Currently to me the responsibilites appear as 2-fold:
1) Responsibility towards society: We are generally told that dealing with certain people is not respectable, keep away from bad people, even worse when we come down to their level heavy criticism pours down as rain, and so on....but truthfully, how many of us are really interested in a better egalitarian society with equal opportunities and better living conditions for all?
2) Responsibility towards religion: We are unable to take things that do not concur with our own ingrained beliefs. Moreover, indians have let western historians (some with vested interests) interpret our religion for us. Hindu culture is rich and diverse. The biggest responsibility is to preserve it. The challenge is to understand it dispassionately. The duty is to accept changes over time.
My definition of Sanathana Dharma includes Hindus,Christians,Islams,Judaist,Sikhs..........all the known religions & its religious practices in the world.Instead of LOrd Balaraman or Lord Gautama Buddha or ....i included the ninth avatar of Lord Vishnu in the Dasa Avataram to be Lord A B R A H A M ( B R A H M A A & Saraswathi ) thereby including Judaist,Christians,Islamist...prolly only dude on earth to suggest such a thought or wait a minute maybe Gene Matlock already started it earlier than me?
SB
A small diversion. What is Sanatana Dharma? Does it include the religion and beliefs of the Tamilian who worships Muniappan or Masaniamman and gives a Kidavu (Goat) sacrifice the the God/Goddess?
And also many other beliefs/practices which could only be termed as Folk Hinduism. Worship of Folk/Village deities.
This poser goes very-very deep sir, perhaps where many cannot swim.
To understand Sanatana Dharma, perhaps we also need to know what all has been lost from it first (?). or what did vedism originally contain...
Am curious about this, would be delighted to find answers:
1) The Sama Ved originally had many shakhas out of which 13 shakhas were known to have existed: Ranayana, Vyasa, Bhaguri, Mashaka-Gargya, Shatyamukhya, Oulundi, Goulgulvi, Bhanuman-Oupamanyava, Karati, Varshagavya, Kuthuma, Shalihotra and Jaimini.
But now only 4 or so (?) are remaining, the rest are lost. So where did they go? Did the people practicing them also disappear? What were the reasons the material disappeared? What did those texts contain? Does a semblence of it exist anywhere else?
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/VajapeyaVajapeya is regarded as particularly important. When its yajamana (sacrificer) comes after having had his ritual bath (avabhrtha snana) at the conclusion of the sacrifice, the king himself holds up a white umbrella for him. "Vaja" means rice (food) and "peya" means a drink. As the name suggests, the vajapeya sacrifice is believed to bring in a bountiful crop and plentiful water. The name is appropriate in another sense also. This sacrifice consists of soma-rasa homa, pasu-homa (23 animals) and anna - or vaja-homa. The sacrificer is "bathed" in the rice that is left over. Since the rice is "poured over" him like water the term "vajapeya" is apt.
Before I post my reply, I would be happy to know the source of your information.
hi nacchi sir,The problem is that we in India are totally unaware of what is happening in the neighboring states. Many Tamil Brahmins tend to think that we are the only Brahmins who recite the Vedas. No Indian has studied the chanting of the Vedas in different states of India.
The only people who have done extensive studies in the Chanting of the Vedas are the westerners. We quote from Wayne Howard's Veda Recitation in Varanasi and Frits Staal. We are very busy interpreting the Vedas to suit our own purposes. People like Stephen Knapp. The Hare Krishna people do not value the tradition of the recitation of the Vedas. Most Indians do not. Tamilians study Sama Veda to find out the divine origin of Carnatic Music.
The first book on Sama Veda was published by Satyavrata Samasrami Bhattacharya of Kolkata in 1874. He was a Vedic scholar who attended a Veda Patashala in Banares. He was conferred the title of Samsrami because of his proficiency in Sama Veda. He was a Sanskrit scholar who published many books on Vedas and Buddhist Sutras. Bengal is Samaveda country. The Brahmins send their children to Banares for studying Vedas. Some of them even come to Veda Patashalas in Tamil Nadu to learn Vedas. The Sakha he belonged to and the book he wrote about was Kautuma Sakha.
We tend to forget that we do not have Dwivedis, Trivedis, Chaturvedis, and Agnihotris in Tamil Nadu.
hi nacchi sir,
im a sama vedi..........but i studied yajur veda in veda pathasala due to
no availabilty of srowthigal...in sama veda...vadyars are called srowthigal..
my younger brother studied sama veda from kanchipuram veda patashala..
i think only in kanchipuram , the sama veda is available....in north india
dvides/trivedis/chathurvedis only in namesake..like iyer/iyengar..
which is to just surnames.....no more real trivedis/ chathurvedis in
practical....
regards
tbs