Hara Hara Shankara, Jaya Jaya Shankara

Hara Hara Shankara, Jaya Jaya Shankara

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Time to celebrate???????

Thank you Amma and Appa

Mother - Nature's best gift. How do we repay her. By being one
Father - Child's first and best teacher. How do we repay him. By being one
Siblings - Our own reflections

Recently, all of us celebrated mother's day. And in a few days or months ( i don't know when the exact date is), we will celebrate father's day too. And , we do have a brother's day, sisters day, and of course not to forget the all time special valentine's day.

Why do we go so gaga over it? This is a western culture. The westerners have a reason to celebrate. The kind of lives that the westerns live is not the same as ours. Indian families have a very strong bonding with parents, sisters, brothers  cousin and others. They are a close knitted family.  They live together as one till the time they get married (most of them) and some even after that. Even if they are separated from parents after marriage, the bonding is still strong and healthy. They share their ups and downs with their loved ones. They
always have parents to look up to  brothers and sisters to lean on. But for the westerners, their childhood gets over very soon. They mature and behave like adults too early in life. They separate from parents and lead independent lives pretty soon. One cannot see the close bonding of the family in their families What  I am stating is among the majority of foreigners  There are special cases. So, in order to remember their moms and dads, brothers and sisters, they identify one day where they bond and express their gratitude tho their loved ones.

Now, should we follow what they do? Cant we introspect or even think why we do what we do. We raise a hundred questions about what our elders have told, we think we are very intelligent when we questions our shastras and not find answers, we feel that we need to know answers before we do what we do. Well, why then are we blindly following what the westerners do? have we ever thought of finding reasons for these celebrations?

A mother, a father, siblings, a wife are all who are to be celebrated everyday. Mother is nature's best gift, father is a child's first and best teacher, and siblings are our own reflections  Do we need a day to remember, honour and express our gratitude to them.?

We have to thank god for giving us relationships through whom we can celebrate life.  By thank you, i don't mean, you have sing a Sahasranama to them. Take care of our parents when they need us, give them words of encouragement and appreciation for the little things they do in life. Specially, when they grow old, they need a lot of support and moral strength. Let us be a pillar of strength, This is the way to express our love and gratitude to them.  

Just because the foreigners do something which may be relevant to them, we cannot and should not blindly follow them. why don't we see how relevant it is for our circumstances? When we question the Shastras and our elders , why not question these practices? 

A sheer lack of self esteem, a lack of belief and a dis regard to our customs is all that can be said. We don't respect our own culture. We don't want to give importance to our values because we think it is old fashioned We have got so damned influenced by western thinking that we have lost that pride in our culture. We have to bring it back. And the only way is to follow those easy and small practices which our elders prescribe. Give up these celebrations of mother's day, father's day etc etc.  We are selling our culture to the westerns. It is like telling people openly that we reject our practices  What our seers, Acharyas, forefathers laid to us are precious gems. They are all to be followed. We are the sole beneficiary of following them. No one else will reap the harvest.  So, let us first get started with small ones. Let us not think that we are doing a favour to anyone by doing these. It is for our own good.

I don't mean to say that western influence is bad. As I have pointed out in my earlier posts, they have a lot of positives which we can adopt but we don't seem to be doing it. 

Even birthday celebrations. Why celebrate someone birthday when we all know that one year in our life has reduced. We are indeed one year closer to death.  Do we need a celebration for this?. We write our own name on a cake and cut it on our birthday. Doesn't this seem inauspicious?. We blow candles on a day when we have to light the lamp of knowledge. Doesn't it sound ridiculous?. 

I have seen people spending lavishly on their children's birthdays. If kids ask for one, fine. Celebrate by calling friends and distributing sweets, have some games and entertainment. But make the child understand that this is not all life. Money is not to be wasted.  Take the child to an orphanage or an old age and show him/her how tough life is and how grateful we have to be for what we are. Go to a temple, do a donation, feed the needy, call a missed one , the ideas can go on...I am sure the child will understand ..It is the parents who want the pomp and show.  Just to celebrate because we are growing old is no reason at all.

So, let us be more reasonable in doing or copying someone. A little thought and its relevance to our lives will make life better and meaningful

RAM RAM

7 comments:

  1. I dont agree. Lets think this way, you pray god everyday.. then why do you celebrate Ganesh Chaturti, Krishnashtakami, Rama Navami etc.. In west it may be the day for socializing even within family :). Lets go one step ahead and do something special to honour this special relationship.

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  2. Good text about celebrations,dear sir.It's most important to know all.Thank you my dear friend.

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  3. Thank you very much for your good&useful text,dear friend.

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  4. Well..First let us remember one thing. The festivals that we celebrate is laid down by elders.
    So, there is no question about why we do it and not do it. and mom's day and dad's day is something which we have made for ourselves. This is surely not permanent and not relevant to our practices.

    Even festival celebration, How many of us do pooja with religious fervour. How many of us do regular prayers?
    How of us do our nitya karma? Festivals these days are another holiday and a day to relax.
    Go out, have fun, eat out, watch all the irrelevant programs on TV. The number of people who do the rituals of these days has come down./ The number of people who prepare special dishes at home on these days has dwindled. Everything is ordered or bought.

    So, follow those rules that our rishis and acaryas have laid down for the sole reason that it is a guru's command and will bring good to us. First be satisfied that what we ought to do, must be done and then question with the intention of finding answers , but not to find fault in our shastras. .

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  5. Fantastic article - and very well crafted too.
    Indeed I believe in some of the beliefs .....like the child to an orphanage on their birthday, and show them how lucky we are - compared to others. Let the child develop into a more meaningful responsible person.


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  6. Why talk of "parents day" -when we can talk of the Akshaya tritiya - which has been marketed well by the Jewellery industry - to the new segment of people who are looking at any occasion to buy the precious metal.
    Back when I was growing up - there was not a "Akshaya Tritiya" ever, but now - it's looked forward to -like a religious happening where the folks who are earning leave early from work to go home - take their spouses to buy thinking - it is auspicious.
    I'm not saying it should not be done - but why use a this marketing as a tactic to entice folks to celebrate this.

    So, as long as there are people who believe in such things - there will be marketers.

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  7. Akshaya Tritiya as you have rightly pointed out Kiranshashi has become a day to satisfy our greed and a day to make richer people richer. This day was unknown till a few years. In fact, on this day, one must not hoard gold and jewelery. Instead it is a day to donate and realise the comfort we are showered with. It is a day for daanam and dharmam..Not a vulgur display of wealth.Thanks for sharing...

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