Doing just magic and exhibiting as a tantrik is something that all have perceived about him, including his devotees. The devotees are behind him for the watch or chain that Baba may throw on him/her!
The purpose of earning extra money is for offering it to the needy (Dhaanam). The rulers of our land understood this and did offered the earned wealth with right discrimination to the needy. The best part of it did reached the temple and the temples served as an hub of economic activity for social justice. The temples by itself did 'dhaanam' from its revenue in the form of offering and performed numerous festivals to kindle the local economy. But today the understanding has changed and people are looking for ways to build their own treasure trove in the guise of 'savings' and so the concept of 'dharmam' has died in our mind. The preaching of the SG that it is the Indian saving that saved Indian economy from being affected by financial meltdown is the worst part of it. Are we migrating from the age old magnanimous understanding of 'Dharmam Thalai kaakkum' to selfish understanding of 'Savings thalaimurai kakkum?
Smt. (I suppose this is correct) Harini,
I like your pov and also the way you express it. I don't get what is meant by SG, though.
"Savings" saving India from the financial meltdown and "Dharmam thalai kaakkum" are, IMHO, two different scenarios. The second, viz., "Dharmam thalai kaakkum" applies to sharing a part of your surplus income/wealth with other needy people
without expecting anything in return, and this condition is important. If you go through the newspapers or watch regularly the Malayalam TV channel asianet's programme "Kannaadi" கண்ணாடி, you will find that any request for helping people who are genuinely in need does get ample response from far and wide. I for one, therefore, believe that even amidst the consumerist mentality of today, there is innate compassion and empathy within the hearts of people. But there are many, many people who will look for tax-exemption or புண்யம் (religious merit) in any charity they give, and these are the people who give large donations to mutts, swamijis, ashrams, babas and so on. The former set of people make the "Dharmam thalai kaakkum" principle work even today while both the sets encourage frugality and savings, indirectly perhaps.
In the US, August 2 is a crucial date and probably you know it. If the US govt. does not pass a law which will make more debt legal by that date, the US will not be able to borrow even a cent more; it won't be able to pay its officials, or do anything including pay the President's salary. Since US is like a Draupadi with many husbands, most of the world, including China will sink, so to say, along with the US
if such an eventuality happens. But since the senators also will stop getting their emoluments and it will hit them also equally, we may see that the US raises its debt ceiling before that date.
US is a nation which has lived beyond its means by borrowing from almost the rest of the world for far too long and it will have to learn a lesson from India, one day or another, and then it will realize the truth of the saying "savings thalaimuraikalai kaakkum"
But this does not mean that people will become stingy and Dharma will vanish altogether from this world!
Anyway, have you read anywhere about what exactly is this "Dharma"? In the famous yakṣa praśna of Mahabharata, yudhiṣṭhira answers one of the questions of yakṣa as under:—
तर्कोऽप्रतिष्ठः श्रुतयो विभिन्नाः
नैको ऋषिर्र्यस्य मतं प्रमाणम्।
धर्मस्य तत्त्वं निहितं गुहायां
महाजनो येन गतः स पन्थाः ॥
( Logic alone cannot establish a conclusion. The oral
tradition varies. There is no one sage whose teaching is accepted by all.
The essence of Dharma is something that is hidden in secrecy.
Thus the way people should follow is the path traversed by great
individuals.)
