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