Sri Sangom Ji,
Pranams,
.
We have history to prove that despite repeated and horrendous persecution on Hinduism by various religions/races time and again, viz by Greeks, Shaks, Huns, Arabs, Pathans, Mongolis, Portuguese, British, etc.Hinduism had stood the test of time and has survived. It wont shrink. It grows vibrantly.
IMHO, I would say that they expand in leaps and bounds, especially when one tries to persecute. While the human scientific knowledge improves with lot of new innovations everyday Aanmigam/Bakthi increases proportionately.
Few years back Kumudham was a weekly journal. Now the Kumudham House comes out with one more journal dedicated to Aanmigam/Bakthi under the name Kumudham Bakthi
Similarly Vikadan, now comes out with a dedicated version of Sakthi Vikadan
Even daily news papers comes out with supplementary on Aanmigam/Bakthi on selected days.
To my limited knowledge, there are Magazines brought out by Mutts, viz. Prasanth Nilayam, Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt, Vaithiga Shree, etc etc with circulation growing day by day.
There are TV Channals dedicated to Aanmigam. Even other channels do have programmes on Aanmigam like Aanmiga Sinthanaigal and Aanmiga Kathaikal,etc
This proves the trend prevailing among the general public more particular in India.
Above all, there are religious based Parties too.
You could see religious activities like Bakthi is growing. More people tend to visit temples. New temples are coming up every now and then. In my place, a quiet village adjacent to Air Port, we have a Shiva temple. During 1990s when I moved to this village, this temple used to receive only handful of Devotees. But nowadays, this very same temple attracts more devotees. On Pradosham days, the crowd is such that the temple Dharmakartha even introduced Entrance tickets in order to restrict crowd and thus ensure comfortable dharshan. But till date the temple grows and the number of devotees too grows.
To sum up, I planted a Pavazhamalli sapling at the entrance of my house near the Gate. This sapling has grown and at one point of time, one of its branches grown over size and started obstructing the gate way. I trimmed that particular branch, alas!! only to see that after one week there were lot of new branches coming out near the cut portion..
I wish let the human scientific knowledge grow. But shrinking of Gods, I believe is nothing but a day dream especially in the existing scenario! Bcos it is God's will!!
With regards
Dear Shri Balasubramani,
I agree that, viewed from today's prevailing conditions, whatever you have written above is true. But even our own philosophy or vedanta lays down that all things in this experienced universe are mortal, i.e., not permanent. Therefore, everything including science as we know it today must be mortal too (that, at least, is my personal belief) and a thousand or so years from now, even this science as we know it today could have completely vanished. Same holds good for items like Bhakti, Temples and other places of worship, the Bhakti or religious publications, media etc.
I feel you will not disagree with me when I say that all this recent resurgence of Bhakti has been caused by the quantity of currency in circulation in this country having increased significantly. Some sources claim that a good proportion of this is due to fake currency injected into the system by elements inimical to the country, but I am no authority to pronounce any judgment about this. Bhakti is the latest sun-rise industry or business idea and the print and TV media have become well aware of this and are trying to exploit it to the maximum extent to increase their profits.
But if a person is truly religious or is after achieving self-enlightenment, none of these Bhakti methodologies will be of much use, I will say. Many of our great religious leaders have said that much; as an example you may see my 'signature' which says:
जैसे तिल में तॆल है, ज्यों चकमक में आग ।
तेरा सायी तुझ में है, तू जाग सकै तो जाग ॥
—संत कबीर
and this advice from Sant Kabirdas states that God is within oneself, just as the oil is within the sesamum seed, and fire is within the ஆரணி stones themselves; one must try to awaken (जाग) to this truth, if it is possible for oneself (तू जाग सकै तो जाग).
There is also an oft-repeated story about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa complaining to his spiritual guide about his inability to shake off Kali's form from his mind and the latter advised him to cut-off Kali also and go beyond. This only proves that all the idol worship does not matter when it comes to real spirituality or knowledge about the "self" (ஆத்மஜ்ஞானம்).
Adi Shankara also says that AtmajnAna can be got only through nididhyAsana or deep contemplation and that all the rest of the prescribed dwija daily routine can at best be of help only. He also expressly states that Samkhya and Yoga will not enable anyone towards Brahmajnana.
To clinch the matter, we have Ramana Maharshi saying that "Isvara is thus the product of Maya and He cannot be the origin of His origin." (
The Removal of Superimposition) Is not all the temple worship directed towards this maayic Ishvara who also has to be mortal since he is produced by maayaa?
Today India is only 67 years old as an independent democratic country. Our lowest castes who could not even come near our temples or walk on the roads surrounding many temples, are enjoying such rights now; thanks to the many development schemes of the governments, the reservation system for the less privileged classes, etc., these lowest classes are now beginning to enjoy certain lifestyle which they could not even dream of some hundred years ago. These people had been looking at the brahmins and the other higher castes, acting as the custodians of the hindu religion and its temples, for more than thousand years. Now that they have got a chance, they want to experience first hand what it was that the higher castes had been safeguarding as their sole preserve for all these centuries.
But generations are changing and the younger lot (among these low castes) may not be driven by the same curiosity. Instead they may easily get attracted towards the proselytizing religions; even if they opt to remain as hindus, temples and pilgrimage tours may be only merry-making excursions for them and then temples will have to compete with the other secular tourist attractions. So, as time goes, the temples may lose out particularly because most temples are not being looked after well by the government which owns these now. The position of the gods in human minds will thus shrink. Let us not therefore feel happy and complacent, based on certain transcient trends.
