Guest guest Posted May 10, 2002 Report Share Posted May 10, 2002 Thursday, May 09, 2002 01:03 Subject Fwd: [akandabaratam] Re: Travel : Temple experience near Madurai <snip> > the way someone once described India as one big toilet. > <snip> > Regards, > Sathia, > Kuala Lumpur, > Malaysia. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~response~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Sathia The question is if someone or some country is 'down' what should be our response? Should we 'curse' or 'extend a helping hand' ? I read a report that said that 40pct of the population lives on a hand to mouth basis.... 'How to survive?' is the key concern. Fresh water/sanitation are secondary. Swami Vivekananda had said something like: Brother do you feel? Do you feel for these children of the sages drinking from the gutters? If you feel, then you will do something for these people - do not curse them - give them a hand or be silent. Hundred years have passed since Swami Vivekananda spoke these words - the message remains the same. jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 10, 2002 Report Share Posted May 10, 2002 Dear Jay, Your point is well-taken and I agree with what Vivekananda said.I am doing what I can where I live. But the message needs to be applied in the right context. The subject matter here is not that the Indians are down and they need help. There are many things that the Indians can do by themselves without outside help. What upset me was the display of self-aggrandisement: all you have to do is is to make a contribution to the temple and you have earned the right to desecrate the temple walls. Where is the love and respect for works of art? There are numerous temples of immense historical value in India uncared for and left to the elements. Restoration works would not only make the temples usable but set in motion a whole industry of preservation of ancient art. Look at the filter effects that are possible. Whatever happened to the country's planners? Yet we find the horrors of Gujarat in the name of God. Where is the priority? If people can indulge in sacrifice of human lives in the course of building yet another temple for which funds are available, what sort of help do they need? I am all for helping and help can come in many ways. I believe in teaching a man to fish so that he can fish all his life. Not to catch a fish, cook it and feed it to him. I will then be committing the sin of making him a dependent. Thank you for giving the opportunity to clarify. With best regards, Sathia, Malaysia. Ramakrishna, " Vivekananda Centre " <vivekananda@b...> wrote: > Thursday, May 09, 2002 01:03 > Subject Fwd: [akandabaratam] Re: Travel : Temple > experience near Madurai > > <snip> > > the way someone once described India as one big toilet. > > <snip> > > > Regards, > > Sathia, > > Kuala Lumpur, > > Malaysia. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~response~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Dear Sathia > > The question is if someone or some country is 'down' what > should be our response? > > Should we 'curse' or 'extend a helping hand' ? > > I read a report that said that 40pct of the population lives on > a hand to mouth basis.... 'How to survive?' is the key concern. > Fresh water/sanitation are secondary. > > Swami Vivekananda had said something like: > Brother do you feel? Do you feel for these children of the > sages drinking from the gutters? If you feel, then you will do > something for these people - do not curse them - give them a hand > or be silent. > > Hundred years have passed since Swami Vivekananda spoke > these words - the message remains the same. > > jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 12, 2002 Report Share Posted May 12, 2002 > Yet we find the horrors of Gujarat in the name of God. > Where is the priority? I am not sure whether this statement means that the horrors of Gujarat for the Ayodhya temple or the poor maintenance of the ancient South Indian temples must be of utmost priority to every Hindu. Both definitely are not a very great priority to me and my reasons are elaborated below. Firstly, this is a matter of faith and therefore I would not like to debate on the subject of preservation of our ancient temples or getting back a temple from another religion. Rather, if someone can do anything good and constructive about it that benefits mankind, to me he has contributed more than a thousand debates. Temples serve a good purpose and so long as that purpose is served, I appreciate it's presence. When it stops serving that purpose, as far as I am concerned, it does not hold any significance at all to me - but that is my personal view. But apart from this issue, as far as I am concerned personally, I have learnt less from temples than from modern traditions. I do not stay in the South but I grew up in Bombay and therefore cannot make a just comparison with temples in the South. Most of the temples I visited were concerned only with the ritualistic part of spiritual life - where you go and do pradakshina, offer some coins in the hundi, collect some thirtha or prasad and learn some incantations that you are supposed to recite to God. These are good no doubt, but I find the other " temples " where I get the company and personal attention of spiritual teachers who teach and correct our lives a lot better. This I found in modern institutions in a better measure. That is my personal experience. Our scriptures say that Thirtham Kurvanthi Thirthaani (Holy places are created by holy men). If I have the company of one holy man, that is equivalent to what many temples can give me. Around such a holy man, places of pilgrimage have grown within the wink of an eye as it were and no efforts were required for their preservation. Another thing to keep in mind, in my view, is that we do not have to do anything to protect great centers of learning, if they are truly great. They grow of themselves due to the presence of great men. One needs make no effort to preserve them. And great centers of learning are not restricted to any few sqaure meters of land. They can grow anywhere, just as God is everywhere. To me, what is far degrading than the poor preservation of the temples (which are after all made of bricks and cement etc.) is the poor preservation of this God in our own temple called the body. This is all the more pitiable in the light of the stronger and stronger influence of materialistic values. As Lord Buddha said, when the house is on fire, one's first effort is to preserve the house and every other effort is subservient to that. Wherever I get the solution to quell this fire in my own house is a temple to me. Once again, this is not meant to diminish the good efforts that are being done for the preservation of our temples and it is not that I dislike or disrespect these great works - but this is only to illustrate my personal preference given the circumstances of life in which I am placed in. There lies my first and foremost priority - and it is still occupying a major part of my time, effort and resources in life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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