Bhakthi and TV devotional serials

[NSP]

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May be the TV serials based on Puranas and Idihasas (Epics) of Hindu mythology are very good TRB rating earners. But I don't think that they do anything to inculcate Bhakthi as a simple Harikatha was doing about a generation back. There is a danger that these serials may do a lot of damages to the understanding of the Hindu scriptures in the long run. Any comments?

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

Dear Mr. N.S.P,

Long time... no see!

These channels are switched on loudly and people in the house talk louder than that!

So this contributes to the general noise pollution- without a doubt!

The story is modified/ changed/ bent to add mass appeal- the reason for the high rating(!)

The wrong understanding is sure to cause major damage in the young minds.

Honestly I can't tell you with any amount of certainty about the increase of bakthi due to these channels!

with best wishes,
Mrs. V. R.

May be the TV serials based on Puranas and Idihasas (Epics) of Hindu mythology are very good TRB rating earners. But I don't think that they do anything to inculcate Bhakthi as a simple Harikatha was doing about a generation back. There is a danger that these serials may do a lot of damages to the understanding of the Hindu scriptures in the long run. Any comments?

 

[renuka]

May be the TV serials based on Puranas and Idihasas (Epics) of Hindu mythology are very good TRB rating earners. But I don't think that they do anything to inculcate Bhakthi as a simple Harikatha was doing about a generation back. There is a danger that these serials may do a lot of damages to the understanding of the Hindu scriptures in the long run. Any comments?

I dont see anything wrong in these serials..especially the new animation series for children are real nice and kids these days love animation and we adults too benefit by watching these types.

Serials are fine too cos most producers are careful about what they produce these days.
I dont think bhakti serials do any harm to us..at least its better than watching any MEGA serial with non stop plots and crying and suffering and violence.

We have to move with times..Now we have many sources of knowledge.Those days we had to depend on a few learned people to gain knowledge.
Now knowledge knows no borders and boundaries.

We might gain Vibhakti from a Harikatha but there is no guarentee we will gain Bhakthi.
Bhakti cannot be inculcated its has to be unveiled by our own awareness.

 

[NSP]

Knowledge for Bhakthi?

We have to move with times..Now we have many sources of knowledge.Those days we had to depend on a few learned people to gain knowledge.
Now knowledge knows no borders and boundaries.

You seems to sound that these serials impart knowledge, if not Bhakthi. To agree to it is to agree that all mega serials impart knowledge! Everything thrown in to our mind cannot be accepted as neither a pertinent information or a preferred knowledge. Isn't it?

 

[NSP]

Long time... no see!
The story is modified/ changed/ bent to add mass appeal- the reason for the high rating(!)
The wrong understanding is sure to cause major damage in the young minds.

I was busy with other academic forums and now I have given them Diwali holiday!

My question is as to why none have protested this?

 

[Visalakshi Ramani]

If you mean the bending and twisting of the stories...
in order to protest, first of all the person must know the correct info.
Secondly he must have enough guts to point it out.
Thirdly he must have enough time to take up this issue.
May be no one has all the three factors!

I was busy with other academic forums and now I have given them Diwali holiday!

My question is as to why none have protested this?

 

[padmanabhan_2654]

May be the TV serials based on Puranas and Idihasas (Epics) of Hindu mythology are very good TRB rating earners. But I don't think that they do anything to inculcate Bhakthi as a simple Harikatha was doing about a generation back. There is a danger that these serials may do a lot of damages to the understanding of the Hindu scriptures in the long run. Any comments?

When there was no TV in our country, a lot of people used to listen to radio programs and songs, attend dramas, cultural functions, and harikathas etc. as a sort of entertainment.

The present generation has no patience to listen to harikathas. If the same is shown live on TV, they see for sometime and switch on to other channels offering entertainment.

During the earlier days, there was a joint family pattern wherein the children were properly guided by the elders and grand parents. Bhakthi, devotional songs, attending harikathas etc., used to be the only source of entertainment and the children were brought up in that environment.

Nowadays, who has the patience to sit thru and listen to the Harikathas?

What is shown on the TV is the only helping factor.

Bhakthi is inculcated from the base level. At present, people want to be free and do not like to remain in the joint family system. A majority of the parents want to live independently. In some cases, both the parents are wage earners and are very busy in their work. Their children are left lonely and are not properly guided.

These children can learn a lot from the various TV Serials. The TV serials based on Puranas and Idihasas (Epics) of Hindu mythology help a majority of the children to know about the scriptures.

As such, the serials will not do any damage to the understanding of Hindu Scriptures.

 

[Raji Ram]

This post slightly deviates from the topic! But, since the TV shows are discussed here, I want to share my view. If

there is a TV coverage for any discourse on 'Bhakthi', the people of SingArach Chennai throng to the hall and fill it up

about three to four hours before the commencement of the program! Is it because of the real interest or is it because

of the possibility of their faces being telecast for free? I also learnt that the audience are given token gifts by the

sponsors. That is how Bhakthi is in our city!

ray: . . . :ranger:

 

[N.R.Ranganathan]

Bakthi serials do not contribute much . Costumes, dialogues and acting - all
are artificial. By seeing these serials, whatever little bakthi you have evaporates.

 

[Nara]

... By seeing these serials, whatever little bakthi you have evaporates.

.... and why is that bad?

 

[NSP]

This post slightly deviates from the topic! But, since the TV shows are discussed here, I want to share my view. If

there is a TV coverage for any discourse on 'Bhakthi', the people of SingArach Chennai throng to the hall and fill it up

about three to four hours before the commencement of the program! Is it because of the real interest or is it because

of the possibility of their faces being telecast for free? I also learnt that the audience are given token gifts by the

sponsors. That is how Bhakthi is in our city!

ray: . . . :ranger:

The very fact that it is held in a hall (Vishaka Hari!)makes it a commercial venture. The collection in unjaverthi in these halls are also much higher. Harikathas and Kaalakshebams should happen only in an serene ambience of the temple. But the temple managements these days conduct sorpozhivu of some politically connected speakers and most of the time it is only the speaker who is the only audience to his speech. However some of the exponents do take up an early morning slot in the TV channels and make their presentation of Harikatha or Kaalakshebam. But that is not the time for it!

 

[sadasivam.sridharan]

There is no denying of the fact that TV Bhakti channels do create an awareness among the children about our priceless idhihaasas and Puranas and message they convey for righteous living.Prior to the advent of TV children had either to listen to the elders or read from the books to know about these epics.Visuals have surely a better impact than listening or reading.

 

[renuka]

You seems to sound that these serials impart knowledge, if not Bhakthi. To agree to it is to agree that all mega serials impart knowledge! Everything thrown in to our mind cannot be accepted as neither a pertinent information or a preferred knowledge. Isn't it?

Can we really instill Bhakti in anyone?We can only impart knowledge and clear the darkness.Even a Guru only removes the darkness from the intellect with the knowledge he imparts.
Bhakti lies within waiting to be unveiled.

All our mantras are stressing on clearing the intellect and removing the obstacles.
Hardly any mantra says "Give Me Bhakti".


You wrote:

Everything thrown in to our mind cannot be accepted as neither a pertinent information or a preferred knowledge. Isn't it?

Yes that true but that doesnt mean we need to avoid and run away from exposure to everything and anything in this world.
All of us use internet..with a click of a mouse we can log in to any website we want..whether beneficial or not.
So the decision is ours and thats where Viveka comes in...more later....

 

[sangom]

Shri NSP,

"Bhakti", the Sanskrit word, has the additional meanings like allotment, partition, division, separation; dividing, separating into (various forms &c.) ; division, portion, share ; variegation, decoration, embellishment, ornament ; a division of a Saman (also called Vidhi); the being a part of. belonging to ; that which belongs to or is contained in anything else, an attribute, etc., besides the usually taken for granted meaning such as devotion, devotedness, attachment, loyalty, loving faith, belief, faith ; love, affection, fondness for; reverence, homage.

The human mind has to be, sort of trained into a bhakti mode, just as the police/military recruits are given intensive training. But once the mind gets "addicted" to Bhakti, then there is usually no going back; the mind craves for more and more and even more of bhakti; it is a "lahari" or tsunami in the mind ultimately and this has been extolled in hindu scriptures ever since the Bhakti cult took over from the previous "poorva meemaamsa" which had a little less of bhakti in it.

So, what people who praise bhakti want is to have more of bhakti to keep them in a state of bhakti over-riding their minds. Though I am an agnostic and do not feel bhakti towards any of the deities, I am seeing how people eagerly gulp whatever is shown in the Bhakti serials, speeches by some of the "accredited" orators and harikathas by Vishakha Hari and so on. For the bhaktas there are no logical questions in anything told or claimed or picturized in these TV programmes, and they believe just as young kids believe all the exploits of "Chhota Bheem".

Hence, if you are not an atheist/agnostic, you should encourage people viewing all the bhakti programmes 24 X 7 and refrain from complaining about their deficiencies. After all, which bhakta wants scriptures?

 

[N.R.Ranganathan]

.... and why is that bad?[/QUOTE

Sir, I live here. I know what it is. I do not know about you.

 

[NSP]

The human mind has to be, sort of trained into a bhakti mode, just as the police/military recruits are given intensive training. But once the mind gets "addicted" to Bhakti, then there is usually no going back; the mind craves for more and more and even more of bhakti; it is a "lahari" or tsunami in the mind ultimately and this has been extolled in hindu scriptures ever since the Bhakti cult took over from the previous "poorva meemaamsa" which had a little less of bhakti in it.

So, what people who praise bhakti want is to have more of bhakti to keep them in a state of bhakti over-riding their minds. Though I am an agnostic and do not feel bhakti towards any of the deities, I am seeing how people eagerly gulp whatever is shown in the Bhakti serials, speeches by some of the "accredited" orators and harikathas by Vishakha Hari and so on. For the bhaktas there are no logical questions in anything told or claimed or picturized in these TV programmes, and they believe just as young kids believe all the exploits of "Chhota Bheem".
After all, which bhakta wants scriptures?

It is true that scriptures are a monotonous things to assimilate knowledge and inculcate Bhakthi. That is the reason that we had typical art forms like Harikathas to make things simple for the folks. The underlying assumption is that the Bhakthi enhances the value system in the society and so the discussion should be around that assumption.

Kids watch 'Chota Bheem' in the same way the watch 'Power Rangers' and 'Barbie' episodes. What are the things 'Power Rangers' and 'Barbie' episodes are trying to deliver in to the mind of the viewers and what should 'Chota Bheem' be delivering is the question? I am not complaining on the deficiencies but I am just saying that they have to be improved with the right focus