Dear Mr KB,Post #44 makes no sense. Moderator may atleast fix the post. Because the senseless post as it stands is attributed to my user ID.
Dear Mr Brahmanyan,Dear friend,
It is my view any person who follows a disciplined life with compassion and truth is a good human being. It's important that Brahmins as an educated class should adhere to these qualities and show the way to all others.
In recent times, among many others one person showed us how to lead a simple life of high ideals of a Tamil Brahmin. He was Mahmahopadyaya U.V.Swaminatha Aiyar. His autobiography என் சரித்திரம் (My Biography) is a wonderful book. I would suggest every Tamil Brahmin should read to understand how our previous generation lived.
Another book that will guide the present day Tamil Brahmins is " The Dialogues with the Guru", selected questions and answers with the H.H. Chandrasekhar's Bharati, Maha Samigal, of Sringeri Saradha Peedam. Acharya clarifys all our doubts.
Both these books are available in Pdf format to down load.
https://www.projectmadurai.org/pm_etexts/utf8/pmuni0544_01.html
http://srisharada.com/QA/QA.htm
Brahmanyan
Bangalore.
Has anyone thought that threads like this display some form of fear and self obsession?
Doesn't life just go on for everyone daily?
The fact is we can only be certain of death and nothing else in this world..holding on too much to anything in an obsessive mode is an ADDICTION.
Keeping that in mind those Geeta verses would also hold good for anyone obsessed with culture.
One does not have to give up culture and tradition but why the obsession?
Again the Bhagavad Geeta can come to the rescue here :
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भुर्मा ते संगोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥
You are entitled to action but not to the fruits of it,
let not the fruits by thy motive and not to be attached to inaction.
In my opinion..a person who preforms his duty without obsession lives, but one who is obsessed dies daily.
Why would trying to know about our own culture and trying to pass it on to the next generation (if they deem it to be worth cultivating) be a display of some form of fear and self obsession?
I remember spending quite a bit of my formative years in learning multiplication tables. That skill became obsolete with the advent of calculators and later computers. No one had any idea that calculators will be invented and reduce the stress on memory. My parents (so also like millions or billions of others) thought it was a worthwhile thing to imbibe on young minds. That cant be construed as obsession.
Certainty of death has not stopped people from pursuing their lives till death.
So why deprive "adhikaram" of anyone who wants to pursue cultural continuity? After all, Lord Krishna will give him the "phalam" as Lord Krishna deigns fit.
Everyone who is born dies a bit each day irrespective of if he obsesses or not.
What has not come out in this thread about culture is about people's longing to connect to his/her (and logically extending to his progeny's) own roots. Otherwise there would not be a logical reason for you having a cosy life in M'sia to be interacting with members in TB forum.
The word "addiction" can also be extended to parents teaching mother-tongue to their children if they (the parents) normally reside outside the area where their mother tongue is used.
I have seen/heard fourth generation TB emigrants to the USA chanting "Gange cha Yamune chaiva Godavari Saraswati, Narmade Sindhu Kaveri, jalEsmin Sannidhim kuru" although they havent seen rivers other than Potomac or Mississippi and Saraswati has dried up more than 2000 years back.
What has not come out in this thread about culture is about people's longing to connect to his/her (and logically extending to his progeny's) own roots. Otherwise there would not be a logical reason for you having a cosy life in M'sia to be interacting with members in TB forum.
My guru always used to say that "when you point finger at others, remember three fingers are pointing at you".Dear forum friends,
Let us not get distracted. There are a few who like to filibuster, and bring in extraneous items to somehow kill the flow of discussions.
You have to only guess the motivations behind such actions especially when done repeatedly (in other such threads though the focus here is diffferent) . On second thought trying to guess the motivations is not worthwhile since it may reveal an ugliness that is not worth dwelling upon.
It is one thing to show inability to comprehend what is being discussed which is all about broadmindedness aspects of the culture. It is another to come here to throw mud and try to sidetrack and kill the discussions.
Let us please get back to the topic
Thank you
Getting back to the topic:
We are not talking about religious coversions, issuing fatwas or any violent things.
TB culture is based on time honored practices to uphold the following teachings of Gita.
As mentioned earlier the essence of Brahmin life style per Gita is "Austerity, purity, patience, integrity, knowledge, wisdom, and belief in a hereafter—these are the intrinsic qualities of work for Brahmins. "
Now the cultural aspects of celebrating festivals or even daily living (like offering food to God first and then eat as Prasadam) or praying for welfare of all is really rooted in a broadminded thinking. It is not exclusionary
Today with the influence of glitter of western culture and due to being spread across the globe it is harder to keep these values intact via cultural elements.
I wanted to know if members have concrete suggestions for the above issues.
Now books that are excellent reading could be useful but for many living in cities in various countries how do they keep the best aspects of the culture intact so the values mentioned above are maintained.
Getting back to the topic:
but for many living in cities in various countries how do they keep the best aspects of the culture intact so the values mentioned above are maintained.
In my very limited understanding (and I could be quite erroneous) what we intend to pass on to the future generations is what we think are the "Values" of our culture.
It is quite likely the same "values" are valued in all religions and is also very possible that some or many TBs may have given up on those values or they may be only mentally giving impact to those values (a sort of mAnasa pujA) without showing any outward actions.
I am not entering into any dialogue on inter-faith comparison as to how our culture and practices and values are comparing or contrasting with other religions, nor trying to give cooked up (and mostly after-thoughts after centuries) scientific rationale.
Per my very limited intellect, Hinduism believes that each birth is due to (rUN - sanskrit word pronounced as ruuN) meaning "debt" accumulated in previous janmAs and we clear out as much accumulated debt as possible in this janmA (also having enjoyment when others who owe it to us in the previous janmAs return their debts).
We owe our debt basically to our mAtA, pitA (combinedly called as pitRs - without offending the anti-patriarchy activists), guru (teacher or preceptor) and deivam (God or Almighty or Brahman or whatever name is assigned). It is not difficult to know why we owe to these four entities, as parents bring us into this world, the unknown God or Brahman or whatever gives us food, water, sunlight etc. for us to sustain and the Guru or teacher or preceptor who teaches us from his experience as also from the experiences shared with him by his Gurus etc (possibly extending to many many generations called Guru parampara). Most ideally he teaches us 'viveka "discrimination/discretion" of mind showing us the limitations of our capacity and capability to create, modify or change the things we can and also the things we can not conceivably change. His teachings enable us to cut short time wastage on those things we cant possibly change without going into numerous trial and error methods.
It is quite possible for one to live out without being under the aforesaid debt or thanking by treating the God as non-existant (charavaka and pUrva meemAmsa philosophies), treating Him as non-interfering Brahman entity (advaita philosophy) or an active paripUrNam entity capable and interceding on behalf of BhaktAs, sAdhus (more appropriately for "innocents" (Vishist-advaitin, dwaitin philosophies) etc. Also it is possible to think of no obligation to parents taking the line that we did not come out into this world with our express willingness or the nourishment they provided was a parental obligation etc.). Also it is possible to dismiss the role of a Guru having made the obligatory payment of his fees or substituting a Guru with books and other modes knowledge.
Traditional TB values as per my understanding finds the compensation or thought process enumerated in the aforesaid para (beginning with "It is quite possible......") as inadequate to discharge the debt owed by us to pitRs or devAs.
I will contribute further if there is more interest...
Agreed my friend.
Again I wish to stress that human life is precious gift of God. Let us try this opportunity to live as a good human being. Which is easy if we radiate Compassion, love and companionship with others.
I am not interested giving a sermon, but wish to think aloud.
Each day is a new beginning in life. No one can anticipate what is in store for us on that day. All living beings , trees, animals, or humans are part of the creation. All religions and religious leaders try to help us to lead a happy life in the society. Let us not waste our life and energy quarreling on petty issues. We understand this truth at the fag end of our existence when we face the gate of no return.
Culture is "refinement". Changes are inevitable, no one can stop it. We cannot reverse it either.
It is my understanding that Caste is a generic name for a group of people who follow and discharge a particular "karma" . Incidentally they follow a particular way of life. No one is high or low in birth, all are same.
If we shed the blinkers that we put in the name of Caste, community, high or low and come out of the cucoon of false thinking, we will see the real world of happiness.
Regards,
Brahmanyan
Bangalore.
Dear Mr Brahmanyan,Agreed my friend.
Again I wish to stress that human life is precious gift of God. Let us try this opportunity to live as a good human being. Which is easy if we radiate Compassion, love and companionship with others.
I am not interested giving a sermon, but wish to think aloud.
Each day is a new beginning in life. No one can anticipate what is in store for us on that day. All living beings , trees, animals, or humans are part of the creation. All religions and religious leaders try to help us to lead a happy life in the society. Let us not waste our life and energy quarreling on petty issues. We understand this truth at the fag end of our existence when we face the gate of no return.
Culture is "refinement". Changes are inevitable, no one can stop it. We cannot reverse it either.
It is my understanding that Caste is a generic name for a group of people who follow and discharge a particular "karma" . Incidentally they follow a particular way of life. No one is high or low in birth, all are same.
If we shed the blinkers that we put in the name of Caste, community, high or low and come out of the cucoon of false thinking, we will see the real world of happiness.
Regards,
Brahmanyan
Bangalore.
Dear Mr Zebra,In my very limited understanding (and I could be quite erroneous) what we intend to pass on to the future generations is what we think are the "Values" of our culture.
It is quite likely the same "values" are valued in all religions and is also very possible that some or many TBs may have given up on those values or they may be only mentally giving impact to those values (a sort of mAnasa pujA) without showing any outward actions.
I am not entering into any dialogue on inter-faith comparison as to how our culture and practices and values are comparing or contrasting with other religions, nor trying to give cooked up (and mostly after-thoughts after centuries) scientific rationale.
Per my very limited intellect, Hinduism believes that each birth is due to (rUN - sanskrit word pronounced as ruuN) meaning "debt" accumulated in previous janmAs and we clear out as much accumulated debt as possible in this janmA (also having enjoyment when others who owe it to us in the previous janmAs return their debts).
We owe our debt basically to our mAtA, pitA (combinedly called as pitRs - without offending the anti-patriarchy activists), guru (teacher or preceptor) and deivam (God or Almighty or Brahman or whatever name is assigned). It is not difficult to know why we owe to these four entities, as parents bring us into this world, the unknown God or Brahman or whatever gives us food, water, sunlight etc. for us to sustain and the Guru or teacher or preceptor who teaches us from his experience as also from the experiences shared with him by his Gurus etc (possibly extending to many many generations called Guru parampara). Most ideally he teaches us 'viveka "discrimination/discretion" of mind showing us the limitations of our capacity and capability to create, modify or change the things we can and also the things we can not conceivably change. His teachings enable us to cut short time wastage on those things we cant possibly change without going into numerous trial and error methods.
It is quite possible for one to live out without being under the aforesaid debt or thanking by treating the God as non-existant (charavaka and pUrva meemAmsa philosophies), treating Him as non-interfering Brahman entity (advaita philosophy) or an active paripUrNam entity capable and interceding on behalf of BhaktAs, sAdhus (more appropriately for "innocents" (Vishist-advaitin, dwaitin philosophies) etc. Also it is possible to think of no obligation to parents taking the line that we did not come out into this world with our express willingness or the nourishment they provided was a parental obligation etc.). Also it is possible to dismiss the role of a Guru having made the obligatory payment of his fees or substituting a Guru with books and other modes knowledge.
Traditional TB values as per my understanding finds the compensation or thought process enumerated in the aforesaid para (beginning with "It is quite possible......") as inadequate to discharge the debt owed by us to pitRs or devAs.
I will contribute further if there is more interest...
Please continue with your post.
My opinion is that by culture we mean the values and also the means with which we can adhere to the values. The activities we talk about - the rituals, the nityakarmas, learning of art, participation in festivities etc are the means. Over time, people tend to focus on the means without fully understanding the underlying value system. This is because values may be hard to grasp or focus on but activities can be made "fun". However without understanding of the underlying values, the activities erode over time. Our values also come in clash with values of other civilisations - not necessarily physical clash but also clash of ideas. This is what is happening to our culture. For the sustenance of a culture, may be both the values and means are important.
I will say your post is a very good summary of the value part of our traditional culture. My humble request for you to is touch upon the "means" as well if you will - although here i agree that there could be some differences among different sects of brahmins etc
There were a series of posts on Vedas by another member Vikrama long time back. People had some differences with it but it was one of the most useful threads in this forum. I hope your posts here are equally enlightening.
Thank you for the very thoughtful post.
Please read my reply to your posts in the other thread titled, "The Tamil Brahmin Culture - One Opinion (Borrowed)".Tell me one thing that is common and universal to so-called Tamil Brahmins (?), I will show 100 things that are different and individual in our community.