RE: Shri Mani's Request

[Guest guest]

This morning as I was reading through the old postings about Shri Mani's

Request and all the mail in

conjunction with that, I just had to give my penny's worth.

 

Mr. Prasad :

I am 23 years of age. Three years ago, I was not at all involved in any

kind of learning. What I knew

was what my parents had taught me. Not about our Sampradayam, but about

how one should live. I used to pray,

and be devoted, but never did I think of life in terms of devoting one

self to Sriman Narayana. When I first joined this

group, I was a confused person(with no interest in learning about the

Sampradayam) as I used to feel that all

these things are just to discriminate. After I joined this group, at

first I did not understand anything at all, but after

I read it again and again, I was able to understand the true meaning of

life. During the days when Shri Joyshula,

Shri V. Sadagopan, Shri Jagannath Bharadwaj were main contributers and

the rest of the people were listeners(

in terms of email). If we notice, even though we have the learned

company of Shri V. Sadagopan, and

Shri Jagannath Bharadwaj, we have a lot more participants. Many of the

participants in this group are in the age

group you had mentioned a lot of them are students.

 

When we talk of Objectivity : We should think of what we want from it.

For example: I knew the acharams : things

like what I am supposed to be doing being a Vaishnava, but I was never

introduced to its history, or for that matter

the main essence. This is what I wanted from the group and that is what

I got out of it. In this group the people are

so learned, that if we want we can learn quite a lot from them.. not just

about Vaishnavism but also life in

general. We need to realize that no matter what the objective of the

group is, we will only learn what we want

to learn out of it. There is a saying "Playing drums in front of a

rock". The statement is different but

for this purpose I had to change it. Many a times as kids our parents

told us so many things .. I for one heard

what I wanted to hear. IF they said something other than that, I would

get up and walk away. This statement may

not be of relevance here but I bring this up because we need decide on

our own objectives. Another such example is

when we send our resume we state our objectives and try to stick with

them where ever we go!!!

 

About turning youth away, I agree to this to a certain point, but may I

add something? If interested, it does not matter.

We have friends, whose 9 year old kid reads these postings, though he

does not understand what is being said,

he reads and asks questions. On the other hand, I know of a couple who

is in their mid thirties.. who find ways to not

learn about our Sampradayam. I feel that no matter what we say to this

couple they will not change their idea and

attitude, likewise no matter we say to this little 9 year old he will not

change his attitude either. Ofcourse for people

not interested this group, the discussions will feel outdated. (I can't

anymore to this.)

 

We have to decide on how we want to live. History and information will

never be fast pace. It will be slow,

but what will make it lively is way one adapts to it.

 

Sorry for the long post, but had to give my penny's worth.

 

Manjula