Hinduism
Developed systems of Hindu practices
Hindu practices generally involve seeking awareness of God and
sometimes also seeking blessings from Devas. Therefore, Hinduism has
developed numerous practices meant to help one think of divinity in the
midst of everyday life. Hindus can engage in puja (worship or
veneration), either at home or at a temple.
At home, Hindus often create a shrine with icons dedicated to their
chosen form(s) of God. Temples are usually dedicated to a primary deity
along with associated subordinate deities though some commemorate
multiple deities. Visiting temples is not obligatory, and many visit
temples only during religious festivals. Hindus perform their worship
through icons (murtis). The icon serves as a tangible link between the
worshiper and God.
The image is often considered a manifestation of God, simce God is
imminent. The Padma Purana states that the murti is not to be thought of
as mere stone or wood but as a manifest form of the Divinity. A few
Hindu sects, such as the Arya Samaj, do not believe in worshiping God
through icons.
Cultural traditions
Hinduism has a developed system of symbolism and iconography to
represent the sacred in art, architecture, literature and worship. These
symbols gain their meaning from the scriptures, mythology, or cultural
traditions. The syllale Om (which represents the Parabrahman) and the
Swastika sign (which symbolizes auspiciousness) have grown to represent
Hinduism itself, while other markings such as tilaka identify a follower
of the faith. Hinduism associates many symbols, which include the lotus,
chakra and veena, with particular deities.
Chanting style
Mantras are invocations, praise and prayers that through their
meaning, sound, and chanting style help a devotee focus the mind on holy
thoughts or express devotion to God/the deities. Many devotees perform
morning ablutions at the bank of a sacred river while chanting the
Gayatri Mantra or Mahamrityunjaya mantras. The epic Mahabharata extols
Japa (ritualistic chanting) as the greatest duty in the Kali Yuga (what
Hindus believe to be the current age). Many adopt Japa as their primary
spiritual practice.
Rituals
The vast majority of Hindus engage in religious rituals on a daily
basis. Most Hindus observe religious rituals at home, but observation of
rituals greatly vary among regions, villages, and individuals. Devout
Hindus perform daily chores such as worshiping at dawn after bathing
(usually at a family shrine, and typically includes lighting a lamp and
offering foodstuffs before the images of deities), recitation from
religious scripts, singing devotional hymns, meditation, chanting
mantras, reciting scriptures etc.
A notable feature in religious ritual is the division between purity
and pollution. Religious acts presuppose some degree of impurity or
defilement for the practitioner, which must be overcome or neutralised
before or during ritual procedures. Purification, usually with water, is
thus a typical feature of most religious action.
Concept of merit
Other characteristics include a belief in the efficacy of sacrifice
and concept of merit, gained through the performance of charity or good
works, that will accumulate over time and reduce sufferings in the next
world. Vedic rites of fire-oblation (yajna) are now only occasional
practices, although they are highly revered in theory.
In Hindu wedding and burial ceremonies, however, the yajna and
chanting of Vedic mantras are still the norm.
Life-cycle rituals
The rituals, upacharas, change with time. For instance, in the past
few hundred years some rituals, such as sacred dance and music offerings
in the standard Sodasa Upacharas set prescribed by the Agama Shastra,
were replaced by the offerings of rice and sweets. Occasions like birth,
marriage, and death involve what are often elaborate sets of religious
customs. In Hinduism, life-cycle rituals include Annaprashan (a baby’s
first intake of solid food), Upanayanam (“sacred thread ceremony”
undergone by upper-caste children at their initiation into formal
education) and Sraddha (ritual of treating people of feasts in the name
of the deceased).
For most people in India, the betrothal of the young couple and the
exact date and time of the wedding are matters decided by the parents in
consultation with astrologers.
On death. Cremation is considered obligatory for all except sanyasis,
hijra, and children under five. Cremation is typically performed by
wrapping the corpse in cloth and burning it on a pyre.
Source; Wikipedia
Folk deities and animal sacrifice
Thilaka V. Wijeratnam
Folk deities were actually men and women who had sacrificed their
lives to save the lives of others - human beings or animals. In life
they were looked upon as demigods and in death they were deities.
Monuments and temples built in their names, and festivals held annually.
Knowing their taste for food when alive, the simple village folk make
and offer food to their taste. If they enjoyed eating meat, the village
folk sacrifice a fowls or goat and offer it to the ‘man become god’.
That’s perhaps how animal sacrifice started in the interior villages
of Thamil Nadu. Such temples are seldom found among Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Only in a few temples in Sri Lanka folk deities are offered animal
flesh - this is village tradition not Hindu tradition. One such folk
tale is of the dumb deity’s temple.
It seemed in a small village several kilometres away from Chennai,
the people were all of the farming community. The village is “Sinna Koi
Pan Kulam”. Almost all houses had cows and calves. The cow herd who
tended them has died. At the same time one elderly resident saw a middle
aged man sleeping in the travellers rest in the village. When he put him
up and asked who he was, the newcomer couldn’t talk. Realising he was
dumb, the elder, by signs asked him, if he would tend the cattle. The
dumb man agreed.
Daily he would go from house to house, untie the cattle and herd them
to the wood to graze. He had a flute. At noon he would play a note and
all the cattle would gather under a tamarind tree close to him and lying
down keep chewing the cud till it is cool. Then they would step into a
small pond close by drink the water and bathe - again they stroll away
to graze. At sun set the cowherd would play another note. The cattle
will collect under the tree. He would bring them back to the village.
Life went on smoothly for the cowherd, the cattle and the villagers.
One day while the cattle rested under the tree, the dumb man dozed.
As it by intimation, he woke up with a start. He was horrified to see a
cobra about to strikes one of the cows. He at once rushed there and held
the snake by its neck. Angered, the snake wriggled struck him. But still
keeping his hold on its neck, he lost consciousness and finally embraced
death. The cows stood around him with tears in their eyes.
Long after sun set, finding the cattle were not brought back, the
village folk came with lanterns to see him dead and the cows standing
round him with tears in the eyes. He still held the snake which had also
died. “Here’s a man who sacrificed his life to save our cattle”
exclaimed the people.
They buried him then and there. They thought there should be
something divine in him to give up his life for the cattle. Soon he was
deified as the “oomar samy” - dumb deity-they built a temple for him as
the guardian angel of the cattle.
Source: Kalani Ooran / Courtesy: Kalki Pongal Issue
Thiruketheeswaram Temple in Mannar:
The lord, myths, legends and traditions
Shanmugam Arumugam
Continued from February 19
Poets, priests, kings and emperors for a long time afterwards
established and retained the sanctity of this holy sthalam by erecting
temples and noble edifices for worship - for, was it not here that the
Lord long to appear in person and thus take abode? The event is narrated
in the Vishnu Puranas:
Attempts
“Indra, the Chief of the Devas who were fast depleting due to
casualties in their war against the Avunar, approached Brahma and
besought Vishnu’s aid for obtaining Amirtha” the elixir of long-life and
the beverage of immortality. The elixir which was obtained after some
preliminary unsuccessful attempts at churning the depths of the milky
ocean, was shared among the Devas.
An Avunan too had however managed to obtain a share by imposition and
his head was promptly cut off at the neck by Vishnu, but it was too
late. The elixir had been swallowed by the Avunan, and he therefore
cannot die.
Reached Lanka
The miserable pittance of the head without the body and the body
without the head was relieved, by these being made into Rahu and Kethu
and given a place in the planetary system. Kethu, however, in order to
propitiate his sin wandered from place to place and ultimately reached
the shores of Lanka where he performed very austere and severe penances
and thapas in the name of the Lord. Ultimately He was blessed with the
Lord’s Grace and Dharshan and in commemoration of that event, the place
became to be known forever as Thiru Ketheeswaram.
Charles Pridham, the celebrated historian, describes the event in his
book on Ceylon, under the title “celebrated churning of the ocean by the
Gods and Asuras in order to produce Amirta, the Liquor of Immortality.”
“One Asura sat among the Gods and thus obtained a share of the precious
drink. The Sun and the Moon observed this and pointed him out to... who
promptly cut his head; but the magic liquor had already conferred
immortality on him.
Traditional custom
“Brahma transformed him into two heavenly bodies. The tail or body
became a comet and the head a planet sign called Rahu.”. Another legend
is found in the Skanda Purana, an ancient work in Sanskrit, the
antiquity of which is unknown. It consists of 2500 verses grouped into
27 Chapters and had been handed down in accordance with the traditional
custom as oral discourses by the Guru to his disciples in this case by
Sootha Munivar to the Naimisaraniya Munivars.
Of particular interest to us are three Chapters of the Skanda Purana
which have been given the title of “Dhakshana Kailasa Manmiam” and deals
with historical events in ancient Ceylon.
The first chapter narrates about Puranas in general and the splendour
that was of ancient Ceylon; the second chapter relates about the
celebrated places of religious importance in Ceylon and the story of
Thiruketheeswaram. In this chapter is narrated the incident of how, at
one time long ago, the God of Wind (Vayu Bhagavan), uprooted the three
towers of the great mountain (Maha Meru) in order to keep off Athichedan
who fought against him and who was obstructing the great mountain by
thousands of adorned summits resembling serpents’ heads and deposited
one of these towers at Thiruketheeswaram. The Lord established Himself
there, at Thiruketheeswaram.
According to the Manmiam, Thiruketheeswaram along with Koneswaram are
two of the nine most sacred sthalams of the Hindus. The other seven are
in India.
Sanmugam Arumugam (1905) hails from an orthodox Hindu family in
Nallur, Jaffna.
Mystic poets and Hinduism
K S Sivakumaran
Poetry gives inspiration. Most Hindu thoughts are embedded in verses.
The mystics among the Hindus expressed their super consciousness in
short poems which came to them spontaneously. Some of them are difficult
to understand. One common factor in all these men was that they break
themselves, free from organized religions and rituals. They sought
communion with nature and acquired a keen sense of perception. They
traced God in everything and reported their findings in unmistakable
terms. They had a direct vision. They did not depend upon reason. We
know so little.
Think of the immensity of space and the myriads of sun and the number
of planets circling around the sun - the variety of beings living in
them, the Gods, religions and philosophies they might have. Science has
widened our vision but not to that extent the mystics see. Think of the
charms of solitude, mountain caves and deep forest glades when craving
for wealth or fame.
The mystics saw God in everything and everywhere and felt that they
have no separate existence except Him. They saw only ONE when we see
many. Our presumptions are ridiculous. We are only worms. Yet we think
of our pride. With only five senses and an ounce of intellect we presume
that we have read God’s plans. We don’t realize that God is
immeasurable.
Of course we are definitely superior to lower beings which are
endowed with only one or two or three or four senses. By the same logic
the mystics might have developed intuition reaping into inspiration. In
the search of evolution we are only a link.
This ideal will not be acceptable to the practical people of the
world. Why? Because it destroys our bloated Ego. We have our own plans
conceived in selfishness.
Instead of seeing God in everything we see the Devil. That is why we
are destroying our own kind. Reason is tottering on our throne and world
is turning into a lunatic asylum.
On the other hand if this ideal is accepted this very world becomes a
paradise. We can live in peace and also allow others to the right to
live in God’s kingdom.
This had been preached in the past and will be preached in the
future. But only those who are free from desire will understand it. The
rest will continue to pursue this mad pursuit.
God is the greatest of poets. This universe is his poem coming in
verses and rhymes and rhythms. Remember Alexander Pope’s poem on man?
The lines echoes and reaches the sentiments of the Hindu Mystics...
For instance, Pope felt: “All men parts of One stupendous Whole whose
body nature is; and God the Soul.” That is Hinduism summarized in two
lines.
Scriptures in Hinduism
Hinduism is based on “the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws
discovered by different persons in different times”. The scriptures were
transmitted orally in verse form to aid memorization, for many centuries
before they were written down.
God Vishnu |
Radha and Krikshna |
Over many centuries, sages refined the teachings and expanded the
canon. In post-Vedic and current Hindu belief, most Hindu scriptures are
not typically interpreted literally. More importance is attached to the
ethics and metaphorical meanings derived from them. Most sacred texts
are in Sanskrit. The texts are classified into two classes: Shruti and
Smriti.
Shruti
Shruti primarily refers to the Vedas, which form the earliest record
of the Hindu scriptures. While many Hindus revere the Vedas as eternal
truths revealed to ancient sages , some devotees do not associate the
creation of the Vedas with a god or person. They are thought of as the
laws of the spiritual world, which would still exist even if they were
not revealed to the sages.
Hindus believe that because the spiritual truths of the Vedas are
eternal, they continue to be expressed in new ways. There are four
Vedas. The Rigveda is the first and most important Veda. Each Veda is
divided into four parts: the primary one, the Veda proper, being the
Sanhita, which contains sacred mantras.
The other three parts form a three-tier ensemble of commentaries,
usually in prose and are believed to be slightly later in age than the
Sanhita. These are: the Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and the Upanishads.
The first two parts were subsequently called the Karmakana
(ritualistic portion), while the last two form the Jnanakanna (knowledge
portion). While the Vedas focus on rituals, the Upanishads focus on
spiritual insight and philosophical teachings, and discuss Brahman and
reincarnation.
Smritis
Hindu texts other than the Shrutis are collectively called the
Smritis (memory). The most notable of the Smritis are the epics, which
consist of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
The Bhagavad Gita is an integral part of the Mahabharata and one of
the most popular sacred texts of Hinduism.
It contains philosophical teachings from Krishna, an incarnation of
Vishnu, told to the prince Arjuna on the eve of a great war. The
Bhagavad Gita, spoken by Krishna, is described as the essence of the
Vedas. However Gita, sometimes called Gitopanishad, is more often placed
in the Shruti, category, being Upanishadic in content.
The Smritis also include the Puranas, which illustrate Hindu ideas
through vivid narratives. There are texts with a sectarian nature such
as Devi Mahatmya, the Tantras, the Yoga Sutras, Tirumantiram, Shiva
Sutras and the Hindu Agamas. A more controversial text, the Manusmriti,
is a prescriptive lawbook which emptomizes the societal codes of the
caste system.
Source: Wikipedia
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