QUES ANSW DIVINE 27
Dear friends, These are information posted by members compiledas QA by me in 1998’s-2000’s and stored in my computer. At this date I have noinformation of the members posted. Being compilation there may be errors Posted by RGopala krishnan,78 ,on 23-10-2021 Q1 What is the one common idealwith all religions? A1 Allreligions have one common ideal, worship of the Lord, and all of themproclaim that there is but one God. This oneGod accepts your devotion irrespective of the manner of your worship, whetherit is according to this or that religion. So there is no need to abandonthe religion of your birth and embrace another. The temple, the church, the mosque, the vihara may be different fromone another. The idol or the symbol in them may not also be the same and therites performed in them may be different. But the Paramatman whowants to grace the worshipper, whatever be his faith, is the same. Q2 Do Hinduisam advocateconversion? A2 Allreligions that practise conversion employ a certain ritual. For instance, thereis baptism in Christianity. Hinduism has more ritual thanany other religion, yet its canonical texts do not contain any rite forconversion. Nobetter proof is needed for the fact that we have at no time either encouragedconversion or practised it. Q3 How do the rise and fall ofany religion occur? A3 Whenwe listen to the story of the Buddha, when we see again and again his imagesthat seem to exude the milk of human kindness, compassion and tranquilityspring in our own hearts and we feel respectful towards him. People must have beenattracted to him thus during his time. However,in later times, there was a moral decline in the Buddhist monasticestablishments will be seen from MattaVilasam written by Mahendra Pallava. Thiswork shows how Buddhism came to be on the decline and demonstrates that the riseor fall of a religion is dependent on the quality and character of itsspokesmen. Q4 Do conversion among peopletake place by accepting the principles of that religion? A4 Sorry the answer is a bigNO. Christianity extended its influence during times of famine. It is alsosaid that Islam was propagated with the sword, that masses of people were forcedto join it by force of arms. Hereagain there is proof of the fact that that the common people do not adopt areligion for the sake of any principle or out of any interest in itsphilosophical system. There is one matter to consider. The padres [Christianmissionaries] converted mainly people living in the ceris [that is people onthe outskirts of a village or town]. Their usual procedure was to tell thesepoor folk that they were kept suppressed inthe religion of their birth and offer them inducements in the form of freeeducation and medical treatment and the promise of a better status. Duringthe time of the Buddha many adherents of the Vedic religion embraced hissystem. In later centuries many Hindus became converts to Christianity orIslam. Jainashave become Vaisnavas with the name of "Pustimargins". Duringthe time of Sri Ramanuja a number of people went over to the Visistadvaita(qualified non-dualism) fold. Similarly,Sri Madhva's school of Dvaita or dualism also gained many adherents. When Adi Sankara held sway, non-Vedic religions like Buddhism andJainism suffered a decline The factis that the vast majority of the followers of any faith know precious littleabout the beliefs or doctrines on which it is founded. I believe that the growthor expansion of a religion is in no way related to its doctrines. The common people do not worry about questions of philosophy . On theother hand, a religion will decline and decay if its spokesmen, howevereloquent they are in expounding its concepts, are found to be guilty of lapsesin character and conduct Q5 Do Hinduism was a Universal Religion? A5 In the dimpast what we call Hinduism today was prevalent all over the world. Archaeological studies reveal the existence of relics of our Vedic religionin many countries. For instance, excavations have brought up the text of atreaty between Rameses II and the Hittites dating back to the 14th century B.C. In this, the Vedic gods Mitra and Varuna are mentioned as witnesses tothe pact. There is a connection between the name of Ramesses and that of ourRama. In Mexico a festival iscelebrated at the same time as our Navaratri; it is called"Rama-Sita". Wherever the earth isdug up images of Ganapati are discovered here In Peru, during the time of the holy equinox[vernal? ] worship was conducted in the sun temple There isbook containing photographs of the aborigines of Australia dancing in the nude(The Native Tribes of Central Australia, by Spencer Killan, pages 128& 129). A close look at the pictures, captioned "Siva Dance",shows that the dancers have a third eye drawn on the forehead. Nowsomething occurs to me in this context, something that you may find amusing. Youknow that the Sagaras went on digging the earth down tothe nether world in search of their sacrificial horse. An ocean came into being in this way and itwas called sagara after the king Sagara. The Sagaras, at lastfound the horse near the hermitage of Kapila Maharsi. Anotheridea occurs to me about Sagara and sahara. Geologists believe that ages ago the Sahara desert was anocean. It seems to me that Sahara is derived from sagara. Indianswent to these lands, destroyed the old native civilizations there and imposedHindu culture in their place. Alternatively, they claim, Indians thrust theirculture into the native ways of life in such a way that it became totallyabsorbed in them. Thefact, however, is that evidence is to be found in many countries of their Vedicconnection dating back to 4, 000 years or more. That is, with the down ofcivilisation itself, aspects of the Vedic dharama existed in these lands. Itwas only subsequently that the inhabitants of these regions came to have areligion of their own. Greece had an ancient religion and hadbig temples where various deities were worshipped. TheHellenic religion had Vedic elements in it. The same was the case with theSemitic religions of the pre- Christian era in the region associated withJesus. The aborigines of Mexico had a religion of their own. They shared theVedic view of the divine in the forces of nature and worshipped them as deities.There was a good deal of ritual in all such religions. Now noneof these religions, including that of Greece, survives. The Greek civilizationhad once attained to the heights of glory. Now Christianity flourishes inGreece. Buddhism has spread in Central Asia and in East Asia up to Japan. Accordingto anthropologists, religions in their original form exist only in areas likethe forests of Africa. But even these ancient faiths contain Vedic elements. You mustbe familiar with the story of Adam and Eve which belongs to the Hebrewtradition. It occurs in the Genesis of the Old Testament and speaks of the treeof knowledge and God'scommandment that its fruit shall not be eaten. Adam at first did not eat it but Eve did.After that Adam too ate the forbidden fruit. Here an Upanisadic concept has taken the form of abiblical story. But because of the change in the time and place theoriginal idea has become distorted-or even obliterated. It is well known that theBudhha attained enlightenment under the bodhi tree . But the pipal (pippala)was known as the bodhi tree even before his time. Q6 Everybody knows aboutPuri jagannatha temple. What is the speciality of dressing Gods in the temple? A6 Sri Jagannath Krishna, His brother Sri Balabhadra Deva and Hissister Sri Subhadra are worshipped in Puri in the famous Vishnu temple. Depending on the VedicDate (Tithi), the deities adorn different Vesha. The word 'Vesha' means form and can be loosely translated as outfit orcostume. The dais on which the three deities are seated is called the RatnavediSimhasana. Ratna refers to the gems and precious stones as well as 108 conchesof various auspicious markings which areembedded on the dais. The three deities are dressed in differentoutfits for different occasions starting with the Mangala Arati(the first prayer offered in the Brahma Muhurta or early hours at about 4.00AM). Thelast prayer is the Ratri Pahuda. Reg the Ganapati Vesha or Hati Vesha -On the full moon day of the month of Jyestha,after the bathing ceremony is over, the Deities are dressed in elephantcostumes. Lord Jagannath and Lord Balabhadra are made to look like Ganapati(Ganesh, the son of Shiva and Parvati). Reg the vamana vesha- On the12th day of the bright fortnight Bhadra, Lord Jagannath isdressed like the dwarf brahmin Vamana, who defeated the demon Bali. Vamana Devais one of the das avatars, the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Reg the Ghodalagi Vesha -Duringthe period from the 6th day of the bright fortnight of Margasira to the 5thday of the bright fortnight of Magha (Basanta Panchami) the Deities wear winterclothes. Q7 What is the importance ofkanchi? A7 Kanchi is oneof the seven Mokshapuris -sacredcities by living in which or by death therein man gets emancipation from birthand death. Fiveimportant sacred places of Siva worship in South India are collectively called "Panchabhuta-Kshetras". Of these five, Kanchi is the Prithvi-kshetra. Q8 Do Kanchi kamakoti petam hasestablished any university? A8 yes.Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham has established a Deemed University - Sri ChandrasekharendraSaraswati Viswa Mahavidyalaya at Kancheepuram with an International Library. Variousdisciplines are taught at colleges affiliated to the University. Q9 Which are the most importanttemples in kancheepuram? A9 Kancheepuram is a city oftemples: Some of the most important temples in Kancheepuramare for Sri Kamakshi Ambal, Sri Ekambaranatha, Sri Varadaraja, SriKailasanathar, Sri Vaikunta Perumal, Ulakalantha Perumal, etc ***Sri Adi Sankara, afterhis various tours through most parts of India, settleddown at Kanchi to spend His evening years. Hecaused to remodel the city and reconstruct the three principal temples -SriKamakshi, Sri Ekamranatha and Sri Varadaraja. At Kanchi he established a Mathfor himself and founded a line of successors after him on the Peetha. My note- *** There are different versionson settemnt of Aadi Sankara Q10 Is there any version thatSankaracharya was a partial incarnation? A10 Yes. In the Bhagavad Geeta, Lord Krishna has toldArjuna that, whenever there arises danger to Dharma, He (Krishna) willincarnate in this world to eradicate adharma and re-establish Dharma. Inconsonance with His words, the Lord has made partial incarnations during thecourse of the present Kali Age. And such an incarnation is thepartial incarnation of Siva as Sankara Bhagavatpada, which happened sometwenty-five centuries ago, on theprayer of celestials to Lord Siva to redeem Bharata-desa from the clutches ofnon-Vedic and heretic sects. Monthsafter Sivaguru and Aryambal had returned to Kaladi, a male child was born toAryambal, on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of the Vaisaka month of thecyclic year Nandana (509 B.C.). Q11 Everybody knows aboutkanakadhara sthothram recited by sankaracharya. What is the story about it? A11Having had his upanayanam at the age of five, Sankara was sent to a localpatasala for studying the Veda. One forenoon, during his rounds for collectingbiksha (alms), Sankarahappened to stop in front of a poor man's house and uttered the usual word ofrequest for biksha -"Bhavati bikkshamdehi". The ladyof the house came out and saw the lustrous little brahmachari. She went in andsearched for something for offering to the boy. But there was nothing in thehouse to offer. Shepicked up a dry amla fruit and dropped it in Sankara's bowl. The boy looked atthe woman and noticed the lines of poverty and sorrow writ large on her face. He begansinging the praise of Sri Mahalakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, in fine Sanskritverses. And lo! Mahalakshmi stood above the house. Sankara requested theGoddess to provide the means for the livelihood of the inmates of that house. The Devi caused a shower ofgold amalakas on that house. The eighteen verses ofSankara's prayer to Lakshmi go by the name "KanakadharaStotram". Q12 Everybody knows the story ofSankaracharya caught by the crocodile inthe river and affirming Sanyasa from the day got released by the crocodile.Question- Being sanyasin why did he performed the last rites of his mother? A 12Aryamba his mother asked Sankara to comehome. Sankara told her that from that day, the wide world was his home andwhoever offered him alms was his mother. Aryamba asked him as to who wouldperform her funeral rites if she died in his absence. Sankara consoled hissobbing mother saying that he would be by her side whenever she chose to thinkof him and that he would perform the due rites on her death. Q13 What is the story of sageVyasa blessing Sankaracharya? A13 Takingleave of his preceptor, Sankara left the Narmada bank and in course of timereached Kasi, also known as Varanasi, situated on the bank of the sacred Ganga,as desired by his preceptor. Sankara's stay at Kasi was for about four years. One day, when Sankara wasseated at the Manikarnika Ghat in Varanaasi, Sage Vyasa came here,disguised as an old Brahmin. He saw ayoung ascetic sitting amidst numerous disciples and looking like Siva with hisattendants Vyasa asked the disciples who the boy ascetic was. They replied"Oh! Old man! This is Sankara Then Vyasa got near the groupof disciples and sat before Sankara. A longand heated debate ensued between the two on the purport of some of Vyasa'sBrahmasutras. At a particular stage, Sankara learnt from a hint of hisdisciple, Padmapada, that the old man was Sage Vyasa in disguise and bowedbefore him. Immensely satisfied with Sankara's exposition of the Brahmasturas, Vyasablessed Sankara and departed along with Brahma who had gone over there to grantan extension of life to Sankara. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/382115201.303333.1634956107565%40mail.yahoo.com.
