Free Will and conscious
Doing is our job.God
has given us the free will to decide and to act and we face the consequences of
those decisions and actions accordingly.
Mahabharat
and especially battle of kurukshetr is the perfect example of this. Krishna
went to Hastinapur and spoke to Duryodhan, learn to share, there is enough in
this world for you and Pandavas to enjoy happily. If you don't want to share
equally atleast give five villages to Pandavas. After all what you took from
them is not yours - they built it with their hardwork which you took away by
cheating.
Duryodhan
ignored Krishna's advice. Krishna also gave him an option to choose to listen
to his advice or take his army. Duryodhan again ignored him and took the army.
Pandavas
chose to listen and act on Krishna advice.
But it
was Pandavas who acted, who fought who did everything not Krishna..He only
adviced.
Everybody
has to act for himself. God is not going to act on anyone's behalf whether the
person is the good guy or the bad guy.
Yudhishthir
did not listen to his conscience and gambled everything, his brothers did not
listen to their conscience and stop him either. They suffered the consequences
for it and learned from it. Krishna did not come and make the dice favourable
for Yudhishthir.
Good guy
only ever wins when he listens to his conscience before he acts and if he
doesn't he will lose inspite of the fact that he is a good guy.
Animal Sacrifice
Our
scriptures always use the words preferable and avoidable while
telling us about the various deeds of our lives.
So
vegetarianism is preferable and meat eating is avoidable.
Now
coming to sacrifice. Sacrifice means to give up something that you value or
cherish. While worshipping Gods a sacrifice symbolizes of our devotion to them
by our willingness to happy give up those things that we cherish.
A devotee
therefore sacrifices those things that he seems valuable, a meat eater would
sacrifice meat, but a vegetarian will not
Scriptures are very
clear that you have to sacrifice what you think is valuable. It's never a compulsion
that it has to be done.
Jenau
Upaveetam,
Poonal, Janey or sacred thread is not restricted for. Brahmins only.
This
sacred thread symbolises a vow taken by the bearer that he will abide by the
principles and rules specified in the Vedas and fullfill all his duties
specified in the scriptures for that time period in his life or what is called
as Ashrama Dharma
The
thread is worn for the first time during Upanayana Sanskar where A thread with
3 strands are worn to symbolise the vow of Brahmacharya. This vow is that the
person will remain celibate and dedicate his time to acquiring spiritual
knowledge and profession skills and devote himself to the service of his Guru,
he will not acquire or enjoy material pleasures and subsist on alms/stipend. A
person is initiated into pursuit of knowledge by recitation of Gayatri Mantra.
After
taking the vow and wearing the thread the person becomes twice born or Dwija. A
Dwija may be a Brahman or a Brahmachari.
The word
Brahmacharya is syncretic of Brahman and Acharan (Acharan means behavior) so
during this period a person promises /vows to behave like a Brahman whatever
his caste maybe.
Brahman's
behavior is pursue knowledge, avoid material pleasures and subsist on basic
necessities recieved as alms or stipend.
At the
time of marriage a person gives up the vow of Brahmacharya and takes the vow of
Grihasta. At this point a second thread with three strands is added to signify
the additional vows taken. that the person who has acquired the spiritual
Knowledge and professional skills will now use them to fulfill his duties
towards his parents, his wife and children and society. He/she will acquire
wealth and prosperity through his hardwork and honest means and abide by rules
and law laid down by the society.
In
ancient times both men and women would wear the upaveetam after taking the vow
with due ceremony. No sacred ceremony could ever be performed by anyone who was
not wearing it.
Now only
Brahmin males follow this tradition, infact situation has become so sad that it
has just become an occasion for family gathering and show off ceremony. Some
people even go to an extent where they just do a formal ritual for namesake
before marriage, as a priest cannot marry you in traditional ritual without the
thread. But with a civil or registered marriage even this is not needed.
Such an
inspirational and beautiful custom has been sadly lost to modernity.
Destiny /
Future / Results
In Hinduism a person's knowledge or
devotion towards our Gods does not direct his/her destiny, rather his deeds
decide his destiny.
Mantras and
strotas are used when we meditate on God to connect with our inner conscience
which is part of the God. The atma that is the ansh of Parmatma. We try to
forge this connection with the help of Mantras and strotas to help it
communicate with us better and advice us on what is a good deed and what is a
bad deed.
The prayers
are not for him to listen to us but for us to remember to listen to him and to
our conscience before we do our karma to ensure it is right
Knowledge
and wisdom
Knowledge
is knowing Fire burns, Wisdom is not to put your hand in it.
Ravana
was scholar he had knowledge of many things but he did not have the wisdom to
use the knowledge for his betterment.
Detachment
Detachment
does not mean giving up everything to be a sanyasi. Detachment means avoiding
selfishness, nepotism and greed
Detachment
means sacrificing your desires for the sake of well being of your family.
Sacrificing your family's desires for the sake of well being of society and
sacrificing a society's desires for the sake of well being of environment.
(Aforesaid has been compiled
from write up by Preeti from Tamil Nadu)
