HINDU
DHARMA
·
s Hindus must have shika (tuft),They should sport a Shika like their
fore-fathers or at least a small Shika admidst their hair.
·
Hindus must always have a religious mark like Vibhuthi (holy ash) or
Thiru Naamam (or Gopi Chandhan)on their forehead.In case of women
kumkum,sindhoor as per tradition etc.,
·
Girls should be married as earlier as possible to prevent love
marriages and inter caste marriages.Vedic Scriptures orders Hindu Parents to
get their daughters married before they attain the age of 12 or puberty
(whichever is earlier).There is a great scientific reason behind this rule.If
you do some research you will get to know the facts and start to praise the
scriptures how scientific it is!.
·
Hindus should not study in Co-Ed schools and colleges which leads to
inter-caste love marriages.Varna Saankaryam is said as a great sin even in
Srimath Bhagavath Gita!.
·
Hindus consisiting of Brahmanas,kshatriya,Vaishya & shudras must
always try to stick to their "swa-dharma" to their extent possible.In
short, Must follow the traditions of the Jaati Dharma & earn a livelihood
as done by their ancestors.
·
Brahmins Must perform their daily vedic rites without fail.
·
BrahminsMust avoid eating in hotels.
·
Brahmins Must not eat onions,garlic etc..
·
Brahmins Must earn a livelihood by the ways said to
brahmins.i.e. by adyapanam,yaajanam,prathigraha(Teaching,Officating as
priests,recieve gifts)
·
Brahmins must take care that they are not criticized in the media.
·
Many PIL's must be filed in the court to protect our dharma,to live a
decent dignified life,etc whichever is necesscary,
·
Must educate our children about great vedic Hindu heritage and must
educate them about our dharma shastras and make them to follow it by ourselves
being a roll-model.
·
Ladies must not go for work.(Let us live a simple life with the
salary of the earning head!.Let women not compete with men for job
opportunities who are still unemployed).Ladies can exib=hibit their talent in
spiritual or social causes.I think hinduism can be saved only by the
involvement of women.It was protected actually.
·
We Must wear only traditional dress,atleast at home or during
worship.When it is not necessary,We need not imitate the Western people in our
dress,language etc when we get out to behave socially in the society.
·
Brahmins must learn vedas,dharma shastras ,sanskrit daily.
· Brahmins Must
perform sandhya vandhana,aupasanam,agnihotra,vaishvadevam daily.
EXTRACTS FROM SWAMI SIVANANDASWAMI BOOKS
Domestic Ethics
(1) Yoga At Home
Sometimes the house becomes a hell
when there is no religious unity between husband and wife. If the husband is
religious, the irreligious wife does not allow him to study religious books, to
sit in meditation, to visit holy places of pilgrimage, to practise Brahmacharya
and to have Satsanga with great souls. She is afraid that he will become a
Sannyasin even though he gives a solemn pledge that he will not do so. There
are always quarrels in the house between husband and wife. The husband has no
peace of mind even though he earns a decent sum and has got all the earthly
comforts. The wife threatens the husband, “I will burn all your religious books
as study of these books has only produced a change in you and you are neglecting
me and do not take any interest in household affairs. I will throw stones at
the head of the man who has written these books and has inspired you to take
recourse to Yogic practices. Fools only will practise Yoga”. How can men live
happily with such ignorant and irreligious women? It is better to dwell in the
midst of Asuric women like Tataka in the forest than to remain in the company
of such horrible women who disturb the peace of the house. If your wife stands
in your way of doing spiritual practice mildly suggest to her that you will
take to Sannyasa. Then she will come to her senses.
It is the duty of the husband to
train his wife also in the religious line. She must do some Japa, and Kirtan.
She must study religious books such as Ramayana, Bhagavata and Mahabharata. She
must take recourse to occasional fasting. He must take her to places of
pilgrimage and attend discourses and Kathas conducted by Mahatmas. The wife
must help the husband in his religious and Yogic practices. Then only the house
will be a blessed place.
Some have taken Sannyasa on account
of the bad behaviour of their wives and their hindrance to Yogic practices at
home. If they allowed their husbands to continue their practices and helped
them, they would have remained in the Grihastha Ashram. It is the duty of
intelligent girls to co-operate with their husbands in leading a religious life
at home. Then only can both lead a life of peace and happiness at home. The
scriptures declare, “Without religion a house is a burial ground though it is a
palace.”
The husband also should not
interfere with the religious practices of his wife. He should help her in all
possible ways in her spiritual evolution and purity of life.
May there be temperamental,
psychological and spiritual unity between the husband and wife! May the husband
help the wife and vice versa in religious and Yogic practices! May
God-realisation be your watchword! May purity be your maxim! May Dharma be your
guide!
(2) To Husbands And Wives
Quarrels arise daily in the house
between the husband and the wife on account of misunderstanding and difference
of opinion. The wife thinks that the husband should obey and please her in all
respects. The husband thinks that the wife should obey and please him in all
respects. Is this possible? No. And so they quarrel every hour. It may not come
into regular fisticuffs and blows at all times, but they will not speak for
some hours in the day. Sometimes there will be boxing and caning also if the
husband is short-tempered and lacks self-control. At other times the husband
breaks the vessels when he loses his temper. If the wife is like Xanthippe
(wife of Socrates) or Jijibai (wife of Tukaram), the table will be turned.
There will be thunder and rain on the husband’s head. Sometimes the wife, when
she becomes angry, refuses to cook the food and lies down in the bed drawing a
blanket over her body and head under the pretext of severe stomach-ache. The
poor husband runs to the hotel to take his meals in order to catch the pilot
train to go to his office. Sometimes the wife goes to her mother’s house
without informing the husband. The poor shameless weak-willed husband runs to
his mother-in-law’s house to bring her back with fresh glowing, golden promises
and entreaties.
The wife must be ever ready to
receive a volley of abuses when the dishes are not prepared to the fastidious
taste of her husband. These are only minor, unimportant causes for daily
quarrels. The major causes are too numerous to be mentioned here. You already
know them in full and in detail also.
But still, if you ask a householder,
“Which is better; a householder’s life or a life of a Brahmachari?” surely he
will say “Householder’s life is thousand times better than the life of a
celibate”. He will vehemently fight with all his clumsy arguments to support
his view. Do remember the story of the king who took birth as a pig and was
rejoicing with his piglings. His case is similar to this king.
People have neither discrimination,
dispassion nor subtle sharp intellect. Hence they are not able to know things
in their true light. Their intellects are clouded, perverted, turbid,
intoxicated and veiled by passion, delusion, infatuation and ignorance. Hence
they do not know what they are exactly doing.
When they are swayed with passion,
husbands and wives forget all about their quarrels which occurred in the
morning. They think that their life is a blessed one. They utter pleasantly
some flowery speech for the time being, though there is no real union and love
in the core of their heart.
Try to possess self-control. Rise
above passions. Be pure. Develop good behaviour, good conduct. Control anger.
Be regular in Japa, Kirtan, meditation and study of Gita. Lead a life of ideal
householders. Go through the books “Advice to Householders” and “Sure Ways for
Success in Life and God-realisation”. Put the instructions in daily practice.
O Ram! Treat your wife like a Devi.
She is the queen or Lakshmi of the house. Where woman is honoured there is
wealth, prosperity, success and peace. O Lila! Become a Pativrata. Do not
quarrel with your husband. Become like Savitri, Anasuya or Sita.
May you all lead a life of Purity
with devotion and attain the supreme blessedness in this very life!
—Swami
Sivananda
Give up expectation of fruits and idea of agency (I am the doer. I am the enjoyer). Feel that you are an instrument in the hands of God and He works through your organs. Feel also that this world is a manifestation of the Lord or Visva Vrindavan and your children, wife, father and mother are the images of the same Lord. See Him in every face and in every object. Have a cool balanced mind always. If you develop this changed angle of vision and Divine Bhava in dally life by protracted and constant practice, all actions will become Yogic activities. All actions will become worship of the Lord. This is quite sufficient. You will get God-realisation quickly. This is dynamic Yoga. This is very powerful Sadhana. I have given you a very easy Sadhana.
Write daily for half an hour in a notebook your Ishta Mantra, observing Mowna and without turning to the other sides. Write down in bold types on slips of paper “SPEAK TRUTH”, “OM PURITY”, “I MUST REALISE GOD NOW”, “I AM AN EMBODIMENT OF PURITY, MERCY, LOVE, AND PATIENCE”,—and fix them in bedroom, dining hall, front-rooms and verandah. Keep some slips in your pocket and diary also. This is an easy way for developing virtuous divine qualities.
May the Lord bless you all!
—Swami Sivananda
Sthree Dharma
Duties of a Woman
Manu says “Let a woman attend to her household duties most cheerfully and with great dexterity, keep her utensils and apparel clean, her home tidy, her furniture free from dust, all eatables pure, clean and free from dirt. Let her never be lavish in expenditure. Let her cooking be done so nicely that the food may act on the system like a good medicine and keep away disease. Let her keep a proper account of income and expenditure and show it to her husband, use her servants properly and see that nothing goes wrong in the house.” (Chapter V-50).“Let the husband and the wife read and recite the Vedas and other Shastras that soon give increase of wisdom, teach the means of acquiring wealth and promote their welfare. Let them also carefully revise what they have studied during their student life and teach the same. As far as a man thoroughly understands the Shastras, so far as can his knowledge advance and so far may his love for them grow.” (Manu IV-19, 20).
She should do such noble actions which would please her husband and would bring him glory, honour, faith in God and the final attainment of God-consciousness. She should be humble, active and straightforward. She should have a knowledge of the duties of the Grihasthis. She should herself do all the works of the house. She should know cooking well.
She should respect all her husband’s relatives. She must serve her old mother-in-law and father-in-law. She must do prostration to old ladies in the house, father-in-law, mother-in-law, Sadhus, Sannyasins and Bhaktas. She must give alms to poor people, Sannyasins and Brahmacharins when they come to her house. She should give blankets and clothes to Sannyasins. She should treat the guests and friends of her husband with respect. She should invite them for dinner on auspicious days. She should serve poor and sick people, Sadhus and Sannyasins. She should be charitable and spend one-tenth of her husband’s income in charity. She should cut the coat according to the cloth. She should never live beyond the income of her husband. She should never borrow. She should make both ends meet. She should never allow the expenditure exceed the income of her husband. She should have a very large heart, she should get up at four in the morning and practise meditation. She should wake up her children also at this time and make them do Japa and Kirtan.
The sleeping apartment must be furnished with the pictures of saints, Rama, Krishna, Narayana, Siva. Husband, wife and children will draw inspiration when they look at the pictures. The child in the womb is influenced by the sentiments and emotions of the mother. If she studies daily Ramayana or Bhagavata and leads a pious life during her period of pregnancy, she will give birth to a noble and pious child.
Napoleon’s mother always kept with her pictures of Greek and Roman heroes and sang songs of these heroes. Thus the heroic spirit was created in Napoleon while he was dwelling in the womb of his mother. Abhimanyu learnt the way to go inside the Padma Vyuha (Chakravyuha) when he was in his mother’s womb.
Mother is the first Guru. The child learns the alphabet from the mother. The child learns to speak from its mother. She may make him a saint or a ruler or a rogue. She imparts her virtues to her child with the milk.
—Swami Sivananda
Modesty is the ornament of women. To go beyond the boundary of modesty, to
behave like a man, destroys the elegance, grandeur, grace and beauty of the
fair sex. Nothing can atone for the want of modesty in a woman, without which
beauty is ungraceful. Modesty is a fundamental virtue which a woman ought to
possess. Modesty is a wonderful mixture of humility, politeness, decency,
elegance, gentleness and sweetness. Modesty is the most precious ornament of a
woman. A modest woman is restrained by a sense of propriety. She has good
behaviour and manners. Modesty is the mark of true nobility. A woman without
modesty is a flower without fragrance. A woman without modesty is a mere void
although she possesses many other virtues. Modesty raises a woman to the status
of divinity. A modest woman commands respect. O Devis! do not waste your lives in fashion and passion. Open your eyes. Walk in the path of righteousness. Preserve your Pativrata Dharma. See divinity in your husband.
—Swami Sivananda
Sanctity of Womanhood
1. Woman is the Divine power on earth.2. Woman is the first teacher of man.
3. See woman as the Energy of God.
4. Woman is the Sajiva Maya or Chaitanya Maya.
5. Woman is an embodiment of sacrifice, Ahimsa and patience.
6. If she is weak in striking, she is strong in suffering.
7. Woman is an embodiment of patience, gentleness, softness, sweetness, service and Ahimsa.
8. Woman has innate sweetness. She is kind, tender and affectionate. She has a motherly heart. So she is fit for Bhakti-Yoga.
9. The women of India have preserved the spiritual character of our society.
Radiant Immortal Atman!
Om Tat Sat! Homage unto the Divine!
It is an immense happiness to me to address these few words to you today. May
they be engraved in your heart and be enshrined in your thoughts!
Live with understanding and wisdom.
Understand the meaning and purpose of life. Understand your real nature and why
you are here. Here on earth you are but a passing traveller. Your real abode is
that realm from whence you came. Here all things are temporary. All things
pass. Therefore seek the Eternal. Your Real Nature is not earthly. It is
spiritual and deathless. To realise your Reality, your eternal identity is the
purpose of life. While you strive diligently for this inner experience,
cultivate Ideal Relationship with this world around you. To all beings relate
yourself with nobility, sympathy, kindness, love, selflessness and the desire
to serve all, SERVE HUMANITY AND SEEK DIVINITY. Compassion to all is the key to
blessedness. Humility is the highest virtue. Truthfulness is the greatest
treasure. Self-control is the supreme wealth to possess. Egoism is the worst
blemish.
Be an ideal individual. Become a
spiritually illumined soul. Thus crown your life with Wisdom, peace and
blessedness. You will then become a blessing to all mankind. I wish you Joy and
Peace.
—Swami
Chidananda
—Swami Sivananda
Sure Ways For Success In Life
Have a simple and unassuming manner of life. Live not to eat, but eat to live. Bear no envy. Commit no slander. Speak no falsehood. Practise no deceit. Harbour no malice. You will be ever joyful, happy and peaceful.Righteousness is the rule of life. Lead a virtuous life. Strictly adhere to Dharma. Human life is not human without virtues. Study the lives of saints and draw inspiration from them. Cultivate a melting heart, the giving hand, the kindly speech, the life of service, equal vision, and impartial attitude. Your life will, indeed, be blessed.
Lead a simple life. Lead a regulated life. Lead a hard life. Take hold of each day as if it were the last day, and utilise every second in prayer, meditation and service. Let your life become a continuous sacrifice to God.
Live in the present. Forget the past. Give up hopes of the future. Understand well the meaning of life, and then start the quest. Life is thy greatest gift. Utilise every second profitably. Success often comes to those who dare and act. It seldom comes to the timid. May you all attain success in life!
—Swami Sivananda
The Sanctity of Marriage
Householders should not forget even for a moment that marriage is a sacred thing. The sanctity of married life has to be realised in all its fullness and in all its seriousness. Marriage is a sacrament. It is not just the union of two bodies. That is the least important part of it. The husband and the wife should not think there is absolutely no love above their physical life. There is a love. Marriage is the bringing together by God (through some mysterious law which operates in this universe) of two souls in this vast, vast phenomenon called life in this vast stream of existence where countless millions of souls are moving in their individual planes of spiritual evolution towards the Divine. Through the Grace of God, through the Divine Will, and through the operation of certain laws that govern this universal life, two souls are brought together. That is the meaning of marriage.Through the coming together of these two souls, God means an important process to be worked out and that is the sharing of the spiritual impulse between the two. What they have earned, what they have learned, and their spiritual potential—the husband and the wife are to share. The husband is to enrich the spiritual life of the wife and the wife is to enrich the spiritual life of the husband and both are to go hand-in-hand toward the Supreme Attainment of the Divine Consciousness. That is the true, inner meaning of family life. Marriage is sacred. It is not to be treated lightly. It is not to be considered in a vulgar sense. Marriage is an alliance which is for something more than mere physical enjoyment, for something more than even the all-important purpose of the propagation of the race (though, to a limited extent, this is also a purpose of marriage). The offsprings of the husband and the wife are also to be spiritual beings, because they are other souls coming into this earth-plane to work out their own evolution. It is therefore, the sacred duty of the husband and the wife to provide an ideal home and the proper initial impulse to these souls that come as their children. The children are to be held in trusteeship for a while until they grow up and go out into the world. The growth and development of the children will be in accordance with their own spiritual nature, with their own spiritual evolution, with their own Karma which they have brought with them; yet, the mother and the father can give a great deal from their own lives to the initial spiritual unfoldment of their children until the children attain a stage when they can themselves mind their further spiritual evolution. If healthy spiritual ideas are implanted in the young minds from the early age, they are bound to sprout forth at a later stage and bring blessedness to the children.
And, as the children are to be brought up to respect the law of celibacy, of continence, until they are actually married, so the husband and the wife should adhere to the law of continence and celibacy; and for them, this law should operate in the form of a strict moderation of marital life. Marital life should be based upon self-control, not upon indulgence. Then, the wife should regard the husband as the only partner and vice versa. The wife should not have any other male and she should not think of any other man, but should be devoted to her husband; no thought of any other man should ever cross her mind. All the rest of humanity should be to her like children—she is the great Mother. The husband must have the vow which Rama had—the vow of the single spouse. That means that the thought of another woman will never enter his mind. To him, the only woman is his wife and their marriage ties are sacred. In this way the whole family set-up becomes sacred and holy and the interior life of the spirit goes on unhampered. There is nothing in the exterior life of the being to injure the spiritual life. There is nothing in the exterior life—either in the family life or in one’s personal life to hold back or obstruct the spiritual life.
And thus, both husband and wife go in perfect harmony, and their lives, on the dual wings of exterior activity and interior prayerfulness, go to the ultimate blessed state of supreme God-consciousness—Divine Realisation. Blessedness becomes theirs, in and through their family life, wherever they are.
Each householder should have an
ideal daily routine. The home life should not be left to itself, but taken care
of. In addition to those unexpected things that come up every day—a visit of
someone, a telephone call, an invitation to go out with someone—every one of
you should have an accepted basic programme, a basic schedule for your daily
life, which should include an hour of prayer in the morning and an hour of
prayer in the evening. The prayer hour might include the reading of scriptural
texts, the reading of sacred and inspiring spiritual books, a few minutes of
quiet, indrawn meditation, a few minutes of actually articulated prayer,
inspiring prayer. The prayer can be spontaneous; it does not necessarily have
to come out of some book. Or it can be both, as there are some very inspiring
short prayers in the Gospel and also in some other books. The children should
also be trained in this way.
There should also be some actual act
of external worship. After all, we are embodied creatures and we wish to
exercise our bodies also in devotion. When you are in a state of worship, the
body also should take on the attitude of worship. You should light a candle,
burn a little incense, bow before the Deity, offer supplication, ask Him to
enlighten you, to fill your heart with virtue, fill your heart with divine
love, goodness and selflessness, and then, bowing low and with genuflection,
kneel, press down with your forehead. In this way, you have to humble yourself
in the presence of God. Then, as the body genuflects, prostrates and humbles
itself, the influence of those little acts has a chastening effect upon the
mind. We cannot become completely heedless to these reactions of the body upon
the mind and the mind upon the inner spirit. Therefore, each day, you should
have an hour when you have scope for the exercise of all these several aspects
of your being—for the exercise of the body, the heart and the feelings in
prayer; for the exercise of the mind and the intellect in study, reflection and
enquiry; and for the exercise of the spirit in inner contemplation, silence,
indrawnness and meditation.
Each member of the family should
have a private altar. The mother should have her own nook or little corner,
where she has her own little prayer, little conversation with God, little
asking for guidance, little intimate communion with God. The husband, likewise,
should have a little altar for himself, and if this cannot be had, at least he
must have some time for himself, when he communes with the Maker individually.
And the children should be trained right from the very beginning to have such
separate little corners for themselves. Just as they have one corner for their
toys, another for their books, a third for their pets, so they must have a
corner for their own communion with the Most High, and if this habit is
developed from childhood, then later on, they will be able to have their own
independent spiritual life.
—Swami
Chidananda
—Swami Chidananda
To practise non-violence, truth and
celibacy is DIVINE LIFE.
To be kind, generous, humble,
tolerant is DIVINE LIFE.
To practise virtues and be righteous
is DIVINE LIFE.
To serve the poor in selfless,
dedicated way is DIVINE LIFE.
To serve the sick with all-is-God
attitude is DIVINE LIFE.
To be merciful, courageous and
devotional is DIVINE LIFE.
To sing the name of God and pray is
DIVINE LIFE.
To do Japa and meditation is DIVINE
LIFE.
To be an instrument in the hands of
God is DIVINE LIFE.
To act rightly and live in God is
DIVINE LIFE.
To do unconditional self-surrender
to God is DIVINE LIFE.
To restrain the senses to have
God-communion is DIVINE LIFE.
To be on with the Divine Will is
DIVINE LIFE.
To be a silent witness of the three
states (waking, dreaming and deep sleep) is DIVINE LIFE.
—Swami
Sivananda
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