Guest guest Posted November 10, 2002 Report Share Posted November 10, 2002 Sri Ramakrishna Charanam Saranam; Sri Sri Ma Dear Vijay, Unknowingly, you became a real Hindu, rather a real hero in the contemporary world of NRI hindus. God sends plenty of divine ideas all over the world and many a times, such exalted ideas came forth from great Sages and Saints. It also comes through the simple living and thinking patterns of apparently ordinary souls like you. But these apparent ordinary souls are the real Rishis of our modern times. Keep it up, Vijay. Your noble father deserves credit. But, can you advise me what would be the stand if a hindu boy/girl falls in love to a non-Hindu girl/boy with the insistance of formal conversion to their rigid religion? I am presuming that Vijay was gracefully saved by God Almighty from such negative trap, somehow. But it is not that easy to have such a cosy blessing from God Almighty in every case. (I am not forgeting Lord Ramakrishna's stand on marriage. He says, "Birth, death and marriage are not in our hands; they are in God''s hands") I have come across many Hindu families painfully shattered by such trends even in places like Singapore and Malaysia. Hindu families in States and other affluent countries face this challenge more aggressively. I look forward to your valuable personal suggestion. Best regards Prakash Kamanat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 11, 2002 Report Share Posted November 11, 2002 Prakashbhai ... The message of RamaKrishna Paramans is so true. Please don't compare me with great souls even though we are all divine. All my thought in my previous mail were to my mind logical... My father passed away 12 years ago, I am 35 years old and married to a hindu wife for 10 years with 3 beautiful children. We all live together with my mother. My youngest sister got married to an English boy 6 months ago. As we have been very close (got 2 other sisters, both married to Hindu) since my father passed away, she told me immediately that she wanted to marry him, 5 years ago. She is still very religious. When she told me, my main concern was not that she wanted to marry him, but do she have to change here core values in any way, especially, her religious journey/quest for him. On the contrary, he was an agnostic/athiest, which he still is, but he has been impressed with the freedom that hinduism gives. They got married at the Hare Krishna temple. I am very happy for her, though my mother has stopped talking to her... Back to your question. Sometimes realife experience is the best teacher, which has not happened to me yet. But some thoughts. It is obvious any talk to tell our children to not change religion (abruptly ends your religios quest) as a condition for love will not work. (The famous saying: LOVE MAKES YOU BLIND BUT MARRIAGE RESTORES YOUR SIGHT). I would rather accept it after some protest and alway keep contact and ensure they realise that our quest to search for the divine is our own and sacred, and not based on dogma and rigid beliefs. This individual freedom should never be violated. Of course such ideas should be raised so that it does not cause social tensions. I intend to start my children from an agnostic point of view and then start their spritiual journeys. Of course at the moment as they are very. My mother is giving them many rich moral stories from the vast hindu literature for which I am very grateful. The " Essence of Hinduism " by Ganapati muni, author of Uma Sahasram, which was posted earlier in my view explains the beauty of hinduism. I will try very hard to tell my children, that the supreme goal of mankind is self realisation, any everything else is secondary. I think that for my generation there is hope, at least in England. I went for Jury service 5 years ago and half of the swear juror refused to swear by any specific religion (I swore by the Gita). One of the Jurors words were to the effect " I feel uncomfortable, swearing by a book that traps my mind " . Indeed the greatest asset Hinduism has is that rather that trapping somebody, it frees one self. Of course other may disagree. Christians say, Jesus gives us freedom. Muslims say, Allah frees us from all the false gods. I refuse to accept that, principly because somebody else is deciding for me what consitutes freedom. My feeling is that in the long run, people will outgrow religions that do not give any room for a person to search for the divine within one self. Humans are becoming more knowledgable and self aware through the generations. I have no doubt that our children will better ours in this regard. Apologies if I have erred in anyway. Namaste Vijay Quoting " P. S. Kamanat " <kamanat: > Sri Ramakrishna Charanam Saranam; Sri Sri Ma > Dear Vijay, > Unknowingly, you became a real Hindu, rather a real hero in the contemporary > world of NRI hindus. God sends plenty of divine ideas all over the world and > many a times, such exalted ideas came forth from great Sages and Saints. It > also comes through the simple living and thinking patterns of apparently > ordinary souls like you. But these apparent ordinary souls are the real > Rishis of our modern times. Keep it up, Vijay. Your noble father deserves > credit. > But, can you advise me what would be the stand if a hindu boy/girl falls in > love to a non-Hindu girl/boy with the insistance of formal conversion to > their rigid religion? I am presuming that Vijay was gracefully saved by God > Almighty from such negative trap, somehow. But it is not that easy to have > such a cosy blessing from God Almighty in every case. (I am not forgeting > Lord Ramakrishna's stand on marriage. He says, " Birth, death and marriage are > not in our hands; they are in God''s hands " ) > I have come across many Hindu families painfully shattered by such trends > even in places like Singapore and Malaysia. Hindu families in States and > other affluent countries face this challenge more aggressively. > I look forward to your valuable personal suggestion. > Best regards > Prakash Kamanat > Senior Technical Specialist AePONA England Ltd Midleton Gate, 4 Guildford Business Park Guildford GU2 8SG Tel: +44 (0)7870 237661 Fax: +44 (0)870 966 4078 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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