To Supriti On Devotion and Hindu aspect of worship

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivay Supriti

 

Your posting reminded me of a story. I dont recollect it exactly so

everything I type may not be correct. Some one else who knows the

story can correct me. I just remember the essence of it.

 

Long ago (not sure how long ago) there was a hunter called Thinnan .

He lived in the forest. One day he saw a temple that had a Shiva Linga

and he was filled with devotion all of a sudden. His heart was filled

with love and devotion. He did not know anything about worship or

anything at all. He wanted to offer the best to the Linga. He cooked

meat , tasted it and then offered it to the Linga. This was an

illiterate hunter who had no idea about worship or that meat is not

offered to Linga and you dont taste food before offering to the Lord

etc. There was a river near by and he did not have any thing to

collect water to offer to the lord. He went to the river and collected

water in his mouth and then lovingly spit it out on the Linga as

worship. I think this used to happen in the night. In the morning when

the priest came he was shocked to find meat offered to the Lord. He

was upset and he cleaned up the linga and then offered flowers etc.

 

This used to happen every morning when the priest came he could see meat.

One night he decided to stay up on top of a tree to find out what was going on.

Then when the night approached ,Thinnan came to pray and was praying

in the only way he knew to pray.

 

I believe the priest was about to get down from the tree to tell the

hunter when he saw that tears of blood started coming out of the

lingas right eye (this linga had three eyes

representing the three eyes of Lord Shiva ). Thinnan (hunter) was

moved by this and with out even thinking Thinnan pierced his left eye

and placed it on the lingam. Then it stopped bleeding. This was his

devotion. Even though he knew nothing about rituals etc he was in love

with the Lingam so much that it hurt him to see it bleed. Not soon

after that the Lingams right eye started to bleed. Again Thinnan did

not even think, he placed his left foot near the right eye of the

lingam to mark the spot and then pierced his right eye and then placed

it on the lingam. Shiva was pleased with his devotion and restored

Thinnans vision . He was called as Kannappan from then on. I believe

there is a temple where you will find Kannappans statue today .

 

Again I dont remember all the details of the story but the moral of

the story is that you dont need to worship the Lord in any particular

manner as long as you have devotion in your heart. To love you dont

need a ritual, only a heart is needed.

 

So as long as you have a heart that loves God , dont be discouraged

about not knowing the many worship aspects of the Hindu religion.

There are only a very few Hindus who know the meaning of the rituals

itself. Being able to the ritual does not mean the person has

understanding of it. Being a Hindu myself , I can tell you that I know

almost nothing about rituals etc. If you have questions about some of

the aspects you could try to post it here. That way when some one

answers others will also know about it.

 

>> Blindly following the rituals of worship and devotion (as simple as

bowing when

>> entering the Ashram/temple/hall) which I forget to do sometimes

makes me feel

>> inadequate and then I feel discouraged.

 

The reason for bowing down is because there is the supreme

consciousness (or God) residing in every human being and in whole of

creation itself, but we are not aware of it. We know it in theory

because Satguru like Amma tells it to us. It is upto us to believe it

or not.

 

So if we do believe it then we also tell our mind , there is a God

residing in everyone and let me bow down to that God. So there is a

difference between bowing down mechanically or bowing down with the

awareness in the mind.

 

The same reason why we greet everyone by saying Namah Shivaya . This

also means that I bow down to the supreme consiciousness residing in

you.

 

Aum Amriteswariyai Namha

[Guest guest]

>I believe

>there is a temple where you will find Kannappans

>statue today.

 

 

It is at Sri Kalahasti Temple in state of Andhra

Pradesh (25 km from Tirupathi).

 

Om

Avinash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read only the mail you want - Mail SpamGuard.

 

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivayah Supriti

 

You and I should have this discussion sometime in real life. I

completely understand where you are coming from.

 

My friend once told me a story about an old woman who had no

possessions in this life. She was poor and only had one rock to

worship. She did pujas to this rock, imagining that it was Krishna

himself all along. She worshipped this rock as best she knew how, and

never missed her prayers. She couldn't read, so she did not read any

holy books. She only knew to pray to the rock day after day.

 

At the same time, across the village, there was a rich man who had no

financial worries whatsoever. He had a beautiful temple built to

Krishna and paid for priests and such to do pujas around the clock. He

read many holy books and considered himself an expert at quoting them

back at people.

 

When the woman died, she was granted liberation not because she

worshipped in a beautiful temple. No. She was granted liberation

because she had worshipped Krishna with all of her heart and soul, and

she saw God even in the rock.. The man was not liberated even though

he had built and paid for beautiful temples. The devotion was not in

his heart. He only did these things because he thought the ritutals

would get him further.

 

I guess the point of this post is that it doesn't really matter WHAT

you do. It only matters what is in your heart. I know for a fact,

Supriti, that you are one DEVOTED girl!

 

If there is one thing that our Amma teaches us, it is to love by

DOING. Amma hugs people. She gives to the poor. She provides relief to

those in need. Amma loves this way. You also love your way -- painting

and singing and everything else. Amma is not really into all of the

dogmatic stuff that comes with so many religions. Amma's message is

pure and simple: love and serve. Sure, she quotes stores from the

Mahabharata and performs pujas, but Amma also gives Jesus mantras.

 

Start from where you are at, right now, today. Move along your own

path, on your own time, in your own way. Do not compare to any of the

Indian families or to anyone else. Supriti's path is her own. HONOR THAT!!

 

With love,

Erica