Is there a true religion? ??????????????????

[barney]

I have seen my previous post going on with arguments unrelated to the actual subject intented. A guest who has no name has said there are many like me who are ignorant. By what criterion he deduced this assumption is not known. Thinking that only those learnered in sanskrit are the most intellectual in Vedas and no others would be able to understand was his understanding. First and foremost he should know that sanskrit is not the only language one could comunicate with God. Tamil and other languages too are gate way to God's kingdom. Sanskrit scholars, however, refused to acknowledge the real merit of Tamil literary works. Although they were born in the Tamil country, spoke the Tamil language, and lived as Tamilians, they seldom read such important works as the Tevaram and the Tiruvaacakam. They treated lighty those who attained scholarship only in Tamil. Even the hymns of Nayanmars, which found a pride of place in temple rituals during the Chola period, lost their importance at a later stage. They went to the extent of denigrating Tamil as the language of the mortal and extolling Sanskrit as the language of gods. If the Sanskritists found laudable ideas in Tamil works, they tried to belittle their merit saying that those were borrowed ideas from Sanskrit works. They tried even to underrate the importance of Tiruvalluvar's Tirukkural by running it down as a compendium of ideas translated from Sanskrit works. Likewise they considered that Tolkaappiyam, the first grammatical work by Tolkappiyar was based on Sanskrit. To substantiate their view, they assigned the work of Tolkappiyar to Tiranatumakkini who was a scholar in Sanskrit. The Raamayanaa, Mahaabhaarata, Puraanas and other philosophical works were no doubt borrowed from Sanskrit but the Sanskrit scholars tried to camouflage the very existence of great literary works in Tamil like the Cankam classics, didactic and devotional literature. But their efforts were halted only when scholars like V.K. Curiyanaraayana Sastriar and Maraimalaiyatikal focussed the attention of the people on the literary treasures of the Tamil language. Vedas are the songs of sages who have expressed their experiences of God in Sanskrit. The Thevaram and Thiruvasagam songs are as important as the vedas and they express the same/similar things. However, unlike the vedas which were treated for thousands of years as intended for only the select few of the society, the Thevaram and Thiruvasagam songs were intended for everyone. Of the 4 saints who sang these, three were brahmins well versed in the vedas and sanskrit but chose to express their experience of God in the language of the common man. These were sung between 600 AD and 900 AD. thirumuRai: The works of 63 NAYANMARS(nayanars) and several other Siva devotees are collectively referred to as 'TIRUMURAI'. There are 12 volumes containing about 18,000 songs in Tamil. The first 7 thirumuRais are referred to as 'THEVARAM'. The 8th thirumurai is called 'THIRUVASAGAM'. The 10th is the 'THIRUMANDHIRAM'. The 12th is the 'PERIYA PURANAM' that describes the lives of the NAYANMARS. Periyalvar sings of Krishna in the aspect of a divine child, originating a new genre of celebrant poetry. Kulasekhara, a Chera prince, sings of both Rama and Krishna, identifying himself with several roles in the holy legends: a gopi in love with Krishna or his mother, Devaki, Krishna's mother who misses nursing him, or the exiled Rama's father, Dasaratha. Tiruppanalvar, an untouchable poet (panan), sang ten songs about the god in Srirangam: his eyes, mouth, chest, navel, his clothes, and feet. To these Bhaktas, God is not only love but beauty. His creation is his jewel; in separation he longs for union, as man longs for him. Tirumankaiyalvar, religious philosopher, probably guru (personal religious teacher and spiritual guide in Hinduism) to the Pallava kings, and poet of more than 1,000 verses, was apparently responsible for the building of many Vaishnava temples.

 

 

The most celebrated author in Hindi is Tulsidas of Rajapur (died 1623), a Brahmin who renounced the world early in life and spent his days in Varanasi as a religious devotee. He wrote mostly in Awadhi, and focussed Hinduism on the worship of Rama. His most important work is the Ramcharitmanas ("Sacred Lake of the Acts of Rama"), which is based on the Sanskrit Ramayana. More than any other work it has become a Hindu sacred text for the Hindi-speaking area and annually has been staged in the popular Ram Lila festival.

 

The most important Nayanars were Appar and Sambandar, in the seventh century, and Sundarar, in the eighth. Appar, a self-mortifying Jain ascetic before he became a Shaiva saint, sings of his conversion to a religion of love, surprised by the Lord stealing into his heart. After him, the term tevaram ("private worship") came to mean "hymn". Sambandar, too, wrote these personal, "bone-melting" songs for the common man. Sundarar, however, who sees a vision of 63 Tamil saints -- rich, poor, male, female, of every caste and trade, unified even with bird and beast in the love of God -- epitomizes bhakti. To him and other Bhaktas, every act is worship, every word God's name. Unlike the ascetics, they return man to the world of men, bringing hope, joy, and beauty into religion, and making worship an act of music. Their songs have become part of temple ritual. Further, in bhakti, erotic love (as seen in akam) in all its phases became a metaphor for man's love for God, the lover. God is not in Sanskrit alone but in all languages and in all forms. Wisdom comes from not knowing sanskrit alone but knowing thyself. Even a mute who does not speak or understand any language could become a devotee through silent prayers in the language of his heart. God is one who you imagine to be and not one whom you dictate to be. I came to this forum not to lead people inot argument but to unite Hindus and respect each others belief in the Supreme Being but here I see Krishna devotees only propagating Krishna as the supreme godhead without understanding the basic of religious tolerance among Hindus. It is shame and this paves the way for future generation to rethink about their roots and may consider changing their religion or become a free thinker. The bickering among the Hindus about who is supereme and who are demigods will surely lead to decline of Hinduism and its followers in the near future. Do not blame others for one's onw action. It's time for all of us to put on our thinking cap.

 

 

[Guest guest]

 

A guest who has no name has said there are many like me who are ignorant.

 

 

No, I said that YOU are ignorant, specifically of the Vedas.

 

 

By what criterion he deduced this assumption is not known.

 

 

The fact that you contradict the Vedas even though claiming to represent them is the sole criterion used to make that deduction, a fact which was also explained many times. The fact that you are too dense to have picked up on it the last ten times does not make it any less obvious.

 

[maadhav]

<< sanskrit is not the only language one could comunicate with God. >>

 

sure, but the source literature that tells how to realize god or communicate with him is in the vedas/in sanskrit.

 

at teh same time, even when someoen knows sanskrit,

there is no guarantee he/she could or would tell ohters what is the real message in the vedas.

 

it seems barney and some tamil brothres ar upset because tamil literature is not respected as much as sanskrit.

if the sanskrit scholars of the past purposefully did not give credit to tamil literature unfairly, then that was wrong, and that means they did not et the true message of the vedas. my view is that most vedic scholars were saintly and would not do such a thing.

 

besides, truth can be expressed by any one at any time and place. so, if tamil literature says teh same thing as the vedas, well and good. the need is to live by that mesage, rather than fight within for credit/ego.

 

mango can grow in any counry if the climate is right.

if a mango from one country is good as the mango in another country, then what is the need to ask the world, "please give this country ( and none other) recognization becacus its mango is the best"? The need is to eat the mango and live happily.

 

i would request barney and others to not cause such internal arguments within us the hindus, and work to unite them all against the enemy anti-hindus.

 

going back to the subject question:

the answer is yes, and it is given in gita by krishna.

if any one cannot agree to this then he/she knows nothing of what dharma is.