would appreciate if you remove the business link from the comments. If you wish to promote your services, pls write to us - info@anisans.com

Poems inspired by - Second Spring: Sandhya Jane

#secondSpring  #bestseller #contemporaryromance #lovestory #SandhyaJane  #romance #Poem, #poetry #novel #book #life #love #longing #inspiration

International Women's Day: Role, Responsibility and Realization

On this Women's Day, I salute my mother and all those other women who silently and selflessly work for the betterment of their families, and in effect the society. In their endeavour to help their spouses and kids, they often surrender their own identity. This, mind you, is one of the biggest sacrifices made by countless women across the globe.

Having said that, I am often reminded of a favourite topic from the 1980s and 1990s urban India: Women’s Lib.

A few days ago while again thinking about that subject, some questions criss-crossed my mind. In the name of that “liberation” (real or a derived one) are we actually losing out on something bigger? Doesn’t that freedom also entail a strong sense of “responsibility”? What about the larger consequences for the institutions of family and society?

These questions are tricky and their answers manifold.

Actually social changes are so tedious that sometime it takes decades before they even manifest themselves for better or for worse. Therefore, the latent benefits of traditional values are neither understood nor appreciated by most of us.

The “Hum do, humare do” (We two, ours two), or these days “We two ours, one” family culture, together with the economic independence achieved by women have added that strong sense of individualism to the modern society, especially in the urban scenario. Thus, making modern women (and men) feel oppressed when sharing home with their parents, in-laws or other elders of the family. These days, a joint family may just include parents of either spouse or both. For instance, in Mainland China, the government’s ‘One Child Policy’ has resulted in parents of both spouses often sharing a home together!

In India, lack of presence of elders at home is leading to depletion of age-old knowledge and wisdom among youngsters that has conventionally been passed one generation to the next. As a consequence, we have been very slow in realizing the value-based upbringing that present day kids have been missing out. In fact, tradition is actually the backbone that has kept our culture alive for centuries in the Indian family system.

Interestingly, compared to several other ancient civilizations, the Hindu civilization has managed to retain its continuity over the past several millenia. According to Indian politician and economist Subramanian Swamy, the Hindu civilization is among the 46 ancient civilizations listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). While 45 other civilizations have disappeared, the Hindu civilization is the only one that has survived. The traditional family system has played a key role in helping Hindus retain their culture and tradition despite 800 years of Islamic rule and 200 years of Christian rule under the British East India Company.

Some of us may like to argue about availability of plenty of knowledge in other different modes; but I personally feel that valuable time could be lost just trying to 'judge' the relevance of that information.

The impact is being felt not only in India, but most part of the globe. The Time magazine’s recent cover story ‘I, Me & Myself’ makes for an interesting read.

The young minds today are swayed by popular media that essentially promotes this 'I, me and myself' culture, which is neither good for individuals, families or the society; of course the same isn't good for a nation too. It only serves to foster an increased sense of greed and lack of empathy, which lead towards a highly materialistic yet empty lifestyle, with possibly negative impact on both personal and professional lives of individuals.

So is there is a real need for us to revisit traditional value systems, including the joint family, as they may have a hugely positive impact on youngsters. If such arrangement isn’t feasible, we can make up for that through simple acts such as celebrating festivals together or taking family vacations.

While letting go of that 'deceived sense of freedom', let us think of our children and their future so that they learn the basic value of life such as ethics, love and sacrifice, ultimately, learning to lead a contended and peaceful life.

It may sound somewhat primitive, but it doesn’t take a lot to ponder over the benefits of imbibing centuries old wisdom.