Guest guest Posted June 19, 2002 Report Share Posted June 19, 2002 Ravi, Excellent thought ! Subramanian. _______________ The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 20, 2002 Report Share Posted June 20, 2002 Dear Sir, Does not the act of praying itself have some merit? Allow me to pose a question: Who is a better person? one who does his Nityanikham albeit mechanically or one who ignores it altogether? Also it is said that the act itself (without knowledge) is beneficial one example is the story (?) behind Sivaratri (one of the many) regarding the tiger, hunter, and the bilva tree. I do agree with you, if we perform a non obligatory act,say a ritualisitc puja or havan or some such and do not perform it with due devotion and correctness, it is a heinous crime. This according to many puranas is an insult to the invited deity. I remember my grandmother used to chant the shlokas (simple ashtakams and panchakams ) almost involuntarily while performing chores and while looking after us, infact she would forget the line she was chanting and would repeat it or start at a totally different point! I in all my ignorance (or excessive learning and new found knowledge at that time I was attending veda classes in my school)used to feel that this was empty lip service and used to tell her so. But I am slowly beginning to realise otherwise... The comparison of the mind to a monkey reminded me of the 6th chapter in Gita where Arjuna poses the same question (Vs 33-34)to the Lord and prompted me to read that chapter again, all the Vs in this chapter are very relevant thank you very very much! And the last line reminded me of the dialogue between Hemalekha and Hemachuda, chapter 10 where the King scolds his wife for disturbing his imersion into bliss (She makes him open his eyes ) She replies by saying that how flimsy is your bliss if it can only be realized by closing the eyes... I find that an amazing and powerful statement... Evertime I read it there is something new to understand Devi saranam vishy --- Ravisankar Mayavaram <miinalochanii wrote: > Yesterday, I was reading a book -- the comment there > struck me > strongly. What use is the prayer without attention > and love? It is > like playing a tape-recorder in the puuja room and > walking away to > watch TV. An absent minded prayer or observance of > ritual is no > different or worse than this -- yet how often our > minds jump like a mad > monkey from one topic to another while the hands > roll over the beads!!. > > > May shrii miinaaxii forgive me all that lack of > shraddhaa and bhakti. > > On a lighter vein -- Once a man asked a priest -- > guruji can I smoke > while I am praying. His teacher replied. No, but you > can pray while you > are smoking. -- May be to *start with* one can > engage in useful wordly > activities and think about shriimaataa in background > (at least once in > a while) instead of sitting in HER altar and > thinking of about > everything except HER. > > ===== > ambaaL daasan > > Ravi > > sharaNAgata raxakI nivEyani sadA ninnu nammiti > mInAxI > > http://www.ambaa.org/ > http://www.advaita-vedanta.org > > > > - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup > http://fifaworldcup. > - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup http://fifaworldcup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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