[Guruvayur/Guruvayoor] Doubts about Hinduism and Marriage .

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HARI AUM

 

Very illuminating

 

Keep posting such good ones.

 

Regards

 

Balagopal

 

NARAYANA NARAYANA NARAYANA

 

 

--- Krishnadaya <krishnadaya wrote:

 

> Om Namo Narayanaya ,

> Dear Devotees ,

>

> Many doubts about Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) were

> cleared by the teachings of Paramacharya

> Chandrasekharendra Swamigal ( Late Seer of Kanchi

> Matha ). Please find below the excerpts of couple of

> His write-ups for your kind information :

>

> Distinctive Features of Sanatana Dharma

> Our religion has a number of unique or distinctive

> features. One of them is what is called the theory

> of karma, though this theory is common to religions

> like Buddhism which are offshoots of Hinduism.

>

> What is the karma doctrine? For every action there

> is an equal and opposite reaction. There is an

> ineluctable law of physics governing cause and

> effect, action and reaction. This law pertaining to

> physical phenomena our forefathers applied to human

> life. The cosmos includes not only sentient beings

> endowed with consciousness but also countless

> insentient objects. Together they constitute worldly

> life. The laws, the dharma, proper to the first

> order must apply to the second also. According to

> the karma theory, every action of a man has an

> effect corresponding to it. Based on this belief our

> religion declares that, if a man commits a sin, he

> shall pay the penalty for it. Also if his act is a

> virtuous one, he shall reap the benefits thereof.

>

> Our religion further asserts that one is born

> again and again so as to experience the consequences

> of one's good and bad action. " Do good. " " Do not do

> evil, " such are the exhortations of all religions.

> But Hinduism (and its offshoots) alone lay stress on

> the cause-and -effect connection. No religion

> originating in countries outside India s to

> the cause-and-effect connection, nor to the

> reincarnation theory as one of its articles of

> faith. Indeed religions originating abroad hold

> beliefs contrary to this theory and strongly oppose

> the view that man is born again and again in order

> to exhaust his karma. They believe that a man has

> only one birth, that when his soul departs on his

> death it dwells somewhere awaiting the day of

> judgment. On this day God makes an assessment of his

> good and bad actions and, on the basis of it,

> rewards him with eternal paradise or sentences him

> to eternal damnation.

>

> Some years ago, a well-known writer from Europe

> came to see me nowadays you see many white men

> coming to the Matha. This gentleman told me that the

> Bible stated more than once that God is love. He

> could not reconcile this with the belief that God

> condemns a sinner to eternal damnation without

> affording him an opportunity for redemption. On this

> point a parade had told him: " It is true that there

> is an eternal hell. But it is eternally vacant. "

>

> The padre's statement is difficult to accept. Let

> us suppose that the Lord in his compassion does not

> condemn a sinner to hell. Where then does he send

> his soul? Since, according to Christianity, there is

> no rebirth the sinner is not made to be born again.

> So he too must be rewarded with heaven (as much as

> the virtuous man). This means that we may merrily

> keep sinning without any fear of punishment. After

> all, God will reward all of us with heaven. This

> belief implies that there is no need for morality

> and truthfulness.

>

> According to our religion too, Isvara who decides

> our fate after death on the basis of our karma is

> infinitely merciful. But, at the same time, he does

> not plunge the world in adharma, in unrighteousness-

> that is not how his compassion manifests itself.

> What does he do then? He gives us another birth,

> another opportunity to reap the fruits of our good

> and bad action. The joys of heaven and the torments

> of hell truly belong to this world itself. The

> sorrow and happiness that are our lot in our present

> birth are in proportion to the virtuous and evil

> deeds of our past birth. Those who sinned much

> suffer much now and, similarly, those who did much

> good enjoy much happiness now. The majority is made

> up of people who know more sorrow than happiness and

> people who experience sorrow and happiness almost in

> equal measure. There are indeed very few blessed

> with utter happiness. It is evident from this that

> most of us must have done more evil than good in our

> past birth.

>

> In His mercy the Lord gives us every time a fresh

> opportunity to wash away our sins. The guru, the

> sastras, and the temples are all his gifts to wipe

> away our inner impurities. That Isvara, in his

> compassion, places his trust even in a sinner

> confident that he will raise himself through his own

> efforts and gives him a fresh opportunity in the

> form of another birth to advance himself inwardly-

> is not such a belief better than that he should

> dismiss a sinner as good for nothing and yet reward

> him with heaven? If a man sincerely believes, in a

> spirit of surrender, there is nothing that he can do

> on his own and that everything is the Lord's doing,

> he will be redeemed and elevated. But it is one

> thing for God to bless a man who goes to him for

> refuge forsaking his own efforts to raise himself

> and quite another to bless him thinking him to be

> not fit to make any exertions on his own to advance

> inwardly. So long as we believe in such a thing as

> human endeavour we should think

> that Isvara's supreme compassion lies in trusting a

> man to go forward spiritually through his own

> efforts. It is in this way that the Lord's true

> grace is manifested.

>

> That God does not condemn anyone to eternal

> punishment in hell is the personal opinion of a

> particular padre. It cannot be said that all

> religions like Christianity which believe that a man

> has only one birth agree with this view. They

> believe that God awards a man hell or paradise

> according to the good or evil he has done in one

> single birth. Since sinners who deserve to be

> condemned to hell predominate, the day of judgment

> has come to be known by the terrible name of

> doomsday. Here we have a concept according to which

> the Lord's compassion seems to be circumscribed.

> There is strong evidence to support the

> reincarnation theory. A lady from the West came to

> see me one day and asked me if there was any proof

> of reincarnation. I did not have any discussion with

> her on the subject. Instead, I asked her to visit

> the local obstetric hospital and find out all about

> the children born there. There was a learned man who

> knew English where we were camping then. I asked him

> to accompany the lady. Later, on their return from

> the hospital, I asked the woman about her

> impressions of the new- born children. She said that

> she had found one child plump and lusty, another

> skinny; one beautiful and another ungainly. One

> child was born in a comfortable ward [that is to a

> well-to-do mother] and another to a poor mother.

>

> " Leave aside the question of God consigning a man

> to eternal hell after his death, " I said to the

> foreign lady. " We are not witness to such a

> phenomenon. But now you have seen with your own eyes

> how differently the children are born in the

> hospital that you visited. How would you account for

> the differences? Why should one child be born rich

> and another poor? Why should one be healthy and

> another sickly? And why should one be good-looking

> and another not so good looking?

>

> " If you accept the doctrine that men are born only

> once, you cannot but from the impression that God is

> neither compassionate nor impartial- think of all

> the differences at birth- and that he functions

> erratically and unwisely. How are we to be devoted

> to such a God and have the faith that he will look

> on us with mercy? How are we to account for the

> differences between one being and another if we do

> not accept the doctrine that our life now is

> determined by the good and the bad we did in our

> past births. " The lady from the West accepted my

> explanation.

>

> Such an explanation is not, however, good enough

> for people in modern times. They demand scientific

> proof of reincarnation. Parapsychologists have done

> considerable research in the subject and their

> findings are in favour of the theory of rebirth.

> During the studies conducted in various parts of the

> world they encountered people who remembered their

> past lives. The latter recalled places and people

> they had seen in their previous birth-places and

> people that have nothing to do with them now. The

> parapsychologists verified these facts and to their

> amazement found them to be true. The cases

> investigated by them were numerous. Most of us are

> wholly unaware of our past lives, but some do

> remember them. According to the researchers the

> majority of such people had been victims of

> accidents or murder in their previous lives.

>

> The doctrine of the incarnations of the Lord-

> avataras- is another unique feature of our religion.

> The Reality (Sadvastu) is one. That It manifests

> itself as countless beings is one of our cardinal

> tenets. It follows that it is this one and only

> Reality that transforms itself again and again into

> all those beings that are subject to birth and

> death. Also it is the same Reality that is

> manifested as Isvara to protect this world of

> sentient beings and insentient objects. Unlike

> humans he is not subject to the law of karma. It is

> to live out his karma- to experience the fruits of

> his

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