PRESENT DAY SOCIAL SERVICE
In the present day, social service is viewed in a different manner. Schools and and hospitals are built and banks organised on a community basis with the object of eradicating ignorance, diseases and poverty. But it is evident that these forms of social service have not been an unmixed blessing. Education has not eradicated falsehood and corruption. On the other hand, unsophisticated tribal people whom modern education has not reached are found to be more honest than the so-called educated people. Confidence of obtaining cure in hospitals has made people lead reckless lives. All the banks that have come into existence have not succeeded in eradicating poverty among the masses. In our modern mode of life we have multiplied our wants. This will lead only to perpetual discontent. A life of extreme simplicity alone can bring contentment and happiness to the people.
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NEED FOR GOD'S GRACE
Gratitude for help received is a cardinal virtue. The taxes you pay to the Corporation of Madras and to the Government are your expression of gratitude for the services rendered by those agencies. There are super-human agencies which confer benefits on us. We must express our gratitude to those agencies in the manner prescnbed in the Vedas. This expression of gratitude is known as yagna.
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NEED FOR TEMPLES
The one cure for all human ills is the power to endure them with faith in God's grace. Bhakti alone can give that power of endurance. Temples are the agencies for the cultivation of the bhakti. Hence the obligation to build temples in eyery Place. What is the significance of making offering to the idols installed in temples? This is done as an expression of gratitude to the Power that created all things. Man by himself cannot create even a blade of grass. We will be guilty of gross ingratitude if we do not offer first to God what We eat or wear. Only the best and the choicest should be offered to God.
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SHIVA AND VISHNU ARE ONE
We Hindus regard both Siva and Vishnu as the same and this is evident from the fact that in the ecstacy of our devotion, whether we are alone or are in groups, we exclaim "Haro-hara" and "Govinda-Govinda" which names come to our lips spontaneously. The holy days of Sivaratri and Janmahstami, are divided from each other by exactly 180 days, and this seems to indicate that God in His aspect as Siva, protects us during one-half of the year, and in His aspect as Vishnu, in the other half. The traditional practice of boys and girls collecting oil for their vigil on Sivartri and Janmashtami nights, singing in chorus a song which means that Sivaratri and Sri Jayanti are the same, is another pointer to the identity of these two manifestations of the Divine.
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TEMPLE WORSHIP
It is not even necessary that every one should worship inside the temples every day. Gopura Darsanam will itself elevate our minds and make us remember the source from which we derive all the earthly benefits. At the same time, it is necessary for the community to see that worship at the temples is conducted properly. We should make it a point to see the temple tower every day and thereby concentrate a while in the contemplation of God. At least once a week we should go round the temple, reciting naamaas (God's name) and doing bhajan. If we do so, we will derive real and lasting benefit.
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GURU BHAKTI
Guru is Isvara in human form, but who is, however free from the triple functions of creation, preservation and destruction, which pertain only to Iswara. If we have absolute faith in him, the guru will shower us with all for which we go to God. In fact,. God is needed only when we cannot find a guru. Guru-bhakti is even higher and more efficactious than Daiva-bhakti. Sri Vedanta Desika has declared that he does not consider God higher than guru. According to a verse, when God is angry, the guru protects you; when the guru himself is angry, there is no protector in the world. If we surrender ourselves absolutely without any reservation to the Guru he will save us from all sorrows and show us the way to salvation. It is due to lack of Guru-bhakti, that Isvarabhakti itself is waning in the hearts of men.
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VEGETARIANISM
It can be pointed out to the credit of Hinduism that orthodox Hindus are vegetarians. Orthodox widows of Bengal are strict vegetarians, though Bengalis as a class eat fish. These widows do not drink even a drop of water on Ekadasi day. In the South, many people among non-Brahmins have adopted Saiva (vegetarian) food and on certain sacred days non-vegetarian food is taboo for the generality of non-Brahmins. The objection to meat is himsa to animals. By the same token, cutting of vegetables too is himsa, By cooking grain, you scorch the garbha (seed) within it and that too is himsa. It has been laid down that ripe fruits and leaves which fall off plants and trees will have to be eaten if one does dot wish to injure any living being. The Rishis of olden days took only such food and cow's milk after the calf had its fill. If one lives on this kind of food, one will be free from kaama (lust) and freedom from lust is a more potent means for family planning than the methods recommended in modern days.
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PREMA
Life without love is a waste. Everyone of us should cultivate Prema or love towards all beings, man, bird and beast. If we are full of this universal love, we shall feel no sorrow. Children overflow with Prema; but as they grow older, Prema decreases. Prema is exemplifiied in the mother's love for her child. As the saying goes, an unaffectionate son may be seen in this world; but never an unloving mother. Like the mother's attitude towards her child, we too should be prepared to consider the happiness of every creature as of more value than our own happiness.
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PREMA TO GOD
That which has a beginning must have an end, is an inexorable rule. Prema is no exception to this rule and so Prema is not unmixed with sorrow. When a beloved one dies, the survivor suffers grief. On that account is it wrong to cultivate love towards others? No But there is a which does not produce grief in the end. We should seek this Prema that is indestructive namely, Prema to God, who is indestructible. Allthings on earth and in heaven may die out but God is eternal. Everything else springs from Him, lives by Him, and, at death, goes back to Him. Loving God, if we look upon all things as God, we shall have in effect loved them as intensely as we love God. To consider things as God, we should remember that they are alI Isvara-svaroopam, possessing the Chith and the sakti of God, without which none of them can exist or function. A non-luminous skylight illumines a dark room when the sunlight falls on it. So too do all objects of the world obtain their intelligence and power from the Omniscient and Omnipresent God. If we love everyone and everything around us as God, even if they disappear, we will not be afflicted by grief, because our love of God will continue to remain.
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PRISON REFORM
Bhajana groups or separate organisations formed for the specific purposes, can minister to the religious needs of prisoners in Jails and patients in hospitals. Permission has now been accorded for conducting religious classes inside jails by Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Hindus are not taking advantage of this concession, while others are. Steps must be taken to remedy this defect. Distribution of booklets and Pamphlets containing the life and teachings of pious men or religious stones, the organisation of kalakshepams and the holding of discourses, can be undertaken for the benefit of the prisoners. If we are able to reform even one in a hundred by this means, it will be a great achievement for society. It will also create a healthy feeling in the prisoners that society has not neglected them.
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THE TRUE MESSAGE OF DEEPAVALI
Deepawali and Naraka-Chaturdasi are one and the same. This is celebrated as a national festival throughout India, but in different ways in different parts of the country. In North India, it is considered a day of lights and the houses are colourfully illumined on the occasion. In the South, however, people take an oil bath before dawn and put on new clothes. It brings happiness and joy to people who undergo sufferings in their daily lives. In the early hours of the dawn of the day preceding the new moon day, i.e. Chaturdasi, when the sun is in the Tula Rasi (Libra) of Zodiac, water anywhere in the world is Ganga and oil becomes saturated with auspicious presence of Sri Mahalakshmi. Everyone from the simplest gypsy to the proudest magnate, from the innocent child to the serene saint should take a bath with oil and water and be happy, illuminating every nook and corner with strings of light, literally deepa-aavali. This is the boon prayed for by a mother when her son, who was a real naraka, to the world at large, was being killed by Sri Krishna. "Let the happiness of every creature in the world be the compensatian for the grief caused to me by the death of my son", was the prayer of that bereaved mother. Deepavali outweighs every festival because of its having emanated from two hearts in which hapiness of the world at large outweighed the lightest pitch of personal calamity. Nothing can be nobler than this last wish of the dying demon, and more so, the prayer of a bereaved mother.
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UMAMAHESWARA
As our earthly parents attend to our material needs, the divine Parents, Sri Parvati and Sri Parameswara, attend to our spiritual growth. As vaak and artha (word and its meaning) are inseparable associated together, so too are Parvati and Parameswara, in the manifestation as Umamaheswara. Kaama or desire is the cause of birth and Sri Parameswara destroyed Kaama with the flame emanating from his third eye. Kaala is the cause of death and Parameswara kicked and vanquished Kaala. In the glorious form of Ummamaheswara, the third eye which burnt Kaama is common both to Parvati and Parameswara. The left leg which kicked Kaala is that of Parvati. This is why by surrendering our serves to Parvatee-Parameswara in single minded devotion, we can get rid of birth and death and attain eternal bliss.
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HOSPITAL SERVICE
For the benefit of patients who are obliged to remain in hospitals for long periods, voluntary organisations can arrange weekly poojas in some reputed temple and distribute the prasadam from this temple among the patients. They can also be give specially written pamphlets or booklets calculated to promote faith and devotion in their hearts. These patients, even if they eventually succumb to their ailments, will die with the name of God on their lips.
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NEELAKANTA
The function of a Prabhu or Lord is both protection and punishment. Siva saved the world from disaster by swallowing the poison generated when the Occean of Milk was churned. In other words, He took upon himself the sins of the world in order to save humanity. It is this function of God which Christian attribute to Christ namely, saving the sinner. Lord Siva Punished cupid(Kaama) when the latter disturbed. His penance ; but restored him to life, though without from, at the entreaty of Rati and the intervention of Parvati.
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KAMAKSHI
Sri Parvati as Sri Kamakshi or Sri Sivakamasundari is depicted as holding the bow and the arrows of Kamadeva controlling Kaama within Her eyes. Hence Kamakshi. She holds the sweet sugarcane bow representing the minds of human beings, and the five arrows representing five senses through which the mind is influenced and is functioning and won the grace of Lord Siva, who alone, as the destroyer of Kaama and Kaala, is capable of saving us from the cycle of birth and death. If we surrender ourselves at the feet of the Divine Mother in the manner in which Sri Adi Sankara has taught us In the Soundarya Lahari, She Will help us to keep the mind and the senses under control and purify our heart, so that we may attain perfection Without being afflicted by kamma and lobha (lust and desires) and realise the Ultimate Truth and achieve sublime peace and happiness.
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TIME FOR PRAYER
We can move fast only when we sail with the wind. The Sandhya kaala is the time when the Cosmos is ripe to respond to correct vibrations emanating from us. Is it proper on our part to waste such a opitious time either in eating houses or in clubs Majority of those belonging to the new religion observe prayers at the prescribed hours. But we who belong to this ancient religion have neglected our duty. Therefore, at the approach of Sandhya, wherever we may be, we must wash our hands and feet, wear vibhuti, perfom our anushtaana, and spend a little time in praying to isvara.
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MODERN KNOWLEDGE
It is being argued in some quarters as to why we should continue to hug these ancient ways when science has advanced so much as to enable man to create even artifical satellites and to make them go round the earth. But such people ignore the fact that all these material advancements are of no avail, when there is no peace within oneself. What is the use of the entire world to a man, if in the process of acquiring it, he loses his soul? It is also worth rememberiing that the country which has created the Sputnik is also getting the Mahabharata translated and that this great Indian epic is being taught in their schools, even though religion is not. It will not be a surprise if the Russians begin to treasure the Mahabharata with great enthusiasm.
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VEDIC RELIGION
The Vedic religion commands the allegiance of millions of people, in spite of the absence of propaganda or missionary institutions to propagate it. It is the example of great men who lived that religion that sustains the faith of the people. Good men, who had attained a high level of jnana, won universal respect, irrespective of the caste in which they were born.. Godliness and love for all are the qualities by which the greatness of a person is judged So long as such great men continue to illumine the dark corners of human heart, the Vedic religion will wield its influence, not only in this country, but outside it also. It is only when we regularly and faithfully practise the anushtaanaas enjoined upon us, that society can produce outstanding persons, who will be beacon light of Vedic religion to guide the multitude along right lines.
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