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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com)

 

One must offer obeisance to saintly souls

 

CHENNAI, OCT. 3. One among the glorious traditions in Hinduism is

to offer salutations to men of integrity who are God-fearing,

spiritually well-equipped and observing all religious rules. It

is not mere age of the persons to whom one should give such

respects that counts. These elders can be identified by their

experience and knowledge and impeccable truth. Also such

distinguished persons may be young, like one who may, by Divine

grace, adorn the seat of a religious institution.

 

Another important aspect of our spiritual exercise is to offer

our prayers before commencing a venture, particularly when a holy

book is to be written. The invocatory verse will plead with God

that this task should be successful and impediments in the way

should be cleared. The focus in all sacred texts is that others

whom we revere are wiser than us and that we are smaller when

compared to their intelligence. This quality of humility is

taught in all our scriptural injunctions.

 

In a discourse, the Sankaracharya of Sakatapuram mentioned how a

person, who had acquired some mystical powers and was proud of

the same, foolishly attempted to display the same, before a

famous saint and got utterly defeated. A pious man who was averse

to his marriage but was however forced to resort to family life,

suddenly left his home and uttering a lie before a Sanyasi, got

initiated into the holy order. But after some years, the saint

came to know about his disciple's false statement when a woman

complained to him about her husband deserting her. The saint

asked his disciple to atone for his sin in having left his wife

and asked him to go back home and maintain his family. One among

his four sons was Dhyaneshwar who turned a great religious

torchbearer of Maharashtra. To him came the man who claimed he

could perform miracles. He arrived riding on a tiger to

demonstrate his superiority. But Dhyaneshwar removed his vanity

by a display of his own merits and the former regretted at his

insolence.

 

Believers in God should receive the blessings of men of stature

who possess admirable good qualities. A story is related about a

king who waited for the arrival of a Sanyasi and when the latter

was sighted, the former fell at his feet and received him with

reverence. But people were surprised at the ruler's act as the

Sanyasi was not so popular among the people and that he did not

deserve all the respects paid to him. The king replied that he

showed the courtesy to the monastic seat he occupied and to the

ochre robe he wore.

 

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